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Episode 254: Winning is actually nice
57 Plays8 years ago
A lot has happened in the two weeks since we last record. The Sounders have played three!!!! games, going 2-1-0, have lost a bunch of players to international duty and are apparently about to lose another.
To help us unpack all of this stuff, we brought on friend of the show Richard Farley. He shares some thoughts on what he sees as Brian Schmetzer’s tendency to over-indulge the multi-faceted tools at his disposal and gives us some insight on what kind of team the Portland Timbers are likely to field for Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match.
Of course, we also take a bunch of your questions.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", Hounds of the Wild Hunt - “Ragged All Week”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorships
00:00:00
Speaker
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00:00:23
Speaker
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00:00:48
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this.
00:01:13
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Aria Disc, sponsored by Full Pull Wines, Constellation & Company, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verdi Credit Union, Designer's Marble, and her broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios.
Seattle Sounders' Recent Matches and Performance
00:01:37
Speaker
This is episode 254 and we're recording on Tuesday, June 6, 2017. I am your host, Jeremy O'Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our producer, Lickit. Also joining us on the show is Richard Farley.
00:01:48
Speaker
It's been a pretty wild two weeks since we last recorded. The Sounders beat the Timbers 1-0 at home, went on the road and were promptly thrashed 3-0 by the Columbus crew, then bounced back to beat the Houston Dynamo 1-0, a team that had been in first place earlier in the week. Those two wins weren't exactly pretty, but the Sounders do go into the international break, technically in a playoff spot, albeit
00:02:10
Speaker
I think seventh in points per game. You know, you look at this 15 games through the season, it's not exactly the halfway point, but it in some ways is like a mental halfway point because of this break. And, you know, start with you, Aaron. What are you feeling about the Sounders chances? Does this feel like a playoff team to you?
00:02:29
Speaker
I think they will be. It's easy to forget, I think, how bad things were last year because it started as a running joke and then became a little bit less of a joke. But it was always like, well, it doesn't matter how we do early in the season. We can always just go on a run after the transfer window.
00:02:48
Speaker
But right now, the Sounders aren't anywhere close to being in as much trouble as they were last season. I think they're pretty much equal with the pace last season, but this is pretty much the point in the year where everything just kind of fell apart. So if they can avoid that, they'll go into the secondary transfer window,
00:03:11
Speaker
you know, in pretty decent position right now they're above the red line. The West is pretty mediocre. The gap, I think the Sounders are six points back of first place in the West right now. Six points back. So, you know, I mean, I think that I think it's probably a playoff team. I think that as, you know, the team gets healthy, as Brad Evans, you know, gets back to health is Roman Torres gets back to his best.
00:03:37
Speaker
As Jordan Morris hopefully gets back to his best You know that they're probably gonna perform much better the defense I think has been you know When it's been even at half strength, it's been pretty good all season And you know those thrashings the last three games on the road. I think it's
00:03:56
Speaker
Seven one goal differential Is not ten to one ten to one? Oh, yeah, that's that was just those two games was the seven away So yeah, that's not good But you know, I mean in those games the defense was pretty heavily compromised And there were a lot of inexperienced players also around the pitch so You know, I feel I feel okay about it as long as they can stay reasonably healthy in the back line, I mean I think that
00:04:25
Speaker
You know, this team has shown that if they have close to full strength defensively, the thing right now wins. The lack of goals is certainly a concern, a huge concern. But I think there are reasons to think that that's going to improve even before any additions are made.
00:04:43
Speaker
I don't think they're going to have to come close to striking Nico Ledero type gold in the secondary transfer window to be able to get into playoffs. That said, if they go on another run of two, three points in their next four or five games, it's a pretty huge problem. But for now, I think things are okay. Not great, but I think they're okay.
Team Analysis: Strategies and Player Roles
00:05:08
Speaker
So I'm going to pat myself on the back. I had a line in the last story I wrote where I said, the sounders have been kind of a Jekyll and Hyde team, except for that does a disservice to the, oh, I just blew my own line. I should have written that down. But they've been 10 to one, they've been down on the road the last three games. In the same span, they won three games, one zero.
00:05:34
Speaker
So 3-0 at home, they haven't given up a goal at home in that time. One of the big differences is Brad Evans at right back. He started the three games at home, started those three shutouts. He did not start any of the three games on the road. He actually didn't play significant minutes in any of those three games either. Richard, how important do you think Brad Evans is to this
00:06:00
Speaker
is to this team and is that just a coincidence and I guess also what do you think of this defense? I mean I think he's important if they are going to count on him right like if he's part of your best 11 and you don't have a really good backup plan for him as we've seen throughout the first two months of the season he's super important but if you go into a year
00:06:22
Speaker
kind of constructing your roster from scratch, Brad Evans at this point of his career isn't a talent that you can't replace. But that's just hypothetical at this point. The way the Sounders are right now, unless they make a move for right back in July, Brad Evans is going to be a reasonably important part of the team, either because they don't have somebody that can replace him or they have to move a bunch of people around in order to get a decent solution back there.
00:06:45
Speaker
I don't think that's the worst place to be in, though. I think Brad Evans is still a good player, particularly in the role that they've carved out for him in this roster. Not surprised at all that the back line looks a lot different with him there. I won't be surprised at all that when the pieces kind of settle into their normal positions, that going forward he adds something and adds a note of stability on that right side.
00:07:07
Speaker
So I guess I'm not too surprised to see that the results are really that different. You kind of go into the question you asked Aaron, do we see Seattle as a playoff team? As Aaron alluded to, the point totals in the West are still so close to each other from top to bottom that I think it's a little bit
00:07:26
Speaker
We're to rely on standings right now. It's better to just kind of rely on four more than anything else. And I still look at the West and I see six teams that I'm pretty confident that Seattle is going to finish above at the end of the season. One of those teams is Houston that we think of as being one of the top teams in the conference right now. But Seattle is only four points back at Houston right now.
00:07:47
Speaker
And if I had to put money on whether the Sounders can make up that gap on the Dynamo, I'm definitely going to go with the broader results that these two teams have had beyond this year and say Seattle is more likely to finish fifth or maybe even a little bit higher in the conference than they are to finish seventh. Particularly if Evans and Torres, Marshall can consistently stay healthy. If those guys are all there and embedded in the team come August, I think Seattle is going to be fine.
00:08:16
Speaker
For me, it's just a matter of kind of assessing what I think their ceiling is because at the beginning of the year, I certainly thought that their ceiling was right there with Dallas in the Western Conference. I was very high on Seattle. Now, especially with the attack being so poor over these last, I guess, seven games or so, I am starting to second guess that a little bit.
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think that there's room to second-guess this roster, and I think there's room to second-guess, you know, how good this team really is gonna be, at least until they bring in some more talent. And that said, I'm gonna go back to this line because...
00:08:53
Speaker
I screwed it up so badly that I deserved to call myself out. The line was calling them a Jekyll and Hyde team seems to be doing a disservice to the study of the Fracture itself. Anyway, Eren, this defense has been good when they're together, but who do you think they're actually their four starting defenders are?
00:09:12
Speaker
It's super tough. I mean, I think the first three are obvious. Evans at right back, Marshall at one of the center back spots, Jovan Jones at the left back spot. The other center back is tricky. You know, I think that Roman Torres has looked shaky this year, but we know how good he can be.
00:09:33
Speaker
Gestov Stenson had, I guess, one or two. I think one really bad game as a center back. One pretty mediocre game at center back, and then he started, what, nine games as a center back, I think.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah. Nine of 13, he started at center back. Yeah. And so those other seven have ranged from, you know, pretty decent to, I think, exceptional. He's a much different kind of center back. He's a lot more about positioning, you know, about being in the right place, about cutting off passing lanes and things like that than he is about the physical side of the game. But he's not, you know, he's certainly not a, uh,
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah, okay. He's certainly not, you know, a wilting violet by any stretch. But he's definitely not the presence that Torres is. He's a great distributor. He held up great against Veneto Adi, and that was a great performance, but I'll let you finish.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I think that that's the thing is that you don't have to be Roman Torres big to handle, you know, some of the bigger target for words in the league. You can, you know, as long as you're not completely outmatched and Svensson's not a small guy by any stretch. And, you know, he's had a couple
00:10:50
Speaker
A couple goals that he's conceded on headers and I think people have kind of fixated on those and they've kind of fixated on Some bad tackles that that he's made that that allowed the defense to to get him behind I think the reality is that you know center backs are gonna give up goals on on aerial chances and
00:11:08
Speaker
And center backs are going to make bad challenges and get him behind. And when people get this idea in their head that somebody isn't a center back, they're going to point to those things and say, well, see, we told you he's not a center back. When in reality, those are just mistakes that all center backs make.
00:11:23
Speaker
I think there's a good argument for Torres, though, in that we do know how good he can be. He's had injury struggles this year that I think it makes it kind of unfair to think this is the new normal with him. It seems like he's always just getting back from injury, and it's tough to get back into the game rhythm.
00:11:43
Speaker
It's tricky. I'd almost be okay with it being a matchup by matchup basis kind of thing, depending on what the central midfield rotation looks like. If Christian Roldan needs a day off, Fazio Lanzo needs a day off, he can play Spencer in midfield. So yeah, I mean, that's the tough call. And I don't think there's a right or a wrong answer, I guess is the very short way of putting it.
00:12:08
Speaker
Well, there's also, I guess, an aspect of this that the decision on whether or not Svensson is a center-back is gonna be booted out a little farther because he actually played really well as a defensive midfielder on Sunday, yeah, on Sunday, against the Dynamo, and he helped shut down Alex pretty well, a player who is leading, I think, leading the league in assists and who did absolutely nothing in this game.
00:12:35
Speaker
Harry's ship's going to be out for some period of time. We don't know exactly how long, but certainly as long as Harry's ship is out, it seems like Gustav Sensen is a guy you can easily slot into the midfield. But what did you think, Richard, of that three-man midfield of Christian Roldan, Osvaldo Alonso, and Gustav Sensen? And the Sanders were kind of playing that Christmas tree formation that Aaron has kind of been pushing.
00:13:04
Speaker
I'm trying to have respect for your question because it's a fair question, but I...
00:13:10
Speaker
respect my question. It's my fault because I am so negative about what Houston is doing away from home that I almost disregard any performance that anybody has and I think Houston showed why on Sunday. I mean you compare that to the intensity that they showed and the opportunism they showed in the first game of the season and I realize there's a pretty big gap between those two and maybe Houston caught Seattle
00:13:37
Speaker
as they would have any opponent in Wilma Cabrera's first game as Dynamo coach, caught them a little bit off guard. But given Houston's results and just how terrible they've looked this year in places like New England and stuff like that, I just can't take any performance that a team has at home against the Dynamo that seriously. So I'm trying not to draw any conclusions because I think if I had a positive or negative reaction to any of the changes that Brian Schmetzer made this weekend, I'd probably be
00:14:04
Speaker
I'd probably be given the result too much weight. I think the one thing that I am concerned with, and I feel like I say something like this every time I'm on the show, so I'm sorry that we have to keep talking about this stuff, but I almost feel like the versatility of some of the players that
Lineup Considerations: Stability vs. Flexibility
00:14:19
Speaker
Seattle has is turned into a negative for the team, and Rolled On is kind of like the
00:14:23
Speaker
supreme example of this in the different positions he's played this year. But I think just some consistency in the lineup and Brian being forced to make some more solid decisions would have been a benefit for Seattle during this time so that every time that there is a little tweak that has to be made, it's almost like he just indulges it too much. I almost regret sometimes that
00:14:44
Speaker
Ship and Bruin were brought into the team in the same year because Bryan has used that as a reason to have a very unsettled team during a time when, because of the injuries in the back line, Seattle in my opinion probably could have produced some better results with some stability. So when we're talking about these little changes now where it looks like now he's trying to go the extra mile to get Svensson into the team, I just wonder how long that's gonna play out and at what point in this season is Seattle going to put something together that they can build on?
00:15:13
Speaker
Well, you know, I think that that's an interesting thing that you see manifested most often with this seeming infatuation of moving Christian Roldan out to right back when the Sounders are kind of chasing a goal. And it worked really well this week. You know, Christian Roldan showed a ton of energy. You know, he was definitely attacking much more than Brad Evans was, and he obviously had the game-winning cross, and it was an absolutely gorgeous cross.
00:15:41
Speaker
so you know it's it's interesting that he you bring that up because he does seem to kind of revel in the amount of flexibility that this team has and it does seem like it's it's sometimes almost a negative for him because he's
00:15:58
Speaker
Like you said, he indulges this desire to move stuff around, to move pieces around, even though, again, the Christian Rolled On to Right Back has kind of worked out a few times, but it almost looks like he's looking for a reason to do that.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah and I think maybe that's the right choice and I'm just looking at it incorrectly. Maybe it's something where you don't have to take these kind of things so seriously this early in the season too. Maybe I'm stressing about it a little bit too much. But for me, when I see the team is struggling and I obviously
00:16:33
Speaker
I don't think anybody would argue that they lack the quality to be better than they have been so far. I start looking for reasons why that is and I just don't see how having this much flexibility in the team really gives them something to build on because just at some point you're going to have to decide on what works and kind of build off of that.
00:16:54
Speaker
I mean I say that knowing that you know even last year late in the year they were injecting Nelson Valdez back into the team moving Jordan out left and that seemed to kind of work I mean even as I say that I wouldn't say that the attack was a strength of the team last year late in the season they were kind of getting by on the defense being great and having opportunistic goals or
00:17:13
Speaker
you know, just enough goals to capitalize on that big defense. I just think that, especially with Ledero not playing as well as he has in the past, especially with the need to integrate him with Dempsey, the need to get Jordan going back again, the need to kind of decide on whether, when you really need it, is it gonna be Harry Shipper or is it gonna be Will Bruin that's gonna be starting for you in a game that you need? All of those things kind of need to be worked out with some stability and I just don't think it's there yet.
00:17:40
Speaker
I mean, at the same time, I don't know, I think that this is, if you're gonna, if you're going to mess around with your lineup, if you're gonna figure out what you really have, isn't the time of that to do it in the early part of the season? I would say it would be during the goal cup when it's likely that when it's possible Morris and Dempsey are gonna be gone, or it's possible that during that time of year you'll want to be resting more people, or just when the fixture congestion starts to get a little bit more.
00:18:03
Speaker
That's when you don't really have a choice though. That's why I think that's the best time, right? Because you're gonna have to do it at some point anyway and also at that point you're more likely to be dealing with injuries and you're more likely to be bringing other people into the team during the window. You're gonna have times of instability in the middle of the year where you are going to have to lean on that
00:18:22
Speaker
So I think these first two or three months of the year it's probably best to get as many answers as possible whether those answers are solutions that you know you can rely on again once you start to get into that heavy conference schedule at the end of the year and really start driving for a playoff spot or whether the answers lead to more questions that you know you have to resolve during the summer
00:18:40
Speaker
and you can start bringing in more people and trying them in spots looking for other solutions. I think right now if we're really being honest with ourself, we don't have very many solutions about what Seattle's best team really is. We kind of just know that Ozzie and Christian are going to be a part of it. We know that Chad Marshall and Jovan Jones are going to be strengths too and we suspect that Brad Evans probably will be and Stephen Fry, but particularly with some of the players that we know are going to be part of that best 11, Clint Dempsey and Nicholas Ledero,
00:19:05
Speaker
we need to get more answers to how they're going to work together. And those answers are very different if Will Bruin ends up being a starting nine or Harry Ship ends up being a starting winger. And I think at some point you do have to answer those questions so you know how to approach the summer.
00:19:20
Speaker
And you know, Will Bruin does bring up an interesting case. You know, this is a guy who I think both Aaron and I have said repeatedly that he's not in our ideal starting 11. And if you can figure out a way to improve from Will Bruin, you almost have to do it. At the same time, every time I feel like I've been ready to kind of
00:19:39
Speaker
move on from Will Bruin he does something like he did in the in the Houston game where I actually think you know you even taking the goal aside you know for a guy who is playing with one arm for a guy for a team that needed someone to step up and really play a forward
00:19:55
Speaker
and take on some of that offensive load. I was really impressed by Will Bruin. I thought he was active. I thought he did a good job of linking. I thought he did a good job of hold up play. I thought he did a good job of kind of staying high and keeping the defenders honest.
00:20:12
Speaker
I just thought that was a really impressive performance, and Will Brillen, against my better judgment, is starting to bury himself into my heart a little bit. Aaron, is this... Am I letting my emotions get too involved here? I mean, I think I still want to replace him, but I feel like this is a guy who is at least showing he deserves minutes late in games.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that that's, I mean, that that's what he was brought in for, um, is to, you know, give the, the sounders a little bit of a different look off the bench. Um, and to, um, are we delayed?
00:20:47
Speaker
No, I think we're OK. Oh, well, look, it just never mind everyone. I don't know what Lickens is on about. Anyway, yeah, so he was brought in to do exactly what he's doing, right, to fill in when the first choice guys aren't there.
00:21:05
Speaker
to give kind of a change of pace at Stryker. So I think he's doing fairly well there. I would love it if, you know, the Sounders had somebody that they developed that they could fill that role, but they don't yet. Hopefully that's coming down the line. It'd be great if, you know, the guy filling that role is making 150K, but he's not. So, you know, I think that he's doing a much better job of what Chad Barrett did in 2014.
00:21:34
Speaker
And and I think that that's you know, it's pretty valuable especially because one of the the big complaints I've had in years past is that The Sounders didn't really have much change
Depth and New Signings Impact
00:21:43
Speaker
of pace. They didn't have a different look that they could throw teams They just had a lot of guys that were pretty similar And I and I like what brewing brings in that regard. I Don't know Richard. Where do you fall on the will brewing scale? I
00:21:55
Speaker
I agree with everything Aaron just said, but I also think that means that this becomes a test for Brian Schmetzer, and it's a test that some of the Houston coaches didn't really pass with Will Bruin. Part of the excitement about getting a Will Bruin or a Harry Ship is that they're really good players to have if they're your 12th or 13th player, and they perform Willy well.
00:22:16
Speaker
really well in those roles because they're perfectly suited for that, right? You can use their skill sets in situations where they're most likely to succeed, but then there becomes a bias there in that you see them performing well in the situations they're most likely to succeed and you want to expand those roles.
00:22:33
Speaker
but you need to resist that. You need to actually bring in better players than those guys because if you have a roster full of Will Bruins and Harry Shipps and players that are playing to that kind of, wow, these players are better than we thought level, then you usually have a team that's not that good because you need to have
00:22:52
Speaker
players that go beyond that. Now if you have a couple of guys in the team that are like that and I think Christian Roldan is better than Harry Shipp but I also think he is very much of that ilk of a guy that's like wow this is very good to have as a player that is a compliment to a team. Pretty soon if you start finding excuses to put too many players like that in the lineup you've created a formula for failure and so that's why I think it's so interesting what Brian is going through now because he seems to not be able to resist the urge to give these guys that perform good under ideal circumstances opportunities in less than ideal circumstances.
00:23:22
Speaker
And so that, I mean, that's actually got me pretty worried about this whole flexibility slash depth issue.
00:23:28
Speaker
I mean, I guess what I keep coming back to though is that I don't see players not getting opportunities that should be getting opportunities instead. And I kind of, you know, I don't think that Brian has done a perfect job managing this team, but I do think a lot of his decisions have been kind of forced. You know, we talked about this a lot in the Columbus Crew game afterwards, where, you know, you look at that lineup and you say, God, is this really the best lineup that
00:23:56
Speaker
that the sounders could put out there and i was convinced that i don't know what else you're going to do although i guess you know noohoo tollo came in and he actually looked really good and i guess if you put him at left back that kind of has this it gives the whole the whole uh... offense a whole different look and you know at the very least you would have found out a little bit more about him uh... i i gotta admit tollo has been
00:24:20
Speaker
I want to say a revelation, but him and Aaron Kovar both I think have, you know, in very limited time shown that they can be, maybe those are the guys that, I don't know, maybe those are the guys you're talking about. I don't know, maybe those are the guys that we should be getting longer looks at.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think so, but for me also, I kind of agree with what you're saying, that it's hard to point at guys and see how they're not getting time because of this. But for me, Christian Roldan, as well as he plays it right back, should almost never play it right back. I mean, it's just not, we've talked about this in the show, it creates a cascade of effects throughout the lineup where you're accepting limited solutions in multiple places when you're then moving Harry's ship into central midfield. I don't think he should play central, Harry's ship should be playing central midfield on a team that has all of our,
00:25:04
Speaker
Alvaro Alonso and Christian Roldan. I don't think Jordan Moore should be moving the left wing because Will Bruin deserves some starts up top, at least not more than a couple of times a season. So I think that's where we're talking about where the team is sacrificing. And then if you kind of add on the layers that I'm talking about, which I'm not actually sure if like my theories about not building stability in the team or holding back the Sounders. That's just how I would run a team.
00:25:28
Speaker
I think the other thing that I wonder is if talking to Garth Lagerwey, if Brian is sitting here going, you know, we have Harry's ship for now. We have Will Bruin. We have a lot of flexibility in the team.
00:25:44
Speaker
I think we can hold off on bringing other players in or I think we can hold off on incorporating these other players until the summer because in the interim, I can just shift these pieces around and the flexibility of these players, the versatility of these players, mean we don't have to bolster the roster. But for me, the lack of a bolstered roster means you have to lean on that flexibility and I think it's very possible that that's what's costing the Sounders points at this point in the season. All right, so
00:26:10
Speaker
We'll end the segment on this. I kind of just want to put this out there to both of you. What do you think you need to see from the Sounders over there? They have four more games, I believe, four more games until the transfer window opens. Maybe it's five games because I think they can't actually get a player until July 19th.
00:26:29
Speaker
But what are the things, what's the biggest question you think the sounders need to answer between now and then? And I guess, you know, maybe the signing probably has to, if they're gonna get someone to start on July 19th, they probably need to make that signing sometime in the next two or three weeks. Aaron, I mean, I don't know, what are the things that you feel like that you really need to see and that if you gotta wave your magic wand, what are you bringing in?
00:26:52
Speaker
I think we need to see Brad Evans consistently healthy. Even since coming back, they've been treating him with kick gloves, which I think is the right decision. He's been out for a long, long time and he hasn't been playing 90 minutes or even longer. I think that's the right call, but I want to see him consistently healthy, consistently going 90. I want to see the defense now that it's getting back to full health and they have the players that they
00:27:19
Speaker
they want, I want to see them continue to perform really well. And I want to see, even if they're not significantly more, if they're not scoring significantly more goals, if they're not significantly even more goal-dangerous, I want to see a little bit more cohesiveness and a little bit more of an identity from the attack than we've seen at times this year. I think, so the window opens the 19th,
00:27:46
Speaker
They've got, let's assume they signed somebody and he starts the United game on the 19th, which seems obviously really unlikely, but we'll go with it. That's four games, NYC FC away, Portland away, Colorado away, and Orlando at home.
00:28:05
Speaker
I think they've got to get six points from those games for me to feel really good. You know, that's a tough ask. Colorado is trash, but they're playing them away, and that's going to be tough. Portland away is always tough.
00:28:20
Speaker
New York City away, I'm already kind of mentally riding off. And then Orlando here, I think we have to win that game as good as Orlando has been. I think that you've got to win games at home against good teams if you want to be a contender. I'd love to see more points than that, but I think six is realistic and I think that keeps them in pretty decent shape.
00:28:42
Speaker
You know, I think in terms of the player I want to see, I mean, in terms of the DP, I think we've got to get another attacker, obviously, and I'm still pretty well convinced that a winger is a better bet, a more direct player that's going to be goal dangerous that plays on the wing.
Potential Player Signings and Future Strategy
00:29:01
Speaker
But, you know, I think that there are
00:29:03
Speaker
Scenarios in which it would make sense to sign a striker and maybe shift Morris out to the wing For you know more permanently I don't love that but I think if there are definitely players out there that you can get that it makes sense to do that Especially if it's a player that's gonna be around for longer
00:29:22
Speaker
You know for three or four years If it's kind of an investment type thing then then it makes sense And in terms of bolstering the rest of the roster because they can still add a Tam player as far as I know That's where it's gonna get interesting for me. I mean, I think we all know that I
00:29:38
Speaker
the Sounders are going to fill their last DP spot, and it's going to be an attacking player. But they're probably going to sign another pretty high-ish profile player, someone along the lines of Roman Torres's cap hit. And that's where it's going to get interesting, because I can't see them putting Christian Roldan on the bench for sure. I can't see them putting Clint Dempsey on the bench. If they sign a winger or an attacker,
00:30:07
Speaker
Um, that really leaves them, you know, with having to, I guess, consider putting Morris on the bench or, or just having a really highly paid bench player. So it'll be interesting. And I guess the other option would be to sign it a young DP that is okay. You know, with not starting right away and then to use the Tam spot on a winger. Um, but I want, I want most of that money going into the attack for sure.
00:30:32
Speaker
what about you richard what do you think you need to see from the sounders over these last few games before uh... before the international break in and what is the position do you think the center should be targeting uh... i agree with everything erin said and i want to focus in on his distinction between the type of white attacker that you would bring in somebody that's gonna excel in building play into the final third or somebody that i think erin described him as being more golden uh... more directly more of a goal threat to me
00:31:00
Speaker
Well, I already know that Chris Henderson and his staff probably have looked at the data and I've already identified the player that they need, and four games of data may be too small to really influence the broader picture on that. But for me, I would really want to see my team creating chances in these four games, and there are a lot of roster concerns that inform how much you can read into that.
00:31:23
Speaker
But if the team is creating enough chances or creating enough opportunities, then you know you need to have somebody that's in a better position to either make those opportunities better or to capitalize on those opportunities. But if they're actually not creating enough opportunities or in this league where going on the road and that stretch of games is not ideal for judging a team.
00:31:44
Speaker
going on the road and being able to create opportunities under a variety of different circumstances is a very big deal. If you're not creating those chances, I would really concentrate on somebody who in the level above Osvato, Alonzo, and Christian Roldan can combine with Nicol Lodiero to get the most out of Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris, and Will Bruin.
00:32:04
Speaker
I don't know where that lies, and if I were in their situation, I'd be really reliant on the data on it. But for me, that's the most interesting question, just because it's such an obvious need, that other winger, that winger on the other side in that formation. But the type of winger that they get, I think that is such an open-ended and interesting question. Fair enough. Well, that's a good place to call this a segment. We'll be back. You're listening to no audio at this.
00:32:35
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:33:55
Speaker
you
00:34:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Nozari at Dis. Had a couple outstanding issues that are kind of broader than what we normally do in that first segment that we wanted to get into here before we get to questions. The first one we'll start off with is this whole national team situation, and it is kind of become a situation. This was a bit of an, as far as I know, an unprecedented move by US Soccer to essentially stage a two-week training camp before World Cup qualifiers.
00:34:27
Speaker
And apparently they're also planning on doing a two-week training camp before the Gold Cup, which is laughably absurd, especially since it's almost all MLS players that are in the Gold Cup. But we can deal with that maybe later in the segment, if we deal with it at all. But let's focus on this pre-camp for these two World Cup qualifiers, admittedly important World Cup qualifiers against Trinidad and Tobago, and then at Mexico.
00:34:53
Speaker
So what if you didn't know, which I assume if you're listening to the show you're aware, but essentially what happened is that Bruce Arena hatched this plan in January that he was going to have this kind of extended training camp before the World Cup qualifiers. It was going to play a friendly and MLS apparently signed off on this thing. I don't know the degree to which
00:35:16
Speaker
Coaches were consulted from what I was able to gather coaches weren't really consulted player teams weren't really consulted this was kind of a league level decision that was made and It was kind of implied to the teams that yeah You're supposed to release your players when they get called up now as we found out today or it was confirmed today that Trinidad and Tobago and maybe some other countries wanted to call their players up early, too and
00:35:40
Speaker
And MLS was just like, no, we're not going to do that because we don't have to. And so I guess that's totally up to their prerogative to do that. But ultimately, how this affects MLS teams is that the Sounders were one of four teams that were forced to lose players for not just one game, but for two games. And then a bunch of teams lost players for this last weekend's games that they wouldn't have otherwise had to lose players for.
00:36:12
Speaker
somewhat single entity, but more about the way that MLS interacts with US soccer. And from where I'm sitting, and I've written a couple times about this, is that MLS isn't really getting anything out of this other than kind of helping the US soccer. And I guess US soccer, their interests are US soccer interests. But how frustrating was this for you, Aaron, to kind of learn that this was not just like a thing that US soccer came up with, but that a thing that was kind of done with the tacit agreement of MLS?
00:36:31
Speaker
And I guess it just kind of brings up this whole issue of
00:36:42
Speaker
I mean, it's super frustrating. It's increasingly apparent that MLS and US soccer are not the same entity, but they're
00:36:55
Speaker
You know, it's like a parent company situation almost, right? And, you know, US Acre gets pretty much whatever they want. And MLS is, you know, generally happy to go along with it. They're incentivizing teams to sign US Internationals and then saying, yeah, well, if they get called up outside of the window, you know, tough shit, call them up. You know, you can't say anything about it.
00:37:23
Speaker
And it's frustrating. I mean, it kind of kneecaps teams to the point where, you know, when it was announced that Christian Roldan got a Gold Cup 40-man call-up that I was like pretty pissed off about it because it's like, well, great. So, you know, we're going to be missing another player. And I know that they're taking a break for the Gold Cup, but
00:37:43
Speaker
But they're starting the camp on June 25th for a tournament that doesn't start until July 5th, I believe? A tournament that doesn't fucking matter that nobody gives a shit about either, to be completely clear. I'm just so over it with U.S. Soccer. And it's not just this issue. It's not just this issue. And it's not just this issue. It's certainly not just the call up issue. It's a lot of other issues. And I'm kind of just over it with them.
00:38:14
Speaker
And it's just, yeah, it's super frustrating. And if I'm in the Panama, if I'm the head coach of Panama's team or the head coach of Trinidad and Tobago's team, and I see that MLS is a league where there are a lot of key players for those national teams, and they're doing favors for a team that I'm technically in competition against, I'm pretty pissed off about it. And maybe I tell my players, don't go to that league. It's gonna hurt your chances with the national team, which is gonna hurt MLS.
00:38:41
Speaker
It's just shitty, and it's so transparently about, you know, some scratching its own back that it just, I don't know, it's really frustrating. And, you know, we had this conversation a lot when Klensman was the coach, and to a certain degree, I don't really blame Bruce Arena. He has a job to do, and his job is to make the World Cup and to win games with the U.S. national team.
00:39:10
Speaker
And so he's gonna do whatever he thinks is best. But, you know, ultimately, Bruce Arena isn't saying, we want your players, it's US Soccer. And, you know, it would be nice if MLS said to US Soccer, hey, you know what? If it's such a big deal that you need an extra week before training, because these games are more important, maybe don't shift the bed in the early rounds in the qualifiers, so they're not that big a deal.
00:39:33
Speaker
You know, that would be the optimal solution, right? So yeah, I don't know. I don't care. I'm not to the point where I'm hoping the U.S. doesn't make the World Cup because I like so many of the players and want them to be happy and do well. And I like watching the U.S. in the World Cup, but there would definitely be some Schadenfreude if they weren't able to qualify.
00:39:54
Speaker
So one of the the kind of secondary issues going on here and Richard kind of has some firsthand experience with this in terms of talking to Kayla Porter today who did lose a player to the national lost Darmley to Nagbee for I guess just one game that they wouldn't have otherwise had to lose them for but they're but you know
00:40:14
Speaker
what we found out what we first heard was that MLS teams had no say in this matter that they were just kind of SOL they had to suck it up and and that was just kind of how it was but then last week we find out that that uh
00:40:31
Speaker
Beazler was sent back to Sporting Kansas City because they were really short on center backs and they really needed him there and apparently Bruce Arena was just you know maybe he didn't really need Beazler whatever it was but he allowed Beazler to go back.
00:40:46
Speaker
I think if I'm Real Salt Lake, first of all, I just want to say if I'm Real Salt Lake, that's the team who's most mad. They had two games. They lost their starting goalkeeper for both those games. Of course, Nick Romondo didn't even play when the United States was playing Venezuela at Rio Tinto Stadium. So Nick Romondo has been pulled away from his team just so he can sit on the bench at his home stadium. It's absolutely crazy, but whatever. Caleb Porter, though, commented on the Bezler thing. Tell us what he said, Richard.
00:41:16
Speaker
So I asked him today at his weekly press conference about the idea that Matt Beazler got sent back to Sporting Kansas City on request and the rest of the teams seemingly didn't even know that they could request and the ones that did didn't get a positive response. And Kayla Porter at first kind of was like, you know, I don't really want to talk about this, you know, all teams have to go through what they have to go through. But then he did allude to the fact that, you know, the MLS had agreed to release these players early
00:41:45
Speaker
And that is not something that has to be done. And so if this cooperation is going to be there in the future, this is something that has to be fair for all teams or has to be handled in a fair way. So if Bruce Arena is kind of releasing a guy back but not releasing other people, or in general if it's becoming a situation where
00:42:07
Speaker
to a degree beyond the call-ups already, it's becoming not an even playing field. There's less incentive for people in Caleb Porter's situation or the rest of the Portland staff situation to cooperate or put their vote in when MLS is deciding whether to cooperate or not.
00:42:25
Speaker
Portland lost Darlington Nagby, they ended up starting attacking midfield that had Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco and Darion Espria, so, Darion Espria, so it's not like they were hurting, but they were also missing Darren Maddox for the game, who would be their normal first person off the bench, so...
00:42:40
Speaker
I don't know if it's that much different for them than Kansas City or they were rewarded because they happen to have good depth in that position. Either way, it's just a very crappy situation that one set of rules applies to one team and one set of rules applies to another. And personally, beyond what Porter was saying, I kind of wonder if this request wasn't made by
00:43:01
Speaker
kind of a tenured coach who had won a title who seems like he's part of the in club of coaches who is also a technical director of his team and is part of the as a former national team or like if you were dealing with like a second year coach that made this request is Matt Beasley going back to his team?
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean that that's that's like I think that's a very valid question and it's hard not to feel like Peter Vermee's got especially You know strong consideration because he's Peter Vermee is because he's involved with US soccer because you know sporting Kansas City kind of has been you know, it has a good relationship seemingly with US soccer and Yeah, I can't help but feel like there was some you know I don't I can't sit here and say that the sounders would have been really any better off if Clint and Jordan had been here for these last two games
00:43:49
Speaker
It's not about crying over spilled milk. It's just about setting a precedent. And I think that MLS teams really need to put their foot down for this Gold Cup situation. I just can't get over the idea that Bruce Arena wants to have a two-week training camp before the Gold Cup. That just seems absolutely crazy to me. It's insane. I mean, they're talking about... How fragile is this program that it needs that?
00:44:12
Speaker
Right, exactly. I mean, it's totally, it makes no, you know, if you want to have a two week training camp before the World Cup, look, I get it. It's the World Cup. It's one every four years. But we're not going to be doing this for the Gold Cup every two years. And we're certainly not going to do it for the Gold Cup every two years and for the Gold Cup or for the World Cup every other year so that you really, and then I guess you're probably going to have a Copa Sudamerica in those other years. I mean, this is getting a little, it's a little crazy.
00:44:37
Speaker
Mexico is sending their C team to this World Cup. Are you worried about winning the competition? If you are, why are you? It's become like Aaron was alluding to. Aaron didn't allude to this, but he did allude to the fact that they
00:44:53
Speaker
didn't perform well at the beginning of this qualifying cycle. And so now that becomes an excuse to justify everything. I mean, I guess that's how we do things in this world. We just kind of like, you know, see this one bad thing that's happened and just blow it way out of proportion. But the U.S. is not in terrible shape right now. In fact, if they take care of business, they're going to qualify. They just won't win the group like we're used to. But it doesn't matter if you win your when you're qualifying group, you get in and all the same. So I don't know why people are making such a big deal about this. It just seems like
00:45:21
Speaker
Arenas just kind of using this towards his selfish ends and I mean if you're a US national team fan That's got to be a really good thing I think you know you're gonna have a stronger national team because of it But if if you got allegiances to an MLS club I don't I don't see how that's a good thing especially Because the gold cup is not even not gonna siphon off the players that you're used to going I mean it's gonna dig deeper into the depth of your roster to call those players up and
00:45:46
Speaker
Yeah, this Gold Cup situation, the more I think about it, the more frustrating I get. But this is not related in that I'm willing to accept that you're not going to have your best players for early US Open Cup matches.
00:46:02
Speaker
But the interesting offshoot of all this is again, you talk to Caleb Porter today, the next the next Sounders game is on Tuesday. Yeah, it's a week from today and it's going to be in the U.S. Open Cup and it's going to be a replay of the red card wedding, which is something that we're going to be talking a lot about in the next few weeks probably. But it sounds like the Timbers are not going to exactly be bringing their A team.
00:46:26
Speaker
No. So the Timbers play on Saturday against Dallas. So the game's in Portland. They also are going to be traveling the following Friday, I believe, to go to a game. I think Minnesota is where they're going to be going to. So this game is wedged right in the middle. Wait a minute. They're playing on Saturday and Friday?
00:46:45
Speaker
uh let's see no they're playing so they play saturday this week and then they travel they travel on friday to go to minnesota for a saturday game oh my god i didn't realize so in between that they have to start up to starfire um you know starfire is a nice place but you're taking a team you're saying hey go play on turf in this game and so anybody that we can call
00:47:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's exactly what Kayla Porter called it. And so you can't really play any players in that game that you also want to play on Saturday because they're also going to be traveling and that's going to inhibit their recovery time. So Porter just basically said, look, Darlington Nagby is not going to be available for the game. Davi Guzman not going to be available for the game. They're on there with international duty. Darren Maddox, a couple of other guys, they're hurt.
00:47:32
Speaker
We don't even have the ability to even start a second team because a lot of our second team guys, they're going to be playing against Dallas. So because of this fixture congestion, because of the travel, because of the crappy turf, you're going to see like maybe three or four starters from T2 and a bench filled out from most of the T2 team.
00:47:52
Speaker
The the timbers are they're obviously not punting We've seen teams pull off upset and in these situations before but they've been put in a situation where they've kind of had to look at this open cup game and this you know, this Rivalry game that even an open cup has some history and kind of go. We just can't devote any resources to that right now Yeah, it's and I don't know exactly what the Sounders are gonna do, but they find themselves in a situation that isn't much better today it came out that
00:48:20
Speaker
that Alvaro Fernandez is essentially counting his final days till he leaves the Sounders. To me, at first I thought that that meant that maybe he's just letting people know that his days are numbered and that he's not going to be sticking around. I figured he would be, though, for this Open Cup game, but now we've learned that it sounds like he won't be made available for this Open Cup game.
00:48:41
Speaker
And so without him, the centers are probably only going to have 12 outfield healthy bodies from their first team. Of those 12 players, I'm not, I don't know if I should, you know, I don't know how much we can expect from Osvaldo Alonso. I don't know how much we can expect from Chad Marshall. I don't know how much we can expect from Nico Ledero. I don't know how much we can expect from Christian Roldan. I don't know how much we can expect from Gustav Svensson. You know, you go down this list and I think that it's going to look a lot like an S2 versus T2 game, maybe with a couple of kind of ringers thrown in there.
00:49:11
Speaker
Yeah, and you know, S2 and T2, they're not exactly good teams that have a lot of talent to call on. No. Porter did mention that he's looking forward to seeing, I think he was the number four pick in the draft this year, Jeremy Abobasi, who has been with the U20s most of the time. It sounds like he's going to get a run out, and then another promising attacker, Victor Arboleda, looks like he's going to play.
00:49:35
Speaker
So I think from the timbers side there are some people to look forward to as potential players that can have an impact later this year even for the senior timbers team. I haven't been following S2 that closely but I get the impression that there aren't going to be similarly tantalizing talents being called in for the sounder side. Last I checked there were some interesting players there but nobody that would be like a number four pick in an MLS draft.
00:50:00
Speaker
no there's no equivalent to a number four pick in an MLS draft I would think that you know Ray Sari is a guy who if you don't know who he is I would think he's a prime candidate for call-up he's been playing as kind of a number eight for for s2 but he played last game in more of a number 10 role and he actually
00:50:18
Speaker
He went undrafted, but this kid actually looks like he might be able to play. I think he went to Tulsa That's probably someone that that I would assume is gonna get a call up Maybe an urban para who is kind of I've likened to Samuel Choa and I don't mean that in a negative way But he's kind of got a similar
00:50:35
Speaker
frame and he plays a little bigger than Samy Ochoa did. Samy Ochoa, I think one of the problems with him was that even though he was a big guy, he seemed to want to play a small man's game. But they've got this right back from Haiti named Ulyssi that actually looks like he might be pretty good.
00:50:53
Speaker
So they've got some Academy kids too that show some promise. A kid named Azrael Gonzalez, who I don't know, he's 15. I would be a little surprised if he featured in this game, but who knows. Sam Rogers is a center back who likely is going to be joining us too permanently. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him called up.
00:51:13
Speaker
Nonasynchum was the Sounders first pick in the draft this year. He is with S2, I would assume he's going to be in this game. But yeah, this is the kind of guys that we're going to see in this game. Aaron, in some ways, does this make it an easier game to want to watch? Because I know that Sounders versus Timbers at Starfire is about as nerve-wracking as I can imagine, but somehow some of the pressure seems to be coming off this game.
00:51:37
Speaker
Uh, to be honest, it doesn't make me want to watch it more. I'm so... No, I'm not saying it makes you want to watch it more. I'm just saying, does it take some of the tension that goes into it? I guess. Yeah, I mean, it probably does, just because it feels like the stakes are lower. I'm just so over Sounder's Timbers, and especially in the fourth round of the Open Cup. I'm just so done with it. I mean, Sounder's Timbers in like an Open Cup final,
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah, that would rule. Fourth round, who gives a shit? We're used to playing teams like PS Elite or whatever and like Kitsap, you know? And that was fun. That was cool. That was interesting. Cal FC. Cal FC, right? Those are cool, good stories. DC United's playing like a liquor store or whatever, or is it Chicago?
00:52:31
Speaker
I don't know who it is, but yes, I know what the team you're talking about. That's cool, right? The timbers, I don't give a shit. I just, I don't give a shit anymore and it sucks. And I'll watch because I want to see some of the kids play and see how they do against theoretically an MLS team.
00:52:49
Speaker
They killed the open cup for me. Congratulations. Congratulations, guys. I think if things don't change, this could be a pattern going forward. I mean, obviously, part of the reason they killed it for you is just you're totally desensitized to this matchup at this point in the competition. But Portland is so pissed off by why this is happening constantly, why they're constantly having to go to Tequilla. I mean, to them, it seems unfair. And obviously, it's not. I can't blame them.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, so I think that, you know, if this happens again, you will see Portland take this competition less and less and less seriously because why not? Why would they think that every time, you know, every year when they have to go to Starfire at this point in the competition, why would they think that this is a competition that is treating them fairly?
00:53:34
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that's really too bad, and I think that it's too bad, especially, I do, this is one of those times where I think that the Timbers complaints are 100% justified. If I'm the Portland Timbers, and I'm the only MLS team that's had to play another MLS team in the first, in our first round,
00:53:51
Speaker
of the playoffs the last three years, I'm pissed off. I don't remember the last time they didn't play an MLS team, but they seem to always be drawn against the Sounders or San Jose. And I think that this is kind of where I've come to with the Open Cup, and I've for a long time been a big fan of the Open Cup. I think the tournament is worth having, but I think it's only worth having if we're going to do it right. And I think that we're now at a point where, you know,
00:54:18
Speaker
U.S. Soccer has 100 million dollars just sitting in the bank waiting to be spent. You can't tell me that they can't afford to stage a proper open cup. They put all 64 teams that are in the tournament at this point into one big draw and pay for all the costs
00:54:39
Speaker
of the lower division teams travel, cover all that stuff at US soccer level, and have a real draw, have a real tournament, and let's just do this thing right, or stop, or let's not have MLS in it at all. Let MLS teams put their S2 teams, let them put their USL teams into this thing, and let's either do it right or just totally take MLS out of the equation. I agree with you. I agree with you so much that I'm reconsidering driving up next week for the game.
00:55:08
Speaker
You should still come up because I want to hang out with you. I just think that there's so much wrong with this tournament right now, and I know there's a lot of resistance at the MLS level to making it a proper draw, but I think if you're gonna do it, you just gotta do it.
00:55:27
Speaker
Sorry, to clarify what Aaron said earlier, some team called DC United is playing the mighty Christos FC. Here we go. All right, well, did you have anything else you wanted to add? No, I just think it's telling. We're on a Seattle Sounders podcast here and for many years Seattle fans have been the most ardent defenders of the value of the Open Cup.
00:55:48
Speaker
And while I do think a strong number of Sounders fans still really like the Open Cup, I do think that kind of that core group of diehard supporters are becoming a little bit jaded by the process because, as you said, even they can kind of look at it and say, I don't really care if the Timbers get screwed, but I do care if this competition doesn't seem legitimate.
00:56:10
Speaker
Right. Exactly. And just to be clear, that's one of the reasons it pisses me off as much as it does, is that it could be so great and nobody wants to put in the work. And I think that's why it's so frustrating to a lot of people. Oh, I totally agree. Well, that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We're going to come back, take your questions. You're listening to no Saudi at this.
00:56:37
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:58:00
Speaker
All right, welcome back to NOS Adietes. I just finished having what I think is one of God's great creations, and that is a crispy shell taco. And I'm wondering, I want to start this off with a question. Is there a Nobel Peace Prize for advancements in taco technology? Because there should be- I don't think it would be a Peace Prize. Isn't it just a Nobel Prize for science? It would just be a Nobel Prize, yeah, for science. Whatever.
00:58:30
Speaker
Is there one? Because there should be. The taco shells that have the flat bottom so you can stack them up. Oh, man. I don't like those. You know what, actually, I have to admit, as much as I like stacking them up, I noticed today they're much harder to eat. The angle makes it crack easier. Come on. Yes, that's very true. You're 100% correct. But I love the idea. Yeah, it's a very, you know. Just get a hot dog in here. Just get a little bit of hot dog in there. Yeah. There you go. All right, so what do we got?
00:58:59
Speaker
There was a bunch of questions about Flaco. Let me give a shout out to some of the guys, people that asked. Latholin, UnforgivenTator, Derek Preeb, all asked about the Flaco situation, so you guys can have at it.
00:59:15
Speaker
So the TLDR of this situation is that after the game on Sunday, Flaco gave an interview to Univision Seattle in which he said that this was a really special game for him because this is probably his last game at CenturyLink Field which got everyone all
00:59:34
Speaker
all buzzing because no one knew anything about this, presumably. I certainly, I mean, I guess I wasn't shocked to realize that his contract ran out in June, the end of June, but I was certainly shocked to hear him saying that. And it sounds like it may have caught the Sounders off guard. And now his future with the Sounders is very much in flux. But yeah, he's sounds like he's not coming back for beyond June 30th is how I read that at the very least.
01:00:03
Speaker
Which is a bummer because he's really started to play really well his last few games. He has a much different skill set than he did the last time he was here, and I think that they haven't necessarily used him in the best way, but I think it's kind of a box-to-box wide midfielder. He's had a couple really good showings, so it's kind of a bummer.
01:00:25
Speaker
That's a lot of cap space. So it's a lot of cap space for one for another. It's you know, he's kind of a luxury item. But man, at the very least, you'd think you'd want that warm body around for, you know. Yeah, that's the thing that's weird. And I mean, it sounds like we have confirmation that his contract is up on June 30th. And I think that was the thing that was weird for me was I would have assumed his if it ran for a year, it ran through July. Right. That's when he signed last year. But
01:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean it's a bummer, but I also understand him not necessarily wanting to sign like a three-week contract Yeah, it just sucks cuz I feel like we never really saw him at his best this time around But I'm glad I'm glad one of the guys from my favorite Sounders team ever got to win an MLS Cup Ring, I mean, I guess at least three of them did. We'll always have Toronto. Yeah, that's true. I
01:01:23
Speaker
uh tom tom biro asks how many goals are you sure is it the yeah i'm not i'm not sure euro baro i'm just gonna i'm just gonna insult everyone tonight good all right tom biro says tom biro says
01:01:46
Speaker
He knows who he is. Come on. This is really expensive for a guy who has your last name White people from it's pronouncing your name pretty much. This is the time. This is why we gotta allow that right here. This is How many goals is will broom going to score this season and why will he win the Sounders golden boot Oh
01:02:14
Speaker
I don't think he's going to win the boot golden boot. I wouldn't be surprised if he scored eight to 10 though, but that's, that's like the least hot take I could have. He has what he has four now. Four. So I'm basically considering he'll have the same rate, which I guess is maybe kind of hot ish. Yeah. I don't think I got, I hope that's not the golden boot winner for the sounders. That would be sad. That's a bad sign. If he wins a golden boot at eight goals. Yeah. Well, it's going to be tied for the most goals right at four.
01:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, he's currently, yeah, he is tied right now. But God, I would like to think that someone's going to get hot before the end of the season. OK. BG Kev asks, how many thumbs up would you give Christian Roldan's cross to Will Bruins last game? Three. Three thumbs up. Three for three points? Is that? No, that wasn't actually a joke, but it's probably more appropriate. Oh.
01:03:11
Speaker
I do I have to say I thought it was great like the like it's a cheesy thing but it was like a really organic thing for like Saunders fans to all give him the thumbs up. Were they chanting thumbs up, brewing thumbs up? I hope so. I thought I heard something like that. That would be pretty good if they were. That would be pretty good.
01:03:35
Speaker
Let's see, golferdav02 asks, I've been out of the country for the last three games. Take home observations for what I missed besides the Sounder at Heart stories. Hashtag Roll Dan. But beside the Sounder at Heart stories, well, we found out that Nico Ledero is a huge fan of donuts. I'm not sure we've ever seen a smile on his face as big as we saw when he was holding that donut for that. He was excited. That was immense. What else have we missed?
01:04:03
Speaker
Wasn't on sounder heart. I think is what yeah Yeah, and I must say I play softball with this guy. I Sure that yeah
01:04:16
Speaker
I feel like you guys cover a lot of stuff on Sounder at Heart. We do. We try to be pretty... We didn't get the Nico Lidero thing, I must say, and it hurt me. How about the advancements in elbow restraining items? Yeah, that was... I have to say, I was very impressed. We should have had the real Doctor Fake name come on and talk about that whole thing, because I was very impressed that Will Bruin could play with
01:04:45
Speaker
and not be in serious danger with an elbow that had just been dislocated. Yeah. I was a little surprised I let him play with that thing on. Yeah. It looked like he'd do some damage. I don't know that. Was it the Houston guy? One guy had a huge club, so I mean, I don't see any different clubs. Oh, that was Columbus, yeah. Columbus, yeah. Artur, you guys were talking about? Yeah. Yeah, he had his Hellboy clawing. Yeah. Was that three or was that two?
01:05:15
Speaker
Oh, I think that's two. Is there one more we're supposed to come up with in one thing? Yes. Yes. Legally. Legally happy. National Anthem. Steven Newby. Oh no, we covered that. That was definitely on Sutter Heart. That was definitely on Sutter Heart. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I think. I don't think we. There wasn't that many things we missed. Yeah. That was really good. Covering stuff. We did really good. Pat ourselves in the back.
01:05:47
Speaker
Okay, me Mighty Farley asks any word... No relation. No relation. I think, right? Well, because he's Mighty Farley, not Farley. Right. Any word on signing Cesar Ebanez? So, from my read of that situation, Cesar Ebanez... Here, that was something we didn't write about on Center Heard, actually, was Cesar Ebanez was a... Do you know who this guy... Do you anything about this guy, Richard, actually? I'll kick that to you.
01:06:17
Speaker
Sorry, I muted my mic because, uh, no, I don't. Okay, fair enough. So CZ Urbana is apparently a fullback that was with Santos Laguna who was trialing with the Sounders. He was here for about a week and he left and that's probably the last we're ever gonna hear from him is my guess.
01:06:34
Speaker
But it looked like, I mean, I saw him in training one day. He looked like he's a decent player. I have just no idea what he would have cost or anything like that. I mean, he definitely wasn't playing for Santos anytime recently. I mean, so he hasn't played in quite a while. Like, I think he was injured most, most of last year, but had been healthy for a while and just wasn't like, he hasn't played regularly since I think 2016, 2015.
01:06:59
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying to look him up to see if there was would be a time where no I mean the times when he was playing regularly fell into a league of Emmy ikis gap on my part. So don't really know I Mean About I was about to say, you know getting somebody who doesn't play hasn't been playing in Mexico that you know get very well be very good and we'll less player some really talented guys sitting on the benches of those teams and
01:07:30
Speaker
Okay. Jeffrey M. Williams asks, thoughts on Bruce Arena? You guys kind of covered this already. You want to talk about it again? Is this the Matt Beazler thing? This is General Clapham. I will say Bruce Arena. Yeah, just not releasing our two guys. He looks like Mel Torme. Does he? Yeah, he does. He kind of does.
01:07:52
Speaker
I you know is my I don't know how This price is a lot about my age I would imagine in many of our listeners have no idea who melt or me unless they know Doing the way that I do which is from night court. Yeah, that's all I know Although former Washington governor Mike Lowry, he did look a lot like melt or me as well. So oh interesting I always thought he looked like a droopy the dog
01:08:15
Speaker
Yeah, that too. So did they confirm the story that was going around this weekend that Seattle had requested to have their guys back and got that request denied? Well, I mean, I don't know that we've been able to confirm it. We have definitely heard from the Seattle camp that they wanted to have their players back. Now, it's unclear how much effort was put into that or if it was ever a formal effort. But we were kind of given the impression that the Sounders
01:08:45
Speaker
try to keep Dempsey and or Morris, at least one of those guys. But US soccer, I guess, has said that that didn't happen. So I don't know where that we leave with how that leaves things. Well, one, Siggy would have got the guys released, definitely. You got to imagine he would have, right? Two, I don't know. I feel like Jordan Morris, where he's at right now, almost every 90 minutes is a good 90 minutes right now. And do we really imagine him starting against Trinidad and Tobago? So I don't know.
01:09:12
Speaker
I mean, it's one thing if you're like, well, you know, Clint Dempsey, I'm not going to take any chances with him. But Jordan Morris might get like a late run out in Trinidad and Tobago, depending on how the game goes. So I really don't see with how he's played this year why not giving him more time on the field isn't a good thing.
01:09:30
Speaker
I don't see why. Honestly, I'm not at all convinced that he deserved to be called up by annoyance with the call-up aside. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be disrespectful to a guy because, you know, when coaches look at these players, they see a collection of talents and, you know, kind of saying sometimes, you know, a player shouldn't be called up.
01:09:46
Speaker
that carries an inclinate or an inference that uh you know the coaches are seeing something that's illogical or something but i would say that there are other players out there that have performed better in major league soccer that could have been called in and um jordan probably can use as much time on the field as possible right now of course robbie finley did make a world cup roster i guess that's true remembering he should have called in kyle laron just to see if anybody noticed
01:10:19
Speaker
Changes his spelling to actual Kyle. Yeah, I mean seriously like right now given how Jordan Morris is probably gonna be used I'd rather have Dom Dwyer
01:10:29
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think, I mean, I will say that I'll say this for Jordan Morris is that there's a very specific reason you want him there and he's someone that can stretch defenses and he can get him behind. I suppose if you need to go late in games, but. Yeah, that's true. I mean, he's not. Dom Dwyer definitely doesn't have Jordan speed, but he definitely has the ability to, you know, like late in the game, go out there and run your ass off. Yeah. No, it's not a shithead though. Yeah. I mean, that's more my, that's more my complaint.
01:10:59
Speaker
Oh man, I've never had a bad interaction with Dom to be, but I'm sure he's a boy. Yeah, no, I keep remembering that we kind of have to, I kind of have to judge these things based on like how they act on the field and Dom is definitely a curmudgeonly one on the field.
01:11:19
Speaker
I will say that the one thing that Dom Dwyer gave the soccer world, which is pretty cool, was the Minnesota United fan chant, which I believe was, oompa, doompa, doompa-dee, doo, Sydney, LaRue is better than you. Oompa, doompa, doompa-dee, doo, Dom Dwyer is five foot two. That's pretty good. That's not accurate. He's at least five foot three.
01:11:49
Speaker
Well, the first part of it is an accurate either, but even relative to accuracy and banter. Yeah. I think that some of the players probably could score on Aurora. In fact, I just think it's an unfair slight on Aurora. Aurora is not nearly as bad as it used to be. You've got to go out there. Sure. Much further north. I used to. I mean, we always hear about the bonfires, but we do. Do we ever hear about putting them out?
01:12:20
Speaker
Richard, you can't even start a bonfire with water, so I mean putting water in the middle. Right. What are you doing? Steve Locker asks, would Schmetzer ever start Gustav over Roman if given the choice from 100% healthy back four in midfield? Is Roman forever penciled in as the number one?
01:12:37
Speaker
Think Ryan Spencer will start whoever the hell he thinks is gonna get him points And I think he's I mean, I think there's probably a lot of pressure to play flaco. Yeah, you know over Harry ship and and he He started playing Harry ship pretty regularly. So I don't you know I'm sure it would be a difficult situation, but I don't really see Schmetzer as being a guy that can't handle that and
01:13:05
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that, but I just also, we addressed this once before. I think Brian has a lot of reference for people that he sees as part of the core of the team. And we talked about that before with the idea that Brad Evans is probably definitely a starter on this team, period. Clint Dempsey is going to be allowed to play himself out of slumps, period. And I do wonder if he also sees Roman as part of that kind of indelible group that he wants to get on the field as much as possible.
01:13:29
Speaker
I think that there's a pretty good chance he did, but I think that he's missed so much time and Svensson has played so well that, I mean, does Svensson become part of that group? You know, I think that's a fair question. I don't know the answer, but... Yeah. I mean, it's hard to imagine that Sven... I mean, Svensson's played more minutes than anyone but Christian Roldan at this point, I think.
01:13:52
Speaker
except for maybe Stephen Fry, I guess, too. But clearly he's become a player that Brian Smitzer likes. Yeah, definitely. But I also think he likes 14 guys, which is why 14 guys are getting regular playing time. I also think just with Brian, I keep having to remind people at 442 about this.
01:14:16
Speaker
Compared to other coaches, we still know very little about him. And we're apt to give him the benefit of the doubt because he's earned it based on what happened last year. But we are getting a greater sampling of his tendencies. And I think that even what I was saying a minute ago about his tendency to defer to what he sees as the core of the team,
01:14:37
Speaker
These are things that always have to be reevaluated. And I think in that same vein, like we were talking about during the first segment of the show, we also have to be willing to criticize Brian like we would other coaches, even though that feels counterintuitive to a guy that so recently won an MLS Cup.
01:15:00
Speaker
SSSU underscore Richard M asks, I say that Aaron Kovar is the main reason the Sounders won and looked gold dangerous in the last 35 minutes percent chance he becomes a 90 minute player. I think it's pretty low this year, at least, especially if they sign a winger in the window. But I think he's going to be a pretty heavily rotational player for sure.
01:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think we're going to see more of Aaron Kovar. I don't know that I buy that he was the main reason that the Sounders won that game, but he definitely injected some energy. I liked what we saw from him. And it was a nice reminder that this kid has some serious skills and that if he's, you know, that he's someone that the Sounders have kept around for a reason. Billy Dus asks, why do I keep getting my hopes up that the team will turn things around?
01:15:54
Speaker
because there's a crap ton of talent on it. And they keep giving us enough to believe that they can turn it around, I think. And I think it's another one of those things where when it's been and looked really bad this season, there's a really easy explanation for why it's been. And it's easy to forget that when that becomes the grind.
01:16:17
Speaker
You know, I think that it's, it's fair to point out that when they've gotten slaughtered in games, they have been without like half of their, you know, their, their first choice roster. So this core, the exception and the exception to that was Chicago, where there was a lot of mitigating factors.
01:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, right I this core has always found a way to put its own back up against the wall and then fight back from it so Given the success that that core has had putting itself in situations where you know you look back on and you go Why did you make it so hard on yourself? I think there's every reason to hope that they can continue to respond that way I'd rather they not though We can make it certain not doing that that would be preferable, but but I think I don't think you're wrong. I
01:17:02
Speaker
I don't think my stress level can take it. Turner Esq asks, based on the Times article from He Who Shall Not Be Named, what would you say the odds are that the sounders don't bring in a DP this summer? So wait, somebody summarized this article. I think I know who He Who Shall Not Be Named is, but I don't know what the content of it.
01:17:21
Speaker
The content of this story was that Flaco is basically on the way out and he alluded to some rumors that the sounders are no longer, he said that sounders are no longer interested in Keisuke Honda, which we kind of knew. He said that Dirtless Gonzales may be too expensive because
01:17:41
Speaker
He used very faulty logic because of a $10 million transfer fee and they don't want to pay anyone more than Clint Dempsey's $3.9 million. Those things are obviously not mutually exclusive.
01:17:52
Speaker
that aside twice what Dempsey makes for Lodero in the last transfer window. Right.
Designated Player Strategy Debate
01:17:58
Speaker
In any case, I mean, I assume he has good reason to believe that Durlis Gonzalez is not the player that they are after or not, who knows. But he kind of made allusions to the idea that maybe the Sounders signed two Tam players and they don't sign another designated player.
01:18:13
Speaker
Um, I just think that Garth is probably giving him a lot of options and he's not going to paint himself into a corner by saying, Oh, we're going to go sign a designated player. Yeah. Garth is definitely a think out loud kind of guy.
01:18:27
Speaker
And I mean, if they can sign two tan players that have a big impact, that's not necessarily a terrible outcome, but I think the odds of them not signing a DP, which I think is what the actual question was, are like 2%, maybe? 5%? I'd be shocked. To me, this designated player and acquiring it is not
01:18:54
Speaker
I mean, it's not something that they're just reacting to what the squad is now. This is the endgame of like a one and a half, two year planning process where they knew that probably at this time they would have to make a big signing or there was a possibility that they would be leaving one of their DP spots open for this time. And while I'm sure they're flexible enough to say, hey, if our top three guys are off the board in numbers four and five, we can get with a TAM,
01:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, let's keep that designated player in our pocket. Let's maybe go out and get spending on Roman Torres's replacement this winter and let's do it that way. I just think if you're trying to put it in terms of odds that it's pretty good that they're going to stay close to the plan that they laid out a long time ago. Yeah, I tend to think that if they don't make a
01:19:45
Speaker
dp signing it's because they couldn't get guys they wanted not because they weren't trying to sign a dp and if they can't get guys they wanted with as much lead time as they have had that's a pretty huge indictment i think of of uh of their planning yeah i think we learned last year it's not like this these this
01:20:02
Speaker
Organization like settles on one or two guys and then just says okay. Well, that's it I mean like even with Lodera where he was number one on their list for some time that list continuously had like five six eight players on it and then it got narrow narrowed down so Given how obvious the need is and how it seems like they've left this need open Anticipating that they will fill it in a month and a half. I would be really surprised if there isn't a pretty
01:20:29
Speaker
Notable impact player added to the team now whether it's a designated player or they can Spend the town money on it. That's a different thing But I think the intention right now is to use that designated player spot Here's a question is can they use money that a DP makes like in Vegas like so if Ozzy comes back with a bunch of money Can they use it to spend on a player?
01:20:55
Speaker
Don't answer that.
Soccer Fandom Culture Critique
01:20:57
Speaker
Bill Jones, S-T-R-P-T, asks what will we see from the team after the break that most of us don't expect? Oh, wow. After multiple goals in one game? After. Yeah, well, there we go. I like that. Oh, well. Yeah, it has been a long, long time since this team has scored more than one goal. I guess Richard said it was the new England game. Yeah, it was the comeback against New England.
01:21:25
Speaker
And that was actually, that game was the one that I started to feel like, okay, this offense is totally fine. Which I guess is because I'm an idiot. To me that was just such a sounder situation. Again, put their backs up against the wall and then start playing like they should. Yeah. I don't know. It was great for, I don't know.
01:21:47
Speaker
I feel like all the totally unexpected stuff that could happen to the Sounders would be negative stuff, like even scoring multiple goals in a game. They haven't done it in a while, but we still expect it. Right, now that's a good point. I think, I think Aaron was being funny. Yeah. I think. I think. Mr. Third Place asks, Doxian an official because of a call during a game. Horrible idea or horrible idea?
01:22:14
Speaker
So in case you don't know about this, I guess there was a Orlando City supporter who sent out the information, the business information of Ted Uncle, who was the referee in their game, who sent off two of their players, one of whom was guilty of kicking a guy square in the back, by the way. But yeah, I think that's a horrible idea. I think we can all agree on that, right?
01:22:41
Speaker
I mean, I sent out a couple tweets on this. We are part of a culture that's way too permissive to this crap. I mean, the four of us, the people we know, we aren't. But as far as like, I mean, I really do get not offended, but I get put off every time that Alexi Lalas video comes on, that commercial comes on, and he's talking about, you know, soccer doesn't have fans, soccer has armies, and soccer has supporters, it's like,
01:23:08
Speaker
It's it just totally plays into all of the worst things that people become soccer fans for I mean there there is a very small portion of fans that become soccer fans just to act like idiots and unfortunately that other 99.9% of the soccer world is far too permissive of that crap and so when something like this happens, it's a
01:23:30
Speaker
both easy to say, I mean, it's just too easy to say, oh, you know, that's just a, that's just a random example. Yeah, it's a random example that is completely promoted by the culture around them. I just, I get disgusted at my own industry for covering these things the way that they do, because when we go out and talk about how devoted and hardcore these people are, that's true, again, for a lot of the fans, but it also plays into this perception that hooliganism is allowed within certain constraints and
01:23:59
Speaker
that leads to crap like this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I definitely think that that we as a soccer culture can do a better job of differentiating between what is a positive sign show of passion and what is just a show of passion to kind of prove that you're hardcore. And this is definitely an example of a supporters of supporters curve culture gone awry.
01:24:29
Speaker
Am I wrong to think that the number of truly evil intended supporters is lower in the Northwest here, considering the number of hardcore supporters the clubs have? It just seems like there's kind of a self-poicing system here in Cascadia where the culture between Timbers fans and Sanders fans, and to a certain extent, white cops fans, have drawn pretty clear lines as to what is acceptable and what's not acceptable.
01:24:55
Speaker
I mean, I think that's probably true. And I think that speaks to kind of the leadership of those groups. I think you have mature leaders. I think that the fact that in all three areas, supporters groups are pretty mainstream, for lack of a better term, that, you know, that these aren't just a bunch of college kids that are, you know, trying to that saw Green Street hooligans and wanted to go out and start a firm, but that they're, you know, they're, they're people that have real jobs and that have
01:25:21
Speaker
Real lives and they are passionate about their soccer and they choose to show it in this way But yeah, I mean I I do I mean I'd like to I get that I don't I feel like if that were to happen if a if a set of an ECS member were to do something like that that he would be condemned immediately by Leadership and I think that you would see a far more Serious punishment levied by the Sounders than what Orlando City did
01:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, I would hope so. It just seems like also up here in this corner of the world, so many people know people that kind of cross that line. So it becomes very difficult to go to be evil towards the other groups because you have friends over there. I mean, you can, it just seems, it seems like that more than, more than other, other places that I've covered, uh, the sport in MLS. I'll take your word for it.
01:26:15
Speaker
Yeah, and that statement by Orlando was such a cop out. It really, I was shocked that they, you know, this is the same league that suspended a guy for lighting a flare in a parking lot. And this guy basically was asked to remove a tweet.
01:26:31
Speaker
Yep, and then he tweeted later on like it was a joke like he was just joking and like so he doesn't get it doesn't get what he did or doesn't care. Moving on SmurfHawk31 says or asks Flacco Rose Nikos Donuts? Are we saying that and you wait, I think it's I think those are three topics that they're looking for stuff about. We've talked about Flacco.
01:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, we didn't talk about Andy Rose. Andy Rose was at the game. Apparently his sister is a tennis coach at UW. And that's ostensibly why he was here. He also apparently had some personal business to take care of. But when I asked him about coming back to that, I interviewed him for this bit we're doing on the red card wedding. And I asked him about potentially playing in Seattle. And he sounded very enthusiastic about that possibility. So I wouldn't close that door.
01:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, around this time last year, Flacco was here and he was just in town for vacation. So, you never know. We're going for America. Yeah. And look, we're recording right now, so. Yeah, who knows? Maybe tomorrow, a big announcement.
Memorable Open Cup Moments
01:27:44
Speaker
Escape the Shoe asks, favorite open cup memory? I saw Marcus Hanneman chug a beer after the game once. That was cool.
01:27:52
Speaker
That was actually a really cool little thing. There is photographic evidence of this happening. It's not just an urban legend. And so basically, the Sounders won a penalty shootout against San Jose. He made a couple saves in the penalty shootout, immediately went over, ripped off his shirt, and chugged a beer. A real story. That was a pretty good memory. But Zach Scott hitting the penalty against the winning penalty in the shootout against Portland in 2010 is probably
01:28:23
Speaker
It's certainly one of my favorites, at least early season memories, early tournament memories. I think for me it was Ozzy ceiling, his goal ceiling was a final. That was a good one. Watch that together. That's right. I actually have a sounder memory for this one because I was at the game against San Jose at Cazar Stadium in San Francisco. Oh, you were.
01:28:47
Speaker
And that was the one where basically the earthquakes kept enticing Eddie Johnson to take a swing at them basically for the whole second half. It was also a game that nobody expected Seattle to win and they still advanced because San Jose was actually good, was playing a pretty much full team and Seattle had to play scrubs.
01:29:07
Speaker
But yeah, San Jose kind of kept egging on Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson. Eventually the sheriffs had to come onto the field to separate the teams towards the end because it finally got to the point where Eddie Johnson could justify scoring up against one of these guys. And then one of the San Jose players, if somebody off the bench actually did come out of nowhere and take a swing at
01:29:31
Speaker
So yeah, I was there at that game that was one of my open my favorite open cup memories along with Eric Winalda Standing on the field at Providence Park after Cal FC beat Portland and he's there all alone as the lights are going off just on the center circle talking on his blackberry Well, that's those are two good memories, man
01:29:49
Speaker
Those were pretty good. To have attended those two games is pretty awesome. Yeah, I keep forgetting that one in San Francisco, but that was definitely one of the cooler Open Cup games I'd been to, partly because of the venue, but then also because... Were you living in... Why were you there?
01:30:03
Speaker
That was when I was emptying my Fox built bank account, traveling the world. So I spent, I think I just actually come back, come back from Europe at that time. And I was spending like a week in San Francisco, just, you know, I want to try to get to know the earthquakes. I don't know anything about them as if that was ever going to be valuable information for me. Aaron.
01:30:31
Speaker
uh most memorable open cup moment i think that the the game against dallas at starfire um is the mic fasito yeah just because i mean it there wasn't necessarily i mean it was a really great game and it was like
01:30:49
Speaker
to pretty much full-strength MLS teams because I think that was a semi-final. I think you're right. Yeah, just the end of that game, like the last 10 minutes of that game was
01:31:02
Speaker
just so intense, like in a way that even the final year before hadn't been because of Starfire. And it was like, I think it was like the last time I felt that at Starfire. Like that was a- Like 2011? I think that was 2011. It was either 2011 or 2012. But yeah, it was the last year that I really felt that at Starfire. So yeah, that was pretty fun.
01:31:32
Speaker
Daniel Hernandez that Daniel Hernandez Okay, but that was Freddie also scored like a pretty crazy goal And that game too, which was which was cool My runner-up just because it's so absurd because the whole situation is so absurd But during the red card wedding episode where the the field was empty, but the random trash can gets thrown on the field Was that after the game
01:32:00
Speaker
It was like, I don't know if it was after, but it was like, there was no players around it. There was no garbage in it too. So they just picked up some garbage can, toss it out there. It was just rolling around. It was just like perfect summation of the whole situation. I'm just going to put a call out. If anyone knows who did that and that person wants to get in contact with me and be a part of our
01:32:21
Speaker
oral history of the red card wedding I would love to talk to that person or at least someone who is nearby so I'm just gonna throw that out there in case you know Hail Mary if that happens okay three more questions anti Iowa 30 West asks which would you choose as a post-game go-to food pizza or donut why
01:32:46
Speaker
Pizza. Are you serious? Yeah. Pizza. I don't really like donuts, though. I don't want to eat a donut. I love donuts, but I'm not going to eat a donut after playing two hours of football. Yeah. Well, apparently the sounders are, but that's... Yeah. That seems gross to me. Yeah. If I have to go to the bathroom when I'm driving back, like when I just got on the road back to Portland, I will stop by the Krispy Kreme near the stadium and kind of buy two obligatory donuts just so I can use the bathroom. Oh, my God. So that's the only circumstance. That's the only circumstance I'll eat Krispy Kreme, too.
01:33:20
Speaker
Tropic Sounders has... There's nothing wrong with that. Yes, I occasionally buy things in exchange for access to toilets. Fair enough. Makes sense. Okay, lots of questions. Tropic Sounders has two questions.
Miami Stadium and Soccer Culture Speculation
01:33:38
Speaker
Since Miami is finally getting a stadium, how excited are you to come here and try cocaine? Is that an open invitation?
01:33:49
Speaker
Sounds like it. Wow, that was, I did not expect that punch line. I'm now, yeah, now I'm interested. One, if you're gonna go to Miami, don't do cocaine, do pills of some kind. Much more fun, easier to access, less recovery time, better for your health, et cetera. Definitely just get some kind of molly, you know, maybe get it with a little methy in there, maybe a little cokey in there too if you want that kind of night. But definitely go pills, don't go coke.
01:34:20
Speaker
and secondly it's not just on this show we had a big discussion about Beckham one time it's on other shows too I feel completely vindicated about this Beckham situation because a lot of people got very negative about it which justifiably so but I just think that everybody did everybody did kind of like a
01:34:39
Speaker
a poor job covering it. I mean just from my time being in Miami, like you guys know what I told you guys about it, to me it was always kind of very clear that Beckham had this leverage to try to get the best deal possible and he had no incentive to compromise. And he finally got the land in a place that he wants at a reasonable price and he's gonna get what he wants done. So I just wonder why people didn't see it that way, why everybody was kind of having these paranoid delusions about what this deal in Miami actually was. Maybe Don Garber fed into that, I don't know, but
01:35:09
Speaker
I mean I think a lot of it is people are really just, they want to move on. And Miami was yesterday's news and I'm probably guilty of that as anything. They don't see like a supporter culture there. They don't see anything organic being grown there. And I think that
01:35:25
Speaker
Fans of MLS wanna feel like they're better than having to settle for being in a market just because it feels like we have to be in a market. But I think, you know, if everything goes well in 10 years, we'll probably think Miami is a great awakening. I mean Miami, I think I probably said it before, to me, having lived in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco for a little bit, Portland, obviously I'm very familiar with Seattle, Miami to me is the place where there's the highest concentration of soccer fans that I've ever been. But the problem is they're so fractured.
01:35:54
Speaker
amongst all of these different leagues, none of which are MLS. So if David Beckham can actually tap into that, and I think we could probably all concede that if anybody can, it's him and his ability to draw players that can actually appeal to that fan base, then it's going to be a huge success.
01:36:11
Speaker
I guess I can see why people have their doubts I think one thing that I want to talk to Chris Rifer about because I I'm gonna talk to him about this this weekend at the stadium is that you know, it's easy to look back on when Miami left MLS and Wonder well what what has changed and the answer is the league has changed The league is just much more viable and easier to latch on to does that make Miami better? I don't know but it does make MLS a better product and
01:36:40
Speaker
By the way, if there's not a supporters group called Miami Vice, I'm going to be mad. God damn it. What if that's what they call their team? Oh, they could have a band called The Sound Machine. Last question from Tropic Sounders. Richard probably has something to say about this one too. Follow up. How cool is it that a little more than half of MLS season is during hurricane season?
01:37:08
Speaker
We're gonna have some interesting, interesting games, I guess. So, I don't... Did it happen? So, the Orlando game that I watched this weekend was an NWSL game, and it was played during a monsoon. That is gonna happen a lot. I mean, Miami is crazy like that. I love it, but you're either gonna have humid days where people are gonna die, or you're just gonna have people playing through a bog. I mean, it won't be boring, but Miami during this time of year is just no joke.
01:37:40
Speaker
That's it. That's it. All right. Well, uh, I think the show good, good show everyone. Uh, thanks to our sponsors, uh, full pool wines, constellation and company, queen acupuncture, Verity credit union, designers, marble, and of course our broadcast partner bootstrapper studios. Thanks to, uh, Richard for joining us today. You're welcome.
01:38:02
Speaker
So signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickit, I'm Jeremiah O'Shan. This was No Sadietes. Remember, you'll never yell alone.
01:38:26
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia, roll on Roll on, Columbia, roll on Your power is turning our darkness to dawn Roll on, Columbia, roll on
01:38:58
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!