Sporting KC Want to Add Players “All Over the Place”

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 they locked 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 against Minnesota United, the KC 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. The NYCFC game ended in a 0-0 draw in a game mostly played by the starters. And the backups faced starters in a rough 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 Fontas all showed up to the Super Bowl. MLS also released a ton of new roster rules, expertly explained by SixOneFiveSoccer.com’s Chris Ivey in the thread below on BlueSky.

After an incredible response, it's back for Year #3!!Because I am an attorney and a certified MLS sicko, I have run a comparison of the 2024 and 2025 MLS roster rules.Below is a thread to highlight a few of the changes🧵

— Chris Ivey (@chrisivey.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T15:03:50.178Z

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 played and scored in his second appearance.

⚽🔥 ¡ALAN PULIDO ESTÁ DE REGRESO Y LO HACE CON GOL! 🔴⚪️

Chivas ya lo gana 1-0 ante Tijuana y el tanto lleva la firma de Puligol, quien vuelve a marcar en el Estadio Akron. ¡Qué manera de regresar a casa! 🏟️❤️#PulidoEstáDeVuelta #GolDePulido #Chivas #RebañoSagrado #LigaMX pic.twitter.com/KrNgrIWg9n

— Historia Chivas (@Historia_Chivas) February 10, 2025

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 a quick breakdown of those players, including a few familiar names.

Quick look at the trialists in for preseason for SKCII from what I can find from a quick search ahead of their preseason starting. www.sportingkc.com/news/sportin…

— Mike (@mikedkuhn.bsky.social) 2025-02-03T23:19:24.652Z

Finally, the KC Current had a relatively quiet week, but they did announce two closed door preseason games. First, they’ll play Racing Louisville on February 23rd and the Chicago 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 Menace
• Jack Kortkamp got called up to the US U-17s
• And a ton of big MLS moves, including Cucho Hernandez leaving and Atlanta swinging big

Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):

• More Sporting KC Signings – 8:00
• Two Preseason games for SKC – 18:24
• Random SKC Stories – 36:39
• How should Sporting KC handle youth development/sales – 52:49
• KC Current News – 1:00:53
• Digital 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.

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