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Paul Rothrock owns the Houston Dynamo - Ep. 66
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We’re back with a good, solid Dub Pod as the Seattle Sounders took on the Houston Dynamo at Lumen Field and emerged with a 1-0 victory. The Sounders are officially headed to the playoffs and Paul Rothrock got a game-winner, which we break down in our game review.
After that we hit our Agenda Check, take your questions and close out with some takes on the other results from Matchday 35.
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- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:30
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 67 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. Got producer Noah here with me. Noah, we're laying down a dub pod today. How are you feeling?
00:00:49
Speaker
It's early in the morning, it's it's sunny outside, it's that nice, brisk, cool, fall air. ari I'm getting into the playoff spirit. It feels like playoff time. Playoff time, there's dubs in the air. yeah We have a good, solid dub pod today as the Seattle Sounders took on the Houston Dynamo at Loom & Field on Saturday and took all three points.
00:01:11
Speaker
We have a lot of playoff seating implications to talk about. We got a Paul Rothrock game winner to break down. Paul Rothrock banger, not even just a game winner. Yeah, Paul Rothrock banger to win the game that we're going to be breaking down in our game review, so looking forward to that. We're going to hit our agenda check. I have a new agenda to promote this week. Let's go. We're going to take your questions. Thank you to everyone who submitted, and we're going to jump around MOS for winners and losers.
00:01:36
Speaker
And then also we had ah we had a few news items. I think both sounders related Club World Cup related and maybe like a couple other MLS storylines. So yeah, a lot to get to today. um Looking forward to it. But before we do all that.
Podcast Network and Subscriber Acknowledgment
00:01:53
Speaker
I did want to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:02:14
Speaker
um We're going to we're going to goal set on that. I think we're at we're at 33 subs. Let's get to 34 by the time we're at the next episode, which is totally possible. You just need one, one, one, one, one of you. I know there's one person out there that'll sign up at soundredheart.com slash LS. No. Did you want to go ahead and read the list? i Am happy to read you the list here ah Sorry, I'm just I'm just double checking here because like I had said before ah We have one listener whose name wasn't pronounced correctly So I'm just making sure it is if your name is not pronounced correctly shoot us an email lobbing scorchers at Just once media calm and we will make sure
00:02:59
Speaker
You are locked in. All right, here we go. Are we ready for this? Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascanelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Daniel Povado, Samuel Fow, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bontye, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Mayley, Andy Hill, Mike Lintonney, Nate Bontye, David Rodriguez, CJ Miles-Marinakis, Mark Audinger, Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, Claire Berger, Robert Singh, Tyler Nakatsu, Steve Hudson, Choska, Patrick Sexton, John Hatmaker, M.M. Ebach,
00:03:26
Speaker
Justin Walker, Jay Anders, Ryan Shade, and Nathan Jones. thank you all so much to everyone who subscribe we love and appreciate all of you um
00:03:40
Speaker
No, before I plug the YouTube, I already have a quick correction to make.
Episode Correction and Game Lineup Discussion
00:03:43
Speaker
Make a correction? I think I did the thing again where I said the wrong episode number. Oh, that's okay. We do it all the time. Yeah, I said 67 at the top of the show. It looks like it's actually episode 66. The reason I noticed that is because I was looking at the Lobb and Skorchers YouTube, which is on the road to 600 subs. The road to 600 is alive and well.
00:04:03
Speaker
We're at, like, 561, to be exact. um So let's get that to 600 before the actual episode, 67. All right, let's jump into this game review, Noah, after that housekeeping, ah because we got a dub to break down. Yeah, we do. So let's start, as we always do, with our lineup reaction. I think the main thing that to note with this lineup was you had a De La Vega start, and then you had Christian back in the double pivot with Obed. JP is still out.
00:04:33
Speaker
Other than that, it's pretty much what they've been running for this whole kind of stretch run of the season here. um Did you have any thoughts on the lineup other than that? No, not, not really anything surprising to me. I was just like, yep, that's just, that's a, that's a lineup here. That's a lineup right now that we're playing. I mean, nothing really seemed to change. Yeah. I mean, it was just, it was good to see De La Vega like consistently getting minutes. We're going to do our, our weekly De La Vega takes.
00:05:00
Speaker
um But yeah pretty standard lineup. I think I mean this is gonna have this is gonna be how they're running it For the last couple games and into the playoffs here although it will be interesting to see what happens when JP gets back um because Christian I think has been very good back in the double pivot and it's kind of you know a reminder of and How much he excelled at that position earlier in his career. He's his skill set his skill set is just very ah like you really can't put it anywhere and it plays because because of his work rate and because ah of how good he is on defense um so you can put a player like that ah at right mid and be very effective but then back in the double pivot or it right back and you know he still cooks yeah i mean that's like kind of what we were saying before or at least i was saying was christian is this player that defies like
00:05:53
Speaker
Everything and he's on a side.
Seattle Sounders vs Houston Dynamo Recap
00:05:55
Speaker
He's not a deep he's not even a DP like he has DP depth Not on a DP salary bang for your buck folks Yeah, and I think we were talking about this earlier this season, but like some of the best value in the league easily This game itself was, ah it was pretty straightforward performance. I would say, um you know, we talked about it on the preview show, um but, and we're going to talk about this in the agenda tech too, but this Houston team is pretty good. They're really, they're not bad. ah They didn't have Hector Herrera in this game. And you could feel that um it really, you know, watching them closely in this game, as opposed to watching them sort of peripherally.
00:06:33
Speaker
ah for most of the season, like you can really tell how kind of central he is to everything they do. And he really, ah I mean, he's a fantastic player and they really did not have much on offense in this game without him. um Seattle only got one goal, but that's all they needed. Let's break this goal down. Cause this was a really sick goal. Paul Rothrock again, another week, another game winner.
00:06:55
Speaker
um That's all he knows how to do. Yeah. I mean, it's like it's old news at this point whenever he scores a game winner. But this goal, I mean, this was a sick goal. that was It started because Albert Rusnak was making a run into the box and he kind of got brick walled by the by the center back. But once he got brick walled, it fell right to Rothrock, who just lined up a really nice low driven shot to the far post. It had a little bit of bend on it.
00:07:25
Speaker
um Take the keeper almost got a little tip to it It was a really quality finish, you know, like ah I think it was the best Rothrock goal so far a lot of the Rothrock goals Are like poacher goals where he's kind of just in the right spot. He has that little sliding finish that he does um But a couple of these recent Rothrock goals I mean I'm like damn ah like the header that he hit in league's cup, right? Oh Yeah, that was like a really class goal and then this one I think was even better and ah You know seen a goal like that it kind of just it it Reinforces like how how much if this is not a bit anymore, right? It's not like he's just poaching like if if de la Vega scored that goal Which he scored ah a goal like that that was from even further out that got waved off, right? But you would be like damn that's like like a DP. thats yeah i mean yeah exactly So, um, just the Paul Rothrock thing just continues to, uh,
00:08:20
Speaker
Just be surprisingly real. Yeah. No, it's really funny because this is episode one old news and even more so, Paul Rothrock owns the Houston Dynamo. yeah I think ah Jeremiah tweeted out a stat about how three of his goals have come against the Houston Dynamo and he's, he only has like nine career goals or less than nine career goals. So this is, this is his team that he would score an absolute banger and they're all game winners. they're all game ones yeah I think like the one last year um was a game winner. The one he scored in Houston this year was a really good goal too. That was probably the third best Rothrock goal. If we're ranking Rothrock goals, I wasn't planning on doing this on this show, but for ranking Rothrock goals, I think the one, this one was the best. yeah um And then the the league's cup header was nice. it was that was yeah like That was very difficult, high degree of difficulty.
00:09:14
Speaker
um but then that one in Houston remember that one he kind of like it was like a self-breakaway that yeah he converted so um Just to like note on this too not that I believe in XG but the XG on this goal that I saw in foot mob was 0.05 Yeah, points herere like like this was a Nasty finish on a tough position just a like I know it wasn't a poachers goal, but it was a poachers goal It was being in the right place at the right time Having like that incredible off-the-ball movement to
Playoff Clinch and Season Reflection
00:09:44
Speaker
understand. Okay, Albert's gonna make this run I need to be in a space to collect if he dispossesses and then just the like Instinct to instantly collect the ball and finish. I mean
00:09:56
Speaker
Is Paul Rothrock DP quality, Ari? I mean, he's producing like it right now. I'm not you know i'm not saying, I'm just saying. um The defense took it from there. Dynamo didn't really threaten much. The 1-0 stood. you know If you're nitpicking the performance at all, you would have liked to see at least one more goal.
00:10:11
Speaker
Jordan almost, he I mean that dime from Rothrock to Jordan where he just yeah pushed it wide. I think it was really a situation where they were racking up enough chances playing good enough offense where they definitely could have and probably should have had the second goal and it didn't quite come off, but I thought the ah thought that defending in this game was excellent. like The Dynamo, they weren't really doing all that much, but I thought Seattle's press was really good and really effective.
00:10:38
Speaker
for pretty much the whole game, and just they were winning all their 1v1s. They were bringing a lot of energy on that side of the ball. I thought this was with the you know with it in mind that this Houston side was depleted without Aceh Aceh, and ah also and wasn't generating a heck of a lot of chances. But like part of the reason they weren't generating any chances was because the defending was locked down in this game, thought knew who had a good game.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yeah, he did. I thought the whole back line did. I thought Jackson played incredible. I thought Yamar was out of his mind this match. He was, he was, he was playing so well and we'll get to the Jackson Reagan contract later, but this was definitely a, I just signed a contract. Let me show you what I got moment for, for Reagan. Both CBs have been in good form down the stretch. And I think especially Jackson Reagan, you know, I'll continue to take my L on my, ah Jackson Reagan take from earlier this season where I was a little unsure about the stock and I I said as much ah But really pretty I feel like pretty much since I said that addition that bad take he's just been lights out So I'll take credit for that. Yeah, no locker board locker room but board board and yeah the bulletin Board material. Yeah um
00:11:50
Speaker
Alright, I'll hit my rapid fire takeaways here and then you can tell me what you think of these. I only got three written down here. Playoffs are clinched. Squads go into the offs. 15 out of 16 years since they joined MLS. Most of any expansion team ever.
00:12:05
Speaker
Most of any expansion team ever, I guess. And ah it's not it's no longer the longest ah streak, because the Red Bulls, I think, are at 16 years or something. But they they've never won an MLS Cup, which I think is kind of funny. yeah They've won a few shields. But their streak, I think, it hits a little less, because they've never won a Cup. um They've had more years to do it. you know It's true. I mean, 15 out of 16, though, in all seriousness. like Let's just talk about that for a second. That's like not easy to do.
00:12:33
Speaker
especially in a league like this where there's so much parody and And it's changed so much in those 16 years. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Messi plays in this league now. He does. Yeah, famously. Yeah. um So I mean, it's it's good. Also good to be back in the playoffs, I think, for a second year in a row after that streak came to an end a couple of years ago in 2022. You know, last year had kind of the unfortunate ending getting bammed on by Denny Bewonga. But the squad is back and playing for a top four spot in the West and really ah
00:13:08
Speaker
Second place is not out of the question these last couple games here. um We're going to talk about that later. But um yeah, squads going back to the offs. I want to talk about, you know, there there's ah there's a few narratives out there kind of undermining the win, as you might expect. My thought on it is that I mean, at this point in the year, a win is a win. You know, this was a professional performance. Sometimes you have to grind out the one zero. um There's nothing wrong with the one zero.
00:13:37
Speaker
1-0 is a necessary thing sometimes in soccer. the Just the thing about a 1-0 is that um you know you're always kind of any one goal lead you're playing with fire, you could lose that at any time. And we saw that in the Earthquakes game. So I have no problem with them grinding out a 1-0 at this point in the season, especially because I feel like the performance on offense was pretty good you just have to actually grind out the one zero you can't do the thing that they did against the quakes and give up the equalizer at the death but if you don't do that and you grind out the one zero that's fine and i think you get full credit for that yeah i know i agree i think also the fact that the sounders were making so many chances they like they had really good chances on net as well so i don't think that like there was any
00:14:24
Speaker
I don't know, I totally understand where people are coming from, but also like the Houston defense was playing pretty well, especially Steve Clark. He made some really nice saves. like i mean He's famously like a pretty solid goalkeeper. um And this isn't your Houston Dynamo team of two seasons ago. This is a reloaded you know team with new ownership that has that has honestly been pretty good this season. like I know they're not like incredible, but I feel- They're pretty much as good as Seattle. Yeah, like there that this was a solid win and I think also, while like, i the first 15 minutes I was very scared, once Seattle got in control of the game state, it felt like they were dominating. So I guess I don't really understand where people are coming from with thinking this was a bad performance. well all all one zeroes
00:15:11
Speaker
are not necessarily created equal. right This was a comfortable 1-0 if there is such a thing. yeah like i never This game never really felt that much in doubt for me. You just never know when you only have the one goal lead. One moment can flip it, but I don't know. I was never really tripping that much. And then lastly, we already talked about it, but just to reiterate, yeah Paul Rothrock owns the Houston Dynamo. He owns them. We should go to the Wikipedia and check and do that. yeah thing And this was his best goal yet.
00:15:40
Speaker
um All right, should we just jump right into agenda check and then hit questions? Let's pop in. All right, so I got four agendas written down. Noah, you wrote, or I, okay, I wrote down three and you tossed one in. All right, also I'll hit mine and I i have a, we're gonna check in on a couple, I kinda wanna do a new thing with the agenda check, which is ah we're gonna still track agendas in the same way, like if there's ah there's a beat that we're on, we'll we'll still we'll still do that, but what I'm gonna try to do, and you can get in on this, Yeah, is I'm gonna try and bring a new one every week. I like that and that way it'll keep it fresh fresh like I feel like ah There's been some agenda checks where we're kind of hitting the same ones right over so to keep it fresh I'm gonna bring a new one every week. I have a new one and it looks like you wrote down a new one that's it Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna start that new protocol
00:16:27
Speaker
We're going to start that new protocol this week, but we do have a couple regular ones that we've been hitting to check in on before I dish my new one. ah We're going to start with the the BWP sounders only beat bad teams agenda diminished. I don't really want to hear it. This is dynamo team is pretty good. I've watched them a fair amount this year. um Yeah, they didn't have Aceh Aceh, who's one of the better two way midfielders in the league, one of the better assist guys in the league.
00:16:55
Speaker
But man, like you can go up and down their roster. This is not a bad team. Not at all. and I have Coco Carrasquilla, who's been one of my favorite players to watch. Yeah, their roster is not bad. And they we talked about it on the preview show. But they play really good team ball. like when i When I watch this Dynamo team, that's what always kind of impresses me, is ah they have really good chemistry. They play well together. And like some of the some of the team goals that they've scored in the last couple years since Benno got there, like they really they can slice and dice you.
00:17:25
Speaker
yeah about as much as anyone in this league. So, yeah, that agenda is diminished and yeah I'm not really here for any of the, like, they didn't have Hector Herrera, so this win doesn't count or it was only one zero, so this doesn't count. Like, this agenda is diminished. No, I agree. I mean, that i listen.
00:17:44
Speaker
Is this like a top three team in the Western Conference or a top three team in the Eastern Conference? No, but like you're going to people keep making excuses on this one. They're like they they beat Columbus, but they had a bot in goal. They beat Houston, but also they didn't have their best player. It's like, all right, like I get it. But also.
00:18:04
Speaker
These aren't bad teams. If you want to push the narrative that the Sounders can't beat LAFC, that's a narrative I can agree with. But they also beat the gap. They beat the shit out of the galaxy, like not that long ago. And the galaxy are looking like, you know, easily the best team in the West. So it's really like I agree with you. This this this take has been completely diminished. And ah the way that I've seen this team play, it seems like, you know,
00:18:31
Speaker
Law of odds, maybe they can get one over on la fc. I'm actually glad that you brought that up about the galaxy because This is a galaxy podcast by the way. exactly Yeah a few weeks ago, you know ah We talked about the arias a dumbass for rating the galaxy over la fc agenda yeah, I know la fc just won the open cup we're gonna talk about that but like ah they are They've been they've been Struggling a little bit the last couple weeks the galaxy are gonna take the number one seed in the west So I think I might have actually cooked on that yeah, I'm gonna retract. I'm gonna retract that agenda I mean and they're listen They're locked and loaded with quality players just as much as as la fc and we all know like even if la fc gets to a final like they have to play literally
00:19:17
Speaker
the worst club in the history of clubs. To barely win. To barely win. To barely win. All right, let's do our De La Vega takes. Man, you know, there was a couple good moments, I will say.
00:19:33
Speaker
but like ah so in the and the last game he had a couple where he was ah on on the break and shot when he should have passed and then this game he had another breakaway where he had like two options of somewhere to lay it off and like didn't do it so anyway like I don't know, you were, we we were texting about it, you were yeah you were calling him a bot. I'm still, I'm not gonna say that off this sample size yet, but I think the thing that concerns me when i so when I look at his decision making is that, like, you know, a DP, like, Ledero, for instance, yeah who, I understand when Ledero got here, he was not a developmental player, he was more established, um he didn't, he was he wasn't like, ah
00:20:25
Speaker
He wasn't like learning as much as De La Vega might be at his point in his career, but I feel like stuff like that, like vision, decision making, where to pass, when to pass, it's like if you're elite at that, it's kind of innate. yeah You either have that or you don't. So to see these sequences where his decision making is that far off, I'm not saying he can't get there, but it's it's a little troubling, you know what I mean? Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, when you're getting played off the pitch by a guy who went to college at Georgetown and played soccer in the name of Paul Roth. Like, listen, he's he's the best player to ever play soccer, but like you are a DP getting played off the field by a Tam player. Yeah, and that's crazy. Well, it's like I do think you have to take into account like the health situation, but it's been months. Well, yeah, you can't even play a full 90. Yeah, but like I think that's a that's a separate issue than decision making that I'm talking about has really nothing to do with physical health. That's just like how you see and read the game. yeah So that's sort of like, I'm definitely, look, I'm not trying to write them off yet.
00:21:41
Speaker
I definitely ah like I think that it still remains true that this team's ceiling for this year is very much connected to whether you can get sustained and meaningful contributions from this guy. So like um I definitely I'm not like ah pulling the plug on him. i don't I really don't think that would be fair off this level of sample size still. I understand what you're saying. like yeah It's been more of a sample at this point, um but like I think I said 1,000 to 1,200 minutes is what I try to have a player like this get to before I start kind of formulating how I rate them. yeah And he's nowhere close to anywhere like that. So I'm still going to give it time.
00:22:28
Speaker
but just i think these last couple games man like i said like uh his uh his decision making and execution in transition has been questionable it's been really bad and like we were talking about this specifically we he's doing the the rowel like blast it from outside the box just rip a shot he's doing this like I just don't understand his positioning sometimes. He feels like he's all over the pitch but not in like a but like a messy way where Messi's just like kind of around. It's just like a chicken with your head cut off running around thing and I don't really understand it. He's trying to dribble people but he's just not beating them.
00:23:09
Speaker
like or he's getting double teamed and then not laying the ball off or when he's passing the ball he's passing it his passing is like not super accurate i'm not of the camp that he's like a comp complete bust but i mean i've been on record saying that there's he's not the savior and also that like definitely not the savior this season and won't be Yeah, I mean, yeah, I want to give him credit for he did have a couple of good moments. um But so did Georgie. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like a little similar to Georgie. Like, I think that's kind of where I'm at is like.
00:23:44
Speaker
I totally respect that he had a rough go of it getting here. And I do think that like, I do think his ceiling is really high, especially like he might just need an off season, a pre-season and a reset to get back into it and like to really be healthy one, but to like feel confident enough and get back in that, that playing style.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens with it for the rest of the season. Um, they need, they need him to get hot into the playoffs. I think that's really going to be determinative on if they can make a sustained run. So, um, let's hope he eats up. i Yeah. Let's hope he eats up. Exactly. I'm i'm pro him heating.
00:24:23
Speaker
All right. um All right. This is my new agenda for the week. I think this is going to be a not very popular agenda, but I was kind of just hol holistically looking at this season with where it is with the playoffs getting clinched and only a couple games left. And my agenda right now is that it's that this season actually low key has really not been that bad agenda.
00:24:45
Speaker
And but let me just let me just justify why I think that and because I know a lot of people don't feel that way right now because of How that earthquakes game went and just in general how the offense is looked at times this season And some of the individual results that they've taken have been really bad um but like if you just look at the whole body of work and they hit 50 points, which when I go into a season, that's like the, that's the, that's the bare minimum right baseline that you need to get to, to kind of ensure that you're in the playoffs. That's like step one, right? And then ideally you want to be up in the sixties and competing for the shield, but with the knowledge that that's probably not going to happen every year.
00:25:30
Speaker
50-point benchmark um is ah that's the the first one that you want to hit. um Plus 12 plus 12 GD which is not amazing but it's solid and it's not it's really not different from a lot of these other teams in the West that we talk about that are Like as so much better than them and like I think something that I was looking at was just Comparing the season that they've had to LA FC right now. I know that LA FC has ah They've had a lot of fixture congestion that has maybe skewed their numbers down a little bit But I mean we talked about LA FC like they're this team that's like light years ahead of Seattle because they beat the shit out of Seattle in their individual matchups and they have the they have the heavy heavy upper hand in the direct heads right now, but
00:26:18
Speaker
We talked about them like they're light years ahead. They have 52 points. Seattle is 50. They have 15 wins Seattle is 14 their GD is 13 plus 13 Seattle's is plus 12 They're 9 2 & 4 at home Seattle's 8 2 & 6 so they're a little bit better at home But not significantly same amount of road wins six apiece. So ah but if I'm just saying man, like if you look at where like where they are on the table and the overall view of how they perform this year. It's been pretty similar, yeah you know, and you could say the same thing about RSL, who we've talked about as an elite team. They're at 1.68 points per game. Seattle's at 1.61. So I'm definitely not saying it's been like this great season that ah means that this team is set up to be like a juggernaut for the future guaranteed or anything like that. But like,
00:27:08
Speaker
If you listen to how people talk about this team this year, us included sometimes I right admit. yeah they we get We talk about them like they're like wooden spoon yeah contenders and that's really not the case is my only point. I think for me the biggest thing with this I think you are very logical with this. I don't think you're like insane for this take, but I think the difference is the people that we see talking about this season and the people that you know we consume on a daily basis are like the 10% of fans who follow every game and feel very like personally connected to every single win and loss. If you look at the season as a like general view,
00:27:48
Speaker
anyone's gonna be happy with that. You make the playoffs, you make a semi-final, you're playing well, you make a signing, but you know are there things that should have gone differently or been better? Absolutely, but I think it's it's only a frustrating season because we're so close. We're so close to being back at that. like Really not elite, but maybe like really good level or like, you know great level um Just talent wise and you know winning trophies and stuff But yeah, i I don't think you're insane for saying that this season has been bad. It hasn't been bad. It's been fine. It's been good It hasn't been like
00:28:31
Speaker
trophy winning, but also it's the playoffs. They're coming up. You never know what's going to happen. If I'm, if I'm ever going to like predict the playoffs, I would, I just wouldn't even try because 2016 happened. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of it is to do with just the weight of expectations, right? Like yeah ah this season hasn't been as good relative to what people have come to expect in the past, which is this team contending for and winning MLS cups.
00:28:59
Speaker
being a Champions League contender, winning Champions League. like This team has not felt like it's on that level this season, so I think that's where a lot of the consternation comes from. from you know not Not just the fans out there, but like for us too, you know like it hasn't been um what we're used to for lengthy stretches, but it just it's all relative to like What you what you were thinking for a team like before the season like I was comparing it to Houston and Houston's had a very similar season to Seattle their their points per game is a tick lower um But they're 13 9 and 9 with a plus 9 GD
00:29:41
Speaker
And they're getting talked about like they're having a really good year rightfully so but that's because they've been Middling to bad for yeah the previous like five six years so 1.55 feels like oh damn this team Yeah on the come up there emerging whereas Seattle has a higher points per game But because they're not like juggernaut contending like they were In this like previous era leading up to this it's being talked about like this bad season right so like it's just ah the expectations kind of have a lot to do with how that gets perceived. Yeah, and I think also another like overarching theme for this season has been frustration with things that are not necessarily related to play or related to the specific season we're in. you know
00:30:31
Speaker
a lot of people got really frustrated with not making any signings right and that's not a this season problem as much as it's like a looking forward to the club world cup how are we going to compete in that how are we going to do this how are we going to do that it's like been front office frustration a lot more in my opinion than play play frustration, because if you look at it, it's like, okay, Albert Rusnak is having the season of his career, Jordan Morris is having the season of his career, and you have Paul Rothrock breaking out, you have a new signing, and Georgie, who looks interesting, you have like all of this stuff, they're up in a top four spot, they could finish top two. you know like That is objectively a pretty solid season, but then you're like, okay, shit, well, like what's gonna go on next year? you know We didn't make a signing in the summer,
00:31:20
Speaker
what are we get We have to completely you know retool for the Club World Cup to be competitive. That's frustrating. My season tickets got bumped up. That's frustrating. you know People are upset with, I think, like management in front office more than they're upset with the actual results and the way the season is going.
00:31:40
Speaker
Can I get deep for a second? Get deep. Part of the reason I was thinking about this take was ah because when COVID popped off and the season like got canceled for five months and we had no games, I was like, man, like when the games come back, I'm never going to take that shit for granted ever again. Like I did like ah or and because they came back at first, but there's like no fans and it just like wasn't the same. So um There's like it been an element the last couple years where I'm just like, man, it's just nice to like, like I have a more of an appreciation for just like having the team there, yeah having fans at the games, having like the the week to week ritual of like following the news and then the game.
00:32:28
Speaker
and all that stuff. So it's like a season like this, that's, um, middling compared to previous standards, but it has been like decently good. Like they've been competitive in most of the games. They're a solid playoff team, 50 point season competing for a top four spot. I'm like, all right, you know, like obviously like it would be better if they were juggernauting like LAFC or Columbus or Miami, but I'm not like tripping that much, I guess. Does that make sense? hundred percent I mean, like missing for me, I was more disappointed. I mean, 2022 we won, you know, CCL, but missing the playoffs for me was more inexcusable than anything that happened this season. Yeah. Although that that was such a weird situation because, um
00:33:13
Speaker
Because they had just one ccl, but that summer was the worst Yeah, football. I think i've ever watched in my life. That was awful. Um, all right, you had one more agenda here What did you have one more agenda here? Josh attention let the boy cook. He needs some more minutes agenda. Okay. I like this. I like this I saw him play for what he played like 15 minutes or something He was all over the field. He was so I thought he played really well and I want to see this boy cook some more especially with you know JP out and Christian in that double pivot and like you know seeing maybe what you could do if Obed gets another call up you know and he's not available
00:33:53
Speaker
i Don't know man. I'm just I'm just saying I like what I'm seeing from from this kid and we haven't really seen him much this year Yeah, yeah, I mean we I think I feel like we've toyed with this agenda a little bit But he just he got overshadowed by the Obed breakout. Yeah, ah so he hasn't broken out To that extent because he had he really hasn't gotten the minutes to be able to do so um but yeah No, I mean I agree like he's been it's been like an under the radar storyline that um He's been a regular consistent high-level contributor And I think that gives you some nice cover in the event that you sell Obed which I think is gonna happen And then he probably does get elevated and do a more prominent role And I think you're right like he could do some stuff with that. He's had a he's had a very good year It's just not been as electric as the Obed breakout Yeah, I don't I don't want to compare him to Obed either like anyway because I think they're pretty different They're very different player. I think I hated that everyone was comparing them like when that was happening I understand that they're like so we were doing that yeah, but it was like you know similar age similar like position positioning like all of that, but very different and Dynamically and like the dynamic ways that they play just completely different players, and I don't know man. Just like Josh attention
00:35:12
Speaker
Looked so he looked very solid in this game, and I loved his attacking movement, but more than that. I loved his like Defending in the attacking position like putting that pressure on on players enforcing passes and like making people uncomfortable and you know I just his vision is really good, and um I mean I wouldn't even mind putting him ah Starting ahead of Pedro de la Vega right now. That's my fire take ooh. That's my I want to see him. I want to see what he could do in that position. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I think he could be a solid 10 potentially. Okay. Wow. That got hotter than I thought. Um, if you've got any ah thoughts on any of our agendas, go ahead and ah yeah drop them in the comments, i got your own yeah drop your own agendas. And, uh, if, uh, if we see him and like him, we'll, we'll talk about it. We read them either way. we So yeah, I read, I spend too much time in our YouTube comments. Um, All right, we're a little we're on a little bit of a time crunch here. So let's jump into questions real quick. I got a few written down here. it Looks like you have a question of the week. And then we'll do our around the league stuff and get out of here. Does that sound good? Let's do it. All right. This first one is from Anders. Is Paul evolving into Powell? Yeah, I included this one because I i haven't thought of that. And like calling him Powell is a pretty good bit, I think. Paul Rothrakenio. I dig it. Yeah, thanks for that, Anders. that was That was a good one. That's fire. I i love that. Quadzilla asks, what positives did PDLV show? The outcomes weren't there. We want to see goals plus assists from him. But did he seem to give Houston more to think about?
00:36:52
Speaker
I did I like I know we were a little bit down on him in the previous segment but like I mean you still do you see the good individual moments like the one I'm thinking of in particular was the one where he made a run down the right side the service came in and he sent in like a nice ah a nice cross that got blocked so he like you do you do see those moments like that um But i think I think the issue right now is that like you're getting those kind of flash moments throughout a game, but the final product's not quite there. And then like I said, I think um what I saw in the last game, this is just what I saw. What I saw in the last game that I think needs to get better is just
00:37:31
Speaker
the decision making specifically in transition, which I feel like it's happened like three, maybe even four times in the last two games where he has, he's been running a break in transition, which is something that you love to see him do and you need to see him do. ah And there's been options for what to do and he's just made, he's picked the wrong option. A couple of times he shot ah shot or a really low percentage shot from really far away.
00:38:01
Speaker
And then ah the one I'm thinking of in the last game that I was talking about earlier was um he was running a break. And they're really, tell me if I'm remembering this wrong, but I i saw, I thought two options for where to lay it off and he didn't do either one. ye And so that's one, again, like when you see stuff like that, it's like ah the players who have the that vision and that decision-making attribute, like They see those and hit those so i'm not saying he doesn't have it i'm just saying that like When i've seen that like multiple times in the last two games man like it's concerning it's concerning Yeah, no i i'm gonna say it i'm gonna say it or i'm gonna say something a little hot take you here you're youre he's getting Leo chew energy these last two games and I don't like it and I want him to get out of that headspace That's all all yeah, it's a little different. because Yeah Leo chew it's when he's attacking from out why yeah, and these I'm talking about her when he's like sent. Yeah, when he said yeah Yeah, yeah, like it's like it's the same way. Oh, she was a 10 exactly. That's what I'm saying It's like what like why are we?
00:39:10
Speaker
Why are we doing this, sir? Please cut it out. Jim asks, any concern that Rothrock might be a one season wonder like Harry ship in Chicago? it's not It's a valid question, but I'm not really concerned about that. But I will say I don't consider Harry ship a one season wonder. Really. I think he had a pretty nice career. I know what you're talking about, which is like when he was in Chicago, he was legitimately considered like one of the better up and coming young players in the league. And he was a homegrown at the time. He was like Georgie Mihailovich before Georgie Mihailovich. Probably he never turned out to be that good. But like Carrie ship was a really solid MLS player. And, you know, I always knew that when he was on Chicago, but then when he got to Seattle, um ah Casey do now, if you're listening to this, you should, ah you should ah hit me up about it because we always used to talk about this.
00:40:04
Speaker
but Harry ship was nasty. He, uh, he had really good vision and was, he hit some of the best dimes of any Seattle player on the team during that, uh, time period. So if Paul Rothrock turns out like Harry ship, and that would be a W is what I'm saying. Yeah. Harry ship was pretty good.
00:40:21
Speaker
I think Paul Rothrock has only gotten better the more minutes that he's played, so I really don't have any concern that he is going to like be a one season wonder. Also, he's been consistent across the board when he has played even last season.
00:40:35
Speaker
Like that was our whole point of making- The sample is big enough now where I'm really like not that worried about it being a flash in the pan. Flash in the pan type stuff is what you talk about like when he went on the open cup bender last year and you're like, okay, is this real? And we went through that and like it's kept going. So I'm increasingly less concerned about that as time goes by.
00:40:54
Speaker
All right, because we're in a time crunch, I'm going to hit my question of the week. Thank you all for submitting yours. But mine is so much more important because, you know, I have a microphone. Here we go. This one is kind of a general question. We hit on a couple of this. We don't have to go long on it. But is a top three finish in the West realistic for the Sounders? How much would that change the narrative of this season? And how would you change your or and how would it change your perception on the possibility of making a run to the Cup? Well, it's definitely realistic. I mean, let's just look at the table. um l LA is going to take the a Galaxy are going to take the number one seed. They're on 58 points. um So that's pretty locked up. But two through four, you have LAFC at 52 and RSL at 52. And then Colorado and Seattle are tied on 54 and five. LAFC is the only team in there with a game in hand. So like catching RSL, who have not been playing well lately, by the way,
00:41:50
Speaker
They are in a big downturn in form. Seattle could definitely catch um RSL and Colorado and they could catch l LAFC. like They could yeah very feasibly get second. so ah it's It's very realistic and that's something that they should absolutely be going for. How much would it change the narrative? I don't think a lot because I think people would ah They would just say like last year they got second in the West, but they, uh, people undermined it by saying like, bought West, bought west the what bought West exactly. Um, so I don't think it would change the narrative from that perspective, but as far as it changing the perception on possibility of making a run to the cup, anything can happen in the playoffs. So like, that's why you just gotta, you just gotta get in and then see what happens.
00:42:38
Speaker
yeah no i i agree with you i think that i don't know i i i feel like my perception has changed but i do think that anything's possible in the cup and i think we both always said that All right, let's go around the league. We've got some news items and then we'll hit and winners and losers real quick and then we'll get out of here. I got my my my little content call coming up here. So we got to get out of here. But we you are going to get through these last two sections and before calling it a wrap on Episode 67. All right, Noah, did you want to go through these news items? Absolutely, let's hit our news items today. Brought to you by Sounder at Heart, because most of these are reported by Sounder at Heart. Sounderheart.com slash LS. Get 30 days for free. There's some really good columns that just came out and potentially a Paul Rothrock.
00:43:26
Speaker
Related column coming out You should subscribe. All right, here we go news items Seattle and Loom & Field will be the host venue for the Club World Cup The Sounders will play I believe it was three games two or three games. They don't know exactly how many um But they will play all of their games at home. This is according to Brian Spencer and Stephen Fry. So One of several host venues. Yes, they will be one of several host venues, but they they will be a host and and it's like a new format where like the so when the founders played in the Club World Cup last time it was just like Single elimination off rip, right? Yeah now there's gonna be group stage games so there we're gonna get to see him play a couple times which will be a I mean I'm looking I'm looking forward to that. They're really riding that 22 2022 CCL ah achievement for everything it's worth, but you know if they're putting them in let's ah ah play these games and see where the chips fall. Yeah first club to first MLS club to ever play in a club World Cup and first club to ever play in to Club World Cup. So you know
00:44:32
Speaker
and They've been like trying all these mechanisms to get someone else into it But you know like the crew would have gotten in if yeah, but like no one else can get in so yeah It's like it's just gonna be Seattle again, which is fire and you know even if they do gift it to Miami I'm actually kind of cool with that. That's that's fine. Absolutely. Yeah ah Per Jeremiah O'Shan, Obed Vargas may be getting a call into the Mexicans senior national team in this upcoming window. Obviously he had gone and trained and played with the U-20 threes or U-20 something, but he was also seen training with the senior team while he was there. So this could be a big deal. And you know, we've been tracking this and very pro um Obed being the Renaissance man for this really bad L-tree team. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I mean this L tree team is down bad. So if they're smart they're gonna Really elevate obit make him a centerpiece make him the face of the team. That's what I want them to do All right, this next one. It's official the Sounders have formally announced Jackson Reagan has resigned a three-year deal with the club option for 2028 No details on salary, but our very own Jeremiah O channel standard heart estimates. It's around 600 to 700 thousand dollars potentially more so Yeah, we talked about this on the last show because Jeremiah had reported this previously, which I guess that's the one thing we should correct. I forgot to credit Jeremiah for that. I thought it had gotten announced, but I was actually a Sounder at Heart report that I was referencing. So shout out to Jeremiah for the report on that and subscribe to Sounder at Heart for more great reporting like that.
00:46:06
Speaker
And then my favorite news item of the week, it's official. We can crown a new wooden spoon champion in MLS. San Jose have officially clinched the wooden spoon. Is this the worst season you've ever seen of all time for any club? It's really bad. And what's tight about it is that Seattle played him twice and didn't beat him and lost once.
00:46:26
Speaker
They've won five times this year, which is hard to do in MLS. One of those wins came against Seattle. Remember how stupid that game was? That was so dumb. I think not to go on too much of a tangent, but what like what is what's about the results against the Quakes this year is, I mean, they're the wooden spoon winners and you couldn't beat them.
00:46:47
Speaker
either time but it's like both games Seattle was absolutely like destroying them and just uh just choked you know yeah shot themselves in the foot yeah 23 percent of the quake's points have come from the Sounders yeah but so if Seattle goes on an MLS cup run this year the fact them doing it in a year where they couldn't beat the quakes will be just a good bit Yes. For now, it's like kind of indicative of how the teams like not like, I mean, remember when they played the quakes a couple of years ago and they beat him like seven to one. That's like yeah what the dynamic used to be like. But yeah anyway, yeah, to answer your question.
00:47:22
Speaker
one of the worst seasons that we've seen from an MLS club in the last couple years. 72 goals conceded minus 35. That's just incredible. They still have the possibility to get to minus 100 or not minus 100, but a hundred conceded, I think.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it would be really hard. But if anyone can do it games, yeah, they can definitely do that. Yeah. All right. Let's hit winners and losers real quick and then we'll wrap it up because there is a lot of games this weekend um and there was some interesting stuff to chew on um ah first for the winter section.
00:47:57
Speaker
All right. I'm going to put OFC in here, yeah but with a caveat. Okay. All right. So they won the open cup credit to them for that. they know champagne They made it to a final. They didn't choke. No champagne for us. Um, first time they've won the open cup. So good job for that. And then they beat FC CNC on the road and they just generally, they do look back on track. Their vibes are salvaged a little bit, but I will, I will say this is the caveat. This is the caveat.
00:48:24
Speaker
They look tired. They look tired. That's, I mean, I'm just saying, I'm just saying like they look more vulnerable the last few weeks um than they have previously this season. I think their fans would tell you that. um And they've had a ton of games. They've had a lot of big emotional games and like, yes, they won the open cup. They they got taken to extra time by sporting Casey, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts.
00:48:51
Speaker
It wasn't like this super dominant LA FC type game that we're used to seeing from them. um And you know, they did the Cincy win is a good win. But again, like, it wasn't I didn't think they looked at quite at the level in the game that we're used to seeing from them. And just in general,
00:49:10
Speaker
um I don't think they're on cruise control to the cup like some people might think man like I think and it's not because of Anything to do with the quality of their team, which I think is probably realistically It's still the most loaded team in the West It's just more to do with the fact that when you play as many games as they have It's kind of it's tough to like keep the same level of juice and energy throughout the whole season like we've seen it time and again with a lot of MLS teams, and I think they are going through that a little bit. So, you know, I'm not saying that they're not coming out of the West or anything, but they look tired. I agree. Um, Minnesota United are looking back lately. So they beat the rapids three zero. And the thing about them is, uh, this guy, Calvin, you boa.
00:50:00
Speaker
He's cooking. Looks like the the Loon's got a really good number nine, which that could elevate their team quite a lot, but he's got like five goals already. so he scored he scored a was that He scored a brace against the Sounders, right? And it's like yeah debut? yeah Yeah, that was his MLS debut. Oh, someone got on me for pronouncing the T in debut. Did you see that? Oh, no, I didn't. Whoever commented that, I guess I didn't know how that word's pronounced.
00:50:26
Speaker
i He's a writer, not a podcaster, okay? yeah no Come on. I thought you do pronounce the T's, so my bad. You should keep doing it now just to piss them off. exactly Yeah, exactly. Orlando City, they boat raced FC Dallas 3-1 on the road. That's a good win for them. um And then, Noah, it looks like you have DC United in there. I had to say, Brace Benteke, first player for of the season to score 20. He scored his 20th and 21st.
00:50:52
Speaker
he's just like he's incredible he's on fire if you put him on any other team he would be in the nvp conversation he probably should be anyway dc united his dog shit yeah so like the fact that he has scored 21 goals this season and they're still like Terrible. He's a he's pretty damn. He's a beast imagine imagine how bad they would be without him. Oh, dude Oh my god. um All right losers. We're gonna hit this real quick um New York Red Bulls lost the Hudson River Darby five to one against NYC FC Emil Forsberg's been out for a while. He's trying to find his kids And really the Red Bulls are just I mean they haven't been good for a while and
00:51:36
Speaker
Anytime you get boat raced in a rivalry game like that, you know, like a Darby match like that can always go either way, but 5-1, that's tough. ah Sporting KC, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, they got bammed on by St. Louis City, who they beat in the playoffs last year, 3-1, and they're officially eliminated, that's I believe, yeah so no playoffs for the wrestlers. Unfortunate for them, but, you know, they're... They're they probably have some ah some wwe WWE events lined up where they'll stay busy. and Yeah, they can keep themselves busy through that. You know, those are always those are always fun events. I've never been to one, but I'm sure it'll be entertaining. Yeah, they got their bronze medals for, you know, second place or whatever an open cup. So good season for them.
00:52:24
Speaker
Yeah, you know it's funny like I was saying that I was rooting for them to beat la fc because of the bit of uh Like if la fc lost yeah to them But watching them lose another final They're watching sporting kc lose a final. Yeah, I was like, all right In excruciating fashion. This is kind of nice. This is kind of nice. It was honestly bamed on it played out perfectly because LA FC looked kind of shit You like they got absolutely rocked by that goal and then it was like okay, but then sporting loss It was a really perfect like it was yeah. Yeah, it was a perfect match for me and then lastly I got into Miami on here just because ah I mean, they're gonna win the shield and Messi's back and she scored a banger. I think if they if they Folks, I'm telling you if they're anywhere approaching full health
00:53:17
Speaker
they're gonna win MLS Cup. You can bookmark this, clip it up, write it down. I'm just telling you what's gonna happen, and that's what's gonna happen. big i mean you know Injuries and stuff, that could always derail it, but like like I said, assuming full health, they're easily, I think, gonna win MLS Cup.
00:53:37
Speaker
but If there's anything that might undermine that prediction, they're not in that great a form right now. And they've been taking a lot of draws that they shouldn't be taking. And I think a lot of it is down to kind of bad luck, honestly. Like they've been playing well enough to win these games, just haven't been doing it and messy is still scoring goals and stuff. Um, but I'm putting them in this section because I mean like a one, one draw.
00:54:01
Speaker
Charlotte like and then they drew I think their game before that I think they're on three draws They drew at New York City and drew against Columbus or Atlanta. Yeah, like Atlanta. They're not good so Like as much as I they're gonna win the shield and as much as I think they're probably gonna win MLS Cup They are looking like slightly more vulnerable ah Right now than they have in previous At previous times this season and they have Messi and Suarez and everybody right now. So I I think their Achilles heel will be New York City FC if if you know, it's New York City FC which don't make the playoffs most likely like
00:54:36
Speaker
some Somehow, somehow, someway in our Miami just that's like they cannot beat New York City. And I think, I honestly think if they get them in the playoffs, they might, they might slice and dice them. Okay. All right. That's my hot take. Let's see what happens. All right. We're going to call it right there for episode 66. Thank you all as always for tuning in. Love and appreciate all of our subscribers and our listeners and our new audience on YouTube.
00:55:01
Speaker
Like, comment, rate, subscribe, write us a review, sub to the YouTube. Share with the Milforsburg wife and kids. warsburg Until next time, we out. Peace.