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Reviewing the 0-0 Draw vs. Seattle (Plus Our Vancouver Thoughts)
48 Plays10 days ago
In which Dia, Ari, and Andrew share their thoughts about the 6-0 thrashing by the hands (feet?) of Vancouver before moving on to the draw at home this past Sunday. They talk about the lack of attacking idea, how James fits into this team long term, Nicolas Romero's first start, and more!
Follow the show on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/looncalling.bsky.social
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Loon Calling'
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to Loon Calling, a podcast dedicated to Minnesota United Football Club and I am here with my friends in Minnesota United fandom for the first time since I think the the first episode of the podcast. Andrew is here. hi Andrew, how are you doing? hi there, I'm pretty good.
00:00:19
Speaker
How old have things been since we've last talked? ah Pretty
Andrew's New Job and Adaptation
00:00:24
Speaker
good. I've started a new job and that's why haven't been able to make the podcast, but definitely on track for much better things.
00:00:32
Speaker
Very nice. So liking the job? ah I like where the job's going to take me. Plus I got some really crazy tech I'm working he with.
00:00:43
Speaker
Oh, really? So unfamiliar stuff, trying to get used to it, and maybe not the most ideal start, but hopefully progressing into something better. i don't like getting out of work at midnight.
00:00:55
Speaker
No, that sucks. Anytime you're getting out of work when the sun is not up um is not is not ideal. It's not ideal at all. And then as always, we have Daya How are you doing, Daya?
00:01:11
Speaker
I am all right. Good, good. We like being all right. my evening caffeine before I go to work. so Yes, your morning caffeine before you you clock in at 11 p.m. My 8 p.m. energy drink.
00:01:28
Speaker
What's your energy drink of choice? Um, my main one lately is Celsius. Um, but right now I'm having one of those. Shout out MLS.
Caffeine Preferences: Celsius vs. V8
00:01:38
Speaker
Uh, my boss likes those.
00:01:41
Speaker
I, I kind of got hooked. I, I wanted to cut down on my sugar, intake. So I'm getting to that. The ones don't have sugar? The V8 does, but Celsius does not. That's why switched over to Celsius, but I still have the occasional V8 to supplement. Yes.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, that would be crazy if V8, the juice company, didn't have sugar in their stuff. Yeah, they got they got sugar. They got sugar. And it tastes good. Those V8 energies do taste good. And um yeah, maybe I should have drank one of those because we are recording a little bit later than usual. but we...
00:02:20
Speaker
are going to keep on trucking. There was not an episode last week. why Because i was recording on a Linux laptop, and apparently Linux does not like the client that we used to record podcasts because it sounded...
00:02:36
Speaker
Horrible. And it randomly cut out in places and also did not save in other places. it was just an absolute mess. So I apologize, everybody, that there wasn't an episode last week. But we are here now and we're going to do some quick hits about the Vancouver match.
Analyzing the 6-0 Loss to Vancouver
00:02:52
Speaker
um Just some quick thoughts.
00:02:55
Speaker
We got absolutely lashed 6-0 in Vancouver. It was not a very good time. um Andrew, since it's your first podcast in a while, i'll throw it to you. What what is your like big takeaway from the Vancouver match? um It was 6-0, but at the same time,
00:03:14
Speaker
you know After the third goal and so quick, it just collapsed after that. And those games kind of just turned into like the attacking team collecting stats. So I wouldn't put too much into it. I think we did genuinely see it collapse in the system.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I think it's better to get that out of out of the way faster than later. I was hoping that the James-Muller joinup would be a lot more competitive. But we can't get what we always want.
00:03:43
Speaker
No, no, not at all. um What did you notice when Hamas was subbed onto the field? Did you notice a a change in how we were playing? Did you notice a an increase or or a increase in energy or just like a differing style of play?
00:03:59
Speaker
I think the life of the team was just generally out by then. and it wasn't like, not to flash forward, but i think this later one was a lot different. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
from what it was. Plus, James is notoriously not like a guy who stays fit and primed for his club. So, for a death piece, he was really great. I just think that the game was over by then.
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's a shame that his ah it's a shame that his debut was in a match like that where like there's really not much you can do to impact the game rather than, i guess, just show that you're a competent soccer player. And he was showing that he was a competent soccer player. like You could just tell immediately that the touch on his passes were like next level.
00:04:45
Speaker
um Definitely an increase in in quality. ah than our like average passes um so that was cool to watch but otherwise when you i'd believe when he subbed in to the game it was five to zero so like not a whole lot you can do and also not a whole lot of stock you can put into um you know vancouver's effort on defense as well so like just not a lot you can you can glean from it, to be honest.
00:05:17
Speaker
Vancouver, though, a contender. It was a contender last year, and we have had to reload a lot. so What did you think, Daya? um Yeah, I thought there were like a couple interesting things. like Obviously, it just kind of sucked overall to watch.
00:05:34
Speaker
It was one of those games where i kind of didn't think we were going to win because Vancouver right now is just on another level in terms of their players and the way they're all pressing and playing together. Jesper Sorensen to me is like...
00:05:50
Speaker
has very quickly leapt to one of the best managers in the league, like a Wilfred Nancy level type coach. And then that was with a Vancouver team that was missing Ryan Gould almost all last year and didn't get ah Mueller until like the very end. So he is doing something amazing.
00:06:09
Speaker
And I kind of thought like, yeah, we'll probably lose. But you go into some of those games thinking, even if we lose, we can at least still be building on certain organizational principles. We can, you know, find silver linings of what we're trying to build in this game just did not have any of that. We looked lost and shell shocked after the first goal, which happened in like the first 10 minutes.
00:06:33
Speaker
Um, The only kind of interesting thing I noticed was um we talked, i think, a couple episodes ago. We've kind of been like paying attention to Bongi and asking like what's going on with him.
00:06:47
Speaker
um i think he's still good, but he's just been kind of quiet and isolated. And so the question was, how do we get him more involved? And Cam's answer was just switch him out with Kyle Duncan.
00:06:59
Speaker
And Duncan did seem a bit more involved than Bongi has been. I don't know if that's because of the way he's finding space or kind of integrating himself in in the team's movement and formation, but that's just kind of something I'm going to be watching going forward is that right wing and who we're playing and what we're getting out of both those guys.
00:07:20
Speaker
um you know And I thought Hamas kind of did bring a bit of a creative spark for the last 15 minutes, but yeah, like you all said, it was... way too little too late.
00:07:31
Speaker
um I'm curious like how much we're actually gonna get out of him because so far he just seems to have been a super sub but yeah, kind of suck to watch in large part because there just weren't many like silver linings or things we could really build a positive conversation going forward.
Player Roles and Effectiveness Discussion
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, it was a bit of a first rough outing for Duncan, but I really don't think he played poorly per se, but he was the one that conceded the the penalty kick within those first 10 minutes, and that's not how you want to start a match at all. um Just a reckless challenge into the Vancouver player. It's a clear foul inside the box, and therefore a PK.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree that I found that he was... He looked a lot more energetic on the ball and eager to make an impact on the dribble up that right wing, um whereas Bongi seems more tentative on the ball and more cautious on the ball, not really threatening to dribble pass guys. um I think Bongi...
00:08:39
Speaker
Bongi, my impression is his strength is really crashing the back post and kind of attacking open space. like his speech And also timing runs as well.
00:08:49
Speaker
Yeah, but very to runs his touch is not the most graceful or elite. Nope. I think the problem is, is that I'm a weird person and I actually prefer Bongi as a wingback.
00:09:02
Speaker
I don't know if Bongi prefers Bongi as a wingback though. yeah And that's, that's the tragedy of it. Cause I think Bongi could be a very high level wingback, but he just doesn't want to be that.
00:09:14
Speaker
And to be like the high level player, you have to want to be what you're doing. He can't be a winger because he doesn't have the pace and the dribbling ability to be a winger in the ml in MLS. I almost said the MLS. Jesus Christ.
00:09:27
Speaker
um And he doesn't have the, yeah. When he came into the league, he did. But the league has gotten better. The pace has gotten faster. so he just doesn't have the pace or the dribbling anymore to get past the centerbacks. Like, there are elite centerbacks everywhere.
00:09:43
Speaker
in and you know you're going against another team's wing backs as well depending on their formation and they have pace as well so it's like Yeah, ah I almost like him better at win back, too, because he has shown time and time again that he's a pretty reliable defender. um But to play the win back position, you also need to have threat going forward. And Duncan, I think, did a good job in the in the Vancouver game of showing that he at least has something.
00:10:15
Speaker
I think Duncan's a lot more conventional as a wingback. But Bongi is a lot more of the experimental. He doesn't have the greatest of pace, but he definitely has pace.
00:10:26
Speaker
And a wingback will be able to naturally find space because of how like other formations have to deal with the back five. Much in the way that Padelford is not a great wingback.
00:10:37
Speaker
Because he is a reliable defender like Bongi, but he's not a guy that can get into space and then do something with that space. He apparently is a guy that can ah that can serve a dime into the box, though, if the other team, like Austin, in the opening match gives him enough space. But i think largely in this game, yeah, Pidelford got the start, and he was largely ineffective on that side of the field and absolutely got cooked by Sabi, who is an player.
00:11:10
Speaker
player and has proven to be at least under Jesper Sorensen. Um, uh, to be fair, everybody kind of got cooked on the back line. Um, looked, I didn't even think they looked disorganized per se without bugging. Like to be honest, like,
00:11:26
Speaker
I think, Andrew, what you said earlier about the system failing, I think is just very true about this. like Vancouver had studied the film and had come in with a gameplay that just absolutely cooked every everything about our game plan and the way that we wanted to play. They dominated every phase of play.
00:11:44
Speaker
They dominated the midfield. Sebastian Berhalter just is an amazing mid midfielder and can absolutely dominate a game. Yeah. um And he did. It was an absolute masterclass.
00:11:58
Speaker
um But the team Vancouver plays as a team. Every every player on their roster is contributing something to the system. And then they also have a center back. I forget his name um that can feed an absolute dime ah behind our back line.
00:12:16
Speaker
with a perfectly timed run. And it just was an absolute beat down. It wasn't even that we weren't playing up to our level. It was just Vancouver just absolutely beat us into the ground. Um,
00:12:29
Speaker
Andrew, what was your impression about our back line without boxy? Did you notice anything particularly or you is just is this just one of those games where it just gets away from you? I think it just one of those games where it gets away from you.
00:12:42
Speaker
Like center backs get in a real awkward spot when they're moving between a back four and a back five. We're in a back five. They have to go out further. Where in a back four, they have to stay in further.
00:12:56
Speaker
And they don't... So they get their minds mixed mixed up about where to go and how far in where to go. Whereas, like, if you're in a back three, you can afford to have one of your center backs push out all the the flank and then have the two other center backs just move into the box and be your box defenders.
00:13:15
Speaker
Well, even if you're a back four, you cannot leave the box as a center back because then your one center back is isolated You leave him on an island. and I think that's just that's ah a lot what happened is where they just got their assignments mixed up.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, and fell into the trap every single time when Vancouver was play the ball forward and then play it back and then play it through and fell for it every single time and did not recover. Yeah.
00:13:46
Speaker
That is how I think that's some insightful. I think that's some insightful observations about how our center backs like to play, especially Diaz. I noticed really likes pushing up the fields to press closer to the ball and will follow holdup player all the way up into the middle third of the pitch. um And yeah, if you don't have enough center backs back there that are covering those things, I think the back five just lends itself better to, I guess, how Diaz wants to play.
00:14:15
Speaker
um yeah And the back four kind of failed on that front. Daya, did you notice anything about our defense? Anything about the back line in this game without Boxy? um Yeah, it was, it mainly just felt disorganized and, know,
00:14:32
Speaker
They looked kind of scared almost, especially I think Vancouver just comes in so hard and they scored so early. um And I noticed us, we just kind of seem to fall back in a very haphazard and disorganized way on kind of last year's Ramsey ball. Like we seem to have done that the last couple games, um you know, and against Nashville too, where, know,
00:14:58
Speaker
we kind of fall back on just defending in a low block and then kind of trying to boot the ball up and have Yeboah chase a tra ah really fast counter attack.
00:15:08
Speaker
Like we're not really building up in the more systematic way that I think Cam is trying to get us to do. um You know, granted, this was not like well-organized and disciplined Ramsey ball where you really frustrate the other team, but more just kind of you know, hiding in our own box and inviting pressure and not really knowing how to absorb it properly um and not knowing how to build out from the back in the way that we're trying to do.
00:15:44
Speaker
So it just it looked like we were trying to do a couple different completely contradictory systems at once and you know, in a situation like that, a team that presses as well as Vancouver does is just going to be able to kind of slice and dice your back line.
00:16:03
Speaker
Um, you know, and there was no one there who was really able to kind of get hold of the situation. Do you think that's... there There were talks, like there was a sentiment that the performance was more an indictment on the coaching staff not preparing the team or the roster adequately enough, or at least whatever the game plan was or whatever the philosophy was...
00:16:30
Speaker
to change the system into something more progressive with playing with the ball that this match was the match that proved that at least the way they were going about it wasn't the right way would you agree with that sentiment or is it just one of those games um Like I said, i went into this thinking that we did not have a good shot at winning against Vancouver.
Should Coaching Tactics Change After Vancouver?
00:16:57
Speaker
But I think if you adjust your tactics, you can at least absorb some of what they're doing a little better than a 6-0 loss. um Like that is more, I think, the indictment on kind of how we went into it. And yeah, I think ah maybe Cam and his staff didn't really...
00:17:19
Speaker
you know, prepare the team for the kind of way Vancouver likes to play this really intense, high energy, nonstop pressing way that maybe would ah we maybe could have absorbed things a little better with like four or five in the back um you know conceding a little more of the midfield and letting them have a little more space there but being able to absorb more pressure closer to our box um and you maybe do that for like the first part of the game
00:17:52
Speaker
take a bit of wind out of their sails and then you can maybe build into something a little more even back and forth but i think they kind of went into it um you know without a plan that was up to that task um so i think and i think the wheels kind of came off you know, too quickly for us to really grow into it. What about you, Andrew? Do you agree with that? I think if it if it wasn't proving that the system needed a change, I think it has definitely spooked management in order to do a big change.
00:18:27
Speaker
I think you're you're talking about how we've seen a lot more like collapsing back in the Ramsey ball, but they're not as disciplined because I think they spent a lot of preseason and a lot of practice trying to be that high-pressing possession team.
00:18:43
Speaker
But they haven't that they once they got smacked in the face once by a top team, they are now too afraid to it and they want to win. Everyone needs to win. So and then they kind of retreat back into Ramsey ball, which doesn't work if you haven't practiced it for preseason.
00:19:02
Speaker
You're not disciplined. They don't have their captain on the team to keep organized. You don't have a goalkeeper of the year to keep you organized. You also don't have five in the back. like to hold that line you only have three two of whom were 25 you know harvey i think is 26 like it's a relative it's still a relatively young back line a lot smaller it's just not they're not going to be able to absorb pressure in the way that we could last year any other thoughts before we move on from the vancouver match
00:19:37
Speaker
ah I thought we were definitely diced more down the center than the flanks. And I worry that's a thing going forward. Because I've seen a lot more 3-4-3. And that leaves us with less and less lines in the defense.
00:19:51
Speaker
It's a lot easier to break it down. i think we went if we didn't want to go to this high-pressing thing, you would need to do a 4-2-2-2. Instead of or something. a three five two or something Because then you have your your wingers in the center, but they'd be much more interior.
00:20:09
Speaker
Daya, any closing thoughts about Vancouver? ah No, no. it was It was bad. But you know sometimes you need to get punched in the face and get a wake-up call.
00:20:23
Speaker
So hopefully we wake up, yeah. And that we did. i love how I said I want to spend 10 minutes on Vancouver and we talked about it for 20 minutes. That was my favorite part about that segment. It's Minnesota. we We hang on to the bad times.
00:20:38
Speaker
great stuff yeah i had more thoughts about it that i just kept remembering it was like it was like a bad flashback it was like thinking about something you did in middle school it's just like once you start thinking about it the the memories just keep coming back um all right what'd you say wide left
00:20:59
Speaker
laces out um Let's talk about the match that happened just a couple days ago. Seattle came to town, came to Allianz Field.
Rebuilding Confidence Post Seattle Draw
00:21:10
Speaker
The weather wasn't absolutely horrible.
00:21:13
Speaker
Some people went to this match. I didn't go to this match. I watched it on TV. And it is certainly a match that happened. um We played Seattle to a 0-0 draw in...
00:21:26
Speaker
A very frustrating match for me to watch personally. I'm curious as to what y'all's thoughts were on the match. I guess we'll just open with that. Like, Andrew, what but like what are your initial thoughts on this match? Like, how was it for you to watch? Like, the whole experience of it. Were you at the match? I was there, yeah. I actually liked it.
00:21:49
Speaker
I know it sounds crazy. I actually liked the match. Well, you were at all. Yeah, I was there. It was in the middle of the day. Love that. 1.30 on a Sunday is kick-ass time for a soccer game. I could go on a rant about the schedule change, but i'm not going cancel my season tickets as long as they give us these midday games.
00:22:11
Speaker
I'll just say that. that's the I think they will. I think they will. But ah yeah, how was the experience overall for you? I think it was good. like the whole it was The atmosphere was very muted because it wasn't at night. It was in the middle of the day. kids were everywhere around me.
00:22:27
Speaker
Wonderwall had a horn section again. we loved that. But I thought that the team matched up very well against Seattle. And Seattle is like the gold standard of if you're a good team or a bad team, you can judge yourself based off of how you do against Seattle. Because Seattle can just slice and dice a bad team like it's nothing. And then they'll just walk over you. And it won't be flashy, but they'll just do it.
00:22:51
Speaker
And if you can beat Seattle, then you know that you can break down a possession-based team. You've got your your game plan, your philosophy there. um It was a boring. Yes, I do agree, but sometimes boring is a lot more of like nothing broke on either side.
00:23:08
Speaker
No one made the big mistake that changes the game. Padelford should not be a winger. I liked Kyle Duncan more in that kind of winger role or roll or a defensive winger role.
00:23:21
Speaker
um But I liked the rest of the team and how they did for most of those 75 minutes, I think. Seattle had a player sub really early. I don't know what was that was like.
00:23:34
Speaker
And then they had to do a triple sub at 70. So they didn't have much going on at the end. But I thought it was fine. What about you, Daya? what were you What are your like initial reactions from the match, just like surface level watching it, experiencing it?
00:23:50
Speaker
So I had worked the night shift right before this game, and I didn't really intend to watch it live, but then for some reason my body decided to wake up right at 1.30.
00:24:03
Speaker
And I was just like, screw it. I guess I'm watching it live on like, you know, four or five hours of sleep. And so naturally I'm kind of tired and thought it was kind of a flat, dry game. And I thought that was just me being tired. And then I read all the comments online. I was like, oh no, I, that was actually an accurate perception, but I thought it was kind of good. Cause after getting absolutely trounced in Vancouver,
00:24:31
Speaker
I feel like part of what the staff meeting was, was like, we just need to rebuild after, you know, getting beat pretty bad in Nashville and then destroyed in Vancouver.
00:24:43
Speaker
We got to just keep this project from getting too derailed this early in the season. We just got to find our footing again. What can we do to make this just a very boring game that we can kind of start building momentum and confidence off of going forward?
00:25:02
Speaker
And I think that's kind of what they went into this to do. And that's like, they did a five back defensive line. um You know, they were willing to kind of concede space and just absorb defensive pressure like we did last year, but here it just looked a little more deliberate and organized.
00:25:23
Speaker
um you know We just kind of held Seattle at bay, absorbed their attacks, didn't let them like break our lines super easily or just lob easy through balls over us.
00:25:35
Speaker
um It just looked very... you know, if not flashy, like we kind of mirrored Seattle in just kind of being a disciplined, well-organized unit that set out with a very basic game plan, um some very basic principles and just tried to execute those.
00:25:55
Speaker
um I don't think any of us are really going to remember this game, but also I could see it being an important point in our season because we kind of prevented like a total derailment of the project from happening and kind of reset ourselves a little reminded the guys like you're a good roster you are capable of doing good things how do we build off of this going forward and then of course we get like the announcements that more coaches are coming in
00:26:28
Speaker
you know So we get some fresh ideas in the office and we can kind of start maybe building something a little more cohesive. Like I like what I saw in the first couple games, but clearly like it was not enough. And so now we maybe just need some fresh ideas and a fresh start.
00:26:44
Speaker
So it's their so our second start to the season in a sense, hopefully. That was kind of my main takeaway. What did you think of those last 15 minutes? Um, I was, I was kind of waking up just in time for James to come on. And I thought it was funny because I could hear on the broadcast, some kids chanting like we want James like,
00:27:06
Speaker
I don't know if you guys heard it in the stadium, but I, yeah, i could hear it on the TV. um Yeah. I thought it was kind of similar to with Vancouver. He does come on and seems to give the team a little bit of a spark.
00:27:22
Speaker
He's able to break through lines and send these really intricate little passes through and between players.
Playmaking and Creative Contributions Needed?
00:27:32
Speaker
And I think once our attackers like Chancolai and Yeboah kind of realize what kind of passes he's capable of, if we can kind of get them linking up, it's going to be probably kind of reminiscent of like...
00:27:48
Speaker
you know, a few years ago when you had like Reynoso breaking through lines and Pukki kind of receiving service, even if for a brief time, you know, similarly, we're probably not going to have Jamez for that long, but if we can kind of get our attackers to kind of recognize like this guy can get you a ball if you make the run, don't be afraid to make that run.
00:28:11
Speaker
um he can find you. um I'm glad he's here for however long we have him. Hopefully he's able to kind of get in a couple assists and maybe just help us build a little more attacking confidence. And then once he leaves, maybe like Pereira and Fitz, if he's healthy, can kind of also try and take over some of those duties collectively. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
yeah he's Yeah, he's not like someone we can build the whole project around, even in the short term. um He's a depth piece. Yeah, he's he's a cool super sub, but like to him, we are just his gym that he's preparing for the World to Cup in a few months. his medical staff. I really wish it wasn't the case.
00:28:59
Speaker
I mean, we're not paying him that much and his salary probably being covered by the Jersey kids. So essentially he's just, just think of him as a depth piece. Don't think of him as like a, I don't want, he's so talented. I don't want, he should not be a depth piece is why like he should not because his talent levels way above that. But I get that this guy has hopped from club to club pretty much yearly for the most, like most of his career. I understand that. I understand his history. I understand that he is very much country first club second.
00:29:35
Speaker
I understand that it's still frustrating when you see the potential that the team has when he's on the field and how, much better the attack could be just so for me, if he truly is just using the club as his medical staff and to get fit enough to play at his best in the World Cup, cool, then don't.
00:29:58
Speaker
Then the club won't exercise his club option. and he will go on his merry way somewhere else. If that happens, this needs to be the thing that sends the message to ownership saying, if you can get a real deal, number 10, in this roster, you will immediately jump up a level in terms of, like, youre you can't you have proved through Eric Ramsey, and you have proved...
00:30:26
Speaker
granted one match versus Seattle, that if you play a defensive style, you can stay in most games. That is your floor, right? What are you going to do on the roster to raise your ceiling? The only way with the attacking pieces that you have right now...
00:30:42
Speaker
I love Chonkalai. I think that was a really sneaky, really good piece, and I think he's doing a lot of great things in the attack. But the number one thing that changes the dimension of the attack is when Hamas is on the field, and he is distributing the ball around, and we play with a true number 10 on the field. It seems like we actually have...
00:31:02
Speaker
the capacity to break lines and actually have the capacity to break a team down with passing. If he is not on the field, the team cannot do that. And they proved through the first portion of the match, they can't even break out of pressure.
00:31:19
Speaker
The passes were not good enough to break out of pressure almost ever. The clearances weren't even good enough. And good teams like Seattle will just take the ball right back and and continue to distribute across the field. Now, we limited them to only 0.62 expected goals, actually lower than our expected goals.
00:31:38
Speaker
So they didn't have that many chances throughout the match. But for me, my overall impression of the match was that before Hamas stepped foot on the field, we looked...
00:31:51
Speaker
Yes, we were absorbing pressure, but it was so shaky. It was like it was one or two good plays by their very talented roster to make a good pass. And if they scored, we would not have gotten one back. Probably like.
00:32:08
Speaker
At least not with Hamas on the field. If Hamas came on the field, then yes. So like the team needs to find answers to the attack that doesn't involve Hamas. If he really is truly only here to come in at the game at the 60th, 70th minute. Like imagine how attack could be. if it makes it around like a Hamas type though.
00:32:29
Speaker
Like what I saw Hamas was a not a 10, but a 6. He didn't want to run forward. And I'm like, do we really need him to? He's such a good passer that you want him to be in the sixth hole so that when the rest of your team's going forward, he's still back and he can always like passes back to him like a deep line playmaker, football manager.
00:32:50
Speaker
You need someone to pass. Yeah, to pass the line, but to have someone walking around in the back line a little bit there with the center backs to keeping an eye on the field, seeing how things develop, and then they can recycle the ball to him and he can spat it out into a direction when there's like a whole bunch of depth that we attack into. I think that's a model play that we could do because then if you're reliable defensively, you can push out the ball. If the transition doesn't work, you recycle the ball back to your defensive midfielder who will then spit it out in the same transition style like move.
00:33:26
Speaker
That way you're not attacking into like a ah compressed shape. You're doing constant transitionary soccer. And that's what we were good with last year. I think Fitz or somebody could, Perea even pull him back a bit and have him do the same field scanning, like deep line playmaker six.
00:33:47
Speaker
Or if you want some hope core here, who else is a six that's coming of the market this summer that the team that the team could sign to take that us to the next level?
00:34:00
Speaker
DP superstar. Is there someone specific trying interested in MLS. Who? Casimiro. Casimiro. He's leaving Manchester United.
00:34:13
Speaker
Inter-Miami and el LA Galaxy. He's linked with LA Galaxy and Miami. Yeah. But the team can just roll in and say, hey, you want to play at number six still? Because Inter-Miami has Messi. He's not going to be a superstar in Inter-Miami.
00:34:30
Speaker
LA Galaxy has l a He's got a couple other superstars on the team. You come to Minnesota and say, hey, you're going to be obviously the superstar of the team. You'll slot into the James role.
00:34:45
Speaker
We'll put you on a billboard. You'll be of the king of the castle. Sure, it's not a massive kingdom, but you'd rather be the king of the county than the count of a kingdom. It could happen. Maybe it dial. what Do you have any thoughts on what we've been talking about at all?
00:35:03
Speaker
I don't think Casemiro is coming to Minnesota before before that fun and funny as it would be. um i guess. Yeah, I. We do need James-esque player.
00:35:19
Speaker
um Maybe it's, you know, if he stays around long enough, maybe Triantis can grow into that. Maybe Pereira can come a little further back, but Pereira seems to want to be more farther up front and kind of part of the attacking line.
00:35:36
Speaker
um So I don't know if that quite works out. I'm also just kind of I don't know if I want us to really try and build around James, even if we can get him beyond the World Cup, because I'm just kind of hesitant to bring in players who want everything kind of built around them and what they can individually do.
00:36:06
Speaker
Like that was kind of the problem we had with Reynoso where we kind of had so much, we put so much weight on what he could do for our attack, but he consistently just in a in the most literal way possible did not show up. Like he would just go AWOL. Yeah.
00:36:26
Speaker
And in those times, the team would kind of struggle and then he would come back and you kind of have to figure out the locker room dynamic. um You know, i i think there's something to be said for at the very least building a sort of consistency and building a routine for your players where you can kind of consistently rely on them to show up and at least keep your floor somewhat elevated. um And I kind of don't blame like Colette Alamod for maybe being a little hesitant to try and go all in on one guy who you build everything around.
00:37:08
Speaker
I think like personal experience has just maybe made us a little hesitant of that sort of model and wanting something instead a little more spread out, a little more collective.
00:37:20
Speaker
um you know i would love like you know fun as like this super awesome playmaking 10 can be, or a six, you know as James sometimes seems to be playing. um you know If they don't really want to be here, if they're not really bought in, you know I don't want us spending a lot of time and energy and money on people who are kind of just collecting a paycheck that's mostly based on a resume that they built several years ago, you know?
00:37:56
Speaker
It really doesn't seem to align with Khaled's profile in terms of players he wants to sign. It's very true. But I think we do need to sign a player that can distribute the ball like Hamas has the ability to. And I also i want to talk about Pereira because i don't know what kind of player he wants to be.
00:38:21
Speaker
Right.
Evaluating Player Performances Against Seattle
00:38:22
Speaker
Like, I don't know what he wants to do on the pitch because he had a couple moments in the Seattle match as the match was progressing where he was sending great balls. Like you said, Andrew, dropping a little bit deeper and kind of scanning the back line. And he had a couple moments.
00:38:40
Speaker
He had one pass in particular to Chancolai. He was sitting in the middle third, and he sent a ball perfectly across to Chancolai, who was waiting to make a run. And that is a connection that we would like to see happen more often. But it doesn't seem to be incorporated in the like build up of the team to try to go for consistent attacking patterns like i'm just i don't but like see what the coherence is where where hamas was during that he was like in the center circle when he passed that off to chonkwai so i'm saying like if if we want to be a transitionary team and if that's what we've drilled into everybody so much we want to create transitions
00:39:27
Speaker
And I think Chonclay really should have done at chance because I saw that and it was a beautiful ball and he had an excellent run and some space and he just whiffed it at the end.
00:39:39
Speaker
Markannik also had a great chance. um This was further, Hamas was further up up the field in more of like the number 10 sort of position. Markannik made a run and he ah tried to get the the ball to Momodajang, but it just did not, it did not happen. So there were moments where you can see it, it wants to happen, but it just doesn't, it's just not happening as of yet.
00:40:07
Speaker
And that's the balance sometimes. If we got away with a 1-0 win and James makes a goal on his home debut, everybody's happy.
00:40:19
Speaker
And that's the debut that everyone remembers.
00:40:24
Speaker
Sure didn't work out that way. I'm sad. I think I'm coming off like pretty negative because I think. think you're coming off realistic. You're not living in the hopium fan zone.
00:40:36
Speaker
No, I'm not. I was also just like so frustrated watching this match. like There were so many moments where we had opportunities to build out of the pressure that Seattle was was giving us, and instead we booted it upfield to Yeboah, who looked gassed after 60th minute because of his work rate he has to do as the number nine in this team, and also receiving very little in the way of service um
00:41:07
Speaker
like throughout the match. like it It seems like the team is caught halfway between wanting to be the sit and counter team and wanting to do more in the attack, and just it just is not coming to fruition. So I find myself like really kind of frustrated um about just like the overall play. But to bring the conversation back into a more like structured...
00:41:32
Speaker
ah place here i want to go to something we haven't touched on yet uh nicholas romero got his first start of the season and apparently it was due to fitness issues according to andy greeters reporting that he wasn't in starting lineup he started in this match dia what did what did you make of romero's first performance in the lineup of this season um I thought it was fine. It was nice to see him back. He had some decent saves kind of on the side of the box.
00:42:10
Speaker
I didn't notice like a ton of it, but I took that to be kind of just part of this was just a steady match where we were just trying to grind out a neutral result. so But glad that he's back. Certainly...
00:42:26
Speaker
could be said that it was, you know, part of the boost that our defense got compared to last week. So Andrew, what did you notice about Romero's first start? Now, none of this is confirmed and I just heard this from the streets, but apparently the fitness concern is because he went home after his first great soccer season and then just took him himself and his family out and all his friends out to every restaurant he could ever afford when he was a younger kid and he just paid for everything.
00:42:56
Speaker
Some people have demons in Argentina and his manifested that he wanted to go out and eat. And he didn't play that good Argentinian barbecue. That's what he wanted. The good Argentinian barbecue. ah And he didn't want to run around.
00:43:08
Speaker
So he wanted to drink red wine, the good Argentinian wine. He wanted to eat that good Argentinian barbecue. I don't blame the kid. I i don't blame the kid.
00:43:19
Speaker
If that's his biggest demon, like fine. He came back. for the preseason and he's working back to fitness. um it was It's great to see him back. he does He's one of those players that you talked about, they need to get older, they you get more experienced.
00:43:34
Speaker
And I think this is just another one of his things. Center backs, a lot of the times they just have quiet games and that's that's the best thing a center back can be is just not noticed at all.
00:43:46
Speaker
He had a couple pretty good blocks to some pretty significant Seattle chances, but we were playing so compact and defense and like y'all are, are right. We looked more organized in defense and Romero was a big reason and as well as, i think we should talk about calendar's performance as well after this, but um Romero made some good blocks. He,
00:44:11
Speaker
The thing I noticed the most last year was that the timing in which he tackles the ball is so good. Like he only goes in for the slide when he knows he is likely to get it.
00:44:25
Speaker
And he doesn't like, he doesn't misjudge it all that much. Um, And I noticed that in this game, that when he went in for a block, he always timed it perfectly. And it was really, really great to see. And I think it's also inspiring to the back line to have somebody that can make a heroic play like that.
00:44:45
Speaker
um I want to talk about Drake Calendar, because he made a couple really, really great saves in this game. um Andrew, what did you notice about Calendar's performance in this game? Um...
00:44:59
Speaker
You've got obviously ah compare him to he must do not be named. ah But it's I felt like, yeah, he was a reliable goalkeeper. I have no idea why he wasn't employed last year.
00:45:11
Speaker
Like, he didn't start a game last year, basically, and got traded around a lot. He looks like a starting goalkeeper. And there's a couple teams that could really use a starting goalkeeper last year.
00:45:23
Speaker
um but yeah i'm surprised this his first clean sheet but he did have some good saves his distribution was pretty great he got the clean sheet at the home opener as well yeah it was the second clean sheet um but yeah i think he had great technical did some good saves there's a couple shaky moments on balls that flung up in the air they didn't like but Yeah, if he's going to be the kind of goalkeeper that performs better at home than away, I will take that. like if you it seemed like Obviously, it's a two-home match sample size, but two shutouts in two home games?
00:46:04
Speaker
pretty good and he looked good in both of of those matches so if he's going to show up to play at Allianz if he's going to feed off of the energy of the stadium I think that's going to mean that we can hang in some pretty competitive games at Allianz. Daya did you notice anything about Calender's performance in this game?
00:46:22
Speaker
Nothing them particularly stood out um i suspect a lot of like the improved performance was a lot to do with like our defensive line. I don't think calendar had to like step out in like a huge way. I think things were just more organized in the back, which obviously sets up your keeper to succeed a little better.
00:46:46
Speaker
um You know, and I imagine after the Vancouver game, see was shown some footage to maybe kind of reevaluate, you know, maybe how some things went and how they could go better. But yeah, it was it was definitely a better performance, but it was like a collective better performance, in my opinion.
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think I agree with that. Another thing that I noticed during this match, um we our if we were going to commit to the sit-encounter kind of tactic, to be really comp compact in our defensive structure and then try to counter, we seem to also not...
00:47:31
Speaker
be prioritizing set pieces in the same way as we were last year or at least we're not capitalizing on them in the same way this year um that's just the thing i've noticed i've also noticed that the service has been pretty hit or miss like from pereta It's just been overall hit or miss. Sometimes the service will be poor. Sometimes the service will be serviceable.
00:48:01
Speaker
But it seems like there's ah there's less of an emphasis on going all in on the set pieces. ah Andrew, have you noticed that?
Changes in Set Piece Strategies
00:48:09
Speaker
Do you agree or do you think it's just it's still early in the season and and you know we we're just figuring things out?
00:48:16
Speaker
I think Ramsey did have a lot of like little tricks and wrinkles that he threw into set pieces here and there that I don't think is here anymore, obviously.
00:48:29
Speaker
if he'd hired be hired as a set piece coach, who would say no? um But James took corners at the end of the game. That should be nice. If he's at least doing free kicks, I know he that's like the least effort thing you can ask somebody to do.
00:48:46
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I don't think the set pieces are as complex as they used to be. Long throws aren't on target as they used to be, but yeah, we didn't have boxies long throw. We had Duncan taking the long throws on the right side and they were getting into the box, but it is not like boxy can throw that another 10 yards.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah. box And right on top of like an overload of players. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. ah Dial, have you noticed any changes in our set pieces in terms of delivery, in terms of quality, in terms of, you know, everything?
00:49:25
Speaker
and Yeah, they they seem to be less prominent a part of our game this year, which was probably inevitable given how much Ramsey kind of centralized them as a source of goals. I'm kind of okay with that and us moving on to like the next stage in our evolution.
00:49:46
Speaker
it was fun while it lasted, but like we said at the beginning of the season, I don't really want to watch another season. I can do one season of Ramsey ball too is, you know, gotta, gotta get in the writer's room and move things along.
00:50:03
Speaker
Fair. had Yeah. I had a good season ending, but someone's got girl beard. All right, the last thing i want to talk about before we start wrapping things up is a where's Dominic Fitz?
00:50:16
Speaker
Where is he? What is he doing? He played on the Toonies couple weeks ago. at We played a game at Vancouver.
00:50:27
Speaker
um So my guess is they're just building up fitness. Oh, he's still getting used to the system. He played like the full 90,
00:50:37
Speaker
That's good. That's good to hear. So he had the medical procedure or like late in preseason that kept him from from training with the team.
00:50:49
Speaker
And apparently that was significant enough to where... I guess he was coming in at basically, like, i was Nicholas Romero levels of fitness, apparently. like elite mar Romero just started his first match, and Dominic Fitz is still apparently getting up to fitness. like So, I guess another takeaway...
00:51:12
Speaker
from this match is that we don't have like Mauricio Gonzalez has not been, has not played. I don't think has played in a single minute either for the Toonies or the first team. We don't have dominicic Dominic, Dominic Fitz playing on the first team right now.
00:51:29
Speaker
We don't have those pieces. wheres stroud Yeah. Stroud is injured. He was injured and therefore unavailable. And we also had Boxy is injured. So it's a good thing to remember too, is that this team is also not at full strength. And one of the signings that we made, I believe in late January, only got his visa like a month ago.
00:51:51
Speaker
And now is only like, I don't i don't know what his progress is fitness wise. um So it's another thing to remember. I hope Fitz... can get on the pitch soon because we do desperately need somebody that has passing quality to progress the ball forward to break through pressure because that is our biggest weakness right now do you know who we really could have used these last couple of weeks momo kamara and now he's gone and my heart is broken to speed i'm gonna show you why my heart is broken about
Momo Kamara's Transfer: Good Move?
00:52:28
Speaker
this just give me a second
00:52:29
Speaker
Oh, whoa. Are we fetching a we fetching something? This is going to look really good on an audio-only podcast. I'm going to narrate it. Momo Kamara, Loon's throwback jersey. You may not be able to see this, but this is the Kamara and his number that I got though the Kix kit on.
00:52:55
Speaker
I put his name and his number on there because I thought he was going to be superstar for this And I found out that we basically loaned to buy them to a Swedish club. I'm not happy about that. i mean i mean, there's still a situation where they don't want to buy him and he comes back and he proves that he belongs on the roster or they buy him and he he continues moving up.
00:53:18
Speaker
The latter. um There's still time for your jersey to be cool, Andrew, is what I'm saying. It will break my heart the day I get that news that he's being permanently transferred out. it's I will say it's a good level for him because like the team, it's like Elversburg or something like that.
00:53:39
Speaker
um And they are, the last few years, they've been somewhere in the middle to the higher end of the league that they're in They do get every you know two or three years, they'll get a chance at Europe.
00:53:55
Speaker
um so he's gonna be in like a fairly competitive league but with a lot of opportunities to try and excel at that team um and maybe get them up into european competition so like i think it is even if it sucks to see him go it's a really good chance for him to try and break out take that next step in his career and that's what we have the uslc for to distribute all of our top prospects here to see if they'll be good or not.
00:54:27
Speaker
I don't disagree. You know, oh it would be cool if he went to a USLC team, but I don't know if he would want that move. That's ah to me, that's a more of a lateral move in terms of, I think where he like his position on the Sierra Leone and like, I know he's still playing for the juniors at this point, but I think he's going to want to go somewhere where the competition is higher than USLC because we love USLC, but our team of reserves won our US Open Cup match against Louisville.
00:55:07
Speaker
And the level of... They looked like a very good team, but the level is not... Like, Nex Pro is... is around the same level, if not slightly higher level than USLC. I don't know that that's always true. That's a hot take. I think when you're being loaned for this, the level I think is this is, you're correct on it, but the opportunity of a player going down to that, just like being loaned out of the blue is huge.
00:55:35
Speaker
Like it's a big sink or swim moment for a player being plunged onto a team and being like, How good are you with no prep? It's not a system. It's not the coaches. It's you.
00:55:47
Speaker
You've got to prove it that you're the guy or you're not the guy. Like Tani did. Tani had his breakout. year later, he's in Spain now. I think also the dynamics are very different in USL compared to next pro because from what I've heard the.
USLC vs. MLS Next Pro League Dynamics
00:56:05
Speaker
um If you're on a next pro team, a lot of those players maybe aren't playing as much for the team as they are for the attention of the first team coach.
00:56:17
Speaker
you know, like, and that's just a very different kind of dynamic compared to learning to play as part of a program that is its own independent project.
00:56:29
Speaker
Like there's something to be learned. Plays are playing to keep food on the table. Right. They're playing to kind of accelerate that team and not just accelerate their own career. I that dynamic of the league is different, but is the level of play different?
00:56:45
Speaker
I think get the context of the competition is different, but is the level different? I think the level opportunity is different. m I think you're probably right that the level isn't that high compared to MLS Next Pro. I think Sweden first tier is definitely higher.
00:57:03
Speaker
and That's what I'm saying. like it's It seems like a more ambitious and like actually challenging move for a player like Kamara that's already playing... it will be playing for the Sierra Leone national team probably the next couple years. like He wants to prove that he can compete at a level that is more akin to the baseline level of a national team player.
00:57:27
Speaker
like Especially... like did do you get what I'm saying? Do you understand the argument? or I agree. It's just I wanted him to stay. wanted him to be on this team.
00:57:39
Speaker
Or a USLC team, yeah.
00:57:43
Speaker
we are somehow still not like the club is still not showing that like we can reliably develop talent.
00:57:55
Speaker
Like Tani is like the first real example of like it really working out. And i don't i don't know. I think it's a good i like the move for him. I think it is the best move for him, especially the level in which the Swedish, you know, top flight is, I think it's the better move because there's not really room for him on our roster right now. And probably not for the next couple years. And what is he going to do? Just stay and play for the reserve team here and not play in an actual league and a fake league that yeah I think has good talent in it and is very high level, but it's not an actual league as you guys were saying, doesn't have the same stakes as USL has.
00:58:43
Speaker
but it also like move to uslc is more for like a player like sam shashua that played for us before where it's just like we would love to have you as a component of our team but you also need to prove that you can at least compete at this level and i think momo was proving that in next pro that he could play at the level but like He wasn't breaking up in games. like his No, he wasn't breaking up. He wasn't taking this next step that you need to break into the MLS roster.
00:59:15
Speaker
Right. So the path like here to MLS wasn't right for him. I don't think. um Because he just he's not big enough either. He's not strong enough.
00:59:29
Speaker
I don't think like you have to have like really, really great talent to be as short as he is. to play in a league like MLS with these like gigantic strong players that are also as fast as you like.
00:59:46
Speaker
That's tough. That's tough. Yeah, seriously. But anyway, um let's do one more thing. um My one more thing is that last night I saw the film Project Hail Mary um and had a fantastic time with it. It's a great film.
01:00:04
Speaker
I recommend you go out to a theater and see it. um yeah Ryan Gosling is great into It is a surprisingly like heartwarming story. What was the puppet like?
01:00:16
Speaker
really good yeah i heard that those was like just fantastic puppet i thought it was gonna be cgi the only moments of cgi are when there's like a scene and i think it's like it's it the scene is you know in a lot of like clips that are on social media or whatever when he's like in the hamster ball type situation that's i think the only moment of cgi besides a couple other scenes, but mostly when he's interacting with, like in the scenes where he's interacting with, um, with, uh, Ryan Gosling, it is a puppet.
01:00:55
Speaker
And the actor whose voice, like the, you know, the voice of Rocky is like actually acting as a scene partner with Ryan Gosling. So it's like their dynamic is charming as hell. It's really, really great. So.
01:01:12
Speaker
It's also just a feat like of production design because everything in that movie is practical, basically. They recreated the entire ship. This ship is a set that they just shoot on.
01:01:26
Speaker
It's crazy. It's huge. It's fucking huge. um So yeah, highly recommend. Daya, what's your one more thing, if you have one? I don't know if I have one this week.
01:01:40
Speaker
Anything you're reading? Anything you're watching? i'm I'm always reading like 10 things at once. i'll get Come back to me next week. I'll maybe have finished something.
01:01:51
Speaker
Okay. Sounds good. Andrew, what's your one more thing? My one more thing is Foxhole, the game. i see you playing that We're friends on Steam and you've been playing that a lot. Yeah, it sucked my life down.
01:02:05
Speaker
It's like a month burns at a time. But yeah, it's like a small scale MMO. It's very niche. There's only like 20,000 max players. 17, I think is the peak. Usually it's only like 2000 on at this time.
01:02:22
Speaker
So it is small. And that regiment, the group I'm in is only like 20 people. But you're having fun with it. Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun. Especially when I get home, I just pop on and do a little bit and go.
01:02:33
Speaker
Very nice. Very nice. Well, that's all we have time for this week. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. I'm very far away from the microphone. I apologize for that. um Yeah.
01:02:44
Speaker
Please, if you enjoyed the podcast, leave us a rating. We had a couple of ratings on Apple podcast. I just noticed before the show started. Thank you to those of you that left a rating on Apple podcast. Really appreciate that. It's just there all the hosts, moms, all giving us thumbs up.
01:03:03
Speaker
Yes, it's all of our moms. Shout out moms. It's all of our friends. I appreciate you, whoever you are, leaving the reviews. If you're a Spotify listener, i don't personally support Spotify, but a lot of people use it, and it is a podcast platform. So if you could read if you are a listener on Spotify, if you could leave a rating, that would be cool. But yeah.
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Loon Calling. We will be back not next week. I don't think there's a match next week, right? Because it's the international break. um When is the next match? We usually preview it, but we ran out of time. Our next match is against la Galaxy on April 4.
01:03:48
Speaker
so It's going to be a last night. They lost against SKC, so they're beatable. They're not that good. um So that will be a game where hopefully we can prove that we have offense and can score some goals.
01:04:04
Speaker
That we can develop. that we can develop. It's a development opportunity, everybody. We're going to be optimists about it. Anyway, we will go over that match the week after it happens. Hopefully, the our usual recording time. um Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. We're going to go now. Bye-bye. Bye. bye bye Good night.