Sporting Kansas City Pre Game: Chicago Fire

Sporting Kansas City are back in action for their second game following the World Cup break. This will be the second time Sporting KC and the Chicago Fire meet up this year.

Who: Chicago Fire at Sporting Kansas City

When: July 6th, 2014 at 2:00 PM CDT

Where: Sporting Park, Kansas City, KS

Streams: ESPN, Watch ESPN, MLS Live

Radio: 810 AM WHB, La Gran D 1340 AM

Sporting KC are currently tied atop the table with D.C. United in the Eastern Conference. Both teams currently have 25 points in 16 games played.

The Chicago Fire have found things a little more difficult this season as they have only been able to find two wins so far this season and are currently second from the bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference with 15 points in 15 games played. It should be noted that one of Chicago’s wins came in a 2-1 defeat of Sporting KC.

May 18th, 2014 at Chicago

This game was unique for a number of reasons, first off it was Erik Palmer-Brown’s first start in his career and Sporting KC was in a 3-5-2 formation which means he was the lone CB.

Chicago Fire attacked the make-shift Sporting KC defense early and often and in only the 6th minute Quincy Amarikwa got in behind Palmer-Brown and attempted to dribble around Eric Kronberg but Kronberg fouled Amarikwa on his way around and a penalty kick was awarded to Chicago. Mike Magee stepped up and sent the ball to the right of Kronberg to give Chicago the 1-0 lead in the 7th minute.

Chicago continued to attack and only 7 minutes later they were awarded another penalty kick for their efforts. This time it was Benji Joya that got around Palmer-Brown on the right side of the penalty box and in an effort to recover, Palmer-Brown pulled down Joya and was whistled for the foul. Once again Magee stepped up and sent it to the right of Kronberg and extended the lead for Chicago making it 2-0 in the 15th minute.

Palmer-Brown was issued his first yellow card early in the second half when he stepped up near midfield to make a challenge but went in too hard. Palmer-Brown’s debut was cut short when he was issued his second yellow in the 64th minute which meant an automatic red and he was sent off the field. Sporting KC would have to play the remaining 26+ minutes with only ten men.

Sporting KC was able to pull one back when Benny Feilhaber stepped up to take a free kick from about 40 yards out and curled the ball to the far post where Dom Dwyer was making his run. Dwyer rose up and headed the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 in the 68th minute.

GIF courtesy of Make a Gif

Dwyer’s goal proved to be too little too late for Sporting KC as they suffered a 2-1 loss to Chicago in Palmer-Brown’s debut. Sporting KC fans like to call this the “we score real goals” game as the 400+ traveling supporters were chanting during the game.

ICYMI

The United States Men’s National Team were eliminated from the World Cup as they fell to Belgium Tuesday with a final score of 2-1.

Graham Zusi and Matt Besler are back in town following their World Cup duties but are not expected to play Sunday against Chicago.

Sporting KC Goalie Eric Kronberg was awarded the MLS player of the month for the month of June. This is the second consecutive player of the month for Sporting KC as Dom Dwyer was player of the month for May.

Sporting KC released rookie Midfielder Alex Martinez Monday.

Rumors are running rampant that the release of Alex Martinez meant that a transfer was imminent for Sporting KC and Sporting CEO Robb Heineman all but confirmed those rumors when he sent out the following tweet.

According to Sam Mcdowell of the KC Star Besler may be on the way to a bigger club soon following his performance in the World Cup. When asked about the possibility that Besler gets transferred in this transfer window Heineman said:

"“I’d say there’s a strong possibility that could happen based on the interest that’s out there.”"

Besler’s agent was asked about a time line for when he expects a transfer to be announced if it happens and said:

"“probably within the next 10 days,”"

That was 2 days ago so keep an eye on things in the next week or so for any news regarding Besler.

Injury Update

Benny Feilhaber is ready to return and should be available Sunday against Chicago following his shoulder injury.

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Go Sporting!

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