Reactions to Sporting KC’s Roster Moves; Feilhaber Moving on from SKC II

For the Glory KC is back with the 107th episode of the show.

The week of the offseason we’ve been waiting for and simultaneously dreading has arrived. Sporting Kansas City announced their roster moves, including moving on from eight players. And it sounds like they wanted to move on from more.

Burns: "We had 11 guys that were under contract… if we had the ability to make more changes, we probably would have." #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/TOUvNKr91Z

— KC Soccer Journal (@KCSoccerJournal) November 18, 2024

Due to an emergency, Sheena missed her second straight podcast (it’s a really good reason, find it in your heart to forgive). In her stead we brought on not one, but two extra co-hosts: KC Soccer Journal staff writers Juan Cisneros and Josh Wallace.

Due to their intricate knowledge of all things Sporting KC, the podcast lost a bit of its casual perspective, and we went much deeper. Discussing the departures, along with the players that stayed, and if we agreed with them or not. Juan had a hot take on Memo Rodriguez that Josh and I roundly rebuffed.

We also got into who should be the captain of the team with Johnny Russell gone and where the future of the goalkeeper position lies with Tim Melia also out the door.

We couldn’t talk about so many players leaving without reliving our favorite memories of Russell, Melia and Remi Walter, including legendary penalty kick shootouts, Melia dropping a Rock Bottom on Cristian Roldan, Russell nearly fighting all of the Vancouver Whitecaps and Remi scoring bangers.

A part of Sporting KC announcing all these moves was new Sporting Director, Mike Burns, talking to the media for a better part of half an hour. If you missed it, Burns hit on a lot of topics, that we discussed as well, including:

• The candid response on the guys still on the roster
• Insight on Benny Feilhaber parting from SKC II
• The way SKC will build their roster, including a new U-22 approach
• Building out the staff with an Assistant Sporting Director, more scouts, technical and analytic staff

We also spun back in time to talk about Sporting KC II’s roster moves from last week, which leaves the team with just four players under contract for 2025. Plus, the other guys we wouldn’t mind see coming back that are out of contract (Sebastian Cruz and Ethan Bryant among others).

Then we had to talk about the tough KC Current loss that sees their season come up just short of playing in the NWSL title game. We talk through whether we are rooting for or against the Orlando Pride and Marta. Plus, set things up for a 2025 title run in the NWSL.

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

• The USMNT win over Jamaica
• UMKC winning the Summit League
• and NJ/NY Gotham building a massive new training facility

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

• Sporting KC announce their roster moves – 2:35
• Mike Burns talked to the Media about those moves and more – 59:30
• SKC II also have moves, including their coach – 1:19:59
• KC Current Season comes to a painful end – 1:31:00
• Digital Crawl – 1:40:08

Upcoming Schedule:

• USMNT vs. Jamaica (2nd Leg, Nations League) – Monday, Nov. 18th @ 7:00PM
• NWSL Championship: Washington Spirit vs Orlando Pride – Saturday, Nov. 23rd @ 7:00PM (in KC)

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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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