Sporting KC and the Leagues Cup is Actually Fun

For the Glory KC is back with the 94th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City are back to their winning ways, even if it is against the lowly Chicago Fire. They thoroughly controlled the game, and despite going down 1-0 early, fought back for a 2-1 victory. Superman made its way into the show twice this week, including Willy’s form on the diving header and a weird discussion about what Peter Vermes has tattooed under his shirt. It was a little For the Glory KC #AfterDark, but the lite version.

The Chicago/Sporting KC game led to discussions about Stephen Afrifa starting to break out, how to pronounce Robert Castellanos (among other things about his goal), Remi Walter (and an over/under on how much he’s discussed), and the four Sporting KC II loanees who are rostered for Leagues Cup.

Sheena and I also had a debate about left back with Logan Ndenbe’s return to the bench and who should still be around between him, Tim Leibold and Zorhan Bassong. He’s also set to actually play against Toluca, per PV postgame.

Rubiel Vazquez from PRO made back-to-back appearances as the center ref and made a few, slightly less impactful, bad calls this week. The Alenis Vargas no-call felt the most shocking due to the sound it made when he hit the end boards.

Not a foul… not a card…

Rubiel Vazquez is on one again. Second straight game as the center ref at CMP.#SportingKC #SKCvCHI pic.twitter.com/AvlAi6AXcO

— KC Soccer Journal (@KCSoccerJournal) July 29, 2024

Marinos Tzionis was also sold this past week and we give our thoughts on his relatively brief stint at Sporting KC.

The KC Current finally return to the podcast with their games and our recording schedule lining up. Breaking news: They are still really good at soccer, even shorthanded. They dominated Pachuca 3-0 and frankly could have scored more if they put their foot on the gas. That’s despite missing Temwa Chawinga and nearly a dozen players total.

And the KC Current surprised us again with another blockbuster trade, this time coming into KC instead of going out. Alana Cook is coming to town from the Seattle Reign.

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including:

• SKC II keep struggling
• The USMNT and USWNT’s Olympic performances
• And Canada cheating in a huge drone scandal

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

• Sporting KC extinguish the Fire – 5:01
• Marinos Tzionis is gone – 38:09
• KC Current win again – 43:00
• Current trade for Alana Cook – 48:43
• Digital Crawl – 52:13

Upcoming Schedule:

• USMNT U-23s vs. Guinea – Tuesday, July 30th @ 12:00pm CDT
• USMNT U-20s vs. Guatemala – Tuesday, July 30th @ 4:06pm (CONCACAF Championship)
• USWNT vs. Australia – Wednesday, July 31st @ 12:00pm
  • Depending how these games play out, both US Olympic teams could play again soon
• KC Current vs. Tigres – Thursday, August 1st @ 7:00pm
• SKC II vs. VWFC 2 – Friday, August 2nd @ 7:00pm 
• Sporting KC vs. Toluca – Monday, August 5th @ 8:00pm

We recently turned on “Listener Support.” Don’t feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we’d appreciate your donation.

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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