Espinoza is the houdurous waterboy. maaama maamaa said I'm not to play football

so is there a way to watch these games if they aren't on ESPN if you don't live in the KC area?

I live outside of wichita, and I can't find the games anywhere. Seems like they would be a local team

Espinoza is so fun to watch. I have no idea how in the sam hell this guy goes all out, balls to the wall for a full 90 like that. He has some ridiculous Cardio.

Adrian Healy even commented on the fact that it we looked so much more fit than the Galaxy. We were running circles around them as a team.

live.mlssoccer.com/mlsmdl/home (It's well worth the $60 if you plan on regularly watching games. Also, all of the games are archived for later viewing)

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/ (Free is a pretty nice price, too, though the streams are less reliable and lower quality)

Just make sure Wichita isn't in the SKC broadcast area for MLS Live purposes. Dunno how to do that, but if games are available locally (on Fox Sports or whatever) or on national TV they're blacked out on the live broadcast.

Though now that I say that, none of the Revs games have been blocked for me. hrmery

D00d. Clint Dempsey has been going HAM across the pond. He scored AGAIN today to earn a 1-1 with Chelsea.

There is a shit ton of national and league wide articles being written about Sporting right now I will try to put them together as well as update the original post.

Awesome time to be a fan of this team.

Your guys are ****ing killing it right now. Even that little stadium is rocking.

Sporting KC chalk up big win over LA to unexpected shifts


KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The left back became the left winger. The left winger became the right winger. The right winger became the center forward.

Confused yet? That’s the idea.

Sporting Kansas City ran the soccer equivalent of a game of three-card monte on the LA Galaxy’s injury-depleted backline, and all the switching and shuffling paid off on Kei Kamara’s game-winning header in Saturday’s 1-0 victory.

“The guys on our team can all switch positions,” said Bobby Convey, who was brought in to fill a gap at left winger but was playing on the right side when his 40th-minute cross found Kamara unmarked at the corner of the six-yard box. “That’s a great option that we have in attacking. Each player can fill in for the others, and we do that to throw off the defense.”

Defender Seth Sinovic spent much of the afternoon pushing forward deep into the left corner, freeing Convey to rotate with right winger Kamara as the game evolved.

“I thought what was really good in his game today was him getting forward,” manager Peter Vermes said of the young left back. “He found himself in positions that really helped us relieve pressure by switching the point of attack to him, because of the width that he provided us in the game.”

Sinovic’s activity on the flank also meant that Convey could pick and choose his high-speed moments, and it showed on the game-winning play. Convey drifted wide to the right corner to take Roger Espinoza’s pass, then dashed to the top corner of the penalty area. Settling the ball there, he took two touches to gain space against left back Todd Dunivant.

On the other side of the area, Kamara was shedding right back Sean Franklin, who could only watch as Convey delivered and Kamara converted.

“I think I’ll add 10 years on my career if Seth wants to keep doing all the running,” Convey said. “I’m happy that I can fit into the team the way that I have, and I think it allows Seth more freedom so that I can go inside and not lose the ball.”

That arrangement’s fine by Sinovic.

“I don’t mind. I’ll do the running all day as long as we get the wins,” Sinovic said. “He reads the game so well, and I just kind of play off of him. He’s always in the right spots.”

OPTA Chalkboard: Check out Convey and Sinovic's heat maps

Convey’s assist was his first with Sporting, which acquired him from San Jose in the offseason to provide a veteran threat on the left wing. He said he’s felt no pressure to get into the points column, though.

“I’ve always been the guy that had to create and had to score,” he said. “It’s nice here that I’m not that person. It’s nice to have other players doing well and scoring goals. There’s a little bit of pressure with me being the only new player and bringing me in to win the championship, but other than that I don’t feel any pressure.”

Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com. Write to him at steve@artkc365.com.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...xpected-shifts

http://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/leagu...KC---OPTA2.jpg

At the beginning of each week, MLSsoccer.com and OPTA will highlight one aspect or trend from that weekend’s action using statistics and events during the match to explain what forces are at play and how they pertain to the big picture.

Sporting Kansas City are busy making history, mostly because they’re making holding onto the ball exceedingly difficult for their opponents.

Manager Peter Vermes’ team may be the league’s final unbeaten – and the first team since 1998 to start 5-0-0 – but the most impressive aspect of Sporting KC’s season thus far is the borderline ridiculous record they set this weekend for the most-ever consecutive minutes without allowing a shot on goal (245).

The most recent example of Kansas City’s propensity for stifling opposing attacks came on Saturday, as Sporting dispatched the LA Galaxy 1-0 by barely giving Bruce Arena’s team a glimpse of the net (four total attempts, none by Robbie Keane, Edson Buddle or Landon Donovan) and winning the possession battle 60-to-40 percent.

All in all, it was a match that provided a statistical window into the reasons why Vermes’ side has managed to allow one goal this season – on a direct free kick from Ricardo Villar no less – and just eight shots on frame. Sporting’s defensive record is nearly spotless for one simple reason: Their pressure doesn’t give opposing teams the time or space to combine in the attacking half of the field, especially the final third.

The Galaxy’s Mike Magee alluded to it following Saturday’s game, saying he couldn’t remember LA “connecting five passes in a row.”

And while that may not necessarily be true, Magee and his teammates were certainly held far below their season averages in passing accuracy (see table at right) and possession. While Kansas City generally left the visitors unmolested in their own half, they ratcheted up the pressure considerably once LA crossed the halfway line, cutting the Galaxy’s passing percentage by 15 percent from their season average and more than 20 percent in the final third.

When they couldn’t find teammates in advanced positions, LA found themselves routed into areas where they couldn’t truly trouble Sporting KC’s backline, resorting to lateral and back passes that left them too far from goal to do any real damage (see graphics below, successful passes on the left and unsuccessful passes on the right). And when the Galaxy gambled, looking for Robbie Keane or Edson Buddle, Kansas City was there to cut out the danger and counter with Kei Kamara and Graham Zusi.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/leagu...09.51%20PM.pnghttp://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/leagu...10.49%20PM.png

Even more telling than a single game – as disruptive as Kansas City were against LA – is the fact that Sporting have done nearly the same thing to all their opponents this season.

While teams have little trouble possessing the ball in their own half, the territory on the other side of the halfway line is a no-passing zone, with accuracy dropping drastically from league and team averages (see chart).

The result is that teams simply don’t have the ball in areas where they can test goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, an assertion backed up by the fact that only New England (six) have put more than one shot on frame all season.

In a clear case of cause and effect, the dead zone for pass completion for opponents – the center of the field in the final third – is the territory occupied by Júlio César, the back point with the experience to anticipate play as well as superb ability in the air and in the tackle, as well as the combative Roger Espinoza.

With Zusi, Kamara, Bobby Convey, Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic routing the ball into wide areas and preventing service, Matt Besler and Aurélien Collin can focus on winning balls in the air, cleaning up the few that actually make it to them and putting in the occasional tackle when necessary.

And Nielsen? He's been booting the occasional goal kick, pulling down the rare cross that makes it into the area and generally twiddling his thumbs.

Of course, as unrelenting as Kansas City's pressure has been this season, they haven't seen a team like Real Salt Lake – the type of neat, possession oriented side that can exploit any hint of overcommitment. To boot, Jason Kreis' team will take the field at Livestrong Sporting Park next Saturday as the most accurate passing team in MLS – both in opponent's halves and in the attacking third.

Whether or not Kansas City can slow down RSL will go a long way toward determining whether this team is the clear early-season Supporters' Shield favorite, as many are already proposing. Before those conversations can really ramp up, however, Sporting must deal with MLS' only other 15-point team.

If they can do that, stay relatively healthy and maintain the fitness base needed to play their preferred style in the summer months, opposing sides are in for fits when it comes to creating even the most fleeting of scoring opportunities against the league's most unrelenting pressure.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...g-kcs-pressure

That replay in hd was awesome. I didn't see that kamara directed that in but it was close to going wide.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...16182222_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...10380509_n.jpg

It was a funny sequence. I had to do photos for that game and was on the nearside half of the field on the north end when that happened so I got great shots of the goal happening but had no angle to get the celebration so I immediately turned to get shots of fans celebrating directly behind me.

I didn't "really" see the goal unil I was in the pressbox at halftime and I thought it was funny that ESPN showed their celebration is slow mo only to realize it was them doing that. lol

yeah it was a tight game. I am slightly concerned of any sport where you can go the entire game and not get a shot on goal. What the hell though, as long is it is the team I am rooting for getting the stops.

The good thing about this game was even before the goal happened it was a pretty kick ass game. Lots of skill...lots of battling. Good energy.

This RSL game is gonna be huge though. These two teams always bring it against eachother.