Home and Away - A Sporting KC Podcast

If you had told me that Sporting KC was going to head up to New Jersey without a number of players and come away with a 1-1 draw before the game started I’d have probably thought that was a decent result.  Unfortunately, the way they went about achieving said draw left a bit of a sour taste in the mouths of fans and was a reminder of how many leads the club has shipped in the 2nd half of games the season.  

Sporting KC will also be without perhaps the most promising member of the roster, Jake Davis, for the next 2 league matches after he somehow acquired two yellow cards in a matter of 10 minutes.  Jake continues to be a bright spot in a pretty dour season, and it’s telling that his suspension is causing as much consternation as it is amongst Sporting KC fans.

We will dive a bit deeper into the Roster conversation as it seems Peter Vermes is trying to get good looks at a number of players over the waning months of the season, and discuss what type of turnover is good, and what can perhaps be too much.

Finally, there are a number of topics to cover in Potpourri before we do a quick preview of another road trip for Sporting KC as they head to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Sounders.

In the category of “Things I did not expect to open with,” Sporting KC won twice in the last week and maintained shutouts in both games!  They had maintained a grand total of 3 shutouts in all competitions this season prior to last Saturday night, so to get two in a row was, shall we say, unexpected.  The performances in both games were significant improvements defensively over what we have become familiar with lately, and they also did not get punished for every single mistake like they often have this year, so perhaps some luck is turning their way in that regard.

There was also a fair bit of tactical fluidity in both games, specifically in possession structure, that seemed to be personnel dependent.  This is a welcome shift in philosophy from Peter Vermes and the coaching staff, and one we have been pining for basically for the entirety of this podcast’s existence, and gives us something to nerd out on a bit in tactical corner this week.

In Potpourri we discuss KP’s move to Belgium, KU football invading Children’s Mercy Park, and the menagerie of roster moves the KC Current have made as their summer transfer window closes.

Leagues Cup has become a bit of an extended break for Sporting KC, and probably one they welcome after the level of schedule density and player availability issues that they had encountered over the past several weeks.  The players and staff all got a welcome few days off and hopefully are returning to training this week with a renewed sense of motivation as they look towards the last couple months of the season that hopefully include a legitimate run at the US Open Cup trophy.

Unfortunately that also means that for the proprietors of this podcast, the only soccer we had to consume were the games played by the teams that actually advanced to the later rounds of Leagues Cup and it certainly underlined the gap in capability between Sporting KC and the teams they ostensibly want to be competing with in the future.  It also brought to light some concerns about what SKC is actually trying to accomplish on the field from game to game, and what their goals should be for the remainder of the MLS season as they look to identify the right personnel to take forward into 2025 and what the game model should be to get the best performance out of said players.

In Potpourri there is some significant USMNT coaching reporting that has yours truly quite excited, the KC Current win their first trophy(technically), and the Leagues Cup continues to be a bit of a bugaboo for Liga MX teams for a variety of reasons which has their fans questioning the competition in general.

We’re back!  After an inopportune bout of COVID for Drew, we have returned and wow have things gone well for Sporting KC in our absence.  Actually, I’m sorry, the exact opposite has happened as their Leagues Cup campaign hit the skids.  SKC went down 2-1 at home vs. Toluca in a match they certainly could have gotten a result from had things gone a bit more their way, but perhaps from a quality perspective may not have really deserved.  Then they headed to Columbus where the predictable happened, they got sent home again with their tail between their legs after a 4-0 defeat.

But there’s good news!  Sporting KC have signed a player!  What’s that you say?  It’s a Centerback?  Oh.  From Spain?  Shocking.  Who barely played last year because of a knee injury?  Yay.

Let’s be honest folks, there isn’t a ton to get super excited about when it comes to this team.  We know that.  But as any Chiefs fan that existed prior to 2017 will tell you, that’s what makes the elation that much more significant when things finally start to go your way.  In the meantime, we will continue to break down this team, flaws and all, and hopefully provide some combined levity and catharsis for both ourselves and you as we progress through this season.

In Potpourri there was some actual good news, the USWNT brought home gold for the first time in 12 years.  The KC Current made it to the final of the Summer Cup which is in…checks notes..October.  And on Wednesday they are kicking off some other tournament called the “Women’s Cup”?  The MLS is strong with the NWSL.  And, speaking of MLS and NWSL connections, a 16yo kid gets derided on the internet for “reporting” something the adults in the room should really have done a much better job of vetting.

It was Sunday Funday(night?) at Children’s Mercy Park as Sporting KC kicked off their Leagues Cup campaign with a win against the Chicago Fire.  There were a couple surprises in the gameday roster and starting lineup along with a couple really nice headed goals to get the 2-1 victory.  Of course the beginning of Leagues Cup has also reignited the discourse around the tournament, which wasn’t helped by Don Garber’s comments about the Open Cup during all star weekend.

Stephen Afrifa was one of the surprise additions to the starting XI and had perhaps his best performance in an SKC shirt including an assist on the game winning goal.  This highlighted an ongoing difference in opinion about how to successfully integrate and develop younger players between SKC’s technical staff and members of this podcast, but it was a welcome performance to see nonetheless.

SKC brought out a familiar possession shape albeit from a different base formation than usual, and it did lead to having mostly firm control of the game and limiting opportunities for Chicago to take advantage of transition.

In Potpourri we take a quick look at the Olympic tournaments for both the men and women, as both have qualified for the knockout stages before giving our one thing to look for as Toluca comes back to Kansas City next Monday.

Sporting Kansas City allowed fans to have hope of a potential turn around for about 3 days after dispatching a terrible San Jose team on the road last Saturday.  Unfortunately they followed it up by closing out this very dense stretch of the schedule with a loss in Vancouver and a 1-1 draw at home vs the Pink Dog Food CITY SC team on Saturday night.  The good news is, this means Cody is sufficiently grumpy about this team again so you will get the entertainment you expect from this podcast.

The secondary transfer window is open and while there is a lot of generalized talk about Sporting KC making a signing or two this summer, very little news of anything concrete has appeared as of yet.  We’ll discuss what the potential is for additions this summer, and what we should reasonably expect from the team the rest of the year.

Tactical corner will be a look into a nuanced, but important change to the shape SKC and Vermes are employing with Pulido and Agada on the field at the same time.  It has its positives, but it also has some dependencies that could be impacting the ability to use other players effectively.  

In Potpourri the KC Current sign a new Center Back, and kick off the Summer Cup with a 3-1 drubbing of Houston in a game that saw both teams reaching deep into their rosters to complete the game.  Finally, we look into the beginning of Leagues Cup play as Chicago comes to town on Sunday night.

Sporting Kansas City’s performances were apt to be described best by Genarro Gatusso over the past week, but did reside mostly in the “sometimes maybe good” department, getting 2 consecutive wins at home over FC Dallas including a weather-interrupted Open Cup quarterfinal last night that went the full 120 minutes.  This had the effect of somewhat washing out the sour taste of a frustrating final 30 minutes in Colorado on the 4th of July that erased what was a fairly well executed, if unexpected, game plan for the first hour.

I don’t know if it’s fair to say SKC are making a turn, but we have seen more solid performances from certain players, and the coaching staff appearing willing to move on from some others that continue to make significant mistakes.  This all taking into account the level of the competition, which in the case of Dallas, candidly isn’t very good.

Tactical corner this week will be a look into how Vermes both looks to use his midfielders and fullbacks, and what kinds of dependencies that creates as well as the traits it requires to succeed.  

In Potpourri, we discuss Tactical Manager’s favorite news release of all time, Gregg Berhalter being fired by US Soccer.  What realistically can the fanbase expect from a replacement coach? Are people’s expectations way too high?  Who do we like for the position.  Finally we will each give you one thing to look for with two more games coming up in the next 6 days.

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel we see?  Sporting Kansas City finally announced the hiring of their long awaited Sporting Director on Friday, former long time New England Revolution GM Mike Burns.  Then they followed it up with a comprehensive beat down of Austin FC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday.  Both of these stories have caveats, as they often do, but it was nice to have some semblance of positivity around a club that has had very little for some time.

On Tuesday we got to hear from both Peter Vermes and Burns in person as well as commitments from ownership about upcoming investment in the roster.  There is a lot to unpack about this situation, from the choice of Burns, the reporting structure, the decision making matrix, how much actual money they have and what their freedom is to spend it, and what other areas the club is looking to invest in to enhance its ability to be a more effective technical department in the future.  As you can all imagine, we have a lot of thoughts on this and will do our best to share them in a meaningful and informative manner.

SKC has a ton of games coming up(there will probably be 3 between now and the next time we record this podcast), including a pivotal matchup in the US Open Cup should Sporting want to try to extract any kind of positive vibes from this season.

Outside the SKC news, the USMNT got bounced from Copa America so of course everyone is having an exceptionally rational response to that and apparently calling for Jurgen Klopp to coach the team, the KC Current smothered Houston on Friday night, and CPKC stadium is going to be the home of the NWSL Cup Final.

Every time we think things can’t possibly can’t any worse, Sporting KC finds new depths of despair to plummet into and that was on full display in Columbus last Saturday.  Peter Vermes tried a new formation, but the players seemed ill equipped to execute the positional responsibilities it entailed, and they candidly got dog walked out of the stadium in a 4-0 defeat.  What a wonderful homecoming game for Aidan Morris though.

The result left a number of fans asking when any substantive change would actually happen.  This was the kind of defeat that has gotten many an MLS coach, even those with storied careers like Sigi Schmid fired.  On Monday, Sporting KC did release communications about someone leaving the club, but it was not the droid the fans were looking for.  It was instead Brian Bliss.  

This roster is in desperate need of the overhaul that Mike Illig and Peter Vermes have been open about discussing in the press, so we will take a look at what realistically that “overhaul” could look like and how much substantive change might actually happen given how significant the financial investment will likely need to be to accomplish it.

Music by The Spin Wires

Things are rotten in the state of Missouri(or Kansas), and a predictably hard portion of the SKC schedule has produced two more frustrating losses making it 10 losses from the last 12 games.  But, look on the bright side, at least the San Jose Earthquakes exist.  While both of the games did end in losses to very good teams in the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, there was actually some semblance of positivity due to the significantly improved chance creation over those games.  They also tried some alternate tactics and players that have at least in moments appeared to breathe some life into the attack.  The team still struggles to defend in transition, but at least they aren’t as depressing to watch in possession.  Either that, or things are so bad that fans will find anything that appears the least bit positive to latch onto.

American Soccer Analysis released their annual league survey addressing the analytics departments of every team in MLS, and unsurprisingly, Sporting KC was 5th from last in the league in the survey.  It is hard not to correlate their poor run of form lately with the limitations(perceived or valid) of their analytics practice, and continue to think that this club is falling further and further behind its rivals in multiple areas.  We will dive into the information from this survey, what it really means, and how it’s not as simple as saying “do analytics” and things all of a sudden get better.

Finally, a number of topics in Potpourri, including a rumored acquisition from Norway that now appears to be incorrect, some sad news regarding Felipe Hernandez, our update on the fun soccer in KC being played by the Current, and a quick look at both continental competitions happening this summer before we do a quick preview of Aidan Morris’ farewell match vs. SKC.

Music by The Spin Wires