The 2011 Sporting Kansas City season was the sixteenth season of the team's existence in Major League Soccer but the first year played under the Sporting Kansas City moniker.
The club's first league game of the season was on March 19, 2011, at Chivas USA. The regular season concluded on October 22, 2011. Sporting began the season with a record 10 game road trip while its new stadium, Livestrong Sporting Park, was being completed. The first home game at the new stadium was on June 9, 2011, versus the Chicago Fire.
Overview
Preseason After all players reported to Kansas City for entrance physicals and a week's worth of training at the Kansas City Chiefs Indoor Practice Facility, Sporting Kansas City traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for the second straight season to train at the Reach 11 Sports Complex. Designated Player Omar Bravo made his long-awaited debut with the team and the coaching staff brought in more than a dozen guest trialists for evaluation, including Chad Ochocinco.
Squad
First team roster As of September 15, 2011.
Formation
Player movement
In DatePlayerPositionPrevious clubFee/notesRef December 15, 2010 Frankie Hejduk DF Columbus Crew Selected in the Re-Entry Draft, subsequently traded December 15, 2010 Luke Sassano MF Los Angeles Galaxy Acquired in exchange for Frankie Hejduk January 1, 2011 Omar Bravo FW C.D. Guadalajara Undisclosed February 18, 2011 Kevin Ellis DF Sporting Kansas City Juniors Homegrown Player March 1, 2011 C. J. Sapong FW James Madison University SuperDraft, 1st round March 1, 2011 Mike Jones DF Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Supplemental Draft, 2nd round March 1, 2011 Scott Lorenz DF NSC Minnesota Stars Free March 3, 2011 Konrad Warzycha MF Ohio State University SuperDraft, 3rd round March 14, 2011 Júlio César DF Marítimo Free March 16, 2011 Miloš Stojčev MF FK Borac Čačak Undisclosed April 15, 2011 Aurélien Collin DF Vitória de Setúbal Undisclosed May 10, 2011 Seth Sinovic DF New England Revolution Free July 5, 2011 Soony Saad FW University of Michigan Weighted lottery September 1, 2011 Peterson Joseph MF Braga Undisclosed September 15, 2011 Lawrence Olum DF Orlando City Undisclosed
Out DatePlayerPositionDestination clubFee/notesRef November 24, 2010 Jamar Beasley FW Missouri Comets Option declined November 24, 2010 Jonathan Leathers DF Vancouver Whitecaps Selected in the Expansion Draft December 8, 2010 Aaron Hohlbein DF Columbus Crew Selected in the Re-Entry Draft December 15, 2010 Jimmy Conrad DF Chivas USA Selected in the Re-Entry Draft Wolff goes 1st in Stage 2 Re-Entry Draft, Ángel to LA Major League Soccer December 15, 2010 Josh Wolff FW D.C. United Selected in the Re-Entry Draft December 15, 2010 Frankie Hejduk DF Los Angeles Galaxy Traded for Luke Sassano February 7, 2011 Sunil Chhetri FW Chirag United Option declined February 7, 2011 Nikos Kounenakis DF Released March 1, 2011 Zoltan Hercegfalvi FW Budapest Honvéd FC II Loan expired March 1, 2011 Jack Jewsbury MF Portland Timbers Traded for allocation money May 5, 2011 Mike Jones DF New York Red Bulls Released, free transfer August 12, 2011 Stéphane Auvray MF New York Red Bulls Traded for 2nd round draft pick in 2013 MLS SuperDraft
Loans
In DatePlayerPositionLoaned fromFee/notesRef July 16, 2011 Daneil Cyrus DF FC Santa Rosa Thru the 2011 season July 17, 2011 Jéferson MF Vasco da Gama Thru the 2011 season, Designated Player
Out DatePlayerPositionLoaned toFee/notesRef July 27, 2011 Scott Lorenz DF NSC Minnesota Stars Loan terminated September 8, 2011
Major League Soccer
League table
Eastern Conference standings
Results summary
Match results
Preseason
2011 Desert Cup
Regular season
MLS Cup Playoffs
U.S. Open Cup
Sporting Kansas City began qualification for the 2011 U.S. Open Cup with a 1–0 victory over Houston Dynamo on April 6, 2011. Sporting Kansas City was one of ten MLS clubs vying for two play-in berths available. In the qualification finals, the club defeated New England Revolution 5–0 on May 25, 2011. Sporting KC entered the formal Cup competition in the Third round, defeating the Chicago Fire Premier club 3–0 on June 28, 2011. In the Quarterfinal round on July 12, 2011, they were defeated by the Richmond Kickers.
Kickoff times are in CDT.
Friendly Matches Sporting Kansas City team played a friendly match against the English Premier League team Newcastle United on July 20, 2011. They also hosted the Liga MX México Primera División team Club Deportivo Guadalajara on October 12, 2011.
Recognition
MLS Player of the Week WeekPlayerWeek's StatlineWeek 1 Omar Bravo2GWeek 23 Graham Zusi2G
AT&T Goal of the Week WeekPlayerWeek 19 Kei KamaraWeek 23 Graham Zusi
MLS Save of the Week WeekPlayerWeek 19 Jimmy NielsenWeek 21 Jimmy NielsenWeek 25 Jimmy NielsenWeek 32 Jimmy Nielsen
MLS Player of the Month MonthPlayerMonth's StatlineJune Graham Zusi2G 3A
MLS All-Stars 2011 PositionPlayerNoteDF Matt Besler AT&T Text WinnerFW Omar Bravo Commissioner Choice
2011 Team Awards Player(s)Award Jimmy Nielsen Sporting Kansas City 2011 Most Valuable Player Matt Besler Sporting Kansas City 2011 Defensive Player of the Year Kei Kamara Sporting Kansas City 2011 MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year Nate Opperman 2011 Bob Gansler Award - Most Outstanding Juniors Player of the Year Omar Bravo Teal Bunbury Kei Kamara Sporting Kansas City 2011 Budweiser Golden Boot
Notable reserve games The reserve game on March 28, 2011, against the Kansas City Brass garnered widespread interest due to NFL player Chad Ochocinco appearing for Sporting. Ochocinco briefly trained with the team during the NFL lockout.
Miscellany
Allocation ranking Sporting Kansas City is in the #4 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.
International roster spots Sporting Kansas City has 9 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Sporting Kansas City acquired an additional spot from D.C. United on 3 February 2010 for use during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Sporting had also acquired another spot from Real Salt Lake on 23 February 2010 but that spot was for the 2010 season only and reverted to Real Salt Lake on 1 January 2011.
There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club's roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in the United States, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).
Future draft pick trades Future picks acquired: 2012 SuperDraft Round 2 pick acquired from FC Dallas; 2013 SuperDraft Round 2 pick acquired from New York Red Bulls. Future picks traded: 2012 SuperDraft Round 2 pick traded to Philadelphia Union.
MLS rights to other players It is believed that Sporting maintains the MLS rights to Herculez Gomez after the player declined a contract offer by the club and instead signed with a non-MLS side.
Notes