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LAFC: Legal Owners of the Seattle Sounders - Ep. 59
89 Plays4 months ago
Lobbing Scorchers is sad to report we must bring you an emphatic L Pod today as the Seattle Sounders’ 2024 Leagues Cup campaign has come to a crashing halt. LAFC continued their dominance over the Sounders with a 3-0 thrashing, we’ll break down all the fine points, hit our Agenda Check and take your questions. We also hit on a recent tweet from Matthew Doyle that caused a stir in the Sounders sphere.
Wrapping up we give you a look around Leagues Cup and some of the closing headlines of the MLS summer transfer window.
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- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Episode Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 59 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillian Wall. I got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, we don't just have an L-pod today. We've got another emphatic L-pod. How are you feeling?
00:00:52
Speaker
You know Ari I wore my Penn State jersey today in hopes that we would just pretend that the Sounders didn't play and we could instead talk about the absolute demolition that Penn State women's soccer put on Texas Tech University, but I'm I'm gonna guess that's that's not happening Yeah, I didn't have that on the on the outline here, but I appreciate the sentiment, but yeah, that's right folks
Seattle Sounders vs. LAFC Recap
00:01:12
Speaker
We've got an emphatic elp pod today as the Seattle Sounders 2024 leagues cup campaign has come to a crashing halt at lumen field last night 3-0 at the hands of LA FC again Shout out to leagues cup and rip. It was it was a fun time I think we're all gonna look back on it with
00:01:28
Speaker
fond memories but unfortunately the campaign is over so we're going to unfortunately dive into our game review where we're going to break down all the fine points of Seattle's latest tank job against the black and gold at Lumen Field which you know came just
00:01:44
Speaker
a couple weeks after their initial tank job against LAFC at Lumen Field. They've stacked two of them back-to-back in recent weeks, so not really looking forward to digging into all that, but we're going to. We don't shy away from results here at Lovings Gortures. We're also going to hit our agenda check as usual and take your questions.
00:02:02
Speaker
And then later on, we're going to react to the rest of the quarterfinals results. The semifinals are set with all four MOS clubs. The final four is all MOS, Liga and Meccis, out of the competition entirely after these semifinals games. They couldn't hang, Ari. Apparently not. And we're also going to hit a couple transfer items at the end of the show that a couple of other clubs, not the Seattle Sounders, famously, they managed to pull off a couple moves.
00:02:29
Speaker
that we hadn't talked about yet, so we're going to talk about those, and then that'll do it for episode 59. But first, I wanted to let you all know, Loving Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS,
00:02:48
Speaker
That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. And this week, we're gonna read out our supporters names again because we love and appreciate you all that much.
00:03:04
Speaker
We'd like to thank Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascanelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Dan Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bonnier, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Maley, Andy Hill, Mike Lentini, Nate Bonnier, David Rodriguez, my nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis, Mark Ottinger, Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, Claire Berger, Robert Sink, Tyler Nakatsu, Steve Hewson, and Chaska.
00:03:29
Speaker
Thank you all so much. It's much appreciated. Up to 27 subscribers there. The next frontier is 30. Help us get to 30 subs, sounderatheart.com slash LS. And we appreciate all of you so much. We've already done so.
00:03:43
Speaker
And, if you're listening to this, or watching this, and you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube.
Subscriber Milestones and Listener Appreciation
00:03:50
Speaker
Toss us a sub. Toss us a sub. The road to 400 is over. We smashed it. Really, that was quick. The road from 350 to 400 was at a dizzying pace. Let's keep that pace going. The next frontier is 450.
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'm pretty excited about our YouTube growth. Really seems like we've infiltrated a bit of a new audience there. We're getting people, listeners and viewers who are outside of our normal base, which is pretty cool. Not all of them like our takes necessarily, but I appreciate the fact that they're tuning in nonetheless. That's what matters.
00:04:26
Speaker
All right, let's get into this game review know I mean these these L pods are are always tough, but you know I've said it before I find them to be cathartic in a way to just like Get it all out. It's like it's a little bit like therapy, but um It is interesting that it feels like dating back
Match Analysis: Defensive Errors and Lineup Decisions
00:04:48
Speaker
Where for most of this season, every time we have an L-pod, it doesn't feel like there's been that many L's where it's like a hard fought competitive L and they just barely lose. Which like last season, I felt like there was a ton of L's like that. This season, at least recently, specifically against LAFC, it feels like
00:05:07
Speaker
when they take the L, they really take the L. I mean, the Cox as well, they, I was, I was an emphatic L. So we're going to dig into another emphatic L here, starting with our lineup reaction, which I think is going to be pretty short again this week. It was the exact same lineup, except Stefan Fry was back in goal over Andy T, which
00:05:27
Speaker
I didn't really think all that much of that other than just that, the later you get in the tournament, you put your number one in there. Andy T, he was playing to get him refs probably so they could evaluate him a little bit more, see what they got in the guy. He's looked pretty good this season. But now, getting deeper into the tournament, put Steph Fry back in there. I don't know, Noah, did you have anything reaction-wise to the lineup?
00:05:52
Speaker
no i thought the same thing i was i was pretty confident in the lineup honestly it had been playing really well together this was really i felt like how we might have lined it up um i just think that generally this looks like how schmetzer is going to line it up going forward as well and even better than that uh it's very clear that paul rothrock is legitimately a good player legitimately a starter and brian schmetzer and the rest of the league genuinely rates him as an mls starter which again
00:06:21
Speaker
Gonna say it. You're welcome. You're welcome folks. Yeah. No, I think that's definitely a takeaway from the last couple games is that he's kind of entrenched in the first choice 11 right now as it stands with where Seattle's personnel is that and yeah, like I I feel like just based on how good the last two games went with this lineup. There's no there was no real reason to shake anything up.
00:06:45
Speaker
But unfortunately, the game did not pan out very well. Seattle chalked themselves inside the first 20 minutes and conceded twice in the first half hour. So we're going to talk about these LAFC goals because, I mean, all three of these really were just brutal concessions. Yeah, just awful.
00:07:04
Speaker
You know I can live with getting bammed on by a great shot or if you know a guy makes a great play And you you tip your cap in those situations right, but there's been there's been too much Of Seattle shooting themselves in the foot this year, and that was the case Really again on all three of these goal goals and especially this first one that we're about to talk about This they lost the game right here like yes, this cost them the game. I think
00:07:34
Speaker
They were, Seattle got bammed on by a famously prolific MLS goal scorer. I mean, this guy has been one of the most productive and ruthless number nines in the league for, for years now. I mean, anytime LAFC needs a goal, they go to this guy. His name is Ryan Hollingshead, their, their left back FC Dallas legend.
00:08:01
Speaker
U.S. men's national team snub by the way. Yeah, so actually a lot of people think that hauling said is like the best Outside back to never get a cap or something yeah, he's like he's a good player like don't get me wrong like he was a Savvy signing by LA FC. He's been great for them, and he is one of the better attacking left backs in the league I would say but I mean
00:08:24
Speaker
You can't really let him do what he did in this situation, which is that, I mean, I think what happened to start with is Seattle's line of confrontation was way too high. And that happened like a lot in this game. It just, it felt like both the CBs and the full backs at different times got, they got pulled too high up the field. And in this case, there was just way, way too much space on the left side for Hollingshead to run into the ball over the top.
00:08:53
Speaker
He runs onto it, and it's basically a breakaway for their left back at that point, which just that can never happen, period, but especially against a team like this. The likelihood that they're going to bam on you one to two times in any given game is pretty high anyway, so you certainly can't be shipping a goal to their left back, a breakaway goal to their left back in the 14th minute of the game.
00:09:15
Speaker
You screw yourself over entirely if you do that and any game plan that you might have had pretty much immediately Goes out the window and that's what happened. And like I said, the game was pretty much lost right there and both Schmetz and Steve C alluded to this in their press conferences after the game but once LAFC
00:09:40
Speaker
go ahead you can't like from Seattle's perspective you can't spot them in early goal like that that plays directly into their hands because they did I mean they're gonna do exactly what they did which was they can sit back a little bit more kind of play it with a more defense first time eating mentality and they're really good LAFC is one of the best teams in the league if not the best at playing with the lead
00:10:05
Speaker
Like, there's a couple other teams that are as good as them, like record-wise and points-wise, but don't necessarily have that attribute. Inner Miami, I don't think is that good at that. The Galaxy are not as good at that. But LAFC, they just have really excellent game management, and they know how to play with the lead really well, so you can't spot them to lead like that. And you saw why.
00:10:30
Speaker
Seattle conceded again just in the 25th minute so 11 minutes after Hollings had scored 58 year old kai kamara this time Through the air He's still doing it. I mean agent by the way. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's proved to be a Very shrewd signing by them. I mean who would you rather have Danny Musavski?
00:10:56
Speaker
Okay, well it's an interesting question because I was actually looking at this because I knew people were going to like be like, Oh, why didn't you knew I was going to be wide in Seattle sign kai kamara. Okay. Moose has one goal, one assist in league play this season. Kai kamara has three and three. So he has been more productive as a depth nine for them than Moose has been for Seattle. I don't really, if you add those extra goal contributions from kai kamara onto this Seattle roster,
00:11:23
Speaker
Is that like was Seattle a Kaikomara away from becoming an elite team in the league? I don't think so it would have been don't get me wrong Like it would be nice to have a depth nine who has been more a little productive than moose But like I don't really I don't know if I've been buying that Kaikomara necessarily would have solved the problems that ale this team on offense but either way, it's it's really
00:11:46
Speaker
It's pretty impressive to watch him to still doing his thing like that at age three. I mean, the guy's about to be 40 and he's still scoring goals like that. He's really like a physical freak. Like we were talking about it in the press box, like even outside of how athletic that finish was, like when he goes up to clear a header out of the box, like that's, that's like a defensive header. He's like this vert is just like,
00:12:13
Speaker
Ridiculous and that like it has been his whole career But the guy is literally pushing 40 and he just like he doesn't age man He literally looks like he's in his 20s like when he's out there so I mean honestly that was a pretty insane Shot like I don't really know Like it wasn't it wasn't defended well, but like I think that is a little bit of a tip your cap situation but the thing is
Sounders' Rivalries and Competitive Challenges
00:12:39
Speaker
The 2-0 was fully deserved because honestly LAFC should have had a third. They let Bewonga get another breakaway in the first half that really like he hit it off the post, but that easily easily could have been a goal. And so the fact that Kaikomara bammed like a crazy one is the score line at halftime was fully merited. It wasn't like
00:13:03
Speaker
They gave up the one to Hollingshead and then Kai got a lucky one and it was against the run of play or anything like that. I think 2-0 was totally fair. It was already done and dusted at that point. LAFC was in cruise control, but they put in a third for good measure. Denny Bewonga, the evil demon, spawned from the gates of hell.
00:13:26
Speaker
Every time Seattle plays LA FC, which they have eight times this year and are playing again in the open cup, but I mean we've played eight times. Do we play any other team in the league? Apparently not, but seriously either way.
00:13:42
Speaker
This is, I mean, he did the exact same thing in the first game. He did the exact same thing in the first half of this game. And then, uh, this time Hugo Laureus gets a goalkeeper assist. Oh, that was like, how are you going to let the goalkeeper put a ball over the top on you like that to give their best player a breakaway who's already been torching you on these breakaways every time you play all season? Like, I don't know how you're
00:14:10
Speaker
Backline gets that far out of position on really on two out of these three goals. So really just Bad defending and that was that LFC 3-0 I think the most galling thing about this result was just how how exactly the same this was as the last time these two teams played literally like down to the minutes and like the periods of the game that the goals were scored and
00:14:34
Speaker
It was like it was the exact same story. The goals were conceded like the boanga goals were was conceded in the exact same way. The last game Bogus had like an insane shot. This game Kamara had an insane shot. The minute of the first goal was pretty much it was the same thing. It was the same game. It was the exact same game. I was like am I am I in the twilight zone. Am I watching just a replay right now. Like what is happening. You know and I think that's I think
00:15:03
Speaker
People would have been frustrated by this no matter what. But I think like the feeling of deja vu was the most frustrating thing because it's like you kind of knew the type of stuff that could happen and what you had to prepare for. And you let the same thing happen again. So people were rightfully frustrated about it. And Schmetz was pissed. Oh, dude, that presser was hot. He had the most blazing hot MLS coach press conference of certainly of this round of League's Cup. That's as pissed as I've ever seen him.
00:15:33
Speaker
I've seen some blazing hot Schmetz pressers, but he was real mad. And I think probably in large part to exactly what I was talking about was the repeat nature of what occurred. I'm sure they drilled this stuff and prepared for this stuff and training all week. And to see it just happen again, that's got to be one of the things that drives a coach the most crazy.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean in his presser he was talking about like a very specific thing like I think the first question was by Jeremiah and you know he just kind of teed it up for a little bit of a opening statement kind of question and Just the heavy sigh that Brian gave and then being like we practiced all week on Alex You know not letting him get past and over you know playing those balls over and like all like to the tee He's like we practiced this and this and this and I guess you know and
00:16:23
Speaker
Guess we just can't do it. You know, I mean that's not exactly what he said, but it was he was so Frustrated and I think my favorite quote from him of the night was yeah, the game plan is gonna be different the next time we play them Yeah, which I a lot of people who were in my mentions for the question sourcing after the game That was the biggest source of frustration is like why wasn't the game plan different this time? And you know, I can't really answer that. I don't know. I I feel like the game plan is
00:16:51
Speaker
probably was different but they just didn't execute it correctly. I can't imagine the coaches told them to do the exact same thing that they did last time. That's just how it panned out. And they took a fat L for it. All right, I'm gonna hit my rapid fire takeaway. You can tell me what you think of these.
00:17:10
Speaker
Take away number one. I mean LAFC owns Seattle. Sorry. I mean I hate to say it seven zero and two over the last nine. And so that would be bad enough. But then you throw in the fact that these last two games have both been in Seattle and pretty like non competitive. I I honestly thought the last game was
00:17:31
Speaker
i guess slightly more competitive than this one uh... it was a great but i mean it but i mean that's pretty much a wash like either one of these games were particularly close uh... and really seattle will always have that twenty nineteen western conference championship like but realistically when you're talking about not nine win list and you've lost seven of them get bammed on that badly twice in a row at home uh... they i mean they own seattle they own seattle and uh...
00:18:01
Speaker
It's like both of their top rivals in the Western Conference have been getting the better of the Sounders like too much the last couple years because this was a big storyline with the Timbers too. And luckily Seattle was able to kind of snap that trend by winning at Providence Park earlier this season. But.
00:18:18
Speaker
LAFC this LAFC thing has become super one-sided That's kind of a little segue actually to another point. I wanted to make which is no I don't know if you saw this, but we had a disgruntled YouTube commenter who was oh, no he was saying that uh We're too pro-galaxy. Oh, I did see the show. Yeah, so and Because we were we praised the galaxy a lot, but I guess the thing I wanted to just like clarify about that I guess is that
00:18:43
Speaker
I follow the whole league a lot and obviously it's like my job to follow the whole league. And so if I see a team that is playing well or I like how they play or what they've done with their roster or anything else, I'm not going to discount that or look over it or not say it just because I personally don't like the team. I think that's just disingenuous and bad analysis in my opinion. This year I think the Galaxy have played really well
00:19:10
Speaker
And they've been one of my favorite teams to watch. So I'm not trying to fanboy for him. I'm just telling you guys like what I see as the best run teams, the best teams on the field. Like those teams are going to get covered as such because they earn that like
Player Performances: Rúsnák and Galaxy Highlights
00:19:25
Speaker
through their form. So anyway, we're Capital J journalists.
00:19:27
Speaker
over here, all right? Don't you come at us for our ethics and morals. I'm the one making the jokes here, not Ari. Well, I mean, what am I supposed to tell you? The galaxies suck when they're up from the number one in the shield sandings? I'm not going to do that. That's factually inaccurate. And Ricky Peuge, he's hot, okay? He's hot. What are we going to do about that? Sorry.
00:19:48
Speaker
Takeaway two, so the Roosnack haters, they're back. This has become a thing now, so anytime he plays well and racks have a bunch of goal contributions, it's like radio silence. No one's in my mentions about anything Roosnack related. And then every time the Sounders lose and they don't play well or they get shut out or whatever, then you all come back and are getting on my case. And I know you all, it's like this little grib of you. You listen to the show, I know, because in your replies you'll reference things that I've said.
00:20:18
Speaker
Yeah, so this has become this has become a thing it's unfortunately And so I don't want to like give it too much oxygen because I feel like this debate is both pointless and also like I declared it over but I mean guys like especially in
00:20:39
Speaker
in a game like this, I don't really know what you're watching if you think that this result had much to do with the offense at all. I put this game fully, fully on the defense as much as any L that Seattle has taken this year, which you could put a lot of them on the offense, and we did during that period of time. This was on the defense. The defense fully self-destructed, and going back to the point about Schmetz and Steve C's,
00:21:04
Speaker
Press conference like they were talking about how that Hollings head goal right like that basically
00:21:12
Speaker
that put LAFC in a situation where they could just execute their game plan exactly how they wanted to. And it puts Seattle just so far behind the eight ball. And it's when you're in that situation, it's like pretty, it makes running your offense way, way harder, especially when you're playing against a team like this. So like, I just really, I don't know what we're talking about with this anymore. Like,
00:21:37
Speaker
I've made my stance on the roost neck debate clear. I think there are things still to be debated, but overall, like I'm not going to like spend a heck of a lot of time harping on the guy who's been in some of the hottest form in the league for like six weeks now and has 18 goal contributions in like 28 games or whatever. I just think it's like pretty pointless. What's the last time that he didn't score or assist?
00:22:02
Speaker
Like, I feel like in the last five or ten matches, he's had eight out of those ten, nine out of those ten. Yeah, I saw a couple people saying that he's a set piece merchant that... Okay. Well, A, okay, like, that is, like, part of your job as the number ten, but also not true. Like, he's had a lot of assists, like, from Open Play this year, so that's literally just, like,
00:22:24
Speaker
Factually incorrect. I saw a lot of people saying that he only stat pads against bad teams I mean also inaccurate if you look at the last two games he did it against the galaxy who are one of the best teams in the league and Puma's you could say whatever you want like they're a league a mechies team that's near the top of the table to start their season and They have some really good players like so and he did it against them too. That was a nasty assist Yeah, like let's be let's be so for real right now like that that little dink
00:22:53
Speaker
You do that against anyone you're scoring. It doesn't matter who you are. You get ManU out there. He's able to thread through that pass and Jordan's in the perfect position. That's a goal 10 times out of 10. Or as the XG merchants would say, that's a 0.98 XG, all right, folks? Yeah. Anyway, I think that's all I wanted to say about the Rusnik thing. I think it's nice that you guys have a little community of just
00:23:18
Speaker
Angry and disgruntled ruse snack haters. It's like a t-shirt. It's a random passion to pick in life But I respect that you guys have picked it and like specific like they they it feels like they're literally like Waiting for the sounders to like pocket watch a game and anytime they lose they're like, I'm gonna go to Ari's mentions I'm gonna show them what's up. Okay. All right. That's fine. It's fine. You're wrong. You're you're wrong, but It's you know, I stand by your First Amendment right to To be wrong
00:23:46
Speaker
You're on a heater today. My man already has the second amendment right over here. They're going to bear scorchers. They're going to come after me for this, but it's totally fine. There's still valid debates to be had about it, but I just think to blame this on Roosnack, when you had that level of defensive ineptitude, I feel like I'm watching a different sport than people sometimes. I don't know.
00:24:13
Speaker
Okay, last takeaway. This was the danger of the Craig Wibes talking points of the team is super awesome and the season's going great.
Craig Waibel's Optimism and Future Strategy
00:24:24
Speaker
We're in the quarterfinals of this, we're in the semifinals of this, we're in this playoff positioning. If you say that and then you play LAFC at home and you get played off the field like that,
00:24:39
Speaker
That's, I tried to make this point in our interview with Nico Moreno on the last show. I was like, you're, feel like you're playing with fire with that. You're playing with fire with that. Cause if you're, you're about to play the best team, one of the best teams in the league, and if you can't at least be competitive and like show that you belong on the same field as them, um, it makes that, it makes that talk talking point harder to accept, I guess.
00:25:03
Speaker
yeah I mean it's to say literally you are you would be cool I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't happy with where this team is at okay that's cool I mean I respect that I understand from an aesthetic point of being like
00:25:20
Speaker
If you look at the baseline, we're competitive in competitions, we're competitive in conference play, we're in a playoff spot. And then when it comes down to it, the one team that you have to beat to get to a championship, whether it's League's Cup, Open Cup,
00:25:42
Speaker
I'll tell you what, guess who's going to show up in the Western Conference at some point in the playoffs? LAFC. Those three competitions, if you can't even get one over on LAFC, what does it matter? What does it matter? I am shocked, honestly, that he pulled that one out, because exactly like you said.
00:26:02
Speaker
The results will speak for themselves. And then what do you do? Do you just eat crow? Like, no, like that was so, that was so stupid. That was so dumb. They got to, um, they got to, they got to win this open cup game. If, if LAFC rolls into star fire and they just alleviate your room back here at star fire. That was okay. That's actually another thing I wanted to bring up real quick, which is that, you know, a lot of people were given the talking point of like,
00:26:29
Speaker
see like LAFC they went out and improved their roster and Seattle didn't in this game like shows that which that is It is true like the the roster movement between the two sides LAFC has been stacking Seattle hasn't been doing anything Obviously not disputing that but like just look at who bammed on you this game. Just look at who did it
00:26:51
Speaker
It was Ryan Hollingshead, who is a random MLS lifer. That's probably underselling it. He's an MLS lifer and he's been a very good player in the league, but he's been on their team for like three years. This is not like a guy they went out and bolstered their roster with in this last window.
00:27:08
Speaker
Then you have Kai Kamara, who it was a guy they bolstered their roster with before the season, but he's not a huge time splashy, overseas DP in his prime. It's Kai Kamara. He's played for every team in the league. He's almost 40 years old. Good addition, but not this huge, crazy, needle-moving transfer in the way. And then Denny Bawonga, who's been bamming on you for the last three years. That's not a new...
00:27:36
Speaker
I think that point would be supported if J.Roo if it was like a close game and J.Roo comes on and he scores the game winner then like yeah like that is more applicable here but like in this case I think this was really just about Seattle committing really
00:27:53
Speaker
inexcusable defensive errors that led to them getting bammed on by Ryan Hollingshead and Denny Boonga again who really should have had two goals in this game of the exact same it's it's really three times in the last two times that these teams have played he has gotten just like
00:28:12
Speaker
Wide open breakaways that two of them he finished and then one of them he put off the post But that's like your whole defensive game plan has to be trying to minimize his ability to get those moments and making sure like your Your back line positioning is disciplined and you're not drifting too far forward For him to make those runs into all that space and get one-on-ones against your goalkeeper So anyway kind of a tangent there
00:28:36
Speaker
But I mean, I see where they're coming from, though, in a way, because if you look at LAFC and the movement that they've had over the last, like, four windows, they actually did something. If you look at them the last three summers, they've actually done something. And I think it's funny because Craig and, you know, the money ball and squad, as I'll say, they're going to be like, OK, why would we sign a player when they're not going to bolster the club or be able to contribute immediately? Well,
00:29:06
Speaker
I mean, look at LAFC. I mean, to be fair, Ryan Hollingshed and Kai Kamara were two players who could contribute basically immediately. But when, you know, it gives you flexibility to sell players off, it gives you the flexibility to move people around. Like the one guy they sent to Barca, was that Mamadou Fall? Is that who? Yeah. So like he was a defender, right?
00:29:29
Speaker
There you go. Now you have Ryan. I don't know if those are related. I'm not a LAFC roster merchant, but just saying like they're literally doing the money balling part better than the sounders are doing it, even though that's their entire business model. And it's just like, I kind of agree with what these people are saying with like.
00:29:47
Speaker
Look at what they did versus what we did. They're doing roster building correctly. They are doing a perfect combination of we'll splash cash when we need to. I think the Olivier Giroux thing is a little bit of an outlier. I think that's a little bit goofy and silly. We'll see how much he actually did that with Gareth Bale, too. So that is like a tactic that they have used.
00:30:05
Speaker
Yeah, but then it's like I feel like the the core of their roster has been like Denny Belonga who they splashed a little bit for but I don't think he was like He was he was I can't remember the exact transfer fee, but he was a decently big transfer fee if I remember correctly Yeah, and then they also hit on Bogus who's having a crazy year so and I guess like that's also a kind of a kind of difference between where these two teams are at right now is like
00:30:29
Speaker
You know, they they sign they signed Bogus who's a young player and he hits and he's got 13 goals six assists this year and Looks like you know one of the better young players in the league and then Seattle is in a situation where like their kind of version of that signing is Leo Chu who right bus kind of become a bust so It's they played in like what four games I
00:30:53
Speaker
Well, he's coming off injury and he played in this game. Oh, he's sorry. I don't know why. This was the first time I think we'd seen him in a while. And I mean, he has been hurt this year, to be fair. But like, if you're just evaluating that signing at this point, like, or at least comparing it to what they did with Bogus, like, there's no, yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
00:31:16
Speaker
Alright, let's hit it. Let's hit this agenda check and then we'll get into questions First one I've got is the one that we've been talking about the last couple weeks the Bradley Wright Phillips Sounders are fraudulent and only beat bad teams agenda that's strengthened This was a chance to to prove a point for Seattle that this agenda was fake and
00:31:36
Speaker
they could have even undermined this a little bit if the result didn't go their way, but they had been competitive and kept it a closed game and kind of Showed that they could play this team straight up like they could have even undermined this agenda by doing that But to get boat raced off the field like that it's a setback for sure in terms of disproving this agenda which really Like the galaxy are
00:32:00
Speaker
Basically at the same spot on the West table that LAFC are this year and Seattle destroyed them so they could have built off That it disproved this agenda more with a better showing in this game and by taking a result in this game But unfortunately by getting boat raced as they did They have they have strengthened the BWP agenda, which is unfortunate to say the least. Yeah, I'm I
00:32:26
Speaker
I don't even know what to say anymore. It feels like a rollercoaster of emotions because we get one good game in, we play really well, and then just tank. And maybe it's that LAFC has our number. Maybe this team is quality, but LAFC has our number.
00:32:41
Speaker
the reality is bwp kind of that's kind of what he said he kind of hooked on that and you know i was talking about how he was how he was bugging yeah take two yeah yeah we better we better send some flowers to new york for for the mls apple tv squad yes that's that's embarrassing for us loki
00:33:03
Speaker
It does, just touching on something else you brought up there, it does feel like there is something specific to this with LAFC.
00:33:13
Speaker
Like I don't know if Seattle played who are the other best teams in the league right now like Columbus inner Miami or Cincinnati or I re also like I guess those games Colorado apparently yeah the rapids apparently I don't know I like I don't know if they if I would pick Seattle in a game against one of those teams as things stand right now, but it's
00:33:36
Speaker
It's hard to believe that they wouldn't be more competitive than this, but I thought this game was going to be more competitive than it was so Anyway the other one I got written down is the it's the Craig Craig wibes things are actually totally fine agenda That's that's diminished my man already talked about that, but yeah he's in the gutter
00:33:58
Speaker
What do you think he was thinking while watching this batch after just delivering that presser and then just sitting in his in his in the box like God fucking damn guys you couldn't back me up on this God goddamn. He's just know He was nervous clicking the pen. It wasn't schmetz it was him. He was just nervous clicking his pen. Oh
00:34:18
Speaker
I got the m.o.s. Is better than Liga Metki's agenda, which is actually strengthened with both Mazatlan and Club America Crashing out last night, which we're gonna talk about At the end of the show, but got that America game was so fun
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually excited to talk about that one. I got Andy T should start over Stefan Fry just because this was Fry's first game back and Fry made a couple nasty saves. Honestly, LAFC really could have had at least another goal or two, but there was one save that Fry made in particular that I'm pretty sure was on Bogus who it was
00:34:55
Speaker
Another just like defensive breakdown where they let LAFC get off and running and Bogus has like a wide open shot and Frago is full extension to save it. I thought he looked pretty good and I thought like there's nothing in this game that made me had me like debating who the number one goalkeeper is.
00:35:23
Speaker
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00:35:50
Speaker
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00:36:19
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I don't think it really would have changed if Andy T was in there. I think they still would have bammed. Like I don't really think whoever you put in goal, it doesn't matter when you're one-on-one with the goalkeeper. It's like the, like, what are you going to do? You know, in the way fry your one-on-one with Ryan's hot, Ryan Hollingshead, no goalkeeper has a chance against him. He's lethal dude. Have you seen him just absolutely rip a strike? Like, uh, I do have one that I did want to add on here.
00:36:46
Speaker
I actually did. I did too. So you'll go and then I'll go. Okay. Okay. Here we go. Are you ready for this? LAFC are bigger rivals than the Portland timbers for the Seattle Sounders. Is it a rivalry? If you're, if you are winless and nine and they've won seven, I mean, that's kind of like the timbers stuff got one sided enough to the point where like, I feel like we were taking crazy pills on if that was even a rivalry or not, you know,
00:37:14
Speaker
So I think this is definitely a rivalry in the sense that it's two of the most successful MLS clubs of this most recent era. For all the struggles that Seattle has had the last couple years, there's still a team that's rattled off a couple of MLS cups and a Champions League in this last era. And then LAFC,
00:37:38
Speaker
They've put up some of the most crooked goal differentials and just buzzsaw type teams that I've seen in the league. They've won an MLS cup and they bammed on Seattle for like nine games in a row. Went to two Champions Leagues. Couldn't get it done, but they went.
00:37:53
Speaker
I went to bring this up earlier, but I feel like this whole thing with LFC is Karma for the hour and ten minute long episode we recorded where we were just clowning on LFC for losing Champions League and their fans like we have a couple one star reviews from from that episode specifically worth it though worth it wouldn't change a thing one of my favorite honestly like the oh yeah easily and like the the schadenfreude
00:38:19
Speaker
Seattle people the shot that schadenfreude is like all we have yeah in this dynamic at this point because every time the two teams play LA FC just absolutely bams so it's like it's really like It's not it's not like flexing as much as it sounds It's more just like you know you have to have something to hang on onto and that's yeah That's what we have right now
00:38:42
Speaker
My agenda that I forgot to write down what I was going to bring up is the RE is a dumbass for rating the galaxy over LAFC agenda, which is drastically strengthened. Wish I hadn't dished that take. Since I got into podcasting, I've had to come to terms with the fact that a lot of it is just firing from the hip and sometimes the take is going to cook, sometimes it's going to backfire.
00:39:07
Speaker
and I'd like to think that I've Had more hits than misses, but that was a bad take we all listen This is a bad take this is constant L posting like being a podcaster is just constant L posting, but I will say I feel like out of all of The podcast that I've seen we take responsibility when we are wrong like always put my hand up when I'm
Open Cup vs. Regular Season Priorities
00:39:31
Speaker
when I'm wrong
00:39:31
Speaker
We'll take it except for alberto snack you guys will never ever win. Yeah, there's nothing to put my hand up on that one cuz I'm right, but anyway That's all I had for agenda check. Let's get into these questions. No. What do we got absolutely? Thank you all for your questions Lobdom and aries mentions on Twitter. It was a little bit. It was a little
00:39:51
Speaker
There's a little sketchy in there this this past it was yeah, remember how good the vibes were after the pumas game Yes, was like the polar opposite, which I would expect but it was still unfortunate to see I like we've got we've we've got some haters knowing a little contingent out there that they don't like us But they listen to the show and we love and appreciate that we honestly I love the haters because without you we would be nothing we would we would not be real and
00:40:17
Speaker
This one comes from a billion two with Portland coming up in just three days later Do we throw the open cup game by playing our b-team and focus on a rivalry match or do we actually throw everything? We've got it la fc again lose and play Portland on short rest I know it's the the second one, but why isn't it the first one? Oh?
00:40:37
Speaker
No, because la fc is a bigger rivalry. You don't throw the open cup because that is Realistically probably your shot at getting a trophy this year and if they won the open cup that would honestly be sick and They have a chance to do it like I know I know no one is Going to be picking them or expecting them to be la fc in that game, but I will say the starfire variable like has
00:41:03
Speaker
turned games in the past that maybe should be favored to the other team and turn them into toss ups. Like it's really, the dimensions are tough. The surface is tough. Uh, the environment is, uh, is very different than like your standard MLS game. So I could see, I mean, I thought Seattle was going to be more competitive against LAFC in this game and I was wrong.
00:41:26
Speaker
But like what I'm saying is I could see this game being more there for the taking just like purely based on that Like with nothing to do with the quality differential on top of that like with how la fc schedule is with them advancing in league's cup They're probably
00:41:40
Speaker
Okay. LFC apparently they just don't rotate. No, like when they were in Champions League, they literally put Bwonga and he played like 400 games. Yeah. And like, apparently Bwonga, you can just play him 90 minutes every single game on short rest on any surface, any travel. And he just doesn't, it just doesn't affect him at all. He's gone. He does the same thing in every game. He's evil demons gone from the gates of hell. So like,
00:42:06
Speaker
the physical demands of playing professional soccer that afflict most people don't have any impact on him. But, like, you gotta think that, like, okay, I guarantee you, Bwonga will be out there. I guarantee you, Bogus will be out there. But they might, like, you might see Ilyay rotate out. You might see a CB, like, Mario or Aaron Long rotate out.
00:42:31
Speaker
Maybe he will I bet Hugo Lord now Aaron long will play that game because he has the most starfire experience because he was an s2 Legend that's actually shitload of games on that field. That is actually a good point Yeah, but maybe Maria rotates out. Maybe hauling said I don't know how they're gonna I'd but it just pisses me off because I know they're gonna play Bwanga in Bogus and Like it's just so especially Bwanga so tired of it so tired of it, but anyway
Breaking the Winless Streak Against LAFC
00:43:01
Speaker
Don't punt the open cup is what I'm saying like You don't need to punt the Portland game either necessarily I'm sure there's like ways you can wrangle it where you feel like a reasonably strong lineup for both of these games But like I would kind of go for broke in the open cup and especially like
00:43:20
Speaker
I think it would be a big psychological boost for this team to get by LAFC if they can pull it off like this stuff this it's like the timbers thing man this needs to end like you need to get them for one night like seven out of nine where like nine winless and they've won seven of them including like six zero combined over the last two on your home field cheese like that's gotta end
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really give a shit about this portland game if i'm being honest like If we win it that rocks if we don't I don't care as long as we continue to stack points and make the playoffs Like what why in what world would you want to punt the open cup like it's that's just silly You're this close you're this close and on top of that you're this close if you win and you win the whole thing you are you break the record for them or you tie the record for the most cups and
00:44:12
Speaker
that's like let's yeah like like you were saying there is no shot there is no shot that they win any other trophy other than like no that's it i'd honestly i couldn't even imagine this team going on an mls cup run yeah i went in the shield the playoffs uh like like going into the 2016 playoffs i would have said the i did say the exact same thing and they went so you know like yeah the playoffs you can you can randomly get hot and like unless lamec gets eliminated somehow and then we don't have to play them maybe
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty hard to see a scenario where Seattle beats LAFC in the playoffs this year, especially because that would involve them traveling for it. But again, in 2019, I went to that game in LA. And I remember on my flight there, I was like, why am I, this is they're going to lose. This LAFC team had a plus 50 goal differential and had Carlos Vela hit 51 goal contributions. I didn't think they were going to win. So you never know.
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Anyway, what's next? All right. This next one comes from Bobber scare burner. As an LAFC fan, the three year winless streak against us is overstated in my opinion. But over the last year, Seattle repeatedly shrunk from the moment against us specifically. How do you break out of this funk? Can you break out fast enough for the USOC semifinal to make it a competitive match?
00:45:34
Speaker
Well, first of all, thanks for tuning in, even though you're an LAFC fan. We love our LAFC fans. We appreciate that because there's a contingent of LAFC fans that are not necessarily what I would describe as fans of this show. You're welcome here. We will bully you, but you are welcome here. I mean, your team bullies our team, so fair play.
00:45:56
Speaker
Yeah like I guess you know we were kind of talking about it earlier but I really I really don't know how to diagnose it because like I think one thing this Seattle team has been good at especially in the Schmetzer years is that when they're playing a team
00:46:12
Speaker
That has a talent advantage on them, which is you know Seattle has been one of the more talented teams like from the MLS cup runs to the Champions League run They usually had would have a talent advantage in a lot of their MLS games but there were times where like when they were playing in LA FC or like I don't know if they played the Philly Union when they were having those crazy years where they were buzz saw on everybody and
00:46:37
Speaker
But Seattle is usually pretty good at playing to their level of competition, I think. And that's just not been the case at all against LASC. So I wish I could explain that. I don't really know. But as far as breaking out of that funk,
00:46:58
Speaker
I guess my hope for what's going to happen is that they'll be able to put on a better, more competitive showing in this OpenCUB game, use the starfire variable to their advantage, and if they can pull a result in that game, I think it could do a lot psychologically of getting past this whole LAFC ownership thing.
00:47:24
Speaker
I do think there's, I can see a scenario where that game is competitive just because, you know, I don't know. I haven't, I don't think I've seen LFC play at starfire.
00:47:35
Speaker
A lot of a lot of teams come into Starfire and struggle. It's like a weird place to play. So yeah, the field is really short and weird. It's like the turf is awful, awful. And you have players who, you know, let's say they do sign Georgie. You got Georgie who that's dude. That's where he plays, bro. That's where he cooks like that would rock.
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah, like if you look at Seattle's All-Time Open Cup record at Starfire. It's like ridiculous. They've lost like one or I think it's like two times because one was the red card way BAM on them last year at Starfire and penalties. Yes, it was. Yep. I was there. Yeah, so They've lost two games all time at Starfire and one at you might have been boys
00:48:21
Speaker
I'm pretty sure the record is pretty sure it was the red card wedding and that quakes game. And that's that would make sense. But I mean, if I could have that wrong, if I have that wrong, hit us in the comments or on Twitter. But I do know that it is a very, very one sided like Seattle's winning percentage in open cup games and star fires like off the charts.
00:48:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, I, I don't think that they can break out of the funk. I think they just have to get lucky and that luck is exponentially increased based on how far LAFC go in league's cup. If they make it to the final, they play, they win.
00:48:58
Speaker
you just gotta pray that there's some kind of like hangover effect because at that point they've already qualified for well they've already qualified for Champions League regardless so but if they win a trophy win that prize money you know they're still gonna care they're still gonna go for the open cup but I have a feeling that
00:49:18
Speaker
There's a little bit more desire on the sounder side with that. But man, I mean, they own us, dude. There's there's no way that I could sugarcoat it. There's no way that I can sugarcoat it. They own the sounders. There's an honestly, if I'm honest, what the difference maker is, is the fact that
00:49:38
Speaker
One of our highest paid designated players is sitting on the bench and coming in as a super sub. When their highest paid and best designated players are playing 90 minutes every single game and they are lethal and they are killing. And they have a new one who's literally the all time leading goal scorer for the French national team. Right. Who as soon as he's fit, you can bet your ass he's going to be playing over Kaikomara. And I really see very little scenario where
00:50:07
Speaker
where he's not bamming in goal after goal for them, man. I'm like, God, the guy who didn't like the galaxy gassing is not going to like this. No, I mean, I'm just I'm just trying to like prepare you guys. I guess like, you know, we'll stop the gassing.
Potential Transfers and League's Cup Updates
00:50:21
Speaker
If you if you don't like the gassing, go back and listen to the three. Yeah, it's like episode three. I remember it was in the basement. We recorded it. Yeah.
00:50:30
Speaker
We had both watched the final together and then we were like in goblin mode crawling down to the basement like let's put out some LFC hate. All right. This next one comes from Andrew. I may never watch the Sounders play LFC again. Don't blame you. I didn't tonight and I'm not regretting it. Yeah, no good choice. I went to the game and kind of wishing I hadn't. So I definitely like okay.
00:50:56
Speaker
I'm gonna see how this open cup game goes, but straight up, it's getting to the point where it might be a boon for all of our mental health to not watch Seattle play LFC. I'm tired of it, because they're playing for the freaking fifth time this year in this open cup game, and they've all been going the same way.
00:51:15
Speaker
Yeah, I don't blame you at all. Save your mental health for literally anything else. It's not worth it at this point. This next one and final question comes from SounderVibes. I'm so tired of the club slash a lot of fans putting all of their eggs in the De La Vega basket. He's been fine for the four minutes that he's played, but it's obvious he's no Nico Lodato.
00:51:39
Speaker
Well, I mean, the first thing I would say about that is, like, I think it's sort of like putting the eggs in that basket out of necessity. It's the only basket that there is. Hopium. Yeah, exactly. Like, if there was another basket, I would put the eggs in that basket. But there's only one basket in this scenario. Yeah. So like you have.
00:52:01
Speaker
Where else are you going to put the eggs is my question. The non-existent signing, summer signing. Exactly. Like that basket doesn't exist. My eggs are in the winter basket, Ari. I'm putting my summer 2025 is where all of my eggs are. It's got to be a real basket.
00:52:16
Speaker
this basket is injured but at least it exists you know so that's I mean that's one thing I mean also like I mean I still think the sample size that we've seen is not enough to judge him as a player like
00:52:33
Speaker
It's just when he's played as few minutes as he has and he's been injured and working his way back to fitness pretty much the entire time that we've watched him play, you can't see either way. You can't say either way and that's a problem in itself because you have a player who can't stop getting injured and had these injury issues
00:52:51
Speaker
before you signed him, which I think is the question. That's the question that I'm asking about it is like, could this have been anticipated given his history? But as far as it being obvious that he's no Lidero, I mean, I see their skill sets as pretty different. First, first of all, like they're pretty different players. I don't really know if I would compare them like that.
00:53:14
Speaker
But I also, you can't really say either way what his quality as a player is because we haven't really got to watch him play at all, which is frustrating in its own right.
00:53:26
Speaker
I don't know what to tell you. Don't put them in there. That's definitely what I would say. If people are putting them in there, just let them do it. Just let them have the hope of it, the feeling that they might have a player eventually that hits. But I feel like even Brian and even Craig have the understanding that he's not ever going to be the centerpiece of this roster. And maybe I'm wrong, but like,
00:53:54
Speaker
i just don't he's like a piece to make the team better he's not the whole the whole meal he's the mashed potatoes he's not the state you need more you like you need more than just him like i totally i'm in that boat fully and i think you've yeah like honestly the biggest issue is
00:54:10
Speaker
Did you make a bum signing because he has had so much injury? I literally, dude, I used to play with this Russian guy in this indoor league in central Pennsylvania when I went to school. My man chain smoked cigarettes before the match was 55 years old and had better knees than Pedro de la Vega.
00:54:27
Speaker
What it like you know what I mean? I'm not saying anything about the guy, but like maybe you should start smoking cigarettes or something I don't know like he's is he ever gonna be fit. I just that's right He was available for this game, so I guess that's somewhat encouraging I've been saying that they should play him so he can sprain his fucking I had gotten to the point where I was saying that it might be worth talking about just shutting him down because it just doesn't seem like I
00:54:54
Speaker
He is physically able to play right now without like injuring something but He could I the game just got out of hand. Otherwise, I think he would have played in this game Okay, so we have a couple more things to hit but Noah I meant to include something that I forgot I wanted us to riff on. Yeah, I wanted to talk about this thread I'm sure you saw it from the armchair analyst Matthew. Yes
00:55:17
Speaker
So Matthew, he put out a threat on Twitter that was kind of bad. Well, I mean, that's what we're going to talk about. That's what we're going to talk about. A lot of people disagreed with it. But he was kind of presenting the counter argument for why Seattle's standing pat in this window actually wasn't the stupidest thing that he'd ever heard. And I think it's worth talking about just because, like,
00:55:39
Speaker
Our perceptions of it are informed by obsessively following the day to day. And people who have the national bird's eye of it, they might think of it differently than we do. So agree or disagree, I think it's interesting to talk about a different perspective and why someone who's not as invested on the day to day might think the way that they do that's different than how we see it or the fan base sees it.
00:56:08
Speaker
Plus, we love and respect Matty D out here. And Matty D, that's the thing. Even if you disagree with his takes, his takes are going to be thought out and well-informed. It's not like he's just spouting off like he doesn't know what he's talking about, like he's skippaeless. Matty D knows ball. He's too researched sometimes. Right. So he was responding to a tweet of a disgruntled Sounders fan who was mad about the lack of activity in this last transfer window.
00:56:34
Speaker
And I'm just going to read what he said, and then we can talk about it. Doyle said, I understand Sounders fans wanted a signing, but y'all are in the quarters of the league's cup in the semis of the open cup. And by standing pat now, you get one, more minutes for high upside home grounds and two, more flexibility in the winter. Sometimes doing nothing is the right move. Let's say they could have bought out Rui Diaz and then bring in a DP nine. Great. Except they don't know for sure that Pedro de la Vega won't be perma broken. So then they're in trouble since they'll need to find a way to get
00:57:00
Speaker
either out of that contract or recruit over him, say they signed a U-22, awesome, except they have one 19-year-old homegrown starter, Obed, who's gonna need a raise this winter for sure, and another 19-year-old homegrown contributor, RBW, who's probably on the same timeline, so now what do you do?
00:57:16
Speaker
So for my Seattle grade, it comes down to the fact that this has looked like an improved version of last year's team, despite the fact that we haven't really gotten to see De La Vega fully fit yet. And the best thing they could have done this window is have some patience with it. I did knock them down a half letter grade for not selling anyone yet. It's probably time to move off of two, for example. But as is, they're competing for multiple trophies and have massive flexibility this winter. So in my opinion, they mostly did the right thing this summer. OK, like I'll just say, first of all, I just think it's funny, like, like given the
00:57:46
Speaker
Temperature of the discourse that's been going on in sounders land. Yeah, like just to take like that like where it's like Oh, actually they might have done the right thing is just I mean rainbows and unicorns national used to What to see but I do think okay. There's a couple things that I do Disagree with but I think he actually there's some valid points in there too that I think like if you're not acknowledging you're probably
00:58:12
Speaker
you're not thinking about it fully rationally, which I think is what he's trying to do. I mean, I would say he did dish the Craig Wibes like you're competing for multiple like that. That's part of it. I mean, we've talked about it. I don't really necessarily to subscribe to that as a rationale for not doing anything because I mean, like because of exactly what we saw yesterday. Yeah, you made it kind of far in the league's cup, but then you got Thermo blasted out of there by LAFC immediately as soon as you had to play like one of the best teams still in the tournament.
00:58:42
Speaker
part of it like I I'm not with that as much but I think the the point about the high upside homegrowns is an interesting one in the sense like both what he was talking about in terms of like you're gonna need to probably spend some money if you want to keep RBW and Obed around but you know also like
00:59:08
Speaker
If you if you bring in like a you can bring in at you 22 But then it's like if Obed and RBW are still on the roster There's a no guarantee that whoever you sign is gonna be as good as them And then it's like yeah, then you're there's not as much of a role for that player necessarily So I'm not saying that necessarily should fully inform the decision, but it is something to think about and then I thought his point about like
00:59:32
Speaker
Like there's been a lot of talk about how not buying out Rui Diaz was like really stupid and unacceptable and that they should have done that. And I think he brings up at least an interesting point that with the De La Vega situation being what it is and his kind of future and what you're gonna get out of him being uncertain right now, like if you do that and then you still have De La Vega on the books and stuff, then like, yeah, then you're in a bit of a,
00:59:59
Speaker
you're in a tough situation that could send you even further back. That's something that you do need to at least consider. Like I said, I'm not saying that that necessarily shouldn't form how they approach it or what they do.
01:00:15
Speaker
That's that's the type of stuff that Craig waves is trying to weigh and think about and that's probably Some of that stuff is kind of what's going through his head that you can disagree with it But I'm just saying it might at least explain like why like the Rui Diaz thing for example people are like how could you not buy him out? That's kind of like that's why mm-hmm I think that this is a good take if you have no
01:00:38
Speaker
additional context in the prior or the latter of what happens before this and after this. I don't think that this the like rationale of Craig Weibel period was
01:00:51
Speaker
bad or bad faith I don't think that the situation he was in was good so I can give him that but it ignores the last two seasons of doing basically fuck all and it ignores the future where you have players like Jordan JP Albert
01:01:09
Speaker
uh christian you know players are going they're coming into their prime they're in their final years of their prime and then they're gonna you know there's been no replacement there's been no change the same lineup that we played against pumas we basically played the same lineup two years later like if if this take had no like they didn't take into account any of the other things which that was his article was this transfer window period
01:01:39
Speaker
It would be fine, but you completely ignore the fact that this is the third summer in a row where there's no signing. This is, you are at a position where you haven't been able to move on from Chew and he just doesn't play. He's sopping up money. Raoul, who you knew was declining, you, you know, you kept him on the books and now he's just sitting on the bench and he keeps getting injured because he isn't fit. And like, I'm
01:02:06
Speaker
What are you gonna do for the next two windows? And then it also ignores Club World Cup that comes up if you actually wanted to be competitive in that you would have had to start building a season ago and Like I completely disagree with his take I agree with his points that he made to argue with his take though I think those can also like
01:02:27
Speaker
They make sense in our argument as well that we made this past week and with our interview with Nico, which you guys should go back and watch. We are posting that as a separate clip on our YouTube too, so go sub there and watch that.
01:02:41
Speaker
Listen, I love Doyle, but this is a very national pundit look at it. It's a very zoomed out, very like spot in the moment and doesn't really take into consideration the impact this has on the next year, two years, and kind of ignores the last two years that have.
01:02:59
Speaker
We're really influential on where this squad is now. Yeah, I honestly think you summed up the counterpoint to To his take pretty well right there. I don't really have much to add but it did I bring it up because I did think it was like interesting to
01:03:16
Speaker
to look at a national pundit take as compared to the local takes that we are privy to on the day to day and just kind of see how that's different how they might think of it differently and also sort of like yeah there was there's a couple points in there that like i kind of knew intuitively but hadn't really thought about yet so anyway um
01:03:38
Speaker
Good stuff from Doyle. He always gets my gears turning. All right. Shout out MLSSoccer.com. Great website. There's always good. That was part of his transfer grades series, or not series, but he did a huge 5,000 word article where he was grading every single team's transfer window. It's on MLSSoccer.com. And it's pretty interesting stuff for every club in there. Go check it out.
01:04:05
Speaker
All right, let's talk about these other quarterfinals results because the semis are set The Colorado Rapids have done it again. There are no Liga and Meccy's teams left in the tournament I was gassing up Club America on the last show I thought the I mean I don't really I guess they're not as good in Liga and Meccy's as I thought like they're not off to that great a start and
01:04:28
Speaker
They haven't been playing like all that well in this tournament the portion of the game that I watched when they were playing st. Louis They were absolutely dominating, but that's it is st. Louis but like I mean they looked like They looked like a front-runner, but I might have in retrospect could have been just because they were playing st. Louis, but anyway they came up against the
01:04:51
Speaker
Giant Sling juggernaut of the Colorado rapids and they couldn't do it. They couldn't get it done the rapids They pretty much trolled the 0-0 and then one in penalties. It was pretty lit shootout Yeah, that was a fun one to watch it was like 10 rounds or whatever and Zach Stefan took a PK and he made his and then he took a nice PK and then the Club of Medica goalkeeper
01:05:13
Speaker
Missed his it was a brick comedic fashion yeah, and that I was hilarious because we were talking about it on the last show, but like Their games are I just like There's so many of their fans at each one of these games It's literally like they're playing at home, and they're just going crazy like the atmosphere at those games looks insane But it was funny to have to for all those fans out there to watch them losing penalties to the Colorado rapids
01:05:41
Speaker
League of mechies can't handle the Colorado rapids. They're not ready. They're not ready for the smoke of the Colorado rapids They single-handedly eliminated. I think half of the league. I make four teams 14 That's what I'm saying. Like we got mechies fans are all mad about like, you know, we're losing cuz cuz of the travel and because Early in the season like our fitness isn't up. It's like four of you guys got
01:06:04
Speaker
Knocked out by the rap. Yeah, like my brother in christ is the colorado rapids. They're the rapids are having a pretty good year Like they're in fourth place in the west. They're a lot better than a lot of people thought they would be but exactly it's the colorado rapids like if you're eliminated by zach if that's if you're in If you're a liga mechies team in upper tier one and you consider yourself on this high ground above the mls teams You got to be able to at least
01:06:30
Speaker
beat the Colorado rapids. You've got to you have to before you have any credibility at all. That's step one is you have to beat the Colorado rapids. The league. I make you squads. They can't do it. They can't do it. Georgie Mihailovich is too good. Zach. Stefan is up the PIDS. Rafael Navarro is he owns you guys. He owns you guys and Chris Armas owns you guys, which that's even tougher.
01:06:56
Speaker
Xpero. Dude, Xpero. I saw this one from, uh, from AP of Saturday at heart. He said, man, this team, they're Xpero. It's not X dog. It's Xpero. The Spanish, I'm not sure that wasn't Jim. Maybe it was Tim. Maybe it was Timmy. I don't want to miss a tribute. Okay. It was attributed to Twitter user. Someone, but it was fire.
01:07:16
Speaker
either AP or Tim. I think it was Tim, but I might've been to, I think it was Tim. So I just, I just the whole bit of like four, four in a row by the rapids. Like I, I don't care how far you had to travel. Like that's crazy, man. They're not bad, but it's like, they're not.
01:07:31
Speaker
But it's Zach Stefan, bro. He literally had a, he let in a PK that bammed off his head. And like, what are you going to do? That shootout was so, you guys should go and watch that shootout. Like the America goalkeeper makes this like insane leg save, like kicks his leg up, ball bams off his knee, like, and he just mean mugs him. He was just like, and then Zach Stefan, like one or two penalty kicks later,
01:07:57
Speaker
Like tips the ball goes off the post hits him on the back of the head and then goes into the goal And then he steps up buries his pk and the goalkeeper who made the crazies the america goalkeeper He just like he literally just passes it out of bounds. I don't even know what he was doing. Oh, it was so good That was hilarious. That was a really good pk that their goalkeeper took yeah
01:08:16
Speaker
The crew barely got by NYC FC they had to do it in penalties and it was one one and they had to come back again to do it, but It was not it was not a very crew like performance, but honestly like I watched most of that game I give I give credit to NYC FC I I like NYC FC not to like get into gassing up other teams again. You know which some people don't like but like I
01:08:40
Speaker
NYCFC, they've become a real squad, and they gave the crew a hard time. I mean, this was at Columbus, and they almost got him out of there, which that would have flipped a lot on its head, because I think right now it looks like Columbus and L.A.F.C. are just on this crass course.
01:08:59
Speaker
I see Precious few scenarios where the rapids like it's funny because the rapids have done all this hard work to eliminate for League M equis teams in a row They're gonna get absolutely bammed on by LFC. I'm pretty sure I mean, you know anything can happen in a given game and I would love it if the rapids won that game but not expecting them to at all and It's looking like an LA FC Columbus final which will be interesting because if you remember
01:09:26
Speaker
Columbus played at LAFC a couple weeks ago and they won five to one. Which you really pretty much never see that happen to LAFC. So that would be an interesting rematch. I really want Philly to play LAFC though because I kind of just think it'd be funny for Philly to get one over on LA or for them to just bungle up another championship. That would be a good bit. And that's a good segue actually because Philly was the next result. They knocked out Mazatlan even though they got a red card.
01:09:55
Speaker
And so they it was they got a red card immediately went up one zero. And then Mazatlan tied at one one and then Philly won in penalties. Andre Blake, who's arguably the best goalkeeper in the league of the last like three or four years, he had a really good shootout, got Philly through and we were talking about it on the last show. But Philly are like Philly low key are kind of just like old Philly again.
01:10:22
Speaker
They're just back for no reason just back for no reason for leagues cup. Yeah, so like that's kind of that that's a bit of an X factor because if they're just like the filly of old that was a great team, so that could that could change things, but yeah you got Columbus you got Philly you got the rapids you got LFC I got LFC is the favorite frankly do you like do you have Columbus?
01:10:49
Speaker
I'll take Columbus. Yeah. I've been, I've been known to be a Columbus enjoyer. They have, I mean, okay. They have like a great claim for being the favorite out of this because I mean, like I said, the last time they played LAFC, they played them off their own feet, like LAFC's own field. And it would be in Columbus, I believe. So I think so because it's like based on this league's cup ranking. No, it was based on, I think partially last year's supporters shield.
01:11:17
Speaker
Standings, I don't know okay, but I think I think cuz like LAFC finished below the Sounders. That's why they had to come play in Seattle I don't know who cares I thought that was they they had this like ranking system for like Your league's cup ranking is like a separate thing. I don't know so
01:11:40
Speaker
I don't know who would host that, but either way, Columbus have already shown that they can bam on LAFC at LA, so I think it would be a good game. All right, a couple of transfer items for you guys just to get you even more upset about Seattle's lack of activity, but I think that these are both pretty big stories.
Transfer Strategies and Final Thoughts
01:12:02
Speaker
I mean, number one is that the Galaxy signed Marco Royce, who
01:12:07
Speaker
I mean he's one of the most decorated Bundesliga players of this recent generation I mean longtime superstar for Borussia Dortmund I mean I was reading up on him I was on his zoom call actually his introductory like press conference so I was reading up more about him to like learn what to put in the article even though I mean anyone who has followed the Bundesliga even like tangentially at least knows who he is yeah he's that profile of player but uh he's like
01:12:37
Speaker
Either the only or one of the only players to ever have 150 plus goals and over a hundred assists in the Bundesliga Yeah, so I mean he's crazy talented. He's had some injury issues throughout his career but like when he was on the field for Dortmund he's I mean, he's a great player and it's really just like The rich getting richer a little bit like we've we've talked ad nauseam about
01:13:03
Speaker
The the level that the galaxies are playing out on offense this year To the point where like this is a depth piece. Yeah, you have Marco Royce is coming in as a depth piece Yes, that's insane like think about like the rotation they can do now. Oh god. I'm gassing up the galaxy I'm sorry like they signed Marco Royce, so I have to like talk about the all right like think about how
01:13:27
Speaker
They can that you know they start the triple P's Joey paints we push and and pack and then like they can literally just sub push out and at whatever point in the game and then just plug Marco Royce in there like that's nasty.
01:13:45
Speaker
That's just that's like it's not cheating because that's just good roster build but like I Literally remember as a child in like a middle school high school waking up at five six in the morning just so I could watch brochure Dortmund watch Marco Royce play like this is a Formative player of my childhood. This is like to me
01:14:08
Speaker
I remember when Zlatan came to the league right it was like he's a character he's a character and at that time I think when you made a big signing like that it was a way bigger deal than it is now because the arguably the biggest player in the entire world is here so it's like a little bit different but
01:14:26
Speaker
In the last version of MLS, this signing would have been like headline news across the league. He would have had his own tab on MLS soccer.com, like everything. This is huge. This is crazy. And I even saw that Dortmund took out a full page ad in the LA times and he's like, treat him right.
01:14:43
Speaker
He's an absolute like club legend for them like without a doubt. Yeah, so I'll be interested to see I mean he's 35 now, but I mean I was press conference He was saying like you know I feel good like I'm ready to help this team during the stretch around like Cockbar's 40 man. Yeah, he's nowhere near near Royce's stature or quality you know yeah, so
01:15:08
Speaker
I mean, it's just tough coming off all this talk about how Seattle didn't do anything. And then it's like the Galaxy, whose roster is already better, signed Marco Royce, okay. And then the other one I had was Real Salt Lake, another club who's just, I feel like the crew and RSL have just been cooking lately. Like every time I look up, they've made some new signing or some move. Outbound, inbound. And they're like improving, even though they're already really good type stuff.
01:15:35
Speaker
They transferred Andres Gomez their U-22 initiative signing to the French top flight, Ligue 1. It's Ligue 1. Ligue 1. Come on, Ari. Yeah, sorry. Ligue 1.
01:15:53
Speaker
Anyway, reported $11 million fee that could reach $13 million for add-ons, so RSL got a bag for him. This was a breakout year for Andres Gomez. He was at $13 million and $9 million. So in the short term, that's a pretty big loss.
01:16:10
Speaker
for them. But like that is a huge bag and like they're loaded enough where I think they can withstand it. And now they have like a ton of money to work with. So like great business from RSL. I feel like Kurt Schmitt is underratedly like showing this year and really in the last couple years with what he's done with that team that he's one of the best execs in the league.
01:16:30
Speaker
He took that team from a joke, like literally uncompetitive, uninteresting to, I think we rated them earlier in the season as the best club in the Western Conference or one of the best. And I feel like they haven't been talked about as much since LAFC's resurgence and the Galaxy's resurgence back to the top of the table. But yeah, they're in third right now in the Western Conference and
01:16:54
Speaker
They look just as dangerous as LAFC. I mean LA Galaxy not LAFC. They have a better goal differential than the Galaxy. They've scored more goals than the Galaxy. The hierarchy right now in the West is very clear. You've got the LA teams in RSL as your top three.
01:17:17
Speaker
They feel like one a B and C to me like I probably put I would put LFC at 1a and then the galaxy at
01:17:26
Speaker
Well, and then I would say it's kind of a wash for me between The galaxy and RSL that's kind of how I see it and then there's kind of that second tier which It's kind of led by the Colorado rapids, and then you got you got Seattle in there But it's definitely like there. There's a clear gap RSL is in that upwards here Got anything else know or should we call it? No? I think that's it we cooked on that one
01:17:50
Speaker
All right, well, yeah, we did. Thank you all, as always, for tuning in. We're gonna leave it right there for episode 59. Thank you, as always, to our paid subs. We love you guys. Lobbing scorchers, or wait, no, sounderatheart.com slash LS. Sounderatheart.com slash LS. Help us on the drive to 30 subs. We just want 30. I know, that's all I want is 30 subs at sounderatheart.com slash LS. I know there are three of you out there, three of you, listening that can help us get to that goal.
01:18:19
Speaker
Sub to the YouTube help us on the drive to 450 which should be alive and well Appreciate everyone who's tuning in and supporting us on there like comment rate subscribe five stars Tell everyone you know about the show share with LA galaxy yeah entire team Yeah, share with Joey paints until next time we out peace