Previewing Houston Dynamo vs Sporting Kansas City with Jimmy Mack
(image via Sporting Kansas City)
The Houston Dynamo start the 2024 Major League Soccer season tomorrow night at Shell Energy Stadium hosting old rivals Sporting Kansas City. We talked to our friend Jimmy Mack from No Other Pod to get some insight on SKC ahead of tomorrow’s match.
Bayou City Soccer (BCS): Sporting Kansas City and the Dynamo played the last game at Shell Energy Stadium of 2023 and here they are again to kick off 2024. How was Sporting's offseason and what are some of the key moves they made?
Jimmy Mack (JM): Sporting KC's offseason was incredibly quiet. The most notable moves was the departure of DP midfielder Gadi Kinda and the retirements of future Sporting Legends Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza. While Zusi and Roger weren't regular contributors anymore, the loss of Kinda is certainly a blow to midfield depth, which was one of the main strengths of SKC last year. The departure of Kinda leaves SKC with a DP spot many fans were hoping would be filled before the season, but head coach Peter Vermes has indicated that he won't force a move if it isn't the right fit, so at this point I don't expect a new DP signing before the summer at the earliest. Vermes did sign former Dynamo midfielder Memo Rodriguez, who certainly won't be a starter but will provide adequate depth and can fill in as a rotational piece on occasion. Memo is probably the biggest signing of the offseason.
Sporting also lost starting LB Logan Ndenbe to an ACL injury at the end of the 2023 playoffs. He will miss at least the first half of the season. As a result, Sporting signed Canadian left back Zorhan Bassong to compete with Tim Leibold for the starting LB spot until Ndenbe gets healthy.
BCS: Some long time SKC stalwarts in Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza are now gone. How will SKC replace these players from both an on-field and leadership perspective?
JM: Sporting has been going through a slow evolution over the past 5-6 years, losing piece by piece some of the stalwarts of the 2013 MLS Cup team and the subsequent eight year playoff streak. Zusi and Roger were really the final pieces left after the departure of Matt Besler a couple seasons ago, and now it truly is an entirely new era for Sporting. The most tenured players on the roster now include goalkeeper Tim Melia (2015), winger Daniel Salloi (2016), Captain Johnny Russell (2018), and CB Andreu Fontas (2018). Melia in particular has been in the league in some capacity since 2009, so he is by far the most experienced player on the roster.
The biggest thing Sporting may miss is the off-field culture boost that a guy like Roger Espinoza could bring, particularly in helping Spanish-speaking players transition to MLS and the US. Roger was always the guy who would room with new Spanish-speaking players in the preseason. They would put new players lockers next to Roger so he could help acclimate them to Sporting as a club and an organization. His experience in Europe and winning the FA Cup with Wigan brought an authority with his experience that not many people have. This role will likely fall to Andreu Fontas now with the help of DP striker Alan Pulido, who is entering his fifth season with the club.
BCS: Sporting started last season very slowly before coming around into form at the end of the season. What was the key to their turnaround and how can they get off to a better start this season?
JM: It sounds cliche, but truly the key to the turnaround was health. Sporting entered the season last year without two DPs in Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda. They also had injuries to Johnny Russell, Graham Zusi, Kortne Ford (who projected as a potential starting CB in the preseason), Willy Agada, and more. That's not an excuse for going winless in the first ten games, but it does provide some context. Once Pulido, Russell and Kinda returned, it provided not just a boost in quality on the field but also in leadership. As much flak as Peter Vermes can get for being rigid in his ways, his determination to stick with his plan for the 2023 season and his commitment to knowing the quality of his starting XI finally paid off with a road upset of the Seattle Sounders in April that kicked off a run good enough to sit near the top of the West in terms of points per game for the remainder of the season.
For 2024, the good news is Sporting are by-and-large healthy. Pulido will start the season off fully fit, Willy Agada is back after undergoing surgery last year, and Sporting have uncovered some hidden gems they had through the difficulties of last season like converted midfielder to RB Jake Davis. Peter Vermes was quoted this week saying he believes the squad is deeper this year as the young guys will have earned their playing time instead of playing out of necessity. If that truly is the case, Sporting should be able to get off to a much better start in 2024.
BCS: Alan Pulido found his form in MLS last season with a big year. How well does Pulido fit into what SKC does and how important is he for the team's success in 2024?
JM: Pulido is such a unique striker because he doesn't play like a typical striker. He has the ability to be a target man and just fire shots on goal from within the box, but he's also super technically skilled with the ball at his feet and is willing to work off the ball to create space for teammates. If you isolate in on Alan Pulido and only watch him during the game, you'll notice he's constantly rotating positionally. Sometimes he pushes out wide as a wing, sometimes he drops into the midfield as a 10, and at times he falls all the way back almost as a 6. His biggest skill set is being able to create lanes and space for his teammates, and the more he does that the less CBs can key in on him and double team him, which in turn creates more space for Alan himself. It's a "pick your poison" type game he plays with defenders, and last year when he was finally fully healthy he was able to show off his full skill set.
In 2024, Sporting KC will go as Alan Pulido goes. If he can replicate his 2023 season (or better!), Sporting should be able to challenge for a top four spot in the West. If Pulido falls back to earth a bit, it may be a bit of a struggle and Sporting will likely be looking at another potential play-in game scenario if they make the playoffs.
BCS: How is the health of the SKC roster and what do you expect for a starting lineup?
By-and-large Sporting KC is healthy going into 2024. They will be without backup winger Khiry Shelton and LB Logan Ndenbe, but for the most part the team is healthy and ready to go. My predicted starting XI is:
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We want to thank Jimmy for his time and wish our friends in Kansas City the best of luck tomorrow night.
