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A Regression of Vibes - Ep. 56
34 Plays3 months ago
We’re back with an unfortunate L pod as the Seattle Sounders’ Leagues Cup group-stage match against Club Nexaca devolved into a full-on debacle that also saw them lose Pedro de la Vega to another injury. We break down what took place at Lumen Field in our game review before previewing this Thursday’s knockout-stage showdown against Joey Paints and the high-flying LA Galaxy.
We also hit our weekly Agenda Check, then discuss a couple of other headlines from around MLS, including LAFC reportedly negotiating a transfer for another French superstar to pair with the already-arrived Olivier Giroud.
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Transcript
Episode Sponsorship and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpoleones.com. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 56 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I've got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, we don't just have an L-pod today. We have an emphatic L-pod. How are you feeling?
00:00:53
Speaker
I'm feeling very disillusioned Ari and we will get into that more later, but oh my lord. We'll get into the smoke. We'll get into the disillusionment. You know, an L pod is always unfortunate, especially after the run of dub pods that we had recently. But you know, I don't, I don't necessarily mind an L pod. I find them to be quite cathartic. So
00:01:10
Speaker
We're going to still lay down a good show for you tonight, even in spite of that debacle that we all witnessed at Loom & Field.
Episode Delay and Game Review
00:01:20
Speaker
First of all, apologies for the late release of this episode. Our timeline got a little pushed back. I was out of town. We had to get a line when I got back. So we are recording this on Tuesday when we would normally do it on Monday. So appreciate the patience and you all bearing with us on that.
00:01:36
Speaker
We're going to do our game review of the Seattle Sounders 3-1 Leagues Cup defeat to Club Nacoxah at Lumen Field, which did not eliminate the Sounders from the competition. But I would say it's fair to say that it went about as disastrously as it possibly could have with them still advancing on multiple fronts. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to preview the knockout stage match against the LA Galaxy who are coming to Lumen Field on Thursday.
00:02:04
Speaker
a random day to be playing. I know the schedule for this tournament. I'm like, usually I have a rhythm of match nights that I'm working for the website where it's Wednesday, Saturday, and I can kind of, but with league's cup, I, you know, I was working the games last night on a Monday. I've had Thursdays. This is going to be a Thursday. There's been some Tuesdays thrown in there. It's kind of all over the place. But yeah, the sounders in the galaxy are going to be playing on Thursday. We'll hit our agenda check.
00:02:29
Speaker
You know, I wrote down a few for those. A lot of them are diminished this week, unfortunately, but we're still going to get into it. And then there's a lot of other group stage results before this knockout round going on in League's Cup, so we're going to cover those as well. And then hit some transfer news from around MLS and talk about all the big time signings that the Seattle Sounders are making, which is none right now. So before we get into
Supporting the Podcast Network
00:02:55
Speaker
all that, though,
00:02:55
Speaker
I wanted to let you all know. Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. And as we have been known to do from time to time and are gonna start doing again regularly until we can't anymore,
00:03:23
Speaker
I'm going to read off all our supporters names and thank you all for signing up and for giving us the support you do. We love and appreciate all you guys. Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascanelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Dan Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bontye, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Maley, Andy Hill, Mike Latini, Nate Bontye, David Rodriguez, my nephews, C.J. Miles and Mirinakis, Mark Ottinger, Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, and Clairen Berger.
00:03:53
Speaker
Clara Berger, thank you all so much. We really appreciate it. Sounderheart.com slash L-S. We're at like 23 subs right now. The next goal is 25. I know for a fact, know for a fact, there's two of you out there listening that will go to sounderheart.com slash L-S and help us out.
00:04:13
Speaker
And as always, if you're listening to this and you have not done so yet, please subscribe to the Lobbins Gorges YouTube.
Game Lineup and Key Moments
00:04:20
Speaker
The drive to 350 subs on YouTube is alive and well. We're at 320 when I got back from out of town. We had been at like 308 or something and we've been stacking, but please help us on the drive to 350 as we try and grow and expand our presence on YouTube.
00:04:38
Speaker
All right. Let's get into this. Let's get into this L pod. And we'll start as always with our lineup reaction. Pretty rotated for this game, which is what I advocated for and predicted what happened going into this. You had RBW in there for new who you had Danny Leyva with Obed in the double pivot. So no JP in the starting 11 for this game. And you had moose up top and Andy T and goal. And then all of new who JP Jordan Paul Rothrock
00:05:09
Speaker
you know, that's your secret weapon, who you had to, you have to rest as you, the further you go in this tournament, your most important player. And Leo Chu all subbed on later. So it was kind of like a rotated starting 11. And then you got more of the starting group coming in, in the second half.
00:05:25
Speaker
And you know, funnily enough, this game actually got off to about as good a start as possible. Feels like that's happened a few times this year where they get off to like a great start and it looks amazing and they're playing great free flowing, repeatable offense. They get an early goal and then they just take themselves. I could probably.
00:05:45
Speaker
think of at least two or three other times that's happened this year, so that's an unfortunate trend. But Obed Vargas, great goal, just eight minutes into the game. You know, what was great about this sequence, I think, was it was good to see the brothers rolled on combination on the right side, create a high percentage chance like that. That was the bread and butter of this attack as recently as last year, and that has not really, I feel like, been the case as much.
00:06:08
Speaker
this year, but they did great work. The brothers rolled on to, uh, to set up that chance for Obed. It was a perfectly weighted assist by Christian. Obed runs onto it and a really great finish. He was wide open, but it was a pretty tough angle and he stuffed it. So, uh, the Obed stock continues to skyrocket and we're going to talk about that in the agenda check, but great start to the game. That's the best start that you could hope for. And they were dominating. It wasn't just that goal. They were pounding all over him, all over him.
00:06:40
Speaker
But tragedy struck just three minutes after that. And this is really, you know, this is where it all torpedoed about as much as it possibly could have. Yeah, I believe it was in the 10th or 11th minute. So just after the goal when Pedro de la Vega
00:06:57
Speaker
who we've talked about a lot this season about how him breaking out and being a dynamic and productive and creative member of this attack is the most important factor in this team reaching whatever trophy contending ceiling it might have. And we haven't been able to see it because he's been injured all season. He's finally worked his way back to fitness. And 10 or 11 minutes into this game, he scored an absolutely insane goal.
00:07:26
Speaker
One of the crazier shots that a Sounders players hit all season, you know, the Rui Diaz one in Philly was up there and there have been a couple other good ones. Roosnax had like a couple good free kicks. But this was pure wizardry. This was wizardry. Just the angle he hit that from and the bend he put on it.
00:07:47
Speaker
like I don't I don't know if that's what he was trying to do or if he was trying to just you know send in a cross and wreak havoc but I'm gonna choose that he that was just fully planned by by De La Vega and he hit that on purpose but either way to convert that shot from that angle from outside the box the degree of difficulty on that one is incredibly high and it was really just like great to see because
00:08:12
Speaker
I felt like watching him, he's had this kind of stuff in his bag. He just hasn't been able to play consistently enough to generate the chemistry he needs with the players around him and then also just to gain the fitness and sharpness that he needs to like do this stuff on a regular basis. So to see him hit that shot, you know, you're kind of feeling like, wow.
00:08:33
Speaker
Okay, he's here. He's here. He's on the score sheet. That's going to be good for his confidence. He looks fit. He's super stoked to score. This is great. They're up to zero on the League MX competition in the group stage. Awesome. What a start to this game. And unfortunately, the vibes
00:08:53
Speaker
Which were previously immaculate got chalked instantaneously They hit him with the Obed giveth Obed take it the way. Yeah, so The Pedro de la Vega Galazzo was waved off for an offside wasn't on Obed It was on I really didn't watch the replay of the infraction where I saw the goal But would you like me to describe it to you? Give the people a breakdown of why this goal was waved off
00:09:19
Speaker
So Obed acknowledges that he's offside and he clearly doesn't play the ball He kind of just like moves out of the way of it and just like runs and like dummies over the ball in a sense like tries to just stay out of the way He had made a run previously And I can't even remember I think I think it might have been Christian or Alex who made a pass to Obed's space area and he he was offside came back onside
00:09:48
Speaker
tried to avoid the ball best he could, kind of maybe inhibited the defender with a little bit of a collision, and Pedro was able to scoop the ball, take it inside, and that's when he ripped off this gnarly curl of shot.
00:10:04
Speaker
It's a tough, but fair ruling. I think personally, I think that if Obed hadn't actually like physically gotten in front of the defender, that it would probably be fine. But he did kind of impede his movement to the ball, which Pedro was able to exploit and cut in. Jeremiah disagreed with me, but that's my day. It seemed like the consensus was that it was a
00:10:26
Speaker
people could see what where the logic was but it felt kind of tough and harsh uh if that makes sense yeah um i would have to i would have to really get in the weeds and watch it again to have an informed opinion on that and frankly i don't really care enough to do that um the outcome was the outcome and uh the vibes were further tanked from there about 20 minutes later when
00:10:50
Speaker
Pedro de la Vega subbed off with yet another injury. It's a groin this time. So it's been hamstrings all season. Now it's a groin injury. And you know, these muscle injuries, you're usually talking about a few weeks every time it happens.
De la Vega's Injury Concerns
00:11:06
Speaker
Because you know it has to heal and then you have to get it back to fitness And you have to you it has to be in a way Where it's not going to recur which like a groin especially as much if not more than a hamstring There's a lot of risk that either one of those are going to recur that's why groins and hamstrings are really tricky So for him to have another one of these that's independent of the muscle injuries that he's already had not great Is this dude drinking water?
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah. I don't mean, I don't know what's going on. We're going to talk about it in my takeaways here in a second, but, um, it really, uh, it just added to how chalked the vibes were after the great start and the OB goal. And really Seattle just pretty much completely self-destructed from there. They got bammed on three times in a row without scoring another goal. And they are limping into this knockout round match against the galaxy. We're one of the best teams in MLS this year on the heels of a really just terrible result.
00:12:00
Speaker
losing a player that they really need to make a run in this competition that any notion of them winning this tournament or frankly MLS Cup I think
00:12:12
Speaker
It was predicated on the idea that De La Vega could get healthy and contribute. So if that's not the case, I mean, folks, it's just it's the idea of this team contending for trophies with the roster in this state with De La Vega sidelined and not contributing at all. It's it's a stretch to me. Even Open Cup.
00:12:34
Speaker
I mean, I guess they're already, they're so close to the open cup final at this point that in two individual games, anything can happen right now. Like you're at a point in this tournament where there's still such a long way to go. And, uh, the later you get into it, you're going to be playing some really high quality opposition, whether it's the, the upper tier MLS teams or the upper tier league on Mickey's teams. I'm not saying it can't be done. It's just the path is harder to imagine. Um,
00:13:03
Speaker
And with Open Cup, you have to play LAFC, which we already saw how that turned out. It's a good point. We already saw how that turned out. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know. Not to be a downer, but that's just kind of how I see it. I'm going to do my rapid fire takeaways, and then you can tell me what you think of these. And then we'll get into the agenda check. My number one takeaway is that I think with the De La Vega stuff, we've unfortunately reached the point here where
00:13:30
Speaker
You kind of got to consider just shutting him down for the season, don't you? Like it feels like right now, you know, I'm not a doctor. I have no medical knowledge. So if the medical staff value in the coaches evaluate it and they feel like there's still a chance that this can heal and they can get him back to fitness and he can play this year, then great. They should do that. But just based on what I have seen this year,
00:13:55
Speaker
uh it seems like his body is not capable right now of ramping itself up to withstand the demands of being able to play professional soccer without sustaining muscle injuries so with that being the case now that this is like the third or fourth time that this has happened i don't know how much you uh gain by kind of spinning your tires like this like i almost feel like
00:14:21
Speaker
you might be better served to just call it a season with this and give him a full offseason to heal and get fit and then give it a rip next year when he's got more of just a baseline of health and fitness than constantly rehabbing and then re-injuring himself.
00:14:41
Speaker
You know, if they can get him healthy and contributing down the stretch for maybe the last part of the regular season and then maybe hopefully get a playoff boost from him. You know, I'm not saying not to do that. If you think it's possible, I just don't know if that's possible. It's this has happened every time they've tried to play him this year.
00:15:10
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart podcast network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:15:36
Speaker
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00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah, hindsight is 20-20, obviously. Like, we can't go back in time. But you were advocating for this quite a long time ago. I wish they would have just put him on the season-ending injury list. That takes his salary off the books, correct? I'm actually not sure about that, but... Okay, let's just play a hypothetical here, and maybe we're completely wrong. Let's say that that does that. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm just an idiot. But think about how that could have opened up more space for the summer window to make a move.
00:16:34
Speaker
and adds you more flexibility. Again, hindsight is 2020. That literally may not even be a league rule. So I'm just bullshitting here, but I get why they have been trying to, you know, rehab them and ramp it up and play them to this point. I just think after the fourth time, man, like
00:16:50
Speaker
I could be speaking out of just frustration from having watched this a bunch of times, but like I Don't know it's just it's just something I was thinking about yeah, he's 24 He should be like there's there's I think that there's a bigger issue too with just the fact that
00:17:13
Speaker
This is continuing to happen and now it's just different muscles and on top of that He isn't match fit and he's still not match fit, right? You can only play him like 30 or 40 minutes at a time right now They had ramped him up past that but it's really honestly more than anything. It's just really unfortunate and I feel really bad for him because you know, you could tell early on in the season it was
00:17:37
Speaker
It was taking a toll on him mentally. He had family come out here to try and get his mind in a little better place. You definitely feel for the kid. It's been a lost first season here in Seattle.
00:17:55
Speaker
It just felt so cruel, but also on the nose to have that happen again right after he scored a goal like
Player Performance Critiques
00:18:03
Speaker
that. I know it didn't count, but kind of just to see like, okay, that's the sort of like play, impact play that he has in him. And for him to get another injury like 20 minutes later, it's just so unfortunate. Someone said he was edging us and I said, I don't think you can say that on Twitter.
00:18:21
Speaker
This was Seattle's second straight home game where they gave up three goals and pretty much got clowned on so
00:18:29
Speaker
That's not great. It's not the vibe you want. They did advance, I guess, not second straight home game because they had the Minnesota United one, but there was the second time in three. So that's not good for the vibes. And we're going to talk about this in the galaxy preview. But my last takeaway was, I mean, I just, I hate this matchup with the galaxy right now. It's no one should feel good about this. And we'll tell you why in our match preview, but that was sort of where my mind went.
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to see Joey Paints. That's it. I have tickets just to see him. Gabriel Pex honestly emerged as pretty much just as good. They're definitely a fun team to watch except when they're destroying your team. Correct.
00:19:14
Speaker
It might happen. It might happen. All right. Let's hit this agenda check. I have four written down. We can make this pretty quick because I feel like they're pretty simple. Obed was the one who strengthened his agenda, which he continues to do, but that was a really sick goal. The finish on that one, just seeing him get on the score sheet again.
00:19:39
Speaker
there's one player who managed to up his stock in a debacle of a game like this. I would say it was him. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of what we've been looking at with him.
00:19:48
Speaker
It seems like no matter how dark the game is or how bad of a spot that the team is in, Obed is still constantly improving, and he's just this bright spot. He played a great game all around. I don't even think I would... It clearly wasn't his fault that they lost, but man, it's crazy to see him improve.
00:20:09
Speaker
Like I know we keep saying we're gonna hate to see him leave but I mean his value just has to be by with a week increasing to like absurd amounts absolutely and I think that's That's a good way to think of it is like every time he makes a play like that the price goes up Yesterday's price is not two days price exactly
00:20:35
Speaker
We had the RBW over new who agenda I hate to say it but pretty diminished There there was a lot of takes flying around okay, and there's a lot of takes flying around I don't really think I was as much a part of that that you know I'm on record as not being as anti new who as As some of the brigade out there, and you know a lot of people don't like that a lot of people disagree with me on that but
00:21:01
Speaker
I thought this was a pretty rough one for RBW. He is 19, so let's keep that in mind. Growing pains with a young player like that, every young player, there's going to be moments like that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but on at least two of the goals, RBW was pretty involved on the sequence that led up to it. Am I wrong?
00:21:23
Speaker
You're not wrong, and as a purveyor of this agenda, I feel quite embarrassed. This was not a good showing for our boy here, but again, like you said, he's 19. There are gonna be hiccups and goosebumps. You have to let kids play and learn their position, but it was not.
00:21:42
Speaker
It was not a good look. I think my takeaway from watching those sequences was just that you know, he's still very he's very tools. He's got a lot of really great traits and I love his upside like we've talked about as an attacking fullback or just a winger and I think he's got all the skills to be very effective in that role and become like a
00:22:05
Speaker
a very sought after player for an overseas transfer and all that. I still believe all that. I think his defense, I think his one V one defending is a work in progress. He, that's the big, probably the biggest part of his game that he needs to develop. At least if the whole, if the plan is to have him be a fullback,
00:22:24
Speaker
that's the part of his game that he's gonna have to work on and develop a little more to really maximize what he can do at that position and then otherwise I think you might be maybe better served to play him higher up the field like we've talked about this year where maybe that two-way skill set isn't as important but to play that position
00:22:46
Speaker
really like the modern, the ideal modern fullback is a two-way player. And so if you're defending is lax, that's not, that does not lend itself well to playing that position. So I mean, definitely not bagging on RBW where this is pro RBW podcast. And I think he's shown enough this year that anyone who is still excited about his upside as well within their rights to do so, to feel that way.
00:23:14
Speaker
I know I'm still pretty excited and intrigued by his upside, but for this week, agenda diminished. I think also like the specific RBW over new who agenda is diminished, but I think in a weird way, the RBW playing higher up the field agenda is increased. Yeah. They play off each other. Good point. Yeah. Those are two different agendas.
00:23:36
Speaker
We'll do the moose one real quick. I mean diminished again. He's bad He is genuinely bad. I I'm gonna just take this one over for a second here because I have to let this out I Watch him play and it genuinely frustrates me
00:23:51
Speaker
i don't know what he's doing i don't know what his position is because when he's at the nine he's not playing the nine he's just getting in the way or he's fumbling the pass he's getting a great pass in and he's like let me take the world's largest touch and then fumble the ball this guy is this guy's back
00:24:09
Speaker
Well, at least with a bear, you know, like it was it was almost more frustrating to watch in a way because he was getting in great spots and he's like wide open high percentage chances and then he would just miss them or Blammo them off the post as hard as he possibly could which that was frustrating in its own way, but
00:24:31
Speaker
He was creating high percentage chances though. Yeah. He was getting in those spots and just not finishing. Whereas it doesn't feel like when Moose has gotten his run this year, he had the, he had the one goal right early in the year. And remember we were like vibing on, we were like, yes.
00:24:46
Speaker
That was Jordan and Raul were like just garbage, like stinky mode. And we were like, all right, activate. I got it. No one go back and listen to episodes where we advocated for like starting moose over Jordan. And I probably said that because he had scored a goal and he was looking. He was the hot hand. He was the hot hand. And he scored like a pretty big goal in that San Jose game, which they eventually lost. But
00:25:14
Speaker
You know, I defend our advocacy for that agenda in hindsight, because at the time, it felt like he was the best option. But what's unfortunate about it is it's been kind of a bust of a year for Moose.
00:25:31
Speaker
I thought, much like the Abare signing, I thought the reasoning and the process made sense. You had a bit of an undervalued asset in the sense that Moose, his underlying numbers and his goals and assists per 90 were very, very good. He just had never been in a situation where he had gotten enough minutes
00:25:52
Speaker
to like have the statute production that reflected that. But I think the process of finding a backup nine who has those great, who has that really good goals and assists per 90 and is shown to be an efficient player in the minutes that he has gotten. That makes sense in principle, but it has not really worked out this year. And it's basically like, it's essentially like another a bear. That's what's going on here.
00:26:17
Speaker
I'm gonna I'm gonna put this out there and you know what maybe I'll be proven wrong But I genuinely think a bear is a better player than moose
00:26:24
Speaker
because if you look at what he's doing in China right now, averse kind of balling low key. Yeah, which that's a total separate topic. He went to China. I don't know if it's still happening, but he went to China and just started banging and like it's like good goals too. Yeah. Yeah. He had a, he had a free kick. Yeah. Galazzo. It was like insane. It was so
Sounders' Future Prospects
00:26:42
Speaker
good. It was like, he was, he's taken set pieces for them and he's bamming, which that honestly, that pissed me off in a way.
00:26:50
Speaker
But and a bear was also really good on NYC FC. So I like we for all the memes about a bear. I didn't I was never like Actively like I hate you and I'm not I'm not actively I hate you about most either. I'm just like I
00:27:08
Speaker
I watch him play and I'm just angry. And I think that I was more with with a bear. I was more just like frustrated because I was more I was amazed by it. Yeah, it was like it was it was like a sight to behold. Yeah. Yeah. It was like it shouldn't have it literally reveled all statistical probability set off.
00:27:26
Speaker
an entire like four months of XG discourse by its one player. One player single-handedly validated all of my feelings about XG. I don't even harbor any negative feelings about his tenure on the team. I kind of love him now. Yeah, because of the novelty. I've never, I mean, I guess it's happened with Seattle before because
00:27:50
Speaker
before a bear there was Nelson Valdez legend who it was the exact same thing where he had all these really good high percentage chances and honestly
00:28:02
Speaker
A-Bear was more recent, so it might feel worse, but I think Nelson Valdez was even more snake bit. We're kind of getting on like a tangent here, but I'm kind of into it because we're going down memory lane. The Nelson Valdez one was funny. That was a good bit because he just started balling in the playoffs and scoring a bunch of goals, and they won MLS Cup. His tenure turned out to be validated.
00:28:25
Speaker
It is an interesting trend, I guess. Nelson Valdez wasn't a backup nine. He was brought in to be the starter. So that was a little different in that way, too. But I don't know if there's anything to that. But when you throw in that one, the A-Bear one, and now the Moose one, it's definitely three of the stranger number nine situations that I've seen.
00:28:52
Speaker
All right. Last agenda check. We have the Pedro de la Vega is the savior one, which obviously eradicated. It's it's diminished and on the precipice of being eradicated. You're not, you're not ready to declare it dead yet.
00:29:08
Speaker
OK, I there's still a theoretical possibility. My man is on hope. I mean, I'm not saying that I expect it to happen. I'm just saying that with the amount of games they have left between the rest of League's Cup, the stretch run of the season in the playoffs, it's not like a medical impossibility that a groin injury could heal. He could get back fit and he can contribute.
00:29:29
Speaker
I think there's a very small percentage likelihood based on what I've seen this season that that's going to happen. But until there's so few games left that the injury would totally devoid the possibility of him playing, it is possible that he could come back.
00:29:46
Speaker
I mean I just said earlier that like it might be time to consider shutting him down so that's I mean that's just a decision the team and the medical staff are gonna have to make we don't know as of this recording the seriousness of the injury but I mean for now the agenda is unfortunately diminished once again.
00:30:06
Speaker
I mean, I know a savior that once rose from the dead and saved every single person. His name was Jesus Christ. I mean, you know, if Peter De La Vega comes back and leads the Sounders to League's Cup title and then an MLS Cup double, he might. It would be a comparable accomplishment. I think so, yeah. That's basically as cool as moving a rock or whatever. I don't know.
00:30:35
Speaker
Do you have any other agenda checks those were the only no, I think that's that's that's that's good enough What's up this galaxy preview? I'm always down to talk about the galaxy Your second favorite team. Yeah. Well at least to watch and I mean, you know, I've been beating this drum all year I rate them at least an attack about as highly as any team in the league and I exclude inner Miami with the Barca boys from any of these discussions and
00:31:00
Speaker
So if you take them out of the equation, I mean, I'm telling you guys, this offense is when it gets going, it is a buzzsaw like any of the best teams in the league that you could name. I think their attack is just as good as LAFC's, frankly. I think it's pretty much as good as the Columbus crew or the other kind of buzzsaw type team that you could put in this discussion, I think.
00:31:25
Speaker
FC Cincinnati sort of has those qualities sometimes, but not as consistently. And they're also ravaged by injuries right now. So I think the best points of comparison, I think, when we're talking about the best attacks in the league right now are Inter Miami, LAFC, and Columbus.
00:31:42
Speaker
And this galaxy attack is nasty. Everyone who watches this game on Thursday, I just want you to pay attention to how they play offense compared to how Seattle has played offense for a lot of this year, save for the one electric stretch where I started talking about Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak as the best duo of all time or whatever.
00:32:07
Speaker
When you watch the Galaxy play offense, first of all, their execution in transition, how clinical they are in front of goal, but then like just also kind of like the speed that they play with and also kind of the
00:32:26
Speaker
The patterns that they run, the chemistry they have, they always know where each other are gonna be. Whether it's Ricky Poosh pulling the strings to get it to Peck and Joey Paints, or Peck hitting Joey Paints with a cross, or Joey Paints hitting Peck with a cross. And then, Jovolic is hurt right now, and they're still ballin'. But when you have Jovolic in there, you have one of the better, like, poacher number nines in front of goal in the league. The way a team like this plays offense,
00:32:54
Speaker
is kind of you know that's what you ideally aspire to be and Seattle had that stretch which you know arguably turned out to be attributable to a soft schedule but like they had that stretch where Roosnack was really cooking and they were bamming in multiple goals every single game
00:33:15
Speaker
And I wouldn't say they were quite as buzzsaw as some of the teams I've been talking about. But there was at least glimpses of that type of quality, that type of offense. The Galaxy play like that pretty much every game. And I mean, their entire front four when Jovalich is healthy is really nasty. And everyone knows how much I love Joey Paints. But honestly, Ricky Pooj is really the engine for it all.
00:33:43
Speaker
I think for my money, he's the best facilitator in the league right now. Um, his through balls, his switches, uh, just every, I mean, this guy is, he's a, he's Barcelona made, you know, uh, he's the real deal. The fact that he came over here when he was 22 is pretty cool.
00:34:00
Speaker
But he's a fantastic player to watch. This whole offense is fantastic to watch. And all that's to say, like I said, I hate this matchup for Seattle. I'm not really a big prediction guy. We don't really do predictions all that often on this show. But if I had to make a prediction for this game, I'm taking the LA Galaxy all day. I don't really care if they're on the road. Maybe that affects something and gives Seattle more of an advantage than I'm giving credit for. But this is a very similar offense to what LA FC runs out. And we saw what happened with that.
00:34:31
Speaker
So I don't really, I don't expect it to go all that differently.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean what we just saw with ostensibly even you know in the second half of that last game with the majority of the starters in including Paul Rothrock the greatest player to ever touch grass like they were they got cooked by a team that is ostensibly 10 times worse than the galaxy like the Cox is they have a great they had that great 10 or whatever he ripped that shot from outside the box but like
00:35:04
Speaker
other than that like they fell apart and now you have JP potentially having a concussion you have Pedro de la Vega potentially dead and yeah I don't know the vibes are bad I don't know man I would I would hate to be the sounders going into this game especially with the galaxy who have been just cooking as of lately and like
00:35:28
Speaker
Like I said, man, I got tickets simply so that I can go see Ricky Pujian gang because I and you know what? I'm probably gonna get some hate online for that, but They're a fun team to watch. Yeah. No, they're my they're my favorite team in the league to watch so I mean, I guess it'll be entered entertaining from that perspective, but it's just it's definitely an unfortunately
00:35:50
Speaker
time matchup for the Sounders coming off that game you know that all that being said um you know i'm willing to be proven wrong on all that um i believe when these two teams played earlier this year it was pretty competitive in la it was one zero galaxy um if i'm not mistaken so if seattle's defense is up to the challenge and really i think the key when you're playing a team like this and specifically this team is
00:36:19
Speaker
You just really, if at all possible, you want to muck the game up and prevent them from getting out and running and cooking in transition, which is that's playing into their hands. That's when they are at their best and their execution in those situations is ruthless. And I actually thinking back on it now that I'm remembering Seattle did a pretty good job of that the first time these two teams
00:36:41
Speaker
played. I like knew who did a really good job on Joey paints in that game. I remember that. And just in general, Seattle's backline, the CBs and both full backs, they, they were able to stop LA from getting, getting into the gear that they're capable of getting to.
00:36:57
Speaker
So if they can replicate that and, you know, get Roost the Roost snack and Morris duo cook in the other direction results not impossible. Yeah. In an elimination game, though, I think LA is going to be flying and they just they have a gear that Seattle doesn't have right now. And.
00:37:21
Speaker
LFC has that same gear and They they played it to great effect the last time Seattle played a team like this. So It's also it's not impossible, but I'm I don't have I don't have my hopes especially high I guess yeah, and it's even more tough when like your game plan is sensibly has to be slow the game down Play possessive. Yeah and be smart with the ball exactly
00:37:48
Speaker
against a counter-attacking team that again can score four goals in 10 minutes. And you're a team who has been able to show that the only time you can really score like that is against bots. Well, the Galaxy do like giving up goals. That is true. I was just gonna say. But it's gonna be a battle of like,
00:38:06
Speaker
catch up or are the sounders gonna panic if they go down like that's just that is like Mentally at least in my opinion I would I would side with the galaxy all day just based on tactics and how you have to kind of play this Yeah, that is the one thing I will say as well is that
00:38:22
Speaker
The Galaxy's defense which has been famously one of the worst in MLS for the past like three or four years has been much better this year and that's a big part of the reason why there's so much further up the table than they usually are is that they've managed to combine this buzzsaw high-powered offense with a competent defense
00:38:41
Speaker
But I'm telling you, they still show these glimpses of their old selves. They can't quite change who they are. They still are prone to giving up really bad, really ill-timed goals in much a similar way that the Sounders have done, frankly, at points this season and honestly dating back to last season.
00:39:02
Speaker
But like the galaxy defense they still they do that less. Yeah, but they still do do that. So that's that is why honestly As good as they are on offense every single game that you play against them You do have at least a slight chance because of their propensity to at times melt down on defense Which I think I would say there's probably a higher per higher chance that they're gonna melt down on defense like that on the road than if you had to play there so
00:39:30
Speaker
that's another potential avenue for Seattle to have a chance at winning this game. But I mean, it's just, if when they're on their game, they're tough to stop, man. It's like a snowball rolling down a hill. And
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah. Ricky pooge is disgusting. Disgusting. Okay.
League's Cup Highlights and Transfers
00:39:53
Speaker
Let's whip around some other league's cup results and then we'll hit a couple of other news items and then get on out of here. Does that sound good? No, let's do it. Okay.
00:40:02
Speaker
One funny thing that happened in the group stage is that CF Monterrey got grouped and they fired their coach which CF Monterrey I'm pretty sure about this if anyone out there has a different stat on it correct me if I'm wrong but they have the most expensive roster I believe out of anyone in either league like the most they have the most money behind their roster of anyone in this tournament and they maybe not enter Miami but
00:40:31
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. We'd have to look that up. They might, they might be more expensive than in Miami too, but either way they're among the highest spending teams competing and got grouped and fired their coach. And I think my takeaway from that is that, you know, we were debating on the last show, how invested, how much Lee Lee, the league. I make his teams cared about this tournament. I think that kind of shows that they are taking it seriously to some extent. If a getting grouped results in a coach firing, I'm sure there's like more context to it from that. And, but like, they're,
00:41:01
Speaker
The League of Mechie's teams are not that far into their season to where, you know, I would think that firing a coach would be on the table. So I don't know. Maybe they care more about it than we're giving credit for. But also, I just think it's funny that that happened because
00:41:21
Speaker
They were a team that I think a lot, I mean, I picked them to go really far when I filled out my bracket, obviously. So, surprise result and a coach firing. The Galaxy, who we just talked about, they knocked out Chivas, so that was awesome. Wait, LAFC isn't in the tournament anymore? They're out?
00:41:38
Speaker
LAFC is out. Yeah, they're out Chivas. Oh, I didn't know that they didn't promote this el traffic. Oh, I see the joke now. I was like, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure they're not Chivas de Guadalajara knocked out by the LA galaxy on penalties. So that was another good result for MLS. I would say that the trend we were talking about of MLS teams dominating has evened out a little bit and
00:42:04
Speaker
I think the League of Mechis teams, one factor we didn't talk about on the last show that I've seen brought up that I think actually might be a contributing factor is the fact that these teams are very early in their season and they're, you're not really, like we always talk about when MLS teams are in Champions Cup, they have that same disadvantage where they're just starting their season and getting fitness and playing against teams that are like mid-season.
00:42:30
Speaker
That's sort of the situation that the league at Meccy's teams are in with this tournament. And I think, I mean, I do think having watched enough Champions Cup in my life to say that does have an effect. And I think that's a reason to think that as we get further into the tournament and they're able to get more reps, more games in and get more fit, you're probably going to see the results even out quite a bit. That's my prediction.
00:42:59
Speaker
Last night, I was covering the games, and there was a couple good ones.
00:43:03
Speaker
This one was good FC Cincinnati scored four goals in about 10 minutes on NYC FC who were up to zero at the time and This was this was a fun little novelty because you see this all four since he goals were scored by subs Yeah, Pat Noonan he cooking cooked that on it like that's got to be the greatest high as a coach Yeah, all like the force you make you make four subs and they all score to like win you the game in a 10-minute span and
00:43:31
Speaker
He's probably just been flying high ever since that game ended. I watched his post game interview and I don't know if it had fully hit him yet, how hard he cooked on that. But that will probably, that probably never happened to him again in his career. He's got to savor that one. But it was also a pretty, it was a pretty catastrophic meltdown by, by NYCFC who they were, they were right on the precipice of taking a big win against Cincy at TQL.
00:44:00
Speaker
Yeah, one of my favorite parts of this game was New York City FC tweeted they don't stand a chance with a photo of one of their it's their new striker signing. I don't even know his name when they were up to nil and then they proceeded to not stand a chance themselves. That's lost. I hadn't seen that tweet. Yeah, that's always tough. That's a tough scene. The Colorado Rapids game against club Leon was really good.
00:44:25
Speaker
It was one zero and it was kind of popping off late the rap. It was one of those situations where clubly on was Kind of hanging on to a lead for dear life and the rapids were really chasing the equalizer 97th minute literally like last play of the game right before it ended
00:44:40
Speaker
The rapids get the equalizer. It was a key in Rosenberry to Raphael Navarro to tie it and then Zach Stefan who has taken a lot of criticism this year He was a big-time signing at least name value wise for the rapids and
00:44:56
Speaker
that had not really been performing up to the level of his lap the last time he was in MLS when he Won defender goalkeeper of the year and then got transferred to Manchester City and loaned out a bunch of times But uh, he really hadn't been living up to what they thought they were getting when they when they made that signing But he was a beast in this shootout. He hid the game-winning save that he made and
00:45:19
Speaker
It's pretty rare that you see this the guy the guy hit it to his exact sevens left And he laid out to save it and like caught it like it didn't deflect Good that he literally caught it So the rapids they got They got smoked for zero by the timbers in their last game didn't have Georgie Mihailovich for that game. They do have him back now so the rapids are a
00:45:44
Speaker
they're an interesting little squad like honestly as much as the Zach Stefan signing is underwhelmed the Jordy Mihailovich one is arguably one of the like top two or three best signings any teammate and I don't even think that's an exaggeration like they built that whole their whole thing is built around him and he's just been like
00:46:06
Speaker
racking up stats and They they have a pretty inconsistent offense I would say but it's like when it when it looks good It looks pretty damn good and Georgie mile of which is a big reason for that at least they have some you know Some kind of ambition to with signings and stuff. I mean Their fan base would uh, well, I think it's fair to say then in the past, but I mean sign exact Stefan and Georgie Georgie shows some kind of
00:46:35
Speaker
No, I think with how at least with the Georgie signing with how it's worked out like it looks like that in hindsight But like at the time I was I saw that they I saw that they signed Georgie I was like, okay, that's like a pretty good signing, but I don't know if that's like He's like an elite number 10 in the league
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, I guess he had been for he's a Chicago Fire homegrown and then when he went to CF Montreal is when he broke out and he was honestly Performing like an elite number 10 for them when they transferred him to the air to visa, but I didn't really I wouldn't have picked that as like necessarily a big needle moving signing, but it really has been for them and they're just much improved and honestly I
00:47:17
Speaker
like Chris Armas is sort of dunking on the haters with how they're playing this year, including myself. Like Chris Armas was almost, he became a meme coach when he was coaching Toronto. Everyone was clowning on him. Their fan base like hates him. And when the rapids hired him, it was pretty, it was widely panned, I think. Like if you remember, and he's got them playing pretty good ball. All right. I got a few other little headlines here and then we'll call it a wrap for episode 56.
00:47:47
Speaker
I did want to claim validation on my take about our Olympic squad, which we advanced to the knockout stage for the first time since 2000, I think, and then promptly got absolutely waxed by Morocco, which
00:48:04
Speaker
You know, Morocco is they're they're really good. I mean, I didn't know their year twenty threes were that good, but they made a run in the last World Cup like I think to like the final four like they they were almost in it. They almost made the final. I'm pretty sure. But like our team did not stand a chance against them. Wasn't even close when we played France. The only two teams we beat right were Guinea and what was the New Zealand?
00:48:31
Speaker
So who I just you know a few people disagreed with me, which is fine about Maya takes on That roster, but I mean I feel like it pretty much worked out how I thought it would that roster was not good. No, it's not good like I could you know I've watched enough of
00:48:53
Speaker
the league and a lot of these players that were on the roster to have an informed opinion on that and as soon as I saw it I was like okay this is gonna be bad and you know to be fair I will give them credit for advancing to the knockout stage and getting the wins that they did against the opponents when they were overmatched they on it I will say they did like a little better maybe than I thought we would but
00:49:18
Speaker
With how it ended, I think we can safely say that that team was weak at best. Yeah, and the women's national team is in the gold medal match. Yeah, good shot. Shout out to them. Yeah, we usually win those. We bet. I hope we win those.
00:49:36
Speaker
LFC has Olivia, Olivia J. Roo has arrived. He's training with them. I was actually on Steve Toronto's zoom call today and he said that he's not going to debut in this game. They play tomorrow, I believe Wednesday. He said he's not, he's not going to be ready for that, but he might be ready for the next game. They're just getting him fit and they're gonna
00:49:53
Speaker
unleash him. Uh, so that's going to make them way better. They've been running like Kaikomara out there a lot. Who's like really, dude, like he's kind of, I'm kind of happy for Kaikomara that he like gets to play on that team because he's played for like half the teams in the league at this point. And there's been times on some of them where he's doesn't have a heck of a lot around him and he's still banging in goals. Uh, but like on this LAFC offense, like he gets a lot of high percentage chances, which Kaikomara has been converting for like 20 years. Yeah.
00:50:23
Speaker
So I bet he's probably having as much fun as he's had in his career, playing on that team with how good they are in attack and the kind of chances he's getting. But like, I mean, there are levels to this. Like Olivia J.Roo, even at 37, is a huge upgrade over 39-year-old Kai Kamara.
00:50:46
Speaker
They have Denny Spewanga, the evil, demonic, goal-scoring force of nature spawned directly from the gates of hell. And now you're throwing J.R.U. in there. So, I mean, guys, I fully expect this guy to be banging in goal after goal after goal. At Starfire. That would be sick.
00:51:06
Speaker
God, I need, I need you at star five. Like that would, I wouldn't even care how the match would turn out. Just like how funny that would be if he, if he did that. But I mean, it's just like, you know, the rich get richer. And I mean, he's one of the best straight, he's the leading goal scorer in the history of the French national team. So now that they're integrating him naturally, they're also signing Griezmann.
00:51:29
Speaker
who's under talks rumors. Yeah. Yeah. They're in talks, but like, I think it's a situation where he and J. Drew are boys and it's sort of like an inner Miami thing where they're bringing in his buddy who's also, I mean, he's another one of the better attacking players of this of recent times.
00:51:49
Speaker
You know, like these that's the type of level of player that we're talking about here and he's only 33. I was looking it up. Uh, Jerus 37 and he's still really damn good. But Griezmann's like earlier in his thirties and the two of them together, you know, they played together a lot with France, like
00:52:06
Speaker
This is gonna be bad. This is gonna be bad for everyone else in the West and the league frankly like Because LFC is already so loaded you have Bogus having the season of his absolute life and you have Bwanga who's an evil demon spawned from the gates of hell. So You add these two French guys to it. This is not good. This is not good
00:52:32
Speaker
I'm so upset, Ari. I'm just, I'm in the mud. I'm in the mud, mostly because of the next thing that we're going to talk about. Because how, man? Come on, share some with the rest of us. Not to be whiny about it, but I'm going to be. Yeah. That's a good segue and then I'll let you cook on your grievances.
00:52:55
Speaker
So the Sounders had a transfer rumor to Albert the lease who's a Honduran attacker. And he might be a familiar name to some MLS diehards. He played for the Houston Dynamo a few years ago. And I remember him actually because he was on Club Olympia of Honduras when Seattle played them in Champions League in like 2015 or something.
00:53:18
Speaker
Do you remember this? Seattle was heavily favored in that series, and he just went nutty. He went sicko mode. He went sicko mode at Lumen Field, which was then CenturyLink. That was the first time I heard of him, was watching him live at Lumen, and he was dominating the game. I was like, who is this guy? Some MLS team has got to swoop in here, and eventually it was Houston.
00:53:43
Speaker
And he had a couple of really good years for Houston, very productive player. But then he got transferred to Portugal, I believe. And then I never really heard much from him again after he left MLS. But he is a provenly productive, good MLS player.
00:54:02
Speaker
Now the sounders are linked to him, but apparently he was in a coma, which I didn't really know about. I don't know what happened. But according to the reporting that I've seen, I think Jeremiah had some stuff on this that sort of been a hang up with the potential transfer. And like it seems like there would be legitimate interest there, I guess.
00:54:26
Speaker
If he was fully healthy and like cleared to play which he's not right now and honestly like if the if the health thing wasn't a factor and it was just we were judging him as a player and based on his track record in his career, I would honestly I would I would be kind of down with that signing like
00:54:42
Speaker
Um, he's been a good MLS player and, uh, his skillset is something I think that Seattle could use with what he brings as a wide attacker. But it is just like, uh, I mean, I'm sure you're going to hit on this to an extent, but, uh, like, even if at least was healthy, like the, uh, the contrast between what LAFC is doing and signing Griezmann and, uh, J.R.U. I mean, it's a stark, it's a stark contrast.
00:55:09
Speaker
And yeah, to be clear about the Elise transfer, they had initially investigated and had talks, but kind of decided against it from what it seems. So it seems very, very, very, very unlikely that they would sign him. Mainly because he hasn't played soccer in six months and he had a head injury and was put into a coma.
00:55:31
Speaker
And I had a tweet poking fun at this like, Oh, LAFC signed one of the best French players of all time and are now in talks to sign another one of the best French players of all time. And we are in conversation to sign a dude who was in a coma and had
00:55:47
Speaker
Play soccer in six it is a little on the nose with the other report and just like you know It's la FC is making the biggest splashes right now But there's been like a lot of moves flying around the club if remember we were talking about how Columbus every time we look up They've added like with the Dewan drones trade, but also they signed another guy. Yeah today so I understand like Seattle's rationale for not making moves is that they're up against the cap and there's not a lot of flexibility and stuff but like
00:56:16
Speaker
You know, I'm sure someone who knows the stats and the math of the money behind it could explain it But it's like how are how are all these other teams not quote-unquote up against the cap, you know, yeah It's because they're making outbound transfers as well like there's players on this roster that are sucking up so much cap space that like
00:56:39
Speaker
If they're not going to play, you have to move them. They need to move on. You need to find a way to make moves. And, like, there's just zero ambition, it seems, for any of that. Or maybe they're just not getting offers, but I don't know. At a certain point, like, you know, if you could move a Leo Chu and then bring in someone new, that would inject some fresh energy. They got an offer for Obed, not saying that it would be the best thing to do to move him, but, like,
00:57:05
Speaker
You have an offer for for Obed who that's a good bag. Maybe you move Leo Chu and like not saying that that's exactly who I would want to move. But there are like actual real offers out there. Not saying they're exactly what you want, but you can negotiate. You can make moves. If you really cared about this season, if you really cared about like the the Club World Cup, if you really were actually focusing on that, you would be making moves right now. You would be making really hard decisions. They're not doing that.
00:57:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's a fair grievance and I definitely understand the frustration. I mean, we'll be keeping tabs on all the other transfers and goings on and I'll let Noah complain about it. I think we're good to call it a wrap there. I didn't have anything else unless you did.
00:57:52
Speaker
No, I appreciate you all for listening. Yeah, thank you all so much, as always, for tuning in. And like I said, for bearing with us on the timeline, getting pushback this week, we should be back on our normal schedule. And also apologies for not sourcing any questions this week. We'll get back on that routine as well. I was out of town, so I didn't have a chance to do that like I normally would. But people got to stop getting married, Ari. Yeah, I know. What's going on with that? It's getting ridiculous.
00:58:23
Speaker
Like, comment, rate, subscribe, write us a review, sub to the, sub to the YouTube, sub to the YouTube, support us at loving squirt or us at sounderhard.com slash L S until next time we out. Peace.