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From the abject disappointment of match against the Union to breaking down what the roster needs for improvement
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Aaron joins Jeremiah to to break down all the ways they were disappointed by the result of the match versus Philadelphia Union and to explain the relative lack of hopelessness. In the second segment the two comb through the entire roster and discuss where they think it needs to be improved for next year.
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Transcript
Introduction and Current State
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'll deadline you.
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:42
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Adiates, part of the Sounder Heart podcast network, sponsored by Full Pool Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Monday, July 27th, 2026.
Sounders' Recent Games and Strategies
00:01:53
Speaker
I am your host, Jeremiah Oshan. Today, I am joined by Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett.
00:01:58
Speaker
The Sounders are in the midst of an absolute freefall. It is ugly. it is scary. And we're going to try make some sense of that for you.
00:02:10
Speaker
We're going to talk about this game that happened on Saturday. Talk about the week that was talk about this losing streak. We'll talk a little bit about the Timbers game coming up and how that could be part of some real ignominious history.
00:02:25
Speaker
And then in the second segment, we're going to break out the whiteboard and we're going to actually break down where we think the Sounders roster can be fixed and how kind of changes we think are coming down the pike. But Aaron, Aaron,
00:02:36
Speaker
This last game was certainly not the worst of this losing streak, but in some way, in terms of it was just a one zero loss to Philadelphia union. But in other ways, it was kind of the most depressing because the union came into this game as the team in last place in the supporter shield. That means they are the wooden spoon leaders.
00:02:57
Speaker
They were not a particularly good defensive team. They were not a particularly good offensive team. They were just not good. They sure they had won their first home game of the season in the, earlier that week.
00:03:08
Speaker
So I guess they were riding high on that one, but the Sounders facing this awful opponent came in with an extremely pragmatic and scaled back game plan and just couldn't do anything. Aaron, it was, it was just, they they took seven shots. They only took two in the first half.
00:03:29
Speaker
I don't, it was, it was really so hard to watch. And it's not like they put out a lineup there where there was no weapons. ah ostensibly, their starting four front four were Osaza De Rosario, who we thought was maybe going to be a starter at the beginning of the year.
00:03:45
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira, who we thought was going to be a starter at the beginning of the year. Albert Rusnak, who 100% was going to be a starter at the beginning of the year. And Paul Rothrock, who, okay, maybe at the beginning of the year, he wasn't going to be a starter, but he was right there.
00:03:56
Speaker
And they they just couldn't manage anything.
00:04:01
Speaker
No, I mean, it was ah it was brutal to watch. I think that, honestly, i hated this game more than I hated the game against Austin. um The Sounders actually didn't look as terrible against Austin, I don't think.
00:04:13
Speaker
I thought that there was a decent chance of them getting a result in that game for most of that game.
Coaching and Player Performance
00:04:19
Speaker
And, you know, they just kind of ran out of steam at the end and Austin was able to put it away. But they didn't look as toothless as they did against the Union in this one. And and this game reminded me of another game against the Union all the way back in 2015.
00:04:33
Speaker
in the middle of a very similar swoon um where the Sounders put out a lineup that had, you know, like Darwin Jones, I think was starting and oh yeah's just a really bad lineup that I think that was at the time referred to as the dire days. Right. How much worse it it get even a year later.
00:04:49
Speaker
ah And this reminded me very much of that game where there was just at no point did it feel like the Sounders were capable of of scoring, of equalizing. And the Union, you know, weren't good. I mean, they they really were not good. um There was ah some concern, I think, going into this one about them looking so much better in their first game back after the break. and And they did legitimately, but I didn't see too much of that in this one. um I, you know, I think that they, the Sounders were not, you know, unlucky to give up a goal by any stretch of the imagination, but
00:05:21
Speaker
that was not a union team that I think that, you know, they should have felt overmatched by. And I think that that is the thing about this, this stretch. These aren't good teams that they're, that they're losing to. These are bad teams. The union and Austin both came into the game. Can't be overstated enough.
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah. The union and Austin both came in to this game, averaging less than a point per game this season. And, you know, these are teams where, okay, like winning on the road and MLS is tough. The Sounders are dealing with a lot of injuries. They're in bad form.
00:05:53
Speaker
I can almost put up with losing games like this in a stretch like this. It is going into them and not feeling like there's any chance in the world that you're going to get, you know, get a result out of it. I mean, how depressing ah is it to go and play these bad teams and feel lucky that you're not totally out of it, you know, an hour into the game. It's not acceptable for for this team. And I think that,
00:06:17
Speaker
We've talked a ton about ownership. We've talked a ton about the GM. I'm sure we'll talk more about them as as the show goes on. But I mean, we're at the point now where you have to be asking questions of the coaching staff. How does this team look so unprepared? How did this team look so unprepared against Portland? We talked about that last week.
00:06:34
Speaker
But how do they look so much less fit than teams like Austin and Philly? how do they how How are we continuing to do things that aren't working? How did we start this Dotson and Brunel double pivot three games in a row where, look, i since the Portland game, I don't think either of those guys have had a bad game in a vacuum, but this pairing is just not working. They're not capable of doing the things they're being asked to do in that central midfield. And it's been obvious since the Portland game.
00:07:01
Speaker
how How are we continuing to do this? How did Danny Masofsky get the start against Austin? You know, it's just, ah why are we playing? Why are we trying to play this possession is New Who the captain every Yes, how was i wanted i wanted to wait for you to say that, so thank you.
00:07:16
Speaker
ah How are we trying to play this possession style again? want to be clear. No, not at all. New is not the biggest problem, why is he the captain after game, after game, after game? He can't be the only guy willing to take it. Anyway, it's a minor issue all things considered, I'll be honest. It is indicative, though, I think of the overall problem of just like everything feels totally out of touch with reality. And that's true of the coaching in these games. It's true with the response of the front office of ownership.
00:07:46
Speaker
Everyone feels like they are just completely... out of touch with, with what's going on with this team and what's going on with the fan base. And look like every year we have a spell like this, right?
00:07:59
Speaker
Every year we have a spell where we're not very good and not quite like this, but yeah. not Well, that's the thing, right? We have a bad spell. It's never felt like this before. Not during the Schmetzer years, right? And we've had conversations about, you know, like, oh, the Sounders need to make a coaching change?
00:08:15
Speaker
You know, do the Sounders, like, does the front office need to act? But I think it's always been couched in But they're probably going to get everybody back and be healthy and be good again. And so we just got to hope they can hold that. I don't feel that way this year. I don't feel that way at all this year.
00:08:29
Speaker
I don't expect Jordan Morris to really play much of a part this season, unfortunately. And if he does, he doesn't look like the same player. Like, where's the creativity going to come from? Why should I expect Pedro De La Vega to be an impact player this season? Like, yeah, tell me that I'm wrong to feel this way. And because I would love to hear that. I would love to hear that it's going to be OK. And they'll get better when Christian gets back. They'll get better when Alex gets back.
00:08:53
Speaker
But this this is just not a team that I think is capable of doing anything special at all. And that's that's a really upsetting place to be. And I think what's frustrating, and this is something that I'm going to give credit to some of the people who have been yelling at us for years to ah be more alarmed.
00:09:12
Speaker
But I think this is the first year where I can kind of share some of this concern, which is they might get better. You know, what they, they might steady of the ship.
00:09:22
Speaker
They might even somehow climb into a top four spot in the West because the West ah looks like that, it that might be doable. And also they started so strong that they, they, they've, they've only fallen down to eighth so far. Although if they lose to the Timbers, I, they could fall out of a playoff spot, which would be,
00:09:41
Speaker
crazy, but ah maybe not quite, but they would be even on points with the Timbers at that point who are currently not in a playoff spot, but I'm getting ahead of myself. ah My point was,
00:09:53
Speaker
even if they write the ship, there is this sort of impending sense of doom where it's like, so what? You made it to the playoffs. Big deal. That's not the standard that we have set.
00:10:04
Speaker
And it's, there's not really this sense of like, don't worry. There's hope on the horizon. Eventually going start signing players again because right now it feels like, yeah, I mean, even if they sign someone this summer, which is by no means a guarantee shockingly,
00:10:20
Speaker
And I think some people are just dying for some sense of hope, like give us something. But it's a little scary to look down at the horizon and say, like, I don't know when, like i if not now, when are they going to get serious about signing players? If they can't get serious about signing players in a summer where the wheels are completely coming off,
00:10:39
Speaker
are they ever going to like get serious about signing players? I mean, this last game I thought was a very interesting stat that I stumbled across.
Team Composition and Player Development
00:10:48
Speaker
There were 16 players that featured for the Sounders in this game. 11 of them were primarily developed through the Defiance, either coming by coming through the Academy or in Andrew Thomas's case, he was drafted and then got most of his early playing time with the Defiance.
00:11:04
Speaker
The other five players all came to the Sounders via another MLS team. You put that all together. All 16 players in this game came to the Sounders through domestic channels.
00:11:18
Speaker
They have not, they didn't have a single player in the, in that played for them in this game who was a foreign signing. Now there was one on the roster. Yamar is the only player who was even on the roster who was a foreign signing, but there are only, I believe three players on the entire roster right now who came to the Sounders from a foreign signing.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yamar Kim Keehi and Pedro de la Vega. Am I, I don't know if I'm missing someone. I get, yeah, no I don't think I'm missing anyone. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head.
00:11:48
Speaker
Um, yeah, that's a crazy stat to think that your roster is just comprised of almost exclusively domestic players, at least from the, I mean, and I guess it's somewhat telling that they are only using two international roster spots right now.
00:12:03
Speaker
ah one of them is you, Suka Nome, who we are, ah we are almost positive has been sent out on loan. And the other one is Kim Ki-Hu, who is a, ah so essentially, I think he's on the supplemental roster because he's making the, the senior minimum.
00:12:15
Speaker
I mean, this is, pretty The only way you can do that is if you don't really have international players, right? And ah and it's just it's just wild that the Sounders have just completely abandoned the international market for signing players.
00:12:31
Speaker
and And I think that's what gives this sense of doom and like what are we even doing? like what What is the point of any of what we're doing here? If we can't sign foreign players...
00:12:42
Speaker
And look, I think it's great. I think it's really interesting that the Sounders and we have we have spent a lot of time celebrating the Sounders willingness to give opportunities to young domestic players to bring players to the academy.
00:12:56
Speaker
And that's good like, I think that's all true. Like all that's a good thing to be doing. But it can't be your only thing that you're doing. You got to supplement it with yeah foreign players at some point.
00:13:08
Speaker
There are lots of clubs around the world that have world-class academies pumping out just as many players as as the best academies. Yeah. And you cannot name them because nobody gives a shit.
00:13:19
Speaker
Nobody cares because they're selling the players and that's how they're keeping the club afloat or whatever it is, right? Right. The teams, the academies you know about, Barcelona, River Plate, Boca, Barcelona,
00:13:30
Speaker
Ajax PSV those kind of clubs they're reinvesting the money into the first team because you cannot produce even Barcelona can't produce a fully homegrown team and what's depressing as I was looking at the at the roster and to see if you were wrong about that that fact check. And I said, well, you know, I guess Nuhu and Osaze technically were foreign signings before they got to Defiance.
00:13:57
Speaker
That's the kind of straws we're grasping at. Right. point Yeah. A guy, a guy who's, you know, dad was a famous MLS player and was only playing in a foreign league because of like a weird transfer situation that got interrupted because of a war. And a guy who's been here for like 10 years now, like,
00:14:14
Speaker
that's That's brutal. And look, I am proud of the Academy. It's it's incredible. and And the Sounders should be proud of that. And they should talk a lot about it. But like they sent out an email for Leagues Cup tickets today where, you know, they talked about like proving who they were and like, you know, we like leaning very heavily on the homegrown stuff. And it's just like, again, like how tone deaf are you guys to think that's like, this is the kind of shit that people want to hear right now. And it's, it's maddening, man, because they they have done like they did the first part.
00:14:52
Speaker
They said, okay, these guys aren't playing, but they have a market value. We don't want to lose them for anything. Let's get some resources for them But they didn't do the second part, which is replacing them in some meaningful way. Reinvest the money.
00:15:06
Speaker
Reinvest the money. Either, you know, hang on to most of the gam, but make some back of the roster signings. Some like veterans that you feel like you know can can be a slight upgrade or whatever.
00:15:19
Speaker
Kind mean, I'm being kind, they i mean, it was like Petkovich was supposed to be that. And Hassani Dodson was supposed to be that. And, you know, there was this expectation that Paul Areola was going to come into a bigger role.
00:15:29
Speaker
And I get all that. And those signings have not, you know, really so panned out. But that like, look, that that's the way this plan was. It's like, we're just going to keep mining domestic talent.
00:15:40
Speaker
Uh, that's, that's just not, it's not good enough. Uh, and I, and I gotta say, look, if you're going to, I've been pretty understanding, I think. And I, and I, and I do think there is room for being understanding of the whole Obed Vargas thing where look, like,
00:15:56
Speaker
But look, if your whole thing is going to be developing young talent and then selling it on, you got to maximize that. You got to maximize that. And look, the Obed Vargas deal may end up working out OK because he looks like he's going to get enough playing time at Atletico that a bunch of triggers will eventually be hit. And that will end up looking like a bit ah better deal than it was at the time.
00:16:19
Speaker
And look, I've done a whole lot of reporting where I don't necessarily think the Sounders mismanaged that situation, particularly because there was ah the biggest factor being that Obed and his people decided pretty early on that they wanted to go.
00:16:33
Speaker
But look, if you're going to be a team that your whole thing is developing and selling and then are developing and flipping talent, you got to maximize those opportunities. And they 100% did not maximize the Obed Vargas thing.
00:16:48
Speaker
And beyond that, there is this investment end on the part on the other end of it. Where, where is like, where is this other investment and where is the the money? Like, when are we going to start spending some of these resources that they've gathered? Like getting rid of Georgie Manungu, getting rid of re Baker Whiting, get rid of Danny Leyva, getting even rid of Cody Baker who, you know, like that's a, that's a lower, it's a different level. But if you're going to clear this space, that's fine. All those, you can make a very valid argument why you moved on from each one of those players.
00:17:21
Speaker
but you got to have something to show for it. If you weren't moving on from them and then improving, then what was the point?
Roster Reinvestment and Rebuild
00:17:27
Speaker
Like that's, right that's the the whole point of flipping a house is to not take a loss on the house.
00:17:33
Speaker
Especially if you're going to prioritize playing and developing younger players, even when you have better options to start, but you want to prioritize the development. That's great. But if you're using one position to do that, you should invest the money you got from the last guy somewhere else. I love Snyder Brunel. I think he's going to be an incredible player. I think the Sounders could use a starting center midfielder to take some of the pressure off. Yeah.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah. They're not going to do that. I mean, okay so use the money you got for Obed to go sign a winger or something like, right. Yeah. You can't, you, you just can't, it's stuck at the cycle of so okay so then we go out and sign a winger and then pedro de la vega comes back and he's a star great then you have too many good players big what what a horrible problem to have yeah like it's just it's crazy it it is absolutely crazy it's a reverse sunk cost theory or you tell us right it's like we they're worried about future sunk costs
00:18:32
Speaker
It's crazy, man. And like, oh man. Yeah. You know, i like, I like Osace De Rosario. And I think Danny Masofsky has been better than his numbers maybe would indicate this year.
00:18:44
Speaker
But these are probably the two strikers you're going to run out there for the rest of the year. Cause like, yeah let's be honest. I don't really think we can, we can, ah The Jordan Morris thing, I look, look, I'm not going to say we were wrong about Jordan Morris because I think Jordan Morris was way better than people gave him credit for last year when he was helping. he once And he was, and I did not think, I thought, look, he had some freak injuries last one, particularly freak injury last year.
00:19:10
Speaker
There's no way he's going to go through that again this year. And look, he's back to getting muscle injuries on relatively yeah the fact that he came out of preseason and then immediately hurt himself.
00:19:21
Speaker
And then he came out of this long break of seven weeks and then he immediately hurt himself. Those are huge red flags. Like, look, I, I, I have been a defender of Jordan's. I really think that when he's good, he's really good. And I think he's an underappreciated player.
00:19:36
Speaker
But these are major concerns. And the idea that they've got two more seasons of him as a DP are really frightening because it's starting to get like, if he can't stay healthy, this is a major, major problem.
00:19:50
Speaker
And then you have Pedro who look, that was a freak injury last year. The the second one, though the one that has, he's still out from, but a freak injury certainly makes me a little worried that he's not going to hit the ground running. And if he does that, we don't know what, you know, we don't know what his, his, uh,
00:20:10
Speaker
His runway is. And then out that leaves Al U with Albert Rusnak, who has, to his credit, remained really healthy. And on paper, he's actually been reasonably productive, at least coming into the break. He was he was on a decent, he's ah you know, he was he was playing decent numbers-wise.
00:20:29
Speaker
And he has been atrocious the last three games. Absolutely atrocious. Him and Jesus Ferreira have been so ineffective. They Jesus Ferrer does not have a single shot in the three games since the break.
00:20:42
Speaker
That is wild. i Yeah, that Paul Rothrock is a fine supplemental piece. If he is your leading scorer, that's a major problem. And you kind of just go through the list.
00:20:54
Speaker
Major problem, major problem, major problem, major problem. Alex Roldan looked really good as a center back. He's got a a chronic hip issue. We have no idea how long it's going to take for him to get, get fit.
00:21:08
Speaker
Christian rolled on, hopefully is able to get fit, but he's 32 years old. Like what's the best case scenario. You get two more years of Christian. i have these are, these are major problems. And I feel like no one in the Sounders front office is willing to face them and say like, yeah, we know we got like, and I would, I have to believe that they know these are problems.
00:21:33
Speaker
And I don't, I guess maybe it doesn't behoove them to say it out loud, but it would be nice to see some action, like some work on the backend to like shore it up.
00:21:44
Speaker
And we're not seeing that. If Craig Weibel and Adrian Hanauer, this is very a very funny thing to imagine, were to come out and say, look, we don't think that this particular core can be... like We just don't think we have the horses, right? And we think we need to just kind of bite the bullet and start rebuilding the roster. medicine.
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah. I could live with that because i wouldn't like it, but I could, I wouldn't like it. It would suck. Forced to accept Yeah. Christian is going to be gone at some point.
00:22:20
Speaker
I don't think anybody could have like, I'm sorry, people will tell me I'm wrong. i don't think anybody could have foreseen Jordan Morris just falling off a cliff like he has this year. Because I mean, some people could have guessed that it would happen, but that's not necessarily. Well, people have been saying he was, it was going happen since 2016. So you don't get credit for saying something's going to happen every year. And then it does. But yeah, if you say it every year, it's yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker
He was super healthy since his last ACL. ah and then he had a freak injury last year. i wasn't worried about that going forward. These kinds of injuries scare the shit out of me with, you know, his, his age, his skillset, all of that stuff. It is extremely concerning.
00:23:06
Speaker
I'll just note that this, like they, they will put out like the, the fastest players ah based on like their top speed. And it's always Jordan is always in there. Right.
00:23:17
Speaker
He's like, I want to say they put out a top 50 or something like that recently. And he was not in that. Like he has not had a top 50 sprint time. And that's ah that's like, that's a big, I don't think it's the only part of his game, no matter what some people have said, but it's a big part of it. And if he doesn't have that, that's a major concern.
00:23:35
Speaker
If he doesn't have that, he has to reinvent himself. And look, players have done that before, right? There have been strikers, especially whose skill set was, whose speed was a big part of their skill set. They lost it. They had a couple of down years. They fixed it. They changed the way they played and they were really effective.
00:23:52
Speaker
But the number of players that are able to do that is much smaller than the number of players that aren't able to do that. Like, infinitely smaller, right? yeah i think I think Albert is hurt.
00:24:03
Speaker
Like, I don't think he's... injured necessarily but he does not he's not moving like a player who feels comfortable right now he's he's getting older right so if they if the if they wanted to say we just think over the rest of this season and the sprint season next year we're going to see what we can get for some of our veterans we're gonna regroup and then you know we're gonna come back strong for once the calendar changes over, right? Like we're going to kind of reboot things. There are ways that you can get that across without saying, yeah, we think all of our guys are dying. And so we're going to just like shit the bed for 18 months. Like people who know how this stuff goes, know what to listen to, but they're not going to, they're not going to say that. And I do think if I,
00:24:50
Speaker
in the interest of being fair to the front office, I think they're in this really difficult position where teardowns and rebuilds are just kind of part of sports, right? It's just a thing that happens, especially in American sports where um it's it's much, much harder just go out and spend a bunch of money because the salary cap and all that stuff, right?
00:25:09
Speaker
So it's just a thing that happens. The Sounders have not really set themselves up for being able to do that effectively. So they've kind of had to, you know, build the car while it's driving. And and they've done a pretty good job of that so far, but I don't think they've ever been in this dangerous of a situation.
00:25:26
Speaker
right and the fact that this is all happening against the backdrop of season ticket renewals and an upcoming gm vote and this potential move to rent in that uh the sounders weirdly don't talk about but have put enough out there they have made it very obvious that this is a thing that they are considering and they've never really addressed head-on and they had a open discussion about it but ah That's ah maybe not a thing we need to get into right now, but it's all all this is happening with that stuff sort of like very much not even looming in the background, just sort of like sitting there hovering over everything else.
00:26:04
Speaker
And it it does create a sense of doom and gloom that I don't remember ever feeling with this team. I looked this up and I just want share because I thought it was funny. I looked up that 2015 union game.
00:26:16
Speaker
Here was the Sounders starting lineup, Steph Fry and goal. And then they had a center back duo of Zach Scott. I, I'm, I guess it must've been Zach Scott.
00:26:28
Speaker
Uh, Jimmy Oxford, where's the name from the past? ah Dylan Remick was the left back. The right back was O'Neal Fisher, I think.
00:26:38
Speaker
And then the defensive midfielders were Michael Azira and Gonzalo Pineda. And then you had Christian Roldan in that game. You had Marco Papa and Lamar Nagel. I couldn't tell you. And Aaron Kovar.
00:26:52
Speaker
I actually, i I can't make sense out of that front four, but I...
00:26:58
Speaker
I guess Lamar. Darwin Jones. Well, Christian Christian was playing on the wing at that time. Right. Yeah. So Lamar must have been the nine, i guess. Yeah. And you did have a little stretch. Yeah. Papa played as 10.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah. Papa played as the 10. And and then Darwin Jones replaced Lamar Nagel and Tomas. Tomas. Ha. Jaguar. Jaguar eBay. Yeah. ah Chad Marshall also came out. I believe Chad Marshall came off the bench in that game and they played him as a nine too. I think if I remember. correct Yeah, that is correct. i I remember that this game so well and I don't, I have no idea why, but I just because I think it was like, I had not seen anything like that before. It's like, yeah, that's some bad losses, but that, that was the most feckless I feel like.
00:27:49
Speaker
Well, and and just to add a little bit more ominousness to that game, the next game was on the road against the Timbers. And yeah they got absolutely smashed. They lost 4-1.
00:28:06
Speaker
And this was all part of yeah, you like you said, this is all part of the dire days. This is all like in the post-game. red card wedding, uh, fallout.
00:28:16
Speaker
If people will remember all that. And the Sounders actually lost, uh, eight of nine games during that stretch. Uh, it was, yeah it was really bad. Uh, that this, the union game was not part of the five game losing streak that is now tied for the worst losing streak in Sounders history. And somehow, and this is another thing that I think is, I come back to this 2015 thing.
00:28:38
Speaker
ah there was a reason for it is that during all that meltdown, when they, they lost one zero to the Chicago fire, they lost one zero at home to the Rapids. They lost one zero to the Montreal impact.
00:28:50
Speaker
They lost at home three zero to the Vancouver whitecaps. Another one of those like low, this is about as bad as it gets kind of moment. And then they lost three, one to the galaxy. And At that point, they made a whole bunch of like, I don't know if it was right then. It was maybe been a week before that, but they made a whole bunch of signings. They signed it or they signed it They signed Eric Freeberg.
00:29:16
Speaker
They signed Andres Avanchis and they signed Nelson Valdez. They may have made some other and Roman Roman Torres. oh That's right. They also made ah sign. They also signed Roman Torres. I forgot about that. Wow.
00:29:29
Speaker
now Now you can say like those four players were not necessarily great investments from a purely like those are all older players.
00:29:41
Speaker
They sort of were kicking the can a little bit on trying to rebuild the roster. They were giving Siggy sort of like one last shot to go for it. And, and ultimately you could say that it, it fell short, even though they went on a pretty awesome run at the end of the season to make the playoffs.
Historical Context of Challenges and Successes
00:30:00
Speaker
They ultimately went out against FC Dallas in the playoffs. But what's funny is that all four of those players ended up playing significant roles the next season when they made that run to M when they won MLS Cup.
00:30:13
Speaker
Now, they weren't the stars, and that 2016 team ended up being almost completely dismantled. and And that was really where the the next era of Sounders came from, was from that post-era. But it was interesting. I think what it – I bring this up because it showed a sense that the Sounders weren't just going to let it all fall apart. They were going to – throw it like maybe against their best interest. They were going to throw it all in and see what they could salvage out of the season.
00:30:41
Speaker
And they signed for like three, ah really interesting veterans and a center back who would end up being a huge part of what they were doing.
00:30:52
Speaker
And by the way, they also signed a DP and And then they also and all also they were just waiting for Oba and Clint to come back. Just a ah little detail there. Right. ah And so it was it was just such a different era. It felt like the the Sounders were willing to just do everything possible to to make some signings and to look better. And they were maybe even pushing the roster rules at that time. Like it would like I remember.
00:31:19
Speaker
there was a column in the, in like the Vancouver paper. They're like, how can the Sounders have five DPs? Because they had all these players that were making more than, than DP salaries. And that's, that would be fun to get back to, you know? i think that that's actually how we found out about Tam.
00:31:34
Speaker
I don't think we knew about Tam yet. And then, yeah, I think Tam was like a very Roman. Tam was introduced that year for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because Roman Torres was like our first TAM signing. And I think Yvanschitz was TAM as well. And we didn't really know how it worked yet.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, but you you're right. exactly Like that is the distinction is that I have always felt like they were going to fix it. And I don't feel like they're going to fix it this time. Yeah, and that's what's and that's what's scary. And, ah you know, I had a conversation today with someone in the Sounders front office where I was trying to come up with this analogy.
00:32:08
Speaker
And I was explaining to them why it's so... ah why it's why there's so much doom, why people are so much more depressed. And they were sort of saying like, look, if you're caught in the moment and you you get caught up in that 5-1 loss to the Timbers and you get blocked get caught up in the these last two games or even the five-game losing streak, you forget that we started the season 7-1-1 and that last year we won Leagues Cup and and this, that, and another thing. And I was like, you know, I don't um' think you're entirely getting it because it's not it's not that
00:32:41
Speaker
this season is unsalvageable that people are depressed about. It's that look, I tried to use this analogy. I still haven't perfected it, but I'm, you know, I'm workshopping. So ah hopefully our listeners will bear with me on this, but it's sort of like you are wearing the suit of armor and you've been running away from this tiger for years.
00:33:03
Speaker
And all along people are telling you, look, The tiger is so far behind us that you don't need to worry about it catching it. And even if it does catch us, we've got this suit of armor on and the armor is going to protect us even if even if if the tiger catches us.
00:33:21
Speaker
And what we've seen right now is not only has the tiger caught us, but the tiger is ripping the armor off with almost no sense of, ah with no defense. and and And so we've we've given up the head start, we've given up the armor, and now we're sort of defenseless. And what's the next step?
00:33:43
Speaker
Apparently, it's it's it's in this analogy, it's die, I suppose. right You get eaten by the tiger. Very poetic. And it just feels like the that we've been caught by the tiger and we are getting mauled, and it doesn't seem like there's an answer because the answers were always...
00:34:00
Speaker
Look, we're ahead of the the the pack. We have built this system that is going to even allow us to survive even when, you know, everyone else has ah bows and arrows and and cars that can drive faster and other things that can get them past the tiger. I don't know. ah The analogy is starting to fall.
00:34:21
Speaker
but it's the sense that we don't know what to do next. That's what's scary. It's like, we, we, that like, we just don't know. ah And, and I know people have been out there claiming, like clamoring for an alarm bell and saying, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. And all along we've been saying, and I've been guilty of this too, saying, like, look,
00:34:41
Speaker
it it might happen in the future. it might like I've never I've never pretended as if it wouldn't happen. And but I always assume that if it did happen in the future, there would be a plan. But more than that, it was it's not happening today. Like we are still competitive, we are still able to come you know, even though these rules are changing, the rule changes have not really changed the paradigm yet.
00:35:05
Speaker
And I don't know if the rules are really the the paradigm has changed yet. I think We're just at a point where the Sounders plan needs to be updated with the times.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the reality is that they're not like they have as as spending has grown as these rules, rule changes have started coming into frame. The Sounders have stopped spending money.
00:35:31
Speaker
Like if you if you go back and look at all the best Sounders teams, they weren't. There was money. Yeah, they weren't like the highest paid teams in the league, because I remember people talking about how the Sounders can't compete with these Galaxy teams because they've got Robbie Keane and David Beckham and Landon Donovan, and they're making so much more money. And the Sounders, you know, I mean, they didn't really compete with them, but I don't think it was the money.
00:35:53
Speaker
I think it was just that the Galaxy had a much more talented team that had had been together for longer, right? But then it was TFC that the Sounders couldn't compete with. Well, they beat him in MLS Cup twice, right? like But they were spending money on Obafemi Martins. Yeah, Atlanta, right?
00:36:10
Speaker
ah Yeah. They spent money on Obafemi Martins. Yeah, which is a really funny one. NYCFC, I think, was one of them. Yeah, i mean, there's been a million. There's been a million.
00:36:22
Speaker
Yeah, they spent money on Nico Lodero. They spent money on Ruel Rubidias. They spent money on on other parts of the roster. They spent money on Yamar. They spent money on... ah and Gosh, I'm for forgetting, guys, they spent money on.
00:36:35
Speaker
ah But they spent money. They paid transfer fees, right? and And they signed players to Max Tam contracts. And they went outside the league and they scouted and they brought in players that they thought would help.
00:36:50
Speaker
It feels like they just totally decided to make perfect the enemy of the good with any signings they're doing this year. The idea that ah so like they're not going to sign anybody if they're not an automatic starter. What are you talking about?
00:37:03
Speaker
but What are you talking about? You started Snyder Brunel and Hassani Dotson three times in a row. Yeah, you can sign a guy that that's going to sit on the bench when everybody's healthy, because guess what?
00:37:15
Speaker
It's never no, it's never going to be a situation where everybody's healthy. And by the way, that's what good teams do. That's what good teams do. They have players on the bench who you wish you could figure out how to start. And even last year, I felt like the roster was such that it you know it felt like at times there was this... in I just remember having so many conversations about it's going to be tough for Georgie Manungu to you even get into the game day roster the way the roster is constructed right now.
00:37:40
Speaker
Of course we should trade it. And that feels like a million years ago right now. So anyway, well, look, I think the idea is that if we trade him, we're going to sign somebody. You know what mean? Exactly.
00:37:54
Speaker
That was the whole point. Yeah, exactly. That was the whole point is that the reason you trade Georgie is because you feel like you can improve on like you can bring in the next Georgie who's even better. ah And you take you you take the Reed money and the Georgie money. And instead of Reed and Georgie, you have one guy who's better than both. Victor Rodriguez did not start the 2019 MLS Cup.
00:38:18
Speaker
Right. You know what I mean? And and now like we've we've got who's our backup winger right now? Yeah, it's great it's crazy. I don't know. it's It's really crazy.
00:38:29
Speaker
Well, all right, look, ah we're going to take a break. And then when we come back, I'm going to break out the whiteboard and do something we haven't done, which is have visual aid. So if you feel like watching us on YouTube, this will be this will be on there.
00:38:42
Speaker
And you can you can see. i don't know the you i don't know how much this will be valued to you. But look, it would be cool if you go watch us on YouTube.
Community Engagement and Sounders' Culture
00:38:50
Speaker
ah but we will talk about the roster as it is, and we're going to try project out where we think it's going to go and who we think might be part of the long-term build of this team and who we think probably is not going to be.
00:39:05
Speaker
So stay tuned for that. It might be a lot of fun. i don't know. Maybe it won't be, but it probably will will probably cry a little, but you get it. all right. You're listening to nose audietes on the center heart podcast network, and we'll be right back.
00:39:21
Speaker
Sounder at Heart has been around in one form or another since 2009. In 2026, though, we make a pretty significant evolution when we go analog. Yes, that's right. In the year of our Lord, 2026, we are publishing a real life magazine. We're calling this thing 4, as in Sounder at Heart 4.0. But we're stylizing it as IV because we absolutely love Roman numeral. And if you want to refer to it as IV, that's cool too. The first issue has a comic book style cover that was hand drawn by local artist Kevin Newberg. Features by Tim Foss, Susie Rance, and Charlie Boehm. A statistical deep dive by Kat Bush. A Q&A with b Brian Schmetzer. A column by G. Willow Wilson. And photographs by Noah Reif, Max Aquino, Mike Russell, and Jane Gershowitz.
00:40:03
Speaker
I could not possibly be more proud of the work everyone put into making this, and I think you're going to absolutely love it. If you'd like to get your hands on one of these limited edition copies, we're currently selling them for $15 on our website. Get yours now.
00:40:18
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adietes on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. All right. So I promised you a whiteboard and I promised you that we will go through this roster and try to project where we think it's going and where there's room for change. And look, ah we'll be loose with this. The Sounders are...
00:40:41
Speaker
presumably going to finish this season with most of these players. I don't know that they're going to get rid of any of these players, but we're looking at the sprint season 2027. then the ah first new season, we'll call it of and ah and by the way Season ticket renewals are coming up on July 31st. I think that's Friday. And that's the deadline.
00:41:06
Speaker
And you have two options. You can either buy just the sprint season and then sort of wait and see about this ah double season. Or you can buy them both at once. There's going to be seven home games in the sprint season. And then there's going to be, i guess, 18 home games for the for the full season.
00:41:28
Speaker
I would urge you to look at your options. I'm not going to get into all that here, but I just want you to know that that deadline is quickly approaching. And if you don't do anything, it will automatically renew, I believe for both seasons. So if you're thinking about what you want to do, now's the time to do it.
00:41:44
Speaker
Anyway, I say all that. We got a roster here. I got 26 players it. 26 players.
00:41:51
Speaker
twenty six players This is the depth chart as I sort of see it. It is not including Yusuke Nome or Cody Baker, who are both on loan. And I honestly do not expect either of them to ever return to the Sounders.
00:42:05
Speaker
Yusuke Nome, I don't know, maybe there's some chance, but he is going to be on loan to Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL Championship. I don't think he's coming back. He is only on a one-year contract with a year option. If he does really well down there, probably best case scenario, the Sounders trade him somewhere else in MLS. So like this is shaping up to be a very Sam Dinneran-style situation. now Cody Baker, he already played his first game with with New England Revolution. He came off the bench.
00:42:35
Speaker
I don't think it's going to take too many more of those types of appearances to trigger the loan or become a trade, and the Sounders will get...
00:42:45
Speaker
modest amount of gam and you know we'll see how that goes but i i don't think he's coming back and i think cody baker might be a pretty decent little player could sounders could probably use him right now but anyway all right again here's here's the uh here's the whiteboard we're gonna start going through it and crossing people out so let's just start here at let's work our way back to front we're gonna start at the goalkeeper position where we have Andrew Thomas, Steph Rye, and Max Anker.
00:43:17
Speaker
What do you think? ah Thomas seems like, look, even though this bad stretch, I still think he's like, the he's fine. I'm not worried about him. Yeah. i This is people who remember 2014 and Fry's first year would, you know, probably be wise to think about some of the stretches he went through. And and yeah, I would tend to agree with you.
00:43:41
Speaker
Yeah, ah but he is. so just so you know, ah Andrew Thomas is currently signed through the he's He's guaranteed through the sprints or actually through December of 27.
00:43:56
Speaker
And then he's got two options for... uh for they take you they can take him all the way into december of 29 so he's pretty much under contract that's i think that's a good situation for them do we think steph fry is back next year i guess that's a big question i i don't but yeah i didn't think he'd necessarily be back this year either Yeah, I mean, we'll see how he does in Leagues Cup. Like if he looks good in Leagues Cup, um maybe he decides he wants to play another year and maybe he feels like he can go somewhere else and and start somewhere during the sprint season.
00:44:32
Speaker
um But i the the thing that i I'm assuming... I guess I you know i should i should correct myself. he is He is actually under contract through the sprint season next year.
00:44:43
Speaker
Okay, that's that's what I wanted for whatever to clarify. So, yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if he is back for the sprint season. um Okay. But if for no other reason than he's not making very much money and he's a good guy to have around, and why is he going to say, actually, I think that couple hundred thousand dollars you owe me, I'm i'm just going to pass on that. So I think he'll be back for the sprint season, but yeah, obviously not beyond that.
00:45:09
Speaker
So we're thinking the Sounders probably need a backup by 27 28 yeah right time for the calendar swap yeah yeah and then max anchor by all appearances seems like a pretty nice little third keeper ah and the sounders do have some goalkeepers coming through the pipeline. I don't know that any of them are going to be ready in the next year or even two.
00:45:34
Speaker
ah The one I like the best is Noah Newman, who currently is playing this summer at Ballard FC, and then he's going to go to UW. But Mo Shower is a... Mohamed Shower is currently with Defiance. He actually played for them last night.
00:45:49
Speaker
He's got some upside tools. I like both of them. I don't necessarily think... Again, i think they're probably going to have to bring in another veteran at some point. But Max Anker might very well be capable of being the backup.
00:46:02
Speaker
He's only 21. I mean, you know, he's... Who, Max Anker? Yeah, he could develop and... Oh yeah. ma yeah no I think, I think it's actually, a this is actually a a fine. I'm not worried about their goalkeeper situation. ah Yeah. But let's, let's look at the center back. Well, this is a little bit more interesting. So they got Jackson Reagan and Yamar. ah Reagan is signed long-term. Yamar though is out of contract at the end of this year.
00:46:27
Speaker
ah Let's, before we go any further, what would you like to see happen with Yamar? You know, he's starting to get a little older. ah as players do, but he's, you know, he's showing his age a little bit and at least in the injury front, he used to be, he came into the, this year, pretty healthy, all things considered.
00:46:47
Speaker
He's had a hard time staying healthy this year. What do you think? What do you, like he is currently on about nine, almost a million dollars.
Player Roles and Future Prospects
00:46:55
Speaker
I, I gotta believe that he's going to have to take a pay cut to return, but what, wouldn't like what, like, what would you like to see happen there?
00:47:03
Speaker
I love Yamar. He's been a fantastic player. I would, i would be saying goodbye to Yamar at this point. I think that in the way that I'm kind of viewing this, and and I don't think that this is the way the front office is likely to be viewing it. But for me, I think the point of the sprint season for the Sounders should be, let's see what we've got in some of these guys.
00:47:21
Speaker
And let's, Where we can, you know, free up cap space, open up spots from some of these guys who are aging out. This is a good time to do it. Right. So, yeah, I mean, he might go on and play another three or four good years.
00:47:37
Speaker
ah And if he does that somewhere else, hey, congratulations to that team. We've just seen so many situations where the Sounders hung on to a guy for years. too long and and it came back to bite them.
00:47:49
Speaker
And if this, if I felt like the Sounders were set up to go into next year and and have like a really great shot at winning MLS cup, fine. Right. Like you can put up with that, but that's just not where this roster is.
00:48:00
Speaker
Yeah, and look, they've got to free up some space somewhere. And I like Yey more a lot. but And again, hey, if he ends up finishing out this year strong, i maybe I change my tune. But I think ideally, maybe what you would have is have him back for the sprint season and then reassess. there's no way like He would be crazy to sign a contract where he's only guaranteed through the sprint season. He's going to be looking to be guaranteed probably at least through twenty eight twenty nine and the Sounders can't do that. Like they would be crazy. I think to have to get, if they guaranteed him through 28, 29, I would crazy. And even if he takes a small pay cut down to like seven 50 or something like that, that would be, so I'm, I'm going to assume he's, they're freeing up that space.
00:48:48
Speaker
And then you got behind him. You have two relatively young players who I think are going to be part of this roster for a long time. Stu Hawkins and Tino Lopez Lopez, maybe not quite as good as he looked early in the season, but still a serviceable center back.
00:49:07
Speaker
Stu Hawkins. I've liked, I've really liked him the last two games and we're going to see him again against, uh, uh, against Portland. We're guaranteed. in fact, we're probably going to see both of these guys unless Yamar is able to get healthy for that game.
00:49:22
Speaker
But I've, I've, I'm, I'm encouraged by what I've seen from, from young Stu Hawkins. Yeah, I mean, he's 19 years old, so he's not at the point, especially as a center back, where you feel like this is a guy that we need to make playing time for necessarily.
00:49:37
Speaker
But I feel like you've got to find a way to keep him around unless you get some kind of godfather offer. I think that he could be a really, really exceptional player. um The thing that I've liked about him is that I haven't seen him make the same mistake twice.
00:49:49
Speaker
And yeah obviously I haven't had a long time to see him, but like there were a couple of plays where he got caught in a bad situation against the union and he adjusted. Right. And I didn't see him make a similar mistake. So um I like him a lot. And he is a good passer.
00:50:02
Speaker
He is. He's a very good passer, which, you know, like we have one in in Jackson already, and that's great, but it couldn't hurt to have another player. good one and i mean honestly i can see a situation where he plays really well the rest of the season and they go into next year with him as and into the sprint season with him as as one of the two starters i think that that's there's an outside chance of that for sure because he is still very i mean notice i wouldn't be yeah yeah yeah i mean i think it could happen but i think it could happen and then you have ryan sailor and kim kihi we don't need like they're gone after this they have to be right like i love why would you and ah it'll ah you know thank you for your service say goodbye and but i don't love ryan sailor and i don't care he could be gone tomorrow and i would be fine yeah um
00:50:52
Speaker
Well, you know, ah there's, I guess there's some hope that, or there's some reality where Ryan Saylor could come back this year and, and be impressive. But where we sit right now, to me, it looks like they're going to be down three center backs next year.
00:51:06
Speaker
among the players who might be filling that I would, ah I would not be surprised if Gallatin Sanis, uh, makes that jump. Uh, he's currently with the defiance. He made his debut against the union. It's kind of too bad that it was such an unremarked upon debut because it's a promising 18 year old center back. And, and he looked,
00:51:27
Speaker
perfectly fine uh but i don't know that we'll see him again this year but i liked what i saw uh all right the next step is new who who you remember you may remember this actually we might as well go through all the fullbacks right now the centers only have three fullbacks on the roster which is kind of crazy uh yeah but it's new who alex rolled on and kalani kosarianzi I think I'm sure you would agree that Kalani is on a very team friendly contract.
00:51:57
Speaker
He is, he has an option that takes him into December of 27. twenty seven i would imagine the Sounders will most likely try to redo his contract in this off season, get him under contract for a longer stretch. he He might make a little bit more than he's making now, but that's, that's an easy one to me.
00:52:18
Speaker
New who just re re-signed. ah I don't know if people remember that, but he just, this last off season, he rec re-signed. He is under contract through with option He is on $835,000, which... he is on eight hundred and thirty five thousand dollars which I don't know. I didn't, wasn't driving me crazy when it happened, but right now is like looking like an insane amount of money to have committed to a pretty limited player who is going to be into what he's going to probably 30 something when he ends this. He's 29 now. So he'll be 32, 33 when he, when he finishes, he just, he just turned So it's not like he's
00:52:56
Speaker
but Yeah, I mean, I think people can probably guess how I feel about that, but he's probably going to be here. I mean, look, the reality is that Brian Schmetzer is the coach and Brian Schmetzer loves New Who.
00:53:07
Speaker
And I don't understand it. Yeah. But it is what it is. Like, I try not to let it drive me too crazy. Yeah. And here's another thing that's a reality.
00:53:19
Speaker
if the Sounders could have gotten rid of new who at some point, they probably would have, uh, there are no, I don't think there certainly at this number. I don't think there's any takers for new who, ah he is here.
00:53:31
Speaker
Uh, we like it or not. He is here. Uh, so put him down. Uh, Alex rolled on also just signed new contract. I believe he is also signed through 28, 29, with option for 29 30. I am really worried about his health.
00:53:45
Speaker
i am really worried about his health Like really, like ah if this is a hip issue is a real problem, I think he might like center back might be the position that he is best suited for. ah And so we might have to move him. I'm going to on our depth chart here. I'm going to actually move him. I'm going to, I'm going to make that change, put him next to Alex Jackson Reagan.
00:54:09
Speaker
That would potentially elevate Kalani, Costa, Rienzi, but they really need to bring in right back. Yes. Right? Like that's got to be like maybe, maybe not the highest priority, but that's like a major, major priority.
00:54:23
Speaker
I mean, I want them to switch back to three at the back. and Their roster is built to play three at the back. I think Alex is a right sided center back is really good. He can also play it at the wing back. Kalani, I think, is better suited to play at the wing back.
00:54:36
Speaker
I like Kalani a lot, and I think he's got a future in this league. I don't necessarily think he projects as like the starting right back or right wing back on a championship team, but he's certainly got a role to play.
00:54:48
Speaker
um yeah i i think rothrock can play left back left wing back pretty well right like sure yeah so i i would like to see that that's a position though they need to bring someone in though right they like even if it's wing back or that's like maybe for sure again they need more wide defensive players no question yeah yeah and then okay so now going to look at the double pivot here uh the The depth chart is Christian Roldan, and i'm gonna I'm putting Snyder Brunel as sort of the co-starter as of right now.
00:55:21
Speaker
And then you got Hassani Dotson, Peter Kingston, and Nikola Petkovic. ah I think realistically all of these players, well, at least four of these players are coming back. I suspect Petkovic will, the Sounders will probably try to get him back on a discounted deal.
00:55:40
Speaker
But they need badly, like badly to bring in another defensive midfield. Yeah, they do. Like they do. I mean, we we like we talked about this in the first segment, but yeah I think that I don't think that unless you are, again, just going to take your medicine for the rest of the season and and maybe in the sprint season.
00:56:03
Speaker
I'm not sure that Snyder Brunel is the guy you want starting right now. um Every game, at least like there's plenty of minutes for him to play. And I don't think he's been bad. i just think we kind of know where he's at in his development.
00:56:15
Speaker
And yeah that is not a guy who's a starter on you know, a competitive team right now, necessarily. ah and I think like Christian is, you know, is not getting any younger and he's got a lot of, of wear on the tires.
00:56:33
Speaker
um And he's got an injury that nobody really knows when he's coming back from. um And so even if you feel like Snyder can be your starter right now,
00:56:45
Speaker
I mean, what's the harm in having another guy that can be your starter? So I feel like this is maybe the most acute problem on the roster is not having. I don't think Hassani's been bad this season necessarily.
00:56:58
Speaker
think he's playing about how you would to play. he's ball-advancing he's He's not, he doesn't play, he can do a role, but he can't be your primary ball advancer. Right. And he can't be next. He can't be it.
00:57:11
Speaker
He can't sort of babysit tonight. Like Snyder, like I love him, but he's, we he has not taken the step forward that I think we all thought he would take this year. He looked really good in limited minutes last year.
00:57:24
Speaker
he has had moments of, of positivity. There have been maybe even more than a few moments of positivity from him, but especially during this run of games, he looks like he is just not the, he's just not ready to be an everyday player. And I suppose there's some good growing pains for him to go through, but you owe it to him. I think also to have some, some more there. Yeah.
00:57:53
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that having somebody who can, you're not going to go out and sign another player who's as capable of as Christian, but having somebody who has a similar profile as a player certainly couldn't hurt.
00:58:06
Speaker
um Or conversely, having somebody who is a true bulldog stopper type player. um Yeah. That at least allows you to do something different in the midfield, you know, if you if you want to have a different look, if you decide on a different tactical approach.
00:58:21
Speaker
And in Kingston, I mean, I like him a lot as a player, as a sort of rotational guy. and i you know And I think the thing, Peter Kingston to me is just, his value is that he can play a bunch of different places. You can put him at it yeah in an attacking band. You can play him as a you know you can play him in ah in a CB setup. Probably not as the six, but maybe next to a Christian Roldan if you needed to. Yeah. ah Or against a higher level second defensive midfielder. Yeah.
00:58:49
Speaker
you can move him to right back. Maybe him and Kalani are competing a little bit at right back. Uh, but he's not, I don't think he's someone that you need to be building around. Like he's a piece that you fit wherever, wherever he can go, wherever he can go.
00:59:06
Speaker
Uh, yeah. All right. Let's move into the attacking band. And this is another one where it's a little, It's a little scary. ah Look, right now it's Paul Rothrock, Pedro de la Vega, Albert Rusnak, Jesus Ferreira, Paul Areola.
00:59:23
Speaker
And I'm going to put Sebastian Gomez somewhere in that too. He is the he he's been playing more off the bench. i actually have come to, i actually think Sebastian Gomez has made some real improvements this year. I've really liked what I've seen from him. I'm not expecting him to be a significant role player at this point, but I am encouraged by what I've seen from him.
00:59:43
Speaker
He's going to be back regardless. ah But the bigger questions are Albert Rusnak, Jesus Ferreira, Paul Arriola, Paul Rothrock, Pedro De La Vega. Look, Rothrock's back.
00:59:55
Speaker
There's no question about that. I think Jesus Ferreira is back. There's not really any question about that. But the real question is, how do you make use of Jesus Ferreira? Right now, he's playing sort of as a second 10 in this 3-2-4-1-ish build-out thing, or however you want to yeah put it, right? 3-4-2-1, I guess, is maybe the a better way of putting that. And it's growing increasingly obvious to me that they can't really afford to have
01:00:27
Speaker
Like the, the area for improvement on this roster is Albert Rusnak. Like, like, look, I have been a big Albert Rusnak fan. I think his production has absolutely been DP worthy.
01:00:40
Speaker
i I think he will go down and sounders history is one of the more useful and talented tens that they've had. But look, you can't, I don't see how you make meaningful improvement to this roster if he's back as if you pick up this option and he's a DP next year. I just don't, I just don't see how that's possible.
01:01:00
Speaker
I think that Albert, something i've I've come to believe about him over the last few games, and maybe that's unfair to make this judgment after a few games, but Albert has always, when the Sounders have been successful, when he's been on the roster, he has had talented players around him. And I think that Albert is a guy who,
01:01:18
Speaker
absolutely makes other great players much better. I think that he is... And and it's this sounds like it's damning with faint praise, and it's really not. But he's just not...
01:01:30
Speaker
His skill set does not lend itself to taking over a game, like putting a team on its back and carry it. That's just not what his skill set is. And when he doesn't have those other talented players around him. Now, I think he's also has some kind of injury or or maybe he's just lost several steps this year.
01:01:49
Speaker
um and And I think that that's a factor, but he just doesn't have the guys that he needs to make his skill set shine. And I would be actively shopping him right now because I think that Jesus's best role is going to either be as the 10 or as like a withdrawn forward that's going to be taking up some of the similar space.
01:02:08
Speaker
I think that it made sense to make this sort of compromise with Jesus have him out wide, but sort of take up that same space when that system was working. um but it hasn't been working for for quite a while and and i think jesus is really a talented player and he's shown flashes of it but he's not being set up for success right now and i think that moving rosnak even if you have to eat some salary even if you don't get a lot in in exchange for him opens up a tp spot we all know they're not going to actually fill it but it but it does open it up but i think maybe even more importantly it
01:02:42
Speaker
balances your roster a little bit more because you've got Jesus can shift into a more appropriate um spot in the, in the, in the lineup. I think it allows you to play him in a two striker setup, which I think would actually suit this team pretty well. um Especially if they did go to three at the back, they could play with like three center backs and two strikers. And I think that that would suit the talent they have on the roster pretty well.
01:03:04
Speaker
So that's what I would be looking to do. I think the odds are extremely good that Albert is back as a DP next year, but. yeah I mean, i think the odds are that you're right. I just think that that's a mistake. Uh, it's, i too yeah, it, it, I, it's a, I think it would be a mistake. And I, I, I don't like saying that. I really, i like Albert.
01:03:25
Speaker
I like talking to Albert. I think at times he's been a great player. ah but I just don't see how you meaningfully improve this team if he's back next year. And then, uh,
01:03:38
Speaker
It does leave the centers. So we think Jesus will like, ah look, I think there's a chance. Jesus may like, he has a trigger in his contract that automatically I believe makes him a DP. I don't know exactly where it is. I i want to say it's 30 goals and assists. It may be as low as 25 goals. And is this combined through ah two seasons? And if he, he hits that this year, he's going to be a DP. And I suppose he sort of ends up taking,
01:04:07
Speaker
Rusnak spot in that way. um The Paul Areola thing is, is interesting because there are times when I really like, again, he's a player who I like and he's a player who has some versatility and he's someone who has looked okay at times this year. I think he's still working his way back. So I think we probably need to be somewhat patient with him.
01:04:29
Speaker
But look, the reality is that Areola is signed on a guaranteed deal through December 27th. He's not going. it like that's that's He's back. like That's just the way it is. That's how it's going to be. ah And Pedro de la Vega is another interesting one where he's also signed through December of 27 with an option for through 28. I suppose there's a way, and I don't know, and this is maybe the the in v inflection point uh on pedro is if let's let's just say hypothetically it's possible to get off his dp tag after this year in order to if you extended him for a couple years is that something you would want to do i mean i guess this maybe we can't really say that until we see him back and so it's unfair to even talk about it but is that something you would want to do i mean i think if he
01:05:27
Speaker
ah We just had this conversation about Jordan, so um I don't want to jinx anything. But I think that if he had had an injury similar to the ones that he had last year, the muscle injuries last year, i would be much more concerned about that. I think he just had like a ah weird freak injury that...
01:05:47
Speaker
um The timeline we were given included this is a distinct possibility, but I think. Yeah, for sure. The hope was that he would be back earlier. And so it's being sort of interpreted as he's had setbacks.
01:06:01
Speaker
um And I don't I don't blame anybody for that because the. Yeah, I mean, look, they're only going off the. club
01:06:09
Speaker
Good. Well, was just going to say the club will get. Sorry, go ahead. so You go, you go. Okay. the The club will give a timeline, an official timeline and like a press release or whatever. But then a lot of the time.
01:06:25
Speaker
People will give interviews where they talk about the optimistic part of the timeline and that kind of sticks in people's heads. And I feel like that's kind of what's happened here to some extent.
01:06:37
Speaker
Yeah, I do too. And I, and I, you know, I, I definitely am guilty of peddling the optimistic timeline. Sure. Because I wanted it to be true. You know, I wanted that possibility.
01:06:49
Speaker
ah But, you know, i think if he gets back, I think the optimistic timeline right now, is that he comes back at some point during leagues cup and they sort of ease him back in.
01:07:01
Speaker
if he can be at full, so if he's anywhere close to full fitness by sub anytime in September, I think we have to consider that a win. And if he's actually playing like himself by the time the playoffs run around, Hey, maybe that's, it's like a new signing. just Right. Right.
01:07:20
Speaker
um ah Yeah, but i I love Pedro. And if he if he looks good, if he doesn't have any new injury concerns, I would I would love to lock him up for a few more years, because I think if he can have a run of games where he's healthy, if he can have a full season or you know close to a full season where he doesn't have any injury problems, he's going to end up being a great signing. We saw how good he was last year. And if you can have that, you know, on a non DP salary, i think you're you're in great shape.
01:07:46
Speaker
Yeah. All right, well, let's get into the forward setup. um Jordan Morris, Danny Masofsky, Dwayne, Dwayne, Osase de Rosario.
01:08:00
Speaker
Look, I take no pleasure in saying this, but I don't see how they got to figure out how to get out of the Jordan Morris situation.
01:08:12
Speaker
contract like they gotta it breaks my heart he's he's my favorite player of all time i don't i don't think my jordan morris bona fides are in question but i i can't argue with you i mean it's yeah um yeah he's got basically after this year he's got a calendar year so he's under contract for the sprint season and then he's signed through december 27th
01:08:37
Speaker
I think they got a, like the most realistic thing here is probably to try to trade him. Yeah. and you probably have to eat some of his salary in the process. I don't know how realistic that is to actually happen, but it's probably what, you like, for the good of everybody, i think he could probably, at this point, use a fresh start.
01:08:56
Speaker
I don't know that he's ever... Like, unfortunately, the... sort of the i feel like the fan base at large sort of turned against him when he got that DP tag because it was no longer the local boy made good. It was the...
01:09:10
Speaker
it was everyone's favorite kid taking up too much of the meal or something. i don't know. I don't know what the good analogy is, but it just didn't seem like he's, yeah and he really needed to hit the ground running last year, his first DP season. He needed to come out and sort of establish himself and say, look, I am ah I am worthy of this contract.
01:09:30
Speaker
I earned it deal with it and instead he is not I don't know that if he's been able to get 10 consecutive games ah no like as a and yeah
01:09:44
Speaker
it's it's It's a real shame. it's And i don't know i don't know how we can be asked to believe that he, like until he does it, I don't know how anyone can really have faith in his ability to stay healthy. ah Again, like the things that that make this so tough right now is that both times he's been hurt twice this year and both times he got hurt after a long break.
01:10:12
Speaker
And that's crushing. Like it, it just suggests that something is really off. I guess I'm wrong. I guess he, he did play. He was able to stay healthy for almost exactly 10, one, two, three, four, five, six,
01:10:25
Speaker
He was almost exactly healthy for 10 games this year, but that's kind of playing fast and loose with that. And he and he wasn't good for those games. He was not. like He was not effective.
01:10:37
Speaker
He was not. um
01:10:41
Speaker
it's it's I think that it's really unfair. like His career in general has just been really unfair in a lot of ways. It sucks. It breaks my heart, and I was hoping for a fair tale ending, but it's just, let's let's be real here. It's...
01:10:54
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he's not, so I was right. He hasn't started. He has not been able to start 10 consecutive games at any point yeah in this run. He he did play 11 straight to end last year. he played, i don't know, something like that.
01:11:10
Speaker
at one point this year, but he was not, like you said, he just wasn't, he didn't look like himself. He didn't look, yeah you know, he he has not been, there's not been one dominant performance this year from him where he was just, and I think the closest he came was that home leg against Tigris where you could sort of like he had a, he had a pretty nice assist and he, he looked dangerous on a pretty consistent basis and he just hasn't been,
01:11:36
Speaker
He hasn't been the same since, you know, he, he just has, has struggled. He he's only had one game where he had more than three shots. And that was, he had four against sporting Kansas city and that very disappointing result down there.
01:11:51
Speaker
He's had one or two shots in all, but two of his games this year or zero. Yeah. Like he's just not like the game, the last game he played against the Timbers.
01:12:02
Speaker
I hope, for his own sake that he got hurt way before he came out because he just, he only had five touches. He was in, I mean, he was so totally invisible. It's yeah it, it doesn't, I feel, and I don't feel good about this at all. I, I, but I think you, you got to figure out how to get off of him um sooner or later. And so, you know, hopefully that makes room for a DP nine. Yeah.
01:12:29
Speaker
And then that leaves you with Danny Masovsky and Osaze de Rosario. And look, i I will defend the decision to re re-sign Osaze because... or not Osaze. think that was a fine decision. The decision to re-sign Moose because i have to assume that if you had the opportunity to trade him that you would have traded him. I don't i have never heard that they had offers that they turned down And the number he is on is not crazy. He is on a he's on $712,000 in guaranteed compensation. He's signed through the 27, 28 season.
01:13:07
Speaker
That's not an insane amount to be paying a backup forward. It's a perfectly reasonable amount, I think, to be paying a backup forward. But man, if you could get off of that deal, you probably should, because I don't, I don't know that he's better than Osase de Rosario and, and Osase de Rosario is making a third of his salary.
01:13:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the big thing with Danny is that even in his first year when he wasn't scoring, he couldn't hit the side of the barn. His underlying numbers were pretty good.
01:13:38
Speaker
Last year, his underlying underlying numbers were totally off the charts. This year, his underlying numbers are okay. You know, he's, he's averaging 0.46, uh, non penalty XG per 90, which is, is, you know, not terrible.
01:13:51
Speaker
It's good enough for a green line on FOT mob, right? Which is great. But as we've talked about before, like If Danny's not putting the ball in the net, he's not doing a whole lot. And Osaze, like, against Philly, he wasn't goal-dangerous, really, um but he was active. He was fighting for loose balls. His hold-up play was really good.
01:14:12
Speaker
He was doing a lot of dirty work. His pressing was good. And, like, he he just brings more. And i don't think his his underlying next-g numbers are are are really too much worse than Danny's. So...
01:14:28
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think you're going to be able to get out of that deal. um But. You know, I ah i i stand corrected. Osase is actually per 90 is much worse than Danny's, but I still I still think he's a better player. I'd rather have him around. So I mean, but again, like if I have to take a chance on one of those two, that's it was it almost like made me laugh out loud when.
01:14:52
Speaker
When Brian referred to Morris, Danny and. Osaze as his three headed monster after the union game. And it's like, yeah, what
Striker Performance and Transfer Market
01:15:02
Speaker
are you talking about, brother? What are you talking about? Zero goals from any of them and in a start yet this year.
01:15:07
Speaker
That's a crazy stat. the It's 20 all competition games. They have zero goals from the starting number nine. That is like And I realize, look, i I know there is a valid argument that there the biggest problem is not the nine. And so using it, like getting focused on signing a nine is sort of counterproductive.
01:15:31
Speaker
But look, that's a glaring problem. Yeah, it's a glaring problem. you know it's It's crazy. I think that if you if you strengthen the team elsewhere,
01:15:44
Speaker
you probably score more goals and you probably get more goals from your nines. Totally. I totally take that as as true, but especially if we're in a situation where our two best forwards now that we can count on being healthy or Danny Masovsky and Osanzi De Rosario, that is not a championship quality setup.
01:16:06
Speaker
Like that's just not, that's not a good situation. Um, if you want to make the case that we should have a DP nine to come in and we don't have a DP spot right now, so we're going to focus on other stuff.
01:16:19
Speaker
I'm totally, yeah, I'm on board with that, right? Like we're waiting to sign the nine until we have an open DP spot. Sure. But this team needs a ah better forward.
01:16:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's, uh, It's not good. Well, look, um this is what I've done to our little whiteboard. I don't know. This is this bit maybe is not that effective, but ah I've been able to what it has allowed me to do is keep track.
01:16:51
Speaker
And so we got our roster down to 20 players basically that are on this current team that we think are coming back next year. And and that's just for the sprint season. So that gives the Sounders in our estimation room potentially to sign a DP nine or sorry. ah Yeah. Like ah at least one DP attacking player, probably at least one u twenty two player.
01:17:17
Speaker
We, we have them down from needing a backup six. We have them needing a RB one. We have them potentially needing a CB two.
01:17:28
Speaker
And I guess they probably need ah and a left back, a backup left back too. We didn't even, I didn't even put that here. Yeah. ah I mean, those are, and then they'll, they'll sign probably some supplemental kind of type players coming up from de define like Marco Neal is a player who they seem to like from defiance. He's a versatile player, but he's much more of a, he's played like some center back, some defensive mid, some right back.
01:17:55
Speaker
a useful player, but not someone that's going to change the paradigm or anything. Uh, other players who potentially could come up from the defiance, Mark Bronick,
01:18:07
Speaker
and a nine again, that sort of illustrates the need to maybe create some space in your forward depth. But, uh, Mark Bronick has looked really good. He's a 19 year old forward. I think he's almost 20. Uh, but he's, currently actually scoring at a better pace than either you, Suka Nome or Rodelio Rodriguez, just to put into context, like he's on a absolute hot streak right now. Uh, I like him a lot. Uh, but he was, he's, he's looking pretty promising.
01:18:37
Speaker
And then, you know, there's a a kid, Cody Phoenix, who potentially could be a left back at the first team level. So there's another player, you know, so they the centers definitely have some players coming up from defiance who could help.
01:18:49
Speaker
But look, going back to the thing that we were harping on so much in the first segment, they need to get back to signing ah foreign players. They got to have some on this roster.
01:19:03
Speaker
And it is absolute... insanity that they have not been doing that, that they have not signed this. They're looking at like currently right now, as of this summer, they are the only Western conference team that is not made or that is not look like they are, they have made a signing yet. I guess some of them have not officially signed anyone, but there's very strong rumors. Like the, the timber is just,
01:19:29
Speaker
apparently close the deal on Vincent Johnson, who is a ah player who, I don't know if he was exactly what the Sounders needed, but that's the type of player.
01:19:41
Speaker
and he's not a DP. That's the kind of player that every other team in the leagues figures out how to sign. Right. And he's coming off what like not a like a decent season.
01:19:52
Speaker
Yeah. And what's, what's the reason not to sign a player with that profile?
01:19:58
Speaker
yeah Like, sort what would they say? i don't know. Like, what yeah, we don't like, we don't feel like they raised the ceiling enough. We don't like, I mean, this is a guy just to put this into context. So, Johnson has been playing the last four seasons in the Belgian, uh, top flight.
01:20:20
Speaker
Uh, he kind of flamed out with, uh, Monterey in league. make MECs, but he went back to Belgium and, He had 16-goal 4-assist season in had season in had season and had a ten goal seven assist this most recent season, he's still only 31. Like what in the world, why in the world would the Sounders not be all over this guy? Like, look, he is not the player that ah had 27 goals and four assists for at Alkmaar in 2015, 2016, and then got that big move to Tottenham.
01:21:00
Speaker
Look, I accept that, but this is a relatively young player who is coming off four consecutive productive seasons in a good European league.
01:21:10
Speaker
What are we doing? What are we doing? No, I'm looking at the I'm looking at the list of of freely available players right now. There's guys that could make this team better.
01:21:21
Speaker
ah Tim Foster, there's so many cool about guys that can make a Dama Traore. If there's ever been a guy that was made for MLS, it's a Dama Traore. He's on a free. He's probably not going to be a DP in MLS at this at this stage of his career.
01:21:35
Speaker
But what could it hurt? He's a guy people have heard of, right? 29 years old ah yeah Yeah, he's, you know, he's, he's a, he's a couple years removed from his last really productive season, but certainly someone that can help.
01:21:50
Speaker
Yeah. Terrell Malasia left back. There you go. You're starting left back.
01:21:56
Speaker
Bertrand Traore. Just, these are just guys that I recognize just glancing at this. And I'm sure that there are guys on this list that I haven't heard of that are even better. Right. Like, yeah.
01:22:08
Speaker
ah Well, and I just I don't understand the reason you have the you have the allocation money, you have the open roster spots. These guys aren't going to be DPS, so you don't have to worry about opening a DP spot.
01:22:22
Speaker
you They're they're not super young, so you don't have to worry about signing them to like a five year contract or anything. You probably get like two and an option.
01:22:32
Speaker
But I guess it's just not a thing we do anymore. Like if it were just why Adrian doesn't want to spend the money. Adrian doesn't want to pay a transfer fee. Adrian doesn't want you know, pay a buyout for a DP.
01:22:46
Speaker
Fine. Like that sucks, but fine. But you, you, you, but this is you with it on cap spending. Like you've already converted the money to game. Right.
01:22:57
Speaker
And i have confirmed, by the way, I have confirmed that the, that ownership is still allowing the sounders to convert GAM or cash into GAM at the maximum allowable pace. So it's not that they're not giving them any resources. This is that we aren't deploying them in ways that make any sort of sense. And that's, you know look, I have time at times said the sounders are sort of behaving like a rich man's Colorado Rapids. Right.
01:23:27
Speaker
And I thought that was because I thought we were never going to operate like the Colorado. The Colorado Rapids are running circles around us in terms of spending. ah And that yeah the South Sea earthquakes are running circles around us in terms of spending.
01:23:40
Speaker
And by the way, the Rapids, I will take their approach to roster building over what the Sounders are doing, because at least they're doing something like their core of the roster is not as strong as the Sounders, but they are absolutely.
01:23:55
Speaker
their approach to roster building is considerably better than the Sounders, considerably more entertaining and exciting than the Sounders. And we're talking about the Rapids, the Colorado Rapids, as aspirational to the Sounders. That is something I thought I would never, ever say.
01:24:14
Speaker
No, it's... It defi it just defies lot any logic for a reason. It's just... The New England Revolution are apparently signing Jack Harrison.
01:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, as a DP. Like,
01:24:31
Speaker
it's i just don't I just don't understand it. I really don't. It's ah it's really depressing, ah and and it is kind of like what we talked about in the first segment.
01:24:44
Speaker
I've always been able to say on this show with full confidence, it's shitty now, but the front office is going to address the problems. And I just, I've said it for too long and been wrong about it to keep saying it.
01:24:58
Speaker
I just, I don't think doing anything. Prove us wrong, Craig. Prove us wrong. Yeah. that's I would love to see that. ah I would love it. I would love for him to take a victory dance over us and just say, you guys didn't think we were going to pull it off, but we did it.
01:25:12
Speaker
We rebuilt the roster while we were like, look at all this. Are you happy now? And I'll say, Yeah. Yeah, maybe I won't. Yes, I would be happy if they I would love for for Craig Weibel to make me look like a moron. I would love for Adrian Hanauer to make me look like an asshole.
01:25:29
Speaker
i Nothing would make me happier than that. Yeah,
Rivalry with Timbers and Season Outlook
01:25:34
Speaker
I know. I know it. Well, all right. I don't know how many more times we can go through this exercise, but...
01:25:42
Speaker
We did it again. ah I'm not going be here next week. I'm trying to convince ah we're we're coming up with a backup plan. So maybe there'll be something good to talk about next week.
01:25:52
Speaker
Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. But i don't know. Did we even talk about the Sounders? The Sounders are playing the Timbers on Saturday. And yeah apparently there's only like 300 tickets sold by ECS. It's going to be a relatively light traveling contingent.
01:26:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, maybe they'll sell a bunch tickets this week. Maybe they'll sign somebody tomorrow and sell a bunch of tickets. I always loved going to Portland. I'm bummed I'm missing this road trip. I had a great time last year. I'm excited to in spite of myself. I get to ride the train. always like doing that, so it'll be nice. Oh, going to ride the train? You're going to the train down? And that's the thing I'm most looking forward to is riding the train. So that kind of tells you. Oh, man. Are there new heroes in...
01:26:32
Speaker
Are the new aero trains? I don't know. I'm not, you know, i'm not taking the Cascades. So I think that I, but I think it was the regular commuter trains that are getting replaced. I think the Cascades, I think they're not replacing those. So we'll see. don't know. I'm excited.
01:26:48
Speaker
um But it is kind of sad. And I felt this before the last game, just like how juiceless this rivalry feels now. Like, Obviously, I still want to beat them more than anything in, you know, in this in in the sport.
01:27:04
Speaker
i And that loss was maybe the worst sports sports attending experience in my life. um But like I was seeing Timbers fans around before and after the game and we were like smiling at each other and stuff. What is that?
01:27:19
Speaker
What's that? You know, we're with. Yeah, this. Yeah, it didn't used to be like that. I know it's, it's very strange. The rivalry right now, like we seem to take great pleasure in each other's suffering still. Like I definitely enjoy watching the Timbers suffer and the Timbers definitely enjoy watching us suffer. I mean, I've gotten so many mocking responses from Timbers fans, which I can't look fair, fair game, fair game. Like they fair play. They, yeah they deserve to dance on our graves or whatever right now. ah
01:27:51
Speaker
I don't like it. And I would like it to stop. I'd like to give them a reason to stop, but I don't blame them. I thought about bringing back the bit where I blocked anybody that faved a post I made about any Timbers fans that faved a post I made about. But I just I was like, what?
01:28:07
Speaker
I mean, I would be talking this kind of shit, too. Like, what? I know. You know, like, what am I doing? I've changed. I've changed. Maybe it's my fault. It's my fault that the rivalry is so useless now. I do wonder also is the, has rivalry lost juice in part because we've been so bad at it. Like maybe if we were still like the, the Sounders have not held up their end of the bargain in this rivalry in terms of like the head to head matchups. They, I believe have only beaten the Timbers twice in either venue since 2022, maybe.
01:28:40
Speaker
That sounds about right. Yeah, because they won the game last year, obviously, and that felt like, oh, finally, we've turned the corner on this. We're over this. We're over this. I wasn't even like nervous coming into the game this year, and they that was dumb. No, it wasn't either. That was dumb.
01:28:56
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. They got a new coach, the Timbers. They did. Yeah. I don't know. I guess we get there. we get their new coach bounce twice. So that'll be twice. Yeah. That's yeah.
01:29:10
Speaker
Fantastic. Fantastic. All right. Well, let's, we don't need to do this. We can, we can get out of here. ah Well, thanks for listening to us this long. Thank you to our sponsor, full pool wines. Want to always encourage you to.
01:29:27
Speaker
ah use to tell them we sent you most importantly. Thank you of course to, to lick it for putting the show together. i think this one's going on YouTube. If you want to follow us on YouTube, we're trying to get better about doing that.
01:29:42
Speaker
ah We're also in the middle of a subscriber drive. If you are interested in helping ensure the ongoing success and future of Sounder Heart, consider becoming a subscriber to Sounder Heart.
01:29:57
Speaker
Plans start as low as $30. You can oftentimes find yourself a 10% discount on that. If you go up to the $75 a year level, you can get access to our Discord, which, you know, i don't know. I'm going to say it's fun right now, but there's a lot of people to commissurate with.
01:30:14
Speaker
A lot of chatter, lot of people yeah yelling it. Not so much yelling at each other, but a lot of yelling in general. There is a lot of yelling. Yeah.
01:30:25
Speaker
And it's like people aren't doing the all caps thing, but you you can tell. No, but you can tell. Yeah. And I don't blame them. I'm upset. I yelled on the show, I think. Yeah. ah Yeah. So. All right. Well, Aaron, it's always a pleasure hanging out with you. I'll be back with you in a couple of weeks. I'm sure I will find another reason to record.
01:30:44
Speaker
ah between now and then but uh nico and i maybe we'll record on no i probably won't be doing the show on friday either have to come up with a guest host for that one too but anyway all right let's get out of here uh i'm jeremiah shan signing off for aaron campbell and lick it this is nos adietes part of the sounder heart podcast network and remember you'll never y'all alone
01:31:39
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders.