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Episode 388: Scoreless ties are boring but important
67 Plays2 years ago
It wasn’t exactly the result the Sounders were looking for, but considering they had only even claimed a point at RSL once in the past 12 trips to Utah a 0-0 shutout might not be such a bad thing. Utah has been a rather horrific place for the sounders to play and anything that can go wrong usually does. This time, however, it was more of a mundane road draw. That the Sounders also managed to keep a shutout should probably be seen as a bit of a bonus as well.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
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. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
Meet the Players: Roldan and Morris
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Here we go. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS co-pointers! Here comes Ray D'Ace from the middle to crowd it! The vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations.
00:01:04
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. This is a tiny f***ing doll.
00:01:34
Speaker
Is
Episode 388 Kickoff with Hosts
00:01:37
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of NOS Adietta, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Watson's Counter, and our Substax subscribers. This is episode 388, and we're recording on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023. I'm your host, Jeremiah Shannon.
00:01:42
Speaker
that why you young people call twerking?
Sounders vs Real Salt Lake: Match Overview
00:01:50
Speaker
Joining me today is Erin Campo and her producer, Lickit.
00:01:54
Speaker
Well, it wasn't exactly the result the sounders were looking for, but considering they had only even claimed a point at RSL once in the past 12 trips to Utah, a 0-0 shutout might not be such a bad thing. Utah has been a rather horrific place for the sounders to play, and anything that can go wrong usually does. This time, however, it was more of a mundane road draw. That the sounders also managed to keep a shutout should probably be seen as a bit of a bonus as well. Still, I suspect you're at least a little bit frustrated by this result, Aaron.
In-Depth: Sounders' Performance and Key Players
00:02:24
Speaker
a little bit, especially in the context of how the game unfolded. I think that whenever you get a point on the road, you can't be too upset. If you get a point on the road when most of your games at home, you're doing pretty well. But RSL is very bad. It's a team that sounders beat handily early in the year.
00:02:47
Speaker
The sounders have struggled in Utah. That's well known. It used to be that everybody did. And so it was a little easier to stomach when nobody was beating RSL at home. But people are beating RSL at home now. It's not an uncommon thing. And so it does make it a little more frustrating. We were kind of talking about this before the show started. And I think for me, if you ask the question, is this a result that you're going to look back at at the end of the year and say, oh, if only we'd gotten that win at RSL.
00:03:17
Speaker
the whole year would have looked different. I think probably not. I think if you can get a point, feel okay about it. For me, the frustrating thing was that this wasn't one of those games where the Sounders were playing really well, creating a lot of chances. They were just having to deal with a team that was defending really well or making things difficult for them. The Sounders just didn't play very well. They came out pretty flat.
00:03:39
Speaker
Their key players did not do much to make a difference. I think this was maybe the most quiet game of the year for both Jordan Morris and Nico Ledero. Nobody else was doing a whole lot to create. I thought the defense played pretty well. RSL was similarly pretty toothless, and so you have to feel pretty good about that.
Injury Concerns: Roldan's Concussion
00:03:59
Speaker
You know, it was just kind of one of those mad games and we get them, especially this time of year in MLS, especially when the fixture congestion starts up where you just kind of want to forget about it. Uh, you know, I kind of wish I'd been doing something else on my, on my Saturday night, but you know, it's, it's not a terrible result, but I think it is completely reasonable to be frustrated by it, by the quality of the performance. And, uh, just got to hope that the next one's a little more interesting.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, you bring up Nico Ledero and I think this was sort of the kind of game that I keep hearing people think he's had when he's actually been really good this year, but this was
00:04:43
Speaker
a pretty quiet game from Ledero. I think he had a season-low 59 touches. It was only the second time that he didn't have, he had zero expected goals and zero expected assists. So it was, he didn't do much to influence the game. I thought Leo Chu had a few bright moments at least. He set up a couple decent chances. Jordan Morris had a couple decent looks. A-Bear had a couple okay looks. But yeah, it just wasn't, there was
00:05:13
Speaker
There were some decent looks, but nothing that you're like, oh, you have to, you just have to finish that. And with maybe the exception, there was a cross from Alex Roldan to Jordan Morris that he looked like he got just enough of his head on to get credit on the XG, but not enough of his head on to actually be a dangerous, like to force a save or for to have almost been a goal. But if he had, you know, gotten a little bit more of it, probably would have been a goal.
00:05:42
Speaker
And so it was just kind of one of those kind of that kind of game, right? Like, yeah, I think if you are Zapruder and things to that degree to talk about the quality of chances that were created in the game, you know, that it was that kind of game. And I, you know, it's it.
00:05:58
Speaker
One game, one or two games here or there in a season is not that big a deal. And I think that I didn't see anybody really panicking over this one. I think that the general consensus was like, yep, that's one of those games. And so if they're able to bounce back and look a little bit like they have at other points this year, I think that you just kind of chalk it up to being one of those games. Obviously, the injuries are starting to pile up a little bit. There's a lot of games to play in this month.
00:06:27
Speaker
And so that's a little bit of a concern, but they didn't lose. They didn't go out and lose to RSL, right? Like they seem to have...
00:06:37
Speaker
kind of shaken off that timbers loss, which is good. There didn't seem to be too much of a hangover effect there. I think you can definitely say they've gotten over that. Yeah. And I mean, I do kind of wonder if there is a part of this that is just a result of some tactical tweaks to shore up the defense a little bit.
00:06:59
Speaker
maybe unrelated, but maybe interesting to look at going forward. But yeah, I mean, you know, you get the open cup win in the middle of the week. You're coming off an MLS when you go on the road, you get a point and it's okay just to not think about it anymore. I mean, I think if this becomes a trend, obviously that's a concern, but we've seen them struggle in isolated games this year. FC Cincinnati was one. They came right back from that one. Timbers game came right back from that one. So,
00:07:28
Speaker
As long as they don't make a habit of it, not a big deal. But yeah, I mean, it's ultimately we watch this stuff because it's entertaining and sensibly. And this game was was not that it was it was a pretty difficult slog at times, but that's the way it goes. Yeah, it was it was a slog. I can I can definitely attest to that one. And it wasn't without some losses, in a sense.
00:07:58
Speaker
It, uh, Joe Powell picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, which means he's going to be out. Uh, you know, I suppose you can be a two minds on that one, one hand, maybe it's good for him to get a little bit of rest, even if it's forest rest. And, and if you can afford to be missing him for any game, you'd like to think at home against sporting Kansas city would be a good one for him to miss. Uh,
00:08:19
Speaker
And then the other one, which was a little more scary, a lot more scary, was Kellen Rowe at first looked like he tore his ACL and, you know, when a 30-something year old sort of reserve player
00:08:35
Speaker
suffers a torn ACL you start to wonder like are they gonna be able to come back at all but as it turns out it's not a torn ACL he's still probably gonna be out six to eight weeks combined with new who's continued absence we don't know if he's gonna be available or not on on Sunday that extra day of prep they have might come in really handy but Christian Roldan is still out we got a update from
00:09:02
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer at training this week. They actually have him going to another specialist to see what's going on, why he's still dealing with concussion symptoms. So that one's a little scary because you start to wonder like, okay, there's something even more serious going on here.
00:09:19
Speaker
But yeah, they're gonna be short-handed a little bit. Obviously, Raul Rui Diaz is still out, gonna be out for probably a couple more weeks at least. And this is coming into a very, very busy part of the schedule. We'll get into this a bit more. But yeah, they have a ton of games coming up in the next month or so, basically gonna be playing every other day or twice a week for the next month.
00:09:46
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, it was not the not the best time to to be losing more players. Definitely not. It's especially because it seems like they're losing them at specific position groups, which is never good. And I think the Sounders depth is unquestionably very good. But there's a limit. Yeah, there's a limit. There's always a limit. Right. Like even at the highest levels, there's a limit, but especially in MLS, there's a limit. And
00:10:14
Speaker
They did pretty well when their depth was tested at forward earlier this year. They had some pretty good success, missing Raul and Ebert, but they still had Jordan Morris. They don't really have that same kind of depth that left back. That's definitely a concern. On the one hand, it's exciting that maybe we get a chance to see some of the youngsters, but on the other hand, it's a little concerning because
00:10:43
Speaker
they'd most likely be playing out of position. And it's frustrating that this is happening at the point in time when maybe dissenters can least afford it. And I think it's especially concerning because I think there's a general consensus that's emerged this year that
00:11:03
Speaker
really it was Christian not being at 100% that probably made the difference down the stretch and that 100% Christian Uldan is probably enough to get the Sounders in the playoffs. And so to not have him obviously is scary, but it's scary from just the general perspective of his long-term health, his well-being outside of the game of soccer.
Player Positions and Team Dynamics
00:11:29
Speaker
It's definitely, I'm starting to get concerned about it because
00:11:33
Speaker
If it's a player that's had multiple concussions in their career, you definitely would expect them to be held out for longer. But Christian, as far as I know, this is his first concussion. My understanding is that's sort of what has contributed to the weird sort of timeline associated with this.
00:11:56
Speaker
I don't think we've talked about this a ton on the show, but what seems to have happened is he suffered a concussion, not necessarily from a blow to the head, but some other sort of jostling effect. And he didn't even realize he was dealing with concussion syndromes or symptom until later in the week. And so, best I can tell you, either Thursday night or
00:12:23
Speaker
Friday after, maybe it was like Friday after training, he basically told the team staff, hey, I'm dealing with these issues. Should we get this looked at? And they're like, yeah, we do. We need to put you through concussion protocol. And yeah, and they discovered that he had suffered some sort of concussion. And so he missed the Portland game. He missed the Minnesota game. He obviously missed the open cup game.
00:12:51
Speaker
And now he's missed the RSL game and who knows he could miss more games after that. And so hopefully this is not something where he's just sort of like out indefinitely. And because like the longer he's out, it feels like the more likely this could be like, I don't know, I'm maybe jumping to the conclusions here, but it feels sort of like you can't help but have some, you know, um,
00:13:18
Speaker
some concerns about what this all means and it, and it not, not for nothing. The sounders have been a lot better when he's on the field this year. They're five one-on-one in the games. He starts and they are just, uh, one, one-on-one when he, when he doesn't start.
00:13:34
Speaker
And the game against Minnesota was a win and a decent performance, but I wouldn't say one of the best. It felt like he was not on the field. And it is scary.
00:13:54
Speaker
terrifying generally, especially now that we know so much more about them. But when they don't react relatively predictably,
00:14:06
Speaker
that's when it gets really scary to me, because for most people, you get a concussion, especially if it's your first one, and you kind of know what to expect. And in the cases where it doesn't turn out that way, it can be like you said, like it could suggest that there's something else going on, which is, you know, very concerning, obviously, hopefully, that's not the case for
00:14:31
Speaker
non-sporting reasons more than sporting reasons. But it's definitely, I think, if we're talking about how it's going to impact the team, it's a big deal. I think it's pretty clearly a big deal just based on the way they've played with him and without him over the last couple of years. Yeah. And so far, the player who seems to be stepping in to replace him
00:14:54
Speaker
has, well, I guess there's been a few different ones, but, uh, this last week it was Jordan Morris and part of, and it's not that Jordan Morris is bad on the right, but it does seem like he has a pretty significant. He's, he does seem to be quite a bit better when he's starting on the left or at forward.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think Jordan at forward and also on the left, although I do think I'm increasingly the opinion that Ford is his best position, but he's clearly like an MVP caliber player this year so far playing on the left or forward. And on the right wing, he's a pretty good.
00:15:31
Speaker
like that to me seems right like it's like yeah he's a he's a he's a guy that's good to have that level of player and so the the difference between those two of like one of the best player in the league and yeah he's he's good I like him is pretty significant and so
00:15:50
Speaker
you got to do what you got to do, right? Like you maybe whatever other option there is to play on the right is even worse because like we've talked about a lot this year, it's about putting the best cohesive team that maximizes the 11 rather than getting guys into their best position to succeed. But when you look like the Sounders did against RSL,
00:16:16
Speaker
maybe it does stand to reason that, well, the best we're going to look is with Jordan on the left or in the middle. And I'm increasingly of that opinion. It feels like there's got to be a better option. The problem is that if it's on the left, you're probably dropping Leo Chiu. I've never seen him play on the right, and I have to assume that's just completely a non-starter.
00:16:43
Speaker
I feel like if it was something that could happen at all, we would have seen it by now. Just because it does seem like Jordan is so much less effective, and it seems pretty clear, I think, to anybody that's watching. So I have to guess that Leopold is just not going to play there.
Jordan Morris' Best Position Debate
00:16:58
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we've seen him switch to the right in games, but you're right. We've never seen him start on the right.
00:17:06
Speaker
I can only assume that has something to do maybe with defensive responsibilities and, you know, things that maybe we don't see as obviously because it does seem like he's perfectly capable of attacking from the right side and cutting it on his left. And, you know, one of the best plays of the game against RSL was him attacking from the right side, not making the defender and then putting it across to a bear whose shot was saved.
00:17:36
Speaker
So I would think that's at least a possibility. And who knows, maybe we will see it at some point. But I don't know, so much of what the sounders are doing right now seems predicated on Alex Roldon's attacking a bit, sort of like his ability to overlap. And so maybe there's something to be said about
00:17:56
Speaker
their communication between Alex and Leo that doesn't work right now. So I can't say why he hasn't started on the right. I'm just sort of guessing. But yeah, it does seem like that might be worth exploring, especially if Christian's going to be out for an extended period. Because one of the other things the Sounders have tried is they tried Albert Rusnak out there and
00:18:18
Speaker
and he's been okay but you know he was ineffective enough in the first half against Minnesota that they put Obed Vargas in there and then you know and I think Rosnak's very good in the center of the park so
00:18:35
Speaker
you're sort of again robbing Peter to pay Paul a little bit by moving him out there. And then you're looking at other options that there's just not a lot of ideal options out on the right side. So it could be Jordan and maybe Leo is another one worth trying at some point.
00:18:55
Speaker
Um, or, or hell, maybe we see Paul Rothrock called up from the, uh, from the defiance and he's been, he has been very good for them. So who knows? I suppose that's stranger things have certainly happened.
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, if it gets Jordan and Leo on the field and their best positions and Albert in his best position, maybe that is the way to go. I'm not opposed to it. You never know. Exactly. Yeah. And I do think that if the choice is between Jordan on the right and a bear playing, it's starting.
00:19:30
Speaker
I'm increasingly of the opinion that that Jordan should should be playing in the center. I love like a bear is great. I love him. But I just the way Leo and Jordan have looked.
00:19:45
Speaker
together this year is just completely, you know, it's until, until later shoots starts performing at a lower level. I just don't see how a bear has earned the start over him.
Segment Wrap-Up and Upcoming Topics
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with you there. Well, that's, that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We're going to come back, talk a little bit more about the open cup game, uh, preview, do a little preview of the sporting Kansas city game. We'll probably, uh, talk a little bit more broadly about this.
Open Cup Game Recap
00:20:13
Speaker
this fixture congestion that the sounders are about to hit, but you're listening to no idea at this and we will be right back.
00:20:23
Speaker
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00:20:45
Speaker
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00:21:05
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. So let's talk a little bit about this Open Cup game that happened on Wednesday. As you have probably heard, the Sounders won that game 5-4. It ended a four-game winless run in the Open Cup that's the longest in Sounders history. And by longest in Sounders history, I mean
00:21:27
Speaker
forever like going back to the a-league days when they first made their debut in the open cup which i believe was in 1995 was the first tournament they competed in so yeah that was that was a pretty long run of utility for the sounders it felt good to to get that win but they made it a lot more interesting than i think they really needed to they led two zero they led three one they led four three really late uh ended up needing and then they led uh
00:21:56
Speaker
All right.
00:21:58
Speaker
They led, yeah, 4-3, I guess 4-3, they led 3-2 in the, at the end of regulation, then 4-3 in overtime. And then ultimately had to settle for a 5-4 win with the winner coming on like 124th minute Freddy Montero penalty in which he was cramping up right before taking the penalty, which I just thought was pretty perfect way to end that thing. But it was a lot of fun, a fun game at Starfire.
00:22:27
Speaker
I got to say I love the seven o'clock kickoff. So much preferable to 730 because even when you play 30 extra minutes, you get home at a decent time. But yeah, I mean, the Sounders used a lineup that was almost exclusively young players and defiance players.
00:22:47
Speaker
Uh, in a weird kind of turn of events, the sounders had a starting lineup that was about four years younger on average than the USL championship
Young Players Shine in Open Cup
00:22:57
Speaker
team. They played a San Diego loyal who had a bunch of, you know, the players that had MLS and other first division experience. So they weren't any slouches, but the sounders, you know, pretty much did what they needed to do in that game. And I actually thought it was a pretty encouraging performance overall.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that if you win in the Open Cup, if you want in a knockout competition, you're doing great. I don't really care what the circumstances are. And this is a lineup that the Sounders should expect to win these games in. We've talked about this a lot over the last few years, that there's this perception that playing lineups like this mean that the Sounders aren't taking the competition seriously. And I don't think that's true. I think that
00:23:43
Speaker
competitions like this are why you have rosters the size that you do and why you sign players to pro contracts that are not quite ready to contribute week in and week out at the MLS level. That's what they're here for. And they've earned those minutes. The players that started this game that are Defiance players or that
00:24:05
Speaker
Our first team players but not getting a ton of playing time This is the reward for putting in hard work and training and that's you have to do that to motivate players to to keep you know to give them something to to work hard for and You know, they've lost those games because they've played poorly they haven't lived up to their potential They almost did it in this one, right? Like they kind of fell apart I mean San Diego, I think
00:24:30
Speaker
I want to say they played well. Uh, it was a Joe Corona masterclass. I thought he had a, he looked like his, his old self vintage Joe Corona performance, but otherwise they had a banger of a goal. Um, some of the worst goalkeeping I've ever seen and just some open cup randomness, right? That, that made the game happen, but ultimately sounders won the game. That's really all you can ask for.
Open Cup Match Highlights
00:24:52
Speaker
And, you know, from here on out, I think that lineups probably get a little more, a little closer to the first team gradually, especially now that you're playing an MLS team that probably doesn't have a lot to play for in the league this year. Um, they're not coached by Bruce Arena anymore. So maybe they'll actually take the open cup a little more seriously. Probably not though. Um, yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's, I do think I will say I agree with you that I think
00:25:17
Speaker
How seriously you take the tournament is much more about a mentality and it's much more about the way you prepare for it and less about the lineup because I agree with you. If you're going to have a 27 player roster and you're not going to use the Reed Baker Whiting's and Ethan Doble errors and so to key to Hara's and you go down the list, why are they on the roster?
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah. If you can't use them in these games, then, then there's no point in having them on you. There's no reason to, to, you know, and it's, and I thought there were some really encouraging performances in this game from these types of players. Uh, I actually liked a lot what I saw from soda Kita Hara, uh, in the central midfield. I liked a ton of what I saw from Reed Baker Whiting at right back. Uh, I thought Paul Rothrock did a really good job coming off the bench. He scored, he became the, I believe the first.
00:26:12
Speaker
non first team player to score a first team goal for the Sounders maybe in their entire history, which was, which was pretty cool.
00:26:22
Speaker
The player who really stood out to me, the one I was most impressed by because of what I had said my expectations were for him, was Cody Baker, who is a 19-year-old homegrown player currently with Defiance. And the sounders have been pretty high on him, mostly as a right back, a little bit as a center back.
00:26:42
Speaker
but he played left back in this game. I think he'd only started two other games at left back. And there's no, like he had an absolutely great assist to Rothrock. He wasn't super clean in possession, but he was a lockdown defender. And honestly, I was really impressed by what we saw from him.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be honest with you and the listeners and God and everybody here. I was on vacation watching this game in my hotel room after I'd been drinking for about eight hours. Oh, that's a good way to watch it. Now, it's not like I was drinking hard for eight hours, but I was still drinking for eight hours. So my analysis was maybe should be taken with a grain of salt. But there wasn't anyone on the team that stood out to me as not being at this level.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yes. And that's, I think that that's really, that hasn't always been the case. I think it's fair to say without saying when anybody out and, and in this game I thought everybody looked like they belonged, there were mistakes. Um, but like the goal that sent the game to extra time, there's nothing anybody could do about that goal. No, it's like a 25 yard, uh, absolute rocket from a guy who might not score another goal in his
Fixture Congestion Challenges
00:27:56
Speaker
career.
00:27:56
Speaker
Right. I mean, and, you know, like the the penalty handball, one of those things. I wasn't I didn't look at that and say I never want to see Ariaga play again. You know, it's just like like weird stuff happens in these games. And, you know, the sound of scored five goals. You got to feel pretty good about that, even though
00:28:20
Speaker
I, that seriously was, one of the things that did come through crystal clear through the beer goggles was that that was one of the worst goalkeepers I've ever seen at the professional level playing for San Diego. I like, I legitimately. Who has, this is what's crazy about him. He has cat, he has La Liga starts. Yeah. Well.
00:28:42
Speaker
Did not look like it. No, did not. And maybe I mean, look, like I'm sure that there have been sounders players where people have never seen the sounders play saw that one game, had a nightmare and said, Oh, how is that guy even a pro? So this is the only time I've seen coke biggest play.
00:28:58
Speaker
So maybe, maybe this was just an off night. Maybe he had the flu or something. I don't know, but yeah, it was rough. It was rough, but you know, if you're playing against a bad goalkeeper, having a bad night might as well score five goals, you know, and they did, and they did. And, and you know, read Baker Whiting's goal as good as, as the oils goal was the Senate texture time. I thought Baker Whiting's goal was as good, if not better. Um,
00:29:27
Speaker
absolute just absolute thunder bastard yeah cutting and just like a really mature sort of like taking the game by the reins and then scoring kind of goal which is pretty good to see for a player that has the the promise and I hate to say hype but the hype that he does to see him coming up big in a spot like that was really encouraging I thought
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree. And I thought he actually seemed very composed in his postgame comments. I would love to see more of him, frankly. I'm excited to see what he can do in probably more open cup games.
00:30:08
Speaker
And I hope they keep winning Open Cup games because I'm excited to see these players get more minutes. But the downside to continuing in the Open Cup is that
00:30:24
Speaker
The Sounders are about to enter a stretch of games from between May 7th and June 3rd that they will play seven games. Basically every other they'll play every two games a week from that period and if they win their open cup game against the Galaxy you can actually make that 10 games between May 7th and June 10th.
00:30:49
Speaker
Again, basically playing every two games a week. It's gonna be, I mean, a lot of soccer coming up here. Open up wide for some soccer, I think is the saying.
00:31:04
Speaker
Yeah, timing's not great. Fortunately, it's all to make way for the League's Cup, and I think we can all agree that it's completely worth it. I know we're all just falling all over, so I was excited about that.
00:31:23
Speaker
I guess everybody else kind of has to deal with it too. You can't complain too much about it. It does. It is a lot of soccer. It is a lot of soccer. You really just have to hope that guys get healthy. You got to hope that that new who gets healthy here shortly. You got to hope that Christian obviously gets healthy. Raul is probably asking for a little bit much at this at this stage, but you got to hope that Jordan and a bear stay healthy.
00:31:47
Speaker
And then everybody else does. I mean, it's just, um, Kellen obviously is probably going to be out past, past June, but yeah, I think he's out for this whole, like he, I, my suspicion is he's, he might be out. It sounds like almost best case. He might be out until league's cup.
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, I mean, you can't really do much about it other than hope that that guys stay healthy. Who knows what this this next month is going to bring? I think that hoping that the Sounders are going to do what they were doing for the first month or two of the season is maybe asking a little bit much, considering everything. But I don't think there's any reason to think unless some kind of disaster strikes that they can't get through this.
00:32:31
Speaker
comfortably without completely falling apart and falling out of the support or shield race. But it's probably going to be... I mean, it is going to be a little bit of a grind. And this is... I mean, we've talked all year about the depth and I do think the sounders have good depth, but it's pretty clear that this is going to be where it's tested because even without the injuries that they're dealing with,
00:32:52
Speaker
you have to rotate when you're playing this many games, you have to rotate, you have to give people who aren't getting a ton of time, you have to start giving them playing time, which you have to hope that they take that and run with it and use that as motivation to get more playing time after the stretch is over.
Upcoming Matches Outlook
00:33:14
Speaker
But yeah, it's going to be interesting. That's for sure. It is way too much soccer. And I hope we don't have to do it again next year.
00:33:22
Speaker
I feel as good about the sounder's ability to deal with this as anybody else's. And that's not all you can ask for. And looking at the schedule, I wouldn't say it's easy by any stretch, but it's not quite as imposing, but I think the game against Sporting Kansas City absolute must win. This is a team that comes in winless.
00:33:45
Speaker
in its first 10 games of the season, they're 07 and 03. If the Sounders, as long as the Sounders don't lose to them, Sporting Kansas City is going to tie the record, the MLS record for most winless games to start a season. And at that point, you really have to consider this
00:34:04
Speaker
the worst start in MLS season. They've they've only scored three goals. They've had three red cards. Now, it should be said they've been pretty competitive. You know, they tied Philadelphia on the road. They lost two to one to New England Revolution on the road just a couple of weeks ago. So it's not like this is a team incapable of being competitive in this game. But the Sounders absolutely, I think, have to score an early goal and put this give them no hope, essentially, is what I'm saying.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think that getting into a situation where you can feel pretty confident around a minute 50 or so and start making some rotational subs early on, I think that would be just what the doctor ordered in this game. It's complicated a little bit because the guys that you would be rotating in will probably be expected to go 90 midweek against the galaxy.
00:34:57
Speaker
you know that's okay you can go you can go 30 and 90 but you can't go 90 90 90 right so right um just having the opportunity any opportunity to take the foot off the gas over this next month is going to be pretty critical and this is a game where i think the sounder should
00:35:16
Speaker
come out and step on Casey's neck and put themselves into a position where they can do that. I mean, if you have designs on the supporter shield, if you have designs on being the best in the league, you need to beat the shit out of teams like sporting Kansas City. There's just no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And they've shown they can do it this year, and they did it in Kansas City, so we know they can. And I frankly kind of expect them to.
00:35:40
Speaker
Yeah, and part of it also is that the schedule just gets a little trickier after this. Their next league game is at Houston. Houston's been pretty good this year, actually. Then they're back home against Austin. That's a game that they should obviously win. But then they're on the road against Vancouver, another team who has been surprisingly good this year that's going to be on short rest. It's in Vancouver where they've often struggled back home at Red Bulls.
00:36:06
Speaker
another one they should win at home against San Jose, you know, maybe that's a win. And then you got, you got the timbers at home, which that's a, that's quite a stretch to end where this kind of crazy stretch with, but yeah, there's, you know, if they're in, if they, if they can win their home games during this stretch, they are in absolutely great shape.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really all you can ever ask for, I think, is when when your game is at home, especially when they're playing the teams that they are. Yeah, this is in terms of who they're going up against. It's a pretty friendly stretch. Obviously, Houston's been pretty decent and playing in Houston is always a pain in the ass. Vancouver has been better and and I think than anybody expected. And I think it's a team that the Sounders should expect to be able to beat away from home. But it's a cascading game. You know, you never know.
00:37:02
Speaker
But in general, if you if you were going to play this many games in the short of a period of time, these are the kind of teams you'd hope
Must-Win Against Sporting Kansas City?
00:37:10
Speaker
to see on there. Right. Like when the toughest challenge is Houston.
00:37:14
Speaker
You're not in terrible shape, but the toughest challenge is playing eight games and three. Right. It's, it's the accumulation of all these games that, that could get, that could get tough, but, um, I guess those are, let's start with a win at, at, or a win at home against sporting Kansas city. The absolute, like again, they got to win this one.
00:37:34
Speaker
Uh, you know, they don't necessarily literally have to win all their home games in this stretch, but this is one of those ones. Jeez. Right. Just, just win this thing when it, when it, you know, when three zero make life easy. Yeah. No, that's too much. Feel, feel good about everything and, uh, and then approach, you know, deal with everything else as
Episode Closure and Acknowledgements
00:37:54
Speaker
it comes. Yeah. But all right. Well, that's probably a good place to call it. Um,
00:38:01
Speaker
I don't have much else. We'll have a show later in the week where we take your questions. We also have a show later in the week where we're going to talk to Jimmy Mack of No Other Pod, which is a sporting Kansas City pod. So lots of stuff to look forward to. If you aren't already a subscriber to our sub-stack, I would
00:38:22
Speaker
urge you to do that, support independent soccer media. You can become a free subscriber or a paid subscriber. Plans start as cheap as $5 a month or $50 a year. That's nosadietes.substack.com. Of course, thank you to our sponsors, Fullpool Wines and Watson's Counter, who is getting ready to reopen pretty soon. They have a pretty cool location up in Ballard.
00:38:50
Speaker
that hopefully we'll be able to talk about a bit. And other than that, I'm Jeremiah O'Shannon, signing off for Aaron Campo and Lick It. This is No Sadietes. Remember, you'll never get alone.
00:39:59
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!