Drew has only partially thawed out from a bone chilling evening at Children’s Mercy Park that saw Sporting Kansas City finally play a game of meaning, unfortunately losing 1-0 to Lionel Messi and Friends in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup tie.  This game couldn’t have come at a better time for us as it has been what has seemed like an interminable offseason causing us to spend way too much time parsing information and we finally have a game to see and evaluate and assess.There were a number of surprises in the lineup for this match, some due to fitness issues and others due to players playing in positions we did not expect.  And while the result wasn’t ideal, there was a surprising amount of pragmatism, realism, and optimism regarding the performance especially from a defensive perspective against a very talented attacking opponent.Tactical Corner this week will focus on that defensive shape, that while not necessarily earth shattering, inventive or new, showed a remarkable amount of organization given how few of the personnel meant to accomplish it were new to the team, and spoke to many of the references Peter Vermes made towards “mentality” last year which could easily be read as effort to execute effectively.

Finally, we will cover a couple news items around the team before doing a quick preview of the team’s season opener in Austin this weekend.