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Under the Lights: The Nico Lodiero Revenge Game
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As the Seattle Sounders look to turn around the vibes, the greatest player in club history is set to make his return to Lumen Field in Matchday 5. Dynamo expert Jesus Acevedo Jr. will join the show to preview the match and give us the scoop on a Houston side that's also going through a challenging stretch.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
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 to Lobbing Scorchers
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.
Seattle Sounders & USMNT Punditry
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What? The scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be
00:00:43
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Under the Lights.
USMNT vs Panama: Game Expectations
00:00:50
Speaker
We've got banger stream for you all tonight. Really looking forward to this one.
00:00:55
Speaker
ah It's kind of like an outside-the-norm show. you know I feel like we mostly focus on ah on Seattle Sounders around here, obviously, and ah do some league-wide coverage. But... um We're going to be diving into some ah unexpected U.S. men's national team punditry to start off the show tonight.
00:01:14
Speaker
I was not planning on this. I was working the game tonight for the MLS website. But I wasn't ah wasn't that interested in it, to be quite honest.
00:01:28
Speaker
I figured they would win relatively easily. They were heavily favored against Panama. And I think ah some of you probably know, but others might not.
USMNT Apathy & Clickbait Accusations
00:01:40
Speaker
I've had a ah strained relationship with my former USMNT fandom in recent months. We did a whole video about how we were defecting to Canada, which ah a lot of people called that clickbait, which we would never do that. We would never clickbait.
00:02:01
Speaker
ah But in reality, in reality, my feelings towards the USMNT lately have been apathy more than ah anything passionate to the point of defecting or anything.
00:02:13
Speaker
ah I just think that ah a lot of the discourse around that team got way too hot compared to how interesting and relevant the team was.
00:02:26
Speaker
I think the team very clearly hasn't been that relevant for
USMNT Under Greg Berhalter: Changes?
00:02:30
Speaker
for a while. So I really wasn't planning on ah on diving into this game. but but then But then the game happened.
00:02:38
Speaker
And the ending was really funny, guys. that was really without that I mean, even even if you're a diehard USMNT fan, you should be able to admit that that was funny.
00:02:50
Speaker
You should be able to admit that that was funny. um But I mean, I'll just tell you guys my thoughts ah for to start off. Tell you guys my thoughts while I was watching that game, which was that honestly, the the main thing that was going through my head was that...
00:03:08
Speaker
this pretty much looks like the same team that we saw with Greg Berhalter. Like what's different about this? What's different about the players who are on the field? What's different about how they're playing? I would say if anything, it was like, if anything, it was like a little worse. It was actually like worse than how we played under Berhalter.
00:03:31
Speaker
ah So that was my thought, but I was like, they're probably going to win, but like, what is the, uh, what is the like newness to it that we're supposed to be seeing right now?
00:03:44
Speaker
What is different about this compared to the team we've been watching for the last few years? And I think that was an important question because we spent years and years listening to people talk about how terrible a coach Greg Berhalter is.
00:03:58
Speaker
He's awful. He's an MLS coach. He doesn't know what he's doing.
00:04:03
Speaker
If we just get a good coach, they'll get the most out of the golden generation. Right.
USMNT's 'Golden Generation' Performance
00:04:09
Speaker
And Pocatino was billed the big name successful coach that Greg Berhalter wasn't.
00:04:18
Speaker
And a guy like this is what can get the most out of the golden generation. Now let's talk about the golden generation at first because I'm pretty much at the point ah at the point where I consider that total propaganda at this point.
00:04:31
Speaker
Like you're not the golden generation until you provenly show that you are a lot better than the generations that came before you. Like, have they, has this core of players, this player pool really shown that at all?
00:04:46
Speaker
Like, I really, what have they, what have they done? What have they won? What have they proven that makes them any better than the years where it was Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and a bunch of MLS lifers?
00:05:01
Speaker
Nothing. They really haven't. You have to perform on the field to get the title of golden generation. which they have not done.
Criticism of USMNT Coach & Selections
00:05:10
Speaker
But needless to say, Polk was billed as the guy who would would get the most out of the golden generation.
00:05:19
Speaker
And, i mean, as someone who doesn't care about this that much anymore, like, I gotta say, the early returns from the Polk era, I'm a little...
00:05:33
Speaker
not sure like what he's bringing to the table. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I'm not saying that ah this result alone or how things have been going under him so far define his tenure by any stretch. You know, he should probably get a degree of the benefit of the doubt, but I'll just tell you like what I've seen that makes me raise my eyebrows a little bit. The thing he did where he was calling in the, the guy who ah played in the men's league this guy This guy was on the ah on CF Montreal, and he signed up for a local men's league in Montreal, which you're not allowed to do.
Controversy: USMNT Player's Past
00:06:09
Speaker
So he used a fake name to sign up for a rec league and was just out there playing against random civilians and then crashed out so hard on the field in the rec game that he, he like, spit on... he like He lost it. He, like, spit on somebody. He was throwing punches or something.
00:06:27
Speaker
He got kicked out of the rec league. in Montreal and, uh, and, and Montreal terminated his contract. And I never heard of this dude again.
00:06:37
Speaker
That's the only thing I knew about him. The next time I saw this guy poke had called him in and was playing him in a USMNT. I think it was a friendly, but still i was like, why? I didn't even know that guy was a U S eligible.
00:06:54
Speaker
What is the men's league guy? what is he doing with the USMNT? But I was like, maybe Polk knows something about this guy that I don't. I've, to be fair, never really heard of him, never watched him play.
00:07:06
Speaker
All I know about him is he punched a guy you know men's league. ah But then he went out there and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it was one of the worst USMNT shifts I've ever seen.
00:07:19
Speaker
He was just, he was terrible. He looked like he didn't belong on the field. And I was was like, okay, this look this is kind of a bad look for the coach.
00:07:31
Speaker
This bad look for the coach. He calls this guy in who no one knows. like People didn't even know he was U.S. eligible. He comes in. His only legacy on the sport is punching a guy in a men's league game, getting terminated by CF Montreal.
00:07:46
Speaker
Then he goes out there and looks like this. What is the coach doing there? What are we talking about? What are we doing? And then at the very end of that game, the men's league guy scored like an admittedly and incredibly sick goal.
00:08:01
Speaker
And I think that that goal salvaged the optics of the situation because it was like, oh, okay, like he can do that. That's why he got called in. poke Poke gets a he might've cooked there actually.
00:08:16
Speaker
ah But that really should not have salvaged the optics of that situation. That was a weird call up.
00:08:23
Speaker
that that do we really Are we really to believe that the mens league guy has a series the CF Montreal men's league guy has a serious chance at becoming a meaningful contributor at the senior international level?
00:08:38
Speaker
Maybe. Maybe. But I seriously doubt that. but So that was the first thing where I was like, poke what is this? like what what is this Again, what are we doing?
00:08:51
Speaker
um But whatever, you know, like I said, don't care much about this anymore. Do your thing, poke, live your truth, call in whoever you're going to call in.
USMNT in Nations League Semifinal
00:08:59
Speaker
But then we get this game tonight where it's a Nations League semifinal game, which is like there. I think this ah Nations League, who who knows what it is, who cares about it? But like, I think for people who do care, this was an important thing in sort of like establishing a foundation maybe getting some momentum for the poke era. We were hosting the world cup. Like let's go win nations league, have a galvanizing performance in the semifinals, go win the final. said it would set up a matchup with Canada or Mexico. And then we go out there and play like that.
00:09:32
Speaker
Like it was a, I mean, let's be real. Like I'm not being a hater to say that that was a terrible performance. Like even before they gave up the winner, like boring,
00:09:46
Speaker
not creative, no different than anything we watched the last like five years. If anything, it actually we it looked like we regressed. It looks like we regressed.
00:10:01
Speaker
And that would have been true no matter how the game ended. And then it ends like that, which was ah really funny concession. Just terrible defending.
00:10:13
Speaker
people People were ah getting on Matt Turner rightfully. i don't know like i don't know what Matt Turner was really trying to do there, but it's sort of like the discussion we had with the Sounders last year.
00:10:27
Speaker
You can blame the defense and blame the goalkeeper for conceding the one goal in a game, but you really like you're going to play Panama at SoFi in a Nations League semifinal, and you're not going to score They got close, to be fair, I guess.
Strikers' Performance: Josh Sargent
00:10:44
Speaker
Josh Sargent josh sargegent really got yeah got close twice in the first half.
00:10:50
Speaker
There was one really good chance that McKinney gave to him, and it got deflected and then went off the post. Unlucky. And then he actually scored one where Tim Weah was like way offside.
00:11:04
Speaker
So, Sergeant. But, like, i was I was just looking at ah at a post. I'll see if I can find this.
00:11:15
Speaker
There's a really funny list of strikers that have scored goals for the USMNT.
00:11:23
Speaker
Like, since Josh Sargent scored his last one for the USMNT.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, all right, here, I found it. This is little list of strikers. that have scored since Josh Sargent scored his last goal for the USMNT. Uli Ilanez, barely know who that is. Ayo Akinola, I know who that is. He's not that good.
00:11:47
Speaker
Nico Giacchini, I know who that is. Not that good. Oh, it's not even strikers. This is just players. Reggie Cannon, know who he is. Not that good. Sam Vines, know who he is.
00:11:58
Speaker
Not that good. Giosi Zardes, goddamn USMNT legend. The only respectable striker. that this country has had in the last 10 years. Seriously.
00:12:11
Speaker
Where's where Berhalter justice for Berhalter, man. Justice for Berhalter.
00:12:19
Speaker
Berhalter was cooking.
00:12:22
Speaker
If we just let him keep going, we could have avoided all this. Anyway. Anyway.
00:12:32
Speaker
It's a difficult day for the bots, guys. It's a difficult day for the bot. Like, if you go look at the bot community right now, they're roiled in scandal and chaos and in turmoil. i havet I quit Twitter, so I actually don't. that I kind of realized that like because I quit Twitter, I don't have to deal with the bots at all.
00:12:51
Speaker
It's kind of nice. It's kind of nice.
00:12:56
Speaker
um Before we continue, I guess I should probably shill a little bit. I forgot to shill at the top of the show. um Please like the video. um Please sub to the channel if you haven't already.
00:13:10
Speaker
Liking the video really helps us out. Boots us in the algorithm. Sub to the channel if you haven't. And then also... all we need tonight is one YouTube member and it will will put out another, little emo emoji thing that you can put in the chat, like the Roth rock ones and the, uh, ones that are of us and stuff. We'll put out another one. And I think it's between, Jesus Ferreira and, uh,
00:13:39
Speaker
Jordan Morris, I want to say. So if we get one YouTube member, we'll put out another one. And then whoever that YouTube member is gets to pick the new emoji that we put out.
00:13:53
Speaker
Noah? Correct if any of that is wrong, but I think that is correct.
00:14:00
Speaker
And yeah, I think that's all the shilling that I need to do for now. um If you got any ah any thoughts on the USMNT crash out, go ahead and drop them in the chat.
00:14:13
Speaker
Probably stay on this for couple more minutes.
00:14:18
Speaker
We got ah Houston Dynamo previewing tonight. going to bring on my friend Jesus Acevedo Jr., who's a Dynamo expert, longtime Dynamo expert at around eight.
00:14:33
Speaker
Talk some Houston Dynamo Talk some Nico Ladero And then later on in the show i had um Some Schmetzer sound I wanted to dive into Schmetzer responded guys To the Jesus Ferreira Discourse I don't know if he was responding to pod.
00:14:49
Speaker
I know he listens to the pod, so I think he was. ah But Nico asked him a question about the Ferreira stuff, and Schmetz gave what I thought was an interesting answer. so we're going to talk about that and do a little Club World Cup discourse.
USMNT Nations League Expectations
00:15:01
Speaker
Got people discourse in about the Club World Cup. ah So I'm going to talk about that a little bit, I think, at the end of the show. That was pretty much it.
00:15:12
Speaker
So, yeah, Tacoma Defiance is playing right now. Feel free to keep me updated on that. um I got to send a message to Jesus real quick.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah. Funny stuff from the USMNT. Funny, funny stuff. I think what it shows to me, man, is that... what i was Remember the USMNT punditry that we used to do I would talk about how this coach discourse is pointless?
00:15:51
Speaker
It was pointless the whole time. That's what i I was trying to tell people. I was trying to tell people that Berhalter or no Berhalter, the calculation is pretty much the same like based on what the player pool is, which is not as good as people have built it.
00:16:08
Speaker
That's pretty clear to me at this point that the issue is not the coach that coaches are not getting the most out of the golden generation. The issue is that it's not a golden generation.
00:16:19
Speaker
It's a gen. It's a generation that's got some pretty good players, I guess. That's what, that's what they should officially rebrand this as. We are the generation of some guys that are pretty good We got like three or four guys that are pretty good. that's That's what we got.
00:16:41
Speaker
Which the Dempsey Donovan days, there was a lot more. It was better. Better days. Better days.
00:16:50
Speaker
USMNT needs more hard MLS players over the soft Euro-based players. so I know you're saying that like slightly tongue-in-cheek, but the thing is ah when you're playing a CONCACAF opponent,
00:17:07
Speaker
There's an argument to be made that more MLS representation actually like the, a lot of and MLS players are playing in CCC. They know what's up with these conky calf games.
00:17:19
Speaker
These guys that are playing in Europe, they're not used. They're not used to this smoke. They're used to a different kind of smoke. Conky calf smoke is different.
00:17:31
Speaker
I'm just saying. I'm just saying. poke Poke, I think, too, like to be fair to Poke, he understands that this. that's what He called in nine um MLS guys. I bet, um damn, I bet that's what the bots are saying.
00:17:43
Speaker
bet that's their big talking point. He called in nine MLS guys. That's why none of our players who play in Europe could score even one goal against Panama.
00:17:56
Speaker
That's why Josh Sargent hasn't scored for this team in like five years.
00:18:04
Speaker
The USMNT Euro guys play for mid-level Euro clubs and only a few are regulars at that. Yeah, exactly. like When they were billed as a golden generation, it was like, oh, Pulisic's at Chelsea.
00:18:17
Speaker
Gio Reyna's at Dortmund. Ooh, look how good they are. Pulisic had one stretch for Chelsea, I'll say, where he he looked like one of the best wingers in the prims.
00:18:32
Speaker
He did. It was the COVID year. He was going off. Other than that, I feel like he's been ah he's been pretty good, but not like the greatest player I've ever seen.
00:18:43
Speaker
been fine, I guess. He's been good for Inter Milan. Pulisic is a, as much as I don't really care for the guy, he's he's a baller. But then I'm starting to think Weston's a little overrated player.
00:18:59
Speaker
Played okay tonight. Nothing special, really. tyler adam Tyler Adams had a quote like last year where he said, like when I'm healthy and at my best, I'm one of the best holding mids in the world.
00:19:13
Speaker
He's not. He's not. That is just a not true. He's fine. He's good. I don't think he's bad. One of the best holding mids in the world. He is not that.
00:19:30
Speaker
He's not Pulisic. Isn't anywhere like
00:19:36
Speaker
close to an, uh, amazingly elite player in Europe. He's good.
00:19:45
Speaker
You, I love lobbying squirters. When you brought us MNT fraud squad into my vernacular. Exactly. Exactly. It's the fraud squad. It's the fraud squad. They did absolutely nothing to disprove that moniker.
00:20:01
Speaker
Absolutely nothing.
00:20:06
Speaker
In fact, it's like more, it's more reinforced than ever at this point. Sadly.
00:20:15
Speaker
Josh Sargent is a mid striker. I don't even know if he's mid, I guess, I guess he, ah so he's been playing for Norwich in, in the championship and he's been playing well. He's been banging in goals for them.
00:20:31
Speaker
But i haven't seen him. What has he done for the U.S. in the last five years?
00:20:41
Speaker
Looked okay tonight. Put one off the post. Had one offside goal. Okay. He looked okay. None of them counted. They literally didn't count because, or the offside one literally didn't count.
00:20:54
Speaker
USMNT played like Sounders. Can't see. Too soon, Reese. Too soon.
00:21:03
Speaker
um I don't really know. I don't think I really had much more USMNT punditry other than that. and was a I'm not going to lie. i um laughed.
00:21:15
Speaker
I laughed when Panama scored. That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. Don't really like our players that much. It's not even about players. like I mean, like as guys, don't really like them that much. That's part of where my ah disillusionment with that team came from.
00:21:31
Speaker
Don't care for them as guys and also don't think they're that good of players. That, I think, is kind of indisputable at this point.
USMNT Content Promotion
00:21:37
Speaker
There's some okay players, but that's about all I'll give them. I'll show you guys the yeah ah the recap I wrote, though.
00:21:45
Speaker
It's not super exciting, but if you want to go click on it, MLSsoccer.com, that always helps me out.
00:21:53
Speaker
Oh, am I frozen though?
00:21:58
Speaker
I think I might've froze.
00:22:05
Speaker
Okay, here we go. Sorry about that. I was frozen on my screen, so I don't know if you guys saw that. Here's my story. Here's my story.
00:22:17
Speaker
CONCACAF Nations League stunner pulled a little Chris P photo right there. actually pulled that before they lost, but it turned out to be kind of appropriate because Buddy's got a tough facial expression there.
00:22:34
Speaker
That's on MLSsoccer.com if you want to go read all about it.
00:22:43
Speaker
Laugh to European players playing South American teams. Do we need separate continentment continental teams?
00:22:51
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know what, uh, don't know what we're going to do. I just think it's funny that, uh, like poke is the exact coach that the bots were saying for years.
00:23:05
Speaker
We're seeing for years. Berhalter is the problem. Berhalter. Berhalter. Damn you, Berhalter. We have this golden generation of players that seem pretty good but actually aren't that good.
00:23:20
Speaker
How dare you, Berhalter. If anything, Berhalter was getting more out of these guys. I'm i'm on fire now. This is going to get clipped up. Berhalter was getting more of the more out of these guys than Polk's been getting.
00:23:33
Speaker
Berhalter was overachieving. That's the new take.
00:23:37
Speaker
J-Mo buries that Ajimung chance. Exactly. Exactly. With the bum hamstring. We're all cooking off this. I love it. I love it.
00:23:53
Speaker
Great stuff. Great stuff. um Should have a my buddy Jesus Acevedo Jr. popping on here in about five minutes to talk some ah talks some Houston Dynamo.
00:24:06
Speaker
ah Going to get into Seattle Sounders stuff. After that, I just feel like I had to do the USMNT punditry because, I mean, that just happened. So that's sort of the topic of the moment.
00:24:20
Speaker
And also, I'm not going to say I feel validated, but I do kind of feel validated. This is what I this is what i was trying to warn the bots the whole time.
00:24:31
Speaker
I was trying to warn the bots the whole time. You can go back and look up plenty of clips where I said, you can get like you can put whatever coach you want in there. that's not like the That's not the problem.
00:24:44
Speaker
That's not the problem.
00:24:49
Speaker
The problem is that the golden generation isn't that golden.
00:24:57
Speaker
Spot on with focusing on more MLS players in the squad. They're hunger hungrier and scrappier than European Silver Spoons. Yeah, like i really think I really think there's something to that, man.
00:25:09
Speaker
I really think there's something to that. Like, why is it? Why do we think it is? Why do we think it is that this team honestly performed better when it was built around Dempsey, Donovan, and the boys, the Graham Zussis, the grinders, you know?
00:25:28
Speaker
Why is it that they performed better and got better results?
00:25:37
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. That's for poke to figure out. That's not my problem. My boys are playing right now. Canada.
00:25:48
Speaker
Honorary Canadian.
00:25:51
Speaker
We were, we did kind of a bit, you know, about how we were honorary Canadians, which I don't know if it works like that. I don't know if you can claim citizenship like that, but like, see Canada, that's a team I can get behind.
00:26:05
Speaker
That's a team that I can get behind. That's a coach. I can get behind. Those are strikers I can get behind.
00:26:15
Speaker
i have a ah Canadian envy. Jesse Marsh is phenomenal. like his ah Have you guys seen his quotes when they ask him about whether he ah wanted or would have taken U.S. job? they They've asked him a few times. Jesse, Jesse.
00:26:36
Speaker
Jesse, did a U.S. soccer ever approach you about that job? And were you considering taking that job? And he goes, absolutely not. Don't want that job. They've, they talked to me about it, but I don't want anything to do with that federation.
00:26:49
Speaker
Those guys have no idea what they're doing. It's one of the most poorly run institutions I've ever seen. If they, if they had made me an official offer, I would, I'm, you know I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but that's basically what he's saying.
00:27:00
Speaker
That's basically what he's saying. He just, he has no problem going off like that.
00:27:09
Speaker
No problem.
00:27:17
Speaker
And honestly, Jesse Marsh, if they had made that hire, that might have actually cooked. That's a coach who's shown a track record of getting teams to punch above their weight. you know like I don't know that much about Polk. I just know he's big name.
00:27:37
Speaker
But it's big name coaches. It can be kind of hard to assess sometimes like, uh, like Pep, for instance, it's like a situation where I look at it and I'm like, you're obviously, he's obviously a great coach. He's a really good coach, but he's also getting the best players in the world at every position, you know?
00:28:02
Speaker
So I think sometimes when you're going, when you're hiring off name value, which let's be real, like that's what, U S soccer was doing in this situation. They were like, we're getting pressure from all angles to like, just make a big splashy hire. And that's who was available and who they landed on.
00:28:21
Speaker
i don't think they doesn't seem to me that they based, like they looked into, they vetted the hire at all, which maybe with a name that big, you don't need to, but when you make a hire and you don't investigate for yourself, you're,
00:28:39
Speaker
If the guy's good or not, that can be what happens.
00:28:45
Speaker
Marsh would be an interesting choice to replace Schmetz when the day finally comes. Not sure that would ever happen, though. i would ah If we're talking about Schmetz's successors, I would love that.
00:28:59
Speaker
i'm a i'm a I mean, you know we're partial to Canada, but I'm a Jesse Marsh fan.
00:29:08
Speaker
Needs to say fuck it and throw Jason Sudeikis in there. Seriously. think about Think of the vibes if they literally tried to hit Ted Lasso it. I would watch that.
00:29:21
Speaker
I would be excited to watch that. I watched this one tonight because I had to. I don't think I would have watched if I didn't if i wasn't working it. like That's how I feel about it.
00:29:33
Speaker
Go get Tata. That was a thing for a while. But that's the thing. Like Tata, if you ask me, Tata is a good coach, but he coached Mexico. How did that go?
00:29:47
Speaker
Not very well. You know what they should really do? They should let me do it. They should let me do it. I'll coach the USMNT.
00:29:59
Speaker
I could have got them. ah
00:30:03
Speaker
I could have gotten to the CONCACAF Nations League final. I could have. I would motivate the boys.
00:30:12
Speaker
funny stuff. Funny stuff.
00:30:18
Speaker
How are you guys feeling about the Nico Ladero revenge game?
00:30:24
Speaker
Switching topics real quick. Going back to the Seattle Sounders. Nico Ladero coming back to Lumen Field as a member of the opposing team.
Houston Dynamo Under Ben Olsen
00:30:35
Speaker
That's going to be weird.
00:30:38
Speaker
It's going to be emotional.
00:30:42
Speaker
And it looks like we've got Jesus Acevedo jumping in right now. So we're going to bring him on to talk some Houston Dynamo. Jesus, if you can hear me, go ahead and give me a little thumbs up and I'll bring you on.
00:30:56
Speaker
Looks like he can't hear me.
00:31:00
Speaker
Can't hear me yet. So I'm not going to bring him on yet. See, that's why you do the thumbs up. That's why you do the thumbs up. Jesus, when you can hear me, give a wave and an indicator, get you on to talk some hum Houston Dynamo and the fighting Ben Olsen's.
00:31:18
Speaker
Ben Olsen's second year in charge at the Houston Dynamo. And he actually kind of cooked last year. He kind of cooked last year.
00:31:31
Speaker
This year, not going so well. All right, Jesus, give me the thumbs up now. We're going to bring him in right now.
Introduction of Jesus Acevedo Jr.
00:31:38
Speaker
Everybody, please welcome to the show Houston Dynamo expert, Jesus, Jr. Jesus used to be the ah Dynamo beat writer for MLS back in the day.
00:31:51
Speaker
Still around the team a lot, follows the team day in, day out. Here to give us all the insight. Jesus, it's been a while. Good to see you, man. How are you doing? Good to see you, Ari. I gotta say, it's been a while. I think we this is our first time, I guess, face-to-face, even digitally, that that we've talked each other. you know We've talked each other on Twitter a lot, email, and whatnot. So you know good to, I guess, E-meet you, as they like to say. Exactly. Great to E-meet you. We really appreciate the time joining the show.
00:32:18
Speaker
Uh, and yeah, I'm, I'm eager to talk to you about some Houston dynamo. Uh, there's a lot of subplots with this game this weekend as they come to Seattle. Uh, you know, I w I was just talking before you hopped on about the return of Nico Ladero. I think that's going to get most of the, uh,
00:32:34
Speaker
the headlines but uh what i like to do when i have someone on who uh who's from another market i like to give my uh take on their team from the uh outsiders perspective lay that down and then you tell me if my take on uh on the on the club from the outside is accurate or if you would amend anything about the take so i'll hit you with that right now which is uh houston dynamo okay uh What I ah perceive of the Houston Dynamo is a club that had ah unexpectedly really good year last year, first year under Benny
Houston Dynamo's Season Recap
00:33:07
Speaker
O. And honestly, it wasn't just about the results with first year under Benny O. It was like how they were doing it.
00:33:12
Speaker
One of the like most fun teams to watch at times last year, how the Dynamo would slice and dice people. There was just these really great team goals, great team ball. And they ended up...
00:33:23
Speaker
being a solid playoff team, good hard fought series against Seattle. Honestly, it was like two penalty kick defeats. Right. But it felt like, it felt like at the end of last season, like the dynamo, we're really ah building something. ah But yeah,
00:33:39
Speaker
This year has gotten off to ah not good start at all. Ace Ace has not been replaced. And it seems like there's kind of a lot of questions going on right now if the whole thing is headed in the in the right direction.
00:33:52
Speaker
would ah Would you say that all of that is accurate or would you amend anything about that take? Probably the whole take, if I'm being honest. i First of all, ah there's there's some truth in what you said, right? But just to kind of... ah ah Last year was Ben Olsen's third year. Well, sorry, second year. so we're in Oh, it was his second year. Okay. Factually and accurate.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, faction actors. So that's what saying. You know, just because of that, I guess everything else, you know, you want to change what you say. Right. But but it was a good year. the the The first two years have been a good year. You know, they're in the they won the U.S. Open Cup under Ben Olsen at Miami.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yeah. You know, and then last year they made that. oh And then that same year made that run to the Western Conference Finals. And then last year made the playoffs again. Second year. Yeah. But both years, yes, you know, ah they played beautiful soccer, as you say. you know, a lot of the MLS ah sickos, as we like to who to call them, like the Dynamo for the style of play that, like you say, good passing triangles.
00:34:52
Speaker
That was spot on what you said. Yes, it was, you know. um And... They haven't been able to replace that yet. You know, no Achi Achi replacement, no Coco replacement.
00:35:03
Speaker
But I think the most important was probably the Mikael replacement, which was their center back, which I know that's somebody you didn't, yeah I don't think you mentioned. no I didn't. He's like the best 11 caliber center back. Like, you know, uh, uh,
00:35:14
Speaker
you know Matt Doyle, one of the you know original MLS cycles, you know he he gives them high praise. like you know and And there's others that have given a high praise. I mean, $5 million. Palmeiros came in and and wanted to buy him. I think he's been a big a loss that they haven't been able to replace. you know And that's what they've had. A lot of goals conceded already this season.
00:35:33
Speaker
ah So, yes, they haven't able to replace what left. You know, pretty much, you know, not Yasha being the key piece just because, you know, Hector Hedera, he's the name, right? The marquee name that that they had.
00:35:45
Speaker
But yeah, so so so like I said, there was some truth in what you said, some truth. All right. Well, i I, yeah, I think I had some accurate there, but yeah, I mean, obviously ah not Ben Olsen's first year was his, ah was his second year. But like for me, when Ben, Ben O got hired, I think a lot of people were kind of skeptical because his DC teams were known for playing kind of boring ball.
00:36:08
Speaker
And that was not the case at all. The, his first couple years with the dynamo, ah what, uh, I had a couple of players I wanted to ask you about but before that, uh,
00:36:20
Speaker
What is your read on what happened with Aceh Aceh? Because it seemed like he was a pretty clear centerpiece, best 11 player. and then ah it seemed like there was maybe some kind of falling out or like, why did he end up leaving the club to your knowledge?
Dynamo's Financial Decisions & Contracts
00:36:38
Speaker
from From what I gather, I mean, i you know, it was an an option year where the Dynamo had the option to pick him to pick up his contract for the next season. I think most expected that that they were going to pick up the option. I mean, just for every reason that you mentioned, right, like why wouldn't you? You had two good seasons, you know, beautiful soccer finally ah for the Dynamo.
00:36:57
Speaker
And that was the expectation, you know. Obviously, even with how the season ended for him, you know, red card, we know, um, That was the expectation. So I think it was, at least for me, I'll say, you know, I was a bit surprised when that news happened. But ah from what I gather, I think to me, came down to a money situation where perhaps they didn't want to pick up that.
00:37:20
Speaker
you know, option on his contract year based on how many games he played that season. ah two You know, he's an older player, too, so I'm pretty sure they took that into account. And I think maybe now maybe they they may be second guessing where they made this move thinking they could get it not a like-for-like replacement, but at least, you know, put that money to use to better the team, right, as opposed to pay one player this high money, spread it among two two players.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah, have yet to do that. you know so So that's why we're in this predicament ah where they started off the season. But that would be my my my best assumption as to why they didn't want to you know continue on and and give them that option year.
00:37:57
Speaker
Well, so it seems like what happened is that the idea was to find a replacement that ended up being Jack McGlynn. Is that, would you say that that is sort of how they were thinking of that? ah tra Maybe not as an exact like for like, but in that in that role as the midfield orchestrator?
00:38:19
Speaker
yeah ah to To an extent, you know, mean, what you lose in Achi Achi, I mean, yes, you gain some offense, but you also gain some some ah soccer IQ on the defensive end, and I think that's something where Jack McGlynn is still growing on that aspect of his game, right? And and we've we've seen it already in these early games, you know, he can cross the ball, he can send in some great corner kicks, you know, can't...
00:38:41
Speaker
ah s Slipping passes, but on the defensive end, sometimes that's where he needs to up his game. And I think that's where Ben Olsen is going to help him out a lot. is Just like you mentioned, Ben Olsen at his DC teams, they had a good defense. They will grind out games, you know.
00:38:55
Speaker
So it has been a departure firm from here because they still do that, but now they have more of a possession-based game too as well. uh so i'll say he's one of those pieces you know but then they're still missing that other piece and i know there's rumor i know tom boger kind of dropped the news that the dynamo talking to a player which could be a dp 2.6 million i'm not even going to begin to butcher his name uh you know ari so uh but you know there's been some mixed reaction because he he's not a uh uh player that's, I guess you can say, ah hitting it off right now at his current team and the Fibonacci, I think is in Netherlands. so So, so we'll see. Right. But, but they're still missing that piece, you know, that, that I guess that, archchi archchiho left but again, you got also add that, that Coco, you know, Coco, got ofkaia who we just saw yeah great assist, you know, we saw, you saw exactly what he did. That's what the Houston Dynamo are missing.
00:39:50
Speaker
Right. So, and and then again, I'll i'll say again, Mikael, I think Mikael's absence cannot be understated. Like out of those three, I think Dynamo fans would prefer that he stayed out of those three. You know, everything played out me because, you know, Coco wanted, not that he wanted to leave, but he had bigger aspirations and a, you know, a good offer came in and you know, we just spoke about Hachi Hachi, but Mikael, at least you would at least have some kind of stability to your back line, to your defense.
00:40:15
Speaker
I wanted to ask you about a Ezekiel Ponce as well. that I feel like that's always the one of the key characters in a game against the Dynamo. i'll I'll give you my outside perspective on ah on him, which is that ah clearly an extremely talented player with a lot of ah pedigree. and is I feel like he's looked really, really good at times, but it maybe hasn't been consistent yet. Would you would you say that's an accurate way to describe where he's at?
00:40:42
Speaker
Yes, yes. Consistency, ah yes. I think that's fair. You know, he scored his first goal. Great header. i just think he's not getting the service that maybe he's used to that he was getting overseas, perhaps. You know what I mean? um even the Dynamo have had a bad start. You've seen...
00:41:00
Speaker
ah little spurts of a Ponce can do, you know, the go mentioned in the last game was actually a a good indicator of that there was some moments when he was in the box when he was almost dancing with the ball, you know, you know, you know, creating stuff for, for his teammates and then getting, getting open, but there just hasn't
Nico Ladero's Move to Houston Dynamo
00:41:16
Speaker
been enough of that. Going back to you're saying that, that, you know, uh, uh, consistency, uh, and being a DP player, you know, the, the most expensive players that Dynamo have ever signed, uh, um,
00:41:27
Speaker
it's the fans want more. You know, as I'm sure, you know, Seattle, you know, you guys got to play your Vega. If I'm not mistaken, the you like a fan yeah the fans want more out of that, right? you're You're a DP signing. Like we want more out of you.
00:41:40
Speaker
so So, you know, I think this was his first off season with the team. You know so here's hoping that this is just the early season, you know, ongoing. So the Emily season, and hopefully he, you know, is the player that the Dynamo ended up paying for.
00:41:55
Speaker
Just got a couple more for you, Jesus, and then I'll get you out of here. i do have to ask you about Nico Ladero. Obviously, ah legend around here. i think i mean I think most people agree that he's the GOAT sounder ah just in terms of what he what he provided on the field, but also just as a standard setter and a tone setter off the field and in the locker room.
00:42:16
Speaker
Really, ah you can't name that many DPs. in in the history of this league that have hit quite like he did when you consider just what he brought to the team and also the trophy haul that he ended up getting while he was here.
00:42:30
Speaker
um He's obviously not the player that he once was, but I thought last year with Orlando, he had a pretty solid year. He still had double-digit assists and looked good at times. Now he ends up going to Houston.
00:42:44
Speaker
ah What have you seen from him so far, I guess, first on the field, but then also do you have any sort of impressions as to ah what impact he's making with the team, like, internally?
00:42:59
Speaker
I'll answer the second question. First, I haven't had a chance to ah actually speak with him yet this this season how or get a sense of how, you know, even in the with the other teammates, how how that's going. But, I mean, i you see some of the connection that he's starting to build on the field. and I mean, you see what's made him, as you say, one of Seattle's GOATs,
00:43:19
Speaker
ah you you see it you know in in spurts. Even when he started the season off from the bench, when he would come in, you could see that, you know these like little moments. And you could see how sometimes his mind is already thinking two passes ahead, like he'll point. he's like like He's already seen, you know what I mean? I see him shaking head because you know it.
00:43:36
Speaker
He's already seen two paths ahead, but sometimes the Dynamo players that are currently constructed, they're not seeing that, so they'll play the safe pass. And he's like, you can kind of see like a little frustration, but I think it's also getting to use, getting to know the players too also, right?
00:43:48
Speaker
You know, one of the best, not best, but one of the quotes that has stuck in my mind over this early season for Ben Olsen is like, he's saying, know, we've had such great turnover is pretty much what he was saying. And and and and then he's saying, no, we have to figure out what kind of team we we are going to be.
00:44:02
Speaker
You know, so that just tells me that they're still figuring it out themselves. Like, you know We've been talking through this whole conversation, Hachache, Coco, Mikael, Steve Clark, we haven't talked about, right? Keeper. so So what team do we want to be is pretty much what he's saying, and that's what they're trying to discover. And he's relying on Nico Lodero right now you know it to to to be that number 10.
00:44:23
Speaker
e You know, they got two wings out, you know, Nelson Quinones, young Colombian winger, fast, and Lawrence Inali, German winger, came into the league and like lit it up in like one game and then he got hurt, unfortunately. So those two are expected to hopefully come back in the second half of the season. But so i wouldn't be surprised if, there you know, the dynamo are relying on Nico.
00:44:45
Speaker
Lodero a lot more in this early half of the season. that may Perhaps they envision, I'm sure they envision maybe just coming off the bench, a spark plug, similar to what you know what he did with the Orlando last year. Do you think he starts this game? I feel like he has to, right?
00:44:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah. He has to start. He has to start. And then I'm sure he'll come off in the 75 minutes to everybody's hand, you know, ovation. I mean, I'm sure of it. I mean, you know Ben Olsen. He knows what Nico Lodero has meant to this league, like like you know you mentioned.
00:45:13
Speaker
All right, last one, Jesus, and then then we'll let you go. ah What do you think is a reasonable hope or expectation for the for the Dynamo in this game?
Dynamo's Strategy Against Seattle Sounders
00:45:24
Speaker
it's obviously I feel like this series between this team these two teams, it always heavily favors the home team. like Whenever Seattle goes down to Houston, it's a hard time. Whenever Houston comes up here, it's ah it's a hard time. Are you looking at this game and thinking that this is just a smash and grab, get a point try and get a point and and And get out of there type situation.
00:45:42
Speaker
or I mean, with Houston's record, what it is right now, which is like, what, 0-3-1 or something like that? Like, do you feel like this is a situation where they're desperate enough, where they're going to be playing like hair and hair on fire and going for the win?
00:45:56
Speaker
i think you know I think I saw the stat with 0-14-4 at Seattle for the Houston Dynamo. Something that. So they've never won. one i don't I don't quite see it in this game, but I do see them getting a draw. you know ah The point they have, they went to Columbus and got a draw, right? new No draw, mind you, but still, you know they made that happen. So...
00:46:18
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if we see this the same approach. Like, hey, we just need a point. We just kind of need to get this lost the loss at home. Let's just, you know, granted, they just won at Wednesday here at home against El o Salvador.
00:46:30
Speaker
So that'll give them some good momentum going in. But I think it'll still be, don't think they'll be looking for a draw. You know, let's just get in there. Let's just, you know, get a point. Maybe a crazy goal goes in, you know, deflect the goal. You never know, right? Hey, we've seen crazier things happen.
00:46:47
Speaker
Jesus, that's all I got for you. Thank you so much for the time, man. It was great having you on and catching up with you after all this time. We'll have to do it again soon. I think these teams play again ah later this season. So get you lined up ah we'll get you lined up then. But ah for now, thank you for the time. Have a great rest of your night.
00:47:07
Speaker
Thank so much, Ari. Yeah, be easy. Peace. Take care. and was Jesus Acevedo Jr., Houston Dynamo expert. Really appreciate his time giving us the – see, like, ah i follow the whole league pretty closely, and then I just had, like, a total – my facts totally.
00:47:23
Speaker
Ben Olsen, second year, was last year. He's in his third year. ah But yeah, like, I mean, like Jesus said, he's one, he won open cup and has, ah I think, I thought the whole thing, the whole storyline of how good is soccer, how like aesthetically pleasing of soccer, the dynamo we're playing with Ben Olson as their coach was pretty funny because he was known always as a, so far the opposite, but a great insight on the dynamo there.
00:47:49
Speaker
Feel like I get a better, a lot better handle on what's going on with these teams by talking to people in other markets. So always good to get that insight um all right the next thing i wanted to do tonight guys was uh dive into some sound from brian schmetzer got some sound from brian schmetzer like i mentioned earlier in the show uh schmetz was asked by my lobbing scorchers kickoff co-host every monday at 8 a.m m nico moreno About the Jesus Ferreira discourse, and I guess I'll just set the set the stage real quick. you know but are The title of our last podcast was, Is It Time to Be ah Concerned About Jesus Ferreira?
00:48:31
Speaker
And the reason that became a topic of discussion was ah So, Ferreira got his first start of the season at the number nine spot in the in this last game at St. Louis out of necessity with Jordan Morris' injury.
00:48:45
Speaker
But also, that was something that they were going to have to try running eventually. think they're still trying to figure out what his best fit is, what his best role is on this team. Um, so, it didn't look super great, which is honestly, I mean, I said it on the podcast, but that's not the craziest thing in the world to me that him running at that position for the first time would look a little rough or not quite there yet.
00:49:13
Speaker
Um, but I think the reason that it, uh, it became a topic was, what was going, what he was, how he was acting on the field.
00:49:24
Speaker
And the fact that it looked like, it looked like his frustration was boiling over and getting the best of him a little bit. There was an, there was a play a sequence where VAR was looking at giving him a red card because it looked like he jabbed a guy in the, in the stomach. yeah There was also,
00:49:43
Speaker
a couple other instances where he was getting into it with guys off the ball. And then at the halftime whistle, right before the halftime whistle, he shoulder checked a guy to get what I think was honestly a pretty justifiable yellow card.
00:49:57
Speaker
And then he crashed out at the ref. So these are all things that we could all see. It looked like a frustrated player. And then he also came off at a, at 60 or so minutes again, which has been a recurring theme this season.
00:50:11
Speaker
And to this point, to this point, maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but to this point, I believe Schmetz had not been, he'd been saying that there was no fitness issue or minutes restriction. It was more just like getting them up to speed type stuff.
00:50:25
Speaker
ah But Nico asked him about it at training. Uh, was either earlier today or yesterday and, uh, Schmetz addressed all of this. So I'm going to play, I'm going to play the Schmetz sound and then, uh, and then react to it.
00:50:38
Speaker
Tell you guys what I think. I'm just going to pull it up right here.
00:50:47
Speaker
is Brian Schmetzer talking about the, uh, Brian Schmetzer's take on the Jesus Ferreira discourse. Speaking of emotions and what you saw, it felt like in this particular game, ah there was some frustration with Ferreira.
00:51:01
Speaker
There seemed to be, I don't know what you saw. What were your takes on Ferreira and in his emotions? Yeah. I thought he was fine. Look, nobody was happy in the middle of that game because we were out possessing them without any end product.
00:51:18
Speaker
And look, let's just be let's just set the expectations for Jesus. because it was his first real go-round as a number nine. And we watched the film.
00:51:29
Speaker
There were two or three moments where we could have played him the ball that we didn't. There were some things that he could have done maybe a little bit better, but that's all going to come in time because he's a smart soccer player.
00:51:43
Speaker
And he's going to figure it out. The team's going to figure out how he plays that position differently than Jordan and differently than Danny Mososki, who came on and ran around and did his job.
00:51:53
Speaker
So it's just going to be different. So for me, my expectations, I thought, hey, Zase was good. You know, some of the off the ball stuff, I'll talk to him. But that's, again, it's it's emotion. he was That shows to me that he was in the game and he wants to win. that That's what that showed to me.
00:52:09
Speaker
Is it obviously the way I want him to show his emotions? I guess you can't get a red card or yellow card. That'll cost us. But I didn't mind it. Go ahead.
00:52:20
Speaker
I just wanted to follow up on that one. Why do you feel like maybe Jesus hasn't gotten more competitive minutes at the ninth position? Well, look, he's been on a minute restriction from the beginning.
00:52:33
Speaker
The rotation got thrown off with De La Vega. Jordan's injury certainly threw him off, but that stretch of three games in six days, seven days, threw us all for loop.
00:52:48
Speaker
De La Vega, Jordan, and then maybe we're a little gun shy. Maybe we don't want a third guy to go down injured because he started two games in a row. So there's some there's some there's some interesting things for the sports science guys to go over because we've never had three games with that much travel in that block of time.
00:53:13
Speaker
And then you put the fourth game in St. Louis after an emotional loss and it's four tough games. So he's going to look, i I can tell you this much, he's going to play a lot of minutes now.
00:53:29
Speaker
i
00:53:33
Speaker
and So there
Jesus Ferreira's Emotional Display
00:53:35
Speaker
you have it. Brian Schmetzer's take on the Jesus Ferrer discourse. Good job by ah my co-host Nico asking those questions.
00:53:43
Speaker
I think Schmetz sounded a ah a little defensive, but I honestly think that he... ah I think he struck a good balance in terms of his like demeanor towards the question of, you know, going, I expect him to go to bat for his player.
00:54:00
Speaker
That's not a shock to me. Expect him to go back at bat for his player. But it to me, it seemed like he at least understood that the question was coming and, know, got why it was coming. Like he was giving Nico a little bit of a hard time, but he didn't, I don't, I don't think he did anything that indicated that he thought the question was unfair.
00:54:19
Speaker
And he had to have known it was becoming because the off the ball stuff was one of the talking points coming out of that game. It was like, which is not great, but that's the reality.
00:54:30
Speaker
So I guess let's talk about, I want to talk about first his take on that. he was basically saying like, Those incidents off the ball, i'm going to talk to him about it. i I don't really necessarily want to see that either, but it shows me that he's a competitor and that he wants to win. That was basically the sentiment that Schmitz was given, which I think that is one way to look at it.
00:54:58
Speaker
But my tip what I was saying on the pod, or at least what I was trying to get at, is there's a fine line with that stuff. between being a competitor and playing with emotion and playing with fire and wanting to win and crossing a line where you are either hurting your team or just expending your energy on the wrong things.
00:55:25
Speaker
And in my opinion, he was, de i mean, he was deaf. i I don't think anyone would disagree or dispute that he was toeing that line. And i i it looks to me, i don't know, it looked to me like he was getting in the territory of crossing that line.
00:55:43
Speaker
And he was getting into a situation where, like, they were reviewing that that stomach jab for a red card. They were. He could have got sent off right there.
00:55:55
Speaker
He didn't, and I think it would have been harsh, but that's the risk you run when you lose your cool like that. And again, i already said this as well, but, like, for me, it's not about, like, lecturing the guy about his attitude uh, you know, being, you need to play with sportsmanship. That's not what it is. Like I said, what it is, is that when you are spent expending your energy, getting into disputes with guys off the ball, crashing out at the ref, you are putting your energy towards things that are it's not helping you score goals.
00:56:32
Speaker
It's not helping you win the game. So like I said, It's just a fine line. And I don't like, okay. One thing I do want to say though, is like, I don't want to talk outside out of both sides of my mouth on this because I've been saying for years that this team needs a little more nastiness to it.
00:56:52
Speaker
Like a little more guys who play with edge, like really like Ozdy Alonzo type characters. Like the team is a little too nice. It's a little too nice. hasn't had these guys hasn't had enough dogs you know and I think Ferreira being a guy who's got a little bit more of an edge to him great all for it I want him to play with fire want him to play with emotion I want him just obsessed with winning obsessed with scoring goals to the point where you know it's like his all-encompassing obsession but like
00:57:30
Speaker
you just got to, ah you got to know where that line is. And if you cross it, it's to the detriment of, of yourself and the team. It's ultimately self-defeating. If you get sent off in a situation like that, or you toy with getting sent off in a situation like that.
00:57:50
Speaker
So
00:57:53
Speaker
I see what Schmitz is saying. And he said, to be fair, he said, he's going to talk to Ferreira about that. And i guess the way I see it is that this was the this was really one game where this has been an issue.
00:58:08
Speaker
i don't think there's been stuff like this in his previous games with this team. And I understand why he was frustrated, like, fundamentally.
00:58:20
Speaker
ah Like Schmidt said, they were out possessing the other team with no end product. He's playing his first game at the nine. He wants to show what he can do. So I get why he was getting frustrated, but you can't, you just can't let that get the best of you.
00:58:35
Speaker
And he was, like I said, man, he was teetering on that edge. He was teetering on that edge. He almost got sent off. So that's why it was a talking point. Credit to Schmitz for, i mean, he he seemed irritated at the question for sure, but I've seen him snap and Nigo harder than that. Like, I think he understood where the question was coming from.
00:58:57
Speaker
So that aspect of it, we'll just, I guess we'll just see what happens because like you said, Ferreira is going to be playing a lot going forward with the injury situation. So
00:59:11
Speaker
What I want to see from him, aside from continuing to find his footing on this team, find how he fits on this team, figure out how he's best used on this team, i want to see him i want to see him play with fire and emotion without crossing the line. That can be hard to do, but that's like that's what you have to do. It's part of ah being a pro at this level.
00:59:34
Speaker
so
00:59:37
Speaker
i'm not But I'm not going to brand him as a ah as a malcontent or ah guy who like can't control himself or anything like that based off one game.
00:59:49
Speaker
i think there's been... there was People were talking about attitude stuff at FC Dallas. I really, to my knowledge, and I watched him a lot when he was on FC Dallas, that stuff wasn't really like a huge problem with him throughout his FC Dallas career. Besides, I think, other than at the end of his time there, i think...
01:00:10
Speaker
Relations between club and player were soured. And at that point, there might have been some quote unquote attitude stuff. But as far as I know, hasn't been a huge theme of his career or anything like that.
01:00:24
Speaker
So we'll see what happens. Now, the other thing people were talking about with this sound, though, was was the minutes restriction.
Jesus Ferreira's Minutes Restriction
01:00:33
Speaker
which is kind of funny that he just said that casual casually, like, well, he's been on a minutes restriction the entire time.
01:00:44
Speaker
Okay. That was not told to any anybody. And in fact, I'm pretty sure Nico has been... grilling Schmetz about this? Like, why isn't he playing more? Why isn't he playing more? Is it fitness?
01:00:55
Speaker
Is it about like something he's doing the training? Like, why, why does he keep coming out at 60? And then finally to like in this last interview, Schmetz is like, Oh, he's been on him he's been on a minute restriction the whole time.
01:01:09
Speaker
i mean That's what I assumed. I'm not shocked to hear that. When you think about the fact that U.S. Soccer put out a statement slandering him for not being fit, and then he's been clearly on a minutes restriction his entire beginning of his Seattle tenure.
01:01:27
Speaker
It makes sense. i Why is that a secret something that... like a secret or ah something that you wouldn't just say from the beginning. That's what I don't get.
01:01:38
Speaker
like But like he dropped that, he dropped that as if the implication hadn't been the opposite, you know?
01:01:50
Speaker
So
01:01:53
Speaker
i like, I'm assuming that he's going to be playing a full compliment of minutes going forward. Schmidt said that, and it's kind of by necessity at this point.
01:02:06
Speaker
And for me, like, I think he's got to be, they they have to keep running him at the nine in a first choice 11 and try and get that figured out.
01:02:19
Speaker
I think they seem to think his, his best position is like dropping deeper than that. And being more of a facilitator, which that's something that's the big thing that I've always liked about his game is how unselfish he is.
01:02:36
Speaker
And I think we have, if I, if I were to give a positive of the Jesus Ferreira Sounders experience, I'm, So far, which I think like to be fair, I don't think this last game wasn't great, but like there's been good moments.
01:02:50
Speaker
He had a really nice assist in the LAFC game, for instance, and the, in the Antigua series for whatever that's worth. I know people are going to say it doesn't count because it was a Guatemalan side, but I think in that series in particular, that's where I was like, all right, he actually looks like he's fitting in well right now. He and Ariola obviously seem to have a connection because they played together a lot, but also, uh,
01:03:12
Speaker
I think in general, it looked like he was contributing to the attack in a positive way as a facilitator, even if the goal scoring hadn't come yet.
01:03:24
Speaker
But at this point, with Jordan out and Moose, God love him, not ah having not staked his claim as the starting nine.
01:03:38
Speaker
ah I think you got to keep running him and try and figure this out. So
01:03:48
Speaker
that's how, that's basically, I think where things stand on the, ah on the Jesus Ferreira discourse. You've got takes on that. Jesus Ferreira discourse. Go ahead and drop them in chat, try and get through a couple of chats right now.
01:04:02
Speaker
and Just saying, guys, if you do drop a super chat, I am guaranteed to read your comment or question. I'll read some of them anyway. i'm not not making it a condition.
01:04:14
Speaker
Just saying. Just saying. Jesus Ferreira TR says, Jesus Ferreira needs to step up and coaching staff need to figure out how to use him. Both are true, in my opinion. Yeah.
01:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's not even just like the ah coaching staff. You know, it's all hands on deck. He's got to play a role in that. Other guys on the team have got to play a role in that.
01:04:38
Speaker
And they just got to figure it out because the injury situation is savage right now, guys. It is. De La Vega and Jordan being out at the same time is about as unideal as it gets for this team offensively.
01:04:55
Speaker
That's the unfortunate reality of where things stand right now. So look, I have, if you ask me to predict if they're going to figure it out, I know some people are probably skeptical right now because the St. Louis game didn't go super great, but I think what Schmidt said at least has a decent chance of being accurate in that he is a player who one of his strongest attributes throughout his career is his soccer IQ.
01:05:26
Speaker
He's a very smart player. He knows how to adapt to different situations. He did so a lot at FC Dallas. There's a lot of like precedence to look at here. And, uh, I have no doubt the ability is within him to unlock all that stuff on this team.
01:05:45
Speaker
Like I said, that stuff, I know, uh, We all want instant gratification with these things. And I know some people are frustrated because a lot of what this signing was billed as was this is a guy who can theoretically hit the ground running for Champions Cup more because of his MLS experience and that he's played with Paul Areola and has all this MLS experience.
01:06:07
Speaker
He's the CONCACAF god, Pirate of the Caribbean. And that stuff didn't really pan out in CCC. And it looks like there's going to be more of an adaptation process. So I understand... why people would be frustrated with that.
01:06:19
Speaker
ah do think in these situations, there is unfortunately oftentimes the reality that like when you are adapting to a whole new team, There's a process that comes with that. And I think we are still, as it stands today, within the bounds of a normal timeline for that adaptation process.
01:06:41
Speaker
However, the necessity of it being expedited is certainly there now. I think with a healthy Jordan and with a healthy De La Vega, you have a lot more leeway.
01:06:54
Speaker
Right. But
01:06:58
Speaker
They do need to figure it out. They do need to figure it out. Coming up on an hour 10 now, I only had a one more topic written down for tonight.
01:07:09
Speaker
So might just hit that and start the old wrap-up process. If you guys have any comments, takes, questions, observations, or agendas, go ahead and drop them in the chat.
01:07:23
Speaker
Get to as many as I can. Hunchpunch says, give me Jesus Ferreira up top, Georgie and Jordan Morris on the wings eventually, c r and CR and AR central midfield, and let's see what they cook.
01:07:38
Speaker
Ooh, so this under this scenario, we've got a Broldan double pivot. I don't know if they've ever ran that, but that would be sick.
01:07:49
Speaker
To me, it looks like the ideal lineup is with
01:07:54
Speaker
Jordan as the as the nine. And then, you know, like Ferreira can be listed like out wide in a 4-2-3-1. Realistically, what I envisioned when they traded for him is him playing off of Jordan as kind of a ah second striker and then also using his attributes as a facilitator as kind of a number. he He's a very like ah multifaceted player.
01:08:18
Speaker
he can He has a lot of attributes of a number 10. and a false nine second striker. Maybe not as much as a, as a pure nine, but
01:08:31
Speaker
feel like Kalani had to do most of the work on that assist that Ferreira gave him. I mean, yeah. yeah KKR's individual effort is what really led to that goal. But like, it's a, that is a good, I'm not going to do the, like that assist didn't count because the other guy did.
01:08:51
Speaker
That is a good ball over the top. That's exactly the type of facilitating. i want to see him doing, especially if he's going to be playing deeper like this. Like, I think that was, that moment was a, I was, that is good.
01:09:07
Speaker
That was good. What he did on that play was good.
01:09:15
Speaker
Tactical withholding. Are you talking about ah Schmetz tactically withholding the minutes restriction? So yeah, that was that was one thing that I was thinking is ah maybe it's yeah like it's something where he's trying to not tip off other teams on ah on his tactics or his lineups or whatever.
01:09:36
Speaker
But
01:09:39
Speaker
I just thought that He's been on a minutes restriction the whole time. Did you guys not know that?
01:09:46
Speaker
Been on a minutes restriction. What are you talking about?
01:09:52
Speaker
I'd like to, I wish I'd been there to see Nico's face when he said that.
01:09:59
Speaker
Minutes restriction.
01:10:02
Speaker
did i and Did I not say that? Did I tell you guys minutes restriction? Guy's not fit. Didn't you read U.S. soccer statement? He's not fit. Minutes restriction.
01:10:13
Speaker
um The last topic I had written down, folks, ah was regarding the Club World Cup. we ruffled it We ruffled a couple feathers with our take on the Club World Cup in our last podcast. we were we were So we were talking about...
Seattle Sounders in Club World Cup
01:10:28
Speaker
ah the uh mlsgm survey they survey they do an anonymous athletic does shout out to the athletic they do an anonymous survey every year of all the and mls executives and they're they're able to get kind of more like real answers because it's not on the record right so or at least their names aren't on the record and uh i you know when noah was reading me the uh
01:10:57
Speaker
their takes the anonymous takes GM takes on Seattle in the club world cup. I was detecting, maybe I'm projecting, but I was detecting like a little bit of snark there. You know, like one guy was like, Oh, see the sounders in the club world cup.
01:11:11
Speaker
That's going to be a bloodbath. I could be projecting that tone, but that's what it felt like to me. And there was just a couple other of those things where I'm like, all right, I i was getting preemptively. i've been I've been getting preemptively defensive about this because there is a very real scenario where Seattle plays in the Club World Cup.
01:11:31
Speaker
They get boat raced by Atletico Madrid in p sg and and we're going to have to do this stuff where how embarrassing for the Seattle Sounders and everyone affiliated with them that they went into the Club World Cup against PSG and lost.
01:11:48
Speaker
We're going to have to do that. You guys realize we're going do that even if they don't get bodera boat raised. We had to do that at the last Club World Cup for a game against Ali where they played him pretty straight up. Like I remember that. i Maybe people remember this differently. I remember the Ali game at the Club World Cup that the Sounders played in as a pretty competitive, hard-fought game.
01:12:12
Speaker
Two good teams going at it. all Ali gets the goal close to the end. That's a GG's. that so like That was my thoughts directly after that game. Of course, I sign on to the timeline and there's all this like
01:12:27
Speaker
anti-Seattle Sounders crash out embarrassingly rhetoric out there. Like, okay, whatever. I get that ah that it's come to it. But like we had, so we had one call manager, Wade. Shout out Wade, friend of the pod.
01:12:42
Speaker
Like Wade's comments because he always comes in with the differing perspective. But he he was saying like, He was given the point that a lot of people made, which is that like if you sign... or They needed to sign better players over the offseason to have a better chance at competing in the Club World Cup, or at least putting on a good showing at the Club World Cup.
01:13:06
Speaker
So to do that, the input the implication with this take is that they needed to move off Rusnak, upgrade that, not trade for Ferreira, sign someone at a higher level,
01:13:19
Speaker
than that theoretically and then all and then they'll be good to go if if hanauer wasn't broke and did that they would be good to go for the club world cup psg watch out because we've got a guy who's like a little better than albert rusnak and then another and the number nine who's like a little better than jesus ferreira now we're gonna hang with psg and it's let it go madrid So I guess I'll just give my take on that take first, which is that, like, I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but moving, like, did take all the Roosnack...
01:14:01
Speaker
Discourse that we have helped fuel out of it. Like if you're going to say that there's one to two signings that if they showed more financial through their financial weight around more and signed these two guys that are theoretically upgrades on Albert Rusnak and Jesus Ferreira.
01:14:21
Speaker
You're going to have name what guys you're talking about that you think move the needle that much to where the calculation going into this tournament is any different than it is with the roster as it is right now. Because I'm going to tell you right now, people are going to talk about like the signings that Seattle should have made that could have changed how this tournament is going Those signings don't exist, man. They just don't.
01:14:48
Speaker
They don't. You could sign ah guy who's
01:14:56
Speaker
like twenty million worth $20 million dollars more than Rusnak, and you could sign a guy who's worth $20 million dollars more than Ferreira, and when those two guys alone, like it just doesn't matter.
01:15:10
Speaker
It doesn't.
01:15:14
Speaker
Realistically, there's two ways that the calculation going into the, into the club world cup changes. It's you either sign, you sign Leonel Messi himself and three of his best friends from the Barcelona clubs that were the best teams that have ever played this game.
01:15:36
Speaker
You sign those four guys and then they attract every elite prospect from South America and you create the greatest MLS roster ever assembled.
01:15:49
Speaker
You improve on the on the roster that literally broke the points record last year, and you build the whole thing around the greatest player of all time. And then, yeah, you should have a chance at, honestly, throwing down against anybody at the Club World Cup.
01:16:05
Speaker
I think Inter-Miami, as currently constituted, with how freaking stacked they are I'll be interested to see how they would do how they'll do if they get a chance to play. like Their group doesn't have... like Clubs like PSG and Atletico.
01:16:20
Speaker
But eventually, if they make it for if they make it out of their group and advance far in the tournament, they're going to be playing teams like that. um We'll see how it goes. Maybe they get boat raced. Maybe I'm wrong. I feel like their team is good enough to like really... It should be the expectation that they at least are competitive in a game like that.
01:16:39
Speaker
That is how stacked their roster is. But they they're the only team... who can Who can do that?
01:16:51
Speaker
Like, sign Messi and his boys and then every elite South American prospect on top of that is not a repeatable blueprint or strategy that other clubs can just copy.
01:17:07
Speaker
You can't. That is a very highly unique situation. And that's why, frankly, I was giving them a hard time about not getting the spot on merit like Seattle did.
01:17:17
Speaker
And I'm still going to give them a hard time about that because they crashed out of CCC last year when they could have earned this spot. But like if you ask me any MLS club that you could put a showcase event like this...
01:17:30
Speaker
where you're trying to showcase the league, you're trying to like showcase the big stars. Like there's no other choice than inner Miami right now. That's just when you, when you make the moves that they've made, that's, I think it's fair. Honestly, it's fair ah because they've showed that they there about it.
01:17:53
Speaker
But like I said, like, you can't, you can't replicate that to me. The only other way that you can compete realistically in any meaningful degree or, or like have getting out of the group be
Potential Signings for Seattle Sounders
01:18:11
Speaker
an expectation. Maybe they, you never know what could happen. Like, I don't want to say that Seattle's for sure. Not going to make it out of the group.
01:18:17
Speaker
Like they might, just, but that would be based more on like freak. I think freak stuff happening because anything can happen in a given game more than their roster being in any type of place where they could like be expected to match up with teams like this. But to me, the way I see it, you would either need to do the exact inter Miami blueprint complete with signing Leonel Messi himself, or you would need like, we are talking like PSG, man, like,
01:18:48
Speaker
Just look at their look at their wages, man. like Just look at them. You would have to sign to to to realistically be have the expectation be advanced pass teams like that.
01:19:03
Speaker
i think you would need to sign like eight to ten guys.
01:19:11
Speaker
That's how many, which would involve the MLS roster rules being just very different than they are now.
01:19:20
Speaker
Am I wrong? like that like that is Upgrading on Rusnak and upgrading on Ferreira would not even be remotely close to in the ballpark of mattering in this scenario.
01:19:31
Speaker
It just wouldn't. It wouldn't. They could have done that and it would be the
01:19:43
Speaker
it would be the exact same outcome. So that's just sort of, ah that's just how I see it, man. That's just how I see it. And that's why i that like I said, I've getting, I'm getting preemptively defensive because like, let's be real. There's a, there's a pretty feasible outcome where Seattle gets rolled on by Atletico and PSG.
01:20:05
Speaker
i don't care that much, man. I just don't. We're taught. We're talking about like Differences in roster spend that are staggering.
01:20:17
Speaker
They're astronomical.
01:20:21
Speaker
So. and Unless. ah Unless FIFA was going to gift. FIFA or the league is going to gift you like eight guys. It's pointless to. It's pointless to even discourse about like it is what it is.
01:20:36
Speaker
And. I don't really want any, I want to hear about how much of a disgrace it is or how broke Hanauer is or whatever. If they lose Atletico and pit PSG, like what are we talking about?
01:20:50
Speaker
My criteria, I'll tell you, I'll tell you guys what my criteria is for the successful club world cup, which is just don't abjectly embarrass yourself in the city, which is honestly like So but like let me be clear.
01:21:10
Speaker
Taking an L in this situation, people are going to throw the adjective embarrassing around if and when they lose to PSG. Embarrassing would be like looking like you have never been on a soccer field and you're just like kicking them the ball and letting them... like Just don't do shit like that.
01:21:32
Speaker
Compete as hard as you can. Try and get a result, obviously. Put on as good a showing as you can for the league and the city.
01:21:43
Speaker
Let the chips fall where they may. If you take the L, you take the L. am not going to get like going to get on the boys for losing to PSG. I'm just not going to do that. I'm not.
01:21:57
Speaker
Other people are free too Other people are free to.
01:22:07
Speaker
TRUR, if you think signing another superstar like CR7 wouldn't help. You think signing Ronaldo is what would do it. 40-year-old Ronaldo, that would not do it. It would not.
01:22:20
Speaker
you need like that That's the thing. like one One superstar isn't it like it might help a little bit, but it would not do it. It's a
Building an MLS Team Comparable to PSG?
01:22:30
Speaker
team game. like you cannot you in this In a situation like this, you cannot one to two player your way into into changing your chances all that much. It would take so much more than that.
01:22:52
Speaker
No, man, it's not.
01:22:56
Speaker
There's a middle ground between signing Cristiano Ronaldo and playing defiance that you can that you can get here. And it's fine to say that you're, it's fine to hold the team to ah high standard and have high expectations.
01:23:11
Speaker
i I'm just trying to live in reality. It's PSG, man.
01:23:17
Speaker
Like if, if the roster, if the MLS roster rules were not what they are and you could build a team, like with comparable wages to PSG, then yeah, you the expectation should be to build a team like that.
01:23:33
Speaker
And it should be to compete in this situation. That's just not the situation that we're in. So
01:23:41
Speaker
if I'm being for real, if we get a quality player that could finish a ball better than Morris, I think we could have a chance. mean, against who though? I think i think on a lot of what the issue is going to be... like A lot of what makes is this situation like this tough is honestly who like the situation defensively.
01:24:04
Speaker
I love Yamar and Jackson Reagan. I think they've been elite center backs in the league. Jackson Reagan was a defender of the year finalist for a reason. Yamar is one of the better defended better regarded defenders in the league for a reason.
01:24:20
Speaker
I worry about them going up against... attackers like that, the like this, like that's going to be hard. The degree of difficulty on that is going to be quite high.
01:24:38
Speaker
i think I think, Reese, I think two things can be true. The Sounders' defense is quite good for and MLS. It's one of the best MLS defenses. And also, if you put them against literally PSG, who are going to be playing their A squad in this tournament, that that is a difficult matchup for them.
01:24:56
Speaker
it yeah It is.
01:24:59
Speaker
Anyway, i don't need I'm not even like... ah I'm not saying it's guaranteed that they're going to bomb out of the group even. Because like like you can always... grind out or poach a result in any given game against any team.
Realistic Expectations for Sounders
01:25:14
Speaker
It's not preordained. I just, ah maybe, maybe it's just more my ah personality to try and like
01:25:26
Speaker
base my expectations on what I know to be true in reality, which is that, that you're, they're playing two of the best teams in the world whose roster spend is,
01:25:36
Speaker
just light years beyond what they are allowed to do. And that inherently creates a matchup that is difficult to win. Like I said, my criteria, and this is just me.
01:25:47
Speaker
No one has to agree with this. This is just me. My criteria is compete with dignity. Don't embarrass yourself. Don't embarrass the city.
01:25:58
Speaker
Let the chips fall. Do your best to make it out of the group. Not going to crush them for it if they don't.
Challenges of Winning Club World Cup
01:26:04
Speaker
And again, i just, ah think it's a flawed premise to say that, oh, well, if we upgraded on the on this guy, on this one guy, or that one guy, or these two guys, like, why didn't they do that? Then the Club World Cup would be ours.
01:26:24
Speaker
i think probably not. Anyway.
01:26:31
Speaker
that's That's how I see it.
European Soccer's Financial Dynamics
01:26:36
Speaker
um All right, coming up on an hour and a half here, going to start the ah process of
01:26:44
Speaker
ah the winding down this edition of Lobbing Scorchers under the lights, which you guys know what that means. That means I got to play the lo-fi.
01:26:55
Speaker
I got to play the lo-fi. um If you've got any last questions, topics, stuff you want me to hit before I get out of here, go ahead, drop in chat. We can keep doing the Club World Cup discourse if you guys want.
01:27:19
Speaker
Going in with the mindset that it's lost cause just makes the Club World Cup entirely useless at this point. Drop out.
01:27:30
Speaker
I I don't know what you want. like I don't think depends what you define as lost cause. I don't consider it lost cause if they plan it in the PSG and Atletico Madrid. I think it's still like a... i've always Like I said, I think I said this on the podcast. I've always been curious... it it's what you know like yeah What would it look like if the Sounders, with their roster as constituted, played against PSG?
01:28:01
Speaker
I think if you asked me to pick that matchup, I would pick them to lose. I would. But i'm I am looking forward to just getting to see it, regardless of how it goes. Let's see.
01:28:14
Speaker
Let's see. Maybe they do better than... Maybe with this roster that they have, they fare better than um when I'm giving credence to. That's a possible outcome to Like if I'm trying to gauge what I think is going to happen, I just think, I think that is just a very high degree of difficulty situation.
01:28:33
Speaker
Talking about literally PSG, but I don't, I don't think like, ah the results are necessarily what define if it's a lost cause or not. Like, I think it'll be good experience for the team.
01:28:52
Speaker
It's a good platform showcase event to show what you can do.
Pep Guardiola's Coaching Style
01:29:00
Speaker
But like they are going to... Atletico, Botafogo, PSG, they're going to be playing their big dogs, or at least they should be because the app prize for winning this tournament is lot.
01:29:14
Speaker
Oh, lower than 05, sorry.
01:29:23
Speaker
Good shout.
01:29:31
Speaker
That's nice and quiet.
01:29:37
Speaker
We just got whooped by Cruisazool. Anyone who thinks we have remote chance is in the clouds. You just... You never know what can happen in an individual game. Some bullshit could happen.
01:29:50
Speaker
But they're like... If you think that there's any chance in any dimension that they're not going to be pretty vastly overmatched in terms of raw talent, just look at the money, man.
01:30:03
Speaker
Look at the money. That's all you need to look at. The way this sport works is pretty simple sometimes.
01:30:11
Speaker
They explain it in soccer-nomics.
01:30:15
Speaker
Literally, you spend the most, you win the most. That's it. That's why I... I've never gotten really into European soccer. What I like about European soccer is it is kind of fun watching super stacked teams play because they play really beautiful ball. But in terms of being invested in the results, it's literally just based on who has the highest roster spin.
01:30:38
Speaker
You can go down the list most years. In all those big leagues that have no cap, just free reign. You literally, the team that spent the most gets first, wins the league.
01:30:49
Speaker
Team that spent the second most gets second. Team that spent the third most gets third. That's pretty much the whole league. I don't really see what's all that compelling about that. I think they got a salary cap that shit.
01:31:02
Speaker
Maybe that's not as true anymore. I don't know. I haven't been following it, but I know there was like years upon years where it was an exact straight line like that.
01:31:12
Speaker
Salary cap weeks, they don't work like that. That's why the salary cap is better, man. It is. Yeah, you don't get to just build as stacked a team as you want, but there's strategy to it.
Predictability in European Leagues
01:31:24
Speaker
And it's more, i think MLS maybe is too far the opposite. Like there's like been too much parity over the years.
01:31:32
Speaker
But just who who being whoever the best team is just being the team that literally spends the most. that's it's but It's a preordained outcome is what it is. You literally know who's going to win the league. Or at least the four to five teams that have a chance before you go into every season.
01:31:49
Speaker
EPL fans in chat, how do you tell me? How do you like still get hype on that when you are you already know what's going to happen?
01:32:02
Speaker
Like you have the Leicester City stuff, which happened one time. but
01:32:12
Speaker
Same. Never watched outside the U.S. with any passion. One exception. The Euros are the best soccer tournament in the world. yeah Like that's what like that's the merit to it. Like honestly, watching a team like Man City, who has the highest spend in the world, but and they've literally every player in their starting lineup.
01:32:30
Speaker
is the number is one of the two best players at their position in the entire world it makes them functionally or it's made them at least in the last i feel like maybe they're not having as good a year this year i don't know i don't follow the prem at all but like it makes them uh fun to watch i enjoyed the like the but the footy they play is second to none i watched the uh behind the scenes man city doc and i thought there was some interesting stuff um like in that in terms of uh
01:33:00
Speaker
Like I really enjoyed actually getting to watch how Pep operates. i always had this perception of Pep as a ah super like hard ass and like he's like so obsessed with winning that he doesn't enjoy his job. He doesn't enjoy his life.
01:33:17
Speaker
He really is not like that at all. If you watch the if the Man City Netflix talk, Pep is like a vibe merchant. He's a vibe merchant. heat When they when they ah do the footage of him running a Man City training session, he's having the time of his life.
01:33:35
Speaker
And when when the team does something really well at practice, he gets so happy. He's like, guys, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. You are all so beautiful. I love you all so much.
01:33:49
Speaker
Like, that's that's... Like, Pep is kind of a a fun guy sometimes at least that's what uh that's what it seems like in the doc so
01:34:05
Speaker
Leicester won the league, but I mean, come on. That ah that was like a once in a freaking millennium event. I still don't get how that happened. That was the one year where I locked in on the prem because I kept being like, are they really going to do this?
01:34:16
Speaker
There's just no way. That flies against everything that I know from soccernomics. They can't do that. And then they did. ah But like let's be honest. like that was not a That was not something that
01:34:31
Speaker
really happens ever. yeah know One 5,000.
01:34:36
Speaker
Madrid and Barca have won the majority of La Liga for the last 60 years. It's stupid. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Like, I mean, it's it is what it is for them and their fans and their league. But like, I just don't, I don't know how you like if you're a fan of a team that's not them, why would you care? Why would you go to the games? Why would you watch the games?
01:34:55
Speaker
You literally already know what's going to happen.
01:35:01
Speaker
Oh, Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich won it like 10 years in a row. Really cool league. Cool League, you have one team that has a chance. you have two ah another You have two teams that have a chance, but realistically, one team that has a chance.
01:35:20
Speaker
Bores me.
01:35:26
Speaker
Yeah, Valencia fan, exactly.
01:35:30
Speaker
don't know.
Show Wrap-Up
01:35:32
Speaker
All right, guys, I'm going to call it right there. Thank you all so much, as always, for tuning in. i love the ah ah love the under the lights crowd.
01:35:42
Speaker
Don't tell anyone else, but you guys are my favorite.
01:35:46
Speaker
I love the kickoff crowd, too. No one who's in the kickoff the one's zoom's in the kickoff crowd get mad. But this one's for the sickos. This one's for the sickos.
01:35:57
Speaker
Appreciate you all locking in for the USMNT punditry. That was fun.
01:36:04
Speaker
Good stuff, as always. Shout out Jesus Acevedo Jr. coming on, talking some Dynamo with us. Please, if you haven't, like the video.
01:36:15
Speaker
That really helps us in the algo. Sub to the channel if you haven't.
01:36:24
Speaker
Like, comment, subscribe, share with ah with your friends. Shout out to our sponsors, Hacks on Ferments, Podium Metsware, Full Pull Wines. If you make an order from Hacks on Ferments and use our code LS, you get a free bottle of hot sauce with your order, and it's really good.
01:36:46
Speaker
1-0 Sounders on Saturday. That'd be sick.
01:36:53
Speaker
Live calls on Saturday. Maybe. I'm going to have talk to Noah and coordinate a little bit. ah I'm going to be at the game on Saturday, which that makes it harder for me to jump on live right postgame.
01:37:07
Speaker
i usually I kind of got a... I mean, last time I called in, gave like a quick take. But realistically, to sit down, i have to head home from the stadium, which takes a minute. I'm not sure. if if Noah is not planning on going, maybe he can jump on and take some calls.
01:37:23
Speaker
So that's just going to be a TBD situation. But Wade, if we don't do it on Saturday, i mean, we're to do it again soon. We've been doing those shows where we take calls. So... I'll make sure everyone is prized to praise.
01:37:38
Speaker
Make sure everyone is aware when that's going on.
01:37:44
Speaker
I am going to be in the press box all game.
01:37:49
Speaker
So I can't visit the brigade in ECS, unfortunately. Punch Punch, thank you very much for the support. Appreciate you. We're going to keep grinding the content.
01:38:00
Speaker
There is no... break for the company. We ball. Every week. All right. With that, I'm going to out of here.
01:38:11
Speaker
Have a good night, everybody. Appreciate you. Peace.