Saturday, September 24, 2011

Bleacher Report article...

Last night's game was the source for my first article for BleacherReport.com... Sporting KC: Battle Between Playoff Contenders Ends in 1-1 Draw

The editor gave my ego a boost when he said it was an excellent piece and called it "nearly flawless." One nice thing about writing for B/R is that I can use Getty Images, which are, quite frankly, usually a lot better than mine, if only because they're using better equipment.

That's all for now... See you soon...

Saturday, September 17, 2011

USWNT Thoughts And Big News (For Me)...

In the first game since their heartbreaking loss to Japan in the final of the World Cup, the United States Women's National Team played Canada to a 1-1 draw before 16,191 fans at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. The US took an early lead on a 10th minute penalty kick by Abby Wambach. Canada equalized just before halftime on a goal in the 42nd minute by forward Melissa Tancredi, with an assist to midfielder Kelly Parker. In post-game interviews, team captain Christie Rampone gave credit to Tancredi for finishing a good shot, but also put some of the blame on the spacing issues involved with learning their new one forward system. The second half had both teams creating scoring chances but Canada's Erin McLeod and halftime substitute Nicole Barnhart both saved anything that came their way.

I've been writing this while also trying to watch the Sporting KC match with Real Salt Lake. It's kind of distracting, really.

That's not the only thing, though, that's distracting me right now. I'm still a bit surprised about a bit of news I got yesterday after I got home from the USWNT training session at the stadium, and that's the big news for me I mentioned in the post title. My application to write for BleacherReport.com was accepted. From what I hear, they're really picky about who they let write for them, accepting only 20% of the applications they receive. Their partner sites include CBSSports.com, USAToday.com, and NBA.com, as well as local editions associated with the newspapers in Seattle, San Francisco, Houston and Los Angeles.

So, most of my writing will be moving there. I will still post photos and small blog posts here, but I'll be concentrating on the shiny play toy I've been given.

That's all for now... See you soon...

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Movin' On Up To The Top...

On May 22nd, Sporting KC were basement dwellers in the Eastern Conference of MLS. Not only were they bottom of the table for the conference, they had the fewest points of any team in the league. Turns out they were only squatters for a while. With today's 3-0 win over Houston, the club moves into first place, ahead of Columbus by virtue of a better goal differential.

Forward Teal Bunbury opened the scoring in the ninth minute, putting a ball from midfielder Graham Zusi in the back of the net. Bunbury also scored in the 73rd minute, this time with an assist from defender Julio Cesar. Rookie of the Year candidate CJ Sapong collected his fourth goal of the season in the 79th minute. Graham Zusi and Kei Kamara were credited with the assists.

Aside from the early goal, Houston manager Dominic Kinnear said the main difference between the sides was the 64th minute red card given to his Honduran forward Carlo Costly. Costly was given the early shower after a dangerous tackle on Sporting's Chance Myers. Myers, who will have an x-ray on Monday, was substituted in the 78th minute as a precaution.

I'll have to get pics up later as I need to get to work. That's all for now. See you soon.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Us Against The World

Not that anyone in the stadium was surprised, but the referees impacted another Sporting KC match at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Referee Ricardo Salazar, linesmen Brian Poeschel and Peter Manikowski made several questionable calls. It's hard to pick the one that had the most impact on the game, either the linesman allowing Sean Franklin's first goal in the 25th minute which appeared to be offside, or the 2nd half goal by Aurelien Collin being disallowed, even though it doesn't seem possible that Collin was offside. Omar Bravo was in an offside position, but the officials told manager Peter Vermes that the goal was disallowed for Collin being offside. Vermes called taking away a world class goal like that was unacceptable, and I agree with him. Having seen several replay angles, there's no way that goal should have been disallowed.

Speaking of Collin, it was good to see him, Davy Arnaud and Jeferson on the field again. They seemed to be a bit rusty, but that's understandable, considering how long they were out (in the case of Davy, especially). Vermes said they were lacking rhythm in the game and that was one reason Davy came on late, but Davy played well, putting several balls into the box and making a general nuisance of himself.

One other thing about the officials: Before tonight, when was the last time that Landon Donovan and David Beckham were both booked in the same game? I'm sure Ricardo Salazar will be hearing from the commissioner about that. *rolls his eyes* The only thing that refs in this league need to be hearing is that they need to either get better, quickly, or look for another line of work. The quality of the officiating, as I've said before, is holding MLS back in its quest to become one of the premier leagues in the world. I wouldn't go so far as to say the officiating in the English Premier League is perfect, but it's certainly light years ahead of MLS and one reason it's widely regarded as the best league in the world.


Some pics from tonight's game and then I'm going to call it a night...

Defender Seth Sinovic, one of the unsung heroes of the defense (I think)...


Aurelien Collin celebrates Julio Cesar's goal...


Goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen kneels to watch the video board on the south end for Omar Bravo's penalty kick...


Galaxy manager Bruce Arena...


Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes...


That's all for now... See you soon...