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Kickoff - Was Seattle Sounders' Club World Cup player protest justified?
373 Plays9 days ago
The Seattle Sounders fell 3-2 to Minnesota United at Lumen Field in Matchday 17, but the match was somewhat overshadowed by a pregame player protest regarding their ongoing dispute over the division of the prize money from the upcoming Club World Cup.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers.
Seattle Sounders Prize Money Dispute
00:00:08
Speaker
If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:44
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I'm Ari, that's Nico, and folks, we have a show and a half for you here this morning.
Seattle Sounders Protest Actions
00:01:00
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders... They played a game yesterday versus Minnesota United at Lumen Field, ah but the match itself almost felt secondary to, well, if you if you went into yesterday wondering if the ongoing dispute between the players or the players fight over their share of the Club World Cup prize money, if you were wondering if that was resolved, it is not.
00:01:24
Speaker
It is not resolved as demonstrated in a pregame protest. The players came out wearing shirts that said Club World cash grab.
00:01:33
Speaker
So that was a big story. The Seattle Sounders end up ah losing the game 3-2. So we will talk about that a little bit.
Vancouver Whitecaps Performance in CCC
00:01:44
Speaker
And then we're going to talk some Vancouver Whitecaps because they played the CCC final yesterday, and that did not go especially well.
00:01:53
Speaker
So a lot to get to. Nico, how are you doing in a ah whirlwind news cycle that we are that we are in right now? I'm doing all right, Ari. Thanks for ah always setting this whole thing up. Good morning to all of the audience that's listening to us, I'm sure intensely with everything that kind of came about yesterday from the laws to the perhaps some sort of idea that This whole protest might had been a distraction for the team.
00:02:28
Speaker
There were some not so good performances, of course. The Whitecaps thing was incredibly disappointing, to be to be quite honest. I had a lot of expectations on that team.
Impact of Protests on Team Dynamics
00:02:43
Speaker
going into a final that I thought they they could win. And before the first half, it was over. So yeah, a lot going on. i think we've got to grasp it all, try to figure it out. And I'm sure that the audience is going to be excited to hear it as well.
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, totally agreed on the Whitecaps. I mean, I think we were both ah we were both saying before that game that ah we felt like we really liked their chances in that game, even with it being on the road against a high-quality Liga Mechies side with the way they had been playing.
00:03:17
Speaker
I thought they had a great chance in the game. To see them faceplant like that, was it was unexpected from my end. you know didn't surprise me necessarily that they loss But to get 5-0'd in the manner that they did was ah was crazy. But we'll we'll get to that later. Nico, let's ah let's not bury the lead. Let's just get right into what everybody's talking about this morning.
00:03:41
Speaker
The players... have been in this dispute regarding ah regarding the Club World Cup prize money. it Essentially, the issue at hand is that ah it comes out to a ninety ten split on the $10 million dollars that goes to the club.
00:03:58
Speaker
And due to a clause in the CBA, ah the players are...
00:04:05
Speaker
capped as money participation money to divide among themselves uh but clearly when the cba was negotiated it wasn't taking into account the the potential of a tournament with this much prize money ah so it's a situation where you have a split that the players very strongly believe is unfair And they haven't been able to have a dialogue about addressing that.
00:04:32
Speaker
And I think that appears to be the primary source of frustration, as far as I can tell, is that they're they're they're trying to get someone to the table and they can't do it.
00:04:44
Speaker
So they have a they have resorted to this protest. Where they come out in the shirts that obviously grab a lot of attention. ah Nico, I guess, what did you think when you first saw the shirts?
00:04:59
Speaker
And do you think this is the right way to ah go about advocating for what they're trying to get here?
Club and Management Reactions to Protest
00:05:07
Speaker
I don't know if there is a right way to do it.
00:05:11
Speaker
And therefore, I'd have to say that i was okay with it. um Quite frankly, i get tired and i have little patience for the thought process that athletes are show ponies and they should just be lucky and happy to be getting paid to play a sport as if organizations weren't becoming very lucratively, you know, economically and financially
00:05:45
Speaker
um taken care of because of the product on the field, regardless of the sport. And so for me, if the players are unhappy and and it does seem like, and and we've said this before, right? When we first heard about what was going going on with Jada, put out that first article, and I had told you that had I had heard this brewing in the back of, behind the scenes, if you will.
00:06:13
Speaker
they should be able to express themselves in a way that creates some sort of traffic to their cause. And thought they did that. It was pretty creative the way they did it, the design, the, the way they kind of surprised everybody.
00:06:31
Speaker
Brian's master had no idea. The club looked like they didn't really have any idea. They came out with the, and for the warmups, they came out with the the shirts and they walked into the field with shirts.
00:06:42
Speaker
So, I think it's great. Again, I don't know if there's a right or wrong way to do it because it is very particular. This is a very particular situation that we're dealing with.
00:06:53
Speaker
The players, they they have a union, they have a CBA, there is a league, but when there is and on- unforeseen or, you know, never seen before sort of tournament there, there should be some sort of adjustments to that contract. And to me, that's very clear.
00:07:15
Speaker
And that goes in terms of the, the pay that these players are getting that at this moment, it's a million dollars. And for all the players, you don't come out to about 33 to $40,000, something like that for each player.
00:07:29
Speaker
and If the players are not happy, then the product on the field won't be the best. And i feel like that's going to handicap and hinder the entertainment portion, the competitive portion.
00:07:45
Speaker
So it's a bad situation. And let me conclude by just saying this. I'm with the players on this specific matter. The players,
00:07:56
Speaker
I don't know what the rationale is or why there have not been any talks with the players, but the reality that there are no negotiations with the players at all when we are a couple of weeks from the start of the tournament is unexcusable.
00:08:13
Speaker
At the very least, there should have been a Zoom call with the players, player representatives, the players, players union, somebody to to figure this out.
00:08:24
Speaker
And just the negligence of letting it just try to fade in the background and basically saying, figure it out. You guys are going to have to play. That bothers me. And I feel like that's why the players needed a way to express their unhappiness with how things are going and and the frustration with the fact that Talks have not even started. and And I think that's the main point of the whole thing, just like you said.
00:08:50
Speaker
And I am totally on the player side when it comes to not understanding why those conversations have not started.
Brian Schmetzer's Position and Challenges
00:09:01
Speaker
Let's talk about how ah Brian Schmetzer handled this because you know I was thinking about it this morning, Nico, and this has got to be one of the most interesting situations that I've ever seen a coach have to deal with because he he inherently kind of has to work both sides of it.
00:09:22
Speaker
As the coach, you're supposed to have your players back pretty unconditionally, and that doesn't mean not holding them accountable. It just means that – You're supposed to go to bat for them, generally speaking, ah but you're also beholden to the owner, right? And Brian Schmetzer had ah and Adrian Hanauer have had a strong working relationship, to the best of my knowledge, but...
00:09:47
Speaker
he could' He can't really go out there and go to bat for the players fully, I think, as we saw at his press conference, um because he's sort of he's he's beholden to the other side of it as well.
00:10:00
Speaker
So I just think it's such an interesting curveball for a coach to be thrown. yeah i don't think Schmetz, when he ran to the stadium yesterday, had any idea that he was going to end up in the situation that he was in ah before the game and post game.
00:10:16
Speaker
And I think you could see at his press conference that, ah you know, he tried to be deferential to like, he said, i understand where the players are coming from, but Nico, I felt like he was more ah like he, he brought up a couple of, ah he said at the end, like, if you're going to do that, you have to back it up and you have to show in the game that, uh,
00:10:38
Speaker
that whatever's going on off the field like this isn't going to affect your performance. And he said it was something to the effect of, like, by losing the game, they opened themselves up to that question and that critique of whether or not their focus was actually fully on the task at hand, which was beating Minnesota United.
00:10:57
Speaker
What did you make of the Schmetz presser? I just thought he was frustrated, and i tend to give, ah not all the time, And depending on how things are said, a pass to a coach that clearly has so many emotions. He's got the emotions of a frustrating game, losing a game almost in the lapse of eight to 10 minutes when you would, would that necessarily happen?
00:11:29
Speaker
being in control of it, ah as in you were the way better team, you had control the ball, you could have done things better. You kind of felt like the game that you could have won that game. So there's that frustration. And there's the frustration of everything that's going on and that I wasn't aware of, the guys coming off with those shirts, you're immediately thinking what the backlash is going to be.
00:11:54
Speaker
And then you got the questions from us, the the media members. So at times you're impulsive and you're kind of on the hot seat at the moment in time. and And I think Brian has said this several times where he's like, look, I'm going to have to watch tape again or whatever. and And I think in this one, maybe he would want to have some of those comments back because I do feel like he comes off across almost as blaming that loss on players being upset
00:12:29
Speaker
distracted and he it felt like he was implying that. Yeah, he didn't go know if that's like, but he implied it. No, no, exactly. He kind of felt like a he implied it. And, and,
00:12:41
Speaker
I don't want to misinterpret what he's saying. I'm just giving you and I think both you and I have the same opinion on what he said. and I would like to ask him again ah later this week when he has time to simmer
Player Concerns and Broader Implications
00:12:55
Speaker
down and maybe go back and look at his own comments and figure out if he's going to want retract those or not. But I feel like there it was an emotional response, but I did not feel like it was the right way to answered that. if ah if if If I'm upset and I don't want to get caught up, I'm going to say no comment or I'm going to say, look, this is not the task.
00:13:19
Speaker
At hand right now, this is not what I'm worried about. And he kind of said that about some of the questions in regards to Global Cup, right? We're not worried about it. It's not the time. I'm worried about the loss right now and what's coming up with Vancouver. He could have said that.
00:13:32
Speaker
But I feel like he needed to get it out because he was that frustrated. But I feel like it was a wrong decision. I don't think he came across either the way he wanted it or the way he should have came out of course.
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah, but like you ah you also have to remember, he's got Hanauer sitting right there. Hanauer is at the presser, did he not? Making entrance halfway through. ah and and but you were in that You were in the room, right?
00:14:00
Speaker
Did it feel like ah his demeanor and and the types of Answers that he was giving changed at all between like what he was saying at the start and when Hanauer came in the room. ah noah Noah said something to that effect on our postgame live last night. I wasn't in there, so I don't know. But I guess it's just like it's just a pretty crazy situation for him to be in to have to be addressing that ah in a situation where.
00:14:29
Speaker
you would you would think that going to bat for unhappy players would be like the default response, but like you got the owner right there who I don't, I cannot imagine that Adrian Hanauer is happy about any of this.
00:14:42
Speaker
Oh, no. No, not at all. And... that's a great point i didn't think about it i don't remember the exact time when adrian hanauer came in but i remember walking out of that room and me and him kind of cross paths on that side of the press conference room and he usually you know shakes hands says hello and he just was kind of very straight faced and just walked past so yeah Yeah, I'm sure that he's not happy, but it's a valid point. I mean, if your boss walks in in your crew meeting where your employees or whatever are unhappy with the situation and the guy who's either your supervisor or the guy who writes your check walks in into the room, he might change your demeanor. And it does make sense because he kind of gradually got more
00:15:34
Speaker
severe ah with his answers or a lot more determined to not necessarily back the players up and maybe that had a lot to do with it Because the last question about whether it was a distraction, that's when he really went off and said or implied that maybe had something to do with it and that the players should have to back it up. So, yeah, it probably had a lot to do with it.
00:16:00
Speaker
But still don't like it. I feel like Brown would have came up on top by either not commenting on it, giving you a diplomatic non-answer, or ah having the players back.
00:16:15
Speaker
I feel like he chose the the the the wrong one out of all those four possibilities. And he could create some sort of situation with the players where there is some animosity. I mean, I don't know. I don't want to look too much into it and and I don't want to make it seem like it could be a thing, but me, in my opinion, if if I heard it and, you know, i was trying to share my frustration and and do it in a way that everyone saw, and I'm not coming at you, the coach, because I know that it's not, it's above your paycheck. It's not something that you can change, but then you don't really have my back. You know, it might make me feel some sort of way.
00:16:57
Speaker
Anyone who's ah worked in corporate America can probably relate to a situation where it feels like a panel of corporate oligarchs are getting all of the financial benefit from ah from work that other people are doing.
00:17:17
Speaker
And i think the player's frustration fundamentally is... is I mean, Nico, a 90-10 split, let's just be like... Let's be real. That doesn't make sense. It it doesn't like and Stephen Fry made the point that, you know, if if a team like the Sounders did happen to make like a surprise run and advance further in the tournament where we're talking about that prize money just going up and up and up and up and they're still capped at one million dollars.
00:17:48
Speaker
that ah That creates a situation that's unfair just like statistically. But I think the ah the counterpoint that we were talking to talking about last night is that it's sort of a bed that got made with this CBA agreement. Like the the CBA, I think, is pretty clear cut.
00:18:09
Speaker
on that cap. But then it also didn't, ah it didn't take into account the, the occurrence of a tournament like this, where the prize money is so much higher than Open Cup and Leagues Cup.
00:18:25
Speaker
So, ah and that's a valid argument, Ari. That is a valid argument when a contract, regardless of what it is, goes against a situation that's not speculated in that specific contract, it has to be reassessed.
00:18:42
Speaker
It has to be revised and it has to be adjusted. So it makes sense that the players are saying, look, I understand the way LCBA that handles everything else. And that's why you're not seeing them complain about Leagues Cup or other, you know, tournaments that they have to do.
00:19:00
Speaker
But when it comes to something that is a new format that, has a substantially bigger payout and that is a FIFA globally seen tournament, then we should...
00:19:15
Speaker
get compensated for it. And the players are going to be taking, you know, three extra games. They're going to be separated from their families for about a week or so, because they're going to, you know, do some sort of camp here within the city.
00:19:29
Speaker
So there are all these things where if I'm a player, look, what if I get hurt? What if I'm pushing really, really hard and something happens to me? I mean, I should be able to get compensated. So all the people that,
00:19:42
Speaker
kind of feel like these are just divas and they should just go to work and not worry. All I have to say is Being an athlete is completely different than any other job.
00:19:53
Speaker
the The longevity of it is completely different. the the The insurance, everything that comes with it, you can't compare it to a seven to four job. I mean, you can't, right?
00:20:06
Speaker
Or eight to five or whatever. You have to understand that these players are providing a service. They are living their lives completely different to provide you the their best of their capacities.
00:20:19
Speaker
And if they're unhappy about something like this, they should at least be hurt. And that is the biggest point of this whole discussion and and of what the players said in the locker room. And by the way, I love the way that the players showed united front by, you know, standing behind Christian and Stephen Fry.
00:20:45
Speaker
ah thought that was fantastic. But the whole point of it is that we have not even heard from anyone. We've just kind of, we've been ignored. And that's why those shirts came off. So we are not ignored.
00:20:58
Speaker
That's the way it feels like. that's That seems to me like the causes of this whole thing. Christian Roldan said at that at the United Players press conference, he said that it has been ah distraction and it's something that they felt like it needed to be resolved long before this and they haven't been able to start the dialogue on it.
00:21:20
Speaker
Did you think it was a distraction during the game itself yesterday? Did it strike you like that? no No, no, no, no, not during the game. I would have to disagree with that theory simply because one has nothing to do with the other. It's quite the opposite. I want to make sure that I show up, win this game, so it fortifies my position as someone that wants to be compensated for X tournament.
00:21:49
Speaker
I mean, not one player that was on that field yesterday was thinking,
Protest Impact on Game and Future Actions
00:21:55
Speaker
you know what, I'm i'm too caught up on this matter to to worry about the game. No, what what happened in the game was circumstantial. And we talked about it before. Minnesota is a very good team that handles their system extremely well.
00:22:12
Speaker
And the Sounders weren't able to get clinical finishes and take advantage of the chances that they did create. And when you let team like Minnesota stay on in the game as much as you did, you you you get paid for it. And we'll talk about the game a little bit later, but I don't think one goes with the other. The distraction factor to me has nothing to do with it.
00:22:37
Speaker
Players have been training the same. and And if anything, perhaps the convoluted schedule and the lack of time in the training field because it was kind of a very quick turnaround from Wednesday, although you had to Sunday, but there was a day of rest.
00:22:56
Speaker
There was a day of a very quick ah practice on Friday that both Jeremiah and I were kind of surprised that it was that brief. So maybe that has something to do with it, but it's not about distraction on any other regard than the calendar itself and maybe the way that it was set up.
00:23:15
Speaker
What do you think about Brian Schmetzer's quote, though, at the end there, where he said, basically, I'm paraphrasing, but like if you're going to do that, you have to you have to back it up. And you open yourself to the critique of whether or not your focus is fully there if you if you do something like that, and then you go out there and lose the game.
00:23:35
Speaker
i i don't like it, but he also makes a good point. that we can all kind of conclude is, right, if you do something like this prior to a game and the game doesn't go your way, then you're going to be criticized. It's the exact same thing as when ah boxer does the Apollo Creed entrance into the boxing match and then he gets lit up.
00:23:58
Speaker
Everybody's going to be saying you were over here, you brought lions in and you had, you know, dancers and, you know, Lil Wayne walked in with you and then you get knocked out. You got to be criticized for it. This is obviously in a way different situation. I'm just saying that when it comes to anything that you do pre something that doesn't go your way, you're going to be criticized.
00:24:17
Speaker
This one is completely different. But. The cause I'm for, the way they did it, I thought was fine. But they do open themselves up for criticism when the game doesn't go in your way because immediately people are going to go with the easiest thing to blame, which is players weren't concentrated, players weren't united.
00:24:38
Speaker
There was issues with, ah you know, Brian. I mean, whatever the comment is currently about the situation prior, they did open themselves up for it because of the situation, but I do not ah agree with the fact that it did affect the game. I just think that's, I don't know, i don't want to call it naive either, but I don't think it it's accurate. It's an inaccurate representation, in my opinion, of what really happened. I mean, the game just got out of hand from this team in eight to 10 minutes in the second half.
00:25:12
Speaker
Where do you think this goes from here, and Nico? I mean, this this doesn't seem ah doesn't seem good. i don't know if I've seen a public dispute like this, like to this degree, between every player on the team was wearing one of the shirts.
00:25:31
Speaker
And then the owner is obviously... You know, they said they haven't even had any dialogue about it, but he clearly feels as though he's within every right, both legally and ethically, to adhere strictly by the CBA, ah you know.
00:25:52
Speaker
pay out the $1 million dollars for the players to split and then the club gets the rest. It's not like he's pocketing it. I think there is like a, yeah there's some, there's some sort of stipulation, right? That the club has to use that money to like invest back in the club.
00:26:08
Speaker
But Hanauer, I mean, from what I can tell, it's, it doesn't seem like he has any intention of deviating from that And the players are, have been unhappy about that. They remain unhappy about that.
00:26:20
Speaker
And it seems like their, their beef here is with the owner as much as, as much as anyone it's with the league as well. It's with FIFA to an extent, but am I wrong that Hanauer has ah like the full, what's the word he can, he can give, he could, he could give them any portion of that money that he saw fit.
00:26:43
Speaker
But it doesn't seem like he's going to do that. So how ah how does this get resolved? And just like, what do you make of a situation where you've got like a blatantly public feud between that all the players and the owner of the team?
00:26:58
Speaker
That's a fantastic question. And. This is what I know, and it's not official word of any sorts. It's just what I've been hearing.
00:27:09
Speaker
This is something that I've been gathering information just for personal purposes, just because Jada took out the story and she had some really fantastic information there. And I haven't felt like I had enough of a green light.
00:27:24
Speaker
Um, to do a story of my own. But as far as I can see and understand of the situation, yes, Adrian Hanauer can give them any sort of part of that money. And that's part of the issue. But obviously the league mandates a certain amount of, of money, right? Because of the whole thing.
00:27:46
Speaker
And if Adrian was to give X amount and Jorge Mas is not doing it for Inter-Miami and, you know, LAFC guys are not getting it. It's going to create a big problem because just like the players are a United front, there is a... ah
00:28:06
Speaker
In League MX, they call it like a pact, right, of like the owners all trying to kind of go in the same route. And I don't think Adrian would want to do that without league permission and talking to the other owners.
00:28:17
Speaker
And so to your question about is this bad and where do you think this is going, I do think it's bad. And I do think that there is a chance, a possibility, because I see some very determined players that,
00:28:30
Speaker
I don't know, they take the hit for not playing the game, for not showing up. Like if they're going to get like that, like I i have heard. and again, this is just me that that he can get like that. I'm not just talking about Seattle. And this is where things get even more complicated.
00:28:46
Speaker
There had been conversations and ah Christian talked about a Zoom conference with Inter-Miami and staff said that they didn't want to distract the LAFC from their important game. But at least that I know there had been conversations with Inter-Miami players who are, and they they were thinking about doing some sort of gesture that,
00:29:11
Speaker
lays pretty closely to what the Sounders did. The only difference down there is that a lot of the power dynamics are controlled by Messi, Busquets, Luis Suarez, Alba, and he doesn't he doesn't feel like they have turned just yet, or that's kind of what I've heard.
00:29:29
Speaker
So that's the component or the domino that's going to have to flip to really empower the players. Because if they show a United front, Miami, LFC, and Seattle, they're something's got to give and you could be really affecting the pockets of the tournament, the owners, FIFA. I mean, it's going to be a big problem, but just that, just as picket lines, know,
00:29:55
Speaker
The United Front is what holds it together. If one team folds, then it doesn't work. But if all teams, all the players can say, hey, look, this is unfair.
00:30:07
Speaker
Are you getting this? How much are you getting? Oh, this is what I'm getting. And they could really be transparent about it. And they're not happy. Look, man, it is a bad situation, but it could turn to a a point of a game of chicken.
00:30:21
Speaker
The inner Miami component of it is new information to me. And that is where it gets, like you said, even more interesting. um Because Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, ah the Barca boys,
00:30:37
Speaker
I don't think the the Club World Cup prize money means all that much to those guys individually. But Inter-Miami have a lot of guys on their team that are just normal and MLS guys as well, you know, like Fafa and Yannick Bright.
00:30:50
Speaker
This stuff that the Sounders players are talking about affects those guys as well. And I can't imagine that a lot of the guys on Inter-Miami or, frankly, now LAFC, now that they're in it, I can't imagine.
00:31:07
Speaker
and they feel bad fairness and equity of it. So if if Seattle, Inter-Miami, and LAFC all unite on this, Nico, what if Lionel Messi and the Barca boys, what if they come out and say, look,
00:31:24
Speaker
We have solidarity with our with our teammates, our MLS brethren. If you guys don't address this, if you don't pay us all fairly and make this more equitable for the people who are actually on the field doing the work, adding the extra games, taking the physical mental toll of that, we're not going to play.
00:31:43
Speaker
What do you think of that, FIFA? That would tilt the scale, right? I mean, if if there's anyone that has more juice than anyone else, it's the Super Friends or the Fantastic Four, whatever you want to call them.
00:31:54
Speaker
I mean, they are the ones that if they say this is what our stance is, it's going to tilt it one way or the other. so If Lionel Messi does that, they would have they would they would have a new deal in place to get everyone paid what they think is fair in five minutes.
00:32:15
Speaker
And if that's the case, then they should probably do it anyway. It shouldn't take Lionel Messi doing that to to get that outcome.
00:32:27
Speaker
But yeah but but but i mean, common sense in general would tell you that if the product on the field is provided by the players and the players say, no, no, we won't go.
00:32:41
Speaker
something's got get because you've got to get the players on the field.
Potential Resolutions and Management Strategies
00:32:44
Speaker
Now, obviously you're going to be dealing with, you know, suspensions and ah penalties and all kinds of things that could kind of come out of something like that. But if the players are willing to just, you know, feel the heat and they want to test it And again, it becomes a game of chicken of the league and owners and the players Who knows what would happen? I feel like the players would eventually get their way, to be honest, ah because you need to get the players on the field and you can't start a tournament without three MLS teams, all who are hosting. I mean, come on.
00:33:24
Speaker
And again, the Leo Messi factors, Even bigger, right? I mean, just as as he says, hey, man, I'm with the players, although i I don't know if he knows anything about but the players union or anything like that, because I don't know. I doubt it.
00:33:40
Speaker
Some of the things that I had heard from in Miami were all the younger players and things of that nature that that apparently we we're talking about it. But obviously, if Messi gets on board, it just changes things.
00:33:54
Speaker
Is it really that crazy an idea for FIFA, MLS, and whatever panel of oligarchs are controlling this tournament?
00:34:05
Speaker
Is it that crazy idea for them to just get together and then... come out with a statement like look uh the cba uh was negotiated one way ah but clearly it didn't take a scenario like this into account uh we've pulled a little bit of oligarch money which makes absolutely no difference to any of us because we're all generationally wealthy we've pulled it together we got a little uh fund to make this more fair and equitable and uh we're just gonna we're just gonna do that and uh and uh let's go with the uh with the tournament why like i i understand there there's legal stuff bureaucratic stuff that's over my head that i don't understand but when we're talking about people that are this like wealthy and these uh entities that just are uh
00:35:01
Speaker
profitable beyond all of our wildest dreams, such as FIFA, which like the amount of money I think that the players are asking for is that, does it mean anything at all to, to a entity like FIFA?
00:35:13
Speaker
I just think that, uh, there's a pretty common sense, like easy PR win way out of this that wouldn't take any like financial weight away from any of the buddy, anybody who would be putting up the money.
00:35:27
Speaker
So like, I mean, if I'm their PR, you know, free advice. I would just do that. Literally, like, that money doesn't matter to them. These people, like, are going to have the generational wealth no matter how much money the players playing in the Club World Cup get, you know?
00:35:44
Speaker
So, I mean, I realize I'm probably oversimplifying this. But in situations like this, I feel like sometimes like it's actually simpler than it might be being made out to be.
00:35:56
Speaker
i don't know. But you think look, even if you're simplifying the situation and both you and are probably are. The fact that that hasn't already been thought about and that there hasn't been a conversation about it, that is what blows my mind.
00:36:13
Speaker
And you're right. I mean, we've asked both Adrian, I've asked Adrian and, um think it was just Adrian that day about the way they would use this money moving forward. And he talked about, right, some of it's gonna go for future players, it's gonna go to the operational budget.
00:36:31
Speaker
you can move that around and you can make your players whole right now. And you're right, kind of nip this in the butt and create a situation where now the players know that you have their back and they can go out there and perform at the best of their abilities.
00:36:47
Speaker
And the ah entertainment level is going to be better and the situation is going to be better. And you as an organization, PR wise are going to look better. But the reality of things is that it's not just,
00:37:00
Speaker
Adrian Hanauer is going to have to be the other owners and MLS as a whole that should have been already discussed this, should have been told the players, and that statement should come out today.
00:37:11
Speaker
But that's not the case because conversations haven't even been had. and And that's exactly ignoring that and just making it feel like it's not a big deal is exactly why the players had to come out with the shirts.
00:37:24
Speaker
And now we get the ball rolling. Now we hear from people. I talked to Michael Bonso after the game and, you know, he didn't really know what was going on, but he understood that the players were unhappy with the terms of this tournament.
00:37:40
Speaker
And therefore, they had the right to back that up. And he was all for it. And he had no idea about what was going on. But now that people are starting to figure out and hear what's really happening, I'm curious to see what the level of support in terms of their fellow players across MLS.
00:37:58
Speaker
And I'm not just talking about the people that are in this club, just random teams like Minnesota. the You know, maybe they're thinking, look, for the future, just like Christian Rodin said, you know, Vancouver might be in this tournament in the future and all of these teams might be in the future. So we're kind of fighting for everyone.
00:38:13
Speaker
That sort of thing can't create a ah big union of just players showing support. So all those things are interesting. But going back to your original comment,
00:38:25
Speaker
That statement, that route should have been thought about already. And the fact that the players had to do this show of unhappiness and protest for it to get the ball rolling is counterproductive and is unacceptable by an MLS league that right now,
00:38:44
Speaker
has a huge responsibility because all eyes are on MLS. All eyes are on U.S. soccer. All eyes are on the United States as the hosting country and federation for this huge tournament, the first of its kind, with all the best of the best from every confederation.
00:39:04
Speaker
You should be doing more. You should be more concerned.
00:39:10
Speaker
We will see what happens from here. I honestly don't even have a ah good prediction on this one. ah i'm hoping we get a Hanauer presser soon. I think ah think that's what we need for the content is the Hanauer presser next.
00:39:26
Speaker
but Nico, I mean, we could talk about this probably all day, but let's ah let's talk about the game itself for a few minutes and then we'll move on to the Whitecaps and CCC.
Seattle Sounders vs. Minnesota United Game Analysis
00:39:39
Speaker
There was a game played. There was a game played in the Seattle Sounders fall 3-2 to Minnesota United for their first home defeat of the season. A sour end to a homestand, three-game homestand that started with two straight 1-0 victories.
00:39:56
Speaker
right but they could not make it 3-0-0 and could not make it an undefeated homestand. ah Nico, you talked about it a little bit earlier, but ah we knew we knew how new Minnesota United were going to play going into this game. Their tactics are well-documented, but I was curious to see how it would play out and how they would execute it at lumen field and it turns out uh extremely well you know it was funny like we talked like we talked about how much they're willing to cede possession and you could tell like right from the jump that uh if you want to knock the ball around even in their end they're gonna let you do that uh but then once they win the ball i mean it's go go go and they are they are very efficient with those
00:40:43
Speaker
opportunities They end up hanging three goals on Seattle. One of them was a penalty, but it came, that penalty was one in one of those well-executed transition moments. I thought their first goal was an excellent team goal.
00:40:56
Speaker
So it kind of just felt like ah Seattle knew what their game plan was going to be and ah still didn't handle it especially well. How did you see that matchup play out in terms of how we thought Minnesota United was going to play and how Seattle dealt with it?
00:41:15
Speaker
Look, this is going to be a tough game because you either started Stuart Hawkins, or you started a Jackson Reagan that has not played for a long time. I thought that you saw that. I didn't think J. Bell and ah Jackson Reagan had a very good game. I thought that there was a lot of miscommunication.
00:41:35
Speaker
We got a little bit of Jackson wingback sort of situation or Jackson central midfielder that was a product of the game.
00:41:48
Speaker
I asked Brian if he meant by design to send Jackson Reagan so high up field so many times. that and that was out Out wide. Out wide. That's what I'm saying. It was, you know, Jackson Reagan winger. I mean, wing bag. mean, it was just they're very odd, right?
00:42:03
Speaker
But that's what the game gave you because it was so difficult to break down Minnesota because they're so compact. Their lines are... ah constantly getting back in shape.
00:42:17
Speaker
Their rest defense is great. they They're just a very good defensive team. So you need to, you needed to do something. Don't know how much that worked. Although the best chance in the first half did come from a great Jackson Reagan cross that Paul Rothrock unable to push in.
00:42:34
Speaker
it and And it was a, I think it was a ball that maybe lot of people think is easy to put just... Yeah, that's coming in hot. That's coming in hot. It's coming in hot. The angle that he had, the quickness to get to that ball, all of it is difficult. So it did come from that, but Seattle just didn't do enough offensively. And in the first half, although it was 30-60 in possession, something to that nature...
00:43:02
Speaker
Seattle did not get the best chances. It was ah Minnesota who outshot and not just the shots, but clear chances in that first half that kind of just showed you what Minnesota was all about.
00:43:15
Speaker
You look at that header that hit the post by Tani. It comes off of a very quick transition moment. Yeah. And it's one pass and it's a gorgeous ball by Julian Gressel.
00:43:27
Speaker
Again, I feel like J-Bell could have done better there. ah But, you know, it's just a great ball as well. And he gets on it. And you could see what Minnesota was willing to do and the difficulty that Seattle was having on transition moments. So in the second half, I think that Ramsey did a very interesting move by pulling off Bressel and bringing Aldewanee.
00:43:56
Speaker
And he just changed the way they used that right back position and he gave more pace and he made Seattle It made Seattle have to defend a lot more on that end.
00:44:08
Speaker
And little by little, they started breaking Seattle down. And once that first goal, that was a very good team goal that didn't come in transition. And Brian kind of talked about that, you know, and he says in in that particular goal, we got seven guys back and we were just unable to stop Minnesota.
00:44:24
Speaker
And that was a very good goal by but by Minnesota. But then right after that, things just fall apart. And that's what I continue to say that Seattle lost this game in a 10 minute period.
00:44:35
Speaker
And it was from that goal moving forward, because then right after there's a transition moment that leads to a PK, PK gets put away, then Seattle responds back with a very good Kalani goal.
00:44:47
Speaker
But it just feels like Seattle was trying to get and play in catch-up, and that just doesn't play well for this team, especially when Minnesota started to see the gaps in where they wanted to go with the ball, and they end up being the more efficient team.
00:45:06
Speaker
Simple as that. What is your concern level, if any, about this about this defense? Because I think I might see one thing a little bit differently than what you laid out there in that I felt like the attacking performance yesterday was it it was good enough to not lose the game, if that if that makes sense.
00:45:26
Speaker
yeah I thought the the chance generation was, ah they they had a lot of good looks and they end up getting two goals. If you score multiple goals in a game home, at home you should you shouldn't lose the game. Like, you should not be shipping three goals at home ever.
00:45:43
Speaker
And, you know, if it was if it was just this game and they had been at their 2024 level defensively for the for the majority of the rest of the season, ah then you could say it's a one-off. But I think there has been a pattern on this team this year of – like shoot yourself in the foot type concessions. And I think that's what, that was the story of the game yesterday for me was those individual, individual and collective mistakes defensively that we've seen other examples of throughout the season. I think it's fair to say more than we were seeing that type of stuff last season, last season, the problem was more of the offense and the defense was pretty much solid. Yeah.
00:46:24
Speaker
the whole time. ah But this feels a little different. I mean, what do you, what do you think of ah this team defensively right now? And is it, ah you know, I think we should point out the, ah the CB injuries that they're dealing with right now. that's exactly imar wasn't Yeah. Yeah. I'm our wasn't playing Kim key. He is out right now. So I don't know. what do you think?
00:46:44
Speaker
There are not many center backs in the league that you can say once they're not In that back line, there's a huge decline and Diahmere Gomez-Zendrata is one of them. And it's not an indictment against Jackson or Bell or even Kim when he's in but Diahmere Gomez-Zendrata has such a specific profile of center back in his recovery speed, his physicality,
00:47:15
Speaker
You know, he's led this team and league in interceptions and clearances many a times, many a year. So when he's not there, you can feel it. And in this one particularly against a guy like Tanny and then eventually Joboa, it becomes really hard to to defend.
00:47:33
Speaker
And on the on the way that Nuhu at times can – get caught up or get a little bit too aggressive.
00:47:44
Speaker
It does kind of make things break down when not all of those guys that have built some continuity are on the field at the same time. And a lot of it was that in this one.
00:47:55
Speaker
I also didn't think that the pivots rise to the occasion. I thought they were fine. But when the center mids for this team, the holding mids, play above their level.
00:48:09
Speaker
Seattle plays above their level. But when they're not able to influence the game at a higher level, Seattle has some issues. And I think you saw that here, particularly, honestly.
00:48:20
Speaker
And even when in the second half, Seattle did start to create more offense and kind of push back Minnesota a lot more, it seemed like It was very quick, vertical, and a direct play by Minnesota that got this team into trouble once again.
00:48:41
Speaker
and and that's difficult to figure out because you start thinking, it said just the the fact that certain players are not there? Or is it just the the the fact that you were chasing the game?
00:48:53
Speaker
So because of how this game played out, I would be... mindful about not making too many conclusions on the defensive end because, again, soccer's circumstantial.
00:49:04
Speaker
And in this one, the way the game played out, the injuries and opponent you had in hand have to be taken into consideration. So I didn't think that they were terrible. think they limited Minnesota a lot in in specific moments of this this game.
00:49:25
Speaker
But at the end, it wasn't good enough. And The offense was the one that, in my opinion, wasn't able to make plays. And Brian said that. He said look, to be fair to those guys, speaking about the defenders, because I asked that question kind of, he said, we didn't make enough plays. The offense didn't do enough. And he's right.
00:49:47
Speaker
In that second half, I think Brian did everything he could to make something happen. He brings in a second forward in the Rosario. He brings in Georgie Minungu.
00:49:58
Speaker
He brings in Ryan Kent. He's trying to get back in this game. He pulls up Nuhu and brings in Reed, a more attacking player, and you were still unable to break down this Minnesota team.
00:50:09
Speaker
And you think it was because you didn't make enough plays. It's that simple. Danny Misowski was... pretty limited all game long. he didn't get a lot of services either. thought Ryan Kant was ah once again a little bit impatient. He created a couple of good moments, but not good enough.
00:50:26
Speaker
I thought Pedro De La Vega rewatching the game this morning. um I thought that he was very active, but not sharp enough. Same thing as Paul.
00:50:37
Speaker
Paul was getting into the right position, but you just want him putting in the ball away. and that ends up being the reason why you can't control the tempo you can't control the game and eventually you lose this Yeah, Pedro de la Vega does get the nice assist to KKR. It was good to see KKR get on the score sheet again.
00:50:59
Speaker
Nico, I think it's worth talking about Ryan Kent right now because it feels like the last few weeks ah he's been spinning his wheels a little bit. Like you said, I think impatient is the is the right word.
00:51:10
Speaker
ah Teams are sending doubles and triples at him. And it feels like it's not just him, it's like the team now Now that that, the tactic of like, give it to number 77 and let him do cool stuff and it's going to probably result in a goal.
00:51:27
Speaker
Now that that hasn't been ah working as much, they haven't kind of like adjusted to other teams adjustments. At least that's kind of how I see it. What do you, how do you think that they can get him ah back to being, you know, I don't,
00:51:40
Speaker
I don't think I expect him to like look like the, the ah best player in the world. Like he did against St. Louis yeah like weekend and week out, but it does seem like ah they need to figure out how to adjust and maximize him.
00:51:55
Speaker
So he's like, more towards what we saw at the beginning than the last few weeks where it's, you know, it's not like he's been, he's been bad. Like he still had, he yeah he still has some like really awesome moments every game.
00:52:07
Speaker
He, he could have had another assist in the, ah in the game where the one where Georgie was offside. So it's, there's still good stuff, but like, how do they, how do they get back to maximizing?
00:52:20
Speaker
I wanted to ask that question to Brian and he hasn't quite given me Not the answer that I wanted, but I don't think that he's put enough thought into it, so I will ask it again. But I asked it after the San Diego game, I believe.
00:52:36
Speaker
um And then I asked it during the week. ah But I haven't got the answer. I really do think that just in my opinion alone, he needs to diversify his game and understand that at times playing simple and playing more one-twos,
00:52:53
Speaker
And, you know, being the first part of those triangles and those diamonds and making that run after that is going to be more important than maybe even taking on players.
00:53:04
Speaker
um And I do feel like he's got to build the a better rapport with his teammates because there are times where he is pretty open in space and he doesn't get the ball when he wants.
00:53:16
Speaker
And I'll go back to what Danny Masofsky did this season and was talking to Paul Rothrock, talking to Albert. You know, this is where I'm at. You know, where should I be at? I don't know if that's there yet with Ryan Kent because he's a newer player.
00:53:29
Speaker
So can he build that? Can he do that extra film time with specific players so he's getting the ball where he wants it? But mainly he's got to understand that teams are not going to let you beat them.
00:53:41
Speaker
Right? If 77 is on, going to do everything I can so he doesn't beat me on that side. You side with Portland. You side not as much with Dallas. but But you ended up seeing it in this one as well. I mean, San Diego did a good job on him.
00:53:56
Speaker
So because of that, You have to be able to change up your game and make sure that, ah because he's not one-trick pony. He's an excellent player, very talented.
00:54:06
Speaker
But I feel like, obviously, as he's coming into this new group, he's relying on his... attributes that are at his highest level, which is dribbling, pace. But when those things are not working, having a plan B is what I haven't been able to see him do.
00:54:20
Speaker
So I think that's the answer to the question is diversify your game, make it simpler, make it quick, drop that ball, make a different run and make it a lot more um difficult and not be as predictable as perhaps he has been.
00:54:38
Speaker
and And don't want to be overly critical. and And I want to make that very clear. I'm not being overly critical. I'm just kind of throwing ideas of what I've seen him struggle with in those games where he hasn't been as influential and as dynamic as he's been in the past.
00:54:57
Speaker
Derek, thank you for the gifted membership. Appreciate you, man. You the man.
00:55:04
Speaker
Nico, let's talk about the Vancouver Whitecaps because that is the Seattle Sounders' next opponent. They'll be heading up to BC Place this weekend for for that game.
00:55:18
Speaker
ah But they also... Just played the CONCACAF Champions Cup final last night. After this, I went right home from Lumen Field, sat down. I was like, all right, let's watch the Vancouver Whitecaps. I think they might actually win CONCACAF Champions Cup.
00:55:33
Speaker
Best team in MLS all season. One of the best CCC runs I've ever seen from an MLS club. they I think they have the quality. I think they have the the mentality to at least, you know, I i wasn't ah feeling like guaranteed that they were going to win, but i was I was very much at least expecting hard-fought competitive game.
00:55:57
Speaker
And Nico, it was not that. It was not that. That is about as bad as I've ever seen a team get beat. It was just across the board. They conceded the first goal seven minutes into the game.
00:56:09
Speaker
And from there, it was just absolute one-way traffic.
Vancouver Whitecaps Defeat and Implications
00:56:15
Speaker
Cruz Azul made the Whitecaps look like... just shell of what they've been all season, which is a team that ah beat two Liga Mecky's teams on the way to the CCC final beat Leonel Messi in the Barca boys to clinch their spot.
00:56:34
Speaker
All well, playing at a 2.3 whatever points per game play pace in, uh, in league play to see them get run like that. I was not, I was not expecting that.
00:56:44
Speaker
I mean, we both were talking about how we thought that the white caps were going to win. And I don't think that, uh, that feeling was off base. based that That was based on, they earned that like, uh,
00:56:55
Speaker
based on how they've been playing all season. And ah I'll just say from ah before we talk about how it relates to the Sounders, from my perspective, it just looked like they weren't up for it from the from the jump. It looked like a club that just was not fundamentally ready for a moment like that, a game like that.
00:57:14
Speaker
How did how does Nico, how did that happen? What happened? I need to watch the whole game again because that's when I make my best conclusions when I watch a game a second time and i will do that.
00:57:26
Speaker
But on on a first look, it felt like a team that wasn't up for the challenge of the big moment. And this specific format, it's very difficult because you get one game, you don't get that home leg, right? That in a final could be important. We saw how important was for ah Seattle to manage that game at exact same place, so at Stadion-Nordstadion.
00:57:54
Speaker
ah So in this one, self-inflicted wounds is what really got Vancouver down in the slumps early, right?
00:58:06
Speaker
By the 20th minute, they were already down two. Both are mistakes that we haven't seen Vancouver make. coming out of the back, building out of the back. I mean, you cannot give those sort of ill-advised, negligent passing balls in your own third against a team like Cruz Azul because they just have too much talent.
00:58:31
Speaker
And once that scoreline hit 2-0, Vancouver kind of fell apart. And it's something that they had been doing the opposite of throughout MLS play. Composure, feeling like they're in every game, feeling that they could score regardless of where they started because they've done it.
00:58:48
Speaker
They've done it in MLS play. They've been down two and been able to come back. And in this one, it just felt like the the game was too big for them. And once that 2-0 scoreline came across, too many mistakes, too gappy, getting too high forward.
00:59:05
Speaker
that The discipline of a team that kind of excelled when it came to understanding where each player's at and positionally being very disciplined, all of that went out the window. And Cruz Azul took advantage of it. They pounced on the opportunity the exact same way they pounced on the Sounders ah when similar things happened in that second leg game against the Seattle Sounders. So credit to Cruz Azul.
00:59:34
Speaker
It was unfortunate. And it tells you how difficult it is to show up to this sort of game in that sort of moment behind enemy lines.
00:59:48
Speaker
And it has a lot to do with the mentality of the game, but all in all, i think Vancouver, and and I said this on a tweet, everything that could go wrong went wrong and it went wrong in the first half.
00:59:59
Speaker
And once you put yourself in that situation, it's almost impossible to get out. You could not go into the half losing by that many goals. Because it's sentenced. The game was sentenced in the first half.
01:00:13
Speaker
The Sounders at least put up more of a fight than that against ah against that team. like Yeah, at least they made their second half. Yeah, like, they ended up, that ended up at 4-1, but it was 2-0 in the 80th when Muth scored, right? And then there was that brief, like, five to six minutes, like, towards the end of that game before Cruz Azul got the two late goals where ah it was it was still up in the air. So, like, yeah, Seattle got bounced Cruz Azul, too, but, like,
01:00:41
Speaker
not in as undignified of fashion as the Vancouver whitecaps just did, especially because of, uh, you know, just everything on the line for that, for their, for their club in that moment. Like, I think there would be, uh,
01:00:58
Speaker
i I personally, if they lost that game in a more competitive fashion than that, I think it's like a tip your cap, GG's better on the day. But like the the extent of the self-destruction was just, ah I mean, i think it might be,
01:01:15
Speaker
a little while before they can fully recover from that. Uh, DJ, thank you for the $5. Super appreciate you, man. Hear me out. Whitecaps got spanked, but I truly believe it had more to do with playing in Mexico than being outplayed.
01:01:29
Speaker
Uh, I mean, i just, I don't know. Because they went to Mexico twice already and had some of the best wins that they've ever had, you know?
01:01:40
Speaker
So ah it's just hard for me to kind of pin exactly how it went off the way the went off the whales went off the rails to that degree.
01:01:52
Speaker
What do you think, Nico? I think that the Mexico opponent was big. in terms of it being one leg game and not having that confidence, voter confidence of strategizing in for 120 minutes and two games and how we're gonna deal with certain situations than anything else.
01:02:14
Speaker
You're right, they they beat top Mexican teams in Mexico. ah you know They beat Zapriza away as well. i mean, these are all ah you know teams that are excellent when it comes to this sort of tournament.
01:02:27
Speaker
But to me, when you give up, if you go if you go back and you look at goal one and goal two, they come in the exact same fashion. And it's not like Cruz Azul is doing an amazing job pressing.
01:02:41
Speaker
It's just about nervous system and not putting enough pace on the ball. That that that give back to Ocampo, it's a medicine ball. You cannot put that ball in that specific area of the field knowing you got a guy running onto you.
01:02:55
Speaker
So that's why... They did get outplayed. i don't want to I don't want to say they did not get outplayed, but I feel like a lot of this game was self-inflicted wounds, and it was a team that seemed too nervous to execute the game they've been executing all year long.
01:03:17
Speaker
And he went off the hinges. And went off the hinges. it's It's kind of similar to the 5-0 beat down the PSG put on Inter Milan. Just things just got away from the team.
01:03:27
Speaker
This is a similar fracture where just things just started compounding, compounding, compounding, and all of a sudden you're down three, four goals before the half. And it was just too much to bear.
01:03:40
Speaker
But a lot of it to me has to do with, a quality Cruises tool team that was opportunistic and that they were able to just not even pressure you too much into mistakes, but waited for you to make the mistakes and took advantage of them.
01:03:58
Speaker
it was It was a very simple game for Cruises tool. I mean, it was, I think that's the frustrating part is how easy Whitecaps surrendered the game.
01:04:10
Speaker
but they They gave them the game. And this is something that Jasper Sorensen has been so good at doing is coming up for those big moments. But in this one, too many mistakes. One, too many mistakes.
01:04:23
Speaker
Andres Kubas been a very good player for that. And he he had about as bad, about as individual game as like I've ever seen a player have. It was it was a shocker. Like you mentioned, the the giveaway on the first goal, it's just is's it's needless.
01:04:43
Speaker
You know, like, uh, you can't, you can't make mistakes like that in a game like that and expect to have any chance at all. And he made like a lot of them, at at least two of which directly led to goals.
01:04:59
Speaker
And, uh, they were just so far from behind the eight ball from the very beginning. And, It went off the rails. Wade, thank you for the $5 super. Appreciate you. He says Caps had a midweek game with its half of their team rotated from the first goal ah to the last. I think they looked like they had tired legs.
01:05:18
Speaker
Just sad. Yeah, I think theyre you know there's an element of the like the travel demands and the fixture congestion and the fatigue factor and all that. All that plays into it.
01:05:29
Speaker
And I can understand to understand that playing into a negative result. I can't quite wrap my head around how it went. That poorly like that was just ah I don't know like it's not what I expected from a team that's been playing ah honestly the 2025 Whitecaps been playing at about as high a level as you're going to see an MLS team.
01:05:54
Speaker
play at i mean they're over two points per game for a reason they made it to the ccc final for reason uh but i mean that was just self-destruction uh there's no two ways about it uh nico the they also happen to be the seattle sounders next opponent so let's talk about that real quick before we get out of here ah The Sounders will be going to Vancouver on Saturday for the ah Whitecaps first game since this CCC final debacle.
01:06:22
Speaker
They're also going to be missing, I believe, nine players for international duty. Brian White and Sebastian Berhalter are off to go to the U.S. for the Gold Cup. And then they they have a bunch more.
01:06:33
Speaker
who are also going to be missing this game. So not only are they dealing with like the emotional toll of one of the most excruciating CONCACAF Champions Cup losses you can imagine, they're also going to be doing so heavily shorthanded.
Seattle Sounders vs. Vancouver Whitecaps Match Preview
01:06:48
Speaker
I guess we were we were talking about this on the post-game live last night, but do you think that – Do you think this is a situation where Vancouver is going to channel this as motivation and play angry and be looking to sort of take it out on their next opponent, which happens to be Seattle?
01:07:08
Speaker
ah Because that's what ah we had a caller saying that they thought that that's what was going to happen. Man, I almost feel like when you lose when you lose a final like that, it almost is like, uh, sometimes it shell shocks you more than it motivates you, at least in the short term.
01:07:26
Speaker
Like it, if they lost that game any sort of competitively and they looked anything at all, like their normal selves, I would think it's more likely that it ends up being like a fuel to the fire situation.
01:07:40
Speaker
I think it's equally, if not more likely that they, uh, that they're just sort of stunned and not fully past what happened yet. I mean, how do you think that loss is going to affect the dynamic of this next game against Seattle?
01:07:56
Speaker
I think it's a Very low pressure game, to be honest. So I'll go the opposite, perhaps, on on what you guys are implying here. And it's simply because you have too many circumstances that say, hey, look, whatever we do against the Sounders is fine because Cubas is going to be gone, because White's going to be gone, because Vita is going to be gone.
01:08:16
Speaker
yeah You mentioned nine players. The core of this team is going to be gone. You're coming off of a short rest. Nobody's expecting you to come out here and just run over the Seattle Sounders. So to me, it's a very low-pressure game that could actually help Vancouver.
01:08:34
Speaker
And you say, hey, guys, let's just get out here. ah We do want to show up for our fans that have been here that are disappointed. But at the same time, it's really a win-win because we're going go in with a full rotated team after playing, you know, 90 minutes in ah Mexico City.
01:08:54
Speaker
Just go out there and play. so So for me, it's going very low pressure. I think that Jasper will be up to the task. We've seen this heavily rotated team put a lot of teams into difficult positions this MLS season. and But I think that the situation,
01:09:10
Speaker
is advantageous to Seattle. And anytime that you're going against a Whitecaps team that is is not going to have almost the entirety of their midfield, their top goal scorer, I mean, you should be able to go in there and at least get a result. At the very least, go to BC Place and get a result. So to me, the pressure is kind of on Seattle, to be honest.
01:09:34
Speaker
I mean, i yeah, I see what you're saying because ah anytime you're playing a team that's that shorthanded, ah you you think it might tilt the scale. And then also just the fact that ah Vancouver are walking wounded now, it does sort of ah make you feel like it's not you know For me, a ah Cascadia road matchup, especially against a Whitecaps team that has been playing as well as they have this year. They've been the best team in the league.
01:10:05
Speaker
ah That's one where if you end up leaving with a point, I think you take that. I almost feel like in this situation, the outlook changes because of all the variables that we've been talking about.
01:10:15
Speaker
in that a uh you know you're out you're not guaranteed a three-point result but it's not necessarily like a normal road game where a cage your draw is not what you're shooting for but something that you would take standing up i almost feel like that would be a disappointment if that's what happens to seattle in uh in this game. Nico, looking at this game coming off the this loss to Minnesota, what do you want to see from the team as far as bouncing back and sort of getting back to the form that they've been in really since, I mean, over the last eight, nine games? I think they were 6-2-2 over their last 10 before the defeat yesterday.
01:10:58
Speaker
What do you want to see in this game to sort of to to get back to that form? I think you need a get-right game. and You need to be on the front foot.
01:11:09
Speaker
ah You need to show that exciting soccer that we saw against Nashville. You got to be able to put a defensive performance and a gritty performance ah in in lapses that you had against San Diego here at home.
01:11:27
Speaker
You need your top talent to... really show up to play and you need to be more decisive. I think that that's something that Seattle was so hard to watch against the Minnesota ah here at home.
01:11:46
Speaker
Against Minnesota United, there was such a lack of decision-making and it just seemed like Seattle could not get any sort of danger when they were on the ball and they they had guys in the right places and they were moving the ball well and the the passing patterns were where they wanted.
01:12:05
Speaker
There was always ah either a non-decision or a bad decision. So you need to correct that in this game against Vancouver. And although, like you said, I'm not sitting here telling you guys that Seattle needs to get three points and that three points is the only way, but at least in terms of style of play,
01:12:25
Speaker
and your concepts, your principles, those need to show up again because against Minnesota, I didn't see them.
01:12:34
Speaker
The Dallas game, those first 20, 30 minutes where Seattle was really high tempo, really getting going. I know that game kind of went south after that, or at least in terms of like it being ah a well-played game, but those 15 minutes, I want to hear something similar from, from Seattle.
01:12:50
Speaker
You need to go in there with a lot of intensity, quick restarts, getting the ball forward, trying to get Ferreira involved, If he's back, obviously he just had a daughter, and so we'll see. He should be back.
01:13:03
Speaker
ah Pedro La Vega, Ryan Kent will start in that one without a doubt. So getting him going, all of those things is what Seattle needs to do to get right against Vancouver.
01:13:14
Speaker
Defensively, i would expect Jackson to have one more game under his belt. He'll be better in that one. Jay Bell hopefully can create a um better report with Jackson because I thought that when Stuart Hawkins came on,
01:13:33
Speaker
J-Bell looked a little better and it was weird because Jackson Reagan is supposed to be the better center back, the experienced center back, but it just seemed like Stu and J-Bell had a better a report. So can he create that with Jackson Reagan, right? So all those things, I feel like Seattle's gonna have to figure out.
01:13:53
Speaker
New who's likely gonna be gone. So ah is that gonna be Reed Baker Whiting on that side? Or you know how are you gonna set up that? They're Vancouver.
01:14:04
Speaker
But to me, the biggest thing that Seattle needs to do is figure out their offensive fluidity, their transition play, and getting enough guys crashing the box and and really creating a lot of more opportunities because they cannot have another offensive snoozer like they did in that first half against Minnesota.
01:14:29
Speaker
How do you think they line it up in attack? Like you mentioned, Jesus Ferreira was not available for the Minnesota game ah because he was having a baby. Congratulations to Jesus Ferreira, but ah should be back for this game.
01:14:42
Speaker
ah Do you think ah they do the thing where they start him in the wide pocket and start Moose up top? ah Do they ease ease Moose back into it as he continues to gain fitness coming off his injury?
01:14:57
Speaker
What do you think is the right way to approach it from that standpoint? Yeah, that's a very good question. you know but Albert had been playing a lot of minutes, you know so your rest time and maybe drop Ferreira back a line and see how that works. But I really do think that Seattle needing a get-back-right game, ah they're going to go with what they have. And to me, it's going to be Ferreira.
01:15:20
Speaker
Kent, Albert, and Pedro. That's your front four, in my opinion, going into this game. what do you What do you want to see from De La Vega? he yeah he He got a nice assist in this Minnesota game. Yeah. that that was good That was good to see, getting on the stat sheet again. And, ah you know, it feels like ah feels like he's coming into his own a little bit over over the last couple weeks.
01:15:47
Speaker
But, you know, we're going to find out if he can really – actually become like this you big impact player that we're all hoping for. But ah doesn't this kind of feel like a big ah game or stretch of games for him?
01:16:00
Speaker
It does. Absolutely. And it it goes back to the confidence part of it. I think that he has grown in in in confidence and he's grown in his ability to take on players.
01:16:13
Speaker
What I want to see more of is him putting himself in good enough positions to get shots on goal. He has such a great weapon when it comes to his mid range shots, but it doesn't get used enough because ah he he's just, for some reason, are usually blocked.
01:16:32
Speaker
and And I don't know it's because there are always so many numbers behind the ball when he's been able to get on those spaces, but I would like to see him being more aggressive off the ball.
01:16:42
Speaker
So he is in prime scoring positions and can, can finish on goal. Um, In transition as well, and this is not against Pedro. I feel like Seattle at times
01:16:55
Speaker
um underestimates perhaps his ability to just explode and get to balls behind the back line. And it's been multiple times where I feel like you can just throw the ball ah up forward, drop it.
01:17:09
Speaker
above the the defensive line and allow Pedro to get to those balls. And it doesn't happen consistently enough. So I want to see him more aggressive on his off-ball runs and putting himself into better positions to finish in front of goal. So the the creativeness, the willingness to take players on, the one-on-one dribbling skills, the passing, all those things have been in this play.
01:17:33
Speaker
And like you said, this great run of form that he's starting to get to after that injury. But to me, being more goal dangerous is what I would like to see out of Pedro Delavaggio.
Episode Conclusion and Future Content
01:17:44
Speaker
Absolutely. Nico, I think we can call it right there for this episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. Thank you all, as always, for for tuning in. this was a ah This was an interesting one.
01:17:56
Speaker
we We have a storyline going on in Seattle Sounders land that ah I have certainly never seen before. it's a you It's a unique one for ah all of us who follow this team, cover this team, and obsess over this team on a day-in, day-out basis.
01:18:14
Speaker
ah Not many other clubs have ah been in a situation like this with a ah ah public dispute between the players and the owner.
01:18:25
Speaker
So ah if nothing else, there's novelty to it. Doesn't seem good. Nico, anything that you wanted to any last takes or anything that you wanted to plug that you've got working with Pulse or Sounder at Heart or anything before we get out of here?
01:18:40
Speaker
No, first I do want to congratulate again Jesus Ferreira for having his baby girl. He told me his daughter's name and I totally blanked on it, but I'm excited for the other member of the Sounders family, like b Brian said.
01:18:53
Speaker
And go check out Michael Boxwell's interview on Pulse of Sports. That was very interesting. He you know talked about the All-Star Game and you know and this he wasn't necessarily excited about the All-Star Game and being a guy that can make that roster or not. He talked about Minnesota's form and facing the Sounders. He gave a couple of sound bites about the protest and things like that. So go ahead and check that out at Pulse of Sports. We also to have the entirety of the 20 minutes of the Seattle Sounders, Christian Roldan and Stefan Fry talking about this entire situation.
01:19:29
Speaker
And then on Friday, of course, we're going to have our what we learned this week with Jeremiah Shen that I have a feeling that it's going to be pretty eventful because I think that this week there's going to be a lot of information either behind closed doors that now that the cat is out of the bag and I was kind of trying to stay out of it, I'll probably start reporting a lot on.
01:19:51
Speaker
um and ah know injury wise and how things are kind of playing out the dynamics of the training field right that has that looked any different all those things we'll talk about on friday and then on thursdays as well style soccer down here uh sdh go ahead and check that out as well you can find me on x you can find me on blue sky and i appreciate you having me on as always ari Absolutely, man. It's gonna be a going to be an interesting week.
01:20:21
Speaker
We're going to be covering all of it. So stay tuned. Catch you guys soon.