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The Defiance have a chance to do the funniest thing…
2.2k Plays2 days ago
Due to the silliness surrounding MLS teams’ participation in the U.S. Open Cup, the Tacoma Defiance have taken the Sounders’ place in the tournament. They’ve won their first three games and have now earned the opportunity to become the first MLS Next Pro affiliate to face a MLS first team in actual competition. Even more silly, that team is the Portland Timbers.
To help us understand the Timbers’ approach to this game, we reached out to Tyson Alger, who runs the Substack I-5 Corridor, which covers mostlyl the Oregon Ducks and the Timbers. He thinks the Timbers will likely field a relatively veteran-heavy team.
We also discuss the evolution of Merritt Paulson, who Alger notes has decreased his public presence but that “the poster inside never dies.”
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Transcript
Will Bruin Joins Sounder at Heart Network
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shaughnessy.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. What save by Frye. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winning. Here comes Ruiz Dias through the middle to crowd it for Seattle.
00:00:29
Speaker
And now they truly can start the celebrations. It's the Sounders MLS Cup. Nico Lodero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Seattle, Sounders, it's got built.
00:00:52
Speaker
This feels fucking awesome. This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht yat thing. And Portland can't say shit. know, what was the thought process i did in terms of who you decided to use who you didn't?
00:01:06
Speaker
Ever since Southert Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take over coming seriously. Go, not Seattle!
Sponsorship by Full Pull Wines
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, c Pacific Northwest.
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of nos adietes on the standard heart podcast
Tacoma Defiance vs. Portland Timbers Preview
00:01:47
Speaker
network. I am Jeremiah Shan and joining me today to help preview the open cup game on Tuesday between the sound or sorry, the Tacoma defiance and the Portland Timbers is Tyson Alger of the I five corridor, which is sub stack that covers sort of the Portland sports scene, but this time of year, pretty heavily into soccer, uh, Timbers, uh,
00:02:12
Speaker
Thorns welcome to the show Tyson hey thanks for having me you know the uh the corridor runs up north a little bit so we we we do have to you know at least have a little bit of knowledge about uh this this Tacoma game coming up so and so happy to be yeah exactly yeah it does it runs I get apparently all runs all the way to the Canadian border who knew my my my My mistake is that thing goes all the way down to San Diego, too. And and yeah dis december and in December, I'm like, wow, I should I should open up the South Bureau.
00:02:41
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. I know that would be that would be pretty slick. ah But you you do focus mostly on on the Portland area. So University of Oregon. night I don't know. You also cover the the beavers.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah, we we we have, you know, my my first couple of years when I started this, I tried to cover everything equally. And I just realized that that's kind of a losing battle in the long long run when it's just and it's just one person. So I i primarily cover the Oregon Ducks and the Portland Timbers. But when the beavers have a story that I that i come across that I like or um that just feels like that it needs to be told, like I still branch out and do those things. But I'm i'm
Portland Timbers Off-Season Review
00:03:20
Speaker
primarily Ducks and Timbers these days. Yeah.
00:03:22
Speaker
Okay. And then collect an eclectic pairing of football and football, you know? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. so what is the, you know it's funny. It's been a ah strange few years for the, for the Timbers, the vibes have been sort of all over the place last year. They were obviously a very, very good offensive team, but a dreadful defensive team that ended up being their downfall.
00:03:43
Speaker
They of course go out in famous fashion, losing on the road at home. ah to the the Vancouver Whitecaps in the playoffs. And, but they didn't really do anything dramatic this off season.
00:03:56
Speaker
They kind of stuck with what worked. They still have a very powerful offense, but the defense does seem to have gotten a bit better this year. Yeah, it was it was kind of a weird offseason because you you had like the the one major aspect of Evander kind of had his blow up after the the Vancouver play-in game, and it it just felt like that that was an unfixable relationship. So that kind of hung over the majority of the offseason. And and so like when the Timbers did go about making a few signings, such as Jimmer Forre or Joao Ortiz,
00:04:29
Speaker
Or, ah you know, a couple of those other, or I guess David DaCosta came after they they sold Evander, but it was just everyone was waiting for kind of like that cloud to lift. And that didn't happen until mid-January or so. So but you basically had this roster that didn't look terribly different from last year.
00:04:45
Speaker
Just minus the fact that you had a 15 goal score and a 15 assist guy out of it. So, right yes yet yes, there was belief that the defense was going to be better because it couldn't really be a whole lot worse than it was was last year. But the the biggest question for them really coming into the year was like, where are the goals going to come from?
Improvements in Timbers' Defense
00:05:02
Speaker
Because Evander was gone.
00:05:03
Speaker
Jonathan Rodriguez had had a ah knee injury during preseason that kept him out for the first seven games. And so, you know, when when they opened the year with Vancouver again and it was 4-1 and, you know, it was a red card game with Kamal Miller getting taken off, the the vibes were pretty terrible around Providence Park and the general Portland area because it just seemed like it was...
00:05:24
Speaker
The same team minus an MVP candidate. And, um you know, once once they were able to play with, a you know, a full starting 11 for an entire game, you did get to see that, you know, the back line has really established itself, especially with Finn Sermon playing. playing alongside uh kamal miller um but then the craziest thing has just been like they're scoring goals at the exact same rate they were last year if if not better and i think a lot of that has just been progression from some of the youngest young players i believe the the lineup that they put out last week uh was the youngest in timbers history which uh
00:05:59
Speaker
You know, it's, it's, you just have a handful of like 21, 22 and 23 year olds. So they're they're, they're really spreading the ball out a lot more than, than just kind of when it would Evander was a spectacular player. You've seen that this year with how he's produced for Cincinnati, but was, it's kind of is the game revolves so much more around him.
00:06:18
Speaker
And i think that there's a lot of talent and there's a lot of athleticism on this roster that is getting better utilized now here in 2025. Well, so that's and that's all that's all very interesting and will be, I'm sure, a particular interest when the Sounders and Timbers actually play in a couple of weeks in MLS play.
Timbers' Open Cup Strategy
00:06:38
Speaker
But this is an Open Cup game. i am curious how a how seriously how like what is the the approach that that the Timbers are coming into this game and how much of their first team roster or like their regular starters do you expect to actually see on Tuesday?
00:06:56
Speaker
you you know One of the things that they talked about in the preseason coming into this year was that they wanted to take these these cups and then these tournaments seriously. so um you know I know this isn't necessarily the the hardest opponent that they might face like in in this U.S. Open Cup in this round of 32, but I think it does come at an interesting time because um you know the the Timbers do have a fair amount of starters from last year who have been sitting on the bench all all this season that haven't seen a lot of action.
00:07:23
Speaker
Max Cropot, played this weekend but that was his first game since the first one of the year uh we haven't seen Dario Zuparic yet um you know we've kind of uh rarely seen Bravo out there as well so it's um I think that they're still going to play a fair amount of their their first team but I think they're going to be able to get minutes for a lot of those guys who haven't quite earned them yet you know Phil Neville was talking last week he he was saying that at at practice, they did an 11 on 11 scrimmage. And he said he didn't really see much separation between the two groups, you know, talking about the debts that they've built. So I do think they utilize a fair amount of that, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see a few call-ups for that game as well.
00:08:01
Speaker
And so when you say call-ups, you think there might be some T2 type of players that that come into this game? Yeah, yeah. But I but i also think um it's It's an interesting club because like they they really are about some of the cliche type things like momentum and unity and, and you know, Neville, Neville will wax poetic forever about like get the group coming together. And so I think, I think with them coming off of this loss that they had on Saturday, which was a pretty dreadful loss of San Jose, i think, I don't think that they're going to want to like put together, put out like a, you know, a half baked team out there and and take two losses before coming back into MLS play on Saturday.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, so it's been an interesting sort of approach, an interesting mood around the team for for the Defiance because they you know they came into this tournament. They've they've obviously, this is their fourth game in this tournament.
00:08:54
Speaker
They had to start in the first round and they, you know, they started against an amateur team and then they played a league one team and then they played a championship team and now they're playing an MLS team.
Sounders’ Approach to Tacoma Defiance Game
00:09:04
Speaker
This is the farthest they've ever advanced.
00:09:06
Speaker
And they've sort of been talking about how they've been wanting to get their players more games because the MLS next pro season is so much shorter and they don't have all these other competitions. So they've sort of been approaching this tournament as a pretty big deal for them because it's a it's their high there at this point, obviously they're playing the highest level of competition that they'll play.
00:09:28
Speaker
Even if the Timbers rotate their lineup. ah But there's also this very clear sense, you know, there's there's a lot of people in the in the defiant side of things that have a very acute understanding of this rivalry between the Sounders and Timbers. You know, Wade Weber is sort of the essentially sort of like the GM of the defiance. He's a player. He's someone who went to the University of Portland, but grew up in the Seattle area, came through the Sounders program. He's been a coach here for a long time. He has a very.
00:09:55
Speaker
you know, a very ah strong connection to this rivalry and you can kind of go through the roster and there's a lot of Academy players and whatnot. And so they're approaching this game. Like it's a huge deal. It's unclear at this point, how many players that the Sounders will be loaning down, uh,
00:10:11
Speaker
just for our listeners, uh, education, they are essentially limited to players who would be otherwise eligible for the supplemental roster, uh, for these loans. So, you know, in the past we've seen, you know, Andrew Thomas played last game, ah last game, Cody Baker was in, although he's suspended for this one because he picked up a red card, uh, who else they had, uh, Stuart Hawkins is technically on a first team contract.
00:10:36
Speaker
Trevion Sousa is technically on a first team contract. ah but we've seen Reed Baker whiting potentially, but even guys like John Bell are ah eligible. ah Kalani Costa Rienzi, who I don't think is going to play in this game, but they have a bunch of,
00:10:50
Speaker
interesting players that are eligible. So I do think they are going to approach this, right? Like it's a big deal for them. um and but has there been much discussion about, and and so there's, they they've gotten really hyped up for this game. I'm just curious. Has there even been a lot of internal discussion that you're at least privy to about this game specifically?
00:11:11
Speaker
You know, not, not a ton yet, just because, the the Timbers did find themselves on that ah unbeaten streak and we were like taking, you know, the the momentum that they had very seriously. And so they played on Saturday and unfortunately we don't have a media availability between the game Saturday and and tomorrow's match as well. So we haven't been able to kind of,
00:11:30
Speaker
flip the page if if you will towards towards towards the open cup so i i don't have like any like solid information on how how exactly how uh how serious they're taking this game ah again they they they came out at the start of the year and said that like sure winning a a cup in some form or another is going to be a big deal for them uh you know they're playing in in the one later this summer as well too but um yeah but I still think there's something there, you know, with, with the, the I five rivalry with, with it being, you know, I know it's Tacoma, but it's still, you know, you're, you're, maybe you have those. rings say sounders Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:12:08
Speaker
So I, I, I think, ah I think there'll be some intensity to the match. I hope. Yeah, I mean, I know that the the way that the the sort of the Sounders fans seem to be taking this is that it's sort of this all-upside potential of bragging rights, right? like they ah If the the Sounders win this game, hey, our second team beat your first team.
00:12:29
Speaker
and if the And if the Defiance lose, it's like, well, what are you going to – okay, they theyre their first team beat our second team. That's not like a big shock. And so the the dynamics, at least from a fan perspective – also seem very sort of like skewed. And i think there's a lot of anticipation for potentially being able to sort of embarrass your rival.
00:12:48
Speaker
I don't, but I don't, and I don't, I just don't, I'm just trying to get a sense of if the Timbers are even, that's even on their radar as something that is a, a thing like but this, these two teams have a fair amount of history in the open cup. Yeah. You know, ah of course, there was the red card wedding.
00:13:05
Speaker
But before the red card, the year before the red card wedding, there was this epic match at Starfire where the Sounders won in overtime. And then, of course, the red card wedding comes and that ends up catapulting essentially the the Timbers to the to MLS Cup that year.
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah, and and the Sounders season kind of spiraled to drain and then was wasted. And then there was, not to get even get into all the sort of like the stuff around that game, ah and then they've they've played a couple times since then in the Open Cup.
00:13:36
Speaker
ah The most recent meeting, I believe, was back in 2018 when the Timbers went to Tacoma, interestingly enough, and won at Cheney Stadium. ah But that was and that was an a game that came during an international...
00:13:51
Speaker
An international break. And so the Sounders were missing a whole bunch of players and the Timbers were essentially able to bring their first team because they didn't have any other games going on. And, and you know, they won that game, I think two to one.
00:14:03
Speaker
but it's been one of the other kind of funny little things about this is I want to say the Timbers and Sounders have had something like seven coin flips between them to determine who are essentially, or draws or whatever to determine who's going to host, uh, open cup games. And somehow that's the Sounders organization has won every single one of these, or at least they, all the games that they've actually played against one another have been in, have been here.
00:14:29
Speaker
ah And I know at one point that Merritt Paulson was very frustrated by this. ah I assume that has not been a talking point recently. No, no, has not been. We, we, we, yeah we, we see Merritt pretty few and far between these days. He he came out and did a, uh,
00:14:47
Speaker
he he He came out and did a ah ah press conference at the like an impromptu press conference at the start of the year, which was, i think, his first public comments in probably about two years or so. But other than that, it's quite a but quite a change.
00:15:03
Speaker
it's It's quite the change because, you know, like he used to be um used to be like one of the most active owners in the league on social media. Like it was it was very yeah undeniably the most active owner. Yeah.
00:15:14
Speaker
And, and that's just kind of all evaporated in in the last three or four years. So it's, it's, it's kind of an interesting, um,
00:15:23
Speaker
just an interesting change of ah of a, of an owner who used to be so public facing. They obviously went through a fair amount of scrutiny of the last few years for the way they've handled stuff off the pitch.
00:15:33
Speaker
um But like, I feel like he's trying to dip his toes back into the water and get back out there because like the, the poster doesn't die in somebody like, just because you're not getting your comments out there. It doesn't mean that like, that's, that's not like who you are anymore. So yeah,
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah, so i i'd I'd be interested to see how much how much more of merit we see going forward here.
00:15:57
Speaker
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00:16:10
Speaker
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00:16:40
Speaker
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Controversies and Phil Neville’s Impact
00:16:49
Speaker
And so I guess kind of pulling back and not so much speaking about the Open Cup and we do have another, ah you know, another first team game coming up. pretty soon here with the the Sounders and Timbers.
00:17:00
Speaker
What is the, you know, like you you sort of alluded to, there was some dark days inside the Timbers organization. They went through a couple years of, ah frankly, self-inflicted, you know, bad press, right?
00:17:14
Speaker
ah How has, have things, do you feel like there's been a genuine sort of reckoning or a moving on from all that? Obviously getting out of the, selling the thorns, I would imagine was, has helped in some way.
00:17:27
Speaker
You know, what's what's interesting is when when they announced the hiring of Neville back in November of two years ago, ah that that seemed at the time like another like self-inflicted wound because you you were coming off of um firing a relatively popular coach in Portland. You brought in a guy who...
00:17:45
Speaker
um A lot of people have opinions on and and specifically there was like as a zeroing in focus on like ah some tweets that Neville had back like 15 years ago that were, you know, relatively crass and probably misogynistic, but also something that I think that he yeah a solid job of owning up to ah later on. And so like it it just felt like one of those things of like, yeah, they were tweets, but also like this organization needs to know better, like needs to know, you know, kind of the waters it's swimming in right now.
00:18:14
Speaker
But then there was also another faction that just thought that like he wasn't a good coach. And so it's just like, you're bringing in this coach with baggage. He doesn't have a winning record. Like where has he proven that he deserves this gig? And so last year I felt that the the fan base was pretty, slow to kind of welcome him in. I mean, like shoot, like the Timbers army at first, like, I think like tried to protest his hiring.
00:18:37
Speaker
Um, but he, but, but he, he said he was going to like take efforts to like, you know, try to get to know the fan base and like do all those sorts of things. And and he did, he, he, he met privately with the Timbers army. He's he's done a lot of like fan speaking engagements.
00:18:53
Speaker
Uh, And then, you know, the product on the field last year, like, yeah, like the tempers weren't great last season, but they were really fun to watch. Like that was, ah you know, you know, even if they were losing, it was going to be like a five, four or, you know, like a six, six, four sort of game. And so, and so you could see some progress there. It was, it was fun to like go to Providence park again, even if they weren't going to win.
00:19:13
Speaker
Um, but I, I think he just endured, endured himself to the, to the supporters over the year. And then this year comes in and, by the time they finally, traded Evander, like, I feel like that the fan base had finally kind of like sided with the Portland side, because again, Evander is one of the most talented players who have ever put on Timbers kit, but also it was kind of drama from day one when he got here, even the year before it was always, you know, it was just always something with him. And so,
00:19:42
Speaker
it's funny to, it's funny to go with like the cliche of like, you know, the addition by subtraction or like this team's getting along better or, you know, the chemistry there, but I think it legitimately is there. And I think you have to give Neville a lot of credit for kind of like fostering the mentality and in the locker room right now. And, you know, with them,
00:20:00
Speaker
through 10 games, they were off to their best start in their MLS history. um Obviously Saturday was a bit disappointing.
Phil Neville's Management Style
00:20:06
Speaker
They had a few key players out, but i but I think just the way that he's managed this roster, kept the Timbers in contention this year while they've gone through a fair amount of injuries and just like,
00:20:16
Speaker
He's an awesome quote. Like I cover a lot of college football and college football coaches suck specifically Oregon coach, Dan Lanning, who might be one of the best coaches in college football. He's just a a nightmare to, to interview because he gives you nothing.
00:20:31
Speaker
You never, you never leave a Timbers press conference wondering what Phil Neville was really thinking. i mean, I mean, this guy, this guy loves to be in front of cameras. He's a quote machine. And it yeah works well now that, yeah.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah. and and And it works a lot better when they're winning too. And so it's it's been a good club this year. And and I think i think the the overall supporters are beginning to kind of trust what they have at the moment.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, the Timbers, I mean, that's a you you make a good point about the the strong start. The Timbers, I know one of the ongoing narratives around this team has been they just can't, they they keep shooting themselves in the foot with slow starts.
00:21:10
Speaker
And this year has not been that. This year they they've gotten off to, like you said, they're their best start ever. And it'll be interesting to see how they how how playing in this game factors into that and or whether or not they they just sort of I mean, there's they've got plenty of depth, you would think, that they can they can rely on. like The fact that Kropot has barely played until now is is certainly notable.
00:21:35
Speaker
That would be it, would think, that... it's such an interesting dynamic with their whole goalkeeper situation, because obviously Max was brought in to be the number one, James, this is backup. James has played fantastic. They're both Canadian and Max plays above him on the national team. So it's, you had, you had James as number one and Max is number two for all this season, but then Max, you know, during the last ah international ah thing like he went and played for Canada while James is still here so it's kind of like I find that that dynamic has to be fascinating in the locker room of just and these guys have known each other for a long time too but um kind of going back to like the ah Timbers hot start at no point watching them this year have I been like this this has got to be the best Timbers team ever or like like this team's fantastic or excellent like they've just been very consistent and but like that they've been a good soccer team but I but i think that
00:22:25
Speaker
emphasizes just how poorly that their starts have been and in in prior years, because i I think they're good this year. i don't think they're punching too high above their weight class. Um, but, um,
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah, it just it just it's going to go a long ways for them come September, October, because at this time last year, they were mired in, I think, a nine game winless streak. And so to be able to kind of flip that on their head and and to go, ah they went seven unbeaten in a row like they they are ah way ahead of where they were at this point last season.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like this is around the time of the year where the Sounders and Timbers played. And they were as essential in that if I remember correctly, the loser of that game was going to be stuck in last place in the West. I think they were the bottom two teams in the league at that time.
00:23:10
Speaker
Obviously, the you know on their current trajectory, it looks like these two teams will be in very different positions ah when they face off in... in a couple of weeks, essentially. Yeah. It's couple of weeks, isn't it? Yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, anyone in particular that you think this might be a good opportunity for on the Timbers that, that maybe hasn't been getting as much run, you know, we, met we talked about Cropot, but anyone else on the roster that you think maybe stands to, to really have potential to, to sort of maybe change their season trajectory.
00:23:45
Speaker
no I think a guy like Ariel Lasseter will probably be a good run in this game. You know, he he was one of those guys that they brought in as kind of like a veteran depth presence, but you know, the, the Timbers are just so kind of deep in though that kind of attacking midfielder sort of position that they just, he hasn't really been able to get a ton of run unless it's like in kind of the above the 80th minute and they just need a little bit of depth. So I think a guy like him, um Again, i i would love to see Dario Zuprich on the field just because, again, he's he's another player that ah he was injured in preseason. And so, like, he kind of got behind. And then Ben Sermon has just really established himself as as one of the best center backs on the team. And it has what I think is a pretty high ceiling, too.
00:24:29
Speaker
So it's... mainly selfishly. I want Dario on the field. So then we can talk to him after the game, because he's one of those guys that like pretends like that. He hates doing media, but then gives us like the best quotes afterwards. So like selfishly, I want some of that, but.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, no, we have we have a few of those guys, too. Albert Rustack is one of those guys. Even Stephen Fry pretends as if he doesn't like talking to the media and then he'll sit there for 10 minutes just waxing poetic about ah whatever is
Refereeing and Phil Neville’s Critiques
00:24:57
Speaker
going on.
00:24:57
Speaker
and the The guys that are reluctant ah seem to almost always be the better quotes because or they feign reluctance, at least. Exactly. Exactly. And and um on that same token, you know you mentioned liking covering Phil Neville and and saying you you seem to think that he's he's speaking from the heart. And I guess there's no reason really to doubt that he's speaking from the heart.
00:25:20
Speaker
ah But does the i don't know, as a from afar, you see every time a call goes against the timbers, he makes it sound as if. they are egregious thing yeah it's the most egregious thing ever. And that they're being unfairly targeted.
00:25:34
Speaker
Does that ever, does it, I mean, what, what is your take on his sort of like, I don't know that whole, that, that particular thing. He, he, he can be a bit grandiose and and exaggerate a fair amount. Like I, I think, uh,
00:25:50
Speaker
You know, if if the cameras ever catch him when he's on the pitch, like you can tell that this guy was a pretty intense player back in his day. Like, I i don't think he's yeah I don't think he's quite shaken that from his system. um You know, the the Timbers had a couple pretty egregious calls go against them earlier in the season. I'm i'm thinking the the Galaxy one. Yeah, that was yeah maybe the worst non call in history.
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah. And, and so I think, um, I think maybe there's like a little bit of like, that's just still in his system. And he just thinks that they're getting screwed here by, by the MLS officiating. But, you know, he, he finally did get fined, ah like two weeks ago, he he came into the press conference and then left and he, he was jokingly upset at us for not asking him about it because he he says, I'm not going to feed my children now. Uh, I think he's going to be okay. I think he's, yeah he's going to be just fine. But,
00:26:39
Speaker
ah Yeah, you know, i I imagine there's like a little bit of gamesmanship there, but also he's probably not winning over like a whole lot of like opinions of referees by attacking them. like Because he doesn't he doesn't just say the refereeing was bad. Like he he takes some shots at these guys too. I mean, that's always my, I mean, like like Brian Schmetzer takes a totally different tact. Like his attitude is there's nothing to be, seemingly nothing to be gained by attacking the referee. And so he's just sort of,
00:27:09
Speaker
Hey, it's a tough job. what are you going to do? And I don't, I mean, I don't know. It would be an interesting to see an analysis of like which one actually works better. ah But you would just think on some level that he's actually like that.
00:27:20
Speaker
Phil is sort of undercutting. Like he's he's just keeping that narrative going, which I don't, but you know, these refs are human. they they're like they dont yeah Like, and don't think that there's, consciously thinking oh this is this is phil neville i gotta get him but yeah yeah i wouldn't seem to help your cause yeah i i agree with you there and then he also has a tendency to like on the other end um i think there's probably four or five players on the roster the last two years where he's called that person is the best in the mls at x position does like that one uh yeah which i always get a kick out of but um
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i guess he was definitely driving the Evander MVP bandwagon early and it ended up being. he almost pushed it across the the finish line or he I think he he deserves some credit for creating that narrative and sort of driving it forward because that was it seemed almost it was, i thought, outrageously hyperbolic to be early in the season saying this might be the best number 10 in the league when he was on a team that was in last place. But right now.
00:28:28
Speaker
I mean, his numbers suggested that he was at the end of the season. The best part of all that is all last year, Neville kept saying that a Evander was like one of his sons.
00:28:39
Speaker
And then at his yeah first press and then at his first press conference this year, he's like, yeah, he's no longer one of my sons.
00:28:48
Speaker
The thing I always thought was very funny about that is like, man, you have actual sons. Like, why are you? Why are you likening this player to a son when you have human sons that you presumably have relationship with?
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah, but, you know, Evander's got pretty talented feet, man. Like, I take that in. How has, ah yeah I'll let you get going pretty soon here, but but how ah how have, in your perspective, how have the Timbers done at replacing the singular talent, really, that was Evander's?
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's, one, David DeCosta has been fascinating to watch this year because I think from, like, you know, the fan base perspective, it looks like you're bringing in one DP to replace the other and you kind of would think that, especially since they're playing a similar position, that, like, oh, you know, Is this guy going to be a goal scorer too? But Dacosta covers just so much more ground on the pitch and is a lot more versatile in what he does. And he actually tracks back a little bit too. You you never really saw Evander get back behind into the defensive end of the field. And so I think...
00:29:49
Speaker
just having him being able to facilitate the guys like Anthony has taken a huge step up last last year. Anthony was that guy who was super fast, but just couldn't handle the ball and wasn't much of a passer. and And we've seen his, his footwork and dribbling increase substantially this year to where he's not only able to ah score on some of those counterattacks, but he's also able to set up some of his teammates too. um You still have Felipe Mora, who was a 15 goal or I think a 14 goal scorer last year.
00:30:15
Speaker
It's been interesting to see how they rotated him with Kevin Kelsey, Because I think initially they brought on Kevin Kelsey to be an everyday starter, but now they kind of just, you know, rotate him and Mora who, and it's always an interesting change that they do because they are, they're such a different profile of a player too. Kevin Kelsey is a big guy.
00:30:33
Speaker
He's tall. He can go up there and kind of finish with his head a little bit more than Mora. Yeah. But then, ah you know, having Jonathan Rodriguez back in the lineup for the earth but back available the last three games has helped a little bit too. But what gets interesting is when he when he gets back to a point where he should be starting, I I'm not quite sure who they take out because naturally it would probably be Anthony based on like the positions they play. But Anthony has been their best best offensive player this season so far. So they'll have to kind of figure out what to do with that, especially because Rodriguez is the player who, you know, he's older. He's 31, 32 years old. He's coming off of a knee injury. injury he has uh a taste or he has um kind of like he's able to so you know sniff out the ball around the net probably better than any other player on the timbers roster and and just be in the right place at the right time um but you know so much of this portland attack has been based on kind of the counter and and being able to get the horses out there and get them running and so i'm i'm curious to see how they kind of fit rodriguez back into the fold because obviously he's
00:31:35
Speaker
He was a 16 goal scorer last year. he's one of their designated players. Like he's a guy that needs to play a lot, but it's just, um, it will yeah, it'll be fascinating. Yeah, Flea Bittmore has been another an interesting player to me just because it seems like they've been trying to move on, sort of like find his replacement forever. and yet he just keeps But then he keeps producing. yess Right, it's it's a very funny thing because it's like he's always he seems to always be there producing and yet they seem to constantly be looking for someone to you know sort of take over for him. And ah you know they've had some interesting...
00:32:09
Speaker
They keep bringing in interesting options that actually do okay ah sort of doing it, but they not never never as long never for as long and never as consistently. but Well, it's yeah, it's it's one of those things where like i I can't tell you – and again, this is this is probably me being – a relatively new soccer writer, but I can't tell you like specifically like what Felipe Mora does so well, but the dude's got four or five goals already this season. And like, that's been like with split in time with, with Kelsey, it's he's, he just, he knows where to be and he knows what to do with the ball.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, no. Well, it's going to be an interesting game. i'm I'm obviously most fascinated to see what kind of roster ah the Timbers bring down here, but I'm sure it will be interesting. It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd. might My assumption is that there will be a decent contingent of Timbers fans there. If for no other reason, then I know that there's a decent contingent of Timbers fans in the Seattle area.
00:33:02
Speaker
ah But it doesn't sound like there's necessarily a huge contingent that it would be coming up from Portland. Is that fair to say? Yeah. Yeah, I don't think like the the the party bus is is heading its way up north, but, you know, it's it's close enough. It's about, you know, depending on traffic from here, it's about ah two two hours, 15 minutes or so. Not too bad. I guess it's a little closer than Lumen Field as well.
00:33:25
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. exactly Yeah. All right. Well, ah Tyson, thank you so much for doing this. ah Folks can read you on the I-5 corridor, which is a sub stack. And where else can they follow you?
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah. um the The website's just i5corridor.com or you can find me on Blue Sky or X or, you know, all the other things. My might handle across all things is just Tyson Alger, one one word. So, um yeah, that's ah um I'm not terribly hard to find, I hope. Yeah, great. Perfect.
00:33:55
Speaker
Well, thank you, Tyson, for doing this. I'll sign off. I'm Jeremiah Oshan. This is Nosadietta as part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And we'll catch you next time.
00:34:30
Speaker
I expect an LAFC who's 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.
00:34:44
Speaker
ah You guys like that? and a what Awkward joke, dad joke right there, huh?