Player
Fifteen years ago today, Digital Takawira scored one of the most impressive hat tricks in MLS history. The striker scored three goals in a nine-minute span to lead Kansas City to a 3-1 victory over the New England Revolution.
Digital stopped by Sporting Park earlier this year and reminisced on the feat, saying, "It was like boom, boom, boom!" Enjoy today's Throwback Thursday featuring his signature "Digital Crawl" celebration.
Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler joined The Border Patrol on Sports Radio 810 WHB this morning, chatting with show hosts Steven St. John, Nate Bukaty and Jake Gutierrez. The 15-minute segment touched on several topics, including the win in Houston last Sunday and Besler's eagerness to return to the lineup after missing the last three matches with a knee injury. Listen to the audio archive here.
Besler is also in the national discussion today as U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann revealed his roster for the team's five upcoming matches. Besler and Zusi are two of five MLS field players on the list and SportingKC.com caught up with both players after today's Sporting KC training session to get their reaction:
Photo by Graham Green
Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber joined hosts Callum Williams and Andy Edwards on this week's edition of The Sporting KC Show on Sports Radio 810 WHB last night live from Em Chamas Brazilian Grill. The playmaker is second on the squad with three assists this season, one behind League leader Graham Zusi, and he shared his thoughts on the team's start to the 2013 season, the emergence of Peterson Joseph in the midfield and his U.S. Men's National Team hopes for the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer. His 10-minute interview comes from 2:30-12:30 in the audio archive.
The show also spoke with D.C. United midfielder and Canadian international Kyle Porter. The 23-year-old has started each of D.C. United's last four games, pairing with fellow Canadian Dwayne De Rosario in the midfield, and he provided the view from the opposition's side ahead of Sporting Kansas City's trip to RFK Stadium on Sunday. That segment can be found from 30:45-36:30 in the podcast.
Or, of course, you can listen to the full show online at 810whb.com.
Paulo Nagamura stepped up in Sunday's match and now it's time once again for #VoteSporting.
The midfielder's goalline clearance in the second half against the Houston Dynamo has been nominated for this week's MLSSoccer.com Save of the Week. The save was in the 80th minute and prevented a Jason Johnson header from crossing the goalline.
Voting is open until Thursday evening with the winner to be announced on Friday.
You can view the full list of nominees below and submit your vote using the poll on the right or on MLSSoccer.com.
Kei Kamara's back in Kansas City and was recently on MLSSoccer.com's Extratime Radio. Kamara spoke about his time with Norwich City, Sporting KC's win at Houston, and of course his favorite restaurant, Chipotle. You can listen to the full interview below, which starts at about the 6:00 mark.
Graham Zusi joined Glenn Davis on Dynamo All-Access ahead of Sporting KC's trip to Houston for tonight's showdown between the Eastern Conference contenders. Hit play below to hear from the reigning MLS Player of the Week for his thoughts on renewing the rivalry...
Speaking of Zusi and the radio, MLSSoccer.com talked musical tastes and compiled a Spotify playlist with some of the National Teamer's favorites.
Need more noise? Jake Yadrich, color commentator for the Sporting KC Television Network, joined T.J. Carpenter on Sports Radio 810 WHB for a SportsNight segment on Thursday. Listen to the full interview online at 810whb.com.
Sports Radio 810 WHB will simulcast tonight's match with The Final Whistle: Sporting KC Postgame Show immediately afterward. Call 913-3-810-810 to join the discussion with hosts Dave Borchardt and Andy Edwards.
Roger Espinoza made history on Saturday afternoon as the first player ever to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and English FA Cup in consecutive years. The former Sporting KC midfielder started and played 90 minutes for Wigan today in their 1-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final. The victory comes only months after Espinoza was a part of the Sporting KC squad that defeated Seattle on August 8, 2012 to lift the U.S. Open Cup trophy.
Full video highlights of the FA Cup final are available below.
On Saturday, Roger Espinoza will be aiming for his second cup in consecutive seasons. Espinoza was a part of the 2012 Sporting Kansas City side that won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and is currently playing for Wigan, who faces Manchester City in the FA Cup final tomorrow (watch live on FOX at 11am CT). He scored his first EPL goal for Wigan on Tuesday and the GIF below shows that wasn't the first time he's used his left foot to beat a keeper near post. You've been warned, Joe Hart.
Kei's back in Kansas City and MLSSoccer.com has featured the striker in their latest "Top 5" series. Check out the video below to view some of Kamara's best moments in a Kansas City jersey including a couple penalty kicks in the U.S. Open Cup final, his two-goal performance against Toronto, and his St. Patrick's Day celebration with C.J. Sapong.
Go in-depth for Sporting Kansas City's 1-0 loss against the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday at Sporting Park with this match's Fast Facts.
- With the loss, Sporting Kansas City falls to third in the Eastern Conference.
- Sporting KC is now 5-4-2 in 2013 and 3-2-1 at home.
- Sporting Kansas City is 217-210-111 all-time and 144-77-48 all-time at home.
- Sporting Kansas City's record against the Seattle Sounders moves to 1-6-1 all-time and 0-4-0 at home in the series.
- Sporting Kansas City beat the Sounders in the two clubs' first ever meeting and has not won a match since (seven straight matches without a victory).
- Sporting KC made three changes to their starting lineup for Wednesday after their 4-0 triumph over Chivas USA on Sunday. Josh Gardner started in place of Seth Sinovic, Chance Myers started for Mechack Jerome and C.J. Sapong for Claudio Bieler.
- The Seattle Sounders made four changes to their starting lineup from last weekend's 2-2 draw against the Philadelphia Union. Zach Scott came on for DeAndre Yedlin, Mario Roberto Martinez for Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso for Alex Caskey and David Estrada for Lamar Neagle.
- Sporting Kansas City allowed only two shots on goal on Wednesday. Seattle’s two shots on goal on Wednesday was a season low.
- Kei Kamara made his first appearance for Sporting Kansas City during the 2013 season, re-joining the team late Sunday night after being on loan with Norwich City in the Barclays Premier League.
- Since 2009, Seattle Sounders FC game-winning goals against Sporting KC have come in the 76th minute (2009), 92+ minute (2010), 78th minute (2010), 93+ minute (2011), 92+ minute (2011) and 94+ minute (2013).
- Of Seattle’s 11 goals scored all-time in the series, seven have come after the 76th minute. Seattle’s 11 goals in the series have come from 11 different players.
- Prior to Wednesday, Sporting Kansas City was 4-0-0 when leading in the 75th minute.
- Wednesday's temperature was 75 degrees at kickoff, the hottest temperature for a Sporting KC game in 2013.
- Wednesday marked Josh Gardner’s first start since joining Sporting Kansas City. The start was his first in MLS since April 4, 2012.
- Sporting Kansas City players Seth Sinovic, Paulo Nagamura and Claudio Bieler did not start for the first time during the 2013 season on Wednesday. Sinovic and Bieler entered the match as second-half substitutes.
- Seattle has fielded 12 different lineups in 12 matches in all competition this year.
- Seattle is unbeaten in 35-straight games when scoring first.
- Seattle boasts a five-game unbeaten streak in all competition.
- Attendance at Wednesday’s match was 18,602, marking 22 consecutive sellouts at Sporting Park.
- Ike Opara led all players on the field on Wednesday with 11 clearances and 11 interceptions. No other player had more than six in either category. Opara also led all players with eight aerial duels won on Wednesday.
- Oriol Rosell was credited with 15 possessions gained on Wednesday, most amongst all players.
- Jimmy Nielsen has appeared in 72 straight MLS matches, including postseason, for Sporting Kansas City, dating back to June 12, 2011. The streak covers a span of 6,480 straight minutes of MLS action.
- Seattle Sounders FC backup goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was dismissed for foul or abusive language in the 24th minute of the match. Wednesday was the third straight match between Seattle and Sporting KC with a player ejected or dismissed.
- Aurelien Collin committed six fouls in Wednesday’s match, tying his single-game career high. The six fouls committed is a season-high for a Sporting Kansas City player.
- Collin also committed six fouls in his last match against the Seattle Sounders FC on June 20, 2012.
- C.J. Sapong suffered four fouls on Wednesday, the most by a Kansas City player in the all-time series.
- Peterson Joseph’s four fouls committed on Wednesday was a single-game career high.
- Sporting Kansas City outshot the Seattle Sounders 11-9. Sporting KC is 4-3-2 when outshooting an opponent this season.
- Sporting Kansas City was without Paulo Nagamura on Wednesday due to suspension.
- The Seattle Sounders were without Lamar Neagle and DeAndre Yedlin on Wednesday. Both players were suspended for red cards received on Saturday against Philadelphia.
- Sigi Schmid earned his 174th win on Wednesday, most all-time among MLS coaches.
- Sporting KC leads MLS all-time in shots with 7,349.
- Joseph Serati was the Victory Suite honoree at Wednesday's match.
- Matt Besler missed Wednesday’s match due to injury.
- Graham Zusi started the 75th regular season match of his career on Wednesday and surpassed 7,000 regular season minutes played