For the Glory KC

For the Glory KC is back with the 136th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City have lost back-to-back games for the first time in the Kerry Zavagnin era. While results haven't been perfect, it's a testament to how much better this team is. Against FC Dallas, it felt like an opportunity to avoid this very result as Dallas entered the game on a six-game winless streak. And it really felt like Sporting KC were the better side on the night.At least until things went off the rails. Referee Sergii Demianchuk had an outsized impact on the game. Sheena and I get into the dicey officiating on the night and if we thought the right calls were made. A lot was made of the Khiry Shelton red card, but that may have actually been one of the more accurate calls.  The first yellow, who knows based on the broadcast. But the second, Khiry cannot make that challenge. There was a lot of poor calls though, and a lot of bad replay work.Sheena also made it out to Children's Mercy Park for the first time in 2025 and she brought some newbies. Sheena gives her breakdown on the atmosphere and the view from the South Stand.We also round-up a bunch of SKC stories, including Zorhan Bassong going back on national team duty, updates on Gianluca Busio, Benny Feilhaber, Johnny Russell and more.The KC Current won their fifth straight and their 10th of the season on the back of three goals in the first 19 minutes that would prove too much for Racing Louisville to overcome. We also update what we know on Lo LaBonta's injury and the final results of HB Koge's season in the Danish league.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:A new soccer facility in KCThe NWSL Final gets a locationUSMNT resultsHere is a rundown of topics and start times:Sporting KC lose a controversial game against FC Dallas - 4:51SKC Round-up - 42:00KC Current win and a Lo update - 53:13Digital Crawl - 1:04:44Upcoming GamesUSMNT vs. Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 19th at 8:15PM CDTKC Current vs. Angel City FC, Friday, June 20th at 7:00PMUSMNT vs. Haiti, Sunday, June 22nd at 6:00PMSKC have the weekend off but play twice the next weekAs 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 135th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City came back down to earth this week with a tough loss against Los Angeles Football Club on the road. Things looked bright early when Dejan Joveljic scored his 10th goal of the season off a Manu Garcia assist. But the lead didn't even last until halftime.Calamitous set piece defending led to a 1-1 halftime score and the capper on a bad game for Memo Rodriguez led to the game winning penalty kick for Denis Bouanga.Speaking of Bouanga, despite him having a goal and an assist, Jansen Miller seemed to be in his head. Maybe Bouanga gets the last laugh, but all the victimizing Denis did came at the expense of others, not Miller. Jansen more than held his own against one of the elite players in Major League Soccer. It's wild to say Miller (and frankly Pulskamp again) had good games when three goals went in. But they really did. And the joy Miller clearly gets from hounding attackers was all over his face.Sheena and I also discussed lots of other topics including: the return of Jake Davis from injury, the return of Stephen Afrifa from the bench, Khiry Shelton's ever-changing hair color, a bloody Shapi Suleymanov, who the heck was the captain after Daniel Salloi subbed off and many other topics from the SKC/LAFC game.Before we got to the winning KC team, we also had to talk about the big news that Benny Feilhaber has landed a job with the Oakland Roots of the USL Championship. It's a short-term deal. Is it so he can make sure he's available for the Sporting KC job?The KC Current went out and crushed it again, this time winning on the road against the newly crowned CONCACAF W Champions, NJ/NY Gotham. Michelle Cooper and Temwa Chawinga scored early, but it was the VAR that may have come to their rescue late. The officials seemed to get most things right when overturning Gotham goals, but that Esther goal is a little dicey to change.We also discussed a really good interview Forbes did with Chris and Angie Long along with the new 2,000 seat stadium the KC Current are building at their Riverside complex.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:More SKC II woesUSWNT/USMNT resultsThe Chicago Fire privately funding a new stadiumHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC come back to Earth in LA - 7:28Benny gets a job and more in the SKC roundup - 41:25KC Current get a big road win (again) - 49:25Another KC women's soccer stadium and more in the Current roundup - 55:39Digital Crawl - 1:09:46Upcoming GamesUSMNT vs. Switzerland - Tuesday, June 10th at 7:00PM CDTKC Current vs Racing Louisville, Saturday, June 14th at 6:30PMSporting KC vs. FC Dallas, Saturday, June 14th at 7:30PMSKC II have 3 weeks offAs 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 134th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City went on the road and picked up a massive three points in a statistically defiant weekend. It was their first win in Houston since October 3, 2020. They had been 0-3-3 in their prior six visits in all competitions. The victory also broke a 19-game winless streak when they gave up the first goal in a game. Adding to all of that, Kerry Zavagnin has now been in charge for 10 games and has led his team to an appropriate 4-3-3 record. KZ is now responsible for 15 of the team's 16 points in 2025 and Sporting KC find themselves just four points south of a playoff spot.A big part of this successful run under Zavagnin is the emergence of John Pulskamp as a quality starter in Major League Soccer. Despite getting beat by another goal of the week candidate, he absolutely stood on his head for stretches of the game against the Houston Dynamo. He actually had a career high eight saves, including perhaps the save of the night when he shut down Griffin Dorsey one on one.Going into the season, it felt like a big risk to have three very young goalkeepers. There had been an expectation all offseason that a veteran goalkeeper would be added to a group that was 23, 22 and 17-years-of-age coming into the season. And it is not as if there haven't been growing pains. Sporting KC have allowed 28 goals in league play, but by no means has the defense helped out Pulskamp for large stretches. Personally, it feels like John has saved many shots he shouldn't save, which is supported by him being in the 95th percentile of post-shot expected goals per shot on target. Elite numbers.Elsewhere on the podcast, Sheena and I discuss the comeback by SKC, including a brace from Dejan Joveljic, Santiago Munoz's first goal with Sporting KC, Zorhan Bassong's delightful free kick and header, both of which led to goals and many other moments from the game.However, even with the win, I can't help but bring up the terrible officiating from referee Jair Marrufo. He has a dicey history refereeing Sporting KC games and that didn't change on Saturday. He had numerous questionable calls, which I break down. Perhaps the biggest questionable moment was a miss by Marrufo and the VAR when a handball went uncalled in the box. It wasn't as egregious as the error that may have eliminated SKC from the 2023 playoffs (also against Houston), but it seemed to be a clear handball. The lack of camera angles is an indictment on MLS too.The KC Current made plenty of news. Chris and Angie Long bought their second soccer team when the club announced the purchase of HB Køge Women in Denmark. Lo LaBonta also made her debut with the US Women's National Team, Michelle Cooper started that same game and added an assist and Mary Long and Katie Scott scored for the US U-20 women to qualify for the U-20 Women's World Cup.In another big move, the KC Current announced the Teal Rising Cup.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:St. Louis City fired their coachUS U-20 Men's World Cup Draw and learning about New CaledoniaMexico to co-host 2031 Women's World CupHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC win big on the road - 7:09SKC Round-up - 39:30KC Current have a big bye week - 47:02Digital Crawl - 58:32Upcoming GamesUSWNT vs. Jamaica, Tuesday, June 3rd at 7:00PM CDTKC Current at NJ/NY Gotham, Saturday, June 7th at 12:00PMSKC II at Houston Dynamo 2, Saturday, June 7th at 7:00PMSporting KC at LAFC, Sunday, June 8th at 8:00PMAs 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 133rd episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City had a very heavy week. After the unexpected passing of former teammate Gadi Kinda, the team had to try to find a way to host the New England Revolution. It looked grim early as the team fell down 2-0 before staging a wild eight minutes in the second half where they scored three times to take the lead.Ultimately, the Revs stole a goal late to tie it, but the outburst of goals was the loudest I can remember hearing Children's Mercy Park in a very long time.Sheena and I break down key moments from the game from Daniel Salloi's standout performance to Zorhan Bassong lighting a spark in the midfield.Coursing through everything was the weight of Kinda's passing. From the pre-game warm-up tops to the "Gadi" armbands, video memorials, on field tributes and everything in between, his presence was felt in the stadium.We also got an injury update on Jake Davis, who popped back onto the injury report and showed up in a boot on Saturday. Don't worry, he said he doesn't even need it, so it's likely just a precaution.The KC Current continued their winning ways on Saturday night. They went to Illinois and dispatched the Chicago Stars 3-1 behind goals from Bia, Temwa Chawinga and Kayla Sharples. We also had to work through the news of the devastating injuries to Alana Cook and Debinha as well as the unbelievably positive news of Lo LaBonta's first call-up by the USWNT.The podcast also got off the rails more than usual. Did you ever want to know when boxed mac and cheese was invented? Well, we've got you covered for some reason.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:Bassong called upSKC II lose againVenezia relegated, is Busio available?Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC have a wild comeback - 10:52Gadi Kinda - 50:15KC Current win again! - 1:00:09Kansas City Current Injuries and Lo's Call-up! - 1:06:53Digital Crawl - 1:16:45Upcoming GamesUSWNT vs. China, Saturday, May 31st at 4:30PM CDTSporting KC at Houston Dynamo, Saturday, May 31st at 7:30PMSKC II vs. Colorado Rapids II, Sunday, June 1st at 12:00PMKC Current have a bye (International Break)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 132nd episode of the show after an unexpected week off. Sporting Kansas City had a very busy week loaded with (frankly, ridiculous) travel. After nearly 5,000 miles, they picked up two hard fought points against St. Louis City SC and San Diego FC. The draw against their cross-state rivals definitely felt like a victory as they snatched the point from the jaws of defeat. The San Diego game was more of a slog, as though a team had travelled a ton, heavily rotated their lineup, missed one of their two Designated Players and were playing a superior opponent at home. Despite that, they still earned a draw.Sheena returns after a brief hiatus, and we work our way through both of those games as well as a brief mention of the 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers from last week we didn't get to cover.The theme of the three games was definitely defense, villains and goalkeeping. All three get high marks as Shapi Suleymanov and Jansen Miller tortured the St. Louis fans. Pulskamp also stood on his head across all three games. And Robert Voloder may have cemented himself as the starter next to Miller at center back, with a revolving door of fullbacks playing next to them.Since our last episode, MLS also released roster compositions for all 30 MLS teams. Sporting KC have no surprises with two open international spots and the ability to add a Designated Player along with a U-22 Initiative player, or two U-22 signings. To aid in that addition this summer is $1,928,679 in General Allocation Money (GAM), of which at least $500,000 is burning a hole in their pocket and has to be spent. Also, we get into the movement of the LAFC/SKC game from a crowded week to an international break weekend.The KC Current got back to their winning ways with us taking the last week off. They beat Bay FC 4-1 before heading on the road to take out the Orlando Pride 1-0. The biggest questions coming off the victory that further cemented their first-place status is, at what cost did it come? Alana Cook, Debinha and Temwa Chawinga all left the game injured.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:SKC II slightly improving on their strugglesFormer SKC player updates on CJ Sapong, Kei Kamara and Gianluca BusioGreg Vanney gets his contract extended after the worst start to a season in MLS historyHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):A Hard Fought SKC Point against San Diego - 6:36Sporting KC's big comeback vs St. Louis - 18:41A quick look at SKC vs. Portland - 48:10Sporting KC have room to spend - 52:17KC Current slip by Orlando and crush Bay FC - 1:06:28Digital Crawl - 1:14:33Upcoming GamesSKC II vs. LAFC2, Friday, May 23rd at 6:00PM CDT KC Current vs. Chicago Stars, Saturday, May 24th at 6:30PMSporting KC vs New England Revolution, Saturday, May 24th at 7:30PMAs 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 131st episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City made Major League Soccer history this week. While it's not the history that anyone really wants to make, taking zero shots in a game, the part that is historic is they won. No team in the 30 years of MLS has ever failed to take a single shot and still found a way to win.The 1-0 win over the basement dwelling LA Galaxy wasn't easy. Los Angeles had two of their Designated Players in the starting lineup and arguably their strongest lineup since MLS Cup 2024. Despite that, they fell for Sporting KC's first home 1-0 win since August 27, 2022 against the San Jose Earthquakes. The Galaxy's own goal from captain Yoshida, left SKC with a 0.00 expected goals (xG) mark, in victory.The game featured an amazing defensive output from goalkeeper John Pulskamp and center backs Jansen Miller and Robert Voloder (earning Robi team of the week honors). It also featured a trio of injuries for Logan Ndenbe and LA's DPs, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil. On top of everything else it was Star Wars night and the Sporting KC media game. To cover all of that, guest host Kevin Ferstl of Seven.One Magazine joined me for the show with Sheena out of town (she's back next week).Despite the good results in Kansas City, the same wasn't present for the KC Current who lost 1-0 on the road to the Seattle Reign in controversial fashion.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:SKC II continue their strugglesVancouver Whitecaps make CCC finalDesiree Scott's first professional goal!Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC are breaking records - 9:12KC Current lose with controversy - 53:22Digital Crawl - 1:06:28Upcoming GamesSporting KC @ Portland Timbers - Sat. May 10th at 9:30PM CDTKC Current vs. Bay FC - Sun. May 11th at 11:50AM SKC II have an off weekAs 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 130th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City continued their up and down form with a loss to FC Cincinnati after a fun win last weekend against the San Jose Earthquakes. Even though the results didn't go their way, it was a pretty competitive game. Many pundits are picking Cincy to win the Supporters Shield, MLS Cup or both and Sporting KC hung right there with them. If not for a "goal of the year candidate," maybe they earn the result.We talk about all the key moments from the Sporting KC game, including Zorhan Bassong's first professional goal, why Jacob Bartlett is taking free kicks, Keven Denkey's ridiculous goals and other random observations.Beyond just the game, it was transfer deadline week for the Major League Soccer primary transfer window and Sporting KC were busy. They made a signing and a trade and set themselves up to be active in the summer transfer window (they have to spend the GAM they acquired).The signing is 22-year-old Mexican American striker Santiago Munoz (more on him here). His arrival cleared the way for Mike Burns to deal William Agada to Real Salt Lake. Willy isn't the only former SKC player to end up in Salt Lake City this week as Johnny Russell also made the move. We talk about RSL as a rival, worse potential destinations (there is only one) and everything else related to those moves.Usually, we count on the KC Current to lift our spirits but somehow nothing went right in KC soccer (including SKC II). The Current were stunned late against the North Carolina Courage, breaking all kinds of streaks.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:SKC II signing and a two-loss weekThe NWSL is trying to start a new second divisionHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC fall in a close one with Cincy - 4:52A signing, an Agada trade and goodbye Johnny Russell - 28:08KC Current lose a stunner - 52:01Digital Crawl - 1:08:58Upcoming GamesSKC II @ Austin FC II, Friday, May 2nd at 7:30PM CDTKC Current @ Seattle Reign, Friday, May 2nd at 9:30PMSporting KC vs. LA Galaxy, Sunday, May 4th at 6:00PMAs 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 129th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City played a wild, eight goal thriller over the weekend against the San Jose Earthquakes. We celebrated the double KC win too hard and had to push podcast recording until Monday and it got weird. Welcome to For the Glory KC After Dark III.When we stayed on topic, we moved through all the delightful, exciting goals from Daniel Salloi, Manu Garcia, Logan Ndenbe and Erik Thommy. Plus, so many assists, including a goalkeeper assist by John Pulskamp (and a fun story from Salloi about it).But we definitely got off topic talking Sporting KC trialist Dru Yearwood, which led into Dru Hill, the "Thong Song" and Dejan Joveljic's inappropriate gesture.We also have to discuss the officiating that could have marred the results by Joe Dickerson. He was inconsistent and missed a foul that could have really injured Ndenbe. Chicho Arango's nonsense went basically unpunished, but at least Jansen Miller continued his "villain" role.The KC Current broke the record for the most wins in a row in NWSL history. It was so dominant it was almost a little boring (though we'll take boring!) with the thorough victory over the Houston Dash. The team was depleted and still looked pretty unstoppable. And the KC Current II are back and participating in TST.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:US Open Cupset UpdateCam Duke on the moveCeCe Kizer tooHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC win a Wild 8-goal Thriller - 3:18SKC Round-up - 37:33KC Current break the Wins Record - 51:41Digital Crawl - 1:05:20Upcoming GamesSKC II vs. Tacoma Defiance, Wed. April 23rd at 6:00PM CDTSporting KC @ FC Cincinnati, Sat. April 26th at 1:30PMKC Current @ North Carolina Courage, Sat. April 26th at 6:00PMAs 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 128th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City returned to their struggling ways, at least in terms of results. If Twitter were the judge, fire everyone, cut the whole team. But it's less than two weeks into Kerry Zavagnin being the coach and there was absolutely promise (at least on offence) in the second game under his leadership. Sheena and I work through the highs and lows from the game. The team showed good fight when they made two comebacks, but their third attempt didn't come off.They'll have to work on not falling behind. One reason they fell behind was all the defensive lapses. Jansen Miller actively asked to speak with the media and owned the team's failings. It was a big character moment for him on the heels of a really poor game for the defense. We also ask the question of if Miller deserved the own goal that was scored to him since Portland appeared to poke the ball into the net.In addition to that, we talked through some of the interesting refereeing decisions that kept it 11v11 for the whole 90 minutes. We debated who should take PKs after Dejan Joveljic made one and missed one and who should be the captain of this team since leadership isn't jumping out at anyone during these poor performances.Then we turn our attention to some fantastic reporting by Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. McDowell sat down with Mike Illig and we got a lot more information about Peter Vermes losing his job, some of the factors that went into it, what he's looking for in his next coach (and maybe Chief Soccer Officer) and a whole lot more. I highly encourage you to read Sam's work.Finally, the KC Current just kept doing what they do. They pulled off a convincing 2-0 win over the San Diego Wave on the back of goals by Debinha and Lo LaBonta. Temwa's goal scoring streak ended at eight games (again) and she won't break her own record quite yet. Plus, Vlatko Andonovski addressed the Sporting KC coaching rumor.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:USWNT 2-1 loss to BrazilUSMNT Gold Cup drawOlympic Soccer changes for 2028Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC lose a wild one - 6:04Illig talks to the KC Star - 42:58SKC Round-Up - 59:23KC Current remain perfect - 1:03:42Digital Crawl - 1:15:28Upcoming GamesKC Current vs. Houston Dash, Sat. April 19th at 6:30PM CDTSporting KC @ San Jose Earthquakes, Sat. April 19th at 9:30PMAs 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 127th episode of the show!Our long national nightmare is over! Sporting Kansas City have finally won a game. New interim coach Kerry Zavagnin is a perfect 1-0-0 and he got the best of Sporting KC's rival, St. Louis City SC. It put an exclamation point at the end of a tumultuous and emotional week for anyone in and around Sporting KC.Sheena and I work through the big moments of the game. From our pre-game emotions and expectations to Dejan Joveljic's breakout performance. We also talked about John Pulskamp stepping up on the night Tim Melia retired. There were post-game antics with Jake Davis and the St. Louis players as well as Jansen Miller shushing the road support. Considering he's from STL, it's even more endearing to local fans.The week wouldn't be complete without going back and reflecting on all the change and the news we got from Mike Illig and Kerry Zavagnin's pressers. Weaved into that conversation is a mini dive into my editorial about how ownership may have still botched the Peter Vermes firing.We honor Tim Melia on the week of his retirement (listen to Thad's exclusive podcast with Melia) and discuss a trade that snuck under the radar potentially for Sporting KC fans.Finally, the KC Current had the week off, but still made a bit of news on the international front and with five (!!) of the 11 players of the month coming from KC: LaBonta, Temwa, Cook, Debinha and Lorena.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:The future of the Women's World Cup (USA & UK)The Des Moines Menace being bounced from the US Open CupAnd FC 25 jersey updates for SKC and the CurrentHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC finally win, and soccer is fun again! - 6:46Mike Illig and Kerry Zavagnin pressers - 40:19SKC Round-up - 1:08:33KC Current Round-up - 1:13:44Digital Crawl - 1:16:04Upcoming GamesUSA vs. Brazil, Tues. April 8th at 9:30PM CDTSKC II vs. Minnesota United 2, Wed. April 9th at 6:00PMKC Current @ San Diego Wave, Sat. April 12th at 9:00PMSporting KC vs. Portland Timbers, Sun. April 13th at 1:15PMAs 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.

Episode 126 a day after 125? It's an emergency people! After nearly 16 years in charge, Sporting Kansas City announced they had "mutually parted ways" with Chief Soccer Officer and Manager, Peter Vermes. Sheena and I get together for an impromptu podcast about one subject: Peter Vermes. But there is a lot of meat on that bone. We get into: Initial ReactionsPeter's AccoladesThe Cauldron/South Stand LetterReplacement Candidates (including the Vlatko Andonovski rumor)When do they hire a coach?And a bit of Peter Vermes appreciationBig thanks to Splitter Conspiracy for our theme music made with the permission of the KC Cauldron.

For the Glory KC is back with the 125th episode of the show!We were all set to talk about another Sporting Kansas City loss when Sunday the KC Cauldron and South Stand "demanded" Peter Vermes resigns his jobs. We started there and then moved into discussing another loss.In terms of the cries for Vermes' resignation, Sheena and I get into whether we actually think this will happen and the case to be made for and against him leaving. It's also worth remembering, he's just entering this second year of a five-year extension. That contract continues to age poorly, which feels like yet another indictment of ownership.Turning our attention to the game, despite a losing effort, Sporting KC actually showed some promise against FC Dallas. There were significant changes to the lineup that paid off immediately with another Daniel Salloi goal. He's scoring 0.71 goals per 90 after only scoring 0.13/90 in 2024. Another spark may have come from the first start of Jake Davis in the midfield. We also learn Davis' unique middle name during this week's podcast.Finally, the KC Current rescue the soccer weekend yet again with a great performance back home against the Utah Royals. While it was a great day for the Current, it was a tough outing for old friend Kate Del Fava who was involved in all three goals KC scored.In other KC Current news, they had an immense number of international call-ups, and we played a mini game about how they would fare with those nine players missing. Luckily, it was just a thought experiment, as the Current have the next weekend off since NWSL doesn't play through international windows. As for those call-ups, let's list them:United States: Claire Hutton, Michelle Cooper, Alana CookBrazil: LorenaCanada: Nichelle PrinceCosta Rica: Rocky RodriguezKenya: JerekoUS U-18s: Mary Long, Katie ScottIn the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:SKC II winning in penalty kicksBoston's NWSL rebrandDenver's NWSL side announcing new facilitiesUS Open Cup broadcast rights on Paramount+Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Calls for Peter Vermes to Resign - 5:32Sporting KC make progress, but still falter against Dallas - 29:17The KC Current continue to dominate - 53:13KC Current round-up - 1:01:20Digital Crawl - 1:08:50Upcoming GamesDes Moines Menace vs. Union Omaha, Wed. April 2nd at 7:30PM CDTUSWNT vs. Brazil, Sat. April 5th at 4:00PMSporting KC vs. St. Louis City SC, Sat. April 5th at 7:30PMUSA vs. Brazil, Tues. April 8th at 9:30PM SKC II and KC Current have no gamesAs 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 124th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City dropped their most recent match with LAFC 2-0. It was their 11th loss in their last 12 games with the only other result being last week's draw against Minnesota United. Of course, we have to discuss what happened in the game and what needs to change. But the biggest question, other than the job security of Peter Vermes (which we address), is 'When will Sporting KC win again?'The upcoming schedule has games that appear more winnable than others, but nothing about recent trends suggest Sporting KC are in a good position to win. Here are the next 10 games and the team's current point total:@ FC Dallas (7 points)vs. St. Louis City (8 points)vs. Portland Timbers (7 points)@ San Jose Earthquakes (6 points)@ FC Cincinnati (7 points)vs. LA Galaxy (2 points)@ Portland Timbers (6 points)@ St. Louis City (8 points)@ San Diego FC (8 points)vs. New England Revolution (1 point)When do you realistically think Sporting KC can win a game? Let us know in the comments.Beyond the abysmal current state of Sporting Kansas City, Sheena and I delve into the results of the US Open Cup against the Des Moines Menace, talk about the Johan Ortiz signing and Alenis Vargas finds a new home.Finally, the KC Current had themselves another delightful week. They went on the road and beat the previously perfect Washington Spirit, leaving just KC and Orlando Pride as perfect teams. We delve into some bright spots in the game that included VAR (seriously), Lorena and of course Temwa, including a fantastic Temwa Chawinga stat. Then we talk about the low key signing of Friday Mukoma.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:CF Montreal fire their coachExciting MLS kit newsUSMNT's double lossPro/Rel in the USLand Denver NWSL's stadium plansHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC return to their losing ways - 3:47SKC II vs. Des Moines in the Open Cup - 32:43SKC Round-up - 40:13KC Current win a big road game - 45:10New KC Current signing - 53:59Digital Crawl - 55:59Upcoming GamesSKC II @ North Texas - Fri. March 28th at 7:45PM CDTKC Current vs. Utah Royals - Sat. March 29th at 6:30PMSporting KC @ FC Dallas - Sat. March 29th at 7:30PM 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 123rd episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City came back to life on Saturday night. When it looked like they were dead and destined to extend their 10-game losing streak, they clawed back for a 3-3 draw against Minnesota United. A draw isn't a win, but it's a step in the right direction. That first point of 2025 also keeps them out of the basement of the league (on goal differential, but it counts).Sheena and I work through our thoughts from the game. We talk about John Pulskamp's performance (and awful new scar).We also talk about the performance of Robert Voloder, Daniel Salloi being a spark (and giving the team wings), Memo Rodriguez, Dejan Joveljic's stunning goal and of course all the bad that led to Minnesota being up 3-0 in the first place. Overall, let's hope this is some positive momentum for Sporting KC as they host LAFC next week.And let's hear it for Kansas City weather. Wait five minutes, right? Sleet. Snow. An Orange ball. Wild times.In the SKC round-up, we talk about more signings coming to Sporting KC, Dany Rosero's injury situation, Ian James getting an important international call-up and Memo expecting his second child.Finally, the KC Current do what they do and play beautiful soccer to start the 2025 season. In a single game, they have more points than Sporting KC and it felt like more great chances created. From the glorious goal and hair of Temwa Chawinga, to the golazo of Michelle Cooper and 'the best version' of Debinha, the team showed up at Saturday's opener against the Portland Thorns.Also, we have KC Current injury updates for Bia, Gabby Robinson, Alex Pfeiffer, Regan Steigleder and Mallory Weber's situation with the team. Plus, the team made a new signing.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:SKC II vs. Des Moines MenaceFelipe Hernandez's returnTony MeolaAD Franch's new teamAnd an NWSL rebrand in BostonHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):SKC w/ a wild 3-3 Draw against Minnesota United - 3:16SKC round-up - 35:23KC Current win big to start 2025 - 41:25Digital Crawl - 1:03:00Upcoming GamesSKC II vs. Des Moines Menace - Wed. March 19th at 6:30PM CTKC Current @ Washington Spirit - Sat. March 22nd at 6:30PMSporting KC vs. LAFC - Sat. March 22nd at 7:30PMSKC II @ St. Louis City II - Sun. March 23rd at 4:00PMAs 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 122nd episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City played their first game on full rest for the 2025 MLS season, and it seemingly didn't matter. D.C. United pulled off a 2-1 come from behind victory at home. Maybe it's rest plus chemistry that Sporting KC need. Plus, Jake Davis in the midfield. Plus... something else?Sheena and I open the episode looking for positives from Saturday's game before inevitably turning to the negatives. One list did outweigh the other, sadly.In a more fun story, we spend some time talking about what's happening at our neighbors to the north. The Des Moines Menace are signing all kinds of retired MLS players to bring some positive attention to the 2025 US Open Cup. Among those signings is Sporting KC legend and former SKC II coach, Benny Feilhaber. He'll be joined by at least eight other retired MLS players as they take on Sporting KC II in the opening round of the US Open Cup on March 19th.After that, we blitz through the Sporting KC round-up which includes an injury update for Andrew Brody, last week's SKC penalty maybe being the wrong call and why Erik Thommy is only the captain "right now," according to Peter Vermes.Finally, the KC Current get to bring us some joy with their season getting started next week. We take a quick look ahead to the season opener against the Portland Thorns.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:MLS Next Pro looking for more teams out of their primary markets ("2" teams included)Chris Rindov finds a new clubSophia Smith Wilson is pregnantand upcoming goalkeeper rule changesHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):Sporting KC lose their 10th straight - 1:35Benny Feilhaber is back (sort of) - 28:56SKC Round-Up - 41:10KC Current season is starting - 48:29Digital Crawl - 56:17Upcoming GamesSKC II vs. STL City II - Fri. March 14th at 6:00PM CSTKC Current vs. Portland Thorns - Sat. March 15th at 11:45AMSporting KC vs Minnesota United - Sat. March 15th at 7:30PMAs 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 121st episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City had another poor week with two more games played and two more losses. Sheena and I try to work through if the team is truly bad or if it's a combination of a lot of other factors. Sporting KC did play four games in 11 days, and two of the games were against Inter Miami who are loaded with stars. The team also just signed three of its more critical offseason additions in Dejan Joveljic, Manu Garcia and Shapi Suleymanov. Their chemistry will take time.The good news with 32 games to go there is very little congestion the rest of the way for Sporting KC. That excuse will mostly vanish and SKC just to start talking steps in the right direction. We worked our way through the bad and the good from both games, with a greater focus on the 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes. The discussion really started around the lack of rotation, despite the short rest between the 3-1 loss to Inter Miami and the SJ game. The tired legs really seemed to be a problem, despite being up a man for over 40 minutes.The CONCACAF Champions Cup game with Miami didn't get much time this episode since no one really expected KC to advance when the game was announced. That said, we had to talk about the defensive blunders that ended the first half.There was plenty of other SKC news this week too. William Agada was rumored to be part of a trade with Real Salt Lake. Benny Feilhaber popped up in a UMKC/SKC II game as a guest player and gave us a hint about his future. Andreu Fontas retired officially. Sebastian Cruz found a new home. SKC executed a minor trade, and some other roster news came out.Sheena and I also watched the Sporting KC/St. Louis City episode of Onside, the new Apple TV+ show. It's good, we definitely recommend it.Finally, the KC Current had a slightly louder week with the release of the Teal Town secondary kit. They also made a minor trade, played a couple preseason games and made some news with the USWNT.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including: SKC II updates Jaylin Lindsay finds a new home Seattle Sounders running a "first match on us" free game promo The ref who took Messi's jersey got suspendedHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): SKC lose their home opener to San Jose - 6:01 SKC bounced from CCC by Miami - 46:24 RSL called about William Agada - 53:24 SKC Round-up, Including a Benny Feilhaber update - 58:37 KC Current news - 1:13:11 Digital Crawl - 1:17:57Upcoming Games Sporting KC @ D.C. United - Saturday, March 8th at 6:30PM CST 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 120th episode of the show!Sporting Kansas City played their first two competitive games of 2025. While we warned you not to overreact to the initial results, it hasn't stopped a slice of the fanbase from getting quite worked up. We work our way through both the freezing cold of the Inter Miami game and the slightly less cold, but rainy Austin FC game to talk takeaways.Daniel Salloi caught a fair amount of grief for his performance in both games. But there was a lot of other notable things that happened. There were Sporting KC debuts for Dejan Joveljic, Manu Garcia, Shapi Suleymanov and Jacob Bartlett. 19-year-old Bartlett started both games! We give our opinions on their performances and those of their peers.Plus, a look at the injury report, a few tactical wrinkles, and a breakdown of the Austin goal before getting to some breaking news from the week. Sporting KC cut Alenis Vargas and signed Andrew Brody. Erik Thommy was named captain and Roger Espinoza got hired to SKC's coaching staff. And a little roster composition news came out as well.Finally, the KC Current had another relatively quiet week, but they extended the contract of new signing Haley Hopkins who just arrived via trade. They also had a few national team call-ups and some new NWSL rules came out, including a bump in the salary cap from $2.75 million to $3.5m.In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including: A ref asking for Messi's jersey USWNT results Benny Feilhaber's new job KC Comets just keep winning and a Tony Meola updateHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC freeze against Inter Miami - 8:11 SKC vs. Austin FC in the Season Opener - 26:48 Captain Erik Thommy - 48:32 Alenis Vargas released - 52:01 Andrew Brody signed - 57:18 Sporting KC story round-up - 1:00:27 Sheena does Manu Garcia bio - 1:07:30 KC Current news - 1:14:46 Digitial Crawl - 1:18:28Upcoming Games Sporting KC @ Inter Miami - Tuesday, Feb. 25th - 7:00 PM CST Sporting KC vs. San Jose Earthquakes - Sat., Mar. 1st - 7:30 PM SheBelieves Cup USWNT vs. Japan - Wed. Feb 26th - 9:30 PM (San Diego)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 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 divisionHere 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 - 1:49:13As 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 MenaceJack Kortkamp got called up to the US U-17sAnd a ton of big MLS moves, including Cucho Hernandez leaving and Atlanta swinging bigHere is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):More Sporting KC Signings - 8:00Two Preseason games for SKC - 18:24Random SKC Stories - 36:39How should Sporting KC handle youth development/sales - 52:49KC Current News - 1:00:53Digital 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: Apple MLS Season Pass set to auto-renew February 16th Updates on Garcia and Suleymanov rumors Istvan Urbanyi is the new SKC II coach (and Ike is still there too) MLS will not send broadcast crews to all games this year Denver is officially an NWSL team Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC trade for Dejan Joveljic - 7:05 Another SKC rumor - 29:43 A 3rd SKC preseason loss - 37:33 No US Open Cup for Sporting KC - 47:43 KC Current make several moves - 52:00 Digital Crawl - 1:04:43 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: La Liga: 74 GP, 3 G, 9A, 4,702 min LALiga2: 49 GP, 4G, 1A, 3,044 min Premier League: 28 GP, 2G, 2A, 1,799 min MLS: 157 GP, 39G, 45A, 13,402 minutes and an MLS MVP 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: SKC II schedule Robert Castellanos update USMNT and USYNT And Neymar! Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC Rumor: DP #10 Manu Garcia - 5:01 2nd Sporting KC rumor for a Winger - 22:28 Another preseason game for SKC, another loss - 32:27 Thommy to forward and no veteran competition for Pulskamp - 38:05 KC Current schedule released - 52:26 Digital Crawl - 1:06:20 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: MLS has a new cash transfer system that includes fees to players involved Teams get two buyouts per season GAM no longer expires The secondary transfer window moved to July 24 through August 21 and more! 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: Evan O'Steen (GK) - Just 15 years old! USYNT. Committed to Florida State University. Class of 2026 Meila Brewer (DEF/MID) - Class of 2027. USYNT. Committed to the University of Miami. Local kid from KC Athletics Ava Tankersley (FWD) - University of Arkansas grad. 2024 SEC Forward of the Year In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including: Neymar being in "official talks" with the Chicago Fire USMNT win their first friendly of 2025 Desi Scott comes out of retirement Alyssa Naeher honored Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose to a college team in preseason (plus actual news!) - 7:46 SKC have a rumored (and expensive) U-22 signing - 33:08 SKC Tidbits: Toye, transfer fees, license plates and theme nights - 39:02 New MLS Rules - 1:00:00 KC Current report for preseason - 1:04:25 Digital Crawl - 1:13:01 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: A new MLS documentary incoming featuring Johnny Russell Wilson Harris is headed to Israel Graham Zusi gets a new job? The San Jose Earthquakes won't be 'winning' the Wooden Spoon Former KC Current and NWSL updates Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC make two signings - 6:01 A ton of good quotes from Vermes and Burns - 24:29 Alan Pulido was sold to Chivas - 59:56 KC Current sign three players - 1:08:45 Digital Crawl - 1:21:04 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: Radoja: 10/26 Pulido: 12/10 Walter: 12/22 Leibold: 1/12 Ilie: 1/13 Ndenbe: 1/14 Voloder: 1/19 Kinda: 1/23 Russell: 1/31 Rosero: 3/2 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: Ilie signs in Austin Nicole Barnhart retires KC Comets All-Stars Ethan Bryant finds a new home Denver is the 16th NWSL team and more! Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Is Pulido being sold? - 4:32 Should we panic about the Sporting KC roster build? - 26:18 2025 SKC Jersey Leak - 43:50 Fontas, Russell, Savic and Preseason Changes - 48:02 KC Current and NWSL Schedule News - 1:03:52 Digital Crawl - 1:09:36 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: SKC U-13s success Netflix is the home of the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups Former KC Current players on the move Becky Sauerbrunn retired NWSL Expansion Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC get their 2025 Schedule - 5:56 Another SKC Rumor: Geronimo Rivera - 42:15 Some of SKC's preseason is open to the public - 50:33 Three new Sporting KC Draft Picks - 56:26 KC Current keep making moves - 1:10:34 Digital Crawl - 1:19:01 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

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: MLS rumors The Vancouver Whitecaps are for sale Bailey Sparks, formerly of SKC II, is up for the Mac Hermann Trophy USL have an expanded Jägermeister Cup announcement and more! Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC Learn their CCC Opponent - 6:16 SKC's Preseason Announced - 27:15 Other Sporting KC updates - 35:32 KC Current updates - 49:18 Digital Crawl - 59:08 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

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: Leagues Cup may be down to just 18 teams in 2025 (Garber wouldn't comment) MLS will up the number of teams in the US Open Cup after only having eight this year MLS Roster Rules don't appear to be changing And the fall to spring schedule is still on the table for MLS 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: An update on an unlikely Sporting KC rumored signing LA Galaxy defeated the New York Red Bulls in MLS Cup KC Comets lose their first game of the season MASL are holding most of their playoffs in San Diego FIFA is considering a 48 team Women's World Cup Kansas City are getting two more USL2 teams Plus, a potential USL1 team in Springfield, MO Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC make two signings - 3:44 Jake Reid wins Executive of the Year - 15:08 SKC Expansion Draft Protection Lists - 29:29 Bonus Listener Q&A - 51:44 Don Garber's State of MLS - 1:00:37 KC Current signing and updates - 1:06:22 Digital Crawl - 1:10:21 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

For the Glory KC is back with the 109th episode of the show. It's been quiet on the Sporting Kansas City news front, but that doesn't mean there aren't SKC related topics to discuss. We take a look at the biggest needs for Sporting KC in 2025. Obviously, the first topic of conversation was around the roster itself. There are just 19 players signed for 2025, with the Ian James announcement still pending. FWDs: Pulido, Salloi, Agada, Afrifa, Vargas, Thommy? MIDs: Radoja, Davis, Memo, Bassong DEFs: Rosero, Fernandez, Voloder, Leibold, Ndenbe, Shelton, James* GKs: Pulskamp, Schewe Beyond the roster itself, there are issues around fan experience, front office building and more to be accomplished before boots hit the field for the season. Then, we switch gears and take listener questions. One big theme was "trust" in ownership and the coaching staff to lead Sporting KC forward. Are the owners truly investing? Is Mike Burns right for the job? How has Peter Vermes remained in charge when so many other teams have moved on from their coaches? (We came up with 10 coaching changes this offseason already off the top of our heads).  Then we get a little broader and talk careers in journalism/broadcasting and the state of club soccer in Kansas City. There was no KC Current news this week but, in the Q&A we did get a Vlatko Andonovski question, so they still made an appearance. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: KC Comets season started perfectly! MLS Playoffs Ilie Sanchez and Kei Kamara are without a team Is the Leagues Cup format changing? USWNT results Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): What are Sporting KC's biggest Needs? - 5:28 Listener Q&A - 36:11 Digital Crawl - 1:25:17 We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

For the Glory KC is back with the 108th episode of the show. Finally, Sheena has returned to the podcast! After two weeks off, the casual perspective returns. Sheena weighs in on Sporting Kansas City's offseason roster moves, since she missed a chance to do it last week. [If you missed that episode, Juan, Josh and I all gave our thoughts in greater depth]. We also answer listener questions about where we might see the likes of Johnny Russell, Tim Melia, Remi Walter and others. Will it be inside MLS? Elsewhere? Retirement? Plus, Sheena commiserates on Benny Feilhaber leaving Sporting KC II and where he might land. Since the KC Current season came to an end, it's time to play Fantasy Sporting Director/General Manager for them as well. While there are some sentimental favorites out of contract, nearly the entire starting lineup is signed for 2025 already. We also catch up on the NWSL, including our experience at the NWSL Championship game, the various award winners around the league and the three finalists (Denver, Cleveland and Cincinnati) for NWSL Expansion. And Sheena gets reminded the MLS season is still going and we're down to just four teams vying for the title. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: A flimsy Sporting KC rumor MLS Next Pro teams potential moving out of market Jaylin Lindsay is out in Charlotte USMNT and US U-20 results Local college soccer in the College Cup (Missouri State, UMKC and SLU) And drama in the USL Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sheena weighs in on SKC's Roster Moves - 3:19 Fantasy Sporting Director for KC Current - 36:42 NWSL Update & Expansion - 47:56 MLS Update - 1:06:26 Digital Crawl - 1:13:21 We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E42 (#107) - For the Glory KC is back with the 107th episode of the show.   The week of the offseason we've been waiting for and simultaneously dreading has arrived. Sporting Kansas City announced their roster moves, including moving on from eight players. And it sounds like they wanted to move on from more. Due to an emergency, Sheena missed her second straight podcast (it's a really good reason, find it in your heart to forgive). In her stead we brought on not one, but two extra co-hosts: KC Soccer Journal staff writers Juan Cisneros and Josh Wallace. Due to their intricate knowledge of all things Sporting KC, the podcast lost a bit of its casual perspective, and we went much deeper. Discussing the departures, along with the players that stayed, and if we agreed with them or not. Juan had a hot take on Memo Rodriguez that Josh and I roundly rebuffed. We also got into who should be the captain of the team with Johnny Russell gone and where the future of the goalkeeper position lies with Tim Melia also out the door. We couldn't talk about so many players leaving without reliving our favorite memories of Russell, Melia and Remi Walter, including legendary penalty kick shootouts, Melia dropping a Rock Bottom on Cristian Roldan, Russell nearly fighting all of the Vancouver Whitecaps and Remi scoring bangers. A part of Sporting KC announcing all these moves was new Sporting Director, Mike Burns, talking to the media for a better part of half an hour. If you missed it, Burns hit on a lot of topics, that we discussed as well, including: The candid response on the guys still on the roster Insight on Benny Feilhaber parting from SKC II The way SKC will build their roster, including a new U-22 approach Building out the staff with an Assistant Sporting Director, more scouts, technical and analytic staff We also spun back in time to talk about Sporting KC II's roster moves from last week, which leaves the team with just four players under contract for 2025. Plus, the other guys we wouldn't mind see coming back that are out of contract (Sebastian Cruz and Ethan Bryant among others). Then we had to talk about the tough KC Current loss that sees their season come up just short of playing in the NWSL title game. We talk through whether we are rooting for or against the Orlando Pride and Marta. Plus, set things up for a 2025 title run in the NWSL. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: The USMNT win over Jamaica UMKC winning the Summit League and NJ/NY Gotham building a massive new training facility Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC announce their roster moves - 2:35 Mike Burns talked to the Media about those moves and more - 59:30 SKC II also have moves, including their coach - 1:19:59 KC Current Season comes to a painful end - 1:31:00 Digital Crawl - 1:40:08 Upcoming Schedule: USMNT vs. Jamaica (2nd Leg, Nations League) - Monday, Nov. 18th @ 7:00PM NWSL Championship: Washington Spirit vs Orlando Pride - Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 7:00PM (in KC) We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E41 - For the Glory KC is back with the 106th episode of the show. This week, there is very little Sporting Kansas City in the episode, but they always find their way into the show, simply for comparisons sake if nothing else. Plus, I ran into Graham Zusi at the KC Current game, so we have to talk about that! Instead of SKC, this is a KC Current focused episode considering they just won a home playoff game in the NWSL for the first time in a decade (and that was FCKC). Kansas City hosted the North Carolina Courage and pulled out a 1-0 win on an 8th minute Temwa Chawinga goal. To break it all down, Xander Kennedy joins the show this week as one of our resident KC Current experts here at the KC Soccer Journal. He and I go through the changes to the lineup and if it was the best path to victory. We break down the team effort that led to the Chawinga goal and find a few unsung heroes on that play. The game wasn't one way traffic either, as NC had some big chances, including the wide-open miss by Alene Gomes and the goal that was called off for a foul by Manaka on Almuth Schult. Speaking of Schult, we both sing her praises as she's in the 99th percentile in some key goalkeeping stats. And the topic of protecting Temwa had to come up after the referee let her basically be abused throughout the match, something that didn't go unnoticed by Vlatko Andonovski. It led to an interesting scuffle between Bianca St. George and Ellie Wheeler after BSG taunted Temwa after hacking her to the ground. Xander and I also share some Graham Zusi stories, talk about Inter Miami being bounced from the MLS Cup Playoffs and the rest of the NWSL playoff matchups. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: Ian James and Jack Kortkamp get callups for SKC Jim Curtin is out at the Philadelphia Union While Bruce Arena is in over at the San Jose Earthquakes Plus, the USL Super League, USL Championship and USL League One all get into the show Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): KC Current win a playoff game - 1:58 MLS Update - 1:06:30 Digital Crawl - 1:13:14 Upcoming Schedule: KC Current @ Orlando Pride, Sun Nov 17th at 2:00PM CST Sporting KC and SKC II seasons are over... We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E40 - For the Glory KC is back with the 105th episode of the show.  This week, we do what we've teased off and on for months. We play Fantasy Sporting Director (move aside Mike Burns!) for Sporting Kansas City. It's something we did last year too. I imagine, you may want to play along as well. We'd love to hear from you in the comments, or on the various social media accounts we plug at the end of every podcast, who you would or wouldn't keep. There are 16 players that are either out of contract or on options years. Do you bring people back at a discount? Move on entirely? How much turnover do you foresee. We've already made the case the overhaul may not come this offseason, though movement definitely will. Sheena and I agreed on a few moves, but there was a surprising divide on a few players and some relatively big names we've decided to move on from (though we did a fair amount of waffling). We also both briefly discussed the reaction to my editorial from the week, "Blame Ownership, Not Vermes, for Sporting KC's Failings." Additionally, the KC Current deserve our attention after another win to wrap up their 2024 regular season. They have scored more goals than any team in NWSL history, and they did so in an essentially meaningless game. Well, it wasn't meaningless for the Chicago Red Stars, but you couldn't tell from their play in the first half. Chicago fell to 8th place and hit the road to face the Orlando Pride, while KC already knew they'd be hosting the North Carolina Courage next weekend in the opening round of the playoffs. Sheena and I briefly talked about the happenings in MLS including upsets of Real Salt Lake, Inter Miami and the Columbus Crew in the playoffs. Plus, FIFA playing games by putting Miami in the Club World Cup against MLS's wishes. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: Alenis Vargas gets a call-up The US U-17 Women win Bronze at the World Cup And San Diego has a stadium problem ahead of MLS Expansion next year Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Fantasy Sporting KC Sporting Director - 4:30 My ‘Controversial' Vermes Editorial - 55:38 KC Current won a meaningless game - 1:05:46 MLS Updates - 1:16:06 Digital Crawl - 1:22:46 Upcoming Schedule: KC Current vs. North Carolina Courage - Sat. Nov 9th @ 11:00AM CST Sporting KC and SKC II seasons are over... We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E39 - For the Glory KC is back with the 104th episode of the show. Sporting Kansas City's offseason got underway this week with two big chunks of news coming out. First, the MLS Players Association released the final 2024 salary information much later than in previous years. That meant we found out the salary of new signing Joaquin Fernandez, an increase in compensation showed up in the numbers for Alan Pulido and a new signing was leaked out. Ian James, a yet-to-be-announced Homegrown signing for Sporting KC is set to join the team at just 16-years-old. We're excited for Ian, but also want to temper expectations a bit for such a young player to make an immediate impact. The other info came in the form of Vermes' first press conference after the season ended. There were a lot of insightful things said which can give a clue to what is coming in the next few weeks and years. A few stand out topics include: Sporting KC taking their time with the current roster announcements. A heavy use of the word "rebuild" by Vermes. The main priority remains an attacking midfielder (#10) with a 'Pulido level' spend. A snippet about the formation of the future. And a hint at more Homegrown signings and potential roster rule changes. There were also a handful of dates that came out around Sporting KC's 2025 season starting. We know MLS play will begin on the weekend of February 22-23. We also know that the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC) draw will take place December 10th where Sporting KC will learn their first opponent. SKC could be playing as early as February 4th! What didn't make it into the podcast, yet again, was our Fantasy Sporting Director discussion. Next week (probably) we'll get into who should stay and who should go from the 16 eligible players. Not to be left out, the KC Current won their second trophy of the season. This time, the much more prestigious Summer Cup was lifted on Friday night in San Antonio in front of a meager crowd. KC had to work their way through a competition featuring all the NWSL teams and many of the Liga MX femenil teams. Kansas City defeated NJ/NY Gotham in the finals, but the game, much like the initial tournament, came during an international break. Gotham were particularly devastated with injuries and absences, but the Current were shorthanded too. Temwa Chawinga scored two more goals, bringing her total in all competitions to 23 for 2024. The KC Current also announced a new contract for Vanessa DiBernardo that runs through 2026 with a mutual option for 2027. Plus, it was leaked that options were picked up for 2025 for Bia Zaneratto and Regan Steigleder. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: A potential fall through spring MLS schedule starting in 2026 Two USWNT wins during the break The US U-17s advancing to the World Cup semifinals San Diego FC being tied to Manchester City star Keven de Bruyne Bruce Arena potentially headed to the San Jose Earthquakes and a WNBA team maybe coming to KC. Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): New Sporting KC salary release and a signing - 4:12 Lots of Peter Vermes quotes - 24:44 KC Current win another Trophy + Roster News - 54:24 Errors and Corrections - 59:15 Digital Crawl - 1:00:16 Upcoming Schedule: KC Current at Chicago Red Stars - Sun. Nov. 3rd @ 1:00PM CST Sporting KC and SKC II seasons are over... We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E38 - For the Glory KC is back with the 103rd episode of the show.  After a week off, the podcast returns. Sporting Kansas City also had a week off, and now we know the offseason schedule, so the urgency to do our fantasy Sporting Director episode has waned for a week. It'll make a great topic for next week. This week though, we briefly talk about the action on the field in the season finale. Sporting KC lost 2-1 to FC Dallas, but technically outscored them if you count that Joaquin Fernandez own goal. The more interesting topic of conversation was the lineup, but more so, who wasn't available and why. Suddenly added to the injury report were Jake Davis, Johnny Russell and Remi Walter. Also out were Andreu Fontas, Khiry Shelton and the known surgery to Dany Rosero. It could have been the absolute last chance to see a handful of those guys. Oh, and Tim Leibold played right back. That was something. After the game, Sheena and I reflect on the season. Technically it's the second worst record ever, but there are more games now, so the points may be inflated. Was it actually the worst season ever? We also gave our takes on the Sporting KC Pitch Black award winners, and we only took umbrage with one category: Newcomer of the Year. Memo Rodriguez was snubbed, and we have the stats to back it up. Things were happier on the Missouri side of soccer as the KC Current just keep winning. Two more wins for the ladies, but they still linger in fourth place as the Washington Spirit and Gotham refuse to drop a single point. In the last nine days, the Current have defeated expansion Bay FC and the San Diego Wave and Temwa Chawinga has just kept shattering records. We have some funny press conference stories, and of course, cover the retirement of Desiree Scott. Since Sporting KC are done, we also circled back to the MLS Cup Playoffs and our retired segment, the Messi Update. Inter Miami set the single season points record, and Messi led the league in goal contributions, despite missing significant time. Atlanta United snuck into the playoffs (shades of SKC in 2023) and Sheena will not be watching the 18-team playoff. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: KC Current's international call-ups for Mace, Ballisager, Prince and Magaia A Bia Zaneratto injury update SKC U-15 call-ups and a Benny Feilhaber stat The KC Comets schedule is out! A couple USMNT games U-17 Women's World Cup Chicago Fire's stadium plans What the heck is a BOS Nation? Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose again - 5:56 What do the next few months look like for SKC? - 23:15 KC Current win two more - 51:17 Catching up on MLS - 1:01:40 Digital Crawl - 1:06:48 Upcoming Schedule: USWNT vs. Iceland - Thursday, Oct. 24th at 6:30PM CDT KC Current vs. Gotham - Friday, Oct 25th at 7:00PM (Summer Cup Final) USWNT vs. Iceland - Sunday, Oct. 27th at 4:30PM Sporting KC and SKC II seasons are over... We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E37 - For the Glory KC is back with the 102nd episode of the show. Sporting Kansas City are one game away from the end of their 2024 season, but it's effectively over. This past Saturday served as the final home game of the season. According to my colleague, Mike Kuhn, a statistically terrible one. We keep our conversation about the 3-0 loss to LAFC to a minimum, though Tim Melia and the debut of Joaquin Fernandez got some time. Mostly, we focused on a few of the players who are out of contract after the 2024 season. First, Sheena's favorite, Remi Walter. He was a surprise addition to the starting lineup after Khiry Shelton was a late scratch with a calf injury. He pushed Jake Davis to right back and took his spot in the midfield before coming off in the 60th minute. Was it his final appearance? Then the attention turned to Johnny Russell. He wanted to score so bad, but it just wasn't coming off for him. He ended the night with just 0.1 xG (per FBref) of the teams meager 0.7 xG. In 31 minutes, Erik Thommy accounted for 0.4 of that total. But we're not talking about Thommy (this week). Russell stared off into the distance, taking it all in for a while, after the final whistle blew. It was the look of a man who knew it may be his final time in a Sporting KC uniform. For his part, he wants to come back, though apparently, it's not been discussed yet. Next week on the podcast, we'll look closer at the whole roster, and all 16 guys that could potentially be gone, and make our roster decisions. After the Sporting KC talk ended, things livened up with wins from the KC Current and SKC II. The Current pulled just one point out of second place in the NWSL standings with three games to go. Sporting KC II on the other hand were bounced from the playoffs despite their victorious efforts. Benny Feilhaber also confirmed he's out of contract after the season and he's "uncertain of his future." In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: Women's College championship coming to CPKC Stadium Mary Long called up for US U-17 Women's World Cup Josh Wolff fired from Austin FC Gianluca Busio gets the call-up Inter Miami to the 2025 Club World Cup Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose their final home game - 1:27 The Future of Remi and Johnny (and Fontas a little) - 11:06 Dany Rosero has surgery - 37:05 KC Current keep winning! - 48:26 SKC II and Benny Feilhaber Talk - 53:09 Digital Crawl - 1:00:10 Upcoming Schedule: USMNT vs. Panama - Saturday, October 12th @ 8:00PM CDT KC Current at Bay FC - Saturday, October 12th @ 9:00PM Sporting KC on the international break SKC II's season is over We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E36 - For the Glory KC is back with the 101st episode of the show. Sporting Kansas City had a busy, but ultimately disappointing, week. To take things in reverse order we start the discussion with For the Glory KC heading into enemy territory to experience CITYPARK as SKC took on St. Louis City SC. We give our thoughts on the stadium, the atmosphere, the food and everything else that happened in the soccer portion of the trip. And we're happy to report the in-person fans were much better than the online ones. And it came up in the conversation, so here is the story I promised about the state of Sporting KC's offseason rebuild and why it may be slower than fans would like. Complete with math (everyone's favorite)! The week started off with the promise of a chance to win a trophy, but that came up short too. Sporting KC headed to Los Angeles to take on LAFC but came up short against the better side. The game was not without controversy as an unconscionably bad call may have tilted things. We talk about that, plus other happenings from the game. Jake Davis and Tim Melia played out of their minds. And Khiry Shelton got some undeserved hate when he shut down Denis Bouanga, one of the best players in the league, all night. The KC Current played to a controversial result of their own. Michelle Cooper was impeded by a referee, who definitely changed directions into her path to gift Gotham their only goal of the game (though KC shouldn't have shut off in the moments after that). Kansas City were the better team, and probably deserved all three points. Missed chances and final passes plagued the team, despite Temwa Chawinga adding to her Golden Boot leading pace. The Current remain in fourth place with four league games to go. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: An important transfer fee nugget on Robi Voloder and Logan Ndenbe A quick rundown and breakdown of recent SKC II results The KC Current's team valuation FIFA Club World Cup hosts and ambition from the San Jose Earthquakes? Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Our trip to St. Louis - 1:31 Sporting KC lose a Final - 46:28 The KC Current earn a controversial draw - 1:02:44 Digital Crawl - 1:09:06 Upcoming Schedule: KC Current @ Racing Louisville - Sat. Oct 5th @ 6:30PM CDT Sporting KC vs. LAFC - Sat. Oct. 5th @ 7:30PM SKC II vs. LAFC2 - Sun. Oct. 6th @ 3:00PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E25 (100 overall!) - For the Glory KC is back with the 100th episode of the show! Wow... 100! Since it's the 100th episode, we did things a little different this week. The first segment takes a more historical look Sporting Kansas City and our relationship to the team. We tell stories about how we got into Sporting KC and our journey to this point. Then we do our all-time Sporting KC starting XI, except we really just did a team from the last decade (as is explained in the pod). I finally got a chance to ask Remi Walter about his contract and sprung that news on his biggest fan, my co-host Sheena, during the episode to get her live reaction. We briefly went into the last three Sporting KC games, but instead of breaking down each one, since it's been over a week since that Seattle Sounders game, we took themes from each game and worked them into the episode. The three big topics were: Who is playing in the double pivot and how it impacted the team The whole penalty kick debacle against Minnesota United that ultimately eliminated SKC from the playoffs this year And the news that Pulido has been hurt for much of 2024, like we speculated We also had to discuss the sad news of Felipe Hernandez being released. The KC Current played exclusively on Amazon Prime since we last did an episode so that limited the audience and their time on the episode, though they did clinch the playoffs! In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: US U-20 Youth National Team winning Bronze in the World Cup Three SKC players are free agents per the MLSPA (and why Remi isn't) Sporting KC U Pass Season Ticket deal Gianluca Busio's contract extension USMNT hire Mauricio Pochetino  And the Chicago Fire may be hiring Gregg Berhalter in the "Vermes role" Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): 100th Episode - 3:14 Podcast Origin Story - 6:47 How we Became SKC fans - 11:51 Sporting KC Team of the Decade - 20:50 Remi Walter's Contract - 46:27 Three SKC Game Speed Round - 54:45 SKC Penalty Kick Debacle - 1:00:38 Pulido has been hurt? - 1:15:53 Felipe Hernandez's Contract is Terminated - 1:19:47 KC Current - 1:23:27 Digital Crawl - 1:29:39 Upcoming Schedule: Sporting KC @ LAFC (US Open Cup) - Wed. Sept 25th @ 9:30PM CDT KC Current vs. Gotham FC - Sat. Sept 28th @ 12:00PM Sporting KC @ St. Louis City - Sat. Sept. 28th @ 7:30PM SKC II vs. North Texas - Sun. Sept. 29th @ 3:00PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E34 - For the Glory KC is back with the 99th episode of the show! (Our 100th episode is next week, should we do something special?)  Sporting Kansas City and the KC Cauldron put on a cool event this past week. Manager Peter Vermes (he joked several times, he's not the Sporting Director anymore) and CEO and President Jake Reid did a town hall with KC Cauldron members. I share just a couple of the many, many stories that he shared and questions that he answered. I would call it a 'must attend' event and if you are a member of the Cauldron, you should definitely go next year. And if you aren't a member, you should probably consider joining. I really enjoyed meeting people and all the information we got from the event was great and you aren't going to hear most of it elsewhere. We also got into a conversation about how Major League Soccer may change their transfer window dates. It seems like a real thing that may happen by 2025. Check out the reporting on it by Tom Bogert.  Sheena and I also had to discuss the 1-1 draw between Sporting KC and the New York Red Bulls. It really felt like SKC were going to steal all three points after a very up and down first half. We get into the goals (including this fantastic Davis to Pulido number), the thin lineup and the bad refereeing. Speaking of bad officiating, we have to discuss that ridiculous second yellow/red card to Jake Davis. We also had to talk about the blown PK call where Shelton was cleaned out in the box, but the ref swallowed his whistle. It feels like the game could have been very different if not for some very inconsistent officiating. The KC Current played at the same time as Sporting KC and got back to their winning ways. They won a tight 1-0 game where the Utah Royals had a handful of really good chances, though the Current were clearly the better side. The game marked the return of Bia, another start for Almuth Schult and a different tactical look from Vlatko and company. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: Kayden Pierre is officially sold to Genk Stephen Afrifa gets a cap for Canada Debinha re-signs with the Current through 2026 with a 2027 option And the legend Alex Morgan retires Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Our USMNT experience in Kansas City - 2:15 Vermes/Jake Reid Town Hall - 11:24 Sporting KC tie the Red Bulls - 28:49 KC Current break their losing streak! - 51:41 Digital Crawl - 1:00:00 Upcoming Schedule: USWNT U-20s vs. Mexico (U-20 World Cup) - Wed. Sept 11th @ 8:00PM KC Current @ Orlando Pride - Friday, Sept. 13th @ 7:00PM Sporting KC @ Seattle Sounders - Sunday, Sept. 15th @ 6:15PM SKC II @ Rapids 2 - Sunday, Sept. 15th @ 7:00PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E33 - For the Glory KC is back with the 98th episode of the show! (Our 100th episode is coming up, should we do something special?)  Sporting Kansas City keep the momentum going with a huge semifinal win over Indy Eleven to book a place in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup finals against LAFC. They got there on goals by Johnny Russell and Dany Rosero. It wasn't always smooth sailing for Sporting KC though, as Indy Eleven gave them all they could handle in the second half, but Tim Melia repeatedly came up big to keep a clean sheet. The game also marked the return of Logan Ndenbe to the starting lineup and overall had a unique lineup that looked a lot more like 2023 than 2024 (with the exceptions of right back Khiry Shelton and midfielder Jake Davis). The game came to an end with an ultimately meaningless penalty kick that was missed by Alan Pulido. It made us wonder who should have taken the PK instead of Pulido based on who was on the field, as well as who would have gone if a game came to penalties. The KC Current continued to faulter as they lost their third straight NWSL game. This time it was the North Carolina Courage who got the better of them. It made us wonder if it's simply a slump, them running into tougher teams, or if they aren't as good as we thought they were. The team also made a series of transactions this week trading away Hanna Glas and Jordan Silkowitz while bringing in Kayla Sharples (formerly of Bay FC) and signing a few extensions. The NWSLPA also announced their list of free agents, which were loaded with KC players, including: Elizabeth Ball, Kristen Hamilton, Vanessa DiBernardo, AD Franch, Nichelle Prince, Almuth Schult, Desiree Scott and Mallory Weber. Who should Vlatko prioritize to keep?  In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: An update on Kayden Pierre's transfer Vermes hitting a milestone Stephen Afrifa getting a call-up from Canada SKC II finally winning and the USWNT U-20s start to the World Cup And there is no good way to talk about this, but a Sporting KC fan tragically lost her life as a result of injuries suffered in an auto accident outside the US Open Cup game on Tuesday night. If you'd like to donate to the family of Summer Lynn, they have a Go Fund Me setup. Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC advance to the US Open Cup finals - 4:54 Who Should have Taken the PK that Pulido Missed? - 11:36 SKC qualified for CCC? - 18:10 KC Current lose a 3rd straight - 27:41 A bunch of KC Current transactions - 38:03 Errors and Corrections - 52:41 Digital Crawl - 54:02 Upcoming Schedule: USWNT U-20s vs. Morocco, Wednesday, Sept. 4th @ 8:00PM CDT USMNT vs. Canada, Saturday, Sept 7th @ 3:00PM (at Children's Mercy Park) USWNT U-20s vs. Paraguay, Saturday, Sept. 7th @ 6:00PM  Sporting KC at New York Red Bulls, Saturday, Sept 7th @ 6:30PM KC Current vs. Utah Royals, Saturday, Sept 7th @ 6:30PM SKC II at LAFC2, Sunday, Sept. 8th @ 3:00PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E32 - For the Glory KC is back with the 97th episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City pulled off a great win when they returned to MLS play on Saturday. They won 3-0 over Orlando City which will serve as a nice tune-up for the do-or-die game against Indy Eleven on Tuesday in the US Open Cup semifinals. We break down the unique lineup, that included Zoran Bassong in the midfield. Also, the top moments from the game including the goals and the other performances that stood out to us. Then we get to the rumor of the week that Kayden Pierre was being sold to Belgian club, Genk. A rumor, later confirmed by Peter Vermes. Is Mike Burns responsible for the first sale since Gianluca Busio? We talk through what this means for youth development, how the transfer fees come back into the system to help Sporting KC and more. Unfortunately, when one KC teams wins, apparently the other one isn't allowed to. The KC Current fell to the Washington Spirit earlier today in a crushing 4-1 result on the road. Kansas City remain on the road to face the North Carolina Courage next weekend, who are suddenly nipping on their heels as KC slipped from 1st to 3rd in the standings in back-to-back NWSL games. What went wrong? We give our theories. In more mixed Current news, the teams moved on from Alexa Spaanstra and Lauren this week but signed Hildah Magaia to offset some of that movement. Jereko also made her debut against Washington, but it wasn't with enough time left to change the game. And in possibly the biggest soccer news of the week, the NWSL and NWSLPA reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) through 2030 that includes elimination of all drafts (college and expansion), free agency for all, players ability to veto trades and a whole lot more. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: SKC II results The Women's Cup teams Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): A Fun Benny Feilhaber Story (and some nonsense) - 1:52 Sporting KC Win! - 11:15 Kayden Pierre Sold - 38:55 KC Current lose - 51:14 Three more KC Current moves - 59:44 Historic NWSL CBA - 1:08:09 Digital Crawl - 1:21:10 Upcoming Schedule: Sporting KC vs. Indy Eleven (US Open Cup), Tuesday, August 27th @ 7:00PM SKC II at Vancouver Whitecaps 2, Saturday, August 31st @ 6:00PM KC Current at North Carolina Courage, Sunday, September 1st @ 1:00PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E31 - For the Glory KC is back with the 96th episode of the show!  Sporting Kansas City didn't lose this week. Of course, they didn't play either. However, they did make some news. They finally made a signing, basically their first "big" signing of the year. We technically don't know how much new center back Joaquin Fernandez is making, but I'd guess he's on a Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) deal which is more than the four minimum contract guys that were signed in the offseason. It may be less, but it won't be the minimum. After making guesses how Joaquin will fit in, Sheena and I took a listener question and basically did an entire podcast about it. If we didn't have to follow any roster rules and could ignore contract lengths, who would we actually keep on this team? We didn't go through every single player on the roster, but we hit the vast majority of it. There were definitely a few surprised decisions and a few super on brand for us. It's an interesting exercise because it reminds you it's hard to let go. There are only four players fully out of contract after the season and there was an argument to keep all but one of them in some capacity (though I personally took a harder stance). Then most of the players that Sheena and I agreed we should move on from if the roster rules and contracts didn't apply, aren't out of contract and can't really be moved on from at all without a trade, transfer or the use of the single buyout. In other words, the 2025 edition of Sporting KC will probably look a lot like the 2024 version. It's important the changes that are made, are done to perfection. The rebuild for Sporting KC may be long and hard. Thankfully, we have the KC Current to lift us up in these dire times. They played in The Women's Cup this week and won the whole dang thing, lifting the first trophy in club history. Shame so little of you saw it, unless you happened to own a Vizio TV. Seriously, the channel was only available on a specific brand of TV in the United States. Wild choice by the organizers of this competition. In addition to the two wins, we give the tiniest insights on new KC Current signing Jereko and where she may fit in. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: FIFA Fan Fest coming to KC in 2026 Sporting KC's Academy rankings (eek!) A few KC Current transactions And potential new USMNT coach, Mauricio Pochettino Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC finally make a signing - 5:29 No rules Sporting KC fantasy GM - 20:59 KC Current win two more! - 1:11:29 KC Current make another signing - 1:24:46 Digital Crawl - 1:27:21 Upcoming Schedule: SKC II vs. Austin FC II, Sunday, August 18th @ 6:00PM  Sporting KC vs. Orlando City, Saturday, August 24th @ 7:30PM KC Current AT Washington Spirit, Sunday, August 25th @ 11:00AM SKC II have next weekend off We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E30 - For the Glory KC is back with the 95th episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City came back down to earth this week with two losses just days apart to get bounced from the Leagues Cup. First, there was a competitive game against Toluca FC that featured a beautiful Stephen Afrifa goal, only to come up short. But SKC won the expected goals (xG) battle and showed some promise. Then Vermes benched Willy Agada and went back to Alan Pulido and the team had an abysmal 4-0 loss against the Columbus Crew that only had an xG of 0.1 over the 90 minutes. The Crew are really good, but they made Sporting KC look even worse. And perhaps, SKC aided them in that. They kept it close for 44 minutes and then it went completely off the rails. Over the course of these two games, Sheena and I discuss some good news (returning injured players like Logan Ndenbe, Jake Davis and Dany Rosero) and a lot of bad news (Pulido playing the 10, Agada missing so many shots PV thought Pulido was the solution, etc.). In particular, we got to wondering if there is a starting center back among the five on the roster currently. Right now, the team has Andre Fontas, Robi Voloder, Robert Castellanos, Chris Rindov and Rosero. Of those, the team can literally move on from anyone but Rosero by simply letting their contract expire (Fontas) or not picking up their options (all the rest of them). So, what should they do? That part of the conversation picks up at 39:34 in the podcast. [Teaser for next week's pod: With no Sporting KC game, we're going to look at the whole roster and finally answer a prompt a fan asked us weeks ago about who we'd keep in a world without roster rules.] The KC Current did what they do and won both of their games this past week. They won their group in the Summer Cup and then won their semifinal matchup against the North Carolina Courage to make it to the finals (which are in October for some reason). Then we got into the roster movement the Current went through in the last week. Claire Lavogez is gone (though nothing has been officially announced), as is backup goalkeeper Hope Hisey. Then the team brought in a 33-year-old GK in Almuth Schult. What does it mean for AD Franch and Jordan Silkowitz? We give our thoughts. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: SKC II keep losing USMNT eliminated at Olympics My interview with Jake Reid A Sporting KC signing is coming Castellanos pronunciation Antoinne Griezmann isn't coming to KC Lots of KC Current stories Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose twice - 7:51 Who is Starter Quality of the SKC Center Backs? - 39:34 KC Current win two more times - 50:30 Three KC Current moves - 1:01:32 USWNT win the Olympics Gold - 1:13:00 Digital Crawl - 1:30:04 Upcoming Schedule: No Sporting KC games until August 24th (Orlando City) KC Current vs. Mamelodi Sundowns (Women's Cup) - Wednesday, August 14th @ 8:00PM CDT KC Current vs. either Atletico Madrid or Kobe (depending who wins/loses the first games) SKC II vs. Austin FC II, Sunday, August 18th @ 6:00PM (Rock Chalk Park) We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E29 - For the Glory KC is back with the 94th episode of the show!   Sporting Kansas City are back to their winning ways, even if it is against the lowly Chicago Fire. They thoroughly controlled the game, and despite going down 1-0 early, fought back for a 2-1 victory. Superman made its way into the show twice this week, including Willy's form on the diving header and a weird discussion about what Peter Vermes has tattooed under his shirt. It was a little For the Glory KC #AfterDark, but the lite version. The Chicago/Sporting KC game led to discussions about Stephen Afrifa starting to break out, how to pronounce Robert Castellanos (among other things about his goal), Remi Walter (and an over/under on how much he's discussed), and the four Sporting KC II loanees who are rostered for Leagues Cup. Sheena and I also had a debate about left back with Logan Ndenbe's return to the bench and who should still be around between him, Tim Leibold and Zorhan Bassong. Rubiel Vazquez from PRO made back-to-back appearances as the center ref and made a few, slightly less impactful, bad calls this week. The Alenis Vargas no-call felt the most shocking due to the sound it made when he hit the end boards. Marinos Tzionis was also sold this past week and we give our thoughts on his relatively brief stint at Sporting KC. The KC Current finally return to the podcast with their games and our recording schedule lining up. Breaking news: They are still really good at soccer, even shorthanded. They dominated Pachuca 3-0 and frankly could have scored more if they put their foot on the gas. That's despite missing Temwa Chawinga and nearly a dozen players total. And the KC Current surprised us again with another blockbuster trade, this time coming into KC, with Alana Cook coming to town from Seattle. In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: SKC II keep struggling The USMNT and USWNT's Olympic performances And Canada cheating in a huge drone scandal Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC extinguish the Fire - 5:01 Marinos Tzionis is gone - 38:09 KC Current win again - 43:00 Current trade for Alana Cook - 48:43 Digital Crawl - 52:13 Upcoming Schedule: USMNT U-23s vs. Guinea - Tuesday, July 30th @ 12:00pm CDT USMNT U-20s vs. Guatemala - Tuesday, July 30th @ 4:06pm (CONCACAF Championship) USWNT vs. Australia - Wednesday, July 31st @ 12:00pm KC Current vs. Tigres - Thursday, August 1st @ 7:00pm SKC II vs. VWFC 2 - Friday, August 2nd @ 7:00pm  Sporting KC vs. Toluca - Monday, August 5th @ 8:00pm We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E28 - For the Glory KC is back with the 93rd episode of the show!  Sporting Kansas City played a lot of games since we last recorded a podcast. Five to be exact. And we just took off one week for our Canadian vacation! Sheena and I discuss our trip to the great white north, Banff, Vancouver, Albert, British Columbia and more. Then we get down to the soccer, starting with that 1-1 draw against rivals St. Louis City SC. To lead off the game, we had to discuss Thor getting away with a challenge that should have seen him sent off for a second yellow at the very least. Beyond the STL/SKC game, Sheena and I debated the future of Remi Walter with Sporting KC. His contract is up after the season, and he'll turn 30 early next year. With the emergence of Jake Davis in his natural midfield role, Memo Rodriguez being a stable backup, the impending signing of a TAM level midfielder and his $900,000 salary, does Remi still have a place on Sporting KC? In addition to the St. Louis game, we talk about our experience seeing the Vancouver Whitecaps game in person. Plus, we breeze through the two FC Dallas games and the San Jose Earthquakes game, which were all victories, from while the podcast was on its break. Are we the reason for the losing? Then we had to talk about those sweet, sweet retro kits and accessories! In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including: USMNT fire Gregg Berhalter KC Current sign and loan out a player SKC II results A new youngest player in MLS history debuts Lots of United States youth National Team competition updates Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): We went to Canada - 2:16 SKC draw St. Louis - 10:45 Remi's KC future - 22:54 SKC lose to Vancouver in front of us - 46:11 A bunch of other SKC games - 54:41 Injury depletion and random midfield thoughts - 1:03:06 Retro Kits - 1:13:17 Digital Crawl - 1:22:55 Upcoming Schedule: SKC II vs. St. Louis City II - Sunday, July 21st at 6:00 PM CDT USMNT U-20s vs. Cuba - Monday, July 22nd at 9:00 PM USMNT U-23s vs. France - Wednesday, July 24th at 2:00 PM USWNT vs. Zambia - Thursday, July 25th at 2:00 PM USMNT U-20s vs. Costa Rica, Thursday, July 25th at 9:00 PM USMNT U-23s vs. New Zealand - Saturday, July 27th at 12:00 PM KC Current vs. Tigres - Saturday, July 27th at 7:00 PM (Summer Cup) Sporting KC vs. Chicago Fire - Sunday, July 28th at 8:00 PM (Leagues Cup) We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E27 - For the Glory KC is back with the 92nd episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City had a busy week both on and off the field. Primarily, this week's episode is focused on the off the field matters due to recording schedules. We're heading out of the country early in the week and may be taking a brief hiatus from podcasting, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast to catch when the next episode comes out. This week, Sporting KC introduced Mike Burns as their new Sporting Director and he and Peter Vermes covered a lot of interesting topics at the introductory press conference. There were budgets (the largest ever), staffing updates, player signing plans and more. Then things got really interesting when Sam McDowell of the KC Star sat down with managing owner Mike Illig and Peter Vermes to get deeper into the weeds. He has a must-read article outlining the utter lack of a budget since 2020. It sheds a new light into who is to blame for how things have worked around Sporting KC the last couple years. Vermes isn't guilt free, but Sheena and I go over the ways things have been handled that were beyond Peter's control. I'm personally thankful for this ownership group rescuing the Kansas City Wizards and doing an amazing rebrand, building a soccer specific stadium and all the success they've brought over the years. But that story Vermes told about ownership passing on a DP striker in 2018 because they were already in first place, makes me think there would be a third star about the crest if things were handled differently. The hope is, going forward, ownership gives the budget and gets out of the way and lets the soccer minds handle things. And if they are given a fair shot to fix some things they weren't given a fair shot at before, and they don't fix it, then ownership can step in and make a change. Listen in for all the details and quotes. We also briefly discuss Sporting KC's loss to the Colorado Rapids but move quickly to the Missouri side of the border to talk the Kansas City Current. Unfortunately, the losing on the Kansas side trickled over and the KC Current's unbeaten run came to a rather uninspiring end against the Orlando Pride. The fans in the stadium were lighting up the ref, but was it really the refs fault? Plus, a fun little Temwa Chawinga/Vlatko Andonovski story that is inspiring for KC's future. In the Digital Crawl, go quite a bit deeper than usual on a few topics, including: USMNT bombing out of Copa America Logan Ndenbe injury update! SKC II results and an all-star call-up CPKC stadium hosting the NWSL Championship Lots of little KC Current stories And Bradley Carnell is fired in St. Louis Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): KC Current Media Game - 2:18 Does Sporting KC have an ownership problem? - 8:29 SKC lose to the Rapids in Colorado - 46:33 KC Current's streak is over vs Orlando - 55:58 Digital Crawl - 1:17:48 Upcoming Schedule: Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas - Sunday, July 7th @ 7:30 PM SKC II at Tacoma Defiance - Sunday, July 7th @ 9:00 PM Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas (US Open Cup) - Wednesday, July 10th @ 8:00 PM Sporting KC at San Jose Earthquakes - Saturday, July 13th @ 9:30 PM SKC II at The Town - Sunday, July 14th @ 7:00 PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E26 - For the Glory KC is back with the 91st episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City got themselves back in the win column this week for just the fourth time this season. On Saturday night, they shut out Austin FC 2-0, just their second shutout in 21 tries this season. The victory was picked up by quality finishing and even better defense. It also feels like someone over at Sporting KC in the technical staff may be listening to the podcast. Last week, we put out a loose plan for going forward in 2024. Stop playing guys that'll be gone after the year, unless you are trying to see if you need to bring them back. It wasn't perfect, as Andreu Fontas found the bench, but Johnny Russell and Tim Melia still started. Russell played lights out and Melia had very little to do since Austin only mustered two shots. SKC also played the midfield trio of Nemanja Radoja, Erik Thommy and Jake Davis, a group I've personally been clamoring to see together more. Davis did well to make up that ground coverage that Remi Walter supplies and a touch of physicality in the midfield this team doesn't have outside of Memo Rodriguez. The game also saw the return of Alan Pulido and Tim Leibold from injury, with Leibold scoring the game winner. Walter, Daniel Salloi and Robert Castellanos were all listed as questionable, but they all sat out the game. Speaking of physicality, it reminds us immediately of the retirement of Roger Espinoza. He was honored before the game and spoke to the media at halftime and a little in the locker room. The conversation wouldn't be complete without all the front office movement from the week. Brian Bliss is out, and Mike Burns is in, though not in exactly the same job. We'll have a better understanding of Burns' role after the Tuesday press conference as Peter Vermes asked we avoid asking about Burns in the post-game presser. Sheena and I give our initial impressions on the hiring and firing, knowing more information is coming down the line. The Kansas City Current continue to set records and hold back the opposition. In the past week they went to the Portland Thorns and won 4-1 and then returned home for a 2-0 win over the Houston Dash. We share our thoughts on those games, Temwa Chawinga, the river 'goal' and so much more. In the Digital Crawl, we hit a few other topics, including: Two NWSL coaching firings, both with KC ties A Memo Rodriguez transfer rumor The USMNT's up and down week at Copa America USWNT Olympic Roster is out and Kamron Habibullah is midseason MLS Next Pro MVP Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC win! - 6:44 SKC do some hiring and firing in the front office - 45:58 KC Current win twice! - 1:14:15 Digital Crawl - 1:31:18 Upcoming Schedule: SKC II vs. Austin FC II - Sunday, June 30th @ 6:00 PM CDT USMNT vs. Uruguay - Monday, July 1st @ 8:00 PM Sporting KC at Colorado Rapids - Thursday, July 4th @ 8:30 PM KC Current vs. Orlando Pride - Saturday, July 6th @ 6:30 PM Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas - Sunday, July 7th @ 7:30 PM SKC II at Tacoma Defiance - Sunday, July 7th @ 9:00 PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E25 - For the Glory KC is back with the 90th episode of the show! Things get weird as we recorded waaay after dark. Sporting Kansas City had another rough week. So much, that my co-host preferred we "just get it over with" on Saturday night versus waiting to do a podcast on Sunday. Despite that, we have a lot of thoughts about the losses to Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew. I'd like to think it was more about the catharsis of getting some of these thoughts out, while they are fresh in our minds. For a deeper tactical breakdown, check out the Home and Away podcast. Amazingly, it's not all bad. For years we've criticized when SKC just did the same thing over and over and expected different results. At least they tried some things. There were massive lineup changes in both games including rolling out a 3-4-3/5-4-1 against the Crew. Andreu Fontas seemingly got benched (until an injury). Kayden Pierre made consecutive starts at right back (and may have broken a bone). Both goalkeepers got starts, allowed four goals, and stunningly were some of the better players in those games. Young players got extensive minutes at forward too. This episode has some venting. It has some rants. It even has a bit of a plan for what we'd like to see from Sporting KC for the rest of 2024, since ownership made it clear Peter Vermes is safe. We also had to learn a little bit about the Keepers of the Spoon. Sporting KC are dangerously close to the bottom of the table and fans will probably need to read up on how that Wooden Spoon 'trophy' works. Is it a trophy? Is there more than one of them? We have the answers, but until then, thankfully, the San Jose Earthquakes still exist. The Kansas City Current have some nuggets, but we recorded before their game. Double coverage next week! In the Digital Crawl, we hit a few other topics, including: Failed Sporting KC transfer rumor SKC Injury Update KC Current Injury Update Failed KC Current transfer rumor SKC U-17s and MLS Next Cup Kei Kamara breaking records And we snuck in this story Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose to RSL - 7:06 What is the Wooden Spoon? - 28:42 Then SKC lose to Columbus - 32:09 My first rant of the podcast - 41:36 Second rant of the podcast - 55:05 A bit of a plan for the rest of 2024 - 1:08:27 Sheena wants you to boycott - 1:14:14 Digital Crawl - 1:27:08 Upcoming Schedule: KC Current at Portland Thorns - Sunday, June 23rd @ 3:00 PM CDT USMNT vs. Bolivia - Sunday, June 23rd @ 5:00 PM Sporting KC II at St. Louis City II - Sunday, June 23rd @ 6:00 PM USMNT vs. Panama - Thursday, June 27th @ 5:00 PM  KC Current vs. Houston Dash - Friday, June 28th @ 7:00 PM Sporting KC vs. Austin FC - Saturday, June 29th @ 7:30 PM SKC II vs. Austin FC II - Sunday, June 30th @ 6:00 PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E24 - For the Glory KC is back with the 89th episode of the show! Sporting Kansas City have returned to their losing ways, unfortunately. After a hopeful win at home against the Seattle Sounders, they dropped a result to the LA Galaxy 4-2 in California. There were some interesting lineup choices, lots of standing around on the first goal and lots of things to talk about that are pretty negative from the game. However, was there something to build on? The underlying numbers are actually not that bad. Sporting KC were creating chances, they just didn't finish them. That, sadly, feels like progress from all these games where it felt like they can't even get a decent shot off. The issue is, it's all too late as the season is in the back half and they just lost again. Unfortunately, we have to talk about the elephant in the room that is Felipe Hernandez. He was suspended for the second time for gambling related violations. It really feels like we'll never see Felipe in a Sporting KC uniform again. The question is, what sort of punishment is he in for? I'd assume he'll not be allowed to play in Major League Soccer, but how far or wide could a ban/suspension go? Then we talk about the Peter Vermes interview in the KC Star with Daniel Sperry about the upcoming transfer window. On the pod we try to look long-term since any move will come too late in the season if the team hasn't already gone on a great winning streak. Vermes mentions the need for an attacking midfielder, in somewhat of a contrast to what Mike Illig said last week about needing a winger and a central defender. The Kansas City Current unfortunately couldn't carry Kansas City soccer this weekend settling for a 2-2 draw to the Chicago Red Stars. It led to a discussion about rivalries in the NWSL. It sort of feels like the only rival the Current have right now, is the referees. In the Digital Crawl, we hit a few other topics, including: SKC II lose Camille Ashton found a new, very similar, NWSL job SKC injury updates for Salloi, Remi and Rosero A KC Current injury update for Vanessa DiBernardo Lots of US Soccer news and Pitchside Coffee by several KC Current players Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC lose again - 4:41 Felipe Hernandez suspended - 27:41 Vermes gives a transfer update - 44:01 KC Current draw at home - 58:05 Digital Crawl - 1:07:22 Upcoming Schedule: Sporting KC vs. Real Salt Lake - Wednesday, June 19th @ 7:30 PM CT Sporting KC at Columbus Crew - Saturday, June 22nd @ 6:30 PM KC Current at Portland Thorns - Sunday, June 23rd @ 3:00 PM Sporting KC II at St. Louis City II - Sunday, June 23rd @ 6:00 PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E23 - For the Glory KC is back with the 88th episode of the show!  Sporting Kansas City ended the streak! For the second straight season (let's not make it three, please) Sporting KC ended a 10-game winless run with a victory over the Seattle Sounders. This time, it was seven straight losses, so a win was a massive relief. The question is, can Sporting KC sustain this success? They got the game winning goal against a 10-man Seattle side and their expected goals (xG) was actually lower than Seattle's. Then again, confidence can do wonders. The release of emotions from the players both on and off the field showed how much it meant to all of them. The victory comes on the same day that Sam McDowell put out a fantastic story in the KC Star about a sit-down interview with managing owner Mike Illig. Mike, son of Cliff Illig, told Sam that he had no plans to fire Peter Vermes and wanted him to run a rebuild over the next three transfer windows (through the summer of 2025). Infamously, Peter Vermes signed a five-year contract extension after missing the playoffs in 2022 that just kicked in this year. He's signed through the 2028 season, and it always sort of felt like they wouldn't pay him for four-and-a-half years of nothing, plus pay another coach. Sheena and I weigh in on the story, Peter handling the rebuild, the targeted positions of center back and winger (no midfielders?) this summer. Fontas and Russell are probably approaching the end of their SKC careers, so replacing them makes sense. Ignoring the midfield is concerning though. Before listening, I encourage you to read the whole story over at the Star. We also address the rumor that Robert Castellanos has interest from Chivas (Liga MX). And the Kansas City Current just keep winning! This time 5-2 at home over the Seattle Reign to climb back to the top of the NWSL standings. There were new starters, new goal scorers, a testing of the team's depth and the return of orchestrated celebrations by captain Lo LaBonta. In the Digital Crawl, we hit a few other topics, including: SKC II keep winning Important moments for Pulskamp and Russell Gianluca Busio gets promoted Two more coaches are fired in MLS and an NWSL attendance record Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC defeated the Sounders(again) - 7:21 Vermes' job is safe - 25:16 Robert Castellanos Transfer Rumor - 47:47 KC Current crush the Reign - 55:43 Digital Crawl - 1:09:53 Upcoming Schedule: USA U-23s vs. Japan, Tuesday, June 11th @ 7:00 PM CT USMNT vs. Brazil, Wednesday, June 12th @ 6:00 PM Sporting KC II at Real Monarchs, Wednesday, June 12th @ 6:00 PM Euros 2024 Starts Friday at 2:00 PM - Germany vs. Scotland KC Current vs. Chicago Red Stars, Friday, June 14th @ 7:00 PM Sporting KC at LA Galaxy, Saturday, June 15th @ 9:30 PM We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E22 - For the Glory KC is back with the 87th episode of the show! And it's a controversial one. Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Media Game - 3:46 Sporting KC Lose Two More Games - 10:54 Is it Time for Peter Vermes to Go? - 41:25 Digital Crawl - 1:35:25 We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. Upcoming Schedule: SKC II @ Minnesota United 2 - Sunday, June 2nd @ 6:00 PM CT USWNT vs. Korea Republic - Tuesday, June 4th @ 7:00 PM SKC II vs. Houston Dynamo 2 - Friday, June 7th @ 6:00 PM Sporting KC vs. Seattle Sounders - Saturday, June 8th @ 7:30 PM  KC Current vs. Seattle Reign - Sunday, June 9th @ 5:00 PM --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support

S3E21 - For the Glory KC is back with the 86th episode of the show!  Sporting Kansas City have extended their losing streak to five games. But before we get to the bad results, they did have a good result this week. They did what a Major League Soccer team should have done and downed FC Tulsa, a second division foe, 4-0 in the US Open Cup. That sets Sporting KC up to play FC Dallas in the quarterfinal where they only need three more wins to lift a trophy in an otherwise abysmal year. While Sheena sneaks some negativity in that Open Cup conversation, we do eventually switch gears to talk about the 2-1 loss to the Portland Timbers on the road. The "starters" were all back except Remi Walter, who was replaced by the goal scorer Memo Rodriguez. The game went poor from a chance creation perspective, results perspective, and an injury perspective. Erik Thommy appeared to pull his hamstring and had to sub out early and then Memo Rodriguez picked up a suspension for yellow card accumulation. That led to a conversation of what the midfield could possibly look like against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday. I think it's time for an SKC II loan over playing someone out of position. The Kansas City Current did what they often do and kept winning! This time in the first ever meeting against the Utah Royals. Despite the win, it wasn't all good news as Gabby Robinson went down with an injury and we fear the worst. And of course, we have to talk about the surprise resignation of General Manager Camille Ashton from the KC Current. In the Digital Crawl, we hit a few topics, including: Gianluca Busio on the verge of Serie A again KC Current have so many international call ups SKC Academy have a couple as well And a clarification on pay "raises and cuts" Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times): Sporting KC advance in the Open Cup - 7:23 But lose their 5th straight in MLS play - 24:16 Clarification on a new MLS rule - 53:43 KC Current win! - 55:01 Camille Ashton resigns - 1:02:32 Digital Crawl - 1:06:41 Upcoming Schedule: Sporting KC vs Vancouver Whitecaps, Wednesday, May 29th @ 7:30 PM CDT USWNT vs. South Korea, Saturday, June 1st @ 4:00 PM (TNT/Max/Peacock) Sporting KC at Minnesota United, Saturday, June 1st @ 7:30 PM SKC II at MNUFC 2, Sunday, June 2nd @ 6:00 PM The KC Current are off for the international break We recently turned on "Listener Support." Don't feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we'd appreciate your donation. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fortheglorykc/support