Month: March 2022

Sporting KC to play home opener Saturday against Houston

Sporting Kansas City will open its home season on Saturday against the Houston Dynamo in action at Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas.

The match begins at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets for Saturday’s home opener are available online at SeatGeek.com and all fans in attendance will receive Sporting KC rally towels. The club will take the field in the new State Line 3.0 kits for the first time.

Sporting kicked off its 2022 campaign last Sunday with a 3-1 defeat at Atlanta United FC in front of 67,523 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the most fans to ever attend an MLS match involving Sporting Kansas City. Houston meanwhile battled to a scoreless draw at home with Real Salt Lake in Week 1 last weekend.

Sporting is 15-3-8 all-time in MLS regular season home openers, including a 4-1-6 record at Children’s Mercy Park, and Saturday is the first of two showdowns between these longtime rivals in the 2022 MLS regular season.

Last year, the two sides faced each other on three occasions with the home team taking all three points in all three matches. In the two matches at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting bested the Dynamo 3-2 in May and 4-2 in early October.

Leading the way for Sporting once again in 2022 is team captain Johnny Russell. Last season the Scotsman netted 15 goals and added eight assists for Sporting KC.

On the other wing of the pitch is Hungarian international Daniel Salloi. Salloi opened his scoring account in Atlanta with an 85th minute volley from close range into the roof of the net. The Sporting KC Academy product is coming off a career year in which he put the ball in the back of the net 16 times and added eight assists as well.

Sunday also marked the debut of Belgian left back Logan Ndenbe. The 22-year-old arrived in Kansas City from French side Guingamp this offseason and did not have to wait long to make his first MLS appearance.

Fellow defender and Sporting KC veteran Graham Zusi also started for Sporting in the opener, surpassing 30,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions. Zusi is the first player in league history to play 14 seasons for one club and is in line for his 300th career MLS start on Saturday.

Paulo Nagamura, a former Sporting KC midfielder and SKC II head coach, returns to Kansas City as the first-year head coach of the Dynamo along with Sporting Legend Jimmy Nielsen as an assistant coach for Houston. The two MLS Cup champions have a bolstered Dynamo team that is looking to improve upon their last place finish in the Western Conference last season.

Houston brought in MLS veterans Steve Clark, Corey Baird and Daniel Steres this past offseason. They also made a splash signing, bringing in Paraguayan forward Sebastian Ferreira for a club record $4.3 million fee.

The Dynamo were in the news again this week, signing Atletico Madrid and Mexican National Team captain Hector Herrera. The El Tri skipper will not be with the team this week as he will join Houston this summer following the conclusion of the La Liga season.

Sporting midfielder Uri Rosell will miss Saturday’s match after suffering a hamstring injury in the team’s season opener. Houston has one name on the availability report in Griffin Dorsey who is questionable with a left leg injury.

For the first time in 2022, Sporting’s new local broadcast partner 38 The Spot will air the game with Nate Bukaty, Jacob Peterson and Aly Trost calling the action. The match will also be nationally televised in Spanish on Univision and TUDN with an English live stream on Twitter. There will be live updates throughout the contest from @SKCMatchday on Twitter and in the Sporting KC mobile app, as well as radio broadcasts on SiriusXM FC, ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 in Spanish.

  • Story from Sporting KC

KC Current earn second straight shutout

The Kansas City Current earned a clean sheet for the second match in a row, this time playing the Orlando Pride to a 0-0 draw on March 2.

Midfielder Sam Mewis made her debut for the team coming on to the pitch in the 70th minute.

Continuing to show confidence in his young players, head coach Matt Potter once again started a defensive backfield featuring three rookies; Jenna Winebrenner, Alex Loera and Izzy Rodriguez. Along with Maddie Nolf, the Current back line stood tall early in the game as Orlando’s Sydney Leroux and Marta tried to crack through the defense.

“I love playing center back and I’m always up for the challenge,” Loera said. “Going up against players like Sydney Leroux and Marta and playing against Lynn Williams in practice. I’m just excited for where these vets are going to take me in my journey and I’m really looking forward to continuing to be challenged.”

Early in the match, Orlando’s Marta intercepted a pass and drove toward goal. Goalkeeper A.D. Franch rushed toward the attacker, forcing an early shot that just arced over Franch’s hands. Rookie Winebrenner rushed toward the line and was able to get there in time to clear the ball and keep the Pride off the score sheet.

“I like the contribution all-around,” Potter said. “We have a good balance in the team of experience and youth and throughout the game both contributed. For me, I thought one picked up the other when needed. That’s our identity… Whether they’re rookies or returners, it doesn’t matter. They brought value to the team tonight and that’s a positive step for where we are.”

The Current have one more preseason match scheduled against the University of Nebraska at 4 p.m. March 11 at Hibner Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup opens with the Current on the road to face Racing Louisville at 6:30 p.m. March 18. The team will open its home portion of the Challenge Cup Schedule, also against Louisville, at 2 p.m. April 2.

Season tickets and flex plans are available for all home matches at Children’s Mercy Park. For pricing and information visit KansasCityCurrent.com.

  • Information from KC Current

KCKCC expands offerings with Amazon for career choice program

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC public information manager

Kansas City Kansas Community College has expanded its involvement with Amazon’s Career Choice program, providing Amazon’s hourly employees access to any credit-bearing certificate or degree at KCKCC.

This program is designed to help frontline employees grow their skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere, according to a spokesman.

“KCKCC is thrilled to be selected as a local educational partner for Amazon,” said Dr. Tami Bartunek, vice president of strategic initiatives and outreach for KCKCC. “Amazon hourly employees now have the opportunity to become Blue Devils and advance their education by completing high quality, valuable credit-bearing technical programs or associate degrees. The relationship between KCKCC and Amazon will prove to advance many educational dreams.”

KCKCC, a public two-year institution in Wyandotte County, is the third largest community college in Kansas. The college is committed to students and strives to ensure all students have a positive and successful post-secondary experience, the spokesman said. KCKCC’s multiple locations provide learning opportunities for students throughout the Kansas City area.

According to The Economics of Education Review, a Kansas study found students who return to college and finish a bachelor’s degree earn on average $4,200 more immediately after graduation and experience an extra income growth of $1,100 per year, on average.

Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees and meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities. These include full college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to increase the skills of more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs.

Employees can take classes online, in-person at a local campus or on-site in one of the more than 110 Career Choice classrooms located in fulfillment centers in 37 states.

Since launching in 2012, Career Choice has helped provide education for more than 50,000 employees by partnering with more than 140 national and local colleges and universities. Career Choice is one of nine free skills training and education programs that Amazon offers to its employees as part of its Upskilling 2025 pledge. Employees can participate every year they work at Amazon and are eligible after only 90 days of employment.

“We’re looking forward to Kansas City Kansas Community College continuing as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, global program lead of Amazon’s Career Choice program, in a news release. “We have intentionally cultivated a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 50,000 Amazon employees around the world have already participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”

KCKCC was chosen through a rigorous third-party educator selection process with Amazon’s Career Choice program featuring partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements and overall offering education that leads to career success.

For more information about Amazon’s Career Choice program, visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice.