Month: August 2018

Diego Rubio nets winner as Sporting KC earns 1-0 win over rivals Houston Dynamo

Sporting Kansas City (10-6-6, 36 points) snapped a five-game winless skid with a resolute 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo (7-9-6, 27 points) on Saturday night at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Forward Diego Rubio came off the bench to score the 74th-minute winner – his MLS-leading fourth goal as a substitute this season – on a brilliant assist from midfielder Gianluca Busio, who at 16 years and 68 days became the third-youngest player to start a match in league history and the second-youngest to record an assist.

The result gave Sporting KC their first MLS win at Houston since 2014 and their first shutout since June 9, vaulting the team into third place in the Western Conference standings. Saturday also saw Manager Peter Vermes reach a significant milestone at the helm, coaching his 302nd regular season match for Sporting KC to break the all-time MLS record for most games coached at a single club.

The newest installment of a fierce rivalry between Sporting KC and Houston hit a boiling point as referee Chris Penso issued three red cards to Dynamo players and eight total yellow cards between the teams. Houston head coach Wilmer Cabrera was also dismissed at halftime of a hotly contested battle that resulted in Sporting KC’s 100th regular-season away win.

Busio’s inclusion as a starter was one of three lineup changes to a Sporting KC side that fell 3-2 to FC Dallas last weekend. Yohan Croizet assumed the center forward role for the first time this season, replacing Diego Rubio, and 18-year-old Jaylin Lindsey made way for veteran left back Seth Sinovic. Busio was filling in for Roger Espinoza, who served a one-game suspension on Saturday for caution accumulation. Elsewhere, forward Daniel Salloi logged his 50th appearance for the club in all competitions, while defender Graham Zusi earned his 200th career regular-season start.

Croizet’s first attacking contribution came just two minutes into the game, as the Frenchman powered into the final third and clipped a pass over the top for Gerso Fernandes to chase. Fernandes corralled the bouncing ball with his back to goal and tried an acrobatic flick over his shoulder, the effort floating narrowly over the crossbar.

The complexion of the match changed drastically in the 14th minute when Penso showed a straight red card to Houston defender Alejandro Fuenmayor, who recklessly clattered into Busio’s back on an aerial challenge. The call was checked and subsequently upheld by Video Assistant Referee Daniel Radford, meaning Sporting KC would have a man advantage for the rest of the night.

Fuenmayor’s ejection was the most egregious act during a chippy first half-hour that brandished four yellow cards. The visitors threatened twice during this period, first in the 18th minute when Salloi played a clever diagonal ball to an open Fernandes whose side-footer failed to beat Houston goalkeeper Joe Willis. Eight minutes later, Busio went agonizingly close to becoming the second-youngest goal scorer in MLS history when his 22-yard sledgehammer caromed off the right post with Willis firmly beaten.

The final moments of the first half produced chances for both sides. Ilie Sanchez received a pass from Busio and uncorked a low drive from distance that fizzed marginally wide before Houston’s Romell Quioto cut centrally from the left wing and just missed the target from the top of the box. On the stroke of intermission, Felipe Gutierrez ran onto a through ball from Fernandes and had his near-post attempt saved by Willis’ outstretched foot.

Sporting KC enjoyed a decisive edge in possession and territory throughout the second period, but a plucky Houston defense limited opportunities despite Fuenmayor’s absence. The hosts almost surged ahead against the run of play in the 62nd minute when Quioto broke free on a counter-attack and set up Alberth Elis, whose breakaway shot under duress from Ilie forced Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia into a splendid kick save. The pivotal stop was Melia’s brightest moment en route to his eighth clean sheet of 2018.

Vermes’ men gradually gained a foothold, with Graham Zusi firing inches wide in the 73rd minute off a layoff from Rubio. The close shave would come just seconds before Sporting KC drew first blood.

In the 74th minute, Zusi was afforded a pocked of space just inside the attacking half and sent an incisive path through to Busio near the top of the box. The 16-year-old showcased his undeniable quality with an excellent one-touch pass through to Rubio, who finished low past Willis into the far left corner for his fourth MLS goal of 2018 and his second in as many games against Houston.

Petulance marred the late stages of Saturday’s encounter. Houston’s meltdown reached its climax when Elis and Darwin Ceren were both sent off for violent conduct in second-half stoppage time, not long before the final whistle.

Riding a newfound wave of momentum, Sporting KC will play for their second straight road win next Saturday when they visit expansion side Los Angeles Football Club (10-5-6, 36 points) for the first time at Banc of California Stadium. Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City and FOX Sports Midwest Plus.

– Story from Sporting KC

Trump endorses Kobach for Kansas governor over Republican incumbent

by Celia Llopis-Jepsen

One of the nation’s most vocal promoters of unsubstantiated voter fraud claims hopes to eliminate his own party’s sitting governor in Tuesday’s primary.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach de-facto led President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission. He’s a provocative, self-styled champion of election integrity — dogged by allegations of links to white nationalists and opposed by civil rights groups who see him as pursuing thinly veiled voter suppression.

The day before the primary, President Trump tweeted an endorsement for Kobach, “he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military.”

Trump made no reference to the voter fraud commission, which brought Kobach and the president together, but voter registration is still Kobach’s rallying cry. “Every time a non-citizen votes, it effectively cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen,” he said in a recent interview. “That’s a problem.”

But in federal court in March, experts tore apart his claims that non-citizens are carrying out widespread voter fraud. The judge who tried the case ruled against him.

That ended what the ACLU called the nation’s strictest voter registration system. Kobach had blocked tens of thousands of people from joining Kansas voter rolls.

The same court case saw Kobach held in contempt for violating an injunction meant to safeguard voting rights. He was charged lawyer fees for that, and fined for misleading a judge.

All of this happened even as Kobach campaigned to unseat Gov. Jeff Colyer. But it’s unclear whether his courtroom woes will turn voters against him. Colyer is leveraging Kobach’s most embarrassing moments in hopes that it will.

“There is only one candidate on this stage,” Colyer said at a recent debate, “who has been fined by a federal judge for lying to a federal court.”

Colyer is a fellow conservative who inherited the governorship earlier this year when his deeply unpopular predecessor left for a U.S. State Department job. But he isn’t a shoo-in. Seven candidates are vying for the GOP nomination. The winning nominee doesn’t need a majority — just the highest percentage of votes.

At Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., political scientist Bob Beatty says that means Kobach’s base could be his ticket to defeating Colyer.

“His strategy, and it may be a very good one, is, ‘I don’t need to change anybody’s mind,’ ” Beatty says. ” ‘I just need to get my people out.’ ”

Kobach is selling himself as the true conservative — someone who won’t compromise with the Republican party’s moderate branch, let alone Democrats.

“If you’re talking about a wishy-washy politician who just says whatever he thinks you want to hear,” Kobach says, “you don’t know if that guy’s going to deliver.”

The former law professor — with degrees from Harvard, Yale and Oxford — lost his bid for Congress in 2004 by a hefty margin. But he continued to build his profile by crafting and defending anti-immigration laws around the country. He has hosted his own talk radio show, writes for Breitbart and is a go-to guest when Fox News needs an unapologetic conservative.

His critics accuse him of pandering to or benefiting from white nationalistsentiment, but he dismisses them.

“I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” he says. “I believe we are all God’s children.”

Kobach has repeatedly said Somali refugees stole a 2010 election in Kansas City — even though a court found that untrue. He’s a key supporter of Trump’s claim that millions of illegal ballots cost him the popular vote in 2016. Politifact has dubbed the assertion “Pants on Fire” false.

Kobach’s war against voter fraud bonded him with the president from the start. He has confirmed Trump considered him to lead the Department of Homeland Security before tapping him for the voter fraud commission. More recently, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has been helping Kobach raise money for his campaign.

Despite his White House contacts, Kobach says his aspirations aren’t national.

“My objective is to lead the state of Kansas,” he says. “And to solve a couple of problems that we have.”

Top on his list, he says, is cutting taxes and finding ways to discourage immigrants who enter the country illegally from making Kansas their home.

This story comes from the Kansas News Service, a collaboration covering health, education and politics.
See more at http://www.kcur.org/post/trump-endorses-kobach-kansas-governor-over-republican-incumbant

KCK school board to meet today

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 6, in the third floor board room of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Central Office, 2010 N. 59th St., Kansas City, Kansas.

Board members will have the opportunity to participate in the meeting by telephone. According to the meeting notice, the meeting will include regular business, and the human resources report and recommendations.