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How do the Seattle Sounders Stack Up Against the BEST in the West?
236 Plays4 hours ago
After an unfortunate exit from Concacaf Champions Cup, the Seattle Sounders returned to league play with a bang, beating St. Louis CITY SC 4-1 at Lumen Field in MLS Matchday 8. We'll give our takeaways from a cathartic result, then dive into our thought exercise of the week, where we'll discuss how Seattle stacks up against some of the other frontrunners in the Western Conference, including LAFC, Vancouver and San Jose. After previewing this weekend's match vs. FC Dallas, we'll close it out by bringing in Sounder at Heart overlord Jeremiah Oshan for a can't-miss discussion on Brian Schmetzer's reponse to Andrés Lillini's allegations regarding the Seattle Sounders, Obed Vargas and the Mexico national team.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Streaming Details
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Host Introductions and Episode Plan
00:00:44
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I'm Ari, that's Nico, and shockingly, we had a few tech difficulties before the start of the show, but we are here now. We're going to be hanging out here this morning, talking some Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer. Hopefully my audio is not too bad, but we're going to roll with the punches here today.
00:01:04
Speaker
Nico, we have got a lot to get to.
Sounders' Recent Matches and Coach Reactions
00:01:07
Speaker
So going to try and keep this intro short because we started a little late as well. But what's up, man? How you doing? 4-1 win for the Seattle Sounders in match day eight after the CCC exit. And we're going talking about that win. And then later on in the show, we're going to be talking about ah Brian Schmetzer's reaction to your question about Andres Lulini, which has been in the headlines. So what's up, man? How you doing? How you feeling?
00:01:30
Speaker
Nah, man. Excited to be on, of course. I wasn't at the game for what looked like a very good win by the Sounders, but i did get to rewatch the game a couple times. I got some takes on it. And yeah, man, we'll ah get this thing going so we can get through everything we got to talk about today.
New Sponsorship Announcement
00:01:51
Speaker
Before we do get into that, i do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers kickoff is now presented by QED Coffee. As you can see, I got my mug right here. New title sponsor, taking a little sip.
00:02:05
Speaker
Go show, uh, show QED coffee, some support QED coffee.com slash lobbying scorchers or lobbying scorchers.com slash coffee. One of the best ways you can support the show is to get a sub to QED coffee, or just go on their website and use the code LS 74. You get 25% off anything on the site and you support a great local business and you support the show. A win-win situation. Uh,
00:02:28
Speaker
All right, Nico,
Match Analysis: Sounders vs St. Louis City SC
00:02:29
Speaker
let's get into it. Like I said, time is of the essence here this morning. And we got a we got a dub to talk about for the Seattle Sounders, 4-1 over St. Louis City SC. And yeah, i didn't I didn't see you there. You weren't at the ah stadium. So I'm eager to hear what your takeaways were from this game. You got a Christian roll rolled on brace, two goals for Christian as he makes his USMNT World Cup push. You had a banger performance from Albert Rusnak, a goal and two assists.
00:02:58
Speaker
Nico, what what cut your out caught your eye? What did you think of this win? Look, it was a it was a solid win. It wasn't perfect. It was off to a really rough start. You could tell that the team ah wasn't quite synced in to start off. I mean, when it comes to easy giveaways, when it comes to coming out of the back, there were some...
00:03:21
Speaker
Mistakes that I think are uncharacteristic of of this team, maybe because there was a lot of new pieces on the field. You were shifting a couple of things. But as the game went along and the Sounders started to settle into it, helped, of course, by a very opportunistic and well-designed corner kick that leads to a Christian Roldan goal. I felt like that really put some air in the sales of this Sounders team and that that allowed them to get back to bases and continue to to um play their game and and worry about their principles.
00:04:07
Speaker
What stood out for me was, and I'll start off with maybe not the the most obvious, ah which is Tino Lopez. Look, I've been a Tino Lopez guy. I've been wanting to see a lot more of him. And, you know, I actually thought that maybe we would have seen him on the first leg of that Tigres series. And um man, in this game, he was just close to perfect. I mean, I'm i'm just talking about from his role, what he needs to do.
00:04:38
Speaker
what job number one is. i thought his positioning was outstanding. i thought that his read on place was excellent. Anytime that, because there was a couple of times that I think knew who,
00:04:49
Speaker
who started off the game with with some some issues, I think, and some boo-boos, if if you will. Every time he would get caught up, if there was a guy that was there to make sure that that counter or that moment in attack by San Luis didn't result in a good chance and forcing that attack to start to play negative was Tino Lopez, man. i thought he was good on the ball. Set piece-wise, he's just so strong. So that stood out for me. ah This was St. Louis, if not the best, who's one of the best crossing teams are in in MLS. And Sanders really did a good job at not allowing that to be a factor. um
00:05:30
Speaker
I thought that.
Player Performance and Lineup Strategies
00:05:32
Speaker
you know, Brian, uh, uh, decides to rotate the lineup a bit, totally acceptable because of, you just had a, a a big game, right. Uh, midweek. So you move things around a bit and, uh, you know, it wasn't bad. You know, I thought standard Brunel, uh, playing that pocket winger was, was okay. You know, he was ah good for playing, you know, a little bit off his normal role, a line farther back there. Uh,
00:05:58
Speaker
really enjoyed his aggressiveness and willingness to just take shots. That first goal by Christian Roldan comes off a a corner kick that he provokes off of just mid-range shot. I'm going to just be decisive. I'm going to look down, hit it with a lot of pace, makes Berkey make the save, and then that leads to that corner kick by Christian Roldan.
00:06:20
Speaker
As much as... um You know, Hassani Dotson maybe didn't have an outstanding game and he wasn't as, um you know, enlightening or he he wasn't a player that was brilliant on the ball. thought that he did his job and and he once again shows us that he has a specific skill set that he can provide. He's a very good defender. He can win some balls. He fantastic.
00:06:47
Speaker
a lot more practical with what he does. He wants to play simple and that can be positive, right? Not all the time, but there will be times where you might need that. So, you know, i thought i was a positive for this team. And, you know, look, Christian Roldan having the the the huge game that he did, two goals, two set pieces, far post. But you know what I really like about Christian Roldan is that he's not worried about padding his stats, right? Because I saw the... ah postgame interview about Albert Rusnak asked him if he wanted to take dad that that PK right to get a hat trick but that he's not worried about that he he doesn't care about that he wants to do his job he wants to be a good teammate he allows Albert to take that penalty kick I love that because look a hat trick's a hat trick but whenever you force it it just doesn't feel the same right I mean if Christian Roldan was the every
00:07:41
Speaker
Every every game, penalty kick shooter, and that happens to be a PK, and you put it away, that feels fine, right? It's good. It's part of the game. Great. You got a hat trick. But if you're kind of forcing the subject to get that hat trick, it doesn't have the same feel. So absolutely love it. And let's just conclude with...
00:08:01
Speaker
Albert Rusnak, a guy that has had come a consecutive couple of very good games. I um one i don't know if I'm one of the few, maybe not, but I really enjoyed the Albert Rusnak and Jesus Ferreira on the field at the same time.
00:08:15
Speaker
i don't like this idea that it has to be one or the other. I don't think that they have to play against each other when it comes to this team. Is Ferreira the 10 of the future for this team? Perhaps. Can he play? it Does he play it differently? Does it look more dynamic when Jesus plays that 10 role? Yeah, I would say that it does. And he comes in, he gets another assist, the six assists for the year. Very good assist to Osasera Rosario.
00:08:44
Speaker
I thought he was dangerous as soon as he came into the field. Talking about Jesus Ferreira, he just seems to find pockets. He put... Mussovsky threw on a excellent pass that Danny just can't quite put away, doesn't get there quick enough. But that's what Jesus Ferreira does. But I do think that both of those guys can coexist. And... um Glad to hear that Albert Ruckstack is fine, that there's no injury. According to Brian, although he looked like that, I mean, when the player's on the ground, can't get up, right? It feels like an injury. But according to Brian, he's he's okay. But I like to see Albert having these sort of performances because the team, the overall collective, is much better when Albert is playing well and Jesus is playing well.
00:09:30
Speaker
If we can just figure out how to have a consistent – Nine that that that we can decide on who's the best because now we don't even know. even Now we're farther from figuring out who should be starting at the
Debates on Player Positions and Impact
00:09:43
Speaker
nine. I still like Jordan. And, you know, now one I'm definitely one of the few that still like Jordan up there. But Danny has been scoring. He gets 79 minutes in this one, doesn't score. Osase comes in, he does score. So now you have no idea what's going happen. But overall, a good win, not perfect against a team that has struggled.
00:10:05
Speaker
but that plays good soccer and that a lot of times they've put some teams under pressure. But I enjoyed the win. I thought it but it was a very professional win. Maybe the scoreline doesn't tell the whole story of it. I don't know if it was necessarily a 4-1 type of thing.
00:10:21
Speaker
the the The two set-piece goals were just such an anomaly, I would hope, because, I mean, they were just so bad, so poorly defended. But overall, I just thought it was a good win for the Sounders.
00:10:32
Speaker
It was, and it was good to see a, I think it's fair to call it a bounce back game for Albert Rusnak. We had talked about how he had not had the greatest start to the season. ah There was also the incident where Cody Baker scored his first um MLS goal and Albert Rusnak didn't get back onside and it got disallowed. And that was pretty upsetting. So I think he needed a couple games like this because, like you mentioned, he was on it in the Tigris game as well. He was a big reason why Seattle got all over Tigris and was able to 3-1 them. Obviously, they didn't go through in the NCCC, but performance-wise, He was really good and he was productive. And so you want to see him continue that against, ah you know, like you mentioned, it's not the greatest team I've ever seen, St. Louis City SC. But your job when you're playing a team like that is to go out there, like you said, be professional, leave no doubt and take care of business. And that's what they did. So great delivery for Albert on both of those set piece assists. He converts the penalty kick as well. So that's great to see. I did want to talk about Hassani Dotson a little bit as well, because, you know, I was asked about him after the game on the, uh,
00:11:43
Speaker
on the post-game show, and I was like, can you know, I kind of feel like, I think impactful is the word I use. He isn't necessarily hasn't been necessarily as impactful for Seattle yet as we saw him be at times during his run with Minnesota. But I was thinking about it, Nico, and i think that acquisition is working out so far. He's doing what they need him to do. The question for me going into the season about Hassani Dotson was, you know, i felt fine about the fact that this guy is a starting level player in the league, a good starting level player in the league, and that he can provide a lot of value to the team. But when you're talking about filling shoes like Obed, part of the reason the team was able to hit the ceiling it was last year was because Obed was playing at a legitimate superstar level. So when you have a guy like Hassani Dotson come in and soak up those minutes, I think the question is, you know, can he –
00:12:35
Speaker
Can he perform at a level that, you know, it doesn't need to be a superstar level, but it needs to be a level where the team can still play at the heights that they were at times last year when Obed was playing. And so that was just sort of the uncertainty, I think, with Hassani Dotson was can he get to that level, not can he just be a solid starter for the team. But I think what we're seeing, Nico, is that the kind of ascendance in the breakout of Snyder Brunel Snyder is kind of playing, I think, pretty close at or at least near the level Obed was last year for this team, or at least playing in a way that's allowing the team to operate at that level. So when you have Snyder playing at that level, it sort of it lessens the pressure on Hassani to be a super standout player. And really, all he needs to do is just be a solid workman like above average coach. MLS starter, and he's going to fill exactly the role that he needs to on this team with the upside, I think for more, because he is a guy who was a needle mover at times for Minnesota United, but there's not as much pressure on him to, to be that on this team. So I I'm, I'm encouraged in that sense. It's more, but it's more about a a Snyder Brunel thing. Like I just feel like Snyder, even in this game playing out wide,
00:13:49
Speaker
you know I don't like him at that position as much as I do playing in the in the double pivot, but he can do it functionally. And then when he is in the double pivot, he's phenomenal. So that was my thought on Hassani.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, that the thing with Hassani is you you did kind of get lucky to a certain sense because the whole reason that you went and got Hassani Dotson was because he was ah safe player bet.
00:14:19
Speaker
He was going to be a guy that you were going to bring in. He had experience. He had a high floor. He did a job. And at the very least, you'd have somebody that you can count on to do A and B. You weren't expecting, or at least I don't think anyone did, to be quite frank. I mean, i we were all high on Snyder Brunel, but I don't think we expected him to just take over the way he has.
00:14:43
Speaker
And so if that wasn't the case, if let's say Snyder was not playing at this level and Hassani was the one coming in, I think he could go in there and do a job. ah We still have not necessarily seen enough still to this day because that concussion that he did suffer put him out for quite some time. it it was a while that he has been on and off a little bit part of this system and and team. But I do think that the Sounders, to their credit,
00:15:14
Speaker
they They knew that there was something there ah with Snyder and they weren't afraid to just put him in to see how that would reflect on the field. And so now they're to a an advantageous a place where they could kind of shift things around.
00:15:35
Speaker
The thing that had me skeptical ah about the Dotson move wasn't that he was not going to be a player that Was going to be able to perform. Maybe not at that. Or definitely not at the. Obed level. But.
00:15:49
Speaker
the salary and the, the, the, what you were enough to go in and pay for dots. And part of that, it was kind of what came a little of skeptical, but now it doesn't matter because now you have a guy like Snyder, but now that's on a low salary. And that is over-performing to what you thought you were going to get, not to mention a one Peter Kingston that I thought came in and did a very good job. He continues to impress me with how,
00:16:16
Speaker
how quickly he adapts and how he just looks the part. I mean, he doesn't look like a guy that doesn't have many first team or first league minutes, if you will, right? I mean, he just doesn't look like a guy that has been playing USL most of his life and has been with the combat defiance and all of these things. I mean, he just looks the part. So the Sounders in their very own way, I think ended up getting the best out of both worlds.
00:16:45
Speaker
Secondary assist for Pete Kingston in this game. So they're going to say that it doesn't count. But regardless, that Osase goal was created by Pete Kingston, you know, reading the passing lane, sliding in there, winning the ball, getting it to Jesus Ferreira, who finds Osase.
00:17:03
Speaker
for an absolute galazzo, Nico. And ah let's do some number nine discourse. I mean, you talked about it a little bit already. People are talking about it in chat. But like you said, this game has muddied the waters even more, I think, as far as what Seattle should do at this position.
00:17:22
Speaker
You know, you had Danny Musavsky who gets two goals in CCC. He earns the start for this game against St. Louis and ah he he doesn't score, but he had been scoring. And I think Moose has more or less been playing well this year. I think he's unlucky to not have a couple more goals. He had the one in Salt Lake that was disallowed on a very borderline offside call. So he's been doing his Moose thing. He's been getting in those spots. He got a couple of goals in CCC. But then he gets the start in this game, doesn't score in this game. And then Osaze comes on and scores one of the best goals of the season. I mean, Nico, that was a class goal. I've watched him the replay a few times, just how he's dancing. He dances through like three or four guys on that play and then makes a great finish and then sort of goes and struts and flexes next to the sideline and stuff. And it did it did feel like a moment where Osaze was kind of sending a message.
00:18:19
Speaker
Don't forget about me. I'm still here. I can still score goals. I just scored that goal. Give me some minutes, you know? And when he scores a goal like that, it's kind of, it's kind of hard not to feel like, man, I want to see that more just because that that's just an example, man, of ah a type of dynamic play that, you know, Jordan's time dynamic in a different way. He's dynamic in the, I'm afraid train running at you. type of way, but not like in the kind of, I'm going to pull out some technical skill like that type of way. And then, you know, that that type of play too, that's not really Moose's game. Moose is more of the pure poacher. So for Osazi to come out and do something like that, like, I'm not going to lie, you look at that and you're like, min
00:19:02
Speaker
I kind of am back in the mode of wanting to see him get some run again. And, you know, I don't want to be like just having whiplash on this every time a guy scores a goal. Oh, he's the starter. Then another guy scores a goal. Oh, now he's the starter. But it is it has created a situation where I think, you know, I've been referring to it as a as a good problem to have. But it is it does like, you know, for this game against FC Dallas, who do you start at the at the nine? You can make an argument for.
00:19:29
Speaker
all all three of them. Let's start with this, Nico. I mean, where are you at on on where Jordan needs to play? Some people in chat are saying they want him ah out wide. And it seems like if you're in a situation where Osaze and Moose are both commanding a role in both commanding minutes, that is a way to get Jordan on the field and still do that. But then that creates other kind of lineup questions. So how are you sizing up this number nine situation and what the position is of Jordan Morris?
00:19:58
Speaker
I still want to see Jordan up top only because I think that is the way that you can add your most talented players at one time the field.
00:20:10
Speaker
I also think that it's very hard to judge Jordan Morris on his first start at El Volcan, difficult situation. Then you bring him here.
00:20:22
Speaker
he has a... A couple of moments that I understand he, if he if he doesn't fumble that very first opportunity he had against Tigres at home, where he kind of gets dispossessed in the 18, he's a little bit of two minds.
00:20:38
Speaker
ah Maybe he has a better first half there. Because I do think that Jordan's biggest problem is that he's not as decisive as he needs to be. And a lot of that has to do with just lack of rhythm, lack of minutes. I mean, we're forgetting that this guy has been off the field as long as he has. And now he's got to come in, reignite that chemistry with that front four or that front three behind him. He's got to be able to understand where guys are going to put the ball, what he needs to do. He needs to start to trust his body.
00:21:10
Speaker
And because of that, I just want to see Jordan Morris continue to get a couple of runs at the nine with the right guys behind them. I mean, with your number one setup, with Jesus on the right, with Albert behind them, Paul Rothrock on the left. You could maybe change Paul Rothrock for Paul Arreola at times if you want, but you need to have those guys there that are going to service and provide the best possible opportunities for Jordan to get behind defenses and to regain that confidence. So I understand that in that second half against Tigres,
00:21:44
Speaker
Jordan looked as soon as Danny Mussovsky came in, but it it wasn't just
Sounders' Tactical Flexibility and Comparisons
00:21:49
Speaker
that. He was just adding more numbers forward, and he he even he said it after the game, right? I mean, it wasn't just about adding Jesus. It wasn't just about adding Danny Mussovsky, but That's why I always say that soccer is very circumstantial and it's very hard to just compartmentalize certain parts of a game and just make assumptions about what a player is going to do or not do. Because if I'm needing goals and I'm pushing numbers forward, maybe it looks really good with Danny and and Jordan right there in that specific moment. But that's not the way it's always going to play out.
00:22:24
Speaker
That's a circumstance. It's a situation of the game. So you got to look beyond that. So to me, when I'm looking at... just the eye test where Jordan was getting to the spaces, he was jumping into the opportunities he had, even if he wasn't able to finish. That's what I'm kind of looking for because I know that sooner or later, he's going to be in top form, in full rhythm, and then we'll see whether or not he's the guy up there. so But for me, it's about getting the most talent on the field, and this setup with Jordan up top allows you to do that.
00:22:58
Speaker
I think Jordan has been doing some good work ah playing more out wide for what it's worth. I mean, I've been a supporter of moving him back to the nine because as Gianni pointed out in chat, like part of the reason this is an issue is because neither Osaze or Moose really solidified themselves when when Jordan was injured, which is, I mean, what the entire time Jordan was hurt, that was true. i I do think it has changed with with Moose getting a couple in CCC and then Osaze finally seeing one go in. i think that at least gives hope that ah maybe you're not going to see it get solidified, but you're at least going to see some goal production to enter the discussion, which had not really been the case up until ah the last couple weeks or so. Avenging Syndrome member for 11 months. Thank you for the support. They say Snyder is looking so good. It seems like we finessed Atletico by selling them our second best midfielder. Listen, I am, uh, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to plant my flag on the take yet, but I will, I will say this, Nico, I will say this. There are, there are, i'm not saying Snyder is better than Obed, but there are facets of his game that I, that make me like him a little more as a prospect than, uh, than Obed. in that I just feel like he's more explosive and like a little more dynamic in attack. And Obed kind of, he was developing those elements of his game, especially like right towards the end of his time in Seattle. You were seeing him really develop that attacking threat and he scored a couple goals in the playoffs. So I think Obed is still kind of
00:24:32
Speaker
reaching his ceiling with that but i see some of the stuff snyder is doing and i'm like man like i think the attacking upside could be could be even higher like i i don't know like i said i'm not flag planting on that yet but i'm formulating that agenda i'm formulating that uh that take uh Nico, let's get into our little thought exercise that I had ah that i had planned for this show because i was watching the Cali Classico last night between, I don't know if you all saw this, between LAFC and the San Jose
MLS Team Performances: Focus on LAFC and Sounders
00:25:05
Speaker
Earthquakes. And it was at BMO Stadium.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, their BMO Stadium. It was at BMO Stadium. So home game for LAFC and LAFC, you know, they are dealing with fixture congestion, admittedly, and they're making a run in CCC. So league play is kind of their second priority right now, but still nonetheless, to see them get kind of run off the field by Timo Werner,
00:25:29
Speaker
in the quakes. I'm not like ringing alarm bells on LAFC, but it did get me, got got my gears churning a little bit on like, you know, I think the top of the West has kind of separated themselves to start the season here. You've got a collection of teams that I think Seattle is in. Where does Seattle actually stack up?
00:25:47
Speaker
against these teams. I think there was some conventional wisdom that they are tier behind l LAFC and Vancouver. But then you look at the results so far and Seattle handled Vancouver and CCC pretty comfortably, five to one on aggregate. So I'm definitely not in a situation right now where I feel like, oh, the Whitecaps are so much better. They're so far ahead of Seattle. But I did still kind of feel like that about LAFC. Like when you look at their roster and And the top end talent that they have with Bawanga and Sun Young Min. And then also how they win games. Seattle's been grinders this year. It's been the road show. They've taken their one zeros and their zero zeros. But LAFC has kind of shown that buzzsaw type level that we've seen from them in recent years where they just they look like they're on a different level than a team like Seattle. But then you watch the game last night and they're getting run on by the Quakes, who are one of the best teams in the league, obviously. But Seattle beat the Quakes on the road in their building 1-0. So I kind of it's and I get that MLS is kind of like this in a way, you know, this team beats that team. And you can't really get into the game of like, oh, we beat them and they lost to them. So we're better than them that.
00:26:58
Speaker
I get that that's not how it works, but I do think with how some of these results have gone, it is worth talking about where Seattle stacks up in the in the hierarchy and if it's actually where we thought it was going into the season and at the start of the season. So, I mean, let's just go through some of these front-running teams one by one, and let's start with LAFC. Like, Nico, how do you think the Seattle stacks up with LAFC?
00:27:24
Speaker
right now is lafc's to be like indisputably in this kind of tier slightly above seattle or do you feel like that's more of a toss-up than uh than we might have been thinking about because i don't want to base this all on just one bad loss to the quakes while they're juggling ccc but i will say this seattle was juggling ccc too and that type of result where they get boat raced at home like that That does happen to teams juggling in CCC sometimes, but that type of result in general and when they were in CCC, that hasn't happened to Seattle this year, so I will say that. But anyway, Nico, what do you think?
00:27:59
Speaker
I think LAFC is definitely another tier. I think LAFC is still the best team in the Western Conference. I look at that game against San Jose, and it's very circumstantial. I mean, from the 54th minute, there's a almost –
00:28:18
Speaker
When it rains, it pours amount of mistakes made by LAFC that allow San Jose to get in this game. And i if when I look at this game, I'm more looking at as praising San Jose for being as um effective on the ball and opportunistic as they were, and not so much an indictment on a team that has been excellent all season long that had been so good defensively, um,
00:28:56
Speaker
But it was mistake after mistake when he came to this game. I mean, i think Sportus is the one that just had a ah yeah just a couple of terrible moments, right? I mean, just an easy ball. He's been so good for them. all He had been so good correctly. So anomalies happen. And that's why i laugh when i hear people just completely lose their minds and say, see, they were exposed. This exactly what I was talking. No, man, no, that's that's not it. and And you talked about it. And this is something that I've learned. and And I don't, you know, I got to try not to blame people for it or judge people for it. Cause it took me a long time covering soccer in general to figure out that,
00:29:36
Speaker
Soccer's not linear. just because like this team MLS too. MLS especially, sure. But anyway, right? just Just because you beat this team doesn't mean that you're better than that team. I mean, it's very circumstantial. So you you got to see beyond that. You got to see beyond the result. And that's why I don't like hyperbolic takes because more often than not, it puts you in a position where you're going to be wrong.
00:29:56
Speaker
So when it comes to LAFC, I do think that they're but the better team. Once again, San Jose did an excellent job. An excellent job at being able to Pick up those mistakes like a bad giveaway right at midfield. Create an opportunity. Timo Werner's on his own running right at you. Tafari does a terrible job as well of just technique of just slowing that play down. Sometimes you got to just...
00:30:22
Speaker
take the player out and cause a free kick to not let him just get in and have a free shot in front of goal. Right. So there were just so many mistakes over and over again by this team that, you know, if there's anything that went rock for LA, you've seen this particular game was that offensively there was just not dangerous enough and and they do need to do better at that. And Tillman to me is just so um sporadic and, um,
00:30:52
Speaker
There's just no consistency with him. I think that if anything, LAFC really needs another playmaker. and And I think that they are really, really, really missing Eustachio. And that's why the best that we've seen from at LAFC is what he's been on because he provides you – A guy that can possess the ball, a guy that can manage tempo, a guy going to slow it down when you need to, a guy that's going to be very good at just being another playmaker. And that's what you're really missing here. You're forcing Sun to have him just come so deep to pick up the ball. So there are things that are not perfect for LAFC, but they are still, without a doubt, to me, the best team in the Western Conference. And one game, one bad game, and what I would say is more of –
00:31:37
Speaker
35 minutes of really poor play from LAFC should not put them out of that tier of of the best teams in the Western Conference. Yeah, no, I agree. I think they are probably still in a tier slightly ahead of Seattle, both on top pen top end talent and just like general attacking ceiling and things of that nature. I think what happened with LAFC, it's, look, it's a good example of the perils of CONCACAF Champions Cup. Like no one likes to, admit it or acknowledge it. But the reality is like when you are making a deep CCC run, you're susceptible to situations like this and no one's above it. I mean, you've seen Inter-Miami get hit by it. You're seeing it. You saw LAFC get hit by it in this game.
00:32:19
Speaker
LAFC at full strength while not juggling CCC.
San Jose Earthquakes' Success and Strategies
00:32:23
Speaker
I seriously doubt that happens even against a team like the Quakes. But let's talk about the Quakes because i think this is one of the sort of surprise storylines in the league right now. It is Not just that they're good, but they look like they look like they could be the best team in the league. I mean, you know, even with all those caveats with LAFC acknowledged, that was an incredible performance by San Jose.
00:32:47
Speaker
And Timo Werner, that's looking like a good a good swoop. It's sort of these – I dismiss the name-chasing sometimes, and I'll put my hand up. I dismissed the Timo Werner thing as name-chasing And I was really low on the quakes. That's one of the team that teams that I was most down on because it seemed like their offseason was a disaster. The nature of how they lost Christian Espinosa. Then they lose Chicho Arango, Joseph Martinez out the door. And then kind of all you do to offset that is get Timo Werner coming off like these injury riddled couple years. You don't really even know how good or how motivated he is anymore. I mean, that guy, he he looks explosive. He's fast. he is He scored a great goal in this game. And he's really just given them a jolt of like just juice and vibes and swagger. Like everything that they could have hoped for from that, they are getting that so far. So ah to me, like I think the Quakes are –
00:33:45
Speaker
For real. And I think too, that I think someone pointed out in chat. Let me find real quick. Yeah, Chip pointed out in chat, our result against San Jose Seattle's one zero win there was an extreme outlier. I suspect that match might be the highest XG differential this season. I think SGE are at the top. It's a fair point. Like Seattle did win that game, but that was the type of one zero where it was like, they were under pressure a lot of pretty much the entire game. And Andrew Thomas, the goalkeeper was making some crazy saves and they sort of had to hang on for dear life. It was, that was definitely that type of game where on another day with a little better finishing luck or variance or whatever, the quakes at least drop, maybe even win that game. yeah, I think that's fair to point out as far as how, as we talked about how Seattle stacks up against them.
00:34:35
Speaker
ah Yes, Seattle did beat them. That was a great win. That was one of the best wins of the season so far. I don't think performance wise in that game, it was an indicator that Seattle is like,
00:34:46
Speaker
markedly better than the Quakes. And I'm kind of buying the Quakes as this supporter shield contender. You know, I know it's still early and you can give the, it's early caveat for everything that we're talking about right now, but I think, you know, we're, we're far enough into the season now where we're starting to see who teams actually are. And to me, it looks like this is probably who the Quakes actually are. We'll, we'll see if they can sustain it. Maybe it's just, you know, a magic carpet ride at the beginning of the year here. But like what they're doing looks sustainable to me. And as far as how Seattle stacks up against them, I think I think that's pretty even right now, you know, because we haven't seen how it would look if Seattle, if San Jose came to Seattle and had to play at Lumen Field. Maybe Seattle would be on top of them like San Jose was on top of Seattle at PayPal Park. But I don't know. This seems like two teams that could be duking it out near the top of the West. What do you think?
00:35:41
Speaker
Yes, first of all, I don't want to be unfair to San Jose by talking about Timo Werner because I don't care about Timo Werner right now. This team has been Nico Shakiris. He has been... um Bauda, it has been Muni, it has been Roberts. You know, this team is basically built off of the draft. This is almost an old school feel to the way that San Jose has kind of built up this team. And look, Timo Werner had not played for a month prior to this game, if I'm not mistaken. so
00:36:18
Speaker
That's how good this San Jose team has been. Look, and I was wrong about him. I was not buying it. I was not buying it ah just because of the Timo Werner. I talked about them needing more than Timo Werner. They needed to be more of a collective team. I had no idea. i knew Nico Shakira was to be fun this season. I said that prior. I had no idea that he was going to be a revelation. i had no idea that he was going to just have a breakthrough year. not He's been unreal. not familiar with his game.
00:36:49
Speaker
So so he's he's been unreal. He's been so good that he's really added just something different. I think Vieira has been really good for this team. I think LaRooks has been really good for this squad. And with that Bruce Arena discipline, grit, ah understanding on how to set up certain games, they've just been very good. So I...
00:37:10
Speaker
I'm with you. They have turned me into a believer. They did that in the 3-0 win over San Diego, although there was a ah red card in the first half of that game, but they already up to zero. but But San Jose has, with their play and not with Timo Werner only, showed me that they are definitely the real deal.
00:37:31
Speaker
And how did they stack up with the Sounders? They obviously have the high ceiling of a Timo Werner. They have a very collective... unit and and And that's basically the Sounders style. So they do match up well there.
00:37:50
Speaker
Do I think that the Sounders are better? Maybe not right now, but I don't know if they're in a different tier. And this is where things get kind of...
00:38:00
Speaker
difficult to just talk about because you know we look at the standings that we see San Diego like at I don't know seventh or or eighth place or something thing like that right now but I said though they're very good team now they don't look like a very good team but I still feel like a noble team I think they might I think they might be in trouble we'll see what happens but and again you know you don't want to formulate conclusions too early But their vibes, I don't know. just And like we've seen the regression thing happen with a first year expansion team having this great first year. And then the second year they get that reality check. I said going into the season that I thought they were going to get that reality check, especially with the Chucky Lozano stuff.
00:38:39
Speaker
And they started the season looking pretty much like they did last year. But I think now you might be seeing them start to get hit with that, those second year blues a little bit. We'll see. But ah the Nico Securus thing with the Quakes is interesting. You know, when I watch him play, that's just a that's just a homegrown kid, is it not? That's just an academy kid. That's not like a...
00:38:59
Speaker
U22 signing that they brought in from Europe or anything like that. And he's playing like that. He's he's rocking the number 10 for his MLS team. And he looks like one of the most dynamic attackers in the league right now. Yeah, I totally absolutely i was very impressed with him in the game against Seattle. And it the the thing I was thinking about with that was just like, you know,
00:39:23
Speaker
Being able to develop a player like that at that position of that skill set, that's pretty impressive. And that's something that Seattle hasn't really done as much for as much success as they've had with the academy and churning out these guys like Obed Vargas and Snyder Brunel and Josh Atencio and Danny Weva and And you go down the list, six and eight FC, but like the the Quakes seem to have developed like a legitimate centerpiece number 10. And, you know, you've seen a couple of these guys come up like Brian Gutierrez. It kind of reminds me of a little bit, but I think Securus is better than then Brian Gutierrez. Like he is he's really, he's delivering, looks really dynamic and he's delivering a lot of end product right now. And he looks like he could be a carry the load player for that team. And that's like,
00:40:09
Speaker
That's one of those things that separates the best teams and the most successful teams from the ones that aren't as good is being able to develop your own players, but for them to develop a number 10, that looks that good. I mean, that's a cook by the quakes. Chip Haynes with the $10. Thank you so much for the support. Appreciate you. he says, talk to me about the counterattacking flow ah for of Jesus Ferreira, Jordan Morris, and Danny Mussovsky. No goals, but they created two or three very dangerous chances. Yeah, I thought the chance generation in the St. Louis game was excellent.
00:40:43
Speaker
And all those guys, even Moose, were a part of that. And, Nico, you mentioned it at the top of the show, but a couple of the Ferreira times in this game, there was that one sequence that I think you mentioned where Jordan hit Jesus on the back heel, and then Jesus slides it through to Danny, and Danny's in on a breakaway, and the defender gets there, and he can't get the shot off. But woo that buildup, that was nice. And there was like at least three or four or other of those types
Player Contributions and Team Chemistry
00:41:10
Speaker
of sequences in buildup that I can point to in this game, several of which were dictated by Jesus Ferreira, which is, I mean, I feel like this is pretty much just the level that he's been at all year. The guy has six assists, all comps.
00:41:25
Speaker
Five if you want to be the secondary, don't count guy, but five five primary assists, all comps. And really, I think Itez totally bears out how effective he's been as a playmaker so far. I will say, though, real quick on that, Nico, I've been on this agenda, this soapbox, like...
00:41:40
Speaker
ah The fact that he isn't scoring more goals is, i do think, I don't, i mean, if he's getting assist production at this high volume, then him not scoring isn't as big an issue. But it's still, to me, it is kind of mystifying that a guy with 60 plus MLS goals. It's not that he's not scoring. It's that he's not shooting at all. Like he's not getting in spots where he even can take a shot to score. And in this game with him coming in for Albert, he he had a couple of shots.
00:42:11
Speaker
One was on target. That was at the end of a counterattack that I thought was really good. That looked like a lot of the situations that we used to see Jesus Ferrer and at FC Dallas, where he would get his goals. So that was good to see. And then he also almost scored a header where Paul Rothrock hit him on the cross and it went just high. That was a really good opportunity, but that was also like a situation where like,
00:42:30
Speaker
Yes, get in the box in that area and see if some service can come in and you're a good finisher. You have 60 plus MLS goals. So I do. I want him scoring sometimes, Nico. But as far as his work as a playmaker, I mean, I got no notes on that. He's getting assists every single game and he is creating a bunch of dangerous chances every single game. So a plus for that, but I do want to see him score a little bit. But anyway, Nico, do you have anything to the original question on the counterattacking flow or anything on my Jesus where you should score some goals agenda?
00:43:03
Speaker
No, I think that the comment is excellent because. Whenever I've seen Sounders be at their best, it does have to do a lot with those transition moments. And I think that there's no one better when it comes to making sure that a transition play is dangerous than Jesus Ferreira. And I think that with building Jordan Morris into...
00:43:27
Speaker
having that better chemistry and that game rhythm, everything that I had mentioned about Jordan Morris. I think that that is a, the comment has the equation for success for this team because Jesus Ferreira's link-up play and combination play is unmatched by anyone on team, including even ah um Albert Rusnak. His explosiveness, you you don't really realize how quick and how explosive is.
00:43:54
Speaker
Jesus is until you see him trying to press a moment or he sees a ball into space where he he gets there. And there's been multiple times this season. So what I love about your question, by the way, is that you have the names, but you need to get these players on the field consistently for that to be a guarantee.
00:44:15
Speaker
And that's where. all the rotation is important and it's, you know, great that b Brian trusts 15, 16, 17 guys out of this roster.
00:44:25
Speaker
There comes a time in the season where you do need to solidify that starting 11. So that game time, because look, Jesus Ferrer, uh, He's been this good on limited minutes.
00:44:38
Speaker
There have limited minutes. you You compare him to everybody else, and he just has not gotten enough minutes. So if you get him in there consistently, I guarantee you that that equation that you just put up there is going to result into better play, more chances, as you mentioned, better play.
00:44:53
Speaker
Volume of play and a team that at any moment could be much better offensively, but you need to let those guys play. They need competitive minutes together. They need to continue to build a relationship and perfect it on the field.
00:45:07
Speaker
Nico, we were supposed to have J.O. tap in at nine. Is that still happening as far as – Yes, it is. yeah Yes, it is. Well, so – Can you send him that that the link, I think? Oh, yeah. That's where I might have messed up. No, that but i think that's on me. I should have thought of that. um Okay, well, I send him the link. Cook on FC Dallas a little bit. That's the next game coming up on ah on Saturday. And their team that's been – Pretty, I think, above expectations. I don't think they're in the tier of the, you know, San Jose, Vancouver, LAFCs that we were talking about. But I think they're in that little tier, that kind of second tier with the Rapids and, you know, where San Diego's at right now.
Upcoming Match Preview: Sounders vs FC Dallas
00:45:51
Speaker
They're in there, and they do have Peter Moussa, who is, I think, the best number nine in the league right now. I mean, this guy is scoring goals for fun and every single week, every single game. So the Sounders going to have their hands full with him. This going a good test for the defense, good test for the back line. Moussa is big. He's a load, and he is an absolutely elite clinical finisher. So how are you sizing up this ah FC Dallas matchup, Nico, as I send J.O. this link?
00:46:20
Speaker
but Yeah, look, um I think it's a good matchup. I am not as high on FC Dallas as some of my colleagues, my other pundits who who are very high on them. I think that there is there is something there. There really is. And and um if anything, this team is never out of any game because they do have that offensive power. I think Farrington's been very good. He's a player that – Plays off Peter Moose extremely well. I think Peter Moose is definitely your your finisher, that that killer in in in the box that could do a little bit of everything. He could, you know, ah win a header. He can ah beat you off um ah of a holdup play where he's turning with his back to goal and he's taking a shot. He's a great finisher just...
00:47:09
Speaker
finish it first touch. So he, he, that's a lot of great things. I think Valiente has been very good for this team defensively is where I think they're very shaky. And even at midfield, when it comes to being a team that that maybe wants to possess the ball a little bit more. um So I think this matches up ah for for the Sounders.
00:47:29
Speaker
I think that Seattle can really put, this Dallas team into some predicaments if they are quick in transition, which is funny enough we had just talked about.
00:47:40
Speaker
And they continue to use the width of the field effectively and really getting guys to open up and and stretch out that that Dallas team. But I think it's a good thing. I think they're well coached. I think that, as I mentioned, they have a very good offense. And ah although I think Sounders match up well with – Dallas, I think it'll be a very good challenge to just see one more time where the Sounders are at before the break.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah, when I look at FC Dallas right now, I see a team that has been ah has been playing well in attack pretty much all year. There's no doubt about it. But you can't you can also score on these guys. I think they have conceded 12 goals. And moreover, this is a matchup when FC Dallas has to come to Seattle.
00:48:33
Speaker
Historically, Seattle usually handles that. I think both in the regular season and the playoffs. the Dallas, i don't I don't know if they've ever won in Seattle, but if they have, it's only like once or twice out of 15 or 20 games or something like that. So history is in Seattle's favor in that regard. But I mean, you know you do you do have a Dallas team that I think is on the ascendancy under Eric Quill. Shout out Eric Quill, former coach of New Mexico United, my hometown side. It seems like he's- ah He's been good.
00:49:06
Speaker
ah a step forward this year from where they were last year. So it'll be a good test, especially defensively. And we'll see if they can handle Peter Musa. Like that, if they have, if they have one thing that's going give Seattle trouble, it's that, it's that big Croatian guy who's about to go to the, ah the world cup potentially, but yeah and that, that could be Tino Lopez like biggest challenge so far. Right. I mean, mean say if he gets that, that that start, right. Cause he, he has,
00:49:34
Speaker
shown you against Jeboa, against Timo Werner. You know, he's played some big players, but this might be the most difficult, at least center forward that that he's going to have to face. So that's going to be very interesting on how that that really plays out. I'll say one last couple of things before we move on.
00:49:51
Speaker
Look, I thought that LA Galaxy could have won that game against Dallas um over the weekend if if if it's not for Joel Klaas' injury, which I hope he is better. he came off, looked like a very serious injury.
00:50:07
Speaker
Love Joel Klaas. I think he's a very talented player. So I do wish him a quick recovery. But I thought that LA Galaxy once again exposed that Dallas team that – if I look at what the Sounders do well on offense.
00:50:23
Speaker
I think they could really cook and, and cut through what Dallas likes to do because, I don't know. There's just so much space. They're they're very gappy in midfield. And I think the through balls and the ability of like having those two number 10s for the Sounders, if Albert and Jesus are playing together, there could be a lot of room for Jordan to to get into space. It could be Danny Musovsky or whoever. But I think that the Sounders are going to match up very well. And I think that they could win this game.
Controversy and Media's Role
00:50:50
Speaker
All right, joining the show right now, we have Sounder at Heart Overlord, Jeremiah O'Shan. J.O., thank you for tapping in here this morning. We have brought on Jeremiah to talk about the situation with Brian Schmetzer and Nico and Juan Andres Lallini. So i'll just I'll just set up the context from what I understand it, and then I'm going to kind of just turn it over to to you guys. But ah as I understand what has taken place,
00:51:19
Speaker
Nico, you asked Brian Schmetzer at one at his, it was a CCC press conference about this report regarding Andres Lulini, who's a former Liga Mechies coach. And he's like a figure in the Mexico national team federation, as I understand it. But he apparently made ah alleged that Seattle had been denying Obed or Obed Vargas was getting inquiries or call-ups from the Mexico national team. And the Sounders were, know,
00:51:45
Speaker
denying and like not telling Obed or something to that effect. So anyway, that was out there. That's a pretty serious allegation. And you asked Brian Schmetzer about it. Brian Schmetzer did not take kindly to the line of questioning. And then, which is, this is the part I think people might not be caught up on. When Schmetz was on kk KJR, like a day or two later, uh,
00:52:07
Speaker
he was asked about that question and he called you out by name, I believe Nico. And he was basically saying that your questioning was like kind of stupid and out of line is, was the sentiment. So that's kind of where I left off on it. Nico, is there anything to add to to what I just laid out there? And what can you tell us about what's been going on with this Brian Schmetzer Lulini situation?
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah, look, um it was definitely not by name, but it was pretty obvious who he was referring to. My name does come up during that um interaction with Softy-Moller on KJR.
00:52:46
Speaker
But I want to use this segment to simply have some conclusion, create have some closure and move on past the situation.
00:52:58
Speaker
And the reason why I am bringing it up publicly is because it's you, the fans, a couple of you, or quite a few of you, I may say, that brought this up to my attention. I don't always listen to KJR, you know, running around from practice to practice with my daughter. And I mean i don't i don't have the time necessarily to watch them live. Sometimes I'll i'll check in once I get lucky and I'll hear it. um But I don't want to focus too much on...
00:53:29
Speaker
you know, what was said necessarily, although it was definitely out of line when I heard what he had said. I was a bit shocked, to to be honest, because, you know, I've known Brian for 15 years. he may He used the word clown, right?
00:53:45
Speaker
No. Oh, geez. Okay. Well, just to clarify, there there There was a question asked by Dave Softy Mahler, who, if anyone who knows, is a a character. He has a personality, and he he has a job where he asks certain questions. And he just asked Brian ah you know if he ever looks at media and media.
00:54:08
Speaker
and wonders how this clown got a a credential. And that leads to the rest of it, um which I don't want to get into necessarily. But, you know, there were some negative comments made about me. My name clearly got brought up because it was pretty obvious who he was referring to because he does make a reference of there's someone who asked me this completely um irrelevant question about some reports in Mexico when we're facing Tigres this week. So I guess for those who might not be familiar with the situation, I guess all I want to clarify is that not only was the question relevant, but it was important to be asked. It needed to be asked. I waited to the end of the conference for
00:55:00
Speaker
to ask that question, because of course, I wanna make sure that my first question was about the game, was about the importance of certain things of a huge matchup here in Seattle, but the question needed to be asked. But I wanna focus on the resolution. and and And again, the reason why I bring it up here is because
00:55:20
Speaker
I take very seriously you guys out there, the audience, the the trust that you have in me as a reporter, as a journalist, I guess if you want to call me that, as as someone who is a voice that that provides you content with all of the professionalism that I possibly can, with all the effort that I possibly can.
00:55:44
Speaker
And for my followers, I want to make sure that they know that I am responding to the fact that I never want my integrity to be questioned or, you know, my relevance or my, my questions, because, Hey, you know what I do it with the the, not just the best intention, but with the best of my abilities. So when I started hearing from certain fans, I just wanted to address it to make sure that they know this.
00:56:13
Speaker
I'm not going to get into the particulars, but Brian's master and I had a behind closed doors meeting one in which he apologized for what was said. He understood that what he said was out of line.
00:56:27
Speaker
And that's it. I'm not going to get into the particulars because of respect that I have for him. And I do have a lot of respect for him because he didn't have to have the conversation with me. He didn't have to apologize. Brian Smetzer is in a stratosphere of coaching of the likes of a Bill Belichick or a...
00:56:48
Speaker
ah Nick Saban, that sometimes they're just rude to people, they're rude to media. and And if they don't, they're they're so great that they don't have to apologize because you know what, that's what they are. And Brian, he didn't have to sit down with me. So I i i feel humbled that he had that ability to have the conversation with me. I respect him even more now when he was able to have that conversation with me and apologize. So in order to move on from this, I just wanted to say that obviously i appreciate everyone who brought it up to me. And some of you guys had been commenting quite often, either on the Sounders page or on our page about some of me and Brian's interactions. And sometimes he'd take a jab at me or this and that. I think all of this is going to make that better in general. And I'm just,
00:57:44
Speaker
happy that we were able to get that resolved and that now me talking about it publicly, we could bring some closure, move on. And I and i think that you guys will see that that relationship between me and Brian will will be even better now. And I'll continue to do my job the same way I always do it because that's exactly why we have Jeremiah here. You know, he's been so gracious to encourage my type of reporting, my type of analysis, what I bring to the table, whatever that may be. And and i I appreciate that. I appreciate the Sounders PR as well. They were on the front foot ah about everything, making sure that this was taken care of. And that also means a lot to me.
00:58:29
Speaker
J.O., welcome in. why why do you think ah why Why do you think Schmetz was so perturbed by the Lulini question? And I guess, what do you just what do you think or make of this whole situation You know, I, i'll I'll first admit I've been out of town for the last week. So i I, missed this all when it was happening and I kind of only caught up on it, uh, sort of like Friday morning. And, you know, I, I was sort of like thrown off as well because it seemed like of all the tough, you know, even if you can call that a tough question of all the times that Brian has been asked stuff that maybe he doesn't want to get into that did not seem like one that would.
00:59:13
Speaker
incur this sort of response and it did seem it just seemed very not necessarily out of it's kind of out of character but more just like the you know he he dropped a nuclear bomb for a relatively small infraction you know i mean and i i don't think it was about that i think it was more about the perception that Like, i I mean, Nico asks tough questions sometimes. He brings up subjects that Brian doesn't want to get into, and he does reporting that Brian doesn't always like, that doesn't always put, ah you know, the Sounders in the best, you know, the best light. But I think it's also important to remember that
00:59:54
Speaker
what we're here to do is not to ask questions that Brian or the Sounders want asked. Our job is to get to the, you know, to do our best to to get answers to questions that our readers have, that people are asking internally. And sometimes that's going to be questions the Sounders don't want to deal with. And if there's stuff going on behind the scenes that we know about that ah the Sounders would rather not be in the public,
01:00:19
Speaker
That's, that's just kind of how it is. You know, we have to use our best judgment. If we, if we believe our sources, if we think we have good sourcing on stuff, we're going to have to talk about things that the sounders don't always like. And I, and I think one of the, and it is kind of a, I will appreciate that we're in a strange position in the, in comparison to like traditional media, because we aren't,
01:00:41
Speaker
You know, we're not old school newspaper reporters who are just, you know, sticking to the fact it's like we aren't we admit that we have emotions about this that we have opinions that we have ah that that we have a rooting interest even in the centers that we want the centers to do well.
01:00:59
Speaker
But we also have to be honest and truthful. And we very much are not part of the sound. You know, we are not employees of the Sounders. We don't work for the Sounders in any way, shape or form. We work with the Sounders a lot. And a lot of times our and most of the time, frankly, our interests align. But there are times when they don't. And and I think this is more.
01:01:19
Speaker
Brian sort of reaching a boiling point for, for lack of a better term. i don't, I still don't entirely understand why this particular question, like he could have very easily just answered the question and said, look, I don't really know. did answer the question.
01:01:36
Speaker
Well, right. But he could have, he could have answered in it in a way that was straightforward and, and
Resolution and Understanding
01:01:43
Speaker
frankly cast the Sounders in a much more, you know, reasonable light because by all indications,
01:01:49
Speaker
i mean like Whether or not there's truth in what he's claiming, he's definitely framing it in a way that is, see at least best we can tell, is not accurate. like he The Sounders were not ah stopping Mexico from contacting Obed Vargas. They very easily were able to reach out to Obed, whether Obed was receptive to those calls or whether the Sounders were... like I don't know if these were...
01:02:16
Speaker
my Here's what here's I'll put it this way. I really doubt that Mexico wanted to call up Obed to senior national team appearances during FIFA international windows. Like, that's not what was happening. Like, maybe they were asking him to come to youth camps when the Sounders were...
01:02:33
Speaker
not obliged to release him. And that's well within their rights, you know? ah But the fault the fact is they ultimately did, like he he he's with Mexico. I don't really understand the beef, to be honest with you.
01:02:46
Speaker
he He joined Mexico at an earlier age than a lot of players, than most players make their senior national team debut. So I'm not really sure I even understand the beef other than he's now at Atletico Madrid and they want to make it seem like bringing him over was some huge accomplishment when all indications are that he was sort of always inclined to accept a senior national team call from Mexico, even when he was within the U.S. national team set up. So I don't know. The the whole situation is kind of weird.
01:03:18
Speaker
But I think the the takeaway for me is I think it's great that the Sounders were understanding of this situation being sort of out of line and and that ah Brian was willing to meet with with Nico and smooth things over. And I think that's you know that's that's a good, relatively good outcome from all this. I just hope that they also understand that we still have to ask questions they don't want to ask and you know ask sometimes. i think that's how this That's how this works.
01:03:46
Speaker
Yeah. And I want to make that clear, though. Nothing's going to change at all. And I'm not bringing this up to make Brian look bad. Absolutely not. it' Quite the opposite. Again, i want to make it I want to reiterate how impressed I was with Brian Smetzer, because, again, he had no need to to do or meet up with me or say anything in regards to it. Yeah.
01:04:10
Speaker
but I wanted to address it publicly because I'm also not asking him to retract what he said on on air, you know nothing like that. But in that same breath, I wanted to make sure that all of you who had questions about it and were wondering why that happened, and that there was some clarity. and Because sometimes speculations and rumors are worse than the reality. So I wanted to make it very clear that this is what happened Yeah, I mean, to me, from where I sit, it's ah this that like this is the second time on it, actually, that this has kind of happened this year, because this sort of same thing happened with J.O. asking about Ryan Staler, you know, and his little little trip to
01:04:56
Speaker
dc that's yeah Yeah, I'll just say that I don't, I would say that that's, like, if if this stopped at at the him not liking the question at the press conference, I don't know that this would have that, like, it's he's he doesn't have to, like, i don't I don't blame him for, like, not liking questions. Like, he doesn't, he's under obligation. you don't have to like the question, but, like, you also, like, what I was going to say is, like, you got to know it's coming in some capacity. Oh, like yeah, I mean, right, exactly.
01:05:23
Speaker
And you know people people trying to say, like what why would those questions be asked to begin with? In both of those situations, obviously those questions are... That's not even like a debate. So that's kind of where I...
01:05:37
Speaker
Like, I don't really connect the dots on why it becomes an issue to begin with, but it did. And it sounds like the beef is squashed. So that's great to see, you know, ah peacemaking. You love to see it. But Nico, as far as the Lulini situation itself, people in chat were saying that this was is like actually – due to youth national team call-ups. I'll be honest, like I have not followed the actual Lelini situation all that closely, ah other than what I explained at the top of the segment here. But like do like what is his angle on on this? like Why is this a thing? Because it just seems kind of out of left field and also not necessarily the type of situation that you see Seattle's name come up in. So what's what's this going on? Well, I will refer to you guys to what we learned this week with Noah Reif that is on the Loving Scorchers. We did a really good job at breaking it all down with with Noah. But just to put it in a nutshell, yes, these allegations are coming from Andres Lillini, who is the head of Scouting and Development for the youth level of the Mexican Federation. And his claims were about
01:06:50
Speaker
basically paraphrasing here, the Sounders blocking for the U.S. Federation potential call-ups to Ovid Vargas and them not letting him know and and all of these things.
01:07:03
Speaker
When And to be fair, it wasn't just about Obed. And this is why I think that there is an agenda when he comes from just Lelini, who is looking for other jobs. He's looking to move up in the world. And he's kind of glorifying himself by saying, oh, yeah, i always knew that Obed was the guy. And the only reason why he didn't come to Mexico sooner is because...
01:07:24
Speaker
The Sounders are blocking him. okay He also said something about Brian Gutierrez and how Brian Gutierrez was waiting for the the U.S. men's national team. And he's kind of almost at a battle with what Brian Gutierrez said and what he believes is the reality of it. So this is just a guy that, in my opinion, is just trying to get his name out there as this I don't know, guru of scouting young talent for the Mexican Federation. So I think that there is a lot to that. um And the facts are just so far-fetched. Like you're telling me that the only way that you could contact Obert Vargas, who I've seen fans just slide in his DM and try to talk to him on on Instagram, was you flying to Alaska when...
01:08:11
Speaker
As far as I know, they were leaving right here, maybe like 15 minutes away from where I live. so So I don't know. I don't know. Just a lot of things that he's saying just don't quite make sense. You can't call his agent. You can't call somebody else, a friend, his dad. I mean, I don't know. he just It just he feels weird that that that this is what you're really saying is that, look, I had no other way to contact Obe, but I had to fly to Alaska. Like, come on, man. he just i mean There's a lot of far-fetched stuff that he says.
01:08:38
Speaker
Right. it would be, I mean, I guess it's like you, to to believe the story, I think you, if I understand it, he's basically saying like the reason the U S even got Obed in first way back in 2023 or 22 or whatever it was, was because they were being blocked from doing it.
01:08:59
Speaker
But then it, you're telling it took you four years, three years to, to like get through that block. Like, does it make any sense? Yeah, i want to see I want to see some receipts or some or some evidence or something to back up what he's what he's saying. And that's kind of my my take on it. is it like like until Until there's something to that effect, I don't really see how to take it all that seriously if he's just popping off. like you know People can say anything.
01:09:28
Speaker
But also, yeah even if like let's just say if it's let's just take it all like if it's true. Big, like the Sounders declined some of his call-ups when he was 16. Like, what are we talking about? Like, is this, is that even controversial? Like, to be honest, like, is that even controversial?
01:09:44
Speaker
they That if he, he's already in contact with the U.S., And so what did the sound, the sounders are supposed, like the sound is not the sounders issue. Like they, they come on. Like, this is not, I just thought it was very funny that people even made an issue out of it. Even if you were to try to take what he said at face value. And it's not, again, it's not about him getting national senior national team call-ups that the sounders were denying. That's clearly not what happened.
01:10:11
Speaker
Yeah. And I will add to that, this little caveat in, Doing, as part of the reporting that that that I've been doing on it, I talked to a, you know, six-year veteran for a South American national team. And he also call-ups players that are from other, that have dual citizenships. And he told me, look, it's not best practice to just send a call-up for a youth player without, before time talking to him.
01:10:43
Speaker
Like, you just don't believe.
01:10:49
Speaker
blindly send, you know,
01:10:55
Speaker
ah if this player is already...
01:11:00
Speaker
Oh, and it looks like... it like was I was wondering if it was just me that it was ah that he was freezing, but apparently more tech issues for Lobbing Scorchers. This was a really good show for the tech all around. But we were about to wrap up anyway, but J.O., I guess real quick before we ah get out of here, what did you think of ah the St. Louis win? And we'll get you going back in here.
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's interesting. It'll be interesting to see how... Yeah, it looks like the Mexican Federation. Oh, okay. It looks like the Mexican Federation hacked that the show stopped us from saying what we were saying, but it's all right. It's okay. We're back. You got too real. You got too real. You got too real. I was letting J.O. cook on the St. Louis result for a minute to close it out here.
01:11:48
Speaker
No, let's just close that with Nico. Okay. I mean. no I was just sharing an anecdote that that it's – According to this a guy who's very well known, and and um again, i can't I won't say any names if that person doesn't give me the green light and he didn't. But long story short is that it's not best practice to just send random call-ups for u youth players without first talking to that youth player and and and wondering if he's going to make that change and let him know, hey, this is coming up. So him basically saying that that was the only way. And that's why in my very first post on on socials, I said, look, this is either theyre false or taken out of context. and And things can very easily get out of context, whether it was maybe one call up that didn't quite get there. I don't know. i mean, i I'm not, I don't know all. I definitely don't. and And I definitely don't speak for the team and the team at some point will address it or will not address it, but they're the ones who who can save more than I can. But from my eyes, it is a little bit odd and weird that they decided just throw this call-ups without contacting first.
01:12:54
Speaker
All right, let's call it a wrap for this episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. Thank you all so much, as always, for tuning in. And shout out to our new title sponsor, QED Coffee. Everyone go subscribe to QED Coffee or buy anything on their website for 25% off with the code LS74. That is one of, if not the best ways to support the show right now. We'll be back at it this week. We'll have a pod coming out. i''m gonna I think I'm going to try and get... a interview with Sam Hale, FC Dallas coverage to preview that game. So stay tuned for info on that.
01:13:31
Speaker
But until then, we'll see you guys next time. We out.