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00:00:01
Should Brian Schmetzer Win Coach of the Year? - Ep. 68
844 Plays1 day ago
It’s another Dub Pod as the surging Seattle Sounders went to the thriving metropolis of Commerce City, Colorado and came back with a solid 1-0 victory. Albert Rusnák scored the game-winner, the Sounders moved to third in the West. Are they getting hot at just the right time? We’ll break it all down in our game review, hit our agenda check, take your questions, and jump around the league for our news headlines and winners and losers.
We also have a head coach firing, which gave us our Blazing Hot Press Conference of the Week from a sporting director of a Western Conference club.
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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.
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 68 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. Got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, as I understand it, you didn't catch the Sounders game this weekend because you were at a wedding, which that's a move that I've come for this year. um But you're still here for a dub pod. How are you feeling post-wedding and what were your thoughts when you saw that it was a dub pod? Well, one, Ari, I'm feeling full of love. Got to go see my best friend get married, and that was incredible. And number two, yeah, I really do. I'm i'm in the Ari spirit. I'm wearing my Ari hat today, and I'm gonna do my best to get through this podcast and not look like a complete dumbass. Yeah, no, I think it'll be a good. You know, you can just kind of react to the ah the recap that I give you of the game because I did watch it and ah You know, yeah, we're just wedding guys. Yeah, I've had a few this year that have delayed our pods Noah was at one and then I'm actually going to one this weekend ah so it had actually conveniently timed because the Sounders are on by next week there's an international break and so we are still going to record but you guys can keep an eye out for that episode ah slightly later in the week than usual as I'll be out of town through Sunday and then I think we're gonna let's try and get one out like Monday or Tuesday so keep you guys surprised of that but did want to let you all know about that scheduling change for this week um but for tonight
00:01:24
Speaker
It is another dub pod as the surging Seattle Sounders went to the thriving metropolis of commerce city, Colorado, and came back with a solid one zero victory. Albert Rusnak with the game winner. The Sounders moved up to third in the West, three straight dubs, five out of six, and they looked to be getting hot at the right time. We're going to talk about their form recently heading into the playoffs here. There's only one more game. There's decision day to go against Portland of all teams. against the Portland Timbers and that will officially decide the seating but Seattle I believe they've clinched the top four spot but they could finish as high as second depending on how decision day goes so that'll be exciting to track um we're gonna break down this dub over the ah Colorado Rapids in our game review
00:02:07
Speaker
We're going to hit our agenda check with a new agenda for the week. ah We'll be taking your questions as usual. We're going to jump around the league, ah do some winners and losers. So all that's coming up here on episode 68. But before we get into all that, I did want to let you all know Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS at sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. you Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. As always, we would like to thank all of our paid subscribers. We love and appreciate you all. Noah, if you've got the list up, why don't we thank them all by name right now?
00:02:50
Speaker
Here we go, lobbingscortures.com slash L.A. Scroll down to subscribe and support because you want your name on this list of all of our legendary subscribers. Thank you. Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascanelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Daniel Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bontye, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Mayley, Andy Ho, Mike Lintini, Nate Bontye, David Rodriguez, CJ and Miles Maranakis.
00:03:11
Speaker
my nephew mark ainger zach heckvin david bo brian mororeton glarebergger robert singh tyler nikatsu steve hudson choska patrick sexton john hammaker ah mont aba justin walker jay anders ryan shane nathan jones benji dopiar Isaac Johnson Matthew Burns and Ryan Boone Matthew Burns and Ryan Boone are not some new ones all right What's that bring our total up to we are at 37 37? I already said the drive to 38 is alive and well I know that there's one at least one of you out there Listening right now
00:03:46
Speaker
that will go to sounderatheart.com slash slash LS and toss us a sub. Thank you to everyone as always and thank you to all our listeners. Thank you to our new audience on YouTube. We appreciate you guys as well. And we're sorry we didn't get the video out. That was me again. I was at the wedding. Some people said that their pregame ritual now is to to toss up the I saw that. I appreciate yeah whoever left that comment. That's awesome. We love to hear that. And we'll be trying to put more videos out. ah And if you haven't yet subbed to the YouTube, they we're on the drive to 600 subs there. um We're at 570 something, whatever. ah So the drive to 600 is alive and well. And we appreciate your support as we try and grow our presence on that platform as well. all right No, we're gonna do this game review. It'll be a little different this week with you kind of playing catch-up here But I think it'll be a good bit like um yeah like you'll get to just kind of you can ask me like what went down at certain points I can tell you what happened and I'll still have more information than the anti Rusnak Brigade. Yeah, you can react based off that and I'll just I'll just tell you what went down but first ah
00:04:47
Speaker
I mean, we can do a lineup reaction as we normally would because, I mean, it was a pretty simple one, which is that it was a De La Vega start with Georgie coming off the bench. ah But other than that, it was your standard Rusnak at the 10, with Jordan Morris at the 9, Paul Rothrock on the other side of De La Vega. Then you had your Roldan.
00:05:11
Speaker
ah Obed double pivot with JP healthy but still coming off the bench then your standard back line and Stefan Frye. We're gonna do the De La Vega takes I'm excited to tell you about what I saw from him because I thought it was good stuff um but overall again I don't think much to analyze with this lineup this is the ah starting 11 I think I think the debate which is one that we might have on this show is do you start Georgie or De La Vega right now? I think there's credible cases to be made for both. So yeah, well, let's give our opinion on that. But as far as, as the lineup goes, I wasn't, there was no like standout shockers or anything like that.
00:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, no, I was I did see the lineup. I will say I snuck my phone up to see the lineup because I was interested to see if they would give Georgie a rest or just give. And I mean, they what probably happened was give De La Vega a start. So it it was cool to see him get minutes. And I want to know, how did our boy do? OK, yeah. like um Well, it's a good it's a good week for the De La Vega takes. But I'll first I'll just give the recap of the game first, as we normally do.
00:06:17
Speaker
um The first half of this game I thought was actually excellent. Seattle didn't score the goal um that i could have put them ahead in the first half, but I thought basically in every other capacity they played extremely well. They had full control of the game, they had the better chances, they were dictating tempo, they were good in possession, they were good in transition. Man, it's honestly a bummer you missed this one because This was one of the more electric Paul Rothrock games. He was cooking throughout the entire game, I thought. um He's really become ah just a consistent menace on that flank. The runs he's making, his delivery. He and Jordan just missed one. He could have had a couple assists in this game. There was one ah transition moment in particular where he just made a great run.
00:07:03
Speaker
ah kind of just dusted his defender, put in a great cross, and ah Jordan had almost an open net. I think it was harder to control the shot in the cross than it probably looked live but like, but Jordan was pissed that he didn't score it. It really should have been a goal.
00:07:19
Speaker
um So another great Paul Rothrock game. um And they got the one goal just after the halftime whistle in about the 48th minute. It was Albert Rusnak, but it was really Jordan who created this goal. ah He pounced on a bad giveaway at the back by the rapids, rounded his defender, got a good shot on target on ah Zach Steffen who saved it off Jordan. But the rebound came to Rusnak who was charging onto it and he just put it on target.
00:07:46
Speaker
And they had a defender back who was trying to trying to deflect it before the ball like could get over the line. And it bounced off that guy and into the net. But that's Rusnak's goal. And that was the game winner. Good game management from Seattle to close it out. um I really liked what I saw as far as the the ah moments of time where they knocked the ball around, took the sting out of the game, kept possession, slowed it down when they didn't need when they and when they needed to.
00:08:15
Speaker
They didn't give up any super clear-cut chances to the rapids that I remember. The rapids had a couple of moments. like It's not like they had zero chances throughout the game. um But I thought this was a pretty good clinic in how to take a smash and grab three points on the road. you know I think there's going to be some people out there that say that a 1-0 doesn't count as a real victory or whatever.
00:08:38
Speaker
ah I mean, aside from the fact that I don't think I think a one zero is I mean, that happens in soccer, but especially on the road in MLS, like any three point result is a good result. And also, I think there are some one zeros where it's like the one the one that you get is really against the game state.
00:08:55
Speaker
against the run at play, and you're kind of hanging on for dear life, trying not to concede the equalizer. This was not like that at all. I felt like Seattle controlled this front to back. I think if you wanted to nitpick anything, it's that they couldn't quite add the second goal. But if you clean the if you if you see out the clean sheet, especially on the road, and you get the one goal and that's enough, ah more power to you. So that's another plus three points. Like I said, three wins in a row, and five out of six.
00:09:22
Speaker
up to 56 points, third in the West. And I think things feel pretty good going into the playoffs here. The only thing I'm a little bit frustrated with is the fact that they weren't able to close up that San Jose game now. Cause you know, that, yeah that, that one point from three points, like from what should have been three points. Oh,
00:09:42
Speaker
We would have been sitting pretty well and it's honestly not even just that game It's a handful of games this year where they dropped points late. Honestly, the first Rapids game at home yeah way early in the season. Oh nice to mind um They had a couple games in that during that really tough start ah Where they only won once in their first nine games There were games in there where if you they like you said if they had just taken those points They could be up with the galaxy for the number one overall seed like pretty feasibly. Yeah um So that is a little bit frustrating, but I do think ah you know winning five out of six It takes some of the sting out of that quakes game And that's why you know I try to judge the the overall body of work as opposed to just one game and one result because yes that quakes game in isolation ah Was a bad was a poor result of them, but ah they yeah exactly but this most recent one yeah, but
00:10:38
Speaker
I think ah on the flip side of that, you have them taking positive results around that that have mitigated the negative impact from that to an extent. Obviously, it's still a bad result. um But um this was a good dub. i'm not you know i'm any yeah Any notion that this is a bad dub, i don't I don't agree with that. I couldn't even lay that down if I wanted to. um My rapid fire takeaways, I'm just going to lay these down. You can tell me what you think. But like I said, it feels like the team is getting hot at the right time. yeah Seattle kind of always does this. you know There's points of the regular season where it feels like it's dragging or ah they're just not taking the points that they should or that they need to. ah But then come playoff time, they turn it up. And that sort of just feels like what's happening right now. I think we talked about it on the last show. But I don't think anyone in the West other than LAFC wants to see Seattle right now.
00:11:27
Speaker
And if you listen to the broadcast, they were talking about that exact same thing, how the team seems to be coming into form at the right time. And that kind of segues into my other takeaway, which is that this defense is playing lights out right now. Yes, it is. I mean, all of these wins were clean sheets. And they're not like, cheap or lucky clean sheets at all. I think the whole back line has been pretty good, particularly the CBs. Yymar and Jackson Reagan have been excellent over this last stretch.
00:11:56
Speaker
especially Jackson in my opinion people are talking about Yamaha for a defender of the year, which is a good take but I think the ah The really enlightened take is that Jackson Reagan should be defender of the year maybe which is funny because I was the one questioning Jackson Reagan earlier in the season and now I'm saying that he should be defender of the year, but uh both Like the both of the CBs are I shouldn't put that in the agenda check both of the CBs are playing well right now I think both fullbacks are playing well right now. You know I know a lot of the the new who yeah I feel like that that notion has been quelled though like even from my own perspective I was a I was a very hard on new who person some might even say a Anti new who agenda pusher, but I have had nothing bad to say about new who
00:12:42
Speaker
in months basically since he came back from international dude there was takes flying around again ah this game because he had a couple of like kind of classic new moments in the in attack I look I mean I don't know maybe I just have a skewed view of it compared to some people I thought he ah was fine to good on defense in this game which that's his primary job and really like I think any stretch of the season where you have ah multiple clean sheets in a row where you're you're locking other teams down and keeping them off the score sheet, I think you have to credit the whole defense for that. So I credit the back line. I definitely credit Stefan Fry quite a bit as well. He had a couple of big saves in the Whitecaps game. um And I think you have to credit ah the the holding bids as well, the double pivot of Christian and Obed.
00:13:30
Speaker
ah have been very good over the stretch too and that's why um I think a good debate you know is where JP slots into all this because JP is back now and you would assume that he would be um slotting right back in as a starter but I don't know if you break this up right now I think you ride the hot hand um And that creates a pretty funny situation because you would have you would have both JP and Rudy Diaz two out of your three DPS right as subs which is Obviously not ideal But that's just kind of the situation that they're in right now where their best 11 I don't think includes either of those guys clearly doesn't include Rudy Diaz and hasn't for a while now and may not even include de la Vega and Yeah, that's a good point too. ah so that mean That could be a nice triple-headed monster coming off the bench if that if that ah happens. in like like Obviously you don't want like your DPs coming off the bench, but I will say like it does create ah
00:14:30
Speaker
a sort of like embarrassment of riches type field of the situation where when you're closing out a game or looking to bring a game changer off the bench to change the complexion of the game, these are none of the three of those guys are bad options. Rudy Diaz hasn't played in a few weeks because he's been injured, but ah De La Vega coming off the bench in scenarios where Georgie is on the field. that's I mean, that's a pretty good spark plug substitute. And Georgie coming off in the bench in this game, I thought that was great. So ah I think the rotation is good right now. But ah I think JP is a backup as it stands, which, like I said, is crazy to think about.
00:15:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's wild. I mean, I don't, I'm not really super shocked because we've talked about the, this is really the change in JP's career, right? Like it's not like a super big downturn, but it's like, he's had his moments this season where he's self admittedly been like, this is not the type of player that I have been in the past and not the type of player I want to be. And yeah, honestly, like good on Schmetz for, for sticking with what he has and I'm kind of, if I'm going to lob my scorcher here, I don't really think he fits in this starting lineup right now and going into the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, uh, that's kind of how I see it right now too. Like it's a, it's a, if it's not broken, don't fix it type of situation, but it's like you're never mad to have him come off the bench in any situation. Not at all. Um, I already talked about it, but, uh, it was, it really was an electric Paul Rothrock game. I mean, this guy is, uh,
00:16:03
Speaker
ah He's kind of changing how I think about the roster. you know I've thought about wide production and signing a new DP as ah as a key part of what they need to do. And ah with him producing like this, like i I don't know. like He still has to sustain it, but he's been sustaining it all season across all comps. So this was just I would honestly go back and watch this game just for the Rothrock performance. He was great.
00:16:30
Speaker
um This gives Rusnak a 10 in 10 season, he's a 10 in 15. I saw he was like the first person to do it since Clint and Oba, and he's like the only person to do it with no penalties since, was it Oba or Clint? He has a couple penalties though. or you but Secondary assist, secondary assist, that's what it is. 11 of his assists out of the 15 have been ah primary assists, so he is not a secondary assist merchant.
00:16:56
Speaker
And, you know, I'm a long time on record as being pro-secondary assist. Like, when people try and diminish guys' to assist numbers because some of them are secondary assists, I don't agree with that. I think the secondary assist is a good stat, and the guy who plays the pass before they pass should get statistical credit. I know some people see that differently, but either way,
00:17:14
Speaker
I think it's ah it's an earned 15 for Rusnak based on the chance the chance creation that he's done this year and how he's run the offense. um But anyway, ah yeah, I mean like ah Nico Ledero for all the great seasons he had and like, you know, there's been this comparison thing going on, which um Maybe we should get into that in agenda check. We can get into that in agenda check. i like But I will say, I think they're very different skill sets and players to the point where it's difficult to compare. But Rusnak did something that Ledero never did with the 10 in 10 season. um So it's kind of just like another milestone in what's been a very, it's been an excellent year for him. De La Vega takes, I'll tell you what I saw. I'll tell you what I saw because
00:17:58
Speaker
This was and I'm curious to see if other people agree with this and saw this the same way. Go ahead and leave your takes in the comments section and people on our show last week were telling us that we were being a little too hard and judging De La Vega a little too harshly and you know I don't really agree with that like I think just a signing of that stature in that pedigree like you're just there's just a standard to which you are going to be judged and that and just I'm sure he's judging himself to that standard as well. Exactly, and it's pretty clear cut whether that standard is being met or not. There's two things you judge it by, I think, which is the eye test, stat sheet production, and then I like to look at the underlying numbers to see if they match what the eye test says too.
00:18:46
Speaker
if one or both of those things are not being met, the eye test or the stat sheet production, and in this case, I don't think either of them have been really met yet in the minutes that he's played, I mean, that's what you're gonna be judged on. So that's just the reality, but I will say.
00:19:02
Speaker
While it is true that that standard had not been met to this point this season, um I thought this game, to me, was the closest it was. And I thought this was clearly his best game, and I'll tell you why. It's because we saw individual moments that were not just like, oh, that was ah that was a nice play. Oh, you looked good on that play. Or that was a nice pass. yeah The moments that he had in this game, it struck me as stuff that was unique in that other players on the team don't necessarily have in their bag or bring to the table and that's kind of the kind of stuff that we haven't seen out of him enough and that you need to be seeing out of him is that but with a sign like this right you need something that differentiates them that makes them special that they have that other players don't there are a couple examples of that in this game two that come to mind off the top of my head
00:19:53
Speaker
ah Number one, there was a play where he got the ball out wide um and instead of controlling it and trying to like set up a cross and letting the defender get set or close out the space or react like he kind of made it look like the ball was gonna just come to his feet and he was gonna trap it and then maybe set it up or keep dribbling or pass it back or whatever and he just lit the cross in. like straight up before anyone could react like or the defender could do anything about it to stop it and he put it like in a very dangerous area no one quite got on the end of it but just the way he read the pass that was coming to him and reacted and put the cross in before the defense had a time to react i was like oh
00:20:35
Speaker
Okay, like that's like something that I didn't know was in his bag and that frankly I really I haven't seen a Seattle attacker from out wide really do In a while like just it was just a different type of move and then he had another one later on in the first half which was even better which I hope I can find the clip of at some point, but what happened was um There's basically kind of a through ball coming towards him that was going towards the end line and the defender was kind of trying to do the new who and shield it out ah for a goal kick and de la Vega just turned the Jets on and just blew around this guy so fast and just swooped in and and
00:21:20
Speaker
took the ball kept it in before it went out of the dead ah over the end line the defender was dusted and he's in for like a pretty dangerous looking run into the box where he can cross it and there was no goal on the play but just again the read and the run it looked great and once again like i saw it and i was like okay that's that's something that we haven't seen yet and that like other guys on the team i haven't seen them do and i kind of just ah I felt encouraged by that because um Like I said, we haven't seen enough of those moments from him And it gave it just gave me hope that like there is something special about this player There's stuff that he can bring to the table that can elevate the group that other guys might not have you know, so I was excited to see it ah you know, it wasn't a I'm not going to say it was like a fully full on breakout performance, but I legitimately did ah like what I saw and I say that as someone who's been underwhelmed by the whole experience so far. um You know, I try to give benefit of the doubt with the caveat that ah
00:22:25
Speaker
He has been injured all year, and he's probably not fully fit. he's The sharpness isn't there. The chemistry with other players isn't there. But I did really like what I saw from him in this game. And I'm not saying it's guaranteed to happen, but I feel cautiously optimistic that he could actually make like a needle-moving impact for this team in the playoffs, which would be, I mean, that would be great. that That could be the difference right there between their ability to actually make a sustained run in the postseason or not.
00:22:53
Speaker
is just that. I think the defense is going to play up to how they've been playing. And they might get scored on a little bit. But I don't think there's going to be games in the playoffs where Seattle is shipping three or four goals. I have faith that they can do that. Can the offense play up to it? And we're going to have to see. But De La Vega coming good would help. And I saw some good signs in this game. That sounds great. I'm excited to okay. Now I got a while. I should have. I should have done my due diligence and you know, watched this match, but you know, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I would go. I would go back through the film. Look at the wrong highlights deep dive see if you agree because you know if people saw I saw some people in my mentions after the game saying that they were still down on de la Vega and I came out of it feeling a little differently about that like I there's one other instance where I kind of had the same reaction that I can't like quite remember off the top of my head but I remember one other instance where I was like
00:23:50
Speaker
that was something in his bag that I hadn't seen yet and I don't think anyone else on this team has so I don't know it was just good to see like I said like a player like this can't just be like average run-of-the-mill like they have to have that special quality about them they have to have something unique about them that ah that makes them different and I thought we saw our real first pronounced glimpses of that in this game um all right let's Let's update the anti-roost snack brigade because it's been increasingly comedic to me. The deeper we get into the season and the more he produces and the better year he has, the mental gymnastics that they have to do to keep... Brother, I know I'm in the group chat. Yeah, I know. But I see the tweets too. But he scores the game winner in this game. I think these things are...
00:24:44
Speaker
Not as complicated as ah like the people who are trying to undermine him make it seem sometimes like I think any year where You're starting number 10 puts up 25 goal contributions in league play and more than that across all comps is a pretty good year and For that player and we're gonna talk about the only does it against bad teams agenda? But ah the whitecaps in the rapids these last two games not that bad They're mid, but they're not bad. They're not wooden spoon teams their playoff teams. They're actually pretty good um They're both and they these were both road games, so um I think ah
00:25:21
Speaker
Rusenak deserves credit for playing up to the moment in these last two games at a point where ah they're playing for seeding right now. So it's a big part of the season. ah But again, I think the brigade after this game, you know, they're going to have their you know, it was just the rapids. It was only one zero. He could have done more takes. But I mean, it's been a it's been a objectively statistically good year for Albert Rusenak.
00:25:48
Speaker
yeah no I mean listen all of the haters and the bots they know me they know me they know I'm a menace to them but also a lover to all of them and they were cooking in the in the group chat just just to say ah they they kind of ignored We'll stack a little bit and we're, we're banning on Morris for some reason, but I will say I, uh, I sent them Tim's tweet about, um, being the first sounders player to put up double digit regular season goals since Clint Dempsey in 2015. And they roll like stat padding merchant stop padding versus bad week, uh, Western conference teams, uh, staff, adding ease trash. So folks.
00:26:27
Speaker
It doesn't matter, I guess, if you actually if you actually do the thing that you're paid to do, it matters if you're doing it against i would argue that random teams that you're not even playing. I would argue argue that as a professional soccer player in an attacking position, stat padding is kind of your job. You're trying to get stats. that's like i would hope you' you shouldn't I would hope that you don't not go for stats to avoid padding them. i don't I think if you pad them, that's that's good, actually.
00:26:55
Speaker
um but ah Yeah. I mean, I don't know. We can do the, we can do the Burt ah versus Nico thing later if we want, but yeah we'll head it in agenda anyway, let's hit it. Let's say, okay, that's a good segue. Let's hit agenda check right now. No, it this first one comes from you. Actually, I saw you tweeting about this. So all three of this, I'll kick this to you and then I'll get, I have a take on this as well.
00:27:16
Speaker
um the schmetz The Brian Schmetzer should be coach of the year agenda. You deb you debuted this on the on the timeline. I think you were testing the waters. I thought it kind of cooked. yeah um But ah make your case and then I will tell you what I think. yeah no this was a this tweet banged I won't even lie um I was seeing you know all of these rumors about like oh who should be coach of the year is it Wilfred Nancy is it Tata Martino ah but all of these names where I was just like
00:27:49
Speaker
Why is nobody talking about Brian Schmetzer right now? I mean, you had the worst start in the history of an entire football club happen. Then through a managerial decision of player personnel, he completely flipped the script. And this was not an easy decision to make. This was benching your highest paid player. Club legend. Club legend and like face of the franchise,
00:28:19
Speaker
to play a guy who was playing into coma and was one of the last people to to not get cut from the entire team and roster.
00:28:30
Speaker
You play him over your DP nine in a league where you're only allowed three players like that. That's a gutsy decision. But what it, what it did was completely flipped the script, changed the entire season. And now the Sounders are moving in to decision day in third place in the West with the chance to get second. with a chance to get second, home playoff games right there in their hands in the hottest form in the entire league down the stretch. If you are gonna sit there
00:29:01
Speaker
and tell me that Wilfred Nancy who threw an absolute fucking temper tantrum because he didn't want to sign a goalkeeper and lost his potential to win the supporters shield because of a coaching decision he lost the chance to win the supporters shield He should be a coach of the year? Absolutely not. He fumbled CCC. i mean he got play His tactics got played off the field on CCC. Whether you believe that all of his players were suffering from diarrhea or not, he's supposed to be this tactical genius who can play with
00:29:35
Speaker
any player he could be given a 15 year olds just a group of you know like youth soccer kids and they're supposed to be able to play anyone off the field you know who could actually make that happen Brian Schmetzer Tata Martino great coach I actually think he has a he should be more in the conversation ah than Wilfred Nancy but Tata Martino has a fucking super team man he his the depth of that team He shouldn't even be allowed to be for any of these awards like if I had messy on my team Yeah, you better win. He probably should have won more games. He probably should have won every game. You got messy Anyway, that is that is where I come and I say Brian Schmetzer Not only deserves coach of the year if he doesn't win it it shows how much East Coast bias there is
00:30:27
Speaker
at an MLS. damn Yeah. That really, you really cooked on that. Um, there's a lot to unpack with that take. Um, I agree with the premise of the take that he should at least be, he's not going to win it. He's just not like, he's not even gonna, I don't think he'll get a single vote. Maybe I'll vote for him. and and I don't know. I think, uh, you know, there's other guys that This award sometimes is like the the coach who had the best record with the team that was expected to be the worst ah award. So like that's why you have ah Chris Armas who's being mentioned in this category as well. Which is stupid. but i think um
00:31:06
Speaker
I think there's a lot to the notion that ah this season has been Schmetz's best coaching job. like I really think there's a pretty strong case to be made ah that it is. And it's got me feeling like Coach of the Year you know i Think he has a decent case. He's not gonna win it um but like as far as any sort of Schmetz out sentiment You know some people might still be on that because of some of the struggles that have happened this season ah But where I stand on that at the moment is I'm just not on that at all like I think he I think he really cooked this season like um I mean you broke it down, but um being in a situation where you have
00:31:46
Speaker
One DP who is disgruntled and benched and not producing and hasn't played in a few weeks now because of injury and is pretty much said that he's leaving next year and Clearly was upset with his diminished role or what he said was the lack of communication regarding his distant his diminished role but either way you're getting nothing from that DP spot and JP youre ah has been slowed by injury and not quite the player that he was even when he was playing. And De La Vega was injured all year and barely played at all. And you look down at the end of the season, this team has 56 points. They're third in the West going into decision day.
00:32:25
Speaker
1.7 points per game they're up to now, which is very good. If you told me they were going to play at 1.7 going into the year, you take that going into any year. yeah I mean, LAFC is at 1.8. So like, that's the 16 wins, which is also the third most in the West, a plus 16 GD, which is good, um an 8.7 and 2 record on the road, which is excellent. that's um That's an elite road record in MLS. 8 road wins is an elite number.
00:32:54
Speaker
um I think you know if there's one thing to nitpick it was it's there's too many drop points at home And the record could have been even better, but for a team with two out of their three DP spots um not really producing and having a Young DP barely playing at all only just now coming back yep um to get That production made up for and arguably exceeded from Paul Rothrock who ah Was at Georgetown a couple years ago yeah and like you said played for an MLS next pro for Toronto FC 2 and Tacoma Defiance Producing like a DP winger. Yeah um
00:33:33
Speaker
I think you you got to give credit to the coach. How could you not? Like what's the even counter argument? Like that is a beast of a coaching job with the situation that this roster was in to end up at 56 points and one seven per game.
00:33:49
Speaker
that's a great That's great work. And i think I think you're right, man. I think there's a lot more of a coach of the year case in there than it's getting then is's getting credence for. And the ah the national pundits would never, never acknowledge this. no um schmett The narrative with Schmetz, I think, is that he is the beneficiary of a great organization that always gives him one of the most talented rosters. That's been true at times throughout for this season Not this season. i mean he but He was playing with damn peanuts.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah, at times for sure. um They didn't even make a summer signing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, not to say that that crushed them obviously, but you can't tell me that this team was stacked with talent like Columbus was or like inner Miami was the way like they didn't, they didn't make any moves. They made an outbound transfer of a defender who was like a depth piece defender.
00:34:47
Speaker
and Somehow the defense got better though. The whole fan base was up in arms because he didn't get any extra like your moves yeah to ah To like get a boost. So yeah, I think um It sort of felt like a slow grind back up to ah back up to prominence for this team. like there was like The beginning of the year was a drag. Even when the results got a little bit better, the offense wasn't playing that well earlier in the year. And it's really only in the last like month or two that they've really heated up and looked like the team that we thought they would be. But like like I said, man, you look down, they're at 1.7 points per game. So you've got to give credit for the coach for that. And ah I like the agenda. That's a good segue into ah the BWP, shout out BWP, Sounders only beat bad teams agenda. I only bring this up to ah to point out a stat that Jeremiah posted, which he posted their record um for a against teams currently in playoff positions. okay
00:35:48
Speaker
um Go ahead, I'll give you guys a second. Guess what it is, all right? Guess what it is in your head. Eight, seven, and five. That's pretty good. That's not bad. No. That's not bad. so like Oh, but or everyone makes the playoffs in Major League Soccer. you know um That's 12 out of 19 games that they've played against teams in ah in current playoff position. ah They've taken positive results, and they won eight of them. and ah That's just, I mean, that's just not that bad a record. You know, I think they're, they're definitely, I'm like, it doesn't come from nowhere. They did have a stretch like a month ago where they feasted on a pretty soft part of their schedule. That's like where this all comes from. But again, like I, I look at the, I try to look at the full body of work as opposed to just one game or one stretch of a season. And, uh, they actually fared decently well against playoff teams this year just by the record. So. and Like the only team that they really have had trouble with is the San Jose Earthquakes, you know, so it's like way it's so it's like Oh, it's funny. I thought you were gonna say LA FC but Yeah, it's there's two team to California based teams that this team can't beat. It's LA FC and the San Jose earthquakes Yeah, San Jose i qui is the earthquakes more than I fear the earthquakes way more than all you see that's not even close Yeah, and the earthquakes didn't make the playoffs. So Seattle's not even gonna have to deal with them in the plant God LA FC I think if there is
00:37:13
Speaker
another ah criticism of the or like a critique of the season that Seattle just had other um other than the ah overall home form not being as good as you would like it's just that they got absolutely Bammed on repeatedly by specifically LFC. Yeah, that's really when when I look at this season and I look at I think the biggest thing that went wrong with it It's that specifically LFC Looks to be on a different level than them in the head-to-head matchups
00:37:47
Speaker
If you look at the records, the goal differentials, the points per game, the total points, total, the home records and the away records, Seattle and LAFC actually had pretty similar seasons. LAFC finished, is slightly ahead of them on the table right now, but not by a crazy amount. They have 58 points, Seattle is 56, they've won 17 games, Seattle's won 16. I know I've made this point before, but like even the idea that LAFC is like,
00:38:13
Speaker
Lapping Seattle overall is it's very very true in the head-to-head matchups. I could not and would not deny that um But as far as for the seasons that They had overall it's um it's pretty much the same season. Look at the record. Look at the table. Yeah, so anyway, LAFC has bad losses to like a leave see got Bammed on by dallas 3-1 They they lost to They had a chance to make a statement against the crew and got beat played off their own home field vi barely beat fucking the The club of professional wrestling enthusiasts in a cup final. I mean like let's be real They got taken to extra time by johnny wrestle. Yeah boys. That's that's that's toughs yeah, that's tough. they look that's brutal Hey, I mean they won 3-0 this week i
00:38:56
Speaker
i'm not I'm not excited to play them but and you know yeah you know if it happens it happens if that match up it happens we'll go on happy foot sad foot we'll be in LA if that game happens we'll be in LA and ah you know I would not be looking forward to it but I also wouldn't fear it as much as you would think yeah um all right you wrote down i wrote down james here so let's hit these and then There was a little bit of a her <unk> proliferation. yeah You guys are gonna hit me in the comments for mispronouncing that, but whatever. Albert Rosnak, having a better season than any season Nico Ledera has ever had in his entire career with the Sounders, this one was lobbed by a Mark Kastner on the Twitter, and frankly,
00:39:41
Speaker
This one was spicy. There was some lovers and there were some haters. I want to hear where you land on this. Okay. So what Mark was saying was, I mean, he was ah talking about purely stat output. Yeah. Like Nico never had a 10 in 10 season. Nico was a double digit assist machine every single year that he played a full compliment of games. You could pencil him in for 12 to 15 assists.
00:40:06
Speaker
And he was a goal-dangerous player, too. He took ah all of Seattle's penalties, barely ever missed a penalty, which was an underratedly valuable skill. ah like He was perfect on penalties for a very long time in his career. um One of the best passers I've ever seen in MLS.
00:40:22
Speaker
um so Niko, I think Niko is the Sounders go especially like when you take into account trophies won. But I just think he and Rusnak are, um they're different styles of player. you know When I was talking about seeing stuff that makes De La Vega special and unique, I think both Rusnak and Ledero have different qualities that make them special and unique players. Ledero,
00:40:50
Speaker
was a uniquely gifted passer, like with his through balls and with his switches, and just his vision and ability to, him in the chemistry he and Jordan had with his ability to hit him on those runs over the top, spray those passes all over the field. He's very good at that, but I think what made Ledero special, what made him unique, and then what by proxy, what ah made the team special around him, was the two-way presence that this guy had. I've never seen a player run more than Ledero or work harder on both sides of the ball. And you really don't see a lot of attacking midfielders or number 10s that bring that quality in particular to the position at the same in the same way at the with the same consistency that Nico did. And Rusenak is definitely not that type of player. No, he's not I don't think I don't know some people think he's like super lazy or bad on defense I don't see that but like his work rate and just the lung-busting presses and ah The how aggressive the marking was Nikko has him on all that stuff was such a machine with that in a way that like
00:41:58
Speaker
not pretty much no 10 that I've ever seen in MLS ah had that the way Nico does and that was just so valuable because um not only did he move the needle very positively defensively but that mentality and that kind of just will to win and like feverish desire to compete and to like, just go as hard as you can. Every second is on the field. That stuff permeated throughout the rest of the team. And it gave this team and identity and it gave it like, it made everyone
00:42:32
Speaker
on the team better. yeah So that's why that's what I think made Nico special outside of just the attacking stat sheet production was the two-way skill set, the work rate, and just the effect that that had on the on the team.
00:42:47
Speaker
Um, that being said, Rusenak brings a lot to the table, uh, in his own right that I think, um, makes him an excellent number 10. That's been very good for this team this year. I mean, outside of the staff, uh, the statute production, I think that he's had this year speaks for itself. Um,
00:43:05
Speaker
But Rusenak is an excellent facilitator as well. like His through balls, his switches, his field vision, some of the diagonal passes he hits, I would say, are like even more impressive than some of the ones that Niko hit. And ah I think a big thing that Rusenak brings to the table is his his set pieces are better than Niko's by a mile, I think. Niko's set pieces were good. They're not as bad as people said they were. But they were hit or miss.
00:43:32
Speaker
Sometimes he would lay them in and they looked great. Roosnack, every free kick he sends into the box is dead high. For the last three or four months, man, every corner kick is dangerous. Every time they have a free kick from a dangerous spot, he's putting it right where he needs to be, where it needs to be. His connection with Jordan on those is way better, I think, than Niko and Jordan had, like on corner kicks and on free kicks. um His service into the box, even not on free kicks, but from the run of play, he has a lot more range, I think, yeah than Niko did on those. Like, Rusenak can send the the his service in on a dime from way, way outside the box.
00:44:10
Speaker
um As, as well, I think as any attacking mid in the league right now, he can range out and Steph Curry, those dimes from just deep in a way that Nico didn't really. And I think he's more goal dangerous from the run of play than Nico was. Nico was elite and elite penalty kick taker. Um, and occasionally would score a goal from the run of play, but Rusnak, I think he gets, he, he gets more goals and, um, his set pieces are better. And I think In terms of their play as a facilitator, I see them as players that kind of run the offense to the to a similar effect. I don't think there's all that much difference in that case. ah But I don't know. If I was choosing, I know I'm going i'm cooking right now. As you should. um ah If I was picking between the two of them, like I mean, it's tough because Nico is on the team for way longer. His trophy haul is more impressive. It's just hard for me to go against a player. I think Rusenak is more
00:45:10
Speaker
like specialized, whereas Nico was just an all around freaking beast, man. um Like the the work that he did on defense was like second to none compared to any attacking mid I've ever watched in MLS. ah But it's it's a better debate than I think people would give credence to. And ah ultimately, I think it's a difficult comparison because they're not very similar players in terms of skill set and like what they do well that contributes to the team.
00:45:39
Speaker
I don't really think there is a good way to put it other than they're they're not playing the same position. I know that on the field, they're in the same role, but they're not playing the same position. I mean, like neat to me, Nico was a.
00:45:57
Speaker
Position defining defying player. Yeah, he was he was so he was an incredible abnormality of someone who was honestly good at everything and therefore you could like not not everything but like, you know, he he was this like just like don't I don't even have a good word for it. I'm like struggling to find a word for it, like a Tasmanian devil, right? Like he was just bouncing all over the field, did so much work and then like his impact off the field was seen even more like he shaped Obed Vargas into the player that he is. Like we joke about it in him. You really it's kind of it's like
00:46:37
Speaker
Weird yeah like you we joke about it But like seriously the way like Obed's work ethic the way he gets back and goes forward and like the foul drawing Yeah, he goes the best foul draw I've ever seen yeah like all of this stuff Niko mentored so many of the young players like that is Something that you know, you also have to count. I think Nico is the best player to ever play for the Seattle Sounders hands down I don't think we'll see another player like him Maybe ever just that's just the type of player he was um but that said obviously, I love the Albert rosenac agenda and um I think that he's a completely different player and I just don't even think it's valuable to compare them because that's like
00:47:23
Speaker
That's just it's not either like neither of them are we're doing the same thing and they're not they're not being asked to do the same thing either and I think Mark's point was more just pointing out like how good Rusnak's just pure stat sheet production has been this year because Lederos was always elite especially in terms of assists and Rusnak has been just as good ah this year, which I think is definitely fair to point out, even if it's not like a like for like comparison to their skill sets real quick before we move on. yeah Just to illustrate the points we're making about Nikko, quick story. um I mean, so ah the night famously that we first met, the night before CONCACAF Champions League final ah ah in 2022,
00:48:05
Speaker
I was talking to someone in the Sounders organization who was at the media mixer that we were at and we were talking about how we felt about the game, the champions league final coming up the next day and he was like, oh, we're going to win. We're going to win. I'm not like tripping. I'm not worried at all. Like we're going to win. And I was like, well, why are you so sure? And he said, the captain, he's not going to let us lose. like he he's He's just not. like yeah He's going to go out there and he's going to just do whatever it takes for us to win this trophy. like It's just force of will.
00:48:38
Speaker
And that like turned out to like be true. you know like It sounds corny, but like that's like the type of impact that Ledero himself had, man. That's why they won so many trophies with him as the centerpiece. We'll have to see what Rusnak does, but I would say in terms of moving on from that era and having someone be a replacement, i'm I'm pretty happy with how Rusnak's done this year, but there's going to be more debate on this on this topic. all right Agree that's a it's a fun agenda to talk about but statistically speaking Absolutely Albert has put up close to if not better than anything Nico is able to put up on purely stats ah but I think we both are in agreeance that a comparison isn't really fair and Nico is just like
00:49:22
Speaker
Just an anomaly in the club go yeah i don't like there yeah much of a question about that exactly, but don't don't get it mark He was he was being having mark made a good point. He made a good point alright. This is my last one here I just wanted to bring it up briefly because I think it's a little silly the mo moose is dead the moose is dead agenda um We haven't really even been talking about yeah, ah he has less goals than a bear did Yeah, and you know we've been just probably got a lot less minutes he Yes, but like you know the ah the the memorial a bear award It's I think it's been signed sealed and delivered here to well and with every dance is ostensibly healthy He's the backup nine right now, so yeah like third on the depth chart, but but every so every time I've seen him play I've been less impressed, but uh
00:50:10
Speaker
Danny it's we love you. It'll be an under discussed storyline for the offseason, but a backup nine that ah Like I don't think this team has had like a consistently productive backup nine since like Will Bruin Yeah, like that what will Bruin was such like a luxury on roster because he was so good ideas you you wrote tiin and you knew he was going to score. Like I swear, or at least get close to it and give you like elite holdup play and like work great and just, uh, just bang with the center backs. Like he was a great depth nine man. Like he was chill with being a depth nine Yeah, and he was great at it like this team used to have great depth nines Chad Barrett and Kenny Cooper like those are legends Yeah, like this that used to be a strength of this team and the a bear moose days They've gotten away from that so hopefully they can get back to ya and on and on the note a little bit I think if they did sign a nine like a they went out and blockbuster nine Jordan Morris that's not a bad backup nine clearly I
00:51:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we'll have to see what happens. All right, let's take questions. Thank you, as always, to everyone who submitted. I put one from YouTube in there this week. I really encourage anyone who ah has any takes on our takes to throw down in the comments. We love it. ah So I've got one from YouTube, a couple from Twitter. Noah, what do we got?
00:51:30
Speaker
This one comes from Steve from the YouTube channel. We do read all your comments. So if you love questions in there, I unfortunately read them all. Yeah, we do. We do see what you say. Steve says it's been cool seeing the sounders pathway delivers starter plus level talent to the first team a la Paul Rothrock. But given the sounders at those recent unwillingness to open their checkbook during the recent transfer window, I wonder if Adrian sees the pathway as an excuse to save money.
00:51:56
Speaker
If he can get De La Vega level production for pennies on the dollar by signing a homegrown player, he can deliver better returns to the owners. Thoughts? Yeah, so I ah I wanted to address this one because I think it's an interesting point. um But I think and so thanks for the comments, Steve. I think you're thinking about it the wrong way, though. ah You're right that ah the pathway delivering starter plus level talent.
00:52:23
Speaker
um is a bit of a, it's a bit of like a hack, but I think it's in a good way. yeah Like that's what you want because it allows you to kind of get around some of the limitations of the salary cap, which this league has one of the weirder, more limiting salary caps out there. The best hack I think,
00:52:43
Speaker
to get around that is to have a really good development and academy system that gives you ah that, like you said, starter plus level talent. that doesn't If you're a homegrown player, you don't count against the cap. So what it does, I don't think it gives the ah but owners an excuse to try and save money. I think it makes the roster even stronger so that the additions that you do make don't necessarily like I think the great thing about this Rothrock thing is he's if he's honestly giving you DP level production which who knows if that'll sustain but literally right now he literally is yeah like just purely based off what he's producing and the individual performances he started to put in every week like in this game like if you got the exact same performances and production um that Paul Rothrock is giving you right now but you slapped
00:53:33
Speaker
insert you 22 signing dp young dp signing you put a different name on it yeah you would be like that signing hit that is if De La Vega had the season that Rothrock is having we would all be like hell yeah newcomer of the year award question mark Yeah, but like ah exactly, exactly. and So that's how he's producing right now. If in theory, if you believe that he can sustain that and produce like at that starting level plus starter level clip, like you can take your DP spots and maybe vote wherear just take your big money, your TAM, your DP spots, whatever it is, focus it elsewhere and your roster is stronger
00:54:11
Speaker
I think, then it would be if you focused on an area of the field where you're getting a lead production from a homegrown or just from your pathway. I don't know if Rothrock technically counts on the books as a homegrown, um but he ah he certainly counts as going through the pathway. He was in the academy, played for Defiance.
00:54:30
Speaker
And either way, um that type of stuff is how you get a leg up in this league. And I think Seattle has used that to great effect, man. That's part of the reason they were able to stay afloat this year without their production from their DP spots is because Paul Rothrock kind of saved their asses in that way. yeah um You could go back to like the production that they've gotten from Jordan Morris even though he doesn't count as a homegrown anymore he still was brought up through the organization and ah that's really been ah like a bigger boom for the roster than I think people realize is um his development.
00:55:06
Speaker
um So I would not think of it as like an excuse type of thing. I would think of it as that every player that ah comes up through the pathway and hits on the first team and contributes at the level that Obed and that Paul Rothrock are contributing at.
00:55:22
Speaker
That makes this team stronger. That's why this team is able to do something like rack 56 points in a year where two of their DPs aren't producing and one of them isn't even playing for most of it in their young DPs and playing at all. It's because of that infrastructure in that pathway, man. And that's what Seattle does better than a lot of teams. And that's like why they were actually able to cop a top four spot in the West this year, despite all of the stuff that happened. There's really two ways to go about managing a roster in Major League Soccer. there's You front load with a bunch of superstars and fill in your gaps whatever way you think possible. Usually with just like vets and stopgaps. Right, sometimes it works, you know, sometimes it doesn't.
00:56:12
Speaker
ah The other way is to try and build a team around your youth products that you've developed and brought up because this is a league that is concentrated, focused, and invests more money and makes it more accessible to bring younger players in and to bring players up than a lot of leagues do.
00:56:36
Speaker
So like, yeah, the sounders for a long time and have always been we don't really give a shit to sign Marco Royce. We want to sign but Rothrock and like. Is it a little bit of money ball? I think that's fair to say. like There is a like an air of, we don't wanna spend money, we don't have to, but it's also made them successful because it allows them to, I mean, they haven't done this either, but in theory, sell Obed Vargas and get a big chunk of money. Who knows? Maybe Paul Rothrock gets a deal with a championship team or something. I don't know. It's like you're, you're
00:57:16
Speaker
you're allowing yourself a ton of flexibility and you're also building up players that you can then theoretically, if you want to replace them with someone even better, move them and get a shitload of money for and you have ah a smaller investment in. So I don't think that it's penny pinching. I think that that is how this team has been since the beginning, or at least that's been the vision for this team since the beginning. And I think it makes this team fun to watch and it makes it feel So much easier to to connect to like from me being from Seattle. Yeah, I'm so fucking stoked that our nine is a guy who grew up here I'm stoked that Paul Rothrock grew up in Capitol Hill where I live now like that's super fun, too Yeah, I think we were talking about it on the last show, but it gives it like a it gives the team like a Seattle identity Yeah, so yeah, I think that's a good point too. ah But yeah good good point Steve. It's a definitely that uh that take got me thinking I This next one here is from Matt Drumdog. How many players have noticed, sorry not how many players, how many people have noticed that we're currently sixth in the shield standings, tied on points with fifth place Cincy. How impressive is it that we have accomplished this with effectively a single DP and of course Brian will once again be slept on for coach of the year.
00:58:34
Speaker
Yeah, we already talked about the coach of the year aspect of that. But yeah, no, it's a good point, Matt, like a sixth in the shield standings tied in point in on points with fifth place. stiny And like we were talking about, man, like there is a lot of dropped points this year. Like this team realistically with a couple of different bounces of the ball would have been over 60 points, which is it is crazy to think about like they are at one point seven points per game.
00:59:00
Speaker
now, which is bordering on an elite number. At least I consider, I consider 1.8 to two to be an elite number. So they're on the precipice of that sort of, uh, 1.8 to two is what I think of as what you ideally want to be playing at for a full of season. If you can all help it. And they almost hit that, um, with no Rudy Diaz, Joe Powell, Joe Powell playing part-time and De La Vega, uh, busting his hamstring every time he jogged 10 feet for the first like six months of the year. So yeah, yeah, it could I mean in who we've been talking about is elite inner Miami LA Galaxy Columbus crew LA FC FC Cincinnati Those are the only teams that are above the Sounders in the shield race right now That's impressive with the roster that they have again Brian Schmetzer coach of the year put it down lock it in and
00:59:46
Speaker
I don't know who votes for that. Andrew Webe, lock it in. You think? you think i mean I vote for it. But you think we could court Webe? You think we could court Webe? and i don't I don't think any of our editorial staff or writers are going to vote for Schmetz. I think it's going to go to Wilfred Nancy and Tata is going to be the runner up. Sad. Anyway, Andrea.
01:00:09
Speaker
Andrea Andrea sorry whatever your name is I'm so sorry asks what three players other than Rothrock are on Sounders Mount Rushmore of hair all right I got a few for this I'll be interested to see what you think of this ah but I've got Roman Torres I've got DeAndre Yedlin, and I thought of a third, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. um But ah those are the first two that came to mind. Who am I missing?
01:00:40
Speaker
oh I like Patrick Iani. He had that sick haircut for a while. um you know The blonde Jordan era was a moment. That was a moment. I love- That's not Mount Rush though. We're talking about Mount Rush. I personally love Paul Rothrock's hair.
01:01:02
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm specifically said other than right, you know, so that's hard to cut Rothrock out if I was doing the Mount Rush it would be Roth Rock Torres Yeah, cuz the other line at his peak. I think might have been the sounder's hair goat I think that might have been MLS hair goat for a while like at least Yeah, um other than the you could put Ozzy Alonzo and Jimmy Triore on this mount that was a bit That would be a good bit. i I'd like Iani. I think Iani would be my, that's a good i was winner i like if I was going to cut it. like Yeah. I would go Torres Yudlin for my first two picks. I dig it. Maybe, maybe Yemar Braids. I don't know. I have no clue. I so also, I think Dark Horse two would be Jordan bleach blonde hair. Cause I feel like that was i didn't think that was the start of the era where they all started bleaching their hair. Remember that? yeah Or was it Nika? I don't remember who bleached it first, but whatever. That was a, yeah.
01:01:53
Speaker
All right, this next one from Ben. Do we resign Rusnak? Do we? Dude, I can't read today, folks. Oh my lord. Do we resign Rusnak as a DP or Tam earlier this season? I would have said Tam, but he continues to deliver at a DP level at the moment.
01:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, I concluded this because this is what we're probably going to to be debating all offseason. And I think how this team does in the playoffs is going to inform a lot of how people think of it. If Seattle goes into the playoffs and immediately gets bounced out and has a futile offense in whatever game that they lose, they answer that question. The conventional wisdom is going to be, Tam, if at all, he's going to take a lot of the blame, if if that happens for sure.
01:02:36
Speaker
um Personally, I think he has More than justified his DP status this year. I like I like how he runs the offense. I like watching him play I think the stat sheet production is there. I think he passes the eye test. I think he's the lead on set pieces I think he's probably the best free kick taker in the league right now if you take Messy and maybe a couple of other of the best guys out of the equation But he's one of the best free kicker free kick takers in the league right now. So ah I don't
01:03:07
Speaker
um i Obviously, they need to do some roster turnover. They need to bring in a couple new DPs. Ruby Diaz is in all likelihood going to be moving on. I don't think JP's back as a DP. So we'll see what happens. But as of right now, I really would not hate it if they brought Ruth Snack back as a DP and then made a couple of other signings around him and then ideally get De La Vega healthy going into next year. And I think you would be pretty loaded up to have solid expectations for another 60-point year with that roster. like I guess I haven't been as down on the roster as some people recently, especially with the resurgence in form. That's happened over the last like couple months, save for the matches against LAFC, which I think rightfully overshadowed some of the good stuff they've done over the last couple months. But anyway, it's a good question, and we're going to be talking about it a lot more.
01:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, if I'm the Sounders front office, I'm looking to bring him back next year on a DP, but structure his contract. So he maybe ends up it as a TAM in two years or in three years. Basically, you know you sign you lock him up because he's 30. You know his play is going to degrade. But I don't think there's any possible way that he resigns for anything other than a DP. And I think Nor should he nor should he because I think probably any team looking for a DP would happily sign him after ah a season of production like that And how are you gonna find a player to replace that much production like oh immediately all the people who
01:04:34
Speaker
like want to replace him so badly like you do realize that you just have to be clear out about the fact that if you if you move him on and are searching for a new DP you are looking for a player that can give you 10 and 15 and run the offense and develop chemistry with the other attackers that he already has and And you know the Sounders aren't going to spend money on them. right I mean, I mean, like realistically, OK, even if they do, you don't know that whoever you find is going to be able to do that. I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you like he is giving you the production that you would be looking for if you hit the market looking for someone to fill that position. So I think that ah you're better served if you already have that player to.
01:05:19
Speaker
to keep him, especially because he already has like that chemistry with everyone. And 30 is not like that old for an MLS attacker. But and that's just how I see it. I do recognize that there's a there's there's different takes on it. I did think it was funny. um ah Did you see his Geno quote?
01:05:37
Speaker
yeah i did that was jarmer i hope he listens i hope he listens to the po if he was taught i us but i he probably said that ah He saw what a lot of people were saying earlier in the season and that he knew knows that people Wrote him off. I think he I was I was happy to see him say that I was like, yeah talk your shit talk your shit he said We said that stuff earlier this year when the offense didn't look good. ah And I'm always, when I'm critical like that, I'm always willing to be yeah proven wrong. And I think he, ah despite what the brigade out there might tell you, like he's proved a lot of people, those people wrong, including us. So credit to him for that. Like fair play. Yeah, I mean in my dream world again, like I said you get him back on a DP this next year And then you see where it takes you after that There's a million, you know roster things you can tricks and things you can do but I don't know um Let's move on to our blazing hot coach press conference of the week ah We didn't have one for the last show, but I got one for this week Which is because we had another coach firing an MLS always an exciting day on lobbing scorchers when there's a coach firing
01:06:44
Speaker
um I meant to mention that in the intro, but ah Josh Wolf out at Austin. He lasted way longer than I thought man Yeah, I mean the fan base has been clamoring for that one for a while um But Josh Wolf is officially gone They let him go with one game still have to go in the season and the ah blazing hot It's not actually from Josh Wolf, although I did want to acknowledge that he's been one of the best providers of Blazing Hot coach press conferences since he got that job before their first season. um God, i am I'm going to miss him, man, because the his post-loss pressors in particular, um there was one media member down in Austin in particular. Oh, he would needle him, dude. That would just needle him. Like this guy, I'm not sure who who he is, ah but he just does not give a fuck. du No, he like he would he would he grills Josh Wolf at these pressers as hard as any media member grills any coach to the point where for months he's been asking like why are you the right person for this job yeah and like you can tell Josh Wolf just hates this guy. Oh, yeah, but it's funny to watch because the guy like I respect a media member like that that
01:07:53
Speaker
doesn't care about being liked. Right now, like he's asking what he thinks is fair to ask based on the results that he's seen, which have been bad for them for two years now. and And when he sees something that he thinks is wrong, he let Josh Wolf hear about it. And he didn't let the fact that Joshua Wolf reacted with hostility stop him from asking those questions. So I definitely always respect that. And it also made for some entertaining content. But the blazing hot presser that I wanted to refer you all to, we're going to play a clip from it as well.
01:08:23
Speaker
Rodolfo Burrell, Austin F.C. sporting director. um He was giving his his Why I Fired Josh Wolf presser and he it got a little ah you got a little hot spicy little spicy at certain points, specifically the clip that we're about to play. He was asked about if Josh Wolff's firing affected Owen Wolff's future with the club. Owen Wolff, son of Josh Wolff who plays for Austin Osteen. He did not take kindly to that question and I think it seemed like there was something ah that he felt had been unfair of the coverage of Owen Wolff like maybe the media down there had been suggesting that there was nepotism at play there. I really don't think there was. Owen Wolff by all accounts is a pretty highly rated prospect who's off to a
01:09:11
Speaker
a good start to his yeah professional career. He's been a good player for them. He plays or play place for Atlanta United. yeah was also a good though The Wolf boys are good players. The idea that they're like nepotism kids that like don't deserve to be pros is not Correct. um But either way, Rodolfo Burrell didn't take kindly to that. ah We'll just go ahead play this clip right here. ah This is your blazing hot coach press conference of the week, except it's with Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Burrell after the firing of Josh Wolf. groto How does this decision affect Owen Wolf's future in Austin FC? In nothing.
01:09:50
Speaker
no and then when you got here I have to say, I have to say now that you've made me this question, I think it's one of the young players with more potential in the country and I think very clearly has been completely and fairly treated. This is what I have to say. And then when you originally came here in this room you talked about how excited you were to work with Josh Wolf and you mentioned he received Yes, sir.
01:10:25
Speaker
It's not changed. I came very clearly and I i still say i still say the thing the same thing that I mentioned at the end of the day. Unfortunately, guys, I don't know why you make me this question. You are the first guys that thatily everything is about results and everything is about you understand. So I don't know why you make this question, if that makes sense. wonderful Because you are the ones that you are pushing for this and this and that. So now making this question is a little bit, you understand?
01:10:52
Speaker
So i came here I came here, I came here and I said I was very happy to to work with him. Yes, and I still say the same. I was very happy to speak with him. At the end of the day, there are some expectations. He has been at the club for a longer time than my period.
01:11:10
Speaker
and there has been analysis of the overall performance of of all the years and we came to that conclusion, but this doesn't mean that but I was not excited to work with him. And it was 100% your decision, there wasn't a collaboration with the ownership? Which one? to To make a change at the that the coach, was that 100% your decision?
01:11:29
Speaker
At the end of the day, I'm the sporting director and this falls on me. Obviously agree with the the board has to be, a so obviously ownership has to be on board in any MLS club, any club around the world. But ultimately, yes, he I'm the sporting director and it falls into me.
01:11:48
Speaker
So there you have it. That's Rodolfo Burrell. End of an era at Austin FC. Shout out to Josh Wolf for the Blazing Hot Pressers that he's provided us with over the years. I'm going to miss him. I do think it was probably time for Austin FC to make this move. yeah And their fan base, I mean, they were like, remember they were paid for the plane to fly over the game that said, hashtag Wolf out with one F, yeah even though he spells it with two. Like, so, the disre there is ah like, I don't know if ah the Austin fan base, what they're going to do without the Wolf out content. Like that was like,
01:12:17
Speaker
You will be watching the Austin Fan TV, one of our favorite watches. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh man, I haven't dove into that yet. Dive into that. Oh, shout out Austin Fan TV on YouTube. They're going to have some good stuff on this. All right. Let's do some takes on the results from around the league and then get out of here. Does that sound good? Let's do it. All right. still alive for the points record. They're playing Toronto. Nessie didn't start. Um, but they need to, they needed to win both of their final two games to break the revs point record that they said a couple of years ago. It looked like it was about to be zero zero at last minute. Uh, your boy, Leo Campana bams one second half stoppage time. So if they win their final game of the year, which is against, I'm about to pull it up right now, which is against the revs. Interestingly enough, that's a perfect Final matchup. Yeah, they will set the points record which I mean that would be That would be not surprising given how loaded they are But I think you know we were talking about Tata this coach of the year case and like how he Shouldn't have one because their team so loaded they he has not had their full Arsenal for a lot of the year and I do think he has done a good coaching job That being said they are there even with their backups. That's a talk team in the league. It doesn't really matter No, exactly. That's a good point. Leo Campana is coming off the bench, dude. Leo Campana would be a star in Seattle right now. He was already on that bench. He was a star, man. He's got eight goals off the bench. That's crazy. Yeah, their moose has eight goals. Think about that. That's the equivalent if moose had eight goals. If Leo Campana was our moose,
01:14:00
Speaker
Whoa, that's like I think that kind of illustrates the life that their team and their fan base are leading right now It's just different than the type like no one else in the league can even ah even having Olivier Giroud as your depth 9 at 37 has not paid off for LSC like having Leo Campana in that role has for this Miami team and which like every guy you name Diego Gomez is about to win 22 under 22. Matias Rojas is like, would be the best player in the league if the four Barca boys, why not? He's so good. Like Julian Grassel, cause they were like, Oh, let's, let's upgrade on Deandre Yedlin.
01:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. Julian, what guy like the guy, the best guy in the league with that skillset. Yeah. It's just ridiculous. Um, and then they have like the best like young players around, you know, Kamashi obviously as well, who's been a breakout. that Yeah. when Well, Orlando City beat FC Cincinnati 3-1 They're low-key one of the hottest teams in the league if not the hottest team in the East right now inner Miami notwithstanding Even inner Miami hadn't been that hot really late. They were there. were They were trolling they were racking. They were trolling draws Orlando City's blazing hot Nico Ledero. I we We talked about him a lot already on this show But did you know he has 11 assists for them this year I did actually like not a bad year for them at all. And anyway, they've really
01:15:18
Speaker
They've been as hot as anybody lately, so keep an eye out for them. And then LAFC, man, like ah they absolutely destroyed the club of wrestling, the pressure professional wrestling enthusiasts on the road, 3-0. So as much as I think a Seattle LAFC matchup might not be as much of a bloodbath in LAFC's favor as people might think, LAFC look pretty damn good right now. and It's ah it's definitely it's definitely a scary proposition. And then I guess the last result ah that I thought was notable, Columbus beating Philadelphia three to it was ah it was that was a pretty crazy game. But Kucho, man, I think he's I'm probably going to vote for him for MVP, even though I stand by what I said on the last show. Some people disagreed with me.
01:16:14
Speaker
I think if we're being real with ourselves, everyone knows that Messi is the MVP. It's just kind of, he just shouldn't count towards the discussion. yeah He's not only the most valuable player in MLS, he's literally the most valuable player that's ever played the game for anybody. yeah So like, how are you going to give that reward to anyone else? Especially um when he has 32 goal contributions in like 980 minutes or some shit. Did he hit the minutes Mark? I mean, uh,
01:16:43
Speaker
i don't i dot mean I don't know, but does it matter when you rack 32 goal contributions? It shouldn't, but I just don't think you can like win it. Anyway, yeah let's call it right there for episode 68. Sounders are on a bye next week, ah but we're going to still lay one down. I am going out of town this Thursday to Sunday, but like I said, we're going to try and lay one down Monday or Tuesday of next week.
01:17:07
Speaker
um What I want to do is go over with the and ah knowledge that we don't have a Sounders game. I do want to go over my 22 under 22 ballot, ye filled that out. um And ah I'll let you guys know who I put on there and what I think of some of the best young players in the league. And then we'll do i my end of season awards votes as well. I get a vote for all the MVP comeback player. They don't give me one, smartly.
01:17:36
Speaker
ah But so we can go through who I voted for for that as well. And you guys can let me know like what you think of who I voted for and your thoughts on 2222. Maybe we'll wear suits too. One thing I will tell you is yeah is that ah Obed Vargas is going to be on it this year. like i mean i would be I guarantee he is. hundred but so we'll see We'll see where he ranks, but I think that'll be good content for next week to see us through without a Sounders game and any other news or anything that pops up, we'll talk about that as well. So keep an eye out for that. Probably about a week from today ah with me going out of town later this week. ah but
01:18:14
Speaker
As always, thank you all as for tuning in. We really appreciate every one of you who tunes in on all your preferred podcast platforms and on YouTube every single week. Like, comment, rate, subscribe. Please sub to the YouTube. Tell Rodolfo Burrell telling that he's on the show yeah this week. If you know anyone from inner Miami, tell them Yeah, well tell messy's bodyguard about us you know whatever We'll see you for episode 69 next next week Oh, it really is the perfect episode to do an award show episode on all right until then we out peace