Sporting KC's Salaries and Two Massive Comebacks

For the Glory KC is back with the 138th episode of the show!

Sporting Kansas City returned to action for a double game week, but before we get to the games, we have to talk about the MLSPA salary release that included a lot of new numbers for Sporting KC players and a lot of updates to existing players. Needless to say, there are some shocking numbers that are both too high and frankly, too low.

After that, we moved to the two games from the week, first tackling the 2-1 come from behind victory over Charlotte FC. The game featured two stoppage time goals, including Mason Toye's first ever for SKC and Dejan Joveljic's hamstring injury/cramp inducing 11th! At the beginning of both sequences, you'll find Manu Garcia pulling the strings. That's despite a nasty head injury he picked up.

We also sufficiently got off top with an update to why Khiry Shelton's hair was pink, Wilfried Zaha somehow avoiding a dissent yellow and John Pulskamp heroics.

For Real Salt Lake's 1-1 draw against Kansas City, we had to discuss the return of Johnny Russell and William Agada. Including Russell's beautiful (if painful to watch) header and his new haircut. Sheena's favorite topics often have nothing to do with soccer, so Erik Thommy's goal celebration seemed to evolve into the "bowling arrow."

Matt Besler also went on the wall and shared some parallels with both Jansen Miller and Jacob Bartlett. The lineup found SKC short-handed and led to the first ever MLS start for 17-year-old Ian James at center back.

But no Sporting KC game would be complete without refereeing controversy. While Jake Davis being sent off got a lot of the attention, that actually appeared to be the right call. It was what happened to Davis just before his sending off that left us baffled. How Gozo remained in the game is unbelievable.

The KC Current are in their summer break, but they make an appearance in the Digital Crawl with the key re-signing of Michelle Cooper to a long-term deal through 2028.

In the Digital Crawl, we also touch on a few more topics, including:

• USMNT drama against Costa Rica
• Ronaldo's new contract
• Our Benny Feilhaber update
• And Kansas City World Cup base camp news, including a story tying England to KC

Here is a rundown of topics and start times:

• New Sporting KC Salaries are out! - 5:26
• SKC have an epic comeback against Charlotte - 34:13
• A not quite as complete SKC comeback against RSL - 55:04
• Digital Crawl - 1:25:22

Upcoming Games

• USMNT vs. Guatemala, Wednesday, July 2nd at 6:00PM CDT (in St. Louis)
• Sporting KC @ Colorado Rapids, Friday, July 4th at 8:30PM 
• SKC II vs. Portland Timbers 2, Saturday, July 5th at 12:00PM
• Gold Cup Final is Sunday at 6:00PM

As a special gift to For the Glory KC listeners and KC Soccer Journal readers, Backheeled dot com is giving away 30 d