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Episode 382: Preview of Sounders-Timbers
71 Plays2 years ago
Stumptown Footy is dead, long live Stumptown Footy. As you probably know by now, Vox decided to stop funding most of their MLS sites a couple months ago. Most of them are moving forward in new formats. Stumptown Footy is one such site.
We caught up with Sam Svilar to get the lowdown on their new life as a newsletter (currently parked at StumptownFooty.Substack.com until the URL license switches over) but more relevantly about the state of the Timbers.
Things are not so good in the Rose City, where they come into this match riding a six-game winless run. It's not just the top line numbers that look bad, either. The Timbers' season high for xG is 1.1, a mark the Sounders have topped in 5 of 7 games
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Transcript
Introduction to Full Pull Wines sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
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 sounder 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.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Here we go. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS co-pointers! Here comes Ray D'Ace from the middle to crowd it! The vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations.
00:01:04
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. This is a tiny f***ing doll.
00:01:34
Speaker
Is that why
00:01:39
Speaker
episode of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Pol Pol Wines and Watson's Counter.
Preview of Timbers vs Sounders rivalry game
00:01:44
Speaker
I am Jeremiah O'Shan, joining me today to help preview the upcoming timbers sounders rivalry game is Sam Speeler of Stumptown Footy, which has been reborn on Substack. You can read their stuff at stumptownfooty.substack.com.
00:01:46
Speaker
you young people call twerking?
00:02:04
Speaker
Eventually, I guess that will probably be Stumptown20.com. But for now, it's a sub domain. Anyway, thank you, Sam, for joining us to talk about Sounder Stimpers. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah, like all good sports blogs, it all boils down to eventually being a newsletter sent directly into your inbox. So that's kind of, we fulfilled our destiny there.
00:02:25
Speaker
It is funny the way that this, the media landscape has really come full circle where I remember a few years ago, not to get too off topic here, I remember a few years ago, someone talking about like how many of our readers are coming to us from email and I thought, zero, what is the, is this a question? Why are we, why is anyone coming us from email? And then I find out that email's back, baby.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's the new email is the new Twitter, which was the new email from for kidding everybody to read your stuff now. So yeah, now we're instead of spamming your Twitter feeds or spamming your email inboxes like any good any good job does. Yeah. So real quick, like before we get into this game, how has it been so far?
Stumptown Footy's transition to Substack
00:03:09
Speaker
What is the transition been like for you guys?
00:03:11
Speaker
It's been good. I think we've appreciated kind of having all of the like sub-stack as a very like solid kind of editor and kind of base for like putting together posts, which has really helped us. The support from like the Portland soccer community has been awesome so far. Like when we initially kind of announced that, you know, Vox was not supporting the
00:03:30
Speaker
We were part of those cuts. The outpouring of support was great. And we've seen that reflected in kind of like the people setting up for the site, the people sharing it, the people logging on. So it's obviously not quite the same thing, but it's definitely been like it feels like it's kind of it's the spirit is living on. It feels like we've definitely been able to maintain that same space where folks can come.
00:03:50
Speaker
and talk about the soccer teams, which from the Portland Thorns perspective is, oh my god, they're so good. And from the Timbers perspective is, oh my god, they're so bad. So it is pretty much the same as the old site was. Well, that's a good jumping off point.
Timbers' recent struggles and performance analysis
00:04:06
Speaker
You mentioned the Timbers being bad. Let's get into that a little bit as to just how bad the Timbers have been. I feel like there was a joke in there that I missed.
00:04:18
Speaker
It's the hyperbole of on social media and comments is that like, there's only two modes that I really see kind of like on social media when it comes to talking about the timbers. It's either greatest team ever, we're gonna win every trophy or wooden spoon, not gonna touch any close to silverware with second coming of the original I've seen Cincinnati when they joined.
00:04:39
Speaker
It's really kind of what you're seeing. And, you know, I can respect that when the product on the field is rough, which it has been for a few weeks now, I totally get that frustration, like with the timbers, because they've had some starts in the past, and this one feels up there with kind of some of the more frustrating ones so far.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, so we are now into, or seven games into the season, and it's been six straight winless for the Timbers. And I've seen a few stats out there that were pretty eye-opening. One of them, I think it's 55 shots through seven games, which is like by double digits, the fewest shots they've ever had in any seven game stretch, let alone the first seven games of a season.
00:05:26
Speaker
I watched the Galaxy game, which actually was a pretty good result, all things considered, 0-0. But it was shocking at how little of the ball the Timbers had and how little danger they posed in a home game against what was also a pretty bad Galaxy team.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's that second part that I think has been the main challenge for the timbers is creating danger and creating consistent threat on goal. We're all used to Portland not having a ton of the ball. That is one of arguably their most effective kind of states is absorbing, counter-attacking, playing direct play forward, threatening on goal. The challenge is that they're not translating those transition moments into
00:06:09
Speaker
threats, like into a consistent attacking threat on goal. Like you said, yeah, the historically low shot output is kind of reflective of the fact that they can do the work to get the ball into the final third. And at that point,
00:06:25
Speaker
it just doesn't seem like there is a consistent plan. And yes, some of that might have to be because of the rash of injuries that they've been experiencing, which, yeah, we can get into. But overall, they're working the ball into somewhat dangerous positions. They're just not getting shots off or they're not having it be quick enough so that they can create a clear scoring opportunity.
Impact of injuries on the Timbers' strategy
00:06:48
Speaker
So the injuries are an undeniable part of the narrative this year. And the latest was Eric Williamson being declared out for the year after injuring, going through the similar process as Jordan Morris, where he busts an ACL a couple of years ago. He comes back. He looks like he's as good as new. And then the other ACL goes.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's just super unfortunate both for the player and for the team. Like it was just the latest injury to kind of go onto the list, but it definitely was the one that kind of hit the hardest just because of the fact that everyone was hoping that Williamson was going to get back to that 2020, 2021 form that we saw because, you know, his 2022 was kind of hampered by that injury, him being limited.
00:07:31
Speaker
last year kind of limited Portland's chances in the chance. I mean, obviously they missed the playoffs. So that was a big, a big miss. And him missing this year is a big miss as well. There was, you know, earlier, before the season started preseason, there was the hope that the midfield trio of him, Diego Chara and Evander, new designated player, midfield signing was going to be kind of like the thing that was going to jumpstart Portland's offense.
00:07:55
Speaker
Because offense was the thing they missed last year and so then they brought in a vander revamp the midfield that was going to be the thing that they were going to hope to lead on in order to be successful and start scoring more goals. And then, you know, one of the key players in that trio goes down for for the year.
00:08:13
Speaker
So it's just the next thing that the Denver's have to deal with as far as like injuries related to, there is no like for like replacement for Williamson on the roster. So Savaree say we'll have to kind of rethink how he wants his team to attack moving forward with the personnel that he has. There's players that can play that box to box role, but nobody can really do what Williamson does. So it's a loss for sure.
00:08:40
Speaker
So one of the other players in that trio that you mentioned is a vander. He was a 10 million dollar signing. He came into the league with quite a bit of hype. You know, a lot of, you know, there was a few people saying he was the biggest offseason signing in the entire league. He started off a little slow and then he got hurt. And it looks like he's back now. Is that right?
00:09:02
Speaker
He should be fully healthy, ready to go. Yeah, he played the first two games of the season, suffered an injury, which, you know, drew into like some other injury, which that is a theme for a lot of timbers attackers this year. He made his return last weekend in the second half against Vancouver, played most of the second half.
00:09:23
Speaker
odds are that he will be good to go, ready to start on Saturday. And the hope is that he's able to kind of settle in a little bit more because he started off okay, the first two timbers games were a little rough with, you know, a one zero win against sporting Kansas city. And then they went and got shelled LAFC, which wound up being slightly more respectable three to two. He got his first MLS goal in that loss is kind of, you know, spark kind of like a mini comeback towards the end. But overall he hadn't quite, you know,
00:09:53
Speaker
Lived up to that $10 million price tag, like you said, which is club record transfer fee for the timbers. And as of, and they were betting a lot on him. Like, when you talk about what Portland needs to do to kind of revamp their offense kind of boils down to a vendor starting to come good, starting to show those numbers that they acquired him for.
00:10:14
Speaker
You know, he was, you know, a force in the Danish league and also in the Europa League. And, you know, Portland has been hoping that he's going to start to show those numbers in MLS. And as has been the case, I think with many and for many a foreign sign in MLS, his transition period has been a little rocky, a little rough. The injury probably didn't help things.
00:10:35
Speaker
If he can start to settle and start to, you know, show that quality and connect with and build chemistry with his teammates, that could be a big thing that could help lift Portland's offensive production, you know, whether it be Saturday or a little farther down the line.
00:10:51
Speaker
So one of the other themes with these injuries and with the offensive production has been sort of where that, how those two things have, have sort of like come together and also hurt this year, Felipe Amora, Sebastian Blanco, Yimi Chara, all three have been declared out for this
Injury impact on key Timbers players
00:11:10
Speaker
game. I don't know that they haven't, have they even played much this year? What's been there? What's, what's, I guess, what's the situation in that attacking three, that band of attacking three?
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, so Felipe Mora played two or three games last season. Felipe Mora was originally coming back from an off-season knee injury, played two or three games last season, and then had to get shut down because the knee still wasn't right. So he had additional surgery to kind of clean up what was looking on there. So he has been out since the start of the season. They're eyeballing a return in the summer for him. They're definitely taking it slow, especially considering his history.
00:11:42
Speaker
Um, Jimmy Chara played, I think like the first 30 or 40 minutes of the first game and then suffered a hamstring injury and then went down. So he hasn't played yet. He's still out. He's getting closer. I think they're looking at probably within the next couple of weeks and making their return. And then Sebastian Blanco has been, you know, one of the, uh, more unfortunate stories, I think of, of timbers 2023 so far, he's, you know, he was Sebastian Blanco. We all know what the horse that he shows, Sanders fans know what he can do.
00:12:11
Speaker
All too well. And he was still suffering from a lingering kind of knee injury last season. It was revealed that his knee was still giving him pain and still giving him problems.
00:12:22
Speaker
And it got to the point where, you know, he needed to kind of slow it down. There were times earlier this season where he couldn't even train because it was just giving him so much pain. He's starting to get a little bit more healthy. He's starting to train a little bit more in full. There were reports out of him first training this week that he was in full training. There's a smile on his face. I suspect just because that he knew Portland was playing Seattle and that always puts him in a good mood. Um, but he, he won't be playing as well. He's still out. There's no real timetable for him to return. Um,
00:12:49
Speaker
But I think we might see him eventually this season, we might not. If we don't, it presents another challenge for the timber staff to kind of handle for how do you handle his status on the roster? How do you handle his contract? If it looks like he's not going to be able to play.
00:13:05
Speaker
If he is able to play, will he reach that peak form? He's getting up there in years. Will he be able to get back to that? So it's been a real challenge offensively because, you know, in those players that we listed, that's two out of, two of Portland's designated players, two out of their three have been out and haven't played a lot. And in MLS, especially if your designated players are like offensively minded, you know, our attackers, if they don't play.
00:13:30
Speaker
You generally don't score a lot of goals. You generally don't win a lot of games and Portland is now kind of like the next living example of that. So it's created an interesting balance for the timbers to kind of look at because on one hand, yes, you have all of those top end players like injured. You have like the next two or three players down the depth chart injured. Portland has had to play wingers in central midfield and put full backs as wingers. They've had so many injuries up and down the roster.
00:13:56
Speaker
So yeah, that makes it really challenging to put together a team, especially again in a league like MLS where not a lot of the money is invested farther down the roster. And at the same time, yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was gonna say, so who do you expect to be starting in those spots?
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah. Well, the good news is that more players are becoming healthier. More players are kind of coming back. It looks like, uh, Christian Paredes, central midfielder, probably the likeliest to be, to step into that long-term role for Eric after it goes down. He's going to be ready. He might not start. It will probably be a David Ashala, you 22 player, 20 year old central midfielder. He's coming back from his own injury. He'll probably start in the midfield with Diego Chara and Evander up top forward wise. It sounds like their new signing, Frank Boli.
00:14:43
Speaker
is ready to go. He's been working through fitness the past couple of days. He's ready to score a goal in his debut, helped get Portland their first road point at a draw at Dallas. He looks like he'll be ready to start. Darren Espria is getting healthier. It looks like he'll be ready to start as well, which will allow him starting in the central midfield getting set will allow Santiago Moreno to move back to the wingers. So, you know, those are all starting caliber players. You know, if you talk about that front three, so it's getting better. The challenge is that
00:15:11
Speaker
If that's the front three that starts, it'll be the first time that front three is played together. It'll be the first time that that midfield three has played together. So the front six or so of, of the timbers is healthier. They are, you know, that upper end of the roster and they still haven't had a chance to mesh to jail offensively. So it might not fix all of the, you know, all of the problems, but it's moving Portland in the right direction offensively.
Timbers' confidence from recent wins against Sounders
00:15:36
Speaker
Yeah, and somewhat counterintuitively possibly, it seems like for all the struggles that the timbers have gone through, it's undeniable that their form against the sounders specifically is probably the best it's ever been in the history of the rivalry. Three straight wins, I haven't looked up the last time that the timbers have beat the sounders three straight times, but I wouldn't be shocked if this is, I'm sure it's the first time in the MLS era, it might be the first time in even longer than that.
00:16:06
Speaker
And so I have to imagine that aspect of it, even though the last time they played was, you know, many money months ago in the previous season that that must give some sense of
00:16:17
Speaker
if not confidence, at least inspiration. It does. You could see it in some of the press conferences and the comments that were said beforehand, you can tell that there is an increased energy around the timbers camp. It's been a tough start to the season, not going to lie, but this has always been a game they've had circled on the calendar. And I think both the rivalry, the energy into that, the history that obviously plays into things, as well as the fact that, like you said,
00:16:42
Speaker
It's been a while since Portland lost to Seattle since, you know, that won the home game in 2021. That was the last time that the 6-2 game I rocked, it was the last time. Yeah, that poked the bear a little bit too much and Portland got pissed off and then started playing after that. It seems like we have this conversation pretty much every time Portland's going to play where
00:17:05
Speaker
Form-wise, the teams are in completely different place. Seattle's flying high, they're leading the West. They're one of the best teams in the league this year. They're probably going to challenge for at least a piece of silverware before all is said and done.
00:17:16
Speaker
Portland is, I think, third from bottom in the Western Conference, like you said, historically offensively bad. And you have to throw all that out when it comes to these two teams playing, because the energy from Portland will almost assuredly be higher than it has been in any game this season. And I'm sure that will be doubly so for the Sounders as well, because I bet it doesn't feel good to lose to your biggest rival through games in a row, haven't experienced a win in a bit.
00:17:43
Speaker
I think it kind of heightens the stakes, which feels counterintuitive for this game because on paper, looks like it should just be a runaway Sounders win. And because of just the nature of this rivalry, the weird, topsy-turvy nature of it just doesn't matter what the forms of the teams are going into it. I think both teams are coming in believing that they're going to win, which I think is huge for a timbers team that has kind of been struggling to kind of find that belief, find that kind of grit, find that kind of fight for most of the year.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah, I can't help but feel a lot of similarities to sort of the
00:18:19
Speaker
The game where I think it feels like there was a real change in, you know, the timbers won the meeting after the 2021 game which I guess ended up being sort of like a, I guess that may have been sort of vaguely where their season turned around in 2021, but the meeting where the first meeting last year to me in my mind is the one that stands out because the centers were
00:18:45
Speaker
actually in really good form they were getting ready to unveil their uh they were planning to unveil the the Champions League banner and it was supposed to be sort of like this achievement day for the Sounders and the Timbers who weren't playing that well as if memory serves uh just kind of came in and punched the Sounders in the face won that game 3-0 and it didn't it didn't end up turning around the timber season but it definitely heralded the end of the Sounders season
00:19:14
Speaker
And the Sounders sort of went into a tailspin from that point forward and didn't really ever come out of it. So yeah, it's not without precedence that these two teams will be sort of going into virgin directions and this game sort of changes that entirely. I would think that any Sounders fan that goes into this game feeling anything but like really nervous is fooling themselves. It's just, that's not how these things go.
00:19:44
Speaker
No, that's how I felt, I think, before literally every single Portland Seattle game, including the one, you know, the most recent meeting in August at Providence Park when Portland clinched the Cascadia Cup. Even then, it was like, you know, Seattle was not playing well. Portland was in, I think, better form. And, you know, the stakes of, you know, if you win this, you know, you got this Cascadia Cup. It's huge, like, even with all that behind, like,
00:20:05
Speaker
I was still just a bundle of nerves going into that as well, just because that's just what this rivalry does. It's, you can never rule out the most ridiculous of possibilities. We've seen a lot of that kind of happen. I think it's, there's such good watermark kind of games to look at for things. Cause like you said, that, that game, I think Portland would, a lot, many Timbers fans would call either of those Seattle games, either of those wins Portland got over Seattle last year, the high mark of last year's season, you know, missing the playoffs sucked, but they're like,
00:20:33
Speaker
many timbers fans are like I miss the play I suck but hey we won the cascading cup and we got to spoil that party up in seattle in june um I think that's just kind of the
00:20:43
Speaker
the hold that this rivalry has. And Timbers for so long, they hadn't won the Cascadia Cup for some time, since I think five, six years. And so now the framing shifts are, OK, can they defend it? Can they actually prove that they can win it consistently? Which is something they've never done in the MLS era. They win it, and the next season they face plant or lose it. So it puts more pressure on this game as well.
00:21:09
Speaker
along with all of the other things that Portland's 2023 has been so far.
00:21:15
Speaker
So on that note, how much, I mean, there must be some pressure internally.
Pressure on Timbers to improve with new management
00:21:21
Speaker
Like there can be talk about injuries and there can be talk of all this other stuff. But the reality is that just like the Sounders, the Timbers didn't make the playoffs last year. There has to be some sense of heat building up within like, okay, so it's seven games into the season. The season's not over. This is a very, I'm also a very forgiving lead, but there does become a point where
00:21:43
Speaker
you know, there's gonna be some pressure to make real changes. 100%. I think there's, whether there's nothing being talked about, it's definitely in the back of some folks minds of decision makers. Members new general manager, Nick Grabavoy, you know, Gavin Wilkinson is out after
00:21:59
Speaker
long, long time in the timber sprint office as part of kind of the fallout from the Yates report, you know, back in, back in the fall. So Ned Grabavoy is, you know, the new general manager still kind of feeling out his way, still kind of trying to build up his team and starting to kind of get a handle for, you know, what does he want this team to be? It's his opportunity to, he backs Giovanni Savarese, he backs the coaching staff, you know, he's been very open and honest about all of that.
00:22:29
Speaker
And if results don't go your way, like that, that affects any sort of coaches backing. If the team isn't playing well, like you said, it's hard to define what success would really look like for the timbers. Obviously making the playoffs is priority. Number one, is that enough for a league where, you know, over half of the conference is going to be making the playoffs this year? Is that enough for.
00:22:54
Speaker
You know, a team that was in the final just 2 years ago and was challenging for trophies consistently for the better part of, you know, 3, 4 years.
00:23:04
Speaker
That is the question that I think Grabo is going to be thinking about. That's the question that I think, you know, the decision makers, the powers that be, I think are going to be kind of on their mind. It's, again, it's too early to tell. Obviously losing to Seattle sucks and that will obviously cause a lot of the pressure from the fans to kind of ramp up as it did, you know, after 62 years ago. That was definitely some of the strongest calls yet at the time.
00:23:28
Speaker
making MLS Cup kind of squash some of those and kind of block roughly a year or so, maybe a little bit more of goodwill. If the stretch continues, if this loss against Seattle is kind of just another kind of tick down and kind of like this downward spiral for the spring, it'll be tough. I think it will put a lot of pressure on the latter half of the games when everyone is healthy. You can hide behind kind of the
00:23:54
Speaker
the excuse of, there's a lot of injuries, there's a lot of challenge, like a lot of the players that were expecting to be key contributors, they aren't playing, they aren't able to make an impact yet. You can lean on that for some while. Okay, once everybody is healthy, once everyone is kind of back into the field, once you have the team that you're going to have,
00:24:12
Speaker
can you start to pull to get out those results? Every loss kind of becomes amplified, kind of becomes with a little more pressure. So, you know, we'll see where Portland kind of ends up at the end of the season. It'll be an interesting question if the Timbers don't kind of like figure it out. What does happen next? If Portland misses the playoffs again, that seat will probably be getting pretty warm.
00:24:35
Speaker
Yeah, I would imagine it would. And just sort of like one other big picture question, the thing that seems to still be hanging over this organization is sort of all the things that led to Gavin Wilkinson being dismissed.
Organizational changes and fan reactions
00:24:50
Speaker
What is the vibe? Is that something that the organization feels like they've moved on from? Do they feel like they've made the changes necessary? Or is this something that fans are still really stressing about?
00:25:03
Speaker
I think the organization feels like they've moved on. The question is whether a lot of people are as well. A lot of the fans that are in the seats. I think so. To briefly recap, obviously Merritt Paulson is in the process of selling the Portland Thorns. They're gonna have new ownership so it'll be the first kind of splitting of the club which folks were pretty
00:25:22
Speaker
Two different ownership groups. Thorns will still play in Providence Park, but just like the soul of it kind of feels split, which sucks for a lot of fans. He's still maintaining his ownership stake in the Timbers. He's not CEO anymore. He's kind of stepped down and Heather Davis has kind of stepped in as the new kind of Timbers CEO and like running operations there. And the club has been doing a lot of, you know,
00:25:46
Speaker
having a lot of visibility, a lot of media with her to kind of talk about, you know, yes, mistakes were made, we're pushing changes, we're trying to make the Timbers organization a place where people want to work, you know, they're trying to kind of push that narrative. A lot of fans are finding it hard to
00:26:01
Speaker
let hear that narrative and believe it if Mary Paulson is still there. If he's still kind of like looming up in the upper catacombs of Providence Park like the Phantom of the Opera like it's it's it's hard to kind of overlook kind of like that specter of him kind of being there. I think the reality is you know the pressure was about as intense as you think it's going to get
00:26:23
Speaker
from Eric Paulson to kind of leave the team entirely and sell it and he's still there. So barring MLS and Don Garber doing anything, which the odds of that are probably pretty low because of the standards of selling a team and because of the comments that Garber made in the wake of all of that, Eric Paulson is still going to be there. And it's just kind of something that
00:26:45
Speaker
Many, many sports fans have to deal with with owner is crappy right like you know most sports fans have to deal with that in some way shape or form. I think with everything that the past two, two years at this point have been with all of the revelations around the club and everything I think you know timbers fans want to have a club that they feel.
00:27:04
Speaker
That you know that they believe in that they feel like they see themselves in and they can feel that like is reflective of kind of like you know the good that is important and is in the Portland soccer community and right now a lot of people still still just aren't feeling that.
00:27:20
Speaker
We'll see how long that continues for maybe some folks eventually just kind of compartmentalize it kind of move on and kind of look at the play on the field. We'll see if it ever reaches kind of like, you know, an inflection point with merit pulse and doing something else.
00:27:36
Speaker
It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but right now I think it's not the same levels of kind of bigger public protests, people like boycotting games, a lot of that stuff that it was last season or the season before, but it's still there. It's still in the back of everyone's mind. And would you say that the atmosphere at Providence Park has recovered?
Fan atmosphere and expectations at Providence Park
00:27:58
Speaker
Somewhat, I think, you know, if the timbers were playing better, I think I would be able to say definitively, yeah, sure. And if, you know, if their home opener wasn't delayed due to a snowstorm and playing on a Monday night, probably be able to say yes as well. I think for, at least at the start of that, you mentioned that galaxy game, that was closer. That was some of the closest that I felt for it to kind of being like, okay, this is kind of starting to feel like Providence Park again. I would imagine on Saturday, it's going to feel the most like it as well. Like I think,
00:28:27
Speaker
fans will are, they want to support the team. Like they want to be there in cheer for the team and they want to be there to, you know, kind of focus on. We're rooting for, you know, our guys were rooting for the team on the field. Um, so I would expect that the atmosphere is going to feel pretty close to that on Saturday. Um, you know, other things kind of being a side of himself. Now, the reason how you get people to stay doing that is by starting to put a better product in the field, starting to play better, starting to, you know, win games. I think I've heard from.
00:28:57
Speaker
some fans or, you know, some anecdotes that are just, it's like, you know, I want to support the team, but they're just kind of boring right now. Like they're not really just doing much. So you got to get things exciting. You know, pulling out a result on Saturday would do a lot for kind of doing that. I think as it has, you know, in recent years, that helps the vibes a lot. I went against Seattle can kind of paper over a lot, a lot of the wounds, a lot of things that are kind of going on.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah. So we don't usually do what we don't do, uh, predictions on the show. We don't, I don't, I don't do the, the give me a score line thing that said, do you have, like, what's your, what's your feeling about going into the same? Do you feel good about this? Does this feel like a disaster waiting to happen or does it feel like maybe in, like you said, an inflection point where the season potentially starts to turn around?
00:29:45
Speaker
I am, I mean, as nervous as I usually am for all of these games. And I think I'm still, most of me is kind of like mentally bracing myself for like, oh, this isn't gonna be pretty. This isn't gonna be good. It's not gonna be fun. It's just like the, losing to Seattle is one thing, but losing to Seattle at Providence Park, I think just kind of hits a little bit harder if you're a Timbers fan, because yeah, it's our field and Seattle obviously brings like a huge traveling section there as well. So hearing that like,
00:30:13
Speaker
loud cheering of somebody else on the field. It's just kind of, it's harder than I think everything else. And I mean, every- We know that feeling well, very, all too well. I don't think, I'm not sure how many Sounders fans even remember the last time they beat the Embers at home.
00:30:29
Speaker
No, like, why would you? That's so long ago. No, no. I'm thinking of Lumen. Like, we legitimately don't remember. Last time we beat this, I never said Lumen because it's been, I don't know, I think it's been four years, five years. It's crazy. Anyway, go ahead. It's wild. So, I mean, I think my attitude towards all of this is it's kind of like, all right, this is going on for too long. Like, this can't be this good, right? Like, Portland has to lose at some point. They're going to lose at some point up in Seattle, right? Like, I'm just kind of, I believe that the universe
00:30:58
Speaker
And like, timbers fandom inevitably bends towards disappointment. So like, it's going to happen. It's the arc of history bends towards disappointment. There you go. That's the arc of timbers fandom. Losing to a MLS cup files kind of will do that to you.
00:31:14
Speaker
So I think it creates kind of this environment and this attitude where I think everybody is kind of racing for the worst on Saturday.
Anticipation for the Timbers vs Sounders game
00:31:21
Speaker
And like in my mind, it's like, yeah, all to go laws. I wouldn't be surprised if Portland doesn't score, you know, that's kind of it. And yet there's a little voice in the back of my mind where it's kind of like, this is exactly.
00:31:33
Speaker
what they want you to think exactly what they think and then they're going to pull out some sort of like, extremely ugly, maybe kind of lucky, you know, one zero or two on something like that just because that's just what the timbers under Saturday see do.
00:31:48
Speaker
They're a very emotional team. They play off of the emotions of the coach, the emotions of the occasion. When the energy is high and the emotions are high, they play better. And that this game has all the makings of that. So if you know what kind of progresses and Poland is still in it, there either would be one goal down or it's still scoreless.
00:32:06
Speaker
And then, you know, I think the greater the game goes along and they have a shot, that belief is going to grow. And so, you know, there is a reality despite the bend of the universe, pending to our disappointment. There is reality in which we look back on this game as a point in another important season of them kind of turning things around. But again, like 90, like 96 and a half percent of my brain is telling me to stop that. It's not going to happen.
00:32:32
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you, as a definite sounder supporter in this thing, I can't help but go into this both confident that we should win and very, very, very worried that some kind of disaster is just waiting for us around the corner because it just seems like lately the timbers sounder's rivalry does not go how you think it's going to go one way or the other.
00:32:55
Speaker
Never. It just seems like the most ridiculously unpredictable fixture on the list. And it's always fun, though, talking to you, Sam.
Encouraging fan engagement through Stumptown Footy
00:33:05
Speaker
I'm actually really thrilled to find out that Stumptown Footy is surviving and potentially even thriving.
00:33:13
Speaker
in its new home i would encourage everyone that listens to this podcast to at least check you guys out and even consider subscribing because it's always fun to you know i know i know sonar's fans pair deeply about the rise and fall but
00:33:31
Speaker
always rooting for the fall of the timbers and that's a great way to do it is to follow it through you guys oh yeah see it in real time it's like reading about it's like reading about the fall of Rome from inside Rome so yeah why not come on down yeah and you best that know that if if Saturday goes Seattle's way then yeah the takes will be spicy
00:33:50
Speaker
Well, thanks again, Sam. Uh, again, that's stumptownfooty.substack.com. You can also follow them on Twitter. They're still at stumptownfooty. Uh, you can follow Sam. Sam, what's your, your Twitter, uh, handle again? It's, it's at Sam itch 9 23 S A M M I C H 9 23. Great. All right. Well, thank you so much for doing this. Uh, signing off for no study at this. I'm Jeremiah Shan again, thanks to our sponsors, Watson's counter and football wines, and we will catch you next time.
00:34:56
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!