Andy Lundberg

Sporting KC's coach Peter Vermes expresses his displeasure during Sporting Kansas City's match with the Montreal Impact at Livestrong Park on May 5, 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas. Montreal won 2-0.

Quick brain teaser: What kind of team is Sporting Kansas City right now?

The world-beaters that raced past everyone in Major League Soccer to reach the 21-point mark? The team that swept through five Western Conference teams en route to a 7-0-0 start? The possession and passing monolith that ran the under-manned Revolution ragged? The plucky never-say-die physical marvels that over-turned a 1-goal deficit against Dallas? The defense-wins-championships juggernaut that erected a steel curtain in front of the net for nearly two months?

Or are they the team that can't buy a victory in May? The out-of-ideas eleven wandering the field in Portland hoping a goal would fall into the back of net by accident? The suddenly leaking goals like a boat made of swiss cheese squad allowing two goals a game? The shaky squad that lets the expansion Montreal Impact run roughshod over them at Livestrong Sporting Park? The team that gives up bone-headed penalties (or even more bone-headed attempts at backwards clearances in the box)? The team that stakes itself to an early lead only to throw it away with costly mistakes?

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If Sporting Kansas City gets past Orlando City SC next week and advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, that match will be held at Livestrong Sporting Park on June 5. The opponent would be the winner of the Colorado Rapids-Tampa Bay Rowdies match.*

*Those with good memories know the perils of speculating wins against USL Pro teams in the Open Cup.

U.S. Soccer announced the pairings and locations on Wednesday. Match-ups are based on geography when feasible and hosts are determined by random selection among clubs who have applied to host and meet minimum venue requirements. [Emphasis mine; I culled that wording from the Sporting Kansas City website. Don't ask me what it means, I find it completely opaque.]

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Kansas City was denied a soccer derby (which means in-town rivalry) in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup after the KC Athletics (an amateur team) were unceremoniously dumped out of the competition 7-0 by Orlando City SC.

Sporting Kansas City will host Orlando on May 29th at Livestrong Sporting Park.

Tickets, starting as low as $13, are currently on sale for Tuesday’s third round match-up and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or at the LSP Box Offices. All Sporting Kansas CitySeason Ticket Members will receive a ticket to the match, and all subsequent Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup home matches through the quarterfinals, as part oftheir season ticket package.

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Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Eric Kronberg and his dog Rambo.

A handful of Sporting Kansas City soccer players and their dogs recently gathered at Loose Park for a photo shoot.

Graham Zusi, Kei Kamara, Eric Kronberg, Bobby Convey, Matt Besler and Chance Myers show off and talk a little about their canine companions. Check out this video to see who's more agile, the players or their furry friends.

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JOHN SLEEZER | The Kansas City Star

Sporting KC midfielder/forward Graham Zusi (8) will likely miss this weekend's match with San Jose while training with the U.S. national team. He's one of three key contributors that could miss out, alongside Kei Kamara and Roger Espinoza.

Summer international friendly season arrives this weekend (and World Cup Qualifying is tagging along right behind), which means Sporting Kansas City is destined to be without some key contributors.

It's actually already started.

Midfield maestro Graham Zusi got the USA call-up yesterday. Forward Kei Kamara appears to have gotten the Sierra Leone call as well.

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Real Salt Lake's Jamison Olave deflected a shot by Sporting KC's Graham Zusi during their April 14 match at Livestrong Park.

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi received his second national team call-up Sunday and joined the U.S. men’s national team training camp in Orlando.

Zusi, 25, participated in the January camp, making his international debut Jan. 21 against Venezuela and scoring his first national team goal in a 1-0 win against Panama four days later.

“I just want to put another strong performance together,” Zusi said. “The group that’s here now might be closer to the full No. 1 team, so it’s a step up from the January camp. If I can prove that I belong here as well, it’s just another step in the right direction for me.”

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Sporting Kansas City started out like gangbusters Saturday, hoping to snap a three-game losing streak and in search of the club’s first regular-season win at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.

Unfortunately, a sluggish start to the second half allowed the Colorado Rapids to erase a two-goal halftime deficit and rally for a 2-2 draw.

“Obviously, we’re happy to come on the road in a tough atmosphere against a good team and get a point, but we’re also a bit disappointed that we didn’t hang on for the win after going up two goals early,” forward Teal Bunbury, who scored both Sporting KC goals, said by phone. “Overall, we’re satisfied with it and there are a lot of things from this game we can take as positives and also learn from.”

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| DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Bobby Convey

Bobby Convey retreated to the locker room at the Sporting Kansas City training facility to fetch a T-shirt with a team logo Thursday before the weekly meet-and-greet with the press.

When he emerged, Convey wore dark-tinted, horn-rimmed sunglasses and a light blue Sporting KC hard hat in addition to the fresh gray team-approved T-shirt.

The room erupted in laughter as Convey sat down with a wide smile, before tossing the hat to a member of Sporting KC’s public relations team.

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Sporting Kansas City looked prime to return to the win column into the 60th minute Saturday against the rival Chicago Fire in Bridgeview, Ill., but everything changed during 90 critical seconds.

For the second straight game, Aurelien Collin was whistled for a penalty in the box, and no sooner had play resumed after Sebastian Grazzini’s game-tying penalty kick when Sporting KC midfielder Roger Espinoza was shown a red card.

Unable to douse the Fire the remaining 30 minutes playing a man down, Sporting KC’s losing skid reached three games with a 2-1 defeat.

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New home for the Houston Dynamo, BBVA Compass Stadium opens Saturday.

The Kansas City-based sports-architecture firm Populous celebrates the grand opening of its third Major League Soccer venue Saturday afternoon when the Houston Dynamo play host to DC United at BBVA Compass Stadium.

The new facility, which seats about 22,000 and features a skyline view of downtown from Houston's formerly downtrodden East End, joins Populous' Livestrong Sporting Park and the Colorado Rapids Dick's Sporting Goods Park on MLS' growing list of soccer-specific stadiums.

Completed at a total cost of some $95 million, the Houston stadium is the sixth built primarily for MLS play in the last two years. New facilities are also in the works in Montreal and San Jose.

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Andy Lundberg

Sporting KC's coach Peter Vermes expresses his displeasure during Sporting Kansas City's match with the Montreal Impact at Livestrong Park. Montreal won 2-0.

Sporting Kansas City didn’t just lose. It lost to an expansion team.

An expansion team, mind you, that was playing a makeshift lineup in preparation for a Canadian Cup semifinal it would lose to Toronto FC, the only MLS club still searching for its first point of the season.

Sporting KC even lost at home, suffering the first regular-season shutout loss in Livestrong Sporting Park’s history.

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Sporting Kansas City will host Stoke City of the Barclays Premier League in an Aug. 1 friendly at Livestrong Sporting Park.

Founded in 1863, Stoke City is the oldest club in the Premier League. Its top player is forward Peter Crouch, an England international with 22 goals in 42 appearances.

“We look forward to welcoming Stoke City during their preparation for the 2012-13 Premier League season,” Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman said in a statement. “Kansas City continues to be a destination for international soccer matches and this will be another opportunity for us to showcase Sporting Kansas City and Livestrong Sporting Park this summer.”

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Andy Lundberg

Sporting KC's coach Peter Vermes expresses his displeasure during Sporting Kansas City's match with the Montreal Impact at Livestrong Park on May 5, 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas. Montreal won 2-0.

So, all of a sudden, it seems as if Sporting Kansas City can't score. But is it really all of the sudden?

Last season, KC averaged 1.47 goals per game (second-best in the league with 50 total). So far this season, KC are off that pace scoring 1.33 goals per game (and seventh-best in the league with 12 total).

Of those 12 goals, half came from two games -- 3-0 vs. New England and 3-1 vs. Vancouver. What’s more, Kansas City only has one more multi-goal game -- 2-1 vs. Dallas.

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No one likes to lose. No one likes to lose two games in a row. No one likes being shutout twice in a row.

Feel free to blame Montreal -- who took Kansas City's high pressure system and pushed it right back on them. Feel free to blame the bye week -- many of KC's regulars looked rusty. Feel free to blame Peter Vermes' tactical plans -- Sporting didn't even seem to have a Plan A for scoring goals the last two games.

But you might want to save a little bit of that blame for the month of May.

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