Former Junior's Update

So I am going to try and get a new segment started here on the blog called the Former Junior's Update. Now I realize the Junior's Blog does the same thing but they update every month and don't follow proffesional graduates like Ellis or Kempin. I'm going to try and follow both collegiate players and juniors that are now pro's and get an update out weekly. Basically it'll just be a look at all the former junior players of Sporting Kc's youth academy that have gone on to college and beyond. It is similar to downthebyline's recurring segment of Former SKC Wizards Update and that's where I got the idea from.

I will try to get out one each week. There will be a set day where I will be releasing them further down the road when I get a good grip on these posts.

So, here's the first one:


Collegiate 

Name - College - Update

Tom Adams - Oral Roberts - Played 14 games and scored 3 goals in first season with Oral Roberts in 2011
Christian Duke - San Diego - Played and started in all 18 games for Toreros in 2011
Patrick Foglio - William Jewell - Can't find info
Brandon Fricke - Butler - Played 16 games for the Bulldogs in 2011
Laeth Hamil - Baker - Played in 21 games in 2011
Asher Herbert - Long Island - Played in 16 games in 2011
Eric Hymer - Fort Hayes St. - Can't find info
Konnor Knoll - UMKC - Played in 16 games and scored 1 goal for the Kangaroos in 2011
Raymond Lee - St. Louis - Played in 17 goals and scored 4 goals in 2011
Marques Mayoras - Ohio State - Played in 4 games for the Buckeyes in 2011
Kyle Miller - Rockhurst - Started and played in 20 games and scored 1 goal in 2011
Eric Moore - Rockhurst - Can't find information/didn't play in 2011 season?
Michael Oakley - UMKC - Played in 15 games for the Kangaroos in 2011
Paul Oliver - Oral Roberts - Played in 16 games and scored 2 goals in 2011
Peter O'Neill - Northwestern - Played in 21 games and scored 2 goals in 2011
Jordan Rideout - UMKC - Played in 16 games and scored 7 goals for the Kangaroos in 2011
Jimmy Simon - UMKC - Played in 16 games and scored 1 goal for the Kangaroos in 2011
Alex Sweetin - St. Louis - Couldn't find info
Taylor Vinnage - Rockhurst - Didn't play in the 2011 season
Will Witherspoon - Virginia Tech - Played in 18 games but only started 3 of those in 2011

Professional or Semi-Pro


Name - Club - Update

Kevin Ellis - Sporting KC - Recorded zero minutes in MLS, played in all 10 of Sporting Kc's reserve matches, starting 9
Jon Kempin - Sporting KC - Recorded zero minutes in MLS, started 1 game for the reserves.

Omar Bravo Signed With Cruz Azul For Three Years

I know it's a little bit of a touchy subject for a lot of you guys out there but I just wanted to let you know that Omar Bravo has signed a three year deal with Mexican side Cruz Azul.

Well the fact that he had signed with them was old old news. But none of us really knew how long his stint with Cruz Azul would be. But multiple reports from across Mexico have said his contract is worth 3 years. Some of the reports have been out for a week or so so it's not breaking news, still thought I should share it with you guys though. Here's a list of all the sources I could find saying his deal with Cruz is worth three years:

Blue Cross reinforcement training with his new Omar Bravo

'I come to break my mother!': Omar Bravo*

Omar Bravo aims to become the benchmark for Blue Cross

*Translating from Spanish to English sometimes gives you weird phrases

As is team policy, Sporting did not release information on the deal with Cruz, so all we could do was guess. Many of us thought his contract would only be a year or two. In-fact I had reported to you guys on twitter that a source close to Sporting had told me that it was Omar Bravo's choice after the Mexican season to either come back to KC or stay on with Cruz Azul. Which could still be the case, but at least now we know how long his contract is.

Also, if you look at the reports, Omar Bravo seems quite happy with Cruz and is very excited for their upcoming season. So I'm going to go ahead and assume he won't ever be back to KC in Sporting blue.

Other Omar Bravo News
Omar missed a penalty in his first match with Azul, but still managed to beat "The Whales" 2-1.
Omar scored 2 times in his club's 3rd friendly ahead of the 2012 season against Lobos BUAP

Daneil Cyrus Back For 2012

21 year old defender Daneil Cyrus will be back for the 2012 season. Sporting Kansas City has told me that as of right now, the Trinidad and Tobago international will be reporting to KC along with the rest of the team for the 2012 pre-season.



This was a very fuzzy area for many of the Sporting Kansas City fans seeing as Sporting's press release from July did not state whether or not Daneil would go back to FC Santa Rosa or stay on with Sporting. A source close to Sporting Kansas City has told me that he will stay.

This does however also contradict FC Santa Rosa's press release that says that the Trinidadian would be back to FCSR at "the end of 2011". But obviously the two clubs have hammered out something.

Keeping Cyrus is a huge boost for SKC due to their lack of depth at the center back position, which as of right now, consists of 2 players. I have not heard if Daneil has been bought from FCSR or if his loan deal has been extended, but I would think it's the latter.

Also, just to humor the FO of Sporting Kansas City, they had originally said Cyrus was 6'3 but apparently he has shrunk 2 inches.

Where Sporting Kc Stacked Up Against MLS Clubs In 2011

I haven't really seen anyone do this so I decided I'd give it a try. I've gathered a series of data points for Sporting Kc  from the MLS website and will be posting them below. I know it's pretty basic and almost anyone could do it but I just haven't seen it done in KC yet. Plus, I want to do it so fans can easily look down here and break down some of Sporting Kc's season themselves.

So here are the stats:

Category: Ranking in MLS out of 18 teams - Number of "points" in that category

Goals: 2nd - 50
Assists*: 14th - 35
Shots: 1st - 488
Shots on Goal: 2nd - 159
Fouls Conceded: 5th - 425
Fouls Suffered: 8th - 416
Offsides: 16th - 71
Corners: 8th - 161
Penalty Kick Goals: 9th - 4

*assists may seem inflated for some teams but MLS counts "secondary assists"
If you want to FULLY break down the rest of the MLS then you can go here. 

So as you can see Sporting Kc were quite easily one of the best attacking teams in the MLS all season. Recording 488 shots on goal throughout the 2011 campaign, a league best. One of their lowest indicators however was their offside's calls. Sporting Kc were only called offside 71 times, one of the leagues lowest at 16th. But it's actually a good thing seeing as it indicates that our front line is calm and composed. Besides, I'm fairly certain Bravo had about half of those.

Sporting Kansas City To Spend 2 Weeks of Pre-Season In Tuscon

Earlier today it was confirmed by Tuscon Sentinel that Sporting Kansas City would indeed spend part of their pre-season in one of the most premier soccer facilities in the country - Kino Sports Complex.


Sporting will spend a total of 2 weeks in Arizona starting on February 1st but will miss out on the not-so-important chance to reclaim their Desert Cup title - of which is displayed proudly in the trophy case at Sporting's head offices - to go to the Disney Pro Classic at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando Florida.

The Cup last year saw them pitted against the New York Red Bulls and drew record attendance numbers for the final as two of the most prominent figures of Mexican football  - Rafa Marquez and Omar Bravo -  battled it out for the Desert Cup.

As part of the pre-season experience Sporting Kansas City will face the San Jose Earthquakes on February the  2nd and the Vancouver Whitecaps on the 4th in a closed scrimmage session. This will most likely be where we will finally get wind of some of the new trialists and draft picks.

Sporting Kansas City After Local Midfielder?

As I'm sure many of you have already heard from different sources including SportingTimes.net and downthebyline.com Sporting Kansas City are reportedly after a local kid called Michael Thomas who has had a few stints in Europe since leaving the US after he was drafted by San Jose in 2010.

This comes off the back of my story about a month and a half ago where I linked the midfielder with Sporting Kansas City after he played in a reserve league encounter with FC Dallas and photos were released onto the internet.

However at that point I did not know the trialists name and was merely guessing at his bio. Judging on the pictures I guessed that he was 5'10 and a midfielder, both remain true. When he played in the reserve league game he wore #44 and scored for the Rangers on the stroke of halftime.

Michael Thomas, 23, has played for the Kansas City Brass and Notre Dame from 2006-2009. He has connections with Matt Besler (Notre Dame) and Seth Sinovic (youth club).

I think Michael would be a decent signing for Sporting but since he is still contractually tied to Ljungskile SK we would have to pay a transfer fee for him which would mean we would lose some of the allocation money we have received from the various trades of Jack Jewsbury, Davy Arnaud, and Omar Bravo.

Is this really the best way to spend our money? I don't know but we will soon learn whether or not as the January transfer window inches closer and closer.

Omar Bravo Leaves Sporting Kansas City

Omar Bravo with the captain's armband

Well, the Omar Bravo experience is over. Earlier this afternoon Sporting Kansas City announced that the team's joint top scorer Omar Bravo has left Sporting in favor of a move south of the border to Mexican side Cruz Azul. Omar, 31, released a statement following the announcement saying that he was quote, "very grateful to have received the opportunity to play in MLS, a league to which I respect and admire, as well as Sporting KC as it gave me the opportunity to experience challenges and fulfill dreams in this city both personal and professional, which All I take from Kansas City are good things to my teammates, fans who always supported me in my time" 


Omar is believed to have left due to being offered a better contract, more money, and more playing time in his home country of Mexico. Cruz Azul had been linked with Sporting Kc's Designated Player since the season ended in mid-November and it was no surprise when he left amid a whole host of transfer rumors and speculation.

Following the departure of Omar Bravo Sporting Kc's average age is now just 23. And Sporting Kc will most likely look to keep the trend of buying young and selling old in this January transfer window following speculation that the club has already secured a deal for a Spanish DP.

But one of the weirdest things about this deal is that there has been no official confirmation that Bravo has either been loaned or transferred to Cruz Azul due to the club's policy of not disclosing the deal information. So because of that policy we have no idea how much money we have to buy other players or how much money we have in the wage budget.

But we do know Omar's departure opens up a international roster spot - of which we have just 7 - and opens up a Designated Player spot - of which we have just 3. Now, the question becomes does Sporting Kc stick with an experienced MLSer in Bobby Convey or do they go for a younger in-experienced winger?

Omar earned many awards and honors in his short time at LSP. Including Latino of the Year, MLS All-Star, and was one of the faces of LIVESTRONG's fight against cancer in Mexico and the US.