Matchday: Sporting KC at New York

What better way to get pumped up for 90 minutes of Sporting Kansas City tonight then with a 90-second look back at Week 5 in MLS. Cue the highlights...

What twists and turns will tonight hold when Sporting Kansas City meet the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena? New York features a lineup led by French forward Thierry Henry, Canadian midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and Mexican defender Rafa Marquez, but it was Senegalese goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul who kept KC at bay with a career-high 12 saves in the team's last meeting.

New York, reigning Eastern Conference champs, are one point back of the Houston Dynamo for the top spot and have given up just two goals in six matches so far this season. Both teams feature potent attacks, with KC leading the League with a two goals-per-game average and New York firing on all cylinders on  the heels of a 3-0 win over San Jose and 4-0 away victory at D.C. United.

Tune in at 6:30 p.m. CT live on KSMO-TV (English) and Time Warner Cable Ch. 5 (Espanol). The Cauldron will be hosting their watch party at Mike's Tavern and those at home can join a live chat throughout the match on SportingKC.com.

Harrington Up For KC Award (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Congrats to Jason Grill on being named Kansas City's Man of the Year. How's he celebrating the award? With an early morning trip to see Sporting Kansas City in action at Red Bull Arena. Thanks for the support, Jason!

It's Friday, and congrats are in order. Our very own Michael Harrington has been tabbed as a nominee for 'Man of the Year by KC Connections. Michael is up against some pretty stiff competition, and the winner will be crowned at an event tonight at Club Monaco. For more info, click this link.

If Michael wins tonight, he will not be on hand to accept the award. Why? Because Harrington and the rest of the team are getting ready to take on New York tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. CT. There's a watch party at Mike's Tavern in KCMO. Make sure you're there.

Brian Kilmeade Intro

Kilmeade juggling with USWNT's Angela Hucles and Heather O'Reilly

For those who watched Off the Pitch with Sporting Kansas City on KSMO-TV on Sunday, you already know they'll be a new face in the broadcast booth for Saturday's match in New York. That mystery man is FOX News personality Brian Kilmeade who co-hosts Fox & Friends every weekday among his roles for the network on both TV and radio.

Brian is a former college player and current youth coach, and was a former sideline reporter for the NY/NJ MetroStars and co-hosted Soccer Zone on MSG. He will be alongside Callum Williams with the call on KSMO-TV at 6:30 p.m. CT, live from Red Bull Arena.  

Watch the video below to hear from Brian at a NSCAA coaching course in 2009...

Revs, DC in Open Cup Action Tonight (UPDATED)

UPDATE: The New England Revolution advanced past D.C. United with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night. Sporting Kansas City will host the Revs on May 25th -- time/location TBA.

Sick of hearing about New England yet? We are, but we'll still be keeping an eye on proceedings tonight when the Revolution take on D.C. United in 2011 U.S. Open Cup qualifying. Why? Because Sporting Kansas City will host the winner of tonight's match in the next round of the tournament.

Check out this preview from TheCup.us for all the info on tonight's contest as well as a live chat that will start once the match kicks off from from Maryland Soccerplex at 6:30 p.m. CT. Details regarding the match in Kansas City will be announced after the opponent is determined. 

Caption Contest

I like that Ka Mar Ra! I like that Ka Mar Ra!

Congrats to Ben Kampa, this week's winner in our new SKC Caption Contest on the Sporting Kansas City Facebook page. With more than 100 captions submitted for the photo above -- taken after the first of Kamara's two goals at New England on Saturday, courtesy of a Bunbury assist -- Ben's clever reference to the viral I like that Boon-boo-ree video was selected as the top entry and he will receive a Sporting KC t-shirt.

Here's to seeing those two celebrating goals together several more times this season...

Another Bunbury Breaks Through

We all know and love Teal Bunbury around these parts, especially when he's scoring goals like this week-in, week-out for Sporting Kansas City.

Turns out there's another Bunbury making headlines this week. Teal's sister, Kylie, has been hard at work filming Disney's "Prom," which will debut in theaters nationwide this Friday, April 29th.

Kylie appears in the film as Jordan Lundley, "the most popular girl in school" according to the film's official website.

"I'm real proud of her," Teal said. "She's following her dreams, and I know she's real happy doing what she loves."

If you're scoring at home, that makes two professional soccer players and one Hollywood actress for the Bunbury bunch. Pretty talented family. Check out the film's trailer below.

Matchday: Sporting KC at New England

After a slight delay due to the weather in KC yesterday, the team arrived in Massachusetts last night for their match at 6:30pm CT this evening against the Revolution. The team dinner included some entertaining vocal performances by those on their first trip to New England, including Aurelien Collin and Milos Stojcev singing in their native languages and C.J. Sapong rapping with the aid of beatbox master Michael Harrington. 

SportingKC.com has much more on tonight's match and will again feature a live chat during the game, but here are a few noteworthy nuggets to set the stage for the contest:

• Neither team has recorded a shutout in six games, dating back to the 2010 season. New England's last clean sheet came against KC in the two teams' previous meeting on October 16th, while KC hasn't kept an opponent scoreless since a 2-0 win at Chicago on October 12th.
• After going unbeaten in their first four games of the 2011 season, New England enters on a two-game losing skid and have been shutout in back-to-back games. Meanwhile, Sporting KC opened the year with a 3-2 road win at Chivas USA, but have gone winless in their last three MLS matches and were held scoreless for the first time last weekend.
• New England has scored four of its five goals in 2011 in the first 30 minutes of the match. Sporting Kansas City has allowed nine goals in 2011, but none in the first 30 minutes.
• Following tonight, Sporting KC will travel to the top team in both conferences in consecutive matches. The red-hot Red Bulls will welcome Sporting KC next Saturday, followed by a trip to face the Western Conference-leading LA Galaxy on May 14th.

And last but certainly not least, this week's construction update for LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Tonight's match marks the fifth of 10 road matches for Sporting Kansas City to start the season, but June 9th is shaping up to have been well worth the wait. Home, SWEET home...

Open publication

Firehouse Subs Promo

Sporting Kansas City and Firehouse Subs partnership to Put Out the Fire is off to quite the start. Three Chicago Fire games, three Chicago Fire losses. Nothing like seeing your two closest rivals -- Chicago and FC Dallas -- tied for the most losses in MLS this season.

But beginning tomorrow, when the Fire host the Houston Dynamo, the deal will look a little different than originally announced. Don't worry, you can still get a free medium sub with the purchase of chips and a large drink, but you'll have to use a coupon found on the Sporting KC Facebook page and go between 4-7pm the day after a Fire loss. All the details are available at SportingKC.com/Firehouse, but if you have any questions, leave us a comment below and we'll be happy to help you Put Out the Fire at Firehouse Subs.

Also important to note that should the Fire lose a fourth straight on Saturday -- after all, the Dynamo are unbeaten in four straight MLS matches -- Firehouse Subs will be closed on Easter Sunday, but will honor the promotion on Monday, April 25th from 4-7pm.

MLS on ESPN2 Tonight

MLS Week 6 kicks off tonight on ESPN2 with two of Sporting Kansas City's Eastern Conference counterparts as D.C. United hosts the New York Red Bulls at 7:00 p.m. CT. Check out the Week 5 Full 90 below to get ready for another exciting weekend of Major League Soccer action. Season is starting to rock and roll, before you know it ESPN2 will be showing Sporting KC and LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on June 9th -- seven weeks from tonight.

Wednesday's Training

We get it. You have work. You have school. You have errands to run and kids to take care of. The fact of the matter is there are some days when you just can't make it out to Swope Park to watch Sporting Kansas City practice.
We realize that, but we still want to make sure that you stay up-to-date on how the team is looking heading into each match. 

Check out the report from yesterday's training session after the jump.

Game On Text Contest

You've seen the commercials, the billboards and maybe if you were lucky enough, you were even red-carded, but have you seen the Sporting Kansas City Street Team yet this year? Well these people who participated in the text-to-win "Game On" contest did, and were selected as week 1 & 2 winners for a pair of tickets to see a Sporting KC game this summer. Congratulations to the following winners:

Week 1                         Week 2

Nancy Levine                 Brittany Johnston
Connor Manning            Amber Macken
Lily Son                         Jill Wilks
Jack Englen                    Micah Canady
Kayla Hall                      Ashley Guerra
Garth Stocking               Chelsea Reutenauer
Nick Piper                     Mike Lile
Ann Marshall                 Sara Rondeau
Luis Jimenez                  Josh Wininger
Alex Lawrence              Nadir Andrade

A Sporting KC representative will contact the lucky winners soon.

For the past two weeks Sporting Kansas City Street Team members have been patrolling local hotspots and handing out cards on how to participate in the text-to-win contest. Each week, 10 winners will be selected to win a pair of tickets to an upcoming Sporting KC game this summer. Participants can re-enter every week until the contest ends on June 5th, 2011. Be sure to keep your eyes out for Sporting KC Street Team members around town and check back weekly to see if you are a winner!

MLS in CCL Finals

While we typically wouldn't promote one of our rivals, tonight's occasion transcends club allegiances. Real Salt Lake's run toward a berth in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup reaches the penultimate hurdle in the first of two legs in the CONCACAF Champions League finals tonight. The '09 MLS Cup champs will face Mexico's '09 Apertura champ, Monterrey, at Estadio Tecnologico at 9pm CT.

The match will be shown live on FOX Soccer,TeleFutura and CONCACAF.tv and local soccer enthusiasts can join fellow Sporting KC supporters at Quick's BBQ to see RSL represent MLS. Sporting KC, who will get their chance to take down RSL on August 3rd at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, were among the teams to show their support for Real Salt Lake in the video below, check it out...

U.S. Soccer Passback

Sporting Kansas City is again partnering with local youth soccer clubs this year to collect new and used soccer equipment for the U.S. Soccer Foundation's Passback Program. Beginning today on the synthetic turf field at the team's Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park, the gear will be collected from 4:30pm - 8pm on weekdays and 8am - 10pm on weekends and will be donated to local non-profit organizations throughout the metropolitan area. Additional sites are listed below...

Caption Contest

Worst game of leap frog EVER! -- Chris Daniels

Yesterday was the first edition of our new SKC Caption Contest, a weekly feature that will appear on the Sporting Kansas City Facebook page every Monday. With nearly 100 submissions in the running, this week's inaugural winner is Chris Daniels for his one-liner that pretty succinctly summarizes the image above, captured late in the second-half of Saturday's match as Crew striker Tommy Heinemann (a Rockhurst University product) and Sporting KC defender Shavar Thomas tangled near the sideline. Chris will receive an autographed picture of a Sporting Kansas City player of his choice. Congrats!

Chet North Gives Clinic

Sporting Kansas City head athletic trainer Chet North held a youth clinic for boys and girls at the Heartland Early Development Center last week. In addition to being coached by North -- an original member of the club's technical staff since 1996 -- the kids drew pictures that will be delivered to Children's Mercy Hospital and North is making a donation to LIVESTRONG on behalf of the kids.

"It went well," said North, shown below with his son Noah. "We talked about LIVESTRONG and helping others and played soccer."

Bienvenue, Aurélien!

With all eyes on Columbus as the team travels to take on the Crew tomorrow, MLS front offices have been in a frenzy on the final day to sign players from foreign leagues. That includes Sporting Kansas City.

As you may have seen on Twitter this morning, French defender Aurélien Collin is now an official member of Sporting KC. Collin has been training with the team for some time now, coming to us from Vitoría de Setúbal in Portugal's top flight, Liga ZON Sagres. Following the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate, he will be available for selection immediately.

Here's a look at some highlights of Collin (who can play both centerback and right back) in action for Vitoría against Portuguese giant Benfica from last spring.

One Sporting Way

View from SE corner of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Thursday

LIVESTRONG Sporting Park officially has a new address: One Sporting Way, Kansas City, Kansas 66111. The requested street name change was approved by the Unified Board of Commissioners' Public Works and Safety Committee earlier this month and will be showing up on signage outside the stadium site soon.

The street name change affects the area of Prairie Crossing between State Avenue and Village West Parkway (shown on right), behind the north end Member's Stand of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Click here to read the full approval doc.

While LIVESTRONG Sporting Park is still just over 50 days from its debut, be sure to tune into ESPN2 at 10:00 p.m. CT tonight as Portland gets a highly-anticipated home opener of their own at Jeld-Wen Field against the Chicago Fire. Should the Timbers put out the Fire, it's free medium Firehouse Subs for all Sporting KC fans tomorrow with the purchase of a chips and drink at their KC area locations. And for every goal Portland puts in the back of the net, it's a $500 donation to LIVESTRONG (we'll be keeping track of the total money raised all year on the right side of the blog).

Not a bad night to root for former KC players Ryan Pore and Jack Jewsbury to do some scoring...

Wednesday's Training

We get it. You have work. You have school. You have errands to run and kids to take care of. The fact of the matter is there are some days when you just can't make it out to Swope Park to watch Sporting Kansas City practice.

We realize that, but we still want to make sure that you stay up-to-date on how the team is looking heading into each match.

Check out the report from today's training session after the jump.
Click here to read the full training report...

Congrats to Kempin, Juniors, Curran

Sporting KC goalkeeper Jon Kempin has been invited to the United States Under-18 National Team for their training camp later this month in Oregon. Kempin is one of two goalkeepers on the roster and will be making his first appearance for a US squad in 2011 after getting looks by the U18s and U20s last year after signing as a Home Grown Player.

Kempin, who celebrated his 18th birthday last week with some help from prankster Kei Kamara (shown on right), is a product of the Sporting KC Juniors and played Saturday for the U18s as both Sporting KC Development Academy teams were in action this weekend at the Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park. Read about the U16s two victories as they moved into first place of the Frontier Division and see photos from the U18s matches against Real Colorado and versus the Colorado Rush.


Finally, congrats are also in order for Sporting Club partner Pat Curran. Word has travelled back from the Lyford Cay golf course in the Bahamas that the Sporting Kansas City co-owner notched a hole-in-one on the 194-yard Hole 17 for his 5th-ever ace this weekend.

First Bye Week

Today's Follow Friday on Twitter goes to graphics guru @thechad172 for the new wallpapers available on SportingKC.com. Download your favorite to show off your screen in Sporting KC style.

It's a welcomed weekend off for Sporting Kansas City after the team's 1-0 extra time victory in the first of two rounds of qualifying for the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday. But that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of action to occupy our interests...

• The U16 and U18 Juniors have their first home games of 2011 in the US Soccer Development Academy at the Sporting Club Training Center in Swope Park. All four matches, beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, are free and open to the public.
• Some of those Juniors may then have the opportunity to join Sporting Kansas City's reserve side as the squad travels back to Houston on Sunday to kick off play in the MLS Reserve League on Monday at 10:00 a.m. 
• Need your fill of MLS action? Thanks to Firehouse Subs new deal, root against the Chicago Fire on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Seattle Sounders. Then scout Sporting Kansas City's opponent next weekend as the Columbus Crew take on Chivas USA at 10:30 p.m. Saturday night.
• Want to make the trip to Columbus to see Sporting KC at Crew Stadium? Deadline is Monday to register for complimentary tickets through the membership model.
• Finally, there's a local soccer flick making it's world premier at the KC FilmFest. Tickets are selling fast for the Saturday night showing of Au Pair Kansas at AMC Mainstreet Theater.

U.S. Open Cup Primer

Sporting Kansas City will take on the Houston Dynamo at 7pm CT tonight in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier in College Station, Texas. The Big 12 campus is still soaking in their latest collegiate national championship -- won by their women's basketball team last night -- but professional soccer will steal the spotlight tonight at Aggie Soccer Stadium, a three-time host of the NCAA College Cup (2005, 2007 and 2009).

Head over to SportingKC.com for all the action, including a live stream of the match and a simultaneous live chat to act as your closed captioning. Kansas City will be out to reverse their recent record in the U.S. Open Cup, which includes the following factoids:

• Sporting Kansas City's last win against an MLS team in U.S. Open Cup play came in the 2004 U.S. Open Cup final as KC defeated the Chicago Fire 1-0 to claim the Dewar Challenge Trophy (shown above).
• Sporting Kansas City is 3-8-1 all-time against MLS clubs in U.S. Open Cup competition, with all three previous wins coming in the team’s run to the 2004 title with victories over Dallas, San Jose and Chicago.
• Sporting Kansas City is 0-4-1 all-time against MLS teams on the road in U.S. Open Cup competition and have been eliminated in the previous five away games against MLS teams.
• When tasked with qualifying for the Cup, Sporting Kansas City has qualified on only one of three previous occasions, reaching the tournament proper in 2008 via a penalty shootout.

Meanwhile, KC faces a Houston team that is 4-1-0 in U.S. Open Cup competition at home (5-4-1 overall) and will be looking to continue their dominance in the series record at 6-2-3 all-time against KC. However, the Eastern Conference newcomers are off to a slow start in 2011 at the bottom of the table with two points from three games and will be without injured USMNT striker Brian Ching as they manage a stretch of three games in eight days.

Who thinks tonight can live up to the last game when these two teams played?

Vote, vote, vote

It's only fitting that today is election day across the metro, because we've got some voting to do of our own. Striker Teal Bunbury is one of five nominees for AT&T Save of the Week and goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen is up not once, but twice for Save of the Week. Help these guys out and click on the links to vote.

Your clicks can also make a difference in the fight against cancer this week. Help the University of Kansas Cancer Center reach 10,000 likes on their Facebook page and Dr. Roy Jensen will donate $10,000 - $1 for each fan! Be part of the cure today and help KU's quest for National Cancer Institute designation.

Finally, congrats to Travis Patrick Bailey who finished atop the standings in the Sporting Kansas City Supporters NCAA Tournament bracket contest. Bailey was one of four participants to correctly pick UConn to win it all and will take home an autographed 2011 Sporting Kansas City soccer ball for the feat. Sporting Kansas City players in the contest didn't fare so well. Rookie Konrad Warzycha finished 18th, defender Matt Besler came in at 29 and then there was Chance Myers a long way down the list at 67.

Our Past. Our Future. Our Goal.

The star above our shield represents a championship. It's what we strive for every season. While we have a new name and a new world-class stadium in LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, our primary goal remains the same. Join us as we pursue another star in 2011. Game on.

The text above was part of a full-page, color ad that appeared in the sports section of the Kansas City Star today, in conjunction with the new "Game On" ad campaign that will be seen on billboards across the metro and in two new tv commercials this weekend during the match broadcast on KSMO and during the Final Four on CBS' regional affiliates.

Teal Bunbury is also getting some love in the ad world. The USMNT striker -- playing in Canada tomorrow for the first time since switching allegiances from the Canucks -- is featured alongside Juan Agudelo and Brek Shea in this Dick's Sporting Goods promo...