Kick Off: Showtime for Ochocinco, Ecuadorean trick

Chad Ochocinco begins the most highly publicized trial since Charlie Davies when he joins Sporting

When’s the last time you’ve ever watched live video coverage of a practice session? Never?


Well that changes today with the arrival of NFL star Chad Ochocinco to Sporting Kansas City camp for a tryout. You can sign up to get exclusive access.


They are tracking Ochocinco’s every move in Kansas City, where they even know what he ate for dinner and where he ate it.


Ochocinco’s NFL coach with the Cincinnati Bengals, Marvin Lewis, is not exactly doing cartwheels about the tryout. Instead, he took a dig at his wide receiver and Ochocinco fired back.


If you’re still catching up with the Ochocinco phenomenon, the Kansas City Starcompiled all the video clips of his most famous exploits.


Meanwhile, another Sporting trainee is generating international coverage. Portuguese club Vitória Setubal says that it will defend its interest with respect to defender Aurélien Collin, who showed up at Sporting training on Tuesday but still has a contract with his former team. (PORTUGUESE)


Out west, the Seattle Sounders are perhaps paying the price of success with their third match in 11 days to start the 2011 season. Next up is a Friday night game against the Houston Dynamo (9:30 pm ET, Fox Soccer). Manager Sigi Schmid says “everybody wants to put us on their TV network.”


How does Sounders captain Kasey Keller spend a Tuesday night in March? At a high school soccer match, where he was the center of attention.


What will it take for Toronto FC to be better in their second match at home to Portland? Defender Adrian Cann is blunt in his assessment. He says they have to stop overplaying and trying to please the new coach, Aron Winter.


Despite wearing Alaska Airlines on their jersey front, read why the Portland Timbers will be using a different air carrier to take them to Toronto.


Spirits are sky high in Vancouver following a 4-2 win in their very first MLS match. There are some fans, however, who are miffed these days and it has to do with ticket allocations for road games.


As the Columbus Crew prepare to welcome the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, manager Robert Warzycha is defusing any talk of controversy surrounding Robbie Rogers not starting on opening weekend. Rogers, for his part, did not speak to reporters on Tuesday.


Chivas USA forward Victor Estupinan may have only received a handful of minutes off the bench for his MLS debut this past weekend, but he continues to make a bid for a 30-goal season with a hat trick in a Tuesday friendly, which saw head coach Robin Fraser sub himself in for the Ecuadorean.


In other action, the San Jose Earthquakes beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in a Reserve League match on Tuesday, while FC Dallas traveled a squad to Monterrey, Mexico, to face Tigres UANL later today in the first leg of the Rio Grande Plate.


While the US national team trains in Cary, N.C., one writer asks the question whether it’s right for American-born Eric Lichaj to be battling it out with German-born Timothy Chandler for right back spot. It's the question of “passport players” on the USMNT.


Vancouver Whitecaps defender Jay DeMerit is also among the current US call-ups ahead of matches against Argentina and Paraguay. This week the DeMerit news has surrounded the movie being made about his rise from unknown in the USA to Premiership player. Watch the trailer. (VIDEO)


Speaking of soccer and TV, Reuters soccer writer Simon Evans writes that ESPN’s Taylor Twellman and Alexi Lalas were wrong to question David Beckham’s commitment to the LA Galaxy for missing the first weeks of preseason with the club. Read his argument here.


If you’re looking for some live televised soccer today, there’s a high-profile Copa Libertadores match 9 pm ET between Brazilians Fluminense and Mexican side Club América (Fox Deportes).


Lastly, you can’t help but get caught up in the soccer when you’re in Brazil. This also applies to US President Barack Obama.


MLSsoccer.com Must-Reads:

See the first regular season edition of the MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings


Union rookie taking Didier Drogba’s advice to heart


The inaugural MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week is unveiled




Get the The Kick-Off delivered to you!


Enter your email address below to sign up for The Kick-Off mailing list and get it delivered to your inbox every morning.


E-mail: