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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Shane Keyser | SHANE KEYSER/Kansas City Star

Soony Saad (left), forward, and Matt Besler (right), defender, collided while participating in a drill during Sporting Kansas City's practice at the Kansas City Chief's indoor practice facility on Friday, Jan 27, 2012, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by SHANE KEYSER | Kansas City Star)

With Sporting Kansas City about ready to bail on KC for the (only slightly) warmer climes of Tucson, Arizona, manager and technical director Peter Vermes is, by his own admission, "very, very happy" with his team after one week of training.

"At this point, I almost have to hold [the team] back a little bit," Vermes said after a crisp hour-and-a-half-long training session at the Arrowhead Indoor Training Facility on Friday. "That's not a bad thing."

Throughout the week, Vermes had sorted his team into "veterans" and "younger guys" in an effort to let the veterans "go about our business." By Friday, he felt that both groups had assimilated well to the team's plans to hold a combined session.

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The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward | AP Photo

United States' Carli Lloyd (10) fights for control of the ball with Costa Rica's Wendy Acosta (20) during the first half of CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.

In the end, what matters is that the U.S. women's soccer team is going to the Olympics. What the players won't soon forget is how hard they had to work get there.

The Americans booked their way to London on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, a game more suspenseful than most anyone expected.

Tobin Heath scored in the 16th minute to give U.S. all the scoring it needed, and goals by Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Alex Morgan (89th) put the game away late.

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There has been a lot of talk lately about jersey sponsorship for Sporting Kansas City.

Many rumors have been tossed out there and a lot of fans would love for it to be Boulevard beer, but the biggest buzz is surrounding Google.

I chatted with a source close to the team earlier this week who said the team is close to finalizing a deal for a jersey sponsor with Google, and that it would be in place in time for the season opener at D.C. United on March 10.

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DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Sporting Kansas City owners (from left to right) Greg Maday, Robb Heineman, Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig and Pat Curran stood on the soccer pitch prior to the MLS game between Sporting Kansas City and Chicago on Thursday evening, June 9, 2011, during the inaugural game at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. DAVID EULITT/The Kansas City Star

Days after President Obama gave his State of the Union address, Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman stated his hopes and expectations for the team in 2012.

And he made no bones that he might seem greedy.

“On the field, we have one goal, and that is to win a championship,” Heineman said Thursday after returning from a 24-hour business trip to London. “I’m not sure if the team likes to hear it, but, in my mind, if we don’t win, it’s disappointing.”

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Thursday morning was my first chance to get out to Sporting Kansas City's pre-preseason training camp. (The Arrowhead Sessions are usually light affairs with the coaching staff focusing on fitness and timing.) Since it was my first glance at the team in action, here are my first impressions.

The last few years, the first week of training sessions have been sorta chaotic. New players meeting returning players. Tons of trialists competing for the attention of the coaching staff. The coaching staff crossing their fingers that everyone escapes unscathed.

This year was different. This year it was calmer and quicker.

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A first-half goal from Graham Zusi was enough for the U.S. men's national team to collect its second 1-0 win in four days, this time in a friendly against Panama.

A stoppage-time goal from Ricardo Clark on Saturday against Venezuela gave the Americans a win in their first match of 2012. However, the team only had to wait nine minutes before Zusi fired them into the lead on Wednesday while Jurgen Klinsmann's men had to play the final 35 minutes of the match with 10 men after Geoff Cameron picked up a red card.

The U.S. got off to a fast start as a left-wing cross was played into the area and it deflected off of Teal Bunbury and into the path of Zusi, who made no mistake with his finish from seven yards, driving the ball underneath goalkeeper Luis Mejia.

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