Graham Zusi named MLS Player of the Week

SportingKC.com

Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week on Monday by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 10 of the 2013 MLS season.

Zusi played a pivotal part in Sporting Kansas City's first three goals on Sunday in a 4-0 victory over Chivas USA at Sporting Park.

The honor is Zusi's second career Player of the Week recognition and first for the team since he last won the award in Week 23 of the 2011 MLS season.

The 26-year-old playmaker set up Claudio Bieler's goal in the 41st minute yesterday, earning his fourth assist of the season and third game-winning assist of the year (watch here).

Both marks are tied for the League lead in 2013. Zusi also moved into sole possession of fifth place on KC's all-time assist chart with 27 regular season assists in his MLS career, breaking a tie with Josh Wolff.

In the 54th minute on Sunday, Zusi played a well-weighted pass to Paulo Nagamura behind the Chivas USA backline that proved to be the decisive play in a sequence that ended with Nagamura being fouled inside the penalty area.

Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was sent off for the offense and Bieler scored from the penalty spot for the game's second goal.

Sporting KC's Nielsen, Collin and Zusi named to MLS All-Star gameday roster

SportingKC.com

Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, defender Aurelien Collin and midfielder Graham Zusi are on the gameday roster for the 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game, Major League Soccer announced on Sunday.

The club’s three representatives, tied for most of any MLS team, will be available for selection to play against UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea FC on July 25 at PPL Park.

All three players were voted into the MLS All-Star First XI earlier this month and join the club’s list of 45 all-time All-Star selections (shown below).

"It's the fans who have been voting. I'm really happy that all three of us got through to the All-Star Game,” Nielsen said. “We could have even picked a few more to be All-Stars, but I'm very happy and very proud of our fans that we got three guys voted in. It'sgoing to be extremely fun and I'm looking forward to that game."

"It will be a big honor to represent Sporting Kansas City at the All-Star Game,” Collin said. “At the same time, we’ll be representing MLS against the best team in Europe. It's a big challenge and I'm very happy to be included."

“I'm very thankful to those who voted,” Zusi said. “It's a very big honor to be recognized by your peers and the fans, as well. I'm extremely excited to be one of the few representing Major League Soccer and to play against a team of the caliber of Chelsea. It’s always a lot of fun when you can see where you stand against some of the best in the world.”

The 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and TeleFutura in the United States, with coverage in Canada on TSN and RDS.

In addition to the 18 MLS All-Stars on the game-day roster, 14 more players will be named 2012 MLS All-Stars as determined by player voting. Those selections will be unveiled on July 25.