Projecting Sporting KC’s Opening Day Lineup

Update 2/19 at 7:16PM: Who the heck knows what that lineup will be now with the sudden departure of Daniel Salloisudden departure of Daniel Salloi. The article below remains unchanged, but unless they plan to start their newly acquired forward, it’s not clear anyone can fill that roll.

The 31st Major League Soccer season is set to kick off this week, and Sporting Kansas City will be looking to bounce back from one of the worst seasons in franchise history. To do that, they’ve brought in a new head of their front office, President of Soccer Operations, David Lee. A new manager in Raphael Wicky and a few new players.

The offseason has been well documented in its (failed) attempts to add to the roster that was heavily turned over last offseason. With the announcement of new midfielder Lasse Berg Johnsen today, the team is up to 21 players but are likely short quite a few starting caliber guys.

With that, it’s a tough exercise to know where everyone is going to lineup. In our earliest projected depth chart, because Wicky hadn’t really taken the reins yet, we went with a 4-3-3. However, if you watched the last three preseason games, Wicky has something else in mind.

But don’t tell MLS, who keep firing their writers so maybe these are just AI generated attempts at setting a lineup. (The link on that Tweet doesn’t even go to the SKC preview, it goes to Charlotte’s).

So, with that likely incorrect prediction out of the way, let’s take a shot at what Sporting KC may look like on matchday one against the San Jose Earthquakes.

What Formation?

Wicky and Lee have both been big on saying they are more concerned about principles than formations. And what a formation looks like defensively versus offensively, can be very different. Look no further than Peter Vermes’ 4-3-3 in defense. It often morphed with fullbacks pushing extremely high and left little help for a counterattack.

There are certainly elements of that in Wicky’s 4-4-2 he’s rolled out the last three preseason games. But the fullbacks aren’t just going high, they are tucking inside too (depending on who is playing fullback at that moment). For the purpose of a graphic, we’re going to call it a 4-4-2, but know that’s far from static.

If preseason is to be believed, and it did lead to back-to-back wins to close out the Coachella Valley Invitational, the formation will look something like this. Now the players in those roles are up for debate. Could Shapi Suleymanov start over Stephen Afrifa? Definitely. Justin Reynolds could be in at right back over Jake Davis. Wyatt Meyer may even start at center back and push Ian James to the RCB spot. Even Stefan Cleveland got a start over Pulskamp in preseason at one point.

Long-term, new signing Berg Johnsen should lineup next to Manu Garcia if they stick with this format. Then again, Wicky may just be using this lineup because it’s the best he can put on the field with the personnel he has. As more players sign, things will likely be in flux. Gone are the days where Sporting KC fans can expect the same formation game after game. Wicky is a different type of coach.

Saturday will give us our first chance to see how this unfinished Sporting KC roster build can fare against an Earthquakes team that have lost a lot of talent as well.