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Nos Audietis, Episode 256: Gold Cup runneth over
61 Plays8 years ago
This has not been the season any of had hoped it would be. Yet, after beating the Colorado Rapids for their second road win of the season, the Seattle Sounders find themselves in the not-so-awful position of practically in playoff position. Despite their struggles, the Sounders are even on points for the final playoff spot and will finish out the season with nine of their last 15 at the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field.
Jeremiah, Aaron and FourFourTwo’s Richard Farley discuss the Sounders’ spot in the standings while also sharing some thoughts on the Gold Cup, Megan Rapinoe’s recent run of form and the various happenings during the transfer season.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Music used in the sponsor reads: LASERS - “Amsterdam”
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Transcript
Intro and Sponsor Messages
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adietes is sponsored by Designers Marble. Designers Marble is the premier custom cultured marble manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. Their synthetic marble products, made with patented true stone technology, offer the beautiful look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost, while maintaining exceptional durability and ease of maintenance.
00:00:23
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Podcast Introduction
00:00:48
Speaker
Hi, this is Brad Evans. You're listening to No Sadia Dis.
00:01:00
Speaker
for the KSHG! The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle Like a beautiful child growing up
00:01:30
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Adidas, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verity Credit Union, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 256 and we're recording on Monday, July 11th, 2017. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer
00:01:47
Speaker
Lickit. Joining us again is 442's Richard Farley. Hey, we actually have a win to talk about.
Seattle Sounders' Recent Performances
00:01:54
Speaker
The Sounders beat the Colorado Rapids 3-1 in their final game before the Gold Cup break and actually find themselves even on points for the final playoff spot in a pretty good position going into the de facto second half of the season. So let's just keep it simple, start there. What do we make of not just that game, but the final three heading into this break?
00:02:14
Speaker
Start with you, Aaron. I feel pretty good right now. I mean, I think that the Sounders are level on points with Vancouver. Vancouver has a couple of games in hand, but when you look at the standings, it's pretty tight. The Colorado game, yeah, Colorado is not a great team. They were missing a lot of key players. That hasn't really mattered at times this season. And in this game, the Sounders were able to take advantage of that.
00:02:43
Speaker
Clint Dempsey looks fantastic, which is huge. That's been the biggest problem this year is generating a consistent attacking threat. We've certainly had that with Dempsey over the last few games. It's not a great position to be in. You certainly want to be above the red line, but we've talked about this a bit.
00:03:06
Speaker
offline and it's pretty easy to see a situation in which the Sounders end up finishing third. You know, the teams ahead of them are, there are some good teams. I mean, Sporting Kansas City is good, but I think the consensus in this group at least is that they're gonna fade pretty hard. Houston has to win on the road before I take them seriously. It's really an elite team. FC Dallas, as talented as they are, haven't
00:03:33
Speaker
really been able to run away with anything. Portland has huge flaws and the Sounders have another game at home against them, which is huge. And I'm pretty sure they play Vancouver at home twice as well. So, you know, it's not gonna be easy, but I think the Sounders are in pretty good shape. I'd be really surprised at this point if they don't make the playoffs. And I think they have a pretty good shot of, you know, maybe even hosting the playing round.
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say at six, seven and six, no one's going to be doing backflips. No one's going to tell you that this first half of the season when anything like what they hoped it would and maybe not even as they expected it would. But, you know, here they are.
00:04:09
Speaker
going into this break. They're 4-1-3 at home, which isn't great, but it shows that they got where they are without playing lights out at home. But more importantly, they have nine games left to play at home. That's more than I think anyone else that's above them in the standings. Vancouver, even though they have two games in hand, they have actually one less game. Both of those games, I believe, are on the road because they have one less game.
00:04:35
Speaker
to left to play at home uh... houston has already played ten at home uh... sporting kansas city's already played ten at home the timbers have already played ten at home so you know that's not a that's not a bad position when you look at you know when you look at that way and and i think one of the things that was that's to me one of the most important things about that colorado when is you know when we looked at the standings in our last show we projected that the centers needed something like twenty six points from their final uh...
00:05:05
Speaker
17 games I guess it was at the time no it must have been whatever 16 games at the time and and I said they needed at least six points on the road well they already got three of those points so that's to me that's a pretty big step and that makes the home schedule you know there's room for error on the home schedule now I will be happy to admit that
00:05:30
Speaker
that the rapids are not a great team. They were in particularly bad shape against the sounders in terms of their backline. Eric Miller and Dan LaFont, two guys who weren't natural centerbacks, both looked very much like unnatural centerbacks.
00:05:46
Speaker
But at the same time, you know, the Sounders haven't scored against people on the road. They haven't scored, period. They scored five goals in their last two games. They both of which were on the road. You have to go back, I think, nine games before that to just collectively find five goals. So there is, I think, in terms of hitting their stride, I think that's all to like. At the same time, Richard, I'm sure you have some other thoughts on this.
00:06:14
Speaker
I have some other thoughts, but they all line up with yours and Aaron's really. I think one of the things that I've been thinking about a lot in trying to cover the league is why the West has been so crappy this year. And it's really because three or four of the playoff teams, if you want to include Seattle in there from last year, are for much of the season below the line this year.
00:06:38
Speaker
But why the West's crap doesn't really change the fact that it is noticeably weaker than it has been in the past. So it's easy to kind of go, oh, that Colorado performance, the rapids were crap. What does that really mean about the Sounders? It means they can beat a crappy team and most of the teams in the West are crappy this year. So that's pretty good news.
00:06:56
Speaker
Maybe they're not as crappy as Colorado, but it ended up being I would say three to one didn't exactly Sum up how close the game was but it was a comfortable win on the road still I think that's really good news even if you think that Seattle has significant problems Because just like Aaron said when you go down the teams in the West There are two or three teams above Seattle that it's perfectly reasonable to think very quickly that the Sounders with some I don't even want to say some
00:07:24
Speaker
Improvements just with some lineup consistency that they should have between people returning from injury and people returning from international duties They should be able to achieve. I don't buy San Jose. I don't buy Houston. I think Portland is majorly flawed I think they have huge upside too, but I think all of those teams it's perfectly reasonable to expect that Seattle Will be able to climb over soon. So I share your guys's optimism and one thing that Aaron said that I really want to talk about is just
00:07:53
Speaker
When Clint Dempsey was scoring goals at the beginning of the year, it was kind of like, well, he was just finding ways to score goals. This is what Clint Dempsey does. He's resourceful like that. He actually looks like he's in kind of a rhythm right now. He looks fluid. Everything he's doing seems like it's, it seems like it's Dempsey from three or four years ago. And I think that has to be very encouraging because when you look at this team right now, you do wonder where the goals are going to consistently come
Player Signings and Team Depth
00:08:16
Speaker
from. And the obvious answer is Clint Dempsey. But if that continues to be the answer and it can reliably be the answer all year,
00:08:21
Speaker
That's one of the biggest issues of this team solved immediately.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that, and I hadn't actually looked at this, but you mentioned that three of the six playoff teams from last year have been underneath the red line most of the year. And by that I assume that you're saying the Galaxy have been above it for a fair amount of that. But it's crazy, you look at the standings right now, of the five teams below the red line in the Western Conference, four of them were playoff teams last year and the other one didn't exist.
00:08:54
Speaker
So it's been, you know, if you're looking for a reason to as to why is the West not, you know, it's because the traditional powers in the West just haven't been good. The Sounders haven't been good. The Galaxy haven't been good. We also at Lake, it's easy to remember that or it's easy to forget that the Colorado Rapids were second in the sporter shield standing last year. And and they look like they're about ready to just absolutely collapse.
00:09:16
Speaker
I'll say that San Jose is starting to play well enough that I think that maybe they're a playoff team, but the Sounders only have to jump one of these 16s above them. And I think Houston, Portland, Earthquakes, and Whitecaps are all ripe for being jumped in terms of the standings. Like I said, just the fact that the Sounders have so many home games. Now they're obviously gonna have to win those home games, but one of the biggest reasons I think for optimism
00:09:43
Speaker
you look at their lineup and it's just starting to you know they're gonna come back out of this break assuming nothing crazy happens in the next uh 10 days or so they're gonna be as healthy as they have been all year uh they're gonna be able to put out a starting back line that very well could be the starting back line for the rest of the season assuming that it's healthy uh they of course announced the signing of kevin leardham who was a uh a
00:10:07
Speaker
Dutch player from Suriname or via Suriname. And he played nine seasons in the Airdavisi, all of which were for upper table teams. It was for Feynord and then Vitesse. And those were teams that made the Europa League five times during those nine years.
00:10:26
Speaker
He was a starting right back basically the entire time he actually had a season where he scored eight or nine goals So this is a player. He's 27 years old. I mean, this is a player who absolutely should provide some some stability and Right back has really been you know, if there's been one position that we've been harping on it's right back now I think that
00:10:45
Speaker
You know, I won't put words in Aaron's mouth, but I'll say it from me, I was really enthusiastic about the idea of the Sounders being able to get Brad Evans healthy and kind of letting him go. He's played 303 minutes. The Sounders have yet to score or yet to yield the goal when he's been on the field. But at the same time, he's only played 303 minutes. I can understand why the Sounders maybe lost some patience with him. And there's every reason to be excited about this Kevin Lirdham signing, don't you think?
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that its consistency there is going to be huge. And I think that one of the things it does, and I think this is kind of an underrated aspect of it, is that, okay, Evans is not someone that, you know, you're going to pencil into a starting lineup if he's healthy anymore. I mean, there's just not a spot for him. But by doing that, I mean, that dramatically improves your depth at pretty much every position outside of Stryker. And that's huge.
00:11:39
Speaker
You know, I mean, we just had a situation where we had, what was it, 16 guys on the bench.
00:11:46
Speaker
16 total play. Yeah, they only had 16 guys on the bench would be pretty good But that would be pretty good. They had four outfield players available Against Colorado and then of course they had immediately they lost I guess I've had forgotten this that Chad Marshall probably isn't gonna play in the in the DC United game Osvaldo Alonzo God, I can't believe I totally glossed over the fact that they lost those two players But go ahead we can get into that later
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, it improves your depth in central midfield. It's basically another version of Gustav Svensson with the ability also to play in wide midfield as sort of a more defensive option there. So, I mean, that's, you know, that's going to be really important, I think, as the season drags along. And there's a pretty good chance that Brad Evans is going to get more minutes, you know, as a rotational guy than he did in the last, you know, 15 games of the season than he did as a,
00:12:37
Speaker
de facto starter in the first nineteen so you know it's a bummer because like you I was hoping that Brad Evans is a right back would work out and I think there's a pretty good chance it could have but you really can't blame the Sounders for you know for wanting to have some
00:12:53
Speaker
Certainty and some consistency there and it's a player. They've you know, by all accounts been scouting for quite a while And he looks like he's he's gonna be a pretty solid upgrade. So you know whether or not he's worth a tam contract, I guess remains to be seen but as a fan of fullbacks, I'm kind of I'm kind of down with the experiment and
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think this is going to be, you know, I can't pretend to know anything about Kevin Lierdom. He's played for a league that we don't get to see very much here. But, you know, just looking at it on paper, looking at his highlights. I don't know. Do you know anything about this guy, Richard, that maybe we don't know?
00:13:35
Speaker
To the extent I do, I would be scared to say in public. If we were not doing something that got distributed to hundreds and hundreds of people, I would freely share my thoughts with you. But no, no is the right answer here. I thought it was kind of funny. Someone asked a columnist who I won't bother naming what they thought of Kevin Lirdham. And this is a player, someone who you would presume knows a little something about the Airdavisi.
00:14:01
Speaker
And the person said, well, he's no world beater. And it's like, what an empty piece of analysis. Like, he's no world beater. Well.
00:14:09
Speaker
Duh. Like, if he was a 27 year old right back world beater, he probably wouldn't be coming to MLS, let's be honest. The question is not, is he a world class player? The question is, is he an upgrade from most right backs in MLS? And from everything I can see, I think he is. I mean, I'm really excited about, you know, I'm really excited about seeing him play. It seems like it gives the sounders
00:14:33
Speaker
a kind of right-sided version of Jovan Jones, but he is a more cultured player. He has a more impressive resume. He's got a lot more experience than Jovan Jones. I suspect that he's probably not quite the dribbler that Jovan Jones is, but I don't know who knows. I'm actually really excited about seeing him. And I'm actually not that freaked out about this Chad Marshall and Osvaldo Alonzo injury situation
00:14:58
Speaker
Which is of course easy for me to say, you know, a week out or 10 days out from the centers playing a game. But I thought that Tony Ovaro actually did a decent job filling in for Marshall in the Colorado game. I thought that Gustav Svensson did a pretty good job being the main guy in the central midfield.
00:15:20
Speaker
My hope is that Christian Roldan comes back before the DC unit after the group stage in the Gold Cup. And if the Sounders are able to roll out a lineup of say Gustav Svensson and Romontoras as your center backs, Kevin Lierdom and Jovan Jones as your outside backs, and then a central midfield of Osvaldo Alonso and say Harry Ship,
00:15:42
Speaker
are not as all the ones oh sorry christian rolled on in harry ship i actually feel pretty good about that or you know i guess you can you can plug and play some other players who knows maybe brad evan starts at center back uh... which would be quite the quite little bit of entertainment uh... given where we we were two years ago but i mean i i actually think that the you know regardless of what happens with this designated player spot which as of today's is unfilled uh... who knows what will be by tomorrow morning but um...
00:16:11
Speaker
I mean, I definitely would like to see the Sanders add an impact player, but I just feel like this is potentially a better team in the second half of the season.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that this team right now is better than the team was last year after they added Lodero just overall from a holistic perspective in terms of talent. They certainly haven't been playing up to the level of talent on the team, but they've been missing a lot of players and just had some flukey stuff happen. If they're playing up to their potential, you know, this is definitely a competing
00:16:46
Speaker
team and if they if they can add a player with high impact and then you know maybe another one that's more of a rotational player i think they're pretty well set up heading into the playoffs and more importantly and i have a feeling we'll get into this in the questions as well but it's not all about
00:17:03
Speaker
you know, how they're set up this season, it's how they're set up heading into next season. I mean, this has been a pretty major overhaul, the roster, and I feel like we're kind of getting close to the end of that in that we're starting to see the core group come together. This is going to be a big window for that, obviously, with the expectation of another DP signing.
00:17:23
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, I feel I feel pretty good about this this roster for the rest of the season and, you know, heading into next season. I just don't think there are any huge question marks aside from Dempsey, who, you know, if he keeps playing like he's been playing the last few games, this is probably going to be back and probably going to contribute. Yeah, it's kind of funny, I think before the Portland game, we said something like, you know, if he can score 10 goals for the rest of the season, that there's a pretty good chance that he comes back and he's already got three of those goals.
00:17:52
Speaker
Um, so, you know, which was, we were basically saying like, if you can get to right around 15 goals, that it's going to be hard not to bring them back.
Seattle Reign and NWSL Updates
00:17:59
Speaker
And suddenly that's not looking so far fetched. Um, that said, Richard, how badly do you think the sounders need to add a designated player? And how wordy do you think we should be about Jordan Morris's situation? Um, so.
00:18:20
Speaker
I think that. I mean, I'm confused by this a little bit, and it's my confusion, because like I said, when I look at the West right now, the standard is basically just don't be crap, right? If you're not crap, you're going to make the playoffs. And when you make the playoffs, you're going to be in a crapshoot. It's the exact same situation we've had in the Easter Conference for years where we see like a team like the New England Revolution kind of bounce in and out of the playoffs when they're crap, they're not in the playoffs and when they aren't, they're in the playoffs.
00:18:46
Speaker
But Seattle obviously should have higher aspirations than that, right? And it's kind of difficult for me to think the don't be crap standard would really get you through the playoffs even in the West because odds are three or four of the teams in the West are not going to be crap come the end of the season. So I think to not be at that level, I'm going to try to stop saying the word crap. To not be at that level, they do need something or at least to take the steps to ensure they have the best chance to, you know, if not replicate last year's success.
00:19:15
Speaker
put themselves in position to, yeah, they need to maximize their resources. I think you talked about Jordan Morris. Look, if Jordan Morris isn't going to come around, then you're really relying on one player for goals. Will Bruin, I think we have a long history of knowing that he's capable, but he's not going to be a severe threat. He's going to be kind of a function of the rest of your team. Maybe somebody like Nicholas Lodero steps up the way he did last year when the game starts to matter more.
00:19:44
Speaker
I mean, I think they need, I think they need to address the fact that they just aren't really that threatening an attack. And as these games get more important and you start to go against defenses like Dallas's and FC Kansas City's, is Seattle going to leave themselves in a situation where you're basically betting on Clint Dempsey doing something?
00:20:12
Speaker
I would just like to note that I think this is maybe the first time on this show that someone has
00:20:16
Speaker
Called them FC Kansas City by accident and I appreciate that. Oh I did Yeah, you did and that's good though because that's gonna lead us into our next segment where we're gonna actually talk about the NWSL And I'm glad you I'm glad you said something cuz I hate when I listen to podcasts and like nobody says anything about a mistake Because clearly I don't think sporting Kansas City plays in the NWSL and FC Kansas City plays in MLS So I'm glad you said some things about it
00:20:45
Speaker
Yeah, it was. It was important to my ego. All right. Well, that's probably a good place to call it. We're going to come back. We're going to talk. We have a little bit of a grab bag of sorts to talk about. We'll talk a little bit about the Gold Cup. We'll talk about the NWSL, specifically the Seattle rain, and the very, very impressive run of form that Megan Rapinoe has found herself in. So anyway, you're listening to Nos Ariates, and we'll be right back.
00:21:19
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:22:09
Speaker
We're going to talk about the NWSL. We're going to talk about the Gold Cup. Probably have a little bit more Gold Cup content, but I want to start with the Seattle Rain, who we haven't talked about a ton on the show this year. You haven't? No, I feel bad that we haven't done it, because we like to talk about the rain on here.
00:22:27
Speaker
I was just thinking today that I would love to get to an interview with Hailey Kotmeyer, who obviously was part of Yacht-Con, but has never been an individual guest on the show. So that's my open invite to Hailey Kotmeyer to come on the show at some point. But let's start off with the Seattle rain. Can you give us a little bit of a rundown of where they are in their season? And we're gonna really get into the player who's leading them right now, which is Megan Rapinoe.
00:22:52
Speaker
Yeah, so I think the big thing to say is that they're in the top four spots, which a lot of people will just assume that Seattle is there given how much success they had in 2014 and 2015, but in 2016, they missed the playoffs finishing in fifth place. They're in fourth place right now. I think they slid back one spot from last week, but before that, they had a three-game homestand where I think they took seven points out. Really helped them surge. They look like a Laura Harvey team again, even though they've lost Kim Little and Keelan Winters and
00:23:21
Speaker
hope solo and mano melis who was their leading scorer last year still playing with that ferocity they're given a lot of teams troubles a lot of it has to do with megan rapino who we'll talk about soon but they've got a couple of other players that have stepped up this year there's this rookie that was a fourth round draft pick which is the last
00:23:38
Speaker
draft round of the NWSL draft, whose name is Krista McNabb, a central defender out of Florida who has stepped right into central defense and has been their best defensive player all year. Her, in addition to Hailey Kotmyer, who has established herself as an average NWSL goalkeeper, I don't say average as a pejorative.
00:23:55
Speaker
There are only 10 goalkeepers in the end of a cell, so to be average is really, really good. And Naho Kawasumi is back. Rumi Atsugi, a Japanese international, has taken over for Keelan Winters in midfield. This is a team that looks like it should finish in the top four, and perhaps more importantly, it looks like it's gotten its swagger back a little bit after one year of doubt.
00:24:16
Speaker
And I'm a big Bev Yanez fan. I feel like whenever I've seen her, she seems to have been doing well. It seems like this is a team, though, that, like you said, it feels again like a Laura Harvey team. And Megan Rapinoe is having this Renaissance season, so to speak. She looks like the player who was so dominant. I don't know that we've seen this player for the Seattle Reign, have we? Has she ever been this good with the Reign?
00:24:46
Speaker
No, I don't think she's ever been this good at the professional level. I think that you can make a good argument that she's never been this good period. She's already set a career high in goals with nine for the season. And while three of those have come from the penalty spot, even though the sixth total would match her career high from any other year, she's played more minutes than she's ever had in the NWSL. I think now she's played more. She has more starts than she's ever had.
00:25:09
Speaker
She's just been injured or mistimed with World Cups or Olympics or with her time when she was with Leon and they've never had her for this big stretch. Laura Harvey actually said a couple weeks ago to me that it was a shame that she never had Kim Little and Megan Rapinoe at the same time and I looked it up and during the three years that Pinoe and Little were on the same roster, Pinoe only made 20 starts during those three years.
00:25:32
Speaker
Laura Harvey was very remiss that she didn't have this Megan Rapinoe. What this Megan Rapinoe is, is she's just one of the most active players in the league. Her fitness per her admission is better than it's ever been. And it was really evident two and a half weeks ago now where Lauren Barnes took a Last Man red card in the fifth minute of the game.
00:25:55
Speaker
And the team conceded and went down 1-0. And really, Megan Rapinoe's energy, continuing to press, continuing to harass the defense really was not only functional, but really inspirational. And the rain actually got a 1-1 result while playing down a woman for most of that game. That was the only points that they dropped during the homestand.
00:26:14
Speaker
She's right. I wouldn't say she's right there in the MVP race because the NWSL has one person who is just otherworldly right now, but she is clearly the second best player in a league where the first best player is one of the best players in the world and she's the main reason that Seattle has been able to kind of You know cover up the loss of Kim Little So for the uninitiated
00:26:40
Speaker
Should rain fans be expecting? Are they going to lose Megan Rapinoe for a big chunk of this summer now? Or is this actually an odd year where there's not a ton of international soccer interrupting the season?
00:26:53
Speaker
No, they're gonna miss her for a little bit. There's a tournament, a three-team tournament that starts in a little less than two weeks now, or no, two weeks now. It's the United States, Japan, Brazil, and Australia. But it's just like, she's gonna miss a game, I think. And so will the rest of the US internationals. But beyond that, she'll be back, which means she's on place to play 23 games, which would be double the number of games she's ever played for the rain in a season before.
00:27:19
Speaker
I think as long as she keeps performing like this, the rain are in really good space.
Gold Cup and Player Impact
00:27:25
Speaker
I think if she keeps performing like this and Jessica Fischlach, who injured her knee last week, if she comes back healthy, Nahome Kawasumi gets a little bit more consistent. If Christine Nairn, who was an original rain player who they brought back from Washington this year, if she finds her way into the team, and maybe perhaps most importantly, for the first time in a few years, Seattle's defense seems suspect. Last year's defensive player of the year, Lauren Barnes, is not having the best of years.
00:27:49
Speaker
Carson Pickett, the left back is a second year player who's still kind of coming into the league. And a lot of teams are attacking that side of the Seattle defense. If that side of the fence can just get a little bit better over the second half of the season, I think Seattle is not only going to make the playoffs, but be a team that could spring an upset on the road in the first round.
00:28:09
Speaker
Well, that would be a lot of fun. Moving into the Gold Cup, the Sounders obviously have two players on the US national team. They also have some, they have O'Neill Fisher with Jamaica and they have Jordy Delan with Martinique. Neither one of those two players are nearly as important though to the Sounders as Christian Roldon and Jordan Morris.
00:28:31
Speaker
In the first game of the Gold Cup, the second one will be tomorrow. You may be, I guess you'll probably listen to this before that game, but Jordan Morris made a cameo appearance in the game. Christian Roldon did not play. I don't know. I think we've had maybe differing emotions about this call-up.
00:28:52
Speaker
Aaron, how big, like, if, I guess, let me put it to you this way, assuming that this continues on this trajectory, that neither Jordan Morris nor Christian Waldon play much, do you expect them, are you feeling like they're gonna get sent back for, for, is that maybe the best case scenario, I guess, because they might get sent back after the group stage?
00:29:14
Speaker
I would really expect Rolled Down to get some back. I think that he's likely to see some minutes in the next couple of games. Panama's a tough game, I think as everybody kind of saw. And the friendly was definitely more prep for Panama than anything. I think that there's a pretty good chance, you know, Bruce Arena is gonna give Rolled Down a start or some significant sub minutes. Morris is trickier because, you know, he has been playing. He played against Ghana. He played against Panama as well.
00:29:43
Speaker
And he has a skill set that nobody else on the roster really does. He's not gonna start in a first choice team, but his speed, his directness, those things are really valuable as a late sub. So I think it's trickier with him. I wouldn't be shocked if he gets sent back, but I would be equally shocked if Rollbound didn't get sent back.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess it sounds like this is a game. Playing against Martinique, it sounds like a lot of people think that Roldan could see time in this game. Richard, you followed Roldan about as closely as anyone that's essentially in the national media. Do you see him? How important is this tournament for his kind of future, or is this just all about getting him integrated?
00:30:34
Speaker
It's an opportunity, I think. If he plays well, if he performs well in training, it certainly is going to help him. It just doesn't seem like this cycle is really made for Christian Roldan to make an impact. So when he's getting these call-ups or when he gets called into future January camps, you just want him to make a good impression with the coaches because we can kind of see now he seems to be the prime person that's going to be let back if Michael Bradley gets called in for the group stage.
00:30:58
Speaker
I don't think there's any shame in that. I think a year ago, we were barely talking about him for the national team. Come January, we were disappointed when he didn't get called in. Now, he's at least getting called in. He's young enough to where if he continues progressing like this, maybe after the World Cup and really in those first couple of experimental teams and the friendlies after the World Cup, he's in there.
00:31:19
Speaker
or in those first super early rounds of qualifiers for the next World Cup, he's in those teams and then he can actually start competing for a spot. I think the other question with Roldan is where does he really end up fitting in with the national team? You know, central midfield seems to be the most likely spot. I think we all agree that's his best spot. It might be the situation where just his versatility ends up making him a good bench option throughout his career. So even if he's not the 20th or 21st best American player,
00:31:46
Speaker
he's still going to make teams just because he's somebody that can play in multiple spots and can provide versatility that way. I think that switching to Jordan Morris, I think it is a little bit worrisome regarding how good Don Dwyer has played during his first few games because it's pretty easy to see Don Dwyer taking Jordan Morris's spot on a 23-man qualifying roster. I think I agree with Aaron there are some things that Jordan Morris offers coming off the bench that
00:32:14
Speaker
specifically Dom Dwyer can't replicate, but at the same time, I can totally see the coaching staff taking a different approach to that. And depending on how much they want to rotate players between games, Dom Dwyer's transition into the national team could really mean, you know, maybe this is good news for Seattle fans. It maybe means that Jordan isn't called up quite as regularly as he has been under Arena.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely have mixed emotions about that. Like on one hand, I want Jordan Morris to do well just because I think it's, it's a, I think I like him. I think it would be good to see him in the national team. Uh, but at the same time, I'm not going to shed too many tears. Like the worst case I think for the Sounders is that he keeps getting called up and then he doesn't play.
00:32:58
Speaker
And so he's kind of splitting the difference in terms of still being in the pool, but not really giving us anything to cheer on. But I'm wondering, do you feel like Clint Dempsey is going to get called into this camp? He's obviously one goal away from
00:33:13
Speaker
from tying Landon Donovan's record. I don't know if that plays into this, but it seems to be he's one of the players that people think is gonna get called in for the knockout stages. What's your feeling on Clint?
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's probably going to get called in. And I also don't think that Bruce Arena is really going to be, you know, bent out of shape if this team doesn't end up winning this tournament. But I do think there is something to be said about when you are facing those bigger teams and you're in situations where they are must win games, even if it's not a must win tournament. I know that maybe sounds paradoxical, but like once you're in that nine, that 90 minutes, that two hours of the game, you want that urgency to set in, even if in the bigger picture you want the team to maintain perspective.
00:33:57
Speaker
When those guys are in, I think Bruce Arena is going to want certain players in there to help some of these players that are emerging as potential candidates to make a 23-person team. I think he's going to want them in there to help guide them, to help foster that atmosphere. He wants the intensity of a Michael Bradley. He wants the intensity of a Clint Dempsey or the experience of a Clint Dempsey.
00:34:19
Speaker
I'm just having trouble imagining Bruce Arena's mindset where he doesn't call in Clint Dempsey. That's the main struggle for me.
00:34:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think the only reason he doesn't call in Clint Dempsey is because it turns out it was a big deal. You know, the last time we saw Clint Dempsey come off the field in a national team shirt was God, and I'm blanking who it was against, but it was that World Cup qualifier where he came off early. He tried to, he basically refused to shake Bruce's hand and then he didn't play against Mexico the following game. And
00:34:57
Speaker
maybe that is a big deal like at the time I think most of us kind of just blew it off Bruce blew it off and and I think we all kind of moved on from it but when he didn't play against Mexico which probably was the plan all along uh frankly but when he didn't play in the Mexico game and then he didn't get called into the gold cup again I think which was the assumption uh but this knockout stage is kind of the first test so to speak of of whether or not they're in in a good place and and who knows maybe he
00:35:23
Speaker
He just doesn't want Clint around, which again would be fine with me. He's in great form for the sounders, and if he wants to leave him with the sounders, that wouldn't hurt my feelings. But I guess that's the one issue, right?
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, I do remember thinking about this a little bit, and I think this is part of the reason that I didn't bring it up, that when that happened, it seemed like a big deal. But then when Bruce Arena was talking about his plans after that incident, Dempsey was on the list of players that were going to be in consideration to be brought back. Dempsey and Nagby, and I think he mentioned like Tim Howard and the people that you were surprised weren't in the team. And so I think that if Bruce Arena really
00:36:05
Speaker
didn't want Clint Dempsey to be part of the plans, I think he would have just said it. I don't really see Bruce Arena as somebody that would have casually thrown out Clint Dempsey's name just to avoid controversy. No, I tend to agree with you there. So the other bit of the Gold Cup, and I think this is kind of maybe an interesting thing going forward, and I think it has potential to make the Gold Cup a far more interesting tournament, is today we saw Florence Meluda suited up for French Guiana despite the fact that
00:36:34
Speaker
he knew that he knew that French Guiana knew that as soon as he set foot on the field that he was going to rule the game a forfeit and as it turns out Honduras and French Guiana currently are tied at halftime but I think it's a really dumb rule because to me if you're gonna let a nation like French Guiana who I as far as I know is not recognized by FIFA into the tournament
00:36:58
Speaker
you should also be able to grant waivers for their players who have been capped by other teams. And all of a sudden I could see this tournament becoming a far more interesting tournament if all these players who went to the Netherlands or France or England or wherever they ultimately were effectively forced to play
00:37:21
Speaker
then I think it becomes a much more interesting tournament if they can bring those players back for this one tournament and they can play games with those players. Because if they're gonna let non-FIFA nations compete, I feel like they should also let them compete on an even playing field. Is this being naive?
00:37:44
Speaker
No, I don't think it's being my name because that actually used to be the case. It was, was it, Fédric Picayune. I'm trying to look this up on my phone while I'm talking to you. It might have been him. But the rule used to be for these nations that are actually just protectorate of European countries.
00:37:59
Speaker
their CONCACAF recognized but they're not FIFA recognized is that they could qualify for the gold cup and they can use players that were born in their country but they had to be five years removed for their last national team parents for France or the Netherlands or wherever they had and and to be honest with you I'm I'm a little bit confused as to if if and why that rule went away because when the rule changed
00:38:20
Speaker
Yeah, because people had obviously been talking about Florin Meluda leading up to this tournament. To be honest, my level of interest in this tournament is so low that I didn't even notice that people were talking about this was going to be a potential problem. I just thought he fell under the same rule that had been in place when I think it was 2011 that Picayon played.
00:38:38
Speaker
or something like that. And maybe I'm thinking of the wrong player too, but there used to be a rule in place that if you hadn't made your own appearance for your other country for five years, it was assumed you were retired from that team and then you could play in the gold cup.
00:38:53
Speaker
I like that rule. I mean, why not have more players that are actually interesting in the Gold Cup? Because, you know, this is a little bit U.S. centric in the viewpoint, but legitimately, most of these players at this point in the tournament, I don't care about. But if a Flora Miluta is going to play, I'm going to be like, one, hey, Flora Miluta is alive. That's awesome. Secondly, let's see him play soccer. Right.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Aaron, do you have any anything to add in terms of these types of players? I mean, I just feel like there's this endless supply and I don't even understand why it needs to be a five year window. It feels like you should just let these guys play. And all of a sudden, these nations that no one really thinks about are, you know, all of a sudden, wildly competitive.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that it definitely depends on whether or not they're FIFA recognized. I mean, that's the key thing. So a country like Curacao couldn't start calling in all of their players that have been capped for the Netherlands. And maybe that's the idea, is that some of these countries that are in a similar colonial position, let's say,
00:40:02
Speaker
that aren't that are FIFA recognized say hey that's not really fair that they're getting an advantage I don't know but the Gold Cup is so tedious I guess until it gets to the end that anything to make it more interesting I
Gold Cup Critique and Future
00:40:18
Speaker
think is fine it just like it feels so much like the the CONCACAF Champions League where it's just like
00:40:27
Speaker
OK, well, I guess we have to have a tournament that includes everyone, even though we know it's going to be, you know, Team XYZ or whatever, and anything that makes it more compelling. I mean, the Jamaica Curacao game yesterday was...
00:40:42
Speaker
uh or sunday i guess it was was uh was a chore and and it's it's just it's unfortunate you know that that the continental championship um has has games that are that bad so anything to make it more interesting would be pretty uh pretty cool i mean is there are we just destined to have this tournament that because i don't know that there's a new way easy way around it and i guess they're expanding the tournament which
00:41:09
Speaker
I don't think is going to help. Are they expanding it to Europe or Asia, perhaps? That would help. Right, exactly. But no, I guess they're going to expand the group stage to 16 teams, which just does not seem like a good idea. What's the point? I mean, I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, but if you look at Jamaica's team yesterday, and this is a team that's probably going to make the knockouts,
00:41:37
Speaker
You know, they're starting O'Neill Fisher who is who is depth in MLS? They're starting, you know, Darren Maddox who is he I guess he didn't start but they're playing Darren Maddox who is a depth and all this player Like how much like and that's like a decent ish CONCACAF team Curacao has you know a guy that plays for Aston Villa and
00:42:01
Speaker
and a guy that plays for Maritomo and then a bunch of dudes that like, I don't even know if they're playing professionally anywhere. Like, and we're gonna add countries that are worse than that to the mix. Like, I don't know, man. I guess it's good for those countries. Yeah, it's just the politics of CONCACAF. I mean, when you have a region that's made up of mostly small nations, then the small nations are going to fight for their place at the table, right? And it completely makes sense, but at the same time,
00:42:28
Speaker
We were having a discussion here in a bar, me and a couple of people that you know, mutual friends of ours, and we were thinking about what are the worst tournaments in the world that actually get a bunch of publicity. I mean, we're not talking about, you know, little tournaments in Asia that nobody cares about. People essentially care about the gold cup and we're like, man, this really might be one of the worst tournaments in the world. And the other tournaments that we thought of that were bad were also CONCACAP tournaments. And I think a lot of it, now that we're talking about it, might have to do just with the makeup of the region, the fact that you have
00:42:56
Speaker
these two or three really dominant countries in this region and then a bunch of underfunded nations and a kind of a corrupt organization or organization that's coming out of its corrupt period and all all these countries are qualifying when they just they're not even playing in the same world as Mexico and the US and in Costa Costa Rica and I don't I don't even know if there's not a good if there's a good solution for it, you know
00:43:24
Speaker
Well, when you have nations that are like 400,000 people, it's just like there's a limited, there's a limited upside to like how good they'll ever be, right? Right. But I mean, I guess the equitable argument is that they still deserve a chance, which I agree with, but I also don't want to watch it. I don't want to watch them have their chance.
00:43:46
Speaker
Sounds terrible, but it's true. I mean, the solution is kind of let's stop trying to hype this up like it's a big deal, right? Like if the European Championships were Italy, Germany, Spain, and 13 Iceland's, like we would have a bunch of good stories, right? And if one of these countries went on a run,
00:44:02
Speaker
It'd be great. It would be a great story if Nicaragua made a run to the semifinals or the finals and captured imaginations like Iceland did. But the thing is, most countries that are Iceland size in Europe, they aren't good. They're not even making the tournament. And we have a tournament here in CONCACAF where 40 to 50 percent of the tournament is made up of
00:44:23
Speaker
Maybe and maybe once in a hundred years this country will get you know have a golden generation and have something I mean you can't change it politically I don't think it's fair to those nations to change it, but kind of culturally we can kind of stop acting like this is This is a big thing to me at least I don't know how other people feel maybe they just want their soccer so badly, but I honestly I'm thankful that the NWSL is on because at least I'm getting well I think it's it's hard to
00:44:52
Speaker
It's hard to... Right, when I think whenever the US national team plays, it's always going to attract a certain amount of attention. Especially when it's a tournament that's being held in the United States. And it's kind of like an unavoidable reality.
00:45:06
Speaker
It's going to suck up some of that attention as long as the US is involved and as long as there's a prize to be won, which I guess is playing in the Confederations Cup.
International Tournament Comparisons
00:45:17
Speaker
But I'll tell you, it was funny when the US was playing in that Confederations Cup playoff against Mexico,
00:45:22
Speaker
two years ago. It seemed like a pretty big deal. And I guess that part of that is because Jurgen Klansman made it seem like a big deal and he made it seem like playing in the Confederations Cup was a big deal. But after watching little bits and pieces of the Confederations Cup, I was kind of reminded of that's a pretty bad tournament. Yeah.
00:45:39
Speaker
And the idea like the whole premise behind like, you know, Clint's missing Oh, we have to qualify for the Olympics. We have to qualify for a Confederations Cup Really? Do you because like Confederations Cup if three to five games are gonna make or break your competitiveness over four year cycle Maybe you should be looking at the why you're building towards this tournament which you know, like Germany sends a B team and wins the tournament I Kind of speaks how serious we should be taking it
00:46:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was, you know, it was, it was kind of, it was just kind of funny sitting back and watching this Confederations Cup unfold and remembering like, oh my God, we had been convinced this was kind of a big deal. And no one seemed to think even, you know, Mexico didn't seem to think it was a big, I guess it was a big enough deal that their coach got suspended for six games. Yeah, I don't know. It just, it's just, you know, it just all rung very hello. But anyway, we're going to come back. We'll take your questions. You're listening to NoSaritas.
00:46:36
Speaker
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Speaker
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Sounders' Strategic Moves
00:47:57
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adiades. Lickit, I guess you have a whole wonderful list of questions. Go ahead and start firing away. Lickit's here? Yeah. Oh, hey, Lickit. What's up, man? I would submit on mute because I'm eating a burrito.
00:48:12
Speaker
Let's go first question here. That's a good segue. Rose asks, we've been better lately, but have we been good? How much better can the team get? I mean, I don't know. I would hesitate to say that sounders have been good. They drop points at home.
00:48:33
Speaker
against Orlando City. I thought they played pretty good against Orlando City. They probably deserved three points in that one, but at the same time, if you only score one goal and then you give up a dumb free kick at the end and you drop points, that's kind of what happens. I thought they looked pretty good against Portland, but I would hesitate to say that they were good in that game. And then Colorado, they were, like we said, they were playing a pretty bad team. I think they did what they had to do against them, but I think the Sounders can absolutely get better just by getting healthy and just by getting
00:49:03
Speaker
What is a stent which is like they're preferred 11 on a field together. I Think the answers to the questions are not crap to continue the theme and whether they how much better can they get much so I think still everything's almost everything is in play and There's significant reason to think that it could go either way That's the worst answer I've ever given to a question. That's true
00:49:28
Speaker
I think, too, that there's a tendency when things aren't going great to kind of nitpick losses on the road, like the one against Colorado and say, you know, it wasn't a great team and Colorado had a lot of good chances at the end that, you know, we probably shouldn't have given up. But winning on the road, even against bad teams and MLS, is really hard. Houston and LA, Galaxy. No, LA was winning a ton of games on the road, right? LA said they can't win at home.
00:49:52
Speaker
Right. But Houston would certainly tell you that it's difficult. Speaking of which, Houston had just lost to Colorado at Colorado 2-0, I believe. Yeah. And it was the exact same lineup, too. Right.
00:50:08
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, winning on the road in MLS is always a really positive sign. And so kind of building on the back of that Portland game and the Orlando game was, I mean, we've had a lot of encouraging performances lately that have just not gone our way. I think that the Colorado game was kind of a really good sign that, hey, if we keep playing well, we're going to start getting points.
00:50:37
Speaker
Okay, here's a set of questions about Der Lise. I will go with, I am 33.3. How many times do I have to tweet, announce Der Lise at Sounders FC before they are pressured into buying him? Sounders NWHC says, if we don't get Der Lise, will there be a summer DP signing?
00:51:01
Speaker
row says uh... if not to release who and sean quinn sports as is due to release the best possible dp signing or can we do better well it's a lot to unpack uh... all start off and all say that i i don't i i guess if you didn't if you were paying attention the news today was that supposedly uh... dyno keep dynamo kiev has has basically told all suitors that they have not
00:51:27
Speaker
brought them enough money and that whatever their asking price was is still their asking price.
00:51:34
Speaker
The sounders supposedly threw up their hands and said, well, I guess we're not getting our guy, which if you go back over the last few off seasons or last few kind of big transfer sagas happens basically every single time where the team that's selling says I need more or I'm not selling. And then the sounders say, well, OK, then. And then suddenly a deal gets done.
00:51:59
Speaker
So I'm not worried yet that this is really dead. But yeah, if the sounders don't get Duralis, I assume they must have other, you know, they aren't in a different position than they were earlier in the year. I can't imagine that they would have just assumed that they wouldn't have put all their eggs into one basket and said, well, we think Dynamo is just going to totally cave. But I don't have a list of names ready though.
00:52:26
Speaker
And I will say in terms of whether or not he's the best possible DP signing that we could get, I mean, that's kind of impossible to know, but he's the kind of player that I think is sort of a signifier of MLS continuing to improve. I mean, he's a 23 year old that was, you know, I think like two years ago, the Paraguay's Player of the Year for the whole Confederation, not just the league, but
00:52:55
Speaker
Was a huge prospect coming out of You know as a young player And you know, it's someone that okay. He hasn't set the world on fire with Dynamo Kev, but It is still a player with a ton of upside I mean and and you look at guys like Atlanta assigned like Joseph Martinez Miguel Amaran. I mean he's in that class of player He's somebody that you know could get the sounders a big transfer fee and it's kind of that transition phase from
00:53:22
Speaker
the signing old dudes in the twilight of their career to DP deals to signing guys that are still kind of in their prime years but are probably going to wind down their prime years in MLS to signing young players and becoming more of a selling league which is a huge huge step for for MLS when young really talented promising players start seeing it as a place that they can go to to you know to make good money and sort of raise their profile that's gonna be a huge step for the league so
00:53:51
Speaker
Whether he's the best player the Sounders could possibly get, I mean, who knows? Almost certainly not, but whether he's a player that we should be excited about, both in terms of what he brings to the team and also what he kind of means as a symbolic thing, I think everybody should be really excited if they're able to close that deal.
00:54:11
Speaker
He just checks so many boxes that we've talked about in every single appearance I've made on the show, as far as team need, stylistic player within that positional need. And then he checks so many boxes that, thanks to the process that Seattle went through with Nicolas Ledero last year, that we know that Garth Loggway and the staff
00:54:32
Speaker
would probably be shooting for with this type of signing, with this type of financial commitment, where that person fits in on the roster. I think this is as far as his age is concerned and where he fits in with the current roster, I think he fits in really well.
00:54:50
Speaker
And I think there is, like Aaron said, it's impossible to know if he's the best possible signing, but if you were to make a list of all the things that the team would be looking for in their next big commitment, he checks off so many of those things that, like Aaron said, I think there's every reason for a Sounders fan to be excited about it.
00:55:11
Speaker
And I'll add, if there's a name you may remember, I just decided to look it up, was Oscar Romero, who was a guy that the Sanders were supposedly really keen on last year. Apparently, he was, so he got, you may have heard that he was very close to signing with Atlanta United. He ended up going to saying hi, Senua, who apparently immediately
00:55:33
Speaker
loaned him out to Deportivo Alaves in Spain and now he's back at Shanghai. I have no idea why that happened and I'm all of a sudden curious if he's maybe a player who is available again and maybe, I don't know, maybe Shanghai got themselves in a situation where they had too many
00:55:51
Speaker
Internationals, but anyway I think most I think most of the big spenders in Spain did because of that change in the international rules They had over there, and I think was I think Freddie got caught up in that too, Montero Sorry, I don't want to get a lot of sense and got caught up in that as well Yeah, so yeah
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean Shanghai Shenhua is one of the big spenders, so I would imagine that they every week are filling up their roster. I'm trying to remember if that's the team that Freddie Guarine is on or what. I don't know. Again, I'm just pulling stuff out of for then out of here. But if there was a team that did have a crunch with their international spots, it certainly they would be right there with with them.
00:56:33
Speaker
Okay, take a deep breath. Here's another set of questions. Jesus is rounding Jordan and Christian and Bruce Arena and some other US-related stuff. Derek Preeb asks, why does Bruce Arena hate Jorsen Morden? Atmonverse asks, how bummed are you guys to not see Roldan getting in as yet?
00:56:54
Speaker
BG Kev asks, which member of the US Men's National starting 11 for the game against Panama would you have subbed out for Roll Down and Why? J Montelo asks, where does Roll Down best slot in for the national team currently? And Alex37V asks, Ro has looked good on Team USA and Tattoo show he has some love for Seattle. Possible sounders signing?
00:57:21
Speaker
That's a lot of questions. That's a lot of questions. I guess we can talk about Christian Roldan in broad terms. We've already kind of gone over some of this, but I don't think that it was like a real snub, so to speak, that he didn't play in the first game. I don't think that he needed to be in that game. If he doesn't play in the Martinique game, I think that's a little bit more, you got to wonder why he was brought in here.
00:57:44
Speaker
But I'm not super worried. I remember someone was asking about him getting capped just to get him capped tied. I don't think that's a real issue at this point. I think that Christian Roldan really wants to play for the United States. And unless something happens where he doesn't get called in for two years when all of a sudden he thinks he's out of the picture.
00:58:04
Speaker
I don't think that's a real issue. I will just jump right into the Kellen Rowe question though. He is definitely a Seattle boy. You may know he's from Federal Way. We actually had him on this podcast before he got drafted and when he signed off, when he
00:58:21
Speaker
At the end of the interview, he said Ghost Sounders is a guy who's been, his family's been sounded season ticket holders back to the U.S.L. days. He was a ball boy for the U.S.L. Sounders. I mean, he's definitely a guy who I'm sure would love to play in Seattle at some point. But given that he just got an extension in New England, New England seems to be really keen on keeping him, he's clearly a youngish player on the rise. I don't know that he's available in any sense of the word.
00:58:46
Speaker
Yeah, he's the kind of player that New England can build a team around for for years. I would give up a lot to get him here. But it's great. I remember this a couple years ago, I was saying, you know, this honestly tried to trade Margot Papa straight up for Raquel and Rowan. It seemed like maybe that could do it. That definitely wouldn't do it now. No, I mean, I would have to give up.
00:59:09
Speaker
a ton of that, you know, however much allocation. I mean, they could, they could, it would have to be like a Dax McCarthy type situation, which.
00:59:18
Speaker
I don't think it's a smart move. In terms of Roldan, it's hard for me to see a case for him, speaking of McCarty, starting over McCarty or Acosta right now. I've seen a lot of soundersands acting as though Roldan is clearly a better player than Dax McCarty.
00:59:41
Speaker
I love Roll Band a lot, but I think that's a little nuts. I think Dax McCarthy is a really good, really underrated player. He didn't have a great game against Panama, but he has quite a track record of being a good player.
00:59:57
Speaker
But you know, I would expect him to get some minutes and I think that it's kind of hard for For people when you know, they finally see a guy that they love as much as Roland get called into the national team And then he doesn't play right away But I mean that's kind of where he's at in the pool right now, you know, he's a really really good MLS player But there are a lot of really good
01:00:19
Speaker
central midfielders in the pool, and I think as Richard said in the first segment, his versatility might be his way into the more regular rotation right now, but I could certainly see him taking another big step forward and becoming a regular call-in to the full national team.
01:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, I can envision Christian at some point down the road being the type of player that you would bring in late in a game. You have a one goal lead. He ends up playing right midfield to have his talents there in addition to the central midfielders that you already have.
01:00:59
Speaker
I guess I was kind of shocked in January when he didn't get called into the January camp, and then you just look at all the central midfielders that were called in, and even some of the players that weren't called in, it's completely understandable. So I guess, like I said before, I consider it progress that he was even brought into this one.
01:01:14
Speaker
You know, I guess four years from now, if we're in the same goal cup and Christian isn't getting more time, that's when I would really be concerned. But this stepwise increase of exposure and time with the national team for them to see where he can fit in and what different roles. That's what I'm looking at. I just, I really don't think ahead of Acosta and McCarty, Acosta and McCarty are two guys that are making the full 23 man team for real games. So I think that's a big ask.
01:01:45
Speaker
I think there's a simpler answer. Bruce Arena is, he just hates the sounder so much, he's trying to ruin their season slowly but surely.
Veteran Players and Team Future
01:01:55
Speaker
Just by calling people up and not playing them. He's like the muggle stepfather for George and Morton.
01:02:02
Speaker
Classic Bruce move. I felt like there was a... What was the last question of that sequence? I felt like there was some... Oh, Kellen Rowe. Oh, Kellen Rowe. Kellen Rowe was interesting to me because he's now playing the left back a lot for New England. And there's been times that they've tried to make him a dueling ten with Lee Nguyen. There's been times that he's been a shuttler in a diamond midfield. They've played him wide in a 4-3-3. And they've played him in all these different positions, but because of his skill set, his skill set really is kind of like Lee Nguyen's skill set, but they have Lee Nguyen.
01:02:29
Speaker
And they still haven't found a reason to trade him for a players that would fit one of those roles more perfectly and On one hand you would say ah It would be great if Kellen Rowe went somewhere where he can play like his natural position He's so skilled and so creative on the other hand. They keep trying to make it work I just don't see New England giving him up and like Aaron said it would cost so much to get him and given how
01:02:55
Speaker
how many other options seattle has to use their allocation money and their various roster spots uh yeah i don't i don't see it happening and plus like it's not like players get to choose where they play in this league okay single question i promise this time monvers asks with some good dim sea bruin combos without morse up top does morse see bench time when he gets back i mean i don't
01:03:22
Speaker
I think that you're probably going to see Morris deployed as a wide mid and they're going to keep trying to make that work. I do think that Will Bruin has probably earned himself a start and I would not be at all surprised to see Clint Dempsey starting underneath him. Unless, of course, maybe this all gets fixed on its own and Clint Dempsey gets called into the national team and we just get to kick the can farther down.
01:03:47
Speaker
And I mean, I don't know. I think I think you can definitely get at least until the Sounders bring in a DP. I don't think it's really that hard to fit the players on the field together. I feel my frustration growing again, but I feel like I'm also just going to say the same things I've been saying since April. I still you mentioned this once before on the show, Jeremiah, and you tried to call me out with it. I'm still maintaining that Jovan Jones is a better option at left wing than Jordan Morris is.
01:04:17
Speaker
I think that's insane. I, I'll call you out on that. I mean, we, Jovan Jones has played left midfield, uh, several times and is not been good at playing left midfield. He's fun gaming at Colorado, but that was fine. He was fine. I mean, that's his position for the net for the, for Trinidad. He's fine there. Um, so I definitely, we shouldn't really have left.
01:04:43
Speaker
I mean, that's I think that's the thing is Trinidad is not a good team Yeah, but they're often he's gonna stand out Well, that's true but I mean he's gonna kind of stand out because he he gets a pretty significant amount of free reign because he's one of their better and more tactical players and You know in the in the sounder system. He just doesn't really have that that kind of leeway and it's it's just
01:05:09
Speaker
I don't think that Jovan is a disaster left midfield. I mean, I think he's adequate there, but I think that Morris has shown that he can really pretty significantly affect games. I don't think it's his best position by any means, but if given the choice between those two, I take Morris every day.
01:05:29
Speaker
I mean, I can see that because there definitely are times where Morris, you know, the LA game, obviously, but I also feel like those moments aren't exactly either consistent or predictable, and especially against teams that aren't going to start a deployable right back like LA did in that game. We kind of lose Jordan, and at the same time, I'm not sure that he's one of the best options at forward either.
01:05:51
Speaker
It just seems like a very unfortunate situation. And I wonder if there is a point late in the year when push comes to shove and Brian has to Schmetzer has to select his best 11. Will Jordan be playing good enough at that time to really justify a spot, particularly if a DP assigned? Oh, I mean.
01:06:12
Speaker
I shouldn't say that I think that Jordan's starting spot is guaranteed for the rest of the year. I'm just saying, for the immediate future, I think we're going to still see Morris playing as a left mid. I don't know what will end up coming from that, but I think for the next, until this lineup is really settled and until they are together for an extended period, I don't really see him being pushed out of the starting limit. Now that could totally change. Yeah. I think to... Go ahead, Aaron.
01:06:39
Speaker
No, I don't see a world where Richard's idea that, uh, Jovan Jones plays left mid is actually going to happen. But I think one of the, one of the fears that I expressed early on the show was the idea that Will Bruin and Harry ship comes in, come in and they're just so, so just darn solid and above average that they, they end up creating excuses for them to play. And, you know, we talk, all three of us kind of agreed on this. There was kind of like an opportunity cost there. Um, and that cost is Jordan Morris's maturity. And in an ideal situation, I think,
01:07:09
Speaker
You would have a coach that kind of recognized that, you know, Bruin might be our best number nine, but we need to invest these minutes in Jordan Morris. And I trust that Brian Schmetzer knows better than I do why he's not doing that. But to me, I would be sacrificing the whatever 0.2 goals per game that you're going to get at this point.
01:07:29
Speaker
and invest in Jordan Morris's future because you do have Wilbur in there for the last 30 minutes of games. You do have Wilbur in there for the last couple weeks of the season and the playoffs if you need him. But right now, you still have to keep longer term objectives in mind.
01:07:44
Speaker
I think too though that Jordan, given the extenuating circumstances of the way he's played throughout the course of a lot of this season, they kind of owe it to him to give him a chance to actually
01:07:59
Speaker
Health that you know now that he's healthy And and kind of knows where he's gonna be playing on a game-to-game basis to kind of give him the opportunity to play his way out of lineup I mean he's he said I think two games back since he's really been fully fit and he's looked pretty close to his old self in those two games And I think it would be just kind of shitty to say
01:08:23
Speaker
Oh, you know, you weren't great when your ankle was all screwed up. Um, and so we're going to mention now, I mean, I think he kind of earned the right last year to work through some struggles.
01:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. I hope I hope he gets as much time as needed for the next, you know, until like, you know, if say he's not scoring goals, I wouldn't even consider benching him until like game 30 or something like that. But I don't think, you know, I guess I think we all agree that playing it in my left wing is not ideal, but we just disagree to the extent at which.
01:08:55
Speaker
to which the Sounders should be investing in Morris's future right now. I think that you're right, he deserves to play, but I think he should be playing as their lead forward. Okay. This next question is directed at Aaron. So good luck with this, Aaron. Tropic Sounders asks, well, Aaron says it's not reasonable to try and compete for trophies every year.
01:09:23
Speaker
It's also five, only five games to an open cup. My question is, A, why be so poo poo pants? B, why can't we be expect to go for it? Why should we Americanize our league and just go for the playoffs? So a couple, a couple of thoughts there. Um, for one, not giving a shit about the opening rounds of cop competitions is
01:09:45
Speaker
so completely European and really every other confederation that it's not even funny. I mean, look at some of the lineups that big teams with tons of depth put out in like the early rounds of the FA Cup. If they're not playing a bitter rival, it's not gonna be an especially strong lineup. And in terms of, you know,
01:10:11
Speaker
Why can't we go for it every year? Well, the red card wedding happened. That kind of screwed the entirety of 2015 up. IcoPar just got kicked straight in the face and it's probably gonna miss a ton of time.
01:10:27
Speaker
in an Open Cup game tonight, there's a ton of risk there. And as great as winning the Open Cup is, you can't have that kind of depth that you can put a strong lineup out there for every Open Cup game every year. You just can't do it.
01:10:48
Speaker
And, you know, you're going to have years where you have to prioritize. The Sounders have been lucky enough to have years where they didn't have to do that. And, you know, in those years, they did really, really well in the Open Cup. Last year, this year, they've definitely had to make that decision to prioritize a little bit more towards the league. I think it's the right decision. It's not ideal, but, you know, a lot of teams have rebuilding periods where they just don't make the playoffs for four or five years.
01:11:13
Speaker
I'll take this over that and I think that that's the key thing is that Everybody wants to compete in the open cup Everybody wants to compete in every competition But it's just not realistic to be able to do that year in and year out You have to have periods where your roster is a little bit thinner you're in transition And you know if you can get through those years making the playoffs winning an MLS Cup While sacrificing the open cup and putting less of a priority on that. I think that's a pretty decent trade-off that teams like Chicago Philadelphia
01:11:45
Speaker
80% of the league really would probably be okay with that. And I'll add that I don't think any of us are saying that the Sounders should perpetually just go for the playoffs. I think we're just expressing a level of understanding that right now they're in a kind of phase in their rebuilding where trying to win
01:12:07
Speaker
on three fronts, trying to wait, like going for it all on three fronts just doesn't seem like a very practical thing to try to do. And maybe the US Hogan Cup just isn't that great. That's also possible. On the other side too, is what if we had started the extreme strongest lineup and still lost? Like what would have been the reaction then?
01:12:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean you think about the year that San Jose won the supporter shield. That was the year that Seattle had to take like a second choice team down to whatever that stadium is called in actually in San Francisco, the Cazar Stadium. And San Jose started their first choice team basically and Seattle still won that game and there was an awesome brawl in that game that I'll remember always.
01:12:53
Speaker
uh... but you know sometimes even when you plan these things out like look at it saying it doesn't work out for you and you know it was a really talked about a lot this year with the portland seattle pairing again that the inequities of this tournament the fact that it isn't a really a draw and the fact that even when they do draw it's regional means that sometimes like if you're planning you know you devote a lot of resources to the game and uh... you know game number one or game number two and then game number three you get screwed by the draw and you're just like uh...
01:13:21
Speaker
Why did we even, why did we even care about this tournament when this was our fate? Yeah. Um, let's move on. Shots fired. Any vets have their final year in 2018? Marshall or Evans, maybe. I don't know if there are any, uh, I mean, I would think that Marshall's getting close. Evans hard to see him beyond 2018. Clint Dempsey is hard to see him beyond 2018.
01:13:51
Speaker
trying to just going through my head here who the veterans on this team would be I mean it also seems like he's found the fountain of youth so maybe he's around for a little bit longer than that but it's probably not around much longer I don't know that Roman Torres will be back after 2018 that's most of the veterans I think right
01:14:08
Speaker
Mmm. Yeah, I mean fry is in that age range, but he's also a keeper. So It's it's tougher to say Bruin and ship but they're they're not really I guess part of the core and ship is like 23 or 24. I think I actually think ship and Bruin are gonna be around for a few years as long as their costs stay under control, right?
01:14:34
Speaker
I mean, I can see ship kind of evolving into kind of a defensive mid and really kind of, you know, adding to his longevity.
01:14:47
Speaker
And I think that's the thing with like Ozzy too, like, you know, you can see Ozzy staying around here for three or four more years, but if he's going to take a DP spot or if he's going to have a contract that requires significant TAM to pay him down each year, then I could just, I can see him putting out his last years for an expansion team too. If he insists that that's his priority. And then, uh, Joe Tobias and ads, uh, regarding Brad's future, can we transition him into a Leveque-esque team ambassador?
01:15:14
Speaker
I think that there's this, people look at what Brad Evans is making now and they say, there's no way we can bring him back that number next year. And that's true. I mean, that's definitely true. But his contract is up after the end of this year.
01:15:31
Speaker
And I can't see any teams in MLS giving him anywhere close to that. Maybe I mean maybe LA FC Really wants to overpay for veteran leadership. I don't know and he's a free agent So he's I would expect that don't want to test the free agent market even if it's just because he's you know are really heavily involved in the union guy and that was a huge thing for them, but I
01:15:54
Speaker
I think realistically he's going to be back at a cap number that makes sense for a guy that provides you a ton of depth at multiple positions.
01:16:06
Speaker
And that's also a veteran leader. If he's back at 225K, I feel pretty good about that. And obviously if he can't stay healthy for the rest of the year, that changes the equation. But if he's healthy and he provides solid depth as a rotational guy the rest of this year and comes back making 65% of what he's making now, I feel pretty comfortable with that.
01:16:35
Speaker
I think the organization would be comfortable paying that too. And I think that it's really difficult to imagine teams out there that both have the need or are willing to pay more. I think some of the things that we would think would be valuable about Brad Evans at Seattle, you know, his the cultural value and his versatility and, you know, his quality when he's healthy.
01:16:59
Speaker
I think the organization values those things too. It's not like they're just going to say, oh, most of his value is intangible. So we're not going to pay him. They're going to say he has a lot of intangible value and we're going to pay him. Okay. Let's move on towards signing kind of questions. Jeffrey M. Williams asks if sounders could get a Portland or Vancouver player during the transfer window, who would help us the most?
01:17:28
Speaker
And if you say the one name from Vancouver, I will punch you through the microphone. I think Diego Valeri would help Seattle the most. Blanco would help too. There's this whole thing that I find really adorable how Sounders fans like to talk about how they're so glad that the Sounders signed Laudero over Blanco and they would never want him on their team. And I'm glad they signed Laudero over Blanco, but I would happily have him on their team. I mean, he's a shithead, but he's pretty effective.
01:17:57
Speaker
I've been really impressed with Dyrone Esprita lately like as far as like if you just want a wide player That can kind of provide a little bit of energy and speed He's been I've been really actually pretty impressed with him And I and I'm a little surprised that he he struggled as much in his first stint But he's I like you know that's a player. I wouldn't mind I'm assuming that we're looking at like they're non-core players and
01:18:23
Speaker
Oh, then not Larry? Yeah, maybe not Larry. Then probably Audie. Uh, maybe not Freddy. Probably Audie. Right, exactly. Yeah. Right, right. Um, but like Nagby kid. Nagby.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, there's no shortage of like useful players on those teams, I guess is what we're saying. Yeah. But we already have enough players that, you know, can be effective without actually contributing to. Yeah. You guys already have a 90% passer in midfield and his, uh, Jeffrey's second question is more important to sign it to flash DP level player or several solid, but cheaper supporting players.
01:19:09
Speaker
Flash DP. Yeah, I kind of... I'll go on record as saying that I'd much rather the Sounders sign one big DP than sign like three or four guys who are gonna all, you know, compete for starting spots. I don't think depth has been
Sounders' Youth and Development
01:19:24
Speaker
an issue for this team. I think depth is what is keeping this team where it is. I think it needs the thing that's gonna differentiate it from the other, to this point, mediocre teams in the West. Yeah, I totally agree.
01:19:40
Speaker
This question's obviously for Richard. Emgamene asks, any exciting uncanny products coming up? No, this is not for Richard. I'm going to see my first T2 versus S2 game in a couple of weeks, and that'll probably be my first introduction to any sounder's youth at all this year.
01:20:06
Speaker
So there was a kid that played in, when S2 had to field basically all academy team against Real Monarchs, the guy who scored for S2 is a kid named Rothrock, I believe his last name is. And he has been compared, like I've had, the head of, maybe I shouldn't say who told me this since it wasn't on the record specifically, but.
01:20:28
Speaker
Someone that was very high up in the academy compared him to Nicholas Ledero in terms of like his engine and that he has some, some of the same skill set it's not obviously a Nicholas Ledero at that level but he was really excited about him.
01:20:43
Speaker
There's a kid named Azrael Gonzalez who I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about soon He's he's pretty good. I just signed the s2 contract, didn't he? Well, I don't think that's official yet like it Wow breaking news on the podcast from Right We
01:21:06
Speaker
We, uh, there's a kid Ochoa compo, I think that I think is out of Merced who's 14. Uh, and he seems like he's a pretty interesting player. He's another guy. Merced California. Yeah. The S sounders have this like set up with some Academy in, in Merced and they're going to start bringing kids up from Merced. It's kind of wild. Oh my God. Like the least soccer place in the world.
01:21:34
Speaker
I guess Merced has some pretty good decent talent down there. This particular Academy apparently is pretty good.
01:21:41
Speaker
Okay. But I don't know, maybe it was just about this one kid and they, uh, they set up this whole ruse to, to make it. You would know better than I would about how much soccer talent is in Merced. No, that should be earthquakes country though. Uh, so yeah, there would think, you know, I mean, Merced is definitely around the area of where I grew up where it's just like, you just imagine there's nothing there. So, um, you grow offensive lineman and that's about it.
01:22:10
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know. Those are some kids to keep an eye on. Okay. Next question. Exslacker asks, do the types of players we sign after you drop episodes and the amounts we pay for them
01:22:25
Speaker
correlate anyways the content of your shows. They correlate with the length. They have looked into this. So the longest show, people don't realize this, but the longest show ever was two hours and 16 minutes. And it actually, funny enough, came out while Clint Dempsey was in the air. So what are we, we're about at what, an hour and a half at this point? I can't tell because of the way we record this. Yeah. Yeah. Announced it already.
01:22:57
Speaker
Right, exactly. Ah, let's see.
Transfer Challenges and Opportunities
01:23:03
Speaker
T underscore Rob Thomas asks, do you think other MLS front offices have as much trouble as the sounders in negotiating international transfers? Yes.
01:23:14
Speaker
I don't think that the sounders are unique in their If anything, I think the sounders aim a little higher and so they find themselves in stickier situations I think there's a lot of themes that are perfectly happy to find guys that don't require a transfer fee and who are basically available and and so they don't get into these kind of
01:23:37
Speaker
these situations, but I'm sure that other teams have just as much trouble once you start talking about the level of talent that they're going after. Yeah, I think the fact I also think the fact that CL has options means that they can play. They have more leverage in the negotiations than other teams do. So they can afford to, you know, stare Boca juniors down a little bit more than other teams would.
01:24:02
Speaker
And I also think a lot of it is just that there's a lot more, there's a much bigger lens on Seattle. There's a lot more attention paid, they get a lot more coverage. There are a lot more names attached to them because they're one of the teams that people from outside of the US recognize. So they get a lot of BS rumors attached to them. I think that there are probably a ton of negotiations that totally fall through for say the Columbus crew that we just never hear about.
01:24:32
Speaker
Okay, another set of couple questions about regarding signings. I'm gonna quick fire them at you. BMantle, B underscore Mantle asks, who is going to be announced tomorrow? RBP, RBP pitch asks, or says, hashtag blank watch. Third string star asks, how many minutes after this episode goes live, does the DP news drop over under set at 36? Uh,
01:24:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it would be pretty fun. It would not be totally shocking to me if some big transfer news dropped tomorrow, given that, you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some mysterious new name crop up, given what happened today.
01:25:13
Speaker
You probably just need to start recording episodes speaking vaguely and figuratively about signings in ways that keeps the episode relevant but doesn't spoil it. Just take the person that was signed today, for example. There's been some debate about how much of a need that position is on the roster, but you can't deny that there's quality there and there's a reason that the organization went after him.
01:25:34
Speaker
And when you're talking about a team like the Sounders and the way the West is right now, it doesn't take much to get you over the top to go from being the sixth, seventh team to the third or fourth team. So I think it's at least worth a shot. And with the Sounders, they still have a lot of open roster spots and the window isn't closed yet. So I think there's this is only a positive move. I just can't I just can't believe also on top of that, I can't believe Honda decided to sign for us for a dollar.
01:26:03
Speaker
Okay, that's the exact opposite. You're not listening.
Light-hearted Discussions and Wrap-up
01:26:10
Speaker
Okay, we're running a little long, so I'll just move on to the fun questions. Slaughterback C asks, what kind of beer goes well with a new signing? Hashtag Dearly Swatch. Depends on the transfer window it happens in.
01:26:24
Speaker
this this transfer window this transfer then a summery beer would be the answer but if it's in the if it's in the other one then a winter beer oh the season has started and then it would be a spring beer oh like a colt or something yeah good good as being as fun as uh food poisoning dang i thought that was a fun answer yeah it was fun jeez jesus burrito nuts is a critic
01:26:52
Speaker
uh jay mantel asked kulats or capris man i i kind of i'll rock i'll rock me some capris i'll do it i don't mind i'll just i'll go do it
01:27:06
Speaker
What's I don't know cool. I'm not sure cool. That's are either but oh Yeah, please They're like you remember those pants that were big a few years ago. I forgot the name of them But they were like yoga pants but like super super baggy Almost looks like dresses. Yeah. Well cool. That's are like the shorts version of those. Okay, so yeah, I'm going capris What's the show man? Yeah that too sure
01:27:39
Speaker
Great signing. I think that every roster needs them. Rose asks what French Canadian will be tattooed when we went to camp this year?
01:27:55
Speaker
Patrick Waugh. Yeah. Patrick Waugh. I had a Patrick Waugh in my bedroom when I was a little kid for some reason. Did you? I don't even really fully understand it. I was never like a Canadian fan or anything. Is Robert Goulais just kind of a Canadian? I don't think he would be. Really? Last name, huh? Yeah. I think he's American. Oh.
01:28:19
Speaker
Well, good try. I wouldn't mind putting Robert Goulet. I used to have a Robert Goulet ringtone. Actually, it wasn't a Robert Goulet ringtone. It was Will Ferrell doing Robert Goulet. I finally thought of another French Canadian that's not Celine Dion or a hockey player, Eric Gagne. He's still an athlete, though. Well, kind of an athlete. He's a big guy. But yeah, I'm just so happy that I thought of somebody that's not a hockey player.
01:28:45
Speaker
I'm going to go with George Etienne Cartier, politician and father of the Confederation of Quebec. Good live reader. Just off the top of your head. Last question, MLS Watercolors asks, if the Sounders dogs were to be their own starting 11, who and where are they wearing the armband?
01:29:07
Speaker
man i'll tell you i just saw henry wingo's dog that is uh it's like it's a big dog you would have a hard time wrestling away the armband from that doggo it's got to be brad's dog right now i don't know really anything about the dogs like i see pictures and i'm like yeah brad dogs you'd think be a clubhouse leader to get it yeah i only know but like i see the pictures and i think the dogs are cute but
01:29:31
Speaker
Stefan's dogs insanely cute, but I think that's more about the regal one too. Yeah, I think it's more about the legal dogs personality Yeah, but you don't want Stefan's dogs to get the armband because fan The fans would accuse them of being lazy Right All right, so that's it. That's it. That's the show that's show oh
01:29:55
Speaker
That was another wonderfully executed episode. Flawless. Wonderful job reading Lickit. Thanks, Richard, for coming on the show. Literally any time. Thanks to our sponsors, Verity Credit Union, Full Pull Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickit. This is No Study Yet This. Remember, you'll never get alone.
01:30:27
Speaker
Green Douglas fir where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Rollong, Columbia Rollong. Rollong, Columbia Rollong. Rollong, Columbia Rollong. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Rollong, Columbia Rollong.
01:31:15
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one! Yeah, no problem.