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Club World Cup preview
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Jeremiah is joined by Richard Farley and Charles Boehm to help preview the Seattle portion of the Club World Cup. They share some insight into all seven teams who will be playing here over the next couple of weeks.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sounders Legacy
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. Come on. Hey, O'Shaughnessy.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. What save by Frye. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winning. Here comes Ruiz Dias through the middle to crowd it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations.
Podcast Sponsorships and Guests
00:00:32
Speaker
It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle, Sounders, it's got built.
00:00:52
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome. This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht yat thing. And Portland can't say shit. know, what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since Southert Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take over coming seriously. Go, not Seattle!
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.
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Audietes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. We're going to dig down a little bit more into the two groups that are going to be playing in Seattle.
00:01:54
Speaker
Of course, there's the Sounders group. Before we get into the Sounders group, let's... and don't know. Let's... ah Let's talk about this other Seattle group. And to help me do that is two people who I'm super excited to bring in. i don't think I've ever had the pleasure of having them both on the podcast at the same time, but they have both been on the podcast.
River Plate: Tradition and Challenges
00:02:13
Speaker
ah First is Charlie Boehm. You know him as a freelance, a national freelance writer. He does most of his stuff over at MLSsoccer.com. and ah And then i also have Richard Farley, who...
00:02:26
Speaker
He may be our most frequent guest on No Saudietis, but we haven't had him on for a long time. ah But he's a former SB Nation colleague of mine. ah Both of these guys know what they're talking about.
00:02:36
Speaker
ah The teams that are playing here are Irwa Red Diamonds, who are a big, I think the biggest team in Japan. uh inner Milan who is a a pretty damn big club as well and ah my and then I guess Monterey is the Monterey is in that group but they aren't playing any games in Seattle and then River Plate which is of course one of the two massive clubs in Argentina ah You guys have both done a little bit of writing on these on these teams ah for previews that we'll have coming out on Center Heart relatively soon.
00:03:15
Speaker
ah I'll just ask you you, I'll start with you, Charlie. Who do you find to be the most interesting team in this group?
00:03:25
Speaker
i think i mean I think I have to start with River Plate because um the the tradition, the ah culture, the support that they have, i mean you know the ah footage coming out of a Monumental, their home stadium down in Buenos Aires, is always spectacular.
00:03:42
Speaker
This is one of the clubs I would contend that sort of... It tells the world, shows the world like what, what true hardcore fandom looks like and what the, what a devoted fan really looks like in our sport.
00:03:54
Speaker
And so in spite of so many economic difficulties, sort of chronic headwinds in, in, in Argentina, the really just brutal need that they, you know, uh, limitations that they face domestically that force their players to go abroad.
00:04:11
Speaker
Uh, they, they continue to be an elite club and be competitive. i mean, they they have good and bad years and good and bad um phases of leadership, but it's still sort of just one of those really short list clubs that if you get a chance to go see them, I think you can be assured that you're going to see quality on the pitch and,
00:04:29
Speaker
ah you know and you'll it'll help you understand how Argentina is true soccer royalty and why the national team is so good. And then you'll see the culture in
Monterrey and Liga MX Insights
00:04:40
Speaker
the stands. i mean, they will they'll travel from all over US and Canada, I would expect, and and and beyond to support their team.
00:04:48
Speaker
And so I think that's that's where it starts for me. and And I could say a lot of nice things about Monterrey as well. think that's ah an extremely well-run organization and a chronically successful Liga MEC East club. um But River Plate is just – that's just bucket list stuff, I think, he ah ah as long as ah as long as you can get get a good discount on those tickets, right?
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you can get tickets right now for like $25 to see them play ah Red Diamonds in the – I think it was like a – it's a Tuesday game at at noon. I'm actually planning on playing hooky that day to go to the game just because I'm fascinated by – There's a video that's circulating of the farewell that Red Diamonds got from their fans.
00:05:31
Speaker
That is frankly unbelievable. I mean, it's just a sea of red and of of people that are starting to give them this farewell. So i'm I'm really hopeful that even if the casual fan doesn't show up for that game, that there's some good low traveling support because it seems like it's going to be super interesting. do you Do you have a team, though, that that kind of piques your interest out of this group, Richard?
00:05:53
Speaker
It's also River Plate. I think the River-Monterey matchup is probably going to define this group. um Although, Inter's another team where coaching change, oldest team in Champions League competition, how serious are they really going to take this tournament coming off of what happened to them against PSG?
00:06:09
Speaker
But kind of... ah To build off of what Charles was saying, he talked about the culture around River Plate.
River Plate: Financial Strategies and Growth
00:06:16
Speaker
And no matter who would be in the actual uniforms, River Plate would be an experience to engage in no matter what.
00:06:23
Speaker
But River Plate has a couple of MLS hooks. Their coach is Marcelo Gallardo, who used to be with DC United, ah spent a couple of years there. um he He is just being described as one of one of these very modern head coaches who, possession style, we want to we want to have 70% of but the possession.
00:06:45
Speaker
They lead Argentina in possession, passes short passs short passes, all that kind of stuff. They also have Sebastián Giurici. who returned to Argentina, I guess it would be two years ago at this point, and he is their starting nine.
00:06:56
Speaker
They have Leandro Gonzalez-Perez too, although he's more of a bench player for them at this point in his career. He's 33 at this point. um But between their style of play, a couple of MLS hooks, and the fact that they...
00:07:08
Speaker
They have a legitimate chance to be the best non European team in this competition, I think. Like, I don't think that they're better than the Brazilian teams, but they you look at their Copa Lib results over the last four years. They're right there competing with those Brazilian teams um between this group and their talent level.
00:07:25
Speaker
um I think that they have a chance and they've low key or less three years brought back seven players from Europe who are all starting for their teams in Europe. They had to pay transfer fees for them.
00:07:36
Speaker
um So just a couple days ago, they confirmed that Real Madrid had hit the, the, the sell clause on their 17 year old right wing superstar, Franco Manstantuano.
00:07:49
Speaker
Uh, so that's 45 million coming in and it's the third time. It's actually the fourth time in the last four years that they've had this kind of sale. They've sold a midfielder named named Claudio Echeverry to Manchester city for 35 million last year.
00:08:02
Speaker
They sold and Enzo Fernandez onto Europe to Benfica at the time, I believe for 45 million. And then they sold ah Julian Alvarez to Manchester city before that for like 25 million. um They are they are raking in the money.
00:08:15
Speaker
They are they have solved the finance problem that so many Argentine teams had been facing. um And they are consistently selling their 17 to 19 year old talents and bringing back 24 to 28 year old players amongst those seven people they brought it back from Europe.
00:08:32
Speaker
Only two of them are over 30 years old. They're bringing back players in their prime to River. And I think that's why River river hasn't failed to reach the the knockout stages in CopaLib in 11 years, which is something because Boca didn't even reach the group stage this year. They went out the preliminary rounds.
00:08:49
Speaker
So wow River Lowkey has um kind of like done a full circle since they were relegated 14 years ago. they are um they They become a model team in that part of the world.
00:09:01
Speaker
They got relegated and then that was the the year where they expanded the Argentine Premier League, right? In order to keep them from from actually staying in the second division? I can't remember the timing on it, but I remember them talking as if they were going to fast track that. They did have to go down to the second division. They actually got a couple of prominent European players. Like, i don't know if anybody remembers the former French striker, David Trezeguet.
00:09:24
Speaker
He actually went and joined River in the second division. And then one of the best players in Russia at the time was a number 10 named Alejandro Dominguez. And he came back from Russia to join them. it's It was very much like when Juventus went down and ah some key Juventus players like Gigi Buffon just stayed with the team out of pride.
00:09:39
Speaker
ah River went down and a couple of people came back. over Well, Trezeguet's case, not come back, but um came to the team. We're like, we want to be part of rewriting the history here. um But then shortly after that, that's when Argentina started really messing with this league, which I find really fun.
00:09:54
Speaker
It's also kind of like thumbing a nose at people that are so upset about MLS's model. It's like, hey, you want to see what a big mess of a league looks like? Let's go to Argentina. I may be getting my relegations mixed up, but I'm pretty sure that was Matias Almeida. Again, always an MLS link up these days. Matias Almeida, Pilato, that was his first number one managerial job was he he led River Plate back from the second division in 2012.
00:10:22
Speaker
So um the Pilato legend began before San Jose Earthquakes, before Chivas, there was there was his time at River Plate. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm just a lot.
00:10:34
Speaker
In addition to them, the team being good, having a lot of talent, there are like a lot of small and MLS hooks into River, which is kind of cool. That is kind of cool. yeah I think one of the most fascinating things about the entire Argentine league is all of a sudden it felt like they were they we're flush with money. And it was it it also it seemed like that was also the league where during COVID, there was this real existential fear that they were that you had you were going to have all these teams crumbling and and falling apart. And yet ah somehow they got flush again, which I guess that would if they're selling all kinds of players to Europe, I guess that would that would explain it.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think unless you're like one of the top four or five teams in Brazil, you got to come to grips with the reality, right? And that's why in looking into River over these last last last few weeks, I've been very impressed that...
00:11:25
Speaker
In the early 2000s and maybe even before COVID, there was this real kind of like, no, like we're a real football nation. We shouldn't have to do this. We're not subservient to anybody, which is an understandable way to look at the world.
00:11:38
Speaker
But now that the reality has kind of set in and you're not even so you're not just saying seeing teams like River just just sell to Europe. They're selling to Brazil. Occasionally, like MLS will dip down there.
00:11:49
Speaker
And then in turn, they're able to take that money and dip back. Like Ezekiel Barco is somebody that was sold to MLS, brought back by River, and he's since been sold to Spartak Moscow. And in those transactions, River made like four or five million dollars off that. So they've become just like a real kind of, um I don't know, ah they're kind of day traders in in the global stock market. Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker
yeah you You love that. You love that. ah All right. Is there a player that is in this group that that you really think is worth ah paying attention to? Charles, you can go first.
00:12:23
Speaker
Hold on. Let me um make sure I get this right. Yeah, there's I could think of a couple. What I will focus on, we'll stick with our our our good friends, Raiados, who again, i'm I think they've they've broken a lot of MLS hearts in CCC and
Monterrey's Recruitment and Key Players
00:12:39
Speaker
TCL over the years.
00:12:40
Speaker
But ah nonetheless, they're always competitive, ah oh yeah often enjoyable to watch. um They have done something comparable to what Richard just described with Everplate with bringing back ah top players, Mexican players who go to Europe maybe and don't quite catch on or um or looking for something better. And then in combination with also the the recruitment from Argentina and South America that um that is you sort of the shortcut for for competitiveness in in Mexico.
00:13:10
Speaker
um So um i think this I think they're going to play good soccer. I mean, the the headliner is going to be Sergio Ramos, which its it's pretty... I mean, again... I think it's pretty fun to see that this guy who's now 39 years old, who's won everything there is to win. And he's left the continent, his home continent and and gone on this, this Mexican adventure.
00:13:30
Speaker
So I think that he's going to draw headlines, but there's players like Carlos Salcedo. German Bertarame, Jesus Corona, who I think are just super technical, ah fun players to watch, have that aggressive mentality, both individually and collectively, that distinguishes the really the the the top Mexican teams. I mean, if anybody remembers what Cruz Azul did to Vancouver Whitecaps last week in the CCC final...
00:13:55
Speaker
there's this There's this thing that happens when good Mexican teams get on get on top of you, and it's just like an avalanche. I mean, they they they sniff blood. they They can tear you open and and end a game in a matter of minutes, right? And I think that's going to be much harder to do and in the level of opposition they'll have in the Club World Cup.
00:14:15
Speaker
But there's something – I guess I've had to develop a ah initially grudging but now open respect for – for that sort of facet of of the Mexican mentality and the and the style that they play where um they can be so expressive and yet so direct and devastatingly effective with the the sort of deployment of the skill.
00:14:38
Speaker
And so ah they've given they've been given um and a sort of effective home base of the Rose Bowl. I'm sure they're hoping to draw the big the big crowds of expatriates and from Southern California.
00:14:49
Speaker
And you know maybe some maybe something fun will take shape there. Monterey is the player that I'm most interested into in Sergio Canales, and it's the combination of him on a dummy to around team.
00:15:00
Speaker
And so this is me being a little bit of MLS pilled, but it's like the way that Toronto wants to play and having that number 10 that can be the complete engine. And then just seeing like, you know, i just having flashbacks of Maxi Morales' prime days for NYC FC.
00:15:15
Speaker
um But Canales is just one of these players, not quite like Sergio Ramos, but you do have to kind of pause and go like, this guy's really playing like here, like close to home. um And the the other one is for me is Otaro Martinez for Inter.
00:15:29
Speaker
So Lutaro Martinez had the most goals in the recent Copa America, but he's more associated with not performing in the World Cup that Argentina won and not performing well in the two Champions League finals that Inter has gone
Community and Sponsorship Engagement
00:15:41
Speaker
to.
00:15:41
Speaker
So I'm wondering if he has a ah ah good tournament, if people are going to ignore that or they'll just or they'll say that he finally ah performed on the big stage, even though he has performed on big stages before.
00:15:54
Speaker
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Hacks and Ferments is a proud sponsor of that Sounder at Heart podcast network. Sounder at Heart's Club World Cup coverage is being sponsored by realtor Marnie O'Shann. Yes, that's my sister. With 20 plus years in marketing, business and negotiation and an MBA from UW, Marnie O'Shann helps home buyers and investors make smart, informed real estate decisions.
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00:18:16
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Soccer Matches and Team Analysis
00:18:26
Speaker
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00:18:39
Speaker
All right. So if you guys could attend one of these games, is there one that you look at and you go, oh, yeah, that's that's the game for me? It's River Monterey for me. I'm going to go with with Milan versus River.
00:18:54
Speaker
that's Those are both at the Rose Bowl. ah Milan River is in is in Seattle. That's on June 25th. Oh, shoot. That's right. Good shout. Yeah.
00:19:05
Speaker
We'll have to get you out for that one. Let's go. i believe I believe he pitched that also. You need to check your email, man. Yeah, no kidding. Let's sell some houses, people. Let's go. Come on. ah Exactly. Exactly. The fact that Monterey River is going to be in l L.A. is a big thing for me, though.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah. And the it's interesting that it's going to be at the road. Well, I guess it's not that interesting. I guess the reason it's at the Rose Bowl and not at at SoFi is because of the whole expansion of the state. SoFi is still hosting the the World Cup games, right?
00:19:40
Speaker
think so. Yeah. After some brinkmanship on both sides, they are they are following through. my My guess is, too, the Rose Bowl must be – they must offer good rates or something. They must be very competitive with so many stadiums scattered around i in greater LA.
00:19:59
Speaker
Right. Yeah. that's a That's a good – that's ah a fair point. ah All right. So moving over to the Sounders group. ah Other than the Sounders, obviously, who do you think is is the most? it this is I should say, this is a group that includes PSG, Atletico Madrid, and Botafogo.
00:20:20
Speaker
It is two of the most storied teams in Europe. The most recent Copa Libertadores. Yeah, they're still the reigning champions of Copa Libertadores in Botafogo.
00:20:36
Speaker
This is really a stacked group.
00:20:39
Speaker
but is there one team in here who you're, that you find pade ah particularly interesting? it I think I find them all interesting in their own way.
00:20:51
Speaker
um Yeah, I would say the same. I would say the same. um i mean, PSG are are are, it's easy, right? I mean, there's a real redemption story there. As unlikable as they may be to many, many ah neutrals just because of the, uh,
00:21:06
Speaker
the sports washing project, let's be frank, that that that's that's happened there with a sovereign wealth fund kicking in effectively unlimited resources. I think it's it's deeply ironic and also revealing that as much money as they spent on on crop after crop of a veteran stars, big names, we're talking about you know billions of dollars spent on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Leo Messi, Neymar, and and Mbappe, of course, which is the the no-brainer, but it's not until they truly dived into their incredible reserves of local talent in and around greater Paris that they found a true identity. and it It worked in terms of getting over the hump and winning Champions League, which was always the goal of that project.
00:21:52
Speaker
and it gave them something that made them compelling in a way that they simply weren't before. And I've been reading the the coverage of, you know of course, doing it as emphatically as they did in the final will help as well. But ah to read some of the old heads of of European soccer journalism,
00:22:09
Speaker
in some cases grudgingly, having to give PSG their props for for the style with which they've done this and the redemptive aspects. I mean, Luis Enrique, is ah I find him a deeply intriguing and likable character in general. So you know that's that's a factor as well.
00:22:24
Speaker
But we're we're still like, that's that's an easy one, right? Atletico Madrid is is an incredible story unto themselves because you're talking about an entity that over a generation now has painstakingly, and and and there's been some some murky foreign capital that has sped it along too, to some extent, but painstakingly carved out an identity of their own and forced a long bipolar league ah to be something else, right? To put themselves in the conversation that they...
00:22:54
Speaker
weren't born into that they didn't really have the ancestral right to and to have the stability they've had with, um, Trollo Simeone being in, in the the managerial spot for so long. I know they've had a little bit of, there's, there's an interesting process here in terms of trying to evolve from being this tenacious, uh, defensive, fundamentally sort of, um,
00:23:14
Speaker
reactive identity as ah as a defensive Titan to to trying to be something a little bit more without losing what they had. mean I find that all all very compelling. And I'm still, I'm still, going to you know, would have lots of nice things and interesting things to say about Botafogo after all that.
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, Botafogo and Seattle both got really hard done by this because PSG just made the best claim you can to being the best club team in the world. And Atletico is a team that in any given year, they could win the league. Like they don't do it that often, but every year they compete in one of the top two leagues in the world. So, I mean, Botafogo might have gotten drawn into a group with two of the top seven or eight teams in the world. Yeah.
00:23:54
Speaker
I the thing with me, I don't want to be too cliched about it, but it does seem like ah Diego Simeone fits the bill of like the one manager most likely to take this in tournament, this tournament and insanely seriously.
00:24:06
Speaker
And then I go, oh, come on, that's just too easy. That's too lazy. Like he's this guy's the next player. He knows that he's got the guys can't hit the gas pedal the whole time. And then I remember his son, his son has ascended to being a starting striker for the team.
00:24:19
Speaker
and is one of the most annoying players in the world. He is the guy that tries too hard in the pickup game, that is always in your face. He is a a foul merchant. He's constantly diving, constantly exaggerating.
00:24:33
Speaker
He kind of fits every cliche that every person that hates Argentine soccer says about what Argentine soccer is. And it's like, there are no rules here. I have razor blades in my pockets. Like, that's Giuliano Simeone.
00:24:45
Speaker
And if he has raised his kid to be this, like... This play at the edge of the rules, dark arts merchant. I think Giuliano Simeone is only 19 years old, too, or something like that. I don't think there's any chance that he doesn't take this tournament seriously.
00:24:59
Speaker
So, yeah and it's also the type of thing, like, I think the teams that are most dangerous in this tournament are the teams that do need to win something. I don't think Atletico needs to win something, but if they can put all the effort that they constantly put in to being right there with Barcelona, right there with Real Madrid, and most of the coming up a little bit short, if they win this tournament, it should mean something to them.
00:25:22
Speaker
Well, and I would think that there's also an element of the money, it's real money for everybody, but then there's, there's levels of what real money constitutes. Right. And I would think for a team like Atletico, which doesn't have the global superstars, which doesn't have and seemingly doesn't have endless pockets of wealth to just keep funneling into the club, like getting a you know, a nine digit payday is a pretty significant achievement, like from ah just a pure financial perspective, like that's going to fund some real, yeah know, if they were to win this tournament, that would seemingly fund, you know, it have a, a, a very real impact on the way that they're, they're run.
00:26:06
Speaker
I think it gives them significant flexibility. Like Charles is talking about how they over the course of Simeone's tenure have slowly tried to evolve their style. And they have to a certain extent because before they were pretty much like we we don't want the ball at all. Like at the beginning of Simeone's tenure, like we don't want the ball. And now they're actually a team that unless they're playing like a European elite, they they can dictate play. They will dictate play.
00:26:27
Speaker
But they've also had like a couple of misses in the transfer market. I think most famously over the recent years, this is Joao Felix transferring from Portugal, and they eventually had to loan him out. um And that was like their one big shot money-wise. I think they ended up paying close to €100 million euro for him, and like he's he was barely playing when he was on loan in Italy at the end of the year.
00:26:47
Speaker
um So for them to get like a cash infusion, it might give them the next time that they have the money to go out there and really... get a player, they might have the ability to get two players. And maybe one of them ends up being Gio Felix again, but then and another one ends up being like another Anton Griezmann who they were able to kind of like make some money off that by selling him to Barcelona and then Barcelona had to offload him back. And so he's still one of their best players, but...
00:27:11
Speaker
They have to find some new players to bring in because Griezmann's not going to be able to stay at this level forever.
Atletico's Competitive Drive
00:27:18
Speaker
They've got a couple of other players that are ah maybe playing on not quite borrowed time, but the next next ah great Atletico player beyond just Houding and Alvarez, who they that's turning out to be a steal for Manchester City getting him.
00:27:33
Speaker
But they need they need the next level of those kind of like 22, 23, 24-year-old players to come in to to inherit the core. And there's the bigger picture here is that if you're trying to do what Atleti are trying to do, which is break into sort of an oligarchy in a sense, right? And and really be able to compete sustainably toe for toe against FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, you have to build...
00:27:58
Speaker
you have to build a financial base through a combination of investment and player sales and ah sponsorships, ah facilities to be able to, to, to get to that level and stay there without sort of getting into the financial fair play consequences, right? It's almost like that there's an element of baked in superiority that you have to overcome. And so I think, I think this is,
00:28:24
Speaker
This is real money for them. And I would imagine just in in terms of the mentality and the spirit that that they're giving this a long look. Because again, this is you know not something that they can take for granted the way that maybe Real Madrid or or an Inter Milan might just in sort of sort of reflexively.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think the other thing that's interesting is PSG and Atletico play the first game of this group. So kind of like the decisive game, the the team that's most likely to win this group is going to be identified 90 minutes after this group starts.
00:28:55
Speaker
PSG has played like one serious game in the last six weeks and was the Champions League final because they put away the French League so early and they have enough depth to where they were able to rotate during the league in the final stages of the cup.
00:29:07
Speaker
Atletico, they haven't played serious game since like round 36 in Spain. and That's just when their kind of title quest and league quest ended. I can imagine Diego Simonioni during that time kind of saying, hey, staff, we've got three weeks to let these players recruit and then build back up because we want to take this seriously.
00:29:26
Speaker
Whereas PSG is probably like, we just won Champions League. Go away for a week and enjoy yourself. And then when they come back, it's like, okay, are they even going to be motivated to build back up? If I were PSG, I'd be like, i don't want to build our players back up. All going to do is get them hurt.
00:29:40
Speaker
Like we're going to ask them to do put too much. They're going traveling all over the United States. It's going to be hot. Like, no, we're... these guys are going to play some, but we've won what we want to win.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that the other thing, i if I'm looking at this, I would assume that PSG is not is' just going to give most of their... starters the group stage off, I would think. I mean, there's just like a practical element to this.
00:30:06
Speaker
They were playing two weeks ago. They were playing a very important game two weeks ago. Are they really going to ask guys to just come roll off off the... I mean, essentially, they're going to have to get roll guys off the beach as it is, you would think.
00:30:18
Speaker
yeah Because... A lot of their roster was active in Nations League. I mean, not a ton, but a lot of them were. But then there are there are other guys that like, yeah, they you to the extent that they, you know, they will be active, you know, over the next couple of weeks training for this tournament. Like they certainly got enough time off as a reward.
00:30:41
Speaker
Yeah, but fair enough. ah Is there so obviously the the the group, the thing I'm most interested by in this group selfishly is just whether or not Sounders fans end up showing up. Now we sort of talked about the realities of this, where the the pricing for this tournament was, was I think very aggressive. And I think maybe even exploring the outer reaches of what the American consumer is willing to pay for elite soccer
00:31:12
Speaker
But as we get closer, I i am really interested to see if if Sounders fans, if Seattle sports fans, if Seattle soccer fans, ah if if people from outside the area start to flock to these games, in part because the prices now are...
00:31:28
Speaker
pretty reasonable. Like you can get great seats for ah so certainly the Bodo Fogo game. You can get great seats for, you know, 60, 70 bucks for a lot of these games that don't involve the Sounders. You can get great seats for even cheaper than that.
00:31:42
Speaker
Now the the PSG and Athletical games are still pretty expensive, but ah those are This is also, i believe, the first time that either one of these teams have played. Well, it's certainly the first time they've played in Seattle. Apparently, PSG played in Eugene a few years ago. I didn't i totally didn't realize that, but i I actually just talked to the PSG Seattle fan club president.
00:32:04
Speaker
He said, yeah, they played in Eugene a few years ago. But other than that, they don't come out to the West Coast very often. They have a huge stadium down there in Eugene. That makes sense. Yeah, but not seemingly not wide enough for real soccer, though.
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah, but I guess that also makes sense. Yeah, that would make sense. But ah yeah, I mean, I just as part of the cynical part of me is sort of enjoying the seeing seeing sort of the the crumbling of some of this. But there is also a part of me, the boot, like I am ultimately I want soccer to succeed.
00:32:41
Speaker
I want soccer to I want Seattle fans to show out well. And so I am really hopeful that, that people eventually come around and go to these games, especially if they don't have to pay an arm and a leg
Sounders' Tournament Participation and Fan Experience
00:32:52
Speaker
to get there.
00:32:52
Speaker
I don't really, don't know if there's, there's really a question in there. ah But I guess it's a, it's a good way to maybe close this out. Is there sort of ah a closing message that you think is worth imparting on, on people who were maybe on the fence about whether or not they, they want to spend their time worrying about this tournament or oh actually before that,
00:33:14
Speaker
What would you, i let's rewind. what What do you guys constitute a successful tournament for the Sounders specifically? Obviously getting out of the group would be almost like winning the ah tournament in a lot of ways, but what's the minimum, what what do you what would you think you want to see from this What realistically do you think the Sounders can do in this thing?
00:33:35
Speaker
Play well and don't get more her injuries. Yeah. Like just, just, just avoid a seven one, just avoid, ah avoid a five zero, like three, three ones where you're fighting where all 90 minutes matter.
00:33:48
Speaker
Like go out there and make your hard work pay off. Um, be, take these games seriously. um but also like, I think they have a game on the 28th of June, five days after the last group game or something like that.
00:34:02
Speaker
So it's like, yeah, Look, realistically, we can't ignore the entire calendar for these three games. So Seattle, a team that hasn't had great injury luck this year. Let's hope the next three three games can be a little bit luckier. 270 competitive minutes is what you're saying is constitutes a successful.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yes, 270 minutes that actually matter. Right. Yeah. It's much the same for me that, that yeah be competitive, take this opportunity. I mean, ah for all the politics and all the, the, the Sturm and Drang, like they earn the right to be here. This is a, this is a, ah a huge honor.
00:34:39
Speaker
um Whatever we may think of the powers that be like, there's, there's always been these kinds of reservations. There's always something imperfect or flawed or compromised about uh, you know modern capitalistic sports for lack of a better term, the Sounders did something that still no, no MLS team has done in in the modern era.
00:34:58
Speaker
This is the chance to, to show something, you know, show themselves as individuals, as a group and to to feel what it's like. And I hope that fans get a sense of that too. And I totally respect that people will vote with their feet, uh, according to their conscience. And, um, but you know,
00:35:15
Speaker
It's a great time of year weather-wise up there. These are teams that just don't come here for for fully, truly competitive occasions like this. I hope it becomes an infomercial for for Seattle soccer, you know in the stands, on the field, the way the organization carries itself, because it took so much steady, relentless, dogged competence to get to this point.
00:35:41
Speaker
So you know don't throw it away now. I mean, yeah, actually, for me, I've just seen too many of these like, you know, when we used to regularly have summer friendlies in Seattle and Seattle would sometimes be involved in and you get to see the Sounders go out there in a meaningless game and just get roasted by Manchester United.
00:35:58
Speaker
And I just don't think any of the Sounders identity needs to be tied to any of these games. I think that ideally, like tur like Charles is saying, this would be a way for people to around the world to kind of recognize going Seattle for what it is, but Seattle is going to be what it is no matter what what happens in these next three games.
00:36:15
Speaker
So i I would tell people in any city just like, if you feel like going to the game, just go to the game. Like it doesn't have to be a big deal. if if the If the morning of you're like, you know what, let's do that.
00:36:27
Speaker
Just go to the game. And if you don't go to the game, that's fine, too. But this is not something where it's going to be a league commitment. You don't have to be a fan. This is a show um in a lot of these places. This is a show. If you want to go see the show, go see the show.
00:36:40
Speaker
I will say one of the things that's sort of refreshing is in this age of I don't I feel like walk ups have become a thing of the past. ah Like that's just does not how people sport anymore. they It's ah not really a ah thing that's part of the the sporting culture these days.
00:36:57
Speaker
And I will say that that's kind of what I find intriguing about. the way this is lining up is that I do think there's going lot of opportunity to walk to that day, decide I'm going to go downtown.
00:37:09
Speaker
I'm going buy a ticket and I'll sit wherever I sit and, and I'll probably be a nice day and I'll probably be a fun match. And you might see some of the best soccer players you're ever going to see in person.
00:37:22
Speaker
Uh, Yeah. Playing these games. So ah I don't know. I'm I I've actually weirdly I really like these kickoff times for the most part. Like I'm actually really looking forward to like ah totally random. And that's I say that as someone who can whose schedule lines up very neatly to to go to these games. But I don't know. I'm I'm I'm um'm ready for this to start.
00:37:44
Speaker
You know, I I'm I'm looking forward to writing about this tournament in a way that is ah more interesting. Like it's so much of the coverage that I've done of this tournament is just about backroom stuff that is not really about the soccer on the field. And I'm, I'm looking forward to just being able to write about some actual soccer. Uh, I think.
00:38:05
Speaker
I would love to read stuff from you guys that's just like, hey, this is the reality of trying to start something new. And even though this competition isn't new, the way they're doing this competition is new. So it is when you're on the ground, it's going to be a weird energy at Lumen, man. Like it's going to be preseason football, preseason Seahawks energy in there.
00:38:21
Speaker
um Like it's. It's not going to be like a an MLS soccer game that we've become used to because it's there's such fan driven environments at this point.
Club World Cup Format and Podcast Appreciation
00:38:30
Speaker
This is going to be so different. It's like, OK, well, if this is if this is day one of the new Club World Cup, what do we have and where do we go from here?
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah. So that said, ah thank you guys for i was i loved part of what I love about this sounder at heart project that we're doing right now is I get to.
00:38:52
Speaker
Find ah ah ways to connect with writers and journalists and and voices that I find interesting. And i can give them a little money and I can give them a platform and we can hopefully make something people want to consume.
00:39:09
Speaker
And it was really awesome for me to get to connect with you guys. I'm glad we were able to do this. And hopefully people find this ah this whole, our whole coverage compelling and interesting.
00:39:21
Speaker
And I wanted to also say thank you to my sister, Marnio Shan, a realtor in Seattle for for sponsoring this segment and our Club World Cup ah coverage going forward.
00:39:32
Speaker
So with all that said, ah this is No Sarietes, part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, and we'll catch you next time.
00:40:06
Speaker
I expect the LAFC who is motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that that they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really ruin the party.
00:40:22
Speaker
i feel a lot better than