SPORTING KANSAS CITY v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

SPORTING KANSAS CITY v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC travel to Sporting Kansas City, and will have narrowly avoided the monsoon that delayed the start of the Kansas City Royals baseball game last night. Although…there is a 15-18% chance of rain forecasted for Saturday, with the low temperature only dropping to a steamy 78ºF.

What: MLS league match, Sporting Kansas City v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: State Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas.

When: 5:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 12 July 2025 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league. Sounders could rise from 13th place in the league to 11th with a victory at the State Avenue ground. If we score a tonne of goals in that victory, we might get as high as 10th. For that scenario to happen, both the Red Donkeys (@PHI) and NYC FC (@CLT) would have to do no better than a draw. To catch Portland (@STL) in 10th, St. Louis would have to defeat them on Sunday, and the Sounders goal difference would have to be better than Portland’s. Should we be defeated, LAFC (DAL), Chicago (SD), and San Jose (@MIN) could get past us in the league table.

Where to Watch: MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

So it’s an away match in Kansas City. That means the lads should have ample support from Heartland Horde. Well done in advance, Horders wherever ye may roam. Over the years matches against the Kansas City have been a 50/50 proposition if you’re going by the numbers. Then again, all-time statistics in MLS don’t have much to do with anything, as there’s often loads of churn in squads from year to year, and also the thing about artificially induced parity, is that there is parity. Good news, your team has a chance to win any league match. Bad news, you could potentially lose any league match. And then, there are the numbers, sitting there with limited predictive ability.

But I digress. 13th place against 22nd and you’d think, “yeh, we’re gonna walk over these, with certainty.” I’m not so sure though. However, like I said before, it’s MLS league football and we’re in with a shout. I’ll take a half-chance over no chance at all any day.

Gather your mates in the Heartland and get ye to the ground. For the Faithful remaining in The Evergreen it’s pubs, houses, flats, and sometimes boats. We’ll be watching the lads carry on from here.

It’s Sounders football under the Saturday night lights, in the hot, sweaty sauna with broken temperature controls that is the State Avenue football ground. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

As of the match against Columbus, Cristian has completed 1,109 passes in league play.

No one in the squad has completed more passes than Cristian this season. (photo credit: seattlepi.com)

The Good News

Sounders form in the league is generally good. Since 12 April we have only been defeated three times in the league (7-3-3).

Kansas City have sold off many of their players that gave us trouble over the years. Tim Melia (retired, and shall never rugby tackle Cristian Roldan again), Johnny Russell the undying (fucked off to the Salt Lake), and Alan Pulido (sold to the Chivas of Guadalajara). Three less players to trouble us going forward.

We won’t have to face Erik Thommy who is out with a hip issue. That’s four goals and four assists not in the team on Sat for the hosts.

It looks like Gomez Andrade will be fit enough to play for Sat, and this is good news as we need to get our centre-halves fit again for this tough stretch of matches. The word on the street is Kim is getting close to fitness, although I don’t know for certain if he’s made the trip to Kansas City, despite being listed as a matchday decision. I wouldnae expect Gomez Andrade to be in the team though. The Gaffer always likes to ease players that are just off injury list by using them as substitutes to build up their overall fitness gradually. It’s one of the things I like about Brian Schmetzer, the way he’s careful with the lads when they’re coming off injury.

We’ve only conceded one goal in the last two matches, which is hopefully a sign that our defence is tightening up. With significant challenges ahead, having our defence fit, sharp, and on the same page is crucial. We’re not scoring a tonne of goals, we’re tied for 8th best in the league in that category. So we had bloody well better keep clean sheets, and play clean out of the back.

Kansas City also struggle to score goals only averaging 1.48 per match. Combined with their leaky defence (1.83 goals conceded/match) we should see an excellent chance to win.

The Bad News

Over their last three matches, SKC has a 2-1-0 record, and they achieved this against clubs we generally struggle with, Charlotte, Salt Lake, and Colorado.

This lot tend to do well against clubs we seem to have a lot of trouble with. Namely, San Jose, Minnesota, Salt Lake, and Colorado. See the ‘results against common opponents’ section for details.

It’s kind of a trap match for us. Although they unloaded Johnny Russell, who was a persistent pain in our collective arses, they did add some quality for this season. Notably, Serbian striker Dejan Joveljic (12 goals, 2 assists), who sank our hopes in MLS Cup last season with his late winner in the Semi-Final for LA Galaxy on 30 November of last season, and Spanish midfielder Manuel Garcia (2 goals, 9 assists). Hungarian winger Daniel Salloi (5 goals, 4 assists) is also a persistent irritant. The point is, is that the Kansas City have a bit of quality, despite their current placement at 22nd in the league table. They’ve slowly started to come ‘round after the 0-1-5 start that saw long time Manager, Peter Vermes sacked, and are currently resurgent under caretaker Manager, and former player, Kerry Zavagnin.

Stefan Frei is out injured, as he was clouted pretty hard in the skull on Sunday in our match against the Columbus. The last word is that he’s doing what can be done to rehabilitate, but mostly rest is what is called for. He’s been so good for us over the years. I remember watching him play at Edwards Stadium for Cal Berkeley. A fine goalkeeper, always knew he’d come ‘round after that rocky start up in Toronto. Stef is so good at goalkeeping that he’s still between the sticks doing it at age 39. His understudy, Andrew Thomas is also a fine goalkeeper, with his own history of heroics, so I think we’re just fine for the nonce. You will be missed, Stefan. Mend soon.

In the general area of injuries, Sounders are still playing with a thinned-out squad. Joao Paulo and Arriola out for the season. Frei and Hawkins out. Gomez Andrade and Kim are matchday decisions. That leaves us with only two match-fit centre-halves in Bell and Ragen, and Alex Roldan has also been deputising in that role. That’s not a lot of wiggle room during this stretch of the season where we’re playing three matches in eight days.

Although Kansas City have been mostly crap at home (3-3-5), we haven’t exactly been running the table in our away matches this season (3-3-6).

The Referee for Saturday night’s match, Elijio Arreguin, has only three matches experience in MLS. He has presided over 102 matches at the USL Championship level. We’ll see how it goes, as neither club has faced each other with Arreguin presiding.

The Side I Would Select

Opening notes: Frei is out with concussion symptoms, Gomez Andrade is a matchday decision and will make the trip, and Kossa-Rienzi is suspended because he got booked twice against Columbus. I would prioritise playing the best, fastest, and most attractive brand of football by prioritising the development of our Academy and Reserve Team players, and putting the most resources into trying to win FIFA, CONCACAF, MLS Championship, US Open Cup, MLS Cup, and leagues Cup, in that order. I’m pretty sure I never wrote that down before, but for those who have reservations about or entirely disagree at the selections I make in this section - now you have a point of reference as to why. Kansas City are 22nd in the league and we are 13th. That said, Kansas City are only seven points adrift of us. This because the thing about artificially generated parity, is the parity of it all. So you’ve got the top three MLS clubs, and the bottom, maybe, five teams that will deliver relatively consistent results based on their placements. For the rest of the league it’s a crap-shoot every go. The order of these three proximal fixtures is troubling. Would have been better to face Colorado first, then Kansas City midweek, and finally San Jose. We could have rested players for the Kansas City match.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Bell

RB     Alex

LDM    Vargas

RDM   Rusnak

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Ferreira

RF     de la Vega

CF     Musovski

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

With three matches in eight days starting with our trip to Kansas City, it’s going to be important to use the full squad. I don’t expect the Gaffer to do that. The Manager prioritises winning matches in the league because it keeps him employed and ownership prioritises playing in MLS Cup and Leagues Cup because it’s the most prize money. The perception I expect from management (coaching/medical/tactical) and Ownership will be that we can’t afford to not get maximum points off Kansas City, and with Colorado and San Jose being home matches, we will also want to play our strongest selection. The problem is, we’d need to use the whole squad for that, and I doubt that’s what’s going to happen. Expect generally the same lot you saw last time out, minus injuries and suspensions.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Bell

RB     Alex

LDM    Vargas

RDM   Cristian

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Musovski

Intangibles

Officiating.

Yay! PRO Referees website is back up and running! The official for Saturday’s match will be Elijio Arreguin. He has three matches of MLS experience, 102 matches experience at USL Championship level.

Kansas City record with Arreguin as Ref: 0-0-0

Sounders FC record with Arreguin as Ref: 0-0-0

The cupboard has been picked bare.

When you look at the Kansas City squad, there are very few recognisable names. This tells me that pricey players that weren’t producing have been sold or released. What I see when I look at this list is Salloi, Joveljic, maybe Memo Rodriguez, and a cast of thousands. The problem with this for Kansas City is that they’re not making a motion picture, they’re trying to run a football club. They look vulnerable.

Defying expectations.

Though the cupboard has been picked bare, Kansas City have gotten decent results in their last nine matches. Since 14 May the Wizards of Sporting have got a 3-4-2 record. This is in stark contrast to their 3-1-8 start of the league season. Perhaps the turnaround is due to a ‘new manager bump’ under caretaker Manager, Kerry Zavagnin, as Kansas City were winless in the first six matches (0-1-5) before longtime Manager and former United States international Peter Vermes was sacked.

Frei’s injury.

Stefan is one of the top leaders at the club, is often our captain, and also one of the fiercest and most inspirational competitors you will find in any sport. Whoever wears the captain’s armband has got to chuff up our lads proper and hold the squad together under the crushing weight of expectation that is to be expected when a player puts on a Sounders shirt.

Three matches in eight days.

Good thing MLS made us skip the US Open Cup. I mean it looks like only one match a week for us. Well done reducing fixture clutter, MLS! I’m joking, of course. FIFA Club World Cup and Leagues Cup will put an immense strain on our squad. It needn’t be that way, but you know the Gaffer is going to front-load the bulk of those minutes on 13-14 players, and that’s not going to work. The same way it didn’t work the last two seasons. We will lose players to attrition, because they are over-used. I hope I’m wrong about this. I don’t want to see anyone hurt, but I’ll be surprised if the over-usage doesn’t start to take its toll. Even more than it already has. If you disagree, fair play to you, but have a look at the minutes played statistics, then add in the minutes from CCC and CWC before coming to a conclusion.

Stapled to the bench.

Why are this lot not selected in the team more often? Did they T.P. the Gaffer’s hame? Throw an unauthorised piss-up with kegs of lager? Pretend at a student assembly that they’ve received a telephone call from God and said that the Almighty would like to speak to the Headmaster about more playing time? Do they need to wash his car? Mow his lawn? Wax on-wax off and paint the fence to learn the eight gates and win the All-Valley Karate Championship? Wot the fucking fuck fuck fuck is going on?! We’ve got two key players (Arriola, Joao Paulo) out for the season. Another three that are out for the Kansas City match, at-least (Frei, Hawkins, Kim). Another player that might play (Gomez Andrade), and one player suspended (Kossa-Rienzi). We have the depth to withstand attrition. For some reason we just don’t care to deploy it. Either this lot are good enough to play here, in which case they should get more minutes and be selected more often, or go on loan to where they will actually develop - theoretically to be replaced by veterans at the league-minimum salary that the Gaffer might conceivably trust with actual minutes on the pitch. The unlikely alternative is that they’re not good enough, in which case they should be sold or released. That said, don’t jerk these lads about and be coy about it if they’ve not got a future here at Longacres.

Hawkins (0 league matches in the team, 3 total league appearances)

Baker (0 league matches in the team, 2 total league appearances)

Sousa (0 league matches in the team, 0 league appearances)

Baker-Whiting (1 league match in the team, 5 total league appearances)

De Rosario (1 league match in the team, 5 total league appearances)

Leyva (3 league matches in the team, 8 total league appearances)

Minoungou (4 league matches in the team, 13 total league appearances)

Kent (5 league matches in the team, 12 total league appearances)

General notes on personnel

Kansas City transfers IN:

James - academy

Kortkamp - academy

Bartlett - draft

Toye (Portland Timbers) free

Joveljic (Los Angeles Galaxy) €3.85M

Garcia (Aris Thessaloniki) €3.6M

Miller - draft

Brody (MLS Pool) free

Munoz (Santos Laguna) loan

Kansas City transfers OUT:
Castellanos (Tampa Bay Rowdies) free

Cisneros - released

Flores (Tulsa Athletic) free

Fontas - retired

Melia - retired

Rindov (Ventura County) free

Russell (Real Salt Lake) free

Walter - released

Pulido (Guadalajara) €1.45M

Vargas (SJK Seinajoki) free

Agada (Real Salt Lake) €440,000

Comparison against common opponents

ATX 1:0 SKC

SEA 2:0 ATX

(against ATX: SKC 0-0-1 -1, SEA 1-0-0 +2) decisive edge SEA

SKC 1:2 SJ

SJ 3:5 SKC

SJ 1:1 SEA

(against SJ: SKC 1-0-1 +1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge SKC

SKC 3:3 MIN

SEA 2:3 MIN

(against MIN: SKC 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-0-1 -1) marginal edge SKC

SKC 0:2 LAFC

LAFC 3:1 SKC

SEA 5:2 LAFC

LAFC 4:0 SEA

(against LAFC: SKC 0-0-2 -4, SEA 1-0-1 -1) decisive edge SEA

DAL 2:1 SKC

SKC 2:4 DAL

DAL 0:1 SEA

SEA 1:0 DAL

(against DAL: SKC 0-0-2 -3, SEA 2-0-0 +2) decisive edge SEA

SKC 2:0 STL

STL 2:2 SKC

STL 1:0 SEA
SEA 4:1 STL

(against STL: SKC 0-1-0 0, SEA 1-0-1 +2) edge SEA

SKC 2:4 POR
POR 1:0 SKC

POR 1:1 SEA

(against POR: SKC 0-0-2 -3, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge SEA

SD 0:0 SKC

SD 3:0 SEA

SEA 1:0 SD

(against SD: SKC 0-1-0 0, SEA 1-0-1 -2) even

HOU 1:3 SKC

SEA 0:0 HOU

HOU 1:3 SEA

(against HOU: SKC 1-0-0 +2, SEA 1-1-0 +2) marginal edge SEA

SKC 2:1 CLT

SEA 2:2 CLT

(against CLT: SKC 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge SKC

SKC 1:1 RSL

RSL 2:0 SEA

(against RSL: SKC 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-0-1 -2) edge SKC

COL 1:2 SKC
COL 1:1 SEA

(against COL: SKC 1-0-0 +1, SEA 0-1-0 0) edge SKC

Know Thine Enemy

Kansas City as they lined up in their 1:2 victory against Colorado on 4 July at Victory Way.

GOALKEEPER

John Pulskamp, 24

United States

Notable Clubs: Sporting Kansas City (50/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by Central California Aztecs, Real So Cal, and Los Angeles Galaxy.

DEFENCE

Tim Leibold, 31

Germany

Notable Clubs: Nurnberg (102/8), Hamburg (78/5), Sporting Kansas City (58/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by VfB Stuttgart, TSF Ditzengen, and SGV Freiberg.

Joaquin Fernandez, 29

Spain

Notable Clubs: Almeria (75/0), Valladolid (111/5), Trabzonspor (13/0), Sporting Kansas City (15/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.2M

Notes: Full name: Joaquin Fernandez Moreno. 

Jansen Miller, 23

United States

Notable Clubs: Sporting Kansas City (18/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Parkway West High School, Saint Louis FC, and St. Louis Scott Gallagher. Played his university football at Xavier (27/?) and Indiana (50/?).

Khiry Shelton, 32

United States

Notable Clubs: New York City FC (56/6), Sporting Kansas City (154/12), SC Paderborn (4/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Lonestar SC. Played his university football for Oregon State (52/19).

MIDFIELD

Zorhan Bassong, 26

Canada (5/0)

Notable Clubs: CF Montreal (36/0), Arges Pitesti (8/0), Farul Constanta (2/0), Sporting Kansas City (35/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by CS Longueuil, Mouscron, Anderlecht, and Lille. Won a Canadian Championship with CF Montreal, and a Supercupa Romaniei with Farul Constanta.

Manu Garcia, 27

Spain

Notable Clubs: Manchester City (1/0), NAC Breda (53/3), Toulouse (31/0), Sporting Gijon (75/4), Alaves (24/0), Aris (51/9), Sporting Kansas City (21/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3.5M

Notes: Full name: Manuel Garcia Alonso. Developed by Astur, Sporting Gijon, and Manchester City. Won an English League Cup with Manchester City.

Jacob Bartlett, 19

United States

Notable Clubs: Sporting Kansas City (18/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €600,000

Notes: Developed by Sporting Kansas City. Played his university football with Notre Dame.

FORWARD

Erik Thommy, 30

Germany

Notable Clubs: FC Augsburg (10/0), 1.FC Kaiserslautern (6/1), Jahn Regensburg (37/8), VfB Stuttgart (52/3), Fortuna Dusseldorf (34/6), Sporting Kansas City (96/19)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by SV Kleinbeuren, SSV Ulm, TSG Thannhausen, and FC Augsburg.

Dejan Joveljic, 25

Serbia (6/2)

Notable Clubs: Red Star Belgrade (21/11), Eintracht Frankfurt (4/0), Anderlecht (5/1), Wolfsberger AC (34/18), Los Angeles Galaxy (106/34), Sporting Kansas City (19/12)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5.5M

Notes: Developed by Sloga Junajted and Red Star Belgrade. Won 2x Serbian SuperLiga titles with Red Star Belgrade. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov, 25

Russia

Notable Clubs: Krasnodar (87/16), Giresunspor (31/3), Hapoel Be’er Sheva (29/5), Aris (43/6), Sporting Kansas City (21/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Developed by RSDYuShOR-2 Makhachkala (This is not a typo) and Krasnodar.

Familiar Faces

None.

Squads

Kansas City from:

Pulskamp, Kortkamp, Schewe, James, Brody, Voloder, Shelton, Leibold, Miller, Ndenbe, Fernandez, Radoja, Rodriguez, Davis, Garcia, Bassong, Munoz, Joveljic, Salloi, Toye, Afrifa, Suleymanov.

Sounders FC from:

Thomas, Castro, Baker, Baker-Whiting, Bell, Burney, Gomez Andrade, Kim, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Sousa, Leyva, Cristian, Rusnak, Vargas, de la Vega, De Rosario, Ferreira, Kent, Morris, Minoungou, Musovski, Rothrock.

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Kansas City -

OUT: Rosero (ankle), Thommy (hip).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Sounders FC -

OUT: Frei (concussion), Hawkins (quadriceps), Joao Paulo (knee), Arriola (knee).

MATCHDAY DECISION: Gomez Andrade (hamstring/calf), Kim (calf).

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Kansas City: Bartlett will serve a one-match ban. Davis, Leibold, and Salloi out next match if booked.

Sounders FC: Kossa-Rienzi will serve a one-match ban. Musovski and Ragen out next match if booked.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC centre-half, Jackson Ragen made his 100th league appearance for the club when he lined up against Columbus on 6 July. Congratulations and well done, on the milestone, Jackson!