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Lobbing Scorchers: Seattle Sounders' Brain Breaking Match
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After an ideal start to Concacaf Champions Cup, the Seattle Sounders couldn’t quite turn a couple Jordan Morris goals into a win in their season-opening 2-2 draw vs. Charlotte FC. Should you be more encouraged by another solid attacking effort, or more tilted about that highly unfortunate own goal? We debate that as part of our game review, hit our Agenda Check, and check the pulse of the streets.
Later on, we dig into a fun Matchday 1 slate in MLS that gave us a couple of surprise results, as well as a highly comedic showing from the Portland Timbers that delivered us our first Blazing Hot Coach Press Conference of the Week of 2025 (sponsored by Haxan Ferments).
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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
Episode Introduction and Weather Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
Match Analysis: Two-Two Draw with Charlotte FC
00:00:21
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 85 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is ari Lillian Wall and Noah, we have a bit of a tilting draw pod to lay down tonight.
00:00:35
Speaker
How are you feeling? I feel fine Ari. You know, I think this game, uh, it broke a lot of people, but I was not one of them. I'm chilling. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. Yeah. Uh, it's two, two draw versus Charlotte
Sounder at Heart Network Promotion
00:00:47
Speaker
FC. Um, should have been a two, one win, but it's a two, two draw.
00:00:53
Speaker
we're going to break that down every single goal that got scored in that match. And the, uh, broader takeaways that we have from it uh we're going to hit our agenda check we're going to talk about the rest of the match day one slate in mls i think we're probably going to talk a little bit of uh antigua leg two coming up on wednesday so uh we got a jam-packed show it's exciting
Launch of Live Shows and Subscriber Benefits
00:01:16
Speaker
to have the season off and running i know i'm enjoying having the games back are you enjoying having the games back it's nice i hated i hated pre-season man
00:01:24
Speaker
Talking about nothing got so boring. i was I enjoyed preseason because the team was looking good, but I'm certainly ah glad to be to have the real games going. Having CCC going is great, and I'm not going to let the ending of that game harsh my vibe too much of being you know hype on the early season here and
Subscriber Acknowledgments and Community Engagement
00:01:45
Speaker
excited to get going.
00:01:46
Speaker
ah Before we get into all that, though, I do have to let you all know That Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderathart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? That's sounderathart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our links helps support and grow this show.
00:02:14
Speaker
ah Do we have any new subs to thank this week? Oh boy, Ari, do we? We got
Sponsor Shoutouts and YouTube Milestone
00:02:18
Speaker
five. We got five really new supporters. We really looking so surprised. And we are on the push to 100 Sounder at Heart members. That's right.
00:02:29
Speaker
So this is the best time you could ever possibly want. Start of the season. Let's get to 100. Sounderatheart.com. And also, we've been doing live shows.
00:02:40
Speaker
We're now putting those live shows, the audio from those, on the subscriber-only feed. That's the only place they are for the audio. So just another added bonus. But let's let's read these supporters. yeah We're getting that audio and supporting Seattle soccer coverage.
00:02:55
Speaker
Here they are.
Soccer Match Dynamics and Surprising Endings
00:02:56
Speaker
Matthew Montgomery, Phillip Hayhart, Spencer Waller, Alex Kumert, and Lucas Zevers? Zevers? If, uh, if we mispronounce your name, always feel free to, uh, send Noah an email. Yeah. Send me an angry email. It's fine. Um, thank you all so much for the new subscriptions. We really appreciate the support.
00:03:18
Speaker
Uh, shout out to our sponsors hacks on ferments, podium menswear and full pole wines. Uh, holding it down. If you have yet to do so like the video sub to the YouTube, uh, we passed 1500 YouTube subs today, which I was happy to see that.
00:03:34
Speaker
Uh, uh, Lobbing Scorchers kickoff this morning with Nico Moreno was
Team Rotation and Future Match Speculations
00:03:38
Speaker
also well attended. We had a lot of people in the stream really enjoying the live shows. I feel like we've got a good little routine going. I've gotten in the, in the groove of it, the rhythm of it, and it's going to be a great season.
00:03:50
Speaker
Speaker 2 0 0 0 all right let's do the drop pod should we let's do it should we just do draw the pod the banditd off i mean ah i mean as ah as annoying of the ending ah as annoying and ending as this game had, I do think there was a lot of positives to take from this game. So we're going to talk about both the positives and the negatives, uh, as we usually do on our game reviews.
00:04:11
Speaker
Uh, let's do our lineup reaction to start. Uh, it was a little less rotated than I might've expected. I would say, yeah, i agree. It was just, uh, basically the only change was just, uh, Roth rock and Georgie. So two starters basically, yeah.
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, no, exactly. You know what mean? ah But ah with the short turnaround coming back from that long a road trip, I might have thought that it would be even more rotated, but I mean, it was notable that Jesus Ferreira and De La Vega didn't start or play very many minutes in this game. They both came on near the end, but it was only for brief cameos.
00:04:45
Speaker
And I do think that is with an eye towards leg two against Antigua.
Goal Breakdown and Player Contributions
00:04:50
Speaker
I think you'll see both of those players back in the starting 11. I'll be interested to see with the aggregate lead that they do have, if they mix and match and rotate a little bit more than they did for this Charlotte game.
00:05:01
Speaker
Uh, but for this game, it was, uh, it was pretty much the same 11 except for Paul Roth rock and Georgie. So, uh, i was ah I was not totally sure on how that would function on such short rest coming off that long a road trip, but I think we got our answer pretty early.
00:05:21
Speaker
ah Let's do our goal breakdowns and key moments. First goal of this game. Jordan Morris. Yeah. nineteenth minute ah designated player, Jordan Morris designated player, Jordan Morris with his first goal of the season.
00:05:35
Speaker
ah There was another secondary assist for Obed on this play. I believe that's his third across these two first two competitive matches. I think he's been involved in some way in every single one of the goals. Yeah. And I'm a, I'm a secondary assist truther.
00:05:50
Speaker
I'm, I believe that secondary, I believe in secondary assists. I think they're valid assists. So, uh, give Obed the hat trick of assists through these first two games and a Georgie primary, ah Georgie primary assist. This was really a nice goal.
00:06:04
Speaker
It was pretty unstoppable, honestly. I mean, once Obed found Georgie out on the, on the right flank there and he put the delivery in, Uh, and Jordan just got the redirect to it.
Defensive Plays and Set-Piece Goals Impact
00:06:14
Speaker
That was nice. That was clean. And, I think would as, as, uh, as far as Georgie goes, he is showing, ah end product over these first two games. He's got two assists himself, primary assists no joke in, uh, in the first two games.
00:06:28
Speaker
So, uh, the Georgie hype train is not slowing down. i think the thing with him was he was very exciting and fun to watch, but maybe not necessarily, We were waiting for that end product. We were waiting for that end product.
Comparison of Team Performance to Last Season
00:06:42
Speaker
Uh, so he could beat the layout shoe allegations. I think he has to do it over a longer sample size than this, obviously for sure, but, uh, showing consistent end product, uh, would, he would beat the layout shoe allegations if he can do that. And, uh, he's just looked great.
00:06:59
Speaker
These first, uh, these first two games. And it was great to see him and Jordan link up and, really ah that point, uh, I think we were all feeling, we were all feeling pretty good.
00:07:12
Speaker
I thought there might be a drop-off coming off, uh, the short turnaround and the trip back from Guatemala. But to me, those first 20 minutes looked pretty damn good. And they got rewarded for their goal inside the first 20 minutes.
00:07:27
Speaker
which I feel like is such a big change from last season where they, I don't know. It's all a big change from last season. Let's be, let's be Frank. Anything in the attack is, but man, it just felt relenting an attack in that first 20 minutes. And they've, they were controlling the hell out of that game. Yeah.
00:07:46
Speaker
Uh, they were, but Charlotte FC credit to Charlotte FC. They fought back. They equalized in this game, uh, twice actually. But the first time in the 35th minute, uh, this was Adelson Melanda on the, uh, on the header off the corner kick.
00:08:04
Speaker
Uh, think that was, was that Peppi or about it? Peppi. I did not know much about before this game. I knew he existed. That dude is a, That dude's good. Yeah, he's pretty like that good. That dude's pretty damn good. Yeah. ah You know, I watched, ah you know, and we watched all the replays of every goal, but we scored and conceded. I watched this one a few times.
00:08:26
Speaker
I think Charlotte FC might have cooked here. Yeah, this was an insanely good set piece. That was a good set piece. I can't even lie. No, like the whole setup was awesome. like And the delivery. Delivery was nice. He put it right where, like Fry, like,
00:08:40
Speaker
He got caught for sure. Some people were saying he could have punched it. I don't know. ah at at the very least, that is a very, they did a really good job of putting the keeper in a pretty impossible situation. I don't know.
00:08:53
Speaker
I racked my brain for all the ways that that could have been prevented. and I struggled to, to find many, if any. And that is actually the polar opposites. of the equalizer, which we're going to talk about as a highly preventable. So there are two kind of a different goals in, in that sense. But no, I mean, I think, uh, this was an example of a goal, a set piece goal that came against the run of play. And that's, I mean, that's the value of set pieces right there. They showed it. They can get you back in a game that you're kind of struggling to find yourself in. And,
00:09:28
Speaker
They schemed that one up well. And ah I think that's, that's like a GGs though. That was, that was just a good goal by them. ah ah tip your cap for the, ah for the people who are getting annoyed with the lobbing scorchers. Lingo. um Seattle ah to their credit, got the lead back on the other side of halftime.
00:09:48
Speaker
Jordan Morris again, DP strikers gold this time off an assist from DP Albert Rusnak. Uh, Great, great play by the two DPs here.
00:09:59
Speaker
Roostack, this was a DP dime, I would say. hundred That was the vision and the weight on that pass. um look That looked like the Roostack that we saw down the stretch last year.
00:10:14
Speaker
And obviously, you know, you never like to see that for the for the brigade, but right for everyone else, that was great to see. And ah at that point,
00:10:29
Speaker
my mind was, uh, that it's not full on cruise control. You got to go try and get this third, but seeing as how Charlotte's only goal came on a, on a set piece and they really were not, uh, to my eye generating all that much outside of that.
00:10:46
Speaker
I was like, okay, you, oh, you got, just got to go get this third goal, dust this game, uh, get a three, one win. And that'll be that. Like I wasn't really, ah until the very last possible second of this game, I was not really there. The last two minutes, I was not really thinking that Charlotte was going to tie it. How are you feeling after Jordan scored the go ahead? After Jordan scored the go ahead, I was like, oh, this is, this is, this is dusted. We might get another one. We might not. But I was like, there, there's no shot like this. They'll, they'll close this game out. Like it felt, it felt destined.
00:11:21
Speaker
Yeah. um I mean, Jordan's golden count because it got deflected. Right. I'm sorry. yeah I forgot. I forgot to mention we're working on a spreadsheet of goals that count versus goals that don't count. We're going to get some good, good content out of this. ah There there's, there's been a lot of like the goals, not counting stuff so far this season. I think it's because Seattle has scored a lot of goals so far and that's undermining the copium. That's undermining agendas out there. So I would imagine that's probably where, where that came from. But anyway, yeah,
00:11:53
Speaker
2-1 lead. A lot of time left to go, but they controlled the game for the most part. They were looking good on offense. They scored multiple goals. They actually, I thought they, I felt like they kept, they kept firing for the most part, really until ah the last like 10 or so minutes.
00:12:08
Speaker
ten or so minutes And then I feel like that's where some people pointed out they might've gotten a little risk averse. Uh, the play that comes to mind that a lot of people pointed out was the counterattack, uh, where Rusnak had it.
00:12:21
Speaker
And it looked like he had a couple of runners yeah and then pulled it back. People were getting on him for that. And, I think, you know, with hindsight, now that we know how the game ended, maybe you like to see him be a little more aggressive there.
00:12:36
Speaker
I can see what he's thinking, which is that, uh, when you're controlling a game to that degree, ah even if you're only up one goal, sometimes it's arguably not worth, uh, playing overly aggressive and exposing yourself to a potential counterattack.
00:12:55
Speaker
I'm sure he, that was kind of, I'm sure he meant well, I think that was what was going through his head. ah but I definitely can see ah with the one goal lead, how some people could have thought that he should have played that more aggressively. they I mean, they definitely felt like they were trying to change the game state in that final 20 minutes.
00:13:13
Speaker
I don't think that that's a bad thing that what are you supposed to do? I mean, you know, you, you know, you're looking forward towards another game. You know, that if you can retain a little bit more gas in that tank, yeah, that's what you're going to do. That's probably what they practiced as if, Hey, if we're up at the 75th, 80th minute, like let's just close out this game.
00:13:32
Speaker
So, I mean, I don't know what, pet yeah people, I did see people complaining about Albert not being, It's that's, that's silly. It's a nitpick. It's silly to me. um all right, let's talk about this equalizer. No, let's just, let's do this. This is going to be a fun one. Can we even call this an equalizer? Can we just call this like a gift? I said this, uh, I said this this morning on, uh, on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff with Nico.
00:13:58
Speaker
And, uh, I fully acknowledge that this might be recency bias, but I think it's the worst thing. it's, the it's the worst goal. The club's ever conceded. And if it's not the worst goal, the club's ever conceded. It's in the top two to three, not in terms of stakes of the moment, you know, yeah the ones they gave up in the MLS cup they lost or whatever. Yes, those are worst goals to concede. But in terms of just like the raw, like what happened on the sequence,
00:14:24
Speaker
It was very MLS sequel. Like it was something some like hater MLS hater would post on Twitter and be like, look at this. yeah Exactly. Or, uh, uh, it reminded me of what, uh, Maxime Cheneau did my last year a little bit.
00:14:37
Speaker
Uh, but it was, it was, ah it was, it it was, this goal was incredible. It was incredible. It was bad. It was, it was good content. Uh, if for neutral, but, uh, for Seattle, it was, it was quite bad. There were audible groans in the press box. Let's just, uh, well, i think we kind of all, I couldn't believe what I just saw.
00:14:57
Speaker
Like it felt like it came out of nowhere, but I will say coming off that, like you had that Jordan absolute banger goal with that amazing pass from Albert where like everyone was just like, Oh my God, like this, that that's beautiful soccer.
00:15:12
Speaker
Uh, so like to like spike and hit that high and then crash back down to earth and be like, Oh shit. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I will say as soon as that guy took the ball off Jackson Reagan, I think we were all like, Oh no, there it is. Um, this was a, uh, this was a doozy from the CBs. And, you know, i feel like we, uh, we can say that, uh, without it, like taking jabs or anything, because these are two of the best CBs in the, in the league right now.
00:15:44
Speaker
And, I think it was easily the worst play of Jackson Reagan's career. I have a hard time imagining he will ever have a play like this again in his career, just because of like the statistical yeah anomaly of it.
00:15:58
Speaker
And then, yeah, I'm art bless his heart. Uh, he was, he was trying to clear it, but he ended up smashing it directly into his own net. Uh, Jackson Reagan with the header and the back pass. Yeah.
00:16:13
Speaker
But that you you rarely, if ever see that happen to him, ah once on a given play, ah one of those things, let alone both of those things. And that's really, I think that to me, when I look back on it, Noah, that's where it really all fell apart with the header and the backpas back pass back to back.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah. yeah More like Schmetz mentioned that ah it was partially on him too, for not getting back to his spot ah in time to be able to better deal with that ball.
00:16:45
Speaker
I mean, I think, It's at the point where that giveaway happens. It's a fire drill. It's just, uh, you're, you're in chaos management mode and you're trying to do whatever you can to get that ball out of there.
00:16:58
Speaker
The most frustrating thing about the highlight though, is that if you, I mean, if you watch where the ball was going to go, if you, I'm our hadn't taken his leg out, the the runner, the Charlotte runner was not going to get there. In fact, Alex rolled on, had that completely covered. Yeah. If it either missed Yammer's leg or if he had just not stuck his leg out at all.
00:17:16
Speaker
i But i doesn't he doesn't know that. He doesn't know that. He doesn't know that. So I get why i get why he did it, but it still just made it all the more tilting to watch it back when you're like, this did not need to happen. This did not need to happen. And I think that's what broke a lot of people online was like, they were freaking out about Jackson and Yamar and like, what oh, Yamar's had two awful games. i'm like, outside of this...
00:17:41
Speaker
Basically, last ditch effort defending where nine times out of 10, you're clearing that ball and it's not going in the back of the net. Not even nine times out of 10, like 19. How many times have you seen Yamar make a tackle like that or a last ditch ever to clear the ball and it goes wide or it goes above the net or whatever?
00:17:58
Speaker
Right. Like and somehow this one just happened to be an absolute banger in the back of our own net. Like, what are you going to That shit happens sometimes. What are you going to do? That's soccer, baby. And you know, it's funny. I saw, uh, I was watching the, uh, top in 90, post game reaction show and a lot of Charlotte has FC fans were talking about how their, their own goal equalizer like doesn't count. Yeah. I mean, like that this is this, this, so, uh,
00:18:23
Speaker
This is what the, uh, this what LAFC fans and some Sounders fans were trying to do in the playoffs last year. They were saying the Chanel own goal. That was, I don't understand. i mean, i I don't understand a lot about the, the deciding which goals do and don't count thing that people do and have been doing a lot.
00:18:40
Speaker
So far this season, you deserve the win or not. but like Okay. First of all, when they were trying to do it with the Chanel thing, and this applies to Yimar too, like how the hell are you going to have your center back bam your, uh, ban the ball into their own goal.
00:18:53
Speaker
And you're going to make that someone else's problem. Like, Oh, Well, that's you. You got lucky. All right. All right. I mean, you shouldn't have damn right. You shouldn't have bam that into your own net. But the other thing is like, uh, because these are, those are actually pretty similar plays.
00:19:06
Speaker
Like you, you make your own luck by putting the ball in dangerous situations and putting the CB under pressure, you know, like soccer, that's like how you can get goals like that. And, uh, those app, like I can tell you for a fact, they literally, they literally on the scoreboard, they do count.
00:19:21
Speaker
they unlike They don't. As much as we both would have liked that goal to not count. they it they took It counted. They took a point home. Yeah. they They had one goal. Before they had a good goal.
00:19:34
Speaker
And then when the own goal happened, that increased to two. Yeah. So if you're arguing that the own goals don't count, which a lot of people are arguing, that is not. You're wrong. Accurate. That's it's just not.
00:19:47
Speaker
That's just not true. It's not true. it Doesn't work. So ah guys, I think what you're thinking about is XGRE, the goals that aren't real versus. RG real goals.
00:19:59
Speaker
This goal, this goal counted. This was an RG. This was an RG. ah And that's a, ah that is a two, two draw. Seattle settles for a point in a game where it's, this was, you know, every draw, it's either going to feel like ah a a draw that feels like a wind or a draw. It feels like a loss. yeah This is a draw that feels like a loss because, uh, I mean, you have to dust that game. You have to dust that game.
00:20:20
Speaker
Other key moments. Uh, the big one that comes, uh, comes to mind to me, Noah is, was this sequence in the 72nd? Uh, this was when Seattle was still looking, they were looking sharp, I think going for this third goal in men, this goal would have been, this would have been, imagine if they had scored this one.
00:20:37
Speaker
I mean, the ah the one touching, the pinging the ball, interplay, it was Georgie to Albert to Obed for just a great look on goal.
00:20:48
Speaker
ah Obed gets it on target a little too close to Kalina, but it actually deflected off Kalina and it was rolling. And i I thought it was going in. i thought it was going in It was a good save. It went, ah but he... i He didn't have to reach like that far. It was a good save, but it wasn't like he had to go full extension and it almost rolled in, ah but it didn't.
00:21:14
Speaker
If that goes in, I mean, then the, ah then the last own goal doesn't matter. And that's sort of, uh, that's why you push for the third goal and you never, you're playing with fire with the one goal lead, stuff like that can happen. But the other best chance that Seattle had in this game that didn't go in was this 27th minute set piece where i think it was like a short quarter to Rusnak. You remember the, yeah or from Rusnak to Georgie.
00:21:41
Speaker
back to Rusnak Rusnak with a really nice dime to, uh, Yamar at the far post. He was offside. Yeah, he was off. He was off on the play, but it was a really well designed and well executed set piece besides him being offside.
00:21:55
Speaker
Um, But ah I liked to see that because this was one of the best set piece teams in the league, if not the best set piece team in the league last year. And ah i would like to see that continue into this year.
00:22:10
Speaker
And Albert Rusnak was a big part of that last year, obviously. And his delivery on that play was clean. Like, yeah, well I really i was happy to see that because I felt like the. ah The set pieces against Antigua were not razor sharp yet, which first game ah not necessarily wouldn't necessarily expect them to be. So I was happy to ah see them scheme one up like that. for That was a really good look. Yeah, it was. ah And also knew who got a yellow. He got a yellow card. Literally 58 seconds. That was so funny. I was like, Oh God, what are we doing?
00:22:44
Speaker
and I mean, yeah, like Rusevac was like arguing with the ref about, he's like, it's his first foul. Like you could read his lips. He's like, it's the first foul, but it's like, all right. I, if you If you put yourself in a situation where the ref is even considering the first minute, yeah I've never seen the first minute yellow. First minute yellow is ah first and rare is sick.
00:23:01
Speaker
that That's super rare. That's a good that's a good milestone. I don't think i don't know if I've ever seen a first minute yellow. um All right. Let's do Lobbing Scorchers, Man of the Match, now that we've ah gotten through the recap.
00:23:14
Speaker
ah Do you want to go first? I'll go first. I wrote down mine. my My man of the match is a little bit of a vindicating one because I hear so much shit on this player.
00:23:27
Speaker
And I like, I guess I get it. But also at the same time, I'm i'm very confused. he He's a very serviceable player. He works his ass off. And this game was nonetheless. Alex rolled on.
00:23:38
Speaker
He is my loving scorcher's man of the match. 90% completed passes. He had a shot on target. He was all over the field creating chances, closing people down. ah He created three chances. He won all of his tackles. He won all of his duels and won three of four aerial duels. I mean, that's as dominant of a game as you want from a wingback.
00:24:01
Speaker
And I'm sorry, man. I keep hearing this, Alex Rodon is ass. We need to switch him out for literally anyone. Put a college kid out there. I've heard the sentiments, man. You're wrong. This is a good player. This is a very good player.
00:24:14
Speaker
And I know that his shine is not going to get talked about because it's just, that's just like what you're, I don't even know if you're expected to do that. He had a lights out performance. And I think Christian did as well, but I was going to say, I think Christian was equally good. I think that's a good shout though. You brought the, to you brought the stats with that. I brought the stats. You brought the stats big stats guy over. I honestly like without ah without those stats. I wouldn't I don't think I would have realized that he yeah had that good a game, but which like I was noticing it the whole match, but I was like, I wonder like how I can convey this and they made these things are I had never heard of them before.
00:24:49
Speaker
but they're called statistics and they do actually bear out. Like I'm glad you discovered this. It's pretty sick. Yeah. That's, that's pretty cool. Yeah. No, that's a good poll. ah Mine is Rousnac. I know that, I know that people are clinging to this one counter attack that he, that he pulled back or whatever.
00:25:06
Speaker
I thought this was arguably his best game since he took over as the, as the full time 10. Like I really thought he was that on point, that effective, that dangerous.
00:25:18
Speaker
um The assist was great. His delivery on that set piece I was talking about was great. ah I thought he just looked, I thought he just looked on it and really ah he and Jordan both. I mean, they looked like ah they looked like designated players. No, they, they did actually both look like designated players. I think you could probably give a shout to Jordan too, but obviously everyone else is going to get the shine on that.
00:25:41
Speaker
ah Yeah, yeah. he I mean, Jordan did have the two goals, so we ah we should point that out. Really nice finish on the on the first one. And then the Kalina...
00:25:53
Speaker
Kalina a bad dude for almost saving that. Yeah. Like when Jordan has gotten pretty, uh, I feel like he's got this rep among some people as like, he flubs a lot of breakaways.
00:26:05
Speaker
I feel like, um, when I see him in that situation these days, dating back to last year, at least I feel pretty confident he's going to finish that. And also, did you notice, okay. Did you notice how, when he was running onto the ball from Ruse snack instead of trying to take a touch to set himself up and then shooting, he let it run and then just like first timed it yeah giving Kalina less time to close down on him.
00:26:33
Speaker
Kalina is insane. yeah Probably the, I think he is the best goalkeeper in the league right now. I think you saw that in this game l and he's still got a hand to it and almost saved it. yeah But I liked how Jordan took that shot as opposed to, I feel like, I don't know, I could be wrong, but I feel like in past years,
00:26:49
Speaker
The times where he has flubbed breakaways, it's because he's taken too extra of a touch. And ah that time he just let it rip and it went in. I think that like even more important to that, because this was something that I noticed as well with that play, was the ball from Russnack. It was like perfect perfectly weighted to the point where when it comes to Jordan, it has enough like of a backspin to kind of just fall and roll at the same pace that he's running.
00:27:15
Speaker
And I think that that has a lot to do with it. It's like when you're playing a breakaway man like Jordan, playing that ball in, especially on wet, slick turf, like you kind of have to take a touch on it. And it just goes to show you how good Rusnak is to be able to anticipate that, be in sync with Jordan and play legitimately the perfect ball. Like I i noticed that too, but I think it has more to do with with Albert than Jordan, but also Jordan acknowledging that like, whoa, this is a really fucking good ball.
00:27:45
Speaker
Their chemistry has looked great so far. i mean, how many years did we watch Nico hit those through balls exactly like that for Jordan? I feel like Jordan and Albert got ah like closer to that level yeah last year. Their chemistry was a lot better, but it's looked great so far in preseason in these first couple...
00:28:03
Speaker
I guess the Antigua game wasn't Jordan's best game, but it didn't end up mattering. He was being like a serviceable workhorse. He was not being well actually. ah Yeah. Cause people were getting on him for like ghosting that game or whatever.
00:28:16
Speaker
If you watch the areola goal, the reason that space opened up is because Jordan carried the center back. yeah Like it go watch it again. If you haven't seen the highlight that goal, or ah that that goal arguably doesn't happen unless he is carrying, ah carrying that CB like with the decoy run. And I think this goes to show this goes to prove what we were talking about last season with like the reasons why you would resign Albert is how do you integrate someone in his position to get that chemistry ready and going from the jump from February? You play games in February.
00:28:50
Speaker
What do you think? Someone's going to get integrated in three weeks. No, it's not going to happen. And you have to think about that. when you have to when you're arguing ah that like passionately that they should have moved off him or that he needs to be even made arguments about that.
00:29:03
Speaker
But it was like we were also acknowledging there's a world in which keeping him makes the most sense. Even if you can upgrade, quote unquote. And I think I least speaking for myself, you know, my take on the whole Roostneck debate has evolved.
00:29:15
Speaker
You're right. Like last year we did, uh, we did echo a lot of the sentiments that he was good, not great. Right. Like more of a 10 player there were times where that was true. That like last, that's what it looked like. The trajectory was for the first part of last year, but he, I, I I'll, I'll take, I'll happily take that out. Like he proved us wrong. Like he played like a DP produced like a DP,
00:29:39
Speaker
Got signed as a DP. And I mean, I love how he's looking so far. ah Let's do positives and negatives. Did you like that from the last one? I did. I enjoyed kind of Okay. We're going to try that. Dubs and L's? Maybe we should rename this Dubs and L's? Dubs and L's for the... we We had a commenter who said that they can't listen to us anymore, guys, because we say DubPod too much, which, I mean, to that commenter,
00:30:05
Speaker
I'm sorry that you don't like the ah Lobbing Scorchers language, but we are absolutely not under any circumstances that I could possibly fathom going to stop saying that. Yeah. There's just no way.
00:30:18
Speaker
you You need to not listen to our show. You give these commenters an inch and they take a mile, Ari. What are your dubs? Okay. Positives. Dubs. ah This is my biggest one, Noah. This is my biggest one. They're fun to watch.
00:30:31
Speaker
that game was fun to watch. It was entertaining. ah like how many of those shows that I was talking about last year that, uh, when the off in this offense was really struggling, how many times did we say like, just like set the results aside, just be entertaining. Yeah. Just play fun soccer. Yeah. Like that sequence I was talking about where Obed had that chance where they were, uh, they were pinging it around and the, yeah, you do that.
00:30:55
Speaker
Yeah. That's what I want to see. Do that. And, uh, kick it to the fast guys like Georgie and Jordan and let them run really fast and score goals and just be, just be a fun, entertaining, ah products to watch on the field. Uh, that's what I've been enjoying the most so far this season. I hope they sustain it. You know, it's only been two games, but, uh, as tilting as the ending was like, I really enjoyed watching that game. I thought it was a fun game to watch. I was locked in and they were, uh, they were playing really well.
00:31:28
Speaker
So yeah, The crowd was into the game too. Yeah. Like I think that's, that's something that's genuinely like you can, you can use as a, as a little bit of a barometer of where they're at. The crowd was getting so like, when you hear people getting really loud and getting really excited off these chances, you It tells you that people are excited to watch this game and it was exciting to watch, you know, people, I think also people are feeling so like down about this as well because it was a fun game to watch because they had scored. They deserved the, but yeah, because they felt like they deserved it. And I will, maybe we can talk about this. maybe What, what, fuck it. I'm just going to say it now.
00:32:07
Speaker
Jeremiah brought this up to me when we were walking back to the light rail. He said, I don't think that fans enjoy losing by multiple like three, two or tying three, three, then one nil loss or a one. I've taken issue with that talking point as well.
00:32:24
Speaker
It's about winning. It's about winning. Like I, you don't want to be the Chicago fire, ah team, a team that can score goals and look like a good attacking team and play fun soccer sometimes, but then, uh, can't stop leaking goals and loses most of their games, like four to two or four to three. You don't want to be that. And I realized there's less extreme, but like there's middle ground there. Right. I think just in, in principle, like,
00:32:52
Speaker
I take the 1-0 win over the 4-3 loss. I don't even know what we're like debating with that. Yeah. But i mean, i mean like it's ah people would rather lose people generally say that they would rather lose a game and have their team score multiple goals versus their team lose by one goal and it's like or draw nil-nil or something.
00:33:12
Speaker
I don't, I mean, Jeremiah said that he disagrees. He thinks that the, that it doesn't really matter either way. People are going to be tilted, which I tend to agree with. Uh, I don't know. It's just, I guess that's all to say, like, I think that's why people here, you watch a really exciting game and somehow it actually makes it worse.
00:33:32
Speaker
it somehow makes it worse because it it made that result feel worse yeah for sure. Uh, at least in the moment. And then I think, uh, after sleeping on it, I was able to kind of be like, all right, that, that, that, that was a good game.
00:33:45
Speaker
i felt like I was taking the crazy pills a little bit. I was like, this was not a bad result. This was a good game. It was a bad result, but it was not a bad performance. I didn't even think it was. I think it was. a yeah I guess a home draw in your home opener when you were leading in the 93rd is a bad result. Like there's no way around that.
00:34:00
Speaker
But ah it's it's ah it's the XG theory. You know, it sounds like you're coming around to performance as it pertains to results. Like you're it's the same thing. It's the same thing. Definitely not the same thing. It absolutely is. All X. i Oh, my God. We're going to do the XG debate.
00:34:16
Speaker
XG is fake. All it is, all it is, is an interpretation of performance compared to results, which is exactly the same thing that you're talking about. Yeah, I don't you're saying. That's true. My other positive.
00:34:29
Speaker
So I think, I think we, we both agree at least that this was a really good attacking performance. We were happy with what we saw on offense. Uh, this was the first game of the season. So there's no frame of reference for this right now, but this was one of the better defensive teams in the league last year that Seattle was playing.
00:34:50
Speaker
um There's not much of a reason to think that they're going to have a sustained drop off and be a super poor defensive team this year. They have the best goalkeeper in the league who I think had his skills on full display.
00:35:02
Speaker
And if you just look at the statistics, ah this box score is exactly the type of box score that you, that you want to see in a, in a game where you're outplaying your opponent by a lot.
00:35:16
Speaker
um Seattle almost 60 40 the possession, the XG shout out XG, not real. The XG 1.77, which is excellent. Total shots at 18 to seven ah shots on target seven to one big chances two to one.
00:35:30
Speaker
ah This was, this is a big one. i think accurate passes. Seattle had 514, 88% completion rate to three for Charlotte, When you see a, uh, that big of a disparity in possession and like passing numbers, and then also an XG number that high, that pretty much, that pretty much shows that one team was clearly dominating the other. I think that was absolutely bared out by the eye test in this game. Sometimes they don't match this time. I feel like, uh, they did.
00:36:03
Speaker
Um, so, The fact that they, that Seattle was able to put, uh, put together numbers like that against a team that's as good on defense as this team. I don't think they're going to play very many teams this year that, uh, are better defensively than this team.
00:36:18
Speaker
The fact that they put up those numbers against this team, that, That has my attention. That has my attention. It was great to see they got to sustain it, but that's, I mean, that's good. That's like, that's how you want to play in a game like that. And, uh, that opposition was no joke, man. That's the thing. Like, uh,
00:36:37
Speaker
They have, they they have some big boy CBs. They have that one midfielder. Who's like six foot five. Kalina is a beast. So I've liked seeing them do what they did against this type of competition. You can't do the, it was like ah the goals don't count. Cause it was against like so-and-so thing.
00:36:54
Speaker
Cause this team is good. They're great at defense. So that was good to see other positive. The DPs balled out the Jordan Rusnak or the Morris Rusnak duo was cooking.
00:37:06
Speaker
ah two goals for Jordan, great assist for Albert. And Albert was my man of the match. So that was great to see. And then the last one I have is Georgie on the stat sheet, Georgie, which end product from Georgie, like we were talking about is that's great.
00:37:21
Speaker
That's great. He's looking really good so far. ah Negatives. I mean, obviously the, that last goal, like just can't happen. Like when you're that close to the final whistle,
00:37:34
Speaker
you got dust the game. You got dust the game. I know that's easy to say from the press box, but I think, I think the guys on the team and Schmetzer, I know Schmetzer because of his post game presser he would tell you that they need to dust that game.
00:37:47
Speaker
And I think the, and we haven't talked about this as much, but I think the reason that it kind of, uh, conjured up so many negative feelings. And I can understand this is that there were too many draw points at home last year.
00:38:01
Speaker
They had like what, like seven draws or something at home last year. They had a couple of zero zeros. Uh, so I think that, uh, I understand that it might've felt like kind of a continuation of the same thing that we, uh, I mean, well, okay. Um,
00:38:17
Speaker
well okay in the, in the results. And in so far as the results was the same as some of those results. But I, I agree with what you were getting at, which that was what I was going to get at, yeah which is that, uh, the people out there who are arguing like, Oh, this was, ah like deja vu of last year. I think, uh, Jeremiah's post game column said, don't call it deja vu. Uh, this was nothing like last year at all.
00:38:41
Speaker
Like even remotely, Like last year, period of time we're talking about, they could not score multiple goals a game. They looked awful. They were, they looked terrible. Yeah. Like they were not playing well, like in attack, they were playing good on defense, but like in attack, they were not good in this game. They were quite good in attack. So like, I don't know. I just thought the, thought the comparison that a lot of people were making that like it's deja vu to last year. I thought that was insane that this game literally reminded me of last year, not one iota.
00:39:21
Speaker
I think people just want to hate. I really do. i think that there's a contingent of people who are just so tilted all the time. Or like, I don't know, they just there's just some contrarian sect of people. This is this goes along with the brigade, but...
00:39:37
Speaker
I'm just like, man, what what do you what do you so what do you see in this game that makes you so concerned that you're like throwing a tantrum already one game into the season? I can understand throwing a tantrum about the equalizer. I can't about the overall performance. I don't even get that though. It was a vibe. It was a fluke goal. But it was a vibe. It was a vibe killer. It was, but like, if you look at that game and you say, okay, we gave away ah corner, a beautiful played corner. Like I'm watching that. I'm like, I'm not mad at that. What the hell? Like that's, that is actually beautiful set piece design and play. And you know, how many times in a game is that going to happen? It's not often. That was beautiful.
00:40:22
Speaker
And, And then you have this fluke goal with your two best defenders. And, you know, like, i just don't I don't, I don't get it. I don't get it. Things happen in sports. Like, results like this happen.
00:40:35
Speaker
And, like, the fact that people are already like, okay, it's game one and it's the same exact thing from last year. While also watching Jordan Morris score two of his better goals that I've ever seen him score.
00:40:45
Speaker
It's like, what are you talking about? What are you, why are you so upset? Why do you watch this team? It's a good question. I just think it's, it ah it was bothering me so much, man. I'm like, this was not a bad result. I agree with the most of what you're saying.
00:41:03
Speaker
I'm, I guess what I would say is I'm not, I'm not surprised, honestly, at, a at how hot the emotions got because that was that level. or I mean, that sucks. The ending of that game sucked. It did. Like I, I'd like to draw, but like,
00:41:23
Speaker
what is What is this game in the sphere of the 400 matches we're going to play this season? What is this in the sphere of like what it actually tells you about the team? which these first three games I'm sorry, the first three games in and MLS are more about figuring out what the hell is going on.
00:41:41
Speaker
than anything. If you look at the results around the league, there were 10 times worse results. There were games where you have, you have so San Jose is first in the West right now. Folks does do we, should we just end the season right now and take all of those results as a indictment on what the teams are? I'm going to have to look at the San Jose goals that they've scored make sure that they all count.
00:42:02
Speaker
If there was any like deflect. There might've been like some deflections in there or own goals. I'm not sure I'm buying that much. I haven't looked I haven't watched those highlights. So just, you know what? End the season. Now let the San Jose earthquakes play the Columbus crew. They're both in first.
00:42:17
Speaker
They're clearly the two best. They're clearly too. I just, um I know I'm going on this rant, but it's like, if you are so mad about this game that you're just, you're ready to make a decision on what this team is or isn't,
00:42:30
Speaker
like you're, you're kind of just insane. You're dumb. Um, my last negative was just that, uh, I think you can ding them for not getting the third goal. They, uh, that's fair. They, if you get that third the game's over, game's over. So, uh, which I don't know. I don't know if it's about like the fact that they let up or anything, but just, uh,
00:42:54
Speaker
Generally speaking, in that situation, you if you get the third, you don't put yourself in this situation where that concession drops you those points. um Do you want to do your own positives negatives or should we head hit agenda check? I'll hit one more, one more negative, I guess. I think I hate to say it, but I think there are a couple of players, maybe just one who we love on this podcast who didn't, who didn't shine the brightest in this match. I don't think Paul Rothrock had his best game, which just made me sad because know, it's our boy.
00:43:23
Speaker
But ah other than that, i I'm not offended but i thought it wasn't the best Rothrock or Georgie game, honestly. I know Georgie the- Georgie tallied the assist. yeah He had the assist. But other than that, I thought ah he had a couple other good moments.
00:43:37
Speaker
But charlote Charlotte was much more equipped to deal with him than Antigua was. That's sure. like ah he would He wasn't bad, but it wasn't like like the Antigua game was freaking electric. and yeah like it wasn he It wasn't like that. And I was talking to tim Foss, Standard Heart contributor about this too in the, in the press box during this. I was like, the reason that this match is like, feels like such a, a dark light on Paul Rothrock is like the sample size of Paul Rothrock is like, you put him out there, he scores, yeah but he's only played like what he beat plays, played like 40 matches total.
00:44:12
Speaker
40 yeah 44 matches 11 goals i mean that's a crazy that's a crazy amount for a guy who's basically a backup or was considered or was considered a backup mls next yeah pro like fringe player yeah yeah no like um and then i guess my positive is um i actually think this team is good so yeah whoa whoa there wo I don't think this is controversial. Sorry. Sorry to say ah right. Let's hit our agenda. Check. Looks like we got through. Okay. You're working on some work and some in as we've people in the, uh, in on blue sky and my mentions had the Georgie should start agenda. So let's talk about that. Let's do it. Um, I mean, feel like the, anyone, like any agenda around a starting spot, like there's so many games and so much rotation right now. Like,
00:45:02
Speaker
everyone's going to be getting chances to start, but I guess let's, we'll, I'll answer this in the spirit of the question, which is like, he's one of the best 11 on this team. And in a first choice, 11, he should be in there. I'm assuming that's the agenda. Yeah. Uh, I mean, it's tough for me to say that in a front four that, uh,
00:45:20
Speaker
has the Morris Rusnak duo, Jesus Ferreira, De La Vega, like all looking pretty damn good so far. But I, I think what I would say is the fact that he's made this a discussion, like an actual credible discussion buy two games into the year shows like what type of stuff he's on right now. Like he's, he looks, uh, he's my favorite player on the team to watch right now from a like pure entertainment perspective.
00:45:47
Speaker
Yeah, he is. I think if you're looking at the agenda, it was like a. I think it also took a little bit of a dive because La Vega had an uptick. You know what I mean? Like that was when I was arguing with.
00:46:01
Speaker
I was arguing for this agenda last season when I De La Vega was effectively doing nothing. I was like, Georgie should be starting over him. Georgie should be starting over him. And now it's like, I think that took a hit.
00:46:13
Speaker
I think that he's still performing well. And I think that it's it's nice to be able to give him some run on these, you know, different games where in different situations where, you know, Pedro's just not going to play every single game.
00:46:27
Speaker
I think the agenda's up, but I think it's it's still like middle level. Like if you got the thermometer, it's like right in the middle. Like we're hitting like 50 degrees, you know, not shorts weather yet. I can, I can agree with that. ah We have the Sounders defenses is sus.
00:46:44
Speaker
Oh yeah. Agenda. A couple people were perpetuating that one. There've been some bad concessions so far. So I understand where the agenda comes from. The concession in in Guatemala was not good.
00:46:59
Speaker
ah And then this own goal was just ridiculous. I'm not i don't think this agenda is going to have legs until it's it's two games. Right. So that is the pot on the stove. That is ah too small a sample size to be declaring them. Sus yet.
00:47:16
Speaker
ah If they if if we get five, six, seven games into the season and that stuff is still happening, then this agenda will be will be a thing. But I'm not goingnna i'm not going to call that off of two bad concessions early in the season when that's when concessions like that are most likely to happen. like yeah so Yeah. i had I had rewritten what you had said to Sounders no longer have the best defense agenda.
00:47:42
Speaker
But I think... you know I was quoting someone. so Yeah, you or you were quoting someone. I had changed it for my own selfish reasons because I felt that was made way more ah inflammatory. But I think...
00:47:55
Speaker
the The pot is on the stove, Ari. you know The pasta is sitting out. It's up to them to to figure out if they're we're going to turn the burner on or off. You know what i mean? it's I'm not ready to perpetuate it, that's for sure, but...
00:48:09
Speaker
I can see it. It's in the rear view mirror. I said this to Nico this morning, but, uh, that own goal was just so ridiculous that I like, I can't take it seriously as a source of outrage. Like that's how yeah we got. That's how crazy a sequence of events that was.
00:48:30
Speaker
And more than like, more than that, like how confident I am that that's not going to recur consistently. If that recurs consistently, Honestly, this season will be entertaining in a not good way, but in a different way. Yeah. If if they're doing stuff like that. I just really, i yeah. Like this team, if this team turns into like the 2019 to 2021 LA galaxy, we're literally like, or galaxy ah the Chicago fire of the last like six years. It did remind me of a Chicago fire. It was a Chicago yeah it was a chicago fire moment.
00:49:05
Speaker
Like it was it really was. That is guys. That is, I'm telling you, I'm telling you that is literally what Chicago fire fans. That's what happens to them every single week, every single week. And they lose the games. It's not to draw. They like, loses they do it. And they'll go up three goals. So I just want you to picture the feeling that you had after Yamar put that in the back of his own net and imagine that feeling every single game, except is to lose the game, draw.
00:49:32
Speaker
draw And you live, that is what it's like being a Chicago fire fan that that's worse than what you all experienced in this game. Learn some empathy. Yeah. Empathize with our friends, the Chicago fire.
00:49:46
Speaker
Uh, all right. No, you got your couple of agendas. What got? My first agenda, Jordan Morris golden boot winner agenda? Question mark? Ari. Jordan Morris is leading the ah the golden boot race right now with two goals.
00:50:00
Speaker
He may be tied with seven other people, but you know what? It doesn't matter. I'm here to perpetuate this agenda because he is my number nine and has been.
00:50:11
Speaker
For while. as As Tim pointed out, he has more goals than ah Kevin Denke, who FC Cincinnati paid $16 million dollars for. So I think what we can definitively for a fact conclude is that Jordan Morris is better than Kevin Denke. Yeah.
00:50:28
Speaker
Will he win the golden boot? That's my agenda. Maybe. and would be It would be cool. Oh, man. If he even made a run at it, it would be... that would be fun for us. Yeah. Because of how hot the...
00:50:42
Speaker
if he If he makes a run at Golden Boot, there's going to be a lot of people who had a lot to say about his contract. I don't expect anyone will have the humility and integrity to ah to retract their takes, but if he if he makes a run at the Golden book Boot, they really should.
00:51:00
Speaker
He'll never win the golden boot because he doesn't take penalties, but I do appreciate this agenda as just something that I will start purveying. And when he's dropping off the face of the the list, then I will pretend like I never said anything like that. That's fair. My other agenda, Roldan is the best defensive mid in MLS agenda.
00:51:21
Speaker
Ooh, this was actually a ah Doyle agenda that you're appropriating, but i expand. You're right. and i think that Christian Roldan is a monster.
00:51:33
Speaker
I think that he is, as always, an underrated player making not that much money and in the grand scheme of things. Could be a Compared to me he is, but compared Well, I mean, compared to, yeah. But I'm saying like this could be, a he could be a DP realistically on another team.
00:51:50
Speaker
Yeah. And I, and I think that this season he's going to show more than ever that he might just be ah best 11 candidate. He had so many, ah so many great plays in this game.
00:52:05
Speaker
ah He had this one. So, you know, his like patented move where he shields, uh, shield guys off the ball and win possession. He had one of the best ones of those I've ever seen where the Charlotte FC guy was like trying to dribble and Christian just beat him to the spot where the ball was and just got him way out of there. and just won the ball so easily. It was so satisfying to watch and he's just so good at that.
00:52:28
Speaker
And then also the amount of running, like, uh, even i would say even more so since Nico left the team, like he has to do if it was possible, like even more running than he did previously.
00:52:42
Speaker
And i just went in super balls when when someone gets caught up the field and there's ground to be covered, he's just hauling ass back to the other end of the field, like laying it all on the line for the team every single play. So I love this agenda.
00:52:57
Speaker
And I think if he keeps playing like this all year, this could be like I think he looks like he's playing some of his best ball right now. like It really does. really does yeah It really does. And he's you know he's back into this defensive midfield position.
00:53:13
Speaker
He works so well with Obed. God, that double pivot is so nice. It's so nice. It's just what a what a what a situation we're blessed with, Ari. I love both the Roldan brothers, but...
00:53:27
Speaker
Obviously I'm, uh, I'm looking forward forward to Obed getting, sold from the standpoint of 35 million for 35 million. Cause that's going to be numbers going to be great for his career and it's going to be great for Craig wives, but I am ah going to miss that double pivot.
00:53:43
Speaker
It's such a good double. It's so good, man. Um, all right. I'm going to move on to our next segment, which I've renamed. This is we usually, uh, we call it just questions. I've renamed it.
00:53:54
Speaker
It's called pulse of the streets. Uh, this is my crowdsourcing from blue sky. If you give us like a car horn sound effect. meet me or oh man i just did uh i just did the i did the road runner yeah all right i'm gonna leave it at that that was beautiful pulse of the streets uh where i uh collect all your questions takes observations and agendas on blue sky then we pick a handful ah if i miss your question take observation or agenda uh don't stop submitting them it's the reason i'm calling it pulse of the streets is because i i like to just uh it's a vibe check like
00:54:29
Speaker
I like to see how you all are feeling about the game that just took place about the team in general. So, follow me on blue sky. Cause I quit Twitter and, at jumping my mentions after every one of these games. And then maybe, uh, yours will end up on here at re.lobbingscorchers.com on blue sky, on blue sky.
00:54:48
Speaker
This first pulse comes from Rory, whose heartbeat is beaten. And we are taking a stethoscope right in there. And Rory says, frustrating.
00:54:59
Speaker
At least we're fun to watch again. Yeah, simple and short comment, but I wanted to include it because that Rory was my exact, that was exactly what was going through my head at the end of the game when I was trying to, cop it was copium.
00:55:11
Speaker
It was copium. I was sitting there and I was like, God, that freaking leveler is really upsetting. But God damn it, that game was, that was fun.
00:55:21
Speaker
Yeah. That was like, I and enjoyed being at that sporting event. That's why I feel like I'm such a freak because I was not mad at the end of that game. Because I was like, that was good soccer, man. Yeah. That was good. it's outside of Outside of a one-minute span of time where I'm totally happy to mend in black out of my brain.
00:55:40
Speaker
and to you know Not even that. Three touches. Yeah. it ah I think it took me until the next morning. to get there. Um, when i've got more passion than i do what I'm going do is that, uh, like if this team is as good as we think and hope it can be this year and they end up as shield contenders, they're making runs of trophies and stuff and winning as many games as we think they can, we will be able to look back on this and it'll be funny.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, it would funny. It will. I wouldn't describe it as funny right now because i do like the two points they dropped is it's unfortunate. It is. But if that turns out to like not matter, which I don't think it will, then I'm going to, I don't think I'm going to look back on that own goal positively, but I will.
00:56:24
Speaker
but I mean, I already am kind of laughing at it. It was, it's funny. It's, it it looked like if I was a neutral watching that, I would think it's hilarious. I'd be like, what are we doing? I can't, i can't like lie and say that I would not, you know, so yeah I totally get that. Anyway, this next pulse, we're going into the operating room.
00:56:44
Speaker
I got to hook them up to pull, pull somater. don't, I'm not a doctor. I did my podcaster. Pashias says, very unfortunate series of three mistakes at the end do you think jackson and yamar were too complacent in that situation or were they just tired and made a physical mistake also miami tide at home but equalized in the end and were're super happy fans cheering etc same result for seattle but emotionally down and rather than up which type is more concerning for a home team Yeah. Good questions here. Uh, let's, uh, let's take the first one first, uh, to complacent in that situation or were they just tired and made a physical mistake?
00:57:24
Speaker
I think it's the latter. Like, uh, I don't think it was complacency. I think, uh, those are the moments in the game where it's the hardest to be on it. Like, yeah.
00:57:35
Speaker
And you, you, that's where it's like the most crucial to not let up, not have any lapses. And, uh, Jackson just had a, he, he had a bad moment. And I think it was, if I had to attribute it to something, it probably was fatigue.
00:57:51
Speaker
He was like, I don't want to bag on the guy too much. He was a defender of the year finalists last year. And he played all 90 minutes of both of these games coming back on short rest. That was the literal, like last sequence of the game.
00:58:04
Speaker
Like, uh, it doesn't make it any less tilting, but, uh, I don't know. I have a hard time, lighting them up too badly. Yeah. retweet also post, uh, Miami. So yeah, it's a good point. Like Miami, they had, they got a red card 20 minutes into their game, uh, and then had to get a last second goal to salvage a two, two draw versus NYC.
00:58:31
Speaker
Messi had the assist. It was some random kid that they signed who scored it. But, uh, Yeah. It's just what it is, is the difference between a draw that feels like a loss and a draw that feels like a win. Like Miami was down a man and we're about to lose at home.
00:58:46
Speaker
So they were, I think more than happy to take that point. But with Seattle, it's just, uh, I don't think it's, I don't think either one is more or less concerning than the other. I think it's just, uh, it's just the, what were the two types of draw?
00:59:03
Speaker
I think that I would rather, Dom. I don't know. I think they've, they're both their draws. They're both draw pods. You know, it's like, what are you going to do? One point, but not all draws are created equal. Yeah, it's true. And at least in terms of vibes.
00:59:18
Speaker
It's true. This next one comes from Trevor. Wait, hold on, Trevor. Give me your, give me your arm. I'm putting my fingers on the pulse of your, there you go that of your veins here.
00:59:29
Speaker
Trevor says, what was Rusnak thinking in the 80th ish minute when he had Morris? And I think Areola ahead of him on a breakaway against one defender, but decided to hold the ball and play it back.
00:59:39
Speaker
Yeah. So this was the one we were talking about earlier and several people brought up what Trevor brought up. I think what he was thinking is that, uh, being overly aggressive in this situation is arguably not as good an idea as chilling out, you know, because they were, they were busting forward in that situation.
01:00:01
Speaker
And, ah if Charlotte FC gets back on a counter right there, he, I think he was trying, probably trying to guard against that. That is probably what he was trying to do. And I think the reason why it kind of looms large in hindsight is because they gave up that goal at the end.
01:00:16
Speaker
But ah I don't think he was. ah ah He was. I don't think it's like he's being like too conservative. I think he was trying to. think he's just trying to be smart. Yeah, I think that's exactly it is. He was just trying to.
01:00:30
Speaker
I don't know. Ask him. Yeah. I don't know. Ask him. But like, I mean, the reality is I think either he didn't think he was going to be able to play the ball incorrectly or he thought, okay, we're, we're spread too wide. We're way too open to the counter attack.
01:00:43
Speaker
I mean, he's a smart player. He understands what the scoreline is. he and He clearly doesn't want to draw the game, you know, but there's a there's you kind of have to figure that out. Also, 80th minute.
01:00:54
Speaker
Do you want to slow down the game? Does that make more sense to slow down the game? Because if you're confident that you can score, it's OK to slow down the game a little bit. You know what I'm saying? But I'm not I'm not sure what he was thinking.
01:01:08
Speaker
Maybe we should maybe we should get to training one of these days and really put the put some do some real investigative journalism. And this last one, JT, I don't have another. Do you have a pulse pun for me?
01:01:20
Speaker
I don't. Yeah, we'll we'll have to works we'll have to workshop these. But JT, who I also took into the operating room, but he's dead now, unfortunately. I'm not a very good doctor. Did Obed Vargas's value increase or decrease this game? $20 million. $22 million. dollars Are you been saying 20?
01:01:38
Speaker
So it stayed the same? Is that what you're saying? Well, actually, secondary assist. Yeah. Twenty two million. dollars yeah Twenty two million. Twenty two million dollars. There we go. All right. We're going to take a quick ad ad break.
01:01:50
Speaker
We'll be right back.
01:01:56
Speaker
Welcome back. Oh, my God. Ari, weren't those ads so good? Great ads. Great ads. And if you if you skipped our ads, we know. I feel like they're so good that people don't skip. Like if you, I'm just saying, if you skipped them, you better rewind and go back and listen. Cause we know, and we're going to come for you.
01:02:15
Speaker
All right, Ari, we have a little bit of news to get to regarding, you know, everyone's favorite team to the south of us, the United States national team. As you know, we're up north ah because we are Canada fans.
01:02:29
Speaker
um The U.S. men's national team, they have released their CONCACAF Nations League shortlist. So this is like a 60 players who they might call up. I don't know. They're like, this is our vibes based picks.
01:02:43
Speaker
How many will they actually call in? You know, TBD. But I thought it was interesting. There were three players on this list, Ari. Jesus Ferreira, Jackson Reagan.
01:02:55
Speaker
And who would you think would be the third person? A man who is um almost a villain to U.S. Men's National Team fans, Ari.
01:03:07
Speaker
I mean, I know, uh, I know the answer, but go ahead and, uh, Jordan Morris, Jordan Morris on the short list. Jordan Morris is on the short list for the national team. That rocks. Honestly. Yeah, that's great.
01:03:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's I love that. I love that because it brings the bots unhappiness in that. Uh, that's a, that's a boon for us. Um, So is the question here, could Jordan Morris be making it back into the rotation for the USMNT with his ah but the continuation of his current form?
01:03:38
Speaker
I think so. Why not? I think we've both been arguing that like he should be at least in consideration. like Okay, obviously like we're biased. I say this like slightly tongue-in-cheek, and i don't I honestly don't really care about this issue, so you can flame us if you want for these takes, and I don't i don't give a shit.
01:03:58
Speaker
But like he's... He's a better striker than like pretty much, you know, I mean, maybe, you know, right. Baligan over him, but like, probably not yeah like Peppy and who's even in the mix right now. Like a Haji, right. Or yeah whatever. Like he's got more goals than those guys.
01:04:15
Speaker
He plays against central American opponents, but that's like a, I think that's like the biggest joke of, all the Jordan Morris, USMNT discourse over the years is that for however hot it's been, like, if you just look at how he's played, like when he's gotten called in he's done like pretty well. He's been pretty good. He's been a pretty good international striker.
01:04:37
Speaker
He has 11 goals and 55 caps, which isn't like amazing, but it's, it's pretty good. And he's got a few assists. I know he at least has the one assist to Jesus Ferreira against Mexico. So like he's been, ah I'm literally among the more productive attackers of this last era that we've been talking about literally saved the U.S. men's national team and World Cup qualifying as a college student as a college student.
01:05:02
Speaker
I'm sorry. What are we talking about, man? This is this is not only just silly. He is a top talent in Major League Soccer. He is a really good striker and he's someone who understands and plays in CONCACAF matches.
01:05:17
Speaker
If you're going to play in CONCACAF Nations League, which I don't even know what that is, to be honest with you. What is that? That's some, said some tournament. They just making this shit up. There's just a new thing every day, but it's like, if you want someone to play against Trinidad and Tobago, he's a better pick for that for a nation's league squad than Haji. w Right. i write i do I mean, I'm out of the loop. I don't know who these guys are anymore, but yeah, it's a, well, it's like, yeah. do you want your Italian players?
01:05:44
Speaker
You're basically your dudes playing in in Italy ah to come in. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just think he deserves a shot because he's been in really good form and not even not even just that. He's now playing with Jesus Ferreira, who is a day in and day out player for this national team. Maybe he's not A1, but he's A2. Okay. well yeah Because like I... ah I'm honestly not sure what Ferreira's USMNT stock is right now. ah
01:06:18
Speaker
like I know that he ah he was previously a staple, but I felt like part of the issue of maybe why he wanted to go to FC Dallas was he's like trying to get back into that mix. but yeah I don't know. Like I said, I'm out of the loop. 23 games, 15 goals from Jesus Ferreira on the US National Team. Right, and everyone says that they don't count because they came against the Caribbean or whatever.
01:06:39
Speaker
But then it's like, well, then why was why didn't everyone else score that much? Why is he the only one who scored that much? If it's that easy, if it's that easy to do, why didn't other others do it? I mean i don't know. i'm just i don't know i and and I'll say this too. you know If you're a U.S. men's national team fan and you think Oh, I hate myself and my life, and i all I do is complain all the time.
01:07:05
Speaker
um You saw, right? Greg Berhalter did not want to call Jordan Morrison. You hated Greg Berhalter. You did not want to call him in. And now you have your new guy. You have your guy, the guy who you wanted.
01:07:19
Speaker
If he calls in Jordan Morris. Yeah. What are you going to What are you going to do? You're to say poke doesn't know what he's doing. Yeah. You're going to say, you're going to say Pocatino doesn't know what he's talking about. Cause I mean, i want to, I would like to be in that room. That's kind of the funny thing is like, uh, like the bots, like aren't allowed. They aren't allowed to question poke.
01:07:36
Speaker
So it's like, uh, did you see how he called in the, uh, the dude from, uh, COS CF Montreal who oh yeah joined a men's league punched a guy in the face, got kicked out of the men's league and got his contract terminated MLS. And then played like dog. And yeah, so i don't I didn't even, that's all I knew of this guy. I didn't know he had US eligibility.
01:07:58
Speaker
I didn't know anything really at all about him as a player. All I heard was that he joined a men's, which this story was insane. yep We didn't talk about this enough at the time. He literally, that you can look this up.
01:08:09
Speaker
You can look this up. I'm not embellishing this at all. He joined a men's league in Montreal or like a rec league Uh, gotten a, gotten a fight on the field in the game, punched a guy in the face, got kicked out of the rec league. They found out who he was told CF Montreal, and then his contract got terminated by MLS.
01:08:29
Speaker
That's all I knew of him or had heard of him. I never heard of him again after that. The next time I see this guy poke has called him in for the USMNT and he's just out there running around.
01:08:40
Speaker
ah he did, uh, He did something that was like insanely bad. me i think he just was, it's a really bad
Men's League Face Puncher: Performance and Potential
01:08:47
Speaker
path. He was, he just had one of the ah most horrible shifts I have ever seen to the point where I was like, I like, I don't really, i don't know about this poke thing. Like it's probably a good hire. I don't But then I'm like, is this, what what is this?
01:09:02
Speaker
Like you're, we're calling in the, uh, the men's league face puncher guy, like who really has no pedigree. isn't He's not rated well at all. As far as I can tell, like what is going on with this?
01:09:16
Speaker
And, uh, and then he scored like a incredibly sick goal at the end of the game that I think people, it salvaged the optics of it a little bit. It really shouldn't have. it makes no sense that they got that that goal doesn't count. If Jordan Morris is gold, just don't count that one. Sure. It's all doesn't against the nobody's, but also like, I don't know, far be it for me to question these things, but are we really to believe that the men's league face puncher guy is also like an elite talent. Who's going to be a needle mover at the international level.
01:09:50
Speaker
I, if you're trying to sell that, I just don't know if I'm buying it. I don't know if I'm buying that. I don't think I am. i don't think I'm buying that. I just don't. I, yeah. Jordan Morris better than the face puncher guy.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yes. Like, come on 2025. Come on. Even the bots can admit that you got to admit you like, there's just no way the face puncher guy should be in the fold. Yeah. What are we talking
MLS vs. USMNT: Player Release Controversy
01:10:13
Speaker
about? Uh, this brings me to my next question, uh, related to this.
01:10:17
Speaker
There's been a little bit of a kerfuffle between and MLS and mainly I will say the Sounders and the U S Ben's national team. Jordan Morris on that list. Jesus Ferrer on that list. Jackson and Reagan on the list. All of this in the throes of what is essentially the busiest season of all time for the Sounders.
01:10:36
Speaker
Do we think the Sounders are going to let any of their players go to Nation League? I mean, I think if your players... really want to go, and you should let them go.
01:10:47
Speaker
Like, that's a bit... That is a big enough tournament where if they want to go play in it, I think you got to go let them go play in it. ah Will they? ah feel like Seattle over the years has... I mean, this Jackson-Reagan situation, notwithstanding, like, I feel like if a guy ah is really passionate about their aspirations at the international level, maybe there's been individual situations where they haven't let a guy go when their schedule... When they feel like their schedule has dictated But...
01:11:14
Speaker
but I feel like they would let him go. Yeah. I mean, maybe we'll see. We'll see. I'm not super high on that. They're going let people go, but that's what that's. It would be sick if they didn't.
01:11:25
Speaker
I mean, i like the yeah I think the only person that realistically you would be like, okay, fine, is Jackson Reagan, just to build some more goodwill, because I think he wants to play on the national team, and you kind of kind of held him out. he you he in a right He was not happy about that. Yeah, I mean, the Sounders kind of screwed him. I'm sorry. like You were arguing that it was the USMNT, I i mean i don't really even think I had a take on it, because I'm
USMNT Critique from a Canadian Perspective
01:11:50
Speaker
Canadian. Well, we were clowning on US soccer, which I think was merited, but I do think... ah The Sounders need to hold some of the bag. They they they do hold some of the bag. Yeah, that's enough USMNT punditry. We're Canadian fans. We haven't gotten into USMNT punditry in a while. That was terrible. Let's not do that again.
01:12:07
Speaker
All right, let's jump around
Charlotte FC's Strong MLS Season Start
01:12:09
Speaker
the league. There is a lot of interesting results in match day one. So I got my winners and losers. All right. So ah we're back, baby. we're back.
01:12:18
Speaker
Let's ah let's dive in. to the rest of the results for match day one in MLS for the winners. I've got, i decided to, uh, give a nod to Charlotte FC respect to Charlotte FC.
01:12:32
Speaker
Uh, it's a good team. I think they're going to be a good ass team this year. They got that. They got a really good result. Even if the, their fans think the own goal doesn't count or whatever, uh, they got They got a banger result in that game. I think they're going to be good this year.
01:12:46
Speaker
And ah that's a
Atlanta United's Victory and Season Optimism
01:12:50
Speaker
GG's. That's a GG's. That set piece was nice. Kalina is good. It was a good result.
01:12:59
Speaker
Next winner, San Jose Earthquakes.
01:13:04
Speaker
4-0 on RSL. Top of the West. Time will tell. is Top of the Shield race. Top of the Shield race. Time will tell. Someone take a screenshot. Time will tell if this was ah indicative of San Jose being good or Army and RSL. They might be just that bad. They might just, we'll see you next week. They might be wooden spoon contending, yep but even like ah that doesn't quakes fans should not, that should not take the shine off the, that result at all.
01:13:31
Speaker
They bammed. They looked phenomenal and Bruce. I think the bump is back. Yeah, Bruce Arena is back back. And I think the most interesting thing about it was um they ah they put up a four spot and Chicho and Joseph didn't even score. it was like ah It was like the whole gang outside of those two guys. And apparently Christian Espinoza was going off. So the Quakes, after your wooden spooning and giving up 80 goals, you can't really start it off much better than they did.
01:14:02
Speaker
Um, and then Atlanta United, Atlanta United, uh, they got a three, two win over CF Montreal. And, uh, they've been my pick to take a leap in the Eastern conference. I think most
San Jose Earthquakes' 4-0 Victory: Strength or Weakness?
01:14:15
Speaker
people are pretty high on their off season, but they got two goals from latte Loth, which, so he's, uh, uh, he's tied with Jordan Morris for the golden boot lead.
01:14:24
Speaker
Uh, and they only spent $22 million dollars on him. So, uh, the Atlanta United rehabilitation project off to a good start. Noah, you got anyone for winners that, uh, I didn't mention.
01:14:36
Speaker
No, I'm right there in agreement with you. I think it's so hard to pick winners on week one, but, uh, the quakes, man, that's an interesting one because I was a doubter. I will say I've been,
01:14:47
Speaker
a little bit confused as to why people were putting them up so high. Cause it's like, how do you go from that bad? What the, like the gap that they gave up a hundred goals. yeah Like what, what are we talking about to, to now?
01:15:01
Speaker
Yeah. And never people, I was kind of on the same page because people were like, Oh, like what a great, what great business they pulled by getting Chicho Arango and Joseph Martinez. What a striker duo that could be. And I'm like, they literally gave up 80 goals. Mm-hmm.
01:15:16
Speaker
I would not have even thought about a striker until I just like did everything could. Two Two DPCBs. Seriously, man. like that like when you give When you give up 80, I don't know how you handle that.
01:15:29
Speaker
yeah You have a lot of questions that you should be asking yourself that are... existential beyond major league soccer. If you have a season where you give up 80, but like your absolute number one priority has to be not giving up that, not giving up 80 again. yeah And I wasn't sure if they had done enough to, uh, to remedy that.
01:15:50
Speaker
And, uh, we'll see if they did. it is also funny because the quakes, none of their stars scored. That's right it was randos. Yeah, like there it was all their randos. Yeah. yeah Which is just tight. That's tight. Like some dude named Ricketts.
01:16:01
Speaker
Yeah. Not Tulsane or what's the, who's the other one? Donovan. Donovan. It's a new Ricketts. New Ricketts has entered the chat. Jamar. Jamar.
Portland Timbers' Struggles and Player Upheaval
01:16:10
Speaker
um All right.
01:16:12
Speaker
Ready to the losers? This is going to be fun. I love the losers. This one, this off the top right here. Noah. I can see this document. The Portland Timbys. Woo. Woo. Woo.
01:16:24
Speaker
It takes, it did it gives me no joy to report, Ari. i I don't even know what to say. Like, obviously there's so much clowning that could be done, but it's like, I feel like it's almost, it's almost a bad taste. I don't even know if it's bad taste. It's just, it's just like you don't even need to because it speaks for itself to such a profound degree. Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:53
Speaker
I think we all knew that they were in a tough spot with their literally Vander drama. Uh, they lost their best player and got the new guy in like two days before the season. So that was always probably going to be ah shit show. Uh, they didn't make a lot of changes to a team last year that scored a lot of goals, but was pretty erratic.
01:17:18
Speaker
um They enjoyed giving up a lot of goals too. Yeah. They conceded a lot of goals. They lost to the Vancouver white caps. Like what was it like five, zero or six, zero, six, zero zero, six, zero at home when they should have been on the road in the playoffs. That's why Evander got fed up and forced his way out of the club. So things were bad is my point.
01:17:37
Speaker
They were already bad before this season opener, um which they were coincidentally enough playing at home against the Vancouver white caps again.
Red Card Incident and Controlling Match Outcomes
01:17:47
Speaker
And it did not go well. No, it did not go well for one, a red card in the 11th minute.
01:17:55
Speaker
And, ah Like they were trying, like Phil Neves was trying to blame the red card after, like he was basically saying and like, Oh, well the red card chalked it. Like it was, it was whatever, you know, right we'll get 11 back on the field next week and take it from there. Kind of sentiment.
01:18:11
Speaker
It was deeper than that. It was, it was like in, in a, in a season opener at home, For that to be what you put out on the field?
01:18:24
Speaker
That's...
01:18:28
Speaker
Like I said, like... it just I mean, I don't know. I don't know what to say. I don't know what they do about that. I mean... Luckily, not my concern.
01:18:39
Speaker
the the The Whitecaps in their last two meetings with Portland have now scored nine goals on them. it's It's been nine to one. They let Jaden Nelson put up three assists and a goal on them in this game. ja didn't nel didn't Jaden Nelson is not that... he's give I mean, yeah he could be good. He's not that good. No, he was player of the match week.
01:19:02
Speaker
They made him look like Messi. Yeah. Yeah. this ja nelson His foot mob ranking was like best player in the entire league. Yeah. And to like potentially in the world. think that Jaden Nelson is the best player in the entire league?
01:19:16
Speaker
probably Probably not. Could be. um we could be Apparently he might be. if If they get to play the Portland Timbers every week, absolutely. i mean, i just we're going to get to it in the blazing hot presser, but Jesus Christ. That was incredible. um The Chicago Fire are back.
01:19:32
Speaker
They're so back. God, I love the Chicago fire. My favorite team in the league, uh, besides Seattle yeah for different reasons. Uh, the most entertaining team ah every year. They're, uh, they're, they're the best they're the best. They rock the, this game, this first game of the Greg Berhalter era, they have been ah another one of those popular pit where everyone's like, Oh, Berhalter's there. They made this move, this there. And I I'm like, Chicago fire. They're a meme until proven otherwise. Uh, they went to Columbus, took the lead twice. Noah, they did it twice.
01:20:09
Speaker
One zero and two, one, uh, Brian Gutierrez, their star homegrown, getting both goals. He was looking, he was looking awesome. Uh, they, uh, gave up the lead both times, shockingly, and then ended up losing four to They couldn't be more back. They couldn't like so when Seattle played Chicago last year, I famously predicted exactly what was going to happen.
01:20:31
Speaker
I said they were going to score the first goal and then concede the equalizer and people after, after it literally happened exactly like that, people were like, damn, that was pretty good. Like, how did you, it's because they do that. if they yeah You don't need to predict anything.
01:20:43
Speaker
They, uh, they do that every game. yeah I've never seen anything like it. I really haven't like, uh, they did it all like like last year, pretty much every week.
Chicago Fire's Pattern of Mistakes
01:20:54
Speaker
And then the first game of this year, I, I presume after an entire off season, trying to like get out of that identity, they immediately do it again, immediately, immediately. It's incredible. They're so back.
01:21:05
Speaker
I, I just got to know, we, you know, we talked about the USMNT earlier and, uh, I mean, if you're a if you're a Greg hater, this is about the perfect place for him to be the the head coach of.
01:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, ah we'll see how fast. I think he can maybe make this better. i don't know. it's It seems like... a It's gotten to the point where that it's like in their DNA.
01:21:32
Speaker
Yeah. you know And that's really hard to change. like You need what ah Garth Lagerwey said they did in Atlanta. I think the term he used was full-scale cultural overhaul. Yeah. An exorcism, perhaps. you literally that's You need that. Have they thought about bringing in a priest? Yeah.
01:21:51
Speaker
We joke, but I don't know. At this point, I don't know how else they solve this.
Orlando City's Defeat and Coaching Questions
01:21:56
Speaker
And then my last loser, Orlando City laid an egg. They got blown out by the Philly Union. Yeah. and they gave ah It was like four to two or something. Have you heard anyone be like talking about the union?
01:22:08
Speaker
Like they're any kind of contender? No. Like they were, if anything, probably picked. to they They fired Jim C. They hired Bradley C. Yeah. And... ah I think, I don't know. I figure that's like a fine hire, but it wasn't, it wasn't like a knock it out of the park type of thing. So I didn't think they good. yeah And I, that's another one of those situations where I don't know if they're that good or if Orlando is that bad, but ah I got Orlando and losers for this week because when you take a result like that at home to start your season, it's not what you want. Not a great look folks, not a great look.
01:22:40
Speaker
And that is a good segue into our first season.
Phil Neville's Focus on Controllables
01:22:45
Speaker
blazing hot press blazing hot coach presser. ah Let's try that again, Ari. Okay. That is a good segue to our first blazing hot coach press conference of the week sponsored by hacks on ferments by hacks and ferments. Lombings, gorgeous.com slash H a X a N. Exactly. Thank you, Noah.
01:23:07
Speaker
This week's blazing hot coach press conference of the week goes to our friend, Phil Neville. Phil Neves had to get on the podium after this absolute debacle at Providence Park. Getting waxed. And match day one.
01:23:22
Speaker
Honestly, um like, the whole presser itself wasn't... Super like he wasn't throwing a tantrum or calling players out like screaming and yelling or or anything like that or belittling the ref.
01:23:36
Speaker
um But I think his overall tone and demeanor warrants his selection for this week. We'll play a little bit of it for you right here. You can soak in the Phil Neves presser.
01:23:47
Speaker
Phil, take it away. Can you just describe to me the emotion you're feeling right now about this game? Because it it doesn't feel like fiery or angry. So I just want to know. like no because I don't want to make excuses.
01:23:58
Speaker
i I can come in here and I can say i can say x Y, is Z about certain situations in the game. and you know and But like I say, the we'd worked really hard all season about being ah about being a really good defensive unit, about being compact shape and one ball over the top.
01:24:16
Speaker
cost us the game. And I say it costs us the game because they didn't score, but the going down to 10 men cost us the game. So that's poor positioning, poor defending, poor, you know, it's not sticking to the game plan. So ah that for me is is is all I'm thinking at this moment in time is how how we can improve that because because we can't we can't do anything. We can't control anything about what the referee does. We can't control anything about what the opposition do.
01:24:37
Speaker
we can We can control our own emotions and feelings. And my emotions and feelings tonight is is that Fundamentally, that piece of defending for that instant that cost us the game and the first goal, that's not on the referee. We we can call, we can say what we want about Victor, the referee.
01:24:52
Speaker
ah We can be here all night talking about how you know about some of the decisions, but really, at the end of the day, Victor victor didn't make that decision. Victor didn't you know didn't stay with his run. Victor didn't make the pass for the first goal. so So for me, I say control the things that we can control. And we can sit here and hide behind the the referee, which probably in ah in a season, probably I will do.
01:25:12
Speaker
but But that's not for today because, you know what, at the end of the day, even though I have real strong opinions on what i saw by but by the referee, we lost that game ourselves, not the referee.
01:25:23
Speaker
We'll wrap there. Thank you, Phil. There you have it from the man himself, Phil Neville. Friend of the pod. Great start to the season for the Portland Timbies. Love to see it. um All right, Noah.
01:25:35
Speaker
I think we can actually call it right there. I had a couple other things written down, but it was nothing important, and we've been we've been at it for a while. So yeah why don't we just... ah Wrapper up right there for episode 85. Thank you all, as always, for tuning in. We really appreciate the support.
01:25:52
Speaker
We've seen a lot of growth, Noah, over the last just even two weeks, I would say. Our our YouTube has gotten a lot bigger. our download numbers are doing great. So ah glad you all are enjoying the content and enjoying the show.
01:26:04
Speaker
We're excited to keep making it. Like, comment, subscribe, write us reviews. Yeah, we need some more
Audience Engagement and Creative Reviews
01:26:11
Speaker
reviews. I think that's our new our new okay hot button issue is,
01:26:15
Speaker
go right Go write us some reviews. Write us a poem. If you write us a poem in the reviews, we'll read it on pod. sub to the Sub to the YouTube. Follow the Instagram, please. i The Instagram credibility has gone up, but now it's like plateau. We need more hype on IG.
01:26:31
Speaker
I think that's it. We're going to get out of here on that. I'll be back at it for Under the Lights. Live show Thursday, 7.30 Don't miss that. We'll also have another pod midweek. Let's do a pod midweek. Yeah, sure. I mean, yeah, yeah. Why not?
01:26:50
Speaker
Until then, we out. Peace.