Soccer <\/p>\n
Matchday 11 brings us to Children’s Mercy Park for Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire, as Sporting Kansas City<\/a>, under interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin, and with an attack that\u2019s been among the league\u2019s most fun since he took over at the end of March, host reigning MLS Cup presented by Audi champions LA Galaxy<\/a> (7 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The Galaxy\u2019s reign, of course, has not been a fun one. Right now they\u2019re stuck in the cellar, at the very bottom of the Supporters\u2019 Shield and Western Conference standings. So a trip to KC to face a cauldron of Blue Hell isn’t exactly appetizing.<\/p>\n Both teams are trying to dig out of a bad start. Tough sledding so far.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sporting Kansas City<\/strong><\/p>\n LA Galaxy<\/strong><\/p>\n Zavagnin has faced a massive task in replacing the man he assisted for nearly 600 games, Peter Vermes. He\u2019s done what he could to fix the defensive issues of the past few years, while also giving more chances to the likes of Miller and homegrown d-mid Jacob Bartlett<\/a>, and putting the high-priced new additions in positions to shine.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t all been smooth sailing, but there\u2019s been a\u2026 lightness, I guess? A freedom, maybe? Anyway, there\u2019s been some renewed joy in how Sporting have played over the past month. There have also been a couple of wins, and even the losses \u2013 including last week\u2019s at FC Cincinnati<\/a> \u2013 were respectable.<\/p>\n In short, the vibes are good for the first time in a long time. The fight, win, lose or draw, is to keep them there.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LA started the year by hanging a banner celebrating their sixth MLS Cup triumph. That\u2019s been the only highlight so far.<\/p>\n They are the most successful team in MLS history. They were supposed to use last year\u2019s championship to build back to \u2013 or at least toward \u2013 the glory days of the early 2010s.<\/p>\n It hasn\u2019t worked that way. A \u201cone step back to take two steps forward\u201d dance is something everyone expected from this season. Fans would\u2019ve understood that since the current front office had to unwind some bad deals from the previous regime, especially since they are only just starting to use their academy and MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> in the way they should (they\u2019ve gotten some promising moments, if not hugely meaningful contributions, from both). It\u2019s difficult to keep a successful team together in MLS, and that becomes exponentially more so if you\u2019re not finding contributors among your down-roster players.<\/p>\n But it hasn\u2019t gone like that for LA. It\u2019s been a mess, from one week to the next. Yes, they’ve managed injuries. But they\u2019re winless through 10 games, with three points and a -12 goal differential. They’re on track to be the worst MLS team in league history.<\/p>\n Everything\u2019s at stake, every single game from here on out. Head coach Greg Vanney surely knows it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sporting Kansas City: Which players will form the new core?<\/strong><\/p>\n At their best over the past decade and a half, Sporting have always had a spine that gave them a fighting chance against anyone in MLS and the ability to bridge eras to create a pattern of sustained success. The brain at the top of the spinal cord was, you guessed it, Peter Vermes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still very much TBD regarding who will take over as the sporting brain (pun intended) in the future. This piece<\/a> from Sam McDowell in the Kansas City Star does as good a job as I\u2019ve seen outlining principal owner Mike Illig\u2019s point of view early in the process. In the meantime, I\u2019m watching Kansas City these days exclusively to see which players deserve to stay on as vertebrae in their attempt to rebuild.<\/p>\n Sadly, it seems Jake Davis<\/a> (a throwback to the Sporting core of old) will be unavailable Sunday due to injury. I\u2019ll be keeping my eye on John Pulskamp<\/a> in goal, Jacob Bartlett<\/a> in central midfield, and Logan Ndenbe<\/a> and Jansen Miller<\/a> on the backline. Those guys have the chance to be a part of any potential turnaround for years to come.<\/p>\n LA Galaxy: What compromises must be made to stop the bleeding?<\/strong><\/p>\n You can be a mediocre defensive team and succeed\u2026 if you\u2019re capable of outscoring your opponents and coming up big in key 1v1 situations. That\u2019s the 2024 Galaxy in a nutshell! They won a championship giving up 50 goals (53 xG) in a season because they had the best attack in the league and Emiro Garc\u00e9s turned into a human eraser.<\/p>\n In 2025, they\u2019ve got, by the numbers, a poor attack and an even poorer defense. That\u2019s a three-points-from-10-games combo, and it requires some serious consideration from head coach Greg Vanney. What has to change? Every game is a chance to answer that question and pick up a first win.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Through four games under Zavagnin, they\u2019ve played open, attacking soccer and been committed to that no matter the game state. You can crack them open, but you have to be brave and precise. And if you\u2019re not\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n If they\u2019re not directly pressing you into turnovers, they get on the ball, keep it and slowly wear the opponents down. In theory, anyway \u2013 they have good moments with that (their passes per sequence under Zavagnin have climbed, as have positive attacking indicators like through balls and final-third passes), but there are also bad moments. Sometimes it\u2019s naivete from the kids, sometimes it\u2019s a lack of clarity from the veterans and sometimes it\u2019s just a plain lack of field coverage.<\/p>\n Given the sheer volume of changes, it\u2019s been hard to get everyone on the same page.<\/p>\n When they don\u2019t have the ball, they hope to compress the field and force a high turnover. If that doesn\u2019t happen then they tend to go full retreat into a low-ish block 4-3-3, though they\u2019ve been better at drawing that line of confrontation in midfield over the past few weeks, even when they\u2019re chasing the game a little bit. To me, that counts as measurable progress.<\/p>\n There\u2019s not much flexibility in formation or tactical identity at this point, neither of which should be surprising.<\/p>\n But they really have been fun to watch over the past month. Jovelji\u0107, Garc\u00eda, and wingers D\u00e1niel Sall\u00f3i<\/a> and Shapi Suleymanov<\/a> have actual chemistry for a group so new to playing together, and that\u2019s a good enough hook for me.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LA have shuttled so many guys in and out of the lineup \u2013 including a centerpiece like Reus, some goalkeeper musical chairs, and re-integrating DP winger Joseph Paintsil<\/a> following a quad injury \u2013 that this team\u2019s been trying to execute Vanney\u2019s typical tactical scheme with one hand tied behind its back.<\/p>\n Sometimes that\u2019s meant they\u2019ve sat in a low block. The problem is they\u2019re not very good at that:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n But then when they come upfield with the ball \u2013 which is really what Vanney wants from his side; he\u2019s always been a possession-oriented coach \u2013 they are\u2026 well, they\u2019re not very good at that these days, either:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Galaxy are dead as soon as Garces lets da Costa turn. pic.twitter.com\/vY6mW7LIUQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n So, I don\u2019t know. LA had probably their best attacking performance of the year in last week’s 4-2 loss<\/a> to Portland<\/a> (the game in the clip directly above), but it was also probably their worst defensive performance. After things were arguably a little better at the start of the month, they\u2019ve now conceded more than five xG combined over the past two weeks, in ways myriad and sundry.<\/p>\n Reus is back, though, and Pec and Paintsil are available. This is, in theory, the version of the Galaxy that was supposed to keep everything afloat amid Puig\u2019s absence. And they\u2019re playing against a team that gives you chances.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
\n
Sporting Kansas City<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
LA Galaxy<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
\n