Sporting Kansas City

Sporting Kansas City today unveiled the list of 11 players they are protecting from selection in this year's Expansion Draft. On Wednesday, the Montreal Impact will choose players from the other 18 MLS teams in preparation for their first MLS campaign in 2012. The draft will be 10 rounds and no team may lose more than one player.

Mexican forward and Designated Player Omar Bravo is the biggest name left off of he list. Bravo tied for the team lead in scoring with nine goals. He also took the captain's armband the most often while Davy Arnaud was recovering from injury.

Other players left exposed to selection by Montreal include: defenders Seth Sinovic and Michael Harrington; midfielders Birahim Diop, Jeferson and Craig Rocastle; forward Soony Saad; and goalkeeper Eric Kronberg.

The following is a list of the players excluded from being taken in the draft. Homegrown Players Jon Kempin and Kevin Ellis are also automatically protected.

1. Davy Arnaud—The club's all-time leader in regular season appearances, Arnaud has been the team's captain for the past two seasons.
2. Matt Besler—An All-Star selection as a defender this past season, Besler led the team in minutes played.
3. Teal Bunbury—Part of Sporting's potent attack, Bunbury scored nine goals this season (plus two in the playoffs). He was also called into two USMNT camps by manager Jurgen Klinsmann.
4. Julio Cesar—The 33-year-old Brazilian midfielder contributed two goals and two assists in 25 starts in 2011.
5. Aurelien Collin—The French defender ranked fifth in MLS' Castrol Index rating system and scored three goals in 21 matches in 2011.
6. Roger Espinoza—Led his Honduran teammates to the semifinal of the 2011 Gold Cup while becoming a key part of Sporting's midfield.
7. Kei Kamara—The club's regular season points leader with nine goals and four assists. Plays internationally for Sierra Leone.
8. Chance Myers—A fourth-year player from UCLA, Myers recorded career highs in minutes, appearances and starts in 2011.
9. Jimmy Nielsen—The 34-year-old Dane was voted team MVP by his teammates, coaches and the media. Nielsen posted seven shutouts in 2011.
10. CJ Sapong—Named MLS Rookie of the Year, Sapong scored five goals and five assists during the regular season and was the only Sporting KC player to appear in every MLS game for the club.
11. Graham Zusi—The Maryland Terrapin product supplemented his team-leading five assists with a couple of highlight reel strikes from distance.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Midfielder Graham Zusi assisted on both goals to lead Sporting Kansas City to a 2-0 win in the second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal. In front of 18,565 rain-soaked fans in a sold-out LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Zusi became the first player in franchise history to get multiple assists in a playoff game.

Added to their result from the first leg, Kansas City now advances to the next round 4-0 on aggregate.

The first true scoring chance of the game came in the 16th minute, when defender Aurelien Collin played a long ball into the area for Teal Bunbury. Bunbury tracked it down near the end line, but his shot was saved by Brad Pickens and went out for a corner kick.

The game was fairly sloppy, owing to the incredibly wet conditions. The rain started a few hours before the game and did not let up. Chances were few and far between, but Kansas City seemed to get most of them.

Sporting KC opened the scoring in the 28th minute, when Zusi put a free kick into the penalty area, bouncing it off the back of Collin's head and into the back of the net.

In the first minute after halftime, forward C.J. Sapong went down in the box after attempting a bicycle kick. While he was down on the ground, Colorado's Marvell Wynne went up for a ball and caught Sapong in the head with his foot. Sapong was able to continue after receiving treatment.

Collin almost scored again in the 57th minute. Off a corner kick, Collin put the ball off the crossbar. Bunbury got to the rebound, but was not able to put the ball on target.

In the 61st minute, Sapong got on the end of a through ball and got a shot off, but a good save from Pickens kept the score 1-0.

Sapong doubled the lead in the 76th minute. Zusi sent a free kick into the area and Sapong got his head on it and buried it in the back of the net.

After the game, Sapong said, "Zusi did what he's been doing all season, putting the ball there for us forwards to go get it and I was able to go and get it and put it in the net."

Sporting will now wait to see who they play and when. If Real Salt Lake hosts the Western Conference final, Sporting will play the Houston-Philadelphia winner at 8 p.m. CT on Sunday. If Los Angeles or Seattle hosts, Kansas City will play at 4:30 CT, also on Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Sporting Kansas City, who were dead last in the league in May, continued their resurgence after the opening of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park and clinched a spot in the MLS playoffs with a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls. A standing-room-only crowd of 19,921 saw Sporting earn its first playoff berth since 2008.

With Philadelphia and Toronto playing to a 1-1 tie, Sporting moved into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Kansas City started the game in full-on attack mode. The first truly dangerous chance came in the first minute. Omar Bravo lifted a soft cross into the six-yard box, where defender Aurelien Collin headed it just wide.

New York's first chance came in the 11th minute when they put a ball into the penalty area. Luke Rodgers whiffed on it before Dane Richards took a shot that was saved by Jimmy Nielsen.

New York's hopes for winning the match took a huge hit in the 28th minute. While Roger Espinoza was on the ground, Thierry Henry kneed him in the back. Referee Kevin Stott wasted no time in reaching for the red card, and New York was reduced to 10 men.

Kansas City fairly dominated possession for the remainder of the first half, but the two teams went to their locker rooms deadlocked in a scoreless tie.

Sporting finally broke through in the 57th minute. Graham Zusi took a corner kick from the right wing. One player from each team got a head on it before Julio Cesar got the final header to Teal Bunbury, who volleyed it past goalkeeper Frank Rost.

It was Bunbury's ninth goal of the season, pushing him into a three-way tie for the team lead with Kei Kamara and Bravo.

In the 71st minute, there was a nasty collision near midfield between Zusi and national team defender Tim Ream. Both players were playing the ball, but Ream got up a lot higher and put his knee into the back of Zusi's head. Both players did, however, return to the field after being attended to on the sideline.

Kansas City increased their lead to 2-0 in the 74th minute. Forward C.J. Sapong, having entered the match in the 73rd minute, took a header from Matt Besler and volleyed it into the back of the net. It was Sapong's fifth goal of the season, further cementing his credentials for MLS Rookie of the Year.

After the game, Sapong said the team never doubted they would make the playoffs.

"Not one bit of doubt. We all believed in ourselves," he said. "We all knew how good we were, how talented and deep we were. We didn't really care, because all that did was kind of isolate us from everybody else. It just made the locker room and us become stronger as a group, and ultimately, that's what got us here."

Before the game, 50 people took the oath of allegiance to the United States and became new American citizens. A US district court judge administered the oath, and they were then welcomed by US Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS). One of the new citizens from Peru then sang the national anthem.

Sporting KC closes out the regular season with a road match against DC United on Saturday, October 22, at 7:30pm EDT.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sporting Kansas City forward Omar Bravo captained his current club against his old team in an international friendly at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Wednesday night. Bravo, a product of the Club Deportivo Guadalajara youth academy, scored 108 goals for the Mexican side after making his senior team debut in 2000.

After the game, Bravo said through a translator, "I respect Davy Arnaud a lot as the captain of the team, but I see it as a gift from Peter (Vermes) because of a game like this. It's something that means a lot to me to be captain for a game like this."

Chivas had the first truly dangerous chance of the game in the eighth minute. Midfielder Marco Fabian got loose on a breakaway. He managed to get around goalkeeper Eric Kronberg, who had come completely outside the 18-yard box. Two defenders had managed to get in behind Kronberg and Aurelien Collin tackled Fabian, but the ball trickled toward the net. Kronberg managed to hustle back and make sure the ball stayed out of the net.

In the 13th minute, KC forward Kei Kamara put a cross from the left wing into the penalty area for Jeferson. The Brazilian midfielder settled the ball but put it just over the crossbar.

In the 19th minute, Collin pulled forward Carlos Fierro down in the box and the referee awarded the penalty. Fabian put the ball in the back of the net to give the Mexican club an early 1-0 lead.

In the 26th minute, Graham Zusi put a ball into the penalty area for Bravo, but his header was over the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Kamara hit a rocket off the post and the rebound came out to Graham Zusi, but Zusi's shot was blocked.

Kansas City managed to get the majority of the chances through the rest of the first half, but still trailed going into the break.

In the 51st minute, halftime substitute Soony Saad got a through ball into Bravo, who put the ball into the back of the net. Unfortunately for Kansas City, the goal was waved off for being offside.

Saad equalized the match in the 75th minute. Saad got on the end of a through ball from midfielder Milos Stojcev and put the ball in past goalkeeper Victor Hugo Hernandez.

Kansas City took the lead in the 86th minute. Jeferson put a free kick into the area and an initial shot was blocked, but rookie Kevin Ellis was able to put the rebound into the net.

Chivas equalized less than two minutes later. A defensive lapse on the part of Stojcev allowed Erick Torres to get through to a one-on-one with Kronberg. Kronberg came out and tried to cut the angle, but Torres slipped the ball through and into the net to tie the game at 2-2.

In stoppage time, midfielder Craig Rocastle was sent off for a dangerous tackle. It turned out to be the final event of the game as the whistle was blown during the ensuing free kick.

Up next for Sporting Kansas City is a home match Saturday, October 15th at 3:00 pm CDT against the New York Red Bulls. The playoff implications for the game are clear: Win and they're in.

Frank Yallop’s San Jose Earthquakes and Peter Vermes’s Sporting Kansas City duked it out as both teams continued the chase for the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs at Buck Shaw Stadium. Both sides played it out to a 1-1 draw as both teams left it late.

Chris Wondolowski scored his 12^th goal of the season thanks to a sequence that involved Steven Beitashour and Simon Dawkins in the 85^th minute. However, just as the confetti was falling down, C.J. Sapong found Teal Bunbury for his eighth goal of the season.

“Our first thought wasn’t ‘Oh, let’s put our heads down. The game is over,’” Bunbury told Andrew Wiebe of MLSSoccer.com. “We picked ourselves up, and we went right at them immediately. We kicked it off, C.J. did his magic and I knew that I had to take off, make a good run in behind and finish it.”

"We would like to have won,” Vermes added, “but sometimes you have to battle and scrape and scrap the way we did in the first half. The bottom line is that the game is 90 minutes plus injury time. The guys did a really good job of staying in the game and realizing that it wasn’t over until the end.”

With the result, Sporting improve to 11-9-12 and remain the leaders of the MLS Eastern Conference with 45 points. As for San Jose, their hopes for a postseason spot are all but over as they sit in eighth place in the MLS Western Conference with a record of 6-11-14 and 32 points.

Next weekend, San Jose take on the New England Revolution, while Sporting’s next match is against the New York Red Bulls on Oct. 15.

Sporting Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury heads a list of players given national team call-ups for friendlies in October.

Bunbury (USA) joins midfielder Roger Espinoza (Honduras), defender Shavar Thomas (Jamaica), midfielder Craig Rocastle (Grenada), and midfielder Peterson Joseph (Haiti) in being selected for national team duty next month. Only Bunbury and Espinoza see regular action for Kansas City.

The call-ups are actually fairly well-timed for Sporting. After the team's game on Saturday versus the San Jose Earthquakes, they're off from league play until October 15th when they host the New York Red Bulls.

The only match these players may miss is a home friendly against CD Chivas Guadalajara (Mexico) on October 12th.

The call-ups also set up an interesting matchup. On October 8th, Bunbury and his American teammates will be in Miami to take on Espinoza and Honduras. It could be interesting to see if they take it easy on each other.

One notable omission on this list of call-ups is forward Kei Kamara.

Kamara tweeted that he had been invited to play in Sierra Leone's massive African Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa. However, he also said he'd been suspended by the FA. When asked why, Kamara replied, "That's the question am asking myself rite now cuz they haven't answered it."

This article will be updated with more details as they become available.

UPDATE: Kamara will be joining the Leone Stars for the match against Bafana Bafana, after all. Kamara tweeted this (Wednesday) afternoon, "Am doing it for Sierra Leone and all the people that believe in us. Just booked my flight and leaving USA to South Africa at 3pm."

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Sporting Kansas City team captain Davy Arnaud made a triumphant return to the starting lineup in a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday night at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. With the win, Kansas City moved into first place in the Eastern Conference, jumping in front of the Houston Dynamo.

Arnaud made his 237th appearance for the team, tying assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin for the club record for games played. Zavagnin retired after the 2008 season and has been part of the coaching staff since then.

Sporting KC (11-9-11, 44 pts.) jumped on the scoreboard in the 15th minute. Forward C.J. Sapong was brought down in the penalty area by defender Chad Marshall. Referee Hilario Grajeda did not hesitate in pointing to the spot. Kei Kamara stepped up and put the ball into the lower left of the net, with goalkeeper Will Hesmer going the opposite way.

Columbus (11-12-8, 41 pts.) equalized in the 35th minute. Robbie Rogers stole the ball near midfield and fed forward Emilio Renteria, who fired it past Jimmy Nielsen on Nielsen's right.

Kansas City recaptured the lead in the 74th minute. Defender Matt Besler put a long throw-in into the penalty area where Columbus' Julius James headed it into his own net.

Kansas City, a team that has had a hard time closing out games, played tight defense down the stretch, subbing out two midfielders for defenders after retaking the lead.

Kansas City's first chance of the game came in the sixth minute. Defender Aurelien Collin flicked the ball forward to Omar Bravo. Bravo juggled it once and shot, but Hesmer made the save with his shoulder.

12 minutes later, Columbus defender Sebastian Miranda crossed the ball into the box and midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo almost got onto the end of it, but it bounced over the endline for a goal kick.

Kansas City almost took the lead back in the 56th minute on a shot by Chance Myers, but the shot was deflected and hit the post, going out for a corner kick.

Kansas City will be back in action on Saturday, October 1st, when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium at 10:30pm ET.

Columbus will attempt to snap their six-match winless streak when they host DC United at 4:00pm ET.

Two MLS Eastern Conference rivals, Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia Union, went head-to-head on Friday as both sides battled to keep their playoff hopes alive with the season end drawing dangerously near.

Prior to the match at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, the two sides were separated by only one point in the standings, with Kansas City maintaining the third-best record in the conference and the automatic playoff position that comes with it.

Philadelphia hoped to take that position for themselves on the road, after falling to fourth in the conference, despite enjoying immense success and spectacular results early on in the 2011 campaign.

The opening period of the match was full of opportunities for both clubs, though neither side managed to capitalize on their chances. Philadelphia came close to opening their account early, however, when Sebastien Le Toux found space in the box, but sent his shot wide of the net.

Later in the half, a powerful header from Sporting midfielder Kei Kamara was skillfully put on frame, if just a bit high. The header bounced off the crossbar to preserve the 0-0 scoreline well into the second 45 minutes.

In the 56th minute, the home side struck first when Kamara's cross found Omar Bravo at the back post, who easily put it away for his ninth goal of the season.

Seven minutes later, Le Toux had another opportunity for Philadelphia when Michael Farfan found him in the box. This time, his attempt didn't go wide and the Union found their equalizing goal.

The 1-1 final result allows Kansas City to retain their third-place position in the Eastern Conference standings—which would see them through to the playoffs if they can hold that spot for the next four games.

The Union still sit in a potential playoff position themselves, currently holding an MLS wild-card spot with a game in hand over Sporting.

Goals:

Sporting KC: Omar Bravo (56')

Philadelphia: Sebastien Le Toux (63')

Sporting Kansas City Lineup:

Jimmy Nielsen, Chance Myers, Julio Cesar, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, Kei Kamara, Roger Espinoza, Graham Zusi, Jeferson, Omar Bravo, Teal Bunbury

Subs: Aurelien Collin for Jeferson (46'), C.J. Sapong for Teal Bunbury (62'), Soony Saad for Omar Bravo (89')

Philadelphia Union Lineup:

Zac MacMath, Carlos Valdes, Danny Califf, Gabriel Farfan, Kyle Nakazawa, Roger Torres, Amobi Okugo, Brian Carroll, Michael Farfan, Sebastien Le Toux, Veljko Paunovic

Subs: Jack McInerney for Veljko Paunovic (56'), Zach Pfeffer for Kyle Nakazawa (62'), Sefani Miglioranzi for Roger Torres (72')

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sporting Kansas City and the Philadelphia Union played to a 1-1 draw in front of 18,778 fans at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Friday night.

With the point, Kansas City moved into a tie with the Columbus Crew atop the Eastern Conference. By virtue of goal difference, Kansas City wins the first tiebreaker.

Sporting KC (10-9-11, 41 pts.) got on the scoreboard first in the 56th minute. Kei Kamara put in a cross from the left and Omar Bravo got onto the end of it, putting a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Three minutes later, Jack McInerney put in a low shot on goal for the Union, but Jimmy Nielsen made a kick save that sent the ball just over the crossbar.

Philadelphia (9-7-13, 40 pts.) equalized in the 62nd minute on a goal by Sebastian Le Toux. The ball almost went out of bounds, but Michael Farfan saved it and got it to Le Toux, who put the ball in past Nielsen.

It was Le Toux's seventh goal in his last seven games and eighth overall.

Sporting KC had a chance to take the lead back in the 67th minute. C.J. Sapong broke free from his defender on the left wing and made a beeline for the goal, but MacMath made the diving stop.

The match was scoreless at halftime, but not for a lack of trying. Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia both put good balls into the box, but nobody could finish them.

The first truly dangerous chance of the game came in the 16th minute when Farfan ran up the right side and crossed the ball to an oncoming Veljko Paunovic. Paunovic's shot was blocked by defender Chance Myers.

Sporting KC's first close call came in the 40th minute. Brazilian midfielder Jeferson put a dangerous corner in from the right side. Kamara managed to get a head on it, but it just skipped over the crossbar.

Philadelphia came into the game shorthanded, with defender Shannon Williams, midfielder Freddy Adu and forward Danny Mwanga all missing the game due to injuries.

Up next, Sporting Kansas City will host Columbus on Wednesday, September 28th at 7:30 p.m. CT in a match with huge playoff implications.

Philadelphia returns home to play DC United on Thursday, September 29th at 8 p.m. ET.