Podcasts
Who is Starter Quality of the Sporting KC CBs?
For the Glory KC returns to cover four (!!) Kansas City soccer games and the US Women winning the Gold Medal at the Olympics.
For the Glory KC is back with the 95th episode of the show!
Sporting Kansas City came back down to earth this week with two losses just days apart to get bounced from the Leagues Cup. First, there was a competitive game against Toluca FC that featured a beautiful Stephen Afrifa goal, only to come up short. But SKC won the expected goals (xG) battle and showed some promise.
Then Vermes benched Willy Agada and went back to Alan Pulido and the team had an abysmal 4-0 loss against the Columbus Crew that only had an xG of 0.1 over the 90 minutes. The Crew are really good, but they made Sporting KC look even worse. And perhaps, SKC aided them in that. They kept it close for 44 minutes and then it went completely off the rails.
Columbus Crew: 4 (2.65 xG)
vs
Sporting Kansas City: 0 (0.1 xG)#CLBvSKC | #Crew96 | #SportingKC | #LeaguesCup pic.twitter.com/9ovbjBDZc2— MLS Statistics and Analysis 📊⚽️ (@mlsstat) August 10, 2024
Over the course of these two games, Sheena and I discuss some good news (returning injured players like Logan Ndenbe, Jake Davis and Dany Rosero) and a lot of bad news (Pulido playing the 10, Agada missing so many shots PV thought Pulido was the solution, etc.). In particular, we got to wondering if there is a starting center back among the five on the roster currently.
Right now, the team has Andre Fontas, Robi Voloder, Robert Castellanos, Chris Rindov and Rosero. Of those, the team can literally move on from anyone but Rosero by simply letting their contract expire (Fontas) or not picking up their options (all the rest of them). So, what should they do? That part of the conversation picks up at 39:34 in the podcast.
[Teaser for next week’s pod: With no Sporting KC game, we’re going to look at the whole roster and finally answer a prompt a fan asked us weeks ago about who we’d keep in a world without roster rules.]
The KC Current did what they do and won both of their games this past week. They won their group in the Summer Cup and then won their semifinal matchup against the North Carolina Courage to make it to the finals (which are in October for some reason).
Then we got into the roster movement the Current went through in the last week. Claire Lavogez is gone (though nothing has been officially announced), as is backup goalkeeper Hope Hisey. Then the team brought in a 33-year-old GK in Almuth Schult. What does it mean for AD Franch and Jordan Silkowitz? We give our thoughts.
In the Digital Crawl, we touch on a few topics, including:
- SKC II keep losing
- USMNT eliminated at Olympics
- My interview with Jake Reid
- A Sporting KC signing is coming
- Castellanos pronunciation
- Antoinne Griezmann isn’t coming to KC
- Lots of KC Current stories
Here is a rundown of topics (and approximate start times):
- Sporting KC lose twice – 7:51
- Who is Starter Quality of the SKC Center Backs? – 39:34
- KC Current win two more times – 50:30
- Three KC Current moves – 1:01:32
- USWNT win the Olympics Gold – 1:13:00
- Digital Crawl – 1:30:04
Upcoming Schedule:
- No Sporting KC games until August 24th (Orlando City)
- KC Current vs. Mamelodi Sundowns (Women’s Cup) – Wednesday, August 14th @ 8:00PM CDT
- KC Current vs. either Atletico Madrid or Kobe (depending who wins/loses the first games)
- Saturday, August 17th @ either 5:00PM or 8:00PM
- All games at CPKC Stadium
- SKC II vs. Austin FC II, Sunday, August 18th @ 6:00PM (Rock Chalk Park)
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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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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).
Ike Opara Departs SKC II and the Team has Just Six Players
Sporting KC signs Cielo Tschantret as a Homegrown Player
Vlatko Andonovski steps away from coaching to focus on Global Sporting Director
Jereko Signs Permanent Deal with HB Køge
Opinion: The “Winter” MLS Schedule is the Right Move
Hailie Mace Says Goodbye to Kansas City and the Current
MLS Schedule and Apple TV changes
Vlatko Andonovski steps away from coaching to focus on Global Sporting Director
Opinion: The “Winter” MLS Schedule is the Right Move
I would say replace them all, let every one walk. Only problem, no transfer movement. We’re not even beginning a rebuild.
Agada is the starter. Salloi is a sub. Pulido is just always going to be a bad idea. Try him out at rb or something. Figure it out PV.
I think Rosero is a starting caliber CB. I see him in the mold of Aurelian Collin: merely serviceable when asked to lead the line, sublime when he can go a-hunting. If we could have paired Rosero with a ’19 or ’21 vintage Fontas, that would have been the second coming of Besler-Collin. Get this guy a ball-playing, not oppressively slow like Fontas, cerebral CB partner and let the good times roll.
Voloder has gotten a Lot better this year. If we can keep his money low, he’s a really nice CB3 option. He goes marauding with the ball, which on one hand, is awesome because we occasionally need jolted out of complacency, but on the other hand, he usually does that one too many times on the wrong occasion and leaves himself exposed.
Fontas has had a few good years, one absolutely outstanding year, but now is just a liability.
I heavily sigh when i have to watch a game Castellanos starts, because i know for a fact we arent getting a clean sheet. He just doesnt know where the game is going to be and is never in the right spot to deal with simple situations.
I wish I knew anything at all about Rindov. He’s played 4 minutes in Sporting Blue.
I think Rosero is definitely the best of the bunch and you’re right, we have no idea what he can do next to a competent partner because he’s never had the luxury of being next to a competent partner, but if he did the same stuff then that he does now I’d say he’s also not starter quality.
CBs are the least subbed-off field players in soccer. They need to be able to consistently defend without “what the hell are you doing?!?” mistakes for 90 + minutes. Rosero has not shown that he can do that.
Rosero is the only possibility, but even with him there are too many mistakes for a starter IMO. I can’t remember how many times someone has made the exact runs that Rossi made against us all right, right by Rosero, where he froze up and did nothing. We can blame the 6 or the wingback all we want but as a centerback you’re the last line of defense. You need to be responsible. Ike would never allow a runner to blow through the box unmarked like that. Nor would Collin or Besler. Freakin Olum wouldn’t allow that. Yet it happens to Rosero all the time, no matter who is next to him.
Not to mention his “what the hell are you doing?” moments with the ball at his feet.
I think they need to completely redo the back 6 except for maybe Ndenbe (we’ll see how he is after this injury). At a minimum they need a true #1 GK, two new centerbacks, and a new 6.
This is spot on. I love Tim, but it’s getting to be that time. I think Burki helped Stl look better than they are last year. It would be a waste to get a gk like that without fixing the back line. This also creates an argument to keep Tim at starter. I would like to see Tim stay with the club as a back up. I’m convinced Pulskamp needs minutes to develop. I don’t want to watch him develop at the teams expense.
Rosero is under contract, so he’s a lock for next year. I like that he’s able to score on set pieces. He’s our biggest threat on corners. Liability on defense at times. He’s playing with a sub par partner at all times. He’s got a striker playing rb. Lb has been a rotating nightmare as well. PV has the defense in shambles.
The roster needs to flip. We’re sitting here talking about replacing the backline and gk. Our mids and forwards can pretty much all start applying for new jobs with few exceptions. Defense gives up 2 a game. Offense barely scores one, contributes to goals against routinely.
I know who I would move on from. It doesn’t mean I would be correct. Just a fan.
I agree with others, only Rosero should stay. We know what we get with the other CBs and I’m convinced that SKC can do better. I’d like to see Rosero be the 3rd CB.
This is the second season with the exact same CBs. Shipping goals was the theme of 2023…is anyone actually surprised that SKC is shipping goals again in 2024?
On a totally roster related point, transfer window ends in 2 days and SKC has not made the promised announcement. I have a punch in the arm bet on the team not making a move. Now, I’m torn…I want them to make a move, but I also don’t (my son punches hard) 🙂
After the signing of Joaquin Fernandez are you still sure we can do better?
Fair point. Sigh