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Nos Audietis: The greatest performance in Sounders history?
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The Sounders hung seven on arguably the best team in Concacaf, leaving Jeremiah and Niko Moreno searching for ways to explain it. One thing they know, Pedro de la Vega is the one player who is most capable of raising the Sounders’ ceiling.
After the break, they have a lengthy discussion with Ballard FC Sporting Director and head coach James Riley about the upcoming USL2 National Championship.
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Transcript
Introduction and Announcements
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'Shaan.
00:00:13
Speaker
Let's go. What a sorry, Bud Fry. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Rui Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle.
00:00:28
Speaker
The Saunders rule the region! Seattle Saunders is good! This feels fucking awesome. And Portland can't say it's genius! Nice work on your little
00:00:46
Speaker
Ooch of a gooch! All creatures great and small! Villabega!
00:00:55
Speaker
reion
00:00:59
Speaker
you know What was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and you didn't? Ever since I wrote a commentary that we didn't take the overcome seriously.
Sponsorship and Hosts Introduction
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:42
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Adietes on the Sounder at Heart podcast network. It is Friday. it is what we learned this week with Nico. I am Jeremiah Shannon. I'm here with Nico Moreno.
00:01:53
Speaker
ah And we got some fun soccer to talk about. I'll also just say later in the show, we have an interview with James Riley. He's the sporting director and head coach of Ballard FC. And they are playing in the USL2 national title game.
00:02:08
Speaker
on Saturday against Vermont green. That's going to be a pretty amazing match. We get a good preview there, but before that, Nico, what did we just witness yesterday? Unbelievable.
00:02:21
Speaker
I witnessed the best performance since I've been covering the team by the Seattle Sounders. I know that the stakes were not as high as probably the obvious final for CONCACAF
Seattle Sounders vs Cruz Azul Analysis
00:02:31
Speaker
Champions League. But in terms of just it being a perfect game, that's what I witnessed yesterday. So we'll get into it for sure, you and i But that's what I kind of witnessed. It was just the most incredible, ah most well-rounded performance that I've seen from the Sounders since I've been covering the team.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and I think that goes for what made it so impressive was just it was complete. It was they were good. They were very good defensively. and I want to I don't think this can be overstated enough and it's been said, but it it really can't be overstated enough.
00:03:06
Speaker
The team they beat was almost unquestionably the best team in CONCACAF over the last two year. Like I think at least the last calendar year, they have been the best team in CONCACAF.
00:03:20
Speaker
They are literally the reigning CONCACAF Champions Cup winners. They just won that a couple months ago. They destroyed the Whitecaps in that game. And even when they played the Sounders earlier this year, it was a 0-0 tie at home ah at Lumen and then a 4-1 win down in Mexico City.
00:03:39
Speaker
And they looked like a different class of team, especially in the in the second leg there. And this was effectively the same team. They spent $40 million dollars in the transfer window. This last transfer window, they had all, ah most of the starters in this game were starters in the CONCACAF.
00:03:57
Speaker
this This is the team that had only lost once since mid February. They were something like 14, one and nine in the, in the time since that this was a very, my point is this was a really good team.
00:04:08
Speaker
This was, there was no asterisk ah attached to this. They took, the best team that Cruz Azul could offer. And they absolutely destroyed them.
00:04:20
Speaker
I would add, and for all you stat lovers out there, you guys know Opta. Opta had an article that basically ah claimed that Cruz Azul was the best non-European team because of the run they've had under Martín Anselmi.
00:04:37
Speaker
And then Vicente Sanchez, obviously, Vicente Chance is gone. But but that that's how good this team had been. And that's... They come to Seattle, you know, they have all their weapons. They added a couple of players, a couple of midfielders, attacking midfielders ah in Paralela and Jeremy and both um players in this one ah don't really make an impact. um It was just a a game that it doesn't matter which way you slice it and dice it.
00:05:13
Speaker
I had said prior to this game that this... um
00:05:20
Speaker
This team, the the biggest difference between the um the one that Seattle faced a couple of months ago or beyond that, obviously, early this year, was that this team was more aggressive. They were more offensive. They pushed their numbers forward.
00:05:34
Speaker
They pushed their fullbacks. none of that reflected aside from the fact that Seattle had all this space to attack. And, you know, when you look at two clear chances on goal for Seattle, I mean – Forget the goals just for for a second. I mean, obviously that's, you know, what's going to get all of us excited and what we're going to talk about mainly.
00:05:55
Speaker
But defensively, Seattle just eliminated the midfield. Charlie was absolutely lost throughout the whole game. Ocampo was irrelevant. Rotondi came in in the second half and made no impact at all.
00:06:12
Speaker
ah Dita, who's a Columbia national team ah center back and Mier, who's the Columbia national team goalkeeper, both were without any thing to do or say, did I had the worst game I've seen him have since all my professional.
00:06:30
Speaker
And so all of that just goes to how dominant Seattle was from start to finish. Yeah, you know, this guy, Jose Paradella, was a ah ah midfielder, an Argentinian midfielder that Cruzes will pay like $12 million dollars for to transfer into the team this year.
00:06:48
Speaker
yeah had been on fire for them. He did almost nothing at all in this game. Basically, they had a shot off the post that came on a on a sort of ah a scramble following a counterattack.
00:07:02
Speaker
And then they had one or two other sort of half chances, Jackson Reagan made a good clearance on a on another kind of breakout opportunity. But they were just absolutely contained. And it was interesting. We you know we talked about this in the in the press box.
00:07:18
Speaker
They had this sort of hybrid press where they would send numbers forward. And then if that first line was broken, they would suddenly drop back really beyond the the midfield stripe.
00:07:29
Speaker
And so they were sort of doing this kind of thing where they would have one line of pressing. But what ended up happening was Obed Vargas, especially kept finding lots and lots of space in the midfield.
00:07:40
Speaker
And he was, i honestly think this may have been Obed Vargas's best game. He is involved in three or four of the goals. He only ends up with the one goal. he But if they were giving out secondary assists, I think he would have probably had two secondary assists.
00:07:55
Speaker
But a lot of the goals were created by his dribbling, by his sort of just slicing through defenders. You know, it was it was and it was funny because and the first half especially, it looked like he just could not buy a foul call.
00:08:07
Speaker
And I guess the Cruz Azul players were sort of trash talking him and telling him that he was going down too easy. And he he seemed to say like, look, I took it a little, a little personally. And he knows a lot of these players from playing on the national team. He has relationships with these guys.
00:08:23
Speaker
And it was almost like he specifically had something he wanted to prove to these guys. Yeah, the way he broke lines with the ball from midfield was ah incredibly important for what Seattle wanted to do.
00:08:35
Speaker
ah His vision was on point the entirety of the game. His motor and ability to just cover space with him and Christian Roldan, I think, was a huge part of why they owned that midfield on a very good, very transfer market valued position.
00:08:53
Speaker
team And it's because a guy like, it and Brian said it, I mean, i don't know how somebody doesn't pay 10, 12 million for this kid, if a performance like that. And that's what it was. i would have to say that in in in line with what you're kind of talking about, I thought Ferreira, this could have been his best game for for me as well. yeah He had two goals sent back that had nothing to do with him.
00:09:16
Speaker
They were offside calls on other players, but he was ah there at the right time, right moment. ah He finished in front of goal. He was clinical in front of goal. um He was aggressive on his um runs and the way he crashed the box. He was great on connectivity and link of play.
00:09:33
Speaker
But beyond that, I saw a fiery... Ferreira in the right way with all the chirping and japping that was going on. There's a time where he just kind of like chest the guy from the back after a goal. i mean, he was just all over.
00:09:47
Speaker
ah So it's pretty amazing. And of course, we'll get to the... the main entrance, which was, you know, Pedro de la Vega's goals. ah But these are two
Seattle Sounders' Performance and Key Players
00:10:00
Speaker
players that have been scrutinized, that a lot of people had given up on, that now I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of people backpedaling on saying, why is that Pedro de la Vega a DP? He should never be a DP.
00:10:11
Speaker
And this, you know, Jesus Ferreira, you know, how could that be a thing, right? And so I was just very happy you the potential and a lot of what we see in training with every single one of these guys reflected on the field for once. And that kind of gives you the the ceiling of how good this team could be. Now, i'm not saying this is something that you're goingnna replicate game after game, but it certainly is something that is a momentum builder.
00:10:41
Speaker
And that to me really puts Seattle on the front foot to have a very good leagues cup tournament overall. Yeah. i So one of the things that I talked just like a few people about yesterday, we sort of got into it a little bit with some of the players in the mix zone was the idea that the club world cup did really set the foundation the,
00:11:04
Speaker
not just the way they've been playing since then, but especially on a night like tonight. Because one of the lessons they talked about all the time at the Club World Cup is that the way the players, how they choose to foul, how they they use their their physicality, that it's not...
00:11:22
Speaker
that there's like a ah plan to it all. And it felt like in this game, this was the kind of game, especially in the first half where league at Mechie's teams have historically taken MLS teams out of the game because there were a lot of little chippy fouls.
00:11:37
Speaker
You saw how many, times like you go back and you watch how many times you see cruises will player just sort of tugging on a Sounders Jersey, not necessarily in an overt, like this is a clear foul kind of way. Although they did pick up a couple of fouls like that,
00:11:52
Speaker
but they were just very little, little, like making sure they know we're there type stuff. And so many times over the years, and MLS teams will react in a way that take them out of the game.
00:12:03
Speaker
And in, in this game, the Sounders reacted exactly how you hope they would react, which is they just upped their game. Now there was the, like, there was the moment where Dita and, and Mussovsky got into ah a shoving match a little bit where ah yeah it looked like basically,
00:12:18
Speaker
Dita was mad that Mussofsky went down, I i guess it was, and it could have potentially been a penalty and Mussofsky just was like, not taking it. He, he just got face to face with them.
00:12:29
Speaker
He got in his face and that's what you want to see. And then i think that but maybe the best moment you sort of alluded to this. I think it was after, Pedro de la Vega's goal that Jesus Ferreira basically turns to the first player he can find and is just like what this is. how it is yeah And it was just, there was a swagger. There was a confidence. There was a ah belief that look, we're not, we don't just think we can hang with you. We think we're better than you.
00:12:55
Speaker
We just played PSG. We just played Atletico Madrid. We just played Botafogo and those are great. better than you are. And we had, we were able to stay on the field with them that. And so we think we can raise our level above that.
00:13:08
Speaker
It was just, Oh, it was so satisfying to see. And it, and it kind of shows the importance I think of playing in big tournaments because it has legs into things like this. And I think that the best, um, credits, uh, in, in, um,
00:13:29
Speaker
I think that the best possible way to frame how good Seattle was is that they, we already talked defensively, but offensively, they scored in every single way possible.
00:13:42
Speaker
Set these goals, transition goals, possession goals. There were mid-range goals, switch switching of the field goals. I mean, yeah. Osase gets a goal.
00:13:55
Speaker
Ryan King gets an assist. Ferreira's on the scoreline. Pedro ah comes in off the bench and is an absolute spark plug and just kills the game completely.
00:14:06
Speaker
ah Just everything just was working for Seattle. It was to the point that Nuhu got on the scoreboard and got a goal after a very good Danny Leyva matchup. free kick and obviously new just kind of gets there with no goalkeeper and puts it away.
00:14:21
Speaker
But that's how good Seattle was in this particular game. And look, contrary to popular belief, I do not, I'm not a grump and I'm not, ah I'm not always going to be criticizing things. I think that is a moment to be rejoiced and to give credit where credit is due ah to this team.
00:14:41
Speaker
Pedro De La Vega said it best after the game, there was a unity that that That was very clear in this particular game. And that sort of relationship cementing, that goes a lot farther than people think. I mean, call me a hopeless romantic when it comes to soccer. But but those relationships, that sort of chemistry and camaraderie, those are the things that had this team, the Seattle Sounders team have the best decade.
00:15:09
Speaker
One of the best decades in MLS with Nico and Raul and in that group, that core group. If this team continues to have that unity, man, I mean, you could see it every goal. Come on, let's celebrate together.
00:15:20
Speaker
i mean, it it was there was something different about this team yesterday. And it wasn't just in the effectiveness and execution of the game plan, but it was that unity.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah. No. And I think Pedro de la Vega in some way, i almost wonder if his struggles up until this year. And I, I will say, I think that he's been better this year as a whole than he has tended to get credit for.
00:15:47
Speaker
I've been someone who has been backing him really for a long time. I have been a big believer in his talent. And I'm part of that is because I see him at training, but I have also seen, you know, he came so close to having sort of breakthrough moments last year that, you know, it was an offside call here. it was a amazing save there.
00:16:08
Speaker
And you, but you can see the, the kernels of it and it wasn't, he wasn't doing it enough admittedly, but you could see the talent was there. And then this year we saw a little bit more of it early in the year. And then in the last couple weeks, he has just caught fire and taken off.
00:16:22
Speaker
But, and, and these are, one of the best two week runs I think that we've seen from a sounder in a long time. I mean, he is absolutely on fire. And the fact that he came into this game relatively late, well, I guess wasn't that late. He came in the 72nd minute.
00:16:37
Speaker
The game was ah essentially chalked. or It was four, four zero at that point. but there was no sense that they were taking their foot off the pedal. You know, he he's both of his goals are wonderfully taken goals.
00:16:50
Speaker
Neither one of those goals are gimme's by any stretch of the, I mean, but the last one we'll talk about, but even the first goal that he had for Rara, doesn't make a lot of good contact on giving on on setting that ball up for him.
00:17:05
Speaker
And he still just slams it into the side netting ah for, you know, one of the things about him that I love that it seems like every goal he stores, he scores is just so aesthetically pleasing and he kicks the ball so hard.
00:17:21
Speaker
yeah like he is just on an absolute heater right now. And what I love about it is that there is a sense that this is all within his ability. It's not like he's just playing out of his mind.
00:17:33
Speaker
this is This is the player we thought he could be. and This is the player that he is. And that's one of the things that you and I have kind of Basically died on that hill that he's a guy that you just had to unlock. I use that word probably way too many times this year.
00:17:51
Speaker
And I thought that part of unlocking him was just forcing him to start and and moving him around, whether it was from the right side to the left side, where that's where we always wanted to see him.
00:18:03
Speaker
And yeah, In a very natural way, it may be a little bit later than we wanted it. It finally got done. He finally put on the left side and it all just unlocked. And now we get to see that talent level and the potential of what I will say is the one and only game breaker that this team would have.
00:18:25
Speaker
What I mean by game breaker is a guy that is just going to destroy a scheme regardless of what's happening. He's going to be able to take over a game at any moment in time that he's going to be able to take on two, three people and put the ball in the back of the net in a way that's just going to ignite a fire in the the entire group. That's what he's been doing lately.
00:18:44
Speaker
And that's something that this team has needed. yeah And that's not a knock on anybody else. I think the Ferrer has been amazing, cerebral. um That's another guy that I've been very focused on and saying, look, just give him time because he there is a lot to his connectivity, his link of play.
00:19:00
Speaker
They're going to find a spot for him. and i and And I still think that he could play both the nine or the wide position. I just think that he has found that adaptation He's found that confidence and mainly that read on the group. Now he understands where guys are going to put the ball, where he needs to put the ball, what he needs to do in certain occasions. And a lot of people sometimes overlook that and it it just kind of focus on the fact that a player just needs to come in and perform immediately.
00:19:28
Speaker
But there's a learning curve every single time that you move from one thing to another. Some shorter than others, but at the end of the day, when you're a talented player, when you have a high IQ like Ferreira, it's going to show, man. And i think that's what we've seen from Ferreira. So I just think that going back to Pedro de la Vega, that guy that's going to be able to manufacture things on his own, that's going to collapse de defenses to that side, that's going to take defenders 1v1, is something that Seattle hasn't had for a long time. And it does give Seattle a whole
00:20:02
Speaker
other level of eliteness that, that maybe we weren't really counting on when Pedro wasn't performing to this level, regardless of why or why not.
00:20:14
Speaker
Now that he's there, man, I am just, I find myself very positive that this team could do and get to places that I didn't think was possible two months ago.
00:20:27
Speaker
Well, ah exactly. And I think one of the things that people have been sort of complaining about, even if they haven't put it quite this way, is they've been effectively saying, we want our Evander. Evander is one of the players in the league who can just change a game through pure will.
00:20:43
Speaker
He has the ability to make something out of nothing. And there are times when he disappears as well. Like, I think we saw that if you watch the Timbers a lot last year, you would see that there are times when he just is a non-factor.
00:20:55
Speaker
But then there were other times where he suddenly comes out of nowhere and he hits a banger and it totally changes the game. And I'm not saying that Pedro is as good as a vendor has been doing it now for three years.
00:21:07
Speaker
He is an MVP candidate. and I'm not saying that's what Pedro is, but if you're looking for a player who has the potential to do that type of stuff, hey That's what Pedro is doing right now. He is showing that he's capable of performing at that level. Now, can he do it for a whole season? Can you do it for a month? Can you do it for a cup? Can he carry this all the way through the end of the season?
00:21:30
Speaker
It remains to be seen. But what's so encouraging is that we're seeing it over multiple games. We're seeing it when, and I think it was important, you know, it's for, we've been saying for a while, yeah well, maybe he just needs to start and he needs to, he needs that full run out.
00:21:45
Speaker
man, he, he didn't waste any time getting involved in this game. And I think it, again, it shows how he, how he can do this. um I just want, and let's talk about this last goal too, because I don't want to get lost in everything else.
00:21:59
Speaker
This last goal is so unbelievable in its execution. it is ah The degree of difficulty on this goal is about as difficult of a goal as it you're gonna see that is not just a total fluke. Like you'll see flukish goals where it's like, ah the player doesn't even know how he did it, right?
00:22:17
Speaker
Well, this is something that comes right off of the training ground where players practice this type of stuff all the time. It doesn't come off that often, but to have it go off on a game is pretty amazing.
00:22:29
Speaker
So Alex Roldan sends in a first-time cross switch. It's really a switch. 40 yards across the field. The ball is traveling. probably it probably reaches, I would guess, an apex of something like 30 or 40 feet off the ground.
00:22:45
Speaker
So that means that it's coming down at a pretty rapid pace. and De La Vega just sort of times his run. i guess maybe you can blame the defenders for not really being tight to him but it's six zero. It's towards the end of the game.
00:22:58
Speaker
They don't really want to get in on this, and but he, he just lets it fall and he hits it absolutely perfectly from the, and I I've had this hard time describing this in print to accurately depict it, but he's essentially at the corner of the,
00:23:15
Speaker
of the penalty box. He's not, you know, you you'll see you guys sometimes hit that from the top of the penalty box. It changes the angle a little bit, but what's so amazing about this is that he's at ah almost the corner of the penalty box. He hits it and it pings off the crossbar and then goes down and hits off the sort of the base of the, of the goal.
00:23:33
Speaker
And then it hits the crossbar again. it never touches the net. The ball never touches the net. Yeah. I mean, just an unbelievable strike. And I just think it was very funny that the game that was right at the 90th minute, essentially.
00:23:47
Speaker
And the referee is like, no Moss, the game's over. It doesn't matter that they had had three minutes of stop. They needed three minutes to review one of the offside goals. It didn't matter that there had been six six goals scored. It didn't matter that there had been 10 subs.
00:24:01
Speaker
Nope, no stoppage time today. The game's over. I think that the referee said the image of Apollo Kreese corner saying, throw the guy out of town, Rocky.
00:24:12
Speaker
And he just called it, man. Cause I mean, it it was an obliteration of, of a magnitude that's never been done for the Seattle Sounders is the biggest win that this team has had in, in all competitions and especially in an international global stage.
00:24:27
Speaker
um But going back to that goal, Look, i we we talked about yesterday. When I saw that that strike, the the first goal that comes to mind that has been even close to a good first touch is the Jimmy Medranda of a corner kick where he puts it away from the top of the box.
00:24:47
Speaker
But that's straightforward. That's top of the box. This goal is coming from ah angle behind him. ah There is, yes, there's a sense of maybe the game is done and over with, but the way he kind of...
00:25:00
Speaker
Moves his body, waits for it, the way he hits it with the inside of his foot to make sure that if he hits it too flat on, too straight on, that thing's going to sky. So he kind of hits it with the perfect technique just to get it to have speed.
00:25:15
Speaker
Obviously the pace, the delivery And the location where he kind of wants it I'm not saying he had it all figured out in his head But he's doing everything he can With his body, with the way he hits that ball To put it where he put it Against, oh by the way Arguably the best goalkeeper In Liga MX today Man, it's just An unbelievable goal. The best goal, in my opinion, franchise history. And, you know, I've seen them all. love them all. The Raul, the Obergle.
00:25:44
Speaker
I mean, there's a ton. Jimmy Traore. Jimmy Traore, absolutely. but but But to me... the level of competition that was in front of you, the manner in which it happened, the difficulty of the shot and the goalkeeper that had in front of you, to me, just make it a masterpiece. That is the way that I put it on X. That is the way that I'm going to continue to think of this goal.
00:26:06
Speaker
I'm never, ever going to forget what I was doing, what I felt, the goosebumps that came across my body when I saw him put that goal away, completely forgot that I was at a press box and yelled at him. I was in a bar.
00:26:18
Speaker
I mean, it was just an unbelievable goal. Credit to Pedro. Credit to Alex for the ball he puts in as well. yeah Alex was very good all game long from that wide side, being a guy that had the overlaps, being a guy that ah put in a lot of dangerous crosses in.
00:26:35
Speaker
so so I also credit to Alex. Yeah, I mean, you can give credit. I mean, it was Alex deserves some credit on that one, too, because it was a really it was a nice cross. It was a nice switch, whatever you want to call it.
00:26:46
Speaker
And it was it was funny. The press box melted down. I've never seen the press box like that. It was very unprofessional. I was involved as well. ah And it was it was slightly it it would have been more embarrassing if there were.
00:27:03
Speaker
opposing media there at the time but because it was so late in the game i think it was just basically the local media but we were all sort of gobs it was just like what do we just see they were already downstairs i saw them leave i think about the five zero they were already walking downstairs all right good well uh i also one other player i wanted to talk about because there was a lot we were talking about this a lot during the the first half especially and and he the guy who got the start over Pedro de la Vega, Ryan Kent, I thought had a pretty solid game. And I actually think the way that he handled, like he seemed to be the target of a lot of the ah cruises to aggression in the first half.
00:27:49
Speaker
He drew six fouls in this game and he could have had probably two or three more. And he just never really backed down. he, was he, every single time he, you he got back up and he, he did his thing and it wasn't a perfect game. Like, but he did have a couple of good dribbles.
00:28:07
Speaker
And of course he had the, a really great pass to a Sazer de Rosario to set up that goal, ah which is maybe the goal that essentially that really put the game to bed. That was the goal number four.
00:28:18
Speaker
And not that I don't know how, how open the game was at three zero, but we've seen the founders make some interesting, interesting games at three zero. So to see them get the fourth goal was sort of like, okay, this is really, now we're, now we're playing for fun, but I thought Kent was good. Now, is he,
00:28:35
Speaker
Is he good enough to get a start over Pedro de la Vega when they're both fully available? No, ah not like that. But it was still, you want to see that from Ryan Kent. And I thought this was a good game for his mentality, something that we've talked about a lot where he just has not seemed himself. He hasn't seemed as, you know, he just hasn't felt the same swagger that he sort of brought early on.
00:28:58
Speaker
And so I thought it was a important game for him. I thought he had a greedy performance. Gritty is a good word for it. grit Yeah. yeah i I'm going to be with Brian Smetzer, and um I don't think that there's anything that I'm going to completely be negative about when it comes to talking about this game.
00:29:17
Speaker
But I thought he started very ineffective. I don't think he was doing what he wanted. And Brian kind alluded a little bit to... The fact that he wasn't being ah vertical enough on that side. I thought that he wasn't keeping his line and being the widest guy out on the left side.
00:29:32
Speaker
But in the second half, he makes some adjustments. He is able to ah get farther up. But I still have just concerns about how easy he gets dispossessed at times.
00:29:43
Speaker
I honestly would try to see how he would do on the right side. He seems like... For everything we had heard about Ryan Kent and all of the ah research that I did when we broke the news, there was a lot of him being a very downhill type of winger.
00:30:00
Speaker
But when I see him, he he's he wants to come inside. He wants to slow it down. He wants to be on his feet a little bit. So maybe if you flip him to the Ferreira side, maybe he'd have some... ah More success. I mean, you did it with Pedro where you were putting him the wrong side. I mean, why not try it out?
00:30:15
Speaker
I don't know. It's just a thought. But it was definitely, and I would have completely 100% agree with you, that this is a performance that he needed to feel like he was part of something, that he contributed with a very good pass.
00:30:28
Speaker
He had another pass before to Obed that got caught on offside position, but he he was still you know trying to put those through balls. And again, those those were both from the inside channels, except for the obviously the last assist.
00:30:42
Speaker
But I really do think that this is something that he needed. ah One player that I also want to recognize is one that... Had gotten a lot of heat had been crucified. Brian did not want to talk about it necessarily, but in a very jokingly way, of course, I was new. I think he had a very good game. I think that he had, uh, some of the most dangerous players on that side, uh, that, that he was kind of locking up on.
00:31:04
Speaker
Uh, I thought that offensively, uh, regardless of, you know, the limitations that we know he has, I mean, that's another contribution for him. i thought that he was putting some pretty interesting balls. And when, um,
00:31:17
Speaker
Ryan Kent wasn't getting forward. I thought that he just took it upon himself to get ahead. Probably not what Brian wanted, but I thought that he created some overloads that were necessary to create some very decent half chances in that first half. So I thought that New Who, coming from all of the controversy, coming from the disciplinary actions, I think that he basically locked down his job once again.
00:31:42
Speaker
um And that's credit to to New Yeah. One of the adjustments that Brian said they made at halftime was they basically asked new who to hang back a little bit more and allow, ah Kent to get to sort of occupy that more forward space, that more vertical space. And and that worked pretty well,
00:32:01
Speaker
i The thing is, the other thing is we kind of didn't, I don't even know if we've mentioned all seven goals came in the second half. ah Yeah. Just to put that into context, no MLS team is ever scored at best. I can tell no MLS team has ever scored seven goals in a half of ah of any competitive match, let alone against a league. I'm a key team. No MLS team had ever beaten a league. I make his team by seven goals. I'm pretty sure like,
00:32:27
Speaker
LAFC beat FC Juarez in 2023, seven to one, but Juarez at the time was an absolute mess. that That was barely like, that was a sort of a gross mismatch.
00:32:38
Speaker
And I think other than that one, I don't know that you would find any other, there's not a lot of examples of MLS teams beating Liga MECI teams, even by multiple goals, let alone three, four, five, like six, seven, obviously is getting crazy. But this is,
00:32:54
Speaker
It's just hard to almost contextualize exactly how big of a win this was, how much of a statement it was, but it also bears repeating. And this is something that the players said. This is something that Brian said is that as great as this was, and I do think that it is something to be taken from it in terms of like, it shows the potential of what the sounders can be.
00:33:14
Speaker
there isn't a reality that it's just one game. It doesn't really, it's, it's really right now. It's just a trivia piece of trivia. It's like, when did this happen? Right. It it doesn't mean anything unless they go out and they beat Santos Laguna and they beat Tijuana and they get to ah the knockout stage of this tournament and they potentially go on to win a tournament.
Impact of the Victory
00:33:36
Speaker
Now, if they go on to win the tournament, you go, Oh, this is clearly, this was a statement of what the Sounders want to be for the rest of the season.
00:33:44
Speaker
But if they go out and they lay ah an egg against Santos Laguna or, you know, later on, and it, it isn't that important. So it isn't, it's it's just very imperative that the Sounders harness this momentum and carry it on.
00:33:58
Speaker
I totally agree. And, you know, i think Brian has some really difficult choices. I, definitely think, know that he wants to rotate. He sounds like ah Schneider is going to start this game. He kind of mentioned that he put him in for yeah minutes. It was his debut because he wants to play him next game.
00:34:15
Speaker
I think he'll start. But um from then on, I think that you want to keep a lot of those core guys. Uh, yay. Mark seemed to be, he got off earlier. um the, the, the usual, uh, probably taking care of him.
00:34:28
Speaker
ah he's a guy that, you know, he's had some muscular injuries. So do you let Kim maybe, uh, start down one with Jackson next to him? That's a possibility. Um, ah so you do want to kind of pick and choose, but leave some of those guys. Like I think Reagan's a guy that's very important to the build out to, uh, you know, everything that, that the shadow does, uh, coming out of the back.
00:34:50
Speaker
um I think that, you know, if Pedro, ah you just play him 10 minutes, you probably want to get that heater back on and start him up. So there's a lot of choices that that Brian can do, but I am 110% with you in that he needs to take this game very seriously.
00:35:08
Speaker
Santos Laguna is ah is a poor team, to be honest. they We just lost our goalkeeper. They lost Acevedo because he lost his head. And it's kind of funny because I look at the Dita... I thought he headbutted Misovsky. Yes, thought he did too. It felt like there was contact there.
00:35:25
Speaker
And if you look at that Acevedo red card, he gets his hands in the face, but it's not like he slaps him. He stiff-arms him a little bit. wasn't as violent as Dita. Yeah, agree. I agree. Yeah, so I feel like it was more egregious on on that the anger and the intent by Dita than it is by Acevedo to just kind of push a guy back.
00:35:44
Speaker
But yes, they lose Acevedo, who's... arguably one of their most important pieces. I thought that he kept them alive against Colorado that was immensely better than Santos. They should have had five, six goals in this one as well.
00:35:59
Speaker
There's a couple of shots on the post by Navarro who had all kinds of rooms to run behind the defensive line. I thought that they were wide open in the wide channels, in the flanks. um I mean, it was not a very good showing from Santos that Has had a bad start of the season. They lost to a Pueblo team that had had not won in 11 games. And I thought I saw a stat that said that Santos Laguna has won in 22 of their last 28 games or something like that. So they're a team that has had some inconsistencies. they ah Other than Christian Dahomey, former Vancouver Whitecap, ah I don't really see a lot of danger on that attack either.
00:36:42
Speaker
So I think that Seattle will rotate and hopefully they can get a good performance against a poor team. But I'm with you that they cannot go out there and not be... dominant and get a result in certain ways.
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah, this is, yeah i do think it's important that the Sounders rotate. I just think it's, they got to keep the mentality of whatever, whatever mentality had going into this game. And i thought it was also like I said, it was encouraging that their reserves were able to maintain pain that.
00:37:12
Speaker
I don't know that we're going to get an Osesley De Rosario start. Although I will say one of the things that struck me about De Rosario is that he does not talk like a 24 year old who has like a handful of first team appearances. He talks like someone who is sort of ready for this to be his moment.
00:37:29
Speaker
And he has, you know, he's, he's got plenty of confidence. There's no question about that. ah And it will, it'll be interesting if if he gets a longer run. I'm trying to think there's anything else from this game, really that we, Oh, I should, I should also add this.
00:37:44
Speaker
As good as Nuhu was, there was one moment where it looked like he maybe swung at a cruiser. He got a high forearm up, which in an MLS game, I would not have been surprised to see carded, if not even red carded.
00:37:58
Speaker
So I think that's just a reminder that the the challenge with Nuhu is not so much... the play. He is a good defender.
00:38:09
Speaker
He is maybe at it when he is at his best, he is a great defender. He can be a useful player going forward when he understands his role. But the challenge with him is always, can he keep his head?
00:38:21
Speaker
And that has not always been, you know, even yesterday in in the first half, when the game was very much in the balance, there were moments where it looked like he might lose his head. So I think that's going to be something that the Sounders have to watch. I think that's part of part probably why Brian was not ready to sort of just heap praise on New Who because he they need to keep him grounded. That's the reality is that they need to sort of keep him under control and make sure that he's you know that he that he's pushing in the right direction.
00:38:49
Speaker
Other than that... And you know who's guy that... that Sorry, just the to your point, you know, there's a guy who who can help that out and who I thought yesterday, although he wasn't lights out ah on the field, there were moments where he kind of cooled things down was Albert.
00:39:07
Speaker
Albert Rusnak was a guy that yesterday I saw grabbing guys in a very cool Albert-like way where, you know, he has this swag to him. He's like grabbing you. Yeah, man. So he was a guy that keep things cool out there. So maybe he could help out.
00:39:21
Speaker
Yeah, albert and I think it was also encouraging that they were this good without Albert having to have a monster game. Like he did a lot of the little stuff. He had the assist on Yamar's goal. He would have gotten a secondary assist on Jesus' goal if if they were counting those things.
00:39:35
Speaker
So it wasn't like he wasn't a part of the ah the team. Oh, yeah. But he just didn't have to have he didn't have to take over. And it was sort of like, again, it's like he's a very important piece to this, but he is not necessarily the guy who's going to send you into the the next level. And that's what we're talking about, why Pedro is so important, why this game is so important. Because Pedro is potentially that guy, and using that sort of that guy terms.
00:40:02
Speaker
But I think that's what we have here. Anything you want to say about Santos, the game is going to come – It's Sunday. So there's not a lot of time to sort of rest on this one.
00:40:13
Speaker
ah yeah Like you said, Santos has been struggling. They've been one of the worst teams in league eye ey's over the last couple years um What I would say is that they're a very young team, ah which could probably benefit for Seattle, specifically on the attack. I mean, Carrillo might be 23.
00:40:29
Speaker
Dahomey is one of the older guys. But but this is a team that um it's a little bit on the young side when it comes to a lot of places. I think that Acevedo is a guy that doesn't just give them soliditude, right?
00:40:44
Speaker
because he's a great shot stopper, but he's also a great leader for that defensive line ah that struggles so much. Look, Kevin Belanta is a guy that, you know, we follow for a long time that has a lot of ups and downs in his career, ah but he's a guy that tends to be a little bit like Javi, where he just gambles a little bit too much with his position and can get caught up off sides.
00:41:04
Speaker
ah quite Quite simple. i feel like both of their fullbacks are better going forward than defending. So I think Seattle's going to have a lot of, um openings to attack Diego Medina, who yesterday was the fullback, the wingback on the right. because they do play with a three man back line.
00:41:22
Speaker
yeah He's, he's a young He's younger. He's 24, but he got caught up more than one time, just way too high, way too comfortable, whether he got this possess himself or whether he wasn't making that run early enough.
00:41:36
Speaker
There's a lot of lack of, um, um, understanding of when you need to get there early and kind of that read of the game by their, but by both of their wingbacks and that lack of ability to kind of see ahead of the game.
00:41:53
Speaker
I feel like that's cost them a lot of games. So I think that um aside from, like I said, a couple of set pieces against Colorado, there were a very anemic team offensively and a very open and gappy defensive team. So, uh,
00:42:10
Speaker
I don't want to make this a catch game, right? I don't want to, you know, make it seem like this is a i dog water type of team that you're just going to be able to just trample and you don't have to worry about and you're going to come in way too, you know, underestimating the opponent. But I do think that this is a very accessible game for Seattle to get a good result in.
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah, and they do need, I mean, I think they it's imperative that they they get a good result in this one. They've given themselves a little bit of wiggle room, but one of the things I've been saying all along is if they could just get a result in this first game, the last two games set up really nicely for them.
00:42:46
Speaker
i do think it maybe changes the equation a little bit for ah Tijuana. where they have to, I think they're going want to probably feel like they have to win that game because there's no off, there's no off switch.
00:42:59
Speaker
If you want to advance, can, you don't get to take games off in this tournament, which is one of the challenges, but you know, hopefully hopefully, you know, I suppose maybe it's a good sign that LA galaxy won their first game. They also beat Tijuana five, two.
00:43:14
Speaker
So they may have to, they may be going for like, have to want to play their, their starters in that third game too. They of course play the galaxy in the and first league game back, which is why it's, it's relevant there. So,
00:43:24
Speaker
you know these are But these are good problems to have. it was a very encouraging performance. It was performance really for that'll go in the record books, if nothing else. And it it does, i think, accurately show the upside potential of this team.
00:43:40
Speaker
ah They are... you know, and I'll just to kind of put this out there, I'll contrast this a little bit with some of the other blowouts that MLS teams have had. Like the Timbers blew out San Luis, who is a pretty decent team for zero.
00:43:53
Speaker
They took four shots. All four of their shots were goals. Like this is not that where, where there's a little bit of, I don't want to say luck involved, but there's an unrepeatability to to that. Whereas what the Sounders did yesterday was a lot of repeatable actions that came off. Well,
00:44:10
Speaker
It doesn't mean they're going to score seven goals in every game, but it does show that they have patterns of play that they can rely on, that they can go back to. And they can say like, no, they probably aren't going to hit another volley like Pedro hit, but they might score a bunch more goals like Osase had.
00:44:27
Speaker
They might score a much more bunch more goals like Jesus had, like Yamar had. Those are goals that they they should be able to score with some regularity. So it's it's great to see ah the team is in a great offensive form right now, and it was great to see them get a shutout.
00:44:42
Speaker
That's kind of what I learned, and that that what this upside, what the team's upside is. ah Do you want to add anything to that, Nico? Nope. What I would add is...
00:44:54
Speaker
For those that tend to ah be conspiracy theorists and maybe some sort of way think that, you know, now that this huge scoreline is out there, it does not mean that the Seattle Sanders are not going to, that they're not trying to make the team better.
00:45:13
Speaker
I feel like they are definitely going to out there and bring someone I was actually going you that. I think that the know-how thing is still trending on the right direction, but we still don't know what's going to happen. But, you know, there's other options. But, you know, if for some reason it's not to happen, it's not because of the scoreline or because they think that they have it locked in, but it is because they just were unable to do so. That said, I feel like we got to give credit where credit is due.
00:45:37
Speaker
And this roster has... this team top of the West that with a couple of better results and not dropping points in at least three games that I can think of, they're possibly first in the Western conference.
00:45:51
Speaker
ah So, All in all, just to say that I feel like this group is is good. I think that this group with this newfound confidence and and and and a secret weapon that maybe you didn't know you had in Pedro de la Vega could get very far.
00:46:07
Speaker
ah But they're still trying to make an acquisition to make a a splash of some sort in this transfer window. And so ah with that, we're going to go to the interview with James Riley after the
Technical Issues and Apologies
00:46:21
Speaker
break. And but before we do that, I just wanted to share something really quick.
00:46:24
Speaker
Last night, Sounder Heart ended up crashing ah for basically the entire game and it was crashed. It remained down until 6 a.m. this morning. I was working with our ah our service providers to try to get that all done.
00:46:38
Speaker
back and and active. So I want to apologize to readers who were hoping to see, like celebrate this on sounder art. It would have been ah trust me, I am feeling that pain just as much as you.
00:46:49
Speaker
And so I just wanted to sort of issue that apology to come for, you know, play it straight with you all and, and say, we're, you know, hopefully this is the the last time that happens. Hopefully we've fixed the problems that, that caused that.
00:47:02
Speaker
i Of course, everything is working great now and you can go on there. ah You can also, you know, if you are already a member of the discord community, you didn't really probably mind as much.
00:47:13
Speaker
Of course, Lobbing Scorchers still did their YouTube show. So that was good. So we had other outlets for people to sort of celebrate the fun of this, but I do feel bad that, that Senator Art wasn't able to,
00:47:24
Speaker
to do our normal thing yesterday. So I just wanted to put that out there. um Yeah, that's it I love it. So hopefully they can listen to this and hear you and then read you later. Now that everything's good and going.
00:47:37
Speaker
So let's go ahead and push this, this show to get the deserve recognition that it should have. Everybody should be rejoicing, loving and getting their comments out there. So let us know,
00:47:49
Speaker
Again, what you think of the show, your thoughts on the 7-0 goal ad. And, of course, subscribe to everything Sounder at Heart. And, yes, Jeremiah, thank you for all the hard work to get everything back online.
00:48:02
Speaker
Yeah, and thank you. So I'm Jeremiah Oshian. ah This is Nico Moreno. We'll be back with the James Riley interview. And other than that, we'll catch you next time.
00:48:13
Speaker
See you.
00:48:16
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues.
00:48:29
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:48:58
Speaker
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00:49:13
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:49:53
Speaker
Again, go to hacksandferments.com, use the code sounder at heart at checkout for a free hot sauce with your order. Hacks and Ferments is a proud sponsor of that Sounder at Heart podcast network.
James Riley Interview and USL2 National Title Game
00:50:08
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adiates. So Nico and i are here with James Riley, the sporting director and head coach of Ballard FC. They're getting ready to take on Vermont Green in the USL2 national championship game. It is the second time in three years that Ballard FC will be playing for the national title.
00:50:28
Speaker
It is also the second time they've only existed for four years. ah James has been the head coach now for two of those years, right, James? Yep. First off, congratulations. And what you guys are already in Vermont.
00:50:41
Speaker
Explain to us how you like your, your journey sounds like it was quite a Quite an adventure to get to yeah to Vermont. Yeah, it certainly was. It was plane by plane, train and automobile, um literally just a long flight direct from Seattle to Boston. But prior to that, I say train because we had to jump on a train at CPAC. It works. Yeah.
00:51:02
Speaker
But yeah, and then automobile, then we we landed in Boston and at rush hour in the pouring rain and our charter was there waiting for us. And then we bused bus to Burlington, which is about a four, four and a half hour bus ride. We stopped to get dinner for the boys.
00:51:16
Speaker
um But yeah, no complaints by the team. Just guys knew, knew that was a task at hand and and everyone handled it admirably. You know what I mean? So it's been good. So you had a pretty lengthy MLS career, but I would imagine that that was probably a throwback for you a little bit, at least like flying coach, just getting in the middle seats, all that stuff.
00:51:42
Speaker
It was, it was, it was great to kind of go back and relive that, but are certainly early days MLS when I was playing, it was that coach and middle seats. Sometimes you get a window or an aisle.
00:51:54
Speaker
Um, Sometimes you get seated with a teammate, sometimes not, and you just went with it. So yeah, no complaints. Those early days were great. And I even know, even before I started playing, it was much the same and maybe even worse. But part of the journey, part of the the creation of the game in this country, and and now it's obviously where it is now, which is at an all-time high, without a doubt.
00:52:17
Speaker
So would obviously being in a a player that knows what it takes to, you know, fight coach long time. And now you're doing it with your team. How do you get the team, you know, mentally ready for that that travel and then physically ready to to play a game where by all the the the big narrative, ah you guys are kind of the underdogs to a certain extent is what you know the narrative is out there.
00:52:42
Speaker
Yeah. Great question. No, you know, kudos to our director of ops. I mean, just giving those types of flights and we actually had to be split on two flights. So it was two flights that kind of went out at the same time. No, three flights. Sorry, three are kind of administrative group left on the first flight 5 a.m. that morning.
00:53:01
Speaker
And then the player groups um that were led by myself and my associate head coach Matunda. You know, we were in charge of the other two flights on different airlines that were essentially landing at the same time in Boston. So logistically, you know, we were able to get the flight sorted and then the the charter bus is great.
00:53:20
Speaker
and And we were able to get, you know, into Burlington safely. So, you know, certainly thankful for that. As we prepared for the flight, wait great question. When we had training on Wednesday, was our last walkthrough in Seattle, was that prep? So nutrition, hydration was massive. That was kind of the mantra since Sunday night, Monday.
00:53:40
Speaker
um We had snacks and breakfast and everything, liquids for the group. um after training on Wednesday to take with them for the early flight. And then on Thursday, we met them at the security checkpoint and had everyone kind of load up on snacks, um hydration, vitamins, things of that sort. And then we kind of planned out their day for them, you know, planned out how do you get your three meals in? So eating breakfast at the airport, you know, if you like to pack your own food, please pack breakfast and lunch.
00:54:12
Speaker
And then, so it's eating breakfast at the airport and then purchasing something additional to take with you on the flight to eat on the long flight. um And then when we got down again, it was go refill your hot, your water bottles, grab any snacks that you need right now. And then we'll get on the bus and then we'll, we'll, we'll go straight to dinner.
00:54:29
Speaker
And then when we got to the hotel after that four and a half hour drive. Fortunately, you know, our team, our our administrative staffs were were already here. So they were able to get, you know, all of our hotel rooms, our hotel room keys. They were able to do the Costco run and get, you know, what I requested on our Costco order list and have it ready for the boys. So they walked into you know, Gatorades, waters, additional snacks, food. So you're right. It's ah it's logistics. It really is logistics to help prepare the team for that long travel mentally. But then what can we control to then make sure that they're physically ready to compete at their best on Saturday?
00:55:03
Speaker
um We even, when we touched in, we did our regen at 11.30 p.m., um which is essentially... a stretch, a foam roll stretch. And then we go through this meditative breath work, affirmation work, and then gave them more snacks and then kind of prep them on what the day looked like and what time breakfast was.
00:55:23
Speaker
and And that was it. But you're right. It's very, we're we're very structured and organized with how we run things here. and And you' certainly a testament of how the boys prefer perform. But I know that they appreciate that type of professionalism as well.
00:55:37
Speaker
So, you know, i hear all this and I can't help but think this all seems very professional. Like this seems like not so different than what I would expect an MLS team to go through.
00:55:47
Speaker
And I can't imagine 15 years ago, 20 years ago, when you were first getting started out in MLS, that this stuff was as prevalent. Yeah, different. And even the nutrition education was much different, right? was waters and Gatorades, but it wasn't snacks. It was essentially you get your per diem and you go do what you want for dinner. You know, sometimes obviously if you're getting in around dinnertime, we always had the catered meals at the, at the hotel, which was great.
00:56:14
Speaker
But other than that, you were on your own. This is us as, since we are pre-professional semi-pro, it's helping the players learn professional habits, right? Those high performance habits that, can really aid them in their success short term and long term. But you're right, we pride ourselves on being as professional as we can um with the budgets that we have.
00:56:32
Speaker
um and And certainly the the boys, you know, appreciate that. Yeah, and look, with that with without any fear of sounding maybe slightly ignorant or not, a how hard is it to get tape on um the opponent at you know the the USL 2 level and you know team like Vermont, although there' they're very known to a certain sense, but at the same time, it could be hard to get film and tape on ah on a team. Yeah, great question. Fortunately for us, there the the league, USL, had a league-wide deal that they signed with Speedio and so and Sports Engine. So all all the games are filmed and uploaded into a central location so that you can get that film. But without a doubt, video analysis has been a crucial part of our success this year. It's something that we tried to implement last year and just...
00:57:19
Speaker
didn't get it done to our standard. And so when we had our end of the season reviews, you know, that was something that I said, we we really need to get better at this and I'll put my hand up and and really take ownership of it.
00:57:30
Speaker
um But fortunately for us, all the games are recorded now. So getting film, on on vermont has been no problem and you know dissecting that film or also using use it utilizing another professional software called b pro i was able to meet with the founder and ceo he flew in to meet with the sounders the sounders also use a collection of analysis tools so he was there to meet with the sounders and then him and i had coffee but he's been very helpful he's gotten you know multiple games downloaded and analyzed by his team of Vermont. And then he's also uploaded and and analyzed our last two games so that we kind of get eyes on what we can do better and then get eyes on how we can build them better the best game plan possible against going Vermont or for Vermont FC. But you're right. I mean, back in the day, the the clips and videos were difficult, but now it's accessible. It's literally what I i was doing before our our you you know discussion and into what I'll do
00:58:25
Speaker
afterwards just to make sure that we can paint the pictures the boys need to see and just prepare them without overloading them cognitively is something that's very important. And so we really are going to get done what we need today before we go to training. And then we come back team meal. We want friends and family at the hotel for a kind of team potluck.
00:58:44
Speaker
We want it to be a very family friendly environment. And then tomorrow, It's nothing from us. That cognitive load is minimal. It's just get ready, prepare for the game. We'll have our structured team meals, team walk, things of that sort, and go from there. But all of the video analysis will be done tonight. We did a little bit on Wednesday.
00:59:01
Speaker
um But you're right. um We're very fortunate to have the the video access that we do. That's important in in developing our game plans. So one of the things that Vermont Green has become sort of known for is this atmosphere that they've created.
00:59:16
Speaker
And it's a town of just 44,000 people. Burlington, Vermont is not, I guess it's a little bit more of a famous town just because of the the coat factory. Yeah. but But like's the to store yeah exactly but it's a, you know, it's, it's not a big town, but they, they draw very good crowds.
00:59:38
Speaker
What has the environment been like that you've seen around town now that you've been there for a little, a little while? Yeah, we haven't experienced it too much. The the staff and um went downtown now, but I elected to stay at the hotel and just get some work done and prep for tomorrow. But I'm sure they'll come back with some stories because they're all in their Ballard gear, which will be interesting. So they went on a stroll downtown. We'll get a little bit of it because we trained this evening at 530.
01:00:06
Speaker
um But I heard it's insane, like phenomenal. so I heard that they had 4,400, about at their last game. which is exceptional. 10% of the town size. Exactly, yeah, right? Which is crazy. But you'll love this.
01:00:21
Speaker
But the activity on their website indicated that they could have easily facilitated. The interest was 15,000 plus. plus Wow. We're interested in attending that game, similar for the final.
01:00:33
Speaker
So, I mean, it's awesome. I mean, it's it's it's just such a cool opportunity for both clubs that do it the right way, both fan bases that do it the right way, We can't wait, honestly. it's It's something that it's a storybook blockbuster final.
01:00:49
Speaker
Honestly, we would have loved to have hosted it in Seattle. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, this would kind of be the next best place, you know, that you could participate in a final for sure. Yeah, this game supposedly sold out in one minute is what what the story was, and no which is, yeah I mean, it's hard to imagine and us l two doing this. and And, you know, Ballard does get a lot of the credit for being one of these brand...
01:01:15
Speaker
like It's been a very successful brand in that you've done a good job of reaching, of sort of carving out your own place in a crowded market. ah a crowded market Seattle has you know seven major league teams in it, not to mention all the other sort of minor league teams that are around the area.
01:01:33
Speaker
Whereas it's a very different challenge that burlington that Vermont is facing where they are really the only show in town, but it's a... tiny market it's i mean this is a this is a there are probably five cities within a 10 minute drive of the seattle uh within seattle that are bigger than burlington would just give you like a sense of of sort of the what what we're talking about here ah and it's just i i do think it's ah it's a really can't i have to imagine the usl
01:02:04
Speaker
front offices are just drooling over this matchup because sir it is just two sort of like perfect examples of what USL2 can be. Yeah, no, I think you you hit the nail on the head and what you said and and USL describes it as micro community. So it's building something In these micro communities building the game of soccer these micro communities that you know you could get good backing from that you know it's a family oriented environment.
01:02:32
Speaker
That people love to support and just to put on a good product, a good product, first and foremost starts with the players right it's a testament to the players that we've been able to attract locally. By the way, 90 to 95% just local players, UW, Seattle SPU, right? And then you go outside of that. That enc includes locally that you know players that have grown up in Seattle and played club soccer there at Seattle.
01:02:56
Speaker
And then you have players that are from Seattle that may go to school outside of Seattle, but that come back for the summer and and want a very competitive summer experience. program. And so, you know, we've been very fortunate with that. So for me, first and foremost, you know, the credit goes to the to the men, the young men ah the that are in the arena day in and day out. And that's the players, right? You can have great branding, great logos, great taglines.
01:03:19
Speaker
But if you don't put a good product on the field, eventually, you know, it's going to fizzle. So that's that. And then the leadership of Ballard FC, i mean, Lamar Nagel just texted me um before we got on just how excited he is and what a season it's been and how he's nervous as if he's going to go play the game, right? It's like that type of reach, which is awesome.
01:03:38
Speaker
um You know, our leadership and Sam being, you know, just boots on the ground daily, not only like ah every training, every game, every team meeting, in addition to doing everything else that he has to do. So, you know, him, you know, Camden Francis, Tiffany Malik, huge, huge part of our success is is kind of our leadership and administrative team without a doubt.
01:04:02
Speaker
How surprised have you been of that sense that, you know, as someone who was so connected to the Sounders and obviously has so many connections there, that there's still this support, you know, from from from the Seattle Sounders, there's this support from the soccer community to still be able to get out there and fill out, the you know, Simon Bay Stadium and and and all of these fantastic things that are going on with Baller FC.
01:04:28
Speaker
Huge. Honestly, it's it's like, Couldn't be more excited. Right, right. I'm sorry. We couldn't be more excited because um I noticed that the Sounders tweeted us good luck for the playoffs, which doesn't happen. The Sounders don't usually put, you know, do that on their own social account.
01:04:46
Speaker
So you we all know how important that is. Like massive, like that is just tremendous, the fact that they support us. Locally, you know, we've usually gotten to go there. They've given us a tour their facility before. Last year, they've us tour the facility. we usually try to scrimmage the Tacoma Defiance once a year, and we just weren't able to fit it in this year with our congestive schedule and theirs, but they've been phenomenal, right? that They'll...
01:05:08
Speaker
comp our guys tickets we usually do our team events to it at a sounders game right so they're able to comp some tickets for our guys and just get us there like the support of the sounders has been tremendous i mean it's it's a it's a club that won had tremendous success last year or last night i mean guys are watching as we're doing our regen guys have their phone out right when the region's ah done guys are you know running upstairs to watch the game putting it in our group chat the score so it's everyone on our team has grown up with the Sounders in some shape or fashion. So it's awesome to see that connection.
01:05:38
Speaker
um and then obviously to get the support visibly from the Sounders as far as, you know, a social post for us is is tremendous. And not only the Sounders, other teams as well, but specifically the Sounders, because it's, you know, it relates to this, the question, it's, it's, it means so much, honestly, so much.
01:05:58
Speaker
Well, it's fascinating because it's we hear these stories of teams being sort of um very guarded about working with you know USL teams in really any capacity. And yet, here you guys, obviously you played for the Sounders. Lamar played for the Sounders.
01:06:16
Speaker
ah Sam has deep connections to the soccer community. and then you go beyond Ben Our assistant, our director goalkeeping. Yeah, Ben Great. You have all these these connections, but then you also have Leo Bernie who signed with the Sounders who played for you guys.
01:06:30
Speaker
You have Lars Hellerin plays for Tacoma Defiance. You have Danny Robles played for for you guys and now played for the Defiance. ah There are Peter Kingston. I know I'm ah Charlie Gaffney.
01:06:42
Speaker
I think there's one more that. Oh, yeah. ah Alvarez is a firm is another player. Alvarez. Damian Alvarez. ah So you have, you know, six players that are in the Sounders organization now that used to play for, for Ballard. There are, I'm sure a whole bunch of players currently on Ballard who came through the Sounders Academy or, or one way or the other have touched the Sounders.
01:07:03
Speaker
But what's also funny is Vermont green has some ties to the Sounders as well. yeah Alex Hall is a former Sounders player. Gabe Fernandez is a former Sounders Academy player.
01:07:14
Speaker
And then Owen O'Malley used to play for, played for, to come with the It's last year. It's just sort of amazing the the ties that these that the so that the Sounders sort of have in these organizations that go back and forth. It's fascinating watch.
01:07:30
Speaker
It is. It's a small world. And speaking on Gabe Fernandez and Alex Hall specifically, those guys are guys that we've very already identified, right? Those are guys that we want. or had wanted to play and want to play for Ballad FC. With the USL2, there's a strict mandate that you're only allowed to have five players from each university. So that was the reason why we couldn't, ah you know, house those players, right? And so, you know, they've gone on to to do some tremendous stuff at at vermont so we couldn't you know i'm sure they couldn't have dreamed of anything better to to be in you know the environment that they're in but that that was the reason why they had to go so far and then jamie clark the head coach at uw had ties to vermont and that's why he was able to set that up but phenomenal there and then o'malley it's funny i didn't see it when i went and i i shadowed this uh tacoma defiance last year to prep for my first uh usl two season for a week and they are great hosts they are awesome but he was a player that i had um
01:08:27
Speaker
got to meet and introduce and speak to. So when I saw him celebrating a game winning goal during one of the highlights, I was like, oh man, I totally, from i you know, I remembered him, great quality player, happy for his success as well. But you're right, the game, the community is very, very small, right? It's our community is small.
01:08:42
Speaker
The Sounders has a far reach, it's a global brand. And, you know, it's awesome to see the connections on on both teams. ah Now, getting to the soccer component here, you know, what what are you expecting from Vermont Green, you know, at home? Are you expecting him to just be on the front foot to put you under out a lot of pressure? You know, what is it that you've kind of seen preparing for this game?
01:09:05
Speaker
Great question. I think going back to your initial ah kind of thoughts on us being the underdog going into this game, ah we would agree. i mean, being away from home and it's just crazy to think about. And and one of the things I've told the the players and something that we really, really believe in is we fear no team.
01:09:23
Speaker
We have zero fear playing against any team. But at the same time, we have full and the utmost respect for each team that we play, Vermont included. They're undefeated. They're playing at home with a fantastic crowd, right?
01:09:36
Speaker
They're on a great run, playoff run. They have great quality players. They seem to be able to come back and and turn it on in big game. So that's the mantra for our group, right? Zero fear.
01:09:47
Speaker
of any opponent but 100 for each opponent that we play so we're the underdog so be it right are we we don't necessarily see it that way but we understand it um and as far as the game without a doubt we expect it to be a very fast high-paced game expect We expect to have to battle for the right to play.
01:10:05
Speaker
they're They're a momentum-based team, meaning they really turn it on with the crowd. The crowd is like a massive home field advantage, and you can see it in the games that they've played in the playoffs. I mean, they were down 2-0 at one point in an early playoff game and scored three goals in five minutes so all off the crowd. They get the first one, put the ball down, go and hunt. They get the second, put the ball down. I mean, it's just...
01:10:27
Speaker
You know what I mean? so they they are a momentum based team with the crowd is a huge lift. In addition to that, they have quality all over the field. um So we're looking excited. we're We're very excited. It's a team that wants to come out and play.
01:10:39
Speaker
We want to come out and play. um Just a great occasion. Honestly, a blockbuster. Two teams going at it head to head. You know, may the best team win tomorrow night. um Well, I think that's the big stuff we really wanted to get with you on.
01:10:54
Speaker
ah James, this is a pretty exciting time. I'm sure you've got other things to be doing in terms of crap. I really appreciate you taking the time out and doing this. Of course. But best of luck. And people can, this game is streaming worldwide, basically, right? Or at least in the United States.
01:11:10
Speaker
Yep. Yep. It will be. It will be. So you can go to our IG at Ballard FC um on the IG and then you could find the streaming um directions there where it's leading to. I don't know off the top of my head, but certainly it's it's everyone can tune in and watch the game tomorrow night, 7 p.m. Eastern.
01:11:28
Speaker
And then, of course, you guys will be back in 2020. There's no more home games this year, but you're going be back in 2026. I would imagine there's a very good chance you will also be playing in the Open Cup again, which I believe this will be the third straight year you guys have played in the Open Cup.
01:11:43
Speaker
yeah You guys should actually, you won it. Did you win it? No, no, you did. Did you win a game this year? did. We did, years in a row. That's right. it would have been You would have been playing the Tacoma Defiance.
01:11:54
Speaker
I know. I know. That's right. Oh, man. I'm sorry. That's all good. still and then I guess before we get out of here, I should, I feel like I should ask, are there, can people already do deposits? Like what's the, if they want to go to games next year, what's the, yeah, I believe so. Yeah. If you go to our website, right. Go baller.com without a doubt, you can, you can go baller.fc.com. You can take a look at tickets and scheduling and things of that sort.
01:12:22
Speaker
If there, if it, if it isn't up, I'm sure you can sign up for the wait lists and get on it that way. But yeah, Certainly an epic, an epic ticket to have in the Seattle area. i mean, you have local college products that are there just putting it on the line day in and day out have made for some exciting, you know, exciting games at Interbay. And we hope to continue that tomorrow um away here in Vermont, but also next year at home back at Interbay Stadium.
01:12:47
Speaker
and of course Best of luck. I was going to have that question, but honestly, just talking to you, you seem like a guy that is a master of his craft. You can tell that you enjoy the game, the fact that you talk about the team, the preparation that you've put into this. I am more than confident that you're going to get out there and get the result that you want. So, you know, best luck. Continue to do that.
01:13:10
Speaker
Be as connected and and and and involved and and committed to to what you do. And I'm sure that, you know, you're going to have a big future in soccer without a doubt. I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
01:13:22
Speaker
i And althoughll I'll add one more thing also. If you want to get Ballard FC gear, which is always very attractive, I think you guys do a great job of your branding, of your visual identity.
01:13:34
Speaker
You can also get that at your website. ah this is Honestly, it's ah it's a really fun brand. It's a really great story. You guys play entertaining, ah compelling soccer.
01:13:45
Speaker
i still have not actually gotten out to a game myself. I, every year i kick myself for not doing it. i and then this, I'll just share this little anecdote. This year i was dropping my kid off at Munger pool, which is like the pool over in Madison or yeah sorry, Magnolia.
01:14:01
Speaker
And I was coming back. And the game, the the you the semifinal was getting out right then. And it was just so cool to see this sea of people yeah coming into the street.
01:14:14
Speaker
And it being like you know you can't even see the stadium from Interbay, the neighborhood. And it's just sort of hidden in there. You got to be looking for it. And it's just this very cool vibe, a very cool energy.
01:14:26
Speaker
ah People riding bikes, walking you know lots of people walking. there's it's It's like a real neighborhood feel and i think it's an awesome thing that you guys are doing and we'll be rooting for you and and best of luck tomorrow no i appreciate all the kind of words we we certainly get you both out and your families next year on us right we'll take care of you guys there you go there we go that's what we waiting certainly something to see yeah we gotta to go but together man i really do we gotta get out there i was just looking at the page and unfortunately the jerseys are sold out man but i'm in i'm in next year i'm gonna be going and i'll get a jersey the whole the whole nine yards man Appreciate that
01:15:02
Speaker
Appreciate that Thanks guys. Thanks so much. All right. Well, that's James Riley of Ballard FC. They're playing tomorrow against Vermont green in the USL to national title game.
01:15:16
Speaker
It's streaming. Look for it. It'll be a lot of fun. Thank you again, James. And we'll catch you next time. Thank you. Appreciate you both.
Expectations for LAFC's Performance
01:15:52
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.
01:16:08
Speaker
i feel a lot better than Bob.