For the Glory KC: Just 12 Sporting KC Players Left

For the Glory KC is back with the 151st episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City‘s 2025 MLS season has mercifully come to an end. On a points per game basis, it was the worst season in team history. This past week brought about the biggest series of offseason changes in recent memory. Of the 17 players David Lee and his staff had to decide on, only four are guaranteed to be back in 2026 (with ongoing negotiations with two more). As things stand today, there are just 12 players on the roster.

Sheena and I work our way through all of the Sporting KC players whose options were declined, whose loans were not picked up and who are simply out of contract and not in negotiations to return. There were some names, like Erik Thommy and Logan Ndenbe, that fans took harder than others. All of this should lead to a busy offseason since Lee has room to add up to 18 players to the roster.

Beyond the roster moves and subsequent press conference, Sporting KC made other news around the US Open Cup, the MLS SuperDraft, coaching moves and an international call-up. We even spend a few minutes on the Decision Day snoozer between SKC and the Houston Dynamo and the upcoming MLS offseason schedule.

The KC Current had a pretty terrible week too, primarily because of the injury to Temwa Chawinga. They also happened to lose a meaningless game to the Houston Dash, but that paled in comparison to the injury news. There was some positive news around the Current with numerous international call-ups and the expansion of their Academy setup.

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

• KC Comets news
• The United States are bidding to co-host the 2031 Women’s World Cup
• Lots of USMNT/USWNT results and news
• and a big overall of Men’s College soccer

Here is a rundown of topics and start times:

• Sporting KC are down to just 12 players after cuts – 7:31
• David Lee gives insight into the next couple months – 56:23
• SKC Round-up (including US Open Cup & finale results) – 1:14:15
• MLS and SKC Offseason Schedule – 1:32:55
• Bad news for the KC Current – 1:37:33
• Digital Crawl – 1:50:49

Upcoming Games

• USWNT vs. Portugal, Sun. Oct 26th at 3:00PM CT
• USWNT U17s vs. Netherlands, Mon. Oct 27th 
  • If they win, they’ll play on Nov 2nd against the Spain/France winner
• USWNT vs. New Zealand, Wed. Oct 29th at 7:00PM (CPKC Stadium)
• KC Current vs. San Diego Wave, Sun. Nov 2nd at 2:00PM
• USMNT U17s vs. Burkina Faso (Western Africa), Tues. Nov 4th at 11:00PM
• USMNT U17s vs. Tajikistan, Fri, Nov 7th at 11:00PM
• USMNT U17s vs. Czech Republic, Mon, Nov 10th at 11:00PM

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:

Spotify | Apple | Amazon | iHeartRadio | Castbox |

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 follow us me on BlueSky (@ChadCSmith). Also, you can find the podcast on other social media platforms: @ForTheGloryKC on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook or you can email us at ForTheGloryKC at Gmail.

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