Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Under The Lights: Pedro de la Vega is a footballing Demigod
352 Plays4 days ago
The Seattle Sounders are off to the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 after another dominant attacking effort in Wednesday's 3-1 rout of Antigua at Lumen Field.
Under the Lights is live every Thursday evening, featuring all the customary coverage and analysis of the Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer with a rotating cast of guests from the MLS media landscape.
SPONSORS
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
MLS Season Pass - MLS Season Pass is back on Apple TV with access to every single MLS match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts! Subscribe today to support the show.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2025 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Details
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or lobbingscorchers.com slash youtube.
00:00:21
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be scorcher. Good evening, everybody.
00:00:33
Speaker
We are live.
00:00:43
Speaker
good evening everybody we are live Welcome in to another episode of Under the Lights, our Thursday night live stream.
00:00:54
Speaker
Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We've got another banger stream for you tonight. It's a dub stream, guys. Not a dub pod, but a dub stream.
Seattle Sounders in CONCACAF Champions Cup
00:01:06
Speaker
Seattle Sounders advancing to the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Round of 16. on aggregate after posting back-to-back news.
00:01:17
Speaker
Three to one victories in leg one and leg two of the round one series against Antigua. It was a party at Lumen Field. The XG was flying.
00:01:29
Speaker
The goals were going in And Pedro de la Vega looks like a footballing demigod. Two more goals for the kid. The vibes are high.
00:01:41
Speaker
We're going to talk about all that, break that down. um I am going to look at the other CONCACAF Champions Cup results from last night and that have taken place so far.
00:01:54
Speaker
going to talk about this Real Salt Lake game a little bit. ah And as always, if you have got questions, topics, observations, and agendas, go ahead and drop them in chat.
Host's Writing Ventures
00:02:09
Speaker
I'm going hit a couple of housekeeping items before I get into all that though.
00:02:15
Speaker
If you could go ahead right now and like the video, really helps us out. The algorithm is really into that. The sentient being known as the algo.
00:02:27
Speaker
it see If it sees that a video gets liked a lot of times, Apparently it loves it. So go ahead and like the video. um Sub to the sub to the channel.
00:02:38
Speaker
you haven't already, if you're watching this and you haven't subbed to the channel, mean, I don't know what we're even, what we're doing. Sub to the channel. um Also, also I have, ah I've got a lot more written content that I'm going to be doing this year that I wanted to plug.
00:02:56
Speaker
Some of you may, might've noticed that I've taken over the links column for sounder at heart. from the great Dave Clark. So basically, All that is, is me riffing a column and then posting a bunch of links, uh, either from sounder at heart or from other outlets that are covering the sounders. Uh, so I wrote a, a debut, debut column on standard heart.
00:03:23
Speaker
So keep an eye on that. Uh, I have for that every Monday this season. And then also going to do some screen sharing here. you give me a second.
00:03:39
Speaker
This is exciting.
00:03:44
Speaker
I've taken over MLSsoccer.com's Young Players of the Match Day from Charlie Bohm. I'm kind of just like, I guess, pilfering other people's columns. I'm doing Young Players of the Match Day this year. This was my first one.
00:03:59
Speaker
i don't know if it was as good as Charlie's, but I did my best. But so basically the way, if you're unfamiliar, this is just a weekly spotlight on the website of the best young player performers from every single match day.
00:04:14
Speaker
so I'll be perusing all the results from around MLS every match day, highlighting the best young player performers, as you can see for this first one. Got Brian Gutierrez, this guy from Inter Miami who scored a goal, this guy from and NYCFC who scored a goal. You get the idea.
00:04:34
Speaker
um i was already taking heat because i didn't include Obed in ah in the in my five selections or in my honorable mentions. I will explain that really quick, which is that, well, first of all,
00:04:47
Speaker
It's what's called a lose-lose because if pick Seattle guys, then everyone else in the country says I'm being a homer. But then like this week, if I leave Obed off, everyone assails my character for that.
00:05:00
Speaker
So I really can't win. i decided just Obed could have made it. He could have made it. I decided to like try and not be a homer for this one, I guess. But don't worry.
00:05:12
Speaker
There will be plenty of time for Obed and any other worthy Sounders player to be highlighted here. I'm not going to like leave him off every week. I didn't have him in this one, so ae that upsets you, sorry.
Audience Interaction and Super Chat
00:05:27
Speaker
Matt Sexton, thank you for the $5 super chat. Appreciate you. Ready to play a drinking game with bot purveyor agenda and oligarch tonight might need Noah to hop on. Noah said he might hop on later.
00:05:40
Speaker
i don't know. He's got school or something. So you're, I mean, you're, you're probably getting lit with that drinking game. That's for sure. Thank you for the super chat. Much appreciated. Anyway, yeah, that's ah my plug for young players of the match day. I will be crowdsourcing for that on blue sky. So ah keep an eye out for if you have suggestions and you're like, this guy really needs to be in there. You can know reply so my blue sky post and I might consider your feedback. Okay.
00:06:14
Speaker
Stop screen sharing. Okay. i think that was ah I think that was all the housekeeping I had at the top of the show. Like the video, sub to the channel, do all that.
00:06:27
Speaker
um Okay, the first thing that I wanted to do tonight is ah I crowdsourced.
Player Performance: Ferreira and Georgie
00:06:34
Speaker
I blue sky crowdsourced some topics, some questions and stuff after the game last night.
00:06:40
Speaker
ah Normally, I just go through those and... and pick out a few for the result pod. But in this case, since this is our first like, uh, game reaction, like immediate game reaction stream, I'm just going to pull these up and I'll start going through these, ah just to get the ball rolling. And then if you guys have stuff that you, uh, want me to talk about in chat, go ahead and drop it in there. And, uh, I will, uh, do my best to get to it.
00:07:09
Speaker
New YouTube member Rhombus labs Rhombus appreciate you. Longtime supporter. ah If you want to support us, this is another great way. Become a YouTube member.
00:07:23
Speaker
That's are arguably one of the best ways, I would say. Rhombus, appreciate you.
00:07:31
Speaker
You can call them skeets. I mean, yeah, I guess that's a what I got to start. i I guess that became like the mainstream thing to call them. So, yeah. I'm gonna start going through some of these. We'll see how many I make it through. I just wanna, like I said, get the ball rolling.
00:07:47
Speaker
ah And we had a J.O. responded to my skeet. So that's a celebrity appearance in my mentions. He said, long time, first time, since the Sounders held a one goal lead at the 85th minute and added a goal, does that count as a point against the can't hold leads at home agenda?
00:08:05
Speaker
It does, which I think is a ah positive step. I don't think that ah it undermines... The talking point until they like because that that stuff, the people who were talking about that, I think we're correct in that it actually was a pattern that goes back to last year.
00:08:26
Speaker
So they need to. Counter the pattern with a new pattern that doesn't follow that pattern, and then that agenda will be dead. that agenda might still get pushed, but, uh, with how they closed out the series last night, not only holding the lead, but adding a goal, uh, that's a good set step in a positive direction, step in the positive direction.
00:08:51
Speaker
Mike Standish, my guy based on the season thus far, which player name number should I get on the back of my new Salish Jersey? And then someone replied with moose, uh, uh,
00:09:04
Speaker
i would my My answer for that would be Georgie. That's just me personally, though. I feel like he's a good jersey right now. It's one of those... ah If you get a Georgie jersey, it's one of those that... It's like a bet that could pay off very handsomely in the future.
00:09:23
Speaker
You know, a guy like Christian Roldan, you know what you're getting. You don't even have to worry about it. A Georgie kit. it's It's a hedge-on upside.
00:09:36
Speaker
We got some more Moose Lander. We don't need to do that. Jeff says, small sample size tonight, but it seems like Manungu's crosses were much more dangerous tonight. Was that just me?
00:09:46
Speaker
No, I don't think that was just you. ah But I feel like his like he had the assist in in the away leg, too. you know i feel like...
00:09:58
Speaker
ah The thing that I've been most encouraged about with Georgie for these first few games is ah the end product that has come off on those two assists.
00:10:11
Speaker
He's still got to show that he can do that consistently, but the fact that fact that they've played three games and he's already got two assists in the time that he's gotten on the field, it's a great sign.
00:10:26
Speaker
You're pushing the I knew about Georgie before he was cool, hipster angle. Bold choice.
Defense of Moose and Preview of Upcoming Matches
00:10:31
Speaker
ah i mean, I wasn't saying I knew about him before he was cool. I was saying that if you bought a kit, you would you'd be able to kind of say that if he becomes like a superstar. You see what saying?
00:10:45
Speaker
um Ben says Pedro de la Vega and Ferreira were cooking tonight. Ferreira in particular was dropping some times. I think he could hit 20 plus assists in all comps this year. um Yeah. His, ah his facilitating has been really good so far.
00:11:03
Speaker
ah love how he's been ah combining with everybody. ah thought you really saw, i was, i was saying this the whole time. after he got acquired that I felt like the biggest impact that he could have might be as a facilitator and not even as a goal scorer.
00:11:21
Speaker
And you're you're seeing, i think, what I meant so far. He's such an unselfish player. he yeah i think it I don't know if there's anything to this, but it kind of looks like to me that he's almost being like more deferential right now than he was during his FC Dallas days. Cause I think he wants to, he wants to fit in on the team. He wants, he wants everybody to like him and like playing with him. So he's like, here, I'll try and set you up here and set you up there.
00:11:50
Speaker
he had a great through ball to Jordan last night, which I really, ah I want to see them combining like that, of course. And then his assist to Paul Areola was great. He, ah he megged the guy on the assist.
00:12:02
Speaker
I don't know if you guys caught that. I only caught that when I was watching the highlights again today, think I'm pretty sure he made the guy on the assist. And then, uh, He and Ariola, you can tell, have played together a lot.
00:12:14
Speaker
So that was just a great goal. And i ah i really like what I'm seeing from Ferreira so far, guys. I know he doesn't have a goal yet, but I think that'll come. He's had two really good looks. He had a really clean look in ah Antigua that De La Vega set him up for, where I feel like if you if you give him that look,
00:12:37
Speaker
A lot of times he's going to start finishing that. And then last night, he actually, the one that he put over the bar, he he hit that pretty nice. it went It was high, but hit it pretty nice.
00:12:49
Speaker
And I've seen him make that at FC Dallas. That is one that is I can tell you for sure is in his bag. ah But yeah, he's looked great so far. i think ah I think the thing that makes him a better fit, honestly,
00:13:06
Speaker
then a more like prototypical number nine. A lot of people wanted them to sign him like ah um a nine in the mold of like a Chicho Arango or like that, you know, theoretically to upgrade on Jordan or whatever. But I think with Ferreira, the versatility and the unselfishness make him just fit in really well. So definitely just really been enjoying watching him play.
00:13:35
Speaker
How strengthened is the Pedro not a bust and actually very good agenda? We're going to talk about that, and that's going to be the next topic. I'm but i'm goingnna ah i probably just going to hit a couple more of these and then get into the other topics I was going to talk about and take some more stuff from chat. This was just a to get it started.
00:13:54
Speaker
Ooh, okay. I like this. This was a ah someone being a contrarian to the Moose hate, so I'm going to read this one, then we'll and we'll ah get on to the main topics.
00:14:05
Speaker
Sammy says, just want to be contrary to all the Moose hate. He had some rough plays, but people are all too eager to hate, and he played a not insignificant role in the third goal. I just hope the coaches don't write him off completely.
00:14:16
Speaker
can still imagine him coming into form, let him play RSL this weekend. Thank you for that, Sammy. I love that. Some moose optimism.
00:14:27
Speaker
Like I said, i don't really, I know he didn't have a great game, but I really don't see the need to pile on the number three striker when the team looked as good as it did last night. Like, what are we, what are we doing?
00:14:39
Speaker
It's just unnecessary. ah And ah i know it sounds funny to say, but what I would say to Noah, I think is, uh, Like to miss chances like that, you have to be doing something right to get those looks, don't you?
00:14:56
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe that's just cope. Maybe that's rationalization. But I find it hard to believe that Moose is going to XG merchant his entire time in this city. Like the reason that uh it was considered kind of a sneaky under the radar signing is that if you look at moose's numbers for his career he hasn't gotten ah full complement of minutes anywhere he's been but like his underlying efficiency numbers were really good
00:15:27
Speaker
ah So I understood the process behind why they signed him as the depth striker. It's just, I don't know if that position on the roster is just cursed right now or what, but it really feels like since like, it really feels like since Will Bruin, they haven't been able to to fill that spot with consistent production, which ah someone pointed it out, but it's,
00:15:50
Speaker
It's not necessarily easy to have a really high quality number three striker because if they were super high quality striker, they would be number two or the starting striker, you know, so.
00:16:03
Speaker
All right. Thank you to everyone who submitted for those. That was good stuff. You can always, i always put those out after every game and we read them ah as many as we can on the follow-up pods, but that was a good one for this live show. Appreciate you guys.
00:16:22
Speaker
All right, I'm going to ah i'm gonna look at some chat right now real quick, and then we will ah go to move on to some of the topics that I had to cover tonight.
00:16:35
Speaker
Bad sequels. How's it going, bad sequels? Do you like how deep Ferreira ends up playing versus playing so high as a striker? um i think that sort of depends the matchup and who he's playing with.
00:16:53
Speaker
But I don't mind him... ah i don't mind him playing deep because he's got that in his skill set, you know? i think... for how they were lined up last night, I think that was what he was supposed to be doing. Like basically he was kind of playing as like a, pure 10 with a little bit of second striker in there. That's kind of how I saw it.
00:17:17
Speaker
But, uh, to answer your question, i don't mind him. i don't mind him lining up like that. Um, um, What do you make of the center mids and the center attacking mid position left wing back and build out at times?
00:17:34
Speaker
um Well, I was advocating for De La Vega to get some run at left wing back during preseason when we were playing with the lineup builder. So, yeah, I don't mind that.
00:17:49
Speaker
Agree with the moose rationalization. Appreciate that. Yeah.
00:17:57
Speaker
Let's see, let's see, let's see
00:18:01
Speaker
Pat55word, do you remember that Jesus has an attitude problem discourse in my completely disproven from how he's been playing?
Player Discipline and Creativity Debate
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, I don't... no I don't remember that being that big a talking point. I was never all that concerned. I think the question was of his buy-in.
00:18:21
Speaker
i was never that concerned about that because, i mean, first of all, like just on a base level, knows and is friends with a bunch of the guys on the team already from the national team.
00:18:34
Speaker
So he's not going to want to come in and like – be not bought in and ruffle feathers with guys that he's friends with, but also like even outside of that, like he's got a lot on the line as far as, ah he wants to boost his stock, I think for, uh, to go to Europe and to do that, he needs to ball out this season with Seattle.
00:18:59
Speaker
So, I mean, it's not like he could have any more incentive to be fully bought in. And like I said, I think, ah I've been encouraged from watching how he's tried to play so far. Like, I feel like he's almost being like overly deferential in, in trying to set people up, you know?
00:19:21
Speaker
So, which I think is good, but eventually i do, ah I do want and expect him to start getting on the score sheet himself.
00:19:34
Speaker
Steven, this is a good question. Anyone else at least a little worried about how leaky the back line has looked through three games? um I think the Charlotte game, both concessions were tilting.
00:19:49
Speaker
The concessions in the Antigua series,
00:19:54
Speaker
the one in the away leg was bad. um this in this like In the game last night, I thought the defense would that was the best game the defense has had so far. I know that they they conceded the one goal, but outside of that, it really it felt like not only did Antigua not have very many good chances, but I thought Seattle's press was excellent last night.
00:20:21
Speaker
They were just swarming Antigua every time they had the ball, and they won possession off them. a ton of times through the, through just the press. So I actually, ah ah definitely the Charlotte game, the defense was tilting, but last night I thought it looked a lot more like the Seattle Sounders defense and it helped the offense for them to be playing like that on defense. So I thought that was the best part, honestly. Well, the offense scoring another three goals was the best part, but it was really good to see the defense kind of bounce back after the Charlotte debacle.
00:20:59
Speaker
Jesus, far better striker, dropping deeper than Raul ever was. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't Raul's game. He was he was the more the prototypical nine. Ooh, this is a good question from Brando.
00:21:11
Speaker
Is Pedro De La Vega or Jesus Ferreira at the 10? Who's better when Albert's not there? I would...
00:21:22
Speaker
i would i would go with Ferreira at the 10. think De La Vega is looking... Real good out wide right now. I would not mess with what's working.
00:21:36
Speaker
Okay. Scotty. Scotty brought up what was the first topic that I was going to get to. So great segue, Scotty. Let's do this right now. What's your take on the over the head kick move that Schmetzer was tilted over? All right.
00:21:50
Speaker
Let's get into that. Okay. I'll i'll ah nutshell the situation for anyone who has been out of the loop or doesn't know what is going on with this. It's going to require some screen sharing. So one second.
00:22:03
Speaker
ah But essentially, ah when Schmetzer was asked about De La Vega's performance by Jeremiah at the presser last night, he did praise him. ah And he obviously, I think, is happy with how he's been producing.
00:22:18
Speaker
But he actually... he He tried to take him down a peg very clearly. It was not subtle. It was not like a backhanded, I'm going to try and take him down a peg. It was pointed.
00:22:30
Speaker
So I'm going to pull up the exact quote real quick. And then ah what I want to do with you guys is take a look at the play itself and see if we think Schmetz is right about this or if he's off base.
00:22:49
Speaker
But I do. OK, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Had to find this.
00:23:03
Speaker
All right.
00:23:05
Speaker
going pause this real quick as we're going to go over it. But let me.
00:23:12
Speaker
Jeremiah says, last night asked Metzer about De La Vega's performance. He mostly praised him, but also said, quote, he's got to do better in certain moments.
00:23:23
Speaker
That flick over the head by the sideline, and then the other team comes down to score, that stuff has to stop. And he went on to say that he feels like, essentially, what I'm paraphrasing this part, but essentially he was saying that the next phase of Pedro De La Vega's development is...
00:23:42
Speaker
ah You know, understanding game state and being more disciplined. I think discipline is the exact word that he used. He said something to the effect of to win a tournament like CCC, you have to show discipline in those moments.
00:23:56
Speaker
And he felt like De La Vega was not disciplined right here. So let's watch the play. This is the play that he's talking about. um This is the sequence directly before Seattle conceded the leg two equalizer Antigua.
00:24:11
Speaker
And so i think you have to understand the situation to understand what Schmitz is saying at this point, they are ahead for one on aggregate.
00:24:26
Speaker
So, he's the The way he's thinking of it is that is a time to, especially right before the half here. This was right before the half. You got to get this to halftime with the aggregate lead intact.
00:24:40
Speaker
And that's kind of thiss kind of your assignment right there. You have to get to the locker room with the with the lead at 4-1. And if you don't do that, you they they didn't pass that assignment.
00:24:50
Speaker
And this is why, according to Schmitz. Here we go. So you got De La Vega taking the ball on the side right here. Whoop. And then he goes back over that. He's just doing his thing. And then here it becomes chaos.
00:25:06
Speaker
And that's how Antigua wins the ball back. That is the sequence that leads to the goal that Seattle conceded in this game. So he was, I mean, he was cooking. He was cooking. He was having fun out there.
00:25:17
Speaker
um But Schmetz was not, it was really not happy about this. He's not happy that he did this. And he called him out for it in the presser. So let's ah let's kind of take a ah
00:25:35
Speaker
take a slower slower look at this. ah So first of all, right, he's he's near midfield. So I think if you were deeper in the attacking end, maybe it's a little different, but if you lose possession,
00:25:48
Speaker
over here, you know, that it could create a dangerous opportunity. So really you're trying to get this to the locker room here and definitely not give the ball away at this area of the field. So I think what, what should De La Vega have done according to Schmitz? What should he have done here?
00:26:06
Speaker
So let's pause right when he gets the ball. So I think Schmetz's contention is that he needs to pass this back to JP right here.
00:26:20
Speaker
There's no need to start a start going loop-de-loop over people's heads. And you don't need to you don't need to cook like this. You don't need to cook like this.
00:26:35
Speaker
So... I guess what I'm saying is i understand what Schmitz was saying with this. I get where he's coming from. i Me personally, i tend to not ah ah tend to not like any method of coaching that could be perceived to be squelching creativity.
00:26:59
Speaker
What makes De La Vega... good and talented is because it is part of what it is, is like he is willing to, to do stuff like this, try stuff like this.
00:27:11
Speaker
And that's, what's made him fun to watch so far. So I definitely, i want to see him as a fan, you know, I want to see him do stuff like that.
00:27:22
Speaker
More, but I'm looking at it as a fan for entertainment value. Schmetz is looking at it as a coach who's trying to win the game, win the series. So anything that could undermine that,
00:27:34
Speaker
He's not going to be, he's not going to take too kindly to. um But I think basically what Schmetz is saying with this is just time and place. Time and place.
00:27:45
Speaker
This was, there is a time and a place to do stuff like that. This was neither the time nor the place, according to Schmetz. I can see...
00:27:57
Speaker
I can see both sides of it, you know, not to be, not to try and be Switzerland, but like, I can see why a coach would not be a fan of that. um But I don't know if I would have ah called him out at the presser that a that's maybe what I don't understand. Well, I guess, okay. I do understand.
00:28:19
Speaker
He is trying to
00:28:23
Speaker
uh, calm down the hype train, which is already, I mean, it's too late for that. I mean, the title of my stream right now is Pedro de la Vega is a footballing demigod, but I think he's, like I said, he's trying to, uh, take him down a peg, anoint Jeremiah use the term anoint. I think that's it. He's trying to pause everyone anointing him.
00:28:45
Speaker
And that was the example that he came up with. But, uh, I guess I would qualify that whole situation as a good problem to have. You know, you're not trying to kill off the game in the series in that scenario if you're not already up multiple goals.
00:29:03
Speaker
So that's a good thing. And De La Vega has really, he's looked awesome. he The goals he scored last night were phenomenal. So I guess I don't mind in principle Schmitz trying to,
00:29:17
Speaker
make sure he stay Make sure it doesn't all get to his head. But I also, there's just a part of me that's like, cook Pedro, do it again. do it again. I don't care what time of the game it is where you're at on the field.
00:29:33
Speaker
Derek Richards, thank you for the $2 super sticker. Still not entirely sure what a super sticker is, but appreciate you, man. One of our biggest and best supporters.
00:29:44
Speaker
You the man. ah Anyway, that's my take on the whole Schmetz quote on De La Vega. What did you guys think about that?
00:29:58
Speaker
What did you guys think? Brian was in postseason schmets mode, and I appreciated the heat in the postgame presser. Yeah, he wasn't as heated as he was.
00:30:09
Speaker
The Charlotte game was legitimately, I'm not exaggerating, one of the most tilted I've ever seen him at a presser. I've seen them lose by multiple goals, and he hasn't been that told it tilted. I think it's because, i mean, we all know how much...
00:30:27
Speaker
Schmetz cares about and is invested in the team winning. But I think the stadium was vibing so hard. The team had played so well in ah and the CCC opener.
00:30:39
Speaker
The game was going really well. They were about to win the game. he wanted the He wanted that dub for the for the crowd there just so bad to start the league season off on the right foot.
00:30:51
Speaker
And I think that equalizer just drove him up the wall. I think any coach that would probably drive him up the wall, but he was mad.
00:31:04
Speaker
De La Vega looked like how he played last season, except he played the full 90 and scored. That's it. um I don't know if, ah I think he looks a lot more confident and self-assured out there this season compared to last season.
00:31:23
Speaker
Last season, he had these moments where, But it just felt like he was... a he didn't have chemistry with the teammates the way he does now. And B, he was...
00:31:36
Speaker
He was pressing, felt like he was trying to do too much right now. He looks like he is vibing. Looks like he's having a great time. He doesn't look like he's pressing or trying too hard. He looks confident.
00:31:49
Speaker
He looks sharp. Uh, and his end product is really good right now. He's, uh, he's leading CCC, the CCC golden boot race right now for whatever it's worth.
00:32:00
Speaker
Uh, that was the other thing I wanted to read out for you guys is, uh, Just the stats we're looking at so far with the attack, eight goals so far in the three games.
00:32:11
Speaker
They really ah could have and should have had more, but the chances that they're generating are very good right now. The XG, I didn't, I was trying to find, and does anyone know where you can find a conca calf xg i was trying to find it because i was curious about what they put up in that game last night because i feel like it must have been quite high and uh it was 1.77 against charlotte which is
Seattle Sounders' Offensive Strength
00:32:40
Speaker
really good anything up towards two is really good but anyway
00:32:45
Speaker
You've got Ferreira with no goals to assist, and but he really, he should, he, he should have three assists. The, ah the breakaway that he said Jordan on through last night was a perfect pass. So he really easily could have three assists.
00:33:03
Speaker
Jordan's got two goals, no assists, but basically he had an in spirit assist on De La Vega's goal last night. Uh, He doesn't get, it doesn't count for him because La Vega, La Vega's shot off of Jordan's pass deflected back to him.
00:33:21
Speaker
So he doesn't get the assist there, but Jordan set up that chance. He was integral in the sequence. ah You got Rusnak who I've got with one goal, one assist. great assist to Jordan in the Charlotte game and then ah really important goal at the end of leg one.
00:33:36
Speaker
And I thought Roust, he was my man of the match in the Charlotte game. So he's off to a really good start. De La Vega leading all players in CCC so far with three goals. And he really should have had an assist as well on the one that Ferreira had saved in Antigua. So he could easily have four goal contributions.
00:33:59
Speaker
And then you got Areola with two goals and Georgie with two assists. So basically the reason I bring that up is, well, just to let you guys know who's cooking so far, but like everyone is eating. Everyone is eating right now. And that's what you want to see.
00:34:14
Speaker
That is what you want to see. And De La Vega, you know, i don't, I'm not going to, ah people were saying, ah they were saying that Noah and I were like victory lapping too early or some such sentiment.
00:34:31
Speaker
I'm definitely like speaking for myself, I'm definitely not victory lapping. I would just say I'm encouraged and excited. I don't know how you couldn't be watching this team play through the first three games, but obviously they have to keep doing it.
00:34:49
Speaker
But if we're just talking about how we feel about what we've seen so far, ah I think it's looked great. Derek with a $5 super chat again. Thank you, man.
00:35:02
Speaker
Love you. Appreciate you. I'm excited for this team and the offense, but the next four games are a real test that will give us a better look at what the ceiling might be. All right. That's a good point.
00:35:13
Speaker
ah Let's pull up the schedule and look at that. Why don't we? Because I know they have RSL coming up next. I know they're in the CCC round of 16 coming up here soon, but I'll be honest. I have not looked at the schedule all that much in depth past real Salt Lake.
00:35:33
Speaker
Okay. So why don't we take a look at this right now?
00:35:45
Speaker
All right.
00:35:50
Speaker
So Derek said next four games.
Upcoming Challenges in Schedule
00:35:58
Speaker
Coming up next, Real Salt Lake on Saturday. Ooh, then it's the LAFC. It's the LAFC rematch. i believe ah believe that's in Seattle.
00:36:11
Speaker
Shouldn't it say that on here? Yeah, yeah, or the home team's first. They have LAFC at home on on the match day after the RSL game.
00:36:22
Speaker
I will tell you guys, i was going to get to it in the ah when we were talking about the rest of the CCC results. LAFC barely won their round one series in CCC. They beat the Rapids on away goals.
00:36:40
Speaker
But Colorado kind of, they had them. Colorado, God, my Rapids. My Rapids almost almost beat LAFC. They got really close. The Rapids, who I think are going to be pretty good this year, but they're no one's pick to be the Shield winner.
00:36:57
Speaker
You would think that a team with the stature and pedigree of LAFC would be able to handle the Rapids. Maybe not with the ease that say Seattle handled the Antigua.
00:37:07
Speaker
I thought that the LAFC was going to handle the Rapids over 180 minutes pretty easily. They did not. That series was two two and LAFC went through on road goals.
00:37:19
Speaker
All this is to say that I'm sure... Like I'm not predicting LAFC's demise or downfall or saying that's an easy game for Seattle by any stretch. I would never say that given the history between the those two teams leading up to the playoff game last year.
00:37:35
Speaker
But LAFC, they don't look... Super amazing right now. Seattle's had a much better start to the season and to CONCACAF Champions Cup than LAFC has.
00:37:46
Speaker
So I guess what I'm more interested in with that game is what type of LAFC are we talking about? Because they have not looked like
00:37:59
Speaker
28, 19 plus 48 goal differential l LAFC. And frankly, the Olivier Giroud signing, it's it's still too early to call it a bust. But what it's not too early to say is that if it does turn out to hit and he turns out to be really good for them, part of the narrative of that will be, oh, he started off really slow and didn't do much and then heated up.
00:38:23
Speaker
we are at We are officially at that part of the Olivier Giroud narrative. I am not calling him ah bust yet, but what I will say is that Steve is smoking the Zaza.
00:38:35
Speaker
If he is not starting a Bobasi over Olivia Giroux, I don't like he, the one of the last l LAFC games I was watching Giroux was starting over Bobasi.
00:38:47
Speaker
I don't get that at all. Like based on what they've gotten out of him so far and Boba C scoring, ah scoring a goal in their first game. i don't even know why, uh, why they're trying to force it at this point.
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah. Moose has more MLS goals for us than Giroux has for LAFC. That is a factually accurate statement. So, uh, They got to they gotta get him going.
00:39:16
Speaker
I don't know. That's not my concern. But they were they were hailed as the most ambitious soccer club in any league ever for signing him at age 38. So they got to get him going.
00:39:34
Speaker
That's the thing, man. Like... when when When they signed Giroux, there were Seattle fans out there who were talking about like, oh, see, this is what ah what a real club does.
00:39:46
Speaker
doesn't always end up like that. I, and I was someone who was predicting that he was going to bam an MLS. Um, all right. So after that LAFC game, St. Louis away who, uh, Seattle beat last time they played at Energizer park or whatever that was.
00:40:06
Speaker
But, uh,
00:40:09
Speaker
that I mean, that's not an easy place to play necessarily, but I'll have to ah off to scout up St. Louis a little bit, maybe look up a content creator reporter I can talk to about them because I'm honestly not super in the loop on them, but that does figure to be a tough away trip.
00:40:25
Speaker
And then the one after that is Houston at home. The Nego Ladero homecoming, guys. That's going to be weird. That's going to be weird. So those were the four games Derek was talking about, and I agree those are going to be a – a good character test for this team. First of all, away.
00:40:45
Speaker
away
00:40:48
Speaker
That is not going to be an easy game, even with this iteration of ah RSL, which if you haven't been following it, I can give you guys the scouting report on that.
00:41:00
Speaker
They look like the they've had the worst start in the league. They've had the worst start of any team in the entire league. They played Herodiano, I think is the ah Costa Rican club. I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
00:41:15
Speaker
They played ah Costa Rican club who they were favored to beat and zero zeroed the first leg. Didn't look good at all, which that's one thing. But then they came home and promptly at home, I believe, played their season opener against the Quakes and lost four to zero.
00:41:36
Speaker
4-0 to zero the Bruce Arena-led Quakes, who most people, I think, think they're going to be improved because it would be hard not to prove improve off a wooden spoon, 80 goals conceded season. But I don't know if they're 4-0 good. you know So they got absolutely boat raced at America First Field.
00:42:00
Speaker
And then they bombed out of CCC last night. They literally, it was really funny too. I was covering all the games last night. So I watch i actually watched all of them and RSL was ahead one zero.
00:42:13
Speaker
So they were in position to advance, gave up the equalizer, had it called off on a pretty like, ah No, it wasn't ticky tag. It was a foul on the buildup, though. Like the goal they gave up was still really bad. They kind of got bailed out by VAR on a foul on the buildup.
00:42:30
Speaker
And then they gave up. Then they gave up the actual equalizer after getting bailed out. And then was one one, which i would have knocked them out. And instead of scoring a goal that would have had them advance.
00:42:45
Speaker
They gave up a breakaway to the Herodiano guy. And the RSL goalkeeper came off his line, destroyed the guy for a penalty kick, and they ended up losing the second leg 2-1 when they were already going to lose the series anyway.
00:43:03
Speaker
So they're down really bad. So basically what I'm saying is that Even with the challenges that this road trip presents, which is a road trip to altitude in a place where you historically pretty much never get results. I don't think they've won and America first field since like 2011 or something, or maybe maybe that streak ended, but there was some crazy stat for years and years.
00:43:34
Speaker
If Seattle goes down there and just plays how they've been playing,
00:43:40
Speaker
they can win They should win that game against RSL in this state. Now, what I will say is that an opponent like in a situation that RSL is in right now is a desperate opponent.
00:43:56
Speaker
They're going to be – they're literally – especially because they know that Seattle is considered one of the best teams in the league right now. Pablo – Pablo, ex-dog Pablo knows – He knows that if RSL comes out and beats Seattle at home, that would that would drastically help the vibes down there, which are horrendous right now.
00:44:22
Speaker
So they're going to be playing this game like it's the Portland Timbys playing the Seattle Sounders. You know how the Portland Timbys, every time they play Seattle, they channel their inner Real Madrid and...
00:44:38
Speaker
don't really care that much about the rest of their games, but when it comes to the Seattle Derby, they're, they're just locked in. They're going to be, that's the, that is what RSL is going to be on this game. They're going to be like going into it with that mentality.
00:44:50
Speaker
So Seattle's got to be ready for that, but this is definitely a wounded animal right now. They, this is an opportunity to buck some narratives and, uh,
00:45:03
Speaker
keep the Keep the good vibes rolling. If they go to... First of all, losing at a place called America First Field, that's never... You never want that.
00:45:15
Speaker
Go to America First Field. You want to take the dub.
00:45:21
Speaker
Ari's just vibing right now, not knowing what is going on in here. Yeah, I have no idea. are you oh yeah are you guys still doing Moose Discourse? I was trying to... ah I was trying to steer it away from that, but we can keep doing the, we can still, we can keep doing the Moose Dears, course. Oh, Robert, thank you for the $2 super chat.
00:45:45
Speaker
Sorry that I missed that. Appreciate it. Missed the Cruz Azul CCC matches. Oh, okay. I was just totally... ah All right. So I was going off on the... I i still think I ah had some good content there.
00:46:02
Speaker
But, okay. I meant um RSL, Cruz Azul, LAFC, and Cruz Azul. All right. That's a good segue. I just hooked on ah on the league matches. And I was mostly talking about ah RSL, which is in there. So the St. Louis and...
00:46:21
Speaker
Houston analysis was pointless, but I think the LAFC analysis was actually still hot. um Yeah, let's talk about ah the fact that they're playing Cruz Azul.
00:46:35
Speaker
That's a good team. ah I was looking at the ah team-wide stats for CCC today. And the only club that has more goals than Seattle and CCC right now is Cruz Azul.
00:46:51
Speaker
I am going to have to deep dive their team a little more, ah but I know that they have Mateus Bogus who has a couple of assists in CCC and they have Jacomacos.
Anticipation for Cruz Azul Match
00:47:05
Speaker
So a couple of really good former MLSers and, um, They scored seven goals. They were playing a team from Haiti, I believe.
00:47:16
Speaker
So ah lower rated league than the Guatemalan top flight, I would venture to guess.
00:47:27
Speaker
But they've looked very good so far too. I'm going to pull up the Liga Mechies table as well. Let's see.
00:47:39
Speaker
Cruz Azul is currently fifth in Liga Amekis, 13 goals for, nine goals against, plus four GD, 17 points.
00:47:50
Speaker
So they're off to a good start in the league, but they're not like way out. Sorry, guys. my
00:48:01
Speaker
Oh, man, I can't have this. My hair's all screwed up. No. All right. This is what I look like now.
00:48:14
Speaker
Can't escape Bogus bangers. All right. I got to fix this. I got to fix this. All right. That's better. There. It's better. I'm excited for this Cruz Azul series.
00:48:26
Speaker
Seattle beat them famously 2022. And twenty twenty two and They also have club America on this side of the bracket. That's why Noah was taking heat for saying that he thought this was the tournament. Seattle was most likely to win, but I think it's a situation of like, you're going to have to go through them eventually.
00:48:45
Speaker
So like, just get it out of the way now. And I love watching these series against these Liga Mechies teams. I think they're great measuring sticks.
00:48:57
Speaker
ah And yeah, These are the type of games that you want to be playing. And honestly, like this is what it's all about. You get a chance to, uh, to prove yourself on this stage again.
00:49:10
Speaker
You got to love it. Yeah. They're only three points behind club America. If we can beat one of them, we can beat them all. Exactly.
00:49:20
Speaker
I'm going to work on getting some Cruz Azul Intel, uh, but, uh, Nico is always a great resource for Liga Mechis Intel. And ah I'm going to pick his brain quite a lot on Lobby Scorchers kickoff for you guys on Monday.
00:49:38
Speaker
So most definitely tune into that. And we are going to scout them up in great detail.
00:49:49
Speaker
I need the shit posting that will come with being the only MLS team to win CCL and CCC. That's a good point.
00:49:58
Speaker
They would be the, ah is it this is the first, was was it called cup last year? I don't know. I still think, I don't know why they changed that. Champions League is just like a great name.
00:50:12
Speaker
I still call it that sometimes and ah kind of don't want to stop, but I've adjusted to Champions Cup. ah How many MLS teams do you think will make it to the quarterfinals?
00:50:25
Speaker
That's a good question. Why don't we – okay, here's what going to do. Here's what I'm going to do.
00:50:33
Speaker
going to pull up the bracket. We can just take a look at it, see what the other –
00:50:42
Speaker
Okay, before we do that, I'm going to hit this super chat because this was another topic that I wanted to hit. Robert, thank you for the $2 super chat. Appreciate you, man. How about Danny Leyva balling? Yes.
00:50:54
Speaker
um the double The JP Danny Leyva double pivot. I thought it looked really good. I thought JP kind of looked like he had a a bounce in his step, but I thought Danny Leyva did too.
00:51:07
Speaker
Tell me if you guys agree with this. thought that was like...
00:51:12
Speaker
Was that the best that Danny Leyva has looked? I feel like he has been sort of on the edge of really becoming a consistent contributor for a while. And he's very clearly a very talented and gifted passer. Great long passer.
00:51:31
Speaker
Always has been, has a great feel for the game. ah But i just I guess my question was always, you know are the physical attributes there? like Can he run fast enough? Is he too skinny to kind of withstand the physicality, particularly of this league?
00:51:50
Speaker
i don't know. I really felt like last night was the most comfortable, but also... ah Dynamic i think Danny Leva looked flat ah flat out dynamic at moments. I thought thought his ball progression was really good. I thought his passing was on point.
00:52:09
Speaker
ah Thought he was he was flying around. I don't know. I thought the I thought the JP Danny Leva double pivot was really good outside of I think JP had like the one giveaway.
00:52:23
Speaker
But other than that. I thought he was pretty damn good. Mostly pleased, a few bad moments, but not worried to see him starting again.
00:52:35
Speaker
so clean on the ball. Oh yeah. People are talking about the, uh, famous goal. That wasn't, that was bullshit. That should have been a goal.
00:52:49
Speaker
All right. It looks like you guys kind of more or less agree with my, uh, with my Danny Lava take. Oh, Joe, you came through with the Justin Dillon name drop.
00:53:02
Speaker
I still maintain... Well, I guess... I guess it was a foul on Justin Dillon. It probably was. i don't really quite remember exactly what happened, but I think he did foul the guy.
00:53:16
Speaker
JP off the bench is nuts. Yeah, like... guys understand, like, a JP... in that version of Danny Leyva double pivot would be like a plus starting group for most teams in this league.
00:53:31
Speaker
The fact that that's your,
00:53:35
Speaker
that that's your backup double pivot with Danny Leyva looking like that. I think it also, I think it made him, Danny Leyva looking like that, I'm sure made them feel more comfortable with dealing Josh Atencio.
00:53:50
Speaker
But it really, i think if Danny Leyva can just play like that all year, that makes the Atencio move even better, doesn't it? Because they got a $1.3 million dollars bag for Atencio with the guy who's taking the minutes that Atencio would have gotten.
00:54:09
Speaker
I feel like ah I've watched Atencio with the Rapids a little bit too, and he looks he looks good. He looks pretty much like he did in Seattle, which you know would be expected. But if Danny Leyva is even playing at a starting level,
00:54:26
Speaker
That makes the attention deal look even nicer and right. Exactly. Not to mention the incoming Obed move, which, uh, we'll see what the price tag is on that.
00:54:39
Speaker
I've been saying $20 million. Yeah. yeah JP might be back. not going to call him back, back, but he might be back. He really, uh, he talked about it in preseason. He said that he felt like, uh,
00:54:57
Speaker
he was more back physically now than he felt at any point last year. If that's true, and they have any, if if they even have 75% of the best 11 version of JP,
00:55:15
Speaker
telling you guys, telling you, 10 CEO looked even more comfortable on the ball than other Rapids players. Other Rapids fans were saying the same.
00:55:26
Speaker
Yeah. And the other thing, ah like I was, I was, I was watching the him play on the Rapids and kind of, uh, thinking about the attributes that I liked that he had, that he showed in Seattle. And if they were, you know, if you, if he looked the same playing with the Rapids and, uh,
00:55:43
Speaker
He's really good at ah you know getting possession of the ball and just head forward and then just covering ground. you know think that's it's clearly something that the Rapids needed, and they're going to benefit a lot from that.
00:56:01
Speaker
I feel like in general, okay, you guys can tell me what you think of this too, because there was another. The Jack McGlynn, similar idea, except he went for even double the bag.
00:56:13
Speaker
he went for double the bag that Atencio did from Philly to Houston. And that's all. It's honestly a kind of a, don't know about unprecedented, but it's the biggest bet that I've seen in and MLS club make on a domestic talent like that.
00:56:36
Speaker
Houston shelled out two plus million dollars for Jack McGlynn on an interleague move. The Rapids shelled out 1.3 for Atencio.
00:56:49
Speaker
I think this new cash-for-player trade mechanism that these guys are moving under... It's going to be ah huge boost for the clubs that have taken their youth development and their academies seriously and have developed guys that they can sell like this.
00:57:05
Speaker
McGlynn was supposed to go to Europe anyway, but don't know if they could have gotten the same bag from a European team as they did from Houston. Atencio, that's one where if this cash for player trade thing wasn't a thing,
00:57:24
Speaker
like i He might have just been kind of stuck. But now that they can do stuff like this...
00:57:34
Speaker
I don't know. But like i what I was going to say is that... me... to me It'll definitely benefit teams like the Rapids or the Dynamo that maybe aren't as... It's kind of a symbol that you haven't really developed the surplus of youth yourself if you have to make deal like that and spend that much money on it.
00:57:58
Speaker
To me, Philly and Seattle came out of those deals sitting pretty, like looking looking great. I would much rather be the team who is developing the player and getting that bag than I would be the team that has to – like for Houston, the McGlynn thing, I like McGlynn. I think he's good, but they're like – it's a risk. They are taking ah risk right there.
00:58:28
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you guys are right. umm ah Yeah, Atencio is game. Full game. I think the point kind of still stands, though. It definitely does as a as far as the McGlynn take goes.
00:58:41
Speaker
Like, I would much rather be Philly...
00:58:47
Speaker
than Houston in that situation, even though I think there's a pretty good chance that McGlynn is going to be good for Houston. They're really, that's going to be an interesting one to track because ah as far as I can tell from what I've read and just what I can gather from the situation, they are kind of, they're basically treating Jack McGlynn as the Ace Ace like for like replacement.
00:59:14
Speaker
Ace Ace, their whole team was built around him. So they are they're really – they're betting big on a domestic player moving to them for that big a bag, being like a centerpiece player. It seems like a lot of – it's like a lot of pressure on that.
00:59:36
Speaker
think Colorado doesn't make the trade without the cash transfer because it makes it easier to get game from cash transfers. Yeah, yeah.
00:59:48
Speaker
Um, someone mentioned Paul Areola in chat. Let's talk about him real quick. Cause, uh, two goals in champions league so far.
00:59:58
Speaker
i don't know. I was just watching, uh, watching that goal is, and i was like, damn, this guy is nails. They should have, they should have brought this guy in years ago. Um, just all the running he does.
01:00:16
Speaker
I've been saying that I feel like that's going to make him a really good fit on this team. Like his engine is just nonstop.
Key Player Performances: Areola and Leyva
01:00:23
Speaker
um But I think, ah I think his end product might be a lot better than people were giving credence to.
01:00:32
Speaker
um i was saying that I was higher on that trade than maybe most. Obviously Ferreira got all the headlines with between those two trades.
01:00:46
Speaker
But I love what I'm seeing from Areola so far. I think he is
01:00:54
Speaker
looking like he's going to be one of the key players on this team this year, obviously. And really, ah i'm looking forward to obviously seeing what the whole team can do against Cruz Azul.
01:01:06
Speaker
But I feel like ah the FC Dallas boys in particular didn't really –
01:01:14
Speaker
To my memory, they didn't get really much of a chance to to shine in CCC. Areola played in Liga Amekis for a few years. So honestly, from that standpoint, he's also kind of a perfect guy to add to a team that has CCC aspirations.
01:01:34
Speaker
um But like on his DC United and FC Dallas years, I don't really think that he got that much of an opportunity to show what he can do. So this series ah the series with Cruz of Azul is going to be good, guys. I'm really looking forward to it.
01:01:52
Speaker
ah It's sort of bringing back the memories of the... ah sort of... Going into CCC this year, i was telling myself i was going to try and and enjoy it a little more.
01:02:05
Speaker
I really... I didn't enjoy the 2022 games that much because the deeper they got into it, the pressure was just so immense.
01:02:21
Speaker
And then when they got to the final, what once they made it to the final, then got the draw right in the first leg. Um, then I felt pretty good, but I don't know. I, uh,
01:02:36
Speaker
I had a lot of nerves for those games. i told myself I wasn't going to do that for for it this year because they've already won it. So obviously I want them to win it again. But if they don't, it's not like the biggest deal in the world.
01:02:48
Speaker
But I'm starting to feel those those butterflies again, but in a good way. ah Robert, thank you again for the $2 super chat.
01:03:00
Speaker
Appreciate everyone who's been super chatting tonight. Love you guys. Thanks for the support. Would you rather have 09 Nate Jaquois or 25 twenty five moose Honestly, that question is like even slightly.
01:03:16
Speaker
ah I mean, obviously, I know Nate Jaqua from having heavily researched the early days, but that was before i was on the scene.
01:03:28
Speaker
and i obviously, I know his role in the 48 seconds tree chop celebration, but I didn't. watch him enough as a player to be able to answer that. what Did Nate Jaquia have a rep as like an XG merchant missing sitters?
01:03:44
Speaker
I never heard that. But again, don't know much about him as a player. I'll take 25 Moose. I still think 25 Moose has some goals in him. I'm going to, I'm going to, I don't, I didn't like the pylon.
01:03:57
Speaker
Pylon, like I said, the pylon felt unnecessary. If he is, if if he misses game winner, then then you can pile on.
01:04:08
Speaker
But they won 3-1, on aggregate, and they looked awesome. So I just don't get why we got to be negative like that. Loose is trying his best out there.
01:04:23
Speaker
The Sounders get past Cruises as well. They can beat anyone. Exactly. like That's how I feel about it. That's why I would rather have this matchup right now. like Just get it done.
01:04:34
Speaker
Get it done. You're going to have to get by him anyway. And the thing I like about these, about a two-legged series, is that, ah with some exceptions, but in general, over two legs, 180 minutes, the better team usually ends up winning these.
01:04:54
Speaker
Better team usually ends up winning. It's pretty hard to fake it or get lucky or get bailed out. Over two games. That can happen in one game any time. You add another 90 on top of that.
01:05:09
Speaker
Typically the better team wins. So. ah
01:05:14
Speaker
may May the best team win. May the best team win.
01:05:19
Speaker
Brian should have had coach of the year last year. and Nobody can change my mind. We did a show about that. And I think his case was slept on.
01:05:28
Speaker
How many better coaching jobs have you seen like than what he did with Paul Rothrock? Like Paul Rothrock obviously gets all the credit for making the most of the opportunity.
01:05:44
Speaker
But what was great about that coaching is giving him the opportunity, right? Like trusting your, like what you're seeing in training. And also, you know, it was partially by necessity for sure with all the injuries, but he didn't have to give that to Rothrock.
01:06:03
Speaker
He didn't. And coaches at Schmetz cooked on that. He cooked on that. And really all of last year to get that team with De La Vega and Rui Diaz functionally doing nothing the whole year.
01:06:18
Speaker
Get that team to the West final and within five minutes of hosting MLS Cup is painful because I still think that if they get by the Galaxy, they probably i i think they handle Red Bull in Seattle.
01:06:33
Speaker
So really, that game arguably cost them another cup. But to even get them that point, Schmetz coached his ass off like he really did. I think that I coach of the year. i see the shout, but like, I think that's the best coaching job last year. I think that's the best coaching job he did since he took over even probably more than the, uh, 2016 cup, which was also some insane coaching.
01:06:59
Speaker
Um, Do we get a glimpse of Bryan's ideal 11 in the first match against Cruz Azul? ah Yeah, probably. i think from this point on in CCC, it's going to be as strong a lineups as he can possibly put out there.
01:07:21
Speaker
And that's how it should be.
01:07:26
Speaker
Caché, I think you're talking about Schmetz here. He's a product of his own success. He set the outside expectation for us so high that it's nigh impossible for him to meet it without multiple trophies in a year. Yeah, I mean, I think you're pretty dead on with that.
01:07:37
Speaker
And that's a good thing. I love covering a team that has expectations high like that. Like not every, like this Cruz Azul series, you know, all the prep and stuff we all get to do for it.
Expectations and Team Dynamics
01:07:53
Speaker
Learning about this team, getting into the matchup and then the games themselves. and Not every club gets to play in games like this. Like you got to earn the right to play in these.
01:08:04
Speaker
And there are a lot of fun once you get past the nerves of it. Yeah. I don't like, I don't think Red Bulls were, beating Seattle in Seattle.
01:08:16
Speaker
that's That's why it's so frustrating because they almost had that Galaxy game. They almost had that. That was the real MLS Cup was Sounders Galaxy. That was a good-ass game. like I know it ended badly, and it was only a 1-0.
01:08:34
Speaker
But to me, that game was just two heavyweights going at it.
01:08:43
Speaker
Any West team wins the cup last year after the first round that happened in the East. True. True. Assuming you're referring to what happened to Inter-Miami.
01:08:55
Speaker
Famously. um All right. What was I going to do? I was going to pull up the bracket. Let's pull up the bracket and just take a gander at some of these other CCC matchups that we've got.
01:09:19
Speaker
When Schmetzer retires, do you want him to have a voice in who the next coach will be? Ooh.
01:09:27
Speaker
I imagine he will, first of all. Like, I think they would ah they would consult him. And you know what? I think my answer to that is yes. Because, like i was say I said this on the last show, but like,
01:09:42
Speaker
There's literally not a single person on planet earth who cares more and is more emotionally invested in the success of the Seattle Sounders than Schmetz.
01:09:53
Speaker
Like he's grown up with this club. He played for the club. He's coached for the club for decades at this point. He's won everything to win at this club. ah I have zero doubt that if he had input on who the next coach would be,
01:10:10
Speaker
that he would make absolutely sure that all his bases were covered as far as what his wreck was because he, ah you could see it after the Charlotte game. Like when, like when this team drops points or loses games or concedes, concedes goals, it like ah it hits him. It hits him to the core.
01:10:35
Speaker
John says, I'm not worried about any Mexican teams anymore. Sure. We could lose. It's still soccer, but I'm not worried about how badly we will get blown out like those early years. Yeah. i think that's a good point. Like, uh,
01:10:48
Speaker
I'm going into this series expecting a dogfight. Like I look at it as a 50-50 toss. I would be surprised if either team blows the other out.
01:10:58
Speaker
Like I think it's going to come right down to it. And that is different. Like my early years covering this tournament, My early years covering this tournament, going into a series against a team like this, I'd be like, all right, well, you just got to pretty much absorb pressure the entire time and hope that you get lucky either by getting a penalty or a set piece or a counter attack or something like this. This I'm going into it and I'm like, all right.
01:11:28
Speaker
It's a 50-50 match.
01:11:31
Speaker
Let the best team win. All right, let's look at some of these other matchups. um Here's something that I think is funny, which is that... Well, funny and also good, which is that LAFC got the crew.
01:11:47
Speaker
So they get a rematch of the League's Cup Final last year. But that means one of those teams is out of here. Out of here. Which I consider both of those teams pretty big threats.
01:11:59
Speaker
They're two of the best MLS teams, so...
01:12:03
Speaker
Oh, we can do this discourse real quick, too. The move that the goalkeeper did to De La Vega, that was another one that ah Jeremiah actually had clipped up. So I'll pull that up, and then we can go back to the bracket.
01:12:20
Speaker
ah But yeah, this was ah this was ah another big moment from the game last night that everyone was talking about. Oops. Oops.
01:12:39
Speaker
Here we go.
01:12:42
Speaker
The big moment of controversy last night was this play. Starts with Pedro trying to nutmeg the goalkeeper in the corner, and he eventually gets shoved down. Hand is around neck, but I'm not fully convinced this is violent conduct.
01:12:54
Speaker
I'm okay with the yellow. Also, Pedro's teammates, he's mostly amused. So I actually haven't even watched this back yet. i'll just tell you guys ah I'll just tell you guys what my first reaction was when this happened, which was, i mean, anytime I see ah hand up high, throat, face, neck area,
01:13:16
Speaker
You are playing a game a red card game anytime you do that. And I saw that he went up towards De La Vega's throat here. And I was like, all right, I mean, I'm not going to make a big issue about it. But it could it could have been a red, I thought.
01:13:31
Speaker
But I'm watch it again with you guys right now. And we'll see if I agree with that take. Let's watch it. All right, so he tries to meg him. See, okay, this is what I'm saying.
01:13:43
Speaker
See, the hand up here. Like, this whole interaction in itself I don't think is red card worthy. But, like, once you get the once you get the hand up towards the neck, you're at least susceptible to it.
01:13:58
Speaker
And then he pushes him. Eh, I'm good with the yellow here. It could have been. That's what I'm saying, though. Like, this. This. I don't like that.
01:14:10
Speaker
I don't like that.
01:14:16
Speaker
this This whole play was funny because this is over by the corner flag. Like their their keeper was just, he just charged out there and they were in ah in this little 1v1 here. And then De La Vega was pissing this guy off so bad that he did this.
01:14:35
Speaker
It's honestly a fire play by De La Vega.
01:14:42
Speaker
Jeremiah's right. Like, look at look at Bruce Snag back here. He's literally laughing.
01:14:53
Speaker
Anyway.
01:14:58
Speaker
I'm good with that as a yellow. I'm good with that as a yellow. But that was a fun little CONCACAF play.
01:15:05
Speaker
I do think, though, ah I don't know. i feel like I've seen that. Oh, another thing I did want to say now that we're talking about officiating, which I thought the. thought the ref was pretty much fine as far as conca cap standards i actually can't remember anything like off the top of my head that was egregious i could be wrong but i thought he was fine uh but dude the varing like uh i am a long time adamant proponent of var i think you have to have it i've said this even before they had it uh
01:15:45
Speaker
like There's too much on the line in these games with these calls to be... And and there was too many instances where results were getting flipped and changing on wrong calls. So you can't have that.
01:16:03
Speaker
The technology is there. You got to have it. But that shit last night was taking way too long. Way too long. If you have to look at it for that long...
01:16:15
Speaker
then you have to leave the call on the field. And this is very simple. Like you give it like a 15 to 20 second look. And if you don't know 100% for a fact off that first look, then you pretty much have got to leave the call. So what I'm talking about is the Antigua equalizer.
01:16:36
Speaker
They called that offside on the field and then overturned it on VAR. The dude was looking at it for an hour and a half. There is no way that if he has to look at it for that long, that it's clearly an obvious, the other like to be reversed.
01:16:54
Speaker
There's actually no way that that should have been reversed based on how long, I mean, I looked at it and it was a situation where, I mean, he looked on side me, but I i don't know.
01:17:06
Speaker
He called it offside. Like you can't, that's just took too long. It took too long. You got to have it. And I'm not one. I'm not someone who like claims that it's ruining the integrity of the game or whatever. Like I'm not one of those people, but I was getting so tilted last night at how long that was taken. And then especially when, when they called the Antigua equalizer offside and then he then he goes and takes
01:17:39
Speaker
an hour and a half to look at it And then he's like, now I clearly and obviously see after an hour and a half that he was on side. What? I don't know. I don't know.
01:17:55
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Debatable. So the call on the field should stand. That's the whole thing. That's the whole thing. Like clear and obvious. It's clear and obvious have no meaning anymore.
01:18:06
Speaker
celebrating a goal hard and then for it to enter VAR one to two minutes later sucks. It does. It does. But you got to get the calls right. I definitely agree. Like one thing that I don't like about it is when your team scores a goal and you're like, yeah.
01:18:23
Speaker
And then everyone kind of has to wait to see if it's actually going to count. It does take a little bit of the, of the organic excitement out of the moment, I guess.
01:18:36
Speaker
For me, though, like, that's not a reason that you to not have it because you got to get the calls right. You got to get the calls right. But frankly, ah I was surprised there wasn't even more crazy officiating controversies over the course of those first two legs. So I don't know. that's just That was just ah something that was grinding my gears.
01:19:04
Speaker
Yeah. All right, what was I doing? Oh, I had the bracket up.
01:19:14
Speaker
ah So Columbus and l LAFC, Inter-Miami have beaten Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, and they're going to be playing a Jamaican side in the next round.
01:19:29
Speaker
ah So, I mean, they're going to be... Inter-Miami, it's interesting. i don't think anyone would call them necessarily the favorite in this tournament.
01:19:42
Speaker
i think they're probably I think they're probably the favorite. They're they're my favorite. i just think I just think in any individual game versus any Liga and Mechies club, I'm still picking the the team that has Messi and the Barca boys.
01:20:01
Speaker
I'm kind of hoping Miami makes it to the final and Seattle makes it to the final. Seattle has to take down Messi for CCC glory. That could be crazy.
01:20:14
Speaker
um
01:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, the refs in Guatemala, I thought, yeah, I thought they were pretty good. I kind of didn't think about it until I had my little VAR tangent. But there was not that many officiating controversies to my memory in this series.
01:20:30
Speaker
Oh, Jake, good update on the Whitecaps. I was going to – I totally forgot that was going on right now. Okay, so yeah, Whitecaps are up 2-0, 90 plus 5.
01:20:42
Speaker
So they got ah they got pretty close.
01:20:48
Speaker
Club America is the favorite. So, okay, let me let me ask you about that, Kenny. Let me ask you about that. Club America is probably the the pundit favorite. if you If we're talking one game, a one-game final, and it's Club of America versus Messi and the Barca boys, are you really taking Club America?
01:21:09
Speaker
i could see I could see the argument because Inter-Miami passionately loved to concede goals. But in one game, having the Barca boys is just...
01:21:24
Speaker
It's hard for me to pick against that. It's hard for me to pick against that. But I definitely agree that as far as like the conventional wisdom favorite,
01:21:36
Speaker
it's definitely Club America. Depends where it's at. I don't know if it depends where it's at for me.
01:21:47
Speaker
Let's see, Tom, uh, I might bust out the lineup builder at some point and we can play with that. Let me know in chat if you want to do lineups. I don't know if that's a that seems like a popular live show segment, but, um, all right, let's go to the other side of the bracket. That was where more of the, uh,
01:22:09
Speaker
Okay, so this is interesting. This is so this is kind of similar to the l LAFC Columbus situation, except the Liga and Mequis version, which is that you've got Club America versus Chivas right here.
01:22:22
Speaker
i don't know ah how good Chivas is right now, but I do know they won this tournament a couple years ago, and that would not be...
01:22:33
Speaker
an easy opponent. So I'm, I'm glad to, I'm kind of hella, I'm hella rooting for, for Chivas in that series. I really think there's as much of a way they'd be club America, but that would be huge. I feel like, I mean, either one of those teams that this is who is deciding who Seattle would play next. If Seattle can get by Cruz Azul,
01:22:59
Speaker
Neither one of those teams would be easy, but
01:23:05
Speaker
if Chivas upsets Club America, that might be like a stars aligning type of situation. Cade Cowell, that's a sick name drop. he He is on Chivas still, isn't he?
01:23:19
Speaker
um
01:23:23
Speaker
What are the chances of an all-MLS semifinal? Uh, not sure. I'll have to look at that.
01:23:32
Speaker
Probably not that good. I don't think not that good. Okay. This is a good, this is a good matchup. This is a real good matchup. Uh,
01:23:44
Speaker
FC Cincy has been the other best MLS team in CCC so far, other than Seattle. And honestly, out of all the MLS clubs that advanced, Seattle had far and away the best performance.
01:24:00
Speaker
Cincy... had a better, had a better result in the first leg, but then they only tied their second leg one, one in Seattle one. There's three, one. Um, but since he do look very, very good, they're a trendy pick for the shield. I can't say I disagree with that.
01:24:17
Speaker
I definitely expect them to be up there this year. uh, I'm going to have to like really get into the Liga Mequis research because I'm not totally sure what the state of Tigris is right now.
01:24:30
Speaker
I know they're still, they still got a Gignac, but since he could get Tigris out of there, I think they can, is what I'm saying. Like since he's looking nice, Evander seems like he's integrating well, which that was kind of my question is how best can they get him hitting the ground running. Uh, and then this guy, uh, Kevin Denke, the striker they signed from the Belgian league.
01:24:59
Speaker
He scored in both their CCC games. Uh, he might've scored. And I'm pretty sure he scored in their first MLS game too. So he looks like a real player.
01:25:12
Speaker
If he vanders as good as he was on Portland, um, They're going to be really good on offense. And Cincy is rock solid on D too. So that's going to be a good series.
01:25:27
Speaker
And then... so the Galaxy have Jare Deano, this Costa Rican club that just upset RSL. Galaxy should win that, but the Galaxy...
01:25:39
Speaker
um telling you guys, they don't look that hot. They really don't. Neither of the LA teams look that hot. The Galaxy freaking lost to San Diego, who had never played an MLS game, which credit to San Diego, they actually, they looked pretty good.
01:25:53
Speaker
But the Galaxy... just one MLS cup. Like I know they don't have Ricky Pooge. I know they don't have Joey paints right now, but to get shut out at home by an expansion side, that kind of shows like the situation that the galaxy are in right now. They've had to shed a lot of salary and, uh,
01:26:13
Speaker
They've got some big time injuries, most notably Ricky Poosh. So anyway, that's what the bracket looks like. ah think the the biggest series to keep an eye on here are Cincinnati and Tigris. I love that matchup. And then obviously Club America versus Chivas.
01:26:30
Speaker
I think we all we all got to be watching that series. We should all be watching that series.
01:26:37
Speaker
Oh, wow. This webcam like zooms in on me. with I didn't do that. I didn't do that. I don't know why it does that. But it's kind of cool. But if you're wondering why it zoomed in on my face like that, I didn't do that.
01:26:52
Speaker
Um...
01:26:56
Speaker
Oh, this is fun. This is a funny talking point. A lot of Mexican folks don't rate our CCL title because we didn't play Gigante Moderno. That's honestly not even ah Liga Mequis fans in media.
01:27:10
Speaker
That's also a talking point that has been pushed by United States media. i think it's I think it's funny. It's yeah exactly what John said. It's Cope. the The whole idea that Seattle's path was easy first of all, not true.
01:27:28
Speaker
Go back and watch those road games they had to play in Mexico during that run and tell me those were easy games. There's no easy paths in this.
01:27:39
Speaker
There's not. This one that they have this year If they get by Cruz Azul and then have to play Club America, it would be a harder path. But yeah, the whole talking point the whole talking point that Seattle's path was easy so it doesn't count.
01:27:54
Speaker
I mean, it does count. The trophy is in the trophy case, so it literally counts. So it's factually incorrect from that standpoint. um but it also wasn't an easy path. They also had even ah the MLS matchup they had against NYC, that NYC team had literally, they had just won MLS cup.
01:28:14
Speaker
And you guys remember how freaking hard that game in New York was. That was one of the hardest games was the, they were playing NYC at Red Bull arena. And was and,
01:28:26
Speaker
it was low keyy just as hard, if not harder than a couple of their like road trips to Mexico. That game was, it was like, uh, they were under pressure the entire time and gave up
Tournament Path Criticism and Fandom
01:28:38
Speaker
a goal. And then i think Rui Diaz dusted it.
01:28:43
Speaker
Have the camera. I think you do. There are hand gestures that change the camera, zoom and tracking.
01:28:52
Speaker
I don't know about that. I'll have to look into that.
01:28:58
Speaker
Um,
01:29:02
Speaker
Didn't we not play one because Pumas knocked the Gigante off? that's That's also a good point. like I'm pretty sure there was chances for those supposed teams to make it further, and then they didn't.
01:29:16
Speaker
Whose problem is that? The easy path shit is so funny to me. It's laughable. It's actually laughable. It's laughable for us because we all watched every game.
01:29:31
Speaker
We know about the path. We know about that path. Easier path than some, maybe, but also, like, i I also like the easy path argument as if it's something that the team in question can control.
01:29:48
Speaker
What do you want Seattle to do This opponent is not rated high enough by the press in Mexico. we're not going to play We're not going to play this series.
01:29:59
Speaker
We're not going to play this series until you give us a team that the press and pundits have deemed worthy of a path that is sufficiently difficult. If not, we eliminate us. Eliminate us. We're not going play.
01:30:13
Speaker
We're not going to play. The path is too easy. Path too easy. not going to play.
01:30:19
Speaker
um
01:30:22
Speaker
is this a galaxy pod or who's our new pet team this year? The guy like the galaxy. The reason that we became a galaxy pod is because i thought they were, they were like my most entertaining team. I thought to watch last year, just like eye testing.
01:30:40
Speaker
So that's why i started watching all their games and how the whole galaxy pod bit started. um So I guess I'll have to figure out what team emerges As such, there's like a couple teams who I wouldn't pick, even if they were really entertaining and fun to watch. Like I think LAFC in Portland, they could be playing like Real Madrid out there and they would not be my pet team.
01:31:14
Speaker
Anyone else, you know, If you're fun to watch, I will... i will That's the thing. the galaxy um The Galaxy thing was not ever a thing about like actual fandom. I would hope that most people understand that.
01:31:29
Speaker
I can respect an opposing team or another team that plays good ball. If you play good ball, i'll I'll give you your due. I'll give you your respect. If you play entertaining, good entertaining soccer...
01:31:46
Speaker
I got no problem. get Why would I not give you your respect for that? That's why didn't understand like why some people actually got unironically aggrieved about the Galaxy thing.
01:31:59
Speaker
I actually had people being like, I couldn't listen to this episode because... You were talking, were speaking too highly of the Galaxy.
01:32:11
Speaker
I'll only listen if you trash on every other team in the league, even if they're playing well.
Podcast Style and Audience Engagement
01:32:20
Speaker
It might be a Cincy pod. It might be a Cincy pod. Although Cincy are going to have to, like their brand last year became, they were kind of grinders. They were like one zero grinders.
01:32:36
Speaker
I guess that was more, was that more two years ago? Kind of don't remember.
01:32:44
Speaker
Easy path are the same people who think deflections don't count as goals. Oh my God. That's a good reminder. I got to find this, uh, this YouTube comment for you guys that, uh,
01:32:58
Speaker
That set me off on that rant on the last show. What was it on, though? What was it on? I'm going to to pop around for a second. so But it's a it was the most unhinged rant about how none of the deflective goals counted like that I've ever seen.
01:33:25
Speaker
Mark Fishkin's watchability ratings. I didn't, Joe. drop the Drop the link in chat.
01:33:33
Speaker
And I'll check that out. That sounded good. sound good Yeah, most people liked the Galaxy bit. It's kind of like, okay, like have you guys been following how ah how I've been taking heat for using too much slang on the pod?
01:33:53
Speaker
Like some that, like it annoys some people, but then like most people, that's like one of the reasons they like us, you know? So
01:34:03
Speaker
i did I'll be honest with you guys, though. I crashed out over that. I crashed out on Reddit. Noah saw the whole thing go down. cause i mean people People were unironically starting to piss me off with that.
01:34:17
Speaker
like First of all, you shouldn't make fun of someone for how they talk. That's not nice. Second of all, like I don't know what we're... even talking about to be suggesting that someone else's podcast should change to like accommodate how you think people should talk.
01:34:35
Speaker
Don't listen to mine and start your own. Like what? So it wasn't just that Redditor. It was a lot of people saying that shit. And then i crash out Crist. I crash out Crist.
01:34:47
Speaker
ah And anyone who saw that exchange on Reddit, I will acknowledge that it was funny because that literally the first thing I've ever posted, the first and only thing I've ever posted on Reddit was me crashing out because someone was making fun of how I talk. And the guy, when he chirps back at me, he like noted that it was my first and only comment that I'd ever posted on Reddit.
01:35:16
Speaker
And I didn't respond to him again, but. It was, yeah, Newman. became what make fun of. I became Out Chris. ah became crash out chris
01:35:31
Speaker
Anyone here is chronically online and used to this slang. Exactly. i guess it's a situation where on one hand, it's it's good because it means our audience is expanding. Like our audience used to be so niche, niche, that the people, like the only people who listened to it were people who kind of gravitated to it because We cover it a little differently. We talk a little differently. We use the slang in the lingo.
01:35:57
Speaker
And then it's our audience, I would say even in the last like two to three weeks has grown a lot So we're getting people who I think are coming in new and they're like, what is this guy talking about?
01:36:08
Speaker
It actually has been a legitimate issue in my life away from the away from the pod. cause like all but i I had an older sister who used a lot of slang and abbreviations and nicknames. I picked that up from her. So I always like use abbreviations and nicknames and stuff.
01:36:24
Speaker
But sometimes my friends like on the group chat, I'll say something and they're like, I literally don't know what you just said. So believe it or not, I key it back for the pod. I do. Like I i don't.
01:36:38
Speaker
Sometimes when I get going, it's like ah it's like even more of a different language.
01:36:45
Speaker
Deep Ari lore. Yeah, this is ah this is hour and 45 minutes into Under the Lights where it goes off the off the rails. I really appreciate the... ah I'm probably going to go around two hours.
01:36:58
Speaker
It's getting kind of late. But I feel like... wait We've had a great turnout on this one night. We've had like over 100 people in here at different junctures. So really appreciate that.
01:37:10
Speaker
But I feel like these Thursday Under the Lights streams, this is for like the... This is for the sickos. Lob and Scorchers kickoff is what gets... Oh, whoa, that was the zoom out.
01:37:24
Speaker
Whoa, watch this, guys.
01:37:29
Speaker
All right, going to have to toy with this. I'm have to toy with this. No cap, spitting facts, no cap on God.
01:37:41
Speaker
GG's.
01:37:43
Speaker
I'm glad you guys like Timbs. That's, that's like weird. That's the one that everyone accepts. I don't know why people think it's like so funny that I call them the Timbs appropriately condescending. I guess, I guess that's why i i think it's because they've been such a shit show the last, I don't know what has it been like two or three years at this
Coaching Criticism and Team Struggles
01:38:06
Speaker
point.
01:38:06
Speaker
Like the Timbs, it's like a, they're like a sitcom. It's like a, Tune in for this week's episode of The Timbys, starring Phil Neville. And then it's like Phil Neville at the Blazing Hot Presser.
01:38:22
Speaker
Guest starring Ned Grabovoy. And then it's Ned Grabovoy talking about how he's in an insane feud with his best player.
01:38:34
Speaker
good sick It's a good sitcom idea. got a lot of sitcom ideas. ah When Noah and I were riffing on Atlanta United the other day, and were we were talking, we were like riffing on how Garth and Chris were talking about replacing Miguel Amirone and then like came up with the idea to replace Miguel Amirone with Miguel Amirone.
01:38:54
Speaker
was thinking of an Atlanta United themed sitcom that's like a Ted Lasso vibe and it's called Garth and Chris. And, uh, The premise is like Chris coming up with really obvious ideas like signing Miguel Amarone. And then Garth's catchphrase is Chris, you're cooking.
01:39:12
Speaker
Yeah, my viewerships the viewership's going down on the sitcom pitches. That's fine. That's fine. I'm going to. I could write this stuff. This is like how I make it as a writer.
01:39:26
Speaker
Ferntree, new YouTube member. Yay. Thank you so much. Appreciate that for the support. Everyone should follow Ferntree's example.
01:39:39
Speaker
Derek, you're just you're just the best, man. Thank you. you basically You basically single-handedly keep Lobbing Scorchers going at this point.
01:39:52
Speaker
Phil Neville...
01:39:55
Speaker
No one really got it, i don't think, when he got hired. um I know I didn't. like I never understood what was so great about his tenure with Inter-Miami that they were like, yeah, you got a fire Geo, who's been a pretty good coach,
01:40:20
Speaker
Upgrade to Phil Neville, who just coached some pretty bad Inter-Miami teams. It's going about how I would think. Anyway, ah he's a great coach. They should extend him. I think a 10-year extension is about what's in store and really ah commit to building the organization in his image.
01:40:40
Speaker
I want a strong Vancouver and a strong Portland. I want Cascadia be the teams to beat in the West. i can ah I can understand that... Sentiment and like honestly i do think the rivalry is a lot better and more compelling when portland is relevant.
01:40:57
Speaker
I gotta say though like What's going on what's been going on with the timbies now is pretty like it's pretty funny I I kind of love them as this Sitcom debacle, you know It's good. Uh, it's good entertainment value for all of us and it uh
01:41:21
Speaker
I would argue the sitcom version is more fun than the relevant version, which they were for years. But the other thing is that, like, I don't think them being a sitcom has had no bearing on the results in the Seattle games.
01:41:39
Speaker
They play the Seattle games like it's the last game of soccer they're ever going to play. If they played every game how they played the Seattle games, they would be a good team.
01:41:53
Speaker
they just basically the Timby, the Timby's pattern is to sit comment in torpedo until the Seattle game. And then they go, all right, all right, we got to lock in, got to lock in boys. It's the Seattle week. We got to lock in. They come, they go out there, play like real Madrid beat Seattle after the game. They go, all right, we're locked. We're locked in. That's going to be the springboard for our season.
01:42:16
Speaker
Going to turn it around now. And then they just, either torpedo or just not that good again until the next Seattle game. Seattle games are their MLS cup.
01:42:28
Speaker
It's literally like they, Seattle games are bigger than MLS cup to them. It's like, uh, I think it's the only game that they're aware of. So
01:42:42
Speaker
Timbers fans were annoyed by that hire. They were none of them. Well, because, ah not only was Phil Neville not a very good coach, but he also had some like ill-advised tweets back in the day. It was one of those situations.
01:42:56
Speaker
Uh, so those research that, Oh my God, it was, it was such a shit show. It was such a shit show.
01:43:06
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, I'm kind of bagging on the Timbs right now, but I will say, ah This might be unpopular take. I enjoy going to the games at Providence Park.
01:43:17
Speaker
I think it's a fun atmosphere. it's a It's like a kind of a fun change of pace from covering a game in Seattle because it's just so different. Like ah an NFL stadium and an NFL press box, it's so much vast.
01:43:34
Speaker
I think there's something to be said for an environment like Providence that's like more intimate and like the fans are right on top of the field, and you know?
01:43:44
Speaker
I'm not saying better or worse, just different and has merit in its own ways.
01:43:53
Speaker
I went back and listened to the interview Jeremiah did with Adrian last year. i think we're really lucky to have him as team owner. The guy is sharp. that is a ah more That is more controversial a take than you would think.
01:44:04
Speaker
A lot of people think he's broke.
01:44:08
Speaker
That's a talking point that got issued a lot this offseason. They that he's broke. They say that he's ruining the club.
Ownership Spending and Philosophy
01:44:16
Speaker
My thing is like, I mean, i've I've said this before, but is he going to be dishing Arthur Blank money?
01:44:28
Speaker
No. And would it be sick to have an owner like Arthur Blank that could do that? Yes. But honestly, maybe someone explain this to me, Chad. Why do we care as long as the team is winning?
01:44:41
Speaker
Seriously. Why do, like, what is it, what do the, what is the money, man, I just turned Siri on my phone. What is the money, the transfer fees, all that stuff matter if you're winning championships?
01:44:55
Speaker
didn't get that. Did you try Hanauer, like, whatever you want to say about his checkbook, he's a multi-time champion as the owner of this club. He's a multi-time MLS Cup champion.
01:45:07
Speaker
He's a CONCACAF Champions Cup champion.
01:45:15
Speaker
So I used to care more that he wasn't splashing Arthur blank money, but then they made a bunch of MLS cups, one, two of them and one champions league. And I was like, okay, okay.
01:45:28
Speaker
whatever you're doing, I guess keep doing that. The whole he's broke storyline took off because the bag that they spent on De La Vega was comparatively small ah compared to what other, you know, like Atlanta United just dropped $22 million dollars on latte life. Like Hainauer isn't going to do that.
01:45:47
Speaker
um But
01:45:52
Speaker
I don't care. I don't, he he's got to keep winning as long as he keeps winning. And adding to the trophy case, you will never hear me spend one minute of my time like talking about him not dropping bigger transfer fees.
01:46:11
Speaker
I do think there is ah possibility that the league will evolve to a point where
01:46:22
Speaker
However, they're strategizing it might not work anymore. But i mean, the team looks freaking awesome right now. We'll see if they can sustain it. But the roster that they built looks like one of the deepest that I've seen in a while without Atlanta United transfer fees.
01:46:38
Speaker
And those transfer fees don't guarantee you winning. That's the thing that I think people don't seem to acknowledge too. Atlanta United has been spending that much money, the Arthur blank money, blank checkbook,
01:46:53
Speaker
no pun intended for years. And they were, they've, they spent some of their least relevant time in the league when they've spent like the most money on guys like PT Martinez, who was terrible.
01:47:09
Speaker
Barco bust thrown around cash like that, man. Like, It's nice, but definitely doesn't guarantee you anything. Anyway, my point with this whole discourse, because this discourse got especially heated over for the offseason too, is just that like as long as long as he's winning, in putting those trophies in the trophy case, um i don't like the transfer fees, that ain't my concern.
01:47:38
Speaker
My issues with Hanauer is he's part of the finance committee holding back other teams' spending increases. I honestly... I'm not far enough in the weeds to know about that.
01:47:51
Speaker
But if I'm talking about like the money that he's put into the infrastructure of the club and the roster, those numbers, the only stats that matter to me are wins.
01:48:07
Speaker
That's a sound like Noah now.
01:48:13
Speaker
I only care about expected trophies. is Ferreira our number nine or center attacking mid is Musavsky our only sub for Morris up top.
01:48:26
Speaker
He is going to be playing both of those positions at times. Last night he was playing ah as more of a number 10, but you will see him play as a nine this year for sure.
01:48:41
Speaker
And Musavsky is ah not necessarily the only sub. I think, I think Ferreira is who you would see as the second choice nine.
01:48:55
Speaker
But Musaski is the third striker. He is, yes. But no, he's not the only sub. um All right. ah I'm going to ah turn on the lo-fi here as I go through these questions in chat here.
01:49:09
Speaker
ah going to start the process of wrapping it up, but I'm going to hang around for a few more minutes. I'm not doing anything, so let me find this lo-fi, though.
01:49:29
Speaker
yeah Thank you guys again for hanging out for another live show. Again, these are a lot of fun and really enjoy getting to interact with you guys like live, you know, talk to you in real time.
01:49:54
Speaker
Arthur Blank, is an awesome owner. There is no doubt about that. I do think, like, not that many owners are like that. I think you're right. Like, for him, it is sincerely...
01:50:13
Speaker
about just like he he kind of operates how I always say I would operate if I was rich. If I had as much money as these guys, I always like, I think about it sometimes. I'm like, what would I even do if I had that much money?
01:50:29
Speaker
What would I do? Like I, if I was like a billionaire, you know, what do you what do you even, what you even start? Like you could spend frivolously your whole life and never spend all that money. And I always think about it. Like I would tuck off like it ah few milli for myself just to live on.
01:50:46
Speaker
Maybe like $10 million. dollars I would literally give the rest of that shit away. I seriously would. I would ask people who know how to solve societal problems, how much money they need to solve it I would just give them that amount of money.
01:51:02
Speaker
Arthur Blank, you know, he's still like a greedy billionaire oligarch to an extent. But I think in his head, he's like, literally, if Garth says he needs this much money for this player to make the team better, no questions asked.
01:51:17
Speaker
I will sign that check. I don't care. I'm Arthur Blank. What the fuck do I care about $22 million? $22 million to me is literally $5 bill. Yeah, go buy Latte Loth. a five dollars bill yeah go buy latteloth Most owners like either can't or won't do that.
01:51:36
Speaker
I don't think Hanauer can. Hanauer is obviously rich, but he's not Arthur Blank rich. Arthur Blank freaking, didn't he found Home Depot or something?
01:51:49
Speaker
He's one of the richest people in the world.
01:51:55
Speaker
Because of that mindset, you'll never be a billionaire. Exactly. But like, like some of these guys, and that's what everyone says, like some of these guys who have ah net worth of like 48 billion or whatever, couldn't you give away 28 billion?
01:52:14
Speaker
don't still have $20 billion? What are we talking about?
01:52:23
Speaker
Yeah, no, you're I mean, you're you're absolutely right. Like, to get that much money, you do have to be, you do have to
01:52:37
Speaker
be great. U22 striker in the summer. Chat, do you want a striker or a CDM?
01:52:46
Speaker
I kind of want to well, because I kind of, it's going to be interesting when they sell Obed.
01:52:54
Speaker
Because you have good depth at that position. But... don't know. don't know.
01:53:06
Speaker
Night, Kenny. Thanks for hanging out. Appreciate it.
01:53:13
Speaker
Got Leyva, but... What if you could get like a ah
01:53:21
Speaker
just like a stud CDM, you know? a Keep Leyva as the depth guy and then just have like a super... I guess, you know, it's kind of hard to find super polished U22s, but... If
01:53:43
Speaker
you complain about Moose, then you want a U22 striker. I wasn't complaining about Moose. In fact, I see what you're saying. A lot of people were complaining about Moose. So realized weren't necessarily referring to me.
01:53:57
Speaker
But i was trying to I was trying to get everyone off the Moose thing. I think in general, if you win a CCC series 6-2,
01:54:09
Speaker
it's you don't need to crash out Chris over the third striker. You won. You scored six goals in the series. You mad that you didn't get eight?
01:54:19
Speaker
Like...
01:54:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, I got you. catchup Catch tie? I got you. Hit on a striker, are you're able to sell them later on at a price. True.
01:54:37
Speaker
Joe, attention, but I'm thinking like, ah yeah, I mean, that's a good point. I feel like you could... ah
01:54:47
Speaker
There's a world where you could scout it up and find a U-22 at that position that's even like more polished. And maybe with a more dynamic skill set.
01:55:01
Speaker
Basically, you're looking for Obed.
01:55:07
Speaker
Obed replacement.
01:55:13
Speaker
moose scored six Moose has scored goals in his career. i'm not sure what you're...
01:55:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, he does need to put some of those away or on goal. that's I mean, he is a striker after all. I think he would probably tell you. Last night, because the team played so well outside of that and ah scored a bunch of goals, I thought it was funny.
01:55:39
Speaker
I thought it was funny because when Moose does that, it makes Noah crash out.
01:55:45
Speaker
And that's funny.
01:55:54
Speaker
It's actually a good point, Eric. They just churn out these sixes and eights like it's nothing.
01:56:09
Speaker
Yeah, so this is an interesting point. Develops better at every other position other than striker, which is hard to find in the youth system currently. Like, the more I follow the youth development pipeline, in so and Seattle specifically, ah developing a player like Jordan Morris is so hard. Like, Seattle deserves credit for doing that.
Youth Striker Development Challenges
01:56:33
Speaker
But, like, realistically, they got that kind of... lobbed over the plate for them in that his dad was like the team trainer. He grew up around the team. ah And they sort of, it's not like they like went out and found him and then he became what he was like. He was sort of ingrained with the team always.
01:56:54
Speaker
Other than that, like remember the Ocampo Chavez never really panned out. Like they have churned out these sixes and eights. Like it's nothing. to great effect, but it's just a lot harder. It's a lot harder in general to develop attacking players.
01:57:15
Speaker
Well, the U.S. can't develop a striker to save our lives. Yeah. But it's hard. Scoring goals is quite difficult.
01:57:31
Speaker
you twenty two striker yeah I mean, Joblich, Joblich, that's signing bangs, but like, yeah he's pretty much the only U22 striker.
01:57:46
Speaker
AOC is your old roommate. That's a random pull.
01:57:51
Speaker
was He was nasty for, he was like the best player on those development academy, the the Generation Adidas team that won that. AOC scored a ton of goals and he was good for defiance too.
01:58:10
Speaker
He just, it's not it's not even like just him, it's just like no academy striker.
01:58:19
Speaker
Omar Hassan. That's a good shout. If you don't know who that is, i think that is the name right now that has the best chance of bucking the trend that i'm talking that I've been talking about.
01:58:35
Speaker
ah i mean he's He's playing for what? like The U16s or U15s right now or something? but He's a lot of fun to watch. He's been scoring a lot of goals and he does Opa flips when he scores. so i am I'm hopeful about that one.
01:58:52
Speaker
John Duran was the other U22 success. I forgot about him. i mean, he looks like he could be one of the best players in the world, except he got, didn't they, so didn't he get sold to the Saudi league?
01:59:15
Speaker
USMNT has not had a solid international striker since Clint ah or Jordan Morris, you know,
01:59:26
Speaker
just saying. I'm just saying.
01:59:31
Speaker
All right. Last call for any questions before I get out of here. Probably got a couple more minutes. So anything Sounders, MLS, CONCACAF Champions Cup related that want me to hit real quick before I log off, go ahead and send it in.
01:59:54
Speaker
you haven't done so, please like the video. That is very helpful.
02:00:03
Speaker
Like the video, sub to the channel, leave us reviews on Apple Pods, iTunes,
02:00:15
Speaker
Thank you guys for all the super chats tonight. There was a bunch of them. Love to see that Derek coming through as always, but there was more people super chatting tonight.
02:00:28
Speaker
Appreciate that. Glad you guys are still enjoying these live shows. This was definitely the best turnout for, for an under the lights so far. So appreciate that.
02:00:40
Speaker
Derek, you seriously like, can stop now the stream's pretty much over but thank you
02:00:50
Speaker
How much is going Georgie going to be sold for next year when he goes supernova this season? So this was an interesting debate that we were having in the press box the other night with, uh, I was sitting with Jeremiah tim fost and and, uh, I brought up on, uh, one of my, one of our pods with Noah that if Georgie keeps playing like this, we might have to start talking about his transfer fee.
02:01:14
Speaker
So I was talking about that with Jeremiah and he was saying, he was like, I'm not really sure about that because, uh, He seems to think that, ah so i I don't know if everyone knows this, actually. I'm pretty sure most people know this, but maybe some people don't. Georgie is blind in one eye.
02:01:30
Speaker
He's literally blind in one eye. It makes his story all the more insane. i don't understand. It's because he's been blind in one eye his whole life, so he's just used to it.
02:01:41
Speaker
The fact that he's able to maintain like the depth perception that he is is kind of... astounding like i would think that that would mess with your depth perception a lot but he it literally doesn't seem to affect him at all jeremiah was saying that fairly or unfairly unprobably unfairly that that might diminish his ah his transfer stock because other teams from europe or whatever it might be might look at that and see that as a as a hindrance or at least something that uh depresses his value
02:02:20
Speaker
Could be true, but I feel like ah i feel like if he becomes like a star this year, say he has a crazy year, just for the sake of argument, like double-digit goals, 15-plus assists, they're really going to care that he's blind in one eye?
02:02:41
Speaker
Like, I don't know. He looks literally, you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell from watching him. It doesn't affect how he runs. doesn't affect his passing. It doesn't the flip affect like, i don't so I don't know. I think maybe, maybe that would depress his feet a little bit, but I feel like if he balls out and goes supernova this year,
02:03:06
Speaker
it's going to become a discussion because he just looks, he looks so dynamic. He looks like he's got those physical gifts that you can't teach. Right. So
02:03:19
Speaker
yeah, exactly. If they if they can't see how good he is with their two eyes, then they're doing worse than Georgie in his one. Yeah.
02:03:29
Speaker
Who's going to score on Saturday? Oh, you got chat.
02:03:36
Speaker
I'm hoping to see a Jesus Ferreira goal soon. Although he might not. He probably isn't going to start. Should have done lineup builder. I'll do that on the next stream. It's too late now.
02:03:55
Speaker
Rothrock.
02:04:00
Speaker
Zippy Tuna. Thank you for the super chat. Much appreciated. Don't think we've ever had a winger as explosive. I kind of agree. Like Jordan at is at his peak when he was playing out there comes to mind. Georgie honestly kind of reminds me of that era of Jordan.
02:04:19
Speaker
um But there's almost something like more explosive about him. Just one of those guys where kind of just looks different when he's on the ball.
02:04:35
Speaker
I've loved seeing the end products too.
02:04:40
Speaker
Zach Wani eraser. That's, that's, that's a good shout. That's a good shout.
02:04:51
Speaker
Zach Wani shouts. V-Rod.
02:04:59
Speaker
Oh, comparing him to Zach.
02:05:10
Speaker
V-Rod is like the type of Sounders winger that I think we're all used to. you know Hyper-technical.
02:05:19
Speaker
Cerebral.
02:05:24
Speaker
There hasn't been... like This team ah doesn't typically like
02:05:33
Speaker
put all its stock in physical traits and athleticism. like This is always like a...
02:05:41
Speaker
hyper-technical team,
02:05:46
Speaker
but also, you know, of dogs, grinders, and gamers. That's sort of the Sounders identity that I think of.
02:05:56
Speaker
But guys like Georgie and Jordan, like, you gotta have them. You gotta have them.
02:06:02
Speaker
Step over King.
02:06:05
Speaker
It's just like a
02:06:08
Speaker
It feels like every time he has a defender one-on-one,
02:06:14
Speaker
it's over with. He's going to get around that guy. Very, very hard to stay in front of him. Watching the Antigua guys try and defend him was hilarious. It was hilarious.
02:06:24
Speaker
They couldn't do it.
02:06:32
Speaker
All right, folks. Two hours and 15 minutes. I'm going call it right there. Thank you again for another banger live show. Appreciate you guys.
02:06:44
Speaker
We will be back at it. I think Noah and I are actually recording a regular pod tomorrow morning, I think. So that should be out before the game.
02:06:55
Speaker
I don't know. I should know my own schedule. I don't know. I think we're going to record one tomorrow then
02:07:07
Speaker
I will for sure be back at it. eight thirty or eight I would say 8.30. 8 a.m. 8 a.m. on Monday for Lobby Scorchers kickoff with Nico.
02:07:18
Speaker
If you have not stopped by that. live on Monday mornings yet. You should. It's great way to to kick off the week. And I'll have some... I'm going to text Nico tomorrow and tell him to... that we're going to be going hard on laying down some Cruz Azul intel.
02:07:35
Speaker
He really... he He's the guy who follow who follows that stuff more than me. Like he knows what's up with Liga Mequis. He's going to be able to tell you guys about Cruz Azul. So definitely, if you want to know about them, stop by that and you can ask him questions in chat. and He will tell you whatever you want to know.
02:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, Tim Ream had no clue what to do with Georgie. The other funny thing about that, too. Oh, I meant to play. I forgot to do that, Tim. I'll get to it some other time. They let Georgie do a ah press scrum.
02:08:07
Speaker
They had Georgie do a press scrum at a Long Acres. And someone asked him, like, did you know you were you were going up against a U.S. World Cup veteran? Like, what was that like?
02:08:19
Speaker
And I'm pretty sure Georgie was like, I don't know who that is. Yeah.
02:08:25
Speaker
I didn't know that that was Tim. or You either didn't know who team rep Tim Ream was or had no idea he was going against Ream.
02:08:33
Speaker
That's kind of baller, honestly.
02:08:37
Speaker
All right.
02:08:41
Speaker
Like the video, sub to the channel. Probably going to a pod out this weekend. Enjoy the RSL game. See you all on Monday for Lobby Scorchers kickoff, 8 as well.
02:08:53
Speaker
Appreciate you guys. Love you guys. I'm out.