Sporting Kansas City claimed its second 2-1 win in as many preseason games Saturday, taking down D.C. United at Casa Grande, Ariz., in a preview of the season opener for both teams in one month’s time.

Midfielder Graham Zusi booted Sporting KC into the lead off a free kick during the 60 minutes manager Peter Vermes played his starters.

“The game was a little more lively from the opening whistle,” Vermes said by phone. “The biggest positive was not conceding with that first, which was a goal coming in. We also possessed the ball very well and getting a goal off the set piece is always a good thing.”

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Sporting Kansas City will be back on KSMO-TV this year and next after renewing its deal with team's local broadcast partner. As part of the deal, all 28 MLS matches that aren't part of a national broadcast will be carried live in high-definition.

Also as part of the agreement, the team's match against the Houston Dynamo on July 7 at Livestrong Sporting Park and the trip to face the Montreal Impact on Sept. 22 will be simulcast on KSMO's sister station and local CBS affiliate, KCTV-5.

“We’re pleased to continue our partnership with KSMO-TV to provide high-quality broadcasts that will showcase our club, our stadium and Major League Soccer,” Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman said in a team press release. “We place a high value on ensuring all our matches are available across the Kansas City viewing area and KSMO-TV has shown a commitment to delivering the coverage that our passionate fanbase deserves.”

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Hard to believe, but we're just 30 days away from the opening of the 2012.

Sporting Kansas City still have a lot in store for the last month of preseason. On Saturday, Peter Vermes and company will face off against D.C. United in the second friendly of the year (11 a.m., follow @SKCGameday for live coverage).

Before departing from Arizona, Sporting will face hosts FC Tucson on Valentine's Day (10 a.m., follow @SKCGameday or @FC_Tucson for live coverage).

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Shane Keyser | SHANE KEYSER/Kansas City Star

Things appeared to get a little heated between Houston Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis (11) and Sporting KC defender Chance Myers (7) after the two collided going for a ball in the first half of the Eastern Conference final on Nov 6.

During his first three seasons with Sporting Kansas City, Chance Myers was a scrappy defender, long on promise but short on production with only 31 appearances and 13 starts in his first three professional campaigns.

That all changed last season when he cracked the starting lineup May 28 at right back and never relinquished the role.

Myers would make 31 appearances last season alone counting the playoffs, including 27 starts and 22 games where he played all 90 minutes in emerging as an integral piece for the regular-season Eastern Conference champions.

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San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski scored in the third minute of Sporting Kansas City’s preseason opener Saturday, a game that manager Peter Vermes’ team would rally to win 2-1.

That goal seemed to jolt Sporting KC back to reality. After all, the regular-season opener March 10 at D.C. United is barely a month away.

“Once we played that first game, everyone realized it’s go time,” Sporting KC’s Matt Besler. “It wasn’t a perfect game. We played pretty well, but everybody made some mistakes. Once we played that first game, it really hit home that we’ve got to get focused in on that opener.”

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Graham Zusi enjoyed a breakout camp last month with the U.S. men’s national team, which is both a blessing and a curse for Sporting Kansas City.

Zusi, a starting midfielder, enjoyed his finest season as a pro last year, scoring five goals — several on incredible blasts from long distance — and leading Sporting KC with seven assists.

He added two more assists in the playoffs and earned an invite to the national team’s January camp along with Sporting KC forwards Teal Bunbury and C.J. Sapong, the reigning MLS rookie of the year.

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Sporting Kansas City fell behind three minutes into its first preseason game Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz.

But manager Peter Vermes’ squad didn’t stay down long.

“It was like 27 seconds later we scored,” Vermes said.

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Andy Lundberg

Besler

The Kansas City Star will provide occasional player diaries from Sporting Kansas City’s preseason training at the Kino Sports Complex in Tuscon, Ariz. Today is the first installment from defender Matt Besler. Sporting Kansas City’s first preseason match is at noon today against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Greetings from Tucson! We’ve been in Tuscon now for the better part of a week, and everything is great, but we didn’t start the trip off on the best foot. Everyone was anxious and excited to get to the airport in Kansas City, but upon arrival we were informed that there was a two-and-a-half hour delay. Brutal. Much to the chagrin of guys who weren’t familiar with Arizona before our arrival, we were greeted with a two-hour bus ride from Phoenix to Tucson.

Travel days are always long, so when we finally arrived at the hotel it was a relief. The entire coaching staff met us outside, giving us high-fives and welcoming us to our new home until Feb. 14.

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Shane Keyser | The Kansas City Star

Abby Wambach spoke to girls at St. Teresa's Academy on Friday before attending the KC Women’s Sports Awards Celebration.

It was late Sunday night, and Abby Wambach was boarding a plane in Vancouver with the rest of her teammates on the U.S. women’s national soccer team. Wambach, the team’s star striker, had just scored two goals against Canada, becoming the second all-time leading scorer in women’s international soccer, and the U.S. had concluded the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament with a 4-0 victory.

The mood on the plane was joyous. Until the emails started pouring in. Wambach and the rest of the players were being notified that the Women’s Professional League was suspending operations for 2012.

“It’s been a tough week,” Wambach said Friday, standing outside a hotel ballroom at the Sheraton Crown Center.

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Sporting Club is expanding its reach in the Midwest, adding the Tulsa Soccer Club Hurricane as an affiliate of the Sporting Kansas City Juniors, the team announced on Thursday.

The affiliation will give TSC Hurricane a direct link to the Sporting Kansas City Juniors and senior team.

It also means that Kansas City has expanded its pool for adding Homegrown players. According to MLS rules, "a club may sign a player to his first professional contract without subjecting him to the MLS SuperDraft if the player has trained for at least one year in the club's youth development program." Kansas City now can reach into Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma for Homegrown players.

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STEPHEN J. BOITANO | AP

Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper Tony Meola stops a shot by Chicago Fire's Ante Razov during the first half of the MLS Cup at RFK Stadium in Washington on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2000. Wizards' Peter Vermes (6) and Brandon Prideaux (4) stand behind. Three of the guys in this picture -- Vermes, Razov and Meola -- are on the ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Seven former Kansas City Wizards players -- including current Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes and assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin -- appear on the ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame's Class of 2012.

There are 31 total players, including former U.S. Men's national team captain Claudio Reyna, on the ballot for this year. Other notables: Chris Armas, Raul Diaz Arce, Marco Etcheverry, Jason Kries, Joe-Max Moore, Peter Nowak, John O'Brien, Ante Razov and Carlos Valderrama.

The other former KC players are Jose Burciaga Jr., Mike Burns, Chris Henderson, Roy Lassiter and Tony Meola.

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(From the Comets press release)

Comets forward Tiguinho has been named Major Indoor Soccer League Player of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. Tiguinho scored two goals and dished out five assists in a 33-12 Comets win over Syracuse Wednesday night at the Independence Events Center.

Tiguinho, a 26-year-old from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has now scored 21 points in nine games after joining the Comets in December. He scored 18 points in 15 regular season and playoff games last year for the Comets.

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The team is currently encamped down in sunny and warm Tucson, Arizona (though it wasn't that much warmer than KC today). Before leaving and going into a virtual media blackout zone, Peter Vermes made a few trims to the roster.

Below is a very rough positional chart featuring the 32 players currently training with the team.

The list is broken down by position with the player's current jersey number listed first. Key: new player for 2012, 2012 Draft Pick and Trialist.

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Luke Sassano

Finally, and formally, Sporting Kansas City announced on Monday that veteran and versatile midfielder Luke Sassano has re-signed with the team. Per the policy of the team, terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.

Sassano, who signed with the team last year coming off ankle surgery, injured his knee in August, had surgery to repair a tear in his lateral meniscus and missed the team's playoff run. He appeared in nine MLS matches and recorded his first career goal against FC Dallas.

He has been training with the team and traveled to Arizona this weekend.

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Shane Keyser | SHANE KEYSER/Kansas City Star

 

Aurelien Collin has been around the world, and that’s just since Sporting Kansas City’s season ended Nov. 6 against Houston in the Eastern Conference final.

The well-traveled Collin, 25, a French-born central defender who signed with Sporting KC last April, flitted from New York to Lisbon and Madrid to Malta in recent months. He returned home to Paris for a few weeks then hit London and Brussels before wrapping up “his holiday” with two weeks in the Dominican Republic.

“Paris is still my favorite place,” Collin said. “It’s the most beautiful, but my two weeks in the Dominican Republic weren’t bad. I was training on the beach, so it was perfect.”

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