Transcript
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.
Speaker: Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
Speaker: Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a goal! Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
Speaker: I'll deadline you.
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.
Speaker: They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Speaker: Welcome to another episode of Nos Adiates, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, and now the SoccerWise Media Collective, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Wednesday, November 4th, 2026. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shann. Today, i am joined by Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett.
Speaker: The Sounders are coming off a 5-1 defeat to a Cascadia rival. This time, the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yes, that's the second time they've fallen by that exact scoreline this year after having previously lost 5-1 to the Portland Timbers.
Speaker: It was one of the worst performances from the Sounders ever. and completed an embarrassing Cascadia Cup schedule in which they went 0-4 with a minus 11 goal difference. That's the first time a team has gone pointless in the regional rivalry's history and the worst goal difference any team has posted in a single season.
Speaker: Amazingly, it did not eliminate the Sounders from the playoffs, which seemed all but assured... as recently as the start of last week. But the Sounders now face a virtual must-win match on Saturday against LAFC and will need a bit of help, too, if they are to make the playoffs for the 17th time in 18 seasons.
Speaker: So, Aaron, full disclosure, we were planning on recording on Tuesday. we We were in too good of a mood to bring it down by talking about the Sounders. But now that we have come down off of our...
Speaker: Tuesday high. how are How are you feeling about the Sounders? About the Sounders? That's a good qualifier. ah Pretty bad, i think. um We were were joking before the recording about how we'd said last night we couldn't summon the anger to talk about the Sounders. But really...
Speaker: it's not anger that, that I feel at this point. Like that's, that's, that was, I got all of that out of my system months ago. Yeah. Fair. Okay. It's, it's, I'm sad because this is the, <unk> I think fair to say the worst season in in club history. oh yeah. You know, in the MLS era for sure. sure For sure. 2013, maybe the the next closest and Hey, they want to play off game that, that year. Right. So,
Speaker: They did finish like fourth, I think in the West. I was going like that. Yeah. yeah And ah yeah, the team is just it's just not good. And for during that losing streak, I think it was very easy to believe and and reasonable to believe because we had seen it going to the, you know, going into the World Cup break that this is a good team dealing with a lot of injuries and trying to find an identity with the players they had available and struggling to do that.
Speaker: But once players got healthy, things would pick up. And then they did for for a brief period of time. And I think the thing that that's weirdest about it to me is that, you know, that run of good form, that that unbeaten run and that winning streak,
Speaker: ended in Dallas in a game where they were pretty good. Right. Like they, yeah I think we both came away feeling really good about that. Yeah. You know, I, I did, I felt good about the performance and I felt like, you know, the streak was going to have to end at some point, but this is a good Dallas team midweek on the road.
Speaker: and they arguably were the better team and, and deserved, I think certainly deserved a point from that game. And, and, you know, on a different night could have been winners. And then from there on out, it's just been all downhill. It's just been, yeah it's like that result just took it out of them. Like they were running on fumes and, and coasting, you know, on, on, ah on good feelings from the one over new England and and the non beaten streak. And,
Speaker: in players healthy. And then that, that wind just knocked him back to earth. And i just don't think you can come to a conclusion other than this team is not good. It's not a good team. It has some pretty significant problems.
Speaker: um There's a lot of talent on the team. I still think that I don't necessarily think that they are, you know, several years away from being a contender again, that they need to completely blow up the roster.
Speaker: but this collection of players with this coaching staff, this season is not good. They're, they're just not a good team. And that's a bummer. That's a bummer to take.
Speaker: it is, it it is. And you know, the Sounders have, we've, you know, we've talked about this many, many times, but the Sounders have made a ah point of holding themselves to the standard that they expect to compete for trophies every year. And, and obviously there is a,
Speaker: There is some so small, very small remote chance that the center is going on some epic run and um they win MLS Cup. And go, oh, well.
Speaker: Maybe it wasn't such a bad season. It's like, no, no the season was still very bad. This is going to be the second lowest point total that they've ever had. even if they, I believe, even if they win, it'll be the lowest in the table that they finished outside of the year they missed the playoffs.
Speaker: And... it is it by any, by any reasonable metric, it's just been a disaster of, uh, you know, today, Paul, uh, Rothrock talked to us and he, he said something about how it's been a rough six months. And I was like six months and it's been six months basically since the beginning of may that they have just been in this sort of like funk. And yeah, there was a ah six, eight, whatever, seven week break in between there. But,
Speaker: It's been bad. It's been really bad. And I don't blame anyone for being upset. ah You know, the, the GM vote is ah still going on. If you haven't voted, you can still do that.
Speaker: If you're a season ticket holder, you should have an email that you can follow the link of. And it's going to close on Saturday. and You know, when the vote opened, the Sounders were like riding high, essentially. It was looking very, you know things look pretty good.
Speaker: At the time, I said I i supported Craig being retained. I'm not going to change my tune on that, but I fully get why people want to vote him out. I hear a lot more people saying that I won't be shocked if he loses the vote. I, I, I still don't think he's going to reach the threshold. It's a high bar. You know, the, the sounders, uh, 40% of season ticket holders need to vote and 66% of the vote needs to be fire them. Essentially. i don't, I don't know that they'll hit either of those metrics. They might. Uh, but I, I,
Speaker: i I hope that the organization understands that it's a referendum on everybody, on the coaching staff, on the ownership, on the front office, on ticket sales, on everything.
Speaker: ah Every single person in the organization should feel like the vote was about them. if it if it goes the way it looks like it's going to go, i Craig is, you know, potentially going to lose his job over it. I don't think that's super fair, but ah hopefully he he does. I will do to his credit. He seems to understand that it it could go that way. And, and he's trying to, you know, sort of take that in stride.
Speaker: I just hope that every single person from Adrian Hanauer at the ownership level down to, you know, the lowest executive in the organization understands that it's a it's a referendum on on the work that they've done over the last few years.
Speaker: And they've they've pissed away a lot of goodwill, I think. And, you know, people are are just fed up. And this game, this stretch right here has been sort of like a perfect encapsulation of what's wrong. I mean, they came into this game.
Speaker: saying it was they were treating it like a playoff game, and they give up a goal in the first minute. i They respond by giving up a goal in the ninth minute. And they go into halftime down three zero The game is effectively over. They make four subs at halftime, and then they give up the next goal. They're down 4-0 before they find a way to finally get on the scoreboard. And look, I do think the effort was there. like I didn't see people...
Speaker: walking around or doing anything like that. But this is like professional soccer, professional sports effort should be taken for granted. And you got to do all the other stuff. You got to get into tackles. You got to, you got to make hard fouls. You got to send a message. You got to do those kinds of things.
Speaker: And the white caps who had nothing to play for did all that stuff. And the Sounders did not. it It gets very frustrating where the press conference after every single one of these games is We're disappointed with the performance. We've got to be better than that. We need to learn our lessons, but you know what? We didn't quit.
Speaker: The effort was there. The players talk about how tight the locker room is. And look, in a perfect world, the team is great and all the players love each other and are best friends. I would much rather every single one of those guys hate each other to the point where they're slashing each other's tires after training and win games because than then be a shitty team that likes each other i don't care right i don't like ah genuinely don't care if you like each other uh i do think that one of the i was gonna say one of the things i think that has maybe gone on that maybe got out of hand a little bit is like the team is seem like a bunch of really good guys and i think that's
Speaker: fun for us to, you know, when we talk to them after the game, I suppose it's, it's pleasant, but it's probably not the, like you need some assholes on the team. And I don't know if there are any really.
Speaker: Yeah. I, I know you're an A's fan, but you're from the Bay area. You remember those late nineties, early 2000s. I used to be an A's fan. Fair enough. But that was your team at the time.
Speaker: But yeah, for sure. You were around those Giants teams in the late 90s, early 2000s. For sure. Yeah. Jeff Kent, Barry Bonds. and They hated each other. Those two guys despised each other. And you know what they did? won a shit ton of games. Barry Bonds, one of the biggest assholes to ever live. Greatest baseball player to ever live. I love watching him, even though I hated him. I loved i i loved watching him.
Speaker: And there's just there's there's a line, right? Like, I don't want you to be an actual criminal, ideally, but right. ah But I don't I want the team to win games and it doesn't feel like they have. And and you can even be a really nice guy off the pitch and a huge piece of shit on it.
Speaker: And ah I don't feel like they have that guy. Ozzy Alonzo seems like a sweetheart. i mean, Paul Rothrock might be the closest they have to that. And like, yeah, he you can't have that. You're like ah you're like.
Speaker: ah Sixth man be you're right. And he's also i think that what he does is super effective, but he's also a little birthday boy. You know what i mean? Like he he's a missed two months on top of that. that's ah Yeah, they don't have somebody that people are actually afraid of on the team. And I do. I think that's a factor. I think that's genuinely a factor.
Speaker: And, you know, at the time when Brian was complaining about, oh, you know, they're helping guys up. getting beat by port. if I found that a little bit annoying, but having had like a few months to marinate on it and seeing the way the rest of the season has gone, I kind of get the point he's making there. Right. Like, yeah.
Speaker: And I think Paul is maybe the guy helping the them up, which which is goes goes to the point. Yeah. Kind funny, but I, you know, I don't know what it is, man. I don't want to be a sports psychologist. um We've seen this team be good this year with the same collection of guys.
Speaker: So maybe that's not the root cause, um but something is missing. Whether it's yeah the right personality mix, whether it's motivation, ah whether it's the fact that the the the things that Brian Schmetzer has always been able to do to get these guys in the right frame of mind is after 10 years just not working as well.
Speaker: maybe like yeah that's Maybe that's it. could be. And you know coaches that are tactical geniuses, sometimes their tactics stop working, and nobody can really figure out why.
Speaker: Well, you know, it was interesting this week. ah We talked to... Paul Areola, Paul Rothrock, Albert Rysnack, and Brian Schmetzer. And there was all, you know, yesterday, brian Schmetzer...
Speaker: alluded or told us that they were trying something different in training instead of going through the film session. They sort of had a venting session, it sounds like. And everyone, you know, it stood up and made some points. and And it sounds like it maybe wasn't quite, i don't, I wasn't there. I don't have a lot of inside information, but the end result of it was designed to be that the players would be able to sort of like give what they felt like would maybe a way to refresh training. And yeah it feels like a little too little, too late, ah potentially.
Speaker: But, you know, they they had some ideas and and Brian said that they would take those ideas and mix them up with what the coaches already had planned to do and and kind of come up with a ah different plan. But it sounds like there was also just like a chance for everybody to get stuff off their chest and to say what they think is working and what they don't ah what they don't like.
Speaker: And, and it seems like it got through, you know, Rothrock today said it was, he felt like the last two sessions have been some of their best sessions and training did look different than it often did. It felt, you know, one of the things that Nico Moreno and I were observing is that the, they are doing some 11 v 11 scrimmaging and it really looked like two mixed up groups. Like it wasn't, a it didn't look to me like it was a starters versus reserves. It looked like,
Speaker: There were pretty mixed sides. And I kind of wonder if the idea there was that it became too obvious who the starters were and who the reserves were and that there wasn't like a real sense of competition. And so maybe this was sort of an attempt to to change that up.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't. This is just guessing. But I do appreciate that they're trying something this week because it has become obvious. This is the second five game winless run that they've been on this year. i believe that they had only that hit. That was that was the longest winless run they'd ever been on five games coming into this year under Schmetzer.
Speaker: And so clearly some things have gone wrong. ah They had, you know, these last four games. Certainly four of the last five games were totally winnable games that they didn't win. Any of them is, is obviously quite bad, but um I don't know. It's just, it's just, it's, it's a real bummer because I had really high expectations coming into the season.
Speaker: i i think I still like the like to your point I like what the Ross I like the players I like the individual pieces I don't look at this roster and say I can't believe we are starting player X at position Y right there's not a single spot like that i and it just feels like the sum is less the the individual parts are less than the sum I don't know what's it saying the the sum is less than them the individual parts yeah what is it i think that's how it is this is driving me i could do it if it were the other way around if it were the greater than the sum of its parts lesser than some of its parts right yeah there you go yeah something like that two two really smart guys here two yeah we're just ah killing it uh do you talk for a living i i kind of yeah communicate for a living uh believe it or not uh but yeah it's
Speaker: It's just depressing to go into the final game of the season. i think this is so I look this up and only twice before have the Sounders needed a result in the season finale to get into the playoffs.
Speaker: But they both those times they controlled their own destiny. Now, there was obviously a year in 2022 where they were eliminated the second to last game of the season. So the the season finale was a meaningless match.
Speaker: but they've never gone into a season finale where they didn't control their own destiny. And it's, you know, in, in 20 and it, and it's just remarkable that they are sitting here and it it seems unlikely that they would win and not get in, but that is a absolute possibility.
Speaker: And, I guess this is kind of what they did. It's like would be fittingly deserving if they won the season finale and then didn't get into the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, you don't you don't lose two games to your two biggest rivals by a combined eight or, you know, eight goals. Ten to two. Yeah, ten to two. eight Yeah, eight goals. right If they if they had lost those games two to one, they'd be in seventh right now.
Speaker: Or they'd be they' be it sorry they'd be in well they'd they'd be ahead of Portland Colorado. They're losing on the wins tiebreaker. So it's not the oh that's true goal difference that's keeping them down. But I see your point. Yeah, I mean, if they had gotten a one point from the Cascadia Cup, if they had gotten one point from the Cascadia Cup, they would be in seventh place right now.
Speaker: And they would be, I believe, even have a chance to get into six if they had gotten one point from the Cascadia Cup. I also think that... So in 2022, they obviously missed the playoffs, but they had a positive goal difference.
Speaker: This could be the first season yeah they they have a negative goal difference. If they tie or lose this game, they will, for the first time, have a negative goal difference. That is true. I mean, they would have to win by two or more to...
Speaker: three three or more, I think, because they're they're negative right you right now so they' are negative three right now. They're going to have a negative goal difference no matter what, because I don't see them putting up three and and keeping LAFC off the board.
Speaker: ah Yeah, and and I agree. like i Obviously, I want them to make the playoffs, because once you get in the playoffs, anything theoretically can happen. Yeah, and I'd rather watch more soccer, to be honest.
Speaker: But do I really want to watch them go to Portland and play Portland? So I've had this. Yeah, I've had this pet theory.
Speaker: I've had this pet theory that you can you can maybe we can discuss this. So my theory is that the worst case scenario is obviously. Missing the b playoffs. The second worst scenario is making the playoffs, but having to play the eight, nine game against like the Rapids or RSL or even the galaxy.
Speaker: i don't know who all the potential opponents are. but because you would play that game and if you lose that game, it's like, what, why do we, why do we bother?
Speaker: but Like this was such a waste of time and energy. It's a midweek game. I would, and I would rate those things worse than playing the Timbers in the eight, nine game and losing that one. Cause at least if you lose to the Timbers, you are fueled by righteous anger and there's like real emotions and maybe some, some change comes out of it.
Speaker: ah At the same time, if you beat the Timbers, It would feel like a nice little, ah you know, side prize to your season to say like, Hey, at least we knocked the Timbers out of the playoffs. Yeah.
Speaker: i I hear what you're saying, and I'm not going to tell you you're wrong because this a subjective thing. I would rather miss the playoffs than than play the timbers than play the Timbers. I'm going to go so far as to say that I would rather miss the playoffs, and this is the only the kind of thing you can know in hindsight, but I would rather miss the playoffs than...
Speaker: beat the Timbers and then get knocked out of the best of five because playing the Timbers in that game is going to be your sorry. Best three should be best five. ah Playing the Timbers in that game is going to be 90 minutes of misery for a team that I don't like that. I don't. i mean, I do. I like them, but you know what I mean? Right. I don't like watching that. You're yeah. i'm I'm in a constant state of being annoyed at them.
Speaker: Now, if they if you could tell me, hey, they're going to they're going to beat the Timbers and then that's going to be the thing that fuels the cup run. Great. You know, it's worth it in that case. But is it worth it to just go like lose two games to.
Speaker: Vancouver or because that's I mean. Oh, yeah. Vancouver, you're right. They would play Vancouver if they get to play a game. Right. That's why Vancouver. You're right. If if if they could somehow knock Portland and Vancouver out of the playoffs,
Speaker: Fine. Like, yes, that's worth it. But I, man, I just. Up until. A week ago, probably I was still kind of of the opinion of like, look, this team is not very good, but they're the kind, they're the specific variety of not very good. That is still pretty dangerous in the playoffs. And i don't, I just don't believe that anymore. I. You have to be capable of scoring a goal.
Speaker: And they're, they're not. capable of doing that until they give up for, and i think that the defense has been, you know, statistically the defense is still pretty good, but they have been really outperforming their, their underlying numbers all season. And I think that's true. I think that's starting to catch up with them. I think they're an above average defense, not a good defense. Um,
Speaker: Yeah. Andrew Thomas has presented something like 10 goals this year. i think Andrew Thomas has been the most valuable player on the team and I don't think it's particularly close. Yeah. He's been, he's been really good.
Speaker: ah And you know, i have said that I, I didn't expect a lot of changes and I have even said that the way that they go out this season might not really impact the way they're thinking, but I hope I'm wrong because I really do because the only thing more depressing than missing the playoffs would be missing the playoffs and just sort of saying, what if we ran it back?
Speaker: ah You know, like a couple changes, we'll replace Yebar and yabar and replace Kim Kihei and Ryan Saylor and some of these other players who were relatively inconsequential, but we're we're just going to use Next year as an assessment, which is what Craig Weibel has said is the plan. But he also said that when it looked like they were going to make the playoffs and maybe finish fifth.
Speaker: So hopefully something has changed and hopefully there is a, there has been a realization that we can't afford to just do this again. We can't afford to get another year older uh,
Speaker: You know, because they don't have they have some young talent, which is encouraging. You know, Seba Gomez and Snyder Brunel, I believe, are both getting called into the U.S. Olympic team in a coming up here.
Speaker: Stu Hawkins, I think, has shown that he is a ah real player. Andrew Thomas, goalkeeper of the future. Like there's the the cupboard isn't bare, but they also have a lot of, you know, Dayan Jovalich is still just 27, 28 years old. he He you know, he's got many years ahead of him.
Speaker: But outside of those four or five players, they've got a lot of aging talent. ah You know, Jesus Ferreira is still relatively young. i don't know what we have in him right now.
Speaker: Paul Areola is getting older. Jordan Morris definitely towards the end of of the run here. Christian Roldan is, is, you know, 32, 33 years old, but he, he can't do this forever.
Speaker: ah so they they need to start bringing in some, some young talent and not just players from the Academy and not just players from defiance, but genuine prospects that likely are going to cost some money.
Speaker: And, if You can't afford to skip windows. you know like I understand the the impetus to looking forward to summer, especially when there's all these new rules, but that's not go to most teams are going to do something this winter. The Sounders can't afford to not be one of those teams.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean you go you go up and down the roster and you look at the ages of these players, and it in terms of impact players, like guys that you really feel like can be...
Speaker: starting important pieces on on a championship caliber team. There's Andrew Thomas, there's Jackson Reagan.
Speaker: There's Pedro de la Vega, but you know, yeah, we don't need to get that. There's day on Jovlich and there's Jesus Ferreira and that's it.
Speaker: Right. And there's big questions about several of these players. I'm a huge Jesus Ferreira believer. I think he's a guy that they should be trying to build the attack around.
Speaker: Right. But, they're not doing that. They're putting him in a position where he has not succeeded at any point in his, his sounders tenure consistently. They're consistently putting them there. Yeah. And they've got some really, you know, talented young players, but if Stu Hawkins in the next year or two gets to the point where he's a championship team and MLS caliber center back, he's gone.
Speaker: If Snyder, you know, gets to the point where he's starting on a championship, MLS caliber center midfield team, you know, he's, he's gone too. Like, they don't have that like middle core of guys like Christian or Jordan, you know, guys that are in their athletic prime and very, very good MLS players, but for whatever reason missed their shot at Europe.
Speaker: Right. And those are the guys that are the backbone of really good MLS teams are players like that. And they just have very few of those right now. Absolutely. And, and that's something that they, they need to bring in, you know, they, yeah,
Speaker: you know like I think that they can be competitive in the next year or two, but they can't be caught up in how do we get competitive this year. They've got to start looking at ah being...
Speaker: building a a roster, like a, a stable roster. ah and I think that they got, you know, they they did that up till now. I think it made sense, but they, it's time to turn it over. I think, I think everyone, i think there's a lot of agreement in that and they just need to actually do it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. and And, you know, you don't have to do it all at once, right? You don't have to just know trade Christian and Jordan and and, you know, Jackson Reagan and Paul Ariola for whatever you can get for them.
Speaker: But you can you can build the plan while it's in the air to some degree. you know you You can get what you can still get out of the guys that have been part of your core until you can't get it from them as long as you have a succession plan or as long as you have the ability and willingness to go replace them quickly when they leave. That's been the thing that has bit them in the ass is that, all right, they had a succession plan for Raul and then he got hurt.
Speaker: And they didn't move quickly enough to go fix that. um You know, they they just they lose players and they don't have a plan B.
Speaker: you've got to have a really solid succession plans for guys like k Christian Holden. um he's He's an irreplaceable player, so you can't just say, you can't do like what they did with Obed and say, well, we'll just go get Hassani Dotson. He's a pretty good player. He is. He's not as good as Obed.
Speaker: you have to So you have to replace him in the aggregate. You have to replace him in other ways. And they haven't been doing that when they've lost key players. They didn't replace Niko in the aggregate. They didn't replace Raul the aggregate. And it's, you know, it's you. Oh, I would say they replaced. Oh, like Albert has replaced the production of Nico.
Speaker: He he has. But he there's a lot of stuff that Nico did that Albert doesn't do. Yeah, that's fair. Like that doesn't. So think Albert is a better player than Nico was. But there were a lot they try to play the same way they played with Nico, missing a bunch of the things that Nico did. And I think that that's yeah causing problems.
Speaker: um And I think. ah you know, when when Jordan moved to striker, they didn't really have a replacement for Jordan on the wing, right? So yeah, he can, you know, I think Jordan in 2024, 2025 was a much better player than Raul, you know, since probably 2001, but they lost his production on the wing and they didn't really replace him. So I just think that,
Speaker: if you keep replacing really good players with less good players, you're going to get worse, especially as the league is getting better. And I think that there just has to be a commitment. Yeah. Yeah. There has to be a commitment to getting better in the aggregate, you know, um that I just, I haven't seen. And, and like we keep saying like,
Speaker: you would hope that this crisis C, right, is the thing that gets them to change their thinking. And it kind of happened in, you know, in mid-season where they went out and signed Jovlich when they had been sending pretty strong signals they weren't going to do something like that.
Speaker: hu But it didn't happen to the extent that I think everybody feels like it needed to, right? So is it going to be the same kind of thing this year, this off-season, where they say, well, yeah, you know, it looks like we probably need a winger. So let's go get a winger. And then they don't really address anything else.
Speaker: I mean, i hope not. I really hope not. Because if they approach things that way again, like who's to blame anyone for just kind of giving up?
Speaker: You know, it's you're sending a pretty clear signal at that point, I think. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. All right. Well, ah we're going to take a break. We'll come back and we will talk about the, the upcoming game against LAFC and sort of all the permutations of what's going on with the team and and whatnot. You're listening to no study at this on the center heart podcast.
Speaker: Network.
Speaker: This is our MLS minute presented by Continental Tire, the longtime supporter of American soccer. I'm David Goss here, and it's going to be tough to try and stick to a minute or get even close because we are one week away from decision day and we are so excited. All week at Soccerize, we're going to have your coverage of all of the playoff scenarios, previews of the matches to come, analysis of what's gone right and wrong for some of these teams and for the sad teams. Look at you, Atlanta San Diego SKC.
Speaker: Don't worry. On Thursday, we're going to do a look back on what went wrong in your season and what to look forward to. So I'm going try and speed through to get as close as I can to an MLS minute here. And I have to start with Nashville. 91st minute winner against the Red Bulls at home. They tied Miami for the most points in an MLS single season the day they lifted the shield in front of their fans.
Speaker: Next week with a win or a tie, they would be the 16 in 10 years to set a new points record in MLS. It was a strong weekend behind them in the East. Miami came from behind to win at New England that moved the South Florida squad to second in the East ahead of the revs and Chicago right behind them got a win out West to stay ahead of Charlotte.
Speaker: in the fourth fifth seed for home field advantage cincinnati beat philadelphia that clinched their playoff spot nearly one point behind philly in six and the crew clinched their playoff spot as well for the 3-1 mauling of dc united and now sit ahead of orlando who yes have qualified for the playoffs but are now in ninth place All of this is thanks to New York Red Bulls, NYCFC, and Toronto, who were all eliminated this week in more embarrassing fashion than the team before them.
Speaker: Out West, Vancouver have clinched first, so they are going to host all the way through. at least the western conference finals they crushed their cascade rival seattle 5-1 who are now in serious trouble of not even making the postseason dallas san jose and st louis still sit in the two through four spots with houston and lafc behind them but here is where it gets interesting the la galaxy started this weekend in 10th place they now sit in seventh
Speaker: they could still clinch lafc ahead of them but they travel to rsl on decision day who currently sit in 11th place two points behind the galaxy all of the la galaxy portland colorado rapids seattle rsl and minnesota are still alive on d-day for the final three spots in the western conference playoffs and this was all thanks to a wild Sunday night, which ended with Minnesota knocking off LAFC 3-1 on the road to stay alive and Portland jumping from 13th to 8 with their victory over the Houston Dynamo.
Speaker: That sounds like a lot. It is, but we are so excited to break it all down at SoccerWise all week. So join us on socials as well as on the podcast or on YouTube. And this has been your MLS Minute as part of our SoccerWise Media Collective sponsored by Continental Tire. We are proud to work with the best local soccer media partners across the country.
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Speaker: Welcome back to Nos Adientes. All right. ah So the Sounders play LAFC on Saturday at 4 p.m. the It's Fan Appreciation Day. They're opening up the 300 section for...
Speaker: or Presumably, I guess they think there's demand, and there probably is. I mean, ah Sun is still a ah pretty good draw, so i'm sure that's part of it. ah But, you know, it should be a decent crowd there. But they come into this game sitting in 10th place, and they... So they can't... They don't control their own destiny, but they do have a pretty...
Speaker: reasonable path to advancement. And so I'll, I'll break it down for you ah real quick. So they, they should, they, they need to go into this game believing they need to win.
Speaker: I don't think they should spend any time at all worrying about what else is going on. That said, There are three teams immediately ahead of them in the standings.
Speaker: If they win, if the Sounders win, all they need is for one of those three teams, the LA Galaxy who are playing at RSL, the Portland Timbers who are playing at Austin, and or the Colorado Rapids who are playing at FC Dallas to just drop points. They don't need to lose. They just need to not win.
Speaker: And if any one of those three teams drops points, the Sounders will move up in the standings. They could even theoretically jump all the way into seventh, And, hey, that would be great.
Speaker: Miss the plan game altogether. ah Basically, gay ah yeah, that that's what they would need to to do. If all three of those teams, I think they would need all three of those teams to drop points to move all the way up to seventh. But again, not not totally impossible.
Speaker: And... and And then they there's actually, I'm going to get into all the permutations of how, but they could actually get in with a tie as long as I think two of those teams drop points and the, yeah, I think it's as long as two of those three teams, but then ah RSL potentially could jump them if they tied because they can beat whatever. And I guess Minnesota could jump them too.
Speaker: Right. Uh, The Galaxy losing would open up a lot of possibilities because the Galaxy are a point ahead of Portland and Colorado and the Sounders, but they are they have the same number of wins and a worse goal difference than the Sounders. So if the Galaxy lose and the Sounders draw or win, they're probably in, I think. Right. Yes. Although the Galaxy are playing RSL, right? Right. So RSL would jump the Sounders. if Which means they would have 45 to 44. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: yeah yeah They should just win. They should really just win. They should just win. That's really what they should do is they should just win. Now, the good news is that LAFC, or i don't know if it's good news or not, but the potentially good news is that LAFC, which, hey, look, if you're a Sounders fan, I get it. You're wrapped up in how bad we've been, but Like kind of on the on the on the the down low, LAFC has been garbage for several months. They've only won twice since the end of League's Cup.
Speaker: And they just now are coming off ah a loss at home to Minnesota United where they lost 3-1 and their only goal came on a bicycle kick in the 90th minute or the 91st minute in stoppage time ah after they're down 3-0.
Speaker: They have not, they they fired their coach, Marco Santos. They've hired a new guy who hasn't really been much better. And their, their fan base an open revolt just as, you know, maybe even more than the Sounders are.
Speaker: ah So this is a team who, and Oh, and by the way, this is a dead rubber game for them. They, have they have no, ah the only motivation they have is to just get back on the winning track.
Speaker: Yeah. They are stuck in sixth place. They cannot move up. They cannot move down. believe this. Yeah, they can't. They can't move down. They could theoretically move down.
Speaker: But ah if they if there was a 20 goal swing in the goal difference, they could move down. Yes. yeah ah Literally, 20 goals. I mean, would be pretty funny. Hey, it would be fun. It would be fun to score to win 20 to nil.
Speaker: or yeah oh no they just need to it' they just need the 717 sounders are negative 3 lfc at negative 13 so no well no because it's the galaxy that could potentially catch them oh right right right right nevermind never mind never mind You're right.
Speaker: Well, I guess the galaxy. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah. That's what it is. it's Goal difference is the next, uh, the next tiebreaker. But anyway, LFC. So yeah my point is LFC is just not that good.
Speaker: they have, or at least they haven't been playing, but they have a lot of talent on their roster. ah I don't know. Uh, Is that a good do you feel like this is like a trap for the Sounders? They they can't afford it. They should not fall into any traps. There's that should be out the window. But yeah, I mean, feeling heading into this game.
Speaker: Montreal had nothing to play for in the Sounders. That's a great one. Vancouver had nothing to play for. The Sounders lost another great point. Yeah, I don't think i mean, I honestly think that the Sounders do better against decent teams that are trying hard and I can't explain it.
Speaker: You know, yeah the the the best, the best game they've played certainly since the world cup break was that three nil in new England. New England's a pretty decent team. Yeah. Not in the greatest form, but like have been a good team overall.
Speaker: And you actually rounded into pretty good form after that game. And the Sounders look great. They look good against a good and motivated Dallas team. down Yeah. They won the next four games after the loss.
Speaker: um So, you know, it's, I hope LAFC, I guess by, by that logic, I hope LAFC comes out guns blazing and that this is a really important game to them because I,
Speaker: But I also got the impression that last week was very important to Vancouver, and that's why they won it. you know they they Maybe the Sounders were expecting them to take it easy, and and they didn't. and So, I don't know.
Speaker: ah Yeah. yeah The really wild thing is that you can't even look at it and say well, LAFC just haven't gotten as good of a season out of Bwonga and Sun. Blanca's got 18 goals and five assists.
Speaker: Suns got seven goals and 12 assists. They are doing everything that would have been expected. ah It's just that nobody else, like their next leading scorer is David Martinez. He was transferred a long time ago in the summer.
Speaker: And then you've got Marky Delgado at two goals. Is there, is there third leading active goal scorer? ah yeah They just are not really getting anything from,
Speaker: anyone else on the roster other than and Bwonga? It's a similar to problem to what the Sounders are dealing with, where if Jolic isn't scoring goals, they're not scoring goals. you know it's Jordan scored in the last game, obviously, but generally, ah that's where the goals are coming from. And so if Bwonga's not scoring goals and LAFC's defense is very, very good, that's kept them in a lot of games. LAFC's defense is still quite good.
Speaker: Yeah, so I think that they're, you know, they they've been able to grind out a lot of draws, it feels like, um and and lost close games where it hasn't, like the wheels haven't fully come off as much. But I think they're certainly over the last month or or six weeks or so, they've been underachieving pretty enormously, I think it's fair to say.
Speaker: Yeah, ah yeah. I mean, i guess the point here is, The Sounders need to need to figure out a way to win this game. It's it is.
Speaker: i really don't want them to go into this offseason on a six game winless run on a three game losing streak. That would be even worse. It's I would like like there's something fitting if they were to win and not make the playoffs. I would be I would be weirdly at peace with that one.
Speaker: I'd be yeah disappointed, but at peace with it. Yeah. But just get a result in this game, guys. please ah Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: It's ah it. It's never felt worse with the team. The on field performance is awful. The feeling like the end of an era is here is is difficult. Very much. um Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: it's it's going to be very emotionally difficult to deal with. And and I don't know, like, I don't know how much longer Brian Schmetzer is going to coach. He might coach another five years, who knows. But it it feels palpable that maybe it's drawn to a close. Certainly, I think the era of, you know, the Jordan Morris, Christian Oldan teams is is rapidly coming to a close where those are are the two talismanic players.
Speaker: i The schedule is changing. The attendance keeps dropping and the the rumors about Redden keep getting louder. and Like, it just, every little piece of enjoyment that we can get out of out of this team right now is is appreciated. And i really hope that, you know, they send off this horrible season on a good note, no matter what happens with the playoff race.
Speaker: I don't think the sprint season is going to be a lot better. I don't have a lot of faith in that. I hope I'm wrong, obviously. But I i think it's going to be tough. and And my hope is that it's tough in a way that is beneficial for the future rather than trying to get the band back together for one last score, you know, because I just don't think that's going to work.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I think we should probably get out of here. Once again, I want to say thank you to our sponsor, Full Pull Wines. It has been a pleasure.
Speaker: ah It continues to be a pleasure having you on board with us every day, every week. It seems I am reminded of some, one of our colleagues, the most recent one is the mainland, which is an Orlando city blog is, is shuttering their doors because they, they just can't make it work. They're not, they're not, it doesn't look sound like they really were making money and it was passionate love. And just another reminder that the only reason we're able to keep doing this, that we've been doing this for,
Speaker: 15, 16 years is because of the support of folks like ah you and it's the members of our, of our site, but also the sponsors that we have have been really helpful to making this work.
Speaker: So I want to say thank you to everyone for, for making that happen. ah And I guess all that said, let's get out of here. I am Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickett.
Speaker: This is no Saudi at this part of the sounder at heart podcast network. and remember, you'll never get alone.
Speaker: Let's go and Sounders.
