MLS After Dark was in full form late Saturday night and Sporting Kansas City was a prime protagonist as they won a wild 5-3 game in San Jose bouncing back from a frustrating defeat the prior weekend at home vs. Portland.  Daniel Salloi earned MLS Player of the Matchday honors bagging 2 goals and 2 assists and narrowly missing his first career professional hat trick.

It was yet another game under the direction of interim coach Kerry Zavagnin where we saw Sporting KC be more dynamic and effective in their attack, getting their new DP#10 Manu Garcia in advantageous spaces and giving him the opportunity to let his vision and touch create multiple chances for Sporting KC to score.  

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as San Jose piled on tons of pressure in return most of the game, and there were still some familiar issues defensively both on set pieces as well as closing down space in their own defensive third.  That said, everyone that listens to this podcast or follows this team closely at all is aware of the defensive deficiencies, and that for Sporting KC to win games with any level of regularity, will need to continue being aggressive on the attacking half of the field to compensate.  

Tactical corner will be focused on some things we think SKC can work on that are not necessarily talent dependent, at least in technical skill.  There are some simple things regarding their rest defense posture as well as their line management that can be rectified with better organization and coordination, and they could at least limit the amount of negative events they are attempting to recover from.

This week in Potpourri, MLS Hot Stove is scorching as we record this podcast with the MLS Primary Transfer window closing tonight at midnight, and SKC has been a key figure in the goings on over the last 48 hours, both bringing in a new player and saying goodbye to a fan favorite.  Speaking of fan favorites, the KC Current pushed their unbeaten start to the season to 5 games this past weekend, and their shutout streak to over 400 minutes as they continue to outclass every opponent they come across.  

Finally, we will preview SKC’s early afternoon away trip to Cincinnati, and discuss whether we think they can keep this level of attacking performance clicking and potentially make it a 3rd win in 4 matches of the Kerry Zavagnin Era