Is Sporting KC finding its footing? If so, an MLS draft pick has a hand in that

As the final whistle approached, defender Jansen Miller turned his back to an L.A. Galaxy attacker and shielded the ball out of play for a goal kick ... only to be dragged down by the opponent.

No foul was called.

That was OK. Miller popped back up with both fists pumping and let out a yell. Sporting KC fans followed suit.

That particular play, and others he’s made like it, won’t show up on Miller’s stat sheet. But he doesn’t have much room for additional statistics, anyway.

The rookie defender was credited with 18 defensive actions against the Galaxy last weekend. Thirteen of those were clearances. On a day when the Kansas City attack wasn’t at its best, Miller played a key role for a back line that repeatedly came up clutch inside its penalty area.

“What I saw on the weekend was much more than whether the back four can cover each other or the midfield three can block the middle,” said Sporting KC’s interim head coach, Kerry Zavagnin. “It was the collective spirit of the group that defended every action that came their way, and we haven’t seen that in a long time.”

Miller was a standout member of that collective, whose key members also include defender Robert Voloder and goalkeeper John Pulskamp.

That’s to be expected of Voloder and Pulskamp. Both have played for Sporting KC for multiple seasons and have been in a professional environment since their teenage years.

Miller was playing Big 10 college soccer less than a year ago.

In Major League Soccer, first-team regulars who go straight from the MLS SuperDraft to a starting XI are few and far between. Even some of the most successful draft picks took a season or two to find their footing.

This preseason, former Sporting manager Peter Vermes called Miller the team’s best defender. But a back injury kept him out of games to start the year. Was that a matter of Miller’s ability, or the level the rest of the group showed in the preseason?

Miller was quickly thrown into the fire as a sub against DC United, and that test didn’t go well for him. He didn’t play in Sporting KC’s 3-3 draw against Minnesota, but he started and mostly held his own in losses to LAFC and FC Dallas.

Then came the club’s managerial change, after which Miller had his monster game against St. Louis City. A few choice moments against his hometown club endeared him to the Sporting KC faithful.

The next match, the Portland game, was a learning experience. Miller has put in good shifts in his last three matches, growing and developing a bit more through each.

“It’s starting to slow down for me,” he said. “In DC, I get on the field and everything’s 100 miles per hour. Now I’m reading things a lot better.”

He credited his teammates with helping to ease his ongoing transition to the pro level.

“Robbie, Joaquin, Danny, I don’t know how many career appearances they have,” Miller said. “More than eight. So they’re teaching me.”

He also pointed to his one-on-one work with Zavagnin. The interim head coach and longtime Sporting assistant offers constructive criticism, pointing out deficiencies while also making sure to celebrate Miller’s progress.

Miller takes this as a sign of Zavagnin’s belief in him.

“He’s let me go through some growing pains,” Miller said, “and I feel like that’s helping me come out the other side.”

In a results-oriented business like professional sports, costly mistakes aren’t always tolerated. And it might’ve been easy for Zavagnin — who, in a sense, is coaching for his job at the moment — to pull the plug on Miller after a pretty rough second half in Sporting KC’s 4-2 home loss to the Timbers.

“The Portland game, like, it stinks,” Miller said. “But now … I feel like my best three games have been on the other side of it.”

Zavagnin stuck with Miller and now it’s starting to pay dividends. The coach advises against “look(ing) at the outcome as the measuring stick of quality.”

“It’s a results-oriented business, but if you do a lot of the little things, and you get better at a lot of the little things, you’re going to turn those into results,” Zavagnin said. “I’d like to take that approach not just with the team, but with individuals, as well.

“They’re going to make mistakes,” he added. “It’s a game of mistakes. But our players are focused on improving. And I think you saw that in some of the individuals this weekend.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 6:30 AM.