Who Should Mark Who? (Portland Timbers Version 3.0)

I know I haven't updated "Who Should Mark Who?" in quite a few weeks but today I just wanna do a quick post. This time however it will be pre-game. As opposed to post-game. 

If you've never read this segment of the blog yet it's basically just a list of Sporting players along with who I think they should mark on the opposing team, mainly off of set-pieces. I generally match players up according to height and aerial ability. 

Obviously I won't list all the players. Just the ones that pose the biggest threat in the air for Sporting Kc.

The List

(KC Player) Name - Height - *Position*/(Portland Player) Name - Height - *Position*

*If you're new to soccer and don't understand what certain positions stand for look over on the left hand side, there's a list.*

Birahim Diop - 6'3 - CDM/Kenny Cooper - 6'3 - ST

CJ Sapong - 6'2 - ST/Mamadou Danso - 6'3 - CB

Aurelien Collin - 6'2 - CB/Eric Brunner - 6'4 - CB

Auvray To Leave Sporting Kc?

Stephane Auvray

Although it is still just a developing story Stephane Auvray may leave Sporting Kc in the upcoming summer transfer window. James Starrit over at "Sporting_Times.net" announced on twitter today that he talked to Peter Vermes at training, James asked if Auvray was injured because he wasn't at training, and this was Peter's response, "It's just something i'm not going to comment on right now, just because there are some other things happening."


Now from that statement it seems as if there are some other developing stories going on, possible transfers? Maybe. But why would Sporting Kc sell/let go a Defensive Mid when the midfield is a little short(Rocastle injured, Arnaud injured). Well they could possibly be bringing in another Designated Player at Center Defensive Mid? Also, Auvray has under-performed since returning from the Gold Cup with Guadalupe, and he's pretty much at the bottom of the list when choosing CDM's for the starting 11. Behind Cesar, Diop and Sassano.

Like I mentioned before, this is all just a developing story. Auvray may not leave at all. But I would expect a couple of buys/trades for Sporting Kc before the end of the summer transfer window.

Breaking Down the Last Half of Sporting Kc's Season

It's hard to believe that it's already been a fantastic 15 weeks of soccer for Sporting Kc. The weeks always go by so fast during the season don't they? Now Sporting Kc find themselves 6th place in the East with 17 points, and look to be a good bet to make the playoffs in what has been an under performing Eastern Conference so far.

Although it is not exactly half way through the season (in terms of weeks)(32 weeks this season but 34 league games), I will be cutting down the rest of the season, looking at points Sporting can gain, and whether or not KC can make the playoffs.

So let's dive right into this and look at the month of July.

July
Peter Vermes will have almost all of his players available for in July, except for Craig Rocastle, Ryan Smith and Konrad Warzycha. July won't be much of a test for Sporting Kc, as only two of all the 6 games played in July will be away, Houston and Portland. However, both fixtures will be tough.

July will be one of the longest months for Sporting, but it may also be one of the easiest months for soccer. As they will welcome three of the "easier" teams in MLS to LSP.(New England, Toronto, and Chivas.) So I expect a decent amount of points from July, I think expecting 10-15 points isn't out of the question.

August
In August Sporting Kc will play all 5 of their games at home. But they will also be hosting the likes of Seattle, Real Salt Lake, and FC Dallas at LSP. It could mean a lot of losses under the hot Kansas sun. Or it could provide Sporting Kc with a lot of valuable points.

Sporting Kc could see a semifinal in the US Open Cup on the 30th. If they were to win that game they would only be a win away from silverware.  And just a touch away from the CONCACAF group stage.

To get 8-12 points from this month should be expected.


September
September will be yet another tough month for Sporting Kc, but all 5 games except for 1 will be at home. KC will welcome Philly, LA, Houston and Columbus to LSP. LA and Philadelphia will be the hardest games at home. But the hardest match will be away at Real Salt Lake. There will be no Open Cup games or Friendlies for Sporting Kc in this month, even if they do make the finals of the Cup, the final isn't till October. Just a regular month for Sporting Kc, which means more consistency in terms of the lineup.

Sporting Kc should be able to get within 7-10 points in September. 


October
Besides March this is the shortest month of soccer for Sporting Kc. There will be only 3 games played in October and only 1 one of those will be at home. Something that could seriously hurt Sporting Kc if the playoff race comes down to a couple points in late October and KC are looking for them. But that doesn't mean the single home game will be easy, not by any stretch of the imagination. As Sporting Kc will host the New York Red Bulls at 3:00 pm on Sat. the 25th.

Furthermore, on October the 4th the US Open Cup final will be played. Should Sporting Kc qualify for that, (which is a long shot) it could make for a more congested last month.

Getting 3-6 points out of October should be expected.

The End
On October 22 the regular season will end for Sporting Kc, whether or not we're in the playoffs is squared solely on the player's shoulders. I think we should be able to creep into one of the final playoff spots in the East.

Do you think Sporting Kc will make the playoffs? And potentially win the US Open Cup? Tell me in the comment section below.

Kc Beat Vancouver Whitecaps In A Convincing 2-1 Win

After a 2-1 win against Vancouver, Sporting Kc find themselves undefeated in 7 league games. One of the best, if not the best record in the league. The unbeaten run that KC have enjoyed over the past month have seen Sporting gain points and move up to 6th place in the East. Not where Vermes and the club's owners had envisioned their team to be after 15 games, but still. Sporting Kc are out of last place and almost all of the rest of the season's games are at home, meaning a high percentage of points will be gained before the end of the regular season.....Playoffs anyone? 

The First Half

Sporting Kc put out a lineup that excluded star players such as Davy Arnaud, Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury. Having said that, I can see why the coaching staff didn't want to field Bunbury and Kamara, the two forwards have been out of form the past couple games and Kei seemed fatigued. However, keeping out Arnaud was most likely due to some sort of injury picked up in training, nothing major.

Sporting Kc seemed the more dominant side in the first half. But after 15 minutes of play Vancouver found themselves with the shocking 1-0 lead from a set piece. Chiumiento played in a curling ball from the left-hand side that Camilo flicked on beautifully into the right-handed side of the goal, well out of Nielsen's reach.  

Sporting Kc didn't equalize until about 15 minutes later when designated player Omar Bravo was taken down in the box and the home side earned the first ever penalty kick at LSP. Bravo stepped up to take the ensuing PK and buried it into the right side of the goal, sending Cannon the wrong way. 

Just 8 minutes later and Sporting Kc were ahead. Some decent pressure from the home side resulted in just one of many corner kicks Kc had that night. Graham Zusi played a good curling ball towards the back post that found the on-coming Omar Bravo who headed it back into the danger area only for Julio Cesar to volley-slide it into the back of the net. Giving the Brazilian his first goal of the campaign.

The Second Half

Vancouver came out of the half time break with a game plan to attack, and attack they did. The Whitecaps had some decent possession in the first half, but failed to really test Nielsen with any of it. CJ Sapong nearly doubled KC's lead in the 65'. After a cross was played in from the wing that found the head of Sapong, but the ball flew past the top of the cross bar. Neither SKC or Vancouver had any real clear-cut chances to score in the second half after that.

Player Ratings

Nielsen 7, Sinovic 7, Collin 7, Besler 7, Myers 6, Espinoza 6, Cesar 8, Stojcev 6, Zusi 7, Bravo 8*, Sapong 7

*Denotes Man of the Match

**Special Note: I just posted some neat and interesting stats on my twitter about the game, via Chalkboard. Go look at them and give me a follow while you're at it.**

Sporting Kc Set to Battle Last Place Vancouver

The Vancouver Whitecaps will travel to LSP on Saturday night to face Sporting Kc at 7:30 CT, and will look to pass on the unwanted MLS "wooden spoon" to Sporting Kc. Both teams are currently in last place of their respective conferences and will look to climb up the league standings. A win for either team could potentially see them move up at least 1 space to 8th place(Vancouver), or up 4 places to 5th place(Sporting Kc). It's a huge game for both teams.

Sporting Kc seem the more dominant side heading into the game,  going undefeated the past 6 games and letting in only 2 goals in those games. Meanwhile, the Whitecaps are coming off of a huge 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union last Saturday and will look to test Sporting Kc.

Sporting Kc will have Honduras international Roger Espinoza back from Gold Cup duty, but will likely not feature in the starting XI for Saturday night's game, while French CB Aurelien Collin should find himself back at the heart of defense after missing out on SKC's midweek game at Philly due to suspension. 

Predicted Lineup:

Important Match-Ups

Sassano/Diop v. Chiumiento 

The two Sporting Kc CDM's will look to stop any attacking play from the creative Swiss CAM, a player who has jump-started a lot of the Whitecaps attack this year.

Collin v. Hassli

Collin will again have to mark another big striker, and somehow prevent him from getting too close to SKC's goal.  

Prediction

Sporting Kc - 3 (Sapong x 2, Bravo)

Vancouver - 1 (Hassli) 

-SKC's offense finally finds their stride and let's it rip on poor old Vancouver. But Hassli has another wonder goal.

Sporting Kc Earn Important Road Point At PPL Park

Sporting Kc played a dirty, sloppy and hard-fought game against the Philadelphia Union in a midweek league game at PPL Park, and most importantly, walked away with a well deserved point. Now Sporting Kc find themselves with only 5 road games left in the entire season and 14 points through 14 games.

The First Half
Peter Vermes fielded a lineup that was somewhat identical to the one we saw at home on Friday night against the San Jose earthquakes, the two biggest changes were Cesar coming in at CB for the suspended Collin, and Bunbury in for Sapong, which was a surprise to say the least.

Sporting started the game relatively well, Kamara and Bravo had some early looks but both shots were off target. Then Philly got going and created some of their own chances, but none of them were converted.The high-pressure system that Philly used for much of the half was just a taste of what was to come for KC. Not much more to the first half than that, Bunbury was again trying to do it all by himself, and Cesar looked a little off balance. It was a really sloppy game from Sporting and Philly, but the latter looked by far the better team.

The Second Half
Sporting Kc made one change coming out of the halftime break. Sapong on for Bunbury, something that most fans were pleased with. Bunbury just hasn't looked himself these past couple of games, and I believe Sapong should have started. 

Sporting Kc came out with more intent in the second half but played with a lot less pressure than they did in the first. Mainly due to Vermes wanting to get something out of this game, a point at least. But Philadelphia showed why they're second place in the Eastern Conference and created A LOT of chances. One of those chances nearly payed off in the 72' minute when Sassano failed to close down Le Toux from a couple yards outside KC's box and the ensuing cross from Le Toux was nearly turned in by the unmarked head of Ruiz, but the crossbar came to Sporting's rescue once again. The last 20 minutes of the game Sporting Kc dropped almost all 11 men behind the ball to try and stop any attack from Philly. Hence, the Union went on to record 26 shots but only 7 of those were on target as compared to Sporting's 8 shots, out of those 0 were on target. But Sporting Kc did hold on, mainly due to the fact that Nielsen was a beast all night.

They earned a very valuable point on the road, and are now unbeaten in 6 games.

Player Ratings
Nielsen 8*, Myers 6, Besler 6, Cesar 7, Sinovic 5, Sassano 6, Diop 6, Arnaud 6, Bravo 5, Kamara 6, Bunbury 4.
Subs: Sapong 6, Harrington 6,  Auvray N/A.
*Denotes Man Of the Match

New Name, Same Game

Yes, it's official, I have changed my blog name. You may be disappointed, excited, or don't really give a crap, it's just soccer. Well, whatever you think about it, I just want to thank you for either voting on the poll or on twitter. I realize this choice was not on either of them but I had to go with my gut feeling and I liked this one the best.

Cool. So why'd you change it?
Well, basically I made the blog mid-April (obviously). Then about a month later I decided I should change my twitter name so that it correlates with my blog name. Unfortunately the name on twitter had already been taken and I got into a fight of epic proportions over the name to the rights of "SportingBlueKc" with another twitter user. But, I didn't win. So I decided that if I can't have the name on Twitter than it would be very confusing, and so I decided to re-brand my blog name and twitter name completely. Hence, the new name, The Front Men.

OK, but what does The Front Men Mean?
"The Front Men" is an ancient term traced all the way back to pre-renaissance age, used as a friendly word/saying when bantering with another person, The Front Men is derived from the Latin word soccer, meaning "playi.............

Haha just kidding.

I decided to use The Front Men because it sounded somewhat catchy and people could easily put it on Twitter. As a side note if you're new to soccer "The Front Men" is used when describing the attackers on the team. Get it?


*Alright guys, thanks for all the support you've given me over these past couple months, keep checking back here for the best coverage on Sporting Kc. The Front Men FTW*