A Tale of Two New Coaches in Kansas City

For the Glory KC is back with the 162nd episode of the show and the second show of 2026!

On this week’s episode of For the Glory KC, we discuss the official hire of Sporting Kansas City coach, Rapha Wicky. On Tuesday, he completed his first press conference with the media, and we unpack the details. Topics covered are the length of his contract, how many more players need to be signed by CSO David Lee, and the style of soccer Wicky and Lee want Sporting KC to play. We also learn some fun facts about Wicky, most importantly (for Sheena) we uncover his hair regimen.

The topic of Sporting KC’s youth development was also discussed at the press conference. Will SKC Academy players have their best opportunity for a starting position on Sporting KC or SKC II since the roster is bleak? There are a lot of them coming to preseason.

31 players total will be traveling for preseason, which has kicked off in Florida. There are three trialists, two SKC II players, one draft pick, and eight Academy Players who will be joining the team. The first game is on Saturday, January 17th against FIU at 9:00AM CT.

We wrap up the Sporting KC conversations with ‘breaking news’ about Daniel Salloi and his mustache, Santi Munoz giving his farewell to Kansas City, an update regarding a rumor from last week, and exciting news regarding Zohran Basson and Jacob Molinaro.

The KC Current also had a busy week with the announcement of head coach, Chris Armas. Sheena and I discussed the press conference along with the ESPN and KC Star articles around the hire and give our thoughts. Highlights include the decision-making process and all the qualified candidates the Longs apparently turned down to stick with Armas. On top of that, the news that Canadian Men’s National Team coach and apparently Chris Long’s college friend, Jesse Marsch made the recommendation to hire Armas.

In the KC Current round-up we say farewell to Bia, hello to forward Ameilia White, and give an update regarding Clare Gagne. Plus, we have updates on Alex Pfeiffer, Regan Steigleder, and some exciting USWNT call ups.

In the Digital Crawl, we hit on a few more topics, including:

• KS Astras
• Rumored nations doing base camps in Kansas City for the World Cup
• A massive FA Cup upset
• and Chucky Lozano and Sam Coffey being on the move

Here is a rundown of topics and start times:

• Sporting KC’s Coach Announcement presser – 1:27
• SKC’s Preseason Roster – 37:49
• Sporting KC round-up – 40:28
• KC Current have a coach presser too – 53:58
• Current round-up – 1:13:14
• Digital Crawl – 1:21:15

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.

You can find For the Glory KC wherever you get your podcasts. Search “For the Glory KC” and be sure to subscribe! Here are some helpful links:

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Be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast. Five-star ratings and reviews will help others find the pod. On Spotify you can review on the mobile app by clicking the three dots. On Apple Podcasts, it’s much easier. If it’s not quite five-star worthy yet, feel free to let us know in the comments or on Twitter (@PlayFor90 or @ForTheGloryKC). Sheena essentially runs our FTGKC BlueSky, so that’s a great way to get her takes. 

You can follow us me on BlueSky (@ChadCSmith). Also, you can find the podcast on other social media platforms: @ForTheGloryKC on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook or you can email us at ForTheGloryKC at Gmail.

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