It was a tale of two halves at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday Night as Sporting Kansas City came out fairly flat in the first half of their game against New England.  Showing very little of the defensive organization that kept San Diego at bay the weekend prior.  New England repeatedly exposed space on SKC’s right flank and scored two goals in the first half.  Thankfully the response was incoming as interim coach Kerry Zavagnin made 3 changes at halftime that immediately breathed life into the squad and they scored 3 goals in a matter of 16 minutes to take the lead in the 2nd half.

Unfortunately they were unable to hold that lead for the rest of the game as Robert Voloder went down with a broken collarbone, and his replacement was unable to handle the transition speed of Luis Diaz as he repeatedly got free along SKC’s left flank and served several dangerous balls in until Maxi Urruti finally got the equalizer.  Sporting KC did push for a game winner late, but were unable to get it in the net and had to come away with a 3-3 draw on what was obviously an emotionally draining night for several of the players coming off the news of Gadi Kinda’s passing earlier in the week.

That Zavagnin was able to make these impactful changes was certainly welcome, but it also has led to questions as to why they were necessary in the first place, and how effectively Zavagnin is setting up this team for success, or whether the players he’s been given to try to achieve it are of the quality necessary for this team to continue to progress.

Finally we will cover St Louis continuing to be messy, the Current continuing to roll even with an expanding injury list, and everyone’s favorite topic, USMNT roster discourse before getting to a preview of the match in Houston this weekend.

MLS Rivalry week for some reason coincided with the first mid-week match day of the year and Sporting KC got the very short end of that stick having to travel to St Louis and San Diego after having just been in Portland the weekend prior, but were able to come away with two road draws after a comeback performance in St Louis, and a very pragmatic defensive-oriented 0-0 draw in San Diego.

While the defense continues to gel and the performances of the center back pairing and goalkeeper John Pulskamp advance in a positive manner, there are some concerns regarding the attacking prowess of the team and whether there are the right structures or instructions in place to help the team put the ball in the net.  Some of this is situational given the schedule and game state due to squad rotation, but I think we’ve seen enough to have some realistic concerns about how the team is executing offensively and to discuss what we think needs to be addressed.

Finally, we’ll discuss the Current taking down the Pride but at significant cost to the health of the roster, Leo Messi being down so bad he’s whining about referees, and do a preview of the upcoming home match vs the New England Revolution.

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This is a quick one before the STL match on Wednesday. Drew and Cody give their thoughts on the performance in Portland on Saturday before previewing the derby against St Louis. Some things have improved, but others still need work.

Music by The Spin Wires

Apparently the force was with Sporting Kansas City on Star Wars Day on Sunday as they needed to make some history to come home away with the 1-0 victory vs the Galaxy, doing so without registering a single shot in the game.  While it wasn’t necessarily the kind of historical moment SKC fans were hoping to be attached to, 3pts is 3pts, and it took a very organized professional performance defensively to accomplish, led by both centerbacks Jansen Miller and Robi Voloder, as well as goalkeeper John Pulskamp.

If anything can be said of the Kerry Zavagnin era so far in Kansas City, it is that he has certainly raised the floor of the performances of the team.  Not once has the team ever felt out of a game, and the problematic mistakes that have been a bugaboo of the past seem to have been significantly reduced, if not outright eliminated.  That said, I am not sure the ceiling has been raised a ton in the process.  We’ll discuss what we see as potential next steps to build on this foundation that Kerry is putting in place, and what our hopes are for the continued progression of the team this season.

Finally we will talk about the Current’s 2nd loss in a row, FIFA and CONCACAF’s latest cash grab play for a Club World Cup spot, and do a preview of a matchup that will seem pretty familiar as Sporting KC heads to Portland this weekend, given they just played each other here in Kansas City just a few weeks ago.

Sporting KC traveled to TQL stadium on Saturday and unfortunately were unable to come away with a result as Kevin Denkey scored two goals, one being an immediate goal of the year candidate meaning Zorhan Bassong’s first professional goal went wanting and Sporting KC took a 2-1 defeat.

Kerry Zavagnin made some interesting tactical choices in this game, leaving FCC to attempt to dictate play much of the first half and limiting space for them to play into, before opening the game up a bit after halftime as the team started chasing goals.  Either way, the execution of the plan in both halves was actually pretty competent, the scoreline notwithstanding.

While the team did eliminate the big mistakes that have been a hallmark of this season, there were still plenty of areas for improvement, that said, they often appeared more to be limitations of the players themselves, rather than something coachable that can significantly improve over time.  We’ll talk a bit about the project SKC has in front of them still from a roster building perspective, as well as the influence recruiting has on their ability to sign the players that can have the impact they need.

Finally, we will preview SKC’s return home for Sunday Night Soccer at Children’s Mercy Park vs. the LA Galaxy.  It seems quite appropriate that the Galaxy are coming to town on Star Wars Day.

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

A frustrating Sunday afternoon in Children’s Mercy Park saw Sporting Kansas City fall to the Portland Timbers 4-2 in a match that was plagued by all too familiar defensive mistakes and lapses in concentration.  Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin tried to warn us in his press availability earlier in the week that this team would still lose games at times and while there was certainly continued progress in chance creation offensively, some familiar problems defending restarts came back to bite them and put them in an increasingly difficult, and ultimately insurmountable hole to climb out of.

On a positive note, it was perhaps the best game we’ve seen yet from Shapi Suleymanov, scoring a goal, also earning two yellow cards and a PK, and generally giving Portland’s left side all kinds of problems.  And yet he was removed from the game after 55 minutes in an attempt to bring fresh bodies to attempt to press Portland even further that was unfortunately fairly ineffective.  

This was one of several choices Kerry Zavagnin made in this game that were certainly different than we are used to seeing from his predecessor, and certainly showed a willingness to try things and recognize that a 4-2 loss and a 7-2 loss count the same in the standings.  That said, it also reminded us that not all change is necessarily good, and it did seem to limit the effectiveness of the attack for a significant period of the 2nd half.  We’ll dive into game #2 of the Kerry Experience this week and discuss what changes we see, and what we liked and didn’t like about the decisions he made.

Finally, Mike Illig sat down with Sam McDowell of the KC Star and offered some illuminating perspective on where he’d like to see this team go in the future, the Great Kevin de Bruyne Bake Off has begun as 4 MLS teams are now vying for his services, and a trialist appears at Sporting KC practice this week.

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A collective euphoric release of literal months of pent up energy was finally able to be expelled at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night as Dejan Joveljic slotted home two goals in the 2nd half of what had otherwise been a pretty cagey derby match with Pink Dog Food SC, meaning the good guys came away with a much needed 2-0 victory, and Kerry Zavagnin got an undefeated start to his time on the SKC sideline as interim head coach.  

It was a match that did feel different in the stadium, both in atmosphere as well as the tactics on the field.  While the changes were far from wholesale, Kerry did put his imprint on the match and the team in this game, and by and large the decisions he made seemed to work effectively, and addressed areas of need that we’ve highlighted a bit recently.

There were a number of standout performances, especially the two Designated Players that were brought here to help create goals, and we got to see them make good on that promise, additionally getting into combination areas centrally with each other, and giving all of us some sense of optimism about the potential of their partnership that was candidly hard to see before this match.

We will get into all of that and more this week, as well as discuss Tim Melia’s retirement, some more big moves in MLS, and what we thought of the USWNT’s performance in two friendlies against Brazil this week before doing a preview of this Sunday’s brunch match against the Portland Timbers.

Shockwaves were sent through the Kansas City and American Soccer Universe on Monday morning as Sam McDowell broke the news no one expected we would ever hear:  Sporting Kansas City and Peter Vermes had parted ways.  It was an unceremonious end to an almost two decade run on the technical staff of the club that included 4 trophies, as well as his playing career in KC that included the MLS Cup/Supporters Shield double in 2000.  He will widely be remembered as a key component to the immense growth of soccer we’ve seen in Kansas City and the United States the last 30+ years, and his name will continue to hang proudly on the wall in Children’s Mercy Park.It was an unfortunate end to Peter’s time leading the club, but a necessary one for the team to start on a new journey towards meeting the high standards Peter created during his time here.  Regrettably the team had fallen from that caliber in recent years, and ownership agreed that it was time to make a change to attempt to start a process to recapture that level of success.Mike Illig met with a large cadre of local and national media at Compass Minerals National Performance Center to discuss the decision and the plans to move forward.  He spoke with a significant amount of candor regarding the amount of work ahead of him and the organization as they look to replace a head coach for literally the first time.  Peter’s fingerprints are on every inch of the facilities in which he worked, and it will take quite a bit of time to unravel the vast responsibilities he took on his shoulders and place them on both current and incoming personnel.

In the meantime, Kerry Zagavnin, Peter’s longtime assistant, and someone who has been at the club for even longer than Peter when you combine his playing and coaching career, will take the reins on the sidelines coaching the team.  Illig was very clear that Kerry had been promised this opportunity for some time, and that there was no other choice for who would step in as the interim manager while they both evaluate his performance as well as the potential candidate pool.  It will now be Kerry’s charge to build and implement a tactical plan to address the significant needs of this team on the field, both offensively and defensively, and we will try to dig into some ideas of what adjustments we think could be made to help improve the on-field success of the team and build meaningful progress.

And if you hadn’t forgotten, our rivals from across the state come into Kansas City this weekend to try to keep that winless streak going.  They are a staunchly defensive team that Zavagnin and the staff will have their work cut out for trying to break down and get a result against on Saturday.

Sporting Kansas City returned to their losing ways on Saturday night in a staid, depressing, and rather familiar feeling performance losing 2-0 to LAFC.  LAFC was the 2nd in a row of very solid defensive opponents that do not care that much about possession and unlike Minnesota last week, did not relax once up 2-0 and gave SKC no opportunities of consequence to attack, and SKC was certainly not up to the task of creating said opportunities on their own.

Peter Vermes lamented this fact after the game in his post game comments, stating that LAFC were simply the better team in every phase of the game.  While it was a fairly obvious statement, it rings a bit hollow as the team spent $9M in the offseason supposedly improving the quality of the attacking players on the roster only to see them struggle with the exact same issues as in the past.  There are of course reasonable arguments to be made about rapport building and time playing together, but this all feels so familiar it is hard to believe that this is simply going to get better with time.

We will discuss what we would do both with the personnel and tactics to try to get something out of this team, as well as discuss the reality of the situation that Peter Vermes finds himself in, and whether we believe he is capable of pulling the team out of it.

Finally we will look at the fun soccer team in KC, the Current as they start the season 2-0, a USMNT that sadly looks just as ineffective offensively as Sporting KC, and preview Sporting’s upcoming road trip to Frisco to meet up with the now Lucho Acosta-led FC Dallas.