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Nos Audietis, Episode 263: Nine is a pretty fine number
57 Plays8 years ago
The Sounders are officially back in the playoffs, making it a perfect nine for nine. In fact, you can go back to the USL era and the Sounders have qualified for the playoffs in 11 straight seasons and have made it all but one year of the Adrian Hanauer-Brian Schmetzer era, which dates to 2002.
This is no small feat on its own, but was punctuated nicely with a 4-0 win over FC Dallas. Say what you will about their recent struggles -- and they are significant -- beating anyone by that margin should give us some confidence. It was especially good to see Will Bruin get back onto the scoresheet, Victor Rodriguez continues to show that he might be the underrated signing of the summer and Nico Lodeiro and Clint Dempsey are up to their old tricks. All in all, a pretty satisfying way to go into the final game of the season where a win would clinch a first-round bye.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle",RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adieres is sponsored by Full Pool Wines. Full Pool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nos Adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of 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.
00:00:23
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. And three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. Hi, this is Brad Evans. You're listening to No Sari Addis.
00:00:56
Speaker
The blue blue skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle Like a beautiful child growing up
00:01:14
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Queen Anne acupuncture, Verity Credit Union, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 263, and we're recording on Monday, October 16th, 2017.
Sounders' Playoff Journey
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Licket.
00:01:32
Speaker
The Sounders are officially back in the playoffs, making it a perfect 9 for 9 in their MLS existence. In fact, you can go all the way back to the USL era, and the Sounders have qualified for the playoffs in 11 straight seasons, and have made it an all but one year of the Adrian Hanauer-Brian Schmetzer era, which dates back to 2002. This is no small feat on its own.
00:01:53
Speaker
but it was punctuated nicely with a 4-0 win over FC Dallas. Say what you will about their recent struggles, and they are significant, beating anyone by that margin should give us some confidence. It was especially good to see Will Bruin back onto the score sheet, Victor Rodriguez continues to show that he might be the underrated signing of the summer, and Nico Lidero and Clint Dempsey are back to their old tricks. All in all, a pretty satisfying way to go into the final game of the season where a win would clinch a first round bye. Given all that,
00:02:20
Speaker
What is your mood like right now, Aaron? And at least as it pertains to the Sounders. I feel pretty good about this team. You know, I think that I really think that this team is better than the one that went into the playoffs last year. And, you know, I feel really good about their chances. I mean, I think that the odds of repeating are obviously slim. I think the odds of even going back are, you know, not great. But I think the Sounders have as good a chance as anybody.
00:02:47
Speaker
if they're not the most likely single team to make it out. The field is always going to be the favorite against one team.
00:02:57
Speaker
If you've got to pick a team, I think the Sounders are a pretty good one to pick.
Recent Matches and Player Highlights
00:03:00
Speaker
And I think one of the things that was really encouraging last night is that, and really gets Vancouver too, is that the Sounders made the opponent quit. That's nice to see. That's nice to see, you know. I mean, Dallas just gave up.
00:03:18
Speaker
And I think that that's largely because the Sounders were just, you know, once they got that second goal, they just played them off the park. And, you know, before that second goal, Dallas was threatening. They had some really good chances. They had to win to get into the playoffs. When the Sounders scored the second, they still had time, you know, to conceivably score three goals. And they just gave up pretty quickly after that goal. And, you know, the Sounders used to do that a lot. And they haven't done it as much lately, but
00:03:47
Speaker
They have a kind of confidence about them, especially when they get a lead that I think is really hard for teams to deal with.
00:03:55
Speaker
We saw them kill off the game really effectively last night, go with that sort of smothering possession that we saw I think in 2014, you know, that was kind of their hallmark is they would just rush you, get a comfortable lead and then just, you know, kick it down three notches and kill off the game really effectively. And that hasn't always been the case over the last couple of years, you know, they've given up some leads, they've
00:04:20
Speaker
They've maybe been a little bit too aggressive when they had leads and so yeah, it was a really encouraging performance Dallas has been a pretty mediocre to bad team for a lot of the season, but there's still a ton of talent on that team and You know, like you said getting that kind of win against anybody is good Doing it in a game that the Sounders really had to win if they wanted to go into the playoffs in good shape And just you know cruising
00:04:47
Speaker
as they did I thought was really encouraging sign yeah and I'll reiterate this just because I was thinking about it yesterday is if there's one player on one team who I feel like you could insert into the sounders and immediately make them better I'm still convinced that maxi aruti is a guy who would really work well on this sounders roster
00:05:08
Speaker
He didn't even start in this game. I know he's in a very bad scoring slump but I but he did he kind of gave them a boost of energy right when he came in and that lasted for about 10 minutes and even at 3-0 I actually turned to Matt Pence in the
00:05:25
Speaker
in the press box and I said this you know I feel kind of bad for FC Dallas because they haven't played bad enough to be down 3-0 now from that point forward I think I felt much more comfortable with the score line because after it was shortly after it was 3-0 I felt like the Sounders really put their foot on like it just they took the air out of the game I don't know that Dallas had another you know serious look at goal after the third goal
00:05:51
Speaker
But before that, you know, certainly when it was 1-0, there were three or four instances where I thought the Sounders were really playing with danger. You know, there was a chance that where Stefan Fry gave it to Chad Marshall, kind of in an awkward spot, and then he got stuck and gave it back to Barrios, who had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Fry came up with a nice save and then came off his line and cleared it to safety. There was also a play that
00:06:20
Speaker
kelvin leardham had to clear off the essentially had to clear off the line that uh when dallas has got in and so they had gotten some decent looks and you know credit to the sounders you know putting away a team is not an easy task this wasn't a situation where the sounders
00:06:36
Speaker
scored two or three goals early and then and kind of just coasted to victory they had to do it some work in the second half and and one of the key elements of this was I mean let's not forget Gustav Svensson went out in the 22nd minute you lose a starter especially a starter in your defensive midfield it's not an easy thing to overcome the Sounders actually got better after that
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, they weirdly did. And I think that maybe, I don't know if that's repeatable, but I mean, I think that Nika Lodero had a little bit more space to operate. The sounders were able to be a little more direct, weirdly, you know, moving and attacking player deeper. And yeah, I mean, I just, I thought it was a really encouraging performance because it's easy to forget that, you know, this is a team without Ozzy Alonzo. It was a team without Gustav Svensson for most of the game.
00:07:28
Speaker
you know, it's a team without Jordan Morris. And they're still crushing teams that, you know, are decent teams. And the Philly game, I mean, for one, the international break kind of soured things. And for two, the Philly game was, you know, the last game that most of us remember, that all of us remember, I guess, because it was the last game before the international break. But and that wasn't a great performance. But
00:07:54
Speaker
Aside from that, at home especially, I've just felt really, really good about the sounders for the last couple of months. They've laid some eggs, the Philly game, the RSL game, what have you, but it's not all clicking and maybe it won't because of who they're missing and we don't know when they're going to be healthy and available.
00:08:15
Speaker
But I just you know like I said earlier I feel a lot better about this team going into the playoffs than I did last year's team because I think the defense is everybody's good Potentially better, you know, you could make a case that they're even better than the defense last year and They're actually I mean the Sounders were struggling offensively going into the playoffs last year and I just don't I don't have those concerns things things are going really well in the attack and
00:08:39
Speaker
Because FC Dallas is not a terrible defensive team by any stretch. They're slightly above average, I think, for the Western Conference. And Vancouver, who I think the Sounders really played really well in the attack against, is similarly a pretty good defensive team. So yeah, I feel good. The playoffs are mean and terrible and unfair.
00:09:03
Speaker
you know, we'll see. But considering how things were going in, you know, May or June, I feel really good about this team right now.
Playoff Preparations and Comparisons
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's worth remembering. I think we we tend to think of last offseason or last post last season, the end of last season and as the playoffs, I think most people and the Sounders in those first two rounds, the playoffs,
00:09:27
Speaker
were really good, especially the home games against Dallas or yeah, against Dallas and the rapids and then they closed out the rapids on the road. And I think that's what sticks in people's mind. But if we go back to basically the whole era of the Sounders post Dempsey's injury, they needed a late goal to tie Houston. They lose to Portland four to two.
00:09:54
Speaker
They need a late goal, kind of fluke-y goal, to tie the earthquakes. They got a late goal to beat the Whitecaps 1-0. Then they had that great game against the Galaxy, where Jordan Morris went off. That was a 4Q win. But then they needed, they got one goal against Chicago, win that game 1-0. They got two goal, they beat the Whitecaps 2-1, but that wasn't a very convincing win. That included a penalty kick.
00:10:23
Speaker
Then they tied Houston 0-0 at home, they lose to Dallas 2-1, and then they beat RSL 2-1 at home. The 2-1, and that was really, and they did get an early goal in that one, and they got a second goal, and they were able to kinda coast to victory. But I don't think any of, you take out the, they went over to the Galaxy, there wasn't a lot of impressive performances in there. I mean, there was a lot of gutsy performances, and a lot of grinding out results.
00:10:52
Speaker
But we certainly never saw anything like the 3-0 win over Vancouver, which let's keep in mind is still the first place team in the Western Conference. And this 4-0 win over FC Dallas, I mean, they just weren't, they didn't show any real inkling of putting that kind of performance together last year, at least not at this time. Yeah, and I mean, I do think that it's,
00:11:16
Speaker
Dempsey has been such a controversial guy this year even even recently I mean even as recently as a month ago maybe But I think having him is just so crucial and Victor Rodriguez obviously But they just they have so many credible threats in a way that they didn't last year You know Rodriguez is a serious goal threat. Ledero is a serious goal threat Dempsey Bruin is
00:11:43
Speaker
like a poacher that can clean up a lot of messes, and I don't think they had that as much last year. I mean, Nelsonville does. If they potentially have Will Bruin and Lamar Nagel, which is not that much of a stretch to think both those guys could potentially come off the bench for them in the playoffs, those are two better options than they had. Their top bench option, in terms of like, if you need a goal late, they really didn't have anyone coming off the bench that was likely to get you a goal.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think Alex Anderson was probably like the best attacking bench option they had last year. I mean, Brad Evans is the guy, I mean, it was like Brad, what they would do is they'd bring on Herc and Brad and then maybe a wild card. And those guys were more about killing games off than they were about like offensive firepower. And yeah, I mean, I just, I think this team is,
00:12:38
Speaker
better equipped to make a run. I mean, last year's team, they made it. They won MLS Cup. I'm not gonna, I'm not trying to diminish what they did, but I'm just saying if you're looking at, you know, if you're trying to draw any conclusions about this year's team based on last year's team, I think you can reasonably go into this, into this postseason feeling really good about yourself. And I'll say, you know, Clint Dempsey only had an assist yesterday. I thought he was the center's best offensive player,
00:13:04
Speaker
by a decent margin i mean he basically created the first goal or he was a big part of the first goal he had the assist he really created the second goal it was his shot which by the way if you haven't seen it levy films has a has a highlight of that worry he he five holes the
00:13:21
Speaker
I guess I guess you could say he nut makes the the defender on that shot which if he goes about an inch higher he might have castrated the guy but it's I mean he just blasts the ball through the defender's legs it's pretty amazing and that forces a save and then you know he easily could have gotten one I don't know I'm still I would really like to know what Will Bruin thought of not of his potential tap-in that
00:13:47
Speaker
that Dempsey kept for himself but I thought Dempsey was very good in this game and you know I would love to see him get a couple goals in the season finale if for no other reason than I just would love to see him set the Sounders scoring record because I would hate for him to you know go into this offseason sitting tied for the US national team lead and you know tied or trailing Freddie Montero for the Sounders club yeah would yeah be kind of a brutal
00:14:14
Speaker
brutal off season for him in that way.
00:14:33
Speaker
Uh, uh, you know, fully content person. Um, no, I'm sure he's got like this real fire burning in him right now about wanting to prove everybody. And, and, and, you know, I think that last year, like he was excited after the team won the MLS cup, but I mean, anecdotally and just, you can kind of see it and I'm like, I think it bugs him that he, yeah, that he wasn't a part of that. Um,
00:14:55
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I said after the Vancouver game that Clint Dempsey, when he's feeling himself, is one of the most, you know, enjoyable players to watch in the world. And I totally believe it. And he's feeling himself in a different way because he's pissed off rather than just like, you know, love in life. But hey, man, whatever works. And it's working pretty well. And I'll tell you this, if I'm anyone in if I'm anyone in that last right now, and I'm
00:15:22
Speaker
facing a one-off game and Clint Dempsey is on the other side of the field, I'm not looking forward to that. I'm not saying he's the best player in MLS, but if you're going to give me one game where you get to pick your offensive player, Clint Dempsey is a hard guy not to bet on.
00:15:41
Speaker
And I've loved watching him for the last month. I thought he was probably the, aside from Pulisic, I thought he was probably the best offensive player for the US national team in that Trinidad and Tobago loss. He obviously had that ball off the post.
00:15:59
Speaker
You know, at least for this year, and I don't necessarily want to get into a whole thing about what happens at the end of this year, but for this year, I don't think I have any concerns at all about his motivation. Because I think he surely wants to win MLS Cup. I think he wants to, in some ways, I think the Sounders winning last year motivates him more than if it was just to plainly be on the field for his first MLS Cup win.
00:16:29
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that it's easy to forget that in terms of club soccer, the only championship he's been a key part of, I mean, cause he, you know, he's an MLS cup winner, but, um, that he's actually been on the field for, um, was the U S open cup and that's it in his entire professional career. And that's crazy for a player that's, you know, played as long as he has. And, um, you know, his one so much internationally or in cock cap, at least.
00:16:55
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, I'm absolutely positive that, you know, that's gonna be a really fulfilling thing for him if he can help win another trophy. So, you know, one of the things that I think was easy to overlook in the game
00:17:10
Speaker
was the play of Christian Roldan and it wasn't you know i want to say you know 60 or 70 minutes in i was thinking to myself he said a kind of quiet game and then you go back and you look at the stat sheet he had 98 touches or something like or he had 90 touches he had 80 passes
00:17:27
Speaker
He was all over the defensive and middle part of the field, but I think the reason that he looked like he had a quiet game is that he didn't have a single touch inside the offensive third, and it was kind of remarkable. You look at his action map, and it's almost like there's a hard, like he must have been wearing like a shot collar whenever he got 40 yards within goal, because he did not, you know, he was as positionally disciplined to put it in a
00:17:53
Speaker
you know maybe a nice way that i've ever seen him be and i think that the game absolutely called for it especially when you got nico ladero playing next to you and he's going to go wherever he's going to go uh but i was really impressed uh you know he's clearly not at 100 i think after the the last show
00:18:10
Speaker
I was saying that I was, you know, if his play against the Union was indicative of what he's capable of doing with his broken arm, that he probably shouldn't be on the field, well, I think we can put those fears to rest.
00:18:24
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think I really think that it was just the awkwardness of the cast. I mean, Taylor Twelman maybe spent a little bit too much time talking about it during the broadcast, but it was clearly affecting his balance. You know, I don't think it was him him saying, like, ow, my arm. I think, you know, it's just it's weird, you know, it's weird to have to deal with. So, yeah, I mean, I feel pretty good that he's going to be, you know, back to normal by the time the playoffs get here. And yeah, I mean,
00:18:54
Speaker
It's just, I feel so comfortable wherever he ends up playing. And it's remarkable, you know, when you think about where, you know, we said this earlier, but like where he was this time last year.
00:19:10
Speaker
he was pretty good. I mean, we thought, man, that's the best player we've ever drafted. And, you know, and now he's, I think, exponentially better and is just a key cog on this team. And that's something, too, that I think, you know, we talked about how much better or how we feel like this team is better this year than they were last year at this time. And Christian, hold on, you know, taking his game up several matches is, I think, a huge part of that. Yeah, it's it's been very impressive to watch.
00:19:39
Speaker
And I am just constantly blown away by what he's able to do. I should also say, I liked what we saw from Roman Torres. We've been, I would say maybe we've been critical, I think is the right way to put it, of his ranging forward at times. And it's almost like he got that out of his system with that goal against
00:20:05
Speaker
Who was it again? I'm blanking. Costa Rica? Yeah, there you go. I wish he would have found another way to do that. I can't help but feel really happy for him. I would have much rather Mexico figured out how to tie Honduras, although there's a lot of people who credibly think that Mexico wasn't particularly interested in tying Honduras.
00:20:33
Speaker
No. No. And like, you know, I don't blame them. There were a lot of people that feel like they owed us one for, you know, for Zuzi scoring. They did. No, they did. But whatever. I have zero issues with the Mexican national team not really feeling too charitable.
00:21:11
Speaker
having to do with
00:21:15
Speaker
combo of Centerbacks the Sounders had were and I think at this point there's no doubt at all I'm happy to put Roman Torres and Chad Marshall up against anyone at this point and I just like the way this whole team has come together you know one of the things I kind of realized in writing my column this week was the Sounders have 12 shutouts this year I think that's a franchise record certainly it's a franchise record for
00:21:40
Speaker
one goalkeeper for Stephen Fry to have 12. But seven of those 12 have come since Kelvin Lierdom made his first start. He's made 13 starts. They have seven shutouts in those 13 starts. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it really is. I mean, the Sounders, I already closed the table and I'm not going to open it up again, but I'm pretty sure that they're second in the league and goals allowed. And
00:22:08
Speaker
Sporting KC obviously is the team they're ahead of and are behind. And it's tempting to say, yeah, it's because Sporting KC has great defensive players. I don't really think that's true. I mean, they certainly have good defensive players, but I think they also play an awful, awful style of soccer that's designed to keep games as close to zeros as possible. So, you know, if you had to take a back four and a goalkeeper of any team in the league,
00:22:37
Speaker
I would absolutely take Seattle's absolutely without without a second guy. It's I'm very, very happy with it. But anyway, it's probably a good place to call this segment. We'll come back. We're going to
USMNT's World Cup Failure Discussion
00:22:49
Speaker
talk about the US national team missing the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Aaron, do you remember anything from 1986?
00:23:20
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:24:03
Speaker
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00:24:25
Speaker
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00:24:54
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. So I felt like we don't talk about the national team a ton on this show, but this is certainly a time when it feels very relevant. I'll just start by saying that the U.S. national team being out of the World Cup, certainly for the first time of my awareness of soccer, like I basically, the first time I was really even casually aware of the U.S. national team was probably the 94 World Cup.
00:25:24
Speaker
And the idea of actually missing the World Cup seems so foreign to me that there was this, like I wasn't upset in a way that I was, like I've been upset at the end of Sounders games that they've locked like big important games, but it was this numb, like unbelievable thing. Like I had, I don't think I've ever had a more unexpected gut punch than
00:25:53
Speaker
Then after the Panama win, I thought there was just no way that the US wasn't gonna qualify. I don't think I really even seriously contemplated that possibility. I mean, I wrote about it, but in putting my fan hat on, I just did not think that was remotely likely. And it was just shocking in a way that I don't think I've fully been able to comprehend yet.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was super weird for me, I think, because I wasn't watching any of the games, like I was driving home from work, and so whenever I hit a stoplight or whatever, I'd peek at the scores.
00:26:32
Speaker
And like really until it was full-time in all three games, they're just like, well, no, this can't happen. And I think it is because the odds of it happening were so slim. I mean, that they were in a situation where it was possible at this stage is absurd. And that's a whole other issue that I'm sure we'll get into.
00:26:53
Speaker
So many things had to go wrong. Not only did the US have to lose to Trinidad, who had nothing really to play for other than pride, which is a motivator, obviously. They definitely wanted to knock the US out of the World Cup, and it's hard to blame them.
00:27:10
Speaker
You know, they played a youth-heavy roster, Trinidad did, and so that had to happen. And I mean, what are the odds of that happening? Not just to get out with a point, but to lose. Panama had to beat Costa Rica. Mexico had to lose to Honduras. I mean, any one of those three things is unlikely to happen.
00:27:35
Speaker
All three of them happened, and all three of them happened in bizarre ways. That's what's going crazier. Yeah, like the pitch in Trinidad was shitty. It's not an excuse, but it certainly didn't help. Honduras had a goal rebound off the post and off a goalkeeper's head. Panama had a goal that wasn't a goal.
00:27:55
Speaker
it's just crazy that like not only did these three long shot things have to happen crazy shit happened in all three games to make it possible and it's just it's it's surreal and just sitting there you know refreshing the ESPN app and saying like there's no there's no way that this is gonna happen and it wasn't like
00:28:18
Speaker
It's weird because it wasn't as bad as the Seahawks losing the Super Bowl to the Patriots. It wasn't as bad emotionally as some of the bigger Sounders losses, but it was weirder than any of them. Like you said, I thought once they beat Panama that
00:28:38
Speaker
That was it. And apparently so did they. They certainly played that way. Yeah. Yeah. And let's not forget that the two goals that the U.S. gave up were a crazy own goal where, you know, whatever you think of Omar Gonzalez's play overall. And the reality is that his back was facing goal and he managed to score an own goal off of his foot that he just slices in the most unbelievable way. And then, of course, Trinidad and Tobago scores like on a 35 yard
00:29:09
Speaker
Unbelievable. Best goal this guy will ever score in his career that most players will ever score in their career. And then the US has, you know, Dempsey goes off the post. Bobby Wood has a header from virtual point blank range saved. You can go on and on.
00:29:28
Speaker
And, like, you can't convince me that the US is not more talented and was not a better team, frankly, than Honduras and Panama. Especially when you look at their head to head, you know, the US went 2-0 and 2 against them, had a 12-2 goal difference.
00:29:45
Speaker
They were better than Panama and Honduras, but they shouldn't have been in this situation, I guess. You shouldn't be in a situation. They didn't win a single road game in this hex. They only got two points on the road in this entire hex. That's unacceptable. It's unbelievable.
00:30:06
Speaker
uh i just don't i and and more to the point they should be competing like clearly they should be competing with Costa Rica and Mexico not worrying about Panama and Honduras uh it's just there's some you know i it's it's on two minds on one hand i don't want to i'm not inclined to say burn it all down because i i don't think this is a burn it all down situation
00:30:30
Speaker
I think that the U.S. has the talent. I think that the U.S. has the resources, that these should not be issues. But at the same time, it's a good opportunity, I think, to really rethink a lot of what we go into games. And I don't know, maybe this is what we needed as a soccer nation in some ways to be reminded that nothing is guaranteed, that maybe this makes us appreciate as fans how special going to the World Cup is, that I think for sure as fans we took for granted,
00:30:59
Speaker
And I think the program took it for granted too. I think that, you know, there's this assumption that players are going to want to choose the United States because we play in World Cups. Well, I don't know. That's not apparently such a safe assumption anymore.
00:31:13
Speaker
I mean, I think that, and I think I'm probably a little closer to the, this is time to burn it all down, uh, you know, camp than you are. Um, but it's, it's obviously a time where you can't be complacent. And I think that us soccer has been complacent since what, 1998, probably. I mean, you know, 90 was, uh, I'm assuming, um, a huge shock. Uh, I was seven, so I didn't really have any concept of it. 94, you know, they were the host team.
00:31:42
Speaker
Um, but obviously they were able to build on that. Um, 98 was when, you know, I feel like they felt the US kind of felt like it had arrived, um, as like a perennial World Cup contender. And since then, it's just, I mean, it's been kind of like, yeah, we're always going to make it. Um, and there's no, there's no incentive to take big risks and to, you know, really critically evaluate a lot of your processes.
00:32:08
Speaker
You know the closest thing I think that they've done to taking a big risk is hiring Jurgen Klinsman and that's I Mean, it's hard to really see that as a big risk. It's a coup to a certain extent, you know because he's a huge name in soccer and and and they certainly gave him a little more carte blanche than they would most other coaches, but he he obviously I mean he felt like he didn't have the
00:32:32
Speaker
the backing of U.S. soccer to do all the things you really wanted to do. Because, you know, why upset the Apple Card? If you know you can make World Cups and you know you can generally be pretty competitive, you know, why do anything drastic? Well, now you don't know that, obviously. And, you know, I think you're right that I think that the player pool is obviously, you know, top three in CONCACAF and probably the second best
00:32:57
Speaker
There's plenty of talent to make the World Cup. There's talent to, you know, feel pretty comfortable that you can get out of the group stage, that you can maybe have, maybe get to a quarterfinal even. But they're not, for one, they're not fully realizing that talent. A lot of the time they're playing down to the level of their competition. I think they buy into a lot of the, hey, concaf games are always going to be tough.
00:33:23
Speaker
you never know and blah, blah, blah. And I think that's bullshit. I mean, sure, it's tough to go play in Honduras. It's tough to go play on a cricket pitch in St. Vincent or whatever it is. So what? I mean, during the European qualifiers,
00:33:42
Speaker
The pitch that Bosnia and Belgium were playing on was not any better than the pitch that they played on in Trinidad. There are small countries and out of the way places in Europe too and in Asia and in Africa.
00:33:57
Speaker
and in South America even, deal with it. You're the richest country in the world. You have so many advantages that a lot of countries don't have, and those countries somehow manage to go through it. And those other countries gotta play in those crappy pitches too.
00:34:14
Speaker
Right, and some of them have to play on those crappy pitches every game. And so I just, I don't buy any of that stuff as an excuse. Yeah, it's a reality, but the extent to which we hear it, not only from the media, but from players and from coaches, there's just, there's so much entitlement I feel like in US soccer, and it shouldn't be that way. And I think that a lot of the players, even guys who I don't think are at all to blame,
00:34:43
Speaker
should never ever play for the U.S. again, because now, you know, the only thing that matters is 2022, right? I don't care if they don't win another gold cup, you know, between now and qualification for 2022. I just, I don't care. But if you're, let's say, 27, 28 years or older, there are very, very few players that should ever get another call up.
00:35:08
Speaker
And if that means that they struggle a lot, you know, in friendlies and in gold cup play, whatever, it doesn't matter, but something has to change. And, you know, and I think sending that message of like, look, we're rebooting, you guys didn't get it done. Too bad. Sorry. We're gonna go. We're gonna play the kids now. I think that's the way to go.
00:35:31
Speaker
I don't know if they'll do it. I don't know if that's the direction they'll go. But, you know, that's a huge change that they can make and then obviously there are huge structural changes that they need to consider making. And everybody, we kind of talked about this I think before the Panama game, everybody has their
00:35:50
Speaker
thing that they think is the problem, right? For some people it's MLS, for some people it's EU setup, I would probably fall into that camp. Realistically, it's a huge combination of things that, you know, that keep US soccer from living up to its potential, and you've got to address all of them, and they have to start figuring out what those are.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say that there's a lot of things that are keeping those are the things that are keeping the US from winning the World Cup. Yeah, the youth national team set up the, you know, the strength of the domestic league, I suppose, on some
US Soccer Structural Changes and Youth Focus
00:36:24
Speaker
level. But when we're talking about qualifying for the World Cup, which to me is like the lowest minimum standard that every national team player needs to be held accountable for.
00:36:33
Speaker
is this is a failure at the national team. This is a senior national team failure. This is a failure of this group. It's a failure of this coaching staff. To me, you start there and then you build out. I think everyone that was on this roster is culpable. I think everyone
00:36:54
Speaker
It has a role to play. This wasn't just a failure of these 23 players. It's a failure of a lot of guys that participated in this run-up. But what's striking to me about this particular roster is how few players there are between the ages of 25 and 29. You look at the goalkeepers, all three of them are older than 33. Brad Guzon at 33 is the young man by five years of the goalkeeping crew.
00:37:22
Speaker
You look at the defense, De'Andrei Yedlin almost certainly part of the future, but other than him,
00:37:27
Speaker
You got Omar Gonzales, 29, Matt Beezer, 30, Demarcus Beze, 35, Tim Reem, 30, Jorge Villafana, 28, Graham Zusi, 31, Jeff Cameron, 32. All those guys have probably played in their last, like this is their last World Cup qualifying cycle. Maybe Villafana, I suppose, might be able to get in, but he's not, like that would be a little bit of a shock. And then you go into the midfield, Michael Bradley's 30. He might have a future with the national team because he's,
00:37:53
Speaker
like so important i know that people are dying to get rid of him i'm not quite ready to like i think bradley probably has a role to play in this next cycle but he's gonna be 35 when the next world cup rolls around uh darlington egg be 27 who knows he might be done uh christian pulisic obviously
00:38:09
Speaker
We don't need to talk about him. But Alejandro Bedoya, you gotta imagine he's done. Dax McCarty, you gotta imagine he's done. Benny Feelhaber, probably done. Paul Areola, he's 22, great. Kelen Acosta, he's 22, great. But you know, you got, you know, four of the, five of the, of the eight midfielders on this roster are probably done. There's just no one between the ages of 25 and 29, really, on this roster. And I think that just speaks to a massive failure of the development. And you know, you look back at the,
00:38:36
Speaker
those olympic failures and these are the guys that were supposed to be the olympic studs and uh... and it's like you had two straight teams of olympic of failing to qualify for the olympics those it's that age of player who really never stepped up into this national team and i don't have a good explanation as to why that you know that essentially that's that five six years of development was just seemingly totally lost
00:39:01
Speaker
in the setup, but it's kind of a remarkable thing that there's this, you know, almost like you have this veteran rookies kind of situation, which you should never have on a national team. Yeah. And I think too, that like a lot of these players that have been around for a while that have been, you know, a part of the national team set up for a while.
00:39:17
Speaker
Um, it's hard for me, like, I don't want to say that it was a lack of effort that, that sunk them against Trinidad, but it's hard for me to believe that, you know, a younger, hungrier player, like, Oh, I dunno, Christian Roldan maybe is going to approach this game with a little bit more intensity than, than some of these players. And if you're, if you're in a situation where, okay, we have an inferior opponent that we have to beat that we should feel pretty confident that whatever team we're going to put out there should be able to beat.
00:39:46
Speaker
why not give those guys a chance, you know, and I know that they had to deal with Panama as well and that has to factor in, but
00:39:52
Speaker
It's just it's remarkable to me that we keep going back to these same mediocre Wells You know, it's remarkable to me that we don't have anybody better than DeMarcus Beasley or Graham Zucy for Christ's sake And and the answer is that we do have have better than that and they're just not getting chances and they didn't get him under Klansman because a lot of people want to say hey This is arena's fault Klansman wasn't given a lot of these guys chances either and I think
00:40:19
Speaker
Klinsman is as much culpable in this as absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, honestly, he really should have stepped into the technical director role after the World Cup in 2014. And I think that the US would be in a lot better shape if he had what's done is done there. But I mean, you know, a lot of those players you listed off if the US had made the World Cup and, you know, wasn't building for with 2022 as being the only thing in mind.
00:40:43
Speaker
yeah maybe those guys continue on but like a guy like Darlington Nagby is he really so important that we can't give you know a 22 23 year old player a look there are some people that think he is i'm not buying it um you know Alejandro Bedoya there's no way that he should ever get another call up you know and there are tons of players like this and you know what maybe the guys you call up to replace them aren't going to be as good and and who who gives a shit
00:41:06
Speaker
Give them a chance, let them prove that they're not as good. And if they're not, go to the next one. But there just can't be this...
00:41:18
Speaker
the stagnation and entitlement that we've seen over the last few years because it's a huge part of why they're not going to Russia. Yeah. I don't think that there is an easy answer for this and I would hope that no one's really looking for an easy answer. I think that the right first step was probably Bruce Arena stepping down.
00:41:40
Speaker
I think the thing that bugs me about Sunil Galati is there's this tone deafness. And what scares me is that they have this $100 million war chest. And they've given really no indication of how they're planning on spending that. And maybe that's the right thing to do. But a lot of the speculation pre World Cup or pre World Cup failure was that they were going to spend the bulk of that on a new training facility, I guess, in Kansas City.
00:42:07
Speaker
Is that right? Where they're going to put that, which seems like a colossal waste of money. And I realize that it's like from an investment standpoint, you're investing in an asset that can potentially appreciate in value. And so there's some monetary value there.
00:42:24
Speaker
But man, if you got $100 million to spend, I would much rather see them investing in making it easier to get coaching licenses, making it easier for unaffiliated clubs to get rid of pay to play. And I don't think you can get rid of pay to play overnight. But I think if you can, if US soccer is going to put in, let's just say, a $10 million scholarship fund to make it easier for kids that can't afford pay to play at
00:42:53
Speaker
You know all levels frankly of soccer to make it easier for them to get in that would be great to see But there's just I really hope that there are some creative ideas and I and I think that we have to be careful about looking for answers Immediately. The reality is that we have a election for the new USSF president coming up in I don't know a couple months, I guess and
00:43:17
Speaker
And whoever wins that I would hope would make some hard and serious decisions. But man, the prospect of going five years without watching the US playing a World Cup, or going eight years essentially without seeing the US playing a World Cup, is just very daunting. And I'm not quite sure, I'm still not sure how that World Cup's gonna feel.
00:43:47
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, I think there's a pretty good chance that if you're a hardcore soccer fan, it's gonna maybe even be more enjoyable because you don't have as much stress. But, you know, I certainly don't think that there are some definite doomsayers out there that thinks, you know, this is gonna set soccer back in the U.S. years and it's actually gonna regress.
00:44:07
Speaker
I'm not buying it. I mean, I think we've definitely turned a corner. I don't think you can put the genie back in the bottle, but it's going to be painful. And I think that the best way to keep people invested is to A, to actually evaluate things, make meaningful changes, invest in the right areas, as you talked about, but also to just try to groom younger players and stop when they do have games.
00:44:36
Speaker
And they're not going to have a ton of them, you know, for a while. I mean, the 2019 Gold Cup, I think is the next time they're playing competitive games, which is insane. You know, but when they're when they're playing friendlies, like, I don't want to see these dudes anymore. You know, give me Ethan Horvath. Give me, you know, give me these players that like haven't had their chance. That's exciting to me. Even if they go and get killed, you know, hey, at least it's something new to watch.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's awful, but it's, you know, never waste a good crisis, right? If they can, you know, we talked about this, I think making the World Cup was obviously a much, much better outcome, but okay, that's over and done with. Right, so now make the best of it. Yeah, absolutely.
00:45:22
Speaker
And I mean, I don't know, I suppose if you come back and you are suddenly, you know, and I don't think it's the craziest idea to think that the US could be competitive in 2022, you know, you look at this, the talent that's on this U17 World Cup team that just today beat Paraguay 5-0 in the round of 16 of the U17 World Cup. Tim Waya, a player who I'd never heard of two weeks ago, but now I know too much about, scores this hat trick,
00:45:51
Speaker
one of which the goals is as good of a goal as you're going to see anywhere in the world, frankly. Just an absolutely amazing strike where he brings it in on his right foot and hits a laser into the top far post. But he's the son of George Waya who is a former FIFA Footballer of the Year, former Ballon d'Or winner. And by the way, just like yesterday, won the popular vote for the Liberian president and he'll be in a runoff for that
00:46:20
Speaker
to lead Liberia. And I mean, it's a great story, but there's a bunch of really talented kids on that team. I mean, granted, these are 16, 17 year olds, but these are the kids that are going to be pushing for roster spots the next time the US is competing for a woke up. That's the crazy world we're in. Yeah.
00:46:39
Speaker
And one of the exciting things about a lot of those kids is that a lot of them are in European academies. And I hate to say that as an MLS homer. But if they're good enough to be playing in those academies when they're 16, 17 years old, that's a good sign. And it's a much better sign if they can actually break through to the first time. Yeah, I mean, Kim Weo was at PSG's academy since he was 14. He's just apparently in June signed a senior contract, which is great. OK.
00:47:09
Speaker
Very great. And he's going to get a lot of chances too, because he's Georgia Way of Sun. Right. I don't know. It's funny how a player like that goes from virtually unknown to suddenly he's the next IT kid of US soccer. Yeah. I knew that Georgia Way of Sun played for US youth teams, but
00:47:32
Speaker
I didn't, you know, know that he was actually good. So it's nice. Yeah. I mean, the first time I'd heard of him was, you know, the Guardian came out with like 60 players to watch or whatever it was. And they and they listed two Americans. One of them was Tim Way. And the other one was, I think, Andrew Carlton, who is a kid that's at the United Academy. And he's having a very good tournament. And I and I knew who Andrew Carlton was because of his Atlanta United connection. I had no idea who Tim Way was. I mean, obviously.
00:48:01
Speaker
found out about him since then. But anyway, it's kind of a crazy time, crazy, crazy time. And I think it's not really going to hit me until next summer when Fox is filling up hours and hours of programming without talking about the U.S. national theme. Well, they probably will talk. That's the thing. I'm sure they will talk more about the national theme, actually.
00:48:25
Speaker
every germany game they're just gonna talk about christian pulse right probably but anyway well uh that's uh got that off our chest uh we'll come back we'll take questions and uh yeah you're listening to nos adiates
Listener Questions and Sounders Strategy
00:48:42
Speaker
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00:49:09
Speaker
Verity is federally insured by the NCUA and an equal housing opportunity lender. Anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Washington state can become a member, and we would love to have you. Learn more and apply at veritycu.com. We'll go back to Nos Adietes. So, Lincoln, I'll just not waste any time and let you start asking questions.
00:49:39
Speaker
Alrighty, Ethan O'Shell asks, what do you think of Ledero in a deep playmaker role? I thought he found a lot more space than he has recently.
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say that at least for this game, that he looked really good there. And, you know, this is the second time at least that we've seen the Sounders do this where they, they lose a defensive midfielder. And instead of doing something dramatic, or I shouldn't say something dramatic, instead of kind of really changing what they are trying to do, they, they actually go more aggressive and push
00:50:16
Speaker
Lidero back there and it's worked out both times if you remember they did this against the the rapids and I think that was the game they won 3-1 all three of their goals came after After they made that move and this one, you know, especially in the first half it looked like like Dallas had no idea what to do with it and
00:50:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that maybe in a perfect world, that's even his best position, he might be able to argue. Yeah, because he's still getting forward, you know, he's not necessarily a defensive midfielder. You know, he's making late runs and
00:50:55
Speaker
The disadvantage, though, is that Christian Roldan is a little bit more tethered, I guess, to the deeper role. And there are so many things he can do effectively as a more attacking player that you kind of lose. So yeah, I think that when the team is at full strength,
00:51:13
Speaker
It doesn't make sense for him to play that that role unless you want to have a totally dramatic Formational shift, but he's really really good at it. And you know if the Sounders had a different roster That might be somewhere you consider putting him long-term. He's just really good in that deep line Playmaker role. He has such good field vision and
00:51:34
Speaker
there were just direct passes that, you know, Christian Roldan can't play, Ozzie Alonzo can't play, Gustav Svensson can't play, that he was able to pick out that led to some pretty good chances, and it gave the Sounders a little bit more of a direct and, you know, gave them the ability to stretch the field that they haven't really had since Shorten Morris has been out, even when they've looked good in attack. So, yeah, I mean, assuming Alonzo and Svensson can't go on this next game, I'd be happy with it.
00:52:02
Speaker
But once everybody's back back and healthy He's probably gonna move higher up and that probably makes most sense So let me ask you this though What let's just say Svensons out for three or four weeks and let's say Alonzo Which I don't know that this is possible. Let's just say though Alonzo is back in this game what would you think of having Ledero essentially playing next to Alonzo with
00:52:28
Speaker
with Roldan essentially as a 10. And I think I'm guessing that that would play, there would be a lot of rotation there and you wouldn't see Roldan kind of playing as a pure 10 and you wouldn't see Lidero playing as a pure, you know, six or eight. But what do you think of that possibility? Is that something worth exploring you think?
00:52:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think that if you play the 4-3-3 kind of formation that we saw against Vancouver, that it makes a lot of sense. If you're trying to get Bruin on the pitch as well, it makes it a little tougher, I think, to play that shape. But I would rather play the 4-3-3 kind of shape anyway, even though Bruin had a good game, had a brace and everything. I think the Sounders are just a better team when they have that different kind of look.
00:53:13
Speaker
Um, I, I would, I would definitely be in favor of it. Um, and, and I think especially against teams that are going to sit back a little bit more. And I think it's fair to say Colorado is probably going to be one of those teams. And then, you know, if it goes into the playoffs, if you're in a situation where, um, you still don't have sense in, um,
00:53:32
Speaker
And it works well in the regular season, you know, especially in that home leg, where teams are going to be really difficult to break down that maybe makes, you know, maybe it makes sense to go that route. Okay. Cthulhu Lemon asks, is Stenson misses next week? Do we see Dilem ship or even Lodero next to Roldan?
00:53:55
Speaker
Oh hey, interesting combo question there. Yeah, I'm inclined, I don't know, I don't think I'd be shocked to see Dilim there, but yeah, I don't...
00:54:11
Speaker
I mean, it's such a weird situation because the rapids have literally nothing to play for. I guess they're kind of playing to stay out of last place. I don't know if that's a thing that motivates a team or not or what that does to a team's mentality. But they did win against RSL. RSL is, of course, their biggest rival, and they were outshot 30 to 2, I believe. Was that at home? Oh, yeah, I think so. I think it was at home.
00:54:42
Speaker
They got a shout out 30-2 at home. Amazing. And they won. Yeah, soccer is not fair at all. Sure isn't. But I think that I would like to see Lodero playing next to Roland, but one of the few criticisms I have with Brian Schmetzer is I think that he
00:55:05
Speaker
I think that maybe he goes back to the same well a little bit too often with some decisions, and I think he probably thinks, hey, Nico Lodero, yeah, we'll play him deeper if, you know, we're forced into that decision, but it's not ideally what we want to do. You know, and especially when fencing came out, it was still nil-nil, and, you know, the Sounders definitely needed to win, so they wanted to get a little bit more attacking presence on the pitch. But yeah, I'm skeptical that we would see it, but I hope that I'm wrong.
00:55:35
Speaker
But I guess I really hope that Svensson is back healthy next week, because that's a huge miss. Drone637 asks, what team in the West do you want to avoid the most in the playoffs? It's Portland for me, just because that's... I mean, they are more explosive than any other team in the West, and that's a big part of it, but I just want no part of playing them in the playoffs. There's nothing enjoyable about it.
00:56:02
Speaker
yeah i guess i i would echo that and i would offer that if the sounders had to play in the first round game i think the team i would be most worried about facing is rsl uh although rsl
00:56:17
Speaker
does not control their own destiny and it looks like right now smart money is probably on the earthquakes getting in despite a negative 22 goal difference although it will be a little lower if they get into the playoffs because they have to they'll probably have to win but it's you know I don't think there's any teams that I don't feel like the Sounders should be able to beat
00:56:40
Speaker
And, you know, if you look at Portland, the team that I agree is the team I least want to play. They went 1-0. They haven't lost to him yet this year. You know, they haven't exactly dominated them, but, you know, you know, so we'll see.
Sounders' Future Priorities and Player Selection
00:56:54
Speaker
What is going on with Oddy though? Is he, is he, like, is that, do we know what's going on with him? No idea.
00:57:06
Speaker
Has he not played for a while? No, he hasn't played for weeks. Weird. That's very weird. Yeah, he's hurt. And I don't know that there's a clear explanation. I wonder if he's hurt or if he's hurt. But it's not. It's like, I'll tell you, he hasn't played since. He hasn't played since August 6th. Damn.
00:57:36
Speaker
Oh, but he has a hamstring injury. God knows those can linger. Right. But there's something from September 20th saying that, you know, he might be getting minutes, uh, in the, in their next game. And that was three games ago, three weeks ago. So weird. Okay. Moving on. Uh, sounder trial is asked on a scale of one to 10 with 10 being the highest. How much importance is the team placing on CCL next year?
00:58:05
Speaker
I mean, if you listen to the interview I did with Garth, if MLS Cup is automatically 10 because that's the championship and everyone puts all their emphasis to some degree on MLS Cup, I mean, I would put CCL at like eight or nine at least. I mean, it seems like if you were to take what they said at their word, they're really serious about it.
00:58:31
Speaker
I think we're going to find out just how serious they are by this offseason. If they go into this offseason and they have designated player spots that are unfilled, then I think you have to question how seriously we are to take those comments. But where we sit right now, I would say it's at least an 8 if not a 9.
00:58:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that from a coaching perspective and the team we see on the field perspective that it's going to be taken really seriously, you know, as seriously, if not more seriously than
00:59:04
Speaker
you know, any regular season game. But, you know, the proof will, like you said, be in how well prepared the roster is going into those games and going into next season. And I just kind of have a feeling that they're not gonna be underwhelming in this window. I think it could be a pretty busy one because I think, you know, I think that the team understands that there's some discontent around the fact that they have DP spots open.
00:59:32
Speaker
Uh, a lot of that I think is faded as, as they've played better down the stretch and, you know, looking to be in good shape going into the playoffs. But, um, I can't imagine that they want to have a third straight year with a really lousy start. And so, you know, if they're fully stocked with that in mind, it can only help their CCL chances. I wonder if that means we'll hear more about the guys that are close to retire, quote unquote retirement age, like earlier than later.
00:59:59
Speaker
SSU underscore Richard M asks, why can't Air Marshall get any USMT love? Is he too slow? He's not sufficiently slower than Biesler or Omar Gonzalez. I don't get it at this point. I mean, at this point, I think the book is officially closed. Like if he was, if he had any hope of getting into the national team, I think he got called into the January camp this year and it seemed like there was some, you know, hope that he might actually get some minutes, but he hasn't.
01:00:29
Speaker
since the January camp he hasn't been called up and now that the US is gonna be out of the World Cup which is still hard to like really I don't think we fully wrapped our mind about what that what that really means but uh
01:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't get it. I really don't. I don't see that you can't convince me that Matt Beazler or Omar Gonzalez are are better center backs than than Chad Marshall. And you certainly can't convince me that the U.S. would have been worse off with Chad Marshall starting that game against Virginia and Tobago. Yeah, and it's one of those things, too, where there's there's certainly some bad luck involved. I mean, he's gotten called in in January. He got called in and I think he got injured. And I think his last call up, he got injured pretty early on in camp. And so
01:01:15
Speaker
You know, I think that coupled with the fact that he's been overlooked, I think that he has, you know, had some misfortune. But it's one of those things and it's not just a US national team problem. But it annoys me more with a national team, obviously, because it's the US national team, but also because they
01:01:36
Speaker
they don't have as clear of a separation, I guess, between the tiers of players that they have. And it just seems like coaches find their guys, find their group, and that's it. And they're going to get called in no matter what. And I don't understand it. I think that if you haven't become a regular player in the national team pool by the time you're
01:01:59
Speaker
26, 27 years old that's just never gonna happen and for whatever reason Chad Marshall was a really really good player when he was 26 or 27 years old and for whatever reason that he just didn't become a regular and it's obviously it's too late now but I mean I had kind of a breakdown on Twitter the night of the game and it's just like I don't understand how
01:02:21
Speaker
Omar Gonzalez has gotten four times as many caps as Chad Marshall, you know, it's just baffling to me. Is it only four times as many? I would have thought it's a little bit more than that. Yeah, but it's like 49 to like 10 or something like that. And significantly more in games of actual consequence, you know, so.
01:02:40
Speaker
I don't get it. I really don't understand it. And it's insanely frustrating to me. And it's, you know, it's one of those things that I hope in this new chapter of the national team where, you know, I think guys have to be, coaches have to be less safe with what they do. It's something I hope becomes a thing in the past because there are a lot of good center backs in MLS that don't even get a second look.
01:03:06
Speaker
It's not just Chad Marshall and, you know, we see Beazler and Omar and Cameron time and time and time again, and it just hasn't been good enough for quite a while. And I just really don't understand it. He's never really Marshall has never really addressed or stated why he just doesn't like the last thing he said, like, I don't know why or something like that, right?
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think he's ever really been given a clear explanation. And the thing is that it's three different coaches, really, that have passed him over. I mean, Bob Bradley gave him, I think, the longest look. But he wasn't called in regularly under Bradley. He wasn't called in at all, I don't think, under Klinsman. And then Arena gave him a cursory call-up at the beginning. But that's all he got without him.
01:04:06
Speaker
I don't... I don't have a... You know, I don't have a good answer. It's...
01:04:15
Speaker
It's Covarr especially, like Evans is healthy when he's healthy, and who knows. With Covarr, I kind of think the ship is sailed on this season.
01:04:26
Speaker
And I don't get it. I feel like we've talked about this at length on this show. I don't understand why he's not getting more looks It's it's odd to me. So But I think the odds of us seeing Kovar, you know at this stage in the season are pretty low and maybe I'm wrong Maybe they'll you know go out and get a comfortable lead against Colorado and it will be the kind of thing where you know Hey, we want to get some of our
01:04:52
Speaker
Our stars out and not really risk a key player off the bench And and so this is a good time for cover to get minutes, but but at the same time it's probably a good I'm sure they're looking at it as a good time like if the mornagle is part of your rotation and he's not you know getting
01:05:07
Speaker
he didn't start, you probably want him to be fresh, right? So you probably roll him out there again. And like in Nagel's defense, like I'm not, like I like, I am rooting for him. I'm not necessarily convinced that he's a better option in all situations than Aaron Kovar. But hey, credit to Lamar Nagel, he's taking advantage of his opportunities. And say what you will about Aaron Kovar, how well he's looked.
01:05:35
Speaker
you know, and not that, you know, on a per minute basis, Lamar Nagel's done a lot more with the opportunities than, than Aaron Cobor has.
01:05:45
Speaker
Yeah. And I think, I mean, it's one of the disadvantages of being a young kind of fringy player on a team with championship aspirations, you know, is, is that you're not going to get as long of a leash. You're not going to get as many looks and, you know, the coach is going to go with who they feel more comfortable with. And, and like you said, Nagel is scored, you know, when he's played, uh, twice now. Um, so it's unfortunate in the time for Kovar to
01:06:10
Speaker
you know, get a ton of playing time was earlier in the season and he wasn't really getting it then either. But I just think at this point, it's kind of a kind of a lost cause for 2017. Okay, at slippish asks, which s2 player do you most want to see make the first team next season?
01:06:33
Speaker
That's, I guess Ray Sorry is the guy that I'm most intrigued by because it seems like he's got an interesting kind of skill set. And there's, and maybe Rodrigo Elle, which is the, I think, Rodriguez Elle, whatever. I'm not, I'm not blanking on his name. The center, the center back is the other guy that I'm probably most interested in.
01:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'd be lying if I said that I watched every S2 game and I feel like I am an expert on the subject. Yeah, I mean, I guess the easy answer would be Shae out of Koya because I'd really like him to, you know, be a good MLS player and he's kind of getting
01:07:30
Speaker
he's kind of getting he needs to take a step forward I guess is the charitable way of saying that so you know if he can show well in preseason and take that leap in the offseason that's a great sign but yeah I mean other than that I think that the the number of people that there are a lot of exciting young players on s2 right now but
01:07:53
Speaker
in terms of people that are actually, that I feel like are actually gonna be able to really contribute next season, not a whole lot there for me right now. So I just looked this up and I'm actually shocked by this information.
01:08:09
Speaker
Uh, Lamar Nagel has seven appearances. That's not shocking. He's only played 65 minutes, but he's got two goals in 65 minutes on two shots. Yeah. He's, I mean, he has the same number of goals as Jordan Morris. It's crazy. And that's not fair to say that. Actually, Morris has three. Oh, that's right. He did eventually score. Anyways. Yeah. Uh, yeah, it's, and that's not fair to Jordan, but it is pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty remarkable.
Security and Diversity at Sounders Games
01:08:34
Speaker
Yeah. It's pretty funny in its own way.
01:08:38
Speaker
Okay, Jack Kirby, FCS, any movement on the security situation at the Clink? Has StaffPro gotten better? Worse, can we expect news at this, at the end of the season? I mean, I have not heard anything after this game. I don't know if that's good or bad. What was your experience getting in this week, Lickit?
01:09:02
Speaker
Uh, I got in fairly early. It seemed okay. Um, the, they, like the person that checked my stuff, I put like my wallet and my keys in my phone in the tray and she picked up my keys to check my keys for some reason, but didn't like lift up, didn't lift up my phone or my wallet or anything to like look for stuff. So I was kind of baffled, but there's, I don't, I don't know if this is true or not, but it just seemed like there's a lot more nonwhite security people this time.
01:09:32
Speaker
So I don't know if that's a thing or not. Yeah. I mean, I guess that could be just happenstance, but maybe it's a sign that they're actually.
01:09:41
Speaker
trying maybe i don't know maybe maybe it would be nice i mean i will say and i know that this has been you've you've made your opinion known on this on social media like it but it would be good if the sounders actually came out with a forceful statement reiterating their kind of commitment to inclusion and commitment to uh you know and they don't have to necessarily call out anybody they can just
01:10:07
Speaker
State in a unequivocal way that this is the way we expect things to go. Yep I my sources tell me that at the count the Alliance business meeting there will be a question posted to the the panel about that so Okay, next question dirty dirty DC town asked what does new who wear under his jersey during games and
01:10:33
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually asked about this yesterday because it came, I don't know why it came up, but it came up. And I guess he's dislocated his shoulder in an S2 game either this year or late last year. And so it's basically a full body brace, essentially, that keeps him from dislocating his shoulder. That's nice. That's a nice thing to have.
01:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, and it doesn't seem to impact his willingness to go into plays or move or anything. I was going to say, is it a brace to help him go Hulk smash his tackles?
01:11:12
Speaker
Man, there was a, he had a tackle on, I think it was Javier Morales that was, you know, it was ostensibly shoulder to shoulder, but he kind of lowered his shoulder and went into him. And it was just like, I felt like this perfect new hoo moment. And what's I love about new hoo is that every game there's like two or three plays or maybe four or five plays or whatever, where you're just like, yep, that's why everyone's kind of falling in love with this guy. Like he had a play where,
01:11:39
Speaker
It looked like Lidero had been fouled and Dallas was going on a counter attack and he almost seemingly effortlessly recovered and won the ball back. And it's just like, wow, this guy is... I mean, it's just going to be amazing to watch him grow. I'm really actually excited to see how he develops. And I feel like it came in totally out of nowhere because I feel like
01:12:03
Speaker
I feel like the book on him when he was with us too was not, um, not a rave review. So, you know, it's, it's kind of crazy that he's, I mean, he's not Jovan Jones, but I feel completely comfortable with him in the game.
Sounders' Season Awards and Wrap-up
01:12:17
Speaker
He just looks like anytime he sprints or something, he just looks like he's just, doesn't pedal to the metal. Doesn't like put his head down, kind of running, but he's like totally in control most of the time.
01:12:27
Speaker
It's great. Okay, and wrapping it up, Trivialex asks, which sounder has earned the regular season team MVP, offensive player of the year and defensive player of the year? Well, I have said that I think Christiano Roldan is the team MVP. I feel like he has been the most consistent player. He's been maybe the most, I think he's been the most important player
01:12:56
Speaker
And it's obviously a two-way, it's two parts. It's not just his offense, not just his defense. I think he's the most improved player as well. I've just been really kind of blown away by the step forward. And I feel like it was at this time last year, we were talking about, you know, what is his ceiling? And we thought, you know, this is a guy who could have like a Dax McCarty-esque MLS career where he's consistently one of the top, you know, central midfielders in the league.
01:13:26
Speaker
not necessarily a defensive midfielder, not necessarily an offensive midfielder, but kind of this tweener guy who plays 15 years. But at this point, I actually don't know that we should put a ceiling on him. I think he could be a very effective player in Europe if that's what he wants to do.
01:13:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that he's definitely earned the MVP award. He feels as indispensable as Ozzy Alonzo felt three years ago, for example.
01:13:59
Speaker
And for him to come that far in such a short period of time is crazy. And his versatility is so underrated. In a perfect world where everybody's healthy, he's the more box-to-box guy in the double pivot midfield, and he's great in that role. He's not an attacking midfielder, but he's shown that he can play really effectively in a more advanced role. And then he's also shown that he can just be a shutdown
01:14:25
Speaker
classic number six sort of Destroyer type midfielder, and it's just impressive that he has that kind of versatility. So I would give him the MVP for sure. I think offensive player of the year has got to be Dempsey. Ledero I think has had an underrated season and you could probably make a case for him, but I would go with Dempsey and defensive player of the year. I think you have to go with Chad Marshall pretty much always and forever. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to even bother to offer
01:14:54
Speaker
other opinions on those i just i feel pretty much exactly the same way and i think chad marshall probably deserves to be in the conversation for defensive player of the year i don't suspect that he will actually win that award but i don't know uh stranger things have happened yep that's it all right well uh good show everyone
01:15:19
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Fopal Wines, Verity Credit Union, and Designers Marble, and of course our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Likit. This is No Soddy Yet This. Remember, you'll never yet alone.
01:15:37
Speaker
Green Douglasburg where the water's cut through Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On Roll On, Columbia Roll On Roll On, Columbia Roll On Your power is turning our darkness to dawn Roll On, Columbia Roll On
01:16:24
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!