In the second preseason game of the season, KC once again took care of business, this time against their First Kick opponent DC United. What would be assumed to be the first team started the game again for Kansas City. It was the same lineup as KC put out against San Jose last weekend, with one exception.

Article by Pedro Gomes
As yet another January camp enters the United States Soccer history books, let us take a quick look back at what has transpired and what we have learned from the camp.
Rosters:
Typically US roster announcements are desperately anticipated, usually overly analyzed and this camp was no different.

Last night the US Soccer's "Camp Cupcake" Team followed up Saturday night's 1-0 win over Venezuela with a 1-0 win over Panama. I admit that the "Camp Cupcake" moniker is not my favorite for the annual US Soccer winter camp that primarily gives numerous MLS players and some European journeymen an extended audition for the US National Team, but I think it's important to use this moniker in light of the apparent "every match is a live or die match" attitude that seems to dominate the most vocal of the US Soccer fan base.

The US "Camp Cupcake" roster closed out their camp down in Panama today with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi. Like the game on Saturday against Venezuela, both Zusi and Teal Bunbury started for the United States, while CJ Sapong found himself starting on the bench. The US got a good start, as Zusi finished off a chance in the 8th minute to give the US a 1-0 lead.

Last night in Arizona, the US national team topped Venezuela in the first of two friendlies for the camp cupcake roster, 1-0 thanks to a late goal by Ricardo Clark. Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury and midfielder Graham Zusi both started for the US, while forward, CJ Sapong came on as a second half sub, replacing Zusi.

Jon Levy The national team hasn't even suited up in 2012, but it's already been an encouraging year for American soccer. Dempsey and Donovan (for two months, at least) are both leading the line of attack for their respective English Premier League teams, the Women's National Teamers avoided a would-be tragedy in their Vancouver hotel [.

Last night the US national team once again scrimmaged the US under 23 team in Carson, California. And once again for the US, Graham Zusi got a goal as the US tied 1-1 with their U-23 counterparts.
Teal Bunbury and CJ Sapong were also involved in the game. Bunbury spent the first half on the field with the U23 team, as they continue to prepare for Olympic qualifying.

Adu had some moments.The U.S. Men's National Team opened up 2012 with some very interesting talking points. Certain call ups, certain omissions, scrimmages and of course the obvious questions that accompany such things. First up would be the scrimmage between the full team and the Under 23's.
The senior squad paid a lesson to the U23 Olympic team with a 4-0 dismantling of their younger brothers.

Last night, the US men's national team took on the US under 23 team in a scrimmage in LA. Both teams are currently involved in camps. The US team for their upcoming games against Venezuela and Panama, and the U23's as they continue to prepare for their upcoming Olympic qualifying. Three Sporting KC players appeared for the full national team last night.

Time for another year of wishes for 2012. Here's a look of what I am wanting and wishing to see in 2012.
1. Silverware - Is anything else really that important? I want silverware, as Robb Heineman put it tonight on Twitter, #paintthewall. I want to add more stuff to the wall that shows our accomplishments.

Three Sporting KC players have been called up by Jurgen Klinsmann for the upcoming US Men's national team camp in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Teal Bunbury returns to the US national team, having been a part of the quite a few of Klinsmann last few squads, although he's yet to make an appearance for the national team under the new manager.

With the season now over, it's time to take a look at my year end awards for Sporting KC. As last year, members of the media got to vote on MVP, Defensive player of the year, and Humanitarian of the year. The team awards saw Jimmy Nielsen bring home MVP, Matt Besler bring home defensive player of the year , and Kei Kamara bring home Humanitarian of the Year for the second year in a row.

Sporting KC moved one step closer to a potential trip to LA and MLS Cup last night when they took out the Colorado Rapids at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, winning 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate. The shutout was the team's fourth straight, the most in a row since the team's run to the championship in 2000.

Colorado spent 3,330 minutes this season defending the 2010 MLS Cup Championship, which put the team 180 minutes shy of defending its title.

Graham Zusi provided the services in the 28th and 76th minute as Sporting Kansas City recorded another 2-0 victory over the Rapids, giving KC a 4-0 aggregate win in the Eastern Conference Semifinal.

With a week to spare, Sporting Kansas City clinched a spot in the 2011 MLS Cup playoffs thanks to a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls yesterday at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. KC's early pressure nearly paid off inside the first minute off a corner kick. Graham Zusi's corner went through to the back side.

Sporting Kansas City had a big opportunity to get themselves into a more favorable playoff position on Saturday when the 3rd place Houston Dynamo came to town. The Wizards grabbed the opportunity and took full advantage of it defeating the Dynamo 3-0 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. KC set out from the offset and took the game to the Dynamo, controlling play extremely well early on.

Graham Zusi has received quite a bit of attention recently. He was just named MLS Player of the Week and has been touted as the next potential national team call up. I spoke to him recently as was impressed by how humble and realistic he is about himself and his situation. Graham shared with us his thoughts on Sporting KC, his future and how he spends his free time.

Zusi congratulated after his second goal Wednesday.
photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi added a weekly honor to his June player of the month award. Zusi today was named MLS player of the week after his brace against Portland on the midweek and a solid game against DC on Sunday night.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zuzi was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters for Week 23.

Zusi scored two goals in a 3-1 win over the Portland Timbers midweek, and turned in another strong performance in his team's 1-0 defeat of D.C. United on Sunday, as Sporting Kansas City moved into second place in the Eastern Conference Standings.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
With Brisket Bob outside the Members Club last night cutting up brisket each time the Wizards scored last night, the team did not disappoint, scoring 3 times as they defeated the Portland Timbers 3-1 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Sporting KC's own Z-Man, Graham Zusi, led the way scoring a brace, and Soony Saad scored a birthday goal on his professional debut.

Omar Bravo's and Kei Kamara's 2 goals tie them with Eddie Johnson and Davy Arnaud for the most goals against TFC. Funny note, only Johnson has scored in multiple games against them, the other 3 got their 2 goals in single games.
Kamara's goal was also his 30th in MLS play of his career.
Kamara's two goals moves him past Jack Jewsbury and Chris Brown into 11th place for the most league goals for KC.

New S.A.S. Thursday edition. Not many stats this week, but more milestones are coming in the next few games.
Graham Zusi's goal was the 99th in all competitions against the Rapids for KC.

Kansas City extended their unbeaten run on the season to 11 games, the second longest in team history as they came from behind again to tie the Rapids 1-1 at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. With all the schedule congestion, Peter Vermes made two changes to his lineup that took on Portland on the weekend. Teal Bunbury and Kei Kamara stepped back into the starting lineup for CJ Sapong and Milos Stojcev.

The Colorado Rapids have now perfected the art of the draw: The team can make a 1-1 tie look thrilling.

For the ninth time in 19 games, the Colorado Rapids came away with a share of the points. This time, it was Sporting Kansas City playing at home in Kansas City, Kan., on Wednesday night.

It was a fair result for a team that took a first-half lead and then played with fire in the final third of the match.

Due to being out of town I'm a day late, but here are some stats for you.
Matt Besler made his 50th league start for KC. He's the 35th player to hit that mark for KC.
Kei Kamara made the 150th appearance of his MLS career in all competitions.
Graham Zusi made his 50th appearance for KC in all competitions, he's the 47th player to hit that land mark.

A banner month for Sporting KC as they went 3-0-3 in league player, with another win in the US Open Cup. All three draws for KC were 0-0 results, with a win in Dallas and three home wins vs San Jose, Vancouver, and Chicago PDL. When it comes to the player of the month for June, you could make arguments for a few players, including Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, CJ Sapong, and Graham Zusi.

More photos can be found here Collin was a monster in the air and on the ground Zusi shot just blocked by Busch Arnaud taken down and wins a free kick Sapong's outstretched foot sends ball past Busch Emotion: Zusi and Sapong share a moment with team mates Davy celebrates Fans celebrate

I have to say that I was probably a little more optimistic about this game after seeing the pounding SKC gave FC Dallas. But, I was also a little worried that Vermes was going to go back to his beloved 4-3-3 formation that hasn't worked well. But, when I saw that Omar Bravo was going to replace Stojcev (who was suspended) I was again excited.

Another MLS wondergoal Sporting Kansas City player Graham Zusi scored an incredible 40-yard free-kick against FC Dallas, albeit he was greatly assisted with some interested positioning from keeper Kevin Hartman. With Hartman preparing for a chipped ball to the edge of the penalty area, Zusi sent his free-kick sailing over the helpless goalie and into [.

As MLS UK continues to grow and evolve, I constantly reanalyse the content I put out. Throughout the season so far I've been running a feature called Talking Points, which offered exactly what it said on the tin. However, I began to find it was a little without direction, with random stories padded out with unnecessary features.

San Jose Earthquakes forward Steven Lenhart was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters for Week 13. Lenhart recorded the first hat trick of his MLS career and tallied an assist in San Jose's 4-2 win over D.C. United.

Moments after D.C. United's first goal, Lenhart evened the game by beating an offside trap.

When the lineup for tonight's game against FC Dallas was announced, I don't know if there were many fans, if any, predicting a point, let alone all three as Sporting KC took it to FC Dallas, winning 4-1, even though they played the last 30 plus minutes down a man. With virtually only 18 players healthy, or not with their national team, KC looked set to continue their long winless run, while Dallas looked set to extend their own unbeaten run to 10 games.

The weather might not have been the best for a game, but it would be hard to blame the poor play from both teams solely on that. The Crew showed why they have only scored 4 goals the entire season. And the Wizards showed why they have given up more goals than any other team.

Formation

Vermes decided after the embarrassment in Vancouver that he would go with the exact same line up for this game.

KC has struggled to score goals this preseason, having scored a grand total of five in their previous six games. Last night in Tucson though, Sporting KC broke for six against the Arizona Sahuaros in their 6-1 win over the Arizona side. KC's line up was made up of players that are likely to all be on the Swope Park Rangers this year, the team's reserve side.