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Understanding Sounders' injury situation
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It was a busy week in terms of injury updates with possibly the most notable change being Stefan Frei getting back to the point where it looks like he'll be starting on Saturday. Jeremiah and Niko discuss that as well as explain what's going on with Ryan Kent, Albert Rusnák and João Paulo.
Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky and YouTube.
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Transcript
Introduction and Will Bruin's New Role
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.
Sounders' MLS Cup Win Celebration
00:00:15
Speaker
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! Villaviga!
00:00:54
Speaker
you me
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 Community Support
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.
Training Insights and Game Preparations
00:01:42
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes. It is Friday, and even though I didn't make it out to training today, our good friend Nico Moreno is here with a report from training.
00:01:56
Speaker
We'll talk about sort of what's been going on this week. ah This is, of course, what we learned this week with Nico Moreno. Welcome back, Nico. Always good to have you. Hey, what's up, Jeremiah? Coming to you directly from our lovely media room at the Providence Swedish Performance and Clubhouse. and I love that you always get that mention in there.
00:02:17
Speaker
i do. I do. I feel like it makes it sound very professional, very like. mag yeah Yeah, exactly. so and So we are here ah and it was a really fun day of training. Definitely a lot of intensity. So ready to talk to you about what we learned this week and what we could expect from the game at Minnesota.
00:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, so let's dig into some of the the discoveries from the findings from this week.
Injury Updates and Player Conditions
00:02:49
Speaker
Earlier on this week, we talked to Brian about the injury situation with Albert Rusnak, with Ryan Kent Jao Paulo specifically.
00:03:00
Speaker
ah ryan Kent looks like 10 to 12 weeks, not quite out for the year. Brian was very insistent when you pressed him on it that – he he's not done for the year. We still think he has a role to play for us.
00:03:13
Speaker
And, you know, beyond that, we'll see. i thought that was a fair line of questioning though. You wanted to basically say like, this is a guy who is basically out of contract at the end of the year and he's not hardly going to play. How does, how do you handle that? And he basically just said, no he's still got, he's still got a role. So we'll see.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, but that's kind of Brian um when it comes to me particularly. But no, I thought that he was probably being careful um about, um I don't know, but just making any pre-assumptions on Rankin's future. I thought that's what he was trying to do was avoid the fact that, you know, once – Logically, for you and 10 to 12 weeks absolutely puts you at the end of the year. But I think he wanted to give it a a possibility, a sense of hope.
00:04:10
Speaker
um and you know yeah With the fact that he is here on a short-term contract, that's kind of what I was trying to get out of him. But you know it's got to be hard, right? When you got some cameos from him, you were just starting to maybe see him...
00:04:24
Speaker
Get some traction, ah maybe not brilliantly, but getting some ah some some decent performance, some solid performances. And so I think that's what he was trying to avoid was maybe not making any rash statements on Ryan Kent per se.
00:04:41
Speaker
I think that's exactly right. i mean, I, you know, I, and I guess for him, the upside of saying of sort of writing them off, there's just not upside to it. You know, he, yeah from his perspective, it's like, if if they can get this guy back, even if it's only for the playoffs or only it's for a couple of games, you want to have that, that,
00:05:01
Speaker
added piece that you can choose from and you want to give them motivation to get back. And who knows what happens next
Player Contracts and Performance Discussions
00:05:07
Speaker
year? Like I, I would be shocked at this point at the center's picked up his option. His option is probably for a million plus, but it is, I mean, it is funny to think that, you know, after two games, everyone was talking about like, Oh, this guy's have to be a DP bubble of law.
00:05:22
Speaker
And, you know, um I don't think he played badly in his last few appearances, but he just wasn't the same player. Although, you know, you, you, I would think the Sounders would be open to bringing him back at some number. There's got to be a number where it makes sense. It's it's not a million dollars.
00:05:41
Speaker
It might not even be half a million dollars, but there's somewhere, there's there's something where it makes sense for the Sounders. i don't know if it makes sense for Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent might have proven enough.
00:05:52
Speaker
in the relatively short time here that he can go back to Europe and find someplace that he's happier. But presumably those options were available to him before. So i don't know, maybe he is open to returning, even if it's on a ah lower number.
00:06:06
Speaker
yeah Look, I would be surprised if they were to pick up his option as is. Yes. I would be okay, but still slightly surprised if he was to come back at a much lower salary in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.
00:06:24
Speaker
thousand dollar range ah has he done enough for me to make it an absolute lockdown? no but ah he also hasn't played himself out of just being dismissed completely. So ah it is a very difficult situations that I'm sure that we'll have some additional conversations to it, depending on his health and how, how he recovers, because it is a serious injury and that has to come into exactly a part of that.
00:06:54
Speaker
equation is, you know, how does he come back from injury that difficult?
Emerging Talent and Training Highlights
00:06:58
Speaker
And specifically knowing that, look, in today's training, Georgie Minungu was lights out. I mean, he was just balling.
00:07:06
Speaker
All week Georgie was balling. ah He looks like a player who is very hungry, who sees an opening and is planning on bursting through it with all the, all his might, you know, he like the, the knock against him for a long time was he didn't have the finished product.
00:07:25
Speaker
Then he started getting assists this year and then it was okay, but he's not really getting goals. He scored the goal. Obviously he just has that one goal, but it was a great goal. And in training, we've seen the same thing.
00:07:36
Speaker
He's finishing with his right. He's finishing with his left. if he can get ah run of time, even if it's not as a starter, I think he can be ah really, really effective player.
00:07:48
Speaker
And because this is a numbers game and we are in a club that wants to maximize the resources, that is another reason why I don't know if bringing Ryan Kent would yeah be worth it. You know, you got Paul Arriola, who essentially is going to be filling a spot as well. He could play high.
00:08:07
Speaker
ah Same thing goes for Reed Baker-Whiten. He could play the winger position. but you know, there's just so much... of a competition and and players that you can add in those positions that I just don't see why instead of, you know, bringing him back for X number, you wouldn't go out there and get yourself a center midfielder or, you know, you would try to go and occupy other positions that this team, you know, could have some voice.
00:08:35
Speaker
Despite, you know, me knowing and understanding that this is the deepest situation Sounders team that I haven't recovered. And when we hear Doyle talk about the deepest team in MLS history, I will, you know, i probably think that I know more about the team, but he knows more about the league. So I'm going to take his side on that and, and, and I agree with it. um And so not even knowing that i would have to say that, you know, that there is a level of of competition that um you probably want to add
00:09:08
Speaker
some pieces down in more of that center midfield, you know, a striker, you know, we've talked about this before. Yeah, and I think that's a good point. It's a good reminder that it's never... No personnel
Developmental Decisions and Brodelio Rodriguez's Status
00:09:23
Speaker
decision is made in a vacuum, that every personnel decision is not just about the player himself, but it's about the opportunity cost of having that player on the roster. It's part of why... you know Someone yesterday was asking me, what happened to Brodelio Rodriguez? And I said, look, he's 25 and he was taking up a developmental spot on the roster.
00:09:40
Speaker
yeah and And so that's sort of what happens. It wasn't that he did anything wrong. It's that... If you sign Brodelio Rodriguez, then you aren't signing a Snyder Brunel maybe.
00:09:52
Speaker
And you want to have room and the same thing with Ryan Kent. If you bring Ryan Kent back, that's one more senior roster spot that's locked up into a position that's frankly, you're already probably pretty deep and you probably need help somewhere else on the field.
00:10:07
Speaker
Central midfield, like you said, is a great candidate. I I'm not ready to quite close the door on it, but I think it's worth keeping in mind that these are all related decisions.
Albert Rusnak's Injury and Recovery Prospects
00:10:17
Speaker
Moving into the the next player, Albert Rusnak. looks like he, you know, it it was funny because depending on how you look at the report, it's either three to four weeks, which seems bad or three to four weeks, which means, Oh, he might actually make it back for the,
00:10:33
Speaker
the leagues cup semifinals, which would be pretty nice. If he, if he, if he's back by semifinals, he would only miss two more games after I should say three more games total, but that doesn't seem, it doesn't seem quite as bad as maybe we feared when we last talked.
00:10:50
Speaker
No, and he was out here today, obviously just doing some light jogging, nothing that is worth saying you know anything about. But he seems to be he's going to be in good spirits. he um I mean, to a certain level, right? I mean, you know he is a guy that wants to be out there.
00:11:09
Speaker
You and I both know that he wants to play the games. and although he's probably OK with not practicing, you know, he wants to be out there in the games. ah it And, you know, it was just good to see him for a bit. ah But i i I would just be cautious. ah There is no reason to rush him.
00:11:27
Speaker
ah So, you know, even the Leagues Cup semifinals seems early for me. I think maybe be the final, if that would be one that you would say is worth playing Albert dad game.
00:11:40
Speaker
um And that's a good, ah yeah, it's him being such a pivotal part of the offense. And with having a guy like Jesus Ferreira filling in the spot very adequately and and effectively, I just feel like, you know, you probably slow down on, on not bringing him back so quickly.
00:12:01
Speaker
And then the other player who I guess we have, there's a couple of more players, but the one, the other one I wanted to talk about right here was Joe Paulo.
Complexity of Joe Paulo's Recovery
00:12:08
Speaker
His situation is fair to say complicated. It's he you know, there was a glimmer of hope when we first found out that he was,
00:12:18
Speaker
only going to be out or that he didn't do his ACL. But I think we also have to keep in mind that there's a roller coaster of emotions that he is going through that is adding complication to this because on one minute he was okay. I'm finally getting to the point in the season where I'm maybe going to get some minutes.
00:12:37
Speaker
He hurts his knee. He thinks his ACL is done. Okay. Do I even want to go through an ACL recovery? I'm 34 years old. What am I just coming back so I can sit on the bench?
00:12:48
Speaker
What's the point? Right. And I think he starts getting into the mindset of, okay, I need to start planning my post playing career. And then comes the news. Actually, you haven't done your ACL. Right.
00:13:00
Speaker
But it's still a pretty long recovery process. you You can't just get out there and start playing again. And so here we are. It's been, you know, it's already been six weeks since he suffered the first injury.
00:13:13
Speaker
It does not look like he's getting particularly close. He was outside at least, but he's not like his return is not around the corner. What are you seeing there? How do you see this situation playing out? What do you think realistically, what role do you think he can play this year?
00:13:28
Speaker
I don't see him being a guy that will be a consistent rotational player um at this point in the season with how well the team is playing. and look, the the the reality that Brian wasn't necessarily playing them consistently as a rotational player when he was healthy ah yeah leads me to believe that, you know, at this point in time,
00:13:54
Speaker
The best case scenario is that you make and you work on getting him 20 to 30 minutes fit and being a guy that can come in and close a game. That can be a guy that if necessary, you need to break the glass and bring him into a game ah because there somebody went down or there's a situation. Then you do that. But I just don't see him having enough time to really being ready to play 90 minutes or even Brian making that call of playing in for 90 minutes. Obviously we still have to see it.
00:14:29
Speaker
ah There's, you know, plenty of time before the season is up, but today he wasn't even out there. He was out here a couple of days, right? ah He was doing, yeah, just doing light work on the outside. and That's right. Zero ball work. It's all ah you know resistance, speed, strengthening, things of that nature. So I would put them probably not until another two weeks before you're even doing more of the full-on trainings. ah b Brian said today that next week they're going to
00:15:04
Speaker
ah you know, hiking up his his training session. So what does that look like? Maybe more on the ball stuff, would be my guess. Maybe he does partial stuff in training, but I just think we're not going to see him even go through half or a full training for a couple of weeks.
00:15:21
Speaker
Clearly, and you mentioned this earlier, the human part of it is, is important. And as a guy that wants to do right by the team, wants to do right by himself, right. But to, to, to his standard of play, i do feel like it'd be very difficult to, um,
00:15:40
Speaker
I don't know, come in and play 90 minutes. but However, he he would have that heart. And if the team needed him to do so, he probably would. But we're probably thinking that if that's even a possibility, you'd be looking closer to the end of September, early October, if that was the case.
00:15:56
Speaker
When you got to wonder to for him, it's like, what's the what's the point of getting 90 minutes fit if he can't really if he's not going to be allowed to play 90 minutes. Right. And and what are you risking and what are you are you going to be at your best? and you got to do a lot more work to get to that point.
00:16:15
Speaker
And then he doesn't know what's happening next year. And so that these are all complicating factors that make it very tough. I have to think that the sounders are actively, i mean, are actively looking for options to supplement the roster, probably from within MLS.
00:16:35
Speaker
And because they're they're at the point now where I just don't think they can afford to rely on JP coming back. If he can come back, great, but they just can't count on that as a as ah like They just can't assume that's actually going to happen.
00:16:51
Speaker
No, not at all. And you know i think he knows that as well. you know He is a very self-aware individual. And in yeah, that's that's all part of the...
00:17:01
Speaker
the mathematics that I'm sure the team is doing. Difficult decisions is something that has been a, a, a a trend here at ah the facilities. Brian has talked about it with Stefan Fry and Andrew Thomas. He's talked about it on the wings. He's talked about it. I mean, the competition and then the, the situational things ah with a, a difficult, you know, circumstance, like the one that JP is going through is all part of those tough decisions.
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00:19:25
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, like transitions and that transitions us into the whole Stephen Fry situation, which is about to get a lot more interesting, it seems.
Goalkeeper Position Dynamics
00:19:36
Speaker
it's It sounds like he may be... training with the the ones right now, which is to say that he might start, but how much should we, A, is that, is that an accurate read and B, how much do you even think we should be reading into that at this point? Does that mean it's just his job now? Or do you think it means, okay, let's, we're going to go week by week and we're going to kind of assess.
00:20:00
Speaker
Look to me. And I'll give you my opinion and then I'll tell you what I think will happen. Adding what Brian talked about today. ah i feel like it should be his job. and And I appreciate that Andrew Thomas has been great, phenomenal even in in a lot of times during this, you know, tense stretch of, you know undefeated games. And shot stopping has always been something that I feel like he does better than Stephen Fry. But when he comes to the overall body of work and and what I look at in a goalkeeper, Nico Moreno still feels like
00:20:36
Speaker
Stephen Fry is the solution there, and he gives you the safest, most um influential guy on the field. um Now, that's not a knock on ah guy like Andrew Thomas.
00:20:50
Speaker
I just think that the goalkeeping position and requires a certain level of leadership and A lot of it and a lot of times comes with experience. That's why you see goalkeepers play as long as they play. And, you know, even even in national teams, a lot of times they'll go with the older, more experienced guy. Right.
00:21:13
Speaker
Rather than maybe the up young and comer, regardless of how fun that player is or how athletic he is. So to me, it's still his job to have. However, Talking to Brian Smetzer today, he used the term, um you're gonna I'm going to dip my toe in bringing in Stefan Fry, ah which, yes, to me, it means that Stevan Fry will probably start this weekend. He looked phenomenal today as well. He looked very good.
00:21:42
Speaker
ah What I was kind of going off or what I was focusing on pinpointing was, is he going to be afraid to go into a 50-50 ball, to go to the ground, to, you know, those things that may be you can revert and just kind of feel that pain or, or, you know, ah everything that goes in with what happened to him.
00:22:03
Speaker
and And no, he looked fine. He looked decisive. A couple of big, big saves, you know, when they play the seven V sevens is reduced space. So, you know, heaters right coming out for him. He's flying by save, making save after save ah going in at the ball with, with no problem. So I see Stefan Frye,
00:22:24
Speaker
100% ready to be back, but I did hear some apprehension in Brian's message today saying, hey, I just want to make sure that I deal with it correctly. It's a conversation.
00:22:35
Speaker
he continues to say that. And you know Andrew Thomas has been very good. And you know we've got to make sure that Steph is you know ready to go. He's ready to go, but I think he was talking more about the mental component of getting back into the game after something like what he endured during that, uh, collision.
00:22:56
Speaker
And so, but your impression is that staff is probably starting this week. Is that fair to say? Yes, that is absolutely fair. Yes. Yeah. And I don't think you can get him off the field. Really? I mean, he looked like that. And that's why I would love to talk to him. I want to, hate that I want to hear from staff.
00:23:11
Speaker
I really do. Yeah. Yeah, I do too. I do too. Cause I think it's, it is, it speaks a lot to his mentality because the reality was, is before he got hurt, he was playing great.
00:23:23
Speaker
Like this was a, a very, very good season by any standard, not just, well, he's been pretty good for a better, or you know, a 38 year old goalkeeper, 37 year old goalkeeper. goalkeeper, he's been enjoying a very good season. So it does feel a little harsh to move on from him or for him to just sort of lose his job through really no fault of his own. Like he he was like, there was no question that he was the starting goalkeeper when he got hurt.
00:23:53
Speaker
And And so how do you take him out at that point, right? It's it's tough. And at the same time, there is a reality where Andrew Thomas is now 26 years old.
00:24:06
Speaker
He's showing you everything he needs to show you. You've already sort of anointed him as the heir apparent. And you can't just ah you can't just keep him sort of waiting forever.
00:24:20
Speaker
And he's now gotten this run of games where he's actually seems to be getting stronger. And I think that's sort of one of the key elements here is that, you know, in the first few games he was he wasn't necessarily giving up soft goals, but the the team just didn't seem as organized when he was on the when when he was back there as opposed to Steph.
00:24:37
Speaker
But over the last four or five games, he's looked much better. He's looked much, you know, it looks like they know what they're doing. It seems like therere they're playing a little bit more of a, you know, like he he seems to be growing into the position as as both a leader and a shot stopper.
00:24:51
Speaker
And so i think it's complicated it's a complicated situation. I guess that's what I'm saying. and on And that's credit to Andrew Thomas, of course. Right, exactly. ah Exactly. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. my my you know, we were talking yesterday at practice what we would set the over-under at for Stephen Fry appearances.
00:25:11
Speaker
And i was, a li there there was a, like, the over-under was set by, I'll just say Jackson Feltz of KJR, set the over-under at 11. And this is, of course, assuming they are going to, that you know, they have, I think that's 11 games they have left to play, but that's assuming they have, they play more games. So they make the playoffs and do all these other things.
00:25:33
Speaker
I thought that was a very aggressive over under, I would have taken the under, I don't know how far under that is, but I think I probably, if I was setting the line, I would have probably set it at like six or seven because I just don't, I really don't know what's going to happen.
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, and and I was with you and I said it immediately that ah I would take the under no problem on that. ah Because one in you know, I can make assumptions and i could give you and an educated guess on...
00:26:05
Speaker
Stephen Fry still wants it to be his job, but I don't know that with certainty. And a lot of times when something like this happened at this point of a career of an intelligent, well put together family man like Stephen Fry that has no need to be glorified or...
00:26:23
Speaker
be ashamed of, or not a ashamed, but be scared of the next step after his career, you know, maybe that's something that goes through their mind. I don't know. But but what I did know was that Brian Smetzer was going to be very careful with bringing him back. And that put me i but wait well below that 11.
00:26:40
Speaker
ah So right is that going to happen? You know, is Steph going to come in and have a baller of a game against Minnesota? And that just gives him the confidence and everybody the confidence that is just...
00:26:53
Speaker
It's my job. I'm here to stay. And the only games that Andrew Thomas gets is Leeds Cup. That's a possibility. But at this point in time, I don't have the certainty and I would be more than okay to bet on that under.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah. And like you said, Andrew, the fact that Andrew Thomas is going to be getting the leagues cup games, that's potentially three more games right there. So, you know, I guess that maybe makes the transition piece a little bit easier. Maybe, maybe Schmetzer doesn't feel like he needs to really make a choice until leagues cup is over.
00:27:26
Speaker
And then you have, you really had just have one goalkeeper at that point, but i don't know. It'd be interesting to see. So i do want to get your sense of Minnesota United, but before we do that real quick,
00:27:37
Speaker
Has anything changed from your perspective in terms of the the transfer window?
Transfer Window Strategies and Challenges
00:27:42
Speaker
You know, the last time we talked, we basically were ah opening the umbrella, for lack of a better term, about girding fans for there not being a big signing.
00:27:53
Speaker
ah Since then, I actually was able to get a name of a player who they came close enough to signing that they, they felt like they had it all, like all sides had agreed to it until, you know, someone higher up at the Chelsea Strasburg, uh,
00:28:09
Speaker
ah apparatus basically nixed the deal. It's a, it's a Serbian player who frankly looks amazing. Like if they had been able to bring in this, I i feel like I need to go look his name up again, but ah this would have been an amazing signing. He's 19. He's a forward. He has a very similar build and profile to, ah to Jordan Morris.
00:28:28
Speaker
And he already has a couple like solid productive seasons under his belt ah in, I believe ah Milos Lukovic is his name. And he he's already got a couple of productive seasons in sort of like non-premier type of European leagues, but first, you know, like first divisions.
00:28:49
Speaker
i But again, looks like that deal fell through, not going to happen. where is are Are you hearing anything to give us hope that there might be a U22 signing still in the offing?
00:29:01
Speaker
ah No, not at all. i My expectations as yours have dropped down dramatically. ah Everything that I'm hearing is that we'll see what happens, but right it sounds like there is no real...
00:29:17
Speaker
commitment to continue to chase down. and I said this on Lubbock Scorchers, your sixth or seventh option, because logic will tell you that they went for the targets that they wanted and they have been unsuccessful. and in my tally sheet, I have five players that they have unsuccessfully approached.
00:29:38
Speaker
instead ah sat on the table and weren't able to secure. So if now you're that far down in your list and you are coming off from a game where your young guns, a guy like Sosacero Rosario, ah was right very good against the LA Galaxy. He's been very successful. He gives you a different profile of striker.
00:30:00
Speaker
Maybe you're not getting that Jordan Morris-esque player that is what you were trying to get, but you get a target forward, which is different than the poacher that ah you might have in ah guy like Danny Masovsky.
00:30:16
Speaker
And that if you needed a little bit more mobility or a false nine, then you have Ferreira as an option. So when I look at the the the need there, and I do feel like the U22 that they're looking for needs to be a striker,
00:30:30
Speaker
I feel like they're just going pocket that in and just wait to figure out what you get out of this current group. And you revisit that in the winter window. It's not what you want to hear.
00:30:41
Speaker
I still, you and I both were, uh, very frustrated by the fact that i guarantee you that even the guy that you just mentioned that I think he's, he's in the second division of La Liga.
00:30:51
Speaker
ah If you went out there with a, I think that loan just went, I think he, so I just, I was looking him up right now and it looks like he, the loan just got made like right after, I think after the the deal with the Sounders fell through, they worked out a loan to send them to Las Palmas of the ah second, ah absolutely whatever, what's to La Liga, whatever they call it.
00:31:14
Speaker
Yep, yep, La Liga too. And so when I look at that, ah it makes me realize that if the Sounders had to go, let's just say that it was a money thing, if they or if it wasn't a money thing, you could add money to make that team change their mind.
00:31:29
Speaker
And they just didn't have that. And maybe if they had that budget, maybe they're not looking for this guy and they're down in South America bringing in a top prospect or, you know, down in Erevedice and getting the guy that they wanted. But that's just not the case. So because of that, I just don't see that happening moving forward.
00:31:47
Speaker
I said 30-70 at one point. I'm all the way to twenty eighty that nothing's going to happen with that specific ah player. There's just much more decisions that need to be made.
00:31:58
Speaker
I think Ovid Vargas is a priority ah to get him a U-22 contract, to sign him to a max contract, because the ball and the pressure's on the club.
00:32:12
Speaker
If Ovid Vargas doesn't sign with any team, the loss is going to be on the Sounders. So that's got to be a priority. ah You got the priority of what you're going to do if you're not ah going to bring back Ryan Kent.
00:32:26
Speaker
You got to figure out what's going to happen with the extension of the Emerick Gomez-Andrade. You got to figure out to happen with Danny Mussofsky. I mean, there's just so many more things that in the near future need to be figured out that, you know, if you're not sure about U22 right now and your future there,
00:32:42
Speaker
You just don't do it. Maybe you go out there and get yourself an MLS player to fill that midfield position, like we mentioned, and that's it. Yeah, and and i'll I'll echo that. I think the number one priority, ah frankly, the number two, the maybe the number three priority needs to be getting Obed Vargas signed to an extension because it's being very obvious that this is a player. And if that means the Sounders need to max out what they can pay him as a U22, which is basically a million dollars a year,
00:33:12
Speaker
they need to do that. That to me is such so much more important than any new player they can bring in that like the budget that they, if they, if it's a matter of budget, they, that's where the budget should go.
00:33:24
Speaker
ah so, um, Yeah, and look, I talked to Ovid Vargas this week, and I haven't posted the video on Puso Sports, but it will be in Spanish.
00:33:35
Speaker
And, you know, I talked him about, you know, how difficult it is for him to mentally be ready to ah play at that level that he's played. with the insecurity of not knowing your future.
00:33:46
Speaker
And I was very surprised that, you know, usually when I ask that question, the answer is yes. You know, it's difficult to play because, you know about my future. But I'm usually asking a 28, 29, 30 year old.
00:33:58
Speaker
When I asked him, he was just like, yeah, well, you know, I just got to keep playing. And but I got to figure out my side. I got to make sure that talk to my agent and my family and all these things. He was more like, yeah, you know, it's I would love to sign.
00:34:11
Speaker
an extension but you know i'm not like super worried about it and that made me a little bit nervous right because he's a guy that knows that there's a lot of interest in him that he's playing at a phenomenal rate that he could essentially leave in december and very easily find another club so that puts a lot of pressure on the sounders and you know i'll translate he didn't say it like i want to leave i don't want to put that out there. I'm kind of reading in between the lines and contrasting when I usually ask that question to an older player, because he definitely wants to be here. He wants to remain here.
00:34:48
Speaker
i even asked him about, ah you know, the World Cup for the U-20s that, you is coming up here at the end of the year. And he is very likely going to be called that Mexico's U-20.
00:35:00
Speaker
And, you know, he talked about, yeah, well, you know, it's all about me playing good here and that will lead to other things. So he was very focused on the Sounders and remaining here. But I also saw him being very chill and, you know, without any like urgency to get that extension. And that's just because of his position right now.
00:35:22
Speaker
Right. I mean, we from what I've heard, ah the situation with Freeman, who's the Orlando City right back, he's got 18 months basically left on his contract, which I guess is about the same as as Obed, essentially.
00:35:36
Speaker
But you he's talking about like, well, they don't want to re resign because they just want to be able to go to Europe on a free Because they feel like they can end up pocketing that money. And Obed hasn't literally, doesn't seem to literally be saying that, but it's one of those things where it's gotta be on their mind where, look, why, why do I want to sign an extension?
00:35:56
Speaker
If all that's going to do is complicate my move. Now, I think he probably has a little bit more of a, like the sounders seem to have a better relationship with Obed than, than Freeman does with Orlando city.
00:36:07
Speaker
But it's the point being, you can't just take it for granted that he's, he's just going to sign an extension sort of out of the goodness of his heart. You got to make it worth his while. You got to pay him like a, like a real player.
00:36:18
Speaker
And, and so anyway, I would hope that that's sort of the priority for the Sounders right now. If they can sign a U22, great. But like the reality is that I don't see a U22 coming in and contributing right away as it is. So yeah,
Match Preview: Sounders vs. Minnesota United
00:36:32
Speaker
You know, we'll see. We'll see. um All right. Well, before we, we have about 10 more minutes before we get out of here though, let's talk a bit about the, ah about Minnesota United.
00:36:44
Speaker
What do you see? Like, what do you see in this game? This is ah potentially, you know, Christian rolled on essentially called it a playoff game. What do you think is going to, what do you think? How do you, how do you see this one going down?
00:36:57
Speaker
um I think that, and I asked Brian this today, if this was the biggest challenge this team has faced after Club World Cup, and he didn't give me a yes or a no, typical Brian, but he said they're a very good team. ah However, I do think that Seattle consistently has had issues Breaking down teams that play with deep blocks in the fashion and the effectiveness that Minnesota United can do it. So this is, to me, one that maybe doesn't match up as well as perhaps the LA Galaxy game did.
00:37:31
Speaker
But I've seen a couple of games for Minnesota that haven't been up to their standard. Go back to the son louisis San game in Leeds Cup, they lost 2-0. And it's not like they didn't have some of the better players out there.
00:37:44
Speaker
And then you go back to the Colorado game that was even more telling. And in both of those games, surprisingly, they were the attacker. They led shots. They led possession. They but they did not leave the scoreline. So is that a blueprint into what the Seattle Sanders could potentially do, ah which is just conceding a possession and saying, hey, you left the net half the ball? Well, you're going to have it. And and then, you know, going off of that, maybe tinkering with that, flipping the the script on on them ah with that sort of mentality or approach to the game. ah But, you know, they have a quality squad, although they have not been able to get...
00:38:26
Speaker
in my opinion, the back of the net as well over the last couple of games. ah But, you know, Tani O'Shea is a guy that is very fast, can get from point A to point B very quickly.
00:38:38
Speaker
i think he's a good finisher. You look at a guy like Yeboah that is more the physical, stronger guy that has put a couple of pretty good goals on the Sounders ah when he's faced them. um I talk consistently about Joaquin Perea and the volume that he brings, the ah through balls, the connectivity, ah the create the the creativeness in his game are very dangerous to what the Sounders would like to do. We talked to Albert Vargas, and he mentioned that they've got to be poised. They've got to be disciplined. They've got to be able to defend well. And I think that's all going to be part of this game. I do see this
00:39:18
Speaker
being more of a battle, more of a, you know, knife in your teeth sort of sort of game where one goal might make the difference. Seattle has to be immaculate defending said pieces. And that goes with without saying, I'm not, you know, I don't want to add to what everyone knows already, but I also think Seattle can try to create On set pieces, they've been amazing. And this is always good, right? That you're scoring off of ah regular play and and, you know, just through transition and high press moments, which I think is going to be important in this game as well. But, you know, when in Leagues Cup, you scored a couple of goals in set pieces, man, I want to see more of that. I want to see those flicks to the near post. I want to see them.
00:40:02
Speaker
Ferreira seems to be very comfortable taking that role from, you Albert Rusnak taking those set pieces so I do want to see a little bit more where a guy like Yamar who has consistently gotten in at the end of some very good crosses but just hasn't put it in the back of the net can the Seattle Sunners do that a little bit more and get the lead early and force Minnesota to be the protagonist and to have to get out of their shell that's going to be key against this Minnesota team Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that that is getting the early lead seems to be the, the main thing about Minnesota.
00:40:40
Speaker
They also seem to, they do have a little bit of a tendency to concede some late goals. You know, they, they, they struggled to close out, uh, Club America in Leagues Cup.
00:40:52
Speaker
they They lost to San Luis. So these are, you know, they're not they're not a perfect team. They're also not quite as good at home as they are on the road. So maybe this is an opportunity for the Sounders. I will say I liked everything I heard from the Sounders in terms of their confidence.
00:41:06
Speaker
They seem to have a good game plan going into this one. ah But yeah, I think this is going to be a really good test for And sort of like what Aaron and I said on Nos Arietes earlier this week is if they win this one, all of a sudden the rest of the schedule really sets up pretty nicely for maybe getting into one of those top two or three spots in the West.
00:41:27
Speaker
But if they don't win this one, you know, fourth or fifth, this, this might be really a competition for fourth or fifth. ah So, you know, we'll see, we'll see. I do like the way the centers are playing, right? Go ahead.
00:41:38
Speaker
Oh, no, no, go ahead. Go ahead. No, please please finish. I was just saying, I like the way the Sounders are playing right now. So I feel like this is a ah good place for them to be. and and I do too. I have to praise the team and Brian for having this offense in all cylinders running as smoothly as I've seen it. But this game ah also has a little bit of an underline that we need to taking consideration, which is the Puebla game midweek. So there is likely going to be some rotation. You're probably not going to have your best 11 for lack of a better word, I guess, because this is a team that i feel like they have 18, 19 players that are consistently coming in, which it's also something that we're not, I'm not accustomed to seeing it from Brian. that That's not something that I can go back and think of being covered in this team for a long time. And and I can't think of uh,
00:42:32
Speaker
a moment where so many players have been rotated into games so consistently. But at the same time, I do feel like the Seattle is going want to win this game. And that they I'm not saying that they're not going to, but minnesota minnesota ah the Puebla game is a big deal for this club and this organization. And I would think that that's going to get probably your best 11 at home against Puebla with a chance to ah move on to the next round. Oh yeah, that's a priority.
00:43:00
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, this probably a good place for us to get out here. Nico, thank you again for joining us. You can course, listen to Nico on lobbing scorchers. You can listen to him on soccer down here. You can follow him on pool. So sports. He is of course, El Rolo NW on blue sky.
00:43:18
Speaker
Nico, thank you again for joining us. And ah yeah, ah should be, ah should be a good one this week. And other than that, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is No Sadie Etis, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network.
00:43:31
Speaker
We will catch you next time.
00:44:00
Speaker
I expect the LAFC who is motivated ah to prove themselves at home, to prove to their fans that that they're capable of winning in this league. And it's up to us to really ruin the party.
00:44:16
Speaker
i feel a lot better than Bob.