Podcasts
Sporting KC Mailbag, Austin FC, Messi to MLS and more!
Messi is coming to MLS. But this is a Sporting KC site, so let’s talk a lot of Sporting, and a little Messi too. Plus, KC Current fails.
For the Glory KC is back with the 38th episode of the show!
On this week’s episode, Sporting Kansas City pound out another victory, this time over Austin FC by the tune of 4-1. We talk about our favorite moments from the match, some locker room exclusives and post-match presser gems from Peter Vermes and others.
Gianluca Busio was in the locker room and very jealous of this belt.
Salloi said something to the effect of Busio will just have to come back so he can earn one for himself. #SportingKC https://t.co/h6riI4PjG5
— Chad Smith (@PlayFor90) June 11, 2023
We didn’t get deep into the recent Sporting KC trade, though I wanted to go into the MLS roster rules weeds (being short on time saved you all of this). If you are still interested, I wrote an article about it:
Instead, we made time for many mailbag questions, including: if we could have any MLS player in the league on SKC, who would we sign? Will John Pulskamp ever start over Kendall McIntosh again? And what is Sporting KC’s ceiling? Can they win the West? The entire league?
Then, we absolutely had to talk about Lionel Messi. He’s coming to Inter Miami and MLS and there is so much to unpack and understand.
Finally, the Kansas City Current falter again and it has to be discussed. This time against the OL Reign. I have some thoughts on what is wrong with this team, and it might not be something anyone wants to hear.
Here is a quick rundown of topics (and approximate start times):
-
- Sporting KC Win Again – 2:55
- Peter Vermes Quotes – 24:07
- Injuries (All of them, and Fontas and Rosero specifically)
- Shelton at right back
- Ronaldo and Kansas City’s connection to him
- Mailbag – 37:12
- If we could have any MLS player, who would it be?
- Will Pulskamp ever start over McIntosh again?
- What is Sporting KC’s ceiling? Can they win the West?
- Sunflower State FC love
- Messi to MLS/Miami – 54:22
- Plus, a bonus mailbag question
- KC Current Keep Losing – 1:07:08
- Digital Crawl – 1:11:50
As mentioned in the Digital Crawl, Marinos Tzionis is getting called up by Cyprus and may miss the next two MLS games.
Been a busy last couple of days, hadn't been looking for it, but Cyprus DID call up Marinos Tzionis for their Euro qualifiers against Georgia and Norway. He'll miss next week's game vs LAFC & probably the game on the 21st vs the Galaxy. #SportingKC https://t.co/TZtAwrPB9m
— Mike (@downthebyline) June 11, 2023
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The temporary intro/outro music is by Kristian Leo and is from the song “Ride it Like You Mean It.”
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I have to agree with your thoughts, Chad, about the Current. At least on paper, this team’s strength would be in the attack, and yet (as you mentioned) they seem unable or unwilling to fully lean into that.
As for Debinha, watching this match I kept wanting her to be the one to actually take the shots. You listed all her not good passing-type statistics, but one thing we know for certain about her is that she has a hell of a shot. And yet she consistently was laying the ball off to others, particularly DiBernardo. It’s not that these are bad plays, and DiBernardo did get her laces through a couple of strikes, but she did not find the back of the net. Could Debinha have taken one of those chances for herself?
We watch the Current matches as a family and my 11-year-old daughter has gotten so frustrated with Miller’s distribution. It’s become a running joke that when she’s sending the ball out, our defense needs to get ready. Where is the buildup play? Where are the midfielders connecting balls from the back to the team’s attacking options? The Reign’s two goals weren’t really on Miller, but she also tried to giftwrap a pair of opportunities (first sending a goal kick directly to Seattle and second coming out of the box and allowing Bennett to get around her). Franch hasn’t been great this season, but it’s not like Miller has been flawless. I really don’t know what the answer is.
Certainly comparisons between Sporting and the Current aren’t necessarily seamless, but it’s interesting to note that on the men’s side they just pounded Austin while (presumably) their entire “starting” defense was out injured: Melia, Zusi, Fontas, Rosero, & Ndenbe. Meanwhile, on the women’s side, what defenders are they waiting to get back? Glas? Loera? And yet they’re leaking goals at a pace of 2 per match over the past month and a half. Not good.
Well said. I didn’t hate the passes to DiBernardo, but you make a good point.
Now I have to ask, how do I get my 11-year-old daughter to watch soccer? She rarely will sit down and watch with me.
As for Miller, she has had some shaky distribution, but I’d argue what we’ve seen of Franch has been worse. But either way, there is a lot left to be desired.
As for the passing, I wonder if it’s the back five. When you have five players consistently playing that deep, there aren’t playing to make the nice passing triangles it would seem. You’ll see at times when they are in a proper back three, the middle CB (Soto recently) almost plays like a d-mid. However, Soto (nor any of the others) seem to have strong passing skills. Robinson has probably been the best of the girls we’ve seen. Ball has never been a strong passer to my eye. I’d be interested in Loera at that spot, but then that takes out her ability to be a “wide” CB that gets up the field. I suspect Ball will play there, but the benefit won’t be her passing, but her athletic cover to release either CB to her side to get forward. Robinson has done that well. If Loera was on the other side, that’d be a weapon that would cover more for having three in the back.
All this formation talk though, you can see how a back four benefits the ability to open passing lanes. Maybe it’s all the years of the 4-3-3 (or a league heavy in the 4-2-3-1), but there are ways to create more of an attacking flow. Right now, it seems to be they are defending at the cost of their attack.
The timing of Tzionis going to Cyprus couldn’t be worse. He looks like he’s inching toward turning the razzle dazzle into production to me and now he’s going to go and lose that continuity. Not to mention JFR’s injury.
Agreed. Shelton? Afrifa? Duke? I don’t see any of them handling it well.
I’d be interested in Thommy or Kinda playing wide though. That could be interesting. I know Thommy can do wide left. I don’t know if Kinda has it in his toolbox. And Afrifa seems like a CF to me. Plus, we know what Shelton offers.
Something other than just Shelton would be my preference. But maybe he’s confident now…….