Episode 137 - SKC Makes History on Star Wars night vs. The Galaxy
Apparently the force was with Sporting Kansas City on Star Wars Day on Sunday as they needed to make some history to come home away with the 1-0 victory vs the Galaxy, doing so without registering a single shot in the game. While it wasn’t necessarily the kind of historical moment SKC fans were hoping to be attached to, 3pts is 3pts, and it took a very organized professional performance defensively to accomplish, led by both centerbacks Jansen Miller and Robi Voloder, as well as goalkeeper John Pulskamp.If anything can be said of the Kerry Zavagnin era so far in Kansas City, it is that he has certainly raised the floor of the performances of the team. Not once has the team ever felt out of a game, and the problematic mistakes that have been a bugaboo of the past seem to have been significantly reduced, if not outright eliminated. That said, I am not sure the ceiling has been raised a ton in the process. We’ll discuss what we see as potential next steps to build on this foundation that Kerry is putting in place, and what our hopes are for the continued progression of the team this season.Finally we will talk about the Current’s 2nd loss in a row, FIFA and CONCACAF’s latest cash grab play for a Club World Cup spot, and do a preview of a matchup that will seem pretty familiar as Sporting KC heads to Portland this weekend, given they just played each other here in Kansas City just a few weeks ago.
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1:41:36
Episode 136 - Making Progress
Sporting KC traveled to TQL stadium on Saturday and unfortunately were unable to come away with a result as Kevin Denkey scored two goals, one being an immediate goal of the year candidate meaning Zorhan Bassong’s first professional goal went wanting and Sporting KC took a 2-1 defeat.Kerry Zavagnin made some interesting tactical choices in this game, leaving FCC to attempt to dictate play much of the first half and limiting space for them to play into, before opening the game up a bit after halftime as the team started chasing goals. Either way, the execution of the plan in both halves was actually pretty competent, the scoreline notwithstanding.While the team did eliminate the big mistakes that have been a hallmark of this season, there were still plenty of areas for improvement, that said, they often appeared more to be limitations of the players themselves, rather than something coachable that can significantly improve over time. We’ll talk a bit about the project SKC has in front of them still from a roster building perspective, as well as the influence recruiting has on their ability to sign the players that can have the impact they need.Finally, we will preview SKC’s return home for Sunday Night Soccer at Children’s Mercy Park vs. the LA Galaxy. It seems quite appropriate that the Galaxy are coming to town on Star Wars Day.
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1:31:44
Episode 135 - Sporting KC After Dark is Fun
MLS After Dark was in full form late Saturday night and Sporting Kansas City was a prime protagonist as they won a wild 5-3 game in San Jose bouncing back from a frustrating defeat the prior weekend at home vs. Portland. Daniel Salloi earned MLS Player of the Matchday honors bagging 2 goals and 2 assists and narrowly missing his first career professional hat trick.It was yet another game under the direction of interim coach Kerry Zavagnin where we saw Sporting KC be more dynamic and effective in their attack, getting their new DP#10 Manu Garcia in advantageous spaces and giving him the opportunity to let his vision and touch create multiple chances for Sporting KC to score. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as San Jose piled on tons of pressure in return most of the game, and there were still some familiar issues defensively both on set pieces as well as closing down space in their own defensive third. That said, everyone that listens to this podcast or follows this team closely at all is aware of the defensive deficiencies, and that for Sporting KC to win games with any level of regularity, will need to continue being aggressive on the attacking half of the field to compensate. Tactical corner will be focused on some things we think SKC can work on that are not necessarily talent dependent, at least in technical skill. There are some simple things regarding their rest defense posture as well as their line management that can be rectified with better organization and coordination, and they could at least limit the amount of negative events they are attempting to recover from.This week in Potpourri, MLS Hot Stove is scorching as we record this podcast with the MLS Primary Transfer window closing tonight at midnight, and SKC has been a key figure in the goings on over the last 48 hours, both bringing in a new player and saying goodbye to a fan favorite. Speaking of fan favorites, the KC Current pushed their unbeaten start to the season to 5 games this past weekend, and their shutout streak to over 400 minutes as they continue to outclass every opponent they come across. Finally, we will preview SKC’s early afternoon away trip to Cincinnati, and discuss whether we think they can keep this level of attacking performance clicking and potentially make it a 3rd win in 4 matches of the Kerry Zavagnin Era
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1:52:13
Episode 134 - Caution: New eras may contain familiar problems
A frustrating Sunday afternoon in Children’s Mercy Park saw Sporting Kansas City fall to the Portland Timbers 4-2 in a match that was plagued by all too familiar defensive mistakes and lapses in concentration. Interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin tried to warn us in his press availability earlier in the week that this team would still lose games at times and while there was certainly continued progress in chance creation offensively, some familiar problems defending restarts came back to bite them and put them in an increasingly difficult, and ultimately insurmountable hole to climb out of.On a positive note, it was perhaps the best game we’ve seen yet from Shapi Suleymanov, scoring a goal, also earning two yellow cards and a PK, and generally giving Portland’s left side all kinds of problems. And yet he was removed from the game after 55 minutes in an attempt to bring fresh bodies to attempt to press Portland even further that was unfortunately fairly ineffective. This was one of several choices Kerry Zavagnin made in this game that were certainly different than we are used to seeing from his predecessor, and certainly showed a willingness to try things and recognize that a 4-2 loss and a 7-2 loss count the same in the standings. That said, it also reminded us that not all change is necessarily good, and it did seem to limit the effectiveness of the attack for a significant period of the 2nd half. We’ll dive into game #2 of the Kerry Experience this week and discuss what changes we see, and what we liked and didn’t like about the decisions he made.Finally, Mike Illig sat down with Sam McDowell of the KC Star and offered some illuminating perspective on where he’d like to see this team go in the future, the Great Kevin de Bruyne Bake Off has begun as 4 MLS teams are now vying for his services, and a trialist appears at Sporting KC practice this week.Music by The Spin Wires
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1:46:27
Episode 133 - A new era begins for SKC
A collective euphoric release of literal months of pent up energy was finally able to be expelled at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday night as Dejan Joveljic slotted home two goals in the 2nd half of what had otherwise been a pretty cagey derby match with Pink Dog Food SC, meaning the good guys came away with a much needed 2-0 victory, and Kerry Zavagnin got an undefeated start to his time on the SKC sideline as interim head coach. It was a match that did feel different in the stadium, both in atmosphere as well as the tactics on the field. While the changes were far from wholesale, Kerry did put his imprint on the match and the team in this game, and by and large the decisions he made seemed to work effectively, and addressed areas of need that we’ve highlighted a bit recently.There were a number of standout performances, especially the two Designated Players that were brought here to help create goals, and we got to see them make good on that promise, additionally getting into combination areas centrally with each other, and giving all of us some sense of optimism about the potential of their partnership that was candidly hard to see before this match.We will get into all of that and more this week, as well as discuss Tim Melia’s retirement, some more big moves in MLS, and what we thought of the USWNT’s performance in two friendlies against Brazil this week before doing a preview of this Sunday’s brunch match against the Portland Timbers.
A conversation on topics involving the MLS club Sporting Kansas City. Tactical breakdowns of match performances, discussion around personnel and their usage, and previews of upcoming matches. Some additional content around other USMNT and MLS news as appropriate.
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