During the week leading up to Sporting Kansas City's season opener on Saturday at D.C. United, SportingKC.com will visit five prominent storylines heading into the club's 2017 campaign. The Countdown to MLS will run Monday through Friday, serving as a comprehensive preview of the year ahead.|#5 - Defensive Depth|#4 - Expansion Teams|#3 - Pursuit of Preki
Sporting Kansas City added 10 newcomers ahead of the 2017 season, and with that, a lot of new nationalities as the roster is now comprised of players from 13 different nationalities. But it's the familiar faces that will be competing for club and country this year, beginning with a trio of potential U.S. Men’s National Teamers. Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi are all candidates to be named to the U.S. MNT roster ahead of a pair of World Cup Qualifiers later this month.
Feilhaber and Zusi attended January camp with recently appointed head coach Bruce Arena and increased their stock after two friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica to conclude camp. Zusi started both matches as an outside back and donned the captain's armband against Jamaica as Feilhaber notched the game-winning assist to Seattle Sounders FC forward Jordan Morris.
Meanwhile, Besler eased his way back onto the pitch during preseason with Sporting KC after undergoing offseason ankle surgery. Also undergoing an ankle cleanup this offseason was Sporting KC striker Dom Dwyer. The English-born striker is finalizing his American citizenship and is another Kansas City player that has been on Arena’s radar.
“Dom Dwyer, if he was healthy, I think I would've brought him into camp,” Arena said last month.
The U.S. is one of six nations to advance to the final round of 2018 CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, also known as The Hexagonal. The goal is to finish top three in order to clinch a berth to Russia 2018. The fourth-place team will compete in a two-legged playoff against Asia’s fifth-place finisher.
The United States dropped their first two matches in The Hex under former head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and will look to turn things around beginning with their first competitive match of 2017, against Sporting KC teammate and Honduran international Roger Espinoza.
Honduras boasts three points with one win and one loss in their first two matches of the fifth and final round of qualifying. Espinoza went the full 90 as Los Catrachos defeated Trinidad and Tobago in their second match of The Hex after head coach Jorge Luis Pinto elected not to play the veteran midfielder in the team's opening 1-0 loss to Panama a few days earlier last November.
Meanwhile, the Honduras Youth National Team qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup on Wednesday and will play in the CONCACAF final on Sunday. Get this game on you radar, because Erik Palmer-Brown and the U.S. U-20’s are competing for their own spot in the Under-20 World Cup. A win or draw against El Salvador on Friday would clinch a berth in the U-20 World Cup and a place in the CONCACAF final against Honduras on Sunday.
Soni Mustivar and Soony Saad also have ties to their respective national teams in Haiti and Lebanon, but both teams have been eliminated from World Cup Qualifying. However, Haiti is currently in a two-legged playoff with Nicaragua on March 24 and 28, and the winner goes to the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.
Needless to say, there will be no shortage of exciting soccer during the month of March, and here’s some more good news: Sporting KC has a bye in Week 4, which should help keep club and country conflicts to a minimum this month.
