Blue Links: All SKC Edition w/ Videos, Interviews and New Staff

Lots of content is swirling out there about Sporting Kansas City and it may have slipped under your radar. Set aside 30 minutes and watch some videos and read some stories.

New Staff

SKC hire former Peter Vermes teammate and SKC Academy coach Istvan Urbanyi to be the new Director of Talent Identification. Urbanyi is also the coach and will remain the coach of USL League Two side Kaw Valley FC and he previously coached overseas in Turkey. While in Turkey he coached Daniel Salloi who was loaned to Gyirmot FC.

“I’m extremely excited to join the staff at Sporting Kansas City and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving as the Head Coach and Technical Director for KVFC this upcoming year,” Urbanyi said. “The most rewarding part of our inaugural season was the relationships I developed with the players, staff, and the community and I’m really looking forward to continuing to build upon our success from last season. In my opinion, the USL2 represents an important developmental pathway for collegiate soccer players and aspiring professionals to further develop their individual skills and talents.”

Videos & Interviews

Ike Opara... we barely knew thee. Who’s cutting onions in here guys?

While wasting time on YouTube I stumbled upon this five minute history of Sporting KC (nee the Kansas City Wizards).

Vermes talks with Carter Augustine after the 2nd preseason game. One comment in there that stood out is something he’s said before. When SKC made all these signings in 2018 it wasn’t for 2018 but the plan all along was for 2019. Also, don’t miss my interview with Vermes that I did immediately after this interview (you can even see him walk toward me at the end of the video).

Rodney Wallace gives his first interview of the preseason.

Matt Besler also weighed in after the second preseason game against the PRFC trialists. Besler may be the best person to interview that says so much without saying anything. It’s really a talent.

Kelyn Rowe gets his turn in front of the camera and he talks about Roger Espinoza giving him direction, feeling like a rookie and more. Be sure to catch my interview with Rowe as well. I didn’t get a chance to interview Wallace because my interview with Vermes went on a bit too long.

Carter Augustine had a series of interviews between the second and third preseason games. Krisztian Nemeth’s interview is on YouTube, but the rest are below.

If you don’t watch that interview, at least watch this GIF someone made from it.

Here are your links to the other training interviews.

• Johnny Russell has his interview and Nemeth makes a little cameo as well.
• The other newcomer Erik Hurtado gets his first video interview of preseason too.
• And finally Carter gives an overall update on preseason as the team prepares for CONCACAF Champions League.

Behind the Shield

Leading up to preseason Sporting also put out several new videos from their Behind the Shield series. First, slo-motion goals.

Then we have Special Guests.

Postgame celebrations.

And finally, some funny moments.

Best of 2018

Sporting KC also released some “best of” videos for four players who had great seasons in 2018. First, Graham Zusi.

Then Tim Melia.

Followed by Daniel Salloi.

And finally, Johnny Russell.

And while it’s not Behind the Shield, they go behind the scenes with deleted scenes from Nate Bukaty’s interview series, Drive Time.