Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
Speaker: Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
Speaker: Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
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Speaker: This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
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Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network and part of the SoccerWise Media Collective. Today is Friday.
Speaker: we are here at the Sounder at Heart headquarters. I am joined by Nico Moreno, as always, for another episode of What We Learned This Week. Nico, it was ah it was another it was a good week. It was a very good week.
Speaker: for the Sounders. But we're just going talk about the most recent game because it's been so busy. But what's your what's the vibe feel like? I actually was watching the game in the stands yesterday. I did not get to be in the locker room.
Speaker: What was that like? Yeah, I'm curious to get your take by look from our end up in the press box. the consensus was, look, it's not about ah playing pretty or whether or not you can do A, B, or c It's about getting points at this point. And if that is you having a pretty bad first half or not the best first half that you ever had with some mistakes and some issues, figured it out, moving your pieces around in the second, and then getting a late goal off of ah a deflection that I still think it was well-earned by Christian Roldan. It's all good things because at the end of the day, it was about –
Speaker: making the most out of this three game homestand. Yes. And you did that and more, right? Nine points. I did not have that as nine points. I thought that they were going to least drop one of these games. Were they the better team in all of these games? Absolutely. Were they supposed to win this game?
Speaker: These games? Absolutely. Is there, are they back I would say no, not yet. I need to see them play a better team. There's still a lot of holes and and and problems that I need address before I can feel like this team is completely back. But Brian's met, man, he continues to say that they're going to be that nobody's going to want to play this team in the playoffs. And I tend to believe him.
Speaker: Yeah, I would say that what they were able to do during this three game homestand was show that they are a playoff They are much closer to five, six, seven than they are to 15, 14, 13, which is where they've frankly been hanging out for the last month.
Speaker: So I think that's a step forward. Now, whether or not they're real contenders, whether or not they are a team that we should be putting any sort of faith in once they get to the playoffs, that's going to be decided, I think, in the next few weeks.
Speaker: They're going to go against New England Revolution, huge game on the road, October 10th. That's a great test for them. They're going to be, they should be close to full strength.
Speaker: Decky will be back. You know, they'll have their, this will be the closest thing to a full squad. with some momentum, with some confidence that we've seen in months, literal months.
Speaker: Then they got Dallas, another tough road game. Yes. And then they come home against Montreal, Montreal. Okay. So Montreal is a game they should win. But I think if they get, let's call it, if they can get out of this road trip with two points, that's sort of the over under of where the faith goes. I mean, they could lose both these games and it wouldn't be a disaster.
Speaker: But I think it will tell us that they're not really contenders. course. But if they can get points from these games, win one of them, lose one of them, tie both of them, something like that, I think you've got to feel pretty good.
Speaker: Absolutely. and And so all of it is being built as of right now. And I thought, you know, Adam kind of stole my question, and we're going to go a lot into it on Monday. I don't want to get too far into it today, but it was about you've This team has done well, but Brian's going have to come up with a solidified, cemented starting 11 because a lot of this miscommunications and and and lack of chemistry, lack of intensity right off the bat to me has a lot to do with –
Speaker: their inability to really click right off the bat. And they did not look good in the first half. No, very disjointed. i think that there is a lack of confidence from certain players. And look, I've said this before and people don't realize the mental part of the game where, um,
Speaker: I, you know, a long time ago ah before Jesus' injury, I sat in this exact same studio and I told you that, you know, there wasn't enough done to give Jesus more confidence as like one of the main players, one of the main playmakers and things. I see a little bit of that with Paul Arriola, where yesterday I kind of felt like he didn't have his best first 45. And a lot of it has to do, I think, with the pressure and and and maybe a lack of of continuity and things like that. Obviously, he's getting back into form. I still think that he has done enough to earn a starting spot there. But all of these little things that I want to talk about and dissect of what happened in this specific game against a, yes, last place,
Speaker: sporting kids oh yeah their last place and they but are their last place in the entire supporters show they're the wooden spoon contenders right now along with montreal who will be coincidentally their next home game this stretch of home games could not be kinder for the sounders but like i think to put this in context These were the same kind of games a few weeks ago, a couple months ago, that we were saying you got to win these games. sure They played an Austin team that at the time looked very bad. They played a Red Bull team that was not looking particularly good.
Speaker: Those were the kinds of games that they were not getting full points from and they are getting full points from them. So I think that, you know, we're talking about levels, right? And I, and I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves because it is fun. It's exciting to say we're back baby. Right. And it, and look, there are eight games unbeaten there. They should have their chest out.
Speaker: They should be excited. They just won a come from behind game on a stoppage time goal. It doesn't matter who was against from a vibes perspective. Right.
Speaker: But if we want to be an analytical, we do have to be dig a little deeper. And I think to your point, the first half was disjointed. It did not look like the Sounders that we've seen the last few weeks.
Speaker: they They, I think... The goal that got disallowed was correct. I have to admit, after watching, it's it's tough to see at full speed, but once you break it down, the shot, I think it's off Areola, happens when Christian Roldan is offside, even though it deflects back and he's onside.
Speaker: By the time he gets the ball back, he's already offside. That's how it works. And it was a little confusing in real time, whatever. It was correct, but it was it did show, i think it it showed the sound. That was really the sounder's best attacking sequence.
Speaker: ah And then they go down though. And it wasn't out of nothing. It wasn't like it came totally out of against the run of play. ah They had been sort of playing with fire, playing out of the back. They gotten a little lucky a few times on turnovers that didn't really result in much, but they were so sort of sloppy.
Speaker: And, you know, someone brought this up and I think it's worth getting into ah while we talk about the first half. is Alex Roldan makes a pass that gets deflected. It takes a an unfortunate deflection, but he's trying to play out of the back. It takes a deflection. It falls right to Andre Luis, who scores a gorgeous goal. It's a very well-taken goal. There's a lot of players who that ball falls to, and it does not result in a goal, at least not that easily.
Speaker: Andre Luis is a very, very good player. We saw it yesterday. But if that's new who that makes that pass, are we lighting them up a lot more than if it's Alex Roldan?
Speaker: Absolutely. And that's why I am lighting up Alex Roldan because he should know better. Now, it wasn't just on him. If you look at that, wanted to be, if you look at that play and them trying to play out of the bag, it was just bad. I mean,
Speaker: Thomas throws the ball out to Christian O'Dan on the opposite end. I think that there is a pass that Christian can make to knew who was making a run. He doesn't brings it all the way back. And then they kind of play themselves between Thomas, Stu and Alex into this corner, yeah allowing very easy press from Kansas city that if anything, they did a good job at eliminating passing angles. And so,
Speaker: Alex kind of feels like he needs to just clear it. And the force that he was trying to get it cleared ends up ricocheting off of, uh, for far, I think is the the person who who ends up hitting the ball. And then,
Speaker: being what it is unlucky or not, the the ball comes right to Andrew Luis and he just puts an absolute laser. I mean, it was like a great location. It was a great shot. Yeah. Like I don't want to take anything away from it. yeah There's not a lot of players who can take that pass and in essentially ah take it. And then on their first controlled touch,
Speaker: just put a laser into the upper left. I mean, he, I don't know if he's left footed not, but he hit it with his left foot. Yeah. And and it was phenomenal. Only Thomas is because that have not anything to do. Yeah. But to me, it's like, you know, Stu's also part of it. I think Stu could have ah passed the first line of pressure by dumping the ball up to yeah what I think Christian will then is basically by himself that you could put the ball. And obviously we're,
Speaker: Monday quarterback in this thing and yeah you know hindsight 2020, but those are the situations and and and mistakes that happen in that play. However, to your point about they were playing with fire, it wasn't just that moment. you know They had allowed Sporting in the City to grow into the game and they had a couple of opportunities and Andrew Luis started cutting inside and combining internally centrally yeah and he was becoming a handful and I think that Calvin Harris was really good yeah and you know they they really did some things where Taylor Calhari the number nine had a couple decent looks yes
Speaker: So those are the things that to me go back to something that Brian has very openly talked about and is their inability to extend possessions adequately so they can control the game. and And that's what didn't happen here. In the first half. is but they did not the first yeah They did not control the game at all in the first half.
Speaker: And was you know, it was kind of refreshing, I guess, to hear Brian and I, One of the things I love about this three-game winning streak is that we're seeing the Brian of old comeback, where we had kind of gotten into this pattern, especially during the the losing streak for sure, but all us also during when they were just getting these draws, where Brian was almost...
Speaker: felt like he was defeated. he was, he, there was no fire. It was like, he was afraid of being too hard on his players because he knew that there was a ah fragile, like he couldn't push them too hard because he, I think for one, he believed he was getting what they could give him already and that he didn't have a lot of answers for them.
Speaker: And so he was being very careful about his criticisms. And one of the things I appreciate right now is that we're back to, criticizing things that happen when you win. And that's a much better place to be worse. it's It's a lot easier to hear and to give constructive criticism when the when the end result was was good. And we're building as opposed to like just trying to pull us up, right?
Speaker: Totally. And I think that that's one of the things that I liked in this game, whereas he came in and said, look, if I could have replaced three or four guys at halftime, I would have, I just made one change. I, I pulled Mussovsky out. I put in ah Sebastian good minds. And I don't even know if, I don't know if he was implying this. And I don't know if I believe that Danny was the worst player in the, the center's worst player. He wasn't, didn't do much, but that's sort of, that is the Danny Mussovsky experiences that if he's not scoring, he's not usually doing a lot, but ah He was just easy to defend. He was easy to defend. And that the the fluidity of that attacking triangle just wasn't doing what they're supposed to be doing. that The attacking movements weren't there. They weren't making...
Speaker: sacrificing runs to open up space. I mean, it was really stagnant. and They still created opportunities. greated Some have chances, but it was just easy to defend when Danny was up there. But to me, it was more concerning.
Speaker: Look, Peter Kingston does a lot of things right, and I love his ability to – offensively affect the game. He has a great shot of a set piece where they, you know, the whole thing is to get him open on top of the box. He takes a good shot, forces Cleveland into a a safe, but defensively, he just has a real difficult time. He has zero defensive contributions in this one. I know that Christian got your back when he comes to that. i didn't even notice that. Wow. Yeah. And so those are the things where,
Speaker: you need a different... You need the pivots to be at their best for this system to work. And it just wasn't there in this particular game. So to me, the things that need to be fixed is, look, Danny Misowski, he's going to be Danny Misowski. And if you...
Speaker: need more out of that freedom of that nine. And we'll talk about the second half and how different it looked with Jordan up there. Then you got to figure that out early. You got to figure out exactly what you're gonna do with the partner next to Christian Roldan. And look, I thought that defensively, they were just very gappy, including um the back line. I thought that they were having a hard time with early crosses where Portugal City was getting to the end of them.
Speaker: I'm not saying there were clear chances. And I mean, at the end of the day, was 22 shots that you gave up throughout this game. 11 that were on on frame. And, you know, you don't want your goalkeeper making eight saves as much as he was phenomenal. thought Andrew Thomas stood on business the entire game, which was great to see. But at the end of the day,
Speaker: That's not what you want out of this team against that sort of opposition. Again, it's not about pretty or not because it was about earning the points. You got that, but you also got to think ahead. Yeah. And I i want to hold on the Peter Kingston discussion a little bit because I think it's illuminating of a larger situation. Whereas, so Peter Kingston, I think, was on the whole, um like he wasn't bad, but he was he was not good.
Speaker: and I think that this is sort of the Christian Roldan, factor in this game. You put, you put Peter with Christian in that game and you can say he was fine, even though he didn't make any, he didn't get credit with any defensive contributions, even though he was a little loose in his possession, I think at times, but he created enough going forward that you say, okay, on the whole, I can live with this.
Speaker: He didn't destroy the game for the Sounders. Right. But if you were to pair him with Hassani Dotson, Snyder Burnell, I think the hole in that would be not fine.
Speaker: I think you would probably be going, this is the problem. And this is where we were a few, you know, a month ago. agree This is, this is what Christian Roldan does is that he's able to lift a, you know, ah five, six kind of performance from Peter Kingston into one that you can live with because he was an eight.
Speaker: Totally. And you but if you have another five, six performance from Snyder, Rennell or Hassani Dotson, you can't have both your center midfielders having five, sixes. I'm talking about kind ratings.
Speaker: But this is this is sort of the, the difference that Christian will not makes. And I think in the same token, Danny Masa, you know Sebastian Gomez, who i don't know, maybe we can get in. Maybe we want to get into this now.
Speaker: But Sebastian Gomez has really grown lot. I would have said a month ago, i think I did say a month ago, that he is playing well enough to deserve the minutes that he's getting.
Speaker: But he didn't he shouldn't be playing And now I kind of feel like he needs to be playing. He's grown. This is why, I mean, this is part of why it's good that he get got all those minutes because now he looks confident.
Speaker: The goal that he scores is not a, not the most difficult goal he's ever going score his career, but it wasn't a gimme, but he just authoritatively smashes that into the goal.
Speaker: I love it. I love the, i love the run that he makes. I love the, the confidence that he has to just take it that not, he's not, he, he's like, Hey, I made the run. Jordan gave me the ball. I don't need to look for another path. I have the lane I'm shooting.
Speaker: I don't know that he would have done that a month ago. And I am starting to see shades of, like a Victor Rodriguez type of, for you know, like I could see him having a Victor Rodriguez type of ah performer. Like bre he's, he's giving you that he's giving you a little bit of dribbling, some vision, some opportunistic scoring.
Speaker: I am really starting to like the Sebastian Gomez thing. And what's funny is he's got in all comps, two goals, five assists in about 800 minutes. You can compare that to Georgie Manungu last year. It's like very similar. Absolutely. And it's more polished. and No disrespect to Georgie, who his unorthodox way of approaching the game was always hard to defend. ah But when it comes to hitting that end line and putting in a service, there's a different...
Speaker: pace and and range that comes from Seba when he gets into those locations, even his shots. And I think he's very smart when he comes into the inside channels where, you know, let let's talk a little bit about how good Jordan was at the nine because he was able to not just be a threat to the center backs as is someone who can get behind the defense, but his link up was phenomenal. And there was...
Speaker: it was a lot easier for the Sounders to create the triangles that they want offensively when Jordan was that lone striker up there. And that that does a lot because it opens up your, your wing play. It allows Albert to get to certain spaces. And so Seba, he had an opportunity, i think it's in the 64th minute or so where there is a nice little triangle between Albert Jordan Jordan passes it back he gets into the 18 and then Semba makes the right run on the left side and his shots have been getting blocked yeah but it's his ability to understand where he needs to be in those attacking movements so I would agree with you that he has been a breath of fresh air for this team he has been a spark plug coming off the bench uh
Speaker: I would feel confident, you know, maybe starting him a couple of games. and And, you know, that's still to be seen, but I feel like he's at his best when he does come in kind of as that, relentless guy spark blood, yeah you know, emergency off of the bench guy. Yeah. Microwave, you know, or, you know, ah early Rothrock, right? but yeah when were Yeah. Very Rothrockian. I would say like, this is, you know, if, if Paul had come through the same developmental cycle that Sebastian Gomez, you can imagine them being very similar players at similar ages as it was Rothrock is a more delayed development because he, course, because of his trajectory. Yeah.
Speaker: But ah yeah, i mean, I think that that's a very comparable thing. And and I guess the point I was making ah in a long way of doing is like, if you put Gomez on the field with Rusnak and don't know, you can put Morris out there, you can put Areola out there, you can put Ferreira out there and then Deke or Morris at the forward. That's a very formidable attacking group.
Speaker: Yeah. But if you put Gomez, Rothrock, Rusnak and Misofsky, That's a totally different attack. Of course. And I think that that's unfortunately a lot of what we were seeing early on. And that's not a – because I think Rothrock can be competitive – I think you can win a championship with Paul Rothrock as one of your forwards. But you need the other attacking players to be very good players.
Speaker: Of course. And I don't – but I don't think he's going to carry you. And I think that for too long, the Sounders were asking – Rothrock to carry ah Sebastian Gomez ah for in Rusnak is also not a player who's going to carry a bunch of other he's going to be very productive and I thought Rusenek had another solid game last night, but if he you put him in the right talent group, he's going to look a lot better.
Speaker: And Jordan Morris yesterday, Jordan Morris is actually right now playing like the DP he was supposed to be all along. Sure. That he he he shifted from being out wide to being up top, and then he had a great game as forward. Mm-hmm. The holdup play that he shows off on the Gomez goal, that is classic number nine. He's fighting off a defender, just backing, backing, backing.
Speaker: And then he has the the composure to find Gomez sitting behind him. and said He's not getting too wrapped up in like drawing a foul or doing anything. that he's He's the whole time. He's he's like figuring out what he's going to do here.
Speaker: And then the pass that sets up the Roldan goal, I appreciate... The thought there, I saw a couple of people say he horribly underweights that. I do not think he horribly underweights it. It's a difficult He hits it much harder than that. Yeah. Stephen Cleveland can come out and play it. He hits it much softer. It's an easier play for the defender.
Speaker: He gets it just enough behind the defender where the defender is sort of just making a lunge at it. And yes, the Sounders get a little lucky, but that's what's happening right now is they're making their own luck.
Speaker: This is the thing that they were incapable of doing for so much of the summer is that they could not create their own luck because they weren't aggressive. They weren't confident. They didn't have the, they didn't believe that they were going to win these games.
Speaker: They now believe if they make that run, the ball is going end up on my feet and and it's going to end up in the net. And that's what happened in that one. I also want to say Mark Bronick makes a good, great run. course. And there's another version of this where instead of forcing it to roll Don, he makes the maybe easier, maybe even better, you could argue better pass to Mark Bronick and Bronick is able to go in and and score. and the And we were having a slightly different conversation. makes the extra pass going into that because going force right defenders to emergency defense to that side. But again, to me, the intent and the forcefulness of making that pass for Jordan,
Speaker: And just, I love it. I think that that was the most difficult pass. You were trying to thread the needle. And that creates the goal because, again, you have a relentless Christian Rodin in the minute. 90th minute, yeah. 91st, 90. It's like right at the end, right at 90. And he is, I'm sure, exhausted because if you look at what he did throughout this game, it was phenomenal. And that aggressiveness and willingness to put your body on the line is what creates the goal. But for me, I don't mind Jordan doing that, especially with the sort of game he was having because the first goal
Speaker: Yes, I think it's great, like you said, is that hold-up play. He's getting dragged in But, you know, not going down easy. He's on the ground, and he just – I love it. He's not even looking for the foul. No, I love the way that he's on the ground. He's looking up. He's probably seeing Seba making the run, and he just kicks it like – ah backyard soccer style and just puts the double ball there. But also the run before that, I think it's a pass from Andrew Thomas and the the way he kind of waits not to be offside, the way he positions his body to get the ball as far as he got it, all of it. I just love the play. think it's Christian O'Don who plays him in. Is it Christian? Yeah, it's Christian. And and the he times his run perfectly because there's a – he did not – he was not onside by a lot. No, he was not. i thought they were going to go back and look at it for a second. I know, so did I. I was a little worried that i was like, oh. So those are the things that you want your nine to do because he's helping out just to, again, the fear and the threat of having someone that can get behind that line, it does a lot, right? Because he's keeping everybody on a reference, right? is' Defended by reference where you know that you have to be aware of wherever Jordan's at, where with Masowski, it was kind of like,
Speaker: one will do, you know, and you did that he he wasn't doing much more of it. Look, I'm not saying that he doesn't have a value to this team because, you know, he's a Fox in the box. He get, you know, buy some stuffs gonna he's got some stuff, he got a role to play but but when comes to the fluidity of this team and these attack Jordan does it better. Obviously we're kind of talking about things that might not even matter in another game. Cause deck is going to be back. and And I don't know that we're going to frankly see a lot of Mussovsky because I think decky is going to probably play 90 minutes every game that he is capable of it. course. Jordan is the obvious next in line to play there.
Speaker: And then if you don't have it either, if for some reason, You can't do that. I can see Mussofsky getting on the field. There's going circumstances where Mussofsky is going to get on the field, I suspect. But I mean, the reality is he didn't play much when Deke, after Deke got here.
Speaker: I don't suspect he's going to play a lot more. Look, he he scored a huge goal for the Sounders at the start of this. And that may end up being the biggest contribution that he makes. And that's fine. So i don't want to get too caught up in Musovsky.
Speaker: But there were, you know, like I think that we're seeing Jordan Morris grow into this role. It's great to see him excited. It's great to see his body language. You know, that was another thing that Brian talked about is is Jordan's body language in the first half wasn't great.
Speaker: And then you had much better body language in the second half. that's It's funny. and We hadn't really had the Jordan Morris body language discussion in a long time. Yeah. and Which used to be a pretty common thing. ah And so it was, you know kind of refreshing just to yeah have reprise that conversation again. But i I think there were some genuine things to like.
Speaker: I also liked Caden Clark brought some energy. Yeah. I'm trying to think who else in. think all the subs were, you know, pretty good when they came on. Yeah. A yay mark.
Speaker: He only was in the game for five ish minutes. He had like five headers, every ball that was in the air. It seemed like he was dominant on, ah he went in angry. when he didn't see He was like a freight train. He really wanted to get in there. Uh, and you know,
Speaker: Was there some time to maybe get him to play more minutes? I think that it's fair for him to be upset because Stu comes off, you're thinking, this is me, and Brian decides to just push Alex there. yeah and i mean i I'm sure he's trying to get some game rhythm, and I think that's why – And he was also pushing for a goal. And i I appreciate the mindset, which that was very much a, we're, we're trying to win this thing. We're not trying to hold on. We're trying to push for a goal. And so in that sense, it makes sense to slide, uh, rolled on back and get Kalani onto the field.
Speaker: And Kalani, you know, he did his thing. Yeah. you know Athletically, he pushes that line. andda So no, it makes sense. But what I will say is, As much as I get where Brian was going, I thought I was going to get a little more out of my question in regards to something that I got from you really um over the week, which is asking the team,
Speaker: how important it is to get this nine points without your new DP and the guy that kind stole the headlines and kind of felt like he was the one who started, you know, this comeback for this team in in in certain sense, right? And you kind of felt like... That's what what it was. And you were able to do it without him. And so you know, I thought he was to give me a little bit more. But he did say that he's going to need everybody.
Speaker: He's going to be a collective. And I believe that. I do believe that. I think that there is a need for every single player. I don't know if believe the whole thing. There's no position is safe. I don't believe it. Not even in the slightest sense. been saying that for a while. And yet there are certain players who are always starting no matter what, which I don't blame him for. No. But I guess that is a good segue into what we think is this rotation? Because we know we're at a point now where they've got more players...
Speaker: that need to be getting minutes, then they have places to play them. ah You know, this game did not feature Ducky. It didn't feature Snyder Brunel. And it didn't feature Jesus Ferreira. Who's coming back next week. And we might be getting Paul Rothrock at some point even. But, like, let's focus on those three players who are all going to have to play.
Speaker: who Whose minutes are they getting?
Speaker: Hey everyone, David Goss here from SoccerWise. I am coming to you with our MLS Minute presented by Continental Tire. We are so excited to be working with some of the best local MLS coverage in the league as part of our new collective.
Speaker: So after you're done listening hear about your team, come on over and listen to myself, Doyle, and Tom talk about the USM&T and all of Major League Soccer. Yes, Monday we're talking USMNT because the kids blew out Peru. So we'll have full coverage of that as well as full coverage off the bat of the Chile match on Wednesday. and we expect to have a USWNT roster to break down this week as well. This was of course a chaos weekend in MLS with international breaks and a lot of players missing, but the points still count and there was a lot of movement in the standings. Let's dig into it and start with Philadelphia who wrote a Milan Oloski hat trick to a four to win over Orlando.
Speaker: Philadelphia have now taken 32 points from their last 12 matches, which is tied for the most points in any 12 games span in MLS history with the Seattle Sounders back in 2018.
Speaker: Nashville kept up the pace at the top of the Shield race with the Honey Mukhtar brace to knock off TFC. They stretched their lead a little bit with the Rebs losing to a stumbling ah RSL on the road and Vancouver drawing in a wild 3-3 game out west.
Speaker: FC Dallas took advantage in the West with 1-0 win over LAFC. So now they are three points off the top of the conference. And San Jose stayed hot on their tails, led by Preston Judd and throttled the Portland Timbers.
Speaker: Cincinnati have fallen out of the playoffs with a 3-1 loss in Montreal to a team that only dressed 14 players for this game. It wasn't the only wild result on the weekend. Austin scored three goals in 14 minutes to come from 3-0 down to draw San Diego at home. And one of the players who might decide the playoff race for every team might be SKC's Andre Luis. The $18 million dollars man has terrorized his opponents and teams are starting to drop points to an SKC team that was on pace to be the worst in MLS history. This week, it was the Houston Dynamo falling off second place in the West with a 2-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City. One note to watch out for St. Louis Red Bulls game was canceled due to weather. It's been moved to this Wednesday. So additional MLS game coming into this international break, which will fare better for St. Louis, who's only missing one player in Damon Downs to the 10 players that the Red Bulls have called up, including, of course, Julian Hall, who scored in his national team debut.
Speaker: We will have all of your MLS, NWSL, U.S. national team coverage for you on the SoccerWise channels all week. This has been the MLS Minute. It's a part of our SoccerWise media collective sponsored by Continental Tire, where we are proud to work with local soccer media partners across the country.
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Speaker: We're also looking for sponsors. Send an email to partners at pnwsoccermedia.com and we'll get you all set up. Thanks for listening. I mean, I think if Jesus comes back and he is healthy and you can be certain that there's going to be no issues with any sort of injury to me, he's got to be a locking starter just because of the creativity. I want him to have the opportunity to play with a guy like Deki, because whenever he was on the field, he was so good at throwing the needle and putting, you know, balls into the final third that ah that creativity and that volume of play. I want to see it playing that inverted winger position that that is his bread and butter. That's kind of what we've been working for, for this team when Jesus was,
Speaker: last year just lighting it up in the sense of being such an important part of the highest scoring team that the Sounders have ever had. So to me, he would be Paula Riola's minutes because you would move Jordan Morris to the left wing yeah and allow him to do his thing just running in add defenders on the left side. And then you have Albert and you have Deky and you have Ferreira on the right wing playing in the inside pockets next to Albert Rosnack.
Speaker: Yeah, that seems to make a lot of sense. And then you have ah Yamar probably slotting in for Stu. We think that's like a little bit obvious. And then Snyder, I think it's going to be an interesting conversation.
Speaker: Dawson was another player who wasn't in the game yesterday. ah Kingston clearly. It's hard to imagine a lot of minutes for him. Pete Kingston going forward, if they are healthy and available, uh, my assumption is that Snyder Brunel and Hassani Dodson, I don't still, i think Dodson is probably first choice right now over Snyder Brunel, uh, especially as we get into crunch time and b Brian is going to be falling back on, you know, unfortunately Kingston, the guys who are going to be missing out on minutes, Sebastian Gomez, probably, Stu Hawkins, uh, Snyder Brunel, uh, Pete Kingston, the kind of the young guys who have started to take a role now. Sure. I am going to guess are going to end up seeing the short side of the stick on this.
Speaker: I'm not, that's not a bad thing necessarily. We got a lot of good information out of them, but if Yamar is healthy, he's got to be on the field. If, and then I, it's probably an open competition between Hassani and Snyder.
Speaker: I still think Hassani is going to end up being the, the, the choice there. And like, I think you said, Ferreira probably ends up being the choice over Areola, Gomez, Clark,
Speaker: anyone else you can put out there. Uh, essentially maybe Kalani as well. But, and this is here. ah Here's a, an interesting one. Do you think we might see some Paul Areola at left back?
Speaker: Well, that's a great question because and now with this, one of the things that the Sounders have kind of been able to do is look, you can play. ah you You can play Alex Roldan at right back, but you don't necessarily need him bombing for. Now, I think if Jesus is playing out there, you need with from somewhere that's probably going being your right back.
Speaker: But you can slide him back into a sort of three center back set if you need. Yep. And then you have Reagan and Yamar ostensibly, although Yamar, you probably want on the right. It doesn't really line up exactly. But there is a world. I think there's a world where we see, especially chasing goals, maybe at home when they are kind of looking for just a different look where we do see some Paul Ariel at right at left back.
Speaker: Yeah, look, I love Paul Arriola. I think that he has found some very needed confidence. He's actually been able to play a significant amount of minutes. I i don't think he had his best game in last night, but...
Speaker: Again, i saw him a little bit tight. I saw him kind second guess himself a bit. So continuity will help that situation. And again, obviously with Jesus coming back, there's going to be a lot of movement happening, but Yes. ah Unfortunately, he would be the odd man out in terms of that attacking triangle or that attacking four. But, you know, left back could be, you know, very interesting. Now, when it comes to the Hassani Snyder discussion, I do think the Hassani is the safer, more conservative, pragmatic choice.
Speaker: But when you get Yamar back, you do you you have the ability to have a Snyder-Burnell, right? Because you have that aggressive, intense defender that is going to be your safety blanket, for lack of a better word, for you know both Jackson Reagan and Alex being able to get forward. And it worked when he was back there supporting Snyder. And and look, people might not know this, even without...
Speaker: being a ah eloquent English speaker, he ever brings a sort of leadership that is almost by trade or by, you know, presence. Yeah. that they He makes people better. He imbues confidence into the entire defensive operation just by being on the field. And that is a type of leadership. Correct. Absolutely. So for me, you know, we could see how Snyder might feel different when maybe if he misses the ball here, there's not that guy that's going to, because you see how quick, he attacks the ball. i mean, you saw it here. yeah I mean, people who are like, Oh man, what was that? was just coming through. So, yeah so effortlessly. So it's going to be interesting. I plays out, but these are all good problems. Now I want to make this very clear because I, heard I saw some comments. You and I are not sitting here telling you guys that this is the, you know,
Speaker: 2022 Champions League Sounders or that this is the ah wing that that the Shield you know, sounders of old, we're not saying that we're, the same thing as the whole playoff stuff. We were like, how could you guys be talking about playoffs? Look, mathematically, he was always there. We were not telling you anything crazy. We were not, you know, but going on a on a limb or, you know, like he was just, there was nothing crazy about what we were just speaking truth. Yeah. And you see where you are now. And I use seventh after this win, same thing goes to what we're saying in terms of the team. What I'm just going to say, seventh with a game in hand and three points behind LAFC for sixth. Sixth is probably as likely as tenth, is more likely than tenth at this point. But anyway, go ahead. LAFC team dad just decided not to go with Andy Rose. Terrible decision, by the way. Terrible. What what are you doing, LAFC? Come on. come on but but But you know what? It's going to be better because then now i don't have to...
Speaker: ah not want LAFC to succeed, right? If Andy Rose takes that job, I'm kind of broken in two because I'm a big Andy Rose guy. So for what it's worth, same thing as the whole playoff talk,
Speaker: what we're saying is that this team is trending in the right direction. And I don't think that's, i don't think there's an argument about it, right? no you Between their play, between their current three game winning streak and the players that they're getting back, it's obvious coming back. But we continue to say that the parameter is the upcoming games on the road, difficult games against top teams in the East. But I just feel like, i don't know if we, maybe I'm crazy that people think that we're just over here with like, I mean, I think this is what the parade planning already. Like right we're not saying that. No, we're not. I think all we can do is discuss what we're seeing and what we're seeing is some positive trend lines.
Speaker: If they start going in the different direction, we will start analyzing that different direction. I think, and I get where people are coming from on this. And I think it's the same thing with the upcoming GM vote, which we don't have to get into a whole lot right now. We have plenty of time to talk about that. But I think what people, people feel hurt by this summer. I think they feel wounded. And I think they want some accountability and accountability for a lot of people is is heads.
Speaker: And I get it. I understand where that's coming from. But all I can do is tell you this was not a perfectly built team. We saw that it was not perfectly built, but the injuries were a real issue. And as those injuries are becoming less and less of an issue,
Speaker: what do you know the roster doesn't look so bad i mean because right now we're already talking about players who we have liked doing what they were doing not getting minutes they might not be making game day rosters it's going to be a very similar situation as last year when we're like is danny leiva even going to get into the game day roster is georgie manungu even going to get into the game day roster once we're fully fit And it's the same thing with Sebastian Gomez. It's the same thing with Peter Kingston. It's ah like Tino Lopez, who we were gushing over at sure had various places this year.
Speaker: Can't get on the field. And he probably might, he might not get on the field. He might not make a game day roster the rest of the year. And that's not a slight on, on Tino Lopez. That's just a reality of what the Sounders roster situation.
Speaker: ah Caden Clark, as good as he's looked is, is probably not going to get as many minutes ah for the next few weeks as he has these last few weeks. That doesn't mean that he suddenly got bad, but I've really liked Caden Clark. I don't know that I can sit here and look you in the eye and say like, he should be playing over. no He should be playing over Paul. orel He should be playing over Sebastian Gomez, who we have a lot invested in at this point.
Speaker: And Sebastian Gomez, by the way, might not be making game day rosters. So it's, ah it's, it is funny how these things work when you're not, when you don't have 10 guys out on injury, your roster looks a lot deeper. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Totally. And Joe, my phone is messing up. So if you could say, check if we have any comments. Oh, we don't. and And I'll just remind everyone. ah We have started doing these shows live for our discord audience. Essentially it's not live to everybody, but we are doing, if you want to watch this show live, we are putting it on discord. We will put it out on video ah shortly after we're done recording.
Speaker: We, of course, will on be on podcast. ah But just as ah as a reminder of how the logistics of this work, ah if you want to engage in the show live, just get into our Discord. And if you are eligible to be in our Discord, just send us an email and we'll get you added. We add people almost every single day. ah That said...
Speaker: ah it's been It's been refreshing, I think, to be able to talk about this team in a positive way. Of course. Doing all of this is just not that fun when you're losing eight in a row.
Speaker: No. And again... There's nothing wrong with a little bit of adversity, but then there's adversity and then there's like the hole that you were in, you know, a bit ago. So there there is a big difference. But to your point, look, I do think that this team and to Brian's point, because he he sounds so sure. I wouldn't want to play the Sounders. No, I'm a team that if I'm Vancouver or, you know, if I'm San Diego or, you know, LAFC or whoever it is that makes it up. LA is kind of on the dumpster. Never mind. But, you know, Houston or whoever, St. Louis, you know, like yeah i don't I don't know if you want to play this Sounders team no matter what, because they have the hierarchy of we've been there, done that, that, you know, you might not think it's a thing, but it is. It's it's absolutely a thing. You could ask, you know, the St. Louis when they were the best team in the Western Conference with Cornell and then they.
Speaker: they didn't do too well because there were teams that had been there done that the Sounders have that ability they have a brand new phenomenal striker one of the best in in in in MLS they are gonna get Jesus back that's a guy that has won a lot of games he's done a lot of MLS I mean this team is really put together to do some damage now again it still needs to be reflected on the field and that's why we're not saying that they're back but I don't think it's crazy for Bryant to say what he's saying No, and right now, if the playoffs started today, the Sounders would be matched up against St. Louis City.
Speaker: That's a tough matchup. Of course. I guarantee St. Louis City is not looking forward to playing the Sounders, who have, by the way, beaten them twice this year. ah If the Sounders can i get into the sixth spot, they would be matched up against FC Dallas right now.
Speaker: ah Dallas is a good team. I guarantee they don't want to play the Sounders. Mm-mm. ah They would much rather play a Rapids or a Galaxy or a Timbers.
Speaker: i Or frankly, probably they'd probably rather play Houston as well, ah who is sinking like a ah rock. They are. ah It is. i don't know what to do with all the stock I bought.
Speaker: yeah yeah So crypto stuff, I'm just sitting there with all this, don't know how to give it away. know ah So I do think, you know, I don't think the Sounders going be favored against any of these teams, but I guarantee that those teams are not looking, they're not licking their chops at a chance to get a piece of the Sounders. So I like where the Sounders are right now. I think getting as high up into the standings has to be a focus, but there's a reality that they also have one of the toughest schedules remaining of all the Western Conference teams.
Speaker: That's just the way it is. right They've got on the road against New England. them' on the road against Dallas. They have games against Houston, LA, almost all teams. I think they only play one or two more teams the rest of the way that are below them in the standings right now.
Speaker: they've They've got some big games ahead, and we're going find out how – look, we can sit here and say this team is for real, We're going to find out if they're for real or not one way or the other.
Speaker: Yeah. Look, going host Houston. You're going to play at Vancouver. And then you finish the the season hosting LAFC. Right. So those are some difficult games. I agree with that. But there is also the pressure of it. In Spanish, we say this is when the potatoes are...
Speaker: hot or they're boiling like this is when all the pressure of the the season comes to but this is what the sounders do right exactly this is one of the things that is one of their superpowers is that they have all of this confidence they have all of this experience it so you know i i just think that they are they're well put together to to win this game i did want to throw a wrench at this um JL, one, i want to know how the experience felt from the stands. And two, you know, were you surprised or are you in any way concerned at the lack of maybe butts in seats that we've seen in some of the latest games, mainly midweek games? But, you know, I just...
Speaker: I don't know if you have a thought. on Yeah. I mean, I have some thoughts on it. I'll say a few things. I don't get to watch a lot of Sounders games from the stands, especially at home. This was actually the first time that I've taken my entire family to a game. So that was kind of fun from a dad perspective. i was we we we got seats in the We upgraded our seats and sat in the club section. So that was kind of ah kind of nice. But I thought the atmosphere was good, even though it didn't feel it didn't feel full. it It wasn't full.
Speaker: It was maybe around half capacity. know the attendance 28.5 or something like that. attendance was twenty eight five or something like that There was probably closer to, you know, 17, 18,000 there. It was very similar to the ah RSL game, frankly.
Speaker: And I don't know. i mean, is it concerning on some level? Sure. It's absolutely concerning, but this is, i say this all the time. This is a league wide issue. yeah The Sounders for a long time had been sort of immune to the midweek i butts in seats crisis.
Speaker: They are no longer immune to that. The midweek games just do not draw as well as weekend games in Seattle. That's, that's a cold, hard fact at this point. And I can't blame anyone for staying away right now.
Speaker: ah I don't know that their turnaround has totally ah gotten into like, Hey, did you know that Seattle times is no longer covering the sounders but on ah on a beat coverage? They're not on broadcast TV. They just don't have the, the juice in the community that they used to have.
Speaker: And I think that this is all reflective of that. I'm not particularly like, it's not, I'm not freaking out about it. I, I, I know that the sound like I, I will say that my kids still had a good time.
Speaker: It was a lot like they came away with grins going ear to ear saying we got to do that again. ah Now, obviously, a lot of that was the result and the exciting ending to the game.
Speaker: But they were having a good time. I don't think it took away from the atmosphere at all. they There was still a lot of excitement. I thought the crowd was still into the game. I had a lot of of lot of fun from that perspective.
Speaker: The first half definitely felt like a and discombobulated mess. I still need to go back and rewatch the game from a higher-up perspective. ah But where we were, i felt like I could see the game okay. So I feel pretty confident in most of my takes at this point.
Speaker: But yeah, i mean, it it was... It wasn't good to have the crowd be like that, but I'm also not, at this point, I just feel like it is kind of what it is. yeah I thought it was less people than RSL. thought that maybe it's because it was Sporting kaas City, and I feel like RSL has more of a Yeah. A building, some build-up fan base here. There were some supporting Kansas City supporters, I know that, watching watching the game this morning. But I just, I don't know. that the I don't know if I'm concerned. What I would say is that, you know, talking to some of the media members in the press box, to me,
Speaker: This is kind of like when COVID happened and it took a while for people to come back yeah into the stadium. This team was here with a really bad summer playing like shit. you Exactly. Totally. And it's going to take some time to get rid of that. Right. And the stink still on you. Right. And and you did great by getting some new players that bring people in and make people believe. And if you continue to be on a run, i think that you're going to see slowly that attendance grow and grow a little bit more. So to me, I hear you guys and I want to bring this up because I got all kinds of comments like, oh, what's going on? This is this is the way that we capitalize on the World Cup. Look, you're not wrong, right? The team wasn't playing well. The, you know, the marketing MLS wasn't amazing to be quite frank, but this, that, or the other, as you mentioned, this fan base, this, this city has always not needed any of that extra stuff. Right. Exactly. Right. Because they were so successful because you had this building fan base and this culture that has gone away for various reasons. But I have no doubt in my mind that as the team continues to play better,
Speaker: that that'll reciprocate to the attendance. Yeah. i I think if they continue on this trend, we could be at a point at the end of the season where we are,
Speaker: not worried about. If they had continued to fall apart, I think this showed how the in-stadium experience was probably going to get worse. And I think it does speak to the importance of being competitive. Sure. And that they can't take for granted that, you know, if anything, I would like to...
Speaker: I get a sense that people are frustrated um like there are a part of this fan base who are frustrated at the turnaround because they were ready for a, you know, a comeuppance that they were ready for the sounders to get slapped in the face. And then that was going to wake them up and they're going to realize hit rock bottom, the hit rock bottom. And that it was, it was all a lie and that it's been bad.
Speaker: And all I can say is one I don't know that there's no guarantee that once you hit rock bottom that you're actually going to get better. That's just sometimes you just die, right? Sure. that's a That's a thing that happens in sports all the time where a team is you you want them to get what they deserve, right? And it and it just doesn't really happen.
Speaker: But what I will also say is the degree to which that there has been a wake up call, I think it has been delivered. I think totally Adrian understands that things can't just be the way they were, that something has to change. I know Craig is in there constantly saying, we got to do, we got to do something different.
Speaker: I know that Brian does not like the summer left a mark. It left a mark on fans. It also left a mark on this organization and the degree to which they are prepared to do something different.
Speaker: I think that has been delivered. Now, We can talk about Renton. We can get into this whole other thing. That's somewhat separate, something that we can deal with. Again, we've I've talked about it myself.
Speaker: We don't need to get into that right now. But I think from a roster-building perspective, i do think they understand that they can't just kind of go forward and as if nothing has changed. Look, I coast on everything you said. I do believe that you fans, everybody who was out there complaining, yelling, just showing your – discussed with the way the team was playing, it resulted in such a big way that Adrian Hanauer was willing to go out there and get a deckie and right you were able to go get a kid in Clark. And now I'm hearing that regardless of the shorter season that we're thinking maybe it was going to be more of a longer trial for a lot of this team and a lot of these players, they're actually...
Speaker: already being pretty active and, and maybe they go after, you know, they have X amount of players. I think it's like four to five that they want to go out there and get, not all are going to come in January, but they're pushing for yeah three or four. And I think, and I think people, what they heard from Craig, when he said that we' we're going to use 2027 sprint season as twenty seven sprint season as like a ah like as a way of getting ready for 27, 28, they heard we're not going to make any changes. I don't think that's what's going to happen. I think they are going to bring players in. They have longer visions for, I don't think what they're going to do is sign a bunch of players who are just going to kind of get them through. They're not going gear up for 2027.
Speaker: But what they are going to do is they they want to know what they have in Sebastian Gomez. They want to sure they have in Stu Hawkins. They want to know what they have in Snyder Burnell. And I think to a lesser degree, they want to know how much like how much is Jordan Morris worth investing in? Is he worth bringing back on an extension? what Or do we need to just let him go?
Speaker: Is Pedro De La Vega going to get healthy? We need to figure these things out. We can't come of 2027 not knowing what's going on with Pedro. We come 2027 not knowing what's going on with Jordan. We can't go out of 2027... not knowing what's going on with jordan we can't go out at twenty twenty seven having Christian Roldan's situation unsettled.
Speaker: I think that's more what he's talking about. Absolutely. So your message has been heard. I think that the front office realizes that. And there is, ah you know, and to me, I feel like the weibble out crowd has slowly silent. And I think that there's less of that out there. I think that, you know, if Craig has kind of broke the code on how to get...
Speaker: Adrian Hanauer on the same page as him. Hey, I think that's, we're just keeping the guy. If, if he's already done all the grind work to get that going. And so look, it's, it's definitely looking up in terms of what the fans want to see, but I absolutely agree.
Speaker: want everyone to feel free to, it is your prerogative to ask for the world and expectation to be as high as it can be. That that is your prerogative. and And I feel like that pushes the club to a certain way. And Jeremiah and i are here just to kind of give you a little bit more of like the the facts and and and what we're kind of seeing. And I don't think, I don't think,
Speaker: we need to come off as telling people that, you know, I think one of the things that is maybe rubbing people wrong is they see some of these outside pundits and I'm not trying to put Matt Doyle on blast or anything like that. And I think he's speaking truthfully, but you know, he says it would be crazy to vote out Craig Weibel.
Speaker: And I think people hear that as it would be crazy for me to vote him out. There's two, there's two things going One is, the vote against Craig may go whatever way it goes. And then there's a nether level to that where it reaches.
Speaker: no this is actually binding and he has to be voted out. right And I think what he's saying is it would be dumb to fire him, but everyone should like, look, vote how you think you should vote. What I will say is that if Craig were to actually be fired, he's,
Speaker: that I don't know that there's a guarantee of it being the kind of change fans want. yeah And there's, I, some fans have told me like, that's fine. They can keep suffering then. And it's like, is that what we want? Like, right. Is that what we want? I don't think it is.
Speaker: I think most fans just want to see the team doing well. and And look, if in some ways, I feel like the best case scenario is that Craig does not get a huge part of the vote, whether it's less than 50% or not.
Speaker: And that just sort of sends a general, it like makes it very clear that fans are not happy. Right. i I do think, though, Craig, ultimately, I hope he is back next year. Yeah. And, you know, this run of games, you know, seems to help. We'll see what that looks like after the New England game. But but to me, you know, there's something to work with here. No, there's something to work with here. And I think that's a one. I think a lot of people had convinced themselves that this roster had been very badly built. And it's becoming obvious that it's not.
Speaker: that badly built. It just had a lot of injuries. Yeah. ah and And we're not basing these on the last three games or oh the fact that they play some pretty bad teams is just the reality. They're on an eight game on beaten street. that's the That's the facts.
Speaker: They have climbed into seventh. I think sixth, seventh is fairly reflective of where they are talent-wise. That's not good enough, but it's not horrible either. You know, they are a mid-table team right now.
Speaker: I think that is... ah Fair. I think we can make an analysis based on this is a mid table team. That does not mean that they are a championship contender necessarily. And we can talk about there's like levels to this, right? Yeah. We don't have to act like it's total garbage. We don't have to act like it's the best team in league either.
Speaker: And we can want them to be the best team. Sure. And hopefully the Sounders and I think they do understand that they need to make some improvements to get to the best team in the league level. 100 and look nobody's throwing a parade by the fact that they're going make the playoffs i think that's the bottom line yeah expectation but you know if they make a run i mean you know then things change so that's the beauty of um mls and look to be honest any sort of tournament that's built with playoffs right mexico people complain all the time like oh you know cruz was able to just kind of walk in and they didn't really do much in the regular season, then they win or America, whatever happens. That's just the way it's built. So if the Sounders got there to make a run, man, I mean, feel free to, to be excited about it. Yeah. hey don't, don't rob yourself. and Don't rob yourself of joy, I guess is what we're trying to say. That's right.
Speaker: ah But I think that's that's basically what we got. any There's not really a lot update-wise injury. Jesus, we're expecting Jesus to be back yes October 10th. Yamar, I'm guessing, is going to be capable of starting by then.
Speaker: ah Snyder Brunel will be back. Dayon will be back. Snyder Brunel, already said to him. Hassani Dotson will be back from the suspension. They're going to pretty close. like The team that comes out on October 10th,
Speaker: might be as close to full strength as they've been all year. And it might be as close to full strength as we'll see all year. Cause we still don't know the timeline on Paul Rothrock's return.
Speaker: It looks like he's the farthest out. He's the farthest out. and he's, you know, he he'll be pushing probably to make it back by playoffs. We don't know, but so like, I think we can assume that this is,
Speaker: you know, fingers crossed they don't have more injuries, but if this is what it looks like, it doesn't, it, it, it's something where there's something here. There's something here. I really believe that. No, I totally agree. And you know, what I have learned this week for, you know, better sense of the, of the segment is the fact that I think Brian's met, sir, it understands that as guys come in,
Speaker: and they continue to get healthy, he has a ah short time to really figure out who are the guys that are going to be dependable moving forward. And so this next couple of games are going to be crucial.
Speaker: to solidify that starting 11. And yeah as much as you and I might think that Yammer is a lockdown in, you know, we'll see what what Brian decides or, you know, same goes for, i don't know, where Jordan's going to play and all these things. I think Decky and the goalkeeper, there's, you know, certain players that might be. Yeah, but for me, I mean, christian obviously...
Speaker: If Yammer starts against New England, that's a big game for him, right? Because he hasn't played in a long time. And and so that's a difficult game. It's a you know difficult test. And so how how does he perform?
Speaker: well We'll see. But I really get where the team is coming from. And as you get players back, he creates competition. And look, Caden Clark, he was okay. But you could tell that he was trying to do a lot. A couple of times he took an extra touch or did an extra move. He knows he has limited time to make an impression. Exactly. And so hopefully they can harness that to create a better team.
Speaker: Absolutely. Well, let's get out of here. I want to say thank you to our sponsor, Full Pull Wines, of course. want to say thank you to the SoccerWise Media Collective for helping make this whole thing happen.
Speaker: ah Be sure to watch but Monday Soundcheck on Mondays at 1 p.m. We go live 1 p.m. Pacific.
Speaker: Nico Moreno and Adam race doing that show. We think it's been a lot of success, a lot of fun. We got really good response from the last episode, especially feedback's been good guys. appreciate it it Definitely do. it And make sure you like share, subscribe, join the YouTube channel for sound or hard, obviously subscribe to everything that has to do with under a hard podcast, everything that that supports local media.
Speaker: As we said, unfortunately, yeah unfortunately we keep losing more and more local media. We're going to miss Jada. We're going to really miss Jada. I think that like, I don't want to get too into it, but it's like, she was really, i think she having her in the press conferences, especially was great. She was always willing to ask questions that wouldn't always get asked otherwise.
Speaker: And would oftentimes, even the questions that did not, seem like great questions to me oftentimes got really good answers and really thoughtful answers because even if if soccer wasn't her we take it for granted some of this absolutely even if soccer wasn't her thing she the way she asked questions and her superpower was to just ask the question she didn't care know she sounded bad or if she was going to absolutely that and that those are good questions to ask absolutely absolutely and maybe we'll get her on the show sometime and we should we should i like that
Speaker: But thank you for listening. Like and subscribe, of course, to the Sounder Heart YouTube channel. Rate us on on your favorite podcast app as well. That's always appreciated. But we should get out of here. I am Jeremiah Oshan. This is Nico Moreno. This is Nos Audietes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And we'll catch you next time.
Speaker: Let's go at Sounders.
