Category: Sporting KC

Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., will be the host of the first four Group A matches during the 2015 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship 2015, U.S. Soccer announced today.

The international doubleheaders, headlined by the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team, will be held on Thursday, Oct. 1, and Saturday, Oct. 3.

Sporting Kansas City season ticket members will be guaranteed seats for all four games by using Special Games B (Oct. 1) and Special Games C (Oct. 3) in their 20-game season ticket packages. Additional ticket information, including prices and on-sale timelines, will be released at a later date.

Sporting Park is one of four host venues for the tournament along with the StubHub Center, Carson, Calif.; Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.; and Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah.

The state-of-the-art stadium in Kansas City, Kan., also served as the site of the semifinals and championship matches in the previous CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship in 2012.

“One of the great things about all of these venues has been the amazing support the fans have given the National Team,” U.S. U-23 MNT head coach Andi Herzog said. “We have seen how much of an impact our fans have, and we need them more than ever as we strive to represent the United States in the 2016 Olympics.”

The competition will feature the top eight teams from North America (U.S., Canada and Mexico), Central America (three nations TBD) and the Caribbean (two nations to be determined) in pursuit of the region’s two automatic berths into the 2016 Olympic Games next summer in Rio de Janeiro.

The official draw for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship 2015 will be held in August to set the complete tournament schedule with match-ups and kick-off times.

Countries qualify using under-23 national teams (player born in 1993 or later) and the U.S. U-23 MNT features three players who played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup: John Brooks (Hertha BSC), Julian Green (Bayern Munich) and DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham).

Other eligible players include Sporting Kansas City homegrown goalkeeper Jon Kempin and Stanford sophomore Jordan Morris, who scored the game-winning goal for the full U.S. MNT in a 2-0 victory over Mexico last month.

– Story from Sporting KC

The Boulevard Members Club at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., will welcome U.S. Women’s National Team fans for 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup watch parties held by WIN for KC in conjunction with Sporting KC, FC Kansas City and theNSCAA.

The U.S. WNT schedule for the Women’s World Cup is 6:30 p.m. June 8, 7 p.m. June 12 and 7 p.m. June 16. The games are at arenas in Canada.

The U.S. WNT watch parties at Sporting Park will be free to attend and open to fans of all ages. Food, drink and merchandise will be available to purchase at each event in addition to exclusive raffle giveaways and appearances by FC Kansas City or Sporting KC players. Doors open one hour prior to kickoff and parking will be available in Lot D.

The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in six cities across Canada from June 6 through July 5. All 52 games during the 24-team tournament will be nationally televised live on FOX, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2 in the United States, in addition to live streams on FOX Sports GO and FOXSportsGO.com.

Reigning NWSL champions FC Kansas City are represented by four players on the United States’ World Cup roster: defender Becky Sauerbrunn, midfielder Lauren Holiday, midfielder Heather O’Reilly and forward Amy Rodriguez . The U.S. WNT, No. 2 in the world in the FIFA rankings, will begin their quest for a third World Cup title in Group D against Australia, Sweden and Nigeria.

The U.S. Women’s National Team began their journey to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup last October at Sporting Park with their opening game of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship. The U.S. WNT also played at Sporting Park in their first match after finishing runners-up at the 2011 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Sporting Kansas City secured a 1-1 draw against Eastern Conference leaders D.C. United on Saturday at RFK Stadium.

Forwards Jairo Arrieta (42′) and Dom Dwyer (45′) traded goals three minutes apart in the lone regular season meeting between the two sides this season.

With the road result, Sporting Kansas City remains unbeaten (3-0-2) in 2015 versus teams from the East while D.C. United extended the club’s home unbeaten streak to 17 games across all competition.

Sporting Kansas City manufactured two scoring opportunities in the game’s 13th minute. Matt Besler’s long throw-in fell to Jacob Peterson, who forced a save from Bill Hamid despite finding himself at a tight angle near the endline. Moments later, Jalil Anibaba’s cross was settled by Dwyer inside the penalty area and the Englishman’s left-footed shot worked its way through two D.C. United defenders only to roll inches wide of the far post.

The visitors continued to attack and nearly broke through in the 19th minute. Roger Espinoza delivered a pinpoint pass to the backpost, where Peterson connected with a first-time volley that hammered off the crossbar from five yards out after a superb fingertip save by Hamid.

The reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year remained active in the 29th minute, diving to his right to deny Benny Feilhaber for his third save of the match.

D.C. United was held to only two shots in the opening 45 minutes but capitalized with their lone shot on goal in the 42nd minute. Perry Kitchen started the scoring sequence with a diagonal ball for Chris Pontius, who settled with his chest and immediately laid a pass back for Arrieta.

Arrieta made no mistake with a first-time finish for his second goal of the season, 19th of his MLS career.

Sporting Kansas City responded with the game-tying goal just three minutes later when Dom Dwyer was on the receiving end of an assist from Roger Espinoza.

Espinoza took on two D.C. United defenders on the dribble and split the double team with a pass that set up Dwyer for a left-footed strike past Hamid from eight yards out.

Dwyer, who set the team’s single-season record with 22 goals in 2014, moves into a tie for the team lead with three goals this season. In addition, the 24-year-old moves into a tie with Vitalis Takawira for eighth place on the club’s all-time scoring chart with his 31st career goal in all competition.

D.C. United, which settled for its third tie in its past four home matches, started the second half on the front foot. Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia made his only save of the match in the 47th minute to claim an attempt from Arrieta, then was amid a goalmouth scramble four minutes later that was eventually cleared from danger.

Espinoza and Dwyer teamed up again in the 62nd minute to momentarily give Sporting Kansas City the lead when Dwyer buried his header off an Espinoza cross. However the goal was disallowed as assistant referee Kyle Longville raised his flag upon spotting Dwyer in an offside position.

Sporting Kansas City came close to leaving the nation’s capital with all three points, again utilizing a Besler throw-in to threaten in the 86th minute. The delivery took a goalward deflection off Pontius but Hamid was quick to react with a diving stop before recording his fourth and final save in the 93rd minute on an Espinoza shot from distance.

On the opposite end, second-half substitute Michael Farfan lined up a long range effort of his own that whistled narrowly wide in the game’s final minute.

Sporting Kansas City will now return home to play the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at Sporting Park. A limited number of tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com and the first 5,000 fans inside the stadium will receive cooling neck wraps courtesy of Providence Medical Center.