Podcasts
One Step Forward and Two Steps Back for Sporting KC
Sporting KC returned to their losing ways against the Portland Timbers but the KC Current are here to lift us up again!
For the Glory KC is back with the 128th episode of the show!
Sporting Kansas City returned to their struggling ways, at least in terms of results. If Twitter were the judge, ‘fire everyone, cut the whole team,’ would be the mantra after the lost to the Portland Timbers. But it’s less than two weeks into Kerry Zavagnin being the coach and there was absolutely promise (at least on offence) in the second game under his leadership.
Sheena and I work through the highs and lows from the game. The team showed good fight when they made two comebacks, but their third attempt didn’t come off.
They’ll have to work on not falling behind. One reason they fell behind was all the defensive lapses. Jansen Miller actively asked to speak with the media and owned the team’s failings. It was a big character moment for him on the heels of a really poor game for the defense. We also ask the question of if Miller deserved the own goal that was scored to him since Portland appeared to poke the ball into the net.
The fourth goal is currently being scored as an own goal against Miller, but it looks like the Portland #Timbers player gets a shin to it. #SportingKC #SKCvPOR
— KC Soccer Journal (@kcsoccerjournal.bsky.social) 2025-04-13T20:20:02.019Z
Zavagnin also asked that the focus be on him for the team coming out flat.
In addition to that, we talked through some of the interesting refereeing decisions that kept it 11v11 for the whole 90 minutes. We debated who should take PKs after Dejan Joveljic made one and missed one and who should be the captain of this team since leadership isn’t jumping out at anyone during these poor performances.
Then we turn our attention to some fantastic reporting by Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. McDowell sat down with manager co-owner Mike Illig, and we got a lot more information about Peter Vermes losing his job, some of the factors that went into it, what he’s looking for in his next coach (and maybe Chief Soccer Officer) and a whole lot more. I highly encourage you to read Sam’s work.
Finally, the KC Current just kept doing what they do. They pulled off a convincing 2-0 win over the San Diego Wave on the back of goals by Debinha and Lo LaBonta. Temwa’s goal scoring streak ended at eight games (again) and she won’t break her own record quite yet.
Plus, Vlatko Andonovski addressed the Sporting KC coaching rumor.
In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few more topics, including:
- USWNT 2-1 loss to Brazil
- USMNT Gold Cup draw
- Olympic Soccer changes for 2028
Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):
- Sporting KC lose a wild one – 6:04
- Illig talks to the KC Star – 42:58
- SKC Round-Up – 59:23
- KC Current remain perfect – 1:03:42
- Digital Crawl – 1:15:28
Upcoming Games
- KC Current vs. Houston Dash, Sat. April 19th at 6:30PM CDT
- Sporting KC @ San Jose Earthquakes, Sat. April 19th at 9:30PM
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:
Spotify | Apple | Amazon | iHeartRadio | Castbox |
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 also reach Sheena on BlueSky @iamsheens.
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.
Transcript from Revoldiv available after about 24 hours. Click the link, then search “For the Glory KC” for a free transcription (or you can transcribe any podcast you’d like).
Across State Lines: Duke Signs with Louisville
Midfielder Dru Yearwood on Trial with Sporting KC
Juice Boxes and Post Game Stats: Sporting Fall to Portland
One Step Forward and Two Steps Back for Sporting KC
Juice Boxes and Post Game Stats: LaBonta Makes 100th Appearance for KC
Hints abound: What different under Zavagnin for Sporting Kansas City?
Sporting Kansas City vs Portland Timbers: Match Preview and Predictions
Sporting KC Make Multiple Comebacks Before Falling to Portland
KC Current at San Diego Wave: Match Preview
I appreciate Sam’s reporting but I just don’t believe anything that Mike Illig says. According to every analytical report I’ve seen we’re in the bottom 5 of the league in spending and market value for the squad. Obviously some of the market value is impacted by the poor performances – why would a guy not performing week in week out on a team that is sucking continue to have a high market value after all – but the spending is not.
Illig basically says that Vermes didn’t ask them for more budget and that he and Bliss chose to put together a cheap squad. Everyone else in the organization says the opposite. Considering all the evidence I believe everyone else.
I think the first time Illig though about replacing Vermes was when Vermes outed him, and the rest of the owners, for hamstringing the coaching staff and front office staff by being cheap. I think Illig only fired Vermes because he though it would get more people in the seats which would get them more ROI on players. I think that they put out a 3 window timeframe because that is the only amount of time Illig and co are willing to spend money. I think after that 3 windows we’ll go back to being one of the cheapest teams in the league if the Illigs are still the principal owners.
I’m really not interested in Palace intrigue. It was obvious did not come out in the same mental state as they were in the first half. They got rattled with the two quick goals and came apart. That is not unexpected.
Yes, I’m the same Vermes hater everyone loves to votes down. I want everyone to stop and think for a minute or two. Who was the manager longer PV or KZ? That one is obvious. The next thing to think about is how long has KZ had to condition the team to play his game?
As others have said and I agree, when the team went down two goals they reverted to the conditioning they received from PV. They played the way that they were trained to do by the previous manager and it failed just like it always has. This is the same team that hadn’t won a match since 2024 before last Saturday. KZ needs more time to re-engineer the team in his way of play. We saw his way of play in the first half with a draw. The second half we saw a team that got rattled and went back to playing the way they used to. Once that happened there was no way for KZ to get them back on track. They will do that this week in training. They stopped believing in KZ and played PV.
There is a reason why the Cauldron and the South Stands finally wrote their letter to the team. Change was needed. Change takes time. SKC has proven they can win under KZ. They needed this humiliation to get their minds back into the game. I’m sure there will be a lot of focus on staying mentally in the game with the way KZ wants the game played. He is not PV and I like the way he is going. It took years for the play to get so bad that the letter was written, so it will take longer than two weeks to change the muscle memory and mental fitness to play KZ’s game.
We need to stay strong in KZ, SKC will punch above their budget.
FTFY:
Not a high bar to clear, unfortunately for anyone seeking hope.
Still not on spotify. 🙁
What do you mean? They are literally my host. There is a Spotify link in the article, and it loads up for me. The embedded play button at the top is Spotify too. I also just pulled up my app on my phone and it’s there.
Hey Chad! It was my fault, app wasn’t updated, apologize for the confusion.