By Paul Gardner ‘Tis the season, or postseason anyway, of playoff soccer. Whatever that means. The phrase gets repeated and repeated — the TV guys love it, of course, withoutgiving us any clear explanation of what they mean. Obviously, there ought to be such an animal as playoff soccer. These are much more pressure-filled games […]
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Sporting KC and Seattle are out to amend postseason disappointments
[MLS PLAYOFFS: Saturday Preview] The 18th postseason in MLS history presents several intriguing storylines. Two of the league’s best teams in recent years,Seattle and Sporting Kansas City, are out to exorcise demons of failures in the playoffs that continue Saturday. Instead of barely squeezing into the playoffs for its postseason debut,Portland instead won the Western […]
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FC Dallas and Sporting KC welcome back stars
[MLS SCHEDULE: Week 17] FC Dallas will look to hold on to its narrow Western Conference lead when it hosts Sporting KansasCity, which hasn’t played an MLS game in three weeks — plenty of time to think about its three-game winless streak that dropped into seventh place in the Eastern Conference. FC Dallasshould have Blas […]
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Sporting KC takes over conference lead with another shutout
[MLS REWIND: Week 8] Sporting Kansas City took over first place in the EasternConference with a 1-0 win at the New York Red Bulls that extended its shutout streak to 519 minutes. French defender Aurelien Collin had the lone goal forSporting KC on a header off Graham Zusi‘s corner kick. It was not a good […]
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Feilhaber looks for re-start in Kansas City
By Ridge Mahoney It’s not often a team comes out ahead by cutting its losses but the New England Revolution may have done just that by shipping out BennyFeilhaber. An irregular and disquieting 20-month stint ended Wednesday when the Revs announced a trade of Feilhaber to Sporting Kansas City in exchange for allocation money and […]
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MLS Positional Rankings: KC's Besler is top centerback
By Ridge Mahoney The expansion of international slots has encouraged teams to seek out foreign players to play in the back as well as in midfield and up front, butAmericans continue to fill out the top tier. On top in this year’s rankings is Sporting Kansas City fourth-year centerback Matt Besler, who was taken with […]
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Tactics and spirit drive Kansas City
Lacking the drama and allure of Western Conference counterpart San Jose, Eastern leader Sporting Kansas City played an efficient, tactically sound match to defeat closest pursuer Chicago, 2-0,Friday night at Livestrong Sporting Park. In so doing, SKC (17-7-7) clinched a playoff spot and extended its lead atop the conference to five points. If the adage […]
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Quakes & Kansas City confirm their class
On the same night, the MLS conference leaders showed precisely why they are on top. Kansas City went into Red Bull Arena, where the home team hadn’t lost all season, and thumped the RedBulls, 2-0, which could have taken over first place in the Eastern Conference with a victory and instead fell five points behind. After conceding two […]
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Red Bulls' 'cancer' blamed for SKC loss
[MLS SPOTLIGHT] Before the game, Thierry Henry warned about the New York Red Bulls’ problems giving up early goals.Afterward, Rafael Marquez called the Bulls’ propensity to fall behind early a “cancer” as they gave up two goals in the first 19 minutes and blew a chance totake over the lead in MLS’s Eastern Conference with […]
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Strong Sporting, struggling Galaxy mark memorable March
[MLS SPOTLIGHT] Sporting Kansas City is living up to predictions that it will win the Eastern Conference and challenge for the league title, but the defendingMLS Cup champion Galaxy has sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference. There’s a lot to ponder as the first calendar month of MLS play concludes, and here are […]