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Can the Seattle Sounders get revenge at Minnesota? (feat. Jeff Rueter) - Ep. 118
836 Plays1 day ago
We're joined by returning guest Jeff Reuter of The Athletic to preview Seattle's matchup with Minnesota United and discuss some other national storylines 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.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Details
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.
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Under the Lights. Going to be a good show here this
Seattle Sounders and MLS Discussion
00:00:53
Speaker
evening. We're going to be hanging out, talking some Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer.
00:00:59
Speaker
We're going to have returning guest Jeff Reuter of the Athletic. Tapping in very excited to talk to him about Minnesota United and major league soccer and a myriad of other topics that will let you all dictate some of let's bring him to the stage
Guest Introduction: Jeff Reuter
00:01:16
Speaker
right now. It's Jeff Reuter.
00:01:17
Speaker
He's a senior writer at the athletic and he is a returning guest. We had him on Lobbing Scorchers. Uh, Last time Seattle played Minnesota United. We're bringing him back. ah Jeff, thanks so much for hopping on at this late hour.
Jeff's EPL Fantasy Draft Strategy
00:01:32
Speaker
ah first First of all, everyone is wondering, how did the ah English Premier League fantasy draft no the come out? are you Are you thinking that you're going to win it all this year, or are you going to be toiling away in the wooden spoon territory? Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, there are some years. Thanks for having me back, by the way. This is awesome. And this is great because it's the first time I've been on since I went to Seattle. Yeah, so we we were hanging out IRL at the Club World Cup.
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah, so this feels right. This feels correct. ah It's funny. Like, you asked me if I wanted to do this, and I had an auction that kicked off at 7 Pacific, 9 Central. And right now, it's 90 minutes later. And i'm like, okay, yeah, we'll be totally fine.
00:02:13
Speaker
Starts off, most logos for $92. You have a $250 budget. People are, like, throwing money around, whatever. Long way to say I'm only a third of the way through it. Oh, you're going you're still going. Which is great. but like Oh, multitasking. We can live draft.
00:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I front-loaded a little bit. I've got Florian Wirtz as my like lead guy. I've got Eze from Crystal Palace. I've got Phil Foden. I've got Alisson. I've got Dan Byrne. I've got Evan Nielsen. like I've got exactly $28 for 12 dudes.
00:02:42
Speaker
So we're in the bargain bin at this point. So it's a great time to be honest. I think that that's kind of how you – an auction, that's kind of how you got to do it. You got to splash big on like there's that select group of guys that you know are going be like the the needle movers. And then yeah it's like the Seattle Sounders. You got to money ball it. It's a very MLS model, right? Yeah, you got to money ball it. You can't be dropping too big a bag. You got to – No, course not. Supplement it. But and it sounds like i didn't i hadn't heard of a couple of those guys that you didn't drop. But it sounds like a you got a potent squad. Yeah, I think so. Phil Foden, that's a good one.
00:03:17
Speaker
it's like good I got him for 33 and most were going and like playmakers are going for 70 in this league. But it was one of those where it's like, you know if you've ever done like a fantasy auction, NFL or baseball or whatever, it's the same sort of format where it's like people go $1, $2, $3. And then suddenly one guy's like, all right, let's get over with. Let's get it over with $30. Exactly, right?
00:03:36
Speaker
So Phil Foden was one of those. And I hit 33 and everyone just shut up. And I was like, wait, is this way too much? And then Declan Rice went for 51. And I was like, oh, I'm fine. I'm totally fine. Yeah. oh it's ah yeah and and That's the stack squad. All right. Yeah, it's good. ah Good fantasy analysis segment to ah to start it off. Yeah, why I've got my Premier League predictions done as well for the website if you want.
00:03:59
Speaker
okay. Yeah. i effort We can do that. But anyway. Well. Flops and Scorchers. Yeah, let's do it. i Excited to talk about some Minnesota United with you, for sure.
Profile: Obed Vargas's Journey
00:04:09
Speaker
yeah Big game, obviously, this weekend.
00:04:12
Speaker
Three versus four. Playoff positioning on the line. And really, I'm i'm excited to see how these two two teams stack up compared to the last time they played, which Minnesota United, only team to win at Lumen Field this year.
00:04:25
Speaker
Funny enough, their only win ever at Lumen Field, too. so Yeah. And that to me, that was... ah That was back when Minnesota United, it was still like they were playing well, but it was still sort of an open question.
00:04:38
Speaker
And at least for me, watching them come into Lumen and win that game like that, i came out of that like, okay, this team is ah probably for real. But ah we let's we'll talk about Minnesota United in a minute, but I did want to give you a chance, Jeff, to ah plug your, you did an Obed Vargas feature, correct? right Right. Was that Club World Cup? I can't.
00:04:57
Speaker
That was post Club World Cup. Post Club World. Actually. So oh yeah, I'll start. I'll start. Yeah. Most people went to Austin assuming that they're going to be tracking is messy here or not. And I instead sat down with Diego Luna and Obed Vargas and I had a much better time.
00:05:11
Speaker
That's the important content. So, yeah, you you got to interview Obed at All-Star, wrote a yeah wrote a feature about him yeah on The Athletic. oh Why don't you just tell us like, ah you know, what it was like getting to sit down with Obed? What'd you what'd you think of him?
00:05:28
Speaker
And also what the story was about and sort of what you were trying to highlight with it as far as kind of telling his story and how he got to where he's at now. Yeah, I think like it's weird because like I come and in at this where I'm not doing the daily coverage of you know Sounder at Heart and all of these other outlets that are doing amazing coverage on the ground. So it's like usually when like a national writer like myself will drop in to talk to a player or a specific team, there's this kind of like, OK, have you actually been paying attention?
00:06:00
Speaker
Are you telling the same stories that everyone's already told? So there's like kind of a fear I have about that where it's like, I don't want that. I don't want to go in and, you know, be like crazy. This guy's from Alaska and then he committed to Mexico. How did that happen? Right? Like it's it's just it's overdone. So like lately, I'm just letting them talk like they're soccer players.
00:06:18
Speaker
And it's amazing to see how much more energized they are when they don't feel like, OK, I'm doing this for like same story, broader audience. So I've got this rehearsed and like you can see it when you talk to him, first of all, for his age, you know, 19 at the time, like remarkable interview. Great quote, really present, really clearly, like actively searching his brain for the answer, really transparent, like admitting like, I don't think you would see many professional athletes openly use the phrase people pleaser to describe themselves, right? Like it just it's it's such a like,
00:06:49
Speaker
showing more of your heart than usually like a professional athlete will. But like, i you know, i really appreciated that he did say like, and so as a result of that decisions like US versus Mexico get even more difficult because i don't know what people are going to who I'm going to, you know, satisfy with this decision, who I'm going to upset. And then later saying like his ex US youth national team teammates were calling him a traitor and texting him like the day that he announced that he would be making that one time switch. So Getting that vulnerability, I really appreciate it. i think a lot of young athletes usually want to play it more guarded, but also like talking tactics with him and and much more like what inspires your actions using a specific like using a takeaway off of an opponent in order to generate chance creation yourself. And so like make that progressive dribble and say like, yeah,
00:07:36
Speaker
Teams are usually stretched wider when they attack and they kind of condense in the shell when they defend, which is true. So catch them before they actually kind of solidify. And so like the way he's thinking about it, I think is encouraging as well. Like he's really watching for these sorts of like, how do I exploit this rather than relying on the raw athleticism and technical ability like a lot of young players. So I'm incredibly high on Ovid Vargas.
00:07:57
Speaker
um Really, really good conversation with him. Good to, you know, I saw his family after the game for a little bit afterwards and they were, you know, really, really nice and really kind of really proud of him too. Like they're all still wearing Fargus jerseys in the hotel lobby for about an hour and a half after the game was just really, really cool. But um yeah, glad that he was there. It would have felt really strange if the Sounders hadn't had a single all-star this year. so you know, better late than never. And i think he was definitely a worthy selection at this point.
00:08:24
Speaker
I was actually cool with it when I saw they didn't have any all-stars because of, ah you know, how many games, how many tournaments, how many how many cups there are. There's a cup for everything. You got this cup, that cup, League's Cup, Open Cup, my you know. So i this was one year in particular where – if they and Especially Obed, too.
00:08:44
Speaker
He's been playing every single game. When he did make it, was like, oh man, another game for Obed. But, ah you know, being an All-Star is a unique opportunity. It was a good career milestone for him.
00:08:56
Speaker
I'm going to drop this link to the feature in question in the chat right now if you guys want to and thank you check out. Jeff Reuters, Obed Vargas feature. There it is.
00:09:07
Speaker
Give that a, give that a read. Yeah. I mean, the, the rise of Obed has certainly been one of the biggest storylines with Seattle this year. We debate the transfer fee every, every week.
00:09:20
Speaker
And really i think, he and uh he and christian they make up what i think is the best double pivot in the league but uh i will say the even the last few weeks i've been saying i think uh i think he's evolving i think he's getting more powerful i'm seeing like new elements to his game that he hasn't even uh hadn't busted out of his bag yet absolutely especially like in advanced roles right like just exactly what he can do and how he reads. It's like his technical ability. Yeah, sure. He can do flicks over guys. That's great.
00:09:52
Speaker
We thought we could, he could do that, but it's like his discerningness and like, he's he's better at passing in the final third than Rusnak even right with, when you look at his accuracy and what he's like, that's incredible. That's that's like really difficult to do. I would not be better than Alfred Rusnak in the final third.
00:10:05
Speaker
Right. I think most midfielders would not be frankly to be absolutely serious, like in an MLS level. Yeah, no, and like just this the stuff he does in possession as well, like the way he can ah get out of adverse situations, his dribbling, like you said, his ah I think his game as a facilitator in the attack has just leveled up, and it's ah it's kind of scary.
00:10:27
Speaker
Honestly, it's just like how good he's gotten. like, wow. sir You know, we all know how high the ceiling was and is, but i think it might be even higher than then we thought, which is which is exciting. I'm just curious to, ah do you have a ah take on what league would
Obed Vargas's Future Prospects in Europe
00:10:45
Speaker
be the best for him?
00:10:46
Speaker
We've been saying like Bundesliga or I like La Liga. That's the one that feels right to me. But like when you watch him play. yeah keep going. No, keep going. But I think you're absolutely right. Well, i was I was just going to ask, like, when you watch him play, is there like a league that you think fits his skill set the best?
00:11:02
Speaker
I think La Liga and maybe to a lesser extent Serie A, like all these things change, right? The little customs of like Serie A is just kind of nacho and sit back and defend and La Liga is open. Like, they're all kind of dated, right? Bundesliga is more physical than other leagues.
00:11:16
Speaker
But with La Liga, it's like, a lot of players who come from South America end up in La Liga. Right. and And when you look at the players who do, that means it's a mix of like that grit, that tenacity. And and people understand this maybe a little better, like if they watch the Club World Cup, which your your your audience will have more likely than any other show I'll do.
00:11:35
Speaker
Right. um Because I don't do shows in Miami and L.A. ever. ah Like it's, it's that mix. It's not just the flair. It's that sort of like you tackle and your instincts to immediately get up and maybe you're, you know, chest first into the guy who tackled you and asking him what he's about.
00:11:51
Speaker
Maybe you throw a fist. Maybe you're just showing that you're good for it. Right. And I think that there's some of that, like, continued commitment to just staying active. And obviously this goes out the window if you're an attacker on Barcelona or Real Madrid. But I think by and large, you see a lot of that sort of mentality flourish in La Liga. It's part of why like people like Johnny Cardoso, but maybe don't love him yet because like he he shows that a fair amount when he plays, but not always. There are always kind of some shifts where he looks really nervous and he looks really kind of afraid of the game, especially with the U.S. Men's National Team.
00:12:24
Speaker
Um, when I talked to Obed, I did ask him, like, what leagues would you say you want to play in? And he would like his next step to be outside of the big five in Europe. He would like it to be sort of an intermediary. And I feel like he's maybe seeing what, um, You know like lessons you'll see where a lot of this U.S. s men's national team wants to just be on the biggest club possible, it seems like. Right. Regardless if they play or not. And I think he kind of observing the generation where it's like, OK, yeah.
00:12:49
Speaker
But if you go to that club, you may be getting 20 minutes a game. Right. And then if you're not impressing in those 22 enough to step into the lineup. they're looking at guys who could. So I think that intermediary step to Portugal or the Netherlands makes a lot of sense where it is a leap in quality from MLS, like the championship, your mileage may vary, right? Aiden Morris going to Middlesbrough, like you're just seeing a different style of the game, but I don't know if he's necessarily leveled up as much as people hope from Columbus, despite being one of the best midfielders.
00:13:18
Speaker
If you look at his underlying numbers in the championship in his first year, um, I think I want to see him in kind of more like a true first division. I want to see him come up against like players who are also going for that next step, right? It's kind of like a double A to triple A thing. Not saying MLS is like a double A circuit, but you know I mean? where you just kind of look and say like, this is the next step in his evolution. It's not too much of a step where I don't think he could get minutes right away. Cause I think if you're Mexico or if you're just like an Obed Vargas fan, now you want him to continue to play. You don't want to suddenly go from 30 games of regular season, plus other competitions playing 80 minutes plus like he's doing now to suddenly dropping down to 20, 25 minutes a week.
00:13:58
Speaker
I think that's a good intermediary step for him. I think that he could start at that level or if he goes to one of the bigger clubs, um you know, not necessarily like a Benfica size or a PSV, but maybe like just below where you're looking at like Ajax and Sporting and Porto, like work into the rotation. And then even below that, when he gets more like the conference league qualifiers or whatever, he could start on that level right away. So,
Minnesota United's Season Analysis
00:14:20
Speaker
i'm I'm very high on him. I'll be really curious to see the valuation. There haven't been many two-way midfielders who have moved from MLS ah to Europe. And and like Tyler Adams kind of forever like spoiled the well on that one because it was like Red Bull putting money from one pocket to the another. So his price was $4 mil.
00:14:36
Speaker
Aiden Morris, I think, goes for $4 mil. So like I don't know what the Obed Vargas valuation is. Tom Bogert, I'm sure, would. But like... I think it would generally be just above Aiden Morse, especially when you consider Obed's got over a hundred professional games at a first division level before turning 20 years old.
00:14:53
Speaker
Like that sort of thing is going to really impress a team and give them peace of mind about his ability to acclimate. I think he's worth 10 plus million dollars, but I'm biased. ah I think the air to be says is ah is a good shout. I think that's like a good middle ground, like you said, of a high enough level where it'll really like push him.
00:15:15
Speaker
and like up his level and up his game, but like probably more of a chance at playing and starting and getting consistent minutes than he might if he tried to go to ah one of these clubs that the other guys from the golden generation went to.
00:15:32
Speaker
But, all right, Jeff, let's talk about some Minnesota United and chat. If you guys got any questions, national writer here. So any questions about MLS as a whole anything outside of Seattle? See if attention or not. This is your time to find me out.
00:15:51
Speaker
Go ahead and drop them in and we if they're good topics of discussion, we'll we'll hit those. ah But let's start with ah give give us the update on ah Minnesota United. And specifically, i i'm I'm curious what you think about where things stand as far as like, you know, I'll be honest.
00:16:09
Speaker
I've been a skeptic. I've been I've been a bit of a skeptic. I, uh, the last time these two teams played, I was doing the research into all the like possession tactics and, sort of how novel that is and that how kind of unique they are in the scope of MLS in that way. And then, uh, also come to find out that they're apparently one of the best teams in the world at set pieces, like, uh, not just an MLS, but like anywhere. Right. Or, or MLS history even, right? Like the scale of it, it kind of defies like comprehension almost.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah. For an MLS team do this. Yeah. To me, when I was looking at that, I was like, all right, clearly they got something going and they are taking results and executing at a very high level.
00:16:52
Speaker
But like the question becomes sustainability. And also, ah can you like when it comes down to it and you're competing for trophies, you're playing in the playoffs. uh, tournament soccer and the competition level is way higher.
00:17:05
Speaker
Can this type of like, uh, thing see you through? And, I don't know. I just, I just wasn't, I wasn't sure about it. I wanted to see more.
00:17:16
Speaker
They beat Seattle and I was like, all right, that's still, that you know, that is an impressive result and they're still going pretty well, but that is just one game. Let's see if they can ah keep it up. You know, I was open to being proven wrong, but it just, ah it It felt a little gimmicky to me and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.
00:17:33
Speaker
But, you know, I got to say pretty much since then, they've pretty much kept it rolling and they still have looked like one of the ah one of the best teams in the league. I mean, they're they're the thing with the set pieces is just insane. Like.
00:17:46
Speaker
yeah Every loons game that you watch, they're going to get like one or two goals off this stuff. It's like it doesn't, it never fails. So that's pretty remarkable. And also, you know, it just seems like a team that's very confident in their identity.
00:18:02
Speaker
And they got a coach who knows how to get them to execute that identity at an extremely high level. And frankly, they're one of the teams most like that I watch week in week out.
00:18:13
Speaker
And I feel the most like confident that they're going to be able to take results because of ah of everything that I just mentioned So I guess, where do you stand as far as if these these tactics and this style that Ramsey has going, like whether it's sustainable and like ah now that you've seen this much of the season, do you think that this is a ah trophy contending team as currently constituted?
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. um I think a lot of really good observation there, just in terms of like, it seems gimmicky. It seems really difficult to say. But then there's a part where you get the sample size and it's like, well, if 15 opponents continue to get foiled by throw-ins, maybe the throw-ins are working, right? yeah And so what's been interesting is that lately teams are finally figuring out a way to...
00:19:01
Speaker
improve their odds. This sounds like overly simplistic. It's just throw as many of your own defenders and midfielders and forwards into the box. So there are more players where it's harder for them to find a target with Michael boxes, long throws.
00:19:13
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, no kidding. and But the reason teams weren't doing that is because usually now if you're defending a set piece, you want well one if it was a throw in, you know, for the first eight weeks, no one was even treating them like they were going to be a set piece, right? It was just a throw in.
00:19:28
Speaker
And then the next phase of it was, OK, we're going to have an adequate number, but we want to still do what we always want to do when we defend set pieces, which is set up for a counter. So we want to, if you're LAFC, Denny Bawanga is always on that side of the field anyway, right? But you're probably going to have like a string puller.
00:19:42
Speaker
um And then now Sun Hyung-min, even further alongside Bawanga, and you probably have whoever you're most confident as a midfielder is kind of that all-time quarterback, sort of like I can spray the ball wherever I need to.
00:19:52
Speaker
That's how you're setting it up. So you're choreographing not just what's in the box, but who you're leaving out and where they're setting up. But now teams are just saying it's not worth it Like if we're going to concede a goal off of a throw and a flick on header and then ah like an emphatic kick,
00:20:06
Speaker
Every single game is like, it' what's the point of the counter tax? So that's difficult for Minnesota. there There are teams who are also trying to like jump when they're doing the long throw ins. But I think it's just more consistently teams are starting to adjust by recognizing that they can condense, especially because in all other phases of the game, Minnesota doesn't want the ball.
00:20:28
Speaker
And it's something that the players pretty openly will say they don't like about their own game model. Like if you're talking, it's weird. it It is so weird. No one gets into soccer as a kid wanting to not touch the ball.
00:20:42
Speaker
And there's a certain point where you say my skillset means that I'm best off the ball. I'm a center back here. I go, I'm a goalkeeper, whatever. But most of the time you want your team to be in control of a game, which means that you have the ball and,
00:20:55
Speaker
what's difficult is when your set piece reliance gets out and it was getting out already before teams were already starting to adjust before john moeller a former colleague at the athletic wrote it as a freelance for the guardian he hits um you know his project footy should be debuting soon definitely check it out it seems like something that's going to be like fantastic for like live soccer updating whatever f f-u-t-i anyway john moeller wrote this piece about how they're the best at set piece team in the world and it You know how it goes on MLS season pass on Apple TV.
00:21:24
Speaker
ah If there is like an easily to contests thing that they can say over and over again during a game every 10 minutes, say, you know, those are the best set piece team in the world. They'll say it. Okay, well, now every team is watching the same broadcasts when they're doing their research. They'll hear this.
00:21:38
Speaker
So they're glomming onto it even more. And teams are responding. Minnesota now has only won two of their last five. And I know that that's like a really like whatever. That's a solid. I think it's two in all competitions. It's like two wins, two losses and a draw.
00:21:53
Speaker
It's fine. But it is not like as you can't beat us because we have our shtick as it used to be. And maybe that harsh reality came sooner than expected, but I would argue it actually came at the right time for them because you still have, you know, how many games from here now? I think eight games of the regular season, counting the game this weekend against Seattle, where they can figure out how do we readjust so that by the time the playoffs roll around, teams aren't doing the exact same sort of stuff.
00:22:20
Speaker
um This game will be a really interesting litmus test for them. I think that the first game in early June was the proof, not just proof of concept about the game model, but the proof that they were a contender. They hadn't when we were talking last, they hadn't really had a signature win.
00:22:33
Speaker
Well, they got it at Seattle's expense. And now Seattle will be coming back. Minnesota is probably gonna be wearing those beautiful legacy kits that ever I saw you guys. So know I had rave reviews for them, right? Like so far.
00:22:44
Speaker
They're great. So they'll be wearing those this weekend, probably because they're inviting back 50 years of ex Minnesota pro soccer players from the kicks all the way through the NASL era of Minnesota United are going to be showing up either before the game or at halftime or whatever for, you know,
Preview: Minnesota United vs Seattle Sounders
00:22:57
Speaker
round of applause. And it will be a really cool moment.
00:22:59
Speaker
um I don't think much of the current team is going to be like impacted. There isn't going to be like an ex-teammate there. Like, you know, if you retire or if you like add Ozzy Alonso to the Ring of Honor, are you going to have some of his ex-teammates who are still in the locker room a little bit misty about it, right? Whatever the case may be, none of that here.
00:23:15
Speaker
um But I think Minnesota is going to be susceptible. And I think that Seattle is very much on an ascendancy when you look at recent form, obviously. But also when you look at just like the caliber and the consistency of caliber. Another thing that Obed had said is like, now we watch tape and I'm like, we should win every game three, zero against MLS teams because we know what we can do against Botafogo against PSG. Yeah. Against Atletico Madrid. We don't talk about that one as glowingly, do we, but like, we know what we can do. We know that we can contain some of the most difficult opponents in the world.
00:23:49
Speaker
So why aren't we doing this against, you know, no disrespect. Why aren't we doing this against Austin FC? Right. So they're they're really like kind of flipping it on the galaxy this year, you know, the latest sort of victim. And obviously, I don't know if Cruz Azul is ever going to recover from what they've experienced in this League's Cup.
00:24:06
Speaker
But I don't think Minnesota is going to be quite that unaware. Again, the game model, it's very safe. It's very pragmatic. It's very exploitative. but I don't necessarily know if that's going to be enough to slow the role of a Sounders team. That's one four in a row.
00:24:19
Speaker
So it's going to be a really good matchup. I think Seattle will be able to get more of the ball than they usually enjoy, enjoy away from Lumen. um That's just the nature of playing Minnesota United. Even when they're at home, they're not going to go for 50%. They're going to go for 40, maybe.
00:24:32
Speaker
so They should have their looks. They should have their opportunities. I think it's going to probably be the game of the weekend. Just as I'm looking at the MLS slate, it's such a no brainer. Three versus four in the West. And I think that there's a point to prove for both sides. So I'm looking forward to it overall. I think it should be a really, really good game just from like a quality of game perspective. They're usually goals in these matchups to between Minnesota and Seattle. If I remember, there aren't a lot of like zero zeros and one zeros.
00:24:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's a ah it's a tasty matchup. there's There's no question about it. I think there's ah there's something to what you were saying about like the Club World Cup and sort of the effect that it's had on Seattle's level. I mean, they've been so sharp ever since that tournament. And yeah, I think there is an element of like...
00:25:17
Speaker
once you've been out there in the heat of it against PSG, it makes everything else feel easier. Because that's just like, the level of your opponent is obviously world class, but it's also like your your level is like it has to go up because because of the opposition that you have and like uh we were listening to some christian rolled on audio at the start of the show and he was talking about just like the confidence and belief that the team is playing with right now i think uh an element of that is could be attributable just
00:25:53
Speaker
just ah the fact that they played in that tournament and then also kind of showed to them, showed to themselves that they could hang in games like that. I honestly think it has really helped the team in that way. i think so too. I think so too. And I think that they've actually been the biggest beneficiaries like Miami and LAFC are benefit. Like if they're going to benefit the rest of the year, it has more to do with Rodrigo DePaul and Sun Hyung-min than it has to do with the club world cup, right?
00:26:16
Speaker
Like LAFC, I think should leave that club world cup, you know, feeling frustrated by the performance that they put in and feeling like they left something out there. Right. Just like the quality of performances. They didn't really have like you know, I think Seattle versus Bodefogo, like ah the result didn't show because no other result results were positive or neutral, right? But at the same point, I think that was the one you look back and you say like, this is proof that the sea of solid see and see how i can't even say the team Seattle Sounders can ball, right?
00:26:40
Speaker
And you look at Inter-Miami versus Porto and it's like, okay, if you get the right calibration between their youth and you have the opportunism of Messi, you can take down a team from Europe, right? That is a signature when no other of their MLS team can claim in competitive formats.
00:26:53
Speaker
For the Sounders, I think it's just much more like we weren't embarrassed against any of these opponents. We held our own. We did OK. And we are better than our next opponent because our next opponent is not either in the quarterfinal of the UEFA Champions League every year or a you you know fringe candidate for the Copa Libertadores. Right. So.
00:27:12
Speaker
It's been really, really good for them. I think that they've kind of flipped the switch at the right time as well for them. Just again, when you're looking at nine games left from Seattle's perspective, starting with the Minnesota game until decision day, I think that bodes well for them as well.
00:27:25
Speaker
um I got to say, man, this is the latest in a season I've ever felt like so confident in my MLS Cup pick. and Which was, which was Seattle, which was Seattle over. I want to say Columbus, like just navigating their bracket. And that part I'm less, but it's it's always like, who cares if you got the runner up or not? You what mean? Like, it's like, if you predicted who won MLS cup, that's such a rarity with this the crew, the crew are, so they're always in the mix. if i could That could pick it hit.
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah. Um, Let's hit a few from from chat here. We're going to start with Zippy Tuna because it's a super chat. Thank you for the five, Zippy Tuna. Appreciate you as always.
00:28:02
Speaker
ah He wants to know, Jeff, does Mini want to play away in the playoffs? Their play style is almost better away from home if at home and the other teams sit back. That's an issue. I was actually thinking about this exact kind of question when I was looking at the ah home away splits.
00:28:18
Speaker
Usually in MLS, it's like pretty uniform. the home record is way better than and then it's sort of just like a scrap to see who can grind their way to five i always think of it like you can win five between five and eight of your road games that's like benchmark number one and then you throw a few draws in there take care business at home you'll at least be chilling as far as making the playoffs and then you'll have to like build on that to get in the top four and stuff but uh minnesota united uh their their home record is actually worse than their away record again i think that's the third straight year and this which is funny because that goes back to the adrian heath era six four and three at allianz this year which is not that good a record and the reason that they're two years ago i think yeah oh yeah well like future
00:29:09
Speaker
This is better than that. I mean, yeah six, four, and three, but that is that's not a good home record, really, for an MLS club that fancies itself a contender like this team does. right And the reason that they've been able to still be number three in the West, 44 points, is because they're six, two, and five on the road, which is a fantastic game.
00:29:28
Speaker
road record for an MLS team. That's, that's about as good as you can hope to do on the road in this league. So they're an elite team on the road, but only six, four and three at home to like, so two zippies question, like is, is this the style and Eric Ramsey tactics?
00:29:44
Speaker
Is it like, does it make you a better road team than, than home team? And does that like sort of change the way that you look at, like if home field advantage, like affects them in the way usually does everyone else.
00:29:55
Speaker
It's interesting. I like the question a lot. It's something I've wondered a lot. And I think last year I actually did write so much, like they will be the first round matchup. Nobody wants of teams five through eight.
00:30:06
Speaker
Right. And that ended up playing out quite well. They swept a third seed at RSL who granted Chicho Arango, decided to check out for the season at early July, forgot how to shoot from there. And then they sold on just Gomez, but ah still advanced through there.
00:30:19
Speaker
And I've talked to a couple of guys on the team about this, this year. And was just like that experience. It seemed like the spoiler. It was pretty natural for you guys. Like, yeah, the midfield's always been very thin for you guys. You haven't had a good number six since Ozzy Alonso.
00:30:30
Speaker
ah Surely it would be okay. And all of them are, are like, no, we want to be home. And part of this is like, you want to control your destiny. I think that you have to keep in mind here. The question isn't really just, are they better at home in the road? They're better on the road. So they will do better if they're on the road, right? It's like, okay, fine.
00:30:48
Speaker
But now you are going up against not again, none of this is just trying to throw shade at like any other teams, but you are not going to St. Louis this year. You're not going to Kansas city, right? When you're in October or November at that point, maybe you are in early October, but ah Once you get to the playoffs, you are going to San Diego, Vancouver, Seattle, LA.
00:31:04
Speaker
Those are teams one, two, four, and five right now. So if they drop down out of that, that's your most likely to host. Portland would be the next in, and I don't see Austin and Colorado making that sort of leap. So we'll stop the conversation there.
00:31:15
Speaker
ah I don't think you want to be in a position where you are gambling on set pieces on opportunism with your Boa and Oloche and on um defending well, if you're having to go to San Diego, Vancouver, Seattle or L.A.
00:31:31
Speaker
I think that they realize that the advantage that they would have over most teams on their average day on the road. is still lesser than those teams will have as an advantage at home.
00:31:42
Speaker
Right. It's it's not all it balances out, right? Like these are independent variables from each other. You can't control the other one by saying we're better on the road. So they want to be at home because this year what the Minnesota United fan base has realized is that like it's it's that sort of thing where it's like newcomers to soccer don't really know when to cheer all the time and let the ball win in the net.
00:32:02
Speaker
Right. Or a goalkeeper made a fantastic save. So you get these sort of like weird kind of polite applauses. If you get like a really good kind of hip check, defend, shield the ball, keep it in play and then kick it back up the line. Right. Those sorts of things.
00:32:13
Speaker
But everyone in that stadium knows a throw in in the final third is time to stand up and treat it like a corner kick in a Minnesota. yeah and stand up, wave your scarves. If Dane St. Clair is approaching the midfield line to take a free kick, everyone is standing up.
00:32:26
Speaker
You have this like really unique atmosphere that's been fostered by that style of play. And it also means then when you're passing triangles around inner Miami, around the field, everyone's really into it because they've done their warmups. Basically they've learned that like, Hey, when my neighbor cheers, everyone else is going to cheer. I might as well do the same thing.
00:32:43
Speaker
The atmosphere has never been better at all. Yance field than it is in 2025. So I think in that respect, they want to control their destiny. This is another thing that like I talked about with Obed was like, we need to finish for a second.
00:32:55
Speaker
Period. We don't want to be in another scenario where we have to go to Carson and it's a game of inches, right? Like we want to be the ones who are ensuring that we control the bracket. And I think every team realizes that in this format, I don't care what happened to Miami last year. I don't care what happened to Columbus last year.
00:33:10
Speaker
ah RSL, same thing, right? It's still better to be the team with the chance of playing two home games if it goes to three games, right? The whole first round. And then also having better control of the bracket depending on how it balances. So I think Minnesota would rather...
00:33:24
Speaker
I think if I'm looking at their priorities, because you also asked if they're a trophy contender um earlier, I think they're the front runner for the U.S. Open Cup at this point. So there is a trophy on offer that they're in there. They have hosting priority through the rest of it. They host the semifinal against Austin.
00:33:38
Speaker
And then whoever wins the Western Conference will host the final. So from their perspective, they'll look at that and say, there's our first trophy and that's their dress rehearsal for the bracket. um And then from there, we'll see. Right. Because the other thing is, if you make a final and you lose, it can be really difficult to bounce back. If you make a final and you win, maybe sometimes you feel like you've achieved something, which you have. Congrats.
00:33:57
Speaker
But it might take like a little bit of edge off of your playoff push. It'll be really interesting to see how they balance those two once the Open Cup finally resumes in September. um I know that we had the other quarterfinal of the East, the make up date this week, but um You know, the semifinal is until September. So we'll see how that kind of adjusts their planning and fitness and these sorts of things. It's only two more games, though, so it shouldn't impact them too much.
00:34:22
Speaker
I would guess Minnesota still wants to make sure they finish in the top three, ideally in the West. Noobman wants to know any update on the transfer offer for the Minnesota forward. He's talking about, Tony Oluwache, who, uh, is having a fantastic season. yeah one of the players to watch in this matchup or really any matchup that, uh,
00:34:44
Speaker
Minnesota United is playing in. I think he's got like 10 goals, eight assists, just a very dynamic, fun to watch, productive player. And that has resulted in ah a lot of overseas transfer buzz.
00:34:58
Speaker
And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but they got an offer from La Liga side. Was that right? uh via real or am am i thinking of no i think it was maybe hitafe i know tom confirmed what club i'm thinking of alex freeman alex freeman oh yeah which one the way like to have like in a like u.s international on via real like that's one of those things that just doesn't there are like certain clubs right where it's like i can't believe that there's like an American player on that club, right? I don't really know how to describe it. It's just like you see it in the kit.
00:35:26
Speaker
It's kind of weird that Johnny Cardoso is going to Atletico Madrid. That's a great example, actually, right? It's just one of those clubs that doesn't usually interact with North American players, period. ah Besides Hector Herrera, I guess.
00:35:37
Speaker
um As far as Tani goes, so he's in a spot that I think a lot of other players right now in MLS are, which is that...
00:35:50
Speaker
The World Cup is a very realistic possibility for them, but not a guarantee. And so Obed's kind of the same way. But Obed, when I talked to him, I never got the sense he's thinking about 26. Even when I asked him directly, like like, does this window moving now matter more than the winter? He's just kind of like, I want the right move because my career isn't over in 26 in so many words. It's like, yeah, I hope not, too.
00:36:10
Speaker
It shouldn't be. There's no reason i think it will be unless something absolutely awful happens. and i'm going to stop talking or else I'm never going to be allowed back in Seattle. ah As far as Tony goes, Canada has a lot of really good forwards.
00:36:21
Speaker
So he's up in contention. Jonathan David will make the squad. We know that the hak Kyle Laird and probably is kind of like a almost like a legacy pick, which kind of demeaning, but like his performances with Canada for the last five years, pretty much since qualifying for 22 have not been of his usual caliber. He's definitely on the wane, but he's probably still a front runner.
00:36:37
Speaker
And then you're getting into problems. David, getting to Daniel Jebison. Tani Olwache needs games. Tani Olwache needs goals. He needs assists. He has a better chance of getting that probably in Major League Soccer with Minnesota United not changing his club situation than if he goes to, as Tom reported, a top half team in La Liga or a team of the championship, where if he hasn't scored in four games, here comes Sam Vokes or someone off the bench that you haven't heard of in seven years, right?
00:37:01
Speaker
Who's suddenly going to be you know, eating his lunch. And he can't afford that right now. He simply is at and too pivotal a point for his career because the 26 World Cup is so important to Oluweshe.
00:37:12
Speaker
where I don't think what it would take is kind of that perfect move, which is, so it's so rare that the market presents this, where it's both you will play, and this is an upgrade over like your, your caliber. So you will look to be of a higher standard. You're playing at a higher level and you're playing as often as you do now.
00:37:32
Speaker
I don't know if I'm a La Liga team. which I'm a man, I'm a boy, I'm not a club. But like if I was running one, I don't think I would start Tanya Lachey.
00:37:45
Speaker
Like, I just think that right now there's just still too much that you would need to see. There's too much he hasn't proven yet in his, in his ability of him versus a certain level of opponent.
00:37:56
Speaker
I'm not taking that gamble yet. So you probably are looking at more speculative clubs. You're looking at clubs that want him for 900 minutes rather than 2100, like he'll get this year or more. um I would be surprised if he'll move this year because I think that he's being very selective. i think Minnesota also doesn't want to replace a striker for a third straight summer. They brought in Tim O'Pukki and,
00:38:13
Speaker
So that 22 or 23, they brought in Kelvin Yeboah last summer. I don't think that they want to go through that song and dance yet again. um And that that partnership between Yeboah and O'Shea is great. Like they, they crack jokes in the locker room after games, you know, like when one of them assists the other one, they both celebrate, like they both scored it.
00:38:30
Speaker
which is great, like so rare for a strike tandem to have that. um When Anthony Marcanic scores another goal from left back, they're both like telling him like stop scoring when neither of us can play left back. Like you're going to take our job, which is like just it's a really good locker room right now where I don't know why you would want to complicate it um from Minnesota's perspective. So I would be surprised if Tani leaves. But if he does leave, I'm assuming it's because it's a club that expects to play him.
00:38:53
Speaker
He's 25. So that's honest. That's a little older than I thought that he was. Yeah. It's it's like Ajimang, right? Where it's kind of like, this is the point of your career where if you're going to make that move and still be seen as upside for the next move or the next contract, even after the next two years, 18 months, you got to do it now.
00:39:09
Speaker
So I understand the urgency from that side.
Seattle Sounders' Transfer Strategy
00:39:12
Speaker
But the World Cup is such a weird factor for these transfers. Yeah. If the World Cup was in Qatar again, if it was in Russia, if it was in Brazil, if it was in South Africa, I don't know if it's playing in the back of the minds of these guys of Diego Luna, who I also spoke with about this.
00:39:25
Speaker
I don't think it's doing as much to their decision making as it is when it's North. Yeah, seems to me like he he's got a pretty damn good thing going in ah in Minnesota United. It's just like a a perfect fit. He's producing.
00:39:38
Speaker
Like you said, like definitely the the vibes and culture around the team sound ah really strong right now, and he's definitely a ah part of that. All right, Jeff, are you ready for some transfer window discourse? Because that's what we're that's what we're doing in Seattle these' these days. And, you know, it's ah it makes sense because the transfer window only has – a few days left in it and uh it doesn't look like seattle's gonna do anything but we'll uh we'll use this from uh stick and wiggle to uh start us off great name i'm sorry that's an excellent name
00:40:13
Speaker
So he he says, Jeff, how useful do you think the U22 slot on an external signing is for a ah for a team like Seattle, which is a ah relevant topic right now because the big mechanism that Seattle has right now that they could use to bolster the roster is a U22 spot. sure they They technically, people point out sometimes they technically have...
00:40:37
Speaker
all three of them open. I don't think that's an exactly right way to frame it because ah it's like, whether it's open or not, or like whether you can actually use it or not is based on like other cap stuff as well. yeah And then also I think there ah with how many Academy guys that Seattle brings through,
00:41:00
Speaker
They were there talk of them doing this with Obed, but like using those spots on a player like that to like ah minimize their cap hit or whatever. That's honestly like if they if if Obed wasn't going to get sold and go to Europe, that is what they should do with ah with this spot. That's like by far the but like I think Obed wants to go to Europe. So there I think they should have go to Europe. But like that's the thing.
00:41:23
Speaker
He's got as much if not more interest right now from Mexico. Yeah, but he doesn't want to. He said he doesn't want to do that. It's not a priority. he'll He'll play there if he can. And I'm sure that if there's a point where Seattle is not offering DP money or U22 money at a certain point, but a club in Liga Mackey's is.
00:41:38
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to have some hard conversations there, but you're right. Europe's the priority. And so. I think if he doesn't get a move this summer, I think you resign him and you use that slot on him because I think that the hit rate right now, what you're seeing in major league soccer is the U 22 initiative was hatched so that teams felt more incentivized and less exposed.
00:42:01
Speaker
If they were signing essentially DP level salaries or transfer fees, especially the transfer fees, less the salaries given the age and, you know, usually experience necessitates wages. Um,
00:42:13
Speaker
you were having this like scattershot hit rate when you have a yeah bunch of teams who are signing like 20 year olds from Argentina, obviously in Brazil, but then South Korea and then South Africa um and Uruguay.
00:42:29
Speaker
it's like these nations, it makes sense. If you have like a bonafide youth international from one of these countries, that's a perennial qualifier for world cups or, you know, South Africa, South Africa's case, a contender in,
00:42:41
Speaker
AFCON, like you want to get the next best talent. You want to basically do what Atlanta did, but earlier. And you bring in Miguel Almiron before everyone catches when that he's actually of a high standard. And then you flip them, you sell them, you repeat the process. And that's what it was hatched to do was to tell more teams. correct You can do the DP thing that we're used to doing.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yes, you saw Toronto win with a core of Jovinko, Bradley and Altidore who are all over 30. You could do that, too, if you want to. but you could also do this 2 plus 4 variation, you could do a 3-3, but if you do the 2 plus 4, it will give you a little bit more gam to make it you worth your while so we get more of these speculatives.
00:43:16
Speaker
The players who are hitting are not those guys. That's the thing. The U22 initiative has been very good for teams that want to retain domestic talent and offer them wages. They wouldn't usually do because they weren't willing to use Tam, which was a finite resource and not specific to any age group or experience level, you know, like a senior budget for supplemental.
00:43:37
Speaker
And wouldn't use a DP on these guys too. But now RSL can confidently lock down Diego Luna to a contract that previously they would have never offered. ah The Colorado Rapids have actually weirdly been probably the best team at the U22 initiative right now. And it's what Danny Leyva, Ted Kudipietro and Cole Bassett.
00:43:53
Speaker
Like, that's great. That's who's Danny Leyva is on on Seattle again. He's on Seattle. Sorry, it's Josh Atencio. Josh Atencio, yeah. Leiva went on loan, right? Like, was that a year? He did. ah Like, last year, two years ago, did go on loan. But now it's a... its ah You see how I get them confused now. But it's Josh Atencio, who's on their U22 initiative as well. And now they have an open U... Well, basically, Kevin Cabral is gone.
00:44:16
Speaker
um They lost Georgie. They didn't want to lose Georgie. And now they're kind of trying to decide, do we go two plus four and go for another U22 because it's working so well? Or do we try to get more designated players to kind of make up? That's a fun scenario for them to figure out only in major league soccer. Are you asking that specific question, right?
00:44:31
Speaker
For Seattle, I think Obed, if you can keep Obed, I think that's better than losing Obed and taking a flyer on a 20 year old, who's never lived or played outside. Oh yeah. I mean, without a doubt, it just, it comes down to like, uh, I think what Obed wants for his career, the way I've been kind of thinking of it is that he's been pretty clear that, uh, he at least wants to try going to Europe.
00:44:58
Speaker
And, with, with that in mind, like I'm sort of thinking of how they use this spot, like like as bringing someone in from the outside and not using it on Obed. Although there are other guys like ah um RBW and Snyder Brunel coming up, who you could argue might at some point, it could be good to use that mechanism on them. Maybe, but I feel like it's different with Obed because I think that if you were to do a cash trade, he'd get more than Philly got for Jack McGlynn, which I think was like up to $4 million dollars if he had certain performance metrics.
00:45:34
Speaker
I think Obed's proven himself more than Jack McGlynn. So I think that right now i like your $10 million dollars valuation. i disagree with like he's the same as eight more so four and a half. So what's let's say seven and a half, $8 million. dollars that play, I don't know if you're getting seven and a half, eight million dollars for Reed Baker Whiting, right? Like at maybe like even at any point of his career, just because of the position he plays and because he's not in the national team yet.
00:45:57
Speaker
And maybe he will get there. um And then we have that conversation. But I think for squad building purposes, it's more likely he ends up on a very high senior salary, right? And then Obed is the one that you would say most teams would treat him like a high TAM, maybe a U22 initiative and then eventually a DP if he stuck around the league.
00:46:14
Speaker
So I think you have to kind of look at it and just say, He is also more valuable than alternatives because he knows the system, because he loves seat playing in Seattle, because he works really well with Christian Roldan in the engine room.
00:46:25
Speaker
That's invaluable. Like continuity and consistency and dependability is so much more valuable than this guy's highlight reel looks really cool. And he's in a press conference today saying he loves taking shots from outside the box.
00:46:36
Speaker
So let's go and get him because he's played in Greece and Poland, right? Like I would so much rather have the keep your guys who you've developed and who are now playing it at an international level. 10 times out of 10.
00:46:49
Speaker
I'm kind of torn on that, I guess, because i get on one hand, like, you know, I want him to pursue like the level that he wants to to go to and and like follow his dreams and all that.
00:47:03
Speaker
But also, like he is so valuable to this team, and I would love to keep him. but Again, I think yeah that's my thought if he doesn't get offers. If he gets offers, if he wants the offer, if it's a right fit for him, and the valuation is meeting whatever you know Craig Weibel and whatever the rest of the organization is saying, this is what we think Ovid Vargas is worth, I'm with you. all like At that point, let players advance in their careers when they're ready to, and when the offer presents themselves. right and Because then...
00:47:33
Speaker
10 other players will see that you treated that player well and want to follow that path. So it's self-sustaining in that way because you are a club that treats players well. So like everything I just said before that, if he doesn't get that offer this summer, right because then he could still get an offer again this winter.
00:47:48
Speaker
But you also know that you can count on him down the stretch and possibly into 26 and beyond. Well, okay, let's take the Obed component out of it for like the purposes of this kind of next topic. Because I think you know the debate going on in Seattle right now It was...
00:48:06
Speaker
you know it was how How should they use this U22 spot? Yeah. and really like, you know, with the state of the roster, what what do they need? Can you riff for me? I can hear you. I just have to grab a water bottle right now. So I can hear you. Oh, okay. Okay.
00:48:27
Speaker
Basically the, basically the debate is how they, uh, how they should allocate this U22 spot. And really like, I think the implications of what it kind of means, what it would say if they go through another transfer window and they don't make a big splashy move where they don't work. Not even that big a splashy move, just drop in some kind of bag.
00:48:51
Speaker
And they were linked to Noah, Ohio. And it looked like that you know they threw down an offer. They seemed like it was they were very confident in this target and that they wanted to bring them on the team, but it didn't end up panning out. There's reports of a couple of other targets that they had that also didn't end up panning out. So it looks like we're getting to the end of another window and they're not going to make a big move.
00:49:15
Speaker
it kind of like plays into this whole discourse of the last like really since they got de la vega well but like they haven't they haven't really been spending right like big transfer fees uh since pedro de la vega was the last player that they uh did that with so it's kind of it started some like are they broke discourse are they as ambitious as they uh as they used to be and like does is this like not filling this u22 spot is that like a commentary on that is that indictment on on all that and honestly you know
00:49:50
Speaker
I get it from the stance coming out of like, um yeah, like ah you watch LAFC drop $26 million dollars on, ah on sun. And really just there's been a lot of like Kevin Denke's FC Cincinnati broke the transfer record for minute. Yeah. Yeah. Latte lot. You got clubs now that are willing to spend this type of money that Seattle just hasn't historically done.
00:50:15
Speaker
It does not appear. like they will become that type of club who drops transfer fees yeah like that so i guess i'm curious as like an out uh neutral outsider who looks at this stuff from like a national perspective but when you look at Seattle's roster and then also I guess just kind of their approach to these things ah do you think their aversion to spending money does that strike you as like a commentary on their ambition compared to what it used to be or do you fall more on the end of like
00:50:54
Speaker
the ends justify the means. Cause that's kind I was sort of talking about this at the top of the show, but like the way I kind of put it is like when they're playing like this, like they've been, that's like they're playing right now, like since the club world cup seven Oh, and three, but not, not just like the 10 games.
00:51:10
Speaker
unbeaten, but really just how dominant, yeah the manner, like how dominant they've been, how fun to watch they've been, how many goals they're scoring, just the all around vibes as around the on-field product over this last stretch of games has been fantastic.
00:51:26
Speaker
um So I find myself asking like, if that's what the outcome is and like they have to sustain it. And I think whether they win trophies will be determinative, but like if, if they're, if they're playing like this,
00:51:39
Speaker
what, what do I care about a U22 spot? right Like that's yeah like, and that's the onus is on them to like, the way I feel about it is like, all right, if you're not gonna spend a lot of money, like some of these clubs, like it doesn't even have to be a $22 million dollars bag, but like, if you're not going to spend like that, 10 or yeah. and or dropp bags you guys I mean, you better, you better win. You better still play well. You better still be fun to watch. You better still be contending right now.
00:52:08
Speaker
that is what they're doing, but they're also in a situation where a lot of the, a there's been a lot of national media that are calling this the deepest roster in MLS history.
00:52:20
Speaker
Like that's stuff. I think I wrote that this preseason too. Yeah. Yeah. So like, if that is what the situation is, then I find it hard to like get too worked up if the, if this U22 spot is filled or not, because what I care about at the end of the day is if they're winning games, if they're contending for trophies and if they're winning trophies and like the,
00:52:45
Speaker
I see a roster right now that I don't know if it's the deepest in MLS history. I can't really speak to that as much. I do know that it's arguably the deepest roster in the league right now and i also know that it's been getting like, ah like the level that they're at right now, to me, that's like what you're always chasing. That's what you want, like is to be able to like play at that level, be that aesthetically pleasing, be this fun to watch. Yes. And if you can get there,
00:53:18
Speaker
Then I gra yeah when you got there. And I also think, too, when you have depth like this, it gives you more leeway to be able to be like, all right, no Ohio said no to us.
00:53:31
Speaker
We didn't get our other targets. ah We don't we're we don't need to necessarily like panic sign someone and. get like ah a target or a player that we don't, we aren't really fully convicted in. That's something that I wouldn't want them to do.
00:53:45
Speaker
So like, how do you, how do you think when you look at that's a perfect entry point, because I think that when you look at the balance, there's a couple of things. I think 22 was obviously an inflection point, right?
00:53:57
Speaker
Just for the squad overall, where it was like, this is not a squad that's guaranteed to get in the playoffs anymore, but it's a squad that can win in CONCACAF. Okay, what do you do with that? Well, the decision was pretty much, okay, we're going to phase out, you know, like Ladero had already left her that was his final year. That was his last year. Yeah, that was his last year. Okay, great. So perfect, like kind of passing of the torch moment, right?
00:54:17
Speaker
um Rui Diaz obviously took around a little bit longer, but then you have... Every like the core is still there of a clear top four top five teams, so you can't really rebuild and there's no such thing as like a true strip it down and rebuild it and major league soccer right like it's weird when CF Montreal announces they're going into a rebuilding phase because it's like.
00:54:37
Speaker
that That's not a phrase MLS teams have ever used right. But that's kind of what it would take because there is so much stability among this core.
00:54:47
Speaker
And yes, there's been a lot of a fair amount. I won't even say a lot from the team that won the CONCACAF Champions League. But I think that there is is also still a lot of tendency to prioritize
00:55:03
Speaker
Proven ability in Major League Soccer and the idea that there are fewer variables that could backfire from someone if they have already been of a best 11 caliber in this league than if we're spending more money to bring someone in who has never been in this league before.
00:55:19
Speaker
And i agree with the philosophy. Like I have a series that I pull up every offseason called Moves I Like, which is exactly what it says on the tin. And two years ago, was Danny Musavsky signing. I had to bring it up tonight.
00:55:30
Speaker
And then this year it was Jesus Ferreira. And then to a lesser extent, think is it Paul Arriola maybe? But like, I think it was mostly about the Ferreira side of it, where it's just like, How many teams would want what he did in Dallas and say that they're willing to pay $7 million dollars for a 22 year old or however old he is now to do that?
00:55:48
Speaker
OK, great. it's It's that like classically say if it's like it's just for error for it's Jesus senior from Brazil. Like how differently are we talking about him? Right. It's that same kind of thing when you look across the squad is just I get the frustration, but it's sustainable. And part of it is you don't want too many variables that are going to unsettle what you've already built.
00:56:09
Speaker
And they've built something that's really, really good. They've got an academy that quite like they don't get the love that Dallas gets, which I think that's a bit dated, by the way, on the Dallas Academy front. they they should I but kind of have been workshopping this agenda, but kind of I feel like ah good at at this point, Seattle's youth development should be, whenever people talk about that, they always say Dallas and Philly as the as the gold standards.
00:56:37
Speaker
But here's i've i've said that too, but Seattle is is in that discussion. and What I like about Seattle's success right now is that when you look at, okay, why does everyone say Dallas? Well, Ricardo Pepe came through it. Okay. That's great. Wes McKinney played in it.
00:56:51
Speaker
Luxury players. That's really cool. MLS teams are not playing Academy kids in luxury roles still. Like it is rare to see when Chicago is actually willing to put Brian Gutierrez in the hole as a number 10, rather than saying you have to play off to the left.
00:57:04
Speaker
and do some kind of recirculating things as a secondary guy or an advanced midfielder, but you're still in like kind of a double pivot. So you better defend too, kid. You've got the best legs. like You've got the freshest legs of anyone on this team. um I think when you look at it from like a perspective of Seattle's a Academy, there's like a clear, like,
00:57:24
Speaker
We are trying to get all around players who can play in the midfield, who can also, you know, some of them will drop back. Some of them will be better off as a fullback because one foot is much stronger than the other and they have more athleticism. The technical abilities are perfect.
00:57:37
Speaker
Let me introduce you to Reed Baker Whiting or whatever. Right. And I think it's worked really well. um I know I've mentioned him twice. I'm a big fan of Reed Baker Whiting. I put him on my 22 under 22 ballot last year, I think is number 20 or 21.
00:57:48
Speaker
Like, I think that he is um very much of the caliber, but I would like an academy that actually can get me a dependable starting fullback. So that I don't have to go into the market because MLS teams don't like spending on defenders, but how are you going to get a decent defender if you're not willing to? So you're making compromises and paying an $800,000 salary and maybe a $1 million dollars transfer fee for a guy who's coming over from England or Greece or something.
00:58:10
Speaker
I'd rather have the Academy kid. I think that's what's successful. It's more like RSL than Philly. Philly is another one that has a kind of similar top heavy, not as much depth necessarily. I know there's like,
00:58:22
Speaker
Nathan Harrell, there are a couple of other guys who have really come through in those sort of like supporting starting roles, if that makes sense. I'm talking fullbacks a little bit like your second center back. um Maybe you're just your box to box, non-technical midfielder, whatever the case may be. These guys who they're the less glamorous roles, but they're very important roles. Goalkeepers, another one of them.
00:58:41
Speaker
I, I like an academy that knows how to develop those players too. And I think that your ability to depend on your academy to bolster your depth and the quality of your team is better than if you're constantly waiting for the second coming off of Alfonso Davies, which is the alternative, which is I am so determined to have the sequel to the Davies transfer that I'm kind of ignoring the development of like the finer aspects of defending and off ball work, whatever the case may be.
00:59:10
Speaker
So I like the academy a lot, but I think that also does play in then to the squad building. where I want to give those chances to those guys. I don't want to burn U-22 slot because I want a 5% increase on the caliber of my left back.
00:59:28
Speaker
I'm, you know, I'm no Mark Kastner, but like I have been like an an open new who skeptic for quite some time, right? And like, i don't think I want to spend a big transfer fee on that if I can produce a player in that role in the academy, because then you can save that slot for another midfielder if you have to replace Obed and you can get someone of a similar profile.
00:59:49
Speaker
Or if you want to have Christian doing more advanced work again, don't know why you would do this, but six months ago, if you weren't confident he would be a good successor to Joel Pedro is like the true number six, then you could use the U22 to maybe get like a prospect who could come into that and he can start right away and it'll advance his career moving forward.
01:00:05
Speaker
um I like the way they
Seattle Sounders' Youth Development Focus
01:00:08
Speaker
operate. I like the savviness of it. And I like the trust that's implied about their academy and their ability to scout from within major league soccer, if not their own hierarchy to not just buy really expensive lottery tickets because you saw that the highest kickback is, you know, bet a better payout than kind of the sure thing that you already have, which is $5 in your hand or whatever.
01:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I honestly, I ah i understand where segments of the fan base are coming from with wanting the team to break the bank a little bit more.
01:00:41
Speaker
And, you know, big splashy acquisitions, transfer fees, that stuff is fun. And it ah totally is stuff that they've... done at different points. I mean, Clint Dempsey was one of the bigger ah acquisitions transfers of that era. Ladero and Rui Diaz, not cheap players.
01:01:00
Speaker
De La Vega is a $7 million dollars player. So for me, like and it does speak to the importance of infrastructure, like youth development.
01:01:15
Speaker
And also, i think, ah you know, one thing Seattle benefits from is just a really strong culture that I think it starts with Brian Schmetzer. ah But that's that's something that allows you to do stuff like ah you don't need to go sign a winger from overseas if you can develop Paul Rothrock into a player who like yes gives you that exact same production.
01:01:38
Speaker
And I'll tell you what, don't you love watching that guy succeed too? Yes. As much, if not more. It's better. It's better because he's like a Seattle guy. The 21-year-old hadn't heard of who came from another league didn't make it because, like you know, came through an academy and didn't find a landing spot in Europe, so came over to try to lick his wounds.
01:01:54
Speaker
This is just it. It's just like there is talent in this country that I think a lot of teams overlook. And that's why you'll see these weird like $850,000 salary guys who are playing 400 minutes a year because they had one good season. They had one good highlight reel and they just want to assume that's better than what they have in house.
01:02:13
Speaker
I think Seattle has done a very good job of trusting what they've got. It's one of their biggest strengths. I was, uh, I was excited. I got myself excited about the potential of no Ohio joining the team, but like, you know, I don't even want to do 22 number, uh, nine at this point, give me Osase, give me Osase de Rosario.
01:02:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. and it should Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but honestly, like but like, honestly, it's just like, if you just need to spark off the bench for 20 minutes, right? Like, yeah why are you using real resource? I know then that the kickback is okay, but they're not using it anywhere, but they have the freedom to do it whenever they need to.
01:02:50
Speaker
yeah If you talk to any sporting director in Major League Soccer, if they don't have the current best roster by their own definition, Major League Soccer, and 90% of the time or more, they will admit they don't.
01:03:03
Speaker
If they don't, they will openly quickly tell you we have this many guys out of contract this year. We have this many guys on loan. We have this many guys that are on it that like we've loaned away and are you know going to be moving on. from They love to show you the flexibility and coming windows so that you can kind of signal to teams like.
01:03:23
Speaker
We're a credible buyer or whatever the case may be, or to signal the fans as well, like, don't worry, it'll get better. We can maneuver. you get into an L.A. Galaxy situation like this last offseason where you've overplayed your hand and now you have to kind of work it back for the next year.
01:03:39
Speaker
You're so much worse off. So like I think it makes sense to have that sort of rainy day fund and that maneuverability with your squad rules because things change so quick in this league. And again, if you sell Obed and you don't have any of those resources available to you, who are you bringing in?
01:03:57
Speaker
You just got rid of Josh Atencio, not Danny Leyva, as I clarify, as you clarified for me, right? Like who else are you bringing in? and Snyder, but Snyder, Brunel, Snyder, Brunel. That seems like the answer might be within, right?
01:04:08
Speaker
But like, it If you lose him in the middle of a potential and MLS Cup run, which they're in the midst of this it of this year, it's misty in Seattle all the time. That's the cliche. But you don't want to gamble by saying we didn't have the resources to make up for it because we had Obed on a relative bargain because of the production he can do.
01:04:28
Speaker
We can't find what he can do at that price anymore. Zipia has a good question here, Jeff. Did you say I'm going to go get a water and you went and got a beer? I'm bi, which means I got water and beer.
01:04:40
Speaker
Oh, okay. So there we go. Yeah. um Kind of related to this topic. Do you have any ah takes on Craig Weibel? Because that like that that has been a ah another red hot topic of discourse in recent days because of the fact that it looks like they're not going to use this U-22 spot, this window. And he's really, he's been a target of derision going back a couple years.
01:05:09
Speaker
And it dates it dates back to the manner in which he got the role kind of. Is it like Gerald Ford scenario where it's like you were never elected for this office? Maybe there was some of that. I don't remember that. There are all the Gerald Ford fans in the chat.
01:05:24
Speaker
Gerald Ford reference. That's why you turn into Lobbing Scorchers Under the Lights, folks. You never know when the Gerald Ford reference is going to... But no, I don't think that was as much it as much as like his the start to his tenure.
01:05:39
Speaker
ah it kind of looked like ah there was some swinging and missing going on. You can start with bear. right god yeah yeah what in this is yeah this is where you get into the like going with the trusted component can backfire like that's great example so so a bear was like he was supposed to be the moose will bruin role and uh that one did not work out so that was like strike one where people are like what was that craig why was what like you got a bear in here coming off an acl and he like scored one goal his entire time here like so right yeah that was number one then you had a situation i might be skipping over some stuff but like hardly you had a uh you had a situation the big ones were de la vega's first year they but they spent seven million dollars on him he was brought in with all this like hype and like kind of you know first player for seattle to wear the number 10 since ladero there's
01:06:34
Speaker
weight of expectations that come with that and last year was like a lost year for him where he was injured the whole time yes but uh also i think people any like the the cameos he did make didn't look all that great and so people were very quick to be like oh see like it doesn't even matter like he was not like good anyway and this is all with like ah kind of starting from the premise of like Craig Wives is terrible.
01:07:00
Speaker
So like, right. Which and you've already showed your hand, right? Like, but i but like, so, but so De La Vega, De La Vega's first year being a bus kind of ah played into that. And then like, honestly, to be fair, ah like the De La Vega thing going into this year was an open question. Then you also had his, his backup striker signing after a bear, Danny Musavsky, who obviously,
01:07:23
Speaker
Going into this year. Yeah, but like last year, he was injured and only had like one goal one assist. And so that that honestly Moose was getting talked about as already decided as a ah as a swing and a miss.
01:07:38
Speaker
I get I understand how like the discourses always work. like It's fair. It's fair enough. But then on top of that, you had this Jesus Ferreira trade, which on our show, you know we we are MLS sickos here and had watched a lot of Jesus Ferreira on FC Dallas.
01:07:56
Speaker
So for us, we saw the Ferreira trade and we were like, that is one of the best trades I could think of. Totally. It's so funny. It's actually so funny. I remember because I had Ferreira as it moves I like again. Yeah. right The comments minimal, whatever. See, thought it was coverage. I know what's what it is, what the reputation is these days. I don't like the association I have with it.
01:08:15
Speaker
um Total soccer show. I do it every week on Tuesdays to talk Major League Soccer every single week. I cover Major League Soccer. I promise the. the The thing with Ferreira was the US men's national team discourse yeah precedes the MLS discourse 10 times out of 10. Exactly.
01:08:32
Speaker
And so you will have, he was shit in Qatar. So I would never want him on
Trust in Young Talent During World Cup
01:08:39
Speaker
my team. Okay. He didn't perform in three appearances in a world cup when he should have never been the starting number nine for the US, but he was the one Berhalter could trust to actually be healthy and on the field.
01:08:50
Speaker
Like it's not his fault. He was still the young player of the year in major league soccer in a league that had players from other countries. It's not just that you were saying he was one of the best young Americans in a month. He was one of the best young players in major league soccer.
01:09:02
Speaker
yeah Right. So like, why would you not again, strip away the nationality and just think of him as a Brazilian. You're so excited for that. And you get the extra benefit of he scored the thing with a bear.
01:09:13
Speaker
I kind of wondered if that was sort of like a, It almost was like trying too hard to be the like, see how savvy this is. We went and got a guy who scored double digit goals two years in a year ago.
01:09:25
Speaker
And now we'll be the team that brings him back to glory, even though we've seen the tape of him post knee injury. And it's like, wow, this guy can't cut it at this level. Right. Like, it's almost like trying to get to like.
01:09:38
Speaker
Oh, you forgot to ask the training staff if this was a good idea, basically. Right. And if like kinesiology, if you looked at his body before the injury and after, do you have the confidence he can get that extra step that seems to be missing because he looks comfortable with the body, with the changes that have been made with the surgery, these sorts of things.
01:09:58
Speaker
It's really important to do. It didn't seem like they did that. That was the fatal flaw there, right? Musavsky, like
Strategic Use of Strikers in Soccer
01:10:04
Speaker
he had some familiarity, Weibel. And I think that there was more like, look, I know it's a little less interesting than signing a guy who won MLS Cup once, but at the same point, like, come on, like he's I trust him. I know what he can do. He's going to be very cheap and I can depend on him off the bench. I'm only looking for the Will Bruin or I'm looking for 20, 30 minutes. Right.
01:10:22
Speaker
um He's perfect for that. And like, I look at it, like my colleague, Michael Cox had branded it the plan B striker. I think it's such a perfect way to do it because you're just like, well, this isn't working. And so let's just go for the trusted hand who's doing a little bit of a simpler game usually. And that's not a criticism. That's just more of a, you've refined it.
01:10:39
Speaker
where you know exactly what you're going get he steps on the field. I think it's more robust than that. I think he's proven that this year that he's actually found that level. But when you were looking at where he was taking his shots from in the four years before he signed with Seattle, perfect number nine stuff.
01:10:52
Speaker
His movement is great. He just has a knack for getting to the penalty spot, basically. And then like, Essentially, that's the perfect place to kick a ball, right? That's why they put it there, basically, while also giving the goalkeeper a chance. The perfect place is right in front of the net. I know, I know. It's one yard away, and Kai Kamara still missed it once.
01:11:06
Speaker
But I think you can you can confidently project that you can get play to move to enough of an extent where you will create that space and have an availability to pass that ball.
01:11:18
Speaker
to him every single game. And so if he can score that, what are we talking about here? Right. And that's why I think like with Weibel, it's like, this seems a little bit more like instructions that are coming kind of top down, kind of like, this is what we're willing to spend this year.
Craig Weibel's Trade Acumen
01:11:32
Speaker
What can you make with it?
01:11:33
Speaker
And that's fine. um I still think that he, he's incredible. I know for a fact, he's incredibly respected with the major league soccer. I think that a lot of his peers at other clubs really do respect him. And they don't talk about him in a way, like, because we know we can get a really good trade off of him. You know what i mean? Like there's some where they're just like really nice guy. And if I buy him the right bottle of wine, his starting left back is mine whatever, right?
01:11:55
Speaker
um It's fair. He understands the league. That's really all you can ask for. um I personally, I still have a lot of Craig Weibel stock just for him as a decision maker. I think that he's still very, very good for it.
01:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, like i so I was on our last podcast, I was kind of trying to go through all the ah recent moves and sort of grade them out based on how they're looking now, because this year we've gotten a better idea of it. And yeah so, yeah, I mean, you had at least recently De La Vega, Musavsky, and then the Ferreira trade, and then there's the Ryan Kent transfer as well.
01:12:32
Speaker
I think those those are like... the big ones that i'm I'm sort of taking into account yeah so when I'm, ah when I'm looking at it with the, ah with the Ferreira trade specifically, I think they're part of, part of the negative reaction to it was like you said, the USMNT association that people have with him, but that is meaningless. The USMNT has nothing to do with nothing your, like how good you are at the club level.
01:12:58
Speaker
And if you're looking at purely how he is performed, at the club level in MLS. He is ah was a best 11 player at one point for FC Dallas. And also, like, ah you know, anyone who's watched as much FC Dallas as you and I have over the last few years in soft play, which is a lot, yeah.
01:13:19
Speaker
more than most and more than most people should but like i think anyone who did watch that amount of fc dallas uh saw that trade and was like that is a great move that's a great move and that's why i've and i and i felt so like confident in that based on his track record and how much uh that i i've watched him play that even when he was struggling to start the season i was never worried about it i was the one who was like preaching patience and uh right now that uh I think that trade is look absolutely fantastic like yeah both in terms of like what they gave up for it and what the deal was and then also what they're getting on the uh on the field right now he the
01:14:01
Speaker
He has started to produce more on the stat sheet, but like, it's just to have a player who you can have Albert Rusnak go out with an injury and your plan B is to just slide Ferreira in there. And then you have the offense look like how it looked against the galaxy.
01:14:17
Speaker
Not every MLS team can do that. Very few MLS teams could do that. Very few MLS teams can do that. And the reason they, one of the reasons they were able to do that was because they traded for Jesus Ferreira and he is a versatile, adaptable player who is just talented enough that you can slide him in, in a situation like that.
01:14:40
Speaker
And your level doesn't drop off from when your DP number 10 is in there. So i think like, all along way of saying, ah like, for... And I've been sort of ah kind of cowardly not taking a passionate stance.
01:14:56
Speaker
Listen, my friend, patience, like, the, like, let's get more evidence route almost always pays off. Because then you're like, now I've seen it. And you don't look wrong. It's just, like, it's a bigger moment when you... side with the herd, right? Like it means something to them. my thing my thing going my thing going into this year was like, until we see what the outcomes are with De La Vega and the Ferrera trade, yeah like those are going to be a lot of what determines like how his record is judged. So if those two things hit, then we got, it's very simple. If those two things hit, we got it. You got to give him credit for it. You can't just like,
01:15:32
Speaker
correct dismiss it you can't say that like the GM had nothing to do with it like no if De La Vega and Ferreira turn out to be ah to come good on the on their potential or what you thought you were hoping to get when you acquired them then I think you got to give them credit for it and looking at those in particular I think the Ferreira trade is proving to be as good a move as as we thought it would be And De La Vega, as far as he goes, I mean, it's still like a relatively recent, right its yeah it's it but like hasn't been looking this good for that long. So i agree if he like fizzles out or, uh, doesn't maintain this level, then, then we'll have to reevaluate it.
01:16:16
Speaker
But I gotta say, like, as it stands right now, i mean, he looks like one of the best players in the league right now, like over the last few weeks, uh, He looks like that player who can genuinely break a game. Right. And it's term that our friend Matt Doyle uses that I like in the context of major league soccer, because it's like every team with a DP slot, you're challenged to find one or two of them.
01:16:38
Speaker
And so how often have we seen teams not do that? And it's what holds them back from being truly great Cincinnati in 2024. It's what like catapults them to being above the actual, some of their parts LA galaxy in 2024. Um,
01:16:54
Speaker
I think that when you look at it, like, and I don't know. I think with De La Vega, it's so interesting because so much of what he does seems to be just like, how confident is he in his touch that day?
01:17:09
Speaker
and like, is he playing on the left with the right? Since they moved him to the left, he has been absolutely on fire. Again, this is a Mark Kastner had at first moment for me, but like, yes, on the left and others did too, I'm sure. But like, let's get Marcus too. I'll give Mark credit for that. He was on that train. Yeah, he was on that really quick. And I think that he was right.
01:17:27
Speaker
And I think it's just like there's this this thing Pochettino refers to as like dominant eye. And I think it's such horseshit of like a player would be bad if his dominant eye isn't cutting in field. So he knows where to move the ball to. And it's like, I don't think it's that easy. Right. I think that.
01:17:44
Speaker
optometrists would have been like, you know, the new set piece coaches, you know, in terms of like specialist hires, I think that that would have already been ahead of the curve and pochettino would have been a coach of the caliber who could have influenced it that way. If it was that big of an advantage, I digress.
01:17:58
Speaker
I think it is much more on the left side. It's just more natural. It's just like things flow more. He doesn't seem as in his head. again, I'm sorry for comparing this.
01:18:09
Speaker
like national team, it's like Christian Pulisic, where it's like you put him on the left, he's trying too hard. He's trying to figure out what he wants to do. He doesn't look like a natural there. You put him on the right and he's just kind of playing on free flow. And it's just it's more fun to watch.
01:18:19
Speaker
It's more successful because it's a player on instinct and instinct will always be quicker than like A or B or C in your head, right? It's like why coaches in preseason try to drill in positional play models if that's what they'll do.
01:18:31
Speaker
They want their signings done early before preseason. The teams that are signing late are a little more willing to just see how it goes. Usually um I like De La Vega.
01:18:42
Speaker
I think that Again, unlike um others, maybe i did have more of that. Let's get more of a sample on De La Vega because of the injuries last year.
01:18:52
Speaker
I just thought it was never a fair comparison to just really say, let's write this guy off because he keeps getting hurt and then he will miss this many long shots. And then what do we do with this guy? Like.
01:19:03
Speaker
you can coach shots, shot selection into a guy. And I think that with De La Vega now you're seeing him when he gets a consistent run of games and he knows whistle blue done with that 80 minute shift. But I know I'll get another 60 plus in five days.
01:19:18
Speaker
And so I have that confidence rolling into training that next into regeneration the next day into training and to walk through and to travel and then into the next game. Right. Like that routine. goes so far.
01:19:29
Speaker
it Like you talk to players who are used to being those like fringe guys. I actually i was I hung out with one of them earlier this month in MLS right now. And and he was just like, you know, it's it's a rare season where I'm like,
01:19:41
Speaker
always starting to the point where it's like relief when I, so when coach comes to me two days in advance and says, I'm leaving you out the lineup for this one, because it's a good opportunity to get your backup some reps. Like that suddenly hits so much harder where this, this player was like, I can golf now. Like I know that I don't need to be doing my, like my, my personal workout a little harder to try to make up for missing that lineup because you have that internalized. If I'm not starting, I'm failing sort of mentality. Like it's just,
01:20:09
Speaker
It's all these like finer nuances where I think we take it for granted, looking from the outside and just being like, yeah, of course, Pedro de la Vega is starting like every week right now. He's a designated player. It's major league soccer. You're supposed to start your designated players.
01:20:20
Speaker
He couldn't do that last year. He can do that this year. I think that continuity actually does go a long way. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, just to just to put a bow on the um the Craig Weibel thing, ah I mean, with all for all the for all the talk about ah his record that's gone on and stuff, when I like when i actually go through the moves like that, mean,
01:20:45
Speaker
de la vega jesus ferreira and moose who we didn't even uh talk about that much but like that's that is one of the best values in the league right now if you just like think about what he's done this year it's like you know we were talking about how uh how they were able to slide in jesus ferreira for albert rusnak and how most mls teams don't have the ability to do that right They haven't had Jordan Morris at all
Danny Musavsky's Impact and Recognition
01:21:12
Speaker
this year. So how have they been able to still get like 17 or I think they have 18 goals from the number nine position this year, like in totality. How are they able to do that? I mean, you got to give it to him. You got to give it him. They scouted up Danny Mussovsky and he like...
01:21:31
Speaker
has scored 12 goals all comps like and i get that it's i get that it's danny musovsky so that doesn't sound like uh that's sick but 12 goals is 12 goals and like i i guess it's just yeah when i look at his uh his recent record it's actually like kind of good and i will say too like big of true it's kind of good even Even if you're yeah warm on Craig Wibes for sure reason or whatever reason, I think yeah there there is like a ah subset. We've been seeing it in our comments. like People think that he's like abjectly incompetent and stuff. like like I see that. and
01:22:14
Speaker
To me, I'm just like, are we really being fair-minded with stuff like that? No, but have you been on the internet in 2020? Yeah, I get it, but... ah These things don't operate in isolation. Like, look, Danny Musavsky has 10 non-penalty goals in MLS this year. You look at it, that's as many as Chupo Moting.
01:22:33
Speaker
And like, I'll tell you what, this is actually sadly perfect because I thought Chupo Moting was one of the worst signings of the off season. I was not that. Yeah. I was, I wrote like, again, i understand that the athletics MLS coverage isn't what it used to be, but like, if we have that sort of like,
01:22:50
Speaker
we want to write this thing, they won't stand in our way still. But like, we have to make a case for it, right? And mine is that, you know, Chupo Moteng, because he played for Stoke City, the Stoke City team that got relegated, by the way, the last were in the Premier League, like nine guys have played in MLS from that same squad.
01:23:07
Speaker
It's like one of my favorite weird quirks where it's like everyone's like pepguardiolas ah Pep Pep Guardiola's Barcelona is now taking over MLS. And before that was like anyone who had played for Ferguson at Man United or or Wenger and Arsenal would always have an offer for Major League Soccer. Like weirdly, it's the Stoke City team as well.
01:23:24
Speaker
Choupo Moteng hadn't played more than 900 minutes. in any season for like almost a decade. And he was given a designated player contract. And I thought it was like hot nonsense to like, like just like what are the Red Bulls doing? They're throwing away all the goodwill that they had.
01:23:39
Speaker
Chupo Moteng scored a brace four days ago. Like Chupo Moteng scored a brace against New England. And like he is a little bit hot and cold when you look at his record where he'll score three games in two and then he'll go three games without a goal. And that's just life as a striker.
01:23:52
Speaker
But it's not a good designated player in per se, right? You want the dependability factor, right? But I would guarantee you that Red Bull fans are more optimistic about how that is going than I've gathered before this show and before what you've said, which only validates what I felt, that the Musavsky thing is seen as a fluke.
01:24:11
Speaker
Like, goals are goals, man. Like, you don't want to be late to the Brian White party. You don't want to be late to the Chris Wondolowski party. And I'm not necessarily, like, saying, like, this is the second coming of Wondo, because, like, I don't know if we'll ever see one. I don't know if that record will ever be broken, Ari.
01:24:26
Speaker
I don't know who the player is who is spending their entire career and scoring as consistently like you would need to genuinely have a guy where like he only started popping off at 25 or 26. So no other league in the world is going to value him as highly as and MLS teams will value him.
01:24:43
Speaker
Right. Like. Because even if he signs Zlatan and he can score 25 a year, he's going to need to play like eight years. Right. So like, yeah, huge digression.
01:24:54
Speaker
But to pull it back to like to scale, Musavsky is one of the most successful genuine number nines in um MLS this year. He was scoring at a rate that much more famous number nines.
01:25:05
Speaker
ah Olivier Giroud, Luis Suarez started the year in Major League Soccer. Neither of them comes close to his goal record. ah It's the efficiency. Like, it's insane. More than Kevin Denke, who is a record signing at one point. More than Lade Loth, more than Joel Klaus, more than Chicho Arango, more than Ariel Martinez. Like, these are guys who I think are generally rated to be much higher of caliber. Kelvin Yeboah.
01:25:27
Speaker
um Then there's Suarez. I'm scrolling down now. Leo Campana. I think that most MLS fan bases would be more hype if these guys were scoring more goals. None of them have as many goals as Danny Mussovsky this year.
01:25:39
Speaker
Yeah, and it's not like ah it's not and it's not inflated production like compared to his performances type situation. He grades out like... at the top of the league in every metric that you could look at for ah number nine in terms of like his output and how efficient he is with the chances that he gets. So again, like that's, I mean, that's just phenomenal record transfer fee on Brandon Vasquez and made him one of the highest paced strikers in MLS before doing his knee four goals.
01:26:13
Speaker
Yeah, like it's just funny how these things work out. like yeah What are we talking about here? If you transferred Latte, lot like didn't show the names and just showed the underlying numbers of ah Latte Loth and Moose, it's like it's just not even close. So, I mean, it just – it is what it is.
01:26:31
Speaker
I think – Like the idea that ah Craig Wabbs is like incompetent. i I mean, maybe people have like different definitions of that word than I do. but my But my thing at this point with this discourse is like,
01:26:47
Speaker
that It's just what what you're saying has got to be backed up and reflected in the on-field results, like the record, the points per game. And like, that's how I grade these things. oh Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's like, how does don have the team performing on the field?
01:27:05
Speaker
Like if you have an abjectly like incompetent front office, you're not... in the top four in the West and the best team out of 36 in Leagues Cup like the the just what's happening on the field just does not line up with that and so like if your analysis is just totally ignoring that then I just can't really yeah get behind it but uh anyway that goes both ways whether you're like the old money ball of the movie Scout who's like he's got like you know ugly girlfriend can't have confidence none of his friends or one of his teammates showed up to his birthday party
01:27:36
Speaker
Like, you know, like that old school, I believe it when I see it sort of like way of viewing the game or if you're like, I know I incorporate a lot of data into my writing. Right. But if I went like all in and I was like a data analyst who didn't watch games, it's worth as much.
01:27:51
Speaker
Right. Because you are missing so much in the middle to your point where it's like you need a bit of both like a player's tape could be off the charts. Like I think. umm Derek Etienne, this is a good example.
01:28:03
Speaker
He like led in a ton of, we, we had like ah a trial period in like 23 with like a startup company that was trying to track off ball movements and advancing into open space. It was really interesting, but it was so nebulous. It's like, we couldn't find an audience for it. I did a couple of trial pieces with it. If you just Google, like, cause search on the athletic as shit. Like if you just Google like the athletic and quotes and then Jeff Reuter and then Julian Gressel, you'll pop up as one of them were about him moving off the ball.
01:28:30
Speaker
Um,
01:28:33
Speaker
Derek Etienne Jr. is like world class at off ball movement. And if you were to look at that, you would say with the day's game, you have like your dominant winger who's either inverted scoring goals or kind of facilitating and like setting up chances, whatever. And then the other guy needs to create space and be like, keep them honest kind of guy. You don't want two guys like that. Like when I was watching the Club World Cup, there was a stretch where I think it was Ferreira, Rusnak and Ryan Kent were all starting in a wing. This might have been Botafogo.
01:29:00
Speaker
And it just didn't work because all of them kind of wanted to like facilitate and no one was opening. It was only when Paul Rothrock came in that the offense really, the attack really started worrying. And that's when they started like out generating chances on Botafogo. And this was before the goal to air like around the time of the goal too.
01:29:16
Speaker
And they still were having that sort of success. Right. So like to that point, you need that balance. Derek Atien looks world-class if you look at certain numbers and then certain MLS teams will say that they would never give him a single look because they've watched the tape.
01:29:31
Speaker
yeah I just got inspired on that one. I don't know, man. No, it's it's a good shout. i I hadn't thought about Derek Etienne in a while, but i do remember when I remember when Atlanta United got him and everyone was like, wow, that's like a really savvy.
Emergence of Osaze De Rosario
01:29:46
Speaker
And then that it did not.
01:29:48
Speaker
no it didn't out that well it wasn't yeah uh all right jeff i got a couple more from chat for you here and then we can uh we can start to wrap it up thank you so much for uh uh hopping on late night and spending all this time with us i know uh i appreciate it and our audience let's do one of these before or during the playoffs if if you'll have yeah oh absolutely yeah no we'll get you we'll get you back on again soon All right, we got one from Zippy here. Thank you for the $2, Zippy. Appreciate you.
01:30:16
Speaker
ah He wants your opinion on Osaze de Rosario. Looks the ah real deal. And yeah, I mean, this has been a been a fun little subplot here, both because, you know, a young number nine scoring goals is always exciting.
01:30:30
Speaker
But this one is cool because, you know, Dwayne DeRoe, one of the best MLS players ever, hi One of the best Canadians ever. One of the best Canadians ever.
01:30:40
Speaker
And so like when they acquired Osaze. It's a soccer country now, folks. That means something. When they got Osaze, everyone like, oh, that's D-Ro's kid. That's kind of interesting. I mean, but no one really knew him. His career path up to the point that he got here was not like super... but He was not like a super highly regarded prospect.
01:31:01
Speaker
ah But he was dominant in MLS Next Pro for Tacoma Defiance and finally got to the first team this year. And everyone was still kind of like, okay, I mean, let's see what he's got. But a lot to prove.
01:31:14
Speaker
And he's got three goals in his last like four or five appearances or something. And ah yeah, he but I mean, they've been... They've been like big goals. Like he got the, what should have been the game winner at Atlanta, but it wasn't because Alexi Marinchuk randomly decided to go God mode and stop for once. But Osaze scored the go ahead goal in, in that game.
01:31:39
Speaker
ah The one he just got in leagues cup was a really big goal. They were down one zero in the second half of a leagues cup game against Cholos where he If they lost that game, they would have been out of the out of the tournament.
01:31:55
Speaker
And he brings it back, combines with Ryan Kent to get the equalizer in that game. He also was one of the many players who scored against Cruz Azul. But I think it's just like... ah It's very intriguing. Well, first of all, that day yeah but like, it's very intriguing because, ah you know, like I said, any young number nine scoring goals, but also the D-Row connection for me, I'm like,
01:32:22
Speaker
I legitimately think that like the genetics there, like already give you a meaningful leg up. Like, I mean, if you just think, if you think about guys, like it's not just yeah hype. It's like Bronny does read a game real well. He just can't execute the same. Right.
01:32:38
Speaker
Fine. Right. But like, it it helps if you're watching that much tape, you will pick up something. and Yeah, well and if you think about guys like Jesus Ferreira and D-Ro, who like who their their dads are both MLS legends, but it's like you can, you at least, especially when you watch Ferreira play, like all the kind of like nuances and little...
01:33:01
Speaker
things that that he does as kind of a smaller guy who's not necessarily like a big physical presence like you can just tell that he grew up in the game and david ferreira imparted a lot of this stuff on him with d-ro you have a situation where he is like a really uh big physical presence probably like more than more than duane i would say like Yeah, don't think Dwayne could have that. Yeah, i agree. Yeah, like Osase is like like a big dude.
01:33:30
Speaker
And he, like the goal he scored against Atlanta, it's just like he's just bodying. a Like he's just standing there and the defender can't do anything about it because he's just got that kind of presence. And he's just like smart, intelligent movement, clearly very good in the air, dunked on the guy ah in the Cholos game. So, ah yeah, what have you thought of the rise of Osase for Seattle? And do you think he can keep it up?
01:33:53
Speaker
It's fun. That's great. I love it. Leagues Cup means nothing to me if it isn't fun. Let me start with that. Like I have been if there are a hundred Leagues Cup skeptics, I am among them. If there's only one, it's me.
01:34:06
Speaker
Like I wrote columns about this when the Open Cup was going to be in jeopardy about it, that like the night of I like like weekend before Christmas. And that's exactly why they picked that Friday. Cause it was like, no one's going to care on December 21st.
01:34:21
Speaker
And I was like up until one o'clock with my editor at the time, Alex Abness. We're like, Nope, we're right in this column. And then like stuff trickled out afterwards and momentum. It was like really cool. And a lot of that is like the least cup just doesn't do it for me in the same way. And it just doesn't like, I think that the only reason competitions outside of a league can sustain is if they're interesting.
01:34:42
Speaker
Osase makes the Leagues Cup interesting to me, which is a success. Look, I just don't know.
Critique of Leagues Cup and MLS Dynamics
01:34:51
Speaker
Like sometimes you look and it's like if he's 19, it's like, where have you been? and It's kind of like the Diego Luna case, like when he started really kind of banging in with El Paso locomotive.
01:35:01
Speaker
Yeah, it was just like, OK, you dropped. You weren't part of the Quakes Academy, so you had to go the alternative route, which was Barca, Arizona or whatever, and then El Paso. And now you're in Real Salt Lake, right?
01:35:12
Speaker
That happens much more often. Alex Freeman, you're in an academy. you your Your technique matched the growth spurt you had earlier in your life, and now here you are, right? like We've seen those. Asazi's 24. Yeah, exactly. That's why I sent it.
01:35:27
Speaker
It's a little different where it it feels more like a super draft pick that's really kind of picking up in year two or three, right? And that's cool. And that also projects to be a guy who can contribute an MLS level.
01:35:41
Speaker
And that's a success. If you identify that in a tournament like Leeds Cup, the Leeds Cup was worth it to the club because they have more depth in the final third and they know that they have another variable they can throw besides Mussofsky as a plan B striker.
01:35:54
Speaker
Or if that's Jordan's capability in the playoffs, you know, whatever the case may be. You have another one. You have another club in your bag. That's excellent. Um, I mean, like look, I don't know if he's going to be ah you know the real deal, is as Zippy's asking here. I don't know if he's going to be Quadwapoku, right?
01:36:13
Speaker
like People thought Poku was going to be a generational talent for Ghana. That's a good name drop, yeah. you know like Where is he? I think he retired. He was in the USL for a little bit here. um I made my 12 picks, by the way, in my fantasy draft. I did really well. this was probably this This really focused me in chat, having the...
01:36:33
Speaker
The sideshow here. um Quadwopoku has not played for a club since 2020. That's nuts. So he popped off for those who don't who aren't part of the streets. In 2015, Quadwopoku was signed by New York City FC as an expansion club from the Atlanta Silverbacks, a club that was then coached via Zoom by Eric Winalda because he wouldn't travel to practice.
01:36:52
Speaker
um True story. New York City, not very good. They expected to be better. They had David Villa. They had Frank Lampard. They had Antoine Pirlo. The latter two didn't show up till the second half of the year. They were kind of crap. So they were playing other guys. Tommy McNamara, that was kind of his first real breakout, and he's had a decade thereafter in MLS for it.
01:37:12
Speaker
Guadalupe Poku had about a 12 game stretch where he was better than every player in MLS, including Jovinko and Dempsey and Bradley and Altidore and everyone who was in the league at the time.
01:37:24
Speaker
Cuaduopoku was the guy like and just could not stop him from scoring, from making an influence. He's voted on the MLS 2424. And I think he went from like nothing as a 21 year old to like three.
01:37:37
Speaker
And this is like a panel of people who watch a lot of MLS. Right. And so thereafter, then he gets sold surprisingly for $700,000 to Miami FC, one of the few transfer fees I've ever reported in my career because I saw the paperwork.
01:37:55
Speaker
And it's like it never worked for him thereafter. It was just like so clear that like that was the the pinnacle of it, both because that was the performances he had, but that was the amount of focus he had.
01:38:07
Speaker
I think Osaze has more than that. So that's in his favor too. I don't think he's going to be a quad book, but it was very fun to talk about. Yeah, that was okay. i was, I was just an MLS fan at that time. I didn't have, is there, any is there another, is there another player with that exact same name? Are there two of them? Yeah, there are like two.
01:38:25
Speaker
yeah Okay. Cause I think there's one that is still in MLS, which is that when you first said that name, that's who I thought of. I know that there were also two Dama duros who passed like ships in the night, like for one season, it was like the final season that the one who played for eight teams and was part of Montreal, like when they were in that, like yeah the heights of the Canadian classic.
01:38:46
Speaker
ah And then there was one who was like a holding midfielder of like a USL championship standard who had like a can corn and MLS for one year. and they swap shirts after a game which is that's a good bit yeah that' that was that's like the league has never recovered that's like never been as good as that day i liked when they when they had uh diego luna go hang out with the actor diego luna and they were like making content you always got to capitalize when those uh opportunities yeah i might but yeah that's we had and a po a poku name drop uh
01:39:18
Speaker
Gerald Ford. Gerald Ford. night We've covered all the bases here too tonight. all right ah a fly and so I'm going to change the title of this stream from Kwamdu Vapoku to Gerald Ford. Covering everything from Kwamdu Vapoku to Gerald Ford.
01:39:35
Speaker
In all caps, like that's the scandal. Yeah, and then we'll I'm going to do a thumb that's got like Gerald Ford, but he's like... Yes, that's doing like Pogface or whatever. Yeah, that'll be perfect.
01:39:46
Speaker
ah All right, we got one more for you, Jeff. This will this will bring us home. Kyle R., what is the worst trade of the year in MLS? What are the... Do we have like a list?
01:40:00
Speaker
First of all, there's no second. Because FC Dallas...
01:40:07
Speaker
I'm laughing because it's just like, it's not even- thought it was a good trade, the way. I thought it was a good trade. Where it's just like, everything was perfect.
01:40:18
Speaker
I thought it was a really good trade. I actually thought- thought great. If i had to rank who I thought came out ahead, I thought it was Cincinnati because they opened it up and they were able to bring in someone who would better accommodate Kevin Denke rather than like hoping that Denke would work with Lucho and that they'd share nicely. So I thought that like, they won. They also, I think, made more money.
01:40:35
Speaker
Like, but No, they didn't. They lost money, but it new nullified itself in a way where I thought it was good. And I thought that Dallas was next. And because Portland just took the money at that time, they hadn't signed David Acosta yet.
01:40:48
Speaker
Whatever. Now it's like the Lucho thing shook up the fates of three different clubs. You don't get this very often in Major League Soccer, right? These teams don't interact with each other at an important enough level.
01:40:59
Speaker
You're trading like a starting midfielder for $800,000 of game. Like, I'm sorry, that's not going to change who's winning MLS Cup this year necessarily. It's in the margins, but it's not that like Luka Doncic just got traded to the Lakers moment.
01:41:11
Speaker
You know what I mean? This is really close to that because you have like Cincy again. We're going to recalibrate around Kevin Denke. We're going make this a little more soluble. So we know our midfield can reach him. They've had a lot of injuries in midfield.
01:41:25
Speaker
Thankfully, they did this work. I think with Lucho, they'd be much worse off right now. Good for them. Portland Evander was miserable. David Acosta comes in maybe fifth game model, but now they're trying to bring in more guys who can add that like unpredictability to not be so like constipated in the final third or whatever, where you just know what you need to do, but you just won't.
01:41:44
Speaker
Um, And then you have Dallas who like was like, this is it. This is what's going to make us come back from like, oh, he's going to combine with Pete Darmusso best number nine and ten. So let's trade him and Paul Areola if we got to get rid of him too. Fine. So there are two of your four starting forwards that you've just gotten rid of because Lucho's coming to town.
01:42:04
Speaker
And then you're like, we brought in Petar Musso to replace Pepe. But now he's going to be again, Ferreira and Areola. But he also has to be like even more important than Ferreira was.
01:42:15
Speaker
So he we're going to put everything around him. We're going build our game model and we're going to hire a coach, I think, before him who has never coached, bless his heart, like the ego of Lucho Acosta that he has had since before he won. I think that was an issue.
01:42:30
Speaker
It's notoriously so. It's once PSG like made a like kind of half hearted transfer offer for him and then backed out at the last minute. Pablo Maru had a fantastic story. But if you Google again in quotes because you can't use search on the website, I digress.
01:42:46
Speaker
They moved so many mountains and committed so much to this that for it to fail so spectacularly is just like so. or Like Shakespearean, almost Greek tragedy levels of just like everything seemed to fall into place, but you forgot that you you forgot to check if you wanted to go to Argentina and Fitzhart really wanted to go back to South America.
01:43:10
Speaker
And that was always what he wanted to do last winter. And then there were moments where like I've heard this from someone who played against him this year. ah He was openly saying, like, I don't fucking want to be here. and i mean, and like telling people like it was just like the worst body language and the worst like you don't even have to get in his head as an opponent like his head's already beaten like he wasn't his heart was never in it.
01:43:36
Speaker
I feel so bad for Dallas fans because it's just like the only thing that could have gone wrong was that Acosta no longer wanted to play in MLS. And they just happened to get him at the moment he decided he didn't want to play in MLS anymore.
01:43:50
Speaker
Like it's awful timing. it's It's like the worst possible timing for that. There was there was like a lot of debate about that at the at the time. like ah you know Was it a good move for FC Cincinnati? he had He had been so good for them. And then there was the Portland aspect of it.
01:44:09
Speaker
and You know what's really funny? I just talked about the scale of Calamity Dallas is in there four points out of the playoffs. Yeah. That's kind of that's kind because that's major league soccer. Yeah, exactly. I mean, honestly, Eric will maybe shout out New Mexico United might be coach. Yeah, if he gets them in the playoffs during this like debacle years ago, I think. Yeah, when it was like Gonzo Eagle, like equine and his final games, like rocketing them into the playoffs, like Didier Drogba with Montreal. Yeah.
01:44:35
Speaker
Honestly, what a ah what a move by Cincy, though, because they they moved off of Lucho Acosta at the perfect perfect time and then replaced him with a player who is even better. He didn't win MVP.
01:44:50
Speaker
when and Yeah, exactly. Because of where he played. So if I go to a better team and beat Messi in the East, there we go. I'm MVP. Perfect timing. But then even ah even the Portland perspective, I'm a DaCosta truther. like I actually think that. think he's good.
01:45:04
Speaker
I think he's really good. like I know ah even the sentiment from their fan base is kind of like, man, like we had Evander and this guy's fine. Isn't that funny? It's like every fan Yeah, they're always perpetual disgruntled.
01:45:17
Speaker
They're a Messi fan. That's telling that I said Messi fans. They're Miami fans who just move off this experiment. i'm I'm embarrassed to be the club that people mock. it's like You literally have Messi. Yeah.
01:45:30
Speaker
yeah you can't like You genuinely can't please everyone here. yeah but like Yeah. I mean, i could ah i could see how ah how a Timbys fan could feel like DaCosta, this pretty pronounced downgrade from Evander. And I think he is from the sense of like, he's not going to do this. He's less than sexual soccer, right? Yeah.
01:45:51
Speaker
He's not going to do the spectacular goals out of nowhere type stuff. But it's like Rusnak versus... Exactly. I think there is something to ah to a player of more of the style of DaCosta or Rusnak than any Vander or... like Who's the... i was Ricky Pooj.
01:46:11
Speaker
like yes don Yeah, sure, sure. I was talking about this actually a couple weeks ago with Matt Doyle, where it was like... They're like really to number tens. If you really have to strip it down, there's European style number tens and South American style number tens.
01:46:23
Speaker
Right. And you hear that. it's like, yeah, sure. This all makes sense already. It's like very tactical versus very like individual and heartfelt. Right. And that's the South American way or whatever. And it's like if you go from a very good South American style, he's a romantic. He's going to hard mind. If you go to a very good European style, it's a cost of rose whatever.
01:46:39
Speaker
like it isn't going to be like as it's it's going to hit different. Right. And you're just going to kind of take it for granted maybe a bit more because you're not saying ooh and ah as often, even though they're making the right decision. Right. Like I think that version, like, I don't know, you can win with both. Right. But it's just like if you have one, you kind of miss the other. And then when the the more like romantic style is having a five game skid where they haven't scored, then you kind of miss the dependability of, well, at least Ruth's not got his goal. Right.
01:47:08
Speaker
So don't Yeah, and I think to me, another difference is that, like, ah guys guys like Evander and Ricky Pooj are very fun to watch.
01:47:19
Speaker
They score phenomenal goals. They do the type of impossible stuff that you pay to go to the stadium every every week. With every team. Yeah, and, like, Evander, like, he – he moves the needle. Like he helps you win games every week with the stuff he can do. And we all saw that Ricky Pooge is a force multiplier in that way as well. Really fun to watch.
01:47:43
Speaker
ah But there is a give and take where ah like Ricky Pooge specifically, very fun to watch, very talented, does a lot of cool stuff, can be pretty reckless, can get dispossessed pretty easily. He'll try these passes that are very audacious and look awesome when they come off, but they don't always come off and they're More South American than European. It's why he's here. Yeah, it leads to kind of chaotic game states. It leads to other teams getting counterattacks.
01:48:10
Speaker
And it's just, ah it's exhilarating, but it's not as controlled. Whereas a player like Rusnak or David DaCosta, they're super clean and they're always going to make the right play, the right pass.
01:48:25
Speaker
And they're not going to lose possession that much. They're not going to try passes that have a very low percentage of hitting as often. And there you're going to be able to keep possession a lot more.
01:48:38
Speaker
And I think like what the sounders like about a player like Rusnak is he allows you to control game state and tempo a lot more. Whereas like, ah and that's why I don't understand like, thing by the way about like if yeah no one's watching the fire as much as they used to right now um but like philip zinkernoggle is another one of these guys who like anders dryer kind of style but like he's very much just that like kind of first touch survey make the right decision every time whether it comes off or not whether it's like more on if his teammate makes the run or if the defense is prepared than him ever hitting that ball with the right speed and trajectory like it's
01:49:13
Speaker
it's beautiful to watch in its own way too once you get used to the like familiarity and consistency with which they're able execute yeah and that's that's one of the things that i've come to appreciate about uh about rusnak is that like uh you can you can just count on him to do make the right play make the right pass and really just kind of like set the tempo more and not like and not be like people talk a lot here about like oh why we need, we need to upgrade off Rusnak to get a player who's more like Evander.
01:49:46
Speaker
But it's like, I think there's more of like a give and take with that than people probably realize. And honestly, like with, so De La Vega is a player who's much more in the mold of an Evander or a Ricky Pooj.
01:49:58
Speaker
And, uh yeah schmetz has pointed out at different times that he doesn't necessarily like how far de la vega pushes that in in certain instances or sometimes he'll like just be trying to do all this crazy dribbling and like and i can see that over guys stuff and right like they're they're kind of too pervade like prevailing tactical approaches that a lot of people take, which is like total football, which is like all 11 have to do something. And then there are some that are genuinely like two or three of your panic stations defenders and a stay at home goalkeeper and the rest of us are going to have some fun. And so you're sending seven out there and keeping three for stability.
01:50:36
Speaker
And they can all work, but they all have their trade-offs. And it's like Seattle's a team that's really well built for everyone to play a part in it. It's working really well. It's very Columbus crew under Wilfred Nancy sort of stuff. And especially actually CF Montreal under Wilfred Nancy, where they have like fewer of those like Diego Rossi types.
01:50:51
Speaker
um If you have one, you envy the other again. And it's like, maybe that's it but if you have too much of the wrong side of it in it, You can maybe have more of the dependable types and 110, but if you have like or one of the I don't even know how to say this anymore, it's like you also have used like a basic acidic sort of scale here because it's like you can throw it out of balance and you can make it. So even if you're trying to throw in more of that kind of like unpredictability, if you have too much of it and other players who can't adapt, maybe that's what it is. It's adaptability versus the consistency of repetition of these sorts of decisions.
01:51:28
Speaker
um I think that I can understand where if you have too many players who are trying to change the game as it's flowing, it gets a little harder to control and have that confidence that your team is built for the result.
01:51:40
Speaker
If you don't have the defenders, like one of the biggest issues for Seattle right now is tracking back defensively. If they're caught on the counterattack, they can be more susceptible because they're kind of veteran. And also they don't have a lot of mobility with their youth. Their youth is much more about technical ability and their positioning mental side.
01:51:55
Speaker
but I don't think they have the athleticism as much as other teams in MLS. The times I've watched Atlanta struggle, both in the club world cup and in MLS are times where they're having to do that. Sort of like we advanced our line of confrontation too high up and now we're caught unaware and teams are beating us in transition or um short field sort of we've, you know, like we can simulate these sorts of things too.
01:52:16
Speaker
And so if that's the thing, you can't have guys taking too many risks in the attacking side because your defense isn't built for that. Your defense doesn't have the personnel to handle that. Right.
01:52:27
Speaker
So I think it's a bit of one in all the other. Like, as I hear that, it just sorry again, full tangent. But it makes a lot of sense with what I've seen about the Seattle Sounders this year. I think I've watched already a much more dedicated lens to Seattle this year than any of the last, I'd say, four or five, um because there's more of this stuff that really fascinates me about them, where it's not like i mean, maybe you peter vermis's kansas city is an example where like i after 16 17 a lot of people weren't watching them as closely because nothing changed right it's it's like it just it's a big league man we can't watch all 15 games every weekend right and you just find these consistencies where it's like if kansas city's falling down the table of relevance and catching them less often because the matchups aren't as sexy right um seattle's matchups look very sexy this year and so like just like as i see it like
01:53:16
Speaker
A lot of that is that consistency and it's that the attack doesn't take risks. The defense can't account for And I think that that's 90% of the game of soccer is finding that balance. Yeah. You, what can you exert while still being able to absorb what comes next?
01:53:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a good way of putting it. ah Zippy coming in with the $2 again. Thank you so much for the support tonight, Zippy. Appreciate you. He says, again, thank you both for chilling with us tonight.
01:53:41
Speaker
Thank you all for ah for chilling with us. Let's wrap it right there, Jeff. I mean, we just ripped for like two hours. That's great. think we provided... ah ah our uh our share of content uh thank you for tapping in and spending all this time with us and much appreciated awesome always yeah i always like to get your insight on you know not just the loons but the uh the whole league and yeah uh honestly you you know you don't need we you don't even need to make it like you're the loons guy like we're gonna we'll find a and other it's been like five years since i've been the loons guy
01:54:17
Speaker
It's also like how it's like I still sometimes people will be like, the USL is going for pro-rel. It's like I haven't reported USL in three years. Right. like Yeah, yeah. Anytime, man. You know, like if it's MLS, if Seattle specific, if it's men's national team, women's national team, Holly.
01:54:30
Speaker
Appreciate you, man. Yeah, we' we'll we'll get you back on soon enough. But ah thank you for hopping on for this one. Looking forward to this game this weekend. Three versus four. It's going to be some and it's like good stuff. It's so quiet, but like because of League's Cup, we've lost so much track of this. I'm trying to find a way to write this.
01:54:50
Speaker
But like, it's a fun stretch run this year. Like both conferences, it's not settled who's going to finish one, two. There's no clear runaway supporters shield. There's a golden boot race and we're being forced the fucking League's Cup down our throats at the same time of it.
01:55:05
Speaker
And it just it kills me. This is the thing. It's the momentum halter that no league can afford. and it's at the worst time and now they're integrating it into the stretch run of MLS. Like, come on.
01:55:17
Speaker
It's a worse scheduling gaffe than having the first and the second round of your playoffs split by an international break. This is even worse. I think ah all all true, all good points, but with the Seattle making a run, ah I think it's a great tournament. It's a very significant trophy.
01:55:35
Speaker
If they add it to the trophy case, then I think it really sticks their game as the best team in CONCACAF. But if they if they don't make it out of the knockout rounds or they lose the final or something, then, yeah, cynical money grab, pointless tournament, doesn't matter, never cared Only mattered because of messing. Yeah, exactly. So that's ah that is where I stand on Leagues Cup. Hell yeah. All right, Jeff, thanks again, man. I'll let you go. We're coming up on three hours on the stream. Good work. Great shift tonight, man. much
01:56:09
Speaker
Much appreciated, and we'll catch soon. I know the whole audience appreciated it as well. Thanks. That was awesome. Talk to you soon, man. Take care.