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Seattle Sounders are playing the WORST team in MLS!
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In this episode, we'll discuss the Seattle Sounders' big win over FC Dallas in Matchday 10, then preview this weekend's trip to Children’s Mercy Park to face Sporting Kansas City aka the “Club of Professional Enthusiasts” who happen to be the actual worst team in Major League Soccer at the moment. We'll take a look at the Wrestling Enthusiasts' roster and see if we can figure out why they're so bad. How do you approach a match against bad opposition without getting complacent? Can the Seattle Sounders Road Show keep their attacking form rolling in KC? Later on we'll jump around the league and discuss some of the other results and headlines from around MLS.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Live Stream Encouragement
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders vs Sporting Kansas City Preview
00:00:44
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff presented by QED Coffee. I'm Ari. That's Nico. We're going to be hanging out here this morning talking some Seattle Sounders in Major League Soccer. We'll be reacting a little more to Seattle's big 2-1 victory over FC Dallas at Lumen Field in Match Day 10. And this is going to be a fun week, folks, because... You know, you get all ranges of opponents during these games, during these seasons, but it's not often that you get to play the literal worst team in the entire league. That's what the Seattle Sounders are doing this weekend. They'll be headed to Children's Mercy Park to take on Sporting Kansas City, a.k.a. the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts who are bottom of the league table, averaging a cool 0.44 points per game. We're going be talking about how you approach a game.
00:01:33
Speaker
When you're playing a bad team. So I'm excited to get into that as, uh, as someone who's been on the longtime beat of the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. I'm not going to lie. They're downfall over the last couple of years. It's been pretty fun.
00:01:45
Speaker
Now that Seattle's playing them this weekend, uh, we get to revel in that a little bit and I'm not
Injury Updates and Concerns
00:01:50
Speaker
going lie. I'm feeling a little petty, Nico. I'm looking forward to it, but, uh, what's up, man. Thanks for tapping in. how you feeling here this morning?
00:01:56
Speaker
Hey, what's going on? Ari, and obviously our live and scorchers family excited to be on on a, Nice, ah you know, cloudy day here in the Pacific Northwest, a little bit of lower temperatures. So it made a big,
00:02:14
Speaker
Loving Scorchers, that maybe gets you little warmer today because we've got some some hot takes to talk about. We had a really you know good professional win by the Sounders against a good FC Dallas team that, yes, had some injuries, but we can talk about that. And, of course, anything else that comes up, I'm hoping that the chat is active. I'm hoping that you guys are liking the video, subscribing, you know helping us out,
00:02:40
Speaker
continuing to grow, right? I mean, a right that's what it's about. Exactly. Love it, Nico. Before we get into all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff is presented by QED Coffee, the best Seattle-based roaster, coffee shop, and coffee subscription service. Visit them in person at one of their three Seattle locations, West Seattle, Three Tree Point, Inberion, and Mount Baker Ridge, or online. You can use the code LS74 for 25% off anything guys,
00:03:09
Speaker
sitewide and also guys Number one way you can support this show and Lobbing Scorchers as a whole. Get a QED subscription. Have that be the way you get your coffee.
00:03:20
Speaker
LobbingScorchers.com slash coffee. Great product. Great way to support the show. All right, Nico. ah Let's get into it here this morning. And i wanted to start. well We'll talk a little more about this FC Dallas game in a second. But let's do some injury stuff to start out just real quick here. Because I think there's a couple guys. People are on pins and needles wondering about the statuses of. Number one, Albert Rusnak. Obviously, he takes a knock in the St. Louis game and has to sub off.
00:03:48
Speaker
I think that early in the second half, he has to sub off. Obviously, doesn't play at all at FC Dallas. And then you had Christian rolled on. Shout out Christian. He had the whole ceremony, 400 appearances, great accomplishment, great milestone. But he was not active for the game on the weekend with ah what is concussion protocol. Which, ah you know, with Christian, there was the situation a couple years ago where that the only real time he's missed extended time in his career was a couple years ago when he had the concussion protocol issue. So ah I think people are wondering what's going on with these two guys. Nico, do you have anything on Albert Rusnak or Christian Roldan to update the people on?
00:04:28
Speaker
Well, I mean, nothing additional to what we have kind of reported, but maybe we haven't quite clarified on air, and and so maybe we'll take that opportunity to do so. So, yes, Christian Roldan, early in the week of training, took a ball to the head and ended up landing under concussion protocol. Obviously, with Christian Roldan's history of concussions, I'm sure that the team is being overly cautious.
00:04:59
Speaker
I will say that you know Hassani Dawson's situation, i don't know if you guys remember, but we didn't quite know what happened, when it happened, and that ended up lasting quite a long time, and it was just a hit, i think, during a game. So overall, concussions are just so hard to identify, to try diagnose, because you could feel better let's say today and then tomorrow you're driving on your way down to the facility and all sudden you're feeling dizzy you're getting spotty vision so there is that concern when it comes to crucial dan where it's not like a muscle injury or anything else that you could kind of put a timeline on i'm hoping that it it's not one of those situations where it prolongs but i will say that brian smesser and the sounders have
00:05:55
Speaker
every year maybe even gotten more cautious about being careful with guys and and not pushing that subject and making sure that they are
Concussion Diagnosis Challenges
00:06:05
Speaker
cleared. And and and that's great. Concussions are are something that's very serious and it needs to be taken with the utmost, you know, detail and figure out that the guys are are available and ready to go. So Jordan did do a little bit of running prior to the training session, the last training session of last week. He and Ryan Saylor were out there.
00:06:28
Speaker
Oh, Christian. Sorry. Yeah. You said Jordan. Oh, my bad. Sorry. Christian. Christian and Ryan Saylor did a little bit of jogging prior to the last day of training last week, which, you know, it's a good sign that he's out there because usually depending on that concussion, you're not even allowed to jog at all. So I hope that that gets better. Who was the other one that were asking about? renack Yeah. Albert, it was that moment that you guys saw against St. Louis st louis City where he goes down and Brian kind of says, ah you know she's just tired and then
00:07:07
Speaker
Albert's like, nah, man, I mean, there was some tightness there. And it's clearly some tightness in the hamstring. Brian did say that if this was a playoff game, meaning the game just against FC Dallas, Albert could probably play. He could probably push him to play. So it's nothing that severe. That could also be little tongue in cheek maybe. But at the end of the day,
00:07:28
Speaker
There is no need to force Albert Rusnak to play any more minutes than he should. ah You want to keep everybody healthy. You have the the privilege to have a very deep team and you get to see what Ferreira is like playing the 10. And I think that's everything. I did hear some questions about Pedro De La Vega and I've been able to just kind of gather that he is hoping to be back right after the World Cup break. So still quite a way to wait. I don't expect him any time before that at all. I know some people were hoping that maybe he got sometime prior to the World Cup. That's not going to happen. Guillermo Gomez Andrade, on the other hand, he has been ramping up his training, has been training.
00:08:16
Speaker
not full on training, but partial in training. So he's a guy that you might get back maybe in two to three weeks. Um, Ryan Saylor and Kim Kihi are kind of on and off practice. I think that they're just kind of figuring out where those guys are at, making sure that there are no setbacks. So there's been some times where they play on full training like a couple of days and then they might take him off. I actually saw Kim in between the game against FC Dallas and he's just trying to get back onto the the field. ah He mentioned that he cannot wait to get out there. but he hasn't been cleared yet. So that's kind of what I have in regards to injuries.
00:09:01
Speaker
It is going to be nice at some point to have a couple of center backs that actually
Seattle Sounders' Game Strategies
00:09:05
Speaker
play center back back in the mix. I'm excited to have Yamar back when I'm looking at some of these set piece concessions, Nico, I'm not going lie. There's a couple of these plays where I'm like, man, ah actual natural CB in there.
00:09:20
Speaker
Maybe perhaps could have been helpful in that situation. Don't get me wrong. Alex has been doing an unbelievable job deputizing. And I think this look with Alex rolled on and KKR has been a lot of fun, but it's not necessarily like the top look you could run from a purely defensive standpoint But I guess we'll see what happens with Albert Rusnak and Christian Roldan for this week. I do think as we talk about Sporting Kansas City, this is not necessarily the game or the opposition where you need to rush anybody. If there's any question at all, I would rather have them hold these guys out for this week and make a run at it with what they got. You got Hassani Dotson out there. you had Snyder B. Ballin. And like you mentioned... You know what?
00:10:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah. There is one more that we forgot that... Oh, I had one too, actually. Yeah. So he kind of slipped by us and I didn't quite, I can't really just pinpoint when it happened. And when we asked Brian about it, he didn't really give us any detail, but Paula Riola had an adductor. Oh yeah. I'm out of this game. He was training on off to the side all week long. Yeah.
00:10:28
Speaker
He did not participate at all in any of the training, he not even i partial. So I don't know what happened there. Like I said, when we asked Brian about all of these guys, he kind of focused on Albert and Christian. and He didn't quite give
FC Dallas Match Review and Player Performance
00:10:45
Speaker
us enough on Paul. So I'm hoping that this week ah we'll see where he's at because that's another one that didn't quite.
00:10:52
Speaker
I don't know when the injury happened. The one I had was Stu Hawks. I was watching Tacoma Defiance last night playing LAFC 2 at Starfire. Big win for Defiance. They took down LAFC 2 4-1 for what I think was their first win of the season, but they looked good. Yusuke Nome scored two goals, a penalty, and then out-of-the-art absolute glazo. It was one of the sickest goals I've seen in, in the next pro highlights this year. So that was good to see used to Konoma as a guy that, you know, signed to the first team, but kind of buried on the depth chart, but you know, yeah maybe there's some exciting stuff in the future there. He really rips up next pro. And then I thought Stu Hawks looked really good. So hopefully he'll be getting back in this center back mix fold here soon. We got our first super chat of the show, Buster Blader, 7218.
00:11:45
Speaker
seventy two eighteen Thank you for the $2. Appreciate the support, man. He says, four game buying of Andrew Wiebe from SoccerWise. Are you saying we should sign Wiebe from SoccerWise? New edition?
00:11:58
Speaker
little bit of game? I mean, I could get down on that. They're ah they're doing their show, and i was just watching their show, and they were talking about Sporting Kansas City as well, the downfall. So there's going to be some content overlap with the Sounders playing Sporting KC this week. and I don't know. That that that might be a ah ah Jeremiah and and Noah question, man. I mean, you know, maybe ah i don't I don't know if they can handle the salaries, man. you know we're not the We're not the GMs on Lawless Scorchers. Talk to the front office. Yeah.
00:12:28
Speaker
That's right. i i I would love to have a Weeby in the roster, but we got we that's high demand. We do have to get him on the show. That's one. Weeby and Doyle, I can't believe we haven't done that yet. That's honestly on me. I feel like I could line that up pretty easily. But ah we've had Tom Bogues on the show, so now that he's back in the mix with his fatherhood thing going on, you know maybe we can get a repeat appearance from him. But ah all right, Nico, let's ah I guess let's talk about this FC Dallas game a little bit more. You know, we laid down our instant reactions on the postgame show, but I always like to when once the dust settles and the emotions of the game have worn off, I like to take another look at it. And I think there is important stuff to talk about from this game.
00:13:08
Speaker
Uh, and I guess, why don't we just start with a little more Jesus Ferreira? Uh, he was the, he was the man of the hour for the, for the match with FC Dallas being his former team. He gets the goal. Then there's the whole situation with the penalty. So it was a big Jesus Ferreira week. Uh, and you know, with the kind of the hour Rusnak situation feels a little up in the air at the moment. If I had to put a guess on it, just with it being the worst team in the league this week, you probably hold them out for this game and you run Jesus Ferreira there again. He scored a goal there last year.
00:13:39
Speaker
So ah Nico, what do you, with the with a day or two removed from this game, how are you feeling about the whole Jesus Ferreira performance? And you have any thoughts like you know on the on the penalty or just in general how he runs the offense compared to Rusnak? Or what do you what do you think coming off this FC Dallas performance where he He scored a great goal. He does miss the penalty, but all around, I thought it was a really good performance from Jesus.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yes, it was a very good performance. It was one that showed in the stat sheet as well as in his... press and in moments defensively, a couple of really good defensive moments where he creates, picks up a ball, creates transition moments. I think that just his ability just find pockets, you know, i found out myself with ah Moss in the press box, just kind of following Jesus off the ball. And he rarely is in the wrong place, you know, regardless of where the ball is. So defensively, he just understands exactly how to take away passing angles. He understands when not to press just to press. Right. you You don't just run like a crazy man right at the ball. ah You know, he knows when to break down, when to slow down. same as in possession. When the team is building out of the back, he understands where to stand in between the lines. He finds those pockets. ah He's not afraid to just ah never turn into pressure and just kind of be a ah quick pivot in the link-up play. First touch, then you move around. ah He's always finding and those hard-to-thread
00:15:25
Speaker
passes and And I think that that's phenomenal. um So overall, he was just just good. The offense does look different. Brian talked about how him playing the 10 maybe doesn't have the exact same look as Albert Paz.
00:15:46
Speaker
Jesus tends to kind of follow the ball and he he's a magnet for the ball. he He wants it. He's asking for it consistently where Albert just kind of stays in the left pocket and maybe allows that pocket winger, the the famous pocket winger to have more space in the right pocket. um So, you know, there are things that,
00:16:08
Speaker
I believe Brian still likes about having Albert running that 10. I think that he looks more dynamic with Jesus Ferreira. And i so I heard some contrary ah post and and and maybe some some mixed reviews on that regard. But I think that he is obviously ah a player that if you have a transition moment and you're hoping that ah you have a guy that is not just starting that season, initial pass, but that is breaking and has that explosiveness to run late into the box and and be another reference attacker inside the 18. I think he does that extremely well. So although I still like the the dual 10 situation, I think that that's the Sounders best 11 and that's maybe not a popular take for some. ah
00:17:00
Speaker
I think that it works very well. With Ferreira, I think that you do have a more dangerous team on offense than you do with Albert. I also think that his set pieces were excellent in this game, and it's something that continues to get better. He's always been a guy that wants to be on those set pieces, and there was a couple of deliveries in this game that but maybe they were a bit off. Maybe Paul doesn't quite get to one one header or he gets pushed out. but I just think his delivery on the ball was, was excellent in this game. And then look, the the PK, it happens. You know, I've seen some of the best players in the world make a mistake. And and I love the accountability by Jesus Ferreira saying, look, I'm not mad about missing the PK is how I missed the PK. I,
00:17:49
Speaker
was going to go one way. i changed my mind. I opened up my hip and I put it into a place without any he pace on it and not really quite located anywhere. he called it a bad PK. He said it was a bad PK. So that accountability, like to hear from him. Obviously, it didn't count the team. It didn't cost the team points.
00:18:11
Speaker
which, you know, if this is a 2-2 draw, we're probably feeling a lot worse about that, PK. But again, ah this is a player that I have mentioned over and over again, has had limited minutes this season.
00:18:26
Speaker
that Those sort of attackers need rhythm. They need confidence. And I think that's been going to continue to build. and And I do feel like Brian has reached the point where this team has been really, really good. But in order to get it to add another level,
00:18:41
Speaker
You do need a little bit of continuity, maybe a lot of continuity, at least in that attacking th third. So those guys can start to feel of each other and and really create a rapport where it becomes a lot more.
00:18:55
Speaker
Out of instinct and almost you play by memory, then you having to wait for a guy to run into a certain space because you already know where he's going to be before he
Tactics and Player Role Analysis
00:19:04
Speaker
even makes that run. So there is that next level that I think you'll have with Jesus Ferreira. But I'll conclude with this.
00:19:10
Speaker
I'll repeat it. I still like the dual 10 possibility with Ferreira on the pocket winger side on the right side and Alba Rusnak running the 10.
00:19:23
Speaker
i I agree with that. I think, you know, what we saw in the, in the Tigris game mostly, but then the, you know, the St. Louis game as well before Albert went out, it was really starting to cook again. So that is, that's why it's kind of unfortunate that Albert goes down with an injury, right? As it was, it looked like it was on the the whole operation was on the upswing, but it was good to see Ferreira get some run in that spot and for the offense to function as well as it did. They only got the two goals against FC Dallas, but it felt like the type of game where I think they they were unlucky based on the quality of chance generation to perhaps not have at least one to two more in that game. I feel like that could have been a three or four goal game. And then also just him getting the goal, his first goal of the season on that topic. You know, we talked a lot.
00:20:13
Speaker
leading up to the game the week or two leading up to the game about the kind of the desire to get more goal production out of jesus ferreira and i was kind of saying like look him slotting in for rusnak in this situation that's a good opportunity to get that going because when he's the actual centerpiece of the whole thing theoretically you would think he's going to be in front of goal more get more opportunities that he hasn't really been getting as much in the wide channel and sure enough In the first 20 minutes of the game, he scores a goal. And the way he scores the goal, too, I think it's the type of chance that he doesn't necessarily get if he's playing out in the wide channel. If it's him out in the wide channel, then it's probably Jordan Morris up top. So he's the one receiver that's in that area when Jackson Reagan hits that hits that long ball. It's probably Jesus getting the ball in the wide area and then laying it off to Jordan in that
00:21:06
Speaker
Set up or laying it off to Rusnak in that setup. And he's doing that. He's being more of the facilitator than the goal score. Do you think it's just, it's as simple as if you want him to be getting a lot of opportunities on goal, he needs to be playing more centrally and that if he is doing this wide role,
00:21:24
Speaker
he's just a point guard in that role and we're not going to be seeing him get those opportunities because it did feel like there was kind of a clear line didn't it like he really has not been getting many opportunities on goal at all playing uh in the wide role all season and then you know you put him central and he scores a goal immediately i mean do you think that there's a a connection to be made there Or do you think that it's more of just a general, like he needs, he needs more confidence. He needs to be his his teammates. We even talked about this. Like we want him to be a little more selfish at times. We want him to take those shots, even on the play where he scored, he could have slid Paul Rothrock through. He had Paul Rothrock as a runner to his left. And I think the Jesus of last year, is probably the first place his mind is going is head up. I'm going to look at who I can pick out. Cause I think he wants to, he wants to feed everyone else, or at least last year, it was like, I'm the new guy on the team. I want to make sure I'm getting everyone else eaten before myself.
00:22:21
Speaker
ah But on that play, I love the selfishness. Yes. Just take the shot. It's fine. Yes. You had Rothrock running, but Take the shot, get the confidence going. It might go in and it did go in in this case, but I guess, yeah. What do you think of that whole issue of him not really looking as goal dangerous when he's in that wide row?
00:22:40
Speaker
I think that's a mentality thing. i do feel like he's mentioned it several times where he's adapting to the players around him, the system around him. And if he can be more influential to the team by dropping back and being part of the link up and putting through balls to feed a Rothrock and feed a Paula Riola and feed a Jordan Morris, then that's what he's going to do.
00:23:06
Speaker
But that mentality, has changed. and And I think he understood that he needed to be a lot more gold dangerous in order to not just do more for the team, but to keep that, that starting role. I mean, you know, competition is out there for him and, Brian has asked him several times to that he needs to be more goal dangerous. And I think over the last two games, he has been more dangerous. couple of headers really pushing the lines, taking a couple of shots that maybe were blocked, but at least he's taking those shots rather than just, like you said, slip somebody by or whatever, opening the field or or even sometimes he likes to drop the ball. So I do think that he has –
00:23:54
Speaker
decided that he needs to be more committed towards taking more chances. And I think that's going to work out now, the difference between the 10 and that the pocket winger on us as the right winger of this formation. ah I do think that regardless of where Ferrer is at, he's going to be a guy that's going to help on the link up and he's going to have that freedom to drop back and and do that. But when he's at that right winger position, there is more opportunity of the facilitator necessity, right? Whether it is a kind of dropping back and allowing Kalani to be the farthest, highest guy of the field on that side. And I think that Ferraro does that very well. And I think that goes on
00:24:36
Speaker
uncredited And we don't we don't really realize how important that is. It is not just the link of play, but his defensive effort that that he provides whenever Kalani does push that high. Jordan talked about it when we asked him about him himself also having a change of mind or or a change of mentality when it comes to maybe I don't have to be the nine. Maybe I have to play out a little bit wider. But he he talked to us about There is that responsibility when you play that pocket winger to be part of the link up and be more available for Alex Roldan coming as a center back, getting that ball, pick the ball up there, then making that run on the outside. You got to try to at times get to the end line and make good crosses when maybe Kalani is playing in those inside channels. So there is a lot of mobility and there's a lot of responsibility when it comes to other distribution moments where as a 10 player,
00:25:29
Speaker
Obviously, the role calls for you being a through passer and helping up in the final third. But with the system and the way that the Sounders are adding numbers forward, there's a lot of time where that 10 becomes almost a second forward. And those guys are a little bit higher up the field. And that's worked well at times whenever Jesus Ferrer has been there because he has that ability.
00:25:49
Speaker
understanding of that role. So um there is a little bit of maybe playing the 10 under of this system does get you higher up the field and in more prime scoring positions than that pocket winger. So there is maybe some correlation there, but ultimately I do think that it's a Jesus thing. It's a mentality thing. And I, I believe that he's starting to understand that and that he needs to, even when he's,
00:26:16
Speaker
is not going through and is not executing, just just take it. Just take the shot. Yeah, exactly. ah Nico, what did you think of the goal that Seattle conceded in this game? Obviously, another set-piece concession, which is unfortunate.
Set-piece Defense Issues
00:26:31
Speaker
And also, you know, they had him 2-0 at that point. You conceded to make it And you let him back in the game. The game ends up a little more stressful than I think we all would have liked. The discussion we were having after the game was, you know, I always try and look at, ah was it a great play by the other team or was it a mistake by you? Could you have done anything to prevent it? But at the time we were talking about it I hadn't really watched it back yet. I have watched it back several times now. And, man, it's it's a tough one, man. Like, so...
00:27:03
Speaker
Hassani, I guess, you know loses his 1v1 on the play, lets Nolan Norris get the header on target. But the guy Nolan Norris is marked. It's not like he was unmarked. Hassani was all over him. He was draped all over him. And the the kid still somehow gets that header off, and it was a perfect header.
00:27:23
Speaker
I tend to think that's kind of one that you chalk up to the other team making a great play, like running a good set piece and hitting a perfect header. But it also is kind of a recurring theme of set piece concessions this year. It feels like most, if not all of the goals that they're conceding are offset pieces. So what did you think of that one? Do you think Hassani could have done better there? I think that ah you could argue maybe he could have competed for the ball a little better or, you know, had a little, you know, better positioning, I guess. But I do think you have to hat tip Nolan Norris to an extent for getting to that spot and then the execution on the header. What do you what did you think of that?
00:28:04
Speaker
I think that's a good play by a young player that puts himself in a position to get a touch on the ball. And there's a little luck that goes with it. because look There isn't really much of an angle for that header to happen. and And all you're doing is that...
00:28:23
Speaker
player attacking the ball is getting something on it and he flicks it. Right. and I think a Sunday does everything he can to defend that, that, that that corner kick. And, you know, ah he goes Chuck Norris on you and just overpowers you. Nolan went Chuck. Nolan went Chuck there. That was, he went Chuck. Right. And he just, I'll beat you. And sometimes that happened, but,
00:28:48
Speaker
I don't put a lot of stock into and necessarily. And I know it it sucks because... said pieces have been this reoccurring problem, but this is not a header like the one that you gave up against Tiggers twice where he's wide open, unmarked, or he's just dunking on one of your defenders, or there is a lack of a read, of a anticipation on the ball. There's none of that here. This is two guys going at the ball and one winning. So I think it's more of
00:29:23
Speaker
a a good play by Nelson than it is a bad play by Hassani Dotson. and And I want to talk a little bit about Hassani when we get a chance, but in terms of that that that specific goal, I don't think that there's much that Andrew Thomas can do there, and there's definitely not much that Hassani Dawson can do any better. yeah Absolutely nothing Andrew Thomas could have done there. I think the question is, could Hassani have done better in that 1v1 with ah Nolan Norris? But why dont why don't we just do the Hassani discourse real quick? did you think of his game? I thought that outside of that play, I thought he was really good. I feel like he's been looking more comfortable and acclimated, there was a little bit of a process where, you know, you you could see in moments that it's his first year, first few games with the team. But I thought this was the most comfortable that he's looked so far. Obviously, the play where they conceded the goal was unfortunate. But what did you what did you think of his performance on the whole outside of that?
Hassani Dotson's Rising Form
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah, ah look, I thought I said it was really good. and And I mentioned going into this game a couple of things about Hassani. And it's that he simplifies the game a little bit. And again, i'm not ah I'm not a stats guy, but I know we have people that like those stats. So he had 62 out of 65 passes, 95% completion. ah But the most important thing, aside from his ability to just...
00:30:48
Speaker
make it simple and allow other guys to shine. And you pick up the ball here and you're just dumping it to Jackson Reagan back so he can make a big pass. Or maybe you're opening it it up up wide a little bit to allow Jordan Morris to get on the ball. But defensively, he had 12 defensive contributions statistically in this one. And that showed, I mean, he was a guy that,
00:31:11
Speaker
did not allow Dallas' midfield to get any sort of rhythm. I thought that he was excellent when he came to the few transition moments that Dallas had. And although, yes, the first 12, 14 minutes of this game were were difficult, and Santiago Moreno just looked like – ah badger that you could not handle and he was just all over and so you just couldn't couldn't get a hold of him I do think that as the game progressed and Hassani was able to have a better read of what Dallas was trying to do he became stronger and stronger as the game came along so when it comes to
00:31:55
Speaker
The link up when it comes to possession and when it comes to defensive moments, I thought that he was outstanding. Yeah, he was pretty integral to the C. He was very integral to the sequence on, I believe the Jordan Morris goal. ah You mentioned that little flick header that he had back to Jackson Reagan. That's kind of like a small thing, but I like that. That's like, you know, you got the ball coming in at you. You're probably going to be under pressure. FC Dallas is pressing. Yeah, just flick it back and reset, recalibrate. And then they get a goal off that play. He gets a secondary assist. I think he was the one who fed Snyder, who fed Jordan Morris. Snyder Brunel was fantastic in this game. And I i thought the ah for having not been run a lot in and in MLS games, the Snyder-Hassani pivot looked really good. So that was encouraging, and that makes me feel like you can go into this Sporting KC game with that and feel really good about your chances. So you don't necessarily need to rush Christian Roldan back. And I think in general it's just good to see Hassani kind of – To me, that's like how he played against FC Dallas. That's the player that they got over the offseason. I think he we've seen shades of that, but maybe not like a fully consistently. And this was his first like all-around effort where
00:33:13
Speaker
I was watching it and I was like, this looks like the Hassani Dotson Minnesota United. So that's a great sign, especially as you go into a road game this weekend, a little shorthanded. Nico, let's talk about Sporting KC. But before we get into it, and do you have anything else on the FC Dallas game that you wanted to ah get out there that we haven't hit on yet?
00:33:33
Speaker
ah Yeah, look, just another great Andrew Thomas performance, ah putting his body on the line, um big saves whenever he was asked to have big saves, ah being in a guy that reigns in the box. And he had he had a couple of moments where I feel like the referee should have protected him a little bit more and and made some calls on him. But I just love his...
00:34:00
Speaker
Fearlessness when it comes to one-on-one situations, when it comes to going out there and picking up those balls off of either early crosses or set pieces. It's a big game for him. thought Alex Rodan was really good.
00:34:14
Speaker
And that's probably going to be the biggest question ah is – What do you do with Alex when those center backs do come back? Because Kalani has been so good and overall. you know Can you push Kalani a little bit higher up the of the field? we We were having a discussion with a couple of ah media members, Spanish-speaking media members, and you know depending on how this rotating door of nines and wingers happen, there's just a lot of –
00:34:46
Speaker
There's a lot of competition for different positions, but I thought Alex at center back looked really good in this one specifically. Obviously, no Peter Moussa, so not not as much to do defensively. But what he does on the ball and that ability to just have another center back that can just push a little bit higher, ah on in possession or just simply being a guy that can ah distribute out of the back as well as he does. I mean, he's important.
00:35:13
Speaker
So i I love the Alex Rodan game in this one. I know Delgado, maybe not a love you maybe not a lot of you guys are familiar with him, but he's ah a very good Ecuadorian player that just didn't have a good game because there was such a good defensive effort to not allow him to get the ball where he wanted to get it. They kind of took him off circuit. They just didn't allow anything, no services in for him. And when he did get the ball, he just felt that pressure. So overall, I thought that Alex Roden had a really good game.
00:35:45
Speaker
What happened with Petter Moussa Logan Farrington? I did all this preview content talking about how ah the Seattle Sounders are going to be playing against the best number nine in MLS, and he's got this running mate that they're just a 1-2 Obadus duo scoring goals on everyone. What a great test for the back line. And then neither of them play. Farrington, I guess there is maybe a knock that I didn't know about. ah because he came off the bench midweek when they were playing Minnesota. But Musa, I didn't know. I didn't see anything about that. I was talking to Sam Hale, and like there was no indication that they weren't going to play. What the hell, man? Undermining the Lobbings Quarters preview content. like There's like 30, 40 minutes of discussion about Petter Musa and how Seattle's going to defend it and then he doesn't even play. i was I was pretty salty about that. Did you hear anything? like or i i mean I know we're not FC Dallas guys, but... No, I mean, I watched the midweek game, so I knew that um at least Petermuzza wasn't going to play. Okay. even Even Brian asked me, maybe I should be asking you. But it it wasn't that. I mean, it was it was pretty obvious that he came off with a okay a serious enough knock that you were not going to risk him two days later or three days later to to to play a game in Seattle, right? He's just too important. Yeah.
00:37:03
Speaker
it It sounds like it's not serious. They call it a lower body injury. ah So that that's that in terms of the injury report. But at the end of the day, i saw it happen. So I knew that he wasn't going to be enough. Logan ah Farrington, he that one, i I had no idea until the that game of and speaking about a little bit of. um content that Dallas did not respect. I did a couple of things in Spanish about Logan Farrington and you know what he could provide as even without ah Pitar Moussa and he didn't play either. yeah all right well to be fair my preview show was on tuesday before the wednesday game where moosa took the knock so there was no way that that could have been ah accounted for but uh all right nico let's uh let's talk about the sporting kc game coming up uh before we get into it everyone please like the video if you haven't already i don't know how many likes we're sitting on with this video right now but it's not enough if you haven't done so yet like the video get us in that algorithm And sub to the channel as well. You know, we're on the road to 4K subs. We're not particularly close, so we need you all to help us get closer. If you're not subbed, drop us a sub, turn on noties and all that good stuff. All right, Nico, Sporting KC, Children's Mercy Park this Saturday.
00:38:20
Speaker
ah The literal worst their literal worst team in Major League Soccer so far this year, with all due respect to the Philly Union. who are doing their level best to try and put themselves at the forefront of the wooden spoon discussion uh i think this sporting kc team takes it they're the wooden spoon front runners uh which is you know i'm i'm typically not much of a uh grudge holder nico but ah as everyone knows i refer to this team as the uh club of professional wrestling enthusiasts in reference to the famous full nelson body slam that amelia laid on christian rolled on and don't what was that like 2021 at this point it's funny sometimes you know I still call them the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts to this day and when I do that sometimes their fans respond and they're like are you ever gonna let that go like are you ever gonna stop talking about that and my response is
00:39:14
Speaker
no I'm not going to let that go ever. You are going to be the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts until my dying day for as long as I'm on this earth. That is what you are to me after that. And, you know, it's ah the, my, my issue with it was less the body slam itself in more the reaction to it. I sent about 80 tweets about this situation when it happened.
00:39:39
Speaker
And there was there was a lot of of defending it, you know? And then the way their players reacted, they scored a goal in their next game and they're doing like tribute WWE w celebrations, just having a great time for a play that should have been a red guard and wasn't.
Sporting Kansas City's Struggles
00:39:55
Speaker
So all that's to say, I've taken joy in their downfall over the last couple of years. Cause if you really trace it back, Nico, the body slam was the beginning of the end for them. how that On that day, on that day, they were a, they came into Lumen Field that day and they were a good team as far as I was concerned. They were, they had Johnny Russell, you know, they were a playoff team in the Western Conference. They won that game because their goalkeeper didn't get red carded when he, uh, They won that game, and I saw no reason to think that the end of Sporting KC was imminent at that point. But Tim Foss, shout out Tim Foss, he got a whole bit for two years of tracking their record in goal differential since the body slam, and you literally can draw a straight line like that. they were They were good that day, and then after that, they became bad, and now they're the worst team in the league. It's called karma. I think it's funny. But, Nico, let's talk about... ah
00:40:50
Speaker
why they're so bad, but then also just kind of how you approach a game against a bad team. Because I think that this type of game is tough because there's like, there's nothing good that can come from it. If you go out and win the game and kick their ass by three or four goals, no one cares. No one's, everyone says it doesn't count. Doesn't matter. That's what you're supposed to do. They're the worst team in the league. If you lose or you draw, then it's, Oh, what the hell you lost or drew to the worst team in the league. What the hell is wrong with you? So you kind of have to deal with that reality that there there's just there's nothing to be gained from a game like this other than the three points that are on the line. But like perception and narrative-wise, there's absolutely nothing to be gained. You could win this game by eight goals, and people would just say that it doesn't count. For me, when I look at a game like this, what you're supposed to do in this situation is go out there and take care of business, okay? Be professional about it.
00:41:41
Speaker
Don't let anything stupid happen, as I like to say. And take capitalize on a matchup against a team that, ah i mean, we'll take a look at it, Nico. But this team is awful. They are they're not just the worst team in the league right now. They are one of the worst teams I've seen in the last couple years. And everyone knew it was going to happen.
00:42:00
Speaker
We were all looking at the rosters during preseason, and we all had the same reaction looking at theirs, which was, boy, you guys are going into the season like that. Okay. ah More power to you. Who'd you hire as your coach? Rafa Wiki. Okay. Not that good a coach. Former Chicago Fire. let's Good luck with that, guys. And it's pretty much going exactly how everyone predicted. They are I'll throw some numbers at you. They are one win seven losses and one draw good for a cool 0.44 points per game 0.44. They have four points on the season. And this is my favorite stat. They have conceded 25 goals. ah This is.
00:42:43
Speaker
I think it's the worst defense in the league. Obviously, our Orlando City, you know, is up there in these discussions too. ah But all in all, you know, it's most most games in MLS on the average week, you're probably looking at a team that's sort of of that FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United type tier. And then you got a collection of teams that are in the tier above that, like this year at San Jose, Vancouver, LAFC. And then you got these teams that are in the, in the basement. So in the West, it's St. Louis, Kansas City, Orlando, Philadelphia. You got one in that in that bucket of bottom feeders this week. So I guess, Nico, I want to take a look at their roster with you in a second here. But just in general, what do you think of the notion of ah of how do you how to approach playing a bad team and making sure you capitalize on a matchup where like these this team has nothing man Like they have the worst defense in the league. They have day on Yovlich.
00:43:42
Speaker
He's good, but he is no, he's good he is genuinely good. He, maybe he gets a goal on you, but he has no service. And when your midfield's getting run on like theirs is every week and when their back lines under siege, like it is every week, it having a number nine does not a good number nine and ambitious number nine doesn't do anything for you. And so that's the situation they're in. But ah how do you think Seattle should ah go into this one against the literal worst team in the league?
00:44:07
Speaker
I'm going to try to stay away from the cliche of a catch game because I know that Brian dislikes that term. And honestly, it does get a little bit tiresome when it comes to it. But trappiest of trap games, according to Gianni. Trappiest of trap.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly it. I don't know what else to call it. It's the problem because that's exactly what it is. I even mentioned this in my Thursday show. um I basically said, look, i'm I'm less worried about Dallas. I think that's a game that the Sounders are going to win pretty comfortably. And I'm more worried, believe it or not, about going to Sporting Kansas City, a place where the Sounders have had some pretty bad performances, you know, in their time. They've also had some good ones. some ones. They've had some good ones, but but I don't know why it feels like whenever they're on a good run of form, they'll just drop points Sportacan City. And maybe that's just in the back of my mind and it's not a reality. We'll probably check the Jeremiah and Tim Foss and you guys that, you know, a lot better memory than I do. But that's the way he feels like. I don't know why I this gut feeling. So the Sounders need to come in and play this game with the utmost intensity.
00:45:20
Speaker
You are a team that can give a lifeline to a club that's dead in the water. and And that is something that is difficult to play with because those guys, they have nothing to lose. that they're They're coming at you. There is a a level of understanding that the the Sounders are this this big team, big organization on on on a great run. And I'm sure that does exactly what the coach is going to provide. It's just, look, nobody's giving us a chance. We're the underdogs. You guys are at home. Let's go ahead and and make it happen. So if the Sounders go in there flat, without the intensity, and
00:46:00
Speaker
underestimating the opponent, there's going to be a tough day at the office. But if they are able to, in my opinion, would it's going to be the most important thing, control the tempo of the game from start to finish, which is something that they haven't really done I asked Brian Smetzer about closing the game with more possession in this last pass game.
00:46:23
Speaker
Because although you did get the win, and he's absolutely right, Brian is, that this is the type of game against Dallas that you last year might have dropped points up at the end with a late goal, a cheap goal, whatever you want to call it.
00:46:37
Speaker
But I do think that the Sounders... allowed Dallas to just get too many chances and and and get too comfortable. And they could have done more about holding possession. I did like to see a little bit of that savviness by Jesus. And i forget who was the other guy that, you know, taking the ball to the corner and just holding it there for a little bit, putting the game in the freezer, as they they call it in in Latin America.
00:47:02
Speaker
So I want to see a little bit more of that. But against Sporting Kansas City, a team that, for For some odd reason, they they they feel like they can play against the run of play, but they don't have the tools to do it. They get pretty deep in their own lines. It's it's supposed to be a 3-4-3, but a lot of times it looks like a five-man back line because they're not getting enough out of their wingbacks. And so they they end up doing more defending than attacking for the most part. Yeah.
00:47:35
Speaker
They don't really have a ball winner in midfield. So is what you mentioned. You're always underseas because they that first filter of defending isn't quite there. So they allow just pressure to just get on them and they absorb, absorb and absorb. And maybe there's moments that Joe Vlis had. Maybe there is a set piece. I like Manu Garcia. I think that he's a good player. But...
00:47:58
Speaker
There just isn't enough for you to absorb so much pressure when you don't have the the tools to be good in in and in transition. So overall, if you look at this Chicago game where Chicago just dominated possession heavily, i think it was like 70 to 30 or something to to that account. I mean, it was bad.
00:48:20
Speaker
That's what Seattle needs to do. And and they they are... Possession based team as much as you might not see that in the stands all season long necessarily on average, but they have the tools to do so. So Whether Christian rolled down or not is back is going to be interesting for me because I do feel like Christian does a good job at being a guy that can run that and and and create tempo for your team and understands when to drop it back, when to not do it. ah But maybe Hassani can get a chance to do that. ah But this is going to be one of those games where the Jesuses, the Albert Rusnak's are going to be key components of the Sounders not allowing any moment of
00:49:03
Speaker
for Kansas City to get a little bit of win under their sails. Because a team that's hurt and a team that has nothing to lose, all they need is that one moment. All they need is that one goal in order to really put you under pressure.
00:49:17
Speaker
Yeah, I want to be clear about something. you know As bad as they are, like it's a cloud you see it all the time in MLS where you have a team that you think you know the quality of going up against a team that has much more quality than them, and you think you should be able to predict how it's going to go based on that, and then the result goes the exact opposite way. You can kind of never predict when it's going to happen. How bad the team is is kind of irrelevant. Yeah.
00:49:45
Speaker
especially when you're when you're going on the road. I'm hoping those games down there are a lot tougher, like in the dead heat of summer when it's like 110 degrees and you got the humidity factor. You know, the the game right before Ziggy Schmidt was let go was ah a famous one where it was like, yeah, the performance was bad, but it's like...
00:50:04
Speaker
playing soccer in that weather looked so terrible. I don't know how much you could even read into it, but like the way the rest of the season went, I understood what happened, but it was also just like, it can be when you're playing at SKC in the summer, it can be like impossible to sustain for 90 minutes, but April 27th, I don't think that should be as much of an issue. So it's up to Seattle to not let that happen and, and capitalize on this matchup. Like I said, Let's hit Nate's super chat here and then ah and then we can take a a little bit more look at Sporting KC. Nico, I think this one's for you.
00:50:37
Speaker
Nate wants to know, he says, just jumping in any news or updates on Pedro de la Vega may return was the reported timeline when he went down last season. We talked about it. brief You hit on it briefly at the beginning of the show, but you want to give like the the official word there.
00:50:52
Speaker
Yeah, look, everything I'm hearing. in the hallways, if you will, is that Pedro la Vega continues to work hard. He's gonna not have a lot of time off during the world cup break as maybe other guys might, because he is going to be on this very strict, heavy, we're going to ramp you up. So you're back after the, the, the break for the world cup, but I don't expect them right away.
00:51:26
Speaker
I wouldn't expect them back right away. There's going to be a lot of minute restrictions. There's going to be, in my opinion, also a way to,
00:51:39
Speaker
the the the the injury is not the problem. So if we, if we go back to the injuries, a bone injury. So once the, the bone is ready to go, you're ready to go. Right. I mean, he's healed. It's completely fine, but Being out off the fields this long, and although he has been doing a lot of conditioning indoors and there's a whole process that I'm not going to get into, that that he's kind of under to make sure that once that bone is healed, you're ready to go. You got to get your soccer rhythm back. You got to get in game form. There's a whole bunch of components that i don't think will be available to, I'm going to say like August is is when when he's going to be
00:52:20
Speaker
more full on. You might see some, ah you know, like late August is when I would expect them to start it, get some camels and things like that. But overall, all we know right now is that Pedro de la Vega will not be back till after the world cup break. So take it for what it is. ah that The team is is, in my opinion, going to be cautious in regards of the,
00:52:49
Speaker
Muscle over exertions and things of that nature as you get him back into full rhythm But once the bone is ready once the bone is healed he should be able to go um And that timeline right now is after the World Cup It's gonna be interesting to see what happens when he gets back in when yamr gets back these lineup questions tend to solve themselves usually But if you do have a situation where the broader group is more or less healthy, like how do you line it up? They've been running this Alex Kalani lineup, but when Yamar gets back, you have to imagine that they slide Alex back out and slide Yamar in, but then it's like Kalani has been looking so good and adding such an important element to this team and attack. which I think his skill set is a great super sub skill set, but it also feels like he's kind of earned a starting job and he's providing sort of a unique thing in the lineup from that spot that I don't know how I feel about moving him to the bench potentially. And then honestly, in attack, it's going to be even more interesting because you got... You're going to have La Vega in there, but Jordan's back.
00:54:00
Speaker
ah You got Jesus and Rusnak, obviously. And then Paul Areola. I mean, you go down the list, like what is the actual first choice 11? It would be fascinating to see with all those guys healthy, how Brian Schmetzer would line that up.
00:54:13
Speaker
Because, i mean, i can't I can't fathom not starting Pedro De La Vega based on how he looked last year. But I think you also got to take into account... how the team has been playing without him and based some of your decision-making on that. But I don't know. do you have any thought there before we jump back into SKC?
00:54:31
Speaker
Yeah. i just don't know how you look at Paul Rothrock in the face and tell him, Hey man, you have been killing it for us I still, I created havoc. I said all the names are producing. You've been scoring. You continue to ah give us that ah dual control.
00:54:47
Speaker
Ability of defending and pressing and pushing. But, oh, by the way, you're gonna we're going to sit you down for for Pedro La Vega, who hasn't played in forever. So those are the conversations that I would not want to have.
00:55:00
Speaker
i would I don't envy Brian that he needs to have because you're going to have to have him. Because regardless of how the team is playing, the the potential – of having Pedro de la Vega back in the form that he was in prior to his injury.
00:55:20
Speaker
just takes your team and and just puts them at a whole other level. I mean, talk about raise the ceiling. Pedro will raise your ceiling immediately. So that's difficult, man. That's where we go into what happens with the dual tens. You know, what happens with Rostock and Jesus? What happens with Jordan? Are you forced to now play Jordan up top? Or, you know, there's just so much that's going to come about this that, know,
00:55:45
Speaker
We'll see. but But I do know that Brian has always been a guy that allows guys to earn their spot. And i mean I just think Paul has earned it. And I love Pedro Levega. I love Pedro Levega. I think that he is a phenomenal player. But he's going to have to win it on the training ground and on the field in order to get that spot back.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, there's going to be a period of time where they can bring De La Vega off the bench as like a ramping him up type of thing. But once you get past that period of time, ye like we'll see what happens. It's going to be interesting. All right, Nico, back to Sporting Kansas City. ah You know, I'm just looking at their schedule here right now in front of me, looking at the run that they've had this season, what type of teams they've played. And, you know, it's a tough scene. They opened the season by getting Molly WAP 3-0 at San Jose, which looking back on that, that's not very surprising. And then they actually drew the crew at home the week after that.
00:56:43
Speaker
But the crew, it turns out, are actively bad. So that's not like a great result in hindsight. And then they lost to San Diego one zero at home and then got their only win of the season was away at the LA Galaxy, which for the Galaxy, it's That's tough like to be the one team that's lost to Sporting KC, and you did it at home. like If you did it on the road, that's one thing, but they did at home. But then back at it, 4-1 against Colorado, 3-1 against ah RSL, 3-1 at home against San Jose, and then this is my favorite one. This team lost 3-0 in the U.S. Open Cup to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.
00:57:24
Speaker
You can't be wild. You can't be getting three owed by the switch. That's why you simply cannot. That's just, that that can't happen. That can't happen. That's you never see that. Like you see cup sets, you see USL teams be MOS teams in open cup. Sometimes that's not the craziest thing of all time, but three zero.
00:57:42
Speaker
3-0, I mean, i I don't know how that happens. And then they got their last two games, they got 3-0'd by Vancouver at BC Place and then 5-0'd on the weekend at Chicago. So the month of April, they have conceded 3, 6, 9, 12, 17 goals and scored four and lost every single game, including to a USL game.
00:58:04
Speaker
opponent So, uh, how does that happen? How
Exploring Sporting Kansas City Roster
00:58:07
Speaker
does that happen? Uh, Nico, I was, I was looking at their roster and, i want to introduce a new segment on the show, ah right now. And this segment is called, who is that guy? Uh, we're going to pull up the sporting Casey roster and, And we're going to go through and umm I'm going to throw some names at you and we're going to see if you know their first name. That's what I was, that's the exercise I was doing. was looking at I was like, all right, do I know this guy's first name? And that's an interesting exercise for me because...
00:58:36
Speaker
There's pretty much no MLS roster that at this point that I go through, and like I can't name most of the guys. I think you know most teams are going to have like three or four guys maybe that I haven't heard of or don't don't know that much about. But I was interested, like, okay, let's go through this KC1 and see like how much I really know. Because if you've got a lot of guys that I don't know, that's how you know you're like deep in the in the trenches. But all right, let me let me pull this up here, and we're going to play.
00:59:06
Speaker
Who is that guy? But before we do that, Eddie with the 20 bomb. yeah Oh, thank you, Eddie. No message with it, but we appreciate that, man. That is awesome.
00:59:16
Speaker
Thank you for the support. ah All right. So here we go. We got the sporting Casey roster right here and we're just going to start at the bottom here, Nico. We got C. John C. Chantret.
00:59:30
Speaker
You know, you know, C. Chantret. No idea. Yeah. Okay, yeah. See, i don't I don't know who that is. Let's see. Let's see who we got. Cello. Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't know who that is. ah What about Sulmanov? I think I know. He's like is he's are their DP forward, I think. right I don't know his first name, but I think I know who that is. What about R. Shuey? Do you know R. Shuey?
00:59:54
Speaker
No? I do not know him. How about Jay Reynolds? I don't think I know Jay Reynolds. I don't know Jay Reynolds. Jay Reed, Jayden Reed. There we go. I know that one.
01:00:05
Speaker
Pulskamp, John Pulskamp, goalkeeper. He's pretty pretty bad. season i mean He's He's been around. Actually, I think I have a theory that he's actually not as bad as hes he looks. The guy is literally just under absolute siege every game. He's just in between the posts, just like absolutely swatting everything away, like just all these high XG chances coming at him. And he gets very animated when he gets scored on, which is a lot. so thats way He always looks angry I was just gonna say that He kind of reminds me like a UFC fighter When you see him like Walking into the locker room He's just He looks angry all the time I've never seen him smile Like I Every time that I've covered A Sporting City game I've never seen what Actually whenever watch A Sporting City game I've never seen this guy smile So that's how bad he has it What about Jay Miller Is that John Miller Is that John Miller
01:00:56
Speaker
Jaden Miller Jansen Miller I should have had that one I know i tried Jaden i had yeah you Just throw out Jaden whenever you see a J W Meyer is that why it's Wyatt maybe Wyatt Meyer Wyatt Meyer there we go hey that was a good there you go ah J No ah Day on Jovolech, there you go, number nine Most hockey player on the team ah L Johnson, I think Larry Luke Johnson la angel ah john Oh no yeah no Actually I do know him because of ah Fantasy
01:01:31
Speaker
MLS fantasy. the he wanted actually and guys that you have Yeah. Yeah. And he he's actually averaged a lot of points. He's actually been pretty good. so yeah. Yeah. All right. So I, I know who he is. All right. Would have not guessed the name.
01:01:45
Speaker
What about I James, um maybe Isaac right there, Isaac or Ian. homegrown i no idea take a shot here ian there we go you know if it's an i name you just throw one out there uh calvin harris shout out to the dj but also yeah he's pretty good there's a pretty good mls player that ah a lot of people know manu garcia that's a legit player like you mentioned i like my dps he's like a genuinely good player uh got jake davis all right so we're getting into like jake davis is one of their homegrowns who was looking pretty good yeah and he's like the the one wing wing wing back that at least tries to get forward a little bit for him um he struggles i think to connect a lot of times but but yeah yeah uh oh we got steph cleveland on this team someone yeah cleveland i was waiting for you to get there Someone free Steph Cleveland. No, no. You go from being on the Sounders to being on this team. That's tough. ah
01:02:41
Speaker
What about Kapemba? That's like a ah ah new player, I think. Like, that's that's somebody. I don't know, though. Who is Kapemba? Oh, Kapita. Oh, yeah, Kapita. Yeah, yeah. no I saw the name. Well, it was also interesting one out there, but i don't know who he is.
01:02:59
Speaker
ah T. Calhara T. Calhara I got nothing on that D. Borges Nothing on that Basong I feel like I know that i feel Is he like one of their fullbacks?
01:03:12
Speaker
I think Basong is somebody Ethan Bartlow Right? Yeah, Ethan Bartlow He's another one that's one of the MLSers from around the the league Uh, Jacob Bartlett, he's like a kind of decent up and coming homegrown. Uh, this Augie bang kid is actually like the minimal SKC that I've watched this year. I kind of like, I kind of like him.
01:03:37
Speaker
Uh, he's, he's the left, left, left wing back. Yeah. And then you got a free for SF refa, Steven, a free for he's 25. Okay. So anyway, you guys get the idea. it is very, uh, it is very rare uh,
01:03:54
Speaker
I'm in a situation like that where I'm going through the opposing team's roster and I'm like, who, who is this guy? How does, how does that happen? Nico? Like, have you tracked their descent into this at all? Cause that roster is rough, man. That is like, that's about as tough as it gets.
01:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, going into the season, I mean, I called it as, you know, one of the teams that, and this is nothing new or nothing brilliant for me, but they just didn't do enough to to give Jovalich a guy that could definitely put the ball in the back of the net.
01:04:26
Speaker
service I mean, you look, Manu Garcia can only do so much. And as much as I like his game and he's a good distributor and he likes to get forward, you know, he he has struggled to simply get his game going. That alone provides service to Joe Village. I think that they like to go wide pretty often and they don't have the services ah that that goes wide into Joe Village. Yeah.
01:04:52
Speaker
So ah this was, we saw it coming simply because there was absolutely nothing that they brought in that you could really tell yourself that they were going to be any better than last season. Actually, they lost players that I thought that were important for them. So it's just been descent beyond the coaching staff, which I don't really love, but it's more about the tools that they have. And the Sportacus City team was just probably one of the the worst in terms of the roster. I think them and Montreal are the two teams that you're usually looking to not watch over the weekend. i mean, with all due respect. I mean, I hate say like that. Even Montreal is like got a little more something going to them than ah than this team. It's true. Like this team's really had nothing. But again, like it's just that's what makes it a ah a trap game. Like I was saying, there there is literally there's nothing like positive to be gained or to be learned or to be gleaned from a game like this. You just got to go down there.
01:05:56
Speaker
Do what you got to do to take care of business. If it's even if it's a little uglier than we all would like and it's like a type of game where it's 0-0 or like 1-1 into the second half and you have to nick one to get it to two one Just do what you got to do to not take ah an L.
01:06:11
Speaker
in this situation or or a draw you really you should not you should be able to win this game because like you know anything can happen in a given game but the reality is like when your midfield and your back line is in a state that theirs is A matchup against Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira and Paul Rothrock, Snyder B, like that's you're you're a little you're overmatched. like There's a lot like just on talent, experience, stability, and all that stuff. That doesn't mean that they can't win the game, all right so don't get it twisted. like Especially in MLS as much as any league, this is the type of game where the result can go differently than you think. it should. But what I'm saying is this is a this is a wider disparity than even even most. When you look at a bottom of the table team that's conceded 25 goals this season, negative 18 differential. Yeah. And it's funny because look, Santiago Munoz is
01:07:06
Speaker
You might not even know him, but he's not the greatest attacker or forward in the world. But even just losing him, I thought was was tough for ah Sporting Kansas City. um Eric Tommie, another guy that was decent for a Memo Rodriguez was a guy that also provided them a little bit of creative play. But they they just...
01:07:26
Speaker
They have nothing else really going for them. So these are all guys that are now gone, and I don't think they really replaced. So, you know, I could go on and on about just the team. Rosales, I remember, was a a guy that came in from Columbia, highly regarded defender, and he came and went. i mean, they've been this pit of doom for for players. So it's it's difficult in supporting Kansas City. Well, ah yeah thank you guys for tuning in to the first ever segment of who is that guy. I think that was ah a good segment. There's really not going to be a lot of opportunities to pull that out. Cause like I, I pulled up a couple other rosters to see if I was being unfair with that. And, but like, for me, it's like, I can, every single one I can usually name. And then, you know, like I was going through St. Louis's and I was like, okay, I don't really know their U22 that they just got, but that makes sense. Like they took be for me to go through that roster and not know that many guys is crazy. And and I think it also goes into –
01:08:26
Speaker
We probably are not watching it enough either because, look, ah I get like six, seven MLS games that I watch regularly. And unless Sporting Kansas City is playing a team that i it's a must-watch for me, I don't really watch them. I mean, you know, Montreal and Sporting Kansas City are the two teams that I rarely watch unless they're playing somebody that's that's decent, that's good. So that that's also part of it is that the lack of big names but also the lack of impact that that you're having as a team overall.
01:08:54
Speaker
Who do you think is the worst team in the league right now? Is it this team or is it Orlando or is it Philly or is it Montreal? i think, you know, Atlanta might have a shout in there. I know they won't, they actually won on the weekend, but they did. They had a decent win against Toronto. I would, i I would genuinely outside of the fact that Seattle's playing them. I would pick this, this team. I think, I think Orlando has a decent shout, but like they're raw. They're no, they have a good roster. They're raw. They're way worse than they should be for their roster.
01:09:23
Speaker
Like, I think. And then also, I think you could say the same thing about Philly. Like, you know, results-wise, it's comparable. But I think that if you're combining roster with results, I think it's this team. I think it's this team. Do you do you agree?
01:09:35
Speaker
No, absolutely. i mean, just look at at that goal differential. I mean, that that that that alone just makes you... Orlando's is worse. Orlando's is worse. Yeah, but Orlando has had like a couple of of really bad games. And maybe Sporting Cassidy has done the same. But its it goes to to the roster, right? You look at it and you're like...
01:09:51
Speaker
all right, this team has enough, whether it's Ojeda, whether it's Nico, or whether it's all these guys that that you know they're going to perform at some point. Even some of the young guys that they brought into the last game that performed got a couple of goals. I mean, there is something to be had there. I think that goalkeeping and defensively they've been bad, but they've progressively gotten a little bit better, and even in that regard. um They look really good against Charlotte, and Charlotte's maybe not a great –
01:10:23
Speaker
team to like they feel fit your bar through and and and they're they're not the standard. But ah I think they've gotten a little bit better.
Portland Timbers' Narrative and Strategy
01:10:31
Speaker
And even with the charade that they have at at the coaching staff, but the the the crazy thing about Sportacus City is that it's the same coach. There should be a concept. There should be an idea, but I don't know what they play about. I'm i'm not, that there aren't anything in general that,
01:10:48
Speaker
I can tell you they're even good at, right? A lot of teams, we don't know what they're great at, but with this team, we don't even know what they're good at. i mean, it's just, it's bad. It's tough. ah Caleb with the second 20 bomb of the show. Thank you guys so much for the love and support this morning. We appreciate you guys. Caleb says, going to hate watch Portscombe Saturday. Keep the Henderson boots on the ground philosophy. Hey, uh,
01:11:12
Speaker
there was I think there was good news on the Timbs front because they actually they won at ah at San Diego. San Diego is not looking very good right now either. But they got the one. But it's perfect like it's perfect. They've gotten a couple of these types of results that they can look at and be like, wait a minute.
01:11:28
Speaker
No, Phil Neves actually might be onto something. if We just let him keep building. let it let You got to let you gotta give him time. You got to give him time to impart his identity and his tactics. And look, like we beat San Diego. San Diego it was pretty good last year. They were hanging with it, I think, against Vancouver. they they won i think they won...
01:11:46
Speaker
Are they on two straight wins now? I don't know. They did. Okay, so that's that's good, though. That's what we want. We want them right in that 1.0 to 1.3 points per game sweet spot, just right there enough so they can delude themselves into thinking that they're onto something, and then they keep Phil Neves,
01:12:02
Speaker
ah yeah I think, you know, I'm biased, but oh, no, hold on. They lost against Minnesota on the 18th. Oh, damn it. So yeah, so Portland to one win Minnesota to zero loss and then they ended up beating ah San Diego to one that the crazy thing about this game is that it was one one for like forever and ah to in Portland's credit, they looked like the team that was going to get a goal. They get a goal disallowed. ah They get a goal that's missed by Anthony without a goalkeeper. He like goes wide by this maybe like two inches. And then they get the goal for the win like in the 90th minute off of like a corner kick and he bounces all around and and he gets put in the back of the net. But, ah man, Santiago's on a
01:12:54
Speaker
incredible free fall and you know, the, the fans are screaming Chucky Lozano and all these things and what's going to happen with him. And, uh, yeah, but to your point, I do believe, and, uh,
01:13:08
Speaker
I don't recall exactly, but I'm pretty sure that Phil Neville addressed what you just said. He was kind of like, well, I know people can't really see it, but you know were're we're moving forward. or you know we we We have something going here, something in that regard. I was just like, all right, you, Phil, hold on to that job, baby.
01:13:25
Speaker
I love the storyline of the actively rooting for the Phil Neville extension. Like it, it, sort of adds a little element to the Timbs hate watch. Cause you know, usually it's like, you want them to lose, but like some of these games, I'm like, no, no, come on, Phil, come on, Phil, get, get the boys rally, get the, get the win. We need you.
01:13:43
Speaker
We need you to get that extension. ah Nico, it's about time to start wrapping it up here. Only ah a few minutes left before I got to run. So not all that much time to jump around the league, but you were telling me before we went live, uh,
01:13:55
Speaker
Did you have a take that ruffled some feathers regarding the San Jose earthquake? What was going on with that? I did. I did. Look, I was honestly more like taken back by, ah you know, going into the season. i had mentioned that San Jose just didn't have enough to compliment Timo Werner. So i I thought there were a team that was going to be – fighting for a playoff spot mainly. And look, they're off to a phenomenal start and I'm impressed and I love what Bruce is doing. Best start in MLS history.
01:14:25
Speaker
Best start in MLS history. And they're doing it with a whole bunch of like draft picks and and and, you know, not breaking the bank, which is right down my alley, right? i like the fact that you're kind of building it like that. I love my, I call him the other Nico, obviously just joking around because he's done Nico. But Nico Shakir has been phenomenal and, and you know,
01:14:44
Speaker
Just everything about this team is it's interesting. It's fun. It makes the league better when San Jose is playing at this level. But the takes after a. And to be fair, San Jose rotated, and and I know that.
San Jose's Performance and Predictions
01:15:00
Speaker
And they it wasn't a perfect game against San Luis, a team that's a very struggling team. And then after that game, it's a 3-2 win by San Jose. And all of a sudden, everybody's just like, oh, this is, you know, they're they're taking the shield and they're about to, you know, win the the Western Conference. And there was just way too many takes about that particular game. So I posted, you know, it's kind of crazy that...
01:15:26
Speaker
people are just crowning San Jose already for MLS champs. And and I said that eventually at the end of the season, LAFC and Vancouver are going to be above them in the standings. And I can get, I understand how that sounds low-key disrespectful, but I was going more towards the hyperbolic takes and not against San Jose. I like San Jose. They're a fun team to watch. I've actually you watched ah the probably the most San Jose I've watched since Almeida was in in in MLS because I used to watch a lot of Almeida games.
01:16:00
Speaker
Oh, Almeida ball was great, but they didn't yeah weren't very good, but it was fun to watch. Exactly. So this is the most I've watched because they have been fun to watch. But I do think that, and everybody was like, well, they rotated and they beat St. Louis. Yes, but the the way they struggled tells me that seven, eight games into the season, what more into the season, the depth is not going to be able to keep up with the current results. And I think that there are better teams that maybe are not peaking right now, but that they will peak when it matters most. And and I just, again, find it funny that, you know, a team like Seattle that's also off to a great start, you don't hear anybody crowning them. Yeah. As champs, right? And people are down on LAFC. I'm not down on LAFC. I think that they are actually building something from back but from from back to front, from defense to offense. They need to unlock Sun. Yes, I get that. But I feel like Mark Dos Santos is doing a really good job at making that team a lot more balanced. But overall...
01:17:02
Speaker
San Jose fans are mad at me. that ah I was at the rain game and like I had not checked my phone at all. And all of a sudden I happened to, you know, i wanted to post something about being at the rain game and I have like 22, you know, notifications off of one post that I had no idea was going to ruffle these many feathers. But again, it was more towards the hyperbolic takes than anything. I like San Jose. I think they're going to be, you know, a contender and they're going to maybe, you know,
01:17:30
Speaker
create some havoc in the p playoffs, but I just don't believe they have the depth to compete with the Vancouver's, the LAFC's, the Sounders at one point or another.
01:17:41
Speaker
I'll be interested to see if the Quakes are actually this this good. I think it's clear that they're way, way better than we all expected. So I think i don't think it's too early to give them credit for that.
01:17:53
Speaker
They are off to the literal best start in MLS history. They're 9-1. Nobody's ever done that. like So that is a hell of an accomplishment. They're playing at a crazy level. I do think it's one of those things where they've been on the right side of variance a little bit. Like you like you mentioned, like the- Thank you. The St. Louis game, they St. Louis had them in hell for like 50, 60 minutes of that game. But like, you should, I don't think that even, that doesn't take away from the win. like No, of course the ah Good teams are, we talk about this with Seattle all the time in games where they maybe take a win or take a result where it wasn't like the prettiest or they were under pressure a lot. Good teams are able to play in game states like that absorb the pressure and suffer and then still take results and still take wins. So, I mean, full credit to them for doing that against St. Louis and full credit to them for the results they've been taking all year. And I'm i'm buying them as a top two. I'm buying them as a top four team in the West all season for sure. And they definitely look like they'll be challenging for the shield. But I think there are there are questions about the depth and there are questions as to like, is their record like...
01:18:58
Speaker
totally reflective of ah of how they've started? i don't know. That's what we're going
Seattle's Strong Performance Highlighted
01:19:03
Speaker
to find out. I think it's possible that it is. But the only other thing I'll say on that to wrap it up is that ah they have one L this year They have one L this year.
01:19:10
Speaker
and who was it against? Seattle Sounders. I mean, that was a smashing grab. I don't think we realized like what a, what type of win that was going to be because Seattle was rotated for that game too. And it was on the road and they, that's actually a great example what I was talking about with San Jose. Seattle was in hell for most of that game, but they got the win. So that's what good teams do. That's what, that's what San Jose has been doing all season. It's what Seattle has been doing too. But, uh, all
Conclusion and Promotions
01:19:38
Speaker
right i gotta run nico so we're gonna call it on that thank you all so much as always for tuning in to lobbing scorchers kickoff presented by qed d coffee please go to lobbing scorchers.com slash coffee uh code ls74 on anything on the site for 25 off and then also all new subs get 25 off too so uh if you have not yet go ahead and swoop your description great way to support the show thank you all for all the super chat love this morning That was awesome. Appreciate you guys. And we'll be we'll be back at it this week. We'll get a pod out there. We'll be talking about this Sporting KC game more. And yeah, appreciate you all for tuning in. Catch you next time. Love y'all.
01:20:16
Speaker
Peace.