Livestrong Sporting Park has been a busy, busy place over the last two week, as the Sporting Kansas City deciders are twisting and tweaking the personnel knobs.
Some of it has been forced upon them, but still …
They had to wave bye-bye to Roger Espinoza, who has all but signed on the dotted line for English Premier League welterweight Wigan Athletic. And they made the tough call to release aging midfield screener Julio Cesar, who was effective in his role although surely limited.
Yesterday came the Benny Feilhaber slobber-knocker of a trade. You can read more about that one here and here. (Both are ProSoccerTalk links.)
Then dropped the important news Wednesday that center back Matt Besler has been re-signed. While Feilhaber is the more evocative (and in some circles flummoxing) figure, adding years onto Besler’s time around Livestrong Sporting Park may one day be seen as the bigger achievement of a hectic December of 2012.
Besler (pictured) was quality goods in 2011, gaining an All-Star berth, albeit with assistance from a curiously high degree of ballot stuffing. But the Best XI spot in 2012 was earned by steady and strong performance on the field, and Jurgen Klinsmann has recently mentioned Besler in the big lump of potential up-and-comers at the center back position.
Plus, he’s a hometown kid, which is always a check mark for fans. So the suits of SKC should feel free to pat themselves on the back for that one.
Now comes word that Sporting Kansas City has added Ike Opara from San Jose for a 2013 second-round draft pick (which will be No. 36 overall, not an area where future MLS stars are typically located.)
Opara has never found the magic dust of stardom that so many predicted when he was taken No. 3 overall in 2010. Injuries had something to do with his life in the slow lane of MLS progress. Still, 22 stars in three seasons at Buck Shaw say something went wrong along the way, something more than injury, in all likelihood.
But he doesn’t need to be a star at Livestrong – just reliable cover for Besler, Aurelien Collin and Lawrence Olum going into a busy year for SKC, one that will include a U.S. Open Cup defense and participation in the CONCACAF Champions League.
So it’s busy times around Livestrong, where the 2012 Eastern Conference champs seem in a big hurry to improve further in 2013.