For the Glory KC – Details, episodes & analysis

For the Glory KC is back with the 113th episode of the show and the first one of Season Four!

Sporting Kansas City lead off the show, as is almost always the case. Just like the last episode two weeks ago, there are no signings but there is actually news.

The biggest of the stories broke today with the rumor that Alan Pulido may be departing Sporting KC to head back to Chivas in Liga MX. There are now three separate sources saying Pulido is leaving for Mexico, with the latest pegging the transfer fee (yes, they are paying for him) at $1.5 million. It may seem like a fleecing of SKC, who paid a reported $6 million after the 2019 season, but considering I think most fans just want Pulido's salary off the books, making $1.5m in the process would be wild.

Sheena and I get our hopes up about a potential move and discuss the ramification of him leaving (if it were to happen). What it means for the team's roster flexibility. Where we'd like a new Designated Player to be signed. If Agada can be the starting center forward if Alan isn't around. Plus, a slew of other topics with a random reading of a Remi Walter farewell post snuck into the middle as we scoured the web live during the podcast looking for more Pulido news.

The Pulido conversation nicely transitioned into the title of this week's podcast. Counting Pulido, SKC have just 20 players signed for 2025 of a possible 30. They'll surely leave a few spots open, but they are missing about one-third of their roster. They are down Johnny Russell, Tim Melia, Walter and others and the question has to be asked, "is it time to panic?"

For some context, here are the month and day of several of the higher priced signings over the last few seasons:

• Radoja: 10/26
• Pulido: 12/10
• Walter: 12/22
• Leibold: 1/12
• Ilie: 1/13
• Ndenbe: 1/14
• Voloder: 1/19
• Kinda: 1/23
• Russell: 1/31
• Rosero: 3/2

Contrast that with the season starting earlier than ever, not to mention the Inter Miami CCC game on February 18th, and there is some concern. Pushing back against the concern slightly is the transfer windows in many European and South American countries just opened which could make teams more willing to sell since they can go out and find replacement players.

Beyond the roster discussion, we get into the leaked Sporting KC jersey (images here), SKC moving on from assistant coach Zoran Savic, Andreu Fontas possibly retiring and some choice Russell quotes from a recent podcast appearance.

The KC Current were a bit quieter, which is weird to say, considering they actually made a signing. They brought in 27-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper, Lorena, as we said they would on the last pod. Plus, the NWSL outlined their schedule for 2025, including March 14th as the first league game.

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

• Ilie signs in Austin
• Nicole Barnhart retires
• KC Comets All-Stars
• Ethan Bryant finds a new home
• Denver is the 16th NWSL team
• and more!

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

• Is Pulido being sold? - 4:32
• Should we panic about the Sporting KC roster build? - 26:18
• 2025 SKC Jersey Leak - 43:50
• Fontas, Russell, Savic and Preseason Changes - 48:02
• KC Current and NWSL Schedule News - 1:03:52
• Digital Crawl - 1:09:36

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.

For the Glory KC is back with the 112th episode of the show.

While there weren't any signings (don't worry, we address that too), Sporting Kansas City did have a fairly big week. The 2025 MLS schedule came out, Sporting KC had a rumored signing, they drafted three players and announced a section of preseason is open to the public with a couple games that you can actually go watch.

On the schedule front, Sporting KC open their season on the road against Austin FC before returning home to face the San Jose Earthquakes on March 1st (good to catch them before Bruce Arena rights that ship). The Quakes game will actually be their fourth game in all competitions when they play four times in 12 days with two Inter Miami games sandwiched around the Austin game for CONCACAF Champions Cup competition.

While that's a tough schedule, it's not nearly as bad as the month of May. Sporting KC play seven times in May, including two stretches of three games in eight days. It's by far their busiest month of the season, pending US Open Cup involvement. One of those stretches is three straight road games, a trip to Portland, a trip to St. Louis and then back to the west coast to face San Diego FC for the first time in Cali. The schedule makers clearly hate KC. Honestly, it's probably just incompetence.

Sheena and I weigh in with our best road trips for our family and yours. Sheena had a top trip, but then a bunch of reasons to basically go see any other team in the league. I was a little narrower in my focus. What we could both agree on, was that going to the first game at an opponent's stadium is always exciting. There is one chance to do that this year, San Diego FC. They topped both lists, with a few other key games standing out for us too. The game we are likely making our annual road trip to a new stadium to is the Houston Dynamo (I guess).

Then we get into the Geronimo Rivera rumor, those preseason details and the three SuperDraft picks.

Finally, we turn our attention to a team making actual roster moves. The KC Current made two more signings with a third on the way. The team traded for midfielder Rocky Rodriguez and signed free agent Laurel Ivory. On top of that, our own Thad Bell confirmed Brazilian National Team goalkeeper Lorena will be announced soon.

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

• SKC U-13s success
• Netflix is the home of the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups
• Former KC Current players on the move
• Becky Sauerbrunn retired
• NWSL Expansion

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

• Sporting KC get their 2025 Schedule - 5:56
• Another SKC Rumor: Geronimo Rivera - 42:15
• Some of SKC’s preseason is open to the public - 50:33
• Three new Sporting KC Draft Picks - 56:26
• KC Current keep making moves - 1:10:34
• Digital Crawl - 1:19:01

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.

S3E38 - For the Glory KC is back with the 103rd episode of the show. 

After a week off, the podcast returns. Sporting Kansas City also had a week off, and now we know the offseason schedule, so the urgency to do our fantasy Sporting Director episode has waned for a week. It'll make a great topic for next week.

This week though, we briefly talk about the action on the field in the season finale. Sporting KC lost 2-1 to FC Dallas, but technically outscored them if you count that Joaquin Fernandez own goal.

The more interesting topic of conversation was the lineup, but more so, who wasn't available and why. Suddenly added to the injury report were Jake Davis, Johnny Russell and Remi Walter. Also out were Andreu Fontas, Khiry Shelton and the known surgery to Dany Rosero. It could have been the absolute last chance to see a handful of those guys. Oh, and Tim Leibold played right back. That was something.

After the game, Sheena and I reflect on the season. Technically it's the second worst record ever, but there are more games now, so the points may be inflated. Was it actually the worst season ever? We also gave our takes on the Sporting KC Pitch Black award winners, and we only took umbrage with one category: Newcomer of the Year. Memo Rodriguez was snubbed, and we have the stats to back it up.

Things were happier on the Missouri side of soccer as the KC Current just keep winning. Two more wins for the ladies, but they still linger in fourth place as the Washington Spirit and Gotham refuse to drop a single point. In the last nine days, the Current have defeated expansion Bay FC and the San Diego Wave and Temwa Chawinga has just kept shattering records. We have some funny press conference stories, and of course, cover the retirement of Desiree Scott.

Since Sporting KC are done, we also circled back to the MLS Cup Playoffs and our retired segment, the Messi Update. Inter Miami set the single season points record, and Messi led the league in goal contributions, despite missing significant time. Atlanta United snuck into the playoffs (shades of SKC in 2023) and Sheena will not be watching the 18-team playoff.

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

• KC Current's international call-ups for Mace, Ballisager, Prince and Magaia
• A Bia Zaneratto injury update
• SKC U-15 call-ups and a Benny Feilhaber stat
• The KC Comets schedule is out!
• A couple USMNT games
• U-17 Women's World Cup
• Chicago Fire's stadium plans
• What the heck is a BOS Nation?

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

• Sporting KC lose again - 5:56
• What do the next few months look like for SKC? - 23:15
• KC Current win two more - 51:17
• Catching up on MLS - 1:01:40
• Digital Crawl - 1:06:48

Upcoming Schedule:

• USWNT vs. Iceland - Thursday, Oct. 24th at 6:30PM CDT
• KC Current vs. Gotham - Friday, Oct 25th at 7:00PM (Summer Cup Final)
• USWNT vs. Iceland - Sunday, Oct. 27th at 4:30PM
• Sporting KC and SKC II seasons are over...

We recently 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.

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.

S2E6 - Chad and Sheena have a lot of Sporting Kansas City and KC Current news to get to, including SKC being worth $590 million according to Forbes, a few players making their "debuts" at preseason in Arizona and a few arrivals and departures for both clubs. 

Here is a rundown of the show's main topics:

• Pulido and Leibold - 5:35
• SKC Preseason action - 18:44
• Vermes talks adding a CB - 14:00
• PV on extending his contract and the USMNT job - 28:00
• MLS Team values - 30:40
• Multiple KC Current roster moves - 39:37
• Digital Crawl - 49:37

S2E5 - On this week’s episode Sheena and I discuss Sporting Kansas City, the KC Current and Kortne Ford gets his own segment (for all the times that Sheena has forgotten he was on the team, she felt guilty). Additionally, the National Women’s Soccer League is adding three expansion teams, so we weight in on the cities and who else should get a team. And of course, the Digital Crawl y’all!

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

• More on that CB rumor for Sporting KC - 3:50
• Sporting KC win a preseason game - 12:34
• A bio on Kortne Ford - 24:35
• KC Current start preseason and given a roster update - 35:37
• NWSL Expansion - 41:28
• Digital Crawl - 53:18

Chad and Sheena are back discussing a busy week for Sporting Kansas City and a little KC Current news too. Sporting KC made a trade, cut a player, had another center back rumor bubble up and played their first preseason game against the Portland Timbers. Also, the early 2023 MLS Cup odds are trickling out and SKC are getting NO RESPECT! They are huge underdogs to win it all. 

S2E3 - Sporting Kansas City and the KC Current had another busy week. SKC made two signings, Peter Vermes dropped a lot of knowledge that we'll catch you up on and the Current made a huge trade and added eight (!) draft picks in the 2023 NWSL Draft.

• Tim Leibold Signing - 4:55
• Danny Flores Signing - 16:15
• Lots of updates from Peter Vermes - 21:40
• Lynn Williams trade, the draft and more - 31:00
• The Digital Crawl - 44:00

(Originally Published: January 19, 2023)

With the potential collapse of TheBlueTestament.com and SB Nation dropping their support, For the Glory KC has moved off network to be independent coverage of all things Kansas City soccer. 

S2E2 - Preseason started, and it's a busy week on the rumor mill. We catch up on all the quotes and news from preseason and try to make sense of all the guys that are rumored to be coming to the first team (and one to the second). We also talk through all the moves the KC Current made with the signing of Debinha, then the trade of Elyse Bennett, and other Current news. Plus, Cindy Lara from The Tea(l) joins the show to build out the roster with Chad for how the team should line up and how all this talent gets on the field together.

• Sporting KC Preseason
• Multiple transfer rumors
• All that KC Current news
• KC Current Roster breakdown with Cindy Lara of The Tea(l) podcast

(Originally Published: January 12, 2023)

S2E1 - New year, new season!

This week we discuss how Sporting Kansas City can fit Cristiano Ronaldo into their budget (or any Designated Player for that matter). Even though he's not coming, another DP could be with a big European star having mutual interest from SKC. Plus, all this crazy controversy surrounding US Soccer and the USMNT with the whole Gregg Berhalter/Gio Reyna scandal. And we make our wishes for Sporting KC, SKC II, and the KC Current for 2023.

• More details on Ronaldo - 7:40
• The roster complexities of signing another DP to Sporting KC - 25:48
• The Gio Reyna/Gregg Berhalter controversy - 33:29
• Our wish list for KC soccer in 2023 - 47:15
• The Digital Crawl - 57:16

(Originally Published: January 5, 2023)

S1E7 - Emergency Podcast! Taylor Twellman, Tom Bogert and Daniel Sperry all had sources that Sporting Kansas City were "very close" to signing Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. It didn't happen, but let's discuss the madness and how Daniel Salloi, Johnny Russell, and even the KC Chiefs Patrick Mahomes fits into this story.

(Originally Published: December 30, 2022)