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Wade Webber previews the U.S. Open Cup
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We’ve got a special return guest on the show today, with Sounders Director of Development Wade Webber hanging out and talking about the Tacoma Defiance ahead of their U.S. Open Cup match against Oakland Roots on Tuesday.
Webber has some great insight into the developmental side of the Sounders’ organization.
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Transcript
Introduction and Will Bruin's Role
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Highlights
00:00:11
Speaker
we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shawn.
00:00:13
Speaker
Let's go. What save by Fry. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winning. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to cloud it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations. It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico Lidero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle, Sounders, it's got built.
00:00:52
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome. This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht yat thing. And probably can't say shit. know, what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since Salter Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take over seriously.
Sponsorship by Full Pull Wines
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, c Pacific Northwest.
Tacoma Defiance Open Cup Preview
00:01:42
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Arietes on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. We're doing a little special episode here to preview the Tacoma Defiance Open Cup game against the Oakland Roots, who are a USL championship team. And helping me preview that game is one of my favorite guests, one of our regular guests on the show, Wade Weber, who is now the Director of Development for the Sounders, which sort of oversees the entire...
00:02:09
Speaker
developmental system, right? Is that a fair way of putting it? Yeah, and everything under the Sounders, I have a hand in. Primarily staff things, so not as much on the field working with players, although I still have a soft spot for central defenders that need some guidance. And I do get called upon occasionally to sit in a meeting where we talk to Stuart Hawkins Gallatin Sandus, who's coming on pretty well. Leo Burney. So first team, fringe first team center backs. Well, those are three players who might feature in this Oakland Roots match. I guess broadly speaking, though,
00:02:49
Speaker
What this is, this is probably an ideal scenario, right? For Tacoma Defiance to get to test first to test themselves against a Spokane Velocity, who is a professional league. One team who's theoretically at the same tier. And then the host, a USL championship team who is a little bit more of, it's a real step up. And this is sort of a little bit more along the lines of what the Tacoma Defiance were having to do every week a few years ago. But I mean, how, how important is a game like this for, for them? Yeah, I don't think it can be underrated.
Tacoma Defiance Competitive Calendar
00:03:23
Speaker
There's a couple things. and first is and MLS Next Pro has a 28-game season.
00:03:28
Speaker
So the competitive calendar six games shorter than the first team. So you know we want opportunities for all of our players to play in meaningful matches as long as they can. so The Open Cup run has added at least three games to that total. So that brings us to 31, which is already more than we've played in any single Defiance season in MLS Next Pro. Even including playoffs?
00:03:52
Speaker
Correct, because they've only ah we've only ever had double, like, two playoff games. we've you know Win one, lose a second. We've done that for three years. So we've gotten to 30 games, but now we're guaranteed 31. And if we get to playoffs, I mean, we could be talking a comparable season in terms of number of competitive matches to the first team. So that's one of them. But the the quality of the match is a different thing. MLS Next Pro has the teams are very different home and a away based on if the first team is going to get involved. So when Defiance travel, you might be facing a team with seven first team guys because their schedules just work out that way.
00:04:28
Speaker
That's never the case when you play the USL. In usl that's that's the USL, that's the first team. And so back in the last season we spent in the USL championship was 2021. And you were the coach. I was the coach. And those games were
Wade Weber's USL Experiences
00:04:45
Speaker
far and away the most difficult ones. We would much rather play them at home.
00:04:49
Speaker
which is where we get Oakland next week. But it is a different animal. yeah Again, traveling on the road, i would rather the game have been on the road.
00:05:00
Speaker
I don't know the vagaries of the selection process. I'm sure there's a special place in your heart. Like me, for me, it would have been very special to see you guys play at Oakland Coliseum or someplace I have attended many, many events in my life. And I would have loved to have seen you guys playing there, but alas, we'll live for Starfighter. In that 21 season, we played Oakland and they had two different facilities. One was a college field. Laney college probably. Might've been. The other was a, um,
00:05:26
Speaker
It was ah a temporary turf field. I've never seen such a thing. Velcroed in five-yard wide, 70-yard long strips. Two different colors, like a dark green and a light green. And it was Velcroed. It was Velcroed to the ground. You could peel it up from the side. i don't think I ever heard about this. It was a disaster. oh The ball didn't roll properly. It was really, really just as it was a surreal experience.
00:05:53
Speaker
But I'm talking Phoenix... Rising had dollar beer nights. right Sacramento Republic had the towered bri the Tower Bridge Brigade behind one of the goals. kind of ah Signal Aduna Park on miniature scale, but they almost always full because they're super cheap. They had their drummers, that had smoke bombs, water slides in the background. Exactly. At the state fair. Exactly. There just was a ah and there's a feeling even with when we played a Cheney, a feeling of something slightly dangerous, just a little bit. It's not sanitized. It's not safe. Yes, things could go sideways. I go back to
00:06:33
Speaker
Dempsey's red card wedding as a moment where like we almost went 80s England. felt I felt the crowd like as another red card comes in and police are coming in. Oh, that was the bridge.
'Red Card Wedding' Match Memories
00:06:46
Speaker
Oh, man. it It was surreal. Like i I was fearful for the refs. I'm not saying I was happy about it.
00:06:52
Speaker
i'm just saying it felt, man, there's something happen. This doesn't feel safe. We're going to have revisit this. We're coming on. This is the 10th anniversary of of the Red Card Wedding. We might have to do a revisiting of, we did an oral history of the Red Card Wedding a few years ago, many years ago at this point. But...
00:07:07
Speaker
It might be fun to revisit it now with more, even more air under it because it has taken on this sort of, uh, mythical oh quality. Uh, but I've, now we've digressed. so the The point being you play USL championship team will be physically and technically a challenge for our players.
00:07:27
Speaker
But, um, it's a winnable game and Oakland will know that Oakland is not going to be like coming in here thinking, ah, this, these guys are terrible. They have no chance. Professional team, right? yeah And, and, um, and they know it could be supplemented by some first team guys who in, you know, whether or not that actually is the case could act, could tip the scales. Right. You know, um, I don't know how many, because the first team are on a, you know, we have meetings every week. Full disclosure every Tuesday we talk about the upcoming two to three week window Who's available to play in the second team?
00:08:05
Speaker
What should we be doing and I bring that up because in the past? We that didn't happen so you would get Lamar Nagel dropped in in 2019, 2018. Like those those years, he wasn't getting games for a couple of weeks. Just haven't played with second team. That's not the function of the second team.
00:08:26
Speaker
It's not just to keep a veteran sharp. It should be a development opportunity for a young guy, whether he's on the first team or the second team. but but It might be different than coming back from a long-term injury.
00:08:37
Speaker
Right, but you're not randomly dropping. No, no. Kim Kihe is not playing at het Although maybe we will. It's an interesting question because as a center back, where is he going to get a game? where ah Unless you have midweek games. And the the first team right now had this Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.
00:08:59
Speaker
and Could we see Kim Keehee play on Tuesday? i um He would be eligible to play. Because he's on the supplemental roster, right? Correct. he does he wouldn't He's not ruled out by any... Okay. Well, now we're talking. Now we're cooking. i' i'm um um I'm not saying he's going to, but I'm saying we have discussed all possibilities with that supplemental roster for that game. Because if we win, it's game 32 for Defiance. We've added another. And that might even be...
00:09:26
Speaker
on the road at- An MLS team, right? At Portland Timbers. Portland. And if our second team beats the Timbers' first team- Oh my god. In a competitive match, I might retire.
00:09:39
Speaker
I might retire. Yeah, in case people don't know, Wade is as much of a Seattle sounder as basically any person could be. You are a Federal Way native. You came up in an age where there was no real sounders, I guess when you were pretty young, young. But then you did play for the USL sounders or the A-League sounders, I guess, right? It was the A-League 94-5-6, yeah. But I went to the Sounders and the NASL. I went to the A-League 74. I wasn't sure you were old enough to have gone to games or not. first season as a soccer player was 73. I was 6. I was born in 67, Jeremiah. Oh, you're... Yeah, okay. I apologize. You were old enough to have... So, yeah. It would be amazing if we got through to the next round and played an MLS team, especially on the road. If we got them at home, the...
00:10:31
Speaker
the vagaries of Starfire are just a peculiar, yeah it's got an aura to it. It sure does. It's mythic status for Sounder fans. And, you know, we would love there to be a big crowd. and if we played an MLS team, there would be a, yeah. Well, I would hope there is a good crowd for this Oakland Roots game. i you know I know that one of the challenges for Defiance, especially since they've moved back to Starfire, is that there's just not crowds there for the most part. and my hope is that the the farther that you guys can get into this tournament, the more interest there might be in fans being out there. And this seems like a good opportunity to do it. ah who
00:11:12
Speaker
So we you we talked about Kim, are there any other first team players that you you think are maybe in contention for Stu Hawkins, I would imagine is a player that would be. yeah I mean, if you just look at the last game, the the ones that were involved in that, the ones who are not getting regular minutes with the first team are effectively
Opportunities for Young Players
00:11:31
Speaker
eligible to play for us. Travion, Cody You know, Kalani would be. but he's kind of moved himself into a more regular rotational um spot with first team.
00:11:45
Speaker
Interestingly, I think Rothrock is eligible for us. yeah I don't think Georgie is. Right. And so that even though they, you know, Paul's a little older and has scored more goals at the MLS level, his his salary does not yet reflect that reality. So, um you know,
00:12:06
Speaker
the There is one team at the club, and that is the first team. That is the only team where the result truly matters. And I know I say this to the academy.
00:12:19
Speaker
I say this to parents in the academy, and it's a foreign idea for someone coming from the youth environment. What do you mean? There's just individuals under the first team. That's all that's all it is.
00:12:32
Speaker
And some of them will come up and some will get exited. And it's just this ongoing series of individuals, individuals. And then once you sign for the first team, it feels like you're now part of a team. But until you break into that rotation, the regular cycle of rosters, whether you're starting or coming off the bench, you're still just an individual. And you need ah that that plan needs to be needs needs to be figured out for you. We have to manufacture opportunities for you. Danny Leyva...
00:13:02
Speaker
is probably never going to play for the second team again. right When Josh Tensio has left the club, they were fighting each other for minutes. Well, Danny's got to sink or swim on first team performances, and and he wants that.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I know he wants that. No one wants to be in that sort of, well, you'll you'll get minutes with the second team. You want to let me fight for a spot at Lumen. and And so using this as an opportunity for those individuals on the first team that still have have to break into that that cycle.
00:13:37
Speaker
break
Stuart Hawkins' Development Plan
00:13:38
Speaker
into the the cycle of making rosters, which again, you look at recent ones like Kalani, drafted last year, signed in second team.
00:13:49
Speaker
That whole path has been positive.
00:13:55
Speaker
Whereas Travian, signed several years ago, has yet to get that opportunity with the first team to be on meaningful numbers of benches or get any opportunities off on the field.
00:14:07
Speaker
They're both edge players in theory. but you know, one is tracking just a little differently. So, you know, I guess this is a good introduction into Stu Hawkins' situation, who is a player who seems like he's sort of proven what he can prove at Tacoma Defiance, but is not broken into the first team yet. This seems like a pretty good opportunity for him specifically. you know, I guess what what what what does a player like that, in your mind, how does he fit into sort of this whole ethos? Yeah, he's ah he's an excellent one to talk about because where he is he's fancied by the national team, his age.
00:14:47
Speaker
played in the, under what, U18? The Win the World Cup, with the Youth World Cup, whatever which one it was. Yeah, 17s. There you go. Yeah, and that was a year or two years ago, whatever that was.
00:14:58
Speaker
Yeah. Stu is, at will have the frame, and so he is almost like the test the test case for our new head of pro player development, Craig Dalrymple. Who would be great for you to talk to at some point. he's absolutely erudite um english canadian but born in england raised in england came to simon frazier play soccer in bc stayed married married a local girl came up to the white caps long story but he has the responsibility for creating like living idps the individual development plan is a like a funny acronym in the soccer development world because every club has them and very few clubs use them so you create them and oh you're
00:15:46
Speaker
These are where you're strong. this is what you have to work on. And good luck. You basically give it to the guy. We we don't do that anymore. we We do it for the bulk of our players. We have that kind of standard. And if, you know, it's going to be a little harder. We don't have unlimited staff.
00:16:03
Speaker
So we're going to allocate our time and our resources at the players we think are capable of breaking through and making a jump into the pro game. So Craig is going to sit down and do vi video with him. And Stuart, one of the aspects of the IDP is a very clear physical development plan.
00:16:21
Speaker
Stu was rail thin. ah I mean, he was...
00:16:26
Speaker
What's the character from Nightmare Before Christmas? Oh, Jack. Skellington? Yeah, yeah. Jack Skellington? Yeah, Bones. the gym.
00:16:39
Speaker
well all of last year was spent basically in the gym and at the training table, you know, where the the diet. We gave Stu a lot of food and he pushed a lot of weight. And yeah, he also played nearly 3,000 minutes at a pro level.
00:16:54
Speaker
But we weren't concerned about the minutes part because we he's technically good enough. but One of the best passers oh he is in the NMLS Next Pro last year based on all the data. is he He has the technical ability, but wasn't strong enough. it probably wasn't good enough in the air.
00:17:11
Speaker
And some of that had to do with power to be able to boss a guy and own your position to jump over somebody. And so we just committed a full year to, you know, almost like ah the old red shirt year in college football. You're just going to feed the guy beef and have him lift lift weights. and And at the end of the year, you're going have someone who at least is more capable of, you know, shoving people around a football field.
00:17:35
Speaker
But i think you've so it's clear to us there's there's been a benefit for Stu. He is physically more capable, covers ground faster, still has the technical ah competency. For me, the fascinating question for Stu is where is the breakthrough in the first team? Where does it happen?
00:17:53
Speaker
And oftentimes, things like that come from an injury.
00:17:58
Speaker
Obed played a ton because Jaapolitor is ACL.
00:18:04
Speaker
I'm not saying that, we certainly don't want any more injuries, right? But barring an injury, how often do you change a center back? You know, it's and another thing. these Especially when center backs are Yaimar and jackson Jackson Reagan, who are both Defender of the Year candidates. And Nuhu. If he's the third. you Right, who's like playing for a Cameroon in World Cups. he Yeah, plays against Mo Salah and Paul. right Like all all of it. You look at Stu and you say, OK, well, there has to be a plan. And so but there have been significant discussions about what is his next option. we There's two types of loans. One is kind of a loan for sale. they we' We're not interested in them anymore.
00:18:45
Speaker
them in the shop window with you if you like them, there's purchase price. The other is a loan for development, and that is what we might be be able to work with Stewart. It's not certain, and maybe he does get a chance to first team decide. Schmetz said he was close.
00:19:01
Speaker
mean, he is knocking on the door of if there's an extended spell of bad performances, I guess yeah the the options would be Kim Keehee or Stewart. Leo Burney is, I think, further down the depth chart right now. Anyway, and he's coming off an injury.
00:19:18
Speaker
But that would be up to Schmitz, you know. And I just think you look at, you know, I wouldn't put it past Bryant. make a decision to err on the side of the kid because he's done it with Obed. and Paul Rothrock's not a kid, but he gave him opportunities over more senior players or more experienced players.
00:19:41
Speaker
Georgie, the same thing. you know A lot of it has to do with attitude. If you come into it with the right, he loves Kalani's attitude. So Stewart is ah is a talented center back who I think has absolutely first team potential that ah probably needs, a for the benefit of other center backs in our club who might have an opportunity to get into the second team, if Stewart's there just because we don't have an alternative for him, it is clogging things up a little bit. But he's still 18. He doesn't turn 19 until September.
00:20:15
Speaker
So I would caution anyone with, like, he's a center back. It takes time. But you have to play. That's a... You know, you could say that about any position, but you're not going to put a center back in midfield or a wing or something like you could get Sebastian Gomez, another 2006 Academy player assigned to the second team.
00:20:36
Speaker
You could put him at either wing, a 10, put him as a holder. I played him at fullback when he played for me in 2022. That might have been the beginning of 23. Just because I need it. He's talented. I want him on the field.
00:20:50
Speaker
You don't do that necessarily that with a center back prospect or a first team player. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So on the other end of the spectrum of players that are playing for defiance, you got Yu Tsukunome, who is coming off a hat trick in...
00:21:06
Speaker
14 minutes.
Yu Tsukunome and Player Positions
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. I joked, but i said 10 minutes to him this morning. I saw him and his English, he's worked very hard at it. Last year was his ah first year with us, but he done college in in the U S. So he had some, he had a ah good grasp of English, but he's now getting the point where he understands sarcasm or the more subtle elements of, of,
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Speaker
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00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, we're talking about you, Tsukunome. He is... ah You know he's an interesting player. he He clearly has some abilities, but it it also, he's an older player who has ah a ceiling, presumably. Yeah. But this seems like it would be a big ah big game for him. Well, and and you need, it's it's impossible for any team at this level, and I don't care what, if this is Division III, which is how it's designated by u soccer. Yeah. um You go to third division in England, and you are going to have some players that are being looked at by Man City.
00:24:55
Speaker
you're going have some players that are 30 years old and like that's past. Right. You's not that old. And this is an opportunity, whether it's an opportunity to show to our first team staff that he can get goals in an environment like that or an opportunity to show Oakland Roots and all of their opponents that this is like that's his future. i don't know, but a hat trick in 14 minutes or whatever it was,
00:25:25
Speaker
it's It stands out. i think could And it wasn't nice. it wast it if' I'm not totally up on the nomenclature of this, but I think it was both a natural and a perfect hat trick. So it's like a left foot head and three in a row. And three in row. Exactly. and see this I knew you'd be the guy that talked about You know, in Brazil, it has to happen in the first half to be a perfect hat trick. Well, it happens in this first 14 minutes. Can that be? Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah, he we have a few players in Defiance that people would not have heard of if they're not following that right team that are intriguing, that that are that offer. I mean, people might know Pete Kingston just because he's local and Ballard allard and played for UW and CLU and our academy. We we all really like him.
00:26:19
Speaker
Pete is a very good player. He's getting opportunities in training with the first team. I'm not saying there's a future on the first team forum. It's not for any one person to say that here. But Pete is one that you people would get excited about because, again, the the perfect situation doesn't really exist. The perfect developmental situation. I would argue Obed Vargas.
00:26:44
Speaker
You know came in signed it was in our Academy briefly pandemics happening signed with the second team in 21 as a 15 year old Played in the USL championship Turned 16 in August that year Signed the first team the offseason of 2221 22 Jaapala gets hurt. He gets a ton of opportunities breaks his back But, you know, like builds up to the point where suddenly there's a buzz about him and like that academy, second team, first team, fast succession.
00:27:15
Speaker
And then there's Jackson, maybe. Right. A 98, goes to college. We don't even draft him. Somebody else drafts him. They don't want him. Comes into our second team, kind of through the back door, makes it the first team.
00:27:28
Speaker
Uh, but then. Both are merited. Both have gotten where they are on merit. But, you know, for us to say we know how Pete Kingston was going to evolve, Peter Kingston, in 2018. Right. When he was part of the first d the first championship, the DAU-17 title, Chris Little coached. That was before he took the Defiance head coaching job. Pete was their linchpin in midfield.
00:27:57
Speaker
And Leo Burnie was their center back. right. And there were O2s on that team. Alfonso Campo-Chavez, Ethan Doubler was an O2 on that team. Josh Atencio. that's ah That's a good team. That was the DA. The next year they won the GA Cup. And so Kingston wasn't on that. He was an O1. Just missed that.
00:28:16
Speaker
But he was every bit as good as Atencio. We were looking at him like, oh, he's good. But... And didn't have the, i mean, there was something about the upside that Josh maybe projected higher.
00:28:28
Speaker
And Josh isn't even a fair one to compare him to because they're not really the same position. Right. Because Pete has been more of an attacking player, right? Well, that's interesting. Because he's been playing for you. at At the college level and Ballard, he was a wing. Right.
00:28:43
Speaker
we see i mean When I coached him in the academy briefly and Mike Morris coached him, we see him deeper. Six, a fullback, someone they can create from deeper. But it's interesting that he trains with the first team and Precky, one of the first things he said after the session was like, ah, Kingston's all right. He should be should be playing on the wing. Which is what Ethan O'Neal, the Ballard FC championship coach that is now coaching for our U15s,
00:29:09
Speaker
he's a wing, he's a proponent of Pete on the wing. So we have like two camps, two schools of thought. Um, but ah I'm just saying like Kingston and you, um, you know, we have a a goalkeeper. If it's not Jacob Castro, Lars Helen, Lars Helen is a, he's very good. Um, uh, yeah, just up there, uh, Kaito Yamada, uh, this'll Kobe on loan.
00:29:36
Speaker
Um, They don't have a second team. And he's like a U-20 Japanese player, right? He's a 06. Yeah, he's a national team for Japan. He's Stuart Hawkins' age. They're both 06s. They both play for their respective national teams in that age.
00:29:51
Speaker
And Kaito's been great. And so, you know, and he's just learning the language. Unlike you, who so who went to college in America, Kaito just... He's not gone to college. right He's a kid. And so he is an on-loan Vissov Kobe player that they're trying to see if he's got a long-term future there or if they should let him go to college.
00:30:11
Speaker
and we'll see how that kind of works out by the end of the year. but But there's a lot of those kind of players that are, you know, whether it's a one in Pete Kingston or 06, couple of young players I wanted to real quickly touch on ah You mentioned Sebastian Gomez. Snyder Burnell, another player who has been with you for a few years now.
00:30:35
Speaker
has sort of But he's been wearing the car captain's armband few ten times this year. Central midfielder who I don't know what he projects best as yet, but he definitely seems like he's a player.
00:30:48
Speaker
He is. Again, somewhere in midfield. Maybe more of a Leyva, who seems to be tilting further up the field, um you know, 8, 10, Snyder covers a ton of ground, good leadership, works very hard at training, i'm serious and sober about his craft.
00:31:07
Speaker
You know, he's one of those that works with Craig Dalrymple extensively.
00:31:13
Speaker
He's been to first team preseason now a couple times. So, you know, they take him with him when they go on their overseas stuff.
Emerging Players and Creative Styles
00:31:20
Speaker
They're getting comfortable with him. you know I don't know where he projects ah in terms of like making the jump to the first team, but he definitely is is in that window of someone that we think is... you know Josh Tensio is in 0-2, Snyder is in 0-5, or sorry, 0-7. So he's five years younger.
00:31:42
Speaker
and If he, again, yeah we're always looking to kind of just raise the floor. And i don't think Josh was the floor, but whoever is no longer with our club, our development system needs to put somebody in that's a little better than them at that age.
00:31:59
Speaker
And just to use the momentum of being a little better, being at a slightly more advanced position, that might get us to a point where, you know, the floor suddenly becomes...
00:32:10
Speaker
the key to the whole operation. Now the ceiling needs to also keep going up. right We don't want to concertina the, the, the cake, right? Isn't that a thing? Isn't that? Never heard that term, but I believe you. Yeah. The bread accordion it where it squeezes together. Okay. Right. Uh, rather than being fluffy and yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:32:29
Speaker
So raising the floor while supporting the ceiling to keep, yeah you know, that keeps going up as well. the rising tide. that that Snyder is very is very much in that mold of like he could he could be, could because we every every level we've put him at, he's just looked comfortable.
00:32:48
Speaker
It's usually a good sign. But, you know, first time he was training with the first team, i was like, ah you know, i thought he might be able to slow, couldn't get around the field, but suddenly he didn't look, yeah I no longer had those misgivings. But,
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, it' so between Seba in 2006, Snyder in 2007. We have a couple of Edson Carley. Well, there was another player, right? Yeah, another player i wanted to talk about who I've just become infatuated with a little bit is Edson Carley, who is a player who i had never heard of before the season.
00:33:22
Speaker
In my mind, sort of burst onto the scene. He's got a couple goals for you guys. He has been Routinely, if you watch the games, he is routinely just trying things that we are not used to seeing.
00:33:34
Speaker
ah ah Sounders Academy players try, at least when they're playing with their clients or hire. It's been remarkable to see him just, I mean, he's nutmegging through balls. He's chipping the goalkeeper. He's you know doing things that you you just, again, like...
00:33:53
Speaker
A level of creativity that I'm not used to seeing from, this is not the type, this is not the cookie cutter kind of player that you guys have kind of been known to. To produce? To produce. That's unfair. I'm hoping that's not an insult. No, it's not an insult. But I think the Academy has done a very good job of producing sort of hard-nosed,
00:34:13
Speaker
Guys who cover a lot of ground, who are good passers, but not necessarily creative passers, who can do a job who are very good at doing the job, but not necessarily... they're not There's never been a number 10 that you thought, oh, he's going to... Yeah, the the reference I would have would be like a Marlon Vargas. That's a more obscure name. Never signed for the first team, signed for the second team.
00:34:37
Speaker
He is in... He's playing in the US on New Mexico. yeah Yeah. He's in new New Mexico now, but he was at Colorado too after Defiance. um And Edson is similar to him in that he's capable of, as you so as you say, he's capable of the unexpected.
00:34:58
Speaker
Like moments where your jaw will be open a little bit. Like I didn't i didn't see that coming. Marlon had that in him. It took Marlon a while to get it at the pro level, but people have to remember Marlon was playing when he was Edson's age in the USL Championship. Right.
00:35:15
Speaker
And he was Edson's age in I oh i think. So, you know, it's that that sort of distance, maybe 2019. So I didn't see Marlon doing it at that age. But again, like there's ah there's a degree of...
00:35:33
Speaker
you got You gotta to feel like you fit in And Edson just, he seems chill. And don't know if that's a left footed thing. I don't know. Right. You know, there's something about left footed guy that just seemed like they're a little more relaxed. It's all, it's all good. And that's, and he is, he is like that, um, hardworking, good student, um, shoreline high school, I guess. Yeah. But just, just uh, I'm supposed to give that shout out. like Well, there you go. But, but, but he, but he's just, he's just calm. He's just, uh, uh,
00:36:09
Speaker
Which again was surprised me when I first saw some of that in the academy back in August. But his ascent has been rapid within, know, he went from being, okay, so solid 18 on the U-18s to suddenly like training with Defiance. And then he got some training opportunities with the first team. That's right, first zone, I think, yeah. and And now he's getting opportunities to play for Defiance. He's scoring goals for them. It's just, it's happening so quickly.
00:36:38
Speaker
that you have to continue to just check the brakes a little, that not anoint him as anything other than an interesting player who's still only a junior in high school and will see down the road what if it leads to something here.
00:36:53
Speaker
But he he has the skill set to be a professional just at what level. rate Right. his His left foot is is very good his for setting others up, for scoring himself,
00:37:07
Speaker
And he's a hard worker. And so yeah those two things, left footedness, little bit of creativity and something out of nothing quality. Right. And hard work. That is good it's ah it's like a good combination. A lot of coaches want to drink a bit of. Yeah, I can imagine. One part of each.
00:37:26
Speaker
Well, Wade, I could probably keep you for another couple hours, but I think for both of our sakes, should probably end this. But,
Fan Engagement at Tacoma Defiance Game
00:37:34
Speaker
Wade, of course, thank you so much for doing this. You're always one of my favorite guests. Like I said, there's a million more things we could probably talk about. But...
00:37:44
Speaker
Thank you for doing this. And I really want to encourage people to go out to the Tacoma Defiance Open Cup game. It's on Tuesday against Oakland Roots. I don't think, i think season ticket holders get a free ticket and it might just be a donation at the door for the Rave Foundation.
00:38:00
Speaker
And, you know, Starfire games are always fun. And I would imagine this one will be full a little bit more like a first team a game at Starfire. So anyway, thank you for doing this, Wade. really appreciate it. Always a pleasure. I always look forward to it. Alright, I am Jeremiah Shan, this is Nos Adietes, and we will catch you next time.
00:38:44
Speaker
I expect an LAFC who is motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that that they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really brew in the party.
00:38:57
Speaker
ah You guys like that? and a what Awkward joke, dad joke right there, huh?