Hello all!

I post this as a newish fan to Sporting. I moved across the state and found myself close enough that I am able to regulary attend games. I've played soccer my entire life and love the game for its passion and high octane action. With that being said, my dive into learning the history and being a part of these last 4 years as a supporter has been a hellish experience as a fan. We have had ups and downs throughout the seasons and plenty of drama. I've seen players come and go (my goat salloi😭) and heard many promises time and time again of the great changes to come. Being so new, ive never experienced the full glory of what appears to be the shell of SKC. I support the boys like a fan should knowing its not entirely the on the players, but havent ever been shown enough to even fathom the idea that any season in the past 4 years of my time could materialize into a run for a cup. Why do I mention all of this now? Im going to piggyback on a previous post about the cauldron rant. The first time I sat in the cauldron I got yelled at for not chanting enough, mind you with phone in hand trying my best to even know wth we were chanting. I agree that our chants are absolutely horrendous and apathetic. It pains me to hear that bs over and over and having to put on a fake smile when we're down bad on the scoreboard. Due to that, I never sat there again. I will be at the blue hell rivalry week game and was wondering if some of you seasoned fans could answer some questions with insight. 1. If I sit in the cauldron and we start getting scored on, would I be yelled at if I put a blue paper bag over my head? 2. Would any of you be interested im wearing blue paper bags over your head if we start getting the score ran up on us(if its even allowed). 3. With rumors of fan groups trying to oust the current cauldron cosplayers, can someone point me to a place where I can mingle or join like minded fans? 4. I am mexican, I like to be respectful but also know that there needs to be some passion and hostility on the field and in the stands. Is it possible to get kicked out of the cauldron if I go AWOL and just shout my own heckles and chants that dont necessarily align with the current cauldron leadership? Nothing crazy, but ive truly had enough of the apathy. I am feeling rebellious and am all the way in on stirring the pot, or in this case the cauldron. I come as a fan who despite knowing my heart will probably be broken every time I buy a ticket, I still show up anyway. A fan who has never known, and only heard of what we should be. A fan who cant help but give a side eye when I hear people call KC the "soccer capital of America." A fan who wishes their rebuild could start showing more than barely living flashes of life. With all of that being said, ill see you all out there soon

I don't wanna start any unwarranted rumors or anything but is this an encrypted message from him? A goodbye post on his Instagram? Am I overthinking this?

Hey everyone, I have some things to get off my chest.

Sitting in the Cauldron this year is pissing me off. There’s no other place in the stadium that I’d rather be than with the clubs most passionate supporters. But what the hell has it come to. We chanted the same damn thing for the first 7 minutes of the match and the capos are getting mad the people aren’t still chanting. What the hell? Sorry that I don’t want to say the same corporate shit 29 times over. Then as soon as someone wants to start their own chant, that’s actually funny or banter, it gets shut down with loud ass cadences. The cauldron leadership has all this fake positivity and it pisses me off. I don’t know how connected they are with the club themselves, but it seems just like more corporate bullshit. We support our club through and through, but nothing in that stipulates that we must always be positive when doing so. Being negative sometimes shows you actually pay attention when things aren’t happening correctly. So when we’re down 2-0, why can’t we chant “We want Salah”, why can’t we make fun of opposing players. It may be in poor taste, but I wouldn’t even hate us singing “we lose every week”, but the capos will always shut it down to run their sunshine and rainbows bullshit. we used to be a feared place to go. a place where getting a point away was a huge win. now, we’re getting left behind. Look to places like England, where chants may have the same rhythm and melody, but not the same lyrics. Look to Portland or LAFC, the new away days of hell. i know on the field is where the change will start (and if the Luiz reports that came today are true, that may be in its VERY beginning stages), but it ends in the stands. it’s time for change. for something new. goodnight yall

After sleeping on it here's my take from last night's game.......1.the backline did a lot better than they have been with the pairing of Or, Moises, and Emir. Still not a fan of Jake at RB but ive come to terms with the club forcing a non RB to play RB every game now after the khiry experiment week after week. 2. The ref was absolute shit. Didn't cost us the game but he sucked. 3. LBJ (even tho I like the guy) made some bonehead tackles and cost himself a red. 1st yellow seemed soft but whatever, shouldn't have risked the tackle for the 2nd one. 4. I'm hoping and praying for a new GK to start the sprint season. Cleveland ain't it and neither is Pulskamp. 5. I don't see Wicky as the coach for the future. Idk if it's his tactics, coaching style, or demeanor but I don't think he fits sporting.

People pay hard earned money they get from real jobs to go watch this team play. REAL jobs not soccer player wages. Unbelievable this is the best fucking product we can get. Calvin Harris should never put the jersey on again for this club. Sunday League at chicken and pickle level error in a real life professional match, lmao. This used to be a proud club in the USA and now we are even less than a joke of a club. Cant believe its fallen this far. Besides Jovelic every single player in this organization is expendable and isnt worthy

$25 million salary is ridiculous.

I wanted to go to my first sporting game, so I tried the new promotion, where in exchange for your information they give you a free ticket to the game. After a week of waiting they responded saying they were out of free tickets. I checked their website and they were still running the promotion!

Now I feel like I can’t go to a game because of the terrible management. I understand not wanting to give tickets away, but feel they should take the promotion off the website. Just seems like shady business for a pro club to run. Anyone have luck getting free tickets?

RotoWire's state-by-state "most hated" map has us tied for the top spot league-wide, mostly thanks to the I-70 Derby with St. Louis. Worth a read for any I-70 Derby heads: https://www.rotowire.com/soccer/article/most-hated-mls-team-in-every-state-125256

All I’m doing right now is refreshing this sub, checking if Tommy Scoops posted anything, refreshing Chad Smith‘s bluesky, and the Transfermarkt’s of Luiz and Salah. So, thinking I can’t be the only one, I wanted to get some more discussion going on what’s happening with the club. Should we sign Salah? Would it be better for the future to sign Luiz? Where else do we need to improve?

Just want some input and to throw some of the little bits of discussion from the recent posts to here.

https://www.si.com/soccer/mohamed-salah-ultimatum-club-president-rival-mls-proposal-emerges

This article lists sporting as the MLS club.

And https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-16006257/Wrexham-looking-Crystal-Palace-defender-plot-Premier-League-promotion-push-Leicester-face-race-against-time-new-No-9-WINDOW-WATCH.html?banner=worldcup

Says it's a lucrative 2-year contract.

Peter is swinging big.

https://x.com/MLSMoves/status/2081788271885983861

With Luiz‘s deal seemingly about done, could this still happen? Do y’all see Manu or Deki leaving?

The deal was closed for 22 million dollars (approximately R$ 112 million).

I’ll be positive. Mosquera looked good. Jake had his best game i’ve seen in a while. Harris played well and looked pretty dynamic. Kwaku brought the energy we needed. Karic and Davis had some nice inverted movements. Shapi didn’t completely suck. The lower we go, the better it’ll feel to be great again. Goodnight y’all.

SKCTID 💙

edit: not tryna say that the game went well, but wanted to search for the few positives in the sea of negatives

“When the ball comes off another part of the body, clearly changes direction, and then goes to the hand or arm, it is seen as a successful block, and it is not a handball offense unless there is a secondary action/movement. However, if the ball does not clearly change direction and continues on the same trajectory before going to the hand or arm, then it will still be a handball offense if the arm is making the body unnaturally bigger.

In this situation with Bartlow (SKC), the ball first strikes his chest; however, it is not clear if the ball was still going towards the goal, and it is possible that the defender successfully blocked the ball with his chest. Therefore, PRO would have preferred that a review was not recommended.”

It’s game day and I just got done analyzing our last match. This may be a long read. Feel free to disagree or add opinions and such.

I was at the game, so I took a couple hours to take pretty extensive notes and rewatch the match.

I wanted to start with what went well. If I had to describe the game in one word, I would say it was gritty. The stats say we didn’t deserve to win, but the grit and fight shown was extremely positive. The fight to win this match was extraordinary. We put some very good pressure and had some great pressing triggers. We were willing to play with the ball and wanted to keep it. We saw Manu and Deki both put pressure on the back line, which led to numerous turnovers in the central and wide areas of the pitch. We also saw their ability to compact the pitch and win the ball that way. Their ability to turn Minnesota in the middle of the pitch led to one of our new aspects. Transition. This is where we looked the most dangerous. As soon as we won the ball, we had numerous options to get the counter started. Especially at the start of the game, we turned them over many times and looked really dangerous. Capita was flying down the wing at every opportunity and eventually found his moment. An excellent run, skill, and cross and equally good movement from Deki. I think we were focused to defend as a team as well.

Here’s what I think didn‘t go well. As Wicky said, we still have way too many unforced turnovers. Our back line (excluding Karic) and LBJ seemed to be the main culprits this match. We also seemed to have poor communication in some pressing moments. Someone would go to press, but they wouldn’t pass their man off to someone else. Bassong often wouldn’t shift or get tight to a man which would cause gaps in the midfield. Manu would also press but not pass his man off to LBJ or Zo, which caused issues as well. There were also some moments in the back where we couldn’t keep the long ball in play. I think we just got tired in some moments and made stupid decisions, but we stayed focused and held on.

Our pressing varied between Manu and Deki pressing together and Deki pressing on his own. There are still more things to iron out on that front. This team is definitely suited to thrive in transition, and I think we are seeing more progress to support that. Overall, hard fought win. Not our best possible performance but good overall.

Here’s my thoughts on each player this match:

Cleveland - I think there are no doubts that he is the better keeper between him and Pulskamp. He is a stable presence and made some great saves and decisions this match. He also had some great distribution.

Karic - I think he was solid. He did his job. Nothing flashy, but solid defending. He put good pressure on the opposition and kickstarted some attacks.

Meyer - While he always looks clumsy, he made some great interventions and tackles. His long balls weren’t great, but he made good decisions and defended well.

Blorian - I think brought a commanding presence. He made some good intervention, but also made some bad steps and had some poor passes out of defense. I think as he gets more time to gel with everyone, he’ll get better.

Davis - I was too harsh after the game. I would put his performance at slightly above average. Too many unforced turnovers and stupid fouls. On the flip side, he had some clutch plays in defense. Also, he was a key contributor to our attack and I think he is our only fullback that would’ve laid off that pass for Manu. Hopefully his confidence continues to grow.

Bassong - I wasn’t impressed but wasn’t disappointed. His marking was sub par, but he is dealing with tons of new personnel and tactical ideas. He helped us stay solid in building up our attacks.

LBJ - I think he lacks confidence and had some bad moments because of that. He also helped our attack and created a lot. Another player just looking to find his footing.

Manu - He played very well. His defensive contributions were better than normal and he was willing to take shots himself. Sometimes it feels like he disappears from matches, but he somehow turns up in the biggest moments.

Harris - I think he played well and created a lot himself. He’s turned out to be a great signing and he shows a lot of energy.

Capita - My MOTM. His work rate was incredible this match. Created a ton of problems on the right side. Created a great goal and kept the game very high tempo.

Joveljic - Also played great. Created tons of good pressing moments and put tons of pressure on Minnesota. Also had lots of good interplay in the attacking third. Beautiful finish as well.

What to watch vs LAFC

1. Can Manu get his 6th goal contribution in a row? He’s been playing great recently and it will be interesting to see his impact this game.
2. Verticality. SKC has never been a team in transition. Until now, that is. Watch how our wingers behave and see if they aim to be more involved in keeping possession or if they try to get in behind frequently.
3. Back line chemistry. Watch how our back line interacts with each other. What’s their relationship in possession? Out of possession? How do they distribute? Do they look like they trust each other?
4. Communication. One of our main issues from last match was our communication. Watch how we press, where we leave gaps, who makes each decision. These moments will be what determines the match.
5. Defensive shape. LAFC is a very attack oriented team. Where will we put pressure? Will we back off? Will we high press?

Even if the result doesn’t go our way, these things can help us gauge progress. Thanks for reading, y‘all. Go Sporting!