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Ok here's my take on the Sporting KC/LA Galaxy game I attended on Saturday evening. Tickets were a gift from my girlfriend, I suggested this game because it was after the World Cup when Sporting would be back to 100% with Graham Zusi and Matt Besler back, plus LA is always a good game and they have fun talent to watch like LandyCakes, Robby Keane and Juninho.
This turned out to be Sporting's highest attended home game in the history of the new stadium, official figures were 21,000+. Every seat was full and the the standing room area is full as well. May have been 21,000+ but it felt like more because the atmosphere was pretty electric. Talking to some of the people sitting around me, there is a waiting list to get season tickets in most parts of the stadium, including the seats I was in, and they weren't even close to being the best. I think there are 31 rows in my grandstand and we were in row 29. This was the first proper MLS game that I had seen at Sporting Park, other than the MLS All Star game.. There were more people at this game.
The news that Besler and Zusi were signed to long term deals had just been announced and everyone was pretty juiced about that. Zusi wasn't getting as much international interest as Besler. Zusi apparently was getting looked at by a Portuguese club that had been relegated, which isn't so hot. I can't believe that his competition would have been as good or better than the MLS and he is the star of the hottest team in the league right now so why move backwards. Not sure what Besler's options were but let's face it, those two guys are [pretty much done developing and I can see why they want to finish their careers in KC.
As for the game.. Last MLS game I attended was in the old baseball park that they were in. The level of play from 2009 to now has increased considerably. Honestly in 2009 I went 5-6 games and some of the games were hard to watch. The talent just wasn't there.
I don't know what got into Zusi, but he was particularly lively in this game. He made a bunch of long runs and made some pretty stunning long range passes. LA, who hadn't lost and MLS game in two months looked inept in the first half. Benny Feilhaber scored off a beautiful free kick early on. Besler? That dude can th
Another guy who was really impressive was Arab-American named Soony Saad from Dearborn, MI. He is a really fast, really technically gifted player who repeatedly put LA under immense pressure.
Landycakes as LA's #10 is still a vital part of the Galaxy attack. I have seen the guy play in person about a dozen times now. In my judgement, he still has the technical ability but he is a couple steps slower than he used to be. He looks "bulky" not in a fat way, but he is clearly more robust. I can definitely see how he could have been outshined by everyone else in the pre World Cup camp. He definitely wasn't even close to being the best American on the field.
Robby Keane is still playing HARD. Despite the fact that he is an incessant diver and whiner, he is still a fun player to watch. I had the same impression from watching David Beckham on the field level a few years ago, these guys aren't mailing it in in the MLS, they are playing hard and working the ref over the whole game.
Highlights:
http://www.sportingkc.com/video/2014/07/19/highlights-sporting-kc-vs-la-galaxy-july-19-2014
This turned out to be Sporting's highest attended home game in the history of the new stadium, official figures were 21,000+. Every seat was full and the the standing room area is full as well. May have been 21,000+ but it felt like more because the atmosphere was pretty electric. Talking to some of the people sitting around me, there is a waiting list to get season tickets in most parts of the stadium, including the seats I was in, and they weren't even close to being the best. I think there are 31 rows in my grandstand and we were in row 29. This was the first proper MLS game that I had seen at Sporting Park, other than the MLS All Star game.. There were more people at this game.
The news that Besler and Zusi were signed to long term deals had just been announced and everyone was pretty juiced about that. Zusi wasn't getting as much international interest as Besler. Zusi apparently was getting looked at by a Portuguese club that had been relegated, which isn't so hot. I can't believe that his competition would have been as good or better than the MLS and he is the star of the hottest team in the league right now so why move backwards. Not sure what Besler's options were but let's face it, those two guys are [pretty much done developing and I can see why they want to finish their careers in KC.
As for the game.. Last MLS game I attended was in the old baseball park that they were in. The level of play from 2009 to now has increased considerably. Honestly in 2009 I went 5-6 games and some of the games were hard to watch. The talent just wasn't there.
I don't know what got into Zusi, but he was particularly lively in this game. He made a bunch of long runs and made some pretty stunning long range passes. LA, who hadn't lost and MLS game in two months looked inept in the first half. Benny Feilhaber scored off a beautiful free kick early on. Besler? That dude can th
Another guy who was really impressive was Arab-American named Soony Saad from Dearborn, MI. He is a really fast, really technically gifted player who repeatedly put LA under immense pressure.
Landycakes as LA's #10 is still a vital part of the Galaxy attack. I have seen the guy play in person about a dozen times now. In my judgement, he still has the technical ability but he is a couple steps slower than he used to be. He looks "bulky" not in a fat way, but he is clearly more robust. I can definitely see how he could have been outshined by everyone else in the pre World Cup camp. He definitely wasn't even close to being the best American on the field.
Robby Keane is still playing HARD. Despite the fact that he is an incessant diver and whiner, he is still a fun player to watch. I had the same impression from watching David Beckham on the field level a few years ago, these guys aren't mailing it in in the MLS, they are playing hard and working the ref over the whole game.
Highlights:
http://www.sportingkc.com/video/2014/07/19/highlights-sporting-kc-vs-la-galaxy-july-19-2014