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Episode 445: Previewing the Sounders-FC Dallas Game 2
67 Plays2 years ago
Drew Epperley of Big D Soccer joins us to preview Saturday's Game 2.
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Transcript
Introduction to NOS Arietes Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory Celebration
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup! Niko Liddo leaves out!
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
Viewing Party Announcement for Dallas Game
00:01:27
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Audietta, sponsored by Fullpool Wines and Watson's Counter. Just a reminder, we are doing a viewing party on Saturday for the game against Dallas at Watson's Counter. Tickets are 10 bucks. I think there might still be a few left. If you want to come down, come on down. But joining me to preview that game is Drew Eperly of Big D Soccer, who recently moved to Substack, one of my former SB Nation colleagues.
Drew Eperly's Shift to Substack
00:01:54
Speaker
Welcome to the show, Drew.
00:01:55
Speaker
hey welcome thank you so uh first of all let's just get this out of the way how have things been with the transition do you have you is it been an okay sort of landing for you post-espionage
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's been honestly a really good transition for me personally, just. It's I've had more energy to see them covering this team being more independent and being more on my own than than I ever have. I mean, it kind of takes me back to my early blogging days, I guess. Yeah, you know I'm doing it myself and I don't do it. It doesn't happen and nothing grows, so it's just it's been good overall and the support I've gotten this season has been phenomenal too.
00:02:38
Speaker
Was that the West Virginia Hooligan days? Back in the day, I still own that domain. It does absolutely nothing, but extends money to GoDaddy once a year, I guess. It's got other hosts underneath it, so it's not like it's doing nothing and wasting money, but it's still out there in the void, but it's still my Twitter handle and Instagram handle, although I don't
00:03:03
Speaker
I don't really do Twitter anymore, so I can't really say it. It's too much there, but it's still, you know, I get used out of it on Instagram that that name. Good, good, good. Well, I'm happy to hear that.
Alan Velasco's Injury and Recovery
00:03:13
Speaker
So looking forward to this game. Obviously the big piece of news coming out this week was Alan Velasco's injury. We had all sort of assumed and sort of it had been kind of like even a new quest visit sort of it suggested that the injury happened on that sort of incident where.
00:03:31
Speaker
Alex rolled on kind of fell into him, but it turns out it was like 15 minutes earlier than that where he went into a tackle and sort of landed awkwardly. What do you know? What can you tell us about the Velasco injury and what it sort of means for Dallas and how they might overcome that?
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was one of those things like I'm with you guys. I thought it was that collision with rolled on. And even in that moment, that collision, I was like, okay, something's not quite right here. Like it just didn't look, things just seemed a little bit like it kind of, to be perfectly frank, it took me back to the day that Moro Diaz picked up a similar injury against the Sounders, but it was a non-playoff game. It was, you know, regular season game towards the end of.
00:04:11
Speaker
that manager 2016 run that they were on. But yeah, it's it's not a great thing. I mean, he was lucky, I think, to walk off on his own power, which surprised me when it turned out that it was an ACL tear. But, you know, Nico told, you know, the press yesterday that, you know, it's a pretty rough tear, it's gonna take some, he's got has to do a little bit of, I guess, some kind of
00:04:39
Speaker
three surgery work to clean his knee up before they actually do the surgery. So they're working on that right now. He didn't really go into detail what that meant. Um, but I'm guessing it has to do with some swelling and that kind of fluid that's usually surrounding those, uh, ligaments and whatnot when those kinds of injuries pop up. But yeah, it's a long road ahead for him. I mean, that's, that's a good nine, 10 months from what Nico said.
00:05:04
Speaker
uh which is just it's terrible i mean you hate to see that for anybody especially a young guy like like alan i mean he's he's you know here by himself i mean he's got some family around but he's you know he's still a young kid he's you know 21 22 so
00:05:20
Speaker
He's got to kind of grow up fast through all this, if you will. But, you know, they've built a really good support system around them that I think will help guide him through it. And, you know, Nico was saying to yesterday that he's like, Alan's already asking like, okay, what do I have to do here? What do I have to do there to, you know, get myself into a better situations where I can recover quicker, where I can get stronger quicker, you know, so he's,
00:05:45
Speaker
And the kid's competitive, which is great. So he's, I, my gut tells me we might see him back sooner if he really works hard at it. Like I think he will, but yeah, it's still, it's a tough loss for the team.
Dallas Team's Tactical Adjustments and Challenges
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah. So what, you know, I saw one report that suggested that Bernard Camongo could effectively replace him. That would presumably mean a formation change as well though, right? Yeah. I.
00:06:08
Speaker
I think it's a formation change if they're going to bring Bernie back in. I mean, he said Bernie's good to go. Uh, his ankle is fine. He didn't want to play him on the turf on Monday night. Uh, just, he just didn't see that working out well for him. Um, well, just to be fair, that's totally understandable. Bernie's a young kid that, you know, you don't want to further aggravate an injury anymore, especially when you have, you know, you have room for error.
00:06:31
Speaker
Exactly. And then to me, I kind of think he won't start them. But I could be totally, totally wrong in thinking this way. But I think he brings back Sebastian legit into the lineup, because he's healthy again, he's good to go. He said that he's been training full for a good week now, which is a good indication in my mind that we could see him there, which
00:06:54
Speaker
makes more sense in that 4-3-3 that he likes to play so he could have legit and pomacol kind of in the middle up top with uh iramendi right behind them and then you know continue to have the wings of ariola and obreon with uh jesus rear up top but i mean he could also
00:07:13
Speaker
He could put Bernie in over over on me it's it was a kind of a like for like in my mind in terms of the lineup it's just a matter of. You know the training these next today and yesterday you know who really shines more than the other.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. Well, focusing a little bit on, on legit, he came to Dallas last year and there was some expectation that he would be, you know, a potential difference maker for them. Uh, it hasn't really panned out. He has just one goal during the two seasons. He obviously battled some injury this year. From your perspective, what's going on with him?
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, this has been a weird year for him. Um, I know some of it has to do with off the field stuff. Uh, they won't talk about that. They keep a lot of that internal, which is totally fair, but yeah, the injuries on the field have really derailed this season for him. I'm trying to remember the number.
00:08:09
Speaker
off the top of my head i saw earlier the day when i was doing some game note stuff but it's he's missed i think 11 games maybe this year this one yeah he's only he's only playing in 19 of 35 games essentially i mean it's it's been a rough year and it's it's like every time he got healthy again something popped up
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah. It looks like he may have had, he missed four stretches of games this year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's, that's been really the theme, not just for him, but for the entire team this season, just a lot of guys going in and out of injuries. Um, I think that shark now is like.
00:08:46
Speaker
eighty-three games of players with injuries, you know, games missed, which is just that the fact that they made the playoffs with that kind of number to starters alone, not to mention got it, got the seventh scene and avoided that wildcard around like that. That's impressive in my mind, like that teams don't do that in this league.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think one of the notes I saw in the notes package, which I guess was just from the regular season, they used 33 different lineups in the 34 games. I assume the lineup they used against the Sounders was also a new lineup. So that would be 34 lineups in 35 games. But yeah, the Sounders have dealt with injuries, but it seems like Dallas's injury situation is considerably worse. Velasco is the third player they've lost to a knee injury this year.
Dallas' Optimism and Home Performance
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the first one was in preseason, uh, a home crew and Derek Scott. I mean, he hadn't even played a professional minute. He got signed over the, over the winter last year. A lot of promise with that kid out of the Academy. The poor guy, you know, in training, I think it were in Spain is when it happened, uh, you know, toward ACL out for the whole year.
00:09:53
Speaker
than Giovanni Jesus, you know, two months ago, you know, just terrible timing. He was about to be called up to the Brazil U23 side for the Pan Am game. So, I mean, just devastating timing all around. So, yeah, it's...
00:10:09
Speaker
It's funny, you know, it's just one of those, one of those things. I mean, I've seen it in years past where a team like this just, they can't seem to get over the hump injury wise when it's ironic when you look at last year, they rarely had injuries to deal with. And so it's like the exact opposite between Nico's two years here.
00:10:27
Speaker
Interesting. Uh, so what is the sort of the mood going into this game? Is it, is it, you know, I know as to vez talked about like, well, let's rally around, uh, Velasco's injury and sort of do something special on his behalf. And then, you know, on some degree, that's what you got to say, right? You can't allow yourself to get into this woe is me, uh, you know, mindset, but what's from your perspective, what is the, you know, what's the perspective that the team is coming into this game with?
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, you know, after Monday you gotta think they're just a little bit gutted. I mean, they'll say all the right things. They'll present all the right motions and stuff and training, but it kind of reminded me of just how things ended. Before the decision day game in LA like they just looked gutted after a couple home draw halls to teams that they really had no business drawing and they should have easily beaten some teams like Colorado and San Jose to seal those playoff spots much sooner, but.
00:11:24
Speaker
It, that vibe felt very similar and just hearing, you know, Nico's Davis talk, he's, he will tell you he's the eternal optimist, which I totally love and respect about the guy. Cause I'm kind of the same way, but you can tell like his tone of voice in talking about his optimism is different depending on the weeks he's talking about it. Like going into this week, you can tell like after the first game loss, it's like, well,
00:11:49
Speaker
It happened. The injury happened. You know, we, we blew some chances. We have to be better, but you know, I still feel like we can do it. And so he's, he's got that rally cry, which is pretty admirable. And I think if they get a good. I'm boisterous home crowd behind them. Anything's really possible with this group. Cause they, they seem to really respond well when the crowd is like just.
00:12:14
Speaker
really making some noise behind them. I go back to that Miami game in League's Cup. That was as loud as I've heard it in that stadium, obviously because of a certain dude from Argentina playing in the game. But outside of Messi doing what he was doing in that game, the Dallas crowd really was rallying around the Dallas team, which I was a little bit leery of going into that match that it would actually be that case.
00:12:41
Speaker
you know you could see the momentum just shift every time like Velasco especially when he was playing in that one or Kimongo when he was you know scoring a goal or Jesus when he was setting up a play like the crowd responded well and I think if that kind of crowd is there Saturday night you know anything's possible for this group I mean they they don't seem to be the type of team that is going to be beaten down too much because they they don't tend to
00:13:06
Speaker
At least this season tend to lose a lot of games in a row just because they have that strong defense and they tend to buckle up things pretty nicely from game to game. Watson's counter wants to thank everyone for their patience, but now the wait is over.
00:13:27
Speaker
Located at 6420 24th Avenue, Northwest in Ballard, they've reopened in a brand new location with the same bomb ass coffee and the same dumb ass vibes. You can still expect their classics like the gochujang fried chicken sandwich and free pebbles French toast alongside their new soft serve program and their world class coffee. Make sure to follow them on Instagram for all the latest and greatest. Yeah, I mean, it's a team that,
00:13:55
Speaker
does not lose a lot of games. I mean, that is a pretty straightforward way of putting it. I think they came into the, into the first leg on a nine game on beaten street granted only two wins, but they, they're competitive in almost every game they play. And you can, and you look at their home record and they, that's especially true at home. They only have three home losses this year. You can go back to basically midway through last year and they only have three losses in their last 24
00:14:22
Speaker
regular season home games. So this is a team that at the very least knows how to keep from losing at home. Does it feel like there's a real home field advantage? Because on the flip side of that is that they don't win necessarily a ton of games. There's a lot of ties in this.
00:14:43
Speaker
in the stretch. A whole lot of ties. I mean, the last two months, I think we were talking after that San Jose draw. No, it was after the Colorado draw. So that was the makeup game before the LA game. And there was, it was me and one of the team media people that's been there for a few years. And we both were kind of like, have you seen this before? And we're both like, no, this is just weird. Like a team that they're not losing, but they're
00:15:09
Speaker
They're clearly not winning at the same time. So it's a weird dynamic there. I do think though that the LA game was a good break for them to kind of get out of that funk. And then obviously
00:15:23
Speaker
Monday was what Monday was for Dallas. Uh, but I think coming back, back home, there's a lot of motivation out of this group. Everything, you know, I've seen in the last couple of days is they seem motivated. The fact that they have a home playoff game and they also know in the back of their heads, this is likely the last home playoff game of this year. Uh, if they win, it would go, obviously go back to Seattle. And if they win that one, it would just, they'd probably be on the road for their,
00:15:51
Speaker
Well, unless they play Kansas City, I guess, which doesn't seem completely out of the. I know. Well, even playing Kansas City, like they could get that one if that were to happen, which I mean, who knows at this point, but even like an MLS Cup, they would need.
00:16:09
Speaker
the entire East bracket to be completely flipped on its head for that one. I think in the back of their heads, they know like this is a very important game and they have to take complete control of this game from the start. If not, their season's done.
00:16:24
Speaker
Well, I would imagine that you see this as a distinct possibility as well, but it feels especially given the history between these two teams, like a tie heading to shootout at least feels well within the range of possibilities.
Strategies for Penalty Shootouts
00:16:40
Speaker
What is the.
00:16:42
Speaker
feeling around shootouts in Dallas. I know the sounders in Dallas did actually have a shootout in 2015, which you probably remember very well. Dallas won that shootout after an absolutely wild finish in Dallas to the second leg of that one. But what is the, like, is Martin Paws considered a shootout, you know, a penalty stopper or are there penalty experts, a bunch of penalty experts on this team?
00:17:11
Speaker
I would say on the Martin pause side, I'll start there first. I feel like there's an amazing amount of confidence with that guy. Okay. Going into the goal. Like I go back to, uh, I think it was the Kansas city game earlier this year. He had to stop two straight penalties in a row. One guy called for like an offside or something on, I forget, I think he might've like jumped too early on the first shot that he saved. And then Kansas city switch kick takers. He steps up.
00:17:41
Speaker
Saves another one. So there's a lot of confidence with him, I think. And even, you know, that penalty on Monday night, he got a hand on it. Like, right? Yeah, he wasn't very far from a save on his part. And so I believe like there's good confidence there. And, you know, in the league's cup,
00:18:00
Speaker
He did fairly well against Miami. He didn't play, I don't believe, against Charlotte. And that Charlotte loss was just a terrible one in the shootout, like Dallas. This kind of goes into the next side of on the kick takers. I don't think there's a lot of confidence in this group when it comes to kick taking.
00:18:18
Speaker
mainly because the last two seasons in the regular season, they've only had one penalty kick. So just from experience alone, there's just not a lot there to lean on. And then in League's Cup, they had two opportunities. They lost both of them. They were better in the Miami one than they were in the Charlotte loss. But still, you know, it's a loss at the end of the day, which I know that's in the back of a lot of people's minds going into this. It does go to a shootout.
00:18:48
Speaker
You know, you feel good about Jesus for error. You feel pretty good about maybe Paul Ariola. Outside of that, you're kind of going, okay, who has that competence on this team? Maybe, uh, the cozy Safari might step up. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Cause that guy's got.
00:19:04
Speaker
just tons of confidence about him, the way he plays. Yeah. But down the, down the roster, you're kind of like, well, that guy should do it, but he skied one against Charlotte and that guy should do one, but he, he missed, you know, wide, right. And then, you know, it's just, you kind of go through the list and you're like, well, I just don't know at this point if this is the, the group you want out there, but.
00:19:26
Speaker
you know I I'm with you I I wouldn't be surprised especially with this one if it were to go that distance I still find it weird that they go they'll go straight to penalties it is very it is very strange I think that's definitely one of the
00:19:41
Speaker
You know, I think that the jury is very much out on this best of three series, but the thing that still kills me is the idea that a team could lose one game in regulation and then to win two shootouts in advance. And that just feels like, and I will say the one benefit is at least the sense I get is that no one wants to play for penalties. Right.
00:20:04
Speaker
because they all rela because everyone recognizes how much is on the line and that at best it's a coin flip and that's if that's only if you don't you know if you have timelier maybe you have a different perspective but like for every other goalkeeper or every other team i feel like
00:20:22
Speaker
Look, we would rather take care of business in regulation than chance penalties. And so I guess maybe that's the one good side. But man, it is absolutely horrifying to think about a series like this being decided without even overtime.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It feels like just based on if you pull in history alone between these two teams, it feels like that's where it'll likely go. Like when I looked at the playoff bracket from day one, I thought, okay, we're going probably three.
00:20:52
Speaker
two of these probably are gonna go to penalty kicks it's probably gonna be frustrating no matter how it ends up for either side like it's just not gonna be pretty so right yeah i mean i'd say there's a there's a decent chance of that uh for what it's worth on the other side the sounders
00:21:08
Speaker
I think there's a lot of consternation about Stephen Fry. You know, he's faced something like 80 penalties when you add up all the shootouts he's been involved in over the years. And he only has, you know, like five or six saves in all of those. So there's not a lot of confidence in Stephen Fry as a penalty stopping goalkeeper.
00:21:28
Speaker
But on the flip side, there's a ton of confidence in their shooters. There's probably five or six guys who have been either the primary penalty takers at one point or another in their career or have shown themselves to be pretty good in shootouts. You know, Jordan Morris, for instance, has, has stepped up and taken a few penalties and shootouts and he's been absolute nails. So they probably have, you know, they feel pretty good about their shooting roster.
00:21:53
Speaker
I just think there's a lot of consternation about the guy who's in goal to stop him. For as good as Stephen Fry has been, stopping penalties is not one of his four days.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it sounds like the exact opposite. Right. We're good about our keeper. You're not good about your keeper, but you're good about our issues and we're not good about ours. So, I mean, I feel like that really just tracks between these two games, especially in the playoffs. Like one's going to outshine the other, but the other is going to have something that's going to outshine the other side. And, you know, I think that's what makes the playoffs special in MLS, especially with match-ups like this. I know the format's always different, but
00:22:34
Speaker
I feel like the matchup when we get Dallas and Seattle is always worth tuning into. Yeah, no, I totally agree. And it's amazing how often these two teams meet.
Sounders vs. Dallas Playoff Rivalry
00:22:45
Speaker
This is obviously the sixth time in I think in nine years that the Sounders and Dallas have met in the playoffs. Every one of these meetings has been competitive. They've always been exciting. So, you know, I don't expect this to be an easy one either way tonight or tomorrow, I should say.
00:23:04
Speaker
Yeah, at least the, uh, I will say the weather will be beautiful here. Uh, yes. Had it been last week. I wouldn't have been saying that, but what was the weather like last week? Was it just, we were, we've, we've had a cold spell. I think we were last Saturday. It was.
00:23:20
Speaker
Highs in the 50s, but all week we've been like highs in the 30s, or not highs, lows in the 30s, highs in the upper 40s. Tomorrow's looking great. I think the high is like 70. It'll be a perfect fall evening here. Love to hear that. One of our few weeks of the year that actually feel like fall on Dallas.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, that is one thing that a few Sounders folks have pointed out that they would much rather be playing in Dallas in November than in July, for instance. Oh, that's, yeah. Believe me, when July and August and even part of September are here, I'm ready for any other time of the year because it's just miserable. Yeah, I bet.
00:24:05
Speaker
Well, Drew, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Concluding Remarks with Drew Eperly
00:24:09
Speaker
You can read Drew at BigDSoccer.substack.com. Is that right? Or is there no substack in there? I mean, you can put substack, it'll redirect. Okay, but it doesn't. So it's just BigDSoccer.com. Yeah. But it is on the substack platform. It is, yes. Yeah. And then where else can people find you?
00:24:27
Speaker
find me on, uh, I guess if you want to say X, I still call it Twitter. Oh, of course. We definitely are Twitter. We are definitely calling it Twitter here. I feel like that's like a generational thing at this point. It's going to be like, maybe in my time I called it that. Um, but yeah, you can find me on, on Twitter, uh, big D soccer is for the big D soccer stuff. I still occasionally tweet on my WV hooligan one. Uh,
00:24:52
Speaker
But yeah, you can also find me on Instagram. I'll throw some lovely coffee photos or beer photos in my story. That's about it these days. Fair enough. Well, Drew, thanks again for doing this. Looking forward to the game tomorrow, 6 o'clock on Apple TV. I am Jeremiah Shan, signing off for a Nos Adiates. We will get you next time.
00:26:14
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!