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Under The Lights: Can the Seattle Sounders bounce back in MASSIVE Portland Timbers derby?
403 Plays20 days ago
Coming off a letdown result in Wednesday's 4-0 defeat at LAFC, an opportunity for redemption awaits as the Seattle Sounders set their sights on this weekend's massive Cascadia Cup derby against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
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.
Casual Banter and Weather Chat
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What, the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be
00:00:43
Speaker
Good evening, everybody.
Special Edition: Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome in to a very special edition of Under the Lights. Got Noah here with me. Usually it's all by myself. Got Noah here with me.
00:00:55
Speaker
ah We're going to be talking some Seattle Sounders versus Portland Timbys. We have a Portland Timbys guest that we're going to bring on in just a few minutes here. um It was a bit of a change in programming change in programming. My initial plan for this show tonight was to play an interview that I did with Derek Clark of Rangers Review.
00:01:17
Speaker
I went out and I tracked down. Bro, this is Scott. I tracked down someone who has been covering Ryan Kent's career for longer than I think Rangers was the longest he was ever at one club in his career.
00:01:33
Speaker
ah So I got a Rangers reporter for an interview and We chopped it up about Ryan Kent for a while. Super cool guy. Subscribed to Rangers Review. ah So I was going to play that tonight, but it went kind of long.
00:01:45
Speaker
And Noah was like, you know what? We should just put this out as it's a standalone pod. And I was like, by God, you're right. So that's... ah gar You're cooking.
00:01:57
Speaker
You're cooking. ah So that I'm not going to play that tonight, but keep an eye out for
Sounders Match Analysis and Guest Insights
00:02:02
Speaker
that. When are we going to drop that? so Saturday morning, morning pre of, uh, pre Cascadia Derby content.
00:02:11
Speaker
Can't hear Noah's mic. Uh, that's very classic for us. Well, you know, what about now? is this is this better What about now chat?
00:02:22
Speaker
ah So keep an eye out for, I'm just going to keep going with the intro. Keep an eye out for my interview with Derek Clark dropping on Saturday, but change the plans for tonight. What we're going to do is ah probably do a couple minutes at the top of the show here, just on any updated takes about ah the match that the Seattle Sounders played last night.
00:02:46
Speaker
ah Seattle Sounders ah took a little trip down to l LA Didn't go that well. Didn't go that well. so we're going to talk about that a little bit at the top of the show.
00:02:57
Speaker
ah We're going to bring on Jeremy Peterman right after that to talk some Portland Timbs versus Seattle Sounders, which is coming up on on Saturday. And then the only other thing I had planned was I was thinking we could ah react to the Will Koontz video.
00:03:12
Speaker
yet Yes, we need that. I don't know if you ah you guys have seen ah the Will Kuntz media tour, general manager of the LA Galaxy, but he is man about towning. They've they've decided that, ah you know, they had a few options on how to approach what's happening with the LA Galaxy.
00:03:31
Speaker
this season. They could have, they could have gone into hiding. That's what, ah that's what it seems like Atlanta United brass is doing. Have you heard from Garth or Chris lately? I haven't. No, I haven't. But the galaxy were like, you know what? We're going to, we're going have Will Coons do a little tour.
00:03:45
Speaker
He went on the cool again. And then he went on, uh, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard's pod. I don't know. I just have the cool against clip pulled up, yeah but I was going to pull that up and then we'll give our takes on whether we like their strategy and whether his answers in the interviews were sufficient to the situation.
00:04:07
Speaker
Noah, do you have audio? let's ah Okay. is Just let us know if we're like pretty equal on levels. If not, you know. Let us know about the levels. Listen, it wouldn't be a Lobbing Scorchers without us not knowing how to hand the microphones. microphone phones don't think I can tell you the last show that I had where something like even the Derek Clark interview, I listened to it after and I was like, my gain's hot.
00:04:27
Speaker
but Before we jump into this interview, because I don't want to keep Jeremy waiting. He's a special guest. I want to do something quick. I have to debut this for our 16 super fans.
00:04:43
Speaker
There it is.
00:04:46
Speaker
In all its glory.
00:04:50
Speaker
Honestly, that thing is incredibly sick. The moose is loose and he's all over my body. I remain actually jealous that you made the pledge to buy that because I kind of want that. Dude, it's it's actually sick. and give us the Have you like inspected it? give us I've inspected it. It's awesome. It's got a butt sponsor. The butt sponsor is for an energy drink company that I don't think exists anymore.
00:05:13
Speaker
It has a say no to racism USL championship banner. A Bitcoin thing, which I think is hilarious. god Pretty sure this company doesn't exist anymore. CoinCloud. I think they got like ah destroyed by the FTC and probably scammed some stuff.
00:05:29
Speaker
um And I don't even know what this jersey manufacturer is. my myer m-e-y-b-a meba the crypto ad that it makes it in't even like uh like that's gonna age so well yeah as the years go by like you're gonna look back on that when you're an old man and be like the crypto ad on my moose jersey the crypto out on my moose jersey invest in moose coin you gotta to put out moose coin you gotta to speak a special language to like know what we're talking about on this show sometimes but uh
00:06:00
Speaker
All right.
Seattle Sounders Recent Performance Critique
00:06:01
Speaker
ah ah So let let's get Jeremy on here but in in in a minute. in a bit Sorry, Jeremy. But I figured before we before we get into Sounders-Timby's, I figured we could take a second to give any amended thoughts or updated takes on this the Seattle-Sounders match last night, which, again, don't know.
00:06:22
Speaker
You know, go into the game, rotate at 11, feeling good, think you're going to make something happen, lose 4-0, Timby's up next. ah But, there you know, the discourse was running hot last night. We were getting chirped. We get chirped every time they ah every time they take an l yeah because every L. Apparently it's our fault every time. Well, every L that they take is like...
00:06:44
Speaker
validation or proof of somebody's agenda yeah out there and uh the thing i've realized too about having a podcast in a youtube show is that you fire these takes out there and then uh it'll happen sometimes where the inverse of what you were arguing for plays out like instantly in the next game so in this case i went ah i went out there on under the lights last week and i and i was saying jesus ferrera is doing fine okay Okay, well... He's doing fine. He's got some assists.
00:07:13
Speaker
He's got some assists, guys. Don't worry about it. He's got some assists. Finishing variants. The goals are going to come. I bet he looks better in this next game. I didn't say that, but that's basically what I said. To be fair... And then they go out there and get slammed 4-0, and he does not look that good, so...
00:07:29
Speaker
It happens. It happens. But ah we also cut that into a video. Great. Awesome. So that'll come out at some point. But I watched it back because we cut it into a video. The take wasn't bad. I think your take is still is still it's it's while it's taking a dip.
00:07:44
Speaker
You know, the the stocks on the Bitcoin are down. We're going to go to the moon, Ari. that's That's the funny thing, though, is, you know, we had the chirpers. chirpers in chat who only ever show up when seattle takes an l you'll notice you'll notice and it's not just brigade it's some brigade but uh we're cool with a lot of the brigade but it's like a little uh conglomerate of people who if seattle beats nashville sc30 you'll never see them in our chat uh seattle beats lafc 52 you'll definitely never see them in in our chat uh if seattle what was the game when it was another game that they won
00:08:17
Speaker
LAFC. That's what I already said that. Oh, I don't know. You got the idea. Yeah. right So, but ah they were chirping, but like the, ah the take that they were disagreeing with, I, I still stand by the take, yeah which is all the take was, was it's like, it hasn't been great, but we're being a little over dramatic, melodramatic.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yeah. I think is what I was saying. Let's bring it back down to earth. Yeah. and that But ah anyway, ah another thing I was going to say is that related to the game last night, I was talking about last night how I felt good about the 11.
00:08:53
Speaker
i was ah I was feeling like the rotated side had a decent chance of getting the result. And then obviously that backfired. That did not... pan out uh but i was thinking about it today no and i was like i feel like i actually should have seen that i've watched enough mls that i should have seen that coming like pretty predictable i think part of what uh got into my head was just like the form that they had been in going into that game and i was i was feeling like they were going to ride some vibes uh but i think the reality is that uh
00:09:26
Speaker
in any MLS season, you're probably going to have at least one or two of those, uh, where when it's, when it's midweek and you're rotated like that, uh, if you take a draw, it's like a freaking miracle. yeah So I think the, uh, the difficulty of the task at hand, I was, uh, I was understating with the benefit of, uh, hindsight.
Portland Timbers Match Preview with Jeremy Peterman
00:09:49
Speaker
Uh, but what I will say, what I will also say is that, uh, All those things, notwithstanding, they shouldn't have got 4-0'd. Like, 4-0'd. Tough scenes. 4-0'd.
00:10:04
Speaker
it's Yeah, I don't have any takes to amend. i think I think I hit it pretty good. I just stand on my takes, sorry. I just don't care. I don't even remember what your takes were. It was that Moose is the best player ever.
00:10:16
Speaker
That's a good take. That's my take. That is a good take. um All right. i think I think it's time to ah never talk about that LAFC. That didn't even happen. The Seattle Sounders didn't play last night. That's what I said. When does the game pick I don't know what you guys are talking about.
00:10:30
Speaker
I don't know what you you're talking about. A chance for redemption awaits. ah It's Darby weekend. The Seattle Sounders are now taking a trip.
00:10:42
Speaker
down to the Rose City to take on the Portland Timbies. And if they win this game, that la I'll forgive the LAFC game straight. any Any type of win yeah in this game, I'll forgive the LAFC game.
00:10:58
Speaker
A draw wouldn't be a bad result. I think it would be... ah it would be like not received that well because of what happened against LAFC. But like a draw away in the Western conference is typically not a bad result.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. And then these rivalry games there it's, it's tough to degree of difficulty on taking any result at all in a game like this is inherently higher. ah But let's bring on our, our special guest right now.
00:11:28
Speaker
ah We got a Timbs guest, everyone. Be nice. Honestly, I think this is actually a good opportunity to lay down a little policy. All right. Yeah. If we got ah guests from rival teams or teams that you don't like.
00:11:41
Speaker
Be nice. Lock in. Lock in. If you say any ah dumb shit or really just like anything mean spirited, you're going to get admonished and potentially disciplined. I don't know what yeah entails the discipline. Three lashings from Ari. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
our guests don't don't get freak Our guests are generous with their time. Even our Portland Timbs guests. and Everyone, just just just be cool. okay Ari's going to do this interview now. Good luck, Ari.
00:12:09
Speaker
okay yeah You're bopping off of this. do the interview and then we'll get jeremy Noah back on here. um
00:12:25
Speaker
All right. Hold on, Jeremy. One more second that I'm going to bring you on.
00:12:32
Speaker
All right. Joining the show now to talk some Portland Timbs versus Seattle Sounders. We have got... Jeremy Peterman of Cascadia FC, Portland Timbers writer and reporter. Do I have the title right? That's what I was. that That's correct.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yes. I also had managing editor in there too. but Managing editor of Cascadia FC. ah Thanks for joining the show. You know, ah I feel like I've, ah we followed each other on Twitter now blue sky for a while.
00:13:03
Speaker
And you actually called into our show to lay down ah Seattle takes, which, You know, some people might be like, why would a Timbers fan be ah calling into a Sounders show to dish Seattle takes?
00:13:14
Speaker
It's because you're a sicko like us. because you're a sicko, which is why I think you're actually the absolute perfect, perfect person to talk to about the Portland Timbs. We were chopping it up about MLS as a whole ah right before we got on. And, uh,
00:13:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, you're in it. You're following the whole league. Got a lot of knowledge, and this is the team that you have the most knowledge about. So before we talk about this derby coming up this weekend, ah go ahead and tell our audience about what you have going on at Cascade EFC, what the project is, type of work you do day in, day out, covering, I believe, all three teams, if I'm not mistaken.
00:13:53
Speaker
ah Yeah, all three teams and the Seattle rain. They're no longer the oil rain. Are they good? Good for them. Yep. Yeah, for this is my third year at the website.
00:14:05
Speaker
um And for all three of those years, I was looking for a Vancouver Whitecaps rider. I finally got one the day before, like a couple of days before the season started.
00:14:15
Speaker
So everything that's happened with the Vancouver Whitecaps this year, you can you can blame him for that. That writer's got the best job at in at the outlet now. I bet you didn't see that coming. I know. it's It's just like, great. Like we had a Vancouver writer and now they're they're actually good.
00:14:30
Speaker
So ah yeah. But um other than that, just your basic, I like deep dives a lot in addition to just looking at every single game, previewing it, recapping it.
00:14:43
Speaker
Just what happened? more More so much than just the overall score. I like looking and seeing just what the team did, how we each of the individual players did just all at once. And the big picture ti takeaways are my main focus with this team because there there usually isn't a lot of like small. if you If you really focus on the small things of what happens from game to game, you you tend to get lost in just like, oh, I don't like this player. This player is really good. He's going to win MVP or something like that.
00:15:13
Speaker
But how every result impacts the season is the most important part, especially when you have a 34 game schedule and you're playing teams all across the country.
Cascadia Rivalry Significance in MLS
00:15:23
Speaker
And none is bigger than the one that's coming up this weekend. Isn't that right, Ari?
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, actually, that was another topic I was going to bring up ah later in the show, which is ah Sasha Kleschen dropped his list of top five best rivalries. And, he of course, he had El Trafico, number one.
00:15:42
Speaker
and yeah I think Seattle-Portland was even, like like, fourth or something. I think he put it below hell is real. i Like... i listen is This is a tangent. I promise we're going to talk about the game. But the whole national narrative that's taken hold that El Trafico is like the number one rivalry and that ah Cascadia has been like usurped by that.
00:16:04
Speaker
ah They played like I did this earlier in the comments. They played like 15 games. it So for real, we played like 140. El Trafico started like six months ago. Like, what are we... in It's a good rivalry. Don't get me wrong. I'm not even trying to knock it.
00:16:19
Speaker
But the idea that it's like... Especially, ah you know, we go we go to these Cascadia derbies every year. So we know what's up at those games. There's nothing... There's nothing quite like that. The El Trafico games are good, but they don't have the history.
00:16:32
Speaker
They don't have that they don't have the the same juice that this rivalry does. This is still the best rivalry in MLS without a debate. I don't even know what we're talking about, like debating it, let alone it getting taken as national consensus that El Trafico is better.
00:16:46
Speaker
i feel like I feel like the one game, i well, I wouldn't put any game above Cascadia, but the one I'd say like I guess compares to is like I'd say Toronto-Montreal because it's two different cities and just the hate they have for each other.
00:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's Canadian hate. Yeah, I don't think there's any hate to be had between yourself and other people who live in your city. that You can't really build a rivalry out of that.
00:17:11
Speaker
But if you put another team in there and a bunch of Galaxy fans are like, oh, my God, Carlos Vela is playing for another team in the city right now, then I guess you can create a rivalry out of that and you can milk it for as long as you want.
00:17:24
Speaker
But ah there was a time not too long ago that Cascadia teams ran the West. The L.A. teams kind of are running the West right now. One is running away from the West, as we currently speak.
00:17:35
Speaker
But yeah, it i it's not so much like being tired of the disrespect that the league is showing this rivalry now. It's more just like this rivalry was here before you guys even existed.
00:17:49
Speaker
Exactly. yeah And it'll be here long after if this league ever folds. it's a It's one of the like the takes that's been annoying me, the most especially because it's rivalry week. I just see it again like taken as a given, El Trafico number one.
00:18:07
Speaker
It's... I don't like it. um All right. Jeremy, let's talk about this game. The Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbys are playing at Providence Park on on Saturday.
00:18:19
Speaker
And it's going to be fun.
Portland Timbers Season Analysis
00:18:22
Speaker
Providence Park for these games. I mean, Providence Park is... ah I mean, look. People might not like it. It's a great place to go watch a game.
00:18:30
Speaker
It's a I find ah the contrast between Lumen Field and Providence Park. like it's When you try to compare them, they're so different. you know Lumen Field is like this vast, expansive NFL stadium, which has its own merits because you can pack so many people in there.
00:18:46
Speaker
When Seattle played the Champions League final, they had got 70K in there when they hosted um MLS Cup there. It was just such a big, vast crowd. ah So noisy. Providence Park has the appeal on the on the flip side, which is it's uh smaller and more intimate the crowd's right on top of the action it's an open press box so like you can really feel the atmosphere a lot more than uh the box at lumen uh so i think there's something to be said for uh for both of them but this one is going to be at providence park
00:19:18
Speaker
It's going to be live. And, Jeremy, what I've been doing with ah all of our guests who preview Seattle's upcoming opposition is I give my take on the on the club, the outside neutral perspective on the club, and you can tell me if ah my outsider take aligns with what ah with what you're seeing covering the team day in and day out. So with the Portland Timbys, my take on the on Portland this year is that it's – uh, pretty much become the same Portland team actually that they always are.
00:19:52
Speaker
Uh, it started out rough. Uh, we were, we were getting in our jokes about Phil Neville. We were saying, sign him to a contract extension. there was at least one or two like really tough results at the beginning of the season where,
00:20:06
Speaker
a we were questioning the whole Neville operation. i think some Timbers fans were as well, especially with the circumstances of how he got hired. ah But since then, my impression of it is that this team has heated up quite a lot.
00:20:20
Speaker
ah Like maybe there was that one San Jose result a couple of weeks ago. But aside from that, this team has been winning games and scoring a ton of goals. And that is ah one thing.
00:20:34
Speaker
I don't know if I'd say, Envious, but like, ah I think it's remarkable how every iteration of this Portland team that I've seen for the last like decade plus, they just don't have trouble scoring goals. The Portland Timbers any year ah they go out there, they counterattack.
00:20:51
Speaker
They do it quite well, very ruthlessly, and they can rack three or four goals in a game at any given time. That very much appears to be the case for this 2025 team. ah But they also seem to share the same attribute of Portland Timbers teams of past years in that um that offensive aggression and counterattacking style sometimes comes at the expense of ah of leaking goals.
00:21:15
Speaker
And that means in any given game, they're liable to have a game like the one against the Quakes a couple weeks ago. where they're playing a team that they're better than, I would say, ah but they give up four goals because probably because of that style and those tactics.
00:21:29
Speaker
So I guess my impression of Phil Neville is that he's not doing bad, but it's no different really than the Gio era or the Caleb Porter era. It's the same team. that's that Would you agree with that that assessment?
00:21:45
Speaker
That's tough because from a neutral perspective, it does look like the same team, just a team that's going to try and counterattack and try and score goals and also will leak a ton of goals through like either individual errors or just like what the hell was even that kind of place.
00:22:00
Speaker
But the big difference between this year and most of the past Timbers teams, I'd say since I think the cup winners is this year, they're very young. They are an extremely young team. All four of the U22 initiative players, Santiago Moreno, David Ayala, Anthony, and Kevin Kelsey, all of them were brought to the club as U22s signed from South America, and in Kelsey's case, Ukraine.
00:22:29
Speaker
But um all of them have been taking a bit of their lumps over the past couple of seasons, except for Kelsey because he's new. but um neville has really tried to get this team younger faster and more aggressive over the past off season and because of that they've signed a lot of young players uh their oldest incoming player this season was joao ortiz who is still considered kind of young in the midfield considering he's been stepping in for diego chara a lot recently there's a 10-year age difference between both of those players
00:23:01
Speaker
So it's just about being faster, younger, and more aggressive. We haven't really seen this emphasis on youth from the Timbers as much, but mostly because the U22 initiative hasn't been around for that much, and also because that they still don't really do a lot with the academy.
00:23:18
Speaker
But in terms of like the last couple of weeks, I'm really glad you mentioned that San Jose result. At the start of the season, I picked them fourth in the West. I think that they had the potential to get up there.
00:23:29
Speaker
They finally figured it out in that Timbers game that you can't start Arango and Joseph Martinez together. And the Timbers just happened to be the victim at the altar. And also they came into that game with a little bit of complacency because they were on a seven match on Beaton Street.
00:23:44
Speaker
As you probably know, and as you saw on Wednesday, those streets are going to end. But the most important thing is how you respond to them. Since that game, the Timbers have won three straight, including the classic at Starfire against the Tacoma Defiance.
00:23:58
Speaker
So... I think it's safe to say they've been able to bounce back pretty well. I wait. I said they won three straight. No, they drew nil-nil in Salt Lake yesterday. Yeah, I was there. I should know that. But um yeah. Three straight leading up or leading up to that, right?
00:24:13
Speaker
Or two straight? Yeah. Yeah, they... they ah The question with Neville more so isn't just like how he's managing the team and like what he's doing tactically because I'm still trying to figure out what he's trying to do this year. I've noticed some things.
00:24:28
Speaker
Some things are very interesting, like a new pressing structure that's been implemented. But for me, it's just more about the streaks because this team likes to go on streaks. Without that streak in 2015, they don't win MLS Cup. It was the right streak at the right time.
00:24:42
Speaker
Uh, so for me at very least, like now it looks like that they're three unbeaten in all competitions. How are they going to approach this game against this opponent? And you might not remember this, but in 2023, it was the two, two draw up at Lumen.
00:24:59
Speaker
Phil Neville was on color commentary for that game. And you can hear, like, you know how Gary Neville does, like, the old thing, like, whenever, like, some Premier league player scores a banger? He did, he became his brother for a second when Evander scored that goal.
00:25:14
Speaker
So, he knew exactly what he was going to be working with when he got into this team. And year one was just, these are all the players that Gio had. He didn't really add anyone new, except for Jonathan Rodriguez.
00:25:25
Speaker
But now... as the as year two has begun, he's starting to get his own players in. It's starting to fit more of his own vision. And that vision is a young team that's going to be fast, aggressive, and win soccer games, particularly on the road.
00:25:39
Speaker
We were following the Evander saga quite closely leading up to the season.
Impact of Player Transfers and Strategy Adjustments
00:25:44
Speaker
Anytime ah the biggest rival's best player is disgruntled and demanding a transfer, ah that's always fun to watch ah from our perspective.
00:25:55
Speaker
And I think when Evander got moved to FC Cincinnati, the reaction was that's really not good for Portland. This guy is a perennial MVP candidate, one of the best stat sheet stuffers in the league. Like you look up at Evander's numbers every year and it's just ridiculous. And then a lot of the goals he scores are just like these crazy galazos.
00:26:17
Speaker
Losing a guy like that didn't seem like right before the start of the season didn't seem ideal. Felt like they were kind of scrambling to get the replacement. They bring in David DaCosta and like the way we were thinking about it was like there's there's no one that they could sign that's going to be an upgrade over Evander and MLS like you're inherently baking in a downgrade because this is like a top two to three player in the league.
00:26:38
Speaker
Are you really going to replace him with the top two to three player in the league? ah But then I think if you look at how it's hand out, DaCosta is very different from Evander.
00:26:48
Speaker
They're not ah like he's not going to stuff the stat sheet quite like that. He's probably not going to score as many goals. But this guy is ah really good in a lot of different ways than Evander.
00:26:59
Speaker
I think he's a more well-rounded player than Evander. And I think he is a better playmaker at times than Evander, if less of a dangerous goal scoring threat. What have you made of the shift from Evander to DaCosta and how have they managed to kind of just maintain the level and play at the level they've been playing at losing their best player and having to integrate someone brand new right before the season?
00:27:27
Speaker
Well, I don't think that ah Evander leaving and DaCosta coming in was like as rushed as you're kind of implying here. I think it's more that once they made the decision that we're not going to have Evander anymore, they immediately started scouting. They had DaCosta ready to go. The question was, you have to have Evander leave before you can bring DaCosta in.
00:27:47
Speaker
You can't have, ah especially with the roster model they were planning, you can't have three DPs on that team. So as soon as that Evander deal went through and Cincinnati threw in that bid, they immediately said, okay, this is going to happen to Costa. You're coming here. and but what I've seen over his first 13 games in the Timbers uniform is not Evander because he's not Evander, but he also doesn't have to be Evander.
00:28:13
Speaker
He just has to be David DaCosta. I've started calling him Portuguese Dave. because in the first week that he was here, he was um obviously was introducing staff himself to all the team staff. And they told me a story about how were like, do you want to be called David? you want to be called DaCosta? And he just said, you can just call me Dave.
00:28:34
Speaker
So I'm just calling him Dave, and he he's confirmed that to the press. But since there's already assistant coach Dave Vandenberg on the team, and even though dan Dave Vandenberg's quite tall, DaCosta's quite short, little Dave doesn't really fit, but Portuguese Dave really does.
00:28:49
Speaker
So what I've seen from Portuguese Dave is – just fearlessness on the ball. This is a guy who's going to drive at defenders, take them on, usually win and succeed in those dribbles, and then look for either the pass before the pass or just the pass in general. the The difference between him and Evander is, first of all, DaCosta is very, very comfortable on the touchline.
00:29:13
Speaker
He will often like slide out wide, and whoever's playing on usually the left wing, probably Anthony, is going to go a little bit more central. So it creates space for DaCosta to then beat players on the dribble out wide, where Evander, he usually shifts from channel to channel throughout the game.
00:29:32
Speaker
And also the the other note about DaCosta's dribbling is once he beats a player, he keeps going. He doesn't pause. Evander would often beat a player, pause, and then look for the pass.
00:29:44
Speaker
and let the pause be the thing that got the other defenders out of formation a little bit. Maybe enough for a Jonathan Rodriguez to sneak in behind or Felipe Moore to become available for a cross. So I think what we're dealing with, not so much an Evander-type DP who is going to be the centerpiece, who's going to be the number 10 at the heart of everything, both scoring and assisting.
00:30:07
Speaker
We're seeing kind of a Ricky Pooge light. Now, that comparison may sound crazy, but the one thing Ricky Pooch is absolutely elite at is just progressing the ball. DeCosta does that from passing.
00:30:18
Speaker
He does that from dribbling, exactly like Ricky Pooch does. It's not a bad comp, actually. it's I see it. Like... ah but like Ricky Pooj is the hyper elite at that uh but I think you're right to Costa does have that same attribute and uh yeah I mean I'm not gonna lie we were obviously rooting for ah that to bust but it did not uh he looks really good and he's replaced Evander quite effectively even if uh as you mentioned it's in a slightly different way I wanted to uh you mentioned the U22s earlier uh and
00:30:53
Speaker
So I was actually doing an exercise on this show last week where I was looking at the list on MLS soccer of all the U22 signings that have come into the league. I think since the mechanism was put in place, it might have been ah a list of just all the current ones. But either way, it was a big list of the a lot of the U22s that had come to the league.
00:31:15
Speaker
basically what I was trying to do was see what teams had done the best with it and then more generally like what the hit rate is actually like with these guys like when because uh with Seattle looking to fill a open U22 spot I was just kind of trying to get a gauge on how likely it is that they actually find an impact player with I've heard Leo Chu might be available Yeah, so exactly. Like, ah when you go through that list, you see both the you see both sides of it. You see, like, the Leo Chus. mean, honestly, there's a lot of names on there that are a lot worse than Leo Chu. Like, it's a lot of guys that... ah
00:31:54
Speaker
make pretty much no impact or all of their value is still projected or theoretical and they haven't hit yet ah but i was actually i ended up a little surprised at how many genuine impact players that i did see on the list i was going through all the clubs that seemed to do the best with it inter miami's group was really really good ah there are few ah nyc has done some good stuff with it uh fc cincinnati i feel like there's like a group of a few teams that have actually done really really good work with the u22 initiative and the portland timbers were one of them i looked at uh their group and uh i mean you listed earlier it's moreno kevin kelsey ayala and who's the last one
00:32:38
Speaker
The last one Anthony. And that's not even that's not even counting Mascara, who has already gotten his second contract with the team and is off the U-22 slide. You could definitely make an argument that Portland has i love and as effectively or more effectively than anyone in MLS. I mean, that group is stacked.
00:32:59
Speaker
Those are all guys that are impact players. Santiago Moreno is really, really good. Anthony has been playing out of his mind for you guys this year. ah What do you think is ah like, what is is there a secret sauce to ah getting you 22s like that and not like some of the other whiffs we've seen other teams make?
00:33:20
Speaker
Cause it just seems like that's a pretty incredible hit rate. All of those guys we just named are really good. And a lot of teams have tried to do this and they don't get anybody. So what do you kind of make of how effective they've been with that?
00:33:35
Speaker
their process is fantastic for not just identifying the talent and bringing them to Portland, but allowing them to get settled, making every, making their life basically easy. Because if you think about it, these players are under 22 years old. They're usually coming from South American countries. I got a little bit lucky with Kevin Kelsey because he spent a little bit of time in the States last year on loan with Cincinnati.
00:34:02
Speaker
But i you're basically asking a really young player to make a complete cultural change in addition to fighting for minutes with a professional soccer team.
00:34:14
Speaker
And what the club does really well is getting those players settled off the field, making sure that they are in a good place so they can come forward and put their best in. And then Also, Neville, what he's just been able to do is basically give those U-22 players, some of them, at least he's given Kelsey the keys quite a bit.
00:34:32
Speaker
He's given Anthony the keys. In his first ah preseason with the club, he said that Anthony was the most impressive player, despite Anthony barely speaking a lick of even Spanish.
00:34:44
Speaker
He only spoke Portuguese. And this year, one of the i guess one of the more entertaining storylines has been a lot of those young players, including Humer Fori, who was also signed this year, who's also 22 years old, but he isn't taking up a U-22 slot.
00:34:58
Speaker
ah He's a left back. ah They've been participating in a big group English class. And from what I've heard, just the vibe in that room is fantastic. Every single player is not just having fun, but they're being serious about learning the language.
00:35:13
Speaker
And it helps when there's just like a little squad of these guys that are all around the same age. And say they basically take um they they take everything really seriously and they try and become the best players they can be, at least in Portland.
00:35:29
Speaker
And also just Diego Chara, who, ah even though he didn't come to Portland as young as any of these players, he's just such a valuable voice in that locker room, especially to all the Colombians, like Fori, Mosquera, Moreno.
00:35:45
Speaker
He's just able to help everyone settle. And he doesn't do it in like the loud vocal way. He's just leads by example so well. Where are you at on ah on Phil Neves? You know, like I said, we were we were we were making our jokes. We were making our jokes when the season didn't start that well. And ah really, I don't know, I kind of questioned the hire the whole time because of his Inter-Miami track record.
00:36:10
Speaker
wasn't like so amazing that I thought he was like a super hot hire. And then there was all kinds of like kind of controversy with the fan base and stuff where they didn't want him hired. Cause he had like some old tweets or something, something like that, if I remember correctly.
00:36:26
Speaker
yeah, And then also results-wise last year, like kind of fluctuated a little bit and then they got blown out in the playoffs. Evander got disgruntled, left the club. It kind of felt like the vibes were not good. At least that's what it seemed like to us.
00:36:40
Speaker
ah But, you know, got to say that pretty much since the first couple weeks of the season, the team's obviously been... red hot scoring as much as many goals as anybody in the league uh so i don't know where i stand on it uh because i still am not sure what to make of his time with inner miami but i mean there's no way you can look at the season that portland's having so far and think that he's not doing something right so uh what do you think about just the overall uh job he's done in the state of the timbers head coaching situation
00:37:15
Speaker
Well, when he was first hired and that hire was announced, I was skeptical. not Not so much for the off-the-field reasons, but mostly due to the um that Miami tenure and also my questioning of whether or not he's going to be able to elevate the roster to perform better than what it was doing under Gio. Because I thought that Portland's roster under Gio, especially 2023, a little bit of 2022, was playoff quality.
00:37:43
Speaker
They had good players. But there was just something holding them back. And last year, it turned out it might have been a little bit of themselves. It might have been a little bit of just the way the team was set up.
00:37:56
Speaker
But um when I looked at Neville's time in Miami, when I was ah just thinking, like, how do I form an opinion about this guy as a manager? Because obviously I know who he is as a player.
00:38:07
Speaker
uh i immediately thought of they were under roster sanctions because of the nonsense they tried to pull with blaze matuidi five and cheated and still were terrible yeah exactly which like that's an asterisk they're never going to be able to lose but in 2022 when he did get them into the playoffs it's because he was able to get the best out of their top player which was gonzalo higuaín and his goals that season got them into the playoffs and And after a couple of seasons of seeing the team's top player ah kind of go into flux, when when Valeri started to decline a little bit, it became Blanco. Blanco goes supernova. They go to MLS Cup.
00:38:45
Speaker
Then he gets hurt. And you're kind of left in a vacuum without a star player for one year until you bring in Evander. And when Evander second season, by the way, in the league was last year, his second season in Portland, and Neville got the most out of him. And that that was Neville's first year in Portland.
00:39:05
Speaker
So being able to get the most out of the players who you who you paid to score the goals, get the assists, and then all the other high impact roster slots on this team, which are so important to a team with not much of an academy and not a ton of depth that they can bring up through the ranks, through the playing pathway.
00:39:24
Speaker
um I think that they, i think that the decision at the time, it's still a little bizarre, But kind of see the vision after having after seeing him for like almost a year and a half just in charge of this team. And to his credit, he's fully bought into the fan culture here.
00:39:43
Speaker
He understands what it means to be the Portland Timbers manager, which is very important. you're You're not the manager of Inter-Miami anymore. And I think he kind of relishes that a little bit.
00:39:54
Speaker
But at the same time on the field, he is prioritizing ah just being aggressive and going out to get it.
Home vs. Away Performance Comparisons
00:40:03
Speaker
And last year, this team won the most points from losing positions that they had in their entire MLS history.
00:40:11
Speaker
Because even though they go down 2-0 or 3-0 on the road, they fight their asses off in the second half and win draws. Like I was just in Salt Lake ah for this 0-0 draw yesterday.
00:40:24
Speaker
A year before in 2024, this fixture was 3-0 at halftime. um No, 2-0 at halftime with RSL dominating. And the Timbers just did not give up the fight. They draw to too They pull it back.
00:40:37
Speaker
Then Diogo Gonsalves scores his first ah RSL goal in like the 88th minute. Three minutes later, Portland equalizes. This team just refused to get up without fight last year. Now, this year, they're saying, how about we just take the lead instead?
00:40:52
Speaker
You know, like that's that's pretty nice to play soccer with the lead. And so far, they've done a pretty good job of taking the lead, particularly on the road, and being able to see out those road games. but My bigger questions, though, is the bigger difference between this year and last year was their home form.
00:41:09
Speaker
Their home form last year was among the best in the league. That's what got them in the playoffs. They only won three games on the road last year. This year at home, it's a little bit different because they're showing that they don't want to have the ball as much. They're losing the field tilt battle in every single game at home this year.
00:41:26
Speaker
That's concerning a little bit because you want your team to be able to dominate at home. You don't want to be Minnesota. like We don't know how sustainable that is. So, I think that Neville's biggest challenge this year is getting them to be to want the ball more at home, make better decisions with the ball at home, and eventually just score more goals at home.
00:41:46
Speaker
Because there are two games at home against both the LA clubs where they threw away three points. One of those, they probably should have gotten three points, but the referee said no. and But in that last game against LAFC, that was their previous home game before this SKC game they had this past weekend, they threw away a twona lead.
00:42:08
Speaker
and then threw away a 3-2 lead that's something of you can't have happen at home so i'm really interested to see how he's going to be solving for that this year because you can't really compare the two years aside from just on a result standpoint and on a statistical standpoint because it's not the same team anymore even though like yeah kind of is but right that's the That's good intel about the home form from the Seattle perspective. It kind of, you remember there was a period in the rivalry in the last couple years where it was like the road team was winning every time.
00:42:40
Speaker
Like typically you consider the home team as a favorite team. as a given in a Derby game. And this rivalry was not going like that. I feel like that's evened out a little bit in the last year, couple years maybe, but there was a while there where I was literally like when Portland was coming to Seattle, I was like, that's, they should be favored.
00:42:57
Speaker
They should be favored. But then Seattle, I think won one at Providence last year. So it like has gone back and forth like that. We got Jeremy Peterman from a Cascadia FC, covers the Portland Timbers on the show right now. Jeremy, I just got a couple about this game coming up, and then I'll let you go.
00:43:14
Speaker
But I guess just how do you size this one up? You got a Portland team that has been in really good form lately, like you mentioned, had the one negative result in there at San Jose, but then has bounced back nicely, 0-0 at um rso which uh you know grinding out of road zero zero that is a little different than the portland teams of uh of the past that's not that's a good result for them and i think just in general the the timby's vibes they're they're feeling good right now and then you got a seattle team that had been playing really well uh had won four out of five had uh their striker score in five straight games uh the near the new acquisition looking really good the vibes were incredible to be honest
00:43:59
Speaker
And then they're coming off the last game where the vibes deteriorated. I think it's fair to say. ah So how are you just sizing this one up based on where both teams are at? And then from a Portland perspective, how do you think they're approaching it going into this one?
00:44:16
Speaker
I'm going to talk about Seattle because i agree with you when you were saying earlier on the show how if they win this game, that 4-0 loss against LAFC is completely it's completely forgiven because of how much rotation they had to do.
00:44:29
Speaker
I feel like that's kind of the same way in Portland because a lot of people were disappointed a bit with that 0-0 draw, even though I thought the team made the chances to win. It's just that Rafael Cabral is actually a pretty good goalkeeper, you know?
00:44:42
Speaker
So, yeah. I think that both teams having rested and rotated players midweek, which once again, and MLS, if you're going to do a rivalry week, do not schedule midweek matches before it.
00:44:56
Speaker
Don't do that. don't yeah Don't really think about that, but that is kind of just like, cause like LAFC and Seattle, like both have like the biggest games of their season coming up on the weekend, you know And that's a big fixture for both of you guys, too. Exactly. I guess for us, I call RSL competitive rival because I don't like them very much.
00:45:16
Speaker
But um at the same at the same time, like both coaches decided to rest and rotate. a couple of key Portland players didn't see the field. couple of key Sounders players didn't see the field.
00:45:29
Speaker
So knowing that this is the week that that on this weekend, you're not only going to have to win for the bragging rights, but I guess like settle the nerves after kind of a shaky midweek, which I don't judge a ton of midweek matches in this league unless you are home for like three games in a row and you don't have to travel.
00:45:49
Speaker
So, ah but the Sounders, they've been on the road quite a bit and somehow they got a woe to sue sent off against Houston and I still have no idea what happened there. Friend of the show. Good call.
00:46:01
Speaker
Yeah. So i I have no idea how that happened. I have no idea how Rafael Navarro's potential game winner in Colorado happened, but it happened nonetheless. Sometimes the Sounders, they just keep getting away with it.
00:46:17
Speaker
Except in games against the Timbers, mind you.
Goalkeeping Dynamics in Portland
00:46:20
Speaker
In the past three times at Lumen Field, I've seen some really, really cathartic second yellow cards. But once again, whenever they come to Providence, it's usually a much more cagey affair. And I i tend to think of the Providence games...
00:46:35
Speaker
as the ones that really push the team a bit out of their comfort zone because seattle they want to dominate the ball the timbers don't really want a lot of it usually you don't see uh a road team coming in wanting to dominate the ball that much and you don't really see a home team that's content sitting back absorbing pressure and then countering into the space um i also don't know what schmetzer's plan is in regards to the formation it used to be so simple just like oh this player played a little bit this player played a little bit maybe they get rotated it's still gonna be the 4-2-3-1 knew who's still gonna be back there yamar's still gonna be back there and fry's gonna be in goal but i don't know really if he has anything special up his sleeve for this game
00:47:17
Speaker
But i think Ryan Kent actually being good. That's what he has probably up his sleeve yeah but he has special up his sleeve. That's what's going to force his hand. I think they go back to the 4-2-3-1 here, especially with so many of those key attackers just getting some rest.
00:47:33
Speaker
And also the midfield of Roldan and Obed, which is probably, I'm not going say it's the best midfield in the league, but it's definitely the most consistent.
00:47:44
Speaker
It's usually the one that has the least amount of problems, even if there are some games where they aren't like spectacular or anything. It's just they they understand how they want to play really well. And that's where this game is going be won, in the midfield, and then also in each box.
00:47:59
Speaker
And it would be nice if we scored a set piece goal because ah apparently you guys are pretty weak at that now. And Schmetzer doesn't like it when you guys say that they're weak at set pieces. So don't know.
00:48:11
Speaker
I'm hoping for at least a 2-0 and several thousand pen clicks. Yeah, I think this one of the things that this last LAFC game really underscored is the is the true value, the true impact of that Obed-Christian double pivot. They tried to rock the JP-Danny Leiva double pivot, which they've done at different times this year to better effect than that.
00:48:37
Speaker
But I think the reality was – ah Tossing that double pivot out there, having had having had like very little and MLS reps and minutes in the last few weeks ah at l LAFC against a lineup that was... They rotated a little less than Seattle. They had a lot of their big dogs out there, and it just did not work.
00:48:59
Speaker
ah But I think... uh, ultimately rotating like that was, it had to be done. There was like, no, there was no option there. You have the Darby coming up and you have to make sure you're at full capacity.
00:49:15
Speaker
you know, they shouldn shouldn't have gotten four O'd, but they, uh, what I think what Schmetzer did with the lineup had to be done. ah I guess my last one for you is just, uh, is there anything that we should know personnel wise from the Timbers side? Like, uh,
00:49:30
Speaker
injury or lineup stuff or maybe some rotation or not rotation in Salt Lake that could affect the lineup for this game, anything like that? um I'm going to use this to talk about the goalkeeper battle that's been going on for the past two years because the Seattle Sounders have a very entrenched number one. His name is Stephan Fry.
00:49:49
Speaker
i don't like him very much, but he saves a lot of goals and he's made one big save in like one game that happened one time and I can't, I see it like at least three times a week, and I don't know why. They love playing it on the broadcast, yeah. Yeah, it's just that one save all the time. Like, he's been very good outside of that, but you know what?
00:50:09
Speaker
So, James Pantemis and Maxime Crapo, they both arrive in the winter of 2024, ahead of that season. It's very clear that Crapo, who arrives after Pantemis, by the way, the Pantemis deal is announced before Crapo signs,
00:50:24
Speaker
It's very clear Kruppow's going the number one based on what he's been able to do with LAFC and the fact that he's the entrenched Canadian number one when healthy. And yeah, if you're going to be in net for a team that makes back-to-back MLS Cups, you have elite leadership potential and you make the biggest saves and the biggest times like he did in 2023 against the Sounders when Buonga scores one counterattacking goal and then it's just defend the box for like 75 minutes or something like that.
00:50:54
Speaker
but k posted on his head in that game. And those are the type of games that the Timbers were envisioning from him when he signed. However, LAFC did a really good job of defending their box. Portland Not so much.
00:51:07
Speaker
So when Kripo comes into the team after missing the first game in 2024, there are a couple of pretty bad performances that follow. And the question with him has always been, is it just that he's not this good or is it the defense letting him down? And I've been going back and forth and back and forth, but it turned out that the profile of keeper that Timbers actually needed was just someone who was going to stop a lot of shots.
00:51:34
Speaker
That's James Pantemis. And he was sitting on the bench until Cropo went to Copa America and did really well there. Meanwhile, while Cropo's at Copa America, James Pantemis is in with kind of a rotated back line because you got Kamal Miller and Miguel Arrujo who are both gone.
00:51:50
Speaker
And the team is getting results. They're getting clean sheets. It's actually pretty impressive to see. And then more nonsense happens towards the end of last year. Pantamas ends up retaking the starting job from Kripo and ends up starting the final three matches of the season, including that Cascadia cup decider up at Lumen on decision day, where he made several stops of Jordan Morris at point blank range, yeah because that's Jordan Morris. He loves missing those chances. He doesn't like scoring. You had to work that one in there. You had to work that one. He's not even playing in this game. And I'm kind of upset because he wouldn't score even if he did play. All right. All right. He hasn't scored against this team since 2016. Jordan catching strays over here. No, I know it's, it's annoying. And Reagan might not even play either. ah
00:52:35
Speaker
But one player who might play is Kripo because after Pantemis started this season, Kripo gets hurt after game one against Vancouver. He has a very bad outing.
00:52:47
Speaker
And, um, and Thomas comes in, he immediately, the defense just looks a lot better. That could have also been just more players getting healthy. And also the emergence of Finn sermon who made his first start in that one, one Cascadia cup game last year at Lumen on decision. He's one of the best center backs in the league. I forgot about that. That's a annoying development.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's just one of the best center backs in the league now. And I don't know, just kind of like a deal with it thing. Mostly just because he's really fast. Like he's tracking down Buonga in the open field and stuff. It's nuts.
00:53:19
Speaker
But the most important thing is Pantemis ends up getting hurt. Kripot comes back in. His first start since that ah Vancouver game, that 4-1 loss in San Jose, where I was openly questioning, like, does he does he really, really want to win that starting job back?
00:53:37
Speaker
It turns out he does because then he makes a couple of game like saving saves legitimately against the defiance up at Starfire. He pitches a clean sheet against SKC, who even though they were held shotless for a week are actually kind of dangerous going forward. I think rather underratedly.
00:53:55
Speaker
And then he keeps a clean sheet against RSL. So he's coming off of back to back clean sheets. Pantemis could be back for this game. It Neville's biggest decision for this game isn't which field player is going to start. It's going to be the goalkeeper.
00:54:07
Speaker
Oh, interesting. I feel like I'm going to give my take. I think it's pan Temis. yeah I think it is. Didn't he have a game? Was it this season or last season where he saved like two penalties in the same game?
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah. He kept the two nil loss in Nashville from being a four nil loss. Yeah. So that was crazy. But, It seems like, I don't know, listening to you talk about it right there and then also just my own eye test from the Timbers that I've watched.
00:54:39
Speaker
I feel like it's Pantemis, but that is based on like pretty much no knowledge at all. I'm just firing that take out there. See, that that's that's the rational take because you're even though based on the eye test, and I've done this with the underlying numbers, Pantemis is simply better at just keeping shots out.
00:54:56
Speaker
But Cripo is a big game goalkeeper. He put in a performance and a half. in the 1-0 victory, like, but was it, last Labor Day at Providence Park when these two teams met these two teams played and Fry i had to go off injured. Yeah, so he he was the starting goalkeeper in that game. He stood on his head.
00:55:14
Speaker
He actually headbutted Mason Toy so hard that he, like, made Mason's nosebleed after making a really good... Yeah, in celebration. Like, the guy's just an animal in these big games. seven I was at the ah MLS Cup in 2022 when it was LAFC versus Philly, and he was LAFC's keeper at the time.
00:55:34
Speaker
And that was the game that he – he He laid his body on the line more than I've ever seen a soccer player do on that play where Philly had a guy in over the top and he just charges out. And if he doesn't win the ball, ah that Philly guy is scoring and the Philadelphia Union are the goddamn 2022 MLS Cup champions. And Maxime Crapo laid out and got a compound fracture on his leg on the field, which was very, that but that was gruesome.
00:56:05
Speaker
uh but like the and he got a red card for it yeah he got a got a red card and compound fracture on i've never seen a play like that and it saved the game even though mccarthy turns into the hero with the penalties it's like it doesn't get the penalties or crap doesn't do that he doesn't talk about ah gareth bale being the hero but that was actually all about uh crap but uh Interesting. Portland Timbers goalkeeper battle that I didn't realize had gotten that heated. We'll see. Let's see what Phil Neves has got up his sleeve.
00:56:36
Speaker
He's got to make a call. So what do you got? Very heated within the fan base too. There are people who bring pairs of pants, like just jeans. They hang them up on two sticks before the game for games. They know Pantamas is going to start.
00:56:51
Speaker
They start swinging them around like their flags. Okay. I got Yeah. It's, it's actually pretty There are people who are just, they, they cannot stand it when Kripos starts and they refuse to give him any credit for like good performances.
00:57:04
Speaker
I don't know. It's real. It's like a really weird, like underlying theme to Neville's tenure is this whole goalkeeping situation. Goalkeeper of civil war. ah which is, which it does not apply the players too. Cause they've played with each other growing up.
00:57:20
Speaker
They're both from Montreal. They're both, they're both Canadian. Yeah. Yeah. They know each other. They, they're just like, Oh, well, if one of them start, have to support even if I'm a nice Canadian guys.
00:57:31
Speaker
Yeah. And the the fans are kind of going at each other's throats over it. Sometimes I'm just like, it's not that serious. It might be, but I don't think it's that serious. What's more important is who's starting in front of them.
00:57:44
Speaker
That's wild. All right, Jeremy, that's all I had for you here tonight. Thank you so much for ah hopping behind enemy lines here and giving us the inside scoop on the Portland Timbies.
00:57:57
Speaker
Really looking forward to the Derby this weekend. Before you go, anything that you wanted to plug or shill or promote ah additionally on the work that you're doing at Cascadia FC that you didn't hit earlier, ah the floor is yours.
00:58:13
Speaker
ah Yes. So um ah this is a Sounders audience. You're probably not going to write the pre probably you're probably not going to like the preview I have of this game.
Rivalry Game Frequency Debate
00:58:22
Speaker
That's fine. I'm very partisan in my writing, especially when it comes to the Seattle Sounders.
00:58:28
Speaker
But either way, I'm hoping for those of you who are making the trip up, just have a safe drive. Make sure the bus doesn't catch on fire on the way back. And um that's happened before. I have to put that as a disclaimer.
00:58:40
Speaker
So um it actually happened in 22 after the Timbers won Cascadia Cup here. So I don't know. i'm hoping I'm hoping that you guys enjoy the trip, leave with a loss.
00:58:52
Speaker
Are you admitting something? Are you admitting burned Sounders bus down? I did not. i did not. mean but i did see more you have to You have to admit it. If it happened, if it happened you have to admit it.
00:59:04
Speaker
i saw the I saw the Twitter. like I saw like a picture of it on Twitter, and I was like, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen. but um Well, not the funniest thing I've ever seen because like I've seen Jordan Morris play soccer. um at this At the same time, ah that's for Cascadia. I also host a MLS-focused podcast through Colorado-based outlet Box State Footy.
00:59:26
Speaker
It's called Outside the Box. It's four different guys in four different time zones who support four different teams giving their takes on the league. And right now, at least early in the season, we kind of were discussing the Sounders as possibly a bit fraudulent. But I knew better.
00:59:40
Speaker
I picked them third in the West to start the year. So, yeah, even though this is a Derby game, this is still a win over a good team the Timbers can secure. And likewise for Seattle, because the Timbers are better than a lot of people thought they were.
00:59:54
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I mean, it's definitely – think we were talking about before we started, ah before we went live, but ah it's like I think when this derby, the first derby showed up last year, both teams were just down bad.
01:00:07
Speaker
Seattle's down bad after the last game, but on the whole, these teams just look much better. And that – it always adds to the occasion when when the when the stakes are higher, the clubs are higher on the on the table – ah The West is a a cluster right now.
01:00:25
Speaker
So oh yeah a lot on the line and always great games. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. yeah I have two more things. First of all, we're finally getting green versus green in this game. the the That like year of the Timbers wearing pink and Seattle wearing red, that's not happening.
01:00:43
Speaker
Pretty sure Sounders are wearing their rave green, which is not green, but whatever. It's called green. And then Timbers are wearing dark green. So I love it when these teams actually wear green against each other.
01:00:53
Speaker
That's point number one. That's the combination that ah Ziggy Schmidt got all heated about at the red card wedding because it was like they looked too similar. I'm pretty sure you guys were in white for that one, if I remember.
01:01:05
Speaker
Well, they changed at halftime. Yeah. Oh yeah, they did. That's the whole story. Yeah. So that was that was not the whole story, but that sure was part of it. hey Very minor detail.
01:01:15
Speaker
And then the second part of this, I'm very thankful that we only have to play you guys twice this year. I hated the unbalanced three-match schedule where one team would host twice because I don't like it when these types of games feel like they're being diminished in terms of their value. If you play a rivalry game more than twice a year and that third time isn't in like a cup competition or something with actual stakes as opposed just a season game,
01:01:43
Speaker
It just seems like the significance of it is like worn down a little bit. So I'm very happy that this is your guys' is only trip to Providence Park. And I'll be happy in October when it's our only trip to Lubenfield.
01:01:55
Speaker
It's just going to make the games feel a lot more special. I agree with that take. ah Well, we'll be down there. So if you want to link up ah while we're all in the in the Rose City.
01:02:07
Speaker
we'll be there. Uh, send me a text. Thanks again for the time. We'll see you in probably a couple of days and, uh, we'll, uh, we'll, we'll get you back on soon. I appreciate everyone, being welcoming to our Portland Timbs guest and, uh, indulging his, uh, his strays directed one Jordan Morris, but, uh,
01:02:29
Speaker
You know, I get it. You had to. It's fine. Listen, you couldn't keep the best player in the league because, you know, he didn't want to be in Portland. So I get it. You can take a shot at the the the best striker in the league, Jordan Morris. It's all fair game, you know.
01:02:42
Speaker
um Also. Saying that while wearing a Mussofsky jersey. Damn right. um And also lethal duo in the league. I wanted to, I wanted to know before you go here, Ned grabs is one of our favorite characters in all of MLS. And we sat next to him during the open cup match where you guys almost lost to our, our babies.
01:03:02
Speaker
And he was very not happy the whole time. And I really wanted to ask him about the Evander situation, but I didn't cause I'm, you know, I'm a journalist. That's good. ah That's good. Self-restraint. Yeah. all right, Jeremy. Thanks again, man. Appreciate it Take care, and we'll see you this weekend.
01:03:17
Speaker
As always. That was Jeremy Peterman, Portland Timby's writer, managing editor for Cascadia.
01:03:28
Speaker
Oh, God damn it. we'll We'll link it. It'll be in the description. Cascadia FC. I thought that was it, but I was like, I don't want to i don't want to say it wrong. ah Yeah. Big time Derby this weekend. Noah, how are you how are you feeling about the Derby after what transpired in the city of Los Angeles last night?
01:03:46
Speaker
I never feel good about this game ever one time in my entire life. It's always just a like, if we lose, God damn it, I'm not going on social media. And if we win, it's I'm going on social media and I'm replying to every person in the entire Timbers Army fan base with the dumbest possible things. And I'm just plugging my ears and yelling.
01:04:08
Speaker
So it's a fun one. um I don't really know what's going to happen. The Timbers are always dangerous against the Sounders. It's like we talk about all the time. It's a rivalry match. Everything goes out the window.
01:04:19
Speaker
Nothing matters. But um um what I will say is we've been previewing it a ton. The fact that Ryan Kent is going to get involved in this game, a notorious... ah Just a notorious...
01:04:31
Speaker
like ah force in some of the biggest rivalries in the entire world like fetter bache and um galatessere and also rangers rangers celtic which is like the fucking darby man yeah like the darby of all darbys and he really uh he made his mark on that one uh several times yeah so No, I think I was actually, ah ah you guys will see on my interview with Derek Clark, we talk about the similar topic, but like I had the same thought, which is that yeah we obviously all really like what we've seen from Ryan Kent so far, but it seems like he might be especially adept for ah Derby game. At least I'm hoping so. he see He seems like one of the other things I talked to Derek about was how he's, it's not just Derbys, it's just like he he's a he got a reputation in Scotland as like a big game player.
01:05:24
Speaker
So let's see if he can make that type of impact. ah You know, the team needs to get right game. And we've seen a lot of really awesome stuff from him in, in all the other games that he's played so far.
01:05:40
Speaker
So I think that is sort of an X factor here. I'm, we've been calling the Ryan Kent thing, the X factor of Seattle's whole season really. But I think that's like, especially true in this game in particular.
01:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's going to be fun. It's going to be interesting. i am sad that Jordan Morris ah will not be in attendance to this match. I would have loved to have him absolutely butcher stuff up.
01:06:05
Speaker
But we've got the GOAT, okay? Listen, Ari, what name does it say on the back of my jersey? Because this is the man who I think is going to score two goals in this match. ah Danny Mussovsky of the ah Las Vegas Lights.
01:06:20
Speaker
Damn right. Moose is about to... ah do you Okay, here's my question to you, Ari. Derek Richards, thank you for the $3 super sticker. My goat. Thank you, Derek. Love you, Derek.
01:06:32
Speaker
um My question is, there's always a memorable moment from these games, no matter what. Whether it's an official or a player or just like some bullshit, right?
01:06:44
Speaker
A bus catching on fire. Who do you think is going to be involved in one of those special moments in this match? Well, I mean, i'm hoping I'm hoping it's Ryan Kent, because if that is the answer, then I think that will mean good things. But what if he punches someone again?
01:07:01
Speaker
Or that could it could be that, too. that is We should note that one of his memorable moments in the Rangers Celtic Derby was when he punched a guy, which, you know... ah I don't condone that, but you know, uh, it's a show of intensity.
01:07:15
Speaker
I condone it. I condone it. So we need, we need a little bit more venom in these games. I think, you know, Diego Shara is like 500 years old, dude. Like he's going to have to have a Walker here and the next, the next match that, that he plays, uh, against Seattle. So like we might as well, we need it. We need some new venom. You know, Ozzy Alonzo wasn't here anymore.
01:07:35
Speaker
ah Shara is going to be dead in about a year. Like we've got to bring up this new generation to feel the absolute hate. I see some chatters are giving. Yeah, I think Pauly primetime is a good shout. Yeah, he really hasn't had that many opportunities.
01:07:52
Speaker
to make his mark in a game like this. And as one of the masters of shithousery, I could see him thriving. Absolutely. Under these circumstances. Here's, ah we got we got Derek shouting out Obed Vargas. That's another good one. Love that. ah here's a Here's one for you. I got a good one. All right.
01:08:10
Speaker
What if? What if? What if? What if Jesus Ferreira scores a goal in this game? What a game this would be for Jesus Ferreira to break out. That would be if I could pick anyone. The line that I've said 10,000 times, but if you could pick a if you could pick a match, it would be this one.
01:08:27
Speaker
yeah Oh, I mean, like, if I could pick anyone on the entire team to get a goal in this game, that would be easy. Can he get six in this game? Yeah, cover your tattoo bet. Yeah, let's cover me. because that Seattle once did score six at Providence Park, famously. Yep.
01:08:44
Speaker
So maybe ah they write I mean, Ferreira, I don't think is going to... How do you think they're going to start the... but Oh, yeah. You know what? we Should we pull up the lineup? The lineup builder? Yeah, actually, let's pull it up. And I think I figured out i was I was having a hard time zooming in. Yeah. i think I figured out how to do it. There's a, like, a footmob. Wait, go back. Go back. Go to the footmob one.
01:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, because you can actually do real real teams. Oh, I see. Okay, so hit pre-fill, and you just search the Sounders. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, and then you can move people around from there. Whoa, that's fucking... Pretty sure. okay You can like X people out and stuff. right We got to show the people this.
01:09:25
Speaker
Listen, we're advanced on the technology. We may not know how to use a goddamn microphone, but buddy, I'm going to find a website, okay? All right, so when I was doing this, there, see, that's how you do it. Oh, dude, you're... Do you see that? Wait, but you got to make it bigger on the bottom because we're losing...
01:09:41
Speaker
Andy T. That looks good. um I think you can click them and swap them. This is just last game. Some of these guys don't look like a like actually the actual players, but like that looks like New Who from 2017.
01:09:55
Speaker
You like you can pick from the players. so You can also change the formation if you want. yeah We're going to go fry and go. Let's do the 4-2-3-1.
01:10:10
Speaker
Oh, wait, whoops.
01:10:14
Speaker
where do you where the Where's four two three one This should not be this hard to find. 4-2-3-1. Alright. So, who are you feeling for the backline?
01:10:24
Speaker
um You know, I definitely think we're going to get Nuhu in this game. Can you just drag him? Oh, you got it. Look at that. I think it'll be a It's got to be Yamar.
01:10:38
Speaker
It's going to be Yamar Kim. It's going to be Yamar Kim. um And then...
01:10:45
Speaker
Okay, here's my take. this i know kk This is actually a good debate. this is good I know KKR played a lot of minutes, but I would love to see him in this game. I thought he was the best player by far. Short rest, though, that's tough to ask for a wingback. Let's do this, what we think they're going to do. And I think i think the whole point of starting KKR at LAFC is to start Alex on this game.
01:11:05
Speaker
But that is a man that that's a good debate and it's become a good debate in like a good way. It's not like they give you different things. They give you different things. And I think Alex has been in as good a form in the last few weeks as he's been in the last like year or so. i Yeah.
01:11:23
Speaker
So yeah. All right, so it's the new who, Kim, Yamar, Alex Roldan back line. We're going to hit it with the ah Christian Obed double pivot.
01:11:34
Speaker
Easy. But then is when we get to the real debate. don No, no, no, no, no. De Rosario on the wing. I think. Yeah, we're going De Rosario winger. It's going to be Rusek in the middle. Okay, here's what they're going to Here's my take.
01:11:50
Speaker
We're going to get Ryan Kent and Pedro de la Vega together. I think this is what they were setting up. but De La Vega did start and play a lot of the LAFC game. Moose has got to start, right? I don't know. That's what I'm thinking.
01:12:05
Speaker
You think this is how they're going to do it? i I think this is it, except the question is right here. like is ah Well, Rothrock just went. so i' Yeah, Rothrock went too. I don't think Rothrock is going to start. Rothrock went 90, didn't he?
01:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, pretty sure he did. Yeah, Rothrock went 90, so I'm going to go with De La Vega. ah Kent, Rustak, De La Vega is my take here. But, you know, i'm I'm sure we could actually know if we texted Jeremiah and asked what he's been seeing in training.
01:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, but this is more fun. This is way more fun. Just try and guess. yeah so I mean, there's there's a lot of this that I think is just solves itself, like the double the double pivot and the back line.
01:12:48
Speaker
but And obviously okay the number nine. I think we're in agreeance here, right? Like this is probably what we would like to see. let's ah Let's see what it would look like with... ah
01:13:00
Speaker
You can see, this is the one I like. Okay. Let's, let's talk subs, right? So for our, our full substitution, look, let's say we're up one It's a one, one.
01:13:13
Speaker
You need some fresh legs coming in Who are you picking to come in on those wing positions? So I think something that factors in there is the fact that Ryan Kent is, i mean, I'm,
01:13:26
Speaker
he's probably 60 fit at this point. Right. Sure. So you don't want to, you don't want to overwork him. That's for sure. Yeah. I think you, I think if he's 60 fit, you can let him go 60. If he's more like 45 fit, but I'm like, uh, feel like if they were starting him, uh, they started him in a, which game they started him.
01:13:47
Speaker
They started him two matches ago. Yeah, exactly. So, uh, They can start him, and I think they will start him. I think that's the right call. I think he is very clearly the best attacking player on this team already.
01:14:00
Speaker
So there's no reason to not bust that out for this game. Absolutely no reason not to. So who's your first sub? Coming out of halftime, who's your first substitution? Where are you making it? I mean, obviously, this is predetermined, but, you know.
01:14:13
Speaker
So with the knowledge that Ryan Kent is not 90 fit, my first sub. You're taking him off at half. at half or at 60 like whatever one he's like more fit to do do this i do this okay that's my first one got it because of fitness sure not uh not because of uh anything other than the fact that like the guy can't play the full 90 right now so that's the first one and then
01:14:44
Speaker
ah
01:14:46
Speaker
I
Substitution Strategies in Intense Matches
01:14:47
Speaker
don't know. What do you think? what will do Or do you disagree? I think I disagree. I think keeping my first sub. will this is gonna be Here's my thing. It's going to be dependent on what winger is playing better.
01:14:58
Speaker
i think if you're having a De La Vega stinker, which can happen, right? like We're all allowed to... we're all allowed to you know we Sometimes you need to light a candle in the bathroom. You know what i mean? um So I'm just going to pretend to like De La Vega. like Kent is blowing the doors off of this game, right?
01:15:15
Speaker
My first substitution is Georgie for De La Vega. I kind of like that. I kind of like that. And as pointed out by Jake and Chad, Georgie got two assists against Portland and then handed them two goals.
01:15:29
Speaker
You just need that chaos in this game. and Honestly, like we haven't talked about it, but it's not a bad it's not a bad platform for a Georgie game. Yeah, it's not. and I think the Defiance game proved that.
01:15:41
Speaker
Yeah, and I think with Kent on the field, he provides that amazing interplay with Rusnak to where you're basically just going to get to spring Georgie a shit ton. And then Kent and Rusnak can combine in that middle with Musovsky, who's proven that he can work really well ah in between that that that space there.
01:16:00
Speaker
I mean, that's a recipe for a nightmare on tired legs because that first dude, this first half is going to be a goddamn beat down. Like these two teams hate each other.
01:16:10
Speaker
They're going to be going at each other and they're in the Portland Timbies play these games like it's the fucking Super Bowl it's the super bowl every time. And you know, like they're going to be doing that.
01:16:21
Speaker
They're going to be that they do every time in these games. I'd like to think that Seattle has gotten past the whole intensity issue of ah of the Timbs like seeming like ah if they don't win the game, they're going to die. Yeah, that's and they play every Derby game like that. And that's how you should play a Derby game.
01:16:39
Speaker
yeah So Seattle's done a better job. I think the last couple of times these teams have played of matching that. But you just got to be ready for that. end like it's not you can't come out uh lollygagging it at all and think that they're not going to jump on top you in the first 15 to 20 minutes of this game playing at home like they're gonna they're gonna come out playing like god forsaken maniacs yeah i think honestly even this could be a starting lineup right here and then you bring in pedro at halftime as a super sub and just let him run crazy mode i don't know like obviously i think
01:17:11
Speaker
I think he is bought in on this
Player Performance Critiques and Adaptations
01:17:14
Speaker
rivalry. Like he seems like a player who just wants to go eat. Pedro does. And so, I mean, yeah, obviously picking him over Manungu is ah is a is kind of a like foregone conclusion. But I don't know, man, like coming having him come in at half might might just might just cook.
01:17:32
Speaker
It might just cook. Yeah, no, it's not ah it's not a terrible take. Jake is asking about a false nine Ferreira with those wingers. See, that's now you're talking my language. There you go. little false nine Ferreira? Except him and Russnack can't play together.
01:17:45
Speaker
So you take... who Who can he play with? He can play the 10 himself. Slide De La Vega over. You could take Russnack off and put Ferreira on and keep Moose on.
01:17:57
Speaker
Oh, that see okay yeah that that's the play. You know what I mean? like But that's not really false nining. That's just kind of... yeah i mean, you can still play a false... you can just like Sort of like the second striker like he he was supposed to play off Jordan. It's the nine and a half position.
01:18:12
Speaker
Right, right. I think... Who wrote about that in the Sounders? un saturdayturn Someone did. it could be ah It could be an opportunity to employ the Rusnak-Ferrero rotation that we were that we've been talking about with the knowledge that they haven't been playing well when they play together.
01:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, I wouldn't put him on the field in this game together at all. And I wouldn't put Ferrer on the field at all in this match, if I'm being honest, especially with... He looked he looked like he didn't want to fucking play. and See, a lot of people are saying that. I don't i don't know if I ascribe that. i think I think that's an easy thing to say when a guy has a bad game.
01:18:44
Speaker
ah But like I don't think the issue with him ah at any point this year has been like effort or desire. I think it's ah like ah just a legitimate...
01:18:57
Speaker
like non-tactical fit so far at times and that's what i saw i mean that's just this is me that's what i saw i'm being harsh like obviously he wants to play soccer and he wants to score and he wants to win a game he wouldn't be a professional sports player if he didn't but i think his body language like was he was doing the uh st louis body cross out shit yeah yeah i texted you about that i was like oh no here we go so i'm I am not confident in him playing in the this game, which is going to get very physical very fast.
01:19:32
Speaker
and it will And the refs will let it go. That's just always what happens. like if They just let this shit go because they've they want the content, right? and MLS wants the content, so they let that shit go.
01:19:44
Speaker
And I... Can't really blame him. It's kind of fire. um But Jesus, I do not want to see him in this game, to be honest with you. I wouldn't mind him subbing on in the second half, but I'd definitely be up. He's coming on. he We better be leading. You definitely you definitely. He's not in the first choice 11 right now. I think that's pretty much established. Ryan Kent is. Yeah.
01:20:08
Speaker
fun cra Funcrate says that he doesn't think Kent is going to start. I think you've got to start him in this game, I think you've got to. You've got to. there's just There's no downside to starting him.
01:20:20
Speaker
There's Especially how many good wingers you have. like You can plug and play. If he's throwing up a stinger, you can just put on Rothrock or Manungu or Pedro or whatever. I think there's just like... I think there's just like a...
01:20:36
Speaker
there's just too many good options at the wing to not start him and to show like, give him more confidence to, to me. It's just, uh, just so clear that he is the best attacker on the team.
01:20:50
Speaker
It might, it might seem for leak soccer it might seem early to say that, but like, just from what I've seen so far, that's, uh, That's what I see. So like, who does three assist you're ready your best 11 has him in it. Like no question about it.
01:21:05
Speaker
ah yeah And, and then i think there is the factor to it as well of what we were talking about with ah like him, him being up for Derby games, being a big game player. Like,
01:21:17
Speaker
he has that's that's uh not a reputation that we're like coming up with out of thin air that is like what his uh reputation was in the scottish premiership was a guy who was yes very dynamic fun to watch all the stuff that we've liked seeing from watching him play yeah but that is just like up for the moment so you got to uh I think you got to throw them out there and give them a chance to show that in MLS.
01:21:45
Speaker
Derek, thank you for the $2 super chat. Go the man goat. If Ferrer doesn't play at Portland, that's a bad sign. Yeah. It is a bad sign. I think a lot of things are a bad sign that they not have. I think the way the last game went was ah was a bad sign. And I guess you want to talk about that? I was going to talk about that at yeah some point, which is that I think where ah where I'm at with the... ah Ferreira stuff and like look the first thing I'll say is that uh everyone who was chirping and stuff like they were doing this stuff earlier this season and then he had a couple games where he actually played well so I'm just gonna throw out the warning it's friendly advice you can take it or leave it but when you are uh
01:22:31
Speaker
when you're basing your definitive takes and victory laps purely off the most recent game, just off the most recent game that you saw and literally taking nothing else into account, it very often happens that the narrative will change on you.
01:22:46
Speaker
It already happened once this season. I don't know how some people haven't learned this, but I guess it's because it's easy to just like hop in our chat and get typing uh but like i'm just saying like because there's there's no like if you if you love it taking you're wrong you just don't say shit but if you love it taking you're right you do say shit at least with like with us like we log takes all the time and we are accountable for them whether they're right or wrong i always try to admit when i'm wrong like if i love we it's honestly way funnier when we're wrong we fire so many takes i bought a goddamn jersey because i was so wrong
01:23:20
Speaker
It's like the U22 hit rate, okay? yeah just you You're throwing darts. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. Look me. But anyway... i think that I fucking know shit about this game? Look at me, dude. With ah with it acknowledged that like the chirping and the victory laps are they're still premature with two-thirds of the season left.
01:23:40
Speaker
But I will say, like speaking for myself, like that game last night, and I don't want to overreact to it, but that game last night put me in a... I'm not like ah calling it a bust. I'm not ready to write off the whole idea of him being a contributor to this team, but I've gone from like feeling pretty confident that, ah that it's going to turn around and that he's going to least capture some of the form that he had at FC Dallas, feeling pretty confident about that to like ah my worry-o-meter of that, of it actually just never getting past like this place that it's in right now.
01:24:16
Speaker
That's like, creep crept into my mind more than it had been previously. i don't just think like but Because we had seen progress, but then we saw we saw a backslide.
01:24:29
Speaker
And we'll we'll see what happens because, honestly, I could be falling into what I was talking about of ah recency bias and base in the take and the worry or whatever on what happened in just the last game and not the full body of work. And also, ah this most recent game, i mean, you do have to acknowledge...
01:24:52
Speaker
The rotation. People call it an excuse. It's just a reality. Like, that game's on short rest with a ragtag motley. It was ah the motleyest of motley crews yeah out there.
01:25:03
Speaker
So I don't even know how much to read into anyone who was in that 11 because of that. And another thing I was thinking about today, too, is like with the Danny JP double pivot.
01:25:15
Speaker
I don't even like, yeah, it wasn't great. It wasn't good at all in the second half. I don't know how much to even get on them for that because that was the first time they had like played. In like a month. in Yeah, and you're getting thrown right into a midweek at LAFC, which is a very difficult team to play against.
01:25:32
Speaker
Especially through the fucking midfield. Let's not talk about that. That's their whole game plan. Exactly. So like i don't even i don't even know if I should be chalking. Brian set them up for failure on that one a little bit.
01:25:44
Speaker
But then how would you have handled it different? I'm not saying that I would handle it different. I'm just saying you get set up for... It's the next man up mentality thing, but the problem is when your next man up is a guy who's 38 years old, doesn't have knees anymore, and was never fast to begin with, and then a guy who...
01:26:02
Speaker
just career wise, he's what he's 22 and like, hasn't had consistent starting minutes is really great on attack, but isn't necessarily, ah great in that position and getting back and defending like, yeah, you're going to have some defensive struggles, especially with two center backs who are like,
01:26:22
Speaker
I mean, John Bell didn't play good either. i thought he had more to do with this game being bad than, uh, than, than any of the two center mids. I mean, that double pivot wasn't good, but neither was John Bell. Neither was really like any, anyone. i thought Rothrock was, uh, acquitted himself well in the first half.
01:26:40
Speaker
And I thought, ah
01:26:44
Speaker
like for how not great the Ferreira shift was De La Vega was at least like making some stuff happen. I mean, yeah, on the tier list, like sure. But I mean, for me, it was KKR number one. And then at the bottom, was Andrew Thomas.
01:26:57
Speaker
and then at the bottom it was andrew thomas It's just like, but but I do want to hit my Ferrara take on Yeah. So that's no, you're good. We're, we're, you know, you know us, we just meander through the conversation. Will you put up the, the, those the, the Noah should be, should we put the bed at four goals?
01:27:14
Speaker
I, okay. Listen, here's what I'll say. Why don't we do it? Why don't we bring it to five? don't we bring it five? Because it's at six right now. Why don't we bring it to five? And even five. You just got to slowly get it down. no or Or like, honestly, I'll keep it at six. like i'm Have you decided what tat you're going to get? going to get the nine. I'll get a nine.
01:27:32
Speaker
That's actually kind of a sick tat. It's not even that bad of a... But it's just funny because I notoriously, like when I played soccer in college and then I had... When I played for the FC Dallas Academy...
01:27:43
Speaker
I had a season where I had like 15 assists and zero goals. Like I scored like two goals in my entire career. Yeah. So this is kind of a good bit. ah But I mean, or I would just get like Jesus, but with the accent over it. I think that could be kind of funny.
01:28:03
Speaker
um Something. We'll figure it out. But listen, honestly, it's up to you, man. Like, I don't care. You agreed to six. I agreed to six. I'm happy. But he was offering four. I think five is a good compromise. If you want to bring it down, be fair. Five, I'm cool with. Or we stay with six. or I don't give a shit. if he's Because the thing is, man, if you get five, might as well get six, right?
01:28:22
Speaker
yeah Yeah, exactly. Can the tattoo be and be a 9.5? It should be a false 9 tat. That'd be good. that'd be good okay i'll just do you know I'll do the Sounders lineup, just like the you know the dots or whatever.
01:28:35
Speaker
Derek brings up a point that maybe maybe it'll tampa tamp me down a little bit. Jesus played one game with the ideal starting 11 against Nashville. was the best player on the field. I don't think... Okay, here's my take on it, right?
01:28:49
Speaker
I'm a Jesus Ferreira believer for many reasons. Obviously, my FC Dallas internal bias and and just watching him play throughout his years. But I think I can agree that like he has not been putting up a good showing in the recent... and He's not performed to what we expected him to perform. But what I also want to keep in mind is that...
01:29:11
Speaker
He's on a new team with new teammates. And when you saw when in in Champions Cup, when he did have teammates he knew in Areola. Yeah, they looked... He insane. He was amazing. They were the dynamic duo against Antigua. So I think that it's a little bit of that...
01:29:28
Speaker
new team he's never been on another team in his entire life right like there's a shift for that he's in a new place that's a change he's down he came back from injury we talked about this with pedro de la vega all year last year the weight that was on pedro literally made him play so much less free frantic and bad i think the same thing is happening to to jesus like i really do like there is so much expectation on him When it comes to you had 50 goals, you've already scored 50 goals. Like you can't peak yet. You're supposed to be better. You're supposed to be this $10 million dollars European player. And it's like, you can't even score in MLS anymore. Like what's going on?
01:30:08
Speaker
I think those narratives are in his own head. And like, it's hard when you're a player to, to really change that until you can get going. Yeah. It took Pedro De La Vega an entire season and an offseason and then an injury and then all of that stuff. Right.
01:30:22
Speaker
And he's still not there yet. Like he's he's showing those glimpses of being really good. But like we I don't think we can definitively say that Pedro De La Vega has broken out. But I do think that he's like a very talented, very good player and fighting for a starting role on this team. You can see how like I think watching De La Vega this year, i feel a lot more like, OK, I see what the whole. Yeah, I got It's like I see what the whole idea is here. Jesus is 24, man.
01:30:49
Speaker
Like, I understand that that's not super young in in modern soccer terms because we have fucking Obed Vargas, who's. literally the best ah defensive midfielder in the entire league, but like, and he's 12, but you know, i think that he's dealing, Jesus is dealing with struggles that he's never had to deal with in his career before.
01:31:11
Speaker
And I think, it's going to be growing pains and maybe this is just won't be his season, but guess what? He's, he's at this club for, for multiple years potentially.
01:31:22
Speaker
And, and that's just what it is. Like if you can get the best out of him in the next few seasons, awesome. If not, I really do. And I agree with you. The process of it all was the right thing to do.
01:31:33
Speaker
they and i like I will stand on that, as but you it no matter what anyone says. like it would ah like With the opportunity to bring in a player with that pedigree as a non-DP, if he was a DP right now, this would be an entirely different conversation. Absolutely. It would be an entirely different conversation.
01:31:50
Speaker
and a lot of That's why it's even hard to compare it to Petra. a lot of the ah Yeah, exactly. But like a lot of the crashing out over it would be honestly... pretty merited if he, if they were in a situation where they brought him in as a DP and it looked like this, ah the it's still, it's not like it's no stakes with ah bringing them in as a high tan player or whatever, but it's a lot less stakes, especially because you have a lot of options on this roster right now where like, we've seen it like with him, not in super great form and bringing Ryan Kenton, the attack,
01:32:25
Speaker
has looked great in recent weeks before this last game. So like the, yeah there was the downside, the downside is not as bad. ah And with it being max Tam yeah and i yeah, that was pretty much, well, there was a upside is still there.
01:32:41
Speaker
Yeah. There was a point where we were both of us, or I guess me mainly was talking about how when rust that gets back from injury, it doesn't matter. The starting number 10 should be Jesus Ferreira.
01:32:52
Speaker
That was a conversation that we had, regardless of if you agree with it or not. Because of how good, like Derek mentioned, because of how good that Nashville game looked, which I feel like that sort of got, that just doesn't get talked about. That's kind of what I mean about, like, it oftentimes becomes just a referendum on the last game that we saw. Yeah, it's what you've done for me lately. Yeah, and I, for me personally, when I think about these things, I try and take the entire body of work into account. So when we're talking about the entire body of work with this particular player,
01:33:22
Speaker
Yeah, you have a handful of games that looked like what we saw last night at LAFC, but you also have seven assists. So it's like you got to got weigh both of those things. And that was my only take the other day. so ah I don't know. ah Some, like a lot of the chirping that we were dealing with actually had nothing to do with the tape. that Well, it's, that's the problem, right? Like you can point to individual, this is, this is the problem with just being a fan It's not a problem with being a fan. It's just the reality of being a fan is you are in that moment.
01:33:54
Speaker
Okay. This is, you say it, this is why it's, Fans should not be GMs because in this moment, absolutely. He's not playing well. And like that individual game was terrible. But if you're not looking at the entire body of work, if you're not looking at the entire body of the deal, if you're not realizing that, Oh yeah, we have way more than half a season to go. And Oh yeah, he's got more time on his contract. And Oh yeah, this is, you know, all of these additional things. It's like, if we wrote off Pedro de la Vega after last season,
01:34:26
Speaker
I mean, I was very critical of Pedro de la Vega, but obviously, like, I was willing to to give him that time to to develop and all of that. If we just took his last season, then we're like, yeah, actually, we're just going to cut you.
01:34:39
Speaker
We're going to sell you because there was a million teams interested. Who knows, right? Who knows what he's going to become? It's about being patient sometimes with players, especially players in difficult situations or players who you know the talent is there.
01:34:53
Speaker
they just need to They just need to feel it again. They just need to feel it again. Moose. Beautiful example. Yeah. And, you know, I get I get why it is ah why it is frustrating. I do, because last night last night was like a perfect example of the type of perfect example of the type of game that I was hoping that this team would be able to handle and compete in because it's a it's a situation where it's about as rotated as it gets. yeah And you have Pedro de la Vega, your $7 million dollars player on the field.
01:35:22
Speaker
You have Jesus Ferreira, a 50-plus goal scorer in the league, former best 11 player on the field in your rotated lineup. When you talk about that on paper before the season starts and you think about going into like a midweek game where you have to rotate and you're like, man, well, if the rotate lineup has Jesus Ferreira and de la Vega in it,
01:35:41
Speaker
that's That's pretty nice right there. That should should be the start of a competitive lineup. And I felt the same way looking up and down that lineup. ah The JP Leva double pivot, I would have said the same thing. Like, yeah, you can if you're rotating that, that's like a great option to get by. And you should be able to ride that to being competitive in a game where most MLS teams might struggle. Well, and it worked in the last LAFC game too. So you have that as a touch point.
01:36:09
Speaker
That's a good point. That's a good point. We've seen examples of what I'm talking about with the rotation ah still having these really good depth pieces and competing and taking draws, wins, whatever, in games where even those teams would struggle.
01:36:25
Speaker
ah We have actually seen that used to effect this year in ah in the situation like the first LAFC game where that was that was the pretty much just as rotated a lineup, was it not?
01:36:36
Speaker
yeah And they scored five. so ah there yeah there is the flip side of it as well. ah But i can I can understand why seeing a game where you have a lineup like that, which has these depth pieces that you ostensibly were going to be able to lean on to take results in a situation like that.
01:36:55
Speaker
And then for me, it's really not that they took the L. I honestly, taking the L in that game, MLS, man, like those... Those results when you're in a fixture congestion situation like that, they do. They come for literally everybody.
01:37:10
Speaker
I brought up this example on the postgame live, but I'll just say it again because I think it illustrates exactly what I'm talking about, which is Inter-Miami last year when they set the points record. They were literally the best team like points wise in the history of the league.
01:37:26
Speaker
They had a game exactly like the one Seattle played last night where they were rotating. I can't remember what they were rotating, but it was Champions Cup or leagues. whatever saw It was something. They're rotating something. Champions Cup League. They threw out. rophy Then they were supposed to be. the update Last year's Inter-Miami roster was getting talked about as way deeper than the one Seattle was putting out this year. I heard pundits talking about how that was the deepest roster of all time in any league ever. It could never be. And all this stuff. It could never be topped.
01:37:54
Speaker
ah They were in the exact same situation, went to FC Cincinnati, which I think is a team that's been about on par in quality with LAFC over the last few years. They got 6-1. Yeah, they did get clapped up. the but The team that set the points record had the exact same situation that Seattle dealt with last night.
01:38:11
Speaker
So that happens in MLS. Especially mid-weekend rotated. Mid-weekend rotated. However, i will say... the the disappointment of them getting 4-0'd in that scenario, valid. I feel exactly like that because if you're going to take the L, that's that's part of being in MLS, but shouldn't have got 4-0'd. So I think both of those things are true.
01:38:33
Speaker
I mean, I don't think... I mean the game got away from them right and it was just over like I think that that's also the reality 4-0 was arguably harsh yeah like i don't think that game it was one zero at half and yeah they were in it at half they were in have it at half it seemed fine you know I think that I just that I don't know like I said like there was some characteristically in worst career performances out there Andrew Thomas There is definitely a hole in the wall in that LAFC visiting locker room because that dude had his worst match probably of his life, and he knows it.
01:39:11
Speaker
You know what I mean? It's like he's not happy with that performance. He he wants that one back. You've got John Bell, who looked shaky as hell. He wants that one back. i'm sure that I'm sure that JP wants that one back. If there's anyone who's the most critical of JP, it's JP. He will tell you that he had a bad game and that he's not playing well.
01:39:29
Speaker
And, you know, like... sometimes you put up stinkers. And I think that it's exacerbated when it's midweek rotated and before the biggest rivalry match of of your season.
01:39:42
Speaker
it's it's It is what it is. It's hard for me to get upset about this game. It's hard for me to... It's one of those games where it's like you celebrate if you win, you pretend it didn't happen if it if you lose. Yeah, yeah. How long have we all been watching MLS?
01:39:57
Speaker
like You should know by now what the hell is going to happen in these games.
Fixture Congestion Challenges in MLS
01:40:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I don't. Sometimes I feel like it must be some people's first year watching MLS. Because midweek rotated 4-0. Yeah, welcome to reality. Welcome to the league, buddy.
01:40:18
Speaker
Welcome to the life we all live. First time. Every year. Welcome to the gallows. But what I think no what i think is that like the mark of a truly great team in elite team in this league are the teams that, that can take results in games like that.
01:40:36
Speaker
Like the best deepest teams that have the best chances of like being relevant and winning trophies. Well, yeah, and I think that is that is actually a great point. And, like, not only have they done it this year, but ah they they have been a team that that can do that. Not every time. Like, you have games in there, like the one that we saw last night. It happened in San Diego earlier this year.
01:40:58
Speaker
But I think for the most part, one thing that I've appreciated about the Sounders is that – The types of blowouts that we've seen in San Diego and at LASC, we don't have to deal with those that much. Like, we really don't compared to a lot of a lot of teams in the league, at least.
01:41:12
Speaker
ah So it's unfortunate that it's happened twice this year. But ah if it doesn't if that doesn't become a recurring pattern and they can get back to – being a team that's at least like my thing in in those games is just hang with it.
01:41:28
Speaker
Yeah. Just hang with it. Give yourself a chance at taking a point, taking a result, uh, and just don't let it go off the rails. And I think actually, to be fair last night, they probably did that more than we're acknowledging.
01:41:41
Speaker
Cause like, uh, it was one zero at half. And then the second goal was in what minute, like 50 something. Yeah. I don't remember, but, uh,
01:41:52
Speaker
that like that game and a result in that game was attainable into the second half, and then it got away from them late. Yeah, I mean, they were pressing... You could tell they were pushing super hard to come out of the half, and it just it just kind of gassed the Sounders. like Like I was saying, like i I really think that...
01:42:10
Speaker
It was good game planning by LAFC. Well, they were also seething mad about what Seattle did to them at Lumen Field. And they were like, if we let these guys like do anything in in this game, ah we sacrifice more dignity than we sacrificed the first time around.
01:42:27
Speaker
So they had to do what they did, yeah to be honest. they it was a little ah It was a little tit for tat. Seattle got them earlier this year. They returned the favor. Fair enough.
U22 Player Dynamics and Trades
01:42:37
Speaker
I agree. Um, no Collins tonight, Jax. We'll, uh, we're going to shoot to do one from the Rose city.
01:42:45
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see what happens. We'll see if what happens. I'm not making any promises on post game live, uh, up that way, but, uh, we'll do our best and, uh, try and take some calls and, uh,
01:42:57
Speaker
hopefully there's some happier call ah took the the post-game live calls after the 4-0 were actually uh they were fine they were still they were still a great time yeah so um all right coming up on an hour 45 do you want to watch this will coons video and i do i had i had a couple of things to hit before this because i think that's that's probably the best content i just had some short some short ones um yeah Some news folks, uh, sources have said uh, Leo Chu is back on the transfer block and FC Dallas are actively shopping him, um, in attempts to get back their U22 spot.
01:43:38
Speaker
Sounds a little familiar. Does it not Ari? It does. Uh, and i would love to clown on him for that, but, uh, coming off one of the not good Ferreira games, I feel like I can't.
01:43:52
Speaker
You know, this is this is ah this is... Because, like, think about if Ferreira was just smashing it up right now, and then they now they were also trying to offload Leo Chu, who was their biggest return. That would be like a... You would be able to call it a fleece job for Seattle.
01:44:06
Speaker
But until Seattle gets, like, their requisite value out of Ferreira, I feel like we can't really do that dunk. I mean, but still, it's like... du you We're at least getting a service... Five assists...
01:44:17
Speaker
yeah Leo Chu has a goal, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. Like he hasn't done anything. and this is it's true. At least at least for air is something contribution wise from my source. He barely played.
01:44:30
Speaker
He came into preseason way out of shape, finished last in the beep test, then had a calf injury, never played until the very last preseason game. Didn't play the first three games of the season and wasn't then was playing like a second striker for three games was terrible, ah even though he scored once.
01:44:46
Speaker
ah He's been out since and ah since we played you guys with a knee injury, but I don't know if that's a real injury now that I ah know they're trying to move him. um yeah but they Welcome to the experience, FC Dallas. Welcome. Apparently they haven't played him as a winger yet, though, which I think amazing.
01:45:06
Speaker
absolutely hilarious uh Jeremy actually had a sick take before we uh before we went live which was he was saying that he was advocating at one point for uh the Timbers to get Leo Chu because of the ah stylistic fit but then also kind of like the bit of that's a good bit we were pro Evander like like imagine imagine like if you steal your rivals you 22 and then it hits after it didn't hit there yeah I'd actually, when he first said it, I was like, pretty bad take, but i like I like the spirit. But then I was like, I actually... I'm pro that because I know he will flop there. Right. Well, we know that. But at the time, they didn't know He is such an interesting character because he is this like...
01:45:46
Speaker
he's the he's He's the apple in the Garden of Eden, Ari. do you know that Do you know this story? I don't know. ah But, that you know, the snake and the apple and the temptation. I think the Jews have that one, yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure. i'm I just know, like, colloquially or whatever.
01:46:01
Speaker
um Do you know this one? ah But, like, it's he's the temptation, right? He's hanging on the trees. like and People are like, don't take him. You don't want him. Trust me.
01:46:12
Speaker
Trust me. Only bad things are going to come. You don't want to do it. You do not want to do it. They need to try and trade him to someone. Yeah, like, but, and then someone comes along and they're like, Ooh, fresh red apple. And someone's like, dude, trust me. You don't want to do it And they're like, fuck you. I bet like cf Montreal or something would do it. yeah.
01:46:31
Speaker
Or like um San Jose. Do you think San Jose is in this could kind of see. I was thinking one of the things about the Timby's take is I was like, doesn't he kind of seem like a Timby? He does seem like a Timber. He kind of strikes me as Timber. Kind of lazy. He doesn't want to play like...
01:46:46
Speaker
But then randomly busts out with like incredible assists sometimes. Like bangers only. One game he'll have five goal contributions and then do nothing the rest of the season. yeah i think but like a Quake. ah like a quaker Any team that plays like kind of like energy drink counterattack. like I could see him as like a Red Bull too, maybe.
01:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, what's another one? i feel like he could go... you know where I want to see him? And this is crazy. i want to see him on the on the ah and the crew. i mean, if anyone can get 15-plus goal contributions out of Leo Chu, it's Wilfred Nancy. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't matter what who you put in that guy's lineup.
01:47:25
Speaker
Or Vancouver. Well, yeah, that that's the other... That's, like, the new... well he He's, like, ah what's the, like, wired, expired? Like, Wilfred Nancy is expired, and Jesper Sorensen is, like, is wired.
01:47:38
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's the... But, yeah, Leo Chu is... I don't know, man. ive i Do you, like... I just... It was so funny when the Sounders had him. They wanted to unload him so bad, but they kept getting offers where they would basically lose money on the deal, where they would have like had to just hedge and lose money, but they didn't want to do it.
01:48:00
Speaker
And now, like do you feel like that was bad? like you feel like they should have just sold him? Or do you think that like the deal with Dallas, it ended up working out as a chip, especially because he's flopping there? I think it ended up...
01:48:14
Speaker
working out i mean depending on i think it it depends on how the frere stuff ends up going if ferrera ends up being like a total flop bust of a signing then you could say damn they just should have done it they should have handled that differently they should have sold them on earlier and then uh could have avoided a lot of stuff uh but like I mean, you remember how hype we were when we saw that Craig Wives finessed Jesus Ferreira on his team with Leo Chu as big... Yeah, bro, they got him off the books. That was crazy.
01:48:50
Speaker
They literally would have done that for no return at that point. Well, that's the thing. His salary was so high, too, for what he was doing. He was a U-22 spot. like It was all of this stuff. And now... I was so shocked that Dallas took that deal because they were notable for...
01:49:07
Speaker
They're the five U-22 style team, right? like they Well, they developed their own U-22s. Yeah, I was like, bro, what are you doing with this what do you but this guy? like what so Well, I think for them them, they were really looking to move Ferreira.
01:49:21
Speaker
yeah And I think they were in a situation where that would that would cap space that was more important than... ah It's like, yeah, we'll take a flyer on this U-22 that didn't fully hit but looked
Musovsky's International Play Eligibility
01:49:34
Speaker
okay at times. Maybe we and change a change of scenery can unlock them.
01:49:37
Speaker
i like I don't think it was a horrible gamble from their perspective. I think it seems worse because of how much Leo Chu we watched. i We probably watched more than their scouts did.
01:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. They were like, oh, this guy? You need him to be off your books for us to get rid of Jesus Ferreira? Well, boss says we got to do it. So sure, buddy. Welcome to the team. That's probably more what the situation was. Yeah. Well, we wish you well, um Leo Chu, Mr. Chu.
01:50:07
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. like what Do you think he goes to Brazil? like where Do you think that's what he's destined for? That's what people are always saying is going to happen, and then it hasn't yet. so yeah I'm not sure how much of that is like real interest and how much of that is his agent being like, be careful because of Brazil is going to pay a bag for him.
01:50:28
Speaker
That was a good, yeah. he he The rumors of of him being transferred back there every five minutes was a good bit. Uh, yeah, that was, that's that. And then I had one more here, was a blue sky reply, um that I thought was so good.
01:50:44
Speaker
Should I, going to, can I, can I have DMs? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to DM this to you. Wait, does it really, what is the, uh, topic of, uh, It's about Danny Musavsky and then about a potential national team opportunity. Mobbing Scorchers just got the Jeremiah O'Shann follow on.
01:51:03
Speaker
Wow. What a fraud, bro. What the hell? On Instagram. I think that's 450. Anyone in chat who hasn't followed us on Instagram, please follow us on Instagram. We're on the road to credibility.
01:51:14
Speaker
Why can't I? You have the Lobbing Scorchers Blue Sky on your thing, right? I'm logged into mine right now. have to... You can do two accounts in one. Can you just show it to me? Yeah, I was just trying to get it on the screen for chat. Oh. Let me... I'll get it.
01:51:27
Speaker
i'm I'm pulling a U right now. I'm sorry. sick. Great tech, as always. The Lobbing Scorchers technology experience is a great one. You know you know what I enjoyed was ah you being the one who didn't have the mic working. Oh, bro, it's been bad the last few times for me. I think that it's like a <unk> like ah it's like a disease or or something. like i had my It's been leeching. my brother in town today who's the tech guy, and I was i was like giving him the whole... i was like I plug it in every time I turn the switch on, and then I talk, and the mic's not going.
01:52:01
Speaker
And he was like, yeah, you got to do this, this, and this. And then it was like, okay. So this is your blue sky. You can pull it up. Okay. Okay. Whoops. Dude. How many? Also, I wish you guys could see Ari's desktop right now. I don't know how his computer is running any Ram. He has, I'm not joking. I think a hundred tabs open right now. I rock a lot of tabs, which like no wonder the video keeps skipping. Like I, I am, you got to close some of these tabs, big dog.
01:52:29
Speaker
I'll close some tabs, but not yet. All right. This is what you're. Yeah. Click on the click on the tweet itself. Or post, sorry. At Lobbying Scorchers, the purchase of the Moose Las Vegas Lights kit made me wonder, how deep is the North Macedonian men's national team at forward?
01:52:49
Speaker
Or put another way, when do we start the lobbying campaign? I don't think it's impossible. If he can keep up his goal match pace, he'll quickly have goals. ah More goals than all forwards scored last year combined, Northern Macedonian.
01:53:04
Speaker
So I'm not sure if Moose qualifies, but I feel like he has a Wikipedia page that should help us with that. So I thought we could do a little bit of a dive just to look and see if Moose, one it can qualify for the Northern Macedonian men's national team, and two, how do we get into contact with the Northern Macedonian national team to pitch our idea ah that's not our idea of how... Well, yeah I'm just not sure if this idea is coming from... like moose is from Nevada. Yeah, but if one of his parents was from, born in northern Macedonia, um I believe that he can technically be eligible for a one-time swap.
01:53:42
Speaker
I mean, ah it's it's a great idea if he's eligible, but ah my agenda is Moose for USMNT. I want to know, like, what's his where are his parents from? Maybe maybe on his video. A couple weeks ago, I challenged Chet to name me a better striker in the USMNT pool than ah Danny Mussovsky. And ah there were some names out there, but none none that were that impressive. Yeah, that's the only one.
01:54:06
Speaker
That's it. there was a there's There's a few people that are, like, still diehard. There's a few people. ah well i don't I mean, I don't know. i don't know at this point. There's few people are still, like, really on the Ricardo Pepe train, I guess.
01:54:20
Speaker
That was the only one where i was like, yeah, sure, buddy. Sure. But like, Sergeant, no. Balogun, fraud. Fraud. Who else is even in the mix? Haji, right? Hell no.
01:54:32
Speaker
Terrible. Terrible. Bot. Moose for USMNT. and I'm going to keep pushing the all-star one because I feel like that's actually like... No, look, Citizenship, US and North Macedonian.
01:54:44
Speaker
This is on his transfer market. Pull it up. Show the chat. show Show what I'm saying here. I don't know how they've qualified this. I think this is something that we're going to have to ask.
01:54:56
Speaker
We should ask about it. I'm also going ask my Sounders contact right now.
Social Media Shifts Among Sounders Fans
01:55:03
Speaker
all right. About to show you Moose's transfer marked.
01:55:10
Speaker
As you can see, chat,
01:55:14
Speaker
this ad...
01:55:17
Speaker
Where does it say that scroll down. Scroll down citizenship on the left hand side. ah height I see it.
01:55:29
Speaker
That's a good shout from the blue sky. Oklahoma kid I quit I quit X fully. I mean, I was on there for years.
01:55:41
Speaker
But we are we switched we switched to Sky. It's just better, man. It actually works.
01:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, we're pro Blue Sky over here. Yeah, I'm pro Blue Sky. post on X sometimes, but barely. Like, I don't even promo it. I just, like, shitpost. You know, I think it's good for us to still have a little presence on there, but...
01:56:02
Speaker
i like I found that Blue Sky literally serves the exact same function. There's more Sounders fans on Blue Sky. And there and there's a hell of Sounders. yeah I think that makes it even easier because there's a lot of... There's big Sounders presence on there, so that's all we need.
01:56:16
Speaker
Yeah. Plus, we like are like bigger deals on there. You what I mean? Because the ratio of followers... have one-fifth of the followers, but I kind of like it like that. Yeah, you cleaned out all the... Yeah, it's like my Blue Sky following is the people
Seattle Sounders Midfield and Defense Challenges
01:56:32
Speaker
who... They're active.
01:56:33
Speaker
they They're active and they actually, they followed me like for like when we started making content and stuff. Yeah. a lot of my ex followers were.
01:56:44
Speaker
a lot of your exes over there. Yeah. uh kkr agenda are you asking for an update on it because uh i think if i think if there's anyone i mean we were talking about earlier i think uh rothrock acquitted himself well de la vega acquitted himself okay um and uh kkr acquitted himself well man the match man of the match But how' the the right back competition is nice right now. I like i like what's going on there.
01:57:16
Speaker
i think the emergence of KKR has actually pushed Alex. Doesn't it seem like that? Like it seems like it upped Alex's game to have like this legitimate competition.
01:57:28
Speaker
And it's like, ah what's the really stupid cliche saying that ah iron sharpens iron or something? That's what's happening with the right back competition right now.
01:57:40
Speaker
So two goats, two goats, because people were talking about how Alex's form had dipped. But I think the last ah I was the ah the unbeaten streak before this last game, um you were defending. yeah I'll give you that one. You were defending. I stayed defending. You stayed defending.
01:57:56
Speaker
And that one paid off. I'm banking on the same thing for Jesus Ferreira. Yeah. No, I... Yeah. yeah ah Do you want to pull up this thing? Or keep reading chat. I gotta... I gotta use little boys' room. Well, okay.
01:58:13
Speaker
Chat, don't act up without me. Love JP, but felt so bad seeing a sounder legend looking like that. I felt like... ah I felt bad for...
01:58:25
Speaker
i felt I felt bad, like, thinking about it today, I felt bad for the double pivot, both of them, because, like I said, I think I personally underestimated the degree of difficulty on just being thrown right into a game like that after they really had not played and started MLS matches in a while.
01:58:45
Speaker
Like, so i think when I said earlier I should have seen that coming more, that's part of what I'm talking about, is, like, I think I probably could have anticipated that it would be rougher in midfield than I was thinking.
01:59:01
Speaker
I looked at the 11 and I was like, oh, the JP Danny Levy double pivot, that can function fine in an MLS game against a team that's also rotating. And then it did not pin out like that.
01:59:15
Speaker
So, like, but my thing was like, I don't even know how much to attribute to, like, people are saying it's like, clearly shows that there's a JP decline going on.
01:59:28
Speaker
Maybe, but also maybe he hadn't played, he hadn't started an MLS match in like three weeks and then was just out there with everything flying 100 miles an hour LAFC.
01:59:41
Speaker
That's not like, it's I'm just saying it's not like easy circumstances. It was a more daunting task than I gave credence to.
01:59:53
Speaker
Jacks 206, thank you for the $5 super chat. Appreciate you, man. Reminder, Portland away. Biggest game of the season. All caps. Bring the energy. I'll be there. Sounders FC, the one for me. Yeah.
02:00:07
Speaker
Come to the game. If you're on the fence, you should do it. They're really fun games. If you've never been to a... I imagine most of you watching and who listen to us have been to one of these derbies.
02:00:19
Speaker
But if you haven't, it's... ah It's appointment viewing.
02:00:26
Speaker
Reed started for Defiance midweek. RBW cameo. I've never been to Portland for an away game. That when Stu Hawks came in, immediately got bammed on.
02:00:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, sure, but I thought he played well overall. played like five seconds. I'm not. They were already reeling. I'm not getting on Stu Hawks whatsoever.
02:00:49
Speaker
Didn't diminish my agenda. Doesn't diminish the agenda at all. He, uh... He, like, okay, you want to talk about getting thrown into a tough situation that I was talking about with the double pivot.
02:01:00
Speaker
Stu Hawks got thrown to the goddamn walls, dude. No joke. Like, honestly, Like, I feel like he wasn't set up to succeed there.
02:01:11
Speaker
But at least they played him. Hopefully, we get to see the agenda. And they got to find out what they have in the kid. and got You got to. can't say he's too skinny forever.
02:01:22
Speaker
lo that he He needs to be loaned to the championship, man. I'm tired. um'm I'm tired of ah the too skinny. A championship where at a certain point, it's like another mls team. Like...
02:01:34
Speaker
Give him a chance. Can prem. ah Oklahoma now asking how we look without C-Roll John agenda. Missed him. He's the best player in the world. I said i said it earlier, but like the how that game went absolutely underscored the how integral the Christian Obed double pivot is to how this team runs.
02:01:56
Speaker
God, we're going to miss Obed Vargas if they sell him. Holy shit. i don't know how you I don't know how you can get better at that spot know moving off him. but That's going to be a reckoning, man.
02:02:09
Speaker
I'm not excited for that. And I don't even want to talk about it more because I don't want to think about it. It's... ah It's tough. It's tough. But I'm trying to remember that it's what he wants. It's for him.
02:02:23
Speaker
It's what he wants. It's for my king. It's what he wants. And ah I think when you have talent like that, You should want to like... Your mentality should be, all right, let's see how far I can take this. like Yeah.
02:02:37
Speaker
Because like he he's that rare type of talent where it's like when you're talking about some of the biggest leagues in the world, he he actually can look at it and be like, I might be that good.
02:02:47
Speaker
Dude will probably... think I am that good. Dude could play for for for but Madrid. Funkrates, we talked about this a little bit earlier, but I'm down to talk about it again.
02:03:00
Speaker
What are your guys' thoughts on this quote? l LA Galaxy versus LAFC is the biggest rivalry in the MLS, and it's not even close. Just ah not accurate. Okay, listen, I'm going to, can i can I say something? This has nothing to do with ah MLS. and Ari does not condone this comment. Any of the comments that are made here forward.
02:03:21
Speaker
ah Sasha question is a great employee. We love him. Sasha, your takes are so stupid. You're a terrible broadcaster. You're so bad at what you do. I don't understand how you have a job. have a better mustache than you. I should take your job.
02:03:38
Speaker
I don't understand what you're looking at. And of course, Mr. Red Bull, Mr. Red Bull would talk about Oh, dude, it just, I can't stand that guy. I cannot stand him. I think he's takes for some of the stupidest ever.
02:03:51
Speaker
LA Galaxy versus LAFC
MLS Rivalries: Seattle-Portland vs. El Trafico Debate
02:03:53
Speaker
who have played exactly five fucking matches. Five fucking matches. We, this, this, this Darby's been around since the goddamn eighties. The head coach,
02:04:03
Speaker
The head coach of the Seattle Sounders played against the Portland Timbers in 1980s, back when you were allowed to smoke cigarettes on the goddamn sideline and do bumps of coke at halftime, okay?
02:04:14
Speaker
So you cannot tell me, you cannot tell me that l LA Galaxy, a team invented out of nowhere in the 1990s, is somehow has more history and more venom towards LAFC, a team created out of Chivas Golds.
02:04:32
Speaker
Guadalajara's rec team that folded. What are we talking about? I mean, it's ridiculous. that Okay. Yes. Congratulations. You packed a giant stadium in LA with two teams that are playing in that city with what? 85,000 by giving away a bunch of free fucking tickets. So you could have a PR hit on ESPN.
02:04:55
Speaker
Cool, dude. You're trash. You've got terrible takes and I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. If you really think that rivalry has the most venom and is the best and isn't just a bunch of propped up star power bullshit by MLS, you have you have not been watching this league long enough.
02:05:13
Speaker
Because every single time that Portland and the Sounders play, that is appointment goddamn television. And the league used to treat it like that. And I don't understand what this newfound disrespect is. It is so stupid.
02:05:26
Speaker
And it just further goes to show that ah everyone on the East Coast refuses to watch any Western Conference game. And that's why they put them at the 730 time slot, because they want to pretend like they're not good and they don't exist.
02:05:42
Speaker
Woo!
02:05:44
Speaker
You were rolling there. I need to be on under the lights. You were rolling there. ah Yeah. ah See, I don't... i see i I see it a little differently. First of all,
02:05:58
Speaker
I like Sasha and BWP and Dax on season pass. I don't like it. Not chilling. Not chilling. I like them. I'm sure they're great. but I will say I would have a drink with all of them. I'm sure they're great people. I just do not like the job that they do. I don't... ah dax Dax, I'm okay with, actually. i don't have i don't have I don't have smoke for Dax. He's also a podcaster, so... I i don't think that you need to... ah knock El Trafico even to say that Cascadia is the better rivalry.
02:06:27
Speaker
i think the history to it is one thing. Like ah you're talking about, like you said, a rivalry that goes back to the goddamn 1970s compared to LAFC joined the league in the like 2023.
02:06:40
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. yeah okay So there's not, and there's nowhere near the history uh but also ah like what are we basing the criteria on like is it like the hypeness of the crowds because yeah el traffico's got some hype crowds they're not more hype than the cascadia games yeah you can't tell me that that sold out rose bowl was as venomous as as a sounders timbers playoff game but yeah the uh
02:07:14
Speaker
The thing is, like when you have history like that, you have so many more moments in crazy games and animosity between fan bases, which the LA teams do have that. I've witnessed that.
02:07:29
Speaker
But it's not the same thing when it's been forged over decades. yeah It's not. like I think you you have to take that into account when you're ranking these things.
02:07:40
Speaker
the ah The new shiny thing... is not always better. In fact, what came before it is often better. And in this case, ah like I, I, uh, I'm not, I'm not an El Trafico like hater diminisher. I enjoy watching those games.
02:07:59
Speaker
Uh, they, they will They look great. They look like they have big crowds, great boisterous crowds, good environments. They've had some great moments as well. the there was They had this Latan goal.
02:08:10
Speaker
They've had a few playoff games. ah It's a good rivalry. It's up there with the best in MLS. But like this what i what I have an issue with, and I was i was talking about it earlier, but what I have an issue with is this like this foregone conclusion aspect of it.
02:08:28
Speaker
El Trafico is the best and it's not close. He's not the only person who's been like touting that. Like that's been like a pundit thing for a while now. And ah can I say something? It's, it's, it's just wrong. It's not, it's not correct.
02:08:45
Speaker
Here's a better rivalry. Seattle Sounders versus Toronto FC from the, from the date ranges of 2015 2019. Okay. to twenty nineteen That was a hot rivalry. Greg Vanney was also involved. I'm sorry. If that though there were more meaningful, real games played between that rivalry, which forged a genuine rivalry. i mean, I don't feel it anymore.
02:09:08
Speaker
But there was genuine. They played an MLS Cup every year for like six years. That's what I'm saying. It's like, OK, maybe, maybe, maybe I would give it to him. But it's too. in Dude, I'm sorry.
02:09:19
Speaker
Half of the fucking LAFC fans were Galaxy fans before this. There is no way that you're saying this is a real rivalry. People who were born. There are people who have legitimately been born into this rivalry and had multiple generations experience the Cascadia rivalry.
02:09:36
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer, like I'm saying, he has been able to play in the rivalry, coach the rivalry through multiple leagues. It is disrespectful. It is ignorant.
02:09:48
Speaker
It is absolutely disrespectful. it is ignorant it is absolutely clickbait and enrage bait to even suggest this.
02:10:00
Speaker
And like, I'm sorry. I understand that that's like what they want to do over there or whatever. And they want us to talk about this type of shit. Have some goddamn respect for the people who built your league.
02:10:11
Speaker
All right. I'm sorry. I'm done with it, man. I'm done with it. And also saying this on the heels of what is going to be one of the stupidest El Traficos ever. You have the worst team in the goddamn league that's ever played in ever versus... It's not... It's going to be very stupid probably, but it will be not stupid if the Galaxy win.
02:10:33
Speaker
Yeah, but that's like so... It will still be pretty stupid. It's it's all it's all dumb. Portland and Seattle are two better teams if you were to average the two out, right?
02:10:44
Speaker
Like, it's just... you ah be so fucking for real be so for real with me re be so for and like uh i think we we should point out that uh it's uh part of our frustration or at least for me it's like this is like a widespread take like it's not it is not just sasha who's like said that this goes back the last like two three years every time rivalry comes up everywhere i read about how it's el traffico runs it it does it does bro did you Gareth Bale is going to play in El Trafico, bro?
02:11:19
Speaker
Did you know that Gareth Bale, former Borussia Dortmund guy, going to play against Brittany Bawanga in El Trafico, bro? Crazy. Put that one on MLS Sunday Night Soccer brought to you by Apple TV Continental Tires.
02:11:33
Speaker
It's free for Apple members. It's like, bro, Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Stupid. Hate shut up stupid hated I think this might be your least favorite take of all time. but Listen, I already don't like Sasha's takes generally.
02:11:51
Speaker
i think that i just, i so I understand his character. Okay. Let me, let me say that. I understand his character. He's playing a role. He's doing the same thing that Taylor Twellman did when he was first trying to break into the league. He was being this brash and,
02:12:06
Speaker
you know, I'm smarter than everyone. I played kind of guy. And guess what? Everyone fucking hated Taylor Twelman and they still kind of do. But you know what happened to Taylor? I feel like Taylor is mediated a lot. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is my worst take, but I feel like he has calmed down quite a bit. He's very like respected as a... Yeah, like he's a respectable pundit now, but it's like, do not do not do this, Sasha. You are embarrassing yourself.
02:12:30
Speaker
And this is an embarrassment to to to to your legacy by saying this. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. And you know what, Sasha? Listen, you've had many people chirp you before, including Ricky Puj, who...
02:12:42
Speaker
put a goddamn trophy on your ass after you called him a bomb ricky pooch did bam on him pretty good come bam on me man come on our show come tell me why i'm wrong and come tell me that you could beat me in soccer because you probably could but that's okay one of the best assist men in the buddy we were both assist merchants okay i just did it at a your he's like the ultimate he had like a 20 assist one year ah yeah jacks 206 thanks again for for another two dollar super chat Can I call y'all in case it kicks off on Saturday? What are you trying to get us to fight with you, brother?
02:13:17
Speaker
i weigh 125 pounds soaking wet. You really you really want me to jump in this? What do you what do you mean, Jax? I'm not sure what you mean. um We don't fight. We've got content to make. ah Yeah.
02:13:31
Speaker
Oh,
LA Galaxy's Management and PR Critique
02:13:32
Speaker
well, speaking of that, do should we do our Galaxy content? Yeah, let's let's read this last one here from Eric, and then we'll jump off it. Do they really get that much money from Rivalry Week? Why can't we just have rivalries like every week rather than Galaxy versus Club of Professional ah Wrestling Enthusiasts?
02:13:51
Speaker
I mean, I think that it does increase attendance and increase it increases you know viewership. um I remember when they used to broadcast on Fox and they did the like the Fox rivalry week. like If you looked at the viewership numbers, it was like double, if not triple.
02:14:05
Speaker
Yeah. and that's the thing too i wish that apple tv would release the the numbers because i promise you seattle portland will beat out uh lafc la galaxy that's my take even if it doesn't i don't care but but i'm just saying i think i think if you ask the general nls fan what rivalry is more important they're gonna say portland and seattle right one thing that i that i do know is that uh More than any other matchup between two teams in MLS, when Seattle and Portland are playing each other, other fans, other fan bases are tuning into that.
02:14:42
Speaker
Yeah. You could say the same thing about El Trafico. ah Like, I'm always going to tune into El Trafico. Hell is real I like to watch. Like, hell is real I like to watch. ah they later It's not like... It's not that there's not other good rivalries, but like...
02:15:00
Speaker
Everyone is watching Seattle, Portland, like for a fact. On a personal level, I like ah sporting versus St. Louis better than I like El Trafico because it's two of the dumbest teams, you know, having a knife fight.
02:15:15
Speaker
It's like they're having a mid off every time. And it's so funny. It's so funny. That's that's my there's real hate there. There's real hate there. You can feel it. It's like the rest of the league has forgotten about the passion that exists in Cascadia. We have to listen to the league glaze up fan bases like Charlotte, Cincy, LA, and Miami. I think i think like what is really going on with it, if we're trying to diagnose, is that... like the new thing yeah is the more exciting thing yeah to the public at large. It goes in cycles. It goes in cycles, but like, uh, the thing that's, that's been there, done that doesn't get as much.
02:15:53
Speaker
Yeah. Traction maybe, there was a hype, but like, even as recently, man, like, uh, as recently as the Dempsey days, right?
02:16:05
Speaker
Like, Cascadia was considered the bar none best rivalry in the league as it, as it still should be. Yeah. i Like maybe there's some narrative that it's like fallen off.
02:16:17
Speaker
There was the, if there was any reason it fell off at all, it was because the Timbys were goddamn winning every yeah one of them. So maybe that's. But the Galaxy won shitload of El Traficos, right? I thought that was the whole thing was like galaxies could be terrible and they were just damning. They did it. That was the story at first.
02:16:34
Speaker
feel like LAFC is kind of even that out. But yeah, I think, I think too, one of the things is like, It goes in cycles. It really does.
02:16:45
Speaker
For the longest time, the league was glazing this rivalry. Like, they they did documentaries about it. They sent out Copa 90 to it. Like, it was the talk of the town, like, far and away. And it was one of those things where there was so much so much success behind it.
02:17:02
Speaker
They created Rivalry Week. And they created these, like, okay, we need to start milking this as much as possible. We need to make sure they play five times a year. And then it got really fucking annoying. So I think that there is a good balance.
02:17:14
Speaker
I just want some respect put on this rivalry because like I listen, I'm sitting here disrespecting l L.A., but it's like I still like you said, I'm still that's still appointment television for me.
02:17:25
Speaker
But like you cannot discount. It's just it's it's disrespectful and stupid and ignorant. to discount that especially as someone who is supposed to be an mls pundit like that's what you're supposed to do and this this is also uh i think you were right earlier like this is the least hype el traffico ever the galaxy literally haven't won a game no they still haven't they're they are sitting on a goose egg this is actually a good segue into uh yeah into ah I think the last thing we were going to do tonight before we wrapped it up is we were going to talk some LA Galaxy because LA Galaxy are still goose-hagging.
02:18:05
Speaker
They have no wins. They're off to not just the worst start for defending MLS Cup champion ever. They're off to the worst start. like No one has ever been winless this long. It is hard to be winless for this long.
02:18:19
Speaker
And people are asking questions. They have been asking questions. Like, how is it... You just won MLS Cup. How is it possible that you're this bad? so But before we get to the Will Koontz thing, Noah, I've been watching... Like, we did Greg Vanney on Blazing Hot Presser a couple shows ago.
02:18:38
Speaker
And then I've been watching all his pressers f after their losses. And this last... loss at Philly was one of the best ones yet.
02:18:51
Speaker
They actually went up to zero. Yeah. At Philly. Yeah. At Philly. They were the road team at Suby park against the Philly union. And they went up to zero Marco Royce, who hasn't done shit all year. You guys think that, uh, it was his first two assist of his MLS career.
02:19:08
Speaker
That's crazy. That's crazy. You guys think Ferreira has been a bust with it. Ferreira is better than Marco Royce agenda. At least he's got seven assists. I mean, that's something. Marco Royce just got his first two, but he had the Galaxy up 2-0 at Philly. And it's funny because we were talking on the editorial desk.
02:19:26
Speaker
My, like the senior editors were like, oh, well, if the Galaxy win this, we're going to have to write the Galaxy get their first win story for the post game content. And I literally said, I said, no, we're not.
02:19:38
Speaker
Like, we're not going to have to write that. Just. Don't worry about it. If watch the Galaxy this year, we're not going to have to write that. There's no way. Even with them up to... Usually, like we can start talking about angles when a team has a multi-goal lead, and we're like, all right, this might be final. This might be how it goes. So if that's what happens, this is how we should tackle it. So they were doing that, and I was i was trying to say, I was like, they're not going to hold this lead 0% chance.
02:20:03
Speaker
I'm just as confident about this as I am when I say it about the Chicago Fire. Like, i you can When a team has that Chicago fire in them, like this Galaxy team does, you can tell.
02:20:15
Speaker
You can feel it. like You can feel that they're not keeping the lead. And needless to say, they did not. They ah they gave the lead away and then got bammed on in like the...
02:20:28
Speaker
88 through the 92nd or so it was like at the very end and they lost three to two to move their record to like what is what is their exact record i think they have to three ties no it's like uh because they have three points right are they oh ten and three or oh nine and three i think it's oh ten and they have three points yeah they have three points regardless They are 0-10-3. Double-digit losses.
02:20:51
Speaker
0-10-3. A cool little 0.23 points. Lost a game without conceding shot. And somehow lost a game without conceding a shot.
02:21:04
Speaker
So anyway, like we all know, they're they like the it's one of the stories of the league right now, how bad they are. I've been watching the Vanny Pressers, and my react my my take on the Vanny Pressers after watching the last few of them after these losses, he's talking too much.
02:21:18
Speaker
like Yeah, he is yapping a lot. like he like They're asking him in the yeah pressers like you know what happened in this game, and he's go he's going like so deep. He goes 2K words. He goes 2K words. yeah He goes so deep into the fine points of it, and he's like, well, if you look what happened between the 42nd and the 58th minute with their center backs, we tried lining it up like this to take advantage of this matchup, but then if you see how the Philly Union do this, this, and this, that kind of counteracted how we were doing this, this, and this,
02:21:45
Speaker
And then that got all out of whack. So then they scored this goal. And then that was the one that made it two to one. So we we got a little rattled from there. But I was pleased with the response. But then but ah but then their their defensive midfield was able to do this, this and this today. It's like, dude, like when you're in a run like this, like the fine points don't even matter. Just don't say shit.
02:22:06
Speaker
Literally just be like, I'm embarrassed. Just be like, I'm embarrassed. wordre Yeah. Like literally all you have to say is like, we're, we're shit. We're, we're shit right now, which to be fair, he did say that. He did say that. He said, he did say put up a stinker. Literally a shitter. i think it said he said we put up a shitter. Yeah.
02:22:24
Speaker
But like, he's just like droning on about like the, the intricacies of why they're taking every L and it just like, it doesn't matter. Like when you're O 10 and three, like,
02:22:37
Speaker
you're You're digging the hole deeper by trying to explain it. Yeah. And like not only was he going is he going too deep into what's happening in the games, but he's also doing the, like well, all three of our DPs are hurt, so what do you want from yeah and he's been like, oh, well, you know the team's been good, actually.
02:22:57
Speaker
He hit a dude, the team's been good, actually. We've had bad chances. So they, would okay. Like I would, cause I was watching the one after the seven zero against the Red Bulls. And I was like, what's he going to say? And he's like, well, this is the first one that got away from us. Most of these games we've been yeah yeah those sort of we've been been even competitive in most of these games. This one was just like one that you throw in the bin, but like for the most, it's like, no man, no, you're going get, I mean, you're probably, he's probably going to get fired anyway, but like, that's crazy. It's just, I feel i always, i his I always think of it of like,
02:23:27
Speaker
how would I handle it if I was the coach? Like the, the, just like talking way too much about what happened in the game. I don't think that's the way you handle a situation like this. I think you just like take your medicine and, uh, you click that on the do pen, buddy. You do the opposite of, uh, of try to, you can, you can explain it to an extent. He's just going to K words and it's way too much.
02:23:50
Speaker
No, I think he just should do the classic coach thing and be like, we were bad. Next. You. You know, Greg, you have an opening statement? Nope.
02:24:02
Speaker
next question. It's tough. I don't really know if there's like a right way to handle being 0-10-3. I think you don't... You you you just act visibly upset. He's not acting visibly upset. He's just like, yeah, okay. He seems upset, but he seems defensive.
02:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, he doesn't he doesn't seem to own it. I feel like it doesn't seem doesn't feel real to him. Like, in his mind... He's like, man, like we're a few bounces away from like not being yeah that bad. But I understand these reporters and these fans just don't know ball. So I understand why, because you go and watch this interview that we're about to watch and you have the the general manager of your team gallivanting around the United States of America being like, yeah, well, you know, we sold our soul to the devil for last season, but he's not. So yeah, that brings us to Will Koontz, LA Galaxy GM, who, yeah. So.
02:24:56
Speaker
Vanny is doing all that at the pressers. Meanwhile, they, yeah, they sent Will Koontz on a PR tour, bro. On a media tour. What? On a media, like, which is confirmed, by the way, because the, the Kooligan said that the LA Galaxy PR reached out to them to set this up. And that doesn't surprise me to hear that because i think it felt like a strategic, like, all right, we're down bad right now.
02:25:20
Speaker
Like something that we can do to help the situation would be to be, to have the ah like air of transparency. Like we're going to, we're going to own it. Right.
02:25:32
Speaker
We're going to talk about it. We're not going to hide from it. Like ah Atlanta United. Have you heard from Garth in months? Where's Garth? Where is he? We're hiding him. Where's the Garth and Chris duo? They're like taking the, they're taking the approach, honestly, that I think. That's what I would do. That's what I would do. I wouldn't, I wouldn't do what they did, which is send the GM onto the Kooligans, which is a comedy podcast. Not yet. And then the Landon Donovan, Tim Howard show. I haven't even watched that one. We're going to watch the Kooligans. Also, first of all,
02:26:04
Speaker
ah We're a Galaxy podcast, Galaxy PR. We went to the Galaxy game. You know who we are. I know you know who we are. And third of all, Our email's on the damn podcast. Like, how did we not get the PR call? We would have taken the Will Koontz interview. Dude, we would have... Us and Koontz could have kicked it, bro.
02:26:23
Speaker
I'm just saying. i think he would ah I think he would have enjoyed it. But ah anyway... you could have been an under-the-lights participant. Will Koontz did, like, a goddamn hour-long hit on the Kooligans, and he talks... He talks more about the Knicks, by the way, than and actually, like...
02:26:39
Speaker
they ah They ask him they're like, ah you know, what's going on with the galaxy? And he gives his reasoning, which I was i was legitimately curious to hear what he had to say, which is why we're going to play and react to it.
02:26:52
Speaker
ah But I think another lens to watch this through is just the... The strategy, right? The PR strategy of like, all right, we're in this situation. We just won MLS cup. Now we're Oh, 10 and three pretty unprecedented.
02:27:03
Speaker
How should we handle it? Should we Garth and Chris it hide away, not talk to anybody, pretend it's not happening. Or should we send him on a press tour? There's not a lot of good answers. No, they chose the press tour option.
02:27:15
Speaker
and and i love that the guligans too are clip farming the shit out of this man like they have been my god the thumb is crazy bro
02:27:28
Speaker
crazy wait this the thumb is crazy bro
02:27:36
Speaker
but stuff is crazy bro look at his face it's on him you think he saw that and was like guys come on i like bro they must have right dude that's crazy work cool again bro cool again you know who was on the cool again Travis Helwig hell yeah he he ah he has a whole he has a whole bit i mean that makes sense yeah ah he's a comedy writer he's a comedian happy foot sad foot yeah co-host travis helwig god they really i feel like i feel like uh them getting this interview should have been on the condition of not doing him with a thumb like that that's so facial expression like
02:28:15
Speaker
That's like a thumb you would make. Bro, that's some shit I would make. Like, what? What are they doing? Anyway, it it is an hour long, so we are absolutely not going to watch all of it. But I found a starting point that I thought was like sort of the money like answer where he's talking about kind of what's gone wrong with the galaxy this year. So we're going to watch that segment of it. I have it pulled up right here.
02:28:37
Speaker
And then we're going to give... No, you haven't seen this yet, have you? Oh, no, i watched it. Oh, you watched it? Yeah, I watched the whole thing, bro. When does drop? See, okay, one thing that Chad probably doesn't know about me, I'm on all of our competitors.
02:28:49
Speaker
I watch all of them. I view watch them. I'm pocket watching like crazy on the Kooligans. And I will say... i like this this This was a good ad. I like the Kooligans. I love them. I hung out with them. They probably don't even remember, but they had an event, MLS Cup 2019.
02:29:05
Speaker
ah And what happened was they booked their event. Oh, I remember. They booked their event for a brewery on Capitol Hill, where we are right now. And it was like way too small and them and like 100 soccer journos and like MLS Cup media got basically kicked out.
02:29:24
Speaker
And literally everyone was I was the only one who lived there. i was like hosting everyone basically. And they all just turned to me and they're like, do you know where we can go with this many people? And I went, I know exactly yeah where to go.
02:29:40
Speaker
And I took them all to Rinehouse. Yeah. And it was so sick. Yes. Because I was like the hero because they were like, this is perfect. This has room for everyone. I was like, yeah, see? you're like, damn right it does. You should have called me in the beginning.
02:29:51
Speaker
That's just me thinking on my feet right there, Kooligans. But like I said, there were so many people there. I don't know if they actually know that it was me who did that. Yeah. Well, cool. Again, you should come out here with the club world cup and get on the pod. Cause we want to farm you for a, yeah, we should, we should probably collab with them. But anyway, this is a little, uh, segment of their interview with LA galaxy GM, will Koontz, uh, going to play,
02:30:16
Speaker
a little bit of it maybe a couple minutes of it and then we're going to give i may ask you to pause yeah if you want to pause and then riff we can do that okay all right meeting uh salary cap uh uh issues and stuff like that last and this was a guy like we got some garlic right so good i'm not above it right like live live chickens i'm sure we can find it he he does throw shots at garth
02:30:38
Speaker
i'm sure we can find it he he does throw shots at garth in this podcast at one point, which was crazy. It goes deep. I mean, they go, guess. So he, I guess, used to work at the league office, then got in as an executive, knows Garth somehow. i don't know they ought know. They're all in the same little world. They're in a WhatsApp group. So he's ah he's on here.
02:30:57
Speaker
Put in the comments. ghost the the um i what we So we've been talking about this, especially since the the season started. And and after, you know, three, four games, were like, what what is going on with with l L.A.? and And everybody has their theories. And then obviously the conversations about the the the roster rules and MLS and and players that you had to get rid of and meeting a salary cap ah issues and stuff like that.
02:31:21
Speaker
So let's just get it from the horse's mouth. Right. Because we we're we're sort of speculating. I'm like texting Tom Boger. I'm like, yo, what's up with this? I'm texting me Don Garber. He's saying this is your mother, not Don Garber. You know what I mean? So obviously, like, yeah you had to get rid of, or um I don't want to put words your mouth, but the players that that are left, that left that are obviously notable. Look at this. He's got the pink note pad, bro. Yovelich, Marquis Delgado.
02:31:48
Speaker
This is, um you know, you win MLS Cup and then a couple days later, ah you're like, oh, we got to get rid these guys. yeah So why? And and make obviously, I'm sure there's, you know, contract issues.
02:32:01
Speaker
Players want to have control of their own lives. So there's a lot going on. But in general, yeah that the the theory we have is that or what we were told was that ah the MLS Cup bonuses affect the salary cap in the next season. So that's why you have to, you know, keep the salary cap down.
02:32:15
Speaker
And maybe there's also other roster machinations that stop you from front you. But from a GM, what were the challenges right after winning the MLS Cup in terms of the hard hitting? This is good because we can put everybody to sleep. Hear me talk about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got MLS sick going. Yeah, we got sick going. Look, it's a long sort of drawn out answer, but the short answer is we were about two and a half million dollars over the cap with the same roster. That's crazy. Let's start right there. That's crazy.
02:32:45
Speaker
How does he have a job? but Because they won MLS Cup off it. That's why. That's crazy. Two million dollars over the cap? Like, how does that, like, he explains how it happened, kind of I guess. But, like, that's not, uh, it's not good.
02:33:04
Speaker
You are your entire job as a general man, also, in the lead up to this, he talks about, obviously, that he worked for the league, and so he knows the ins and outs of all the crazy mechanisms and all of that. How in the world, bro, how in the world do you know about all this? Know for a fact that the cap is going to hit the next season for your bonuses and then structure your roster like that.
02:33:28
Speaker
How do you have a job? Because because it was all designed to sell out for the ring. That's why. But, like, you've got to know that's silly. It's not silly because it's, like, about getting the ring at all costs. I can i can understand that logic.
02:33:45
Speaker
I can. ah lot Like, it's not like there's sports where we've seen teams do that. Like, the fucking... The Rams did that yeah a couple years ago. They, like, went all in for...
02:33:56
Speaker
uh, the one ring and then had to take a, take a step back. That's what the galaxy we're doing. But I think the, uh, I mean, we're going we're going to get into it and into deeper into his answers, but, uh, like there, there's ways to sell out for the ring and not end up 2 million over the cap.
02:34:13
Speaker
Yeah. And that is, I think the bottom line is that they, they sold out for the ring and they got it, which that's more power to them. Yeah. But, uh,
02:34:26
Speaker
it shouldn't have been at this, like this steep of a price. There's no way, man. Oh, 10 and three. Like there's no way that they should have been in a situation where they would tank like this. yeah I just really don't think so.
02:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. No, you can, you can play her again. You just, you just hit this. new Yeah. When we yap, let's go back to that for the video. Cause I want to get this in an edit because this is going to be too good of content. Yeah. going into the offseason right and and there's things like ah guys like gabriel peck and and dan jovel it's just because they turned one year older they each became half a million dollars more expensive on the cap right and and okay okay pause pause pause sorry we gotta pause again i gotta to pause again that's my problem too bro you knew you knew that these two players were gonna do another million combined right
02:35:15
Speaker
against the cap and you're like, nah, it's really a sellout. It just seems so like, it seems so dumb to me to like, to, to do that. And to think in some world you were going to be competitive in the next year and that you're, you're, you're, you were going to have a job because sports is such a, what have you done for me lately thing? Right? Like I understand that the ring is so important, but it's like, if you win the ring and then you tank the next season, people don't give a shit about the ring. All they know.
02:35:44
Speaker
So I don't i don't think –
02:35:48
Speaker
I don't think that's true. I think that ah most fans, if you told them that they would get a ring, but then the next season they would take a step back or miss the playoffs. It's a trade-off that a lot of fans would happi happily make.
02:36:01
Speaker
The Sounders made a very similar calculation with Champions League. There were fans that said they would have they were like, yeah I would trade Champions League for making the playoffs. was like, all right, bro, shut up. So can...
02:36:14
Speaker
so like i can ah i can I can honestly get behind that if you really, if you're if your objective is to sell out for the ring, and then you actually get it, which they did.
02:36:26
Speaker
but ah when you do that and then you are this bad yeah i don't know if i've ever like but the the rams example they went like seven and nine or something like if they were even if the galaxy were even averaging like 1.1 points per game right now it would still be a big step back they would their fans would probably still be pissed but like will kunst and greg vanney's jobs wouldn't even be a like a second thought people would be like They just won a ship last year. It's not as good right now, but they clearly can be trusted to like build a championship team. And it makes sense.
02:37:04
Speaker
Like some of what happened with the cap because we sold out for the ring. So like, I don't think their job security would be under scrutiny whatsoever. if they were even between like 1.0 and points per game.
02:37:18
Speaker
three points per game I really don't. But like the problem is they're playing it ah historically 0.23 points, but it's, it's also, they are pushing the limits. Yeah. They're not even, yeah. Like in, in what Eric says here, he says, who could have predicted the players would have a birthday? Exactly. That's my problem. It's like, it is your task as a GM.
02:37:39
Speaker
Absolutely. I get it. You sold out for the ring. That's your strategy. Your next step as a general manager of a professional sports organization is to go, okay, this is what we're going to do this year.
02:37:52
Speaker
We're settled on this. We're sold on this. My entire job is now to figure out what comes next. Because you understand that you've built in all these bonuses. You've built in all this stuff. He has the spreadsheet.
02:38:06
Speaker
He knows what it's going to look like in the next year. It's how do we figure this out, keep the core of this these players together, or figure out how to make this work next season.
02:38:16
Speaker
They didn't do that. They didn't do that until the end of the season. they Then they panic sold everyone. they were They were doing like a like delayed loan repayments by getting Gam and Tam from random teams for like,
02:38:29
Speaker
And all of their, you know, like random international spots and shit like that. It was, that's my, my question, I guess, so to Will Koontz is like, I understand, i guess, the methodology and congratulations on winning the cup. You had one of the most fun to watch teams as well. Great team. In the league.
02:38:49
Speaker
And yet, like, were you betting that they were going to raise the salary cap this year? Because they did vote that or they did vote down ah potentially raising it up even higher. So, like, maybe they were hedging their bets on that.
02:39:02
Speaker
And even so, why have you not season-ending injury Ricky Pooge? Because you could have essentially kept your entire roster together by season-ending injury Ricky Pooge. ah Your salary. They're banking on him getting back and saving the day, but it's way too late So dull that was the wrong gamble. That was that was a terrible gamble.
02:39:20
Speaker
You could have season ending injured and kept your entire team together and you need to think about that. So, but maybe he talks about that here and and we can jump. Eric, I think the cap, I thought it was more like 16 or 20 or something. I thought it was closer to 22, but twenty not 22.
02:39:33
Speaker
I think it's, I think it's quite a bit higher than 12. Yeah. But like, yeah but like It's also, you know, with DP spots, it could be, you know, whatever. All right. Yeah. Let's, ah let's keep watching because ah there, there's a truly crazy part of this. I'll be quiet.
02:39:48
Speaker
Yeah. pushed our chips into the table a little bit last year when went for Marco, right? We knew that it was going to maybe put in a spot, but, um you know, we're, Hey, we're so close.
02:39:59
Speaker
We got to do whatever we can to, to increase our odds to win a championship. Yeah, no, no. Okay. That's what I was going to, yeah, yeah. Let me, ah let me start this one. Yeah, this is, this is the part where,
02:40:12
Speaker
why did they sign Marco Royce? Why did they sign Marco Royce?
02:40:18
Speaker
Did it, did, uh, So he's saying like they did it to drastically or like to increase their odds of of winning it that year. Did that even do that?
02:40:30
Speaker
No. He didn't... Was he like a big contributor to their playoff run? Not to my memory. Nope. He hasn't done anything really in. He was injured. ah Yeah. I just, they probably win that ship without Marco Royce.
02:40:44
Speaker
And that's the one that, that the of this, like the whole philosophy of selling out for the ring. I get it. Like that is, that makes sense to me. This is where,
02:40:57
Speaker
I'm like, that's the dangerous moment. You didn't need to do that. No. And that is a huge reason that you're in this situation right now. You could say the whole reason. A big part of it, man, is that that we've theorized a lot about what's happening to them.
02:41:13
Speaker
And after watching this interview, I think if there's one place that they went really wrong, it's this right here. Because it didn't increase their odds of winning the championship. They probably would have done it anyway.
02:41:29
Speaker
It put them like... egregiously against the cap to the point where look at what's happened to them now. And Marco Royce, his assists that he got against Philly in another game that they lost, those were his first two MLS assists.
02:41:43
Speaker
He hasn't really done anything in MLS. Yeah. Why did they do that? here this is This goes to my my narrative that I don't think Will Koontz is good at his job. I really don't. I don't understand how, as a general manager, you look at your table and you're like, okay, we're really pushing this cap already. We're already probably the best team in the league.
02:42:03
Speaker
you know We're playing really well together. And then this opportunity comes up to get what is essentially a jersey sales name when you're already selling out your stadium because you have Ricky Pooge, who is...
02:42:15
Speaker
an amazing player and a Jersey salesman. It's so baffling to me that he took a bite of the apple in the garden of Eden, Ari, because immediately it drained the life from him and this team.
02:42:31
Speaker
What a stupid, dumb transfer. And obviously hindsight is 2020, but I think even when they made that move, I was a little bit confused. I was like, I mean, cool, I guess it's Marco Royce, but like, I think I kind of bought into the like, oh, Jesus, like this super loaded team got even more loaded because, mean, Marco Reus was a great player in the Bundesliga. We weren't aware of their salary cap position at them no and in that exactly.
02:42:55
Speaker
And I think- if I had known it was going to put them- like this, I would have been like, Will, don't stop. Please. you yeah That's what I'm saying. It's like, how do you, but how do you not sit there and say, okay, I know if we win and MLS cup, right? You always need to be in that mindset because you got to look at the potentials.
02:43:10
Speaker
People have got on, uh, on people, uh, um, on the Sounders GM for, for, on Craig, for the escalators in Morris's contract hitting, because they didn't expect him to play at the nine. Right.
02:43:21
Speaker
You have to expect that these things might potentially happen and have a game plan for them. The Sounders did, okay? They did have a game plan when this happened. Maybe it changed things up in the way that they approached stuff, and they didn't make a big signing at the nine, but that's what it was, right?
02:43:36
Speaker
That's what it was. Will Kuntz said, fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck it. Why not? And I'm sorry. You are in a league with too much parody to say that.
02:43:47
Speaker
And you should know that. And and and it's it just it pins me in in a place where I feel like he's just trying to make this name for himself. And he's trying to he's trying to be the guy who's like, I'm smarter than the cap.
02:44:00
Speaker
I'm smarter than all this. You actually just don't have to worry about business and all of this stuff. And it's like, I'm sorry, people talk shit about about ah Craig Weibel. Yeah, you know what? He doesn't have a ring yet.
02:44:10
Speaker
He doesn't have a ring yet. that's You're right. He doesn't have anything yet. But Wilkins has one ring and a nightmare of a roster. I would much rather have no rings in a consistently successful competitive roster than that.
02:44:25
Speaker
Because over the over the long haul, the Galaxy don't want to go back to being what they were. They boycotted and fought against the front office in another inept GM before this.
02:44:36
Speaker
And I feel like in some ways, they're just getting the same thing in a different flavor. It brings up
Management Strategies: Short-term Success vs. Sustainability
02:44:41
Speaker
an interesting... question of, uh, like, so say Seattle was in this situation and someone told you, yeah, you can have another MLS cup, but the next season you are going to be at 0.23 points per game for the net for the first 12 games.
02:45:01
Speaker
And, uh, like that's what we know right now. Like we don't know, even know how bad it's going to get, but, uh, let, okay. Let's, let's just say that, uh, 0.23 is like what they play at.
02:45:13
Speaker
yeah this this year. If someone so told you Seattle could have another MLS Cup, but the next season you're going to play at 0.23. I don't think I would take that. I don't think I could handle... Also, it didn't have to be like that. That's my problem with it is like this dichotomy of this or that. It doesn't have to be that. It never had to be that. It's not it's a false choice, but like if you did have to make the choice, like like I was saying, like if you make that points per game like 1.2, I do take that, I think.
02:45:40
Speaker
we We literally said that last season was successful, and we just made the Western Conference final. And it felt successful. I felt like last season was fun, enjoyable, and a good season. You can have the cup, but the team's going to play at 0.23. Or you don't have the cup, and the team is just as good as it pretty much always is. And you don't have the cup that year, but you have a reasonable shot at trophies going into the next year.
02:46:05
Speaker
like i'd i'd take I'd take the latter. My problem is... consistency in sports is more important than anything. i don't, I, cause it's bites at the apple. That's what you're trying to like. You're not going to win every trophy yeah every year, but it's all about like, uh, putting yourself in the position as many times as possible to do so. And if you put yourself in that, those situations over and over and over and over again,
02:46:30
Speaker
the odds that you're going to break through and and win a couple are drastically higher. And I think that's what Seattle's done well at. Have they won every MLS Cup they've been to?
02:46:41
Speaker
No, but they went to four and they were they were able to pick off to. They won a Champions Cup. Have they won Champions League every year they've been in it? Famously, no, but they, they took that shit seriously. They grinded it. They played in that tournament for years.
02:46:54
Speaker
They gave themselves like bite after bite after bite after bite at the apple. And eventually they broke through, ah in this situation, You're sacrificing the bites. Like you went from a Galaxy team that, like I said, kicked out their president, kicked out their coach, was like... They have to do that again, by the way. That's what I'm saying. It's like it's a you... I think Will Coons even said, he's like, go oh, I wish I would have known so who would have made a deal with the devil so I would have been able to prepare for this. It's like you made a deal with the devil.
02:47:27
Speaker
You did. You constructed this roster. What are you talking about? Okay, like on the topic of like him being bad at at his job. I think he's terrible at his job. Well, but okay. ah I'm not even, just devil's advocate. Sure, sure, sure. Don't you also have to acknowledge that he helped build the team last year that was insanely good? Ricky Pooj came before him.
02:47:50
Speaker
Did he? Pretty sure, right? Will Koontz hasn't been there that long. And I think Ricky Pooj signed before that. Because Pooj has been there. He's on his second contract now.
02:48:02
Speaker
Like, ah maybe I'm wrong here. This is fact-checked nation. 20%.
02:48:08
Speaker
came after Ricky Pooge. What about, but would they what about Joey paints and Gabrielle Peck? Absolutely. But that was after two seasons of seeing, okay, this is a serviceable team, but we need these specific pieces.
02:48:20
Speaker
Okay. Awesome. We're going to go out and get those two pieces. ah Yes. Yes. Yovelich, Peck, Paintsill, great signings. that's I thought of him as a good GM before this because of all that.
02:48:30
Speaker
But my problem is you can make good signings and still be a bad GM. And that's my problem. Because a lot of the job is cap management. That's what I'm saying. you're in You're in a salary cap league. And it's it's it's so dumb and ignorant when you know when you know what your fans just went through.
02:48:46
Speaker
You know that all that they want is to feel sustainable and successful. Because they just went through the rollercoaster ride of being a terrible team. Didn't they spoon? They spooned before, right? Or they were close to spooning, at least. They were in they were incredibly bad. I mean, they were bad enough that there was fan protests going on. and I'm sorry. like Now you're back to that level, and you want you want to go, oh, well, we won you the cup, though.
02:49:11
Speaker
I don't think fans wanted to sell everything. I think that would fly if they were... Not at 0.23. That's what I'm saying. That is just crazy. Like, they actually could have gotten away with this, like, optically.
02:49:27
Speaker
yeah They could have, but they just, they botched it so bad that now they they literally, they haven't won a game yet. you How do you know? what How do you ever have you not want a game? Yeah. CF Montreal has won a game.
02:49:38
Speaker
Oh, my bad. Yeah, you're kidding.
02:49:42
Speaker
it was going to be difficult. And it's, it's math, right? It's not like this was a surprise. um You do get your bonuses that were achieved, hit, you know, against your salary budget number the next year. So, cause we had a lot of guys who did everything, you know, that's a real thing. And then when you have to resign somebody like Maya Yoshida, even if we put new bonuses into his contract,
02:50:01
Speaker
they are still counted as having been triggered because he played like every single minute last year and we won all the playoff. So you just, you're up against it. But I think the real issue is, cause like I'm not making excuses. There've been other teams that every team that wins goes up against this in MLS, way the way the rules are structured,
02:50:18
Speaker
If you're going to lose a DP like Ricky and if you're going have a guy like Marco, you know your highest TAM player ah dealing with a bulky knee, then it becomes really difficult to compete. Right. When when you lose a DP and you know you're dealing with injuries to DP. Difficult to compete.
02:50:34
Speaker
different
02:50:37
Speaker
difficult to compete ok There's literally mechanisms. But difficult to not... ah Like, difficult to compete for trophies. Yeah. Okay. Sure. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Agreed.
02:50:48
Speaker
Difficult to not rock 0.23 points per game. That's, I think, maybe where I'd average. I agree. Like, also, also they there are roster mechanisms for long-term injured players, including...
02:51:02
Speaker
ah and including season-ending injuries. and And whether or not the player likes that or not, that's your that's your job to sell him on that if it's best for the team. And I'm sorry, that's that's the truth.
02:51:16
Speaker
Like, that is the truth. to To pretend like, oh, it's because we have we have a really high-tam player who's injured all the time and is just dog shit. And also, like, we have the we have Ricky Pooj who's injured That's why we're bad. It's like, okay, well, there there are... there it's it's It's dumb to ignore that there are possibilities to work within that. I think when you boil it down, i think probably the biggest thing is the Royce thing. I just... So dumb.
02:51:42
Speaker
I just don't know what they were... Icarus, bro. Icarus. They Icarus'd on that one. And then... ah
02:51:51
Speaker
banking Banking on being able to stay afloat and then Ricky Pooj to come back and save it, that was clearly the wrong gamble. That was clearly the wrong gamble. 0 for 2. Let's give Will a few minutes. Get this guy in a casino, bro.
02:52:02
Speaker
Okay, I'm turning the mic off. or Or, you know, high-shally-tam guy. Yeah. the hardest thing to do in MLS is have depth, right? And you're getting tested at positions that you just cannot possibly replace. And so, you know, when you go back and you're like look at every MLS cup winner the last 10 years and be like, all right, next year, take out their, you know, their best DP, right. And take out their highest non DP, right.
02:52:24
Speaker
ah in terms of salary and see what that roster looks like, right? That's where the league rules really hurt us. Like, we can't... You have to be kind of fortunate who gets hurt and when they get hurt. And there's no doubt that, like, you know, losing Rickies, it's like taking... i was gonna say it's like taking Steph Curry off the Warriors, but but he came out the other night and they won right? So maybe it's like taking... Jalen Brunson. Yeah, taking Jalen Brunson off the Knicks, right? And that's, that's you know, it's a little guy who who's the engine of the team, but... um and And there are reasons why the league rules are the way they are, but it's impossible for teams to...
02:52:54
Speaker
you know, have replacements for great players. And so you're, you last year we were really fortunate that we got a ton of minutes in production from our, our three DPs, you know, this year we just, we haven't even had one yet. And and Joe Payne still missed lot of time, you know, and and Gabe and Joe both got hurt on Kansas city again, like,
02:53:12
Speaker
What else can go wrong, right? But um that's the reality. For me, that's the thing about this league that makes it the hardest, right? If you have the wrong injury, you just kind of toast because there's, in any other league in the world, you have a backup where you can go get somebody here.
02:53:24
Speaker
You're kind of handcuffed, right? And then, you know, in the case of a guy like Dan Jovilić, We're like, all right, maybe we can give them you know a ah TAM deal and and keep them. And you know we're negotiating and we think but think we can get there.
02:53:36
Speaker
And then Tigris comes is like, bro, we'll triple your salary. And you're like, that's kind of tough. And then Kansas City's like, quadruple your salary. And you're like, all right, man, well, you' know good for you. Get the bag and and go. But um because we have three guys already making that money, like i can't I can't possibly pay Dayan what he would need to to earn or what he can earn somewhere else. and yeah He's got a baby on the way. And and look,
02:53:55
Speaker
$4 million dollars goes a lot further and or $3 million goes a lot further in Kansas City than it does in l LA and and I get that right so um again that's that's kind of the reality of our league it's a it's a problem of of having success and having guys who produce so it's a good problem to have but Yeah, it definitely makes it tough. And you only have five weeks between MLS Cup and the start of the preseason, right?
02:54:13
Speaker
So we're up against it. We're trying to do all this stuff. you know we We just found out we don't have Ricky for the year, basically, or you know for most of the year and in you late November, right? So you're now trying to figure out how do we do this without Ricky? Everything we've been doing was obviously having Ricky in the mix.
02:54:28
Speaker
And then the question is, do we go away from having Ricky, right? we go away from our plan just for a 2025 plan first half of 2025 plan? Or keep
02:54:39
Speaker
the the overall plan in place and put together a roster that we think is going to be best when we're healthy. Yeah. Oh God.
02:54:48
Speaker
I hate, I would, i would, i would hate if my GM got on a goddamn podcast about the New York Knicks and said that it is impossible I would be calling for his firing the next day because I don't ever want to hear that. It's impossible. It's not and it's not impossible.
02:55:07
Speaker
You are being obtuse and, and, and like very weirdly dismissive. Well, ah and ah so Greg Vandy's been, like, leaning on the injuries a lot, too. Like, the the big line, i think Will Coons just said it there, but, like, take any take any DP off any team, and you're basically chalked.
02:55:28
Speaker
Not the ones that are run well. No. Look at all the – Sounders. Yeah, I mean, Seattle's one example, but we're homers, ah so we you can use any example you want. Who are the best teams in the league right now?
02:55:42
Speaker
Columbus Crew, Inter-Miami. um I'm sorry, Vancouver Whitecaps, who haven't had one of their most important starters of the whole entire season and then have not only had that, have had more schedule congestion than anyone else in the league and have been banking on random young guys.
02:55:57
Speaker
I'm sorry, guess who's getting it done in all of those games? You don't think that you don't have as much talent, but you just won the cup. Like if what he was saying was true, then ah Ryan Gould being taken out of Vancouver should have chalked them. Right. Yeah. Logically.
02:56:11
Speaker
Yeah. like Well, even like I'm saying, Raul Redia is not performing. He's your highest paid player on the team and he was sitting on the bench. It's just ridiculous. It's it's it is absurd to me that this guy is a general manager in this league.
02:56:25
Speaker
yeah And you're saying it's impossible. What? that's That's crazy. yeah like There are multiple examples that we can pull off off our head in the last two years.
02:56:36
Speaker
We're not even talking about anything. Oh, and also like Marco Reus isn't doing anything. Okay, well, that's your fault yeah who's fault. That's not Marco Reus' fault. That's your fault, bro. You made that signing. I just, like, ah a like after listening to that interview, my biggest takeaway was, why would did you sign Marco Reus?
02:56:57
Speaker
Yeah. Why? And why in the hell did you go on podcast, bro? Well, so yeah, let's talk about that. Let's talk about the whole, uh, the optics, the strategy of sending them out for the media tour.
02:57:09
Speaker
So I imagine what they were thinking is like,
02:57:13
Speaker
what I was saying, like, we don't want the perception that we are like hiding from what's happening. Yeah. So what it'll like, there's no like good course of action in this scenario when you're 0-10-3.
02:57:29
Speaker
How should we handle being 0-10-3? In fact, it's never, there's no precedent for how to handle it. and There's literally not. They're the first team to ever do that. Not win any of their first 13 games.
02:57:41
Speaker
you You know what should be impossible in major league soccer? That. Yeah, literally. Like, there this is a league where that is supposed to be a thing. That is literally, there're therere ah the rules are there to, like, specifically make exactly that impossible.
02:57:56
Speaker
Yeah. The whole point of a parity-driven league is so this doesn't happen. Yeah. That's the whole point. That's the idea. is that Yeah, like, yeah, maybe they could be mid-table, but you're not going to see a significant drop-off from year to year.
02:58:10
Speaker
Or even if you do, it won't be, like, the bottom falling out at a historic level. Yeah. But... ah
02:58:18
Speaker
i Here's my take. ah i don't mind the ah premise of, like, getting out in front of it, so to speak, or, like, we' we're going try and make it optically look like we're not hiding from what's happening.
02:58:33
Speaker
ah But, like... Like the podcast tour. I don't like, you know, okay. You know what I would have done, man? Yeah. I would have hit up fucking Kevin Baxter. Yeah. LA times. Yeah. And I would have been like, Kevin, we'll give you the GM for like an exclusive.
02:58:49
Speaker
So we can get like our side of the cap thing on the record. And also as like a show of transparency that we know the fans are upset and that we understand like,
02:59:02
Speaker
We won the ship last year, but the price we're paying is over the top. It's unacceptable. yeah So, Kevin... talk to him for an hour, write up whatever you want in the LA Times. That's what I think they should have done. I think that would have better than like the Kooligans and the Tim... They don't even talk about MLS. The Tim Howard podcast. They don't even... They're literally a USMNT podcast. It's like this tour is like... He's like a celebrity. Here's what it reads to me, Ari. Maybe I'm wrong. You tell me different, but...
02:59:34
Speaker
This looks like a brand-saving operation. This looks like they went out to try and plug some holes about the brand of the LA Galaxy.
02:59:45
Speaker
They don't give a shit about the fans. Because if you really did care about the fans in this situation, you are not touching the national media. You're not only going on some fan podcasts and you're eating shit. you're good like if If Will Kutz wanted to ingratiate himself in the league,
03:00:01
Speaker
He brings his ring and he goes and he eats some shit. He wears that ring, gives it back to him a little bit, says, look, Yeah, we may suck right now, but look what we got going. And then they give him some shit. He eats the shit. They place play around, whatever.
03:00:16
Speaker
He's not even in his hood, bro. he's in He flew to New York private to record this podcast. I mean, he was flying with the team. They were playing New York City FC. Or Red Bulls, I'm sorry. ah This was also before they got 7-0'd, which is even funnier.
03:00:30
Speaker
This was recorded right before they got 7-0'd. I didn't even think about that. Which is even funnier. Dude did this instead of being in the locker room, you know, whatever. So, like, it's a PR tour for himself, his colleagues, and the team.
03:00:47
Speaker
It has nothing to do with the fans. It has nothing to do with anything. This is an ass-saving operation. And I don't think it's going to work. and that So that's what that was the next thing I was going to ask is like, do you think it's going to work?
03:00:58
Speaker
Because that's the other thing. like it's I think you're right. like It reeks of like desperation. Yes. Like our final stand of like trying to save this whole regime.
03:01:09
Speaker
And ah the only only thing that's going to do that is winning some games. you can like You can do the press tour, but if you go to 0-16-3 over the next few weeks, it's not going to save you.
03:01:24
Speaker
Well, here was their thought. is They're going to do this press tour now. Everyone's going to chirp and say shit, and then they try and win this El Trafico game and turn the vibes. I think they were trying to stack vibes. But the problem is they got blown out seven. Yeah. It's like, bro, it's like, you know, it's just, it's crazy. You, you have to, you have, you can't, bro. This is what I'm saying.
03:01:44
Speaker
There is no foresight in any of these decisions. They're not looking long-term at what this means. They're, they're not even looking at what's in front of them They're just looking at the shiny object on the Hill. Going on the Kooligans podcast makes it so clear to me why they signed Marco Reus. It never mattered about the the spreadsheet. The Marco Reus signing is like if ah Billy McFarland of Fyre Fest was Will Kutz is Billy McFarland. LA Galaxy are the Fyre Festival of Major League Soccer, but they have a ring. That's the vibes.
03:02:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I guess it would be like if Billy had all the criminal activity, but Fyre Fest actually was He ran like one Coachella. Yeah, like Fyre Fest was actually kind of sick. Yeah.
03:02:28
Speaker
But then the next year it became Fyre Fest. fireest yeah it's It is... Do you think he makes it out the whole year? It depends. Like, if they if they turn it around, I think he and Vanny could be like, look, that start was bad.
03:02:45
Speaker
you can It was bad. That was bad. That was bad. You know, that was bad. Oh, 10 and three. That wasn't good. ah But we won El Trafico and then we strung some results together. we we salvaged it a little bit. And like the, the terrible start, man, that was just the price for the ring.
03:03:02
Speaker
That was the price we had to pay for the ring. Signed Marco Reis. Shouldn't have done that. Won't do that again. But like, we're good. We're good. Just give us a chance. Just give us, Will Koontz and I.
03:03:14
Speaker
Give us a chance to like build back to, we've already shown we can do it. We've shown that we can build a championship team. We just did it. Like we're the guys to, to do like the, if, if they salvage some results going forward for the rest of the season, they can at least make that argument.
03:03:31
Speaker
Sure. If they stay, I think if they even stay under 1.0 points per game, I don't think they... I think they actually will be a regime that wins a championship and then still gets sacked the next year.
03:03:46
Speaker
I'm hoping... That is on the table. I'm hoping they lose this El Trafico and both get sacked. Like, I feel... I genuinely feel like... If anyone Vanny, I feel like, is on the hot seat, Vanny, I feel like if he loses this game, he might be he might be gone. I think you're at least getting articles about him.
03:04:01
Speaker
ah being on the hot mean you're already getting the articles you're already getting the ah chatter um I think so what like if the galaxy go out in El Travico and get smashed on yeah three or four zero or something I mean they've shown the capacity to lose seven to zero but yeah they If they get whammed on 3 or 4-0 by LAFC, actually think it's like pretty possible we might see Vanny go, which is crazy.
03:04:32
Speaker
It's crazy. just won the chip. He's not a bad coach.
03:04:37
Speaker
I don't think. Maybe. Or maybe it was just ricky maybe it was literally all just Ricky Pooh. Well, so we were talking about this the other day, and I agree. I was saying, like, I feel like Manny has shown, like, a track record of, like, he built Toronto. He's more than one ring, bro. like He's got more than one ring, and he's I feel like he's shown aptitude as, like, a build build a project from the ground up. Yeah. Type coach. He did that at Toronto.
03:04:58
Speaker
And they remember how ass the galaxy were when he got there? Yeah. And then they built this like with Toronto. That's why even as recently as last year, we were like, Vanny is the, is that guy yeah for what, for what he built the galaxy into this year, like this last year.
03:05:12
Speaker
uh, based on where they previously were. But I, someone, I can't remember who, some pun it was pointing out the other day. Like if you look at the years, like outside of when he's won the ship, uh, there have been some good ones like Toronto FC made the cup and 16 against Seattle that they lost and stuff like that.
03:05:28
Speaker
But there's been like just as much underachieving, if not more than there actually has of him being like, yeah. Uh, like a winning force sure so i was like that's kind of a way of thinking ah because i kind of look at um i was i kind of was looking at it as like the rings are all well maybe that's why these two are a match made in heaven because they're both just sellouts like for the ring do you know what i mean it's like uh if if your game plan and your game model is we need we need we need a shot in the ass right now and fuck everything else going forward right like everything else going forward doesn't matter
03:06:06
Speaker
But right here and right now, we're doing it. this This is your combo. And by that, I'm saying fire these two. Montreal, I have your next two candidates.
03:06:17
Speaker
Montreal, get ready to learn Will Kuntz but ah ball. I don't know. i I really don't think this guy should have a job.
03:06:29
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see what happens. I'm like, their downfall is like low key kind of riveting storyline of this. Dude, this is going to be such a good week. Okay. I was just watching their game in Philly and i was just like, I, I haven't been this confident that I know what's going to happen since I watched the inter mygo fire. Yeah.
03:06:48
Speaker
Yeah. Chicago fire inner Miami goes down by two goals, comes back. That whole storyline. I mean, it's, they're, dude they're bad. They're, they're objectively, and they're not even bad, but fun to watch. They're just bad.
03:07:04
Speaker
historically so
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
03:07:05
Speaker
all right noah we're at three hours and seven minutes i think it's about time to i think so call it a night here thank you all for tuning we still have a few a few of you uh watching late nighters late nighters we love uh we love the under the lights crew the real say it goes uh thank you all as always for tuning in uh Like, comment, subscribe. What am I? Oh, like the video. ye Sub to the channel. Become a YouTube member. We just dropped our vlog.
03:07:37
Speaker
If you're not a member, you should become a member because dropped an Open Cup vlog. It's like it's a doc. It's a documentary. We made a mini documentary. We made a mini documentary. I'm a filmmaker.
03:07:50
Speaker
Yeah. Ari's a filmmaker. You're a filmmaker. You're a filmmaker, kid. But ah become a YouTube member. You get to see it early. will release to the general unwashed masses eventually.
03:08:01
Speaker
On Saturday, we have the untold lore of Ryan Kent coming out. That's going to be a fun interview that Ari did. um And go watch the video we put out today. It was a clip from Under the Lights talking about the U22s.
03:08:16
Speaker
um And we will see you in Portland. If you're there give us a holler. And if not, if you see us in Portland, don't be shy. Come say hi. Yeah, we we should, you know, I don't know. We're going be there.
03:08:30
Speaker
We'll be around. be there We'll be around. Potentially. Yeah, we'll see. Who knows? All right. Good night, everybody.
03:08:41
Speaker
Bye. We out.