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Lobbing Scorchers Live: Tacoma Defiance vs. Oakland Roots Open Cup Live Show
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Live Streaming on YouTube
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
Live Show Kickoff and Match Preview at Starfire Sports Complex
00:00:43
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to a very special live episode of Lobbing Scorchers. We got this one off to a great start right there. um Noah and I are live on scene at Starfire Sports Complex, where in just a couple hours time, Tacoma Defiance will be taking on the Oakland Roots in the third round of U.S. Open Cup action.
00:01:05
Speaker
ah Exciting to be here tonight, Noah. It's a beautiful night for it. How are you feeling? I am excited about the matchup. I'm excited about being at Starfire. It's sunny. It's like 70 degrees.
00:01:17
Speaker
Feels like a vacation out here. Defiance. We ought to win. We've got a lot to talk about, Ari. Yeah, it's going to be a good show. We're going to be talking some ah some Seattle Sounders and folks, this is the this is the really exciting part of this show.
00:01:29
Speaker
Later on, we're going to be joined by Sounders technical director Henry Brawner, who is one of the key architects, I would say, of this wave of youth development that we've seen with the Seattle Sounders in recent years. I've talked to him a couple times for interviews over the years.
00:01:45
Speaker
But really looking forward to catching up with him. I don't think I've ah caught up with him since he became technical director ah from his prior role as ah I think it was vice president of player development. There's a lot of titles out here. i'm going to have to ah clarify that one with ah with Henry when he gets here.
00:02:01
Speaker
He should be pulling up in about 30 minutes here. But guess... but i guess that ah Off the top here, Noah, I
Show Setup Challenges and Community Shoutouts
00:02:10
Speaker
put on my cool shades. are You got your shades on. ah Shout out to Watershed FC Pizza, by the way, for granting us this space. You should see our setup. It's actually scary. They let us bring too much equipment in here. Someone in the chat said MLS kickoff start time, which which is true.
00:02:26
Speaker
But if you saw everything that went into this setup, you would understand why. We're just a little bit late. But this is also our first like on scene live since we were in l LA and I was literally doing it from my laptop. So it was like a total, yeah ah total shit show there. Honestly, it looks like we got it set up pretty well. So hopefully we'll be we'll be doing more of these.
00:02:47
Speaker
I wanna do more of these. I feel like every time we get to like go out and mingle with the people, it's always a great time. um But i guess let's let's start by ah talking about Tacoma
Significance of Tacoma Defiance's Match Against Oakland Roots
00:02:57
Speaker
Defiance a little bit. Let's do Because they're the ones who are gonna be playing tonight.
00:03:01
Speaker
I can't write anything down because the people can see what I'm writing. Oh, yeah. You take that off. Tacoma Defiance versus Oakland Roots of the USL Championship.
00:03:12
Speaker
And ah this is an exciting opportunity for Tacoma Defiance and and all the players. Any game like this where you're an ml MLS Next Pro side playing a team that's a division up from you, in this case, the ah USL Championship, you're it presents a challenge, but it's also a learning opportunity, right? Yeah. Like I love games like this because you kind of, you get to see what some of these young players players are made of and you get chances in to see what they do with the stakes of and an elimination game.
00:03:42
Speaker
And this to me is, these are like some of the most important reps that these players are going to get. Like obviously the MLS next pro games, that's the primary platform that they have, but this is like a unique opportunity.
00:03:56
Speaker
ah You're playing the Oakland roots. You're playing a lot of players that have been playing this game professionally for a long time. I was just looking at the Oakland roots roster while was researching their team a little bit, last place in the USL Western conference right now, but they got, they got some guys like, uh,
00:04:12
Speaker
Did you know Jurgen Dam is on this team? No. Yeah. Damn. I just found, yeah, damn. He's still playing professional soccer for the Oakland Roots. ah But this is a guy that's been, you know, he played for Tigris. Yeah. He played it ah at Liga Amekis, played for Atlanta United, famously did not go that well.
00:04:30
Speaker
ah But still, like the point point stands, you know, there's... ah Like for a young player in ml MLS Next Pro to be going up against a guy like Jurgen Dam, that's a sick opportunity. And I'm looking forward to see what they ah seeing what they make of it.
Opportunities and Challenges of the U.S. Open Cup
00:04:44
Speaker
And it's always like the magic of the Open Cup, right? Like, yeah you know, people got on us because we were like, oh, it's fine. The Sounders aren't playing in it. I'm going be honest, Ari. going to be honest. Now that we're here and now that we're like in the whole Open Cup moment, I am kind of wishing that the Sounders were in it.
00:05:01
Speaker
yeah Especially because we bombed out a Champions Cup. Yeah, and like they're really i kind of agree with you like being but ah back out here physically in this presence right now. ah There's nothing like an open cup game at Starfire, whether it's Defiance or the Sounders first team. There's just like a special vibe around it. There's been so many great moments here over the years with the Sounders first team.
00:05:24
Speaker
um But. i I see I don't mind the principle of ah defiance playing in this because i think it's like I said, it's a good opportunity for them and these players to sort of make their own name make the most of the opportunity.
00:05:39
Speaker
No, I completely agree. And I think hopefully we'll be able to get, hopefully we'll get to see some players who are sounders, but you know, haven't been getting some reps. Maybe they're, you know, they just need some work and, uh, I don't know. It's, it's, they better win this game, man.
00:05:55
Speaker
The roots are not doing well. They're really not. They're really not. I mean, see, I don't know how much that, uh, that matters in this scenario. Well, not even just because ah because of the difference in division, but just like a tournament play, yeah your current form goes out the window. So it's going to be a good game. And, ah you know, I think another contributing factor to why these Starfire games are so fun is just the the dimensions of the field.
00:06:21
Speaker
Like, They're not ah orthodox, and it creates a really just kind of frantic, chaotic pace of play. We were actually on the drive down here talking about the last time that we were here for an Open Cup game, which was ah Seattle Sounders for first team versus San Jose Earthquakes, the the famous Andy T game yeah where they won the PK shootout.
00:06:43
Speaker
Noah got the footage of Andy T talking trashed. to the entire San Jose team. He tripped every single one of them individually. It was incredible. And you had your video go viral. I'm pretty sure it got stolen by a couple of national outlets because you really had like the best angle of that from where you were at in the stands.
00:07:00
Speaker
I was in the box for that game and you were just out there filming Andy T, running around, talking trash to everyone. But it's like stuff like that that you're just not going to you're not goingnna get unless it's Open Cup.
00:07:12
Speaker
It's Starfire. Yeah. We're back. We're back, baby. Open Cup at Starfire. Oh, yeah. We're so back. We're so back, Chad. We're
Influence of Sounders' Technical Director on Youth Development
00:07:21
Speaker
really looking forward to catching up with Henry here in a and a little bit to to talk. Because this this is the guy. If you want to know about the youth development, everything that's gone into it for the last, what, I don't know,
00:07:34
Speaker
six, seven, eight years that they really started laying the groundwork for this. And just in the last couple years, we're finally getting to see it pay off. So I'm, uh, I'm excited to ask him about that and then ask him about some specific players as well. You know, like this is a guy that, uh, helped discover guy, uh, guys like Obed Vargas and, uh, Josh Atencio and others who have cracked the first team in recent years. So, uh,
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think i want to bring up a chatter here. Noah is saying competitive reps, competitive reps in matches like these are always good for developing young players. Sucks that the Sounders aren't playing, but at least the next gen first team players is getting minutes. And I think that's kind of where we're both at. We're like really excited.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's kind of a different opportunity to get to see these guys because I don't know. MLS Next Pro is like... How do you explain it? It's it's not like the USL.
00:08:22
Speaker
No, and it's just ah it's a developmental league, right? Like you most all of those games are developmental players playing against other developmental players. This is a situation where you've got developmental players who are going against.
00:08:35
Speaker
like Like I said, these Oakland Roots guys, they might but they might not be. doing well on the USL table right now, but like a USL, any USL roster is going to be full of grown ass men that have been playing this game at the professional level for a long time.
00:08:50
Speaker
And, uh, that makes it a challenge, but again, a great learning opportunity. Sweet. Yeah. Do we want to, should we talk about the Sounders a little bit before we do this interview or what, what's our timeframe looking like here? We've got, we got some time before Henry's supposed to, uh, a little dub pod moment. Yeah, yeah, I think that was the plan was we were going to talk a little defiance off the top, talk a little Seattle Sounders and then do this interview and then go watch the game. That's yeah what I'm looking forward to doing.
00:09:17
Speaker
ah But yeah, we got a dub pod. ah The Seattle Sounders 1-0 victors at FC Dallas. We did our belated post game live and ah dropped our initial takes on that. But no, I'll let you start it off with a ah few days removed. Nashville coming up here. um How are you feeling about ah about that game and I guess more so what it means for their prospects moving forward here? Yeah, I mean, we did our post game live stream, which was honestly so much fun. You guys, this this that might have been the best post game live stream I've ever seen in my life. If you haven't watched it yet, like it got the same amount of views as we usually get. It should be, it should have got more based on the content. It was potent.
00:09:53
Speaker
we had some We had some really good callers. um I really liked the discussion you had with ah with Pyro. ye that was ah That was honestly... I kept getting booted off the internet at my family's house in Eugene, and you were just running it.
00:10:06
Speaker
yeah And you guys went in deep. But ah yeah, anyway, if you haven't watched our post-game live yet, definitely go go check that out. um But yeah, no, I think... I was really… Listen, I need to… First of all, I gotta do something.
00:10:21
Speaker
Moose, please. this is This is directed to you. Okay? I'm talking to you and you only. Don't worry about the audience. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I ever doubted you. I'm so sorry that I was so so down on your stock.
00:10:34
Speaker
You proved me wrong, kid. And congratulations on getting engaged. So that is my engagement present to you. Shout out to Moose. Yeah, he got engaged. But also... You know, it takes a big man to admit.
00:10:45
Speaker
he played well, man. he didn't just play He didn't just play the part that I was saying where you kind of just have to like... you know, do what you can here and there. he played well. Like, he played really well. He was, you know, maybe an inch away from ah brace and just... he's he's been played well He's been playing well. The goals just haven't been going in. yeah But I think... ah All this stuff we were talking about a few weeks ago, like the the work he does off the ball, you know, hold up play combining with other guys.
00:11:15
Speaker
ah The offense has been certainly with Jordan out. It's been running much better every time he's on the field. And yeah, I was happy. i was happy for him to ah see him get a goal in this game as a reward for all that. But also, you know, with all the discourse that's been flying around Moose this season,
00:11:32
Speaker
with how things have been going for the team, but then also, uh, you know, when he gets, when he's gotten in those, uh, good spots, it's only resulted in a goal
Debate Over Jesus Ferreira's Role and Performance
00:11:41
Speaker
twice, but I will say to be fair, even before this game, he was the only one who, uh, scored in the Cruz Azul game. That's true. They ended up shipping four goals.
00:11:50
Speaker
Um, but you know, no one else scored in that game. So yeah, shout out, shout out to Moose. Uh, I think there's kind of no question at this point that, uh, uh, When Jordan's out, the first choice setup has got to be him as the Pier 9 and then Ferreira lining up in that in that right pocket and...
00:12:13
Speaker
Like Nico and I were talking about it on Aubin Scorcher's kickoff this morning. I don't think this necessarily means you entirely pull the plug on playing Ferreira as a nine or a false nine. But as for what's working right now, I think it's pretty clear ah what's working right now. But let's talk about the other component of this goal, which was Pedro de la Vega.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah. Pedro de la Vega back out there. Literally this far from having a goal of the week. Yeah, no, I mean, that would have been easy goal of the week. And, ah ah you know, we we talked about this on the live, too. But ah Obed was talking about after the game, how they ah how they game plan that they noticed on film that FC Dallas was giving that space.
00:12:50
Speaker
And they basically they drilled that they were like, I think we can we can really probably get a goal out of this because of ah of what we're seeing on tape. And I always love. you know like when we get those little nuggets of stuff that they notice on film and they're like all right that's one thing that we're going to key in on yeah and then you see that come to life on the field uh obed got just a couple inches from a goal of the week contender off of that same uh off of that same idea like shooting from that exact area ah Christian came really close to getting one and then they get the game winner on a play where De La Vega you can't give him that space like I think we're learning that that is very much in his bag Nico even told me this morning that in the ah training leading up to the game he was watching them drill that and De La Vega was just cashing it time after time after time and then ah he does the it becomes an alley-oop in this case to Moose but a really great shot by De La Vega and really I think
00:13:46
Speaker
the minutes that we've seen him get since he got back. ah He's looking like he looked before this latest injury and no, it's really, it's kind of hard to put into words just like how much of a boost it would be for this team weekend week out if they can keep him on the field going forward here.
00:14:05
Speaker
I think that's gotta be like, just absolute priority. Number one, keep this kid healthy on the field because when he's healthy right now, he's playing like one of, if not the most dynamic players on the team, ah both in terms of what he's doing as a facilitator. I really like his work rate. I like the fire that he plays with.
00:14:25
Speaker
um That's something that we're hoping ah Ryan Kent can also bring to the table, but yeah, Great work by De La Vega on that goal. what did What did you think of his performance? I thought he played great. It was good to see him healthy. it was good to see him happy to be playing. Good to see him ripping off shots like that. it was This game was encouraging ah just overall, right? like I think that...
00:14:45
Speaker
you're we're kind of starting to figure out the game plan things are kind of settling ah after playing the worst six minutes of soccer that we've ever watched in the history of the the sport it was nice to see a solid 30 minutes of good soccer like i don't think this was a lights out performance but i think it was a pretty damn good game that like they should be proud that they they got home and and got the win and Yeah, keep De La Vega healthy.
00:15:10
Speaker
Obed was a monster in this game. Yeah, good shout. Obed was a monster. like I think it was, would you say, best ah best Obed game of the season? I think so. I think so. like I think, if not if not the best of his career.
00:15:24
Speaker
it was it like It was up there. with It was one of the better Obed games. It was one of the better Obed games. I wanted that goal for him because he deserved it based on all the dirty work that he was doing, all the running that he was doing.
00:15:35
Speaker
Such a dynamic two-way player. just he was ah he was getting after it on both sides of the ball. And that was great to see because I think some people ah have been questioning that stock more so than the had been the case in previous weeks, which I didn't necessarily agree with.
00:15:53
Speaker
ah But that was a talking point that was out there. I don't think there's any question as to the impact that he had on on on this game. Yeah, no, I agree. And I think we have to talk about the elephant in the room um or the demigod in the room, which is Jesus Ferreira. Yeah, let's do it. What's what's going on?
00:16:12
Speaker
Well, I got into it with our chat on the Lobby Scorchers Live. When do you not get into it with Chad? More so than usual. think there's some...
00:16:25
Speaker
There's some revisionist history going Oh, yeah, we do need to call. Yeah. There's some revisionist history going on. um We got people out there trying to victory lap and take credit for knowing ahead of time that, ah like, the extent to which the tactical and positional fit was going to be an issue. I was getting clowned on because, well, during my interview with Sam Hale, I was – I have no problem Sam. Like, I – I guess I knew that there was some sort like that. He didn't really always have a clear cut position yeah FC Dallas, but I was honestly, I've, like I said, I have no problem saying it.
00:17:00
Speaker
I was surprised that, the extent to which Sam Hale was like, yeah, that's exactly what it was like at FC Dallas. yeah Oh no, you're, you're telling me the exact same thing.
00:17:11
Speaker
I don't see like, uh, like as someone who doesn't follow fc Dallas, that like outside of the dayto day to of FC Dallas.
Seattle Sounders' Identity and Player Character Importance
00:17:21
Speaker
Uh, my impression of Ferreira from the outside was a player who's had a really good, really productive MLS career.
00:17:27
Speaker
And the issues with him were, two things that ah people were talking about at the time the trade was made. Number one was like perceived attitude stuff, right? And fitness. not Find me one of you. Find me one of you in any comments or anything, any chat, any record that you have of talking about like positional and tactical fit as far as like, as far as the roster that might've been a minor issue.
00:17:54
Speaker
None of you were talking about that when the trade was made. It certainly was not a prevailing narrative. So I'm not going to I'm not going to let that slide. I'm not going to let that slide. You're victory lapping on something that you absolutely were not talking about at the time. The stuff that was getting talked about at the time was valid. You know, like there was well, there was questions about as to.
00:18:17
Speaker
Why is he leaving FC Dallas? It seems like there's a falling out with the club. His body language on the field at times. People were talking about that stuff. ah And also there was the fitness thing with U.S. soccer. Is he injured? What's going on with that? That stuff, that I'm not denying.
00:18:30
Speaker
But as far as people trying to claim that they knew that ah this positional thing would be what it is now and like, oh, anyone could have predicted this. Ari, what are you talking about? How could you not know that? You didn't know that either.
00:18:43
Speaker
Okay? So I just want to want to clarify that and let you guys know, you guys who were trying to pull that this morning, i see you, and you're literally, like, you're not going to be able to find one thing that any of of you wrote about that.
00:18:56
Speaker
Like, I guarantee you that. No, not at all. You guys are cowards and losers, and don't ever challenge Ari to a mental duel because he will pull the guns out. actually, at the end of the show, encouraged the...
00:19:09
Speaker
The dissenters, you know, I'm i'm not always right. I can admit when I'm wrong. mean, i think I think here's here's the common ground here is that I think he hasn't lived up to anyone's standards. I don't think he's lived up to his own standards, frankly. And that is like, I think that's a problem. den i No, like I think people people will sit there and be like, oh, my God, he's a bomb. He's trash. People don't understand, like these players don't want to be bad.
00:19:31
Speaker
These players want to be good. Like they want to win games. They want to score goals. He wants to be back to the form that he he knows he can be in. And, ah you know, I thought i thought your conversation with Sam Howell was incredible.
00:19:42
Speaker
Video of that clipped up will be coming out tomorrow. So if you didn't see that, yeah it is it's pretty funny. Like you can watch me in real time, like kind of. he tells me that it was the exact, like verbatim, yeah verbatim, the exact same issue. So I guess that does, ah that is a certainly a concern.
00:20:03
Speaker
um But ah but what i would what I will say is i did think, like what I've been saying is I just want to see progress on this topic. Like right if it if it has to be more of a process than we would have liked, then it is what it is.
00:20:16
Speaker
But like what you don't want to be doing is stagnating with it and spinning your wheels. Like you want to see, it's meaningfully progressed from week to week. And I did think there was better moments in this game in the second half.
00:20:29
Speaker
It seemed like he was kind of going in and out ah between the right pocket in the, in the nine a little bit. Would you agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there was some, there was a couple of good looks that he he took a couple of shots. He took a couple of shots. Breaking news. it's Breaking news. Everyone it's honey verra is shooting. It reminds me like I was, I was watching a happy foot, sad foot the other night. Yeah. And ah the way they would talk about Giroux is just so funny. They'd be like, there was one part where I saw him run.
00:20:56
Speaker
he ran. yeah It's really sad that we're comparing him to Giroux, but that's where we're at right now. That's what's happening right now. But like... ah Danny Mussovsky has more goals than Olivier Giroud in MLS. Did you know that? Yeah.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah. Better player. Think about that. Think about that. Danny Mussovsky has more goals than Jesus Ferreira. Think about that. But like the fact that he took a couple shots was good to see. And I thought in general, there was more, there was more danger than in previous weeks am i am i tripping on that no i think you're right like i think i mean fc dallas is an interesting team and i think it should also be said that lucho looked terrible yeah he looked like he had never played soccer before when you when you have leo chu chirping you and being correct to trip you
00:21:43
Speaker
yeah There's a problem there. Oh my God. There's a problem there. their two Their two best looks came from Leo Chu's service. That's true. And then also the Lucho free kick right at the end. Dude, that's cinema, man. When they gave that up, I was i was temple massaging. I was like, this is where...
00:21:58
Speaker
like classic scenario where the equalizer could come and then he bombs it into the 37th row. So, but like, uh, like you want to talk about a process of a player getting integrated Lucho Acosta. yeah He's had some good moments for FC Dallas so far this year, but they're going through like the same thing. Yeah. And this is injured now. Yeah. It's like sprained ankle. I think, but, but still it's like, they, they get it.
00:22:23
Speaker
Well, but like, uh, my point is, Like they're going through the same thing. Honestly, I think it's pretty comparable to what Seattle's going through with Ferreira. And he's one of the most talented players that's been in the league in the last like five or six years. Yeah. You know, so that is how
Season Defining Games for Seattle Sounders
00:22:39
Speaker
it goes sometimes. And the reality is, you know, we can go back and forth on the ah on the Ferreira stuff all day.
00:22:46
Speaker
But this next slate of games here is going to be what really what really defines it. You know, yeah like. If we get five, six more weeks into the season and we're having the same conversations, then yeah, I think the ah then you can start talking about how the whole operation was a bust. But I'm definitely not going to say that on match day eight. Part of it is cope.
00:23:11
Speaker
Part of it is cope. But part of it is also I've watched enough of these seasons and I've it followed this league long enough to know that the narrative around any team in match day eight is typically not what it's going to be in match day 34.
00:23:23
Speaker
ah For better or for worse, you know? So what we're going to find out in the next few weeks, starting with this Nashville game, is if that if it's going to be ah this win was the start of a positive trajectory after a difficult start, or if what we saw in the difficult start is more of the type of team this is, um we're going to find out. don' We don't know yet.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, i'm i want I want to get into our Lobring Scorchers player of the match because oh wow yeah'm I'm interested to know ah where i hear you land on this. Give your give yours first. give yours first I thought... ah Now I've got to pull up footmog because i had I have it in my head, but I don't... Oh, we got a super chat. Will you will you pop that up?
00:24:03
Speaker
Ari, read this super chat for us. How many goals does Jesus Ferrer need to have a successful first season in Seattle? ah You know, when ah when they made the trade, we were doing over-unders and stuff on this, and ah I really... I wanted him pushing 10-10. That's what pushing ten and ten that's what i was kind of setting as not like a crazy, unrealistic expectation based on ah his career track record and going on to a team in Seattle osten that ostensibly had a lot more talent than FC Dallas and a couple guys that he's played for on the national team.
00:24:38
Speaker
ah I think based on what we've seen so far, that expectation, I'm going to adjust that. But if he ah if he ends up at like 6-8 or from ah from this juncture in the season toward the end of the season.
00:24:56
Speaker
i would take that. I would take that. ah But I think if he 10 and 10s, that's an undeniable success. Yeah, no, I agree now. I think i think we were originally, like, not...
00:25:10
Speaker
I think we were a little bit hotter on him than than we um initially thought he was good. Hey, we I make no bones about the fact that I really liked the trade at the time. i still like the trade. like yeah I gave up basically nothing.
00:25:23
Speaker
Well, and I think the whole idea of getting a player of his pedigree... ah and like track record in the league on a not DP deal.
00:25:34
Speaker
I still think like that business makes sense, man. Like I like, regardless of how it turns out, I can understand that thought, that thought process, which Not every move you make is going to work out, but if a move doesn't work out, but I can understand the process behind why you made it, I can live with that more than like a move that makes no sense.
00:25:54
Speaker
The Ryan Kent thing, I think, is another example of that. like ah How they got a player of his pedigree and what he's done in his career. here as they did as a non-DP like i'll take that gamble all day and uh i think ferreira was it was shown to be worth the gamble um anyway what were we talking about we were doing we were doing a goal of the are man of the match loving scorcher's man of the match i think it's undeniably obed personally that or de la vega but uh i like you know i like to do an obscure moment so i think i think we agree that it's obed but we can do we can go outside i'm gonna go rbw
00:26:30
Speaker
I thought you came out and played really well off the bench and that's kind of just where I'm at. Like I want to you. What did you like about what you saw? I like this movement. I liked his his pace, his speed on the wing. It really like ah against tired legs. He looked awesome and like he was he was making plays. He had a shot on goal.
00:26:50
Speaker
Like, what more could you want from ah guy who's subbing in to try and close out a game? He got back on defense, defended well, got some good tackles and interceptions. I want him to get more minutes.
00:27:02
Speaker
I agree with that. like he He looks like he has the juice, and he has the juice better than a player. like Actually, I don't know who he has the juice better than. like I was going to say Nuhu, but they don't really play the same position.
00:27:15
Speaker
I mean, he can play where Nuhu plays, but it's very different yeah type of way that he plays that position. RBW is is good in attack. Yeah, right.
00:27:26
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, I think I would easily go with ah with Obed. I think Moose is... ah Contender. A definite contender just because of ah not just the goal, but like the symbolism of the goal. Yeah. Right.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah. And you could give De La Vega a shout, too. There are some good performances in this game. I think you have to credit the defense in this game, too. Like, FC Dallas...
00:27:50
Speaker
That was not a good home performance from them at all. ah But Seattle did a good job to capitalize that. You got to eat when you can. I don't care, man. Anytime you shut out a team with Lucho Acosta on the road, you take that.
00:28:03
Speaker
All right. All right. How's it going? Scoot over a little more. All right. We'll get us all in here. How are we? We're live, so don't don't reveal too many secrets here.
00:28:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, don't leak the credential. I've done that before. That's a whole. so me There's some pirate piracy. Piracy. Oh, no. Very excited to welcome in yeah our next guest. well You probably just want it like here. It's good. Perfect. Yeah, and it should.
00:28:31
Speaker
You tell me we a little bit. get i'll Look at this. as soon as we get our uh our guest set up um with his microphone i'll introduce him very excited to be joined by our next guest folks this is big time we have seattle sounders technical director henry braunner joining the show right now henry thank you so much for taking the time to uh to join this live show out here at starfire with us how are you doing I'm doing well. That was quite the introduction. So thank you. I mean, I really appreciate that.
00:29:02
Speaker
I mean, superhero, soccer wizard. What else should we add on? Whatever you call it. It's already started pretty well. but and Henry, really excited to catch up with you about. ah About the Sounders, but also i kind of want to make this the theme of this conversation youth development because that's what ah Tacoma Defiance and MLS Next Pro are all about. And that's what you have a long background in with this organization. ah we've We've talked a couple of times ah in interviews for stories about some of the the young up and coming players that have broken through to the first team in in recent years.
00:29:40
Speaker
ah But I guess to to start off, How is your role ah kind of changed and what have you had to adapt to going from being ah correct me if I got this title wrong, but a vice president of player development? Yes. So going from that to a technical director, what's that
Interview with Henry Brawner on Youth Development
00:29:59
Speaker
been like for you? What is the what are the changes in your in your day to day as far as that goes? um i think always again like the ethos of the club and the identity of the club and where we are as as a club the sounders right now i think ah ah ah massive importance gets placed on the youth and our ability to develop our own so there wasn't i wouldn't say there was much of uh necessarily like a change from from titles to different things but it was more of just making sure that we can align everybody from our oldest player to our youngest player you know and so that goes from our first team player all the way down to our 13 year old in stp um
00:30:33
Speaker
I think the change more or less resulted in, you know, just needing to support maybe a little bit more with scouting within um Tacoma in the first team and couple other responsibilities there.
00:30:45
Speaker
The club has helped helped me grow just like they help a lot of the players grow. So um massive part of my responsibility, though, and the most important part of I think my responsibility will will always be having an eye onto the development side of the club. And, you know, again, it's in really good hands right now with Wade Webber as the director of development. He's overseeing everything from Tacoma to Fiennes down. And then we also have Craig Dalrymple, who's our head of professional player development. You have Brayton, you have the academy coaches, you have all the people in that space, H and Michael, doing the work day to day on the field. So I guess to make it short and quick,
00:31:21
Speaker
I guess I I still smell the grass a little bit every day, but i smell it a little bit less now with the role. And so I just try to support all the departments as as best I can. What's it been like for you, I guess, in the last couple years in particular? It feels like a lot of the fruits of the labor that you put in are being realized with guys like Obed Vargas breaking through and ah generating all kinds of transfer buzz. I mean, we got takes on how much the fee should be. 45 million. Noah said 45 at one point. I've been saying 20 or hang up the phone, you know. Yeah, we'll take any. It sounds great. But, ah you know, it's not just Obed. You know, you've had... ah Josh Tensa, Josh Tenseo, RBW. um
00:32:05
Speaker
Just then you got guys like Snyder Brunel coming up as well. ah Does it feel like kind of the culmination of just all the hours that you put in scouting these kids up, finding them, developing them, and now they're actually breaking through to the first team. They're contributing to the first team.
00:32:22
Speaker
And, uh, like generating transfer buzz, getting traded for pretty large sums within the league in Atencio's case. um What's that kind of feeling like for you to see that? I think again, i support a lot of the spaces. um The people that are in those spaces are the ones that are driving everything that you're seeing. um But I think where we are right now in regards to Let me put it this way. You can have your Obed Vargas's, you can have your Josh Atencio's, you can have your Danny Leves, you can have your Reed Baker Whiting's, but if they're not surrounded by the right people in the right environment, it they won't ever reach that potential that we see or we hope that they can. And I think a massive amount of credit goes to the people that are working in that space day in the day out, that are on the field every single day with these players. And and those are the people that ultimately...
00:33:14
Speaker
need to be the ones that are celebrated because those are the ones that have taken these players dreams and like they're making them a reality, you know, like Obed coming in from Alaska and Danny Leyva coming in from Vegas and, you know, obviously our local homegrowns as well, having that ability to play with our first team and showcase their talents in front of their peers and their community. Like that's an incredible opportunity for them and an incredible, I think, honor, I think is the best way to put it. But For me, the reality is, you know, the Obeds, the Dannys, the Tencios, you know, all the ones coming through, Schneider, Brunel, Seba, all these guys in the second team, Stuart Hawkins, again, like, they are going to be wonderful soccer players. We are just fortunate to be able to kind of surround them with the right people. And because we've surrounded them with the right people in the right environment, I think that is what you're seeing come to fruition. All the numbers and all that stuff, that's great. That's the gravy, right? That's cool.
00:34:08
Speaker
Again, the people that are doing the work every single day on the field, that's those are the ones that really get to deserve the credit. what What makes Seattle so different than a lot of other places? Because I feel like We've talked about this so much that the identity of the Sounders, they're so easy to root for because you know you you get to follow these stories through the levels.
00:34:31
Speaker
Whether like for us, we love Paul Rothrock, right? Like a guy who you know comes, works works his ass off at Defiance, finds his moment. you know he was He was telling me when we were talking that you know He was like ready to pitch himself as ah as a wingback if he needed and like all of this, whatever he needed to do. you know what What makes Seattle different than you know some of these other MLS clubs in those aspects? Yeah.
00:34:55
Speaker
i think we When we look at, okay, signing a player, and this is this is true for all the clubs maybe in the country or maybe even the world, you know, like usually you're a talented young player with a lot of potential, you're going to get like your first contract. That's, that's you your first contract is based on your potential and your talent. So if you're a talented young player in the United States at an MLS Academy, more or less, you're going to have the opportunity to probably go into a professional pathway.
00:35:18
Speaker
Now, well, I think what makes us different is that we value the character of that player just as much as we value the talent. And if at any point that character drops below the level of talent that we are projecting in that player, then we have to make a decision about this might not be the right space for them right now, or maybe in the future we can bring them back. But I think we have a pretty clear saying, you know, within the development side and and Wade Weber going through his pro course, you know, kind of came up with our values and everything that we believe in is the first most important thing is that we support people, you know, and that's whether that's coaches or players.
00:35:50
Speaker
But the second thing we always try to abide by is that When your best players are your best people, then you have something unique. And I think we have that in your Obeds, in your Atencios, in your Leivas, in your Reeds, in your Cody Bakers, in your Paul Rothrocks.
00:36:06
Speaker
They embody that value and they emboy embody that, I guess, cliche or saying that we have, but it's very true for us that they have to be an incredible human being first and then they can be an incredible soccer player second.
00:36:18
Speaker
And if we can get that right, then we're going to have people that support us. We're going have fans that cheer for us. and we're going to have people that want to put some wild numbers out there for some of them. Yeah. I mean, that really shows though. And you know, you look at the people who, I mean, Jordan, for example, right? Like, I mean, we've had the honor of talking with him many times and it's like his character yeah is just such that like, he is a sounder. Like he's, he's the type of player where you're like you are a sounder, right? Like, so that's, that's so cool to hear that. Like,
00:36:48
Speaker
You can be talented, but if you don't have the character for it, you know, it's in the way it breaks down at the professional level is, again, the talented ones, they they will get their first contract, whether that's a second team deal, pro pathway deal, a homegrown contract.
00:37:02
Speaker
But then by the time maybe 2021 comes around, there's no second contract, no third contract. Like we want to make sure that The players that are coming through our system and our development side, they're going to be hopefully playing into their early 30s, mid 30s. And that's important to us. we want them We want them to make a career of it. But the only way they make a career of it is by having the right character, by having the right personality and being the right type of human being first.
00:37:26
Speaker
And then ah obviously the soccer comes second. So... When you're doing a character evaluation on a player that you're looking at, what are kind of those things that you're looking for where you talk to a kid and you think and you think to yourself, all right, this this is what we're looking for. This could be a sounder.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think, and again, we have a... pretty clear document when we're in regards to when we're bringing in players at a younger age, the secret sauce, the secret sauce, the it's like our key qualities is what we call them. And so our head of recruitment, David Lara, you know, he has a very clear knowledge base of like these are the positional traits and behaviors that we want to see in young players. And a big part of that is the autonomy, you know, so we have autonomy, cohesion and execution. So those are the overlying kind of ideas and concepts that we want to see in a young player and each of those pillars then you see behavioral traits so from the autonomy perspective we want to see players that have a growth mindset so their ability to take on information and then execute the information that they're given that clearly shows that they have a growth mindset they want to be coached they're they're coachable i guess is the term to talk about it
00:38:32
Speaker
um Their ability to take control of their own development, their ability to work on things outside of the training session, outside of our environment. You know, we look at all these things when they're in the classroom with Diane Carney, our head of education for the academy.
00:38:46
Speaker
We look at their academic, you know, how they're doing there. They can't just exude excellence on the field. They have to exude that excellence everywhere else. And there's a clear, clear correlation between the players that have the highest GPAs and the players that are most talented.
00:39:00
Speaker
And those are the ones that usually make it the furthest because they're willing to do everything to the max of their potential. So that growth mindset, that ability to be coachable, that ability to take on information, even when it is extremely, extremely difficult and critical, and then how they process that and then turn that back into the next performance or training session.
00:39:20
Speaker
We can see it from week to week, month to month. But ultimately, like that year to year progress we see, those are the ones that are taking the biggest strides the quickest, best way to put it. ah Why don't we hit this question from ah from chat here? have We got a good one from ah from other Noah, not this Noah.
00:39:36
Speaker
ah Noah is wondering, how does the coach and scouting staff contribute to the institutional memory of the Sounders organization in developing and polishing young players? Yeah, I think two things have to work very in sync and they have to be very symbiotic. That's our talent identification and our talent development. If we can get those two things working in tandem and working in a very clear parallel, then we're going to have success. Anytime we have...
00:40:04
Speaker
you know, and we we haven't had this, but our talent idea and our talent development have always been so strong and the ability for those people that work in those spaces to continue finding the right player for the right environment. There's a clear saying, like, you can't be a palm tree in Minnesota. Like, we find the right players that are going to fit this place here and we make sure that we bring them in so that we can develop them. um And then in terms of, like, the institutional memory or of the histrionics of everything, I think we've seen a lot of players, this...
00:40:33
Speaker
our development staff have seen a lot of players come through. So now we've seen your Danny Leyva's, your Jordan Morris, you've seen, you know, Obed coming through. So now we've seen them from age 14 all the way through now to 23, 24, like a Jackson Reagan.
00:40:48
Speaker
And so now there's clear parallels as to okay, they were doing these things. that they did at a younger age. So if we look at, say, Stewart Hawkins, which you'll see tonight in the game, and we look at Jackson Reagan, okay, what are Stewart's starting points in comparison to where Jackson was when he was that same edge? Is Stewart ahead of him? Is he behind him? Do we need to catch him up?
00:41:06
Speaker
Because now it's clear we have a you know very good first team starting center back in Jackson Reagan. And we believe that, Stuart, if we're doing the right things and evolving every year, we can create a better version of that. And then the next generation coming through create a better version of that. So you probably saw Gallatin Sandus.
00:41:21
Speaker
You've seen some other the young center backs coming through. so we're always trying to kind of evolve the process and evolve the methodology and the pedagogy and the system that we're trying to create so that we keep creating a little bit better generationally each time we go because I think the demands of the game are only going to increase. So we got to make sure that we're staying ahead of the curve in that sense.
00:41:40
Speaker
And the last part of that is like when we're polishing the young player, We have to look ahead. So let's say we look at Omar Hassan right now. now we we have We had him right now. We're intrigued. so we have Omar Hassan, right? So, you know, when he was, you know, coming through up to 24 months ago, we're trying to already project, okay, when Omar's entering professional soccer, which is probably two years down the road, or when he's maybe entering the first team, which is maybe like three to four years down the road, what is the game going to look like at that point? Because the game is ever evolving, you know, so we're trying to,
00:42:14
Speaker
not just look at a player that's 14 and project, oh, he's going to be a good player at 15. We're going to try to project that player as to how do we make him the best version of himself at 18 through 21 in that formative years when he's first entering professional soccer at the first team level.
00:42:29
Speaker
And then we can then um hopefully project and give him the right pathway moving forward from that point. That's a great segue into what was going to be my next question anyway. I wanted to ah ask a a couple player centric questions, but Omar Hassan, we both pay pretty close attention to who the next young up and coming players are who could reach one day break through to the first team.
00:42:51
Speaker
And this is a name. Henry that I keep hearing over and over and over. I admittedly have not watched a ton of him myself to know where all this buzz is coming from. But from what I'm gathering is this is one of the most kind of just like electric attacking young players that you guys have had coming up in quite some time.
00:43:14
Speaker
ah How did you find this kid? And then what can you tell us in the audience about why he he's getting a lot of national attention right
Omar Hassan's Potential and Development Resources
00:43:23
Speaker
now? He's scoring crazy goals.
00:43:25
Speaker
um Just what's the what is his story and what are your hopes for his future prospects? Yeah. So Omar came through STP. He was playing at Seattle United. um He came through younger discovery program into the academy full time a couple years ago.
00:43:42
Speaker
What's interesting and exciting about Omar is we've had this ability to kind of always produce your holding midfielders, line to line midfielders. You know, every now and then we've had couple wingers, but more like a pocket winger players that like to come inside, combine obviously center backs and outside backs. We've had a lot of success in producing that player through the academy and through the development side.
00:44:06
Speaker
Omar kind of breaks that mold and that he is a For lack of a better term, he is an exciting, dynamic winger that, you know, he gets a lot of international call-ups by the United States national team. He's been in every youth national team camp since ah think he was with us full-time, U14, U15.
00:44:25
Speaker
um He's headed to, I think, his well, he was just in England at the UEFA Friendship Tournament where he got the player of the tournament. He scored, I think, five goals in, i think, four games, two against England. um Just he's he's had a wonderful experience kind of meteoric type rise um since being here full time and he's handled a lot of those pressures very well. That's, I think, what also makes him unique.
00:44:49
Speaker
A lot of the social media attention that the young players get, a lot of those things sometimes can be a little bit of a distraction, but he's a very grounded kid and thanks to his parents as well. um But for us, Omar is exciting because you can see it's very clear what type of positional profiles we like to have within the first team. you know And if we look to a Georgie Monungu, who's come through our development side, has those same acceleration qualities, has those same 1v1 qualities in wide areas.
00:45:17
Speaker
Now we have the next kind of younger version coming through in Omar. So... We're excited to kind of have ah player like Omar who's going to get a lot of opportunities at the international level with the youth national team.
00:45:28
Speaker
And again, he's a signed player to the club. His family is fully supportive. The club is fully supportive. And he's just one of those players that... At any moment when he gets the ball, you know, you get a little bit more high in your seat and it's it's exciting to watch.
00:45:44
Speaker
So, yeah, we're really excited to ah watch his trajectory. because he's He's fun to watch. He's very entertaining player. um Why don't we ah hit ah that last one in chat right there and then Noah, you can bring us home sure and then we'll let you go, Henry. Absolutely. um This one is from Ask Bio.
00:46:02
Speaker
What's been the biggest change in development strategy since moving to the Long Acres facility? is Something you are looking forward to given the opportunities that presents? Yeah. So I think for us, um we call them like contact hours. So we have x amount of contact hours with players every day. So they come to the...
00:46:26
Speaker
When we were here at Starfire, which is where we are now, they would come in they'd have their training session, they'd go to their online school. But from that point, kind of after that, they would then go back to their home environment, they go home, they finish up their school if they're going to ah normal brick and mortar school.
00:46:43
Speaker
But now what Long Acres gives us the opportunity to do is we control their contact hours so much more. so from the time they're in with us in the morning. Some of the players have like their speed and strength development with our performance coaches. They have their own gym in the development side of the club. So they have their own space, their own everything. They have every available resource to become the best version and the best player that they can be. There's no excuses anymore. Like not that there was necessarily I don't want to say excuses when they were here at Starfire, but they have everything they can want. They have every state-of-the-art machine. They have every state-of-the-art equipment from, you know, the gym, the squat machines, the all the stuff the performance staff just absolutely drools over. it They have it all.
00:47:27
Speaker
there So our ability to now not only create an incredible soccer player, but also an incredible athlete comparative to that as well. And if we go back to for projecting players forward into the future game, what the game is going to look like in the future.
00:47:40
Speaker
Well, it's only going to be faster. It's only going to be more powerful. And if it's faster and more powerful, there's only going to be less time for decision making on the ball. So our ability to. harness and use all the resources that we have at Long Acres in a very confined private space. It's going to be pretty exciting. So we're excited to kind of see what that evolution looks like over the next couple of years. But we got everything we want. The players have everything they want. The staff have everything they want. They actually have their own locker room.
00:48:08
Speaker
That's nice. There you go. No, that's interesting. Because I think people have been critical of like oh, the Sounders are are investing in a and an old Boeing like you know facility. like what is i just Go sign Messi 2.0.
00:48:23
Speaker
But I think that you bring up a really interesting point of like sometimes the investment in the long-term future of the club is something like lawmakers where it seems very clear that like this is going to have a direct impact on the outcomes of these players. Yeah, absolutely. I think, again, like we are...
00:48:43
Speaker
very dependent to produce our own and very dependent on our development side of the club to ensure that we're providing the right depth for our first team roster. And if the players are of the caliber and have the right trajectory and get the right opportunity, you can see what happens with your Obed Vargas's and your Jackson Reagan's maybe a little bit down the line.
00:49:01
Speaker
um But again, like, it's an incredible moment, I think, for us, you know, and Wade was talking about this probably a month ago where Josh Atencio, he made his move to Colorado. yeah And we've had a very high density of talent within those midfield positions.
00:49:20
Speaker
um And in the same day that Josh Atencio was starting a game for Colorado, you saw Obed starting a game for Seattle and Danny coming into the end of that game. And then and then following week, you saw JP and Danny starting in the midfield against LAFC.
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah. If Josh is still here, he's not starting that game or Danny's maybe not starting that game. And so now we have players that are fulfilling their next step in their journey and they're doing it at a new club. But I think they have that Sounders identity that will always carry through with them. And I think because we were able to give everything to Josh, we're now able to hopefully extend his career well into as far as he wants to keep going.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's like such an exciting step for the club. You know, i think the the biggest probably like star on the hill was Yedlin, right? Like that was kind of the only person you could point to where a player who developed here didn't I don't I don't really know the whole story of his development, but was technically in Seattle playing soccer. And now, you know, yeah, you're seeing really talented players go from being, you know, a fringe bench guy to he's he's starting in matches and playing significant minutes and is a big part of that team. And it's important. And like, yeah, That is that is that is amazing to be able to like see that and experience that as as a fan, personally. Yeah, and it's a really good feeling for the development side of the club as well because, again, he maybe wasn't getting the necessary opportunities that he deserved. And that's okay because you know because there's such a high density of talent in those positions. yeah it's They have to fight for it. And now...
00:50:57
Speaker
Somebody values him more than they value other players on their team. And that's why they took him. And again, credit to MLS for creating this internal transfer market, ability to use your funds differently. And again, we've been able to extend the career of Josh and hopefully extend a career of many others as they either transition more fully into our first team or they transition out of the club, maybe into, you know, a new club. But the one thing I guess I missed saying earlier you know,
00:51:23
Speaker
a massive part of my role when I first came to the club was getting players into the club. Yeah. And now like a big part of my role is like getting players, those same players now like the clubs. Yeah. It's an interesting dynamic, but, um, you were the pitch guy. You're like, let me sit down. It's, we'll see.
00:51:39
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I'm going to bring it home here with, uh, what is your favorite Sounders moment or memory? Like just in general, could be working, could be just like physical experience with the club. Yeah. I, I,
00:51:54
Speaker
It's a tough one. I It's hard. It is tough one. I don't know if you remember this, but remember the goal Danny scored from like 45 yards out? Yes. It counted, by the way. It counted, by the way. in our our hearts. in Yes, in our In our hearts, it counts. It counted. I still will die on the hill that that should have counted.
00:52:10
Speaker
I just remember Mikey Morris texting me just like, this is the loudest he's ever heard looming. Ever up until that point. Obviously, I'm sorry. con gas yeah ccc That was pretty good too.
00:52:24
Speaker
But that moment when think Danny was 16 at the time. Yeah. And if it wasn't for, i mean, very soft call. Justin Dillon kind of bumped into the goalie in it.
00:52:34
Speaker
But anyway, that moment kind of, I think, showed. not only the club, people at the club, but it showed that, well, we can create these moments from the development side of the club. And we were able to give a player that needed this environment like Danny.
00:52:49
Speaker
We didn't find Danny like Danny found us. He needed to find a place where he could harness his ability and his talent. And outside of like Justin Dillon stepping on the goalkeeper's foot, you know, he scored one of the most memorable goals at Lumen. That didn't count. So, right i don't know. That was a cool moment I felt for everybody at the club just because of the belief everybody had in Danny.
00:53:10
Speaker
Still have that same belief in Danny. And he's getting good minutes. he He's been playing. Exactly. He's been playing well. i'm and I'm a big upside on Danny Leyva. he's a He embodies that best player, best people ethos that we truly believe. I got to say, yeah, that's true. That's a great shout. like you Dude, in the locker room, I've never seen someone so excited to see reporters and just like just ah like a legitimately, Danny Leyva is one of my favorite human beings like as a person. He's such a good human being. Yeah. where Again, I'm excited. and Again, on the development side, we have to project players forward so much, but
00:53:43
Speaker
You know, hopefully when Danny retires at the age of 38 and plays for a super long time, 20 more years. Yeah. Excited to see what type of coach he's going to become because oh yeah that's going to be interesting.
00:53:56
Speaker
Yeah. when When Brian retires, he can take over because I think Brian's still got another 20, 30 years. so That's it. he He does. He sure does. so All right, Henry, yeah I think we're just going to get you out of here on that. Thank you so much for the time. We really appreciate it.
00:54:11
Speaker
You're welcome on anytime. any Yeah, anytime you want to come back on. I know our audience loved hearing from you. Appreciate the people in chat who who asked some questions. Sorry we didn't get to all of them, but ah that was fun little interactive aspect of it that I wasn't even expecting. so Thank you, guys. Yeah, great stuff. Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it ah so much.
00:54:31
Speaker
We hope see you soon. Excited for this one. Yeah, it's going to be a good game. We'll see you down there. Thank so much going through. text That was Henry Bronner, Sounders technical director. What a big get for the show here at Lobbing Scorchers. um That was a, that was a great interview. You know, I feel like we got some great insight on, ah on the youth development that, which has become an ethos of this club. And that is, ah and Henry's the man, he's the man. He's one of the key architects in that. So ah great stuff.
00:55:02
Speaker
Appreciate the time. Yeah. And shout out to you guys for who asked the questions in chat. That some good stuff for us to riff off of. All right, Noah. we're We still got a little while before before game time. Yeah, I think we should open the floor to questions for sure. we can For what people want to know, we can talk about this game, this yeah the shirt upcoming game, past game. um Yeah, why don't we hang around for 10 more minutes or so, take some questions. You guys can put your topics in the chat if you've got any questions
00:55:33
Speaker
any Anything else you want us to hit on? Like you said, either related to Tacoma Defiance Open Cup or the Seattle Sounders first team. But I guess while we wait for those to trickle in, did you have any initial takeaways or favorite answers from our interview that we just did with Henry? I love that Danny Leyva answer, man. That was a great answer. My was electric. I remember that happening and just like...
00:56:00
Speaker
jaw dropping, like, no way he just scored that. And then it getting called back. and I'm like, it doesn't matter. It will always count in my book. It will always count. It's funny. I like, I would not have really thought of that as a moment that stands out in that way. yeah But if you think about it from his perspective, as the person who Recruited and recruited and probably brought Danny Leiva to the organization and watched his whole ascent from, you know, all these guys start out as academy kids that are just fighting to make it.
00:56:31
Speaker
And then ah not all of them make the first team to watch him make that ascent, get on the field for the first team and then look like he's scored. ah that goal and then them have it unjustly wave it off it's like i love i love the idea of like i don't even care if it uh if it counted you know just to see him on the field doing that and then hearing like uh how loud the crowd was but yeah no i love that answer as well also um Continue to be intrigued by this Omar Hassan character. Yeah. I really do. Like, ah I think ah for a successful as this club has been at youth development, like...
00:57:13
Speaker
star standout electric attackers. We haven't seen many of those come through the There's Morris, which is obviously a big one, but like it's most of the guys that have been developed are like sixes and eights, and Stu Hawks is a center back.
00:57:28
Speaker
So ah I'm really... eager to follow his trajectory and see how far he can take it because that kid very clearly has like the makings of what could be a special player. Yeah.
00:57:43
Speaker
I'm stoked to watch him. i think, you know, another one of my favorite answers too, was just talking about the ethos of a Sounders player versus like, you know, you can have talent, you can have all of that kind of stuff. Every player has talent. There's a billion players out there with talent, but there's not a million players with talent.
00:57:59
Speaker
Yeah. and the right attitude and i think that really shows with you look at all the seattle homegrowns you know people some people call them boring like some people say oh or they're not nice i'm nice yeah but it's like that is a part of the identity of the player that makes them so talented and good is like they will work hard you know we call it a brian schmetzer player but maybe it's just a seattle sounders player i think there's something to that you know it's like it's not just about like character in terms of being a good person like i think that's the biggest part of it yeah but it's about like living and breathing the game yeah you know like love and ball yeah that's like i think a big part of what their ethos is as well and all these kids that have come up in recent years that we that we've been talking about share that attribute
00:58:46
Speaker
Yeah, let's hit some questions here ah and there. Chris asks any first teamers playing tonight. I don't think so, but we also don't have the lineups yet. So yeah I haven't seen the lineup. I can't tell you that not to my knowledge. I think in this I don't know. It's tough. Like, what do you think of the balance between really trying to win this game in advance in the tournament, but also using it as yeah like a platform to get experience to your young players potentially at the expense of taking the result.
00:59:16
Speaker
I think you're so depleted right now. You're going to be playing like supplemental, supplemental players in a game like this. I think maybe if you advance again and you actually get to play an MLS team, you're probably like definitely going to try and get some starters.
00:59:30
Speaker
There's people who are eligible and there's people who aren't. It's like Georgie Manungu is not eligible to play, but Paul Rothrock is, which is really funny. They should throw them out there. Rothrock is an open cup dog, dude. So I'm just saying if they get to play against an MLS club in the next round, which I think might be like Portland, I'm like almost positive that it would be Portland.
00:59:49
Speaker
You got to play the dog, Paul Rothrock. Oh man, going to have to come back here if it we'll meet if it's a Timbers Darby. We'll stream again, but have a better setup this time. Yeah. Hopefully the setup has been good. We literally like threw this together and 24 hours. So um let's go hit Matt Sexton's question here.
01:00:07
Speaker
ah What are your goal and assist predictions for Ryan Kent without seeing him yet blind? We're going in blind Ari. I mean, all five and five will make me happy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I was going to say. Something like that. ah Like, yeah, without having seen him play, it's hard to know. But I think like if this if this hits how they're hoping yeah it will hit, I think five and five would be around the output that like...
01:00:34
Speaker
taking into account that it might take a little bit to ramp him up and he's not going to be here for the full season. If you got 10 goal contributions out of him, I think that would be, ah be sick. I would take that all day. yeah And honestly, i don't know, you know, you don't want to overhype it before you even watch him, but like just based on pedigree. Yeah. I think there's at least the potential he could provide more than that. If like in a in a best case scenario outcome yeah where he comes in and is just like, this league is easy and I'm going to tear it up. Yeah.
01:01:04
Speaker
There's up. The upside is higher than that. I agree. Well, um, I think I just see some questions about a third kit. Uh, our third kids are confirmed. I don't know anything about that, but you know, whatever. Um, and then it looks like, uh, if things go great to define defiance, get to play Portland in the open cup.
01:01:23
Speaker
Um, could they beat the Timbs? Well, we'll close with that. Could they beat the Timbs? The Timbs are not that good. Well, they're actually they're playing really well right now. That's true. They're scoring a bunch of goals. I mean, that would be tough. That would be a tall task. That would be a tall task. Like, it's not even just the Timbys, man. like Like, it's a tall task going against a USL team that's last on the West table tonight. yeah That's just like the yeah reality of a developmental league versus a pro league. Yeah. um But it would be... i mean i I would watch. i i would i I mean, I will be here. I will be here if they can get it. We'll take it one step at a time.
01:01:59
Speaker
Let's hope we can get it here. But thank you all for tuning in. This was a little bit of a nightmare. Thank you for joining us late. The logistics, not flawless, but we actually... it looks good. No, we pulled it off. We did it. We did it. We streamed it. We got the interview done. People were tuning in. We did it. Well...
01:02:16
Speaker
we did well With that, thank you all so much for tuning in We're going to head out. We're going to go pack all this shit up and watch this awesome game. Make sure you like the video. Subscribe to the chat to the channel. Become a YouTube member. YouTube member. all of that Comment, rate, five star, tell friends.
01:02:35
Speaker
All that stuff. Anyway, we're out. Peace.