Comfortable Wins and Offside Shenanigans

For the Glory KC is back with the 78th episode of the show!

This week, we have a very special episode with not one, not two, but three hosts! I’m joined by some familiar names to those of you that read the KC Soccer Journal. Juan Cisneros and Xander Kennedy make their For the Glory KC debuts! Don’t worry, Sheena will be back, but we just closed out an eight-day road trip with a seven-and-a-half-hour drive and only one of us was a soccer sicko enough to immediately make a podcast.

We start the show with some Sporting Kansas City love as they picked up a huge three points on the road against Toronto FC. Sporting KC managed to pull off the win without the injured Alan Pulido (not to mention Johnny Russell and Andreu Fontas). It begs the question, is that a good or bad thing? Xander, Juan and I break down the lack of production from the forward line, but the goals still coming in elsewhere.

We also get into the bangers scored by Remi Walter and Jake Davis, as well as the highly repeatable Alenis Vargas goal if Peter Vermes sticks with trusting his young and pacey backups. Plus, we can’t avoid the goal at the death from Toronto, which was apparently over a half of a foot offside.

The @TorontoFC consolation goal vs @SportingKC at 90+7 seemed to be offside by about half a foot. pic.twitter.com/o4Tx3WQ8SZ

— SoccerPhotogrammetry AKA "A Nice Gentleman" (@OffsideModeling) March 31, 2024

In addition to all the goals scored, we dash around to various other topics including Memo Rodriguez stepping up his game, Sporting KC’s propensity to shoot from distance, the return of Felipe Hernandez, Robert Voloder continuing to start and the return of the refs as PRO and the PSRA reached a new CBA.

Before we fully move off of Sporting KC, we have to talk about Roger Espinoza returning for at least one game and it won’t be too far from Kansas City. He will be joining the Des Moines Menace this Wednesday in the US Open Cup as they take on Union Omaha (in Nebraska). Which begs the question, who else should join Des Moines (or any other team) to try to make a cup run?

The KC Current continued their strong form as well as they climbed to the top of the table off their third straight win. There were goals scored by Vanessa DiBernardo, Alexa Spaanstra, Temwa Chawinga and Bia, but it feels like they could have scored so many more. We also get into the level of their competition through the first three weeks and of course, the set piece defending. Plus, does the NWSL have a VAR problem? We’ve got some thoughts! (Update: Xander had so many more KC Current thoughts we couldn’t fit into the episode, he wrote a story about it.)

In the Digital Crawl, we touch on the following topics:

• Kei Kamara to LAFC
• International call-ups for the KC Current
• International club soccer coming to CPKC Stadium
• USMNT over Mexico in the Nations League
• And the Messi/Arrowhead update

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

• Meet the Guest Hosts – 1:38
• Sporting KC win on the road! – 4:47
• Are these SKC goals sustainable? – 15:59
• Repeatable goals, Sporting KC youth and Toronto’s offside goal – 23:00
• Roger Espinoza and the Des Moines Menace – 43:42
• KC Current win at home (again)! – 55:27
• Digital Crawl – 1:16:15

Upcoming Schedule:

• The KC Current have TWO weeks off
• Inter Miami vs. CF Monterrey (CCC) – Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:00 PM CST
• Des Moines Menace @ Union Omaha (US Open) – Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:30 PM
• USWNT vs Japan – Saturday, April 6th at 11:30 AM
  • Final and 3rd place SheBelieves Cup games the following Tuesday against either Brazil or Canada
• Sporting KC vs. Portland Timbers – Sunday, April 7th at 12:30 PM

Spotify took away our ads, so we turned on “Listener Support.” Don’t feel obligated, but if you have a few spare bucks and are a fan of the pod, we’d appreciate your donation.

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. Just search “For the Glory KC” and be sure to subscribe! Here are some helpful links:

Spotify | Apple | Amazon | iHeartRadio | Castbox | Rephonic

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 FTG Twitter, so that’s a great way to get her takes.

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