Emergency Pod: Wicky Fired & SKC Roster Moves

For the Glory KC is back with the 204th episode of the show!

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It’s a midweek podcast, so you know what that means – Emergency Pod!

Sporting Kansas City made waves multiple times this week. First, on Monday they dropped the axe and fired head coach Raphael Wicky after just 10 months on the job. Was it too soon? Not soon enough? What comes next on the Sporting KC sideline? Sheena and I work through our thoughts on the move.

Sadly, when someone loses their job, there are others that get taken down with them. Assistants Edu Rubio and Ash Wallace are also without jobs. And kitman, Mike Flaherty is also leaving Sporting KC.

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The team made slightly smaller waves today when they also announced their post-season roster moves. Out are John Pulskamp, Stephen Afrifa, Ethan Bartlow and Shapi Suleymanov. The team picked up options of varying lengths for Jansen Miller, Justin Reynolds, Wyatt Meyer and Jayden Reid. Goalkeeper Ryan Schewe remains in limbo while he’s on loan.

We analyze what is surprising and what was expected from these moves and why so many defenders from a team that allowed a league-record 81 goals are still on the roster.

There was also other Sporting KC news around the SKC II roster, team awards announcements, no Leagues Cup for SKC in 2027 and Zorhan Bassong heading to international duty with Canada. The MLS offseason calendar has a bit of a gap until the next moment, but David Lee is addressing the media Wednesday, so that’ll likely give us a lot more news around the coach and roster.

The Kansas City Current were mostly absent from the show, besides the news of their playoff game being finalized against Gotham, but we’ll be back next time to talk about them hopefully going to the NWSL Championship!

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

• The MLS coaching carousel
• and CF Montreal possibly relocating and definitely being for sale

Here is a rundown of sections and start times:

• Intro – 0:00
• Sporting KC – 1:42
• KC Current – Next time!
• Digital Crawl – 1:09:13

Upcoming Games

• UMKC Roos vs. St. Thomas, WED, Nov 11th at 6:00PM CT (Finals on the weekend)
• KC Current @ Gotham, SUN, Nov 15th at 2:00PM
• USMNT vs Haiti (Nations League)
  • Road: SAT, Nov 14th at 3:30PM
  • Home: TUE, Nov 17th at 6:00PM
• Youth USA National Team Games:
  • US U-20s vs. Japan (Ruben Ramos Jr.), THUR at 7PM (YouTube)
  • US U-17s vs Canada (Sam Worcester), SAT at 10AM (FIFA+)
  • US U-19s vs. Jordan (Jack Kortkamp), SAT at 7AM
  • US U-20s vs. Colombia (Ruben Ramos Jr.), SAT at 6PM (YouTube)
• Zorhan Bassong (Canada) vs. Guatemala – Nations League, FRI at 8PM
• MLS International Break before the Playoffs

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled.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:

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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.