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Seattle Sounders, We Owe You an Apology - Ep. 57
126 Plays1 year ago
Join us on Aug. 22 for a celebration of Sounder at Heart's 1 year anniversary!
We bring you a massive Dub Pod this week as the Seattle Sounders shut down the LA Galaxy to advance in Leagues Cup. For that, we must admit defeat on our own analysis and praise the three defenders who hit the score sheet.
We will break down all the fine points of the fantastic performance, hit our Agenda Check, take your questions and debut a new segment. We also get on our soapbox about Sounders Season ticket renewal. Take a listen!
- Support the show by subscribing to Sounder at Heart and get 1 FREE month!
- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction & Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 57 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwa. I got producer Noah here with me. Noah, we have a League's Cup dub pod today. How are you feeling?
00:00:52
Speaker
I mean, I was shocked by the result. I was at the game. I was hoping that Joey Paintsill was going to pop off. And in fact, Ari, we got a little embarrassed. We did. We both have egg on our collective face as we're set to bring you this unexpected League's Cup dub
Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy Preview
00:01:08
Speaker
pod. The Seattle Sounders played the LA Galaxy in the round of 32 of the League's Cup.
00:01:12
Speaker
a match that we both predicted that they would lose. I think it's fair to say if you go back through the archives of episode 56. I think that's saying it lightly Ari honestly. Yeah well and the Sounders smashed on them 3-1 to advance to the sweet 16 of this tournament.
00:01:28
Speaker
fun game three defenders scored you don't see that every day the entire backline almost scored which that would have been a great novelty I was rooting for the new goal they were talking about it a lot on the broadcast and he actually almost got it but I mean almost also again a little bit of it
00:01:45
Speaker
dramatic. Well,
Seattle Sounders' Victory Highlights
00:01:46
Speaker
okay. Almost by new who stands. Correct. Okay. Much closer of a shot than he usually hits better than I would do. Also, I mean, both CBs and the right backscored. So that was a fun little thing. We're going to do our game review where we break down all the fine points of what was really an all around excellent performance from Seattle to be LA in this game. We're going to hit our agenda check. We'll take your questions. We're going to continue our coverage of the current saga of the Seattle Sounders season tickets.
Promotions and Community Engagement
00:02:12
Speaker
price increase and then later on we're going to talk about Seattle's upcoming matchup tomorrow against Pumas in League's Cub and some of the other results from the round of 32 that caught our eye but before we get into all that I wanted to let you all know
00:02:30
Speaker
Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. We have three new subs to thank this week and as we
00:02:54
Speaker
usually do, I'm gonna read out all of the names of our subscribers because we love and appreciate you all that much. I think we could build a full roster. We're getting to that point, yeah. 26 subs. Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascinelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Dan Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bontye, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoecker, Chris Maley, Andy Hill, Mike Lentini, Nate Bontye, David Rodriguez, my nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis, Mark Audinger,
00:03:22
Speaker
Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, Claire Berger, and then our three new subs, Robert Sink, Tyler Nakatsu, and Brenna Murphy. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate you. And if you would like to join the ranks of our supporters, sounderatheart.com slash LS. Also,
00:03:42
Speaker
If you're listening to this, and you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the Lob and the Scorchers YouTube. Noah, the drive to 350 is alive and well. We are at about 343 subs on YouTube. And we also did our first video pod in our last show for the YouTube. And it actually did quite well. We racked quite a few views on that. So we really appreciate anyone from the new audience of YouTube that might be tuning in that don't know us that well.
00:04:12
Speaker
Help us on the drive to 350. And then once we hit the drive to 350, we can do the drive to 400 together. It's going to be a lot of fun. I know for a fact there's at least seven of you out there that are listening to this.
00:04:26
Speaker
that haven't subbed yet to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. Noah, did you have one more thing you wanted to promote before we get into this game review? One more thing, folks, if you want to come and hang out with us and the rest of the Sounder at Heart staff, there will be a really fun event commemorating the one-year anniversary of Sounder at Heart being an independent soccer media, I don't know, blog, family? Outlet, media outlet. All of those things. That's going to be
00:04:55
Speaker
At 7 p.m. on the 22nd there will be more details on where to get your tickets. It's a ticketed event but the tickets I think are only like 10 bucks. There will be a live recording of Nos adiates and we will be there so feel free to bring us gifts of Paul Rothrock jerseys but again in the description we will drop a link to tickets as well as a link to all the rest of the info there. Come one, come all. Should be a really fun time.
00:05:20
Speaker
Coming out with us on August 22nd, we always like to meet our listeners and talk some ball and just geek out on our shared obsession, which is the Seattle Sounders and MOS.
Match Analysis: Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy
00:05:33
Speaker
All right, enough of that housekeeping. Let's get into this game review. Does that sound good? Let's do it.
00:05:37
Speaker
We're going to start, as always, with our lineup reaction. It was about his first choice as it gets, which I think is to be expected in a game like this. I mean, you had Paul Rothrock starting, so that's how you know that it's first choice. But you had the Rusnak Morris duo. You had Christian at right mid, which it seems like that seems to be the first choice set up right now. He had been experimented with right back a little bit, but he was back at right mid for this game again.
00:06:04
Speaker
The Obed and JP double pivot and then your first choice backline with Andy T and goals. So that's they're still rotating any T in there But the first choice backline turned out to be a very significant thing in this game pretty much from the jump You know
00:06:20
Speaker
Going into this game. I think we both were we had concerns about this matchup to put it lightly primarily because I mean the LA Galaxy They've been one of the best teams in MLS all year and specifically they have a very dynamic very productive Attack that is very lethal in transition with some of the you have the best facilitator in the league for my money excluding certain a certain player at inner Miami and
00:06:45
Speaker
best facilitator in the league for my money, Ricky Poosh. And you have, I think what I think is the best winger duo in the league right now in Joey Paints and Gabriel Peck. So Seattle's defense and the OBED JP double pivot was going to have its work cut out for them in this game. And I just, you know, I think we understandably both had concerns and reservations as to whether Seattle has currently constituted coming off
00:07:15
Speaker
A couple of tough results in recent weeks, both at home against LAFC and Club Nocoxah. I was not sure if they were up for hanging with a team like this. But I think we might have underestimated two things. And I'm actually going to get to those in my takeaways. But if you look at how this game panned out, it did not pan out how we thought it would at all. Seattle scored two set piece goals in the first seven minutes of the game, both by center backs.
00:07:42
Speaker
Crazy which is yeah, you just don't really see that every day But I mean the key on both of these goals was the set piece delivery by Albert Rusnak Who's still just locked in on these on these free kicks and these corner kicks the delivery especially I mean they were both Excellently delivered set pieces, but the first one to yamar. I mean you cannot lay that in any better and
00:08:07
Speaker
Uh, and Yaymar like, you know, a lot of, uh, there was a lot of talk on the broadcast, uh, about how poorly both of these goals were defended. And I think they're, you know, the galaxy definitely could have done better to prevent these chances from getting on target. But I mean, it's also, you have to give Seattle credit for the execution on that. You have to give Rusnak credit for continuing to be Deadeye with these free kicks.
00:08:29
Speaker
And you have to give Yeymar credit for his body positioning and being able to go up and beat his defender and then get the shot on target and score the goal. And another thing we had talked about too was that lack of conscious defending from the LA Galaxy that they love to ship goals. So it was not necessarily a shock that we scored. Exactly. And I will say, to be fair to us,
00:08:54
Speaker
We did bring that up and point that out, which is that when we were talking about the avenues that Seattle did have to be competitive and to win this game, it was the fact that the L.A. Galaxy, they still not as much anymore, but they still love to concede goals really in opportune times. And that really just came to the surface.
00:09:29
Speaker
That's like what the LA Galaxy have been for the last three or four years leading up to this. They would do that every game. They had kind of gotten that out of their system, hadn't done that as much this year, but they still do do it sometimes. And they did it in this game twice in the first seven minutes of the game, both to center backs. The second goal was just a couple of minutes after that Yamar opener.
00:09:39
Speaker
from the very start of
00:09:50
Speaker
and this time it was another perfect corner kick from Rusnak that Jordan Morris this time headed off John McCarthy's face which when I saw it live I didn't realize that it smashed off his face but if you watch the replay it's it's pretty funny because
00:10:06
Speaker
uh Jordan wins the header and uh he hits it right at John McCarthy and he's kind of just standing there with his arms out and he has no chance to react and it hits him in the face and you can tell that he is just pretty stunned I don't think in the direct aftermath of taking that hit to the face he had much of a chance to like collect himself and react to anything that happened but fortunately for Seattle the deflection
00:10:31
Speaker
went right to the path of Jackson Reagan. All he had to do was stick his leg out, puts the shot off the top of the crossbar and into the net for 2-0 seven minutes into the game. Now at that point, I don't know about you, but I was almost feeling like, all right, like obviously it's great to have a 2-0 lead seven minutes into the game, but it almost felt like too early.
00:10:52
Speaker
Yeah, like well not too early, but it's just like the galaxy have so much time It's one of the most dynamic offenses in the league all they really need to do is strike Back for one and then all of a sudden the game is entirely a toss-up again So I didn't really feel all that comfortable with the 2-0 lead with that much time left on the clock but
00:11:16
Speaker
Again, great, great game management from Seattle, I thought, for the rest of the first half. The Galaxy really did not get going in that top gear that we talked about on the preview show for the rest of that first half at all. Ricky Poosh was doing his thing. Some of the runs, his just dribbling and the way he just sheds defenders, and you can't get the ball off him, and then the passes that he's able to hit, which we saw later in the game,
00:11:43
Speaker
just a very very talented player like I really enjoy watching him but aside from him I thought JP and Obed did very well to withstand the pressure that that did take place and the back line did enough you know the galaxy they
00:11:59
Speaker
They had some moments in transition, but nothing especially in the first half nothing Crazy, I didn't think and then right before halftime Seattle gets their third which this was a fantastic goal Alex rolled on assist from his older brother He lines one up from way outside the area the bend he got on this one was
00:12:20
Speaker
Disgusting disgusting like John McCarthy laid all the way out like he could not have extended out any further but the shot was just hit so perfectly that he didn't have a chance and That was that was really a huge goal because that gate that
00:12:39
Speaker
When you're able to do that it gives you a lot more margin for error like if you ship one It's not like all of the sudden an anxiety attack like you can actually manage that and That's what Seattle did in the second half the second half was a little nerve here, but it was really entertaining. Yeah
00:12:54
Speaker
This I would say from about the 70th to the 90th minute was about as much fun as I've had watching a sounders game all season and that's because I think up 3-0 like the galaxy were desperate so they were they were just going all out to try and get a goal back that could get them back into the game and
00:13:12
Speaker
And I think the Sounders were kind of feeling themselves a little bit and they were like, you know what, like we're up three goals. We probably our game plan going into this game, I would imagine was try to not get in this like transition back and forth type battle with this team. But I think they were like, you know what, fuck it like.
00:13:28
Speaker
we're up three three zero like let's have some fun let's do some like let's play some entertaining ball and it was really like back and forth up and down uh it was it was good stuff both teams were playing some good ball the galaxy uh they i think they got sucked more into the galaxy's transition game than they probably should have given the lead that they have
00:13:51
Speaker
but the result was some with some entertaining stuff and the galaxy kind of they finally started running their stuff a little bit a lot more than they did in the first half see i got lucky that the uh that the pecta yoshida goal didn't count um yeah peck put in a really pretty like unstoppable free kick all yoshida had to do was just barely get his head to it and
00:14:14
Speaker
That's one of those ones where he was 0.2 inches offside. That really easily could have and should have been a goal for them. And Gabriel Peck was being pretty funny. He was really arguing that that one should have counted on video reviews, telling the ref to go review it.
00:14:33
Speaker
But like if you look at the replay he was he was definitely offside and then later on he was I think he like tried to win a penalty and was he was like there was some dark art stuff going on but by any means necessary the goal that the galaxy did get late in the game around like the 82nd minute was I mean so
00:14:52
Speaker
I feel like the galaxy offense did not kind of live up to the way we talked about it in the preview show on that specific play you kind of you could see like the type of stuff that this team has been doing all year and
00:15:07
Speaker
That assist by Ricky poos to find Gabriel peck just inch perfect I Know this is a pro Ricky poos. This is a pro. I feel like this is we're like weirdly pro galaxy I mean, I yeah, I'm definitely weirdly pro galaxy but I think we respect the build and we respect the players that they've been able to like the track and the style of play yeah that like just
00:15:34
Speaker
that just frantic transition, like buzzsaw style of counter-attack that they are able to put together. They do. LFC thinks they're that team. The Galaxy are actually shots fired. Well, I honestly do. I rate the galaxy over LFC, except for the fact that they just lost as the Sounders. Well, I mean, it's just the defense, man. If they actually like got like an upper tier MLS defense, they would be so good. Walker Zimmerman, pick up your phone.
00:16:04
Speaker
That goal didn't end up mattering. It was too little, too late. Sounders win 3-1.
Upcoming Matches & Knockout Stage Excitement
00:16:11
Speaker
And they're off to face Pumas in the round of 16, which is a rematch of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League final, which Seattle won, famously. Famously won. So I'm excited. I loved Pumas fans. That was such a fun match. Oh, that was an energy was incredible when we first met.
00:16:29
Speaker
I think the first time we met was the CCL final. We had known each other through Twitter, but we never actually met. We went to the media party. Honestly, the vibes that whole weekend of the game that Seattle hosted were incredible. This is a little bit of a tangent, but I'm down to go on it. What I remember about that is
00:16:52
Speaker
Being at that media mixer and hanging out with everybody and just like the feeling of kind of inevitability that they were gonna win Yeah, like I feel like everyone had that kind of it's so like for that vibe to be there But like when there's that vibe you you're a little bit uneasy almost you're like this feels like too good to be true like maybe they're gonna lose and then for them to go out there and just like smash on him and win win that tournament that the way that they did that was a
00:17:17
Speaker
that was incredible that was like kind of like the apex i think of of this club yeah so well and to like to jump into the match be so nervy how you know new who getting injured jp getting injured like all within the first you know few minutes and then obed coming on oh dude
00:17:37
Speaker
I'm just saying I love poop ass I'm so excited to play them and I don't know I think I'm stoked for this game I am too and that's kind of that was one of my takeaways but I'll just dish it now yeah like this is this is where I think League's Cup starts getting good you know we talked about in the group I think the group stage
00:17:55
Speaker
The group stage had some fun games for sure, but it was dragging a little bit. The Sounders game specifically, the first one I felt was like, definitely like the vibes were off. We talked about that. But now that we're into the knockout stage, you've got Seattle playing, League of Namekis team, the one that they played to win Champions League. And just like thinking back to my memories of the League's Cup run where Seattle made it to the final, this is the time like the single elimination games where you have
00:18:23
Speaker
The mls teams that make it this far playing these upper tier league emekis teams. This is where it gets fun and I think I think We're gonna see that in not just this game But like a lot of these knockout stage games where it's really just you know tournament tournament soccer like has a different type of feel to it, you know, like whether it's whether in mls it's the playoffs or Ccl open cup now this like these single elimination games are
00:18:50
Speaker
They're pretty fun and like this matchup in particular I agree is like this is the matchup that I would want I want to see and that's I think that's another you know Think about League's Cup that at least I personally enjoy is like I and I enjoy like any platform where I get to see MLS teams go against these League of American teams because
00:19:11
Speaker
it's just my own curiosity like i like to see how they stack up and i have talked about before too like the degree to which i think playing like playing teams like this can raise your level which i think is something we witnessed with the sounders yeah and it creates this budding rivalry between league at mechies teams and mls teams that's what we've always i think said about the positives of league's cup like people may get on our asses about it but honestly
00:19:38
Speaker
If it wasn't being used, if League's Cup wasn't being used to diminish the Open Cup, dude, I feel like more people would be in on the drama and the intrigue. I think there's work to be done with it as far as getting it to a point where fan interest matches up with what they want.
00:19:59
Speaker
From it but as far as just the principle of like like a game like this where we get to see Seattle go up against the league and Becky's team Like this like I'm down with it. Like I can't wait to watch this game. Would you rather have sorry? I know we're dragging on this league League's Cup coverage but would you rather have a single elimination throughout the whole tournament or Like take away the group stage or keep the group stage
00:20:31
Speaker
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Seattle Sounders' Defensive Strengths
00:20:49
Speaker
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00:20:57
Speaker
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00:21:26
Speaker
Um, it's a good question. Like based on how the group stage went this year, like I almost feel like single elimination off rip might actually be the play, especially because the group stage felt kind of weird in the sense that like there was teams that got beat like four zero and then still advanced. So maybe, maybe the answer is more like tweaking the group stage a little bit to make, make it more high stakes. And like it feel, it felt like it was like almost like too easy. I don't know.
00:21:56
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I'm going to hit my rapid fire takeaways. You can tell me what you think of these. I mean, the first one's obvious. I mean, our prognostication on this was dead wrong. Oh, yeah. Like it didn't play out how I thought it would. How I think either of us thought it would at all. And I mean, I think you have to credit Seattle's defense.
00:22:14
Speaker
For that and really both games. They've played the galaxy this year I feel like people who listen to this show only watch Seattle and don't watch the galaxy probably feel like I'm like on crazy pills because I have how much I've talked up their offense and then both times Seattle is played them It hasn't looked like that and I'm just telling you guys like most other teams that the galaxy have played this year and you can see this by where they are on the table and
00:22:43
Speaker
It's electric. They're going up and down. They're generating really high percentage chances. They're finishing those chances. Ricky Poosh is pinging through balls and switches all over the field. Joey Paints and Gabriel Pegg, you can look at their stats. These guys have combined for a ton of goal contributions this year. Joey Paints in both games against Seattle this year, done nothing.
00:23:08
Speaker
Gabriel Peck was kind of balling in the second half towards the end. He got the goal I thought they contained him about as well as you could hope Ricky pooge I mean that guy's really hard to contain and I think you have to you have to give Seattle's midfield and Backline a ton of credit for how they've handled the matchups with this team this year This is not an easy offense to go up against
00:23:28
Speaker
And they have they've tempered it like in a way that I didn't necessarily expect and I think my other main concern was just like when you look at the firepower that they have like can Seattle's match up with that and like when I looked at that matchup like
00:23:49
Speaker
I saw a number 10 who's in really good form for Seattle and a striker who's been in good form for Seattle but like I think where I kind of saw the mismatch was when you look at what they have out wide compared to what Seattle has out wide I mean you're talking about the best winger duo in the league going up against Paul Rothrock and Christian Roldan who both you know
00:24:09
Speaker
We love both of those players, but like it's not Gabrielle. It's more like a testament to Joey Paints and Gabrielle Peck and just how productive they've been this year that that felt like an advantage for the galaxy. And so credit to Seattle's defense for neutralizing what has been one of the best, most productive attacks in MLS this year. Here's my other takeaway. Tell me what you think of this. All right. Rusnak is good enough. He is good enough. He just he needs more help. Like when you look at his
00:24:40
Speaker
like his delivery and like how he's been running the offense. Like he has been cooking. This guy is good. I think I really think he's DP level. I do. And and that's not based just on the small sample size of good form that he's been in the last few weeks. This dates back to like years of watching him when he was on real Salt Lake. And if you look at like his early days on this team,
00:25:07
Speaker
He was playing out of position. He was not playing as the number 10 as the centerpiece of the offense and when I just I don't know just when I watch how he runs the offense and his attributes as a facilitator and particularly his set pieces which are like some of the best in the league this season or at least like over this last stretch for Seattle like
00:25:31
Speaker
I honestly the way I feel about it right now and this could change if things I reserve the right to change my mind if like things totally tank but like the way I feel about it right now I would be like totally fine with them bringing him back as the as the number 10 next year at least and might like think about this
00:25:50
Speaker
Like if you gave Rusnak Joey paints and Gabriel peck and then put Jordan Morris up top I think that cooks. Oh, yeah, I think that cooks I just think you need more around him in that front for like you need you need Players like to support him, you know that yellow That will push his game to an even higher level but I just think I just I really like what I've seen from him this entire last part of the season I
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you know, Paul Rothrock can only do so much. We love him. We have sung his praises. But like there's a difference between Paul Rothrock and Gabriel Peck. Right. Like they're just in. And that's not to say that Rothrock literally can't contribute on this team or a team going forward. Like he could be a killer, killer, super sub. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm honestly I'm I'm in agreement. Like I would totally be cool with keeping Rusnik on.
00:26:41
Speaker
for another season especially if there's no ambition to like find a really high priced replacement for him he's performing he has the pedigree at this point i think and yeah get some pieces around him but more than that like the issue is clearly not albert rosenac as the dp
00:27:00
Speaker
We debated that earlier in the season, and I think there was fair shouts about the quality of his play at that point. But from what we've seen over, I think, a fair enough amount sample size, he's been probably the best DP on the roster.
00:27:18
Speaker
I mean, yeah, easily, but like, I guess as far as like, uh, you know, allocating resources, defining like supposedly a higher level number 10, like I personally would rather see the resources allocated to, like I said, like wide players, wide players that can support him and Jordan, which I think is, uh,
00:27:35
Speaker
They're they've been a very productive duo and again like his they Seattle won this game on set pieces and like his delivery was just I mean it's been incredible honestly the last few weeks.
Evaluating LA Galaxy's Performance
00:27:51
Speaker
my other takeaway the galaxy are still the galaxy we talked about it a little bit but there are two factors that i think thinking back to the preview show i didn't take enough into account uh the extent to which they're still the galaxy um they uh the galaxy they they love to concede
00:28:10
Speaker
Goals ill-timed goals, but then the other thing the other factor that I didn't take into account was just Like how poorly historically they've performed in Seattle Oh, they were showing that record on the broadcast and I hadn't thought about that but like that is like a very true trend They pretty much I mean they it's like they're oh five and two or something in their last seven trips here and
00:28:33
Speaker
And I don't know what the reasoning behind that is, but that's a trend that's dated back a long time that I didn't take into account. And when you combine, I guess, just that history with the fact that this is still a defense that is prone to unfortunate lapses, you get the result that we saw in this game.
00:28:58
Speaker
And then my last takeaway, I already said it, but I think this is where this tournament is gonna pick up these single elimination games against these League of Mechis teams. They should be fun to watch, and I'm looking forward to this game. Yeah, me too. I'm stoked. Rematch time. Rematch time, exactly. We better be in the game. Let's go win a trophy.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, they're kind of, they're in contention for two trophies right now between this tournament and open cup, obviously. And then they're also in playoff positions. So they're, I mean, for as tough as this season has been at times, like if you look at it, there's a lot to play for it. Like these games are, these are big games.
00:29:37
Speaker
which in a sense a little bit scares me because if you can get to that or be in contention with a bare bones roster like that scares me a little bit to think that maybe the front office will be like oh we're good then
00:29:51
Speaker
I mean, I definitely, I hope they aren't thinking of it like that. And maybe they're not, maybe they're not. Well, and I think, I mean, they're gonna, here's the thing, they're gonna have to base that decision on how the rest of this season goes, you know? True. Like, if you win two out of these three trophies, I would frankly still want to see them make a move.
00:30:11
Speaker
like but I do think if that if that happens they're probably going to rationalize like less turnover which when that time comes we're gonna have to debate whether that's the right approach because I do think I mean like say they just hypothetically I don't think this is gonna happen but say they win League's Cup and MLS Cup like the way I think about this roster might change a little bit even given some of the struggles that we've seen this year
00:30:36
Speaker
I mean, they are a tournament team, though. Like, through and through, Brian Schweitzer is a tournament coach. Like, you can never write them out.
00:30:43
Speaker
I know, it's true. I was kind of thinking about that too, just like watching that Galaxy game and how it kind of went against everything I expected. It's like every time like dating back to really like 2016, every time I've like left them for dead, they kind of do this. They like that. They turn it up. Yeah, they like that. They have to like put themselves in a position to like dig out of a hole to get motivated, I guess. All right. Let's hit this agenda check. I got four written down here.
00:31:28
Speaker
The talking point of them beating up on bad competition, that definitely applies to the most recent part of their league schedule, but not to this game. This is one of the best teams in the league. To kill this agenda, I would say they have to beat a few more of the upper tier teams and show that they belong in that weight class.
00:31:40
Speaker
beat up the bradley wright phillips sounders are fraudulent and only beat bad teams agenda.
00:31:51
Speaker
But I think for this week, they actually managed to tamp down this agenda a little bit by not just not just beating this galaxy team, but kind of beating the brakes off them, like dominating. Yeah, no, they they they shitted on the galaxy like respectfully. That's that was a whomping. And they never want at any moment after like there was a little bit of nerves, I think, in the first like 20 minutes, just like, oh, are we going to hold on to this? But
00:32:16
Speaker
I don't know if they, they womped on them. And honestly, I got to, I watched a little bit of the, uh, the kind of MLS season pass response or whatever. Uh, and you know, BWP, you was singing a little bit of praises to Brian Schmetzer. I didn't see this.
00:32:31
Speaker
I can't remember exactly I don't want to but it was like he was like he was like you know you got to give credit to the sounders and Alright, so he's coming around. He's coming around. We got to get him on longs. We got to get him on the pot the RBW starting over new who agenda I have that as diminished because like You know
00:32:52
Speaker
Unfortunately like somehow taken on this role as like the new who defender which I really I never meant for that to be the be the role that I've taken on but Like this is the type of game where you like you see what he brings to the table and that Schmetz is not like taking crazy pills for starting him like
00:33:18
Speaker
When you're going against in attack like this where you've got the most dynamic winger duo in the league it's pretty value to have it valuable to have a guy who is Like athletic and fast enough to keep up with and counter players that are super fast and dynamic and athletic and
00:33:39
Speaker
And like I think you have to give new who a lot of the credit for the for how Seattle's defense has been able to handle this galaxy attack in both the games this year and
00:33:52
Speaker
just in general like some of what we've seen from Seattle on defense over the last few weeks has been good and I think new has been as he's played a role in that but like specifically in this game I mean I thought he was great like he kind of owns Joey paints and you know that we love Joey paints Joey paints is one of if not my favorite players in the league open invite for him to come on exactly but like
00:34:17
Speaker
I would like, I just, if it was me making the lineup, I would never start RBW over him in this situation, just like for the reason that we saw play out on the field. Yeah. I mean, RBW, like we've said, he's young, he's, he needs to make mistakes. That's like a part of his learning process and development.
00:34:35
Speaker
but yeah you don't start you don't put him you don't put him out to die against literally one of the most pacey just beautiful wingers i've ever seen in my life like this dude or striker whatever you know whatever he's playing i mean he would get cooked and we've seen him we've seen him get cooked before
00:34:53
Speaker
I got to give, I got to give new who credit. You know, people have also asserted the, the, the very, that I'm very anti new who, um, you know, maybe, maybe I was, maybe I am, but he, he won the corner that led to one, if not both of the goals. Oh yeah. I didn't even think of that. Yeah. And so, you know, I know we always talk about, Oh, Paul Rothrock set up X, Y, and Z.
00:35:16
Speaker
I know knew who is not great in the attack. He isn't. He was never going to score in this game. He was never going to be an attacking threat. He almost did. But like watch the shot again. It did not miss by that much angle. It looked like it did. No, it went over. It went comfortably over the crossbar, but like not not row 27. Yeah, like it was actually like not that far from being on target.
00:35:44
Speaker
Yeah, I I kind of want to do a shooting competition with him like against him. I feel like we are both equally as bad at finishing. But regardless, like, yeah, no, he played incredibly well. Obviously he's going to make like he made some mistakes. I think some of those same problems about tracking back and.
00:36:03
Speaker
things like that but like we didn't lose this game because of new who in fact I think that we were in a better position to win this game because of new who and I agree with you this agenda diminished yeah and I will I mean I will say that like like I said from like kind of the 70th minute on the galaxy
00:36:23
Speaker
They turned it up a little bit, but they were way behind. And also, there's just an extent to which, when you're playing a team like this, that there's going to be spells of the game that are like that. What it's about is absorbing the pressure and just trying to make the chances that they do generate as low percentage as you can. And maybe getting a little lucky, there was definitely a couple plays where I felt like the Galaxy had
00:36:50
Speaker
some pretty good looks but just missed but you know sometimes like sometimes that's what it takes you know like in a game like this because You're not you're not you're probably you're not gonna play this galaxy team for a full 90 and have them Not have their looks like they're they're very good at generating those looks absolutely The Christian rolled on it right right back agenda. I have that as as diminished just because
00:37:20
Speaker
you know Alex had a great game in this game and not I don't think it was just the goal but I do think the goal felt like a little bit like a I don't know if statements the right word but sort of just a reminder a reminder of like what he can bring to this team and just the fact that you know he's been a an above average to sometimes very good starting right back for this team for a lot of the last Al Salvadorian captain scored internationally as well
00:37:50
Speaker
And and so and I like I really think that I really think the whole defense was excellent in this game, like in the midfield and the back line. And I think you have to you got credit new with that. You got to credit the CBS for that. You got to credit Alex for that. And then also that goal was just I mean, that that was one of the sickest goals of the year. So it's not like the agenda is not diminished because of anything like Christian did. It's more just like this was this was sort of like a resurgent Alex Roldan game, I thought.
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah, Alex Roldan's stock is up. It is up. I mean, we talked about how you have to give credit to him mainly because he was a Paul Rothrock type, right? Like when he feels like he's maybe diminishing or he feels like his spot is being taken away, he works his ass off. He does. That's always been the type of player he is. And I think that this game specifically, like it showed that is still the type of player that he is.
00:38:44
Speaker
Yeah, okay. I have a new agenda here It's not related to the sounders which I so I think as I try to diversify The agenda check and it occurred to me like I can like do around MLS agendas You know like so and this is one of those and it pertains to the galaxy This is the galaxy deserved to be talked about with the MLS elite agenda which I have been a primary purveyor of this season like
00:39:09
Speaker
I am higher on this galaxy team than most, I will say. I think most of the pundits, the pundit class and the analysts, they have more reservations about their status as a contender than I do because of the concerns with their defense. And I've sort of been downplaying that because I'm like, I mean, when you have Ricky Poosh, Joey Paints, Gabriel Peck, and Deon Yovalich when he's healthy, like you can probably afford to. It's the inner Miami theory.
00:39:37
Speaker
If you just are so insanely good and dynamic and productive on offense Like you don't really need to play elite defense like you just need to Concede a few enough few goals that like if you score three or four you're fine you win the game anyway, right so but I have this agenda as diminished because
00:40:02
Speaker
I mean, as much credit as you do have to give Albert Rusnak and Yemar and Jordan and Jackson Reagan, Seattle deserves credit on that. I mean, two set piece goals within the first seven minutes of the game is pretty crazy. Like Greg Vani had to be like, what am I watching?
00:40:20
Speaker
like how does uh and it's just it's so galaxy like and it's you know i feel disappointed because of how how i have been on them this year and how much they seem to have put like the worst of this stuff behind them the reputation they fostered and it's just like
00:40:38
Speaker
bubbled way back to the surface in this game to the point where I'm like okay you guys still do have like a crazy good offense a really fun like counterattacking style that few teams in the league can really match but like
00:40:53
Speaker
If you put this galaxy team in a playoff game against like an LFC or a theoretical like MLS cup against Columbus or like just any game against one of those like elite upper tier teams like that I'm probably taking the other team just because I do I don't trust this galaxy team to not like concede in
00:41:14
Speaker
really unfortunate and kind of comedic fashion from outsider but uh yeah that agenda is diminished i'm i'm gonna go opposite i think everyone has a bad game i still think the galaxy are elite i don't think that i would judge their general performance across the board on a tournament game midweek in a place where they've never been successful i still think
00:41:41
Speaker
For my money, I'm putting the galaxy up against just about any team. See, I want to believe that, but then I guess I watched too much of them the last three or four years. The last three or four years, what happened in the Seattle game, that's what they did every game. And I'm just like, have you really moved on? Have you changed? I don't know if I believe that.
00:42:03
Speaker
Like and you're probably right that I'm putting like too much stock in like an individual game where a quick turnaround quick turnaround Like tournament setting tough tough place to travel tough place to play all that's true But I'm also kind of thinking about the galaxy that I've come to know right over the last few years And when I see when I see a game like that
00:42:25
Speaker
Doubt creeps into my mind like have you really changed? Have you changed to the degree that I've been arguing this year that you've changed? You know I don't know we'll see I would love to be proven wrong because like I could claim validation on like being Being a purveyor of the like the galaxy our lead agenda, but like I'm just I guess I'm just saying this this Gave me a little bit of pause Absolutely
Seattle Sounders' Championship Prospects
00:42:49
Speaker
Alright we're going to jump into some questions now thank you to everyone as always who submitted what we got Noah. Ari this first one comes from me and I asked you Unam Reunion at Lumen Field are we in championship mode? Are we locked in? Are we in championship mode?
00:43:08
Speaker
What exactly so championship mode just means locked in it just means like we are in playoff Locked in form like that classic sounders the regular season doesn't dictate anything about playoffs trophies anything like that I think I think this game will be like the ultimate tell of that but it did it did kind of it the I think the thoroughness and the dominance of this galaxy result
00:43:35
Speaker
kind of felt like that didn't it? Oh yeah absolutely. Because especially like coming off the Nacoxa game which was such a huge dud and such like a kind of a deflating result that I mean it definitely took the wind out of our sails. A hundred percent.
00:43:53
Speaker
Having having a thorough dominant result over one of the best teams in the league this year like that it's sort of It sort of did give you that vibe of like, okay now it's time like we're it's it's we're we're in the We're in the heat of this tournament. We have a chance to make a run. Let's turn it up
00:44:11
Speaker
absolutely no i agree same thing with open cup i felt that as well just it's time to cook who cares the regular season doesn't matter no result matters you literally just have this game and if you win this game you move on and you take the next game you know life is fleeting ari
00:44:27
Speaker
This one comes from TheGarberBaby, one of my favorite usernames, by the way. Schmetzer deserves his flowers for sticking with Obed despite his struggles last year slash the start of this year combined with Josh's emergence. Turning into a top player and was immense tonight at times, man-marking Puig. Here's my question from that. Obed Vargas, where are we at with this legend? Yeah, I mean, it's a great shout and I think it's a good point that
00:44:56
Speaker
Schmetz really did, he had his injury, and I think there was a long stretch of time where, remember last year, I was kind of a purveyor of the attention over OBED agenda, and I think it's pretty clear that OBED has broken out.
00:45:16
Speaker
to just like a different level this year where like Atencio just hasn't gotten as much run I guess to like compete with it but that's because of what Obed has done and like I don't know with Obed at this point I feel like just the question is just how big the bag is gonna be.
00:45:33
Speaker
And I do I do really think especially because like the big thing that they're hanging on to with like why they're not making as many moves right is because of like the salary cap and like they're like the flexibility and they can't well then like I think if you have an opportunity to sell a player like this on and like reinvest that
00:45:53
Speaker
like this this is your best chance to do that and as much as I would miss him I want to see that happen both for him to see kind of what heights he can really ascend to and also just like what it could mean for for like the resources that the team could
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. I'm like so... I feel like he has the opportunity. I was actually talking with one of the people that I play pickup soccer with about this, funny enough, he had a great take. He was like, I have been looking forward to Obed moving to League of Mechis because I think he has such a good opportunity.
00:46:32
Speaker
to go play in the mexican national team they're in shambles right now it's like the perfect step for him to like grow his stature grow his career and inevitably get to the goal that he wants to be at which is playing in europe playing at a high level and i'm gonna be honest man like
00:46:49
Speaker
I'm here more for his career to flourish and succeed than him being on the team, frankly. I think that that's how everyone should be about this, but that's where I'm at. This next question comes from Connor Close. At what point do the opt-outters start considering getting tickets to these games?
00:47:08
Speaker
Um, I mean I would want I would want to go to this game. Yeah, this game is gonna be It should at least be entertaining and it's also like there's novelty to Like getting to see them play a team like this like, you know a galaxy game in the knockout Like, I mean how many times have we seen see how to play the galaxy like a million, right? Yeah, but like, you know getting to play pumas like you don't see that every day every season so like I think I think this game would be worth going to like
00:47:37
Speaker
Certainly like more more so than you know a group stage or knockout round game against an MLS team that you've played a thousand times Absolutely. This next one also comes from Connor different Connor though defense wins championships Ari how is our defense looking? There's been a lot of a lot of takes flying around about the quality of Jackson Reagan I quality of Alex rolled on everything like that, but defense does win championships and
00:48:06
Speaker
I've never viewed the defense as a particularly big problem or area of need with this team. They've conceded goals at times this year that were very bad and ill-timed for sure. But the way I look at defense is like the totality of the production.
00:48:27
Speaker
How many goals are they conceding? Like, are they having games where they're conceding, like, three or four goals very often? No. Last year, they were one of the best defensive teams in the league by a lot. I think they might have been the best, like, as far as goals conceded, they might have been the best defensive team in the league. And, like, when I think about the struggles that this team has had this year specifically, and, frankly, all of last year, too, it's been about the offense.
00:48:57
Speaker
and that's sort of what I was getting at earlier with my rusnak take is like if you just like if you just add some juice to this front four specifically out wide and you you boost that around
00:49:14
Speaker
Rusnak and Morris and you know I understand that de la vega was supposed to be a part of that, but that hasn't happened so like if you were able to actually meaningfully upgrade that area of the field and then I think JP is another factor where I think you're gonna have to evaluate how he finishes out the year and maybe think about like Trying to make a signing find an upgrade like at that area. Yeah of the field but if you're able to like
00:49:44
Speaker
do those things like this roster honestly does not feel like as far off to contending that to me then like I might have thought or even said like a few weeks ago and that's because partially because I think the defensive foundation is very solid like this team does not it's not I don't know is they I don't think they concede in anordinate amount of goals or let game states get out of their control that often the problem is they can't score they don't score enough goals
00:50:12
Speaker
yeah no i agree i never thought the defense was an issue and i think you're right to where the team is almost there or it's almost in contention to be there but it is like the longer you wait the more time that passes the more players age the more things happen the more you have to renegotiate contracts and it's like
Team Strategy & Roster Challenges
00:50:34
Speaker
I'm getting to the point where I'm like this is all gonna stack up and you're gonna have a lot of things coming to an end at the same time or like a lot of personnel questions at the same time and that's really hard to just like Garth is doing it in Atlanta blew it all up and just decided to sign every insanely talented player on the planet
00:50:57
Speaker
And LA FC apparently with every French player that's ever played but generally speaking like I don't know It's but the defense is definitely doing well. That was a total tangent here This one comes from sound a boy big fan of the multiple goals bit
00:51:14
Speaker
but how many big opportunities were left unfinished tonight? I can think of at least four to five off the top of my head. Jordan had a good run of form, or Jordan has had a good run of form minus tonight, but I'm not convinced we're done vastly underperforming XG. Oh, XG. I definitely agree that there was, uh,
00:51:35
Speaker
There was a couple left on the table for sure. I mean, you can be annoyed by that or be encouraged by that. I think they did get their three goals. And, you know, I'm I personally, the way I view it is like all you can really do is
00:51:55
Speaker
play good offense and generate high percentage chances. And then there's going to be games where you don't finish those chances and you underperform your XG. But if you spam that enough times, you should get the production to match it. So it is interesting, though, because two of the goals came off set pieces, and one was an insane banger that is not particularly sustainable or repeatable.
00:52:23
Speaker
and then they didn't really they didn't end up getting one just off like the flow of their offense or on like a counter attack or anything so i guess i would have liked to i would have loved to see them get a goal or two like based off that type of offense but i mean it's hard for me to really complain in a game where you score three goals and really
00:52:44
Speaker
I what I was wondering is just like the Apple TV XG. I'm like, sometimes what is chalk? What am I looking at? Because, OK, so they had Seattle at three point eight two, which I was like, OK, that like I felt like by the eye test, Seattle played really well on offense, especially like down the stretch of the game, like 70th to 90th minute, like I said.
00:53:06
Speaker
But like 3.82 is like that's like you're real Madrid in the other team. Yeah, and I did not really see that but then I looked at what like other outlets had it at and they had it more like 1.6 to 1.8 and I'm like, yeah that makes more sense. So I don't know what Apple TV XG is on. I'm glad that you agree with me Ari that XG is totally a farce and made up and I will not hear otherwise. It's finishing it out here from sounder vibes. Yemar at the 9 when?
00:53:32
Speaker
Mean low-key Well, I was it was nice to see him finish that though cuz he's had like two or three at least of those this year Where he's won the header and then like there was one in particular where whatever goalkeeper was made like an insane Yeah, so it was it was nice to see him finally finally get one and really
00:53:54
Speaker
like Jackson Reagan it was you know he was just cleaning up but like is it's always nice when you feel like your your center backs offer that attribute and even though it's definitely like a fluke to see them both score within like three minutes of each other yeah I mean it was kind of sick though I love a Mar he's so he's so cool he does yeah he's awesome he's cool well thank you for your questions
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, thank you guys always to everyone who submitted you can always blow up my mentions with your takes and questions and Apologies, we can't get to everyone but got to as many as we can All right. We had a little soapbox that we were gonna put in here before We talked about some other other League of Cup stuff Noah you wanted to
00:54:35
Speaker
You want to talk a little bit more about this season ticket story with Sounders, increasing season ticket prices for everyone. The people are not happy about it. What is the latest there? Absolutely. Well, a great article that came out on sounderatheart.com.
Ticket Pricing Controversy
00:54:53
Speaker
You can get us free 30 days. Go read this full article at sounderatheart.com.
00:55:00
Speaker
Jeremiah wrote extensively about this, reached out to the club. I helped him with a little bit of data collection. We surveyed 250, 260. I think we cut it down to 225 more real responses to what people's tickets had been raised to, what they were at before.
00:55:18
Speaker
So we really there was really a we wanted to kind of zero in on a big picture of what is actually Frustrating people here, so I'm gonna read a couple quotes from this article, but again like I said you should go read the whole thing It's super long. It's an amazing article
00:55:33
Speaker
Thank you Jeremiah for doing so much work on this, but we'll start here while there's still a while There's still almost a week to go before the renewal deadline on August 16th The hard numbers weren't made available the public reaction feels very different this time and this is all talking about people canceling their season tickets and generally just in dismay because every year there's an increase and People gripe about it, but you know generally it's like three to eight percent and
00:56:03
Speaker
That's very marginal, that's like, you know, $3 to $8 increase per ticket per game. Since the new prices were formally released on July 31, the volume and level of frustration has seemed louder and more consistent than I've ever heard, according to Jeremiah. Sounder at Heart distributed a survey that got about 225 responses. The reported median price increase was about 15%, which is one of the biggest across-the-board ticket increase in Sounder's history. That's an average of $14 per game or $250
00:56:33
Speaker
total on average. That's a lot. The sounders claim the increase comes from them eating a tax increase that they no longer are able to justify paying. And although the sounders have declined to make anyone available to comment more about the specifics of this, Jeremiah reports that admissions taxes specifically recently increased from three to 10%. So they're not lying about that.
00:56:57
Speaker
uh at all according to government documents and we all know government documents cannot lie um all of this is set against a backdrop of an overarching sense that the value proposition of having these season tickets has been on a steady decline i think
00:57:13
Speaker
We can kind of feel that if you're a season ticket holder, just the general amenities around the team, the team's decision to close the upper deck so there's no longer super cheap tickets, limited and expensive concessions. I know at this last League's Cup game, there's kind of like a little local market section up in the back. I think that's what it's called. That was closed.
00:57:35
Speaker
You know you pay $14 for a single beer and like you can get a case of Rainier for that I'm pretty sure And you know attendance has hitting record lows and even worse a lack of transfers so just to add to specifics on this the match against RSL is
00:57:58
Speaker
was the first time that the Sounders failed to crack 30,000 fans for a league match since 2009, excluding the COVID season where they weren't allowed to, right? If they fail to make a signing in the next few days, which they're, I would say it is pretty much solid now that they will not be making a signing, they will become the first MLS team in at least 10 years to go three straight summers without making a signing in the summer.
00:58:27
Speaker
That's that's what I have so I think generally People's frustration came from a lack of communication from the club you know the value of your season tickets seemingly feeling less and less every year as it goes up and up and generally dropping a very large increase all at once and just really failing to disclose why
00:58:56
Speaker
That's where we're at. And personally, like I personally canceled my season tickets. I just don't have the money for an extra $250 to go either way on top of, you know, I buy concessions and I buy extra, you know, open cup tickets, leagues cup tickets, all of that. I just I just couldn't really justify it anymore. And that's a personal choice.
00:59:18
Speaker
But I think the bigger issue is that over the past year specifically, the Sounders and the ticket office have done nothing but get kind of bad PR. I remember they charged in full the league's cup run of play.
00:59:34
Speaker
on people's cards that were on file accidentally. So like I had a bad they I mean they didn't fully overdraft my account but like the pending charge overdraft in my account uh which was just like super annoying and you know the the idea and the communication around the fact that there was a potential where if you didn't opt into league's cup you wouldn't be able to see and secure your seats for the playoffs.
01:00:00
Speaker
So bad communication, people are unhappy with the front office. Ari, all of this combines. Where's your head out with this? Yeah, I mean, I'm not like the super best person to speak on it as someone who I've never been a season ticket holder. But I do I do have I do have a take. Let's hear it. I have a take here.
01:00:23
Speaker
Whether or not you raise season ticket prices should be like tangibly correlated to performance. So you should only be allowed to raise your season ticket prices if you average, you either average 1.8 points per game or higher, or you make the playoffs and you win two playoff games.
01:00:48
Speaker
And if you make it to your conference championship and you make it to MLS Cup, or you're playing at a shield level pace all year, then you have a leg to stand on for your product being at a level where you're like, okay, we are good, we are relevant, we are contenders. If we want to justify this, we have a reason to.
01:01:13
Speaker
But what kind of rubs me the wrong way, and I mentioned Atlanta United the last time we talked about this, and I don't think Seattle's in the category of how much they've struggled on the field with their on-field product. But Seattle's been a 1.3 to 1.5-ish points per game team for the last one to two years now at this point.
01:01:38
Speaker
if you're playing at that level i think you need to have the like self-awareness and humility that to realize that when you jack up your prices like that like you're gonna get like negative feedback and negative press for that that's just how it is like uh
01:01:57
Speaker
I know that a policy like that would never happen, but I guess what I'm saying is just in principle, there's a certain level of contending and relevance that you should have to be at before you even think about
01:02:15
Speaker
Jacking up how much you're charging people. That's how that's and that's an outside perspective I've never had season tickets I've never like I came into this scene as like an outsider and fully as like a Media member so like I don't want to like act like I'm relating to a struggle that I've never experienced but I do think like in principle like I said like there should be a threshold of
01:02:41
Speaker
relevance and like contending that clubs should take into account when they make decisions like this
01:02:48
Speaker
They are running a business, though, so I realize they never will think about that in this capitalist society that they live in. But they should think about that. They should think about that. No, I agree. I think if this price increase had been done at the end of 2022 after they win CCL, I mean, that summer was brutal, to be fair. But CCL was huge. But CCL was huge. It was like, I think if I had been a season ticket holder at that point, which I wasn't,
01:03:18
Speaker
I would have easily renewed my I've been like, dude, I just watched I just watched my team do something that no one else could have done. Right. I totally understand. And they were like at the apex of relevance in the league. Yeah, they were the standard bear. Like if you if you are at a level where you're considered like a full on standard bear, the envy of the league, I still think that I still think that season tickets should be affordable, like reasonably priced. But like you at least have like a leg to stand on.
01:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, but like when you are middling and not as relevant like where does like where does the justification come from this tax thing? That sounds like that sounds like Business jargon that they're like banking on no one under I don't understand what that means Yeah, I mean there was legitimately a tax increase from three to ten percent on ambitions taxes But the club had been absorbing eight
01:04:14
Speaker
yeah eight percent of that and so eight percent i guess technically of their you know total revenue was just going away immediately and even though they were increasing prices every year you know then it's like whatever i understand it but it's incredibly stupid and incredibly just like when you're not signing anyone you're an average team at best in the league right now you are like
01:04:39
Speaker
Yes, you're in contention for Open Cup. That rocks. Now you're kind of almost maybe in contention for League's Cup and you're in a playoff spot. But there's a general sense of like the ambition for the club is not there as much as it was in the past.
01:04:55
Speaker
And I mean, yeah, they're sitting in seventh, like they're right about 40 at 1.4. Yeah. And, you know, they what you see at least ambition wise is less on the team that's on the field and more on like we opened this amazing performance center and we're taking a sponsor that.
01:05:13
Speaker
a lot of people dislike for moral reasons but it's a lot of money so we're gonna take it and then you know oh we're gonna buy the rain it just seems like from an outside perspective and again this is probably not the reason that they're raising these prices but it could be is like oh this is all just our revenue went down because we made a bunch of investments so let's just jack up prices and even it out and then we won't have to like
01:05:42
Speaker
absorb any cost. But I think it's silly because there are a lot of people who have been long term supporters canceling their tickets and I think a lot of the newer supporters are probably a little bit less likely or the middle class, upper class.
01:05:57
Speaker
ticket, ticket buyers, but it's just, it's, it's silly to continue to like hand wave away any of the arguments against this because it's, you know, Oh, well it's the tax thing, you know, and people are like, well, my ticket price still went up 15%. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. Your ticket price went up like 4%, but the taxes went up 8%. So when you combine it, it was 13%. It's just silly. Anyway, that's my soapbox.
01:06:27
Speaker
We will continue to track this, but I mean, who knows if the numbers are going to come out and be way worse than they've ever been in the past and the most people ever have canceled. But I don't know. It's it's it just it feels shitty. It feels shitty for sure.
01:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I just wish that uh Like it just never feels good or right that uh, like people's ability to like attend sporting events or have season tickets should be like That heavily correlated to like if you're rich or not That's always kind of rubbed me the wrong way just in principle and like to be fair I could move seats I could move from where i'm sitting which is basically just like to the right of ga I could move into ga and I could totally afford two three tickets there but like
01:07:12
Speaker
That's not how I prefer to watch the game. I like to have a seat. I like to be able to actually see the game, you know? And respect to the people who go into GAA. And respect to the people who are like, I can't even afford GAA anymore because over the last five years, it's doubled or something like that. Because those are supposed to be the tickets that are super affordable. They get the young people in. They get people excited to come to those games. And I don't know. I think I don't know exactly how much it was raised between, you know,
01:07:38
Speaker
On average 15%, raising supporters tickets 15% is crazy. GA supporters tickets 15% is crazy.
01:07:46
Speaker
It's a lot, and if you read Jeremiah's article that you referenced, he does talk about how they do this every year to probably lesser extents, but they do this every year, and there's always a negative response that's attributed to a vocal minority, but to read what Jeremiah wrote about it, it feels like
01:08:10
Speaker
the negative sentiment is at a higher pitch than it usually is. Like you said, we know this is important to a lot of you out there, and it's a big issue in the fan base right now. Like Noah said, we'll continue to track it and cover it because it's a big story.
01:08:30
Speaker
All right, we had a couple of other things written down here, and then I just had some other leagues cup results quick hitters What did you have I had I had a little a new I wanted to debut a segment here Okay, mainly just for those of you who watch us on YouTube we do cut up stuff in the clips and so
01:08:46
Speaker
I thought this would be a great little YouTube hit here. I'm going to ask you a question that has been on my mind mainly because I saw some Twitter discussion about it. Okay, I'm always down to weigh in on the Twitter discourse. Exactly. This is your sounding board here. Here's my question here. With all of the massive summer transfers in Dominance and League's Cup, is MLS showing that it is a top league?
01:09:08
Speaker
I mean I guess it depends what you mean by top league like I'm not gonna get into the game of like being like it's as good as the you know EPL but I've always felt like that debate is like a little pointless in the sense that like
01:09:28
Speaker
like people say that it not being as good as the top top leagues means that it sucks and is bad i've just that's never just been my approach to fandom like i don't need it to be a like a league that's on par in quality as the best leagues in the world to be a fan of it and to be entertained by it like it's still it's still a professional top flight league that has really good really talented players
01:09:52
Speaker
I think the thing with MLS, the storyline with MLS has been that the attacking play has improved quite a lot over this last era to the point where every single week, if you look at the goals of the week compilations, you see these goals that if you saw them in any league, in any of the top leagues, you'd be like, that was a sick goal. The defending lags a little bit behind that. That's why you still get these funny MLS highlights that are kind of goofy. The Chicago Fire still exists.
01:10:19
Speaker
the Chicago fire still exists exactly so you still you kind of get both sides of it but like top League I don't know but like I think a top top ten a solidly good like borderline top ten probably honestly if we're being like just real about it without being controversial it's
01:10:39
Speaker
Probably not top five but between top five to ten I think that's fair like that's that's just the progression that it's gotten to that's the quality that we've seen injected into the league and It's not like a hyper elite league, but it's a pretty good Professional top flight league. Yeah, that's how I rate it
01:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to say too, like on the note of the growth, I think that's super interesting. Like five years ago, 10 years ago, we talk about people like us who are freaks and so into MLS. We talk about like MLS 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, right? Like the new updates drop.
01:11:18
Speaker
I feel like there has genuinely been and this is since Messi came to the league there has been such a massive jump in spending as well as like ambition in this league and just general like like people want to come to MLS like yeah players talk about that all the time like yeah veteran players and young players alike yeah talk about that
MLS Growth & League Perception
01:11:40
Speaker
Which I just think is super interesting. I just don't like for the people that still think it's like a bum-ass league I mean, I don't know how you can like fancy yourself a knowledgeable soccer fan and watch a team like Columbus or LA FC or I mean inner Miami is its own category but like the galaxy as we've talked about I don't know how you could watch them play and like come to other any conclusion then like
01:12:08
Speaker
damn this is some like really good high level ball that I'm watching like I mean I think if you like don't agree with that you're just kind of not being objective and you're sort of you have priors that like you just won't like go of rather than just like just watch it I don't know watch a crew game watch a crew game watch a rolford nancy coach team and like tell me that this is not high level ball
01:12:29
Speaker
Yeah, and speaking of the crew, this is actually where this whole discussion started from. I saw someone on Twitter trying to bam on Aidan Morris for an errant pass in the back, which didn't even lead to a goal like they were able to recover. He's in the championship, right? Yeah, and so he was, yeah, he just signed with a championship. Dittlesboro? Yeah, and I think
01:12:52
Speaker
What the person had said was, well, that just shows you the difference in quality between the championship and MLS, which I thought was a little bit goofy because you have players like Jordan Morris, who went to the championship on loan to be like kind of a stud for them. I mean, obviously you got injured and didn't play, but also like Daryl DK and Josh Sargent dominated the championship. And those are two players who I would not rate as if they came to MLS now like studs or like top of the league.
01:13:20
Speaker
Well, Daryl DK was kind of a stud. He was solid, but like that was in a different area. I kind of well. So I'm a sergeant. I don't know. Like I didn't rate Sargent for a long time. But like to my memory, he like he was eaten in the championship last year. But what I will say to the to what you're asking is that
01:13:43
Speaker
Taking a single clip, a single play, and trying to use it to prove a point one way or the other about the quality of any league is just stupid. It's one play.
01:13:55
Speaker
I could find a clip of a really dumb, bad goalkeeping howler in the EPL. I could find 500 of them. It says nothing about the quality of goalkeeping or defending in the EPL. It's one play. That's the game. Those plays happen. You have to be making your point based on
01:14:17
Speaker
an overall impression and not just take it like taking up clips and putting them on Twitter and being like Aiden Morris hitting one bad pass is an indictment of like MLS as a league because that's where he came from. That's I mean, that's just that's just bad analysis. And it was his first competitive match with the club. Yeah. And also bad passes happen. A lot of players hit bad passes, whether they play an MLS or not. That's part of something that happens in soccer.
01:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, all right closing it out on this section here on the aid and worse thing as well are is MLS becoming And it's you know, it's kind of both at the same time But where would you put the needle as more towards a farm league or more towards a destination league? I think it's it's really like it's become a destination league in in a lot of ways like you so you still see
01:15:07
Speaker
Like whenever LAFC does or like whenever a team does something like LAFC did with signing J.Roo, like that retirement league stuff is still going to be out there. But I think we've reached a point where that's been counterbalanced by a lot of a lot of the young players that come here and then have gotten sold on. Like, I mean, you could go back recent years, like with what like what Atlanta did with Miguel Amiron or even with what they did with Tiago Amada, like
01:15:36
Speaker
I think that's sort of like the point that MLS is at where it's becoming a bit of a destination league for like younger players like that to kind of have a platform to show what they can do and then ideally get sold on and then it's just like a virtuous cycle.
01:15:51
Speaker
And I think with the U-22 and stuff, the league has tried to lean into that a little bit and incentivize teams to sign younger players like that with the hopes that some of them can move on or maybe some of them just become superstars here. Either one of those outcomes is a good outcome.
01:16:13
Speaker
I think it's becoming more and more of a destination league. And I think all you have to do to realize that is you listen to the players that come here whenever there's a new signing and they talk about why they come here. It's stuff like that, both the quality of the league and the opportunity that it provides them. And make no mistake, there's still a long way to go to get the league up to
01:16:38
Speaker
Up to a level where it can be considered a top top league like I don't think there's like especially I just don't really like care about that discussion. I'm a fan of it like no matter. Oh say what the level is When the level was way worse than this and I didn't care back then I definitely don't care now when the levels actually pretty good. Yeah
01:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, no I agree and I just thought and let us know if you enjoyed this this convo here But like oh yeah comment on YouTube drop a drop a comment on YouTube, but this is like I feel like I feel like we yeah No, it's good. I feel like we said some stuff that the YouTube commenters might that's anytime you say something positive about the quality of MLS like you kind of light a fuse, but
01:17:17
Speaker
I feel like I feel like nothing that that we said should elicit any controversy. But that's okay. We never know. I'm down. I'm down. All right. Other league's cup results. It was so the the Seattle game was was pretty good and entertaining. But there are some other like so that whole night the tournament was drunk.
Recap of Other League's Cup Matches
01:17:37
Speaker
It was a really long one. It was on one. So this did you see this Miami Toronto game? Yes.
01:17:43
Speaker
What was going on? What was going on in that game? What was going on with that? So, Inter Miami is playing without Lionel Messi. He's too busy hanging out with politicians. Certain politicians. They were baming on Toronto FC.
01:18:01
Speaker
They went up like 2-0 or something and then they gave up a penalty kick to Toronto. So they gave up three penalty kicks in the first half. One of them got waved off, but the one that got waved off, I think because it got waved off, the dude got a red card.
01:18:18
Speaker
So they went down to 10 and it ended up like 3-2 in the first half with both of Toronto's coming on penalty kicks but then Miami scoring like a couple insane bangers. It was just like one of the, my head was spinning watching that half of soccer between the five goals and the red card and like
01:18:40
Speaker
How often do you see two penalty kick calls in the same half on the same team, let alone three? I know it got waved back, but it was like, guys, you guys got to calm down. Yeah. But anyway, that was just a crazy game. And then Miami ended up winning, even though they played down a man for like most of the game. So that was wild. And then the San Jose earthquakes, God love them, beat the absolute breaks off club. They're cooking.
01:19:08
Speaker
Dude, okay, but it's the cocks it is it is but if the quakes win leagues cup that would be that would honestly I would buy a shirt that would I buy a quakes Lee's cup championship for sure but like yeah, so club nakaxa who Who beat Seattle at home? They lost five zero to the quakes. I don't care. What league you play in MLS league mechies, whatever You know how bad you got to be down
01:19:29
Speaker
This is the worst team in MLS. Yeah, like I their objective They may not even be able to be considered a real team That's how that's how tough a year the quakes have had they would be bad in the USL But like it's it's weird because they do have like Christian Espinosa is a good player and also this Diego Maradona's nephew He scored a really sick goal in this game. I think he might have scored two He scored at least one really sick goal. He seems like an actual player
01:19:54
Speaker
Yeah, but like they have I mean they have no defense at all they shut out Club, Nacoxa and just I've been Just seeing the quakes win by five goals is kind of is kind of crazy Columbus looked like Columbus. They beat the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts sport in Kansas City for zero which I like the way you wrote it out here COPW COPW club of professional wrestling enthusiasts They are out of leagues cub and I mean my takeaway from that is just that
01:20:25
Speaker
Uh, I think, I mean, if we're talking about tournament favorites, I think the usual suspects LAFC, enter Miami, but like Columbus is right up there. And honestly, man, I really think Columbus on their day.
01:20:38
Speaker
they're as good as anyone like they have the best coach in the league they have one of the best players in the league uh... really too with you factor diego rosie in there uh... just uh... i don't know i just the more i watch wolford nancy ball the more i want him to coast the u.s. men's national team don't say that too loud don't say that too loud people get mad i stand by that one uh... but uh...
01:21:06
Speaker
I just like in terms of style and identity, like they're as good as anybody. And then the Colorado Rapids beat a league at Mackey's team. They beat two in a row now. They beat FC Juarez, 3-2. That was a pretty crazy game. It was like 3-1 until really late and FC Juarez got like a late penalty kick.
01:21:29
Speaker
it was just like a hold-on for dear life situation and Zach Stefan was balling again and The rapids are like a little Like dark horse here. They've got what they have right now is like vibes and Riz like like I could tell they're the Rizzler Colorado Rizzlers the Colorado Riz we're gonna have to workshop this yeah, like what I'm saying is that the like
01:21:57
Speaker
There seem to be like this like kind of like Magic the magic and energy about them the last couple games that I am not used to seeing from the Colorado Rapids like Chris Armas I gotta give him credit man. I did not think he was a good coach I still don't know if he is a good coach, but like He really seems to have like changed the vibes there and that's even taking into account the fact that they got boat race by Portland in the group stage because like
01:22:23
Speaker
a lot of teams could have like folded on that and instead they've uh beat two league of mickey's teams in a row so
01:22:29
Speaker
Alright, I think we're going to call it right there for episode 57. We went a little long on this one, I think. That's because we love you and we love giving you content. Appreciate everyone, as always, for tuning in. We love all of our listeners. We love all of our subs. Like, comment, rate, subscribe, five star reviews. Share with Joey Paints.
01:22:53
Speaker
sub to the youtube sub to the tiktok with social sounder at heart dot com slash ls meet us at the sounder at heart meetup come to the meetup august 22nd 7 pm until next time we out peace