Marked for Jansen Miller
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chicago Fire are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Chris Brady and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robin Lod and Chicago Fire agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Logan Farrington falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Orlando City to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chicago Fire and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 20 matches say the rest.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Jansen Miller
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
When it matters, Robin Lod plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market6 Sep 2027
The Chris Brady story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chris Brady signs something — a contract at Chicago Fire or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chicago Fire can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Jack Elliott: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chicago Fire have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Austin FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jack Elliott. The answer from Chicago Fire has not changed — yet.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Logan Farrington falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Chris Brady has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jason Shokalook. 1‑0 against CF Montreal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Jul 2027
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Samid Akanni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jordan Yedlin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Jul 2027
Business is business: Sergio Oregel goes
LA Galaxy paid $2.1M and Chicago Fire took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Chicago Fire's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chicago Fire has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Chris Brady in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Logan Farrington was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jeremías Heidenreich has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Logan Farrington, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake have settled on $3.3M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jayden Reid was one of the reasons people came, and $2.7M does not replace that by itself.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market19 Jul 2027
Business is business: Jansen Miller goes
Chicago Fire paid $1.8M and Sporting Kansas City took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Or Blorian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market19 Jul 2027
Inter Miami CF pay $610.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match17 Jul 2027
Minute 86, against San Diego Football Club, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match17 Jul 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2027
Position 13, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Sporting Kansas City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market12 Jul 2027
DC United come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Chicago Fire did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Up for the corner, and Anton Salétros delivers — 7.64
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Anton Salétros scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chicago Fire this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chris Brady, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead12 Jul 2027
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Chicago Fire know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout31 May 2027
Stefan Cleveland: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting Kansas City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
John Pulskamp and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 May 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout31 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tim Wright could afford to be generous.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead31 May 2027
Los Angeles Football Club arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout31 May 2027
Sean Davis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sporting Kansas City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jansen Miller and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Jacob Bartlett
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Stephen Afrifa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sporting Kansas City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with André Luiz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Capita knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sporting Kansas City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager plants his flag on André Luiz
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from André Luiz’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jansen Miller damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sporting Kansas City know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Or Blorian has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Or Blorian in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting Kansas City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Sean Davis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sporting Kansas City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Wyatt Meyer
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jansen Miller
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Kansas City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sporting Kansas City know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
John Pulskamp and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Seattle Sounders, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Justin Reynolds falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Capita gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Tim Wright: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jansen Miller
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Kansas City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Sep 2026
John Pulskamp and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sporting Kansas City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Reynolds is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.71 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sporting Kansas City had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
André Luiz has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sporting Kansas City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Tim Wright on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stefan Cleveland’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sporting Kansas City needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until John Pulskamp signs something — a contract at Sporting Kansas City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sporting Kansas City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Emir Karić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Lasse Berg Johnsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
André Luiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Sep 2026
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. John Pulskamp knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting John Pulskamp's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jansen Miller
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Kansas City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sporting Kansas City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Reynolds is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kwaku Agyabeng and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Sean Davis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sporting Kansas City will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Calvin Harris knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Calvin Harris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sporting Kansas City know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Austin FC, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
Akhmat Grozny paid $9.6M and Sporting Kansas City took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Shapi Suleymanov has gone, the accounts have $9.6M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.01, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Jansen Miller pops up at the right end — 7.80
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clock did what FC Cincinnati would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
John Pulskamp was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.