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Thursday, September 12: Time Out KCC
Welcome into time out KC on the fired up network. This week I wanted to take a extra close look at our two soccer sides. Just got back from the UK, got to experience the EPL and it is it is really stunning when you're there. Just the amount of intensity driven into soccer. Got Steve from the Paint the Wall podcast. You can see that here on the fired up network as well. Steve, thanks for stepping in. I want to lean on you a little bit to get up to speed on what's going on with the current and sporting while I was away watching AEW playing at Wembley Stadium and got to go see full-on play a game against Leicester City. How are we doing here? It's been a really kind of a whirlwind of changes for the Kansas City current and sporting Kansas City just seems to be kind of marching in place. Yeah, it's been kind of an interesting couple weeks and you're one up on me now. I've still never been to an EPL game other than I've seen Manchester United play here in the States. But you're one up on me now so. I think you're the soccer expert now. I don't know about that. I mean the crazy thing is the intensity of the fandom towards football soccer is I think only the equivalent of the NFL here but it's ramped up a few levels because I mean in a city in London just to put it in perspective is about the size of two New York's. It's more of a state than it is a city. There's multiple cities in it. But in real close proximity you have die-hard fandom and 30,000 seat stadiums. When you fly into Heathrow you can see depending on your landing angle you can see Fulham Stadium and Chelsea Stadium from the air. They're separated by like a mile and a half. It's crazy. Two die-hard fan bases they pack it in with I think Fulham's 26,000 Chelsea's like 32,000. I mean right on top of each other and then there's Tottenham and Arsenal are right there. I mean it really is it really is unique and you see that intensity and you understand why the NFL is so interested in getting involved and getting a foothold in there because there's just so much money to be made. It is a night and day difference to our sports. Yeah that's cool. I hope to experience it one day but I haven't been able to do it yet. Yeah the the actual game day probably less less produced less content outside of the game than an American game. I mean there's not a lot of there's not a lot of fan engagement or touch points you know there's not a lot of music on the scoreboard. So some of the elements that you take for granted at an American stadium just aren't there. Fulham is owned by Tony Khan owned by the Drag Awards by AEW so you get in some American elements in there. They've remodeled the stadium. They're building luxury suites. They have some you know club sections which we got to sit in the club seats. There's you know more bars incorporated in but I didn't learn one crazy thing. You're not allowed to bring beer into the actual playing area. You can't bring a beer to your seat. You got to drink it in the lobby. So I did get to slam a pint of some local version of Guinness in the in the concourse because you couldn't bring it up to the stance. I guess that's an APL rule so that that was interesting. Probably sick of them throwing beer on the players. Yeah yeah pride throwing stuff. Yeah. And then the fans after a game they're complaining that a couple of the teams that had losing starts to the season the fans were following up to the underground when the players were going home. Because the the players were just kind of walking up to the walk enough to the underground walking up to the subway station just a little bit after the fans. It's definitely a unique atmosphere. It is interesting. If we take a look at and the thing that I was really interested in. I had attended the current game against Orlando the two teams that were fighting all the way through the first half of the season as the two undefeated teams. The current loses a very contested game by one goal the last game before the International Break at CPKC Stadium. The referees honestly were kind of out of control. So I mean you could excuse away the loss you could explain why hey they let the game get to a physical they let Orlando grab they threw us off our pace. And I asked after the game I asked Blocko and the press conference hey this is the first loss. How do you adjust what does this adversity do? Is it good to lose a game moving into the season. And the answer I got back was it's it's one loss and we're not going to change a lot of things. We're we're moving forward. Well not exactly during the international break. They added a couple of high paid three really high paid free agents. Goalkeeper Almond Schmidt. One of the best nicknames I've heard in sports in a long time. Hilda the Red winner. And they got to play Judas at CPKC Stadium. Jericho. One of the strikers she came over from South Africa. Along with two new center defenders a lot of Cook and Kayla Sharples. And then re-side a bunch of players. So I mean they really they really they remade a quarter of the roster. So that was a huge adjustment. What do you think of that? It was interesting. I wasn't really expecting that kind of move. You know I figured we'd have some movements and you know some players who probably have some that would resign or sign with other players which or other teams which did happen. But signing those kind of big names was not something I was expecting. But you know we followed that up with back-to-back losses. So it seems like it's kind of kind of a little bit of a slide there. But I'm still not not too worried about it really. Were they taking a step back to take a step forward? Maybe they just reached the conclusion that hey the record was on blemish except for this one loss. But really we weren't we weren't capitalizing enough on the defensive end. We were getting lucky and hey we need to rebuild because this isn't good enough to win long-term. Yeah probably. I would say that's that probably has a lot to do it because you're right the defense has been kind of spotty at times. I've had a lot of games that you know I go back to the like one of the first games where it was the one against Portland where it was like five to four but it was like five nothing or something at one point. Yeah the home opener. Yeah it's like you know that that seemed to be kind of a theme that carried throughout a lot of the games not every game but a lot of games there seemed to be a lot of a lot of stuff lacking on defense. So so I think yeah maybe it was kind of a step back to try to build so that way we're not just pushing for just this season trying to push for future seasons as well. Which is smart it's definitely a smart way to do it. That is exactly what block I said because I asked after the game this week against Utah hey how are you adjusting all these changes. Coach I just wanted to ask about what it takes to knit together that chemistry and connect the levels on the on the pitch with all the all the changes and everything that happened during the international break and the transfer went does. Yes no change is easy but this group is so strong and we made a change in the in the middle of the season but we also we made a change we made these changes in really tough part of the season where we had a really tough stretch hard I mean tough games that hard opponents and that makes it even harder but the group is I mean they're very united together that getting through this this changes and through this tough tough couple of games I think you brought them a little bit a little bit closer together actually expedited the process of bringing these new players together. Just to follow with all the transactions I mean obviously there's been some contract extensions to during this window how does that build the team to be better when it's it's crunch time when we hit the playoffs. Yes I mean this country extensions are something that we always have to think about as much as we we want to focus and win now we also have to think about the future and securing players like them is an imperative I mean for us it's it's very very important and obviously we're happy as a staff but then the team is happy too then they know that they're gonna have good players to play with good good teammates. It's it's important to to show the the long-term plans to to show that we don't do anything in the moment everything everything is planned everything is planned not just for this season or next season but for years to come. There you got exactly what you said trying to trying to build it out to the future and honestly they go they beat Orlando this weekend the losses are meaningless because you're not gonna go undefeated in a season at soccer so yeah maybe they do set themselves up in the better position you can't really question a lot of what they've done this year because they've risen dramatically up from where they ended last season. Oh yeah for sure I'm like I said I'm still not worried about overall the season where I think where I think they'll end up there's still my pick to win the whole thing whether that's a bias pick or not I don't care if they're still my pick so yeah I think a win this weekend against the pride would be would be a huge huge win for sure in getting back on track and everything. Well and here's here's what a couple of the players said this is mostly I'll move the goalkeeper. Tim was there too but she's not she's not the biggest quote machine to say the least. Sure. How does this win help in just getting that team mentality on because it was a long break and had a crazy game last week with the weather delay on the road win under the strong. Yeah it was all goal to get three points to get a win to maybe start a new strike to get the team into the playoffs and also in a good position for the playoffs for a home game hopefully in the quarterfinals and yeah every every win on this page is really really important and we have tough games coming up so we playing Orlando that's yeah one of these games what you show where you are in this yeah in the season so far and it doesn't matter when the league starts again what you did in summer cup or what you did in women's cup it's just counts what's in in the league games and we want to go continuing just yeah be strong be aggressive and yeah hopefully get some more wins. There we go so I mean I I think both feel pretty good and honestly even if you lose to Orlando not the end of the world but this is obviously a game that teams really been building up to and it would be huge for them to even up the score against the pride and get yourself right back up there and striking distance with one more win you're right back on top and home field throughout. Yeah yeah I think it's probably a pretty big win too for me because Orlando did beat us at our place so I think it's a big win for mentality sake like you need to go out and get that win that would be a big one to get for sure. And now staying on the theme of mentality and going across the river to children's Mercy Park we saw a when you want to say a less than inspired performance by the US men's national team last game with an interim coach really ran out a B or C line up there is Christian Polissek and I don't believe Christian Polissek Tim Reem and Hunter and goal and really nobody else was a regular starter and just kind of went through the motion against Canada which is kind of disappointing we had that two US national team games here had the Olympic team here too and got a similar performance. Yeah Bologan played to the other ones that that would be a typical starter. And I guess you know smooth but that kind of goes back and forth there too but but yeah you're right it was kind of a kind of a B squad that came out and a B squad performance really disappointing one but yeah I don't know I don't I don't have a whole lot to say about the US team like you said it's under an interim coach we didn't we don't have put you to know we do now but we didn't we didn't yeah at that game or last night's against New Zealand we didn't have we did have a stronger line up a little bit against New Zealand but still a 1-1 draw there so kind of disappointing results but you know hopefully put you to come in and put something to place and get us in a better place for World Cup but I think it's more on the players than it is on the coach at this point. Yeah I mean it's at some point I mean we start a lineup of guys who are in the highest level of leagues in the world playing major roles MLS is improved dramatically and at some point we should we should really be cranked up and be right up there is it is it really just a matter of the countries that we're playing against football slash soccer is the number one sport with a bullet nothing else is even close and here it's for the I mean you could you can make cases for 60 even so it's not really an even playing field are our huge population and all the athletes pull us up to where we're competitive but we just can't get over the top because it's not that dedication maybe a little bit yeah I think the mentality in in the locker room with the men's team is one of feeling confident when they shouldn't it feels like they feel they feel more secure in their spots than they should I'm really hoping put you Tino goes in and and is more like I don't really care who you are or what you know name is on the back if you don't deserve to be here you're gone yeah and if these players don't have the right mentality right down to you know players like Pulisic and Georania like you know our big name guys if they don't have the right mentality get them out of here we've got you know even though we don't have as many players in waiting as other countries might we still have other players in waiting that will gladly take over if need be so you know get them out of here and you know make sure or at least make sure that they know that that's a thing like they they know that you know so we get the best out of Pulisic when he's there we get the best out of Reine when he's there we get you know the best out of all these guys because I think that's really the difference between between us and other countries like in other countries they know if they don't show up and play their hardest they're gonna get benched pretty much immediately there aren't really a whole lot of chances given you know but I don't know it it you look at the way we did in Copa America the way we lost to Uruguay and then we come out in a friendly and play against Canada play horribly well not horribly but pretty close to horribly inspired yeah you would think half that team would be terrified that they would even be allowed to play the next game but it just seems like none of them they're all just like oh well on to the next one you know it feels like they're like they well I got a contract signed or something so I'm not going anywhere so I just think we need to change that mentality and some of the senior players need to step up and realize that that's that's the mentality for them too but they also need to instill that in some of the young guys that's really all we can do right now as far as developing the future it's got to start with our youth programs and we got to fix some of the issues in our youth programs now yeah I mean it seems like we've been waiting for the build-up of the US soccer since I started doing sports talk and that was a long down ago I was actually at a US soccer US soccer Hall of Fame dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Tower City Center in Cleveland Ohio where Lamar Hunt senior was the speaker of honor talking about the US Open Cup being so important and then they had a US men's game at Cleveland Cleveland municipal stadium the old stadium so we're going back to like 1990 I don't know 1994 and we were saying the same thing so hopefully we get a little bit of a change now talking about a team that hey maybe there's not a lot of consequences for bad play and we're going to keep trying sporting Kansas City they draw 1-1 against the New York Red Bulls the two guys who make the MLS men of the match day lineup Alon Polito and Kyrie Shelton Peter Vermeez I just to say about Polito and Shelton's I would say there's quite a few guys that are but he's what he's been doing he's been playing well but he's starting to get in front of the goal a lot more which is which is what we need him to do in Kyrie or both on the match day team of the week is that a little bit of a reward for Kyrie for you know being in that position that you know he's really evolving in it he's played very well I mean he has I'm I'm I'll say it's simple I'm pleasantly surprised at how well he's done I'm not surprised about his attitude I'm just surprised at how how quickly he is I guess acclimated himself to the position he's he's been very good and then the other thing is this he's really used his his physical attributes to enhance and you know dominate in the position he's been really good I mean you did you got a goal from Polito he has been a little better I mean he struck me as being better as like an attacking midfielder the biggest impact he's made this year is some really nice assist to Willy I got a but he did score and it's good if you're a striker to be around the goal that's that's a good change yeah I was thinking that when when Peter said that like oh yeah imagine you're number nine gets in front of the goal and he scores a goal so strange like where's that been all season you know but yeah and on Kyrie I think Kyrie gets a lot of guff from a lot of people most of it is unwarranted I think we were guilty of it last year I think our podcast this year we've kind of shifted to try to be nicer I guess but also it's just it's not was warranted this year people hate on Kyrie just because it's fun for them to do I guess he's he's looked a lot better all season so yeah I think him making a team in the match day is is was a long time coming for sure so and he played great in this game so it made a whole lot of sense that he did honestly I think they missed him because what Peter did say and something that he brings and honestly a lot of the anger towards Kyrie Shelton probably came from him being out of position because he has made an impact playing at that back position at right back position whereas when he was a striker it it did seem out of place because he doesn't have those electric creative moves I guess you'd say in the penalty box but he's a big physical presence a really really good athlete and being somewhere where you can body up with people and kind of shove them around that's probably his best role yeah I think I think you know there's growing pains and learning pains when you switch to a different position especially one that you've never played and is very different than what you were what you've been playing your whole career and your whole life at that so I think there's got to be a grace period there where you're allowed even though you're in the MLS and you're expected to you know be at this certain level just immediately that's that's just not really how it works so you have to give him a little bit of grace and a little bit of leeway there and I think that he's starting to show more and more comfortability in that position and being able to use his size to his advantage and his speed to his advantage so I I don't foresee him I would say he probably plays there for for quite a while maybe he'll be a right back that we can that we can stick back there and leave there so yeah I mean he he seems to be settling in and obviously Peter likes him and he he is a he is a really good guy when you when you interact with him at the stadium and and I think the fans will want to a little bit it's honestly like I said it's not his fault he was that far out of position and he's following a career move a track that Peter Vermeez did himself and something that Graham Zucie did that extended his career dramatically so I think it makes sense do you feel like they at least have because the regular season the the MLS championships pretty much out of the window because it's almost impossible at this point for them to make playoffs they need to win out and they need help still have the US Open Cup so they're you win the US Open Cup hey that's a good year you want to trophy are they at least though getting some foundational pieces in place so you can move in the next year and say okay hey we got we got Kyrie Shelton at right back we got Logan and Debbie at left back Steven a free-fah is a good addition he's going to be an impact player at a forward woolly Agata can be the striker and Jake Davis can play midfield so we're we're at least pulling some elements together where you have a foundational team moving forward yeah I think that's kind of what our focus has to be on trying to win the Open Cup and having a good run here at the end I think it there's probably with how many contracts we have about to expire there's probably a lot of players that are going to try to make a push to show that they should be kept on the team I think that's kind of going to be where their focus is and to be fair we're not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs so like you said if we win out and get a little help it's it's not a lot of help though we really just need Minnesota to keep playing like they're playing and we play them at least once and then we got we have FC Dallas on decision day which could end up being a very important game because they're the other team really competing for the same spot with us so well it couldn't have played well in games this year yeah yeah that too the FC Dallas back back on regular season and the US Open Cup game so you know they got the potential yeah I did I'd like this question from Danny Clank scale yesterday to Peter Vernez because sporting did outplay the Red Bulls I mean they outplayed a period but they ended up with the draw I thought this was a good question Danny asked and I liked Peter's answer you mentioned the result didn't necessarily match the quality of the game in your long career what's your sense of the percentage of time in soccer a result matches the play boy I would I would I thought my head I'd say 50 50 I mean I it's it's a little different when you're playing at home obviously it's always in your favor and when you're and when you're away it it usually is against you and but the other side of it too is that you can have a great performance in one play can go poorly and game over and you don't and you don't have any other thing to kind of get yourself back in the game so yeah it's actually a good question I like that I mean it's not a stance or it's it's a different game that NFL football where yeah okay hey you're the physically superior team I think just keep handing the ball off you're gonna beat him you know if you don't do something stupid you don't get an interception you don't fumble the ball away just run it into the ground probably win the game soccer is a little bit different it is it is a game of inches or centimeters that can determine it yeah and I I say it all the time that we are also playing other MLS teams like a lot of people you know they get really upset because like one little thing happens and they score and now it's a tie instead of a loss and they're like well you're a professional team you should be there also a professional team so and the goals don't yeah the goals don't always come from mistakes they're also professionals and sometimes they just have a good run of play and they score a good goal and it's like man like that that was not you know it happened a lot of times with us it does seem like it comes from a mistake or comes from a bad giveaway or being out of position or something like that but it's not always like that you know and that's that's kind of the beauty and the bad part of this of this of being soccer fans is that it can literally just a split second go from a win to a draw or even worse so this is just an example kind of a bummer example because I feel like we definitely outplayed them the whole the whole game just they got a lucky goal there and tied it so yeah and and that's always been a tough match up for sporting too because the red book the red balls more than any team in the league they do a lot of holding they try to grind the game down to the mud a lot of holding a lot of shove-in I mean they know they can keep we keep getting falls until they pull the cards out so yeah we're going to use every fall we can and they're actually a really a rough team to watch because it's such a disjointing game so yeah getting a tie with them is actually a pretty good effort yeah it's games like this where I miss watching Roger Espa noza yeah well Jake Davis and and Roger Espa noza did say that he he's elements of Jake Davis's game Jake Davis got the red card I believe an extra tie yeah picked up his second yellow so he's gonna miss the next game but yeah it was a very little yellow - it was that was a bad that was a bad yellow that should not have been shouldn't have even been a foul let alone a yellow but you know it's you got to deal with that sometimes too I guess well we're winding it down here let's go ahead and get your champion of the week brought you by the wrestling spotlight hey what's up guys this is Tybell feel that we're a lot and you are watching wrestling got the title belts here and Steve who's your champion of the week Kyrie Shelton for sure he earned it team of the match team of the match week I think is what they can never remember what they call it but yeah he made the team in the match week he's playing a lot better even Peter said you know adjusting to that position a lot better and hopefully he'll quiet down some of his haters with his with his more recent performances so yeah Kyrie for me yeah I think so he's not going anywhere and then I'm gonna go with a lady who broke her own record I got it up on the the monitor behind me Tamwa Chewinga she scores a goal sports the deciding goal for eight straight match with the goal that breaks the previous record of seven also hers and she had broken the record the week before because the league record was six got to ask her hey what is the key element of your play and this was I guess she doesn't talk a lot here's her answer my job is to score was a play forward so when you put me in the fish we split me to school goals so that's why maybe when I find bow and give me a bow comes despite how to score goals there you go that's my job to score goals it gave me the ball I score yeah there you go and it's at its simplest element very true well with that we'll wrap it up here and fire it up network time out he is the city took a deep dive into Casey soccer this week with Steve from the paint the wall podcast and and we'll have that we do show the paint the wall podcast on the fired up network as well but Steve where else can people find it yeah we're on Twitter PTW underscore pod we're on YouTube as well that's pretty much it and fired up network so okay awesome well hey thanks for joining us this week download that true TV plus that's the best way to get the channel and we'll see you back here on fired up network stay tuned for more sports entertainment. 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