Sporting KC Thread!! (Featuring All of MLS and sometimes Mexican Leagues too)

[scottwildcat]

http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives/2014/01/13/sporting-kansas-city-and-its-owners-among-the-biggest-sam-brownback-campaign-donors

 

BFD 

[scottwildcat]

In the next 20 years, we're not ever competing with the world powers anyway

I'm not so sure about that.

By "competing" I mean being a serious World Cup contender.  IMO, we're so far behind countries like Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc. that it will be decades before we're competing.  Easily.

20 years is a long time. I'm not sure we won't be a world power in soccer by then

[sunny_cat]

In the next 20 years, we're not ever competing with the world powers anyway

I'm not so sure about that.

By "competing" I mean being a serious World Cup contender.  IMO, we're so far behind countries like Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc. that it will be decades before we're competing.  Easily.

20 years is a long time. I'm not sure we won't be a world power in soccer by then

Especially at the rate the sport is growing here and the rate MLS is growing.

[Tobias]

i think people just want instant results to #1 usa powerhouse funtime.  shy of bombing other nations out of competition, it's just gonna take time.  it's amazing how much we've narrowed the gap in my lifetime, even if by absolute measures some of these countries are still of course quite a ways ahead of us.  crap, even the mls of today is nothing like the mls of ten years ago IMO.  homegrown talent is better, foreign players willing to come to MLS and play are getting younger/more renowned, etc.  great trends

[Cartierfor3]

i think people just want instant results to #1 usa powerhouse funtime.  shy of bombing other nations out of competition, it's just gonna take time.  it's amazing how much we've narrowed the gap in my lifetime, even if by absolute measures some of these countries are still of course quite a ways ahead of us.  crap, even the mls of today is nothing like the mls of ten years ago IMO.  homegrown talent is better, foreign players willing to come to MLS and play are getting younger/more renowned, etc.  great trends

I never met a Wizards fan, and I know like infinity SKC fans. Its trending upward IMO

[sunny_cat]

SuperDraft is on Thursday. No first round pick. SKC's first pick is #38.

[420seriouscat69]

Can't you guys just text each other? Is there really an off season in the MLS? We should be focusing on making a deal with Alex Smith in this city.

[sunny_cat]

Can't you guys just text each other? Is there really an off season in the MLS? We should be focusing on making a deal with Alex Smith in this city.

Normally everyone is welcome in the soccer threads, but you just earned yourself a ban, Fanning.

[star seed 7]

Can't you guys just text each other? Is there really an off season in the MLS? We should be focusing on making a deal with Alex Smith in this city.

like a trade??? 

[420seriouscat69]

 

[Tobias]

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/usa-boss-jurgen-klinsmann-thrilled-with-american-returns-to-major-league-soccer-011514?cmpid=tsmfb:fscom:FOXSoccer

Jurgen Klinsmann is confident the return of top American players to Major League Soccer will give a boost to the U.S. national team.

As the U.S. began a 12-day training camp with MLS players in Sao Paulo, where it will be based during the World Cup in June, Klinsmann said the recent returns of Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley to the league are ''exciting'' and ''huge for football in the United States.''

Dempsey joined Seattle in the summer and Bradley signed with Toronto FC this week.

Although Klinsmann indicated in the past he would rather see top American players testing themselves in top leagues overseas, he said Tuesday a stronger MLS benefits the national team.

''We said a couple of years ago that we wanted to be one day in the top 10, top 15 in the world,'' said Klinsmann, a German who moved to California in 1998. ''We have to develop better players, we have to develop better coaches, and it's not going to happen overnight, but we will keep working and the MLS is helping us a lot.''

He said MLS is sending a ''serious signal'' that it wants the best American players back in the United States so it can build a stronger league.

''We are not there yet, and we know that,'' Klinsmann said. ''But it's exciting. The players who are in Europe, many of them some big players, are now back in MLS.

''MLS is getting better every year,'' he added. ''We are working at full pace, hopefully we can prove a lot of good work already this summer.''

Klinsmann said it has been crucial for the league to attract strong owners with the financial means to recruit top Americans from Europe.

''People jump in financially, want the best American players in America,'' Klinsmann said. ''Suddenly they bring back a Clint Dempsey from Tottenham, they bring back a Michael Bradley from AS Roma, and they are working on other players as well. This is huge for football in the United States.''

Klinsmann is using mostly U.S.-based players in the camp in Sao Paulo, including 10 who helped the Americans qualify for their seventh straight World Cup.

''We can bring more players because the European-based players are not coming in, obviously,'' Klinsmann said. ''So it gives more spots to young players who want to show how good they are. Maybe they can still jump on the train for the World Cup. They all have a point to prove. They all want to prove to me that they deserve to be back during the World Cup.''

He said he wants to give the players an early chance to get to know Brazil ahead of the soccer's biggest tournament.

''This is a wonderful opportunity for us,'' Klinsmann said after the team's first practice session at the training center of Sao Paulo Futebol Clube.

''It gives us the opportunity to be already at the facility we are going to stay in the World Cup, to get to know the hotel we are going to stay at and to get a feeling for the country,'' Klinsmann said.

He even wants his staff to start learning Portuguese in order to know some basic words by the time the team returns.

The Americans will stay in Brazil until Jan. 25 before heading home for an exhibition against South Korea on Feb. 1 at Carson, Calif., where they began their 11th annual January training camp last week.

The U.S. opens the World Cup against Ghana on June 16, plays Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal six days later and closes the group stage against Germany on June 26.

[Cartierfor3]

Will SKC defend their title successfully?

[sunny_cat]

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/usa-boss-jurgen-klinsmann-thrilled-with-american-returns-to-major-league-soccer-011514?cmpid=tsmfb:fscom:FOXSoccer

He's right (if serious).

[sunny_cat]

 

Good info though.

[scottwildcat]

Lol at the flow chart, but none of that matters if LA or NYRB or Seattle wants someone

[sunny_cat]

Lol at the flow chart, but none of that matters if LA or NYRB or Seattle wants someone

And now NYCFC.

[sunny_cat]

I already mentioned these rumors I think, but sources are saying Xavi has confirmed his move to New York Red Bulls after the World Cup.

[Tobias]

I already mentioned these rumors I think, but sources are saying Xavi has confirmed his move to New York Red Bulls after the World Cup.

that's just mindblowing to me.  good thing is he's not incredibly ancient, as he'll still be 33 years old then.   

[sunny_cat]

MLS is one big giant stud. NYCFC is going to bring in Ibrahimovic and Tim Howard.

[sunny_cat]

I already mentioned these rumors I think, but sources are saying Xavi has confirmed his move to New York Red Bulls after the World Cup.

that's just mindblowing to me.  good thing is he's not incredibly ancient, as he'll still be 33 years old then.   

Apparently NYCFC is in a bidding war with RBNY..

[scottwildcat]

Has a stadium deal finalized for NYCFC? I can't remember.

[sunny_cat]

Has a stadium deal finalized for NYCFC? I can't remember.

Not sure. Pretty they don't have a location yet.

[Tobias]

Has a stadium deal finalized for NYCFC? I can't remember.

probably outdated info, but a quick search makes it sound like their first plan got mushed a while back on a park site in flushing meadows.  plans leaked a few months back that they're looking to basically tear down/relocate a factory property by Yankee Stadium and help said factory relocate elsewhere.  sounds relatively complicated, and doesn't sound like de blasio has come out in support of it yet

[Tobias]

http://www.nycisblue.com/2013/08/ny-times-soccer-clubs-latest-stadium.html

[sunny_cat]

Here's what MLSsoccer.com has for us in their mock draft:

Pete Caringi (F) - UMBC

He's a goalscorer with an edge and solid work rate. Makes good runs in behind and he's also good with his head. Can Peter Vermes transform him into the next Dom Dwyer?

Victor Munoz (M) - UCLA

A product of the Real Madrid youth system, I kind of want Vermes to pick Munoz as a way of trolling La Masia-produced Uri Rosell. I just feel like this would make the locker room more fun for the entire Sporting team.

Enrique Cardenas (M/F) - UC Irvine

Cardenas will likely have to be a roleplayer for his first few years in MLS – he’s too small to just be handed the reins of the offense – but he’s ultra skilled, quick, and good on the dribble. He’s the kind of guy who could do very well in SKC’s high-press, high-tempo style.

(These are the three players they have us as maybe taking at #38.)

http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2014/news/article/2014/01/14/mlssoccercoms-2014-mock-superdraft-post-combine-edition