**2016 Sporting Kansas City / General Soccer Thread**

[|Zach|]

Because everyone loves it...preseason is a few weeks away and the start of the MLS season is not long at all in Seattle.

Should be another very strong year with a run at multiple cups with a bit of injury luck.

IN
D Lawrence Olum (12/9/15 - free)
GK Alec Kann (12/11/15 - Re-Entry Draft)
M Justin Mapp (12/14/15 - free agency)
M Brad Davis (1/7/16 - trade from Houston)
F Daniel Salloi (1/13/16 - Homegrown)

OUT
D Jalil Anibaba (11/25/15 - option declined)
M Mikey Lopez (11/25/15 - out of contract)



It was a weak year in the draft it was very apparent when Peter Vermes who has done as good of job of building through the draft as anyone passed on picking anyone that day and traded the pick for allocation money...and I think an allocation order swap.

[JoeyChuckles]

Playoffs?

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by JoeyChuckles

Playoffs?

That's a 10-4. Should play in the middle of the week.

[|Zach|]

Backline had a really good say....interesting to see them possibly come together so late in the season. Underdogs at Seattle but we could knock them off.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Backline had a really good say....interesting to see them possibly come together so late in the season. Underdogs at Seattle but we could knock them off.

Agree. It really depends on which SKC team shows up.

[Stanley Nickels]

MLS should consider firing every referee who's ever worked a game. Seriously, it's got to be one of the worst-officiated leagues in the world. Usually it's the head ref, but this time even the linesmen were culpable. Yeesh. Sporting actually looked quite good last night, despite their typical, consistent lack of creating legitimate scoring opportunities.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Stanley Nickels

MLS should consider firing every referee who's ever worked a game. Seriously, it's got to be one of the worst-officiated leagues in the world. Usually it's the head ref, but this time even the linesmen were culpable. Yeesh. Sporting actually looked quite good last night, despite their typical, consistent lack of creating legitimate scoring opportunities.

I'll be interested to see if the league has the nads to hand-out post-game fines. Lord knows it's hard, no it's impossible, to defend the official's inconsistent calls, but the usual "it's a tough job" suffices for the world's lemmings. I don't think anybody is saying it's an easy job, but when the league doesn't allow for a sport with a running clock to permit officials with a better view to call down to the ear headset the head official is wearing during the typical 2-3 minute "GOOOOOOOOOAL" celebration to let them know they messed-up, well it's just indefensible. If they did allow for reviews like that (with a stopped-clock review if needed), it might result in the team that scored the goal rushing the ball back to the spot to limit the time allowed for review. Or, how about the NFL's "all scoring plays are stopped-clock reviewed"?

All THAT from a guy who thinks soccer's offside rule needs to go away!! LOLz. But hey, if it's going to be a rule, it's got to be called! That's my defense!

As for the non-call/non-card, officials need to be made to explain their logic. I simply don't believe peer-review is happening. If it is it's not working! Minimally the head official needs to hold a recorded pre-game meeting with the head coaches (like baseball) and go over how he's going to call the game relative to judgement calls. IOW, something like, "guys, it's the playoffs, no blood, not foul, and this whistle will be put in a zipped pocket", or "guys, I don't care if this is the playoffs, no foul will go uncalled."

So, while the job is tough, they're not making it any better by using technology. And, in the absence of using technology to ensure calls are made right, they certainly aren't forcing the officials to demonstrate that they're being consistent.

And last, I hope they don't do anything to Feilhaber. I think the tapes show that he was ****ed-over, and in a league that doesn't do much of anything to ensure bad calls are fixed before they affect a game, a little in-your-face opinion-expressing seems easier to overlook than a red-card-worth call that went uncalled. And they sure as hell better not "use the tape" to show Benny getting in the official's face, remember, this is a no-tape-review sport.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Season started and ended with Seattle. Ouch.