Sporting Kansas City

The questions in Guadalajara have been answered.

Omar Bravo Tordecillas of Los Mochis, Sinaloa has signed with the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer.

Over the past couple of weeks, confusion surrounded the Guadalajara fans as their second best striker in the history of their club was not added to the list of players that would compete in the incoming local tournament.

Omar Bravo Tordecillas has been with Chivas of Guadalajara since his early years as he was the result of their youth development program.

Since his debut in 2001, Omar Bravo's career has been filled with accomplishments, titles, and with his name is many history books in the club and international level.

His talent landed him in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany in which he was Team Mexico's top scorer with the two goals scored vs. Iran in his World Cup debut.

As a result of his performance in Germany, many teams showed interest in the Mexican striker.

Bravo's dream was to play in Europe, bit with so many offers on the table, Omar Bravo insisted to Chivas Management to facilitate his exit to join a European club.

This provided bad media and the relationship between Bravo and Guadalajara President Jorge Vergara has deteriorated over time.

After punishing the striker for publicly announcing his desire to leave and with Bravo becoming a free agent, the Sinaloa native signed a three-year contract with Deportivo la Coruña of Spain.

Omar Bravo was living out his dream, but this dream would soon come to grips with his difficult reality.

Coach Miguel Angel Lotina was not giving the striker many opportunities on the field and with the World Cup in South Africa around the corner, Bravo returned to Mexico only to realize how much the stay in Spain affected his performance.

It took Omar Bravo over a year to find a constant rhythm, and as previously discussed in another article, Bravo was no longer a fan favorite and his career began to exit the spotlight.

The spotlight is now back on Omar Bravo as he takes on the challenge to start off fresh, to try a different style of play, and try to conquer new horizons.

With speedy forward Kei Kamara as his future teammate in Kansas City, it seems that Juan Pablo Angel and Thierry Henry will not be the only Dynamic Duo in the MLS.

The news of this shocking transfer has just been made public in Mexico as of July 17, 2010.

Reactions are expected and so is Bravo's presence in the MLS.

With Cuauhtemoc Blanco's great performance in Chicago and Luis Angel Landin's lack of experience in Houston, Omar Bravo has the task to show his many talents and prove why the signings of Mexican player in U.S. soccer is beneficial to the league.

Omar Bravo will report with Kansas City in the next few hours to complete the signing process and will join the team as they prepare to qualify to the MLS Playoffs hoping to conquer the league.

Welcome, Omar Bravo, to a league full of growth and potential.

Welcome to the home of rising stars and beautiful displays of football.

Welcome to Major League Soccer.

In 2009, the Kansas City Wizards went from a playoff team to a bottom-three team in MLS. The team was plagued by a poor attack, scoring the second-least number of goals (33). The team spent the 2010 offseason making major changes to the roster in hopes of rectifying their offensive woes and getting back into the playoffs.

Head Coach Curt Onalfo was axed and Peter Vermes was brought in to replace him.

While Vermes and the front office indulged in quite a bit of player movement, there are three returning MLS veterans the team will lean on heavily: forward Josh Wolff, midfielder-forward Davy Arnaud, and defender Jimmy Conrad.

Wolff was one of the top goal scorers last season (11) and is one of the active leaders in career goals (73). His 11 goals last year were a career high in his 11-year MLS career. The Wizards will need him to continue to stay hot and put the ball in the back of the net to be successful.

He’s also made 52 appearances for the United States National Team and was a member of two World Cup squads. His experience will be invaluable to the team as everyone tries to gel.

Arnaud has been with the team his entire professional career, amassing 191 regular season appearances. He didn’t break into the starting lineup until his second season, but he made an immediate impact scoring in the 11th minute of the match against the then-named Metrostars, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Conrad, another Wizards mainstay, has been with Kansas City since 2003 and played in 178 games for the team, including the 2005 season when he was named MLS Defender of the Year. He was a teammate of Wolff’s in the 2006 World Cup. His experience will also help stabilize not only the team, but as the center back, he will be counted on to keep the defense organized.

Those three will be instrumental in keeping the team together as a number of players from last year are no longer with the team.

Gone are second leading scorer and points leader Claudio Lopez and forward Herculez Gomez (in 34 appearances with Kansas City, Gomez scored only one goal; in 12 appearances with Mexican side Puebla, Gomez has tallied an impressive seven goals).

Surprisingly, goalkeeper and MLS all-time saves, shutouts, and victories leader Kevin Hartman was also traded.

The Wiz replaced Hartman with Danish keeper Jimmy Nielsen, who made 342 appearances with Danish Superliga team Aab Fodbold.

In front of him, Kansas City added Colombian defender Pablo Escobar. The team hopes he continues the trend of Colombians being successful in the league, following in the footsteps of players like Juan Pablo Angel and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

On offense, the Wizards will hope a full season from Kei Kamara will help them.

Kamara came over in a late season trade with Houston in 2009 and only appeared in six games for Kansas City. He has great speed and could be quite dangerous.

They also added English midfielder-forward Ryan Smith. Once a member of storied English Premier League club Arsenal, the Wizards hope he has already made an impact in Kansas City, scoring in the team’s season-opening win over DC United.

Another player to watch out for is rookie Teal Bunbury. The clinical finisher from the University of Akron was Soccer America’s player of the year and a first team All-American. His father, Alex, is a former Wizards player, and he should get a fair share of chances to play this season.

Many thought it would take a considerable amount of time for so many new faces to gel, but the Wizards came out of the gates of the 2010 season with a bang, thumping D.C. United (and Onalfo) 4-0.

It’s still early and D.C. has a number of new players trying to fit together as well, but it was an impressive performance and it will be interesting to see how the Wizards play together for the rest of the season.

With the MLS Regular season less than a month away, most teams are wrapping up their exhibition schedules and fine-tuning their rosters.

FC Dallas did their fine tuning by making a deal to acquire four-time MLS All-Star keeper Kevin Hartman, one of the league’s most formidable back-stops. In exchange for Hartman, Kansas City received a second-round pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.

Hartman appeared in all 30 regular season games for the Wizards in the 2009 season, earning a 1.40 goals against average and collecting an impressive 105 saves. Hartman's all-time regular season record is 146-120-64 and his postseason record is 22-15-7.

The former U.S. National team member holds all the major goalkeeping records in MLS history. He owns the record in games played in goal with 333, games started in goal with 328, minutes played in goal with 29,835, wins in goal with 146, saves in goal with 1,235 and shutouts with 84.

"I'm excited to be in Dallas," said the 35-year-old Hartman. "It's the place where I won the 2005 championship with the Galaxy and it's always held a place in my heart. I'm excited to be here to play in front of the Dallas fans and excited to start a new chapter in my soccer career."

Meanwhile, the expansion Philadelphia Union announced the signing of Colombian midfielder Roger Torres on loan from América de Cali of the Columbian First Division.

Torres has been with the club in training camp and will be officially added to the roster pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).

Torres, 18, debuted with América de Cali last year, starting all 15 games in which he played. In 2008, he played his first professional game with Colombian First-Division-B club Alianza Petrolera.

Note: Hartman quote courtesy of FC Dallas.

It's pretty hard to stand out when you're one of nine brothers, but stand out, is exactly what 19-year-old Teal Bunbury did, during the recent MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia.

Bunbury, the 2009 Hermann Trophy award winner, honored so for being the best male collegiate soccer player in the nation, was selected fourth overall in the draft, by the Kansas City Wizards.

Of course, given Teal’s finishing ability on the pitch and the fact that he led the country with an NCAA-high 17 goals while leading Akron to the College Cup final this season, tells you all you need to know about why the Wizards whisked him off the draft board.

There is however one very poignant aspect to this story. Teal won’t be the first Bunbury to play for Kansas City. Ten years ago, his dad Alex played one season with the Wizards, thus making them the first ever father-son combo to play Major League Soccer.

"It's pretty much full circle, isn't it?" The elder Bunbury said. "I'm a man of faith, so I guess someone up there was making it happen for us. For a father to sit there and watch his son that he loves unconditionally join the team he once played for...words can not describe how I felt."

I guess the next question we need answered, is just how far from the tree does that apple fall when comparing their respective playing styles?

“I was a player who played with my back to the goal,” said Alex. “He can do that too, I would say he is a more natural goal scorer than I was, he has the ability to create his own opportunities.”

If that’s the case, then Junior should have no trouble passing dad on the Wizards all time goal scoring list. In just 24 appearances with Kansas City during the 1999-2000 season, dad found the back of the net four times.

Don’t however sell the old man short. While playing club soccer for Sports Martimo of the Portugese Liga Sigra, dad scored 59 goals in a 169 appearances. The elder Bunbury was also a mainstay of the Canadian National Team from 1986-1997 and is currently enshrined in Canada’s Soccer Hall of Fame.    

"It's an amazing feeling, being able to say that my dad played for the Kansas City Wizards and now I'm going to as well," Teal Bunbury said. "I feel honored and privileged to carry on the Bunbury name in Major League Soccer."

Enough is enough.  The Kansas City Wizards have been struggling for a while.  Their were high hopes when Curt Onalfo took over coaching duties before the 2007 season started.  Onalfo guided the team to a pretty average record of 27-29-22 during his tenure with the team. 

This season had been more of the same. 

The club currently sports a 5-7-6 record this season.  They are winless in their last four, a stretch in which they have scored just one goal.

The high hopes have turned into a painfull reality for Kansas City Fans.  Management had seen enough and Curt Onalfo was fired on Monday.

One has to think that the final straw was a humiliating 6-0 loss away at FC Dallas. 

Kansas City played the final 22 minutes of the game with 10 men after a red card was issued to Claudio Lopez for a retaliatory hit to the head. 

They were down 3-0 at the time and would give up three more.  FC Dallas striker Jeff Cunningham scored four times. 

This game was not a high point in Wizards history by any measure.

Onalfo was replaced today by former Kansas City Wizards player and current technical director Peter Vermes.  Vermes will stay on as Interim coach for the rest of the year.

The question now is whether this change will produce any kind of spark when the Wizards play the Chicago Fire on Aug. 16. 

7:34 p.m., about 90 minutes after the Sol-Athletica game. And so I create what likely will be the only MLS play-by-play I will be making in a while. Great National Anthem, along with some fireworks. And there is Bruce Arena.

He sits, waiting, hoping, praying for a result.

Kickoff: 7:35 PM

1' - Orlando and Los Angeles are going to meet in the NBA final. Here we go. I see my Riot Squad friends. Hello to you, and the ACB. And  some confetti to begin the match, though that's not going to mean much if the Wizards score here.

2' - Augh, why the heck do they show the random L.A. fans? Show the bloody game!

3' - Free-flowing football tonight. ACB getting some in-stadium publicity.

4' - Huge opportunity missed. This is a patchwork team. The only good one there is Landon Donovan. Everyone else, well, is meh. This is why it's a treat to have me, a WPS guy, writing a MLS play-by-play.

5' - Uh oh, Trouble for KC, but danger is cleared.

7' - Chance here for the G's, but the Wizards backline clears.

8' - Hard tackle leads to a goal kick by Kansas City, and former Galaxy keeper Kevin "El Gato" Hartman.

9' - Testy challenge by the Wizards, and a free kick opportunity for Los Angeles.

10' - Defended with precision by Kansas City. These long balls are going nowhere for both sides, unless you are talking about the sign boards.

12' - Great save by Ricketts. He is filling his shoes well.

13' - Hartman reaches for that one. Action plus.

14' - Here come those G's again, opening up the field. Throw-in for the Wizards.

15' - Those horns...they will be the death of the Riot Squad.

16' - A shot by Donovan went wide right. Could only be a matter of time.

17' - Hartman asking his men to go forward. Jeez Louise, these G's are hungry for a victory.

19' - Mike Magee doesn't look to be injured, gets going again.

22' - Another solid stop by Kevin Hartman. This has just be flat-out frustrating. Former Galaxy captain Peter Vagenas is watching from the press box.

23' - An opportunity for the Kansas City Wizards missed. Here come the G's...

25' - It's been a series of oohs and aaahs all around. This has been a defensive match, with neither team able break the deadlock yet, but the crowds seem to enjoy it.

27' - Kevin Hartman continues to show he's lost none of his poise. Another great save.

29' - Foul on the Galaxy. Another opportunity stalled due to questionable officiating by the partisan crowd.

31' - Ugh. I should have known...Terry Vaughn is officiating the match. Of all people, it's this tosser. Cue the facepalm.

32' - Another one goes wide, but it's a corner for LA. And that didn't corner didn't account to much. So what else is new?

33' - I think the Sol are finishing a little bit better than the Galaxy, but that's just me. There's a lot of factors to weigh as the crowd gasps in frustration.

36' - And the possession game continues.

37' - Trouble for LA, but the danger is averted. Even Vagenas is wondering, "What the heck is going on?" A smart-aleck from the press tells me, "It's better than watching paint dry, having you over here."

39' - And another save from the amazing Kevin Hartman.

40' - Come on Terry, what's with the pat on the back. You don't need to rub it in, now. Get on with it!

43' - Well the Tie-Fighters are winning the battle...not sure about the war, though.

45' - This has been another keeper battle...Ricketts with a diving save! One minute of stoppage added.

HALFTIME

Los Angeles Galaxy 0

Kansas City Wizards 0

Hoo-hah.

Game Stats
    Kansas City Wizards    Los Angeles Galaxy
Total Shots:    2    6
Shots on Goal:    1    1
Total Saves:    1    1
Fouls:    7    2
Offsides:    1    1
Corner Kicks:    1    1

Double hoo-hah. One of the the people in the press box said that the MLS people got it wrong. Another said, "Never trust the stats people."

Met Dave Denholm for the first time, talked a little bit about the Sol's success, and even told him about my work.

Second-half start: 8:39 pm

46' - Well, can we score for once? Elton John's "Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting" plays. How fitting.

47' - Yellow card to Jimmy Conrad of the Wizards. Former Galaxy player Herculez Gomez is also on the Wizards first team.

48' - That set piece went nowhere. This match is again a defensive feast.

52' - Gah, these horns...

53' - And the Angel City Brigade's minions dance like they are winnings, while the flatulating machines provide the ominous melody.

55' - That shot by Matt Besler just missed the net. Long-distance, too.

55' - Facepalm moment, baby. I can understand why the ticketholders to these matches are not pleased. Then again, now with the Sol winning today, Grahame Jones, do you still think the Sol should sack Abner Rogers? In your fantasy world, his head would be roasted on a spit, I would imagine.

Que sera, sera.

57' - A.J. De La Garza gets a yellow card for a bad challenge.

58' - And so we have some substitutions taking pace during this stretch.

59' - Red card to 16 Gregg Berhalter for a foul. See what I mean by tosser? Vaughn better be ready for projectiles thrown his direction.

59' - Ricketts saves a set piece.

61' - The ACB and LARS trying to stir up the crowd. The question is, is it even effective?

61' - Substitutions Kansas City Wizards:
IN 17 Roger Espinosa
IN 28 Graham Zusi
OUT 2 Michael Harrington
OUT 26 Kevin Souter

Substitutions Los Angeles Galaxy:
IN 14 Edson Buddle
IN 22 Tony Sanneh
OUT 18 Mike Magee
OUT 21 Alan Gordon

64' - Cross by the Wizards went nowhere.

66' - Edson Buddle comes in; can he provide something for the fans to chew on?

67' - Set piece for KC...liftoff! That would have counted for three...in the American code.

70' - Half-hearted shot attempt from the G's.

71' - Mexican wave? Sounds like it.

72' - Corner for LA. You could defend that set piece with Braille. I'm gaga for the Chickisms, forgive me.

73' - The crowd is getting impatient.

74' - And so is Buddle. This has been a game of shots well off-target, and great saves of shots on target. And a red card. And a few yellows.

76' - Those horns...there they go again.

78' - Franko, a Galaxy media guy, tell me that 19,673 were in attendance. More than three times that of the Sol. They are just waiting for something to happen. More than half-capacity.

78' - Substitution Los Angeles Galaxy
IN 7 Chris Klein
OUT 6 Eddie Lewis

79' - Yellow card to Davy Arnaud of the Wizards.

81' - Have mercy Miss Percy, it seems we've got another draw on the way.

82' - These bad shots sure are becoming a nasty habit, aren't they? A corner wasted.

83 - I would imagine if the Galaxy score, it's gonna be electric.

84' - GOAL! Kansas City 22 Davy Arnaud. Assists: 21 Herculez Gomez, 17 Roger Espinoza
Can someone call Guus Hiddink and tell him that the position at Los Angeles is open? Tell him that after your run with Russia, please manage this club. I promise, this guy is no Ruud Gullit. Complete opposite.

86' - Equalizing opportunity wasted.

87' - GOAL!!! Los Angeles Galaxy 14 Edson Buddle Assist: 10 Landon Donovan
Calling Guus, Calling Guus, we hope you consider...now these guys need to score.

90' - Three minutes of stoppage time, says Baldomero Toledo, the 4th official tonight.

90' + 2' - Yellow card to KC's Lance Watson.

FINAL

Los Angeles Galaxy 1
(Buddle 87)

Kansas City Wizards 1
(Arnaud 84)

Just another victory [sic] for the TIE-fighters.

The Recent Results: Kansas City, or “the Wiz” as I like to call them, threw away a good start last year to end up fourth in the East. Though they just barely made the playoffs, they were dominated by CMB in the first round. Their defense was awesome (fourth in the league), but their Achilles’ Heel, their crappy offense (12th), kept them from the Cup.

The Man in Charge: I like Curt Onalfo, I really do, but when he was brought in to take over the Wiz many people said he would give the team a more “attacking style”. Well, I do respect the fact he would rather go for the win than the tie, but sometimes a manager has to tone it down and play for points. Plus, as you can tell, they aren’t scoring a ton.

On the Offensive: If there is one player in MLS (other than possibly Becks) who has something to prove this year, it’s Claudio “The Louse” Lopez. He was a huge disappointment last year and KCW will need him to regain his old form to compete. If Jimmy Conrad ends up almost leading the team in goals again, heads will start rolling in Kansas City.

For the Defense: Speaking of Jimmy, isn’t he dreamy? Um, sorry about that. The KC defense is pretty nightmarish for opponents actually. In addition to JC, they have Harrington and Myers returning and the legendary Kevin Hartman still in goal. With help from strong defensive mids like Mr. Jewsbury, KC will again be tough to score on.

Movie They Resemble: This was a really hard one, but I ended up picking (obviously) The Wiz as the film KC most resembles. They aren’t the real deal (i.e. The Wizard of Oz) yet, but their Wizard (Peter Vermes) is trying to get them there.

Plus, they have an oft-injured Tin Man (Adam Cristman), an enigmatic Scarecrow (Herculez Gomez) and a not-so-cowardly Lion (Jimmy C). I hope they do well in 2009. Of course, to do so, they will have to “follow the yellow brick road”. Just go ahead and insert your favorite wiz/whiz joke here.

The Columbus Crew, as expected, beat the Kansas City Wizards 2-0 to win their Eastern Conference semifinal Saturday.

The Crew, the top seed in the MLS Cup, extended their home-unbeaten streak to 10 games and will meet the Chicago Fire in the conference final.

The Crew got rolling early when Brad Evans put them one up after only seven minutes. The goal settled the nerves of the Crew players and fans, who were looking for their first playoff win in more than six years. Evans said:

“B.C. [Brian Carrol]) just lifted his head, picked me out, and played a nice ball, I think it was over Conrad. It kind of turned him around a bit. As soon as the ball hit the ground, I saw Hartman out of the corner of my eye. [My] only option really was to put it up high. Luckily, it took a good bounce.”

Columbus put the game out of reach early in the second half when Robbie Rogers knocked in a cross from Alejandro Moreno. “It was a great ball. I just had to keep it on target,” Rogers said. “Both goals came at important times. The first set the tone. The second made them change their formation and it was easier for us to get the ball."

The Columbus Crew are now 90 minutes away from reaching the MLS Cup Final for the first time in the club’s existence. The match-up with the Fire will take place this Thursday, Nov. 13,  with a 7:30 EST kick-off.

Columbus won the regular season series with two wins and a 3-3 tie in Columbus on July 17, and I expect them to defeat the Fire this Thursday and go onto their first MLS Cup.

Well, “may” is actually a little conservative. At least one record will fall (or at least be tied). The record? Career post-season games played. The new record holder? Mr. Kevin Hartman of the KC Wiz.

Kansas City’s stalwart GK will play in his 45th playoff game this weekend and tie Cobi Jones MLS record. I’m glad Hartman is getting the record, as he narrowly missed breaking the all-time MLS saves record this season (he’s currently six short of Mr. Ponytail himself, Tony Meola).

Congrats to Kevin and his family, and I hope he shuts out the Crew to celebrate, though I would hesitate to bet on it.

The second record that could fall? All-time goals against per playoff game average. Why do I suddenly feel like I may be the only person in the world who even knows this record is about to fall. Well, one more person may know.

Matt Reis. But that would only be because he is the one about to tie (or break) the record. At 0.67 goals per game, Reis is only .01 behind Adin Brown, who was once on my beloved Tampa Bay Mutiny. I wish Reis luck, but I shiver when I think of any ex-Mutineer losing a piece of MLS history.

To break the record, Reis will need another shutout tomorrow night. Of course, then he will have to play in more games, which will likely put the record back at risk. We probably won’t know whether Reis has the record until after NER is eliminated. Or after they break their Buffalo Bills like streak of losses in the MLS Cup Championship.

I wouldn’t bet on that either.

A goal in the second minute of stoppage time by substitute Steven Lenhart earned the top-seeded Columbus Crew a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Kansas City had taken the lead via Davy Arnaud in the 53rd minute, but the Wizards were forced to play with 10 men for the final 15 minutes after Herculez Gomez was sent off for a hard foul.

Columbus pressured late and finally broke through when Lenhart controlled a bouncing ball at the top of the 18-yard box and fired a right-footed shot into the lower left corner to even the score.

 

The second leg will be played next Saturday at Columbus.  Buy Crew vs Wizards Tickets