One Step Forward and Two Steps Back for Sporting KC

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:

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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 also reach Sheena on BlueSky @iamsheens.

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