For the Glory KC is back with the 119th episode of the show!

 This weeks' episode ventured into the "a little bit more in depth" as we break down Sporting Kansas City's media day and how all the information we learned impacts the roster. The team has said they are still looking to make a big signing.

My KC Soccer Journal colleague, Josh Wallace helps breakdown the roster and we both weigh in where we think the team needs to add players. From there, we basically work through a potential starting lineup as we talk through most of the players on the team and where they fit best. Including why Jake Davis should be in the midfield, and not at right back. Despite that, right back is where we suspect we'll see him Tuesday against Inter Miami.

Mike Burns gave tons of info on Friday, and we break down the international roster spots on the team. Those spots may impact Jan Jurcec earning a contract and have a domino effect on the aforementioned Davis. We make projections about future player sales (based on a rumored offer Burns told the Shades of Blue Soccer Show). Josh and I also talk staffing and get an injury update on Logan Ndenbe.

Not to be left out, the discussion turns to Jansen Miller's signing and his impact to the team, Sebastian Cruz not signing and what we could take away from the 0-0 draw against the Las Vegas Lights in the final preseason tune-up. Plus, thoughts on the new kit!

If you sat out the offseason and need a quick catch-up, we go through all the incoming and outgoing moves and how that'll impact Sporting KC. We look specifically at the defense, which is mostly unchanged. The late arrival of Joaquin Fernandez and the return of Logan Ndenbe could be look at as "additions."

Then the big question comes up. Is Messi going to play against Sporting KC on Tuesday? And will there be a game at all in that brutal cold (there will be!). We also talk realistic expectations for the season and what will be different to watch for tactically from SKC.

Finally, the KC Current had another quiet week but had one piece of big news. Claire Hutton and Michelle Cooper earned call-ups to the USWNT for the SheBelieves Cup!

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

• Marinos Tzionis already finds another new home
• USL announced a new first division league
• CPKC Stadium get its first international friendly
• Kansas City's USL2 teams, Sunflower State and SantaFe Wanderers are in the same division

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

• SKC's roster, Media Day quotes and team needs - 1:42
• Sporting KC story round-up - 41:01
• Sporting Kansas City Season Preview - 1:08:43
• Will the game against Miami go forward on Tuesday? - 1:25:07
• Hutton and Cooper get the call - 1:46:14
• Digital Crawl - 1:49:13

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 118th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City had a very busy week with two more preseason games under their belts. Before that theylocked down the signings of Designated Player Manu Garcia and Russian winger Shapi Suleymanov. Sheena and I discuss where they fit into the team and if it makes us more confident going into CONCACAF Champions Cup and the 2025 MLS season.

After the second preseason game againstMinnesota United, theKC Soccer Journal asked Peter Vermes where he still wants to add to the roster.

"Honestly, all over the place," started Vermes. "As I've told you guys before, we're in an area of trying to rebuild this team. I would say that there is no position, nothing that is off limits. We're going to continue to add players and move this team around."

If you missed the preseason action, the games are available to stream in their entirety on YouTube. TheNYCFC game ended in a0-0 draw in a game mostly played by the starters. And the backups faced starters in arough 6-0 loss against MNUFC. We give our thoughts on what the results mean (not much), who played where (a little more), injury updates and the general state of the team heading towards the final preseason game.

Beyond the action in the games, there were a bunch of random Sporting KC tidbits that came out this week.Roger Espinoza was spotted coaching players in both preseason games. Tim Melia, Johnny Russell and Andreu Fontasall showed up to the Super Bowl. MLS also released a ton of new roster rules, expertly explained bySixOneFiveSoccer.com's Chris Ivey in thethread on BlueSky.

Part of that layout of rules confirmed that Sporting KC, along with all the other MLS teams, cannot receive General Allocation Money (GAM) for the sale of a DP. That means Alan Pulido won't be adding any GAM to SKC's roster, but at least they got off that terrible salary and added Dejan Joveljic in his place. Speaking of Pulido, after missing a few games injured for Chivas, he playedand scored in his second appearance.

We also talk about how young this team has become, a few more Peter Vermes quotes, how likely Messi is to play on February 18th at Children's Mercy Park and answer a really good listener question about developing and selling players.

It's not until the Digital Crawl, but SKC II announced the preseason roster and KCSJ's Mike Kuhn gave aquick breakdown of those players, including a few familiar names.

Finally, theKC Current had a relatively quiet week, but they did announce two closed door preseason games. First, they'll playRacing Louisville on February 23rd and theChicago Red Stars on March 2nd.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

• SKC II's US Open Cup announcement against the Des Moines Menace
• Jack Kortkamp got called up to the US U-17s
• And a ton of big MLS moves, including Cucho Hernandez leaving and Atlanta swinging big

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

• More Sporting KC Signings - 8:00
• Two Preseason games for SKC - 18:24
• Random SKC Stories - 36:39
• How should Sporting KC handle youth development/sales - 52:49
• KC Current News - 1:00:53
• Digital Crawl - 1:12:10 

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too.Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 117th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City kept us on our toes through an entire phase of preseason, but they finally got a blockbuster deal over the line on Saturday night. The team announced they paid the LA Galaxy $4 million for star striker Dejan Joveljic to make him their newest Designated Player.

We break down his history (he's just 25) in Los Angeles, Germany and Serbia. How we think he'll fit in with Sporting KC and what it means for the other center forwards on the roster (William Agada, Mason Toye).

While this is a very different SKC team than the Galaxy team he just left, LA wasn't really good until last season. And even if you think it's a bad move, essentially, he's replacing Alan Pulido. SKC appeared set to have Pulido for two more years at way too much money but instead they have a younger, faster, more athletic DP set to wear the #9 jersey.

In addition to the Joveljic signing, another rumored popped up this week for 21-year-old CB Bryan Okoh from RB Salzburg. We look at his potential fit and if it's a good use of a U-22 Initiative spot.

Sporting KC also played their third and final preseason game of phase one of preseason. It got off to a much better start with the first team heading into halftime up 1-0. The game slipped away when full changes were made but Vermes said the team made "significant progress." We also give injury updates on a few players.

The last big of SKC news comes in the form of the US Open Cup. Sporting KC will not be involved with SKC II replacing them. They won't be in Leagues Cup either. It's just CONCACAF Champions Cup and MLS play for the first team this year. That means if KC can't get past Inter Miami, they'll have more time to focus on MLS play and far less midweek fixtures.

Finally, the KC Current had a very busy week. The biggest move is likely the contract extension to Temwa Chawinga through 2028. They also traded for Haley Hopkins from the North Carolina Courage. They re-signed Elizabeth Ball and Kristen Hamilton, and they had their 2025 kit leaked by Footy Headlines.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 116th episode of the show! 

Sporting Kansas City have not one, but two rumored signings coming to town. While it's two rumored players, they are both from the same team. The first one we learned about early last week appears to be the Designated Player #10 the team has been saying they are chasing. That's Manu Garcia (learn more about Manu here).

The second rumor is for right-winger Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov (more on Shapi here). Both players play for Aris in the Greek first division. The rumored combined fee, according to GiveMeSport's Tom Bogert comes in around €5 million.

We get into the details and stats for each player and try to decide if these feel like good signings. One notch in favor of Garcia, despite his lower numbers are those of another Spanish midfielder Mike Burns brought to MLS. Look at the stats both before and after arriving in MLS:

That player? Carles Gil for the New England Revolution. He joined just a year younger at 26-years-old and went from relatively unimpressive numbers to being one of the best players in the league. There is no saying if Manu Garcia can do that, but Vermes and Burns surely have to hope so. It's worth noting that both Garcia and Suleymanov were held out of Aris' game this weekend. Teams don't do that for no reason, but it's always possible it still falls through.

Randomly snuck into the middle of this rumor conversation was a prior rumored signing, Unai Hernandez, who appears headed to Saudi Arabia for big money. We also found a way to work in Dom Dwyer leaving the Oakland Roots.

In addition to talking rumors, we have to mention the second straight preseason loss for Sporting KC, this time to Chicago. It's tough to take much from a game we didn't see, but there were some good quotes from Peter Vermes and Erik Thommy.

One of those quotes was Vermes confirming he's happy with John Pulskamp as the starting goalkeeper and he has no plans to add a veteran keeper. It'll be an extremely young GK room with Pulskamp (23), Ryan Schewe (22) and Jack Kortkamp (16 now, 17 on the 28th). Is that the right decision?

Finally, the KC Current and the entire NWSL have their schedule announced. They open the season (again) against the Portland Thorns, this time on March 15th. They play a perfectly balanced 26 game regular season schedule, 13 games, against all 13 other teams, before a break, then they repeat the task after the CBA summer break. There were some potential road trips combining SKC and Current games on the docket as well.

23 of those 26 games are on National TV (ION, ABC, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN and Prime).

At some point talking about the Current the subject of watching games at a bar to avoid buying Amazon Prime came up. One potential spot, is the female-owned The Dub KC. If you heard us talking about them and want to support them, check out their Instagram or website.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 115th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City have folks a bit worried after a 1-0 loss to Florida International University. We talk through the concerns of the fans and weigh in on if we are concerned at all. Sheena and I also take a look at who did and who didn't play against FIU.

After the game the media talked to Peter Vermes, Mason Toye and Stephen Afrifa. We learned a lot about Toye and his play style and Vermes gave important updates on signings, injuries and perhaps most importantly for a team that is incomplete, a new style of play.

While there were no signings this week for Sporting KC, there at least was a rumor. Barcelona B midfielder Unai Hernandez.

Then there is a smattering of Sporting KC topics we touched on from Alan Pulido's transfer fee being confirmed it can be turned into General Allocation Money (GAM), Toye's contract details, SKC license plates in Kansas and the uninspiring theme nights for Sporting KC this season.

Major League Soccer (MLS) also rolled out some rule changes this week. The highlights:

Finally, the KC Current reported for preseason this past week as well. As a part of their arrival there were a couple noteworthy news items. The team confirmed they are in talks with Elizabeth Ball and Kristen Hamilton. Also, they have four non-roster invitees. Mallory Weber you know, but here are snippets on the three you may not know:

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 114th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City had a lot of news this week. Two signings were made. The first was the addition of 19-year-old Homegrown Jacob Bartlett who was followed by veteran MLS striker Mason Toye. We break down what the signings mean, and what they don't.

Then Sheena and I get into the numerous quotes from the press conference with Chief Soccer Officer Peter Vermes and Sporting Director Mike Burns. The most impactful quotes, at least when it comes to roster building, were mostly attributed to Burns. He promised Sporting KC will "have additional signings to announce.”

Burns also talked about a possible different positions for Designated Players, U-22 Initiative and international signings the team is looking at. Primarily confirming the signing of Mason Toye doesn't mean they aren't signing another striker, saying, "the 9 is in play as well." At the same time, he also said the team is patient and that “it’s important to get it right than to just rush and sign a player," despite the state of their depth chart.

Vermes had plenty of juicy quotes too, telling the story of the Alan Pulido transfer (he seemingly deserves a lot of credit here), a Jake Davis story about perseverance and a series of quotes about how he wants the team to play in 2025.

Speaking of Pulido, he was officially sold this week. There wasn't much to add to last week's podcast as we had gotten out ahead of the transfer, but Vermes did confirm the team didn't use a buy out on Pulido and required a transfer fee to come back to get him out of his SKC contract.

Finally, the KC Current get some attention as they made three more signings this week along with getting two international call-ups. In addition to the Clare Gagne and Katie Scott signings, the team announced the signing of Mary Long, the daughter of Chris and Angie, the owners of the Current. Sheena and I get into the complications of that signing and where Mary fits in.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 113th episode of the show and the first one of Season Four!

Sporting Kansas City lead off the show, as is almost always the case. Just like the last episode two weeks ago, there are no signings but there is actually news.

The biggest of the stories broke today with the rumor that Alan Pulido may be departing Sporting KC to head back to Chivas in Liga MX. There are now three separate sources saying Pulido is leaving for Mexico, with the latest pegging the transfer fee (yes, they are paying for him) at $1.5 million. It may seem like a fleecing of SKC, who paid a reported $6 million after the 2019 season, but considering I think most fans just want Pulido's salary off the books, making $1.5m in the process would be wild.

Sheena and I get our hopes up about a potential move and discuss the ramification of him leaving (if it were to happen). What it means for the team's roster flexibility. Where we'd like a new Designated Player to be signed. If Agada can be the starting center forward if Alan isn't around. Plus, a slew of other topics with a random reading of a Remi Walter farewell post snuck into the middle as we scoured the web live during the podcast looking for more Pulido news.

The Pulido conversation nicely transitioned into the title of this week's podcast. Counting Pulido, SKC have just 20 players signed for 2025 of a possible 30. They'll surely leave a few spots open, but they are missing about one-third of their roster. They are down Johnny Russell, Tim Melia, Walter and others and the question has to be asked, "is it time to panic?"

For some context, here are the month and day of several of the higher priced signings over the last few seasons:

Contrast that with the season starting earlier than ever, not to mention the Inter Miami CCC game on February 18th, and there is some concern. Pushing back against the concern slightly is the transfer windows in many European and South American countries just opened which could make teams more willing to sell since they can go out and find replacement players.

Beyond the roster discussion, we get into the leaked Sporting KC jersey (images here), SKC moving on from assistant coach Zoran Savic, Andreu Fontas possibly retiring and some choice Russell quotes from a recent podcast appearance.

The KC Current were a bit quieter, which is weird to say, considering they actually made a signing. They brought in 27-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper, Lorena, as we said they would on the last pod. Plus, the NWSL outlined their schedule for 2025, including March 14th as the first league game.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 112th episode of the show.

While there weren't any signings (don't worry, we address that too), Sporting Kansas City did have a fairly big week. The 2025 MLS schedule came out, Sporting KC had a rumored signing, they drafted three players and announced a section of preseason is open to the public with a couple games that you can actually go watch.

On the schedule front, Sporting KC open their season on the road against Austin FC before returning home to face the San Jose Earthquakes on March 1st (good to catch them before Bruce Arena rights that ship). The Quakes game will actually be their fourth game in all competitions when they play four times in 12 days with two Inter Miami games sandwiched around the Austin game for CONCACAF Champions Cup competition.

While that's a tough schedule, it's not nearly as bad as the month of May. Sporting KC play seven times in May, including two stretches of three games in eight days. It's by far their busiest month of the season, pending US Open Cup involvement. One of those stretches is three straight road games, a trip to Portland, a trip to St. Louis and then back to the west coast to face San Diego FC for the first time in Cali. The schedule makers clearly hate KC. Honestly, it's probably just incompetence.

Sheena and I weigh in with our best road trips for our family and yours. Sheena had a top trip, but then a bunch of reasons to basically go see any other team in the league. I was a little narrower in my focus. What we could both agree on, was that going to the first game at an opponent's stadium is always exciting. There is one chance to do that this year, San Diego FC. They topped both lists, with a few other key games standing out for us too. The game we are likely making our annual road trip to a new stadium to is the Houston Dynamo (I guess).

Then we get into the Geronimo Rivera rumor, those preseason details and the three SuperDraft picks.

Finally, we turn our attention to a team making actual roster moves. The KC Current made two more signings with a third on the way. The team traded for midfielder Rocky Rodriguez and signed free agent Laurel Ivory. On top of that, our own Thad Bell confirmed Brazilian National Team goalkeeper Lorena will be announced soon.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 111th episode of the show.

The 2024 MLS season just came to an end eight days ago, but we've already got Sporting Kansas City dates for 2025. This past week the draw for Sporting KC's CONCACAF Champions Cup opponent happened and the team drew fellow MLS club Inter Miami. Shortly after, the Feb 18th and 25th dates were announced for the two-legged competition.

As a part of that release, January 11th was listed as the date that SKC's 2025 preseason will begin with players reporting to Kansas City. That's just under a month from a soccer ball being kicked in preparation for CCC and the season.

Sheena and I get into what we think about Sporting KC playing Messi and Miami again. We ponder if Messi will play (on a cold Tuesday night in KC) and if the game will be moved from the announced location of Children's Mercy Park to Arrowhead Stadium again.

In addition, there were several quicker stories in the Sporting KC universe, including having no player selected in the expansion draft and the club not selecting anyone in the first round of the Re-Entry Process. Stage two comes next week, along with the 2025 MLS SuperDraft where SKC will pick fourth.

The KC Current made news this week with their end of year roster announcements. Three more players are added to the list of women not returning to the club, and we got official word on Bia Zaneratto and Regan Steigleder coming back. We weight in on those moves and a few other stories, including a record five players in the top 19 of jersey sales for the NWSL this past season.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 110th episode of the show.

Sporting Kansas City got their offseason started with not one, but two signings. The club added two 16-year-old Homegrown players in defender Ian James and goalkeeper Jack Kortkamp. We learn a little about the new signings and talk about where they fit into this ongoing roster build.

Any conversation around these signings is colored slightly with the ridiculous compensation being paid to Minnesota United. MNUFC shut down their Academy, leaving their players nowhere to play. James and Kortkamp, among others, ended up in other MLS Academies. Sporting KC had to compensate Minnesota for their Homegrown rights at the time, then again when they signed them, and they had to give them a sell-on fee if they are sold to another club. It's an absurd amount of compensation for a team that literally shut down their academy.

In other news, earlier today, Sporting KC CEO and President Jake Reid was named MLS Executive of the Year. The reactions online are what you would expect. We get into why he earned that award, including all of his accomplishments over the last few years. And this can't be said enough, he DOES NOT make soccer decisions. If you are unhappy with the product on the field or the roster, blame Peter Vermes (and now Mike Burns). If you are unhappy with the coaching staff, blame Mike Illig. However, if you are unhappy with the gameday experience, fan relations, etc., that rolls up to Reid.

Don Garber also gave his annual State of the League address. We cover a few highlights:

The KC Current also got their offseason moving with the re-signing of Nichelle Prince. It will really kick into gear in the coming days with all NWSL roster decisions due by 5:00PM CST on Tuesday the 10th of December. Claire Hutton was also up for US Young Soccer Player of the Year and eight (!!) KC Current players were on the Guardian's list of the best players in the world.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including:

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 days of their amazing, independent American soccer coverage for free. If you decide you want to turn that into a paid membership, they'll give you 10 percent off too. Just follow this link!

Big thanks to Splitter Conspiracy (listen to them here) for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.