Three members of the Major League Soccer community joined three different programs on Sports Radio 810 WHB this week ahead of Sporting Kansas City's home tilt with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, which will kick off Friday at 8 p.m. CT inside Children's Mercy Park.
A busy episode of The Sporting KC Show on Tuesday night included an appearance from guest Kerry Zavagnin, the Sporting KC assistant coach whose club records in regular season starts and minutes played will likely be matched and surpassed by current defender and Kansas City native Matt Besler.
"To see Matt on the cusp of this, I can't say I'm overly surprised," Zavagnin said. "In my first interaction with him when he joined the team (in 2009), he was the only guy in individual meetings with coaches who had a clear picture of what he wanted to accomplish as a player. He had all of his goals written down, and so many years later he's not only accomplished all of the goals he set out, but he's surpassed them both at the club level here in Kansas City and then at the World Cup on the international level."
The captain himself made his weekly visit on The Border Patrol this morning, joining hosts Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John to reflect on his trophy-laden 10-year career in Kansas City, mention the Blue KC Sporting Samaritans initiative and preview Friday's test against a Vancouver side that snapped Sporting KC's club-record 24-game home unbeaten run last September.
"It's two different styles, and it's two different teams who know exactly what their style is," Besler said of Friday's Western Conference matchup. "Vancouver has designed their team to fit the style of sitting back and catching teams on the counter. They have a lot of very dynamic players going forward, and they realize what their strengths are. Over the past several seasons they've had one of the best road records in the league, and big reason for that has been their ability to absorb pressure and break in transition. So we'll have to be good with the ball and make sure we don't turn the ball over."
Soccer-specific programming rolled into this afternoon when Soren Petro hosted MLSsoccer.com's Andrew Wiebe on The Program. The two discussed Toronto FC's rough result in leg one of the 2018 Concacaf Champions League finals before dissecting first-place Sporting KC, who haven't lost since Week 1 and own a four-point lead atop the Western Conference standings.
"This is a team that (defends) from the top down, and once Sporting KC finds that balance between the attack and the defense, I expect them to be one of the top three teams in the West," Wiebe said. "I still think Sporting KC is among the elites in this league. I just think they're a little step below the top-top tier, but that can always change in the summer."
Listen to the entirety of all three podcasts below.
Tickets for Friday's matchup between Sporting KC and Vancouver are available via SeatGeek.com, and the first 10,000 fans through the stadium gates will receive a Tim Melia bobblehead courtesy of match sponsor Mark One Electric.
Tuesday night: Assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin on The Sporting KC Show
Wednesday morning: Sporting KC captain Matt Besler on The Border Patrol
Wednesday afternoon: MLSsoccer.com's Andrew Wiebe on The Program
