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Sporting KC Trades Bobby Convey To Toronto FC

By on May 16, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Sporting Kansas City traded forward Bobby Convey to Toronto FC on Thursdayin exchange for Toronto FC’s natural third round pick in next year’s MLS SuperDraft (in other words the first pick from Toronto in the Supplemental Draft).

Yep. Convey re-joins Kevin Payne and former teammate (now head coach) Ryan Nelsen. Yeah.

Convey never did that great in his short stay with Sporting KC. He appeared in 20 MLS matches (including playoffs) with Sporting Kansas City, recording one goal and two assists since being acquired from the San Jose Earthquakes in December 2011.

Certainly an interesting trade for both clubs. He can help Toronto if he plays up to his ability that we’ve seen from time to time. On the Sporting KC side of things, he was an easy player to unload even with the high salary now that Kei Kamara is back. The big question for SKC is whether or not they are still picking up some or all of the tab in terms of his salary. Even if they unloaded a third of his contract that would be a good deal for them.

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2013 MLS Season, Week 10: Player of the Week

By on May 6, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Week 10 in Major League Soccer proved to be a tough week to figure out who would be the top player. But after Sunday’s 4-0 smashing of Chivas USA by Sporting KC, one player managed to stand out for 10 of the 27 voters, including myself.

Graham Zusi took home the Player of the Week award for Week 10. His goal and assist effort against Chivas on Sunday was more than enough in my book to take home the award.

Zusi helped create Claudio Beiler’s first goal of the day. He later smashed home a great ball by Josh Gardner.

This was Sporting KC’s first POW winner of the 2013 season.

The votes were fairly split this week, four other players also received multiple votes, including Sporting KC forward Claudio Bieler with five. Other multi-vote players were Philadelphia’s Danny Cruz (4), New England’s Bobby Shuttleworth (2) and Montreal’s Justin Mapp (2).

 

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2013 MLS Season, Week 8: Wednesday Quick Pick

By on April 17, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Can Sporting KC continue their impressive defensive run? (Photo by Mark Shaiken - WVHooligan staff photographer)

Can Sporting KC continue their impressive defensive run? (Photo by Mark Shaiken – WVHooligan staff photographer)

The midweek games are here. Major League Soccer rolls into the eighth week of the season with their first midweek game of the year.

Sporting Kansas City returns to action after a week off to face off against rivals New York at Red Bull Arena. Both teams have the double dip of games this week while Sporting has to travel to LA to face the Galaxy this weekend. Either way you spin this, it could be a game that we see both teams take it fairly easy and go for the draw.

With Sporting having the weekend off to prepare for this one, they should be the fresher squad out there. This match boils down to a midfield battle that could go down to the wire. Sporting has the edge in that for me, as well as their defensive power that has kept a shutout in their last four games.

New York did look better in their last match at D.C. United and they are typically better at home anyways. Sporting came away with points on both of their visits to Red Bull Arena a year ago, winning 2-0 on Sept. 19 then playing to a scoreless draw on Oct. 20.

I still feel as though this one will be fairly tight and come down to a draw. Neither team will want to push too much in this one with weekend matches looming.

WVH Prediction: New York 1, Sporting 1

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Five Teams Show Off New Kits

By on February 28, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Yesterday was a full day in the league’s new Jersey Week. Five clubs showed off gear, with one of the clubs displaying their new third kits.

This week has been very fun with the unveiling of new kits. Some have been good, others have been alright. I think Wednesdays five unveilings showed that teams are willing to be bold with their kits for 2013.  Continue Reading →

Continue Reading · · in LA Galaxy, MLS, Montreal Impact, Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting KC, Vancouver Whitecaps

2013 MLS Season Preview: Eastern Conference

By on February 28, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Sporting KC hopes to keep their hold on the Eastern Conference in 2013.

Sporting KC hopes to keep their hold on the Eastern Conference in 2013.

It is time to get down to it. I’ve already gone through each MLS side, along with several other previews. But now it is time to get down to where I think things will shake out once the dust settles later this year.

Yes, I am talking predictions folks.

First up is the Eastern Conference.

Right now I see the Eastern Conference as a pretty deep group of clubs. I feel confident that it could end up being a eight team race for the long haul of the season. Yes, eight teams folks. I think the top part of the conference is pretty well stacked but the middle group from about 3-8 is closer than some might think.  Continue Reading →

Continue Reading · · in Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, DC United, Houston Dynamo, MLS, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union, Sporting KC, Toronto FC

2013 MLS Season Preview: Rookie Watch

By on February 27, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Just how good will Andrew Ferrell be for the Revs? (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)

Just how good will Andrew Ferrell be for the Revs? (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)

The new MLS season is right around the corner. Just like with every year, there are a fresh crop of rookies that hope to make their impact on the new year. Like most years it make take a little while for some rookies to break into their lineups while others may get their shot earlier in the year.

While some are predicting their Rookie of the Year winners already, I’ll save mine for later this week. Until then, I wanted to point out a few rookies that I think will have a big impact on this season.

Andrew Ferrell (New England) – The first overall pick should always have a big impact on his first year. We saw some out of last year’s number one Andrew Wenger in Montreal but I see Ferrell having a bigger impact in his rookie year than Wenger did. Ferrell will be tasked with helping repair a pretty broken defense in New England. The talent has been there with guys like AJ Soares and Kevin Alston being big parts in the defense in recent years but it always seemed as though they were missing an element. I believe Ferrell is that missing element or link that the Revs have been needing in their defense.  Continue Reading →

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2013 MLS Season Preview: Offseason Winners and Losers

By on February 27, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Sporting improved this offseason. (Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports)

Sporting improved this offseason. (Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports)

Each year I’ve tried to come up with some new way to preview the new season. The last couple of years it was doing positional rankings. While those were a comment goldmine for the most part, they took forever to write up. I didn’t have the luxury of that kind of time this preseason to do that. So, some shorter kinds of preview posts have been coming out.

View all 2013 season preview material here.

So far we’ve looked at homegrown players, newcomers and each MLS squad. Today I wanted to take a quick look at three clubs that I believe knocked it out of the part this offseason in preparation for the new year. On the flip side of that I will also look at four that struggled to really improve in the offseason.

Narrowing the two lists down to just four wasn’t easy. For the top groups it mainly came down to the little additions that I like more than the big ones. Items not actually seen in a transaction listing. On the other hand, the teams that I wasn’t thrilled about going into the offseason came down to moves that just made me scratch my head a bit or the lack of moves.  Continue Reading →

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2013 MLS Season Preview: Sporting Kansas City

By on February 22, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

 

SKC hopes to be the top dog in the East again. (US Presswire)

SKC hopes to be the top dog in the East again. (US Presswire)

In my bold predictions last year, I stated that Sporting Kansas City would be the Supporters’ Shield winners and be a big contender for MLS Cup. In the end I was a little off on those two items, however, a USOC title win and a top seed in the Eastern Conference wasn’t too far off base.

Last season was pretty good to Sporting Kansas City. But the offseason has been interesting as Peter Vermes has had to go out and replace Roger Espinoza and now Kei Kamara. Both are in England and while Kamara could end up back in Kansas City this summer if his loan doesn’t lead to a sell, Sporting is left to figure out who steps up.

Vermes has made a decent amount of changes this winter and now it is time to see if it will be enough to keep them atop the Eastern Conference.

Continue Reading →

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Kei Kamara Loaned To Norwich

By on January 30, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Kei Kamara could be on his way to England. (Getty Images)

Kei Kamara could be on his way to England. (Getty Images)

EDIT: Just an update on this story, Kamara has been loaned out to Norwich City through May 6. Sporting Kansas City will receive two-thirds of the substantial loan fee to use as allocation money per MLS rules. If Norwich City elects not to acquire the player on a full transfer by May 6, then Kamara will rejoin Sporting Kansas City, where he will be available to play immediately for the club. As part of the agreement, Kamara’s contract with MLS has been extended.

You have to love the last days of a transfer window. All kinds of rumors coming to an end, some of the good ones end up becoming true.

MLS is set to lose another quality young player this month and for Sporting Kansas City it will be their second star lost this offseason.

The BBC in England is reporting that Sporting KC midfielder Kei Kamara is on the verge of a move to Norwich City, pending the receipt of a work permit.

No word yet on what the transfer fee would be for Kamara. I can’t imagine it would be super high but at least it would mean Sporting KC would get some money to work with once the deal is complete.

Kamara could join former Sporting KC teammate Roger Espinoza, who made the jump to join English Premier League club Wigan.

Nothing is a lock yet for Kamara’s move. Getting a work permit is slightly easier now days than it was two or three years ago but that still doesn’t mean this is a sure bet that he’ll be approved for one.

Kamara is coming off an outstanding 2012 season for Sporting KC, a year that saw him finish with career highs in goals (11) and assists (8). He was also in the top of the charts in the league for shots taken. Sporting will be hard pressed to find a quality replacement for Kamara and his work rate. They do have young guys like Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong but they’ll need one of them to really step up to take over what Kamara brought to the table.

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What’s Lacking: Sporting KC and Toronto Preseason Look

By on January 23, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Sporting KC and Toronto still have a couple holes to fill. (Getty Images)

Sporting KC and Toronto still have a couple holes to fill. (Getty Images)

 

The last of the Eastern Conference teams in my preseason look at what is still lacking as teams begin their preseason camps.

Later today I’ll begin the Western Conference clubs as I try to push this series out by the end of the week.

So far I’ve done the following clubs: the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew, D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, the Montreal Impact and the New England Revolution and the New York Red Bulls and the Philadelphia Union.

Sporting KC

- Defensive midfield. They got Mikey Lopez in the SuperDraft and eventually I think he’ll be a Roger Espinoza replacement in the midfield. But losing Espinoza and Julio Cesar this offseason left a void in the midfield. They did get Benny Failhaber and Pablo Nagamura seems like a decent candidate but will that be enough? I still think they are a tad thin in this department going into the preseason and it could be a problem. Their defense relied on a tough defensive midfielder in front of them last year.

- Flank play. Peter Vermes doesn’t run a typical 4-4-2 set up, or even a typical 4-3-3 set up that relies on midfielders running the wings. He uses more forward-type players on the outside which is nice and all but I do think they are a little low on bodies that can run the wings. Teams that stretch them out have success, like Houston.

Toronto FC

- Forward thinking. Sure they have two DPs in Eric Hassli and Danny Koevermans that are forwards but do either of them want to be there this season? We know Hassli wants out and who knows how long Koevermans will take to get back to his old self. That leads doesn’t leave a ton outside of guys like Justin Braun to fill the void. Toronto has to figure out what they are doing with their two forward DPs and fast.

- Creative playmaker. One thing that has always and I mean always lacked up in Toronto is a guy in the midfield that can pull the strings. Sure they had Dwayne De Rosario for a short spell but that wasn’t enough given how he didn’t have the staff around him to do that number 10 sort of thing.

- Outside help. Defensively the Reds improved in the middle but the outside backs and even wingers in general are still lacking a bit. They are either too young in this area or just not good enough. You want to find a way to beat Toronto right now, spread them out and spray balls into the box, it will break them down quick.

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