SPORTING KANSAS CITY IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA FOR 2011 PRE-SEASON:
For the second consecutive pre-season, Sporting Kansas City is training in Phoenix, Arizona at the Reach 11 Sports Complex. The team arrived in Phoenix on Monday for the first of a pair of two-week training stints in the Arizona capital.
Sporting Kansas City opened the pre-season camp on January 24th and will go through nearly eight weeks of preparation for the start of the 2011 campaign, with the team’s season opener coming on March 19th at Chivas USA.
The Reach 11 Sports Complex in suburban Phoenix will again serve as the team’s pre-season training destination after Sporting first selected the site one year ago. The 33-acre complex opened in 2007 and features 18 lighted fields. The U16 and U18 Sporting Kansas City Juniors recently competed at the facility in the 2010 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Winter Showcase.
Sporting Kansas City and Major League Soccer are entering their 16th season in 2011, which will feature two new expansion teams in the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers, as every club plays each team twice in a 34-game season.
See below for the 2011 pre-season schedule, subject to change:
Sporting Kansas City 2011 Pre-Season Schedule:
·Feb. 15th – Team returns to Kansas City
·Feb. 21st – Team departs for Phoenix
·March 11th – Team returns to Kansas City
·March 19th – Season opener at Chivas USA
FIRST MATCH OF 2011 PRE-SEASON ON SATURDAY AGAINST COLUMBUS:
Sporting Kansas City will get their first taste of competitive action on Saturday as they face the Columbus Crew in the opening game of their 2011 pre-season schedule. The exhibition is scheduled to kick off at 12 p.m. CT at the Reach 11 Sports Complex.
The club announced their currently scheduled matches for the 2011 pre-season last week, featuring friendlies against five MLS clubs, the United States Under-18 National Team and the NPSL’s Arizona Sahuaros and Montreal Impact.
Following Saturday’s contest with Columbus, Sporting Kansas City will complete an inter-squad scrimmage before facing the reigning MLS Cup champions Colorado Rapids on Saturday, February 12th. Prior to returning to Kansas City on Tuesday, February 15th, Sporting will play two mixed-squad matches against the Houston Dynamo and U.S. Under-18 National Team to finish their first phase of training at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix. Kansas City will return to Phoenix on February 21st after five days off in Kansas City.
The team’s second stretch in Arizona will then feature four additional competitive matches. Kansas City will again have a doubleheader on Saturday, February 26th in Casa Grande, Arizona as Sporting and the expansion Portland Timbers will meet as MLS clubs for the first time at 11am, followed by a friendly against the NPSL's Montreal Impact at 12:30pm. The team will then take a trip to Tucson, Arizona for the Major League Soccer Desert Cup, where the team will test themselves in back-to-back days. Sporting KC will play the Arizona Sahuaros of the NPSL on Friday, March 4th and then return to action 24 hours later against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, March 5th.
Click here for Sporting Kansas City’s currently scheduled 2011 pre-season matches (subject to change, all times Mountain Standard Time).
TEAL “BOONBOOREE” T-SHIRTS ON SALE AT SPORTINGKC.COM:
SportingKC.com is now selling Teal “BoonBooRee” Bunbury t-shirts designed by fans to commemorate the Sporting Kansas City striker’s first goal with the United States Men’s National Team last month. Bunbury, 20, converted a penalty kick in the second half for the United States’ lone goal in a 1-1 draw against Chile at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
The match, broadcast nationally on TeleFutura, produced a memorable goal call from commentator Pablo Ramirez, who used the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” as inspiration for Bunbury’s celebration at the corner flag, where he performed the Dougie dance.
Video of the goal, and a subsequent remix, went viral within hours and the following day, Sporting Kansas City teamed up with The Cauldron supporters group to solicit t-shirt designs from fans. The top two designs, as determined by fan voting, were created by Adam Brown and Eli Spencer and are now on sale for $20 each, with $5 from every shirt sold being donated to The Cauldron.
Click here to place your order through Wednesday, February 9th. Shirts will then be shipped within 7-10 business days.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY U13 JUNIORS WIN TWICE IN DALLAS:
The Sporting Kansas City U13 Juniors traveled to Dallas to play in the 10th annual Michael Brown Winter Classic at Pizza Hut Park this weekend, winning two of the team’s four games in their first tournament of the year.
The Juniors opened the tournament on Saturday against the local MLS Juniors squad, FC Dallas. Cole McLagan gave KC a 1-0 lead on a well-placed header at the beginning of the second half. Though FC Dallas came back to tie it, the Juniors regained the lead as Peyton Brown set up a cross to Logan Lucas with 10 minutes to go to secure a 2-1 win.
Despite playing tough and organized soccer, TFC 98 Royal proved to be a formidable opponent in their second game on Saturday. Texas Football Club scored on their only shot on goal in the game and held on to win 1-0 and hand the Juniors their first loss of the tournament.
On Sunday against the DFW Tejanos, McLagan scored his second goal of the tournament on a cross from Dominick Parry to start a scoring spree for the Juniors. Trevor Cissel doubled the lead with a shot from 18 yards out, while Keaton Schieffer and Seth Hudson added insurance goals late. The defense, led by Paul Whitner, kept the clean sheet in the 4-0 victory.
The Juniors finished the weekend with a 1-0 loss against Solar, one of the top teams in the country in their age group. The back-and-forth match wasn’t decided until the game’s final moments as Solar scored with less than two minutes to go.
Head Coach Dustin Ottesen said he was pleased with what he saw from the team at the tournament. “Overall it was a pretty successful weekend and the boys got four games against four quality teams,” Ottesen said. “It was a great test and chance to see where we stand against some of the best in the country.”
DESIGNATED PLAYER OMAR BRAVO JOINS SPORTING KANSAS CITY:
Sporting Kansas City striker Omar Bravo joined the team for the first time last week as all players reported for entrance physicals ahead of the 2011 pre-season. Bravo, an icon at Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, was signed by Kansas City during the 2010 season and subsequently loaned to Chivas Guadalajara for the remainder of the Apertura, Mexico’s fall season.
Bravo comes to Kansas City for the 2011 season as one of the most decorated and beloved players in Chivas Guadalajara history and as a well-known member of the Mexico National Team. He has scored 16 goals for Mexico in 65 appearances, including two goals in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also scored two goals during the 2004 Olympics, three goals at the 2007 Copa America and twice more in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.
All told, Bravo is a proven goal-scorer who has netted 154 goals in 451 top-flight matches for club and country. He is Chivas Guadalajara’s 2nd all-time leading scorer, with 108 goals in league competition for the club. Bravo won the league scoring title during the Clausura in 2007 and was the leading scorer in the 2007 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
In 2010, Bravo scored two goals in nine appearances in the Apertura and added five goals in the 2010 Copa Libertadores as he helped Chivas become the second Mexican club to reach the finals in tournament history. Bravo has scored 14 goals in 35 career Libertadores matches.
Bravo is Kansas City’s second Designated Player after the team signed former Argentina international Claudio Lopez as a DP in 2008.
CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES AT SPORTING KANSAS CITY’S STATE-OF-THE-ART STADIUM:
Sporting Kansas City’s $180 million home ground, currently under construction in Kansas City, Kansas, continues to progress ahead of the team’s home opener against the Chicago Fire on June 9th. Vice President of Development David Ficklin revealed on Wednesday that the field’s SubAir heating and cooling technology will be installed in coming weeks and the first seats will be installed by month’s end.
The venue will seat 18,467 soccer supporters and features a dramatic canopy roof that covers every seating section of the stadium. It will also include two high definition video boards, with a 2,016-square-feet screen on the south end and a 550-square-feet screen on the north end.
Sporting Kansas City will play the first part of its 2011 MLS schedule on the road while final touches are made on the state-of-the-art stadium ahead of its opening on June 9th. Major League Soccer announced the team’s first two road games as Sporting will open the 2011 MLS season at Chivas USA at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 19th at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California and then travel to Chicago for the Fire’s home opener the following weekend on Saturday, March 26th at 3 p.m. CT at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. The full 2011 MLS schedule is expected to be released in coming weeks.
The Fire’s return trip to Kansas City in June will mark a momentous date in Kansas City soccer history as the city’s first professional soccer-specific stadium opens less than a year-and-a-half after breaking ground on the site near The Legends in Wyandotte County in January 2010. The stadium is designed as one of the best in the world for its size and has world-class accommodations, such as the innovative Members Club, the first of its kind in MLS, for Members Section ticket holders.
Sporting Kansas City season ticket packages can be purchased at www.SportingKC.com/VirtualVenue or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL. Season tickets begin at $14-per-seat ($280 total for 20 games).
KANSAS CITY TO HOST 2011 CONCACAF GOLD CUP DOUBLEHEADER ON JUNE 14:
Sporting Kansas City’s state-of-the-art new stadium will host a first round doubleheader for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ on June 14, 2011. Kansas City was one of 11 U.S. cities chosen to host games during the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ and the international matches will take place at Sporting Kansas City’s $180 million new stadium, currently under construction in Kansas City, Kansas.
The tournament brings 12 of the region’s best National Teams to compete for the continental crown and the right to be the region’s representative in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. The following 12 nations will compete in this summer’s competition: United States, Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Grenada, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The 2011 Gold Cup will mark the 20th anniversary of the tournament, the region’s highest level of competition, and is scheduled to take place across the United States from June 5th to June 25th. CONCACAF will announce the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup™ groups, schedule and ticket information in early March.
The Gold Cup doubleheader in Kansas City will be included as part of 2011 Sporting Kansas City season ticket packages, which can be purchased at www.SportingKC.com/VirtualVenue or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL. Season tickets begin at $14-per-seat ($280 total for 20 games).
SPORTING KANSAS CITY TO HOLD OPEN TRYOUTS ON MARCH 12TH and 13TH:
Sporting Kansas City will hold open tryouts for prospective players on March 12th and 13th at the team’s Swope Park Training Facility. The tryouts are open to players who are 18 years of age and older, and are among the first 300 registrants.
This year’s event marks the fourth consecutive year the club has held an organized open tryout. The previous occasions have drawn as many as 200 players from more than a dozen different countries.
Members of the Sporting Kansas City technical staff will conduct the tryouts, evaluating and identifying all players who participate on Saturday, March 12th. They will then select a group of the top performers from day one to return on Sunday, March 13th for a second session to allow the players an additional opportunity to showcase their abilities. No registered players are guaranteed a spot at the second day of tryouts.
Finalists from the open tryouts may then be given the chance to train with the Sporting Kansas City first team as they kick off their 16th season in Major League Soccer one week later.
Interested individuals can register for the 2011 open tryouts at SportingKC.com. Players must pay $200 for the opportunity to participate and also must be able to provide their own transportation, lodging and food for the weekend.
JUNIORS ANNOUNCE 2ND ANNUAL PRE-ACADEMY CAMP MARCH 14-16:
The Sporting Kansas City Juniors will host their 2nd Annual Pre-Academy Camp from March 14th - 16th at the club's Swope Park Training Facility. The camp is open to boys between the ages of 9-16 who are currently part of or interested in becoming a member in the Juniors program in the future. All players will be evaluated by the Juniors coaching staff, with the opportunity to be invited back for future training sessions. The camp is designed for the committed player who wants to work their way into the U.S. Soccer Development Academy and the Sporting Kansas City Juniors.
The camp costs $125, which includes a ticket to a Sporting Kansas City home game inside the team’s state-of-the-art new stadium and an adidas Sporting Kansas City t-shirt. The schedule for the 2011 Pre-Academy Camp is as follows:
·14-16 year olds: 9-10:30am
·11-13 year olds: 11-12:30pm
·9-10 year olds: 1:30-3pm
If interested, click here to register for the 2011 Pre-Academy Camp.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE LOCALLY AND ONLINE:
Sporting Kansas City merchandise can be purchased at Dick’s Sporting Goods and The Kansas City Store locations throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area, as well as online at MLSgear.com. Dick’s Sporting Goods launched the first line of Sporting Kansas City hooded sweatshirts, as well as short-sleeve and long-sleeve t-shirts following the team’s announcement of their new look in November 2010, while The Kansas City Store made merchandise available prior to the holiday season and continues to carry team items.
Additionally, Sporting Kansas City supporters can visit the official online store of Major League Soccer for scarves, towels, soccer balls and hats with the new logo and Sporting Blue color.
