Sanjay Sujanthakumar

3 weeks ago | backheeled.com | Joseph Lowery |Sanjay Sujanthakumar

Sporting Kansas City has parted ways with manager Peter Vermes, the club announced on Monday morning. Vermes, who took over SKC in 2009, is the longest-tenured coach in MLS and has been in charge seven years longer than the next person on that list (Brian Schmetzer, Seattle Sounders). He coached 609 matches for Kansas City across all competitions, a figure that totals more than half of the games in the club’s 30-year existence. No figure in MLS history has coached more games for one MLS club.

4 weeks ago | backheeled.com | Sanjay Sujanthakumar |Joseph Lowery

The honeymoon is over. After winning the first three editions of the Concacaf Nations League, the U.S. men’s national team’s fourth-place finish following very forgettable losses to Panama and Canada in Los Angeles erased the optimism about the Mauricio Pochettino era. Pochettino, though, took a different tone after the two defeats. “I want to send a message to the fans.

1 month ago | backheeled.com | Sanjay Sujanthakumar |Joseph Lowery

When Mauricio Pochettino signed on last fall, only 10 international windows — nine regular FIFA dates, plus the 2025 Gold Cup — separated the USMNT from the 2026 World Cup. After each window, “Ten Windows” digs into key developments and charts the USMNT’s progress towards 2026. Results this window: Panama 1, U.S. 0 (Waterman 90+4), Concacaf Nations League semifinal; Canada 2, U.S. 1 (Oluwaseyi 27, David 59; Agyemang 35), Concacaf Nations League third-place game.

1 month ago | backheeled.com | Sanjay Sujanthakumar |Joseph Lowery

The United States men’s national team had already been eliminated from trophy contention in the Concacaf Nations League, but a loss to Canada in Sunday’s third-place game saw them finish dead last in the final four. Sanjay Sujanthakumar (on-site with the U.S. in Los Angeles) and Joe Lowery (on-his-couch-in-Phoenix) combine to share their thoughts on the USMNT’s 2-1 loss to Canada by answering a set of key questions. What’s your one-sentence reaction to that game?

1 month ago | backheeled.com | Sanjay Sujanthakumar |Joseph Lowery

For the first time in Mauricio Pochettino’s brief tenure, the U.S. men’s national team lost a competitive game. After Panama knocked the United States out of last summer’s Copa America, they topped the United States 1-0 in Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal and sent the U.S. to Sunday’s third-place match. So, what went wrong for the USMNT? And what did we learn?