SKC v ToonNewcastle United take on Sporting Kansas City tonight in the first match of their 2011 pre-season tour of the United States.
Sporting Kansas City are currently 5th (out of 9 teams) in the Eastern Conference division of America’s MLS, but they’re on the rise with 3 wins and 2 draws (or ‘ties’ as the Americans call them) in the last five games. In fact they’re currently on an unbeaten 11 game run in the league. They did however lose their last game 2-0 away to the Richmond Kickers in the US Open Cup.
Although the English Premier League might lay claim to a higher quality of football than the MLS, this will still be a tough pre-season test for the Toon. They’ll be up against a team in mid-season who are on a run of form and the climate they’ll be playing in is likely to be a fair bit warmer than they’re used to. (more…)
Barton acted as peace-makerTrouble at the Darlington v Newcastle United pre-season friendly receives condemnation from the press and the clubs themselves.
It seems the Darlington nonsense has (rightly) received a fair bit of condemnation. Pitch invasions are never welcomed these days and it does nothing good for the reputations of either Newcastle United or Darlington.
From what I can gather it started as a ‘light-hearted’ invasion with smiles all round and then turned nasty. The rozzers reported it as follows:
“There has been a crowd of more than 9,700, which is significantly more than expected based on ticket sales.
“Everything was peaceful until Newcastle scored their second goal and a pitch incursion occurred which was high spirited but not violent.
“A further pitch incursion of around 20 to 30 people followed – a Newcastle supporter being escorted from the ground and three Newcastle supporters were arrested for pitch incursion.
“The game ended without incident and crowds have subsequently dispersed.” (more…)
