Kansas City Wizards Weekly Update: July 22, 2010

$20 UPPER-LEVEL TICKETS MADE AVAILABLE FOR MANCHESTER UNITED MATCH:

The Kansas City Wizards and Kansas City Chiefs announced Wednesday that additional upper-level tickets have been released for Sunday’s friendly against Manchester United due to high demand. The tickets will cost $20 and are available immediately through Ticketmaster.com, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or at any area Ticketmaster outlet. Special packages are also available through the Kansas City Wizards and can be purchased by calling 1-888-4KC-GOAL. The exhibition match will take place Sunday, July 25 at 5 p.m. CT and will be the first-ever event at the New Arrowhead Stadium.

“Fan response for our match against Manchester United has been tremendous,” Wizards President Robb Heineman said. “The great crowd we are expecting Sunday will reinforce that Kansas City is a premier soccer city and that the New Arrowhead Stadium will make an ideal host venue if the FIFA World Cup comes to the United States in 2018 or 2022.”

MANCHESTER UNITED ROSTER FEATURES LONG LIST OF SPORT’S TOP PLAYERS:

The list of international superstars coming to Kansas City includes legendary midfielders Ryan Giggs (Wales) and Paul Scholes (England), as well as Edwin Van der Sar (Holland), Nani (Portugal) and Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria). Giggs is the only player in English football history to win 11 Premier League championship medals. This record is the equivalent of an American football player winning 11 Super Bowl rings or a baseball player capturing 11 World Series titles. For the transcript of an interview with Giggs about playing in the United States and Kansas City, click here.

United has completed the first half of their American tour in successful fashion, earning a 3-1 victory over Scottish giants Celtic in Toronto last week and a 1-0 win against the Philadelphia Union (MLS) on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Following Sunday’s match against the Kansas City Wizards (MLS), Manchester United will conclude the U.S. portion of their tour on Wednesday, July 28 against the MLS All-Stars at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

MANCHESTER UNITED 2010 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR SCHEDULE

July 16 Manchester United vs. Celtic F.C 3-1 W Rogers Centre, Toronto

July 21 Manchester United vs. Philadelphia Union 1-0 W Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

July 25 Manchester United vs. Kansas City Wizards 5:00 pm CT Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

July 28 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game vs. Manchester United 7:30 pm CT Reliant Stadium, Houston

MANCHESTER UNITED 2010 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ROSTER

GOALKEEPERS: #40 Ben Amos (ENG), #29 Tomasz Kuszczak (POL), #1 Edwin van de Sar (NED)

DEFENDERS: #6 Wes Brown (ENG), #20 Fabio Da Silva (BRA), #21 Rafael Da Silva (BRA), #30 Ritchie De Laet (BEL), #31Corry Evans (NIR), #23 Jonny Evans (NIR), #22 John O'Shea (IRL), #12 Chris Smalling (ENG)

MIDFIELDERS: #35 Tom Cleverley (ENG), #24 Darren Fletcher (SCO), #28 Darron Gibson (IRL), #11 Ryan Giggs (WAL), #17 Nani (POR), #26 Gabriel Obertan (FRA), #18 Paul Scholes (ENG)

FORWARDS: #9 Berbatov (BUL), #32 Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), #14 Javier Hernandez (MEX) [will join in Houston on July 27], #27 Federico Macheda (ITA), #19 Danny Welbeck (ENG)

MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson

FREE FAN ZONE OUTSIDE STADIUM FOR SUNDAY’S MATCH AGAINST MAN UNITED:

The Kansas City Wizards will be offering a fan zone prior to Sunday’s friendly with Manchester United. The fan zone is free and open to the public and will be located on the north side of the New Arrowhead Stadium, in the Founder’s Club Plaza between Lot M and the stadium.

The fan zone will feature a stage where the group Rattle and Hum, a U2 cover band, will play two sets of songs, beginning at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT. There will also be a beer garden and a variety of vendor displays set up for fans to visit before the game.

Parking lots will open at 2:00 p.m. CT for Sunday’s marquee match, and gates will begin admitting fans into the stadium at 3:30 p.m. CT. Ticket holders are encouraged to arrive early for the first event at the newly renovated Arrowhead Stadium.

MATCH AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED BROADCAST ON TV, WEB, AND RADIO:

Sunday’s friendly between the Kansas City Wizards and Manchester United will be broadcast live in the United States on Fox Soccer Channel, beginning with a live pre-game show at 4:30 p.m. CT. It will also air live on MUTV, the official TV channel of Manchester United that broadcasts across the globe. All the action can also be seen live via MUTV Online, Manchester United’s subscription video service available at mu.tv.manutd.com for £4.5/month (approximately $6.88/month).

Additionally, La Gran D 1340 AM will broadcast the game live from Arrowhead Stadium. La Gran D is the flagship station in the Wizards Spanish Radio Network and airs every Kansas City Wizards regular season game during the 2010 season.

Fans who cannot watch or listen to the game are encouraged to visit www.KCWizards.com for video highlights, recaps and much more following Sunday’s soccer showcase.

NIELSEN WINS LEAGUE-LEADING FOURTH NAPA SAVE OF THE WEEK HONOR:

Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen received the most votes in the NAPA Save of the Week competition for the fourth time this season, earning the honor for his one-handed tip save against Adam Moffat of the Columbus Crew last Wednesday. The spectacular save preserved the shutout, Nielsen’s sixth of the season, and protected Kansas City’s 1-0 lead early in the road victory over the first-place Crew.

“I appreciate all of the fans out there for voting for me,” Nielsen said. “I never get tired of winning 'Save of the Week.' That being said, soccer is all about winning, and we won that game in Columbus, so this definitely feels good.”

Nielsen, who was also nominated for a second save against Columbus, has now won the award three of the last four weeks and four times overall. No other MLS goalkeeper has won in multiple weeks.

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS AGREE TO TERMS WITH NIKOS “NICK” KOUNENAKIS:

The Kansas City Wizards announced Tuesday that the club has agreed to terms with Greek defender Nikos “Nick” Kounenakis, a 32-year-old center back who played twelve seasons for OFI Crete in Greece before moving to Aris Limassol last season. Kounenakis, who also played at Anderlecht in Belgium and Roda JC in Holland, will be added to the Wizards roster after he receives his P1 Visa and ITC.

“Nick will bring in a wealth of experience to our team,” Wizards Manager Peter Vermes said. “He will be a big help to us during the second half of the season.”

Vitals:

#32 Nikos “Nick” Kounenakis (koo-neh-NAH-kis)
Defender
Height: 6-1
Weight: 173

Born: February 3, 1978

Hometown: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Citizenship: Greece

Last Club: Aris Limassol (Cyprus)

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS WIVES CLUB AND 94.9 KCMO PARTNER TO “STUFF THE BUS”:

The Kansas City Wizards Wives Club and 94.9 KCMO are teaming up again this year to assist City Union Mission to provide school supplies for less fortunate children in the Greater Kansas City area. As part of KCMO’s four-week campaign asking listeners to donate school supplies, clothing and monetary donations, the Wizards Wives Club will be organizing a collection site at the Wizards July 31 match against Toronto FC at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Bins will be set up at each entrance into the stadium for fans to drop off items and those that contribute three or more items at the gates will receive a four-pack of Wizards tumblers.

KCMO will broadcast via a live remote from CommunityAmerica Ballpark before the match against Toronto FC. Single-game tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or at any area Ticketmaster outlet.

USA FANS ENCOURAGED TO SUPPORT EFFORT TO LAND WORLD CUP IN 2018 OR 2022:

Kansas City soccer fans are strongly encouraged to support the bid to bring the FIFA World Cup™ to the United States in 2018 or 2022. To date, over 890,000 people have showed their support, including over 23,100 from Kansas City.

In addition to signing the petition at www.goUSAbid.com/kc, supporters can register their interest by texting “Kansas City” to “22442”. Kansas City is one of 18 cities still in the running to host games should the USA bid be successful. FIFA will select the host nation for both 2018 and 2022 on December 2, 2010.

The Manchester United match on Sunday provides another opportunity for Kansas Citians to show their passion for the sport in front of a global audience yet again. The highly successful Summer of Soccer saw over 30,000 soccer fans gather for World Cup watch parties in the Kansas City Power & Light District. The crowd for the USA-Ghana Round of 16 match was shown live on ABC’s game broadcast and seen by over 15 million people in the U.S.

--www.KCWizards.com--