The Seattle Sounders turned easily their most disappointing performance of the season. What makes it sting even worse is that expectations were quite high for their game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, who were missing more than half their starters and were coming off a nearly team-wide bout of “gastrointestinal symptoms.” The Sounders responded by looking flat and almost uninterested at times.

Jeremiah and Aaron dig into that performance before power-ranking the five teams they each think have the best shots at winning the Club World Cup.

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***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

Has there ever been a bigger gap between performance and expectation?

Jeremiah is joined by Richard Farley and Charles Boehm to help preview the Seattle portion of the Club World Cup. They share some insight into all seven teams who will be playing here over the next couple of weeks.

Sponsor

🏠 Marnie Oshan Homes: With 20+ years in marketing, business, and negotiation — and an MBA from UW — Marnie Oshan helps home buyers and investors make smart, informed real estate decisions. From first homes to 1031 exchanges and development deals, she offers expert guidance backed by financial insight and local market knowledge. Expertise in new construction, and well-versed on all types of real estate. She’d like to talk about your goals and is here to help you move forward with confidence. Visit her website marnieoshanhomes.com [http://marnieoshanhomes.com/] or email at Marnie@windermere.com.

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

Club World Cup preview

It was an interesting week surrounding the Sounders, giving Jeremiah and Niko plenty to talk about. First off, they give some updates on the players’ protest and some of the reasoning behind why they believe MLS should be giving them a bigger cut of the Club World Cup prize pool. They also discuss the Vancouver Whitecaps’ situation, which has put at least some doubt into whether or not Sunday’s game will happen.

Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/elrolonw.bsky.social] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@pulsosports144].

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***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

There’s interesting precedent for what players want from MLS

Jeremiah and Aaron are back with another mailbag episode, answering questions that were submitted in May. Before they dig into some of those questions, though, they spend quite a bit of time discussing the Sounders players’ recent protest over their share of Club World Cup bonuses and specifically owner Adrian Hanauer’s response. 

As a reminder, all these questions came from our private Discord, which is available to all subscribers at the Supporter ($75/year) level or above. If you’d like to upgrade your membership, you can do so here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/#/portal/signup]. If you’re already a Supporter or above and want to join the Discord, shoot us an email [support@sounderatheart.com].

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

May Mailbag: Why the Sounders are protesting Club World Cup bonuses

If you’ve spent anytime looking at various advanced analytics this year, you’ve probably noticed that the Seattle Sounders are looking an awful lot like a pressing team. Recently, Jamon Moore of American Soccer Analysis wrote about that [https://bsky.app/profile/jamonm.bsky.social/post/3llpb75smss22]. Jeremiah discusses what analytics are saying about the Sounders.

Jamon Moore is a contributor on American Soccer Analysis [https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/?author=5b16bfce88251b408d64c0ea]. You can follow him on BlueSky here [https://bsky.app/profile/jamonm.bsky.social].

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

What advanced stats say about Sounders

The Seattle Sounders are coming off a massive win over San Diego FC which sets up a pretty enticing stretch to send them into the Club World Cup break. If the Sounders can win their next two games, they’ll take over first place in the Western Conference. Jeremiah and Niko discuss the San Diego game and look ahead to Minnesota and Vancovuer on the latest “What we learned this week.”

Sponsor

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***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

Sounders just set themselves up for what could be an epic run into the Club World Cup

We are so close to the Sounders that sometimes it can be a little easy to take what we have for granted. That was probably the biggest takeaway from Charles Boehm’s stint as a guest co-host on this week’s show. Boehm, who has an upcoming feature about Ryan Kent on MLSSoccer.com, marveled at how effectively the Sounders have been able to maintain their form. He and Jeremiah also look ahead to what promises to be a very interesting stretch of games in which the Sounders will play the current Top 3 teams in the Western Conference in consecutive games.

Follow Charles on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/cboehm.bsky.social] and read his work on MLSSoccer.com [https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/topics/national-writer-charles-boehm/].

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

Sounders so far proving resilient

FC Dallas comes to Seattle in the middle of a three-game road trip that seemingly puts them at a significant disadvantage, coming a few days after they went to New York and played 120 minutes a few days before they head to FC Cincinnati. To make matters worse, they’re also missing star midfielder Luciano Acosta.

It all sets up quite nicely for the Sounders in general and Jesús Ferreira in particular. Jeremiah and Niko both believe the striker is due for a big game.

In the second half of the show, Jeremiah and Niko discuss a newsy week in the Club World Cup that saw players expressing frustration over the bonus structure and FIFA reacting to slow ticket sales by reducing prices for many games.

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

There are no excuses against FC Dallas

Coming off a three-game road trip in which the Sounders got four points, Jeremiah and Aaron express mostly satisfaction with the overall play even if they weren’t entirely happy with the results. But one player who is harder to figure out is Jesús Ferreira, who seems to be doing a lot of things right but not performing how we thought we would. Jeremiah and Aaron try to project how he might do the rest of the year.

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

Should we be expecting more from Jesús Ferreira?

The Sounders are coming off a disappointing 4-0 loss to LAFC, but that doesn’t mean Jeremiah or Niko are particularly worried about the longterm ramifications. They discuss the takeaways from that match as well as look ahead to Saturday’s Cascadia Cup clash with the Portland Timbers on the latest episode of “What we learned this week.”

Sponsor

🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php

***

Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here [https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/]. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa8GVYhPbOP3PnrH6WJct9d-jZ8Qh_XhA].

Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass [https://sounderathe.art/MLSPass] or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs [https://nosaudietis.threadless.com/].

“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here [https://despatchesfromseattle.com/].

We’re not freaking out about the loss to LAFC and neither should you

An unofficial podcast about the Seattle Sounders produced by Sounder at Heart's Jeremiah Oshan and Aaron Campeau, with Likkit Pocinwong