The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final on Wednesday, Aug. 8, will be broadcast live on
GolTV.
The finale of the 99th U.S. Open Cup kicks off at 8 p.m. CT at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in
Kansas City, Kan., as three-time defending U.S. Open Cup champion Seattle Sounders FC faces host
Sporting Kansas City.
The Wizards celebrate with their MLS Cup.An unseasonable warm mid-October day in Washington D.C.
was the setting for the 2000 Major League Soccer Cup. The championship game pitted the Chicago
Fire, the league's most potent offense, against Supporter's Shield winners, Kansas City
Wizards.
Miklos Molnar would capitalize on some unusually poor Fire defending to score on Zach Thorton in
the 11th minute.
The Wizards had another sellout at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park tonight in their win over Real Salt
Lake. That sellout tonight does a few things for Sporting KC's attendance this year. The first, is
that KC could have an announced attendance of 0 for each game for the rest of the season and the
first 8 games (average 8,400 if 0 the rest of the way) this year would out draw the average of the
1999 season of 8,183.
The opening of LiveStrong Park is set for Sunday. With this exciting event just days away, we
thought it appropriate to set the stage for Major League Soccer's newest SSS. In September, 2006,
On-Goal, LLC purchased the Kansas City Wizards from Hunt Sports Group. Led by Neal Patterson and
Cliff Illig, the purchase brought a local ownership group to MLS and started a new wave of MLS
franchise sales that included Houston and DC United.
They were the Kansas City Wiz and played in Arrowhead Stadium. They then rebranded to the Kansas
City Wizards, and played in a converted baseball park. This season they have rebranded again. Now
they are Sporting Kansas City and will soon be moving into their own soccer stadium. LIVESTRONG
Park will have a roof over all seating, a steep grade and now the club will manage a rugby
team.
On Goal, the owners of the Kansas City Wizards, announced Wednesday that the team would be
rebranding as "Sporting Kansas City" for the 2011 campaign and beyond.
While you can read all the hopes for the new brand here, including the positives on the shape of
the logo and the Harry Potter-style "SC," and the reaction to the announcement here.
Like it or not the Kansas City Wizards is no longer the name of the Major League Soccer team
that resides in Kansas City, Kansas. The organization announced yesterday that it has a new logo
and a new name, Sporting Kansas City.
The logo and name change is not the first for the club that has tried to find it's identity over
the last 15 years.
Wizards President, Robb Heineman responded to comments he made yesterday at the season ticket
holder stadium tour today on Bigsoccer. He responded to the comments about where the Wizards will
play to start next season, the possibility of playing at Arrowhead, as well as neutral site "home"
games.
My biggest issue was the neutral site league games, which Heineman addresses first, and even says
is likely not a good idea.
Hampton Stevens joined us for the Man Utd match last Sunday, getting the views of some fans
traveling from all over the country and world to see the Wizards host United. Check out his post
here or watch the video below:
Bailey Pesek and Taylor Stamper at Arrowhead Stadium
A pair of Nixa Lady Eagles were fortunate enough to attend the recent Manchester United game
against the KC Wizards last Sunday. They share a picture of their visit and thoughts on the soccer
adventure.
Bailey says: Having the opportunity to see Manchester United play in the United States doesn't
happen every day.
Bailey Pesek and Taylor Stamper at Arrowhead Stadium
A pair of Nixa Lady Eagles were fortunate enough to attend the recent Manchester United game
against the KC Wizards last Sunday. They share a picture of their visit and thoughts on the soccer
adventure.
Bailey says: Having the opportunity to see Manchester United play in the United States doesn't
happen every day.
Kansas City Wizards fans may have just experienced the best 90 minutes of the season this past
weekend at Arrowhead Stadium. The match had plenty to offer and the 53,000 fans in attendance
didn't leave disappointed. Although it wasn't a "must win game" for either side, the fact that both
teams played attacking football and showed plenty of energy made it an entertaining game.
Ten-man Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer shocked English Premier League powerhouse
Manchester United 2-1 yesterday in front of over 52,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium in a friendly
match. Davy Arnaud put the Wizards up 1-0 before Dimitar Berbatov converted from the penalty spot
for the Red Devils in the 41st following a foul [.
The Kansas City Wizards looked poised for an exhibition defeat when defender Jimmy Conrad was
sent off in the first half of the Wizards friendly against Manchester United. Rather than fold,
the MLS club put together a strong performance to score a surprising 2-1 upset victory in a
friendly at Arrowhead Stadium.
Sir Alex Ferguson felt inexperience was to blame for Manchester United's surprise defeat by 10-man
Kansas City Wizards. Kei Kamara scored the Wizards' winner in the 42nd minute as the Major League
Soccer side excelled in front of 52,424 fans at the Arrowhead Stadium.
I'd talked previously about how today's game didn't mean much to either side, if the Wizards won it
was because Manchester United wasn't playing with all their stars. If United won, it was because,
well, they're Manchester United. That said, KC put on a very good performance today out at
Arrowhead Stadium, as they took down the Premier League club 2-1.
This afternoon, 52,342 people came to watch Kansas City take on English Premier League
powerhouse Manchester United in the recently renovated Arrowhead Stadium.
Both Davy Arnaud and Kei Kamara netted first-half goals in the 2-1 victory Sunday. The scoring
started with Arnaud's 11th minute finished the through ball that was played in from Kei Kamara.
Manchester United's North American Tour has led the English powerhouse to Kansas City, where
they take on the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium.
The match is the final pre-season match before Manchester United takes on the MLS All-Stars in
Wednesday's MLS All Star Game.
If you will be watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some
play-by-play in the comments section below.
Manchester United's North American Tour has led the English powerhouse to Kansas City, where
they take on the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium (6pm, Fox Soccer Channel).
The match is the final pre-season match before Manchester United takes on the MLS All-Stars in
Wednesday's MLS All Star Game.
1. Founded in 1995 and known as The Wiz and KC. The "Wizards" name refers to The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz which was set in Kansas.
2. They play at the 10,385 capacity stadium called Community America Ballpark. The noisiest section
of the stadium is known as "The Cauldron".
3. In 2008, the Wizards moved their home game against the Los Angeles Galaxy to Arrowhead Stadium
to accommodate the larger crowd that was expected to be in attendance for David Beckham's Kansas
City début.
So apparently out at Arrowhead tomorrow there's this pretty big game going on involving the Wizards
and some team from England that's apparently really popular, Manchester United. The team arrived in
KC today. The game tomorrow in KC is going to be the biggest soccer game here at least since the
2001 World Cup qualifier between the US and Costa Rica, if not ever.
That's right folks, the most valuable sports team in all of the world is now right here in Kansas
City. Manchester United touched down just a few moments ago, as you see in the photo above. There's
a press conference after 3 p.m. this afternoon, then a training session at Swope (not open to the
general public without already-purchased special tickets).
As you see above, the coaching staff was very appreciative of the Unicorn Wizards, our U13 friends
from the Manchester area, giving an in-depth scouting report of Manchester United. The MLS Wizards
face world-renowned Man Utd Sunday at 5 p.m. CT in the first-ever event at the New Arrowhead
Stadium.
Come on Man Utd, let him out to try out some Oklahoma Joe's while he's here! As you know, Giggs and
Man Utd visit the Wizards July 25 at Arrowhead Stadium. If you don't yet have tickets, click here.
Manchester United's training center at Carrington.Manchester United staffer Rob James has
paid Kansas City and the Wizards a great compliment in a newspaper article back in the UK. James
has been the one putting together the U.S. tour and came to Kansas City a few weeks back when Denis
Irwin came.
While we know that L.A. Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena will be coaching the MLS All-Star Team, along with
Houston Dynamo Coach Dominic Kinnear, this year, we still don't know the full roster for the MLS
All-Star Team. However, we do have some good information on who will be travelling with Manchester
United to the US this summer:
GOALKEEPERS: Ben Amos (ENG), Tomasz Kuszczak (POL), Edwin van de Sar (NED)
DEFENDERS: Wes Brown (ENG), Fabio Da Silva (BRA), Rafael Da Silva (BRA), Ritchie De Laet (BEL),
Corry Evans (NIR), Jonny Evans (NIR), John O'Shea (IRL), Chris Smalling (ENG)
MIDFIELDERS: Tom Cleverley (ENG), Darren Fletcher (SCO), Darron Gibson (IRL), Ryan Giggs (WAL),
Nani (POR), Gabriel Obertan (FRA), Paul Scholes (ENG)
FORWARDS: Dimitar Berbatov (BUL), Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), Javier Hernandez (MEX) [will join in
Houston on 27 July], Federico Macheda (ITA), Danny Welbeck (ENG)
MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson
As of now, Wayne Rooney is not on the roster, but that roster may change as we get closer to the
match.
The Chicago Fire v. Sporting Kansas City (formerly known as the Kansas City Wiz/Wizards) rivalry
is odd from a number of standpoints. The most notable of those is that one of the club's fan bases
refuses to acknowledge that any rivalry exists.
The Wiz were one of Major League Soccer's original ten teams during the inaugural 1996
season.
The third of four international friendlies hit tonight and this one is, arguably, the biggest
match with the highest profile club. I know it's not Manchester United, or even Manchester City but
seeing West Bromwich Albion is a treat unto itself. It won't be every year that they come to the
United States like some of the bigger teams so it's kind of nice to relish in the moment.
Lost in the shuffle amid the announcement of Manchester's United's full U.S. schedule Tuesday,
Sporting Kansas City announced a friendly against another English Premier League club with plenty
of tradition -- Newcastle United.
10 years ago the US played Costa Rica at Arrowhead Stadium in KC. It was my first trip to see
the team in person and a game that I will never forget. At that time, it was difficult to find
US games on TV (many games were on pay-per-view if they were broadcast at all) and you had to scour
the internet for hours just to find any news relating to the team.
Robb Heineman made me happy about one thing in the past few days. During an interview with
MLSsoccer.com, Heineman said that KC will play all their home games at the team's new stadium out
at the Legends. That means no games in neutral venues or games at Arrowhead next season. Earlier
this year there had been hints from Heineman and rumors that Sporting would play at least one game
in a neutral venue for the 2011 season.
Inter Milan is bringing a full star-studded squad to Dallas tonight. (Getty Images)
Tonight is a pretty big deal for FC Dallas. They host the UEFA Champions League winners from
Italy, Inter Milan at Pizza Hut Park. This is easily the biggest friendly in the club's history and
definitely the biggest match PHP has hosted (excluding two MLS Cups of course).
Can you believe it? Our boys just beat Manchester United. That's right...the Red Devils...the
11-time English Premier League champs. Wow. Watch the highlights above. See the notables here in
the post-game press release. See the quotes here, including this one from Nani:MANCHESTER UNITED
MIDFIELDER NANI
On Kansas City's style of play
"Their entire team played very well today.
The feast of soccer continued this weekend in the United States with league matches and
friendlies nationwide. Attendance was extremely impressive throughout the country with big crowds
in Kansas City, New York, Salt Lake City and elsewhere. More than 50k packed into Arrowhead
Stadium to see plucky Kansas City hold off Manchester United, almost 20k were in Salt Lake City to
see RSL square off against Chivas USA.
Come out to the Fan Zone before Sunday's game against Manchester United.This Sunday, there
will be a Fan Zone outside of Arrowhead before the match against Manchester United. The Fan Zone
will begin at 2 p.m. CT (also the time that parking lots open), concluding at 5 p.m. (also kickoff
time).
Giggs will wear his familiar number 11.For those of you who are stat/number geeks (like me),
we thought we'd post the list of jersey numbers Manchester United players will be wearing. The
match kicks off Sunday at 5 p.m. CT at Arrowhead Stadium. If you don't yet have your tickets, get
them here.
If you were at Arrowhead Stadium last night or watching on Fox Soccer Channel, you might have seen
the commercial above. As it shows, the players are pretty pumped about the new stadium opening next
summer. Now is your chance to reserve your spot! If you're not already a season ticket holder,
initial payments for 2011 season tickets are now being accepted.
First off, for fairness sake, United did not have Wayne Rooney, Rio
Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji
Sung, Michael Carrick, Edwin Van Der Sar, Darren
Fletcher - so a number of their first squad stalwarts were missing.
The 2010 NFL playoff schedule is set. The spots in the playoffs weren't decided until the final
game on Sunday night. In the AFC, the Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Chiefs, Ravens and Jets made the
playoffs. In the NFC, the Falcons, Bears, Eagles, Seahawks, Saints and Packers advanced to the
postseason.
