By all accounts, the 2011 MLS season was a huge success for Sporting Kansas City. Off the field, the franchise re branded from the Wizards name of old, into the Sporting organization that we all know today. The club also opened the brand new $200 million dollar LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

On the field, Sporting equaled the success of the front office moves, finishing the regular season atop the Eastern Conference. Kansas City would defeat the defending MLS Cup Champion Colorado Rapids in a two leg series, before finally falling to the Houston Dynamo 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final.

The success and accolades Sporting experienced in 2011 means that the the going will be a bit tougher if Kansas City hopes to repeat, or surpass the levels they reached a season ago.

One could make the case that Kansas City had the advantage of sneaking under the radar in 2011. Sporting won't have the luxury of being labeled the "underdogs" in 2012. Every team in Major League Soccer will be gunning for Kansas City now.

Last season, Sporting were also able to go largely unscathed in regards to injuries to key players. There were nicks here or there along the way, but the club never experienced a player of the caliber of say, Graham Zusi or Matt Besler being out for an extended amount of time due to injury. Will Sporting Kansas City have the same luck this season? The odds would probably suggest otherwise.

Also to be taken into account is the fact that a number of Sporting's top level players may miss significant time due to international play. Last season both Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone), Teal Bunbury (U.S.), and Roger Espinoza (Honduras) spent time with their respective national teams. This year you can add Zusi and CJ Sapong (both U.S.) to that list, which means that Sporting could be hurting if any number of these players are called up for national team duty, and have to miss time with Kansas City.

Of course, the biggest question in all of this is just how Sporting Kansas City will deal with the weight of expectations. Sporting are now viewed as one of the best teams in MLS, and a true title contender. There's a general sense among the fans in Kansas City that there's no reason the team shouldn't be able to reach the MLS Cup Final in 2012. The organization itself has said that anything less would be a disappointment.

Those expectations of an MLS Cup Final appearance, and just how the club reacts to playing the role of "Eastern Conference favorite", are what makes Sporting Kansas City's upcoming season one of the top stories in 2012.

Check out other entries in the series below:
1. Romeo Crennel's first season as Chiefs head coach
2. Missouri moves to the SEC
3. K-State's quest for repeat success

Welcome to the first edition of The Daily Wiz Round Table. Basically, it's just us at The Daily Wiz giving our thoughts on various Sporting Kansas City topics.

For the inaugural edition, topics will be covered by myself (Justin), and Joe (TDW's USMNT writer). Future editions should have more of an actual round table effect, as Alex will be joining in on the conversations, and we'll be looking to have a guest share their views as well. For now, hopefully you'll enjoy our thoughts on the off season signings, our early predictions on who will be Sporting's 2012 MVP and team captain, and what kind of impact we think Dom Dwyer and Cyprian Hedrick will have during their rookie seasons.

We'd love to read your thoughts on these particular topics, so feel free to share your opinions in the comments.

Continue reading this post »

I think it's safe to assume that many fans are looking for a big second season from Sporting Kansas City forward CJ Sapong. Sapong had quite the rookie year after being drafted 10th overall in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft. He was ultimately named MLS Rookie of the Year, after scoring five goals, and adding five assists in 34 matches during the 2011 regular season.

No doubt, I anticipate Sapong will have a very good year in 2012 as well, but as I was attempting to project just how well I think CJ will do this season, it did get me thinking about a certain dreaded term in the sports world.

"Sophomore Slump."

Wikipedia describes the term "Sophomore Slump" as " an instance in which a second, or sophomore, effort fails to live up to the standards of the first effort. It is commonly used to refer to the apathy of students (second year of college or university) the performance of athletes (second season of play), singers/bands (sophomore album), television shows (second seasons) and movies (sequels/prequels)."

While using the term sophomore slump for burnt out students, redundant TV shows, and less-than stellar movie sequels surely makes sense, I've most commonly heard the term used in reference to music, and to athletes.

Pop Culture Example (or just a poor excuse for me to insert music into the conversation): In 2003, rock band The Darkness released their hit record "Permission to Land," a record that still holds a place in my heart as one of the best (although over the top, and borderline pardody) rock records in a good long while. You probably remember them most by their song "I Believe In A Thing Called Love." The record was a huge success, selling over 1.3 million albums and launching the band into star status.

Which is why when the band released their second album, "One Way Ticket To Hell.. and Back" in 2005, expectations were running high. Needless to say, "One Way Ticket" failed to deliver on such lofty expectations, and the band subsequently fell apart not much later on (although the band is currently attempting a comeback).

Examples of the dreaded sophomore slump can be found in all of the major American sports. Players that had amazing rookie seasons only to have their second year in their respective sports fail to meet expectations.

But what about in MLS?

Continue reading this post »

Seems like it's been a slow news week in regards to Sporting Kansas City, however, the team did play their first preseason match of 2012, a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski scored in the third minute of action to put the 'Quakes up 1-0 early. Kei Kamara (4'), and Konrad Warzycha (81') scored for Sporting.

Great way to start the season, even if it's a meaningless preseason match. Without being able to watch the match, all we are left with are these nifty highlights.

Continue reading this post »

A couple of weeks back we took a look at Sporting Kansas City's International roster situation. Things haven't changed since then, but it appears the club is working on freeing up as many as four slots, some of them within the next month or so.

In Steve Brisendine's article on MLSsoccer.com, four players on Kansas City's current roster are listed as actively seeking permanent resident status, allowing the club more international roster flexibility in the future. Those four players are Julio Cesar (Brazil), Aurelien Collin (France), Jimmy Nielsen (Denmark), and first round draft pick, Dom Dwyer (England).

The three other players currently occupying international roster slots on the team are Daneil Cyrus (Trinidad & Tobago), Korede Aiyegbusi (England), and Peterson Joseph (Haiti).

Sporting sent one of their international roster slots to the San Jose Earthquakes in the trade to acquire midfielder Bobby Convey.

Continue reading this post »

Vitalis Takawira, in pre Digital Crawl mode.
Photo courtesy of Life.com

We here at The Daily Wiz have been doing quite a bit of brainstorming lately, trying to shape this thing into a more consistent blog. One of the many things Joe, Alex, and myself discussed was what to do with The Daily Links. I initially would have liked to do them every day, but over time I realized two things: 1. It's extremely time consuming, and 2. I feel like they aren't as effective when I do them everyday. Basically, writing The Daily Links every day was becoming monotonousness. However, I knew I still liked the idea, so I didn't want to totally stop doing them.

Thus, we've decided to continue our links post on The Daily Wiz, but we will only be posting them twice a week, which means the quality should be better, seeing as I will only be focusing in on two of these a week. Since these collection of links won't be posted every day like they used to be, changing the name from The Daily Links to something else was a must. Joe initially brought up the idea of calling these posts "The Digital Crawl," as a way to pay homage to everyone's favorite Zimbabwean striker, Vitalis "Digital" Takawira.

Continue reading this post »

Sporting Kansas City have announced they have resigned Luke Sassano.

The 26 year old midfielder played in nine matches, five of those in the starting line up, for Kansas City. Sassano scored one goal during the 2011 campaign.

2012 will be Sassano's fifth in Major League Soccer. He spent the first three seasons of his MLS career playing for the New York Red Bulls, where he made 42 total appearances for the Red Bulls during his time there. Sassano suffered a right ankle injury that required season ending surgery his last season with New York (2010). He was then selected by the Galaxy in the Re-Entry Draft Process.

Sporting acquired Sassano in 2010 in a trade with the LA Galaxy in exchange for the rights to Frankie Hejduk.

Per club policy, terms of Sassano's deal were not disclosed.

One of the big talking points for Sporting Kansas City during the off season has been the possibility of the club bringing in a designated player to help bolster their chances in 2012. It appeared a couple of months ago that the club would sign at least one designated player in the current transfer window. However, expectations for a DP signing have been tempered as of late, with Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman noting that the chances of signing a designated player in this window are slim at this point.

On the surface, the idea of signing a higher profile player from overseas would appear to make sense for an organization that is in "MLS Cup or Bust" mode. However, the history of the designated player in Major League Soccer suggests that perhaps Kansas City would be better served passing on a potential DP.

Even with the Galaxy's successful DP trio (Donovan, Beckham, Keane) in 2011, one has to wonder if the amount of money being invested in some of these players is actually worth the results on the pitch. For every successful DP signing, there have been a number of designated players that never lived up to their status as game changers in MLS. The 2011 Galaxy were actually the first team to win an MLS Cup with a designated player on their roster, which is somewhat surprising, given the fact that rule has been in place since 2006.

If anything, that last sentence should be comfort enough to Sporting fans that Kansas City doesn't need a DP to bring the MLS Cup to Kansas City in 2012.

Designated Players have been a mixed bag for the franchise in the past. Kansas City has only signed three DP's since the rule was implemented; Argentinean striker Claudio Lopez in 2008, Mexican forward Omar Bravo in 2010, and Brazilian midfielder Jeferson in the summer of 2011.

Continue reading this post »

Sporting Kansas City has announced that three trialists from this week's training camp will travel with the team to Tuscon, Arizona.

Goalkeepers Scott Spangler, and Scott Angevine, as well as midfielder Cyrus Sadee will make the trip with Sporting Kansas City as the club continues preparing for the 2012 MLS season.

The announcement means that the following trialists have been cut by Kansas City: midfielders Irving Garcia, and Matt Kuhn, and defender Kevin Strunk.

Another trialist, Myron Samuel, left earlier this week for undisclosed reasons.

Sporting departs for Tuscon tomorrow, where the club will train at the Kino Sports Complex until February 14th.

Sky Sports have published a report claiming that Sporting Kansas City may be after the signature of Scotsman, Kris Boyd.

Boyd, a 28 year old striker, most recently played with Turkish side, Eskisehirspor, but he terminated his contract with the club in mid-December, and is currently without a club team.

Boyd spent a number of years playing with Scottish Premier League side, Rangers F.C, scoring 101 goals in 143 appearances during his five years with the club. He also spent time with Kilmarnock FC, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest, before joining Eskisehirspor.

The Houston Dynamo were after Boyd just a few days ago, and a deal looked imminent, but it appears those plans have fallen through.

The Sky article also sites the Portland Timbers as a club interested in Boyd.

I'd honestly be surprised if Kansas City really are after Boyd, but as most of you know, I've been wrong before.

Sporting Kansas City's April 7th match against the defending MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy has been moved to ESPN.

The match, which will be held at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, was originally planned to view on ESPN2. With the switch to ESPN, the start time for the match has been moved up one hour. Kick off time is now set for 3PM.

Last year's September 5th match between the two clubs, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was one of the more exciting games in MLS in 2011. Julio Cesar and Omar Bravo netted goals for Sporting, while Sean Franklin was able to score both of LA's goals in a highly contested match.

With the new unbalanced schedule for 2012, the April 7th match will be the only time during the regular season that the two clubs meet.

The big story yesterday was Sporting Kansas City's own, Graham Zusi, scoring a goal in the USMNT's 1-0 victory over Panama last night.

Joe will be posting his thoughts on last night's game in the near future, so I won't get too much into the match. Just a few quick hits:

• Brek Shea needs a break. He's looked rather ordinary these past two matches. I think Jurgen needs to give the guy a rest.
• Nick Rimando gets my Man of the Match award. Panama could have scored at least a couple of goals if not for some great saves from Rimando. That leaky US defense sure could use Matt Besler, couldn't it?
• Teal Bunbury still has one of the most inconsistent first touches out there. Regarding last night's match, it was no where to be found.
• Zusi scored last night's goal the same way he scored his two goals in USMNT training: by not giving up on a play and seeing it through until the end.

Continue reading this post »

Now that the 2012 MLS SuperDraft has concluded, and Sporting Kansas City's training camp is officially underway, I thought ,"Why not take a look at the club's roster, and attempt to come up with a Starting XI, as well as first off the bench for each position?"

A lot of these are complete shoo-ins. Everyone knows the four players that will make up Kansas City's back line at the start of the season, but there are a couple of spots where things are a little more interesting.

Sporting has made a number of off-season moves, including the acquisitions of Bobby Convey, Paulo Nagamura, and Jacob Peterson. Out of the three new players, I would imagine Convey will be the only starter... at least on opening day.

I've written a little bit about Convey in the past. I actually think that Convey replacing Bravo on the left wing will help Kansas City's attack, as Bobby is a natural left winger, and he'll be looking much more to set up our center forwards with crosses into the box. Bravo spent much of his time cutting back into the middle of the pitch. Come to think of it, I really can't remember seeing Bravo cross a ball.

I can also envision Nagamura perhaps working his way into the starting lineup in the midfield alongside Graham Zusi and Julio Cesar somewhere down the line, especially if Roger Espinoza can't learn to control his emotions and exercise better judgement on the field more than what he has in the past.

Continue reading this post »

A couple of big stories yesterday. The first being that Sporting Kansas City officially began training camp yesterday at the Chiefs indoor practice facility. Sporting's official site, as well as The Full 90 have some good videos of the teams first day of full training, and be sure to check out Sporting's Facebook page for a photo album of yesterday's happenings.

Speaking of The Full 90, they have a nice piece about Matt Besler and his continued growth as a leader for Sporting. A team captain for the 2012 season hasn't been named, but I tend to think that Peter Vermes will give either Besler or Jimmy Nielsen the captain's armband.

The other big news yesterday was regarding the 2012 MLS All-Star Game, and how it appears now that it will be held at PPL Park, home of the Philadelphia Union. An announcement by MLS Commissioner Don Garber is supposed to take place tomorrow morning in Philly to confirm the speculation. LIVESTRONG Sporting Park was also in consideration for this year's All-Star Game. I'd imagine LSP will be hosting it either next season or in 2014.

Continue reading this post »

Yesterday was another slow day Sporting Kansas City-wise, but the good news is that today is the team's first official day of training, meaning we're one step closer to the start of the 2012 MLS season!

Over at MLSsoccer.com, Steve Brisendine wrote a piece about new Sporting midfielder, Paulo Nagamura, and how Sporting head coach Peter Vermes thinks Paulo will bring a ton of versatility to the table. I know Nagamura wasn't a big-time signing, but I think he could prove to be a big coup for the club.. if he can stay healthy. And that is a big "if."

The 28 year old Brazilian has had injury troubles in the past, featuring in only 26 matches over the past two seasons for Chivas USA. However, Vermes has insisted that Paulo is 100% ready to go for the 2012 season. I think Paulo will play a very good "jack of all trades" role for Sporting this year.

Drew Epperly over at WVhooligan.com posted an interesting article regarding the four remaining teams in MLS who are still without a kit sponsor (FC Dallas, Colorado, Columbus, and of course, Sporting KC). He also throws out a few potential sponsors for all four clubs, with Sprint and Pepsi being the two sponsors he thinks would make the most sense for Sporting Kansas City. Interesting stuff.

Continue reading this post »