Sporting KC Has Just One Priority on the Field Going Forward

Three weeks ago, Sporting Kansas City hosted San Diego FC, and they tried something new. They rolled out a 4-4-2 and it showed glimpses. They took one of the best teams in the league to their limit, but ultimately, they came up short. A week later, they tried to tweak the system and for half the game, it looked like it might work. Then in the second half it fell apart.

Last night in Seattle, the wheels absolutely came off in a 5-2 loss on the road against a Seattle Sounders team that was littered with backups and kids.

There are now seven games to go in Sporting KC’s 2025 MLS season, and the team basically needs to win them all to make the playoffs.

That isn’t going to happen.

So, what should Sporting KC fans look forward to for the rest of the year? There are actually a lot of important things that can and should happen. Let’s break them down.

Short-Term Priority: Who Stays?

The question of who will be with Sporting KC in 2026 can take a lot of different paths. Who will be the coach? Who will be the Chief Soccer Officer (CSO)? Will Mike Burns come back? Who will fill out the front office and technical staffs?

But for this question, no matter who fills the rest of those roles, Sporting KC have 17 players they have to make decisions on relatively soon. The season will almost certainly end on October 18th when the Houston Dynamo visit KC. Last year, there was a big gap before MLS made teams officially make those decisions.

Here are the roster and the contract situations:

[table id=42 /]

It was only three games ago when we started to take a closer look at these 17 guys. There were 18 guys at that time, but Dany Rosero is already gone.

In that time, Mason Toye and Zorhan Bassong have made cases to return. Beyond them, not many players have improved their standing. Many guys have actually worsened their odds of returning.

Despite that, there is simply no way this team is signing 17 (or more) new players. Keep in mind, they have five more open roster spots, including all four of their U-22 Initiative spots. There is no way around it that a chunk of these guys will be back.

There are some obvious picks to return (John Pulskamp, Jansen Miller, Zorhan Bassong). But there are plenty of guys that need to make a case in the coming seven games.

The issue with all this is the interim tag for Kerry Zavagnin. The man is coaching for his job. If he takes advice from his prior boss, Peter Vermes, he’ll put the best XI on the field each week with no eye to the future. However, this organization will be better served to figure out who to keep and potentially how this team wants to play in the future.

KZ doesn’t seem to be doing what PV would. He’s made lots of changes and hasn’t been afraid to try things.

The 4-4-2 is an interesting experiment. There are things to like and as the Seattle blowout showed, there are things that absolutely didn’t work. But keep trying things. Try a back three! See if Jake Davis and Bassong can continue to build chemistry in a double pivot. Give Ian James more minutes to see how close he is to being a regular contributor, despite only having 17-years on this Earth.

Maybe try Santi Munoz as a #10 if Manu Garcia is going to continue to be unavailable. I’m dreaming of a back three with Montes, Miller and Voloder (or sneak in James), Davis and Bassong ahead of them, and just chaos ahead of that. Toye has played well next to Joveljic. How about Munoz underneath them and wingbacks for width?

Also, do you want to keep Logan Ndenbe? How about Voloder? Seeing where they fit and if they are worth a bigger budget hit is key in these next few games. They will no longer hit the cap at $200,000, but instead their real salaries will count as their U-22 status goes away.

What I personally don’t want to see is guys we know aren’t going to be around. I don’t see a world where Nemanja Radoja’s $1.39 million salary is back. Or Khiry Shelton’s $750,000. Or Tim Leibold’s $926,050 charge is here (though he played well against Seattle). Or Joaquin Fernandez’s $1m. Sometimes Shelton or Leibold might have to play because no one else is available, but Radoja has no need to step on the field. Same for Fernandez, if he ever gets healthy.

And why not get creative? Is there anyone on Sporting KC II who you want to try out? The club can do four affiliate short-term agreements per player (though they can only appear up to twice). SKC II are having an awful season, but that doesn’t mean an individual player doesn’t deserve a shot.

There is a lot more to figure out off the field. Join us tomorrow when we talk about filling the Chief Soccer Officer spot. (Update: That CSO story is out!)