Home and Away - A Sporting KC Podcast

And now, our watch has ended. Thanks to the parliament of putridity that is CF Montreal, Sporting Kansas City has once again avoided the ignominy of being bestowed with the Wooden Spoon as the worst team in MLS for the season.  Still the only original MLS club never to have achieved the award, and it was about the only good thing fans could take away from what has been a highly depressing season on and off the pitch.David Lee didn’t waste any time resetting the deck for 2027 though.  By Monday we were notified of former Head Coach Rapha Wicky’s departure, and on Tuesday some players followed as end of season contract decisions were announced as well.  Then Lee took to the microphone today to discuss the season, his ownership of the poor performance that everyone was subjected to, things he learned and wants to remedy, and his very visible excitement for what is to come.  It’s clear he believes the club is on the upward trajectory we have been waiting for for some time, let’s hope he’s right.But SKC wasn’t the only team making news the last couple days, we have to discuss the latest Premier League dumpster fire Mauricio Pochettino is linked to, the first name on the USMNT’s replacement list, what we liked in MLS on Decision day, and the Kansas City current’s survival act vs Angel City on Saturday.

We are back after another week off(I know, I know, we take a lot of time off, but do you really want to hear us whining about how bad this team is every week for an hour and a half?).  Sporting KC has played 3 games in that timeframe and the silver linings are hard to find.  They have somehow not actually clinched the wooden spoon getting merely 1 point from those 3 games because, well, Montreal exists.  Which leads us to a decision day where there is actually something on the line, I guess.  Injuries hit SKC pretty hard again recently and it certainly led to the fairly lackluster performances but when you look at the numbers all that has really changed is they aren’t creating the type of offensive chances they were when Andre arrived.  We’ll discuss the reasons why, as well as the continued existence of just tragic defending at key moments in games, including one player in particular often being highlighted in those proceedings.In Tactical corner we will discuss Wicky getting salty in pressers about the choices he’s making, or in his opinion forced to make, before heading to Potpourri where we will talk about good MLS Teams, the Current finishing the regular season on a 5 game winning streak, and the recent USMNT roster for the Nations League Quarterfinal matchup with Haiti.  Finally we will do a brief preview of that Decision Day matchup this weekend vs San Diego.Music by The Spin Wires

We had to go and do it, didn’t we?  We spent the entirety of last week’s episode glazing Sporting KC(as Cody's son would say), talking about all the ways the team was much more fun to watch and even without results were so vastly different from the first half of the year, that they had to make us look like absolute fools and revert to the worst versions of themselves against Nashville and RSL.  All of the traumatic memories of tragic defending, ball watching, and complete disorganization came flooding back in a couple of fairly depressing capitulations.So, for those of you that were wondering what happened to us, and where grumpy Drew and Cody went, well you’re welcome, because we are definitely back this week.  We will discuss what went wrong in these matches this week with plenty of blame to pass around, what we think is causing these problems and how we’d fix them.  But we also must reckon with the fact that with 4 games left, it is unlikely much of anything will change, certainly with Raphael Wicky still in charge.We will also get to what we saw that we enjoyed in MLS this week, the Current getting hot at just the right time, and preview the only team that seems quite on Sporting KC’s level of putridity, Austin FC’s visit to Sporting Park on Saturday.

In this episode, we analyze recent performances of Sporting Kansas City, focusing on tactical decisions, player development, and team progress. We explore how individual mistakes, tactical choices, and player development impact results and team dynamics. In this episode, Drew and Cody analyze recent MLS performances, team strategies, injury issues, and the impact of management decisions on team success. They also discuss the broader implications of sports science and organizational support in professional soccer.Music by The Spin Wires

In this episode, we analyze Sporting Kansas City's recent performance, the US Men's national team's youth movement, and the impact of new signings like Andre Luiz. We explore tactical insights, player development, and league dynamics to understand what lies ahead for US soccer and MLS. In this episode, Drew and Cody analyze recent US men's national team performances, player development, tactical insights, and MLS league updates, providing a comprehensive look at the current soccer landscape.Music by The Spin Wires

Sporting KC had another schizophrenic performance Saturday night at Sporting Park as while Andre Luiz continued showing why the club invested so much in bringing him to the team, and the Wyatt Meyer Effect continued to show it’s potential in helping the team achieve results, a far too common refrain of falling apart when things started going bad also came to bear and really had fans searching for answers after shipping 4 goals in 10 minutes and losing a game they never should have.While Philly did put SKC under pressure, their performance after the hour mark was simply not good enough, and was not near the level of execution we saw from this team just a week prior vs LAFC.  We mentioned that it would be irrational to expect everyone to perform at the level they did in that game, but that doesn’t mean a capitulation of this magnitude is either expected or acceptable.  The mental softness of this team continues to be a consistent issue, and something that the coach seems unable to remedy.In Potpourri, we will catch up on the other things around MLS this weekend that caught our eye, the Current sleepwalking through a loss in San Diego, and David Lee’s favorite topic, GAM.Music by The Spin Wires

The Wyatt Meyer Effect was in full display in Sporting Park on Saturday night as the good guys in blue fairly comprehensively beat LAFC 3-1 in a scoreline that honestly felt deserved as the final whistle blew.  Just 7 days after I said that I thought the match in Dallas was the best team performance they’d put in all year, Sporting KC one upped themselves and took it to another level.  There were several performances on the field that stood out, and were likely the best performances we had seen from such players in a Sporting KC shirt.  This does lead to questions about whether this is a repeatable performance, or simply a group of guys all playing at their peak level at once.  Only time will tell, but the game itself was a welcome dose of positive vibes in a season that has been more than a bit bleak for SKC fans.The team was organized as well, and looked mostly well coached throughout the game.  Is this the Wicky philosophy finally coming into view?  Are the players available finally the right ones to execute it?  These are yet further questions that need more data to suss out, but as with the result, it was really nice to enjoy a competent performance both on and off the field.In Potpourri, we will talk about the youth movement catching everyone’s eye in MLS, including apparently Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff as the USMNT roster begins to leak out for this extended international window, and we will also discuss the exploits of the KC current as they save a draw against the leagues newest High Impact Player contract earner Barbra Banda and the Orlando Pride, before getting into the opportunity to see some of these intriguing youth players in Kansas City this weekend as the Philadelphia Union come to town.Music by The Spin Wires

Remember just a couple weeks ago, when the Transfer Window was still open, SKC had all of this “flexibility”, and promise of the ability to spend big on designated player transfers?  We had our whole lives ahead of us, and apparently still do, because the flexibility still exists, except we can’t use it for 4 months.David Lee met with the meda a little less than 24 hours after we recorded the pod last week and if you took a drink every time he mentioned GAM you’d have had alcohol poisoning within 10 minutes.  He espoused how he was intent on creating flexibility in how the club went about their business over the next 12-18 months and that he wouldn’t make rash decisions even with the ability to spend at a level even he hadn’t planned for.  So, SKC are left instead to look at a couple loans for teenagers from within the league as the final “signings” of the window, and hope that somehow the business he did complete in some way improves on the field from what it has been to date.In said game on the field, there actually was a marked improvement on what we have largely seen since the WC break, although it was not enough to take home the win.  Sporting KC won the xG battle for the first time since May, and narrowly lost out to FC Dallas on a backbreaking penalty in stoppage time.  While there were certainly some positives to take away, they still shipped 4 goals and continue to struggle defensively even while replacing ¾ of the backline this summer.In Potpourri, we will discuss what we enjoyed in MLS this week along with the somewhat unsurprising departure of Vlatko Andonovski from the Current.  His exit somehow saying a lot more about those in charge of the club he’s leaving than him personally.  Finally we look to LAFC coming to Sporting Park on Saturday, and what we can reasonably expect from what is going to be a very tough matchup on paper.

Deadline day is upon us!  There were less than 6 hours left in the MLS transfer window when we recorded the pod and it was meant to be a celebration of the next era of Sporting Kansas City.  Unfortunately, the team largely looks the same it did last week when we recorded.Now - there are reasons that attempted transfers can go awry and it is not uncommon for that to happen, especially in the price range that Sporting KC is reportedly shopping in.  But it’s the lack of a plan B that is somewhat concerning as we evaluate how this transfer window went for Sporting KC, and it also leaves a roster in a pretty significant state of flux as they attempt to arrest what has been a pretty precipitous fall coming out of the world cup break.Speaking of those performances, the League Leaders in almost every metric came to Sporting Park on Sunday and looked like they were playing the lowest performing team in the league in all of those similar metrics.  Sporting was pretty comprehensively outclassed in the game, and Vancouver pretty easily took apart what was another naive performance both by the players and tactically by the coach.  It left fans hoping that at least the promise of Andre Luiz and other reinforcements might help improve the on field product.  And while Andre did come on for a 20 minute cameo and look the part, it seems unlikely those reinforcements are coming until the winter at the earliest.It leaves us to assess those that are here.  And by that I mean the coach who is meant to get the best out of these players and the President of Soccer Operations who is meant to give him an effective roster to do so.  And to say that those have both missed the mark is putting it mildly.  I spent most of last week espousing that I finally saw a plan in place for how Lee was meaning to go about cleaning up the mess that had been left behind when he took over.  Well, either that plan completely fell apart over the last week or he is too conservative in his approach because it appears we are still taking the longest amount of time possible with the mop and bucket.We’ll also discuss what was a very active transfer window for the rest of MLS, with numerous deals getting done as we close out the day, as well as what was a more wild deadline day than I can remember in England and the rest of Europe.Music by The Spin Wires

We started this podcast last week espousing how crazy the last several hours had been for this fanbase, and it has not slowed down one bit.  One thing you can be sure of, there are no more bored gifs in the discord being posted lamenting SKC’s lack of action.  Now, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been action that led to a “not like this” response, but David Lee and Co have been active, and continue to be as the clock ticks down on this summer transfer window.Andre Luiz arrived on Sunday, visa in hand and ready to get to work, and in most cases you’d think that would be the big story of the week!  But no, it was actually 48 hours earlier, when Fabrizio Romano of all people reported that Sporting KC was in negotiations to send leading goalscorer Dejan Joveljic to the Seattle Sounders in a $6M cash trade!  To say that it caught a lot of us off guard would be putting it mildly.  We will dig into the details of this deal and why we think SKC made it, as well as what it means for the next week as the club continues to look to re-tool.There was also a player arrival announced, as Owen Wolff was announced as the club’s newest U22 initiative signing, coming from Austin FC in a $4.5M cash for trade that could rise as high as $7.6M if all performance bonuses are met.  Wolff was in the top 5 of MLS’ annual 22 under 22 ranking last year, and brings immediate MLS quality to the roster with lots of potential upside.In Potpourri this week Pablo Maurer reported on what appears to be the new MLS playoff structure to go in place at the end of the first fall-spring season, and it mirrors that of a sport you probably wouldn’t expect.  The Current continue to give up early leads and have to battle back while having notably poor set piece defense, what we liked in MLS this week as well as a quick preview of Vancouver coming to town this weekend.