Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Sporting Kansas City

Orlando City games have been coming thick and fast lately, and this week is no exception. The Lions will try to continue a recent run of good form when they welcome Sporting Kansas City to Inter&Co Stadium Saturday night.

A visit from SKC means I spoke with Chad Smith, the associate editor at the always excellent Kansas City Soccer Journal. Chad was kind enough to give us a crash course in this year’s Kansas City team, and I also answered some of his questions about OCSC, which you can find over at their place.

Talk me through some of SKC’s off-season moves. Who left, who arrived, and how have those arrivals looked up to this point in the season?

Chad Smith: The biggest moves were the signing of two new Designated Players. Dejan Joveljic became the first ever cash transfer in MLS history, joining from the LA Galaxy for $4 million. He’s largely been a success, scoring 13 goals this season. The other DP is the new No. 10, Manu Garcia. The game absolutely moves through Garcia. He leads the team in key passes (41) and assists (9), and the first week he was out injured the team was lost without him. 

While the defense has been historically bad, the team’s first round pick, Jansen Miller, has established himself as a starting caliber CB who is comfortable playing against the best players in the league. 

The last standout new signing is Santi Munoz, who is on loan from Santos Laguna. He’s also a CF (center forward) and the team has struggled to get him and Dejan on the field at the same time, but they rolled out a 4-4-2 for the first time last week and it showed real promise.

For the first time in a long time, Peter Vermes is not the manager of Sporting Kansas City. Are there any differences in the way that the team is set up and wants to play under interim manager Kerry Zavagnin?

CS: If you ask some fans, they’ll say Zavagnin is a continuation of (Vermes), but they aren’t paying attention. Sure, the team has mostly run out Vermes’ preferred 4-3-3, but (Zavagnin) has been very willing to change. He’s started a lot of younger players, he’s quick to make changes when things aren’t working, and we’ve seen numerous formation/tactical flips midgame.

Last week was the first time we saw something overtly change before the game, so Orlando might not know what they’ll get Saturday. The team has flipped into a back three several times and many believe that may be the best way to set up the defense to get the best out of this team. The team just signed Alan Montes on loan from Necaxa but he only got a brief cameo at CB last week.

With just an eight-point gap between Kansas City and the playoff line, plus a game in hand over the teams in eighth and ninth place, the postseason is by no means out of reach. What is the biggest thing SKC needs to change if it wants to climb up the table and get into the playoffs?

CS: Personally, I think it’s the formation. The team has no right backs worth being on the field, but they have some guys that could play right wingback. They rolled out a double pivot for the first time last week, and it completely disrupted San Diego FC’s gameplan. If not for a worldie from Chucky Lozano, and the inability to finish when the team had 2.7 xG, they probably win. A switch of formation would also allow the team to get the best three attacking players — Joveljic, Garcia and Munoz — all on the field together. 

Will any players be unavailable due to injury, suspension, etc.? What is your projected starting lineup and score prediction?

CS: The only notable injury is Erik Thommy, who is third on the team in goals. Despite that, he’s a man without a position on this team. Logan Ndenbe also left the last game early and his absence broke apart the team’s double pivot.

As far as the lineup, since the 4-4-2 was so successful last week, I suspect we may see that again. The issue is, Manu Garcia wasn’t in that starting lineup as he returned from injury and he can’t play as one of the two midfielders in a double pivot (nor should he). 

I think the best way to get him on the field is something like a 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1. The issue is, that leaves Daniel Salloi no clear spot. Something wild would be to play the left winger at right wing back. He’s right-foot dominant and has a good defensive work rate, and with a back three for cover and (Jake) Davis and (Zorhan) Bassong as an active double pivot, he could range forward. Alternatively, he could just start on the bench and the team can play either Khiry Shelton or Andrew Brody at right wingback, but let’s go nuts and play Salloi there.

John Pulskamp; Jansen Miller, Alan Montes, Robert Voloder; Daniel Salloi, Jake Davis, Zorhan Bassong, Logan Ndenbe; Santiago Munoz, Manu Garcia; Dejan Joveljic

That probably won’t happen, but we’ll see. It’s tough to imagine Sporting KC breaking their four-game winless streak on the road against Orlando. I’ll say it’s a 2-1 loss but hope deep down to surprise their former USL affiliate. 

A big thank you to Chad for all of his excellent information on Sporting Kansas City. Vamos Orlando!