Latest news with #DesMoinesMenace
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Legends assemble for Des Moines Menace
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Menace has assembled an all-star team of sorts to compete in the U.S. Open Cup tonight in Kansas City. Former professional soccer players Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Kljestan, and Dax McCarty — each with experience on the Olympic and U.S. National teams — are coming out of their soccer 'retirement' to suit up for the Menace. Joining them are MLS Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips, four-time U.S. Open Cup Champion Ozzie Alonso, and a cast of other MLS stars. Their first match is against Sporting KC II, a young developmental squad affiliated with MLS club Sporting KC. Former Sporting KC II coach Benny Feilhaber commented on the challenge of facing younger opponents. 'What's going to take hold of this game? Is it the quality, and hopefully the IQ level, of the older guys, or the fitness and youth of the young guys? It should be an interesting game.' Boys State Basketball tournament making big move in 2027 Sacha Kljestan, who also played for the Menace in last year's U.S. Open Cup, is taking a brief break from his duties as an MLS analyst for Apple TV. He remarked, 'We've got quite the squad. If you look at the accolades all these players have earned — MLS Cups, Supporters' Shields, U.S. Open Cup trophies, MLS All-Star selections, MLS Best XI honors, and MLS MVP finalists — it's clear we've got a pretty good group. Like Benny said, is our IQ and soccer smarts going to pull us through? I think yes, because as we all know, youth is wasted on the young, and we're going to figure this thing out.' Their former teammate, Dax McCarty, is humorously concerned about his fitness level. He joked that his wife made him do an Orangetheory fitness class after he had already completed some sprints yesterday. The former U.S. Men's National Team midfielder added, 'I'm in game mode, man. I'm excited.' The Des Moines Menace take on Sporting KC II Wednesday night at 6:30 at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City. Fans in Des Moines can attend a watch party at Big Grove Brewery downtown. Man critically injured after being hit by vehicle in northeast Des Moines Legends assemble for Des Moines Menace Des Moines police investigating shooting on city's south side DMPS to receive new soccer, basketball community courts thanks to Caitlin Clark Foundation Adventureland, other U.S. amusement parks acquired by new company Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
19-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ringers or old-timers? MLS greats join Des Moines for fun run at U.S. Open Cup
Dax McCarty is a household name to most fans of MLS, having played for a half-dozen teams during a distinguished, 18-year career before his retirement in 2024. This past weekend, he was part of the team of analysts who handled MLS's Sunday night broadcast on Apple TV. On Tuesday, his assignment was a little less glamorous: travel to Des Moines, Iowa. Advertisement McCarty is one of many MLS greats recruited by the lower-league Des Moines Menace ahead of their U.S. Open Cup debut on Wednesday night. The roster for the club's match against MLS Next Pro side Sporting Kansas City II contains a who's who of mid-aughts U.S.-based talent: Bradley Wright-Phillips, among the most prolific goalscorers in league history; Benny Feilhaber, a World Cup veteran; Sacha Kljestan, a key contributor to the USMNT and among the most consistent midfielders MLS has seen. There are others, like former standout defender Matt Hedges, forward Justin Meram and three-time MLS Cup winner and former defender A.J. DeLaGarza. There's also Seattle Sounders legend Ozzie Alonso, among the hardest-nosed players to ever lace them up in MLS and a four-time Open Cup winner. In all, 11 former MLS players are slated to don the Des Moines kit. On Tuesday, McCarty called from the back of an Uber, en route to the airport. A few hours later, he was set to have his first training session with the group. 'I guess we're gonna try and condense an entire preseason into a few hours,' McCarty said. 'Fitness, tactics, set pieces, all of it. I'm sure it'll be fine, right?' The Menace, who play in USL League Two — the fourth tier in the American soccer pyramid — are an amateur team whose season doesn't kick off until May. In a soccer landscape that continues to align itself more and more with the European game, the Menace are the rarest of things: an American soccer club that feels distinctly … American. Their logo, a humanoid soccer ball bearing its teeth, does a good enough job of conveying that. In the early 2000s, the club was an integral part of one of American soccer's most ridiculous experiments, Socker Slam. Des Moines has a long and storied history of beating professional sides in the Open Cup, having done it seven times since their founding in 1994. Those wins were truly David vs. Goliath affairs, a crew of rag-tag amateurs besting a squad of pros. Last year, the club decided to take a different approach. Advertisement It began with a chance encounter at the gym between Charlie Bales, the club's now-former general manager, and Kljestan. Bales was looking to get a little publicity for the Menace and he approached the recently-retired Kljestan, pitching him on a comeback. The two exchanged messages on social media, and eventually, Bales had his first pro. Others joined in when the Menace advanced to round two: DeLaGarza, along with former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza and ex-FC Dallas and Orlando City forward Tesho Akindele were part of the lineup that got eliminated by USL side Union Omaha. Like McCarty, Kljestan is also a part of MLS's Apple coverage. A few weeks back, he pitched McCarty on joining the squad. McCarty, who'd intended to take a year off from playing entirely, said he'd do it under one condition — BWP had to join too. Wright-Phillips, who happened to be in the same studio — yes, he works on the MLS broadcast crew also — said yes. BWP, McCarty and others had to sign on to the squad as amateurs — none of the players are being paid, though the tournament itself carries a $600,000 prize for the winning team. The response to the Menace's all-star approach has been largely positive, but there's been some minor heartburn amongst fans on social media, some of who wondered whether these grizzled MLS vets were taking opportunities from some of the Menace's younger players. Here's the thing: as of now, the Menace — who play in the summer — have very few players to speak of. Only a handful of players have signed on. 'People can say what they want about (our approach to) the Open Cup,' said Charlie Latshaw III, the Menace's current coach. 'But if MLS says they don't want to fully participate, it's hard for anybody else to dictate how we participate. At the end of the day, it's bringing positive attention to the tournament, which I think is valuable in the American soccer ecosystem. It's important that there's media attention brought to the opening rounds.' Former pros have played in the tournament from time to time, but never on this scale. And those pros have never risen to the level of talent present on the Menace. Despite all of this, McCarty can't help but laugh at the idea that the Menace could even be considered an all-star team. Advertisement 'A team of ringers? That seems like an oxymoron,' McCarty said. 'A team of ringers who are all into their late 30s and even early 40s. That feels a little contradictory if I can say so myself. 'This isn't making a mockery of the Open Cup. This is the opposite — it's for the love of the game. The Menace, too, are a pretty legendary team in terms of name, in terms of brand. It's a team with a rich history and we as players are happy to represent them. Making a mockery of the Open Cup would be if we weren't taking this seriously. And we are.' There's nothing in the tournament's rules that forbid amateur sides from signing former professional players. Any former professional player whose last paid match was over 31 days ago can pay a $50 reinstatement fee and declare himself an amateur, according to U.S. Soccer statutes. 'Somebody should do the math,' McCarty said. 'This match tomorrow, it's gotta be the biggest difference in average age between two teams in Open Cup history.' A victory against what's essentially an MLS feeder side – one that Feilhaber used to coach, as if this game needed another layer – on Wednesday would by all accounts qualify as an upset, but maybe not a historic one. If the Menace manage to beat Sporting, they'll likely get a rematch against Union Omaha or another regional club. Should they advance out of that round, they might find themselves squaring up against an MLS club, giving them a chance to do something truly historic. Kansas City's first team may have four titles in its history, but it has actually been on the wrong side of several historic Open Cup upsets, too. In 1997, it was bested by the USL-3 San Francisco Bay Seals, and three years later the club was taken down by the amateur Chicago Sockers. In 2005, the Wizards were the last of three MLS sides dispatched by the USL's Minnesota Thunder. None of those underdogs, though, contained the assemblage of talented former pros that the Menace does. To some fans, that may take some of the luster off of a potential Des Moines run. Latshaw III, though, doesn't really care. He's hoping for a win on Wednesday, which would earn the Menace a home match in the next round and a sizable gate to boot. And there's something else he feels is even more important. 'This is fun,' he said. 'And people forget sometimes — football is supposed to be fun, maybe even a little goofy sometimes. That's being forgotten, especially at the highest levels of the game. Regardless of whether some other people like it, I think here in Des Moines, we certainly do.'
Associated Press
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Former MLS stars lace up the boots for an amateur Iowa team in US Open Cup
Unknown to most, the Des Moines Menace have got some big names on their roster — retired MLS stars Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber among them — and they're aiming to make some noise in the U.S. Open Cup. Problem is, they've never played together. The Menace open the 110th edition of the Open Cup on Wednesday with a first-round match at Sporting Kansas City II. In addition to Kljestan and Feilhaber, other retired stars on the Des Moines roster include Dax McCarty, Osvaldo Alonso, Justin Meram, Matt Hedges, A.J. DeLaGarza and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The team was meeting in Kansas City for a lone practice on Tuesday night. Part of the game plan will involve figuring out which players, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s, can still go a full 90 minutes. 'Fortunately for us Benny Feilhaber used to be the head coach of Sporting KC II, and he's got a good scouting report on them,' Kljestan said. 'He's going to be helping us out tactically and how to set up the team.' The Menace are part of USL League Two in the fourth tier of the soccer pyramid in the United States. Because the team's season is during the summer months, the Menace draws many elite college players who want to continue to train and compete in the offseason. The MLS stars aren't taking up roster spots on the regular team and won't be paid. But they will undoubtedly help the team — with its angry red-eyed soccer ball logo — get some attention and even sell some merchandise. Last year, Kljestan was at a Southern California gym owned by a former Menace player who introduced him to the team's GM, Charlie Bales. Even though Kljestan — an MLS Season Pass analyst for Apple TV — hadn't played for more than a year, Bales convinced him to suit up for the Menace in the 2024 Open Cup. The Menace won their first match against Southern California club Capo FC on penalties after a 2-2 draw, with Kljestan netting the game-winning spot kick. But the team was eliminated in the next round with a 3-1 loss to Union Omaha. Kljestan said Feilhaber asked him if he was willing to give the Menace another go this year. 'He hit me up and asked if I was going to play again this year and if I was, if he could join, too. And I said, `OK, we're doing this, let's do it right, and let's get a whole cast of ex-MLS All-Stars and really give it a shot.'' Kljestan said. 'So it was pretty easy to get most of the guys to join once Benny and I were in and threw the possibility out there.' Founded in 1914, the Open Cup is the nation's oldest soccer competition. It includes both MLS and lower-tier teams, including amateur sides like the Menace. Since the start of MLS in 1996, the only lower-division team to win the competition was the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL's second-tier A-League, which beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final. In late 2023, MLS said it would pull senior teams from the tournament, and instead enter developmental clubs from MLS Next Pro. After blowback, eight MLS teams competed in 2024. This year there are 16. 'I love the Open Cup. I think it's a fantastic competition with the most history of almost any team sport in the United States. I'm glad that they found a solution and we got MLS teams back in the Open Cup because that's where they belong,' Kljestan said. 'I went to the final last year to watch LAFC play against Kansas City, and the atmosphere was fantastic and LAFC lifted the trophy. So I'm glad that they found a resolution that works right now.' ___
