Saturday, July 29, 2017

Trying To Get Back To Normal

After what have been a rough couple of days, losing the person I suppose I could consider my "soccer mom" to liver cancer, it was a relief to get back out to Children's Mercy Park and try to get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Now, I'm not the only person Deanna was important to. It's not even close. One way you could tell how many people she had an impact on would be to see how people reacted to the news of her passing.

Both Sporting Kansas City and the Kansas City Comets (indoor soccer) both used their official social media accounts to express their sadness at the news. Players and team staff (both current and former) took to Twitter to express their emotions.

Carter Augustine, the voice of the Swope Park Rangers, reacted this way.


Goalkeeper Scott Angevine, who spent time with Sporting Kansas City before going to play overseas, said:

2013 MLS Cup MVP Aurelien Collin, never one to hide his emotions, let us know how he really felt.


How long did Deanna have an impact on soccer in Kansas City? Curt Johnson, general manager of the Wizards (Nov. 1999-2006) had this to say.
Baker? Yeah, Deanna used to bake cookies for the players. It took the nutritional staff of the club to finally get her to stop.

Deanna had an impact on these teams because of her unconditional support for the players not only for their efforts on the field, but as people off of it. Former Wizard/Sporting KC defender Jimmy Conrad reminded me that she would attend all of his radio shows. Afterward, she would lecture him on how she thought the team should be doing.

The way she treated all of the players like they were her children and loving them unconditionally came from her strong religious faith and her career as a teacher. She was always nice to me and treated me more like I was one of her kids. When I went to her husband's funeral, I would have probably, left to my own devices, picked out a seat somewhere near the back. No, Deanna wasn't having it. She insisted that I sit up with her and her kids.

Now, when I walked into Children's Mercy Park tonight and headed up to the press box, I knew the club had appreciated Deanna. I'm not sure I really knew how much until I looked out across the field and saw the stadium's flags were all at half-staff.

Then the game started and the team played with a freedom and flow I'm sure Deanna would have appreciated, especially considering the team extended its home unbeaten streak to 20 matches.

I think I'll close with something one of her fellow fans said about her.


Amen to that. RIP, Deanna. You've certainly earned it.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

SKC Academy U16s Fall in Quarterfinals 3-0 to RSL Academy

KANSAS CITY, KS -- The playoff run of the Sporting KC Academy U16s came to an abrupt halt at Children's Mercy Park on Thursday afternoon as they fell 3-0 to the team from Real Salt Lake's academy.

Real Salt Lake opened the scoring in the fifth minute on a goal off of a set piece by Juan Obeso. The corner deflected out to Obeso at the top of the penalty area. Obeso popped it up and volleyed it into the upper 90 on the far post.

RSL doubled the lead on an easy tap-in from Benjamin Ortiz. After a bad giveaway in the defensive third, the ball got played in to Julian Vazquez at goalkeeper Alex Brown's right hand post. When Brown moved to shut him down, Vazquez played it across goal to Ortiz, who tapped it in.

Vazquez closed out the scoring in the 57th minute. Goalkeeper David Ochoa played it long to Sebastian Soto. After dribbling forward just a bit, Soto played it out to the left for Vazquez. Vazquez drove straight in on Brown and slotted the ball under him for the third and final goal of the contest.

Sporting KC's comeback efforts were given a setback in the 67th minute when midfielder Mason Visconti was shown his second yellow and sent off, but the game seemed almost settled at that point.

Sporting KC was able to generate a few chances, but most of the opportunities were sent either well wide or high. The best chance of the match came in the 77th minute when Grayson Barber lofted a long shot/cross into Ochoa's goal and it deflected off the crossbar.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Sporting KC Fight Back For Draw, Lose Gerso Against Portland

KANSAS CITY, KS -- In front of another sellout crowd of 20,933 fans at Children's Mercy Park, Sporting Kansas City fought back to claim a share of the points after a poor first half, but lost winger Gerso Fernandes to injury against the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.

Portland midfielder Diego Valeri opened the scoring in the 26th minute. After receiving a short pass from Sebastián Blanco near midfield, Valeri ran through the space he was given by the Sporting defense he was given for about 30 yards. When no one tried to close him down, Valeri let loose a rocket just outside the penalty area and it ricocheted off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net. To be fair, while defender Kevin Ellis should probably have tried to close on Valeri, he did have a run coming in behind him and was caught between a rock and a hard place.

About three minutes later, Fernandes went down in the Portland penalty area after an apparent foul from a Portland player. When play was finally stopped, Sporting's medical staff was able to attend to him and had to help him off the pitch, supporting his arm and shoulder. It was later revealed that Fernandes had separated his shoulder, but it had popped back in. An MRI will be performed soon and, assuming everything is clean, Fernandes should be out for two to three weeks.

Approximately two minutes after Diego Rubio was subbed on for Soony Saad to provide a spark to the offense, Sporting got the equalizer it needed. Midfielder Roger Espinoza put in an inch-perfect ball over the top to forward Daniel Salloi from about 40 yards away. Salloi settled the ball with his right foot and then roofed it over goalkeeper Jake Gleeson, also with his right foot. It was Salloi's first MLS goal and made him the 7th youngest player in club history to score in league play.

Twelve minutes later, Portland was awarded a penalty kick after it appeared Portland's Fanendo Adi had been taken down in the penalty area by Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia. However, after watching replays, it looked like Melia didn't make contact with Adi at all. Valeri stepped up to take the penalty and shot the ball down the middle, but Melia was ready for it and palmed it away. Sporting's defenders were alert and made sure Portland wasn't able to pounce on the rebound.

The penalty kick save was Melia's third of the season, one away from the league record for spot kick saves. The record is held by Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando, who saved four in 2014. Melia's also saved three more PKs than Sporting KC has taken all year. The wait continues for the club to be awarded a spot kick.

If there's one thing that's different about this year's version of Sporting KC it's that they can play poorly and still manage to find a way to get at least a point out of a game. Even Peter Vermes admitted after the game that Portland was the better team in the first half. The thing about this team is they don't let adversity get them down. In past years, this team would have lost a game they played this poorly in the first half, but that's not true in the current incarnation of the residents of the Soccer Capital of America.

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Tonight's sellout was the 96th straight sellout in MLS play at Children's Mercy Park. If the streak continues (which it should, considering the way the team's playing), the 100th straight would be Saturday, August 19th against Dallas.

The next home match, though, is Thursday, July 6th at 7:30pm against the Philadelphia Union. Former Sporting KC forward CJ Sapong leads the Union in scoring with eight goals to go along with three assists.