Sporting Kansas City at Philadelphia Union
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 – 7:30 p.m. ET
PPL Park | Chester, Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Union are one step closer to having a bigger trophy case than NYRB. Two rounds from their first trophy they have a rematch against a team they absolutely dominated the last time they played. Despite the big difference on the score-sheet the Union can’t, and surely won’t, take Kansas City lightly. Kansas City hasn’t gone this far in the Open Cup since 2004 when the Kansas City Wizards took home the trophy.
Of course despite the Union’s recent success and arguably the best week of soccer in the clubs history, Sporting Kansas City is still one of the top five teams in the league (along with RSL, DC, San Jose and NYRB in my book). While we may have had a few players on many people’s “Team of The Week”, Kansas City has 3 on the team of the season, the most of any club this season. Those three players are Graham Zusi, Aurelien Collin and Jimmy Nielsen. Of course Antoine Hoppenot beat both Collin and Nielsen in spectacular fashion in the last match-up, so who knows how things will go this time around. Surely SKC will be more prepared for the Union team.
Also of note…
-Sporting KC has never won a game at PPL Park. They’ve had a single trip in the Union’s first three years.
-SKC has only scored six goals in the run-of-play in their last five matches. The Union have scored 12, from a wide range of players over the same stretch (Pajoy, Gomez, McInerney, Adu, and Hoppenot each have multiple goals. Michael Farfan and Daniel have the other two).
Expected Starting Lineups
Both teams have been pretty consistent line-up–wise, so while there could be a change or two this game because its midweek, both teams are in the midst of a tought scheduling stretch, both 11′s are pretty much a lock.
SKC:
Nielsen; Myers, Besler, Sinovic, Collin; Nagamura, Espinoza, Peterson; Zusi, Sapong, Kamara
PHI
MacMath; Williams, Okugo, Valdes, G. Farfan; Gomez, Carroll, M. Farfan; Adu, McInerney, Pajoy
The game will be shown online-only, either streamed on the Union’s website (not yet posted) or Sporting’s Youtube Channel. Tickets are also still available on the Union site. Be there if you can. A game like this is always more fun live.
Sunday’s match against Toronto FC saw an event which many Philadelphia Union fans have waited months for; the return of fan favorite and Colombian midfielder Roger Torres. Torres has not seen the field for a league match since March 24, 2012 due to a knee injury. Coming in Sunday in the 83rdminute to an enthusiastic crowd chanting his name, Roger’s first touch was less than decent, directly to a Toronto player, but he quickly recovered by feeding a beautiful through ball to a darting Antoine Hoppenot which was unfortunately snubbed out by the Toronto defense. Playing only seven minutes, Torres did not get many opportunities to show off the ball control skills Union fans have grown to love over the time he has spent here, but the fact that Torres did not play noticeably poor during his short time on the field should give Philadelphia fans hope that this major injury won’t be career changing for the midfielder. Although it will likely be a few more months until we see Roger starting, especially with the competition ahead of him, I would expect to see him regularly used as a late sub for Michael Farfan or Freddy Adu.
Roger’s absence in the midfield has allowed players like Marfan and Adu to step up and become a creative force on the field. It will be interesting to see how Coach John Hackworth organizes his midfield as Torres becomes closer to match fit.
Personally, I never really liked Torres as a starter and think he does better coming on early in the second half, where he can use his creative ball-handling on tired defenders to open up passing lanes or to get shots off. Also, the way Marfan has played as of late proves that he is needed on the field. This is the problem with a team that has so much depth; you see many talented players that would likely start at other teams benched. Torres will be joining a bench which already holds many other skilled young players like right back Raymon Gaddis and likely defensive midfielder turned center back Amobi Okugo due to the recent signing of Bakary Soumare.
When all is said and done, I am excited to see what the return of the Roger Torres era has in store. He is a player that is not scared to shoot which has been a major problem for Philadelphia Union until very recently. As Torres is slowly reintroduced to the midfield, Union fans will be watching to see if he is still the creative, offensive minded player that he was before the injury. We saw small glimpses of it against Toronto allowing the Union faithful to hold the hope that one of their favorites will make a triumphant return to the pitch later this season.
Amidst Keon Daniel’s Passport issues, Michael Farfan’s potential transfer to Sunderland (they’ve been passing this around), the Union shopping Danny Mwanga, Roger Torres loan deal coming to a close, Freddy Adu’s yearning for Rayo (I’ve also heard that he’s a potential trade bait for the Revs 3rd Overall Pick),and the Olympics this summer it’ll be very interesting to see where we end up at the end of the offseason and even where we think we have holes for the draft.
Combine that information with this quote “The Brotherly Game was informed by a source with knowledge of team plans that the Union will be “selling some young players for profit this year.”"
It’s already been an interesting offseason, with the additions of Martinez, Gomez and Khalfan, Lopez and even McLaughlin but it looks like we should prepare for some subtractions before we realize our net gains. The Union hav e a few more to add today with choices in the MLS Draft expected by most pundits to cover depth along the defensive line.
Image by proforged via Flickr
To no ones surprise C.J. Sapong won the MLS Rookie of the Year award that has had his name etched on it since halfway through the season. Sapong led all rookies in both assists and goals and had a huge role in bringing Sporting Kansas City back from the dead. He looked extremely impressive and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a USMNT jersey before we see his teammate Teal Bunbury in one again.
In the battle for second place Union midfielder Michael Farfan won! He had impressed many of us at home for quite a while. As a rookie in a lineup that was constantly being turned over, Farfan established himself as a starter and a real key to the Union’s offensive . His skill on the ball has impressed many. On another day he’d deserve a look for a wing spot for the USMNT, but with Donovan and Shea starting to look entrenched there and the team having a ton of high quality midfielders available it is unlikely we’ll see him around for a while.
bpmangan
mattsant16
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