The beginning of the 2012 Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and the folks over at MLS Soccer have released their first preseason power rankings. As expected the LA Galaxy are on top, while the New England Revolution get no love, as MLS Soccer ranks them below the expansion side Montreal Impact.

By CALEB SONNELAND

Citing "personal reasons," FC Dallas has temporarily lost Jackson Gonçalves, as the club loaned the 23-year-old back to Cruzeiro in his native land of Brazil.

Though the midfielder proved to be a large factor last season for FC Dallas, coach Schellas Hyndman believes the situation can be "mutually beneficial.

More updating of stats for you, here is an updated list of players with over 100 appearances for Kansas City in league play and in all competitions. Also included in on this list is where the rest of the current roster stands in terms of appearances.
League
Davy Arnaud - 240
Kerry Zavagnin - 237
Nick Garcia - 224
Preki - 218
Jimmy Conrad - 204
Chris Klein - 200
Jack Jewsbury - 195
Mo Johnston - 149
Josh Wolff - 144
Matt McKeon - 144
Michael Harrington - 138
Tony Meola - 125
Chris Brown - 123
Diego Gutierrez - 119
Uche Okafor - 119
Jose Burciaga - 115
Francisco Gomez - 114
Sean Bowers - 111
Sasha Victorine - 106
Digital Takawira - 103
Roger Espinoza - 87
Matt Besler - 72
Kei Kamara - 65
Graham Zusi - 64
Jimmy Nielsen - 60
Chance Myers - 59
Teal Bunbury - 55
CJ Sapong - 34
Birahim Diop - 33
Julio Cesar - 27
Aurelien Collin - 23
Seth Sinovic - 20
Luke Sassano - 9
Korede Aiyegbusi - 8
Eric Kronberg - 5
Soony Saad - 4
Daneil Cyrus - 2
Lawrence Olum - 1
Peterson Joseph - 1
Davy Arnaud took over the number one spot on the list this season, but with his departure, Michael Harrington is the only player on the roster to appear in 100 games for KC.

Continuing the stat updating for you tonight, it's time to update the 10,000 minute club.
In league play one new player joined the 10,000 minute club, as Michael Harrington became the 12th player for Kansas City, Davy Arnaud also jumped up 1 spot on the list moving ahead of Jimmy Conrad.

Since it'd been a few days without a post I figured I'd give you a second post today as well on stats. This time it's all competition goal scorers for Sporting KC in their history. First here are some previous years for you.
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
On the list this year we add two new players to the list this season, other than that we see no movement on the list this year.

More stats to update for you. This time it's the leading scorers in MLS play now through the 2011 season. First here are links back to the previous years.
1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010
One new player joins the list this year, and another continues to shoot up the list.

Today Sporting Kansas City announced a portion of their preseason schedule. As expected, the team will be making a return Arizona, but as announced previously will not be competing in the Desert Cup, instead they'll also spend part of preseason in Orlando for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic.
Preseason kicks off on January 19th, a week after the MLS SuperDraft, and 2 days after the Supplemental draft, where the team has a combined seven draft picks, with physicals.

One more new stat before I start doing some updating on some of the stats I already had been tracking. Today it's a look at landmark goals for KC. I'm tracking league goals, competitive goals, both home and away. I'm also tracking US Open Cup, playoff, and international goals, but those 3 won't be listed here simply due to lack of many landmark goal numbers.

Another new stat for you today regarding Sporting KC. And it's another single season stat. Here's a list of the top ten single season appearances and starts.
Top ten appearances in league play in a single season.
1. CJ Sapong - 34 - 2011
2. Preki - 32 - 1996
2. Mark Chung - 32 - 1996
2.

Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

Omar Bravo's time in MLS is up.

Sporting Kansas City and top-flight Mexican club Cruz Azul agreed to a deal that will see the Designated Player return to his native country after one season in MLS. No terms of the deal were disclosed.

Took a little while for me to get this post out due to all the stuff that's been going on since Sporting KC's season ended. But here's a look at my post season grades.
Korede Aiyegbusi - INC - Only played 94 minutes for KC in league play this year, not enough to warrent a grade.
Davy Arnaud - C+ - Missed quite a bit of time after having hernia surgery, and once back found himself as a back up to the midfield trio of Cesar, Espinoza, and Zusi.

Bobby Convey is headed to KC. (Getty Images)

You have to like what some clubs are doing right now. This week has been a big week of trades as clubs get ready for the First Stage of the Re-Entry Draft next week. Today another trade came down the pipe and while others haven't been as big this one certainly has the makings of being pretty huge.

Photo by Don Feria/ISIphotos.com

Sporting Kansas City's week of wheeling and dealing has ended with an exclamation point.

The club acquired Bobby Convey from the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for an international roster slot.

Convey, who did not have his contract option picked up by San Jose after this past season, was part of the initial list of players available in the MLS Re-Entry Draft, but that is no longer the case after Sporting KC stepped up to trade for the veteran left winger.

The final of the three announcements for yesterday was finally made earlier today with the announcement that Sporting KC had acquired Chivas USA midfielder, Paulo Nagamura. In return, Sporting KC sent the 1st round Supplemental draft pick that KC originally received from Chivas in the Ryan Smith trade.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

Sporting Kansas City's busy week continues.

After dealing Davy Arnaud to Montreal to re-acquire Seth Sinovic and re-signing goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, Sporting KC added depth to its midfield Tuesday, acquiring Paulo Nagamura from Chivas USA in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft.

By AVI CREDITOR

Fans of the Montreal Impact who saw their team labor through a troubling 2011 NASL campaign and at one point staged a protest against team management probably couldn't forsee the events of this past week coming.

By opting to build its nucleus around established MLS veterans and a few young players who could thrive with an opportunity in a new situation as opposed to building around pricey newcomers who aren't as familiar with the inner workings of the league, Montreal has laid the groundwork to be far more than a doormat in its expansion season in MLS.

Let the Didier Drobga sweepstakes begin.

Drogba's agent said that the player has rejected a one-year contract extension from Chelsea and is prepared to go wherever he is offered the most money. Drogba's contract with Chelsea expires this summer, when he would be able to leave on a free transfer.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
So one of the longest careers in Sporting Kansas City Wizards history ended today with Davy Arnaud being traded from Sporting Kansas City to the Montreal Impact for Seth Sinovic and allocation money. I've never been good at eloquently writing down how good a player was for this team or how much I'll miss seeing them in a Kansas City jersey.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
So one of the longest careers in Sporting Kansas City Wizards history ended today with Davy Arnaud being traded from Sporting Kansas City to the Montreal Impact for Seth Sinovic and allocation money. I've never been good at eloquently writing down how good a player was for this team or how much I'll miss seeing them in a Kansas City jersey.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC was busy today, making one trade, another player announcement, and talk of a second trade taking place. It started during the weekend with a Tweet by Robb Heineman stating that there would be an announcement today. At 1:30 we got the first of the announcements, a surprising trade.

photo courtesy Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC was busy today, making one trade, another player announcement, and talk of a second trade taking place. It started during the weekend with a Tweet by Robb Heineman stating that there would be an announcement today. At 1:30 we got the first of the announcements, a surprising trade.

Just when Sporting Kansas City thought they lost defender Seth Sinovic, they get him back. Today Sporting and the Montreal Impact worked out a little deal to send the expansion draft pick back to Kansas City, along with allocation money, for veteran defender Davy Arnuad.

The 31-year old Arnaud, played 10 seasons for Sporting Kansas City after being drafted in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft out of West Texas A&M.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The Montreal Impact have continued to wheel and deal as Jesse Marsch shapes his roster, with the latest blockbuster coming Monday with Montreal dealing Seth Sinovic and an allocation to Sporting Kansas City for veteran midfielder Davy Arnaud.

The deal is a smart one for Kansas City, which gets back starting left back and hometown product Sinovic, while also parting with Arnaud, a captain who had lost his place in Sporting's central midfield.

Today the league released the list of players that have been exposed by their teams for Wednesday's expansion draft for the Montreal Impact. Plenty of arguments are made about how bad the expansion draft is. Teams do work to develop players than have to lose one of those players to an expansion team.

I'm getting this out later than I had planned to, but it seemed like every night when I sat down to write it there was other news that I wanted to get to first and by the time I was done with those I was ready to be done. But now it's time to take a look at the upcoming expansion draft.
First, here are the rules for the expansion draft and how the rules affect Kansas City.

Personally I don't see a ton in this story, but it's been a major talking point the past few days. One of the team's designated players', Omar Bravo told Univsion this week that he had "a lot to think about" with regards to next season. Specifically Bravo was talking about last Sunday's conference final against Houston.

Well as I said earlier, that was gutting, but here are some stats from the game, including a couple nice marks being hit.
The loss was KC's first home playoff loss since 1997, the team had gone unbeaten for 12 games since their 3-0 home loss to Colorado.
CJ Sapong tied a team record for appearances in a season with 40.

Well as I said earlier, that was gutting, but here are some stats from the game, including a couple nice marks being hit.
The loss was KC's first home playoff loss since 1997, the team had gone unbeaten for 12 games since their 3-0 home loss to Colorado.
CJ Sapong tied a team record for appearances in a season with 40.

Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City November 06, 2011 -- LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City KSEastern Conference finalAttendance: 20,839

Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Andre Hainault 2 (unassisted) 53
HOU -- Carlo Costly 1 (Luiz Camargo 1) 87

Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Corey Ashe, Danny Cruz, Adam Moffat, Luiz Camargo, Brad Davis (Jermaine Taylor 39), Brian Ching (Carlo Costly 78), Calen Carr (Will Bruin 68).

The game against Colorado was KC's 40th in all competitions this year, tying a team record set by in 2000 and 2002.
Matt Besler's minutes total for the season is now 3,367, good for 11th most in all competitions in team history.
Davy Arnaud made his 14th playoff appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Peter Vermes for 9th place on that list.

The game against Colorado was KC's 40th in all competitions this year, tying a team record set by in 2000 and 2002.
Matt Besler's minutes total for the season is now 3,367, good for 11th most in all competitions in team history.
Davy Arnaud made his 14th playoff appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Peter Vermes for 9th place on that list.

Lots of good stats from the game last night, including a landmark goal by Teal Bunbury.
In 6 games at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, this is KC's first win there. It was KC's first win in Colorado since 6/9/2004 when Josh Wolff scored a 90th minute penalty kick.
Teal Bunbury's two goals were only the 3rd time in team history a KC player has scored multiple goals in the playoffs, the other two times, Miklos Molnar in 2000 and Davy Arnaud in 2004.

Lots of good stats from the game last night, including a landmark goal by Teal Bunbury.
In 6 games at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, this is KC's first win there. It was KC's first win in Colorado since 6/9/2004 when Josh Wolff scored a 90th minute penalty kick.
Teal Bunbury's two goals were only the 3rd time in team history a KC player has scored multiple goals in the playoffs, the other two times, Miklos Molnar in 2000 and Davy Arnaud in 2004.

Sporting KC kicks off their playoff campaign tomorrow night in Colorado against the Rapids in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals. KC split the season series with the Rapids, drawing both games 1-1. In the game out in Colorado Conor Casey scored in the 13th minute after a poor back pass.

A win tomorrow and KC will qualify for the playoffs, to do so they are going to have to go through the New York Red Bulls at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, where a sold out crowd will look to influence the result, giving KC a home advantage. The Red Bulls are on a decent run of form, they've only lost one game since their 3-0 loss to Salt Lake on 8/6.

Davy Arnaud made his 238th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Kerry Zavagnin for the most appearances in team history in league play.
Peterson Joseph was the 13th player to make their league debut for KC this year, the most debuts in a season since 21 in the team's inagural season in 1996.

Davy Arnaud made his 238th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Kerry Zavagnin for the most appearances in team history in league play.
Peterson Joseph was the 13th player to make their league debut for KC this year, the most debuts in a season since 21 in the team's inagural season in 1996.

Kansas City gets back to action again tomorrow night on the West Coast when they'll take on the Earthquakes in San Jose. While KC has a chance to qualify for the playoffs tomorrow with help, they need to take care of business themselves and win to even have a chance for that to happen. San Jose isn't going to be a push over, they aren't eliminated from the playoffs themselves and will be fighting for their playoff lives, and jobs next year as well.

Yes I'm late, but there were lots of good stats from last night's game. The biggest of all was Davy Arnaud tying the club record for league appearances at 237, but Kei Kamara also had plenty of milestones as well.
Davy Arnaud made his 237th appearance in league play for KC, tying Kerry Zavagnin for the most appearances in team history.

Yes I'm late, but there were lots of good stats from last night's game. The biggest of all was Davy Arnaud tying the club record for league appearances at 237, but Kei Kamara also had plenty of milestones as well.
Davy Arnaud made his 237th appearance in league play for KC, tying Kerry Zavagnin for the most appearances in team history.