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Absolutely Gutted - Ep 62
1.5k Plays5 months ago
We unfortunately have to bring you another L Pod as we do our game review on Seattle’s 1-0 loss at Portland Timbers. A national pundit has weighed in on what ails the Sounders at the moment and we discuss whether or not we agree with his take. We also break down the latest performance from Pedro de la Vega, who continues to see more minutes down the stretch run of the season.
Later on in the show we hit our Agenda Check, take your questions, then jump around the league for winners and losers from MLS Matchday 30.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Context
00:00:00
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome to episode 62 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, unfortunately we have to bring the people another L-Pod today. How are you feeling? Back to back. Bringing it back. An elegance LAFC. An elegance Portland.
00:00:22
Speaker
I don't
Seattle Sounders' Recent Performance
00:00:42
Speaker
It's tough, but you know as I always say we don't shy away from the results here on lobbing scorchers if it's an L pod It's an L pod. You know So we're gonna break down this L Tragic L as the Seattle Sounders went down to Providence Park with really I think a great chance to salvage some vibes after that US Open Cup defeat at Starfire, you know
00:00:52
Speaker
think
00:01:05
Speaker
You go down to your rival's house and you take a dub. Not only are we recording a dub pod, but you've also kind of, you've turned things around from that open cup L. And they had a chance to do that. And instead, they take a 1-0 defeat to another rival opponent, this time their most heated rival. So we're gonna give our takeaways.
00:01:26
Speaker
from the L, including some thoughts on the narratives of the National Pundits today. We're going to spend some time talking about the National Pundits. The Pundits, finally, they got in more of the weeds than they have been talking about Seattle's struggles this season and their prospects of contending.
00:01:45
Speaker
I don't really know what for what reason exactly other than you know Taylor Twelman specifically was the pundit who was weighing in on the discourse and he was broadcasting the match so I think that was really the root of it but he had some takes that got the discourse flown flowing and you know we like TT around here where we don't always I don't always agree with his takes but they're always at least well thought out and he's welcome on the scorcher's pod anytime yeah we should we got to get him on the show you know I've interviewed him before for a story so maybe we can make that happen yeah
00:02:12
Speaker
But his take, I think, even if you don't agree with it, it was some food for thought. So we're going to break down the take. We're going to preview Seattle's upcoming match at Columbus Crew, which that's super awesome. That's the team that they're playing next. It should go great at lower.com field.
00:02:37
Speaker
So I can tell you all about the crew. They do have some notable absences for this game that we'll talk about. We think that gives Seattle a better chance of taking a result in the game. We're also going to hit our agenda check, do winners and losers from around MLS. And then I had one news item that I wanted to hit at the end of the show. And then we'll call it a wrap for episode 62.
Support and Promotion
00:03:00
Speaker
But first, I wanted to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Heck yeah it is. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link, sounderatheart.com slash LS, helps to support and grow this show. We have some new supporters.
00:03:29
Speaker
Yeah, we do. To thank on this show, which is very exciting. Our Gaymar led the way. Gaymar led the way, and we added a couple on top of that. So I'm going to pull up those names real quick, which I should have done earlier, but now I'm going to do it. It's OK. Do you want me to take lead? I've got them up. You've got it up? Should I do it? This is the first time ever. Yeah, go ahead, Noah. Thank the new ones, and then read off the whole list.
00:03:50
Speaker
All right. We've got a few new ones here. Patrick Sexton was our Yamer. So again, thank you, Patrick, but three new ones, John Hammaker, Imani Bach and Justin Walker. We appreciate you three for joining the lobbying scorchers ranks of scorching elite hot sec.
00:04:26
Speaker
My nephews. My nephews. I almost said cousins there. What are we doing? Mark Audinger, Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, Claire Berger, Robert Sink, Tyler Nakatsu, Steve Hudson, Chokesa, Patrick Sexton again. Thank you, Yaymar. Wow. Hell yeah. Good job, Noah. And thank you all so much to all of our subs. We love and appreciate all of you. And we love and appreciate all our listeners and viewers, even if you're not subbed. But if you do want to sub, sounderatheart.com slash LS.
00:04:33
Speaker
Anyway, let's get back to the rest of our subscribers here though.
00:04:55
Speaker
And also if you're listening to this you haven't done so yet
00:05:00
Speaker
Sub to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. The drive to 500 subs on our YouTube is alive and well. We're just short, actually. We're at 496. I just looked. So I need four of you out there who haven't done it yet to get us to 500. I think that's our biggest milestone yet. I've been waiting for this one. I was checking it today, hoping we could get there before we recorded. But I think it's actually better that we're just a little bit short because now we're going to pass it tomorrow, I know for sure. So thank you to
00:05:27
Speaker
Our new audience on YouTube, our numbers on there are doing a lot better than I would have thought, Noah. Thank you. I think it's cool that we're once again infiltrating a new audience and appreciate all the support as we try and grow on there.
00:05:42
Speaker
All right, let's do this L-Pod, Noah. Let's do
Key Matches and Player Performances
00:05:44
Speaker
it. Let's just do it and get it over with. Sounders Timbers at Providence Park. Earlier this season, Seattle went down there and they actually snapped the streak of poor results they had had in these rivalry matches against Portland. They got a 2-1 victory in that game. Remember that was the game where Rui Diaz scored the banger.
00:06:00
Speaker
like the finally the talking point of constantly taking L's against Portland was over but unfortunately that that narrative has gained a little bit of steam again with this L. Let's hit our lineup reaction to start it off because there is a little bit of rotation mixing and matching going on here specifically Pedro de la Vega got the start Christian moved back to the double pivot with Josh Atencio and then you had your normal back line and then Stephen Fry however
00:06:29
Speaker
Stefan Fry did not stay in this match very long. He got knocked out super early on a pretty scary sequence. A big collision with Mason Toy where it looked like need a head contact. He was being evaluated for a concussion and it sounds like he is unfortunately going to miss this Columbus game as he goes through the concussion protocol. So obviously, best wishes to Stefan Fry. You know, you never, that was a huge collision. It was pretty gnarly. You never want to see that. But Andy T came in like,
00:06:58
Speaker
Six minutes into the game and finished out the match and you know, I thought Andy T once again did reasonably well, but you know, I think the main the main new wrinkle to this lineup was the De La Vega start and Christian moving back to the double pivot. I mean Noah, did you have any other thoughts on the lineup?
00:07:18
Speaker
I was really excited to see De La Vega get the start here I thought I mean I've been pontificating on the this is gonna be his big match this is gonna be his breakout moment we haven't seen it yet but I think this match was a really great opportunity for him to have the confidence to go into a rivalry match
00:07:38
Speaker
with that on his shoulders but also a lot of you know reps that he's been he's been working up to this so this was exciting for me to see um the Christian Atencio double pivot I was actually interested I was interested with that uh as JP has been on a little bit of a decline I thought that was an interesting little wrinkle
00:08:00
Speaker
Maybe it was good, maybe it was bad. I don't know. I don't think I really am sold one way or the other. But yeah, that was kind of my reaction to the lineup. I wasn't super surprised that they were rotating, but I was happily surprised with the rotation they did have.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah I agree it was good to see De La Vega start and we're gonna hit our De La Vega takes in the agenda check actually and break down his performance a little more but I mean I'll say that I thought he played pretty well he really he almost scored a goal he had some dangerous moments I think his last couple appearances you are seeing the type of impact that he can make
00:08:35
Speaker
You know we've been saying all season that we want to see enough of a sample size to get an idea just one way or the other I just want to know I'm just curious So I'm glad that he's getting enough run to actually finally have some informed takes on You know just how he looks and what he brings to the table but uh
00:08:52
Speaker
Seattle was unable to quite score in this game. They had a good chances. Seattle had a ton of corner kicks in this game. They had like 15 corner kicks or something. It felt like every sequence of possession, they were getting a corner. And Dave LaVega actually scored a goal off a corner kick that was really well executed, except he was just offside. And that was really, I think, a defining moment in this game. He did not need to be offside on that place. Yeah, that's exactly how you draw it up.
00:09:20
Speaker
And really, if he just had a tiny bit more awareness of his positioning in that moment, that's a good goal. And Seattle has the lead. That could totally have changed the game. So I thought, despite the fact they didn't score off one, I did think Seattle set pieces, including the ones sent in by Albert Rusnak, continue to be good.
00:09:39
Speaker
You got to get on side there. And I think it's even more frustrating because of having the one in the LA FC game barely get called off on a borderline offside call as well. So that's two in a row where two games in a row where Seattle is in a big spot like that and they have one just barely offside. So
00:10:00
Speaker
That was unfortunate and Seattle ends up getting shut out and they just did not have enough on offense in this game. You know what it felt like to me Noah was a little bit like the vibes of the early 2024 XG merchant sound
00:10:15
Speaker
where it actually felt like the offense was functioning okay, the set pieces were good, and they just couldn't finish their chances. That's what it felt like on offense, and then in the 55th minute, the Timbers get the only goal they needed to win the game. They got out running, and they had Seattle on their back heels.
00:10:38
Speaker
knew who. He didn't close down Mosquera enough on that play. He needed to step to him earlier, I think. He was getting pushed backwards. It's a pretty speculative shot, but it takes a deflection, pretty unlucky, and there's no way Andy T. could have gotten to it.
00:11:00
Speaker
He made a good attempt. He made a good attempt. You know, I do think, it's funny, every time I defend New Who, which I did on the last show, he either has like a really bad game the next game or a critical defensive error, like a reg card the next game. So it's unfortunate that happened again. But I mean, the one thing I will say is like, I think if you're blaming New Who for this result, I think it's kind of missing the point. When you're playing Portland on the road,
00:11:26
Speaker
The odds that you're going to get scored on at least once are pretty high, no matter how well you play on defense. You need to be able to score one yourself. And ideally multiple goals in a game yourself to have a really good chance at getting a result. I thought the defense played pretty damn well in this game. I thought new who other than that one play was fine. So he made a couple of good passes too, which I know like the bar is in the ground, but like,
00:11:52
Speaker
Gotta give them credit where credit's due like I agree with you. This was not new who's fault. Yeah that this entire game I agree with the people who at least partially lay On that one play, but that's one play over the course of a whole game where you got shut out and you need to be able to score so that's kind of that's my take on that and
Critiques and Defenses of Players
00:12:15
Speaker
Both things can be true Ari both things are are true in this case, but okay I wanted to dive into this instead of the rapid-fire takeaways. We're just gonna talk about this Take from the national pundits or the national pundits specifically Taylor twoman because he was waxing Waxing poetic on the broadcast in this game and basically I'm gonna summarize
00:12:36
Speaker
what I interpreted of his take and then we're going to give our takes on the take. So basically Noah, what TT was saying was that he felt like the Seattle team doesn't have the horses to really contend this year, which I think we both agree with that. We've been saying that for pretty much all season. But he kind of had a different path to get to that conclusion than we do.
00:13:02
Speaker
Basically the first thing he said was that he felt like this team couldn't win MLS Cup with Jordan Morris as the as the main number nine and he was citing some statistics regarding Seattle's record and output versus playoff teams and Morris and Rusnak's output versus those playoff teams or those better teams in particular as evidence to kind of say that
00:13:26
Speaker
those two can't carry the load for an MLS Cup contending team and that you know Seattle is going to need to address that personnel wise to kind of get back to their former glory and the stat he cited I think both on the broadcast and later on Twitter was he was he was looking at their output for the season and
00:13:47
Speaker
and Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak have combined for three goals and four assists this year against playoff teams. So really it's kind of a, he's talking about the BWP Sounders only beat up on bad team agenda. He's saying that the Rusnak-Morris duo feasts against inferior opposition and they don't come through in the big games and so they're going to need to sign like some
00:14:12
Speaker
Some players that you know can perform under the bright light. He wants to replace Those two players specifically though. He thinks they need a nine, right? Is that is that okay? So I don't think it's about necessarily replacing Jordan Morris, but I think having him not be the full-time number nine and Moving him back out to the wing and signing a DP number nine. That's ostensibly more able to perform against these playoff teams. So
00:14:38
Speaker
I wanted to talk about if we agree or disagree on that because I'm going to be honest, I disagree with the method that TT used to get to this conclusion. First of all, I just want to talk about this premise that Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak only perform against bad teams and don't score goals or create goals in big games. Let's talk about Jordan first because
00:15:05
Speaker
I think the idea that Jordan Morris has not scored goals in big games is just not historically accurate. I made a little list here off the top of my head of big games in which Jordan Morris has scored goals. You could go back all the way to his rookie year of 2016, a year that Seattle ended up winning MLS Cup. Jordan Morris scored the game-winning goal in the Western Conference Championship against the Colorado Rapids, famously
00:15:32
Speaker
when he had the flu. That was his flu game. Remember that? I do. That was a pretty big game. Big goal. 2019 in the playoffs against FC Dallas. That was probably his best ever game. He had a playoff hat trick against FC Dallas. I mean, you can say whatever you want about FC Dallas. They were in the playoffs every year during those years. And Jordan Morris scored a hat trick.
00:15:54
Speaker
against them in the 2019 playoffs, another year where Seattle almost won MLS Cup. He had three goals during the 2022 CCL run, which Seattle won famously. You could look at his USMNT career, which a lot of people are going to want to hear this. But he scored several big goals for the USMNT. He scored for the USMNT against Mexico when he was still a college student.
00:16:18
Speaker
That was a big goal. He scored a huge one at El Salvador in World Cup qualifying. People kind of forget how big of a goal that was in the octagonal. And again, people might not want to hear that, but that was a big goal in a big spot.
00:16:33
Speaker
in the playoffs for his career eight goals and three assists including five goals combined the years that they won MLS cup and a couple last year as well um not not in the playoffs last year but like uh he uh he scored a lot of playoff goals yeah yeah is my point so uh i just like
00:16:54
Speaker
If you want to say that you don't like him as the full time number nine, that's one argument. But I think the idea that I think to make the case that he isn't a big game player, doesn't score goals in big games, you need to look at more of a sample size than purely the games they've played against non playoff teams this year. You have to look at the full body of work.
00:17:15
Speaker
And I think there's a lot more evidence to suggest that Jordan Morris has been quite a good big game player as opposed to someone who like shrinks from the moment or whatever the implication may be. And then even, okay, even if you look at Roosnack, even if you look at Roosnack, I could go back through just his Sounders career, not even getting into the RSL part of his career and name you several big goals as well. This year in League's Cup.
00:17:40
Speaker
People aren't acknowledging this, but these games happen against the LA Galaxy, who are one of the best teams in MLS this year, and against Pumas. Rusnak was dominant. He played great in those games. He was scoring goals. His service was great. He was playing great as a facilitator. So I count those games as big game performances. You might remember he scored a big goal in CCL as well, in the NYC FC series.
00:18:06
Speaker
I was there? Yeah, we were both there. That was a very important big goal. I still don't think they win CCL that year without him. And I credit him too for just kind of the team first nature of playing out of position and playing a role that he doesn't normally play and adapting to it and doing it at a high enough level where they could win a lot of really hard games during that CCL run.
00:18:30
Speaker
And he also, yeah, that was a big game goal. He scored against LAFC. Did you know that? I mean, his first year on the team, he scored a goal against LAFC. That was a big game goal against a good opponent. Those are hard to come by. Those are hard to come by. He's one of the only ones on the team lately that can say that. This year against Real Salt Lake, his former club, who are top three in the West this year, he scored a really great free kick in that game. That was a
00:18:54
Speaker
goal in a big game against a high quality opponent. Last year at Orlando City, remember that one? They were second in the shield race last year. He scored a banger free kick goal in that game. And then if you go back and look at his RSL tenure, where he played quite a bit longer than he's played for Seattle to this point, I don't remember really any narrative from their fan base. And if there's any RSL fans out there who did think this about Rusnak, feel free to chime in.
00:19:22
Speaker
He and Krylak I think were considered very good, very productive and clutch players for that team during those years. So I think what's happening here is that there is a small sample size of games being used to prove a point that if you look at the full body of work for each player, I don't think it's
00:19:45
Speaker
necessarily true. And I know I'm going off here on a tangent. Rip it, bro. Rip it. You're scorching. I'm going to keep going because, all right, so I wanted to refer to a thread by our friend AP who posted a lengthy thread on Twitter kind of addressing this take. Taylor Twelman was not happy with this thread, by the way.
00:20:07
Speaker
I think A.P., he kind of, he put it better than I could and really he made some points that I've been kind of trying to make on this show for a while. And I think just the way he put it is better than I could put it. So I'm basically just gonna read what A.P. said and then we're gonna talk about more of our takes on the take, okay? So A.P. said regarding the Jordan Morris at forward discussion, which Taylor Twelman was saying he shouldn't be the full-time number nine.
00:20:34
Speaker
saying Morris at the nine is the problem because he doesn't score enough goals versus good team misses the context that no one else on the team is scoring many open play goals regardless of opponent quality exactly correct what's the real problem that Jordan Morris is 14 goals haven't come against better opponents or that the nine other wingers and attacking mids on the roster have a total of 15 goals between them yep exactly play ochu where you are okay this is a great point again right here
00:20:58
Speaker
Our most gold dangerous winger is Paul Rothrock, which is a credit to Paul Rothrock in an indictment of all the other options on the roster. Correct. Exactly. That's a point that I've tried to make, too. We love Paul Rothrock on this show. He should not be carrying all of your wide production in attack. He can't be if you're really expecting to contend for anything. And that's not a knock on Paul Rothrock at all. That's just like the reality of where the roster is at.
00:21:20
Speaker
And then finally says Leo Chu had four assists in a single game to number nine Jordan Morris last season and has fallen off so hard that he isn't even making the bench anymore. The lack of danger from anything other than Rusnak assisting Morris is the bigger issue. So that's that's exactly how I see it. Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak I think you are bugging to blame them for the things that have gone wrong on offense this year. They're the only two guys producing.
00:21:42
Speaker
What are we talking about? And Rothrock, and Rothrock. OK, come on. Yeah, and Paul Rothrock. But they are carrying by far the vast majority of the load. I think if anything, the Jordan Morris at the number nine experiment this year has gone much better and been much more productive than I expected it would be. You could go back and listen to the shows when we were debating Rui Diaz versus Morris. And I was saying I would start Rui Diaz because I didn't think Jordan at the nine would be anywhere near as effective and productive as he is from out wide. And he's kind of proved me wrong.
00:22:11
Speaker
He's been very productive as the number nine and I'm not against the notion of signing a DP number nine and having the flexibility like we talked about of being able to move Jordan between the two positions and playing him up top when it's necessary and moving him out wide when you have that DP number nine. I think that's a great idea for how to handle the roster but the idea that he has not been
00:22:36
Speaker
performing, he's only eating against bad teams. I think you are, what's the term for it?
00:22:48
Speaker
that is a symptom of a different issue than he's being talked about. It's definitely like you're looking for an indictment against Jordan Morris rather than looking at the whole problem itself. Like you're looking, you're so zoomed in on one specific problem area that you're forgetting the context of the rest of the team. Like if you can upgrade Jordan from Jordan at the nine, if you can upgrade from Rusnak at the 10,
00:23:18
Speaker
hell yeah that's what every soccer team should do that's that's like roster building that's no one is going to argue with you on that but to say that this team is not succeeding in these big games because albert russnack and jordan morris aren't producing that's silly they're the only ones producing so guess what when a team figures out how to shut them down or contain them what's going to happen
00:23:42
Speaker
Nothing nothing because the problem which was addressed in the offseason allegedly with the Pedro de la Vega signing was a more explosive outside You know playmaker that can add that second layer that third layer
00:23:57
Speaker
Guess what, he hasn't played. And now that he has, it's looked a little bit more dynamic, potentially. He hasn't scored yet or anything, but I agree with you. I think that people get so focused on their own agendas, us included, that they get blinded by
00:24:17
Speaker
The quality that like are the sounders a top tier team? No, is Jordan Morris the best in the league? No, is Alberos not the best tenon league? No, but it doesn't matter because those two on this team are producing and if you are able to Keep them somehow on the roster and build around them and get de la Vega to contribute You're gonna be you're gonna be way better off
00:24:40
Speaker
But if you can, again, if you can replace him, do it. But like to say that the whole team is struggling and that Jordan Morris shouldn't be the nine because like he can't score against big game opponents is dumb. It's stupid. It's wrong.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't I definitely like I said, I don't agree necessarily with the path that has been used to reach this conclusion. I really I don't think the issue is actually that complicated. I think we make it more complicated than it is. I mean, you have a situation where, you know, your number 10 and your number nine have both been reasonably productive this year, including a stretch where they were among the
Offensive Struggles and Tactical Insights
00:25:21
Speaker
hottest 1-2 punches in the league just by statistical output. But you have a situation where your DP number nine is a bench player who's not producing when he does play. You have a situation where your U-22 winger has been injured and out of favor for most of the year and isn't contributing at all.
00:25:40
Speaker
And then your big signing, like you said, that was supposed to address this has been injured and hasn't played all year either. So you're just functionally, you're getting nothing from all three of those spots on the roster. And that has kneecapped your attacking output. So I don't know, I think the thing that kind of bothers me about these narratives, which by the way, it's not just TT, like these are narratives that have been pervasive in other places as well, correct?
00:26:02
Speaker
I don't like blaming the guys that are carrying the load and actually producing. There's just something that rubs me the wrong way about that. I think both Jordan and Rusnak have been playing their asses off for a lot of this stretch, even when the team has been struggling. And the reason that they got hot and were able to feast on that soft part of the schedule in the middle of the season was because
00:26:27
Speaker
Predominantly because those two guys were care in the load and and being very productive In spite of the fact that you were they were getting nothing from those other areas of the roster that I talked about So anyway, I think it's that's how I see it Yeah, I think it's actively funny to to be like the two guys having the best seasons of their entire career Arguably are the ones and the reason that the sounders aren't doing well It's dumb the reason the sounders aren't doing well is because the roster build is bad is because they refused to buy out Raoul and
00:26:56
Speaker
Maybe you could maybe you think oh he's gonna be productive. He's not I think we can both agree Raoul is not productive He's just not productive. He's not the player He was the roster build is the problem and what I see here respect to Taylor Twelman You're always welcome on the show because I want you to give this shit right back to me is that
00:27:14
Speaker
Were looking for you you you were at your conclusion you put the cart before the horse Yeah, you're you came to your conclusion and found statistics to Make that make sense because guess what this is why I hate statistics. That's what you can do It's the same thing with like okay XG on a one-game basis. Okay? Listen listen listen this is different
00:27:38
Speaker
defensive XG, XG in a large sample size is something that is valid to look at XG on a one game basis is not super. All right. You actually, you actually got to a reasonable take there. Um, yeah. And uh, there's another point that, uh, Mark Castner from sounder at heart, shout out Mark, shout out sounder at heart, sounder at heart.com slash LS.
00:27:58
Speaker
that he brought up in the discussion on AP's thread was just the fact that when you play better teams, oftentimes they are going to have more talent on defense. They're going to be able to game plan to neutralize your normal game plans more effectively. And that's just kind of how the sport works, right?
00:28:14
Speaker
There's going to be games where you're playing against higher level competition, where your normal game plan isn't going to work as well. You need to be able to be more multifaceted and get production from other sources in those situations, not blame the guys that
00:28:31
Speaker
that are carrying the load and are producing. So anyway, it's nice to see the national pundits weighing in on these things. It's always funny to see how different their perspective is from the outside compared to us who live and breathe every day. But I think, like I said, it's not even about TT's take as much as it is about the broader narratives that have kind of come out of this season of struggles.
00:29:01
Speaker
So anyway, unless you have anything else on the national pundits, I think we can just chug along to the agenda check, Noah. And if anyone has takes on the issue that we were talking about, feel free to drop them in the comments. Noah, I have bad news. Oh, no. I looked at the YouTube comments again. Oh, you didn't. I did. We got a really funny one that I did want to address before we get into the agenda check. This was funny. I don't know if you saw this.
00:29:29
Speaker
So there's a guy who's been commenting on YouTube who he's like fervently anti-roosnack. He really doesn't like the anti-roosnack brigade. I don't know if he's part of like the brigade brigade because I feel like he's an ancillary. And then there's one guy in our disgruntled guy in our YouTube comments. I think his name is Caleb or something. We see you and love you Caleb. Caleb.
00:29:52
Speaker
Thank you for watching the videos, appreciate you. But basically, Caleb subbed are you? He commented and he, it was something vaguely threatening. He said if you're really about that life and want to talk about the Rusnak thing, hop in my DMs, because I'm ready for the smoke or something like that. So I just wanted to say, I'm not going to hop in your DMs to do the Rusnak debate. There's actually never been anything more not happening in the history of time than exactly that.
00:30:20
Speaker
But I do like I you know I say that facetiously, but I appreciate you tuning in but I'm not gonna hop in your DMS for the wrist and activate I'm not even limited to Caleb. I won't be hopping into anybody's DMS further. He doesn't even hop into mine
00:30:36
Speaker
But so I did want to just put that out there Alright, let's hit this. Let's hit this agenda check. There's four of them written down. I wrote down three you just wrote down one Okay, so the Pedro de la Vega is the savior agenda. This is where we can do our takes on
00:30:54
Speaker
De La Vega's performance in this game because I thought there was some good moments again Frustrating to see he should have he should have had a goal. He should have had a goal. It's he scored two goals That have gotten waved off for really frustrating reasons. There was the one in league's cup, which it's still really upsets me Yeah, that goal. It was cool. It was god. It was a cool goal should have counted and then this goal again, you just wish that
00:31:21
Speaker
uh the positioning had been on point there because really like it's frustrating to have an offside goal where the offside doesn't even like give you an advantage you know yeah he all he had to do was be like an inch it was a good it was a good defensive play too to be fair by the portland defender who saw him made the move before the kick was like
00:31:40
Speaker
Nothing give Portland any love but no no that I mean that is a fair point But he should have had a goal in the game. I thought he had other genuinely dangerous moments He had a good look on goal that got like last ditch blocked at one point His passing I think continues to be very good. I think you can see him gaining chemistry specifically with Jordan so
00:32:03
Speaker
I think based on what I've seen from him the past couple of games at least, I still feel reasonably encouraged with his prospects of being an impact player for this team. And hopefully as soon as the playoffs this year and down the stretch run of the season here, if that happens, a lot of narratives could flip on their head because that's the most important thing that this roster needs right now is for him to break out and be
00:32:30
Speaker
contributing on a game by game basis and I think we haven't seen it fully come to fruition yet but I'm still at a point where I think there's reason to believe that it can happen honestly based on what I've seen and I think I think at least the encouraging thing for me is that we've seen a progression to it where as he's gotten more fit and got more chemistry with the other guys on the team he's looked progressively better and I thought he looked pretty good in this game I did
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, listen, okay, here's how I feel about this. I had declared this agenda, ceased, dead, life support even. We just saw that heartbeat blip, Ari. We were in the hospital, crying, and the flowers on the table, about to pull the plug, and you just hear that? Boop. Boop. The heartbeat is back. I think there's a potential. I don't know if he's gonna be the savior yet,
00:33:24
Speaker
But it's alive. He was cooking early in the game. He was cooking. He really was. It was looking good. And I was intrigued. And I'm at least, I think, I don't think anyone really has very high MLS cup aspirations right now, given what we've seen with some of the teams near the top of the shield race and stuff. Right. I mean, there's a few of them out there.
00:33:47
Speaker
But this is at least for me personally, this is a subplot to keep an eye on that I think has implications for the rest of this season and really going towards the future when like next season this roster I think is going to look quite a bit different regardless of where you fall on the Ruth Snack Morris debate.
Individual Player Highlights
00:34:04
Speaker
Like there's going to be some moving parts and I think you need to make an evaluation on this player and how much of the load you are entrusting him to carry going forward.
00:34:16
Speaker
And there's some takes flying around out there about how he shouldn't be starting and stuff and they need to go back to what got them those results early in the season and that he should be a bench player. I think you need to get him as many minutes as he's physically able because it's about making an evaluation on the player at this point.
00:34:35
Speaker
It can't be like a member when Leo Chu was first on the team and he like they They wouldn't play him and the valuation on him got delayed a really long time And that's just you don't want to be in a situation like that, especially because this player you've invested you've invested too much it both financially and on the impact that he's supposed to make on this team to like be doing any sort of thing where you're like not giving him minutes like yeah, so
00:35:02
Speaker
No, and it's like are you downgrading putting him in I don't think so like you're you're you're you don't know exactly what it's gonna be but I sure don't think you're downgrading by letting him play and that's that is really What you want to look at when you want to evaluate a player?
00:35:17
Speaker
It's like the Rothrock thing, you know? We were like, give him minutes, give him minutes, maybe he'll cook, maybe he won't, give him minutes. I mean, we know ball, so of course it turned out and worked out and we've never been wrong about letting someone cook before. But you know, I think, I think. That was really, that was an all time dart throw by us. That was incredible. Like we will never get over that. I think we should both. It's made this season like worth it. Yeah. We need to get, I think we should get matching Paul Rothrock tattoos. Are you in?
00:35:45
Speaker
I mean, you're the tatted guy, I don't have one yet, but it might have to happen. Okay, I have a new agenda. I've talked about this a lot this season, but I wanted to officially, I officially wanted to cement it as an agenda, and that's, you know, when we talk about the roster priorities for this team over the off-season and going forward, I have to make an attacking fullback a priority
00:36:11
Speaker
Agenda and like I said new who I think has been playing pretty well the last the last few games at least But I just think when we we've talked a lot about getting more production from out wide with the thought that you know They need to sign another winger or sign a nine. So maybe you can move Jordan out wide and
00:36:29
Speaker
have him account for some of that production and get de la Vega healthy and all that, but like I just really want to see this team have fullbacks that are dangerous going forward again. That was a blueprint for this team. Yeah, a long time. Jovan Jones had one of the more productive left back seasons. I've seen an MLS a few years ago and it was glorious. It was beautiful. Remember how
00:36:51
Speaker
sick he was. Just like the jukes he had and the service he had and even Brad Smith for as much heat as Brad Smith took for his defensive shortcomings. He was a very effective. That dude is still scoring by the way at age 55. He's playing pretty well for the Houston Dynamo but he's all like just skill set wise.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah He was a very effective player going forward and very dangerous from the left side And I think this roster really needs that really like the modern game is predicated In large part like around being able to like do that, you know Well the more the more not fully predicated, but it's it's a big part of the modern game
00:37:31
Speaker
everyone needs to be gold dangerous i think as many players as you can physically have possible in some kind of way need to be gold dangerous that is you're right that's the way the modern game is that's the way our beautiful football has turned out and having an attacking fullback
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. I think that should be a priority. Jackson Regan and Yaymar getting on the score sheet. Another thing that we were hitting on that we were like, this needs to happen. They need to be more productive in front of goal because they're big bodies. They're tall and not finishing one goal.
00:38:04
Speaker
One goal from from anyone against portland brings you a draw. That's one point. That's better than a loss You need everyone to be gold dangerous. I agree with you. Look at the look at the crew Look at the crew how they play their fullback. I think they have the most the best attacking fullbacks in the league Uh, and they have like four of them. Yeah, because wolford nancy is like that's how they built their roster is uh being able to copy paste
00:38:27
Speaker
Yeah, and like this is coming from a guy who thinks that new who has plenty of value in his own right, but like I view new who as You know a defensive specialist that He is he is good at what he does But it's a very specific skill that I almost feel like you know I don't know if
00:38:45
Speaker
You could have a situation where he would accept like more of a role where he comes on when the team is ahead and needing to protect a lead or something like that. But I just think you've you've sort of maxed out what you can do offensively starting him game in game out like I will say that.
00:39:02
Speaker
Even if there is value in being able, like his ability to be able to lock down people 1v1. But I just, you know, I want to see a Jovan Jones Brad Smith type skill set on this team just because I think that'll help a lot of these issues with the attacking output. And it's more fun to watch, man. I loved watching Jovan Jones. He was so fun to watch.
00:39:23
Speaker
Yeah, and that season where he had like 11 assists as a left back. That was great. That's what this team needs Yeah, I mean it needs a few things and there's a lot of that's one. Yeah, that's one thing that I need Cosine agenda cemented appreciate that The Georgie agenda. Okay, I'm excited for this one actually cuz I'm I'm in on this. Okay. I'm in on this after watching this game like it was it was another fun one and I
00:39:50
Speaker
Like, you know, my take on Georgie has been pretty consistent in that, you know, it's fun to watch and I'm happy for him to keep getting minutes, but like, I don't really know how functionally different it is than what you get from Leochu, like some exciting moments with a little bit of a lack of end product. But like,
00:40:07
Speaker
Just the way he was cooking guys one-on-one in this game and like he's got some really nice like body controls when he's getting around defenders like his body control and the ball control like his technical ability is quite good, I think and It's just pretty fun to watch and
00:40:27
Speaker
see why he got signed and I think for a team that has Struggled to produce an attack Especially in these last couple of games and these rivalry games like sure give them more minutes. Yeah, I thought this was a good Georgie shift I was fun and I'm all about I'm with the I'm with the agenda of people who think that he should play more I mean why not you might as well at this point. No, I'm it's similar to the Rothrock thing
00:40:52
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm I'm pro seeing out Georgie. I thought that. I mean, I wish they would have signed more players, but like if they were going to sign someone from Tacoma, I was I was stoked with Georgie. I don't I'm not bought in or not bought in. I think that we need a little bit more sample size, but I'm a shit.
00:41:14
Speaker
I'm in for the ride. I'm in for the ride. Let's see what happens. Why not? All right. And then you added another agenda. I added another agenda here. This one's going to get a little fiery, scorchery. This agenda is Craig Weibel.
00:41:34
Speaker
Is he out, Ari? Should he be out? Hot seat? I mean, I definitely think he's under a huge microscope right now. There's no doubt about that. At least, you know, the fan base is not happy with the lack of roster movement. So he's definitely going to have to deal with that microscope.
00:41:55
Speaker
I mean, I do still think like it's not like we have all that much to judge him on, but like what we do have to judge him on so far hasn't really worked. Like, you know, a bear moose hasn't worked. Who am I missing? There's like a, uh, you know, Raul wasn't bought out, but you know how much of that, how much, I guess what I still question is how much of it is Craig wives versus how much of
Management and Future Speculations
00:42:19
Speaker
it is ownership. You know, like,
00:42:21
Speaker
If it's more ownership that is saying, like, we can't buy out Raoul to give you the flexibility to get a new number nine, then you can change the GM, but it's not going to make a difference. So I don't know. I think he's going to get a chance to make more of his own imprint on the team. So I'm going to wait to fully speak on this agenda until we see the moves that he makes in the next window or two, and if they work out.
00:42:50
Speaker
but i mean the reality is a lot of moves have to be made and that's going to determine his fate one way or the other regardless of what we think yeah i i think that he is definitely on a hot seat i don't think that there's any question around that i think that his
00:43:09
Speaker
Whether it's his fault or not, I think that he's going to be the guy to take the axe, you know, if, if things don't, if things don't work, like you said, I agree with you. I don't know how much ownership is giving him. I don't know anything about it.
00:43:25
Speaker
Uh, but if I was him, I would definitely, I would be, I would be getting that LinkedIn updated. That's, that's all I'm going to say. But again, the agenda could turn around, but I think after last week, uh, and then losing to a rival and bombing out of the two competitions you said you were stoked to be in.
00:43:42
Speaker
I think that this might be the lowest he's been while being a sounder. I mean, I'd agree that his stock with the fan base is definitely high right now. No, definitely not. All right. Let's get into questions. Thank you to everyone as always who submitted in the aftermath of the L appreciate you all getting the discourse flown. We're going to hit a few right here. Noah, what do we got?
00:44:07
Speaker
this one comes from shad shad asks this has got to be one of the toughest weeks as a fan i'm not sure how to feel about any sort of optimism about this team just feels like they are so far away from the top yeah i don't blame you for feeling that way shad i mean i can try and make the case for optimism i'm i'm sort of an optimistic fan by nature you know i like i like sports and being a fan because i like to uh
00:44:32
Speaker
to have fun and I try to like keep it from having like a negative impact on my mental health and like I always tell people that like when a team that I root for or I'm invested in is doing poorly like what I do to deal with it is try and see the comedy in it which like especially this season Seattle's given us a fair amount of comedy which I think has
00:44:54
Speaker
made it a little easier for me to deal with personally but what I would say is that I mean I've been saying that I don't think they're as far as it might seem based on the results that we've seen this season. I think you have the foundation of a good offense between the number 10 and the number 9 that have been
00:45:14
Speaker
Producing pretty well lately and you just you need to bolster that area of the roster you can't have a roster where the DP number nine and the one of your u22 signings are like not playing or not contributing right all if like if you if you Make replacement signings for those two areas of the roster right there that hit and you actually get production out of that like I think there's a scenario where you could be cooking because I think this team is still
00:45:43
Speaker
pretty good to sometimes very good defensively yeah so like I don't know the way I see it there's more of a foundation than people are kind of giving credence to right now and I think what it is is that expectations have been so high for this team for so long that when they're mid
00:46:01
Speaker
which is what they are this year, 1.5 whatever points per game, it feels like they're actively bad or terrible because we're used to this team playing up at 1.8, 1.9, but I see them as more mid than bad and it's easier to get from mid to good and good to great than it is to go from actively bad to good or great. Do you think this is the first time? I don't think there's that big a gap. Do you think this is the first time we've experienced
00:46:28
Speaker
a cycle this hard because I think the Sounders have they've always been a team where they said we don't rebuild we reload right is this the first time where we're kind of experiencing that middling because every team has cycles right and I think it also helps that everyone in the around us in the league has got really like just MLS has changed
00:46:48
Speaker
Right. Do you think this is the first time that Sounders fans are experiencing that? No, like what I would compare it to is 2016 when I mean, people forget because they somehow won MLS Cup that year. But that team was six, twelve and two. Yeah, I believe that was at the time that Ziggy got let go and then Lidero came in. But honestly, that year is a great example for what hitting on one signing even can do for you. That year, everyone thought that squad was
00:47:18
Speaker
Fully, fully cooked way more honestly than this squad is cooked. This squad is at 1.5 points per game and they have a winning record and a positive goal differential. That team was terrible. They were bad. And literally all they did was sign Lidero and they won MLS Cup. That's it.
00:47:33
Speaker
So like I'm not saying that's for sure going to happen again, and they can just do that every time But like it kind of shows you how fast your fortunes can change in MLS So no, I like I honestly think the 2016 Situation was worse like I remember remember how insane those insanely bad those vibes were after the SKC game before Ziggy got fired. Yes
00:47:56
Speaker
They were one of the worst teams in the league. They were in like 12th place. There were six games, you know under 500 winning percentage. Yeah That was bad and they won MLS Cup that year I just I don't know if they can replicate that because I mean there obviously there was no like new signing that came in to give a boost and then also I just think the level of competition at the top of the table is I Mean, it's high. Yeah, it's high. I yeah, I agree. I think that I
00:48:22
Speaker
I think that 2016 is a perfect example, but I also think that the talent gap in this version of Major League Soccer versus that version lends itself to create
00:48:37
Speaker
Basically a worse scenario for the Sounders as a team. This next one comes from Matt Harrington. Matt asks, the L wasn't for a lack of chances. Numerous corners, no finishing. I would say that since Ozzie Alonzo left years ago, the Sounders have struggled at the holding midfielder spot. They lack defensive control in the middle of the field. Too many teams boss us around there.
00:49:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great point, Matt. And I think we hit on that, both in our interview with Nico Moreno and on one of our last shows where that's another area of the roster that I think needs to get bolstered. A decision has got to be made on JP. You've got to evaluate whether you can rely on him to the extent that you thought you could going into this season. And really, we were talking about just
00:49:25
Speaker
Wanting to add like kind of a nastier dirty work type skill set which JP does a lot of dirty work, but he's not like a He's not like a pitbull ball winner like Aussie like right type swagger and that's another thing that I think this roster could really use and in addition that I would love to see them make because I
00:49:45
Speaker
I agree, for as solid as they are defensively most of the time, especially against better teams, it feels too easy to play through them in that area of the field at times. And that's when they get into trouble defensively, because when you're easy to play through in that area of the field, that's when you lose control of game state and you get ran on a little bit. So I think assigning exactly like you're saying, that's the way to address that.
00:50:11
Speaker
Yeah, I literally have nothing to add. That was so beautifully said, Ari. This is why they pay you the big bucks. This next one comes from Soundaboy. I love Jordan, but it has become more apparent each week that he is not the nine that will take the Sounders to the next level. You can't just conjure up a Denny Bewonga, but it's easy to imagine a solid DP9 to replace Raoul being the spark that this team needs to secure points in these scenarios.
00:50:37
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't necessarily disagree that a DP9 is a necessary addition to this roster. I still don't understand where this take about Jordan not being like a functional nine is coming from because like I said, I feel like I'm calling this pretty objectively as someone who doubted the whole idea of starting him over Raul because I
00:51:02
Speaker
I think there's a lot more evidence in his career of him being effective and productive out wide than there is of him playing up top. He's been very productive up top. You're talking about what TT was talking about. I came to the exact opposite conclusion of that, which is that there's two ways you could approach it.
00:51:24
Speaker
go with Jordan as your full time number nine next year and try and bolster the squad from out wide with some of your big time or with a big time edition or you could sign a DP number nine which this is what I would do I would sign a DP number nine like more of a like for like Raul as much as you can and then have the flexibility
00:51:44
Speaker
to rotate Jordan between playing out wide and playing out top. And honestly, when he's playing out wide, he's sort of like a hybrid winger, second striker anyway. You see him trying to create a lot more when he's playing out there, but I don't know.
00:52:05
Speaker
I think, like I said, the way I would approach it is sign a number nine that allows you to kind of do both things with him. I like that idea of that flexibility. I personally don't think that wing Jordan Morris as the ages is going to be the right option. I think that if you sign a DP9, you have to be willing and ready to move on from Jordan Morris if that time does come. It's an interesting point. I do not believe that the Seattle Sounders would ever do that.
00:52:35
Speaker
He's kind of a sounder for life, for sure. But honestly, I think you could have him play both positions next year, maybe the year after that. I think you're right. As he gets into his 30s, having him be a burner out wide is probably not sustainable. But I think if we're talking about planning for the next season or two, I could see it. And I think there's something to be said for the flexibility that that
00:53:01
Speaker
could give you however like I don't hate the idea of him carrying the load up top I really don't like I know a lot of people disagree with that and I these like these splits against the good teams versus the supposedly bad teams are like the stats that people are producing to support why they don't like that
00:53:18
Speaker
I feel like I've seen enough of a sample of him being very effective up top and more importantly productive enough up top where if they went into next year trying to bolster the squad from out wide with the idea that he's going to be the main number nine. I don't hate it. I don't. Would you rather have a DP like JP replacement or a DP nine?
00:53:42
Speaker
I think I would say DP JP replacement. Yeah. I think I would like, especially if you're going to move on from Obed.
00:53:49
Speaker
right yeah and which i think i think he's probably going to get sold so um yeah it is it's an interesting debate though there's definitely like different text uh or different pathways that you can take to bolstering this roster and i don't think any of them are wrong by the way you know you can make a case for all of them in fact you know if you want to make you make your case in the comments make your case in the comments if you disagree with how i would approach it
00:54:15
Speaker
throw that throw that takedown this last one here comes from spirit of 74 why didn't lay out you travel are we just gonna sit a player who doesn't vibe with the team anymore look I loved you but clearly Schmetzer doesn't did we just let another transfer window go by without selling a player we're not gonna play at all yes I'm not exactly sure what's going on with this but um
00:54:37
Speaker
I mean, Schmetz said that he's hurt. I thought that- Alleged. Yeah, so there's conspiracy theories that maybe he's not hurt and it's because he's fallen out of favor or whatever the case may be. I honestly don't know.
00:54:52
Speaker
supposedly he's injured he's been injured there was an actual injury for sure earlier this year but he's also been out of favor anyway i mean i don't know it's just feel it does feel like uh this the leo chu era is probably coming to a close and um
00:55:09
Speaker
You know, I think, uh, like when we're talking about the issues that this team has had this year, the sort of, uh, the lack of production that Seattle's gotten from that spot on the roster has been an issue, a big issue. And that's unfortunate because there was really a period of time last year where it really looked like Leo Chu was breaking out in MLS. Like.
00:55:27
Speaker
He was playing week in week out. He looked pretty dangerous, not super consistently, but with like semi-consistency. He had the four assist game, which that was an electric game from him and Jordan. That combination looked like it had a lot of potential after that game. He had the Whitecaps game where he scored a couple goals and scored the game winner. He really like delivered that win.
00:55:49
Speaker
He scored a goal away at the galaxy in a game that Seattle won So like when people talk about the Leo Chu era like it's been like a total worthless zero I really don't think that's entirely accurate it just hasn't been consistent enough and then this year it kind of has been a lot like just bad bad so
00:56:10
Speaker
We'll see what happens with it, but I think out of all the movements that you're gonna see this offseason and going forward, that's probably gonna be a part of it.
Team Dynamics and Future Outlook
00:56:20
Speaker
Yeah, so according to our good friend Nico Moreno, he said that Leo True was at full practice today, Tuesday, and that he was under the impression that he had not been a part of the A-Team because of Brian Spencer's decision, but Brian had referred to it as an injury for Leo's absence.
00:56:39
Speaker
Listen, I'm going to speculate here that he's a goner. He's not going to be with this team much longer. I think that there was just.
00:56:51
Speaker
Well, maybe, maybe the straw that broke the camel's back was his random mass tantrum with Raul. Maybe it was that. And then coming back and just not playing and getting mad every time he doesn't play. I don't know the situation, but the reality is when you're a player and you're not getting playing time and you're not playing well, when you do get that playing time and then you're unhappy, it's probably best for both the club and the player to part ways. But honestly, like, yeah, Leo Chu showed.
00:57:17
Speaker
a lot of like sparkle and shine that was like good potential but i think the sounders especially with all the the the gm turnover i think they really missed their window to sign him and i really just think he fell through the cracks to be honest
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah, I don't disagree with any of that. All right, that's it for questions. Thank you all so much, as always, for submitting those. You can always crash my mentions to get the discourse flowing after every single Seattle Sounders result.
00:57:48
Speaker
Appreciate you all. All right Let's preview this Columbus game then hop around the league then hit on a couple of these news items at the end And then we'll call it a wrap for episode 62. Does that sound good? Let's do it. All right, let's do it Columbus crew I mean, I don't think we need to go like super in-depth on this other than to say that I mean, okay I mean what I can tell you guys about the Columbus crew is that this is a
00:58:12
Speaker
uh arguably the best team in the league right now a lot of people have them as the best team in the league right now i'm of the mind that inner miami at full strength i would still give the edge to enter miami but like you could easily make the argument for the crew in that discussion um and they really like
00:58:28
Speaker
Um, as much as I think that in one game I would give the edge to a full strength inner Miami, the crew are the ones that have the trophies to show for it. I mean, inner Miami did win league's cup last year, but Columbus won league's cup this year and MLS cup last year. And, uh, they really, uh, they play the best ball in the league on their day.
00:58:47
Speaker
They're a juggernaut. They're a buzzsaw. They're they've only lost one game. I think all year at home And they have the best coach in the league so it's super great timing for this matchup But here's what I will tell you guys here's what I'll tell you guys They have a lot of international absences for this game. Yeah, they do Kucho not playing this is a
00:59:11
Speaker
Arguably the best player in the league right now, other than Messi, who's been injured for a while. So like, Cuccio's the alpha dog of all of MLS right now. In one game, of who feels the most inevitable to get you in an individual game, I would put Cuccio over Bewonga.
00:59:31
Speaker
It's tough and Bwanga is more like physically intimidating, but like Cuccio, I mean, Cuccio has been out playing Bwanga over the last like calendar year or so. So that's, I mean, the reason he's not going to be there is because he's got called up by Columbia, which is not easy to do. And that's kind of cool for him. And I'm glad that he's getting recognized for the type of ball that he's been playing in MLS because he's been ridiculous. So, I mean, that is admittedly a big absence for them.
01:00:01
Speaker
And, you know, Patrick Schulte is going to be gone as well. I think Stephen Moreo, like one of their electric fullbacks that I was talking about earlier, I think he's going to be gone for this game. There's a couple more. I think they're missing like five or six guys for this game, including some of their best players.
01:00:19
Speaker
But I think they should still have Diego Rossi out there who he and Cuccio are the best one two punch in the league all respect to my previous agendas. And like he's been a great MLS player for a long time dating back to his days with LAFC.
01:00:34
Speaker
So he'll be a problem. Darlington Nagby is one of the most skilled and winningest defensive midfielders that's ever played in the league. Everywhere he's gone, he's won trophies, whether it's Portland, Atlanta, or Columbus. In terms of tempo setters and midfield metronomes, he's that good. So Rosie, Nagby, and
01:01:04
Speaker
Christian Ramirez is still a very effective forward in the league. So all that's to say this is not going to be an easy game for Seattle, even with all the absences that Columbus has. And I think it's kind of a smash and grab. If you can get a point, you take it and run.
01:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. I'm not looking forward to playing them, even down all of all of their players, considering like it's still a Wilfred Nancy coached team and. You know, you got to go there and play like it's just not a great scenario, but what I will say, full strength sounders.
01:01:42
Speaker
You know, coming off of two brutal losses, this is a good get back game. I'm excited to see it. It could be a great match. Do I expect them to win? I don't expect anything. I just, I hope that they do. The crew are, I mean, I hope it's an entertaining game. The crew are fun to watch. And I think even with all the players that they have gone, like Wilfred Nancy is, I think he's one of the best MLS coaches I've ever seen at like getting his players to execute his game plans and his principles. Like,
01:02:09
Speaker
It seems like everything he preaches, he has full buy-in and they're able to make that come to life on the field more than any team I've seen in MLS right now. It's very different than how Inner Miami does it. Inner Miami just stacks so many talented players that they just kind of overwhelm you with skill and talent. Whereas the crew, they have a very loaded, very talented roster, but then they also, they have
01:02:35
Speaker
uh just elite execution and application of game plan and principles so yeah they're an impressive squad the sounders are sitting at eighth right now they're not even if they lose this match they're not going to get jumped they'll stay right at eighth but like
01:02:51
Speaker
Do you want to sit at eighth? No, like you need to get at least a point. One point could bring you up as high as sixth. I mean, that's great, but you're still barely in contention for the playoffs. Every point matters, and they're very lucky that the crew will be short handed for this match.
01:03:12
Speaker
Alright, I think that's about enough on Columbus preview. Let's jump around the league, do some winners and losers.
Notable League Highlights
01:03:20
Speaker
Winners, I've got the Houston... Get the champagne. I've got the Houston Dynamo. 2-0 win at LAFC. I do think this was a lot more about LAFC being just absolutely exhausted and depleted after the gauntlet that they've just played than it is about the Dynamo being
01:03:37
Speaker
super good but you know the dynamo did what Seattle couldn't do which was take advantage and capitalize on a depleted and exhausted LAFC squad and they did it in LAFC's own building which is a really hard place to play so credit to Benio and company and the dynamo are an interesting squad right now because they bolstered their squad they signed a couple new DPs and one of them scored a Denny Bewonga-esque goal in this game and then towards ACL so that's unfortunate.
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, that sucks, but they do have Ezekiel Ponce who's it should be a Boost to their squad and maybe you know the dynamo they're more interesting than they were previously. Yeah, it's also funny They're literally gonna play LFC again this week
01:04:19
Speaker
That's too bad for them. Yeah, like just tough scenes. FC Cincinnati. So they beat CF Montreal four to one. But they look like they might be back. They made a couple of signings. They signed to CB, which they needed to do with all the injuries that they've had that have been kind of kneecapping them for a while. But this had an insane goal. But Luca Oriano, who
01:04:45
Speaker
scored a midfield goal already earlier this season, did it again, this time on a set piece from even further out. The first one was, I think, 65 plus yards out. This was further. Just saw the goalkeeper off his line and nuked it and made it.
01:05:00
Speaker
You're lucky to hit one of those once in a career. He's done it twice in the last like four weeks Yeah, like what are the actual odds of? Goals like that twice in the season anyway definitely go look up that highlight if you haven't seen it because there's another insane goal by this guy who He's looking like a star for FC Cincinnati. That was god. I mean their roster build at Pat noon and Chris Albright Like they they lost ball right out who was one of the best
01:05:26
Speaker
players with that skill set last season and they brought in Oriano who's like even better. They actually upgraded on Balleréal which I did not think was possible so credit to them and then I got Columbus for beating NYC for two.
01:05:44
Speaker
It was a game where NYC was right there, and I think they were even winning this game at one point, and then Columbus ported on late. But if you haven't seen NYC midfielder Keaton Parkes' quotes from after the game, BlazingHot, he said it was all the ref's fault in that the ref basically jobbed NYCFC out of points in this game. So definitely go look up Keaton Parkes' postgame quotes from Columbus NYC, because he's not a BlazingHot coach presser, but it's definitely a player who's getting fined.
01:06:15
Speaker
Losers Hate to do it, but Seattle Sounders knocked out of the US Open Cup and losing to Portland in like a four-day span Not good not good Ari the scene is undeniably a tough one If you get eliminated from a tournament and lose by rival at home and then lose to another rival back-to-back Kind of hard not to end up in this section I think that was one of the worst weeks Seattle's had in a long time like straight up
01:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, there's no coming back like there's been some rough moments this season, but That was tough. I think in like I had tweeted it felt worse because I expected it Like it was it was one of those where it was like man. This sucks
01:06:57
Speaker
But somehow I knew this was going to happen and that just makes it all the worse. Austin FC lost 1-0 to the Caps at home. The Caps scored a crazy banger but Austin FC
01:07:14
Speaker
Not very good. And then I got the New York Red Bulls for their 2-0 loss to Philly at home, which Philly are back, I think, pretty much. But the Red Bulls have been having a great year, so that's a tough result for them. All right, I just had a couple, there's a couple news items we got written down here, so let's take these and then get out of here for episode 62.
01:07:39
Speaker
I was on the Zoom call for the Whitecaps new DP signing that they had today, which they were able to do because he was a free agent. The guy by the name of Stuart Armstrong, who he's a Scottish Midfielder, and they actually bought out Luis Martins to be able to make the space to sign him. So you can do that. That's allowed. You can do that. And the Whitecaps did it.
01:08:02
Speaker
the Whitecaps did it and the money ballers the money ballers made they signed a new DP who so the Whitecaps centerpiece of their whole team is Ryan gold Scottish messy and so this guy he is also Scottish and he played with Ryan gold in Scotland for a year they like know each other so I think that's part of how this came about
01:08:22
Speaker
But Axel Schuster, their sporting director, was talking at his press conference today and he was laying out why he called Stuart Armstrong what he's hoping is a missing piece for them, which the storyline with the Whitecaps I actually
01:08:37
Speaker
I wrote about this as well, but the story line for the Whitecaps has been like, how do they go from good to great? Which is sort of like, I would say, a situation that Seattle is in right now. I think Seattle is more like how to go from mid to good and then good to great.
01:08:54
Speaker
But the caps are in a very similar area and have been for a while. They're hoping this signing is what does that for them. So I'll be interested to see if that happens because they actually have enough time towards the end of the season here for him to make an impact. So it could be a potentially significant development for the caps.
01:09:14
Speaker
It's always terrible, too, to see your rivals living your dream. Yeah, exactly. Saunders could really use Stu Armstrong. Stu Arms. Stu Arms. Stu Arms. A call to arms, perhaps. All right.
01:09:29
Speaker
You had one more on Obed Vargas. What do we got with
International Call-ups and Player Development
01:09:32
Speaker
this? We did. Obed Vargas was called up to the Mexican national team, his first call-in since switching his allegiances not that long ago. He got a U23 call-up, so he may make his debut. Obviously, we're not going to know until it happens. But today, it was announced by Brian Schmetzer that he was called up for the U23 team, but has been training with the first team in Mexico, so the national national team.
01:09:59
Speaker
I think we've been pretty high on him, and we've been pretty stoked that he has the chance to be able to go and play for Mexico. The Obed stock is rising, and folks, he is not going to be cheap. Yeah, no, congrats to Obed without a doubt. I'm definitely interested to follow his career with L-Tree. And as someone who's famously a big fan and supporter of L-Tree, I'm definitely invested in this. But in all seriousness,
01:10:27
Speaker
Like it gives us a reason to kind of follow what's going on with L-Tree and this like, we talked a lot about with Obed and not just him, but like a lot of their player pool right now, they're going through a period of like generational change. And I think that if they're smart, he should be a big part of that because, you know, I don't know their player pool well at all, but he's, I can't imagine there's all that many guys coming up that have as much upside as he does. So I think- Or like experience at his age. Yeah. So I really hope that,
01:10:58
Speaker
Like he gets an actual shake and an opportunity with them to make an impact at the international level and That only makes Seattle look good like the better he is Both at the club level when they sell him and on the international stage
01:11:14
Speaker
I agree. Good job Obed. Good job Obed. Alright, I think we can call it right there for episode 62. Thank you all so much as always for tuning in. We really appreciate all the support and the increase in listenership that we continue to see. Thank you so much to all our subs. Thank you to our listeners on wherever you get your podcasts, platforms.
01:11:36
Speaker
And thank you to our new audience on YouTube. You guys are super awesome, and we love to see the numbers that we're seeing on there. Like, comment, rate, subscribe, write us a review. Share with Obed. Share with Obed. Four of you subbed to get us to 500. Comment on the video, like the video. Did I miss anything? I think you got them all twice, baby. I think I just hit everything. We'll see you for episode 63. Until then.
01:12:06
Speaker
We out. Peace.