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Moose lost his tooth, the rest of the Orca Boys followed suit and LAFC preview
1 Playsin 7 hours
Aaron joins Jermiah to recap a toothless, uninspiring loss to LA Galaxy over the weekend. A lot of frustration with the missed opportunities and what looked like tired bodies. In the second segment the two talk about the upcoming LAFC who also have been struggling.
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Transcript
Sounders Legend: Will Bruin's New 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 we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a goal! Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'll deadline you.
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 Sounder 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, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adietes, part of the Sounder Heart podcast network, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Monday, May 18th, 2026. I am your host, Jeremiah Shan.
00:01:54
Speaker
Today, I am joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Streaks, they say, are meant to be broken, but in the sage words of that one lady from the Matrix, not like this.
End of Unbeaten Streak: Loss to Galaxy
00:02:07
Speaker
What was a good chance to take advantage of a tired and frankly bad Galaxy team instead turned into probably the most disappointing result of the season as the Sounders fell 2-0 at home. The loss ended their 22-match unbeaten run, marked the first time in the b Brian Schmetzer era that they'd lost to the Galaxy at home and ended a nine-match unbeaten streak in league play.
00:02:28
Speaker
While they didn't lose much ground in the supporter shield race, it was also a missed opportunity to move up in the standings. All in all, not great, Aaron. Not great and and kind of a bummer because it felt like after the San Jose result midweek, we were going to have some nice stuff to talk about. Yeah, I fully expected the Sounders to beat the Galaxy. And and ah I think, you know, that's two really good results to put back to get back to back. And so I was excited. And then, you know, the game happened and ah it's it's tough to focus on the positives from that San Jose game. and And there were, you know, quite a few of them when you can't get it done against player.
00:03:03
Speaker
Pretty mediocre Galaxy team, I think it's fair to say. Yeah. And mean, they're mediocre. That's like the like they're five, four and five, I think five, five and four something like that. Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
And you just you got to beat those teams at home. You got to beat the Galaxy at home. You got to beat San Diego at home. And, you know, ah the Sounders, like you said, they're still in the thick of things. They're they're not out of those for shield race by any stretch of the imagination. But.
00:03:27
Speaker
After a start where it felt like, hey, this might be the best Sounders team of all time. We've had you know, a run of the last pretty mediocre results. Yeah. The last four games, you got the good the good win against San Jose. But I think you looked at those four games and you could pretty easily talk yourself into getting 10 points out of those four.
Missed Opportunities and Points
00:03:46
Speaker
And you get five. You get five points out of those four games. And that's not. And the one that's not great. No, and and ah to your point, you know, the one win is probably the on paper was the toughest game of the four. Absolutely. Like, I think we all chalked up Sporting Kansas City as a win. I think we chalked up San Diego probably as a win.
00:04:07
Speaker
I was prepared mentally to maybe even lose the San Jose game. And then ah the Galaxy game for sure, I thought was going to be a win. So, you know, even in my sort of not worst case scenario, but in my more pessimistic scenario, I was thinking, okay, nine points would be,
00:04:24
Speaker
acceptable And and but 10 points was really a good target, I think, for this yeah stretch of games to get five is is not good. ah You know, and and it's a testament to MLS that everyone else around the Sounders seems to be going through similar struggles all of a sudden at the same time.
00:04:43
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, way you know, even if you take that, that attitude that, well, it's not so bad because everyone else is dropping points too. It's, you know, best case scenario, these are missed opportunities. And these are, you know, these are points that they, they should be winning. And these are games that they, you know,
00:05:01
Speaker
Last year or earlier this year, we've been talking a lot about how these results stacked up against last year's results in a fixture by fixture basis. And now they've lost to sport or they tied Sporting Kansas City. So you lost two points there.
00:05:17
Speaker
They tied San Diego. So those were that was a win. The home game was a win last year. They, you know, beating San Jose was just holding serve and they tied the Galaxy at home last year.
00:05:30
Speaker
And what's even more annoying is that some of these results were, you know, you should take them for great. Like these are not the points you were expecting to drop. And so I don't know. I'm i'm frustrated by all those perspectives.
00:05:41
Speaker
But then also like the Galaxy game just wasn't a good game. Like, no, even in san die the San Diego game, especially, i think I was. okay with the result because they, you know, they came back. I think San Diego is actually a pretty decent team, but galaxy are not that good. They were at the end of a three game road trip where they traveled from l a to Atlanta, Atlanta, to Kansas city, Kansas city to Seattle.
00:06:08
Speaker
So this is a team that's been traveling back and forth across the country. got to be tired, got to be on, on, you know, mental, you know, looking for a mental break.
00:06:19
Speaker
And the Sounders just did not get it done in any way, shape or form against the Galaxy. You know, they created some chances, but nothing, you know, they, they weren't dominant by any stretch. You know, they, they lost the XG battle.
00:06:31
Speaker
They, you know, they, it wasn't a good performance. No, it wasn't. I mean, I think that it's pretty easy to look at the sporting KC result, the San Diego result and say, you probably should those games. Maybe that's not good enough. I think especially in the sporting KC game, you should beat them soundly enough that there's no, yeah we probably should have won that game. Right. But San Diego, I think especially the Sounders were a much better team in that game and I think got really unlucky.
00:07:00
Speaker
ah There's none of that in this Galaxy game. Galaxy deserve to win. And this is a team, speaking of that really bad sporting heads, a city team. This is a team that had just lost to them three one. Right. Like this is not a good Galaxy team.
00:07:14
Speaker
they've lost twice to Kansas City this year. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, you've just got to win these games at home. and And I know they had rotation and I know that there there was not a roll down in the starting 11.
00:07:27
Speaker
And I know they had an injury early in the game. And I don't I just don't care. Like you, you have to beat these teams at home and you certainly cannot lose to them. And right.
00:07:40
Speaker
it's, it's a tough way to go into this stretch where you don't have a game until July. You know, you don't have another home game until the Timbers on July 18th. ah You've got one more game. And then I think that that game on July 18th is the next game.
00:07:52
Speaker
Right. So. Yeah. And they, they can restore some goodwill by beating LAFC on the road, but that's not a gimme game. mean, LAFC has been struggling, but that's a, that's historically a really tough.
00:08:04
Speaker
That's one of the toughest fixtures the Sounders have on their schedule every year. Right. And so to expect them to win that game, I think is, is expecting a lot, but let's not even get into that.
00:08:14
Speaker
ah You're right. Like they should be flying into this break and best case scenario. They are, you know, maybe not stumbling, but they're certainly not flying into this break.
Tactical Critique: Schmetzer's Rotation
00:08:26
Speaker
ah But you mentioned the the rotation there. And i think the Sounders, we've sung their praises a lot as far as their depth. And I think part of that is that they can afford to rotate.
00:08:38
Speaker
But I do think there was maybe a, he got a, Brian Spencer got a little too cute with this one. Yeah. And, I really like the potential of Peter Kingston at right back. I don't know that lining him up against Joseph Paintsill was putting him in a position to succeed.
00:08:55
Speaker
And granted, Brian maybe doesn't like, I would have expected the galaxy to rotate more than they did, but I think it also speaks to how desperate the galaxy were to get a ah result here.
00:09:07
Speaker
you know, you know I don't blame the result on Kingston by any stretch, but he was not a particularly positive factor offensively. You know, he made a couple okay defensive plays, but he also looked, you know, Brian Spencer said he looked a little timid at times defensively, especially after he got his yellow card.
00:09:24
Speaker
And the Sounders did look better once Kalani came in in the second half. And Kalani was clearly a much better matchup for Joseph Paintsill. And I can't help but wonder if the result would have been a little better if Kalani had started.
00:09:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's a fair question to ask. I think that <unk>s it's tricky because I think there is some value to the sink or swim mentality, right? Of being like, all right, let's see, let's see. You know, this is a tough assignment for you. You've looked good in substitutes minutes. Let's see can do.
00:09:52
Speaker
But... ah when you're having to make the change at halftime to, you know, it's, it's. Yeah. And, and, like and also like as much as Kingston has looked good in his minutes, when he's played on the wing, it's always been when they're chasing a goal, he's never been asked to be like a, right. You know, a like anything like a, a traditional right back.
00:10:15
Speaker
And, and so he's never really had to defend the way that he was going to be asked to defend in this game. And again, I like Kingston a lot. I just don't think this was putting him in the best position to succeed.
00:10:27
Speaker
And they didn't have to. Kalani Kosarienzi might be the player singularly most capable of playing, you know, three games a week. Right. he and And to not use him there just felt like, again, it just felt a little too cute.
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, i would I would tend to agree. I think that, I mean, it worked out, so it's it's tough to be too critical, but I think starting Jordan against the Galaxy, who liked to play deep in counterattack, and sitting him against the Earthquakes, who liked to play a really high line and leave a lot of space in behind, that's that's a decision I'm not super sure about.
00:11:02
Speaker
i and And, you know, Jordan wasn't really going to do a whole lot on the wing in this game, I don't think, and then getting moved to... to center forward after the, the moose injury within the galaxy, I think already had the lead and then back. Yeah. I don't really know what we're doing there to be honest with you.
00:11:20
Speaker
I think that the lack of consistency with the attacking group is, I think a problem at this point, I'm i'm willing to say like, I know that they've had some success this year. They've scored goals at home. Their attack has looked pretty good at home at times for the most part, not even at times for the most part that they've looked very good at attacking at home, but this was a game where it just kind of looked like none of these guys had ever played together before. And that's not really what you want to see at this point in the season.
00:11:49
Speaker
um So yeah, I would love to see a little bit of stability and a little bit of consistency in the attacking group. And obviously you've got to rotate sometimes, but,
Call for Stability in Attack
00:11:59
Speaker
I mean, you know, I can't imagine they're really having to manage Jordan's minutes that much at this point. He's been back for six weeks now. i mean, I think they could have probably played him against San Jose and sat him against the Galaxy as easily as they ended up, you know, as as easily as what they did do.
00:12:16
Speaker
that's it no And, the you know, the early sub doesn't help things, I suppose. ah and it And it did look like Danny was finding some, you know, he was able to get behind the galaxy back line a couple times.
00:12:31
Speaker
He had actually a great look on a play on a pass from Jordan Morris that, you know, again, if he scores that it's a potentially a very different game. And then literally in that same possession, they recycle possession.
00:12:43
Speaker
And He gets hit from sort of behind and John Nelson's face looks like it hits his tooth and his his tooth pops out, ah which i I can only assume is a veneer because your front tooth should not pop out that easily. Normally as someone who has ah injured their face multiple times, that's not usually how that goes. So I i hope that it was a veneer and it and so that it's relatively easy to replace ah because otherwise that's a pretty...
00:13:14
Speaker
dramatic injury uh but earlier it was you know that that seemed to put a a damper in things did you think that should have been a penalty though uh i don't know um yeah that's of how i felt yeah i mean like i'm not going to complain if they get it i'm not going to feel guilty if they get the penalty but i've certainly seen that type of play given but it's not a it's not a for sure penalty I definitely it's one that I would be very happy if it was never given as a penalty again. You know, like I would take that trade off to see, OK, you don't get the benefit of these anymore, but neither do your does your opposition. I would be happy with that because I just don't think there's any.
00:13:55
Speaker
i don't think that there was an opportunity there to score, and I don't think there was any. Yeah, I think it was just more, you know, guy going up for header and losing control a little bit of his body.
00:14:06
Speaker
It's not a foul anywhere else on the field, I don't think so. um But, you know, if we can go back on the time machine and then when I give the penalty, like I said, I'm not going to complain because I do. This game did feel like a game where.
00:14:20
Speaker
The sound, it was a everybody's got a plan and until they get punched in the face kind of thing where was literally sometimes literally right. And it really did feel like the goal and having to make the sub early. That was just kind of curtains, which is uncharacteristic of this team, but it just never felt like they were getting back into this one, I don't think.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah, they they really did struggle to get back into the game after that. ah You know, they started, it was five minutes in. So, you know, I don't want to over index on that, but you know, they, they look, they looked good to start and you know, they were active. I don't want to, I don't want to make it sound like this is a lethargic performance, but they just had nothing going forward until, you know, really until the second half, I want to say.
00:15:04
Speaker
And, you know, to the degree that they did have anything going, it was mostly, you know, Paul Areola getting fat. Like Paul Areola made a nice move, got fouled right outside the box. They had a decent look at a free kick on that one.
00:15:18
Speaker
They don't do much with it. He gets fouled again later on in the half. And then they tried this kind of stupid routine that I don't know why they are like, if you're in a, that to me, if you're that close to gold, don't, don't pull off. You don't need to pull off a routine. Like, yeah,
00:15:36
Speaker
You could save those for corners. I don't know. um But i didn't love that, and it didn't come off, so I guess that makes it worse. But, ah yeah, they just didn't have anything in the attack going forward from really and from Moose's injury until the second half.
00:15:54
Speaker
And then they bring in Kalani, and to the Sounders' credit, it did feel a lot better in the second half. ah You know, probably their best look of the whole half came around,
00:16:07
Speaker
want say the 55th minute, maybe, maybe it was later than that, but, uh, he's just Ferreira played in a really nice ball to Areola at the back post. Oh, it goes. This must've been like this almost the 60th minute. Cause he came off right after, but, um, he plays just a gorgeous ball to Areola at the back post. It looks like he's got a, ah a free header and somehow Marson Kowski gets his hand up, like just kind of throwing his hands up happens to deflect it out.
00:16:33
Speaker
And so that's a little unfortunate. but if that's your only real good scoring chance, you know, that's what are you going to do Right. like yeah The Sounders XG ends up being respectable, but this is one of those games where I think single game XG can be a little deceiving because they did not have a whole bunch of good chances. I think they ended up with,
00:16:55
Speaker
I think they're accredited with two big chances that that was that one. And then maybe just one, maybe just s one on Fubham. Oh, just one. Well, there you go. and So that might've been the only one. And then they had, you know, so they just did not generate much real genuine scoring threats.
00:17:11
Speaker
ah You know, they, they had a couple of little moments where, you know, Albert was neck forces a a decent save by Mars and Kowski off like a 35 yard free kick, but like 35 yard free kicks are just not but like the,
00:17:25
Speaker
the math there doesn't usually add up. right like Right. You got to hit it so hard and so perfect, uh, that it's, it's very rarely going to go in. and then, you know, the, the other decent look, I suppose was ah Who was it? It was Rothrock sending it to Morris in the box, and he's double teamed like in the 89th minute, which would have been a nice way to get the equalizer, but you know he it didn't really have much of a chance.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah And then like there was one other play I thought that was notable. There was a ah nice little interchange between Ferreira and Kalani. Maybe that was the one that was more like the 55th minute.
00:18:04
Speaker
And Ferreira gets absolutely cleaned out And they end up calling a goal kick, which I thought was very odd because to me, it seemed very obvious that either you thought Justin Hack got the ball or Glessis got the ball and it should be a corner kick or he didn't get the ball and it's a stone cold penalty.
00:18:24
Speaker
And there was no call there. And but again, if you're if we're sitting here complaining about one or two calls, it's not, you know, they didn't do well enough. The Sounders needed to generate a lot more than that than they did.
00:18:36
Speaker
Yeah, this is a game where I think you don't have to squint too hard to talk yourself into thinking, yeah, they could have gotten a point with this exact same performance on another day. But that's not... That's not good enough.
00:18:47
Speaker
That's not good enough against this Galaxy team. you know it'ss You just can't leave yourself that kind of margin and of error against bad teams. If you're dropping points against bad teams, it needs to be... a result like the San Diego game where you just get unlucky, right? It doesn't need to be, well, we gave up a goal in the 23rd minute or whatever it is. And that was just kind of it We didn't really do a whole lot after that.
00:19:08
Speaker
um Especially at home, especially going into a break. Especially, you know, with the full, but you don't have a midweek game this week. You can afford to empty the the tank, I think. Yeah. So, you know, just ah just a really frustrating one. And it's I know that part of my reaction is probably irrational.
00:19:28
Speaker
But this team getting grinding out results and maybe overperforming their underlying numbers a little bit and then hitting this wall where they.
00:19:39
Speaker
Play really well and don't get results. And then they have a stinker like this and that leading to like, that is a thing we've seen, you know, from this team more than once over the past decade. And so it makes me a little nervous to see that playing out. Now, if they go down to LA, they get a, they get a win there. They go into the break on a high note.
00:20:01
Speaker
probably not a huge concern. If they go on break on a low note, at least they're going into a break, I guess, right? Like it's, they, you know, they don't, they don't have to worry about it snowballing in the same way they have the, I guess they would have. i mean, it's crazy that this break is going to be so long that by the time they play another game, they will have had the opportunity to add a player, I think, right? Like, uh i mean yeah i mean if if they i mean yamar pedro and yeah they even could sign a a player from outside the league by the time the next you know or acquired a player from trade personally i suppose yeah but yeah they they could and it's ah it's a very long break and i would like you know hopefully the sounders don't
00:20:43
Speaker
waste this great start and because it you know they're currently off their best ever start pace which not far off but it's you know they're not too far off from really getting far off you know it's like this becomes a very normal start if they if they lose the galaxy or the lafc game and look this felt like it could be ah a really good season i think this is a good roster and i mean, i don't think we need to, I'm not breaking any news by saying it would be nice for them to get a result, a better result in LAFC.
00:21:17
Speaker
I do want to talk a little bit about the defense in this one. The goal they gave up was not, I wouldn't say indicative of the kind of goal that they've allowed this year.
00:21:29
Speaker
But it was a sloppy play. you know i first goal, assume you're talking about. there The first goal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. second goal, i whatever. I'm not. Who cares? You're chasing the game. Like, shit happens, right? ah I'm not super worried about that, although I am frustrated a little bit with Jackson Reagan's turnover. But I'm more frustrated with Jackson Reagan's line in the first goal.
00:21:52
Speaker
Watch the replay of this. And the thing that jumps out is Jackson Reagan is no joke, five yards deeper than the next closest defender. he is on the, and I don't, I guess I didn't really break it down why he's even on that side of the field, but somehow he gets caught up following Gabriel Peck all around when all he had to do was just step a little bit. I don't understand why he is so much deeper than every other defender on that play. And all the other, the other three defenders are all lined up. So something is clearly off here and credit to Marco Royce for making a spectacular pass.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah. You know, and it is a beautiful pass. And I suppose you could argue that Hassani or someone else could have closed him down a little bit better, but he is, i mean, he's 45 yards away from goal you're not really worried. You're not, you're not thinking that's the primary threat there.
00:22:49
Speaker
And i just, I, for the life of me, don't know what Jackson Reagan is doing on that play. Yeah. It's, it was definitely just an uncharacteristic performance from him. Generally. I think that it's perplexing to see because he's been such a consistent defender, um you know, throughout his career, especially over the last couple of years, but he's not immune from a stinker. Right. So it's maybe not,
00:23:13
Speaker
unprecedented um but he's played a lot of minutes this year he's played in all but one game I think um close to a thousand minutes only only new and Andrew Thomas have played more and I do wonder if he just needs a break I don't know center backs I don't think should really need a break 12 games into the season but I mean, I guess it's possible that he, you know, is is fatigued or or just had one of those days. I don't know, because it was just those are not the kind of positional mistakes or not the kind of mistakes he tends to make.
00:23:43
Speaker
Right. No, no, that's like he's that's sort of his like his one of the things that he says excels at is just his positioning because he's not really the fastest guy And yeah, as I'm watching this, I just decided to watch it again just to make sure i have no idea what he's he's he somehow gets caught up in.
00:24:03
Speaker
tracking peck and there's not really a good excuse for it. It's like, look, is it excusable in a very, like this kind of thing happens in soccer? Sure. But like a MLS defender of the year candidate should not be caught that far from his,
00:24:21
Speaker
It's not the guy you want to see making those mistakes. That's for sure. No, exactly. Yeah. I just felt like I had to go back and make sure I wasn't missing something obvious, but no, there was nothing obvious that I missed there. He just gets caught up sort of like running after a guy.
00:24:36
Speaker
ah But yeah, and I mean, other than that, I guess defensively they weren't a mess. They, they were maybe a little, I mean, they could have given up more than one goal. It wasn't like a great defensive performance.
00:24:48
Speaker
Well, they did give up. They did. guess they did. know what you mean. Yeah, there was other. They had some other looks, but it, you know, and they they were aggressive. They held a high, you know, they were they were pressing. They created some high turnovers.
00:25:03
Speaker
But that is, I guess, in some ways, it's also indicative of the struggles that they've had this year is that. and going back to last year, they do a good job of creating high turnovers. They don't do a great job of converting those high turnovers into scoring opportunities.
Defensive Struggles and Turnover Issues
00:25:20
Speaker
Right. And that was, again, the case here where, you know, even though they were pinning the galaxy back at times, they weren't really doing a lot with all that pressure.
00:25:32
Speaker
No, they weren't. and And I think that that is, that's the frustrating thing about games like this is that, know, It's not like there are some games that are bad games where they just don't look up for the game.
00:25:45
Speaker
they um They don't look like themselves. You can tell they're tired, whatever it is, right? And in this game, it was the sounders that we've come to expect, but just like 80% of it. Right. Right. Like they just weren't, they were going through the motions of doing all the same things they usually do and succeed at.
00:26:06
Speaker
And none of it was coming off. um And like not creating any kind of pressure from the high press, making these uncharacteristic defensive mistakes where the way that they play, you kind of have to be pretty on point.
00:26:23
Speaker
defensively positionally. You can't really allow them allow the opposition extra space because there's there's not going to be anybody to cover for you there. um And there's going to be a lot of room between, you know, ah you and the and the goalkeeper and just yeah, just it was just a poor execution.
00:26:42
Speaker
And those games are almost more frustrating for me because everybody has an off day where things just don't go right. But it was just, it it didn't feel like that, right? It was just like the the cutting edge was missing. And and those games, I think, are are the most frustrating because I think they have the most potential to sort of linger with a team where it's like, well, we tried that and didn't work last time. And that's that's the thing that concerns me, but...
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. I mean, and I think if anything else, it it sort of like just brings up a lot of anxiety about like to your not your point, like this is a team that was overperforming their metrics, but it did feel vaguely sustainable and that it wasn't like they were pulling wins out of their asses. It was like they were scoring early and then.
00:27:29
Speaker
sitting on a lead. And, you know, one of the things that was, that's been consistent in these, all three of the home games is that they failed to, so they gave up the first goal in all three of them. And so they were playing, they played from behind against San Diego. They played from behind against San Jose.
00:27:46
Speaker
And then they were playing again from behind against the galaxy. And that's just not, you know, for as good as this defense is, they have been, not doing themselves as many favors as they could be.
00:27:59
Speaker
and absolutely And you can, I mean, you certainly can't go through a whole seat. You're not going to win a supporter shield by giving up the first goal, uh, three games in a row. Uh, a lot of time, you know, doing it repeatedly.
00:28:10
Speaker
Yeah, I do like, i and I think if you look at what these last three games, especially have done to where the sounders sit in terms of, you know, uh, defensive XG and all that, that kind of stuff,
00:28:24
Speaker
they they don't look like an elite defensive team anymore, I would say. they They're still very good defensively. They like a good defensive team, but yeah, not elite. You're right. And they're not scoring enough goals. They're not creating enough to be elite if they're not elite defensively. I mean, yeah that's kind of that's kind of the whole thing with this model of the team is that they have to be exceptional defensively to be at the top of their game. They can't get away with ah you know, with not being that way. and And when you have your primary competition is Vancouver, who is elite defensively and also is elite in the attack. Yeah.
00:29:06
Speaker
ah You just, you know, you can't really afford to to slip behind. And and it's it's one of those things until the Sounders are out of the supporter shield race. That's the standard I'm holding up to.
00:29:17
Speaker
Absolutely. We can recalibrate when they, you know, when they are out of that race and and they're playing for playoff positioning and we're just more concerned about how they look going into the playoffs, my standards and what I'm hoping for and what I'm expecting will change. That's just the way it goes. But while they're in the race, I need them to be elite and I need them to be as good as we know that they can be because i want to I want to stay in that race as long as as we can.
Need for Offensive Reinforcements
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah. And I also think there is something to be said about The personnel here is, you know, it can use an upgrade. I think we, you know, we we talked earlier this year about how,
00:29:55
Speaker
you know it was probably prudent not to make a signing because it it wasn't obvious where that signing was going to be best used. But I think at this point, we can say definitively that they can use some more offensive firepower.
00:30:09
Speaker
I think Jesus Ferreira is a fine player. Albert Rusnak is a fine player. Jordan Morris is We can go down. There's a lot of good players on this team. And I think on his day, Albert Rusnak can be elite. All these guys, you know, Jesus Ferreira scored an elite goal where he you know, and just sort of took command of the situation. And, and that's what you need sometimes from, from those types of players, but they could really use another difference maker offensively, even if it's not someone who is the automatic starter.
00:30:39
Speaker
But if you can bring in a, you know, another number nine and yeah, I guess maybe that means we're pushing Jordan Morris out to the wing, but I don't think if Jordan Morris, isn't your number nine, know,
00:30:53
Speaker
I don't think it can be so you can get Danny Masofsky or Osaze De Rosario. No, like, no, I, that's, yeah that's where it comes down to for me. It's like, if, if you're gonna, if, if, if Morris is going to be on the wing, you got to have a real, like a, a real top class number nine.
00:31:11
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you can't tell me that either one of those guys is somebody you would expect to find on a championship caliber team. No disrespect to those guys. No offense to those guys at all. And I like both players yeah what they are.
00:31:24
Speaker
i like that the Sounders have three distinct profiles at Striker. That's that's nice. They've got guys that they can plug into different situations. It'll give you different things. I like that. Yeah.
00:31:35
Speaker
They all are, I think they're all, you know, performing where you would hope they would be performing. But on a team where you don't have a guy who is your Raul Ruiz Diaz, Obafemi Martins, you know, that kind of goal scorer that's going to score 14 to 18 goals and and just kind of put the team on their back at times.
00:31:58
Speaker
And I don't think you have to have a player like that to be a great team. But if you don't have a player like that, you need... goal contributions from lots of different people.
00:32:09
Speaker
And right now the sounders aren't really getting that. Like they're, they're getting a goal here or there from a bunch of different guys. They need another guy that can score like eight to 10 goals or course season yeah And I think they have the resources to do that.
00:32:23
Speaker
i I think a lot of people look at the amount of allocation money they have and say, look at all the guys that can go sign. And I don't think that's what's going to happen. I think most of that allocation money is probably going to keeping the team together in future windows and...
00:32:40
Speaker
And that's not super exciting, but they have to have the resources to bring in at least one different. No, there's gotta be. Yeah. um And just to throw out a name ah because ah he just got released. ah But what would you think of like a Daryl DK? Yeah.
00:32:58
Speaker
I mean, i don't know. It's not super exciting. i would like it to be more exciting. but with It does feel like a kind of Sounders-esque move, though, doesn't it? It does. And and like I've defended their stra i've offend defended that approach, right? I think that it's it's paid dividends and it's a good thing.
00:33:17
Speaker
But just once, as a treat, it would be kind of nice to get someone who is not a reclamation project. Yeah. I don't, I mean, I don't know. Maybe Daryl DK doesn't count as a reclamation project. I mean, the reality is that he, he moved to the championship, I believe four years ago, which is yeah wild to think about.
00:33:37
Speaker
twenty twenty two yeah He's had basically one productive season since then. And he's been in and out of injury ever since, ah you know, he, he is currently healthy as far as I understand it, but he was just released by Brom. Right.
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, look, it's there's upside there. He's he's only 25 years old. ah there's a chance it works.
00:34:04
Speaker
I gotta feel like they have the resources to go get somebody who's a little bit more of a sure thing. Now, if they want to sign Daryl DK and a, and like a winger, sure that's, that's fine. That's, that's great. Like we're going to get greedy. Why not?
00:34:17
Speaker
But like, how convinced are you that Daryl DK is a meaningful upgrade over Asazi or Rosario at this point? You know, I'm not, I'll be honest. I don't know that that he is, but yeah, would at least So go ahead. Sorry. Oh, I don't know. I don't know if he is ah to your point. Like, I don't, I just don't know if I'd like him to be, i mean, his, his best season is obviously better than Osase's best season.
00:34:43
Speaker
ah You know, he's got a, you know, he's got some, you know, he, he had some good, he's had some good stretches. ah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just now finding out that Daryl DK is bright. DK's brother. I did not know. Oh, you didn't know that?
00:34:58
Speaker
No, I did not know that Timbers legend bright DK. Yeah. You'd say he was a pretty good player on his, on his day. mean, I don't know if he ever played in, he didn't play much time at MLS, but he was it was interesting. He was a fun player. I feel like he, we, we saw him lot in the open cup.
00:35:14
Speaker
Yes, you know I certainly remember him taking a penalty in the 2010 Open Cup, at least. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a name that's interesting, I suppose. I genuinely would not be at all shocked if that he's a player that they went after.
00:35:29
Speaker
But there are some more compelling free agents. Yeah, um I would imagine. And so I and there there are guys in MLS. I like I think if you give somebody two million dollars worth allocation, you could probably get a pretty good player, you know? So, yeah.
00:35:45
Speaker
i wonder I mean, you know and ah Again, this would require a ah designated player spot, but you know i wouldn't be shocked if Dejan Jovalich is available for the right price. Again, that requires a lot of work. ah you know Hugo Kuypers may be available if ah Chicago signs ah Robert lou Lewandowski.
00:36:09
Speaker
these are, again, these are DPs. i don't, the Sounders would have to do a lot of work to open up a DP spot. So I'm not necessarily, i don't assume that by any stretch of the imagination, but point is there's upgrades to be made if they want to make them.
00:36:23
Speaker
I hope that they do. I saw someone sort of half jokingly suggest, I kind of hope they lose to LAFC because that'll light a fire under the front office to to sign someone.
00:36:34
Speaker
And i I hate to be this guy, but that is not worth hoping for.
Potential Signings and Speculations
00:36:38
Speaker
Like not they're going to spend money, it's it's going to happen regardless of what happens to the LAFC game.
00:36:45
Speaker
Right. I don't think that Adrian is capable of allowing... a result changes mind about anything. Yeah. Uh, now maybe the stretch has, has convinced him that they sure they need to go sign somebody. But,
00:37:03
Speaker
I think they could go down there and beat LAFC to an L and still go sign a guy. Yeah. Yeah. I don't hope so because I like ah every, every summer window we say they almost need to sign somebody just to keep the pitchforks away. Right. And well, yeah.
00:37:19
Speaker
And I think especially in a world cup year where you're, you're, you're really going to risk losing the attention span of your fans over the next year. you know, six to eight weeks and you can't just sit there in the background.
00:37:33
Speaker
ah I, I have heard that the Sounders are going to be playing a friendly against Belgium, which I think is going to basically be a semi closed door thing at long acres, but that'll be like the only action that there is during this, this break. So, yeah i mean, yeah, if nothing else. Keep the, keep people interested.
00:37:51
Speaker
ah you know, I'm not above a, I'm not above a PR signing at this point. No, no. I mean, I think that honestly, i think it could help. be I think it could help the team too. Like these guys are not, the core of the team is not getting younger.
00:38:07
Speaker
i Like, yeah I don't know how much, how many more seasons, especially since the next season is the weird sprint season thing. Yeah. I don't know how many more window, like how long the window for this core is. I would agree. Yeah. and I think that there's something to be said about,
00:38:26
Speaker
ah you know, all the, all the silverware they've won aside from the league's cup last year with these guys on the team, it was Nico's team, right? I think Christian's team winning some silverware, some actual league silverware um would be, you know, would, would be nice for him. I would, I would like to see, yeah I would like to see that the team that he's the leader of winning a trophy. And I, and I think that, you know, going and getting somebody that can help put you over the top would probably do, do some good mentally for, for the team.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, why don't we take a break? ah We'll come back. I'm sure we'll have something else to
Sponsor Spotlight: Full Pull Wines
00:39:03
Speaker
talk about. I don't know. but we and We'll talk about LAFC.
00:39:06
Speaker
I don't know. ah Give me some time to think about this, but ah I'm sure going to want to stick around. We at least have some announcements to make. ah You're listening to Dos Audientes on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network.
00:39:21
Speaker
Sounder at Heart has been around in one form or another since 2009. In 2026, though, we make a pretty significant evolution when we go analog. Yes, that's right. In the year of our Lord, 2026, we are publishing a real-life magazine. We're calling this thing 4, as in Sounder at Heart 4.0. But we're stylizing it as IV because we absolutely love Roman numeral. And if you want to refer to it as IV, that's cool, too. The first issue has a comic book-style cover that was hand-drawn by local artist Kevin Newber. I could not possibly be more proud of the work everyone put into making this
00:40:01
Speaker
max aquino mike russell and jane gererssibitz i could not possibly be more proud of the work everyone put into making this and I think you're gonna absolutely love it. If you'd like to get your hands on one of these limited edition copies, we're currently selling them for $15 on our website. Get yours now. Nos Adietes admittedly is not exactly known for our spicy takes, but that doesn't mean we want our food to be mild.
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Speaker
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00:40:48
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:41:12
Speaker
Hacks and Ferments is a proud sponsor of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network.
00:41:20
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Well, we may as well. We are going to talk about LAFC. We're going preview this LAFC game. But I wanted to now to share a few things before we get into that. One of them is we have officially sent the next issue of 4, the Sounder at Heart magazine, to the printer.
00:41:39
Speaker
ah You can still buy
World Cup Edition: Magazine Release
00:41:41
Speaker
copies. We have plenty left. It's a World Cup issue. Lots of good stuff in there. It's packed with 56 pages of content. It's pretty, pretty impressive if I do say so myself, what we were able to pull together.
00:41:55
Speaker
ah But those are $15. If you are a subscriber at the supporter level ah or above, you can get a $5 discount. You can also bundle it with the first issue.
00:42:06
Speaker
You can get both issues for $20. So if you want to do any of that, I would just go to sounderatheart.com. There's a link at the top of the page there. and And buy yourself a magazine, support print journalism, support actual journalism, and ah and you'll feel good about yourself and you'll get some good reading.
00:42:26
Speaker
And it's all about stuff that's related to the the World Cup in Seattle. ah The other thing on a similar note Sounder at Heart is going to be co-hosting a watch party slash pregame slash postgame live show with Scuffed, which is a U.S. national team podcast.
00:42:46
Speaker
We're going to be doing that around the... june 19th u.s game against australia we're going to be doing it at fast fashion brewing the game is at noon as you may know fast fashion is going to open up at 8 a.m that day and we're probably going to end up spending most of the day there because we're going to do a pre-game fun stuff we'll do a watch party during the game if you can't actually get into the game and then I think we're planning on doing a live post game show.
00:43:13
Speaker
So that should be a
Upcoming Events: Watch Party & Meet-and-Greet
00:43:15
Speaker
lot of fun. And then the night before we are going to be doing sort of a meet and greet thing at project nine brewing in Maple leaf. So if you want to come out and just say, hi, there's no programming for that, but we, at least we're not planning on doing a program there may be, but ah if you want to come out and say hi and just meet some cool people, I think it will be a lot of fun.
00:43:36
Speaker
So with all that said, Aaron, let's talk about this LAFC game. LAFC are in a bad way, but that, you know, we know that's not necessarily mean anything for the Sounders, but Oh boy.
00:43:50
Speaker
Uh, going back to April 4th, when LAFC beat Orlando city six zero, and they looked like an absolute buzzsaw. They followed that up with a three zero one three zero win over Cruz Sewell in the CONCACAF champions league quarterfinals.
00:44:05
Speaker
And it was like, Oh, this team is unstoppable. Well, Since that game, they have won just once in league play, and they are currently on a four game losing streak in all competitions, a five game winless run in MLS play or ah yeah, four game winless run in MLS play.
00:44:31
Speaker
And that includes three straight losses, most recently on the road against Nashville. But then they lost two to one away at St. Louis City. And then they lost four to one at home against the Houston Dynamo.
00:44:44
Speaker
A lot of bad results in this. They aren't exactly going up against a murderer's row. There's a two one loss at the at Portland. There's a four one loss to the earthquakes, a zero zero tie against Colorado.
00:44:58
Speaker
And then their one win is a one zero, a win against Minnesota. What has happened to LAFC? This was a team that was just cutting through teams like hot knife through butter early in the year.
00:45:11
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. I think that Mark Dos Santos has had some time to soak in and you know, they've, they've shaken off the Trundolo magic dust and, Now they're just ah covered in frog juice, I think is the problem, would be my guess. i No, I don't know. I mean, i ah this is a team that has a lot of great players, obviously. Yeah.
00:45:32
Speaker
But they've got a lot of old players, too. Yeah. And that's that's probably a factor. um And they just haven't been great at anything.
00:45:46
Speaker
Like they haven't been terrible at anything either really on the, over the course of the season, but they're certainly not scoring like they, they have in the past. Their defense has been pretty mediocre.
00:45:57
Speaker
ah And yeah, this is a brutal run of results. I mean, we, we spent the first segment bitching about this, this four game stretch for the Sounders and and that four game stretch included a win over, you know, a team that has has been playing out of their minds. Whereas LAFC is just,
00:46:13
Speaker
getting getting battered by some pretty mediocre teams. so Yeah, one point in their last four games in league play, and that was a 2-2 tie against San Diego. Yeah, not not great, not great, which is great. You know, it's nice to see. I'm sick to death of LAFC, and I would love it if they slipped into mediocrity for a little bit here. More forever, that that's fine too. Yeah.
00:46:36
Speaker
i But I'm sure, you know, the Sounders would love to cheer them up and rekindle the rivalry. mean, it's still a team. It won't be easy. It won't be easy. No, I mean, it's still a team that has a lot of talent.
00:46:48
Speaker
ah You know, Denny Mwanga is not, you know, off. You know, he started the season. This is a team that started on ah the season on an 11 game unbeaten run.
00:46:59
Speaker
And they were I mean, they I can't overstate how much they were just. destroying teams early in the year. And, ah you know, and so there's some residuals from that, but Danny Mo Bwonga is still as dangerous as ever.
00:47:14
Speaker
Dave, David Martinez seems to be really stepping up. Although, you know, it's, i'm I'm like kind of fascinated by this son. Hung win has eight assists, but no goals yet in MLS play, which is just a bizarre, a bizarre turn of events.
00:47:31
Speaker
Yeah. Set piece goals, maybe. I don't know. But you would certainly expect him to be scoring some goals. That's. ah Yeah. You got to think that if if he is not scoring goals, they are going to be underperforming, which seems to be what's happening.
00:47:44
Speaker
Right. Yeah. He's i mean, he's got two goals in in Champions Cup play. He's got 14 assists. Yeah.
00:47:55
Speaker
He's, you know, child he he can deliver a ball. That's for sure. yeah I don't think anybody's questioning that, but that's. maybe not the breakdown you would love to have. No. Is that 14 assists in all comps or that's in all comps. Yeah. all coms yeah Okay. um But nine and and nine in MLS, it looks like. So that's, ah he has an assist on like a lot of their goals, 40% of their goals. I think.
00:48:22
Speaker
Yeah. Is this the first time they've played LAFC since son has joined them? I think it is. Yeah, i think it might be because he came over towards the end of the summer window last year, I think.
00:48:34
Speaker
Right. So, yeah, i think I think it would be. um Which I'm glad we're getting, you know, this version and not the not the one that. the those Yeah. Yeah. last yeah they yeah He's not played the Sounders yet. So, yeah, this will be a new experience.
00:48:52
Speaker
It will. I'm hoping that Peter Kingston doesn't get to start right back this week, maybe. i mean, it's going to be a a handful for Kalani Kosarienzi, too, right? It absolutely is. It absolutely is.
00:49:06
Speaker
or Or maybe Alex. Maybe Alex gets to start it right back. and I mean, maybe. i i The impression I get is that he's probably out Until after the. Oh yeah that's right he's got the hamstring. Yeah he's got the hamstring thing which came as a surprise to all of us.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah. ah A deep regret of ours from Friday's press availability. We we failed to ask about injuries and then we found out after training that Alex had done his hamstring that he and he found out about it apparently right after the game.
00:49:34
Speaker
He played 90 minutes in the game though so you can excuse us for not for not catching that one. But.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah. Not a, not a guy you want to see injured. That's for sure. Uh, I never want to hear rolled on and hamstring in the same sentence. No, I don't either. But yeah, I mean, this is it. So, which is all to say that this is a, a winnable game for the Sounders. i wouldn't say that they are favored to get a result in this one, but there's no reason they can't. And it, and it would, it would go a long way towards shifting the narrative, even if the narrative is not the most important thing. And, uh, you know, but ah it would be nice to go into the break with some positive vibes, like we said, and it kind of goes without saying, but, um,
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah, let's hope they can do it. The Sounders have not won at LAFC in the regular season ever, I don't think. Yeah, that seems that seems right.
00:50:34
Speaker
They have won twice in the playoffs. Yeah. in And I don't think they have ever won in the regular season at LAFC. So that would be another... they just ended one streak. It would be nice to end another one. Yeah, exactly. You know, in a positive against another LA team. So, yeah, that would be...
00:50:52
Speaker
That would be a nice little treat. time like the present. That's right. ah Yeah, I mean, i I think that a point is a totally reasonable thing to expect out of this game. Yeah. I don't expect LAFC to play this poorly the whole season. I don't expect them to finish seventh and just barely see them the playoffs. I think that they'll you know be in the top three or four at very least coming into the season.
00:51:14
Speaker
But they're not playing well right now. They're probably just trying to limp into the break themselves. ah And... I think that you've got to be motivated for this game. You've got to be up for this game after the the Galaxy results.
00:51:28
Speaker
And Sounders have been great on the road this year. They've only got the one loss on the road. So I think it is totally reasonable to expect them to get a point. And and I don't think a ah win is off the table, but my expectations have been tampered a little bit where I don't think I'm necessarily going into this game, you know, expecting or hoping for a win, hoping for a win, obviously, but right yeah im not expecting one.
00:51:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, on that great note, we should probably put a pin in it. Thanks to everyone for listening. We'll have lots of content, I promise. ah So it's not like we're saying goodbye or anything, but, you know, it's a whatever. i don't know what I'm saying. I'm just going Get us out of here. Thank you to our sponsor, Full Bull Wines. Thank you to all of you ah loyal listeners and subscribers. Again, if you want to do more to support Sounder at Heart, I really want to urge everyone to go out and buy the new issue of 4, the Sounder at Heart magazine.
00:52:22
Speaker
We put a lot of good work into that. a lot of ah I think people will be really happy with everything that's in there. just wanted to give a shout out to our new partners at soccer wise. We're starting to do more stuff with them.
00:52:36
Speaker
You're going to be hearing more from David Goss. We have ah a midweek show that we're going to be doing with him on a regular basis. ah That should be fun. So i wanted to say, give a shout out for that. Of course, we are also starting to move more of our video content onto lobbying scorchers. So you can go onto YouTube. And even though this show, we aren't,
00:52:57
Speaker
sure if we're going to start doing video on this specific show, but we're going to have more No Sariotis video content up on Lobbing Scorchers as time goes on. Anyway, with all that said, I am Jeremiah Oshan. Getting out of here for Aaron Campo and Lickett.
00:53:12
Speaker
This is No Sariotis, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:53:47
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders.