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Kickoff: Is this the Seattle Sounders' best attacking stretch EVER?
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The Seattle Sounders can't stop scoring, this time taking a resounding 4-0 victory at LA Galaxy in Matchday 28. With a historic 26 goals in their last eight games, can anything slow the Rave Green down as they eye a top-four spot in the Western Conference and a first-ever Leagues Cup title?
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Viewing Options
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders vs LA Galaxy Game Recap
00:00:44
Speaker
good morning everybody welcome in to another episode of lobbing scorchers kickoff i'm ari that's nico we got a good show for you all here this morning uh it's another week another win for the seattle sounders this time 4-0 at the la galaxy uh we're gonna be breaking that down later on in the show uh we're gonna hit some other headlines from um around major league soccer uh Nico, how are you doing here this morning? I see you're repping the Cougs. You just dropped off ah your your firstborn son at college, and he's a Coug. How are you feeling, first of all? How's the dorm looking? How was the trip to Pullman?
00:01:27
Speaker
I mean, it was it was fun. Thanks for asking. It was a long drive both ways. But over there, it was amazing. Got him all set up in his dorm, ah you know, did the whole bed, getting it all situated the way he wanted it ah Got his mini fridge ready. Make sure that he had everything he needed.
00:01:48
Speaker
Looks really good, man. He got a corner dorm, which makes it bigger or something. It does look pretty, pretty nice. we Got a little walk-in closet. It was was pretty cool. ah So, but he's having the time of his life.
00:02:01
Speaker
There were some tears, you know, from both me and my wife when we were leaving him. But he's just excited, man.
Personal Story: Nico's Son Goes to College
00:02:07
Speaker
He's already out there, you know, playing soccer and stuff. There's like intramural things that he's going to be doing with soccer. So, yeah, man, I'm just... ah Excited for him.
00:02:17
Speaker
And it was it was a good trip. was a good trip. Chat, everyone congratulate Nico on the big milestone. ah Steve Davies already getting us started with a $10 super. Thank you, Steve. Appreciate you.
00:02:30
Speaker
Lobbing Scorchers kickoff is the best part of my Monday morning. Thank you, man. appreciate that. That's what we but we strive to provide. So thank you for the support. ah Before we get into it here this morning, everyone, please like the video.
00:02:44
Speaker
Sub to the channel. ah Lobbingscorchers.com slash sauce. Lobbingscorchers.com slash archive. ah And if you want to send super chats or become a YouTube member, other great ways to support the show.
00:02:59
Speaker
ah All right, Nico, let's ah let's just jump right into it.
Seattle Sounders' Offensive Dominance
00:03:04
Speaker
Why don't we? We got another another Seattle Sounders win to talk about. Four more goals.
00:03:10
Speaker
They have 26 goals in their last eight games. They are, I think... the hottest team in major league soccer right now, especially when you factor in the perfect leagues cup phase one, which they were the only team in either league to make it out of phase one of leagues cup three Oh no.
00:03:28
Speaker
They're in the knockout rounds for that. And they get back to league play with a bang here. Uh, ah Another moose. There's a moose brace. Got a Snyder Brunel goal. A lot going on to to get into here. But I guess where we' we got a Doyle take to talk about here.
00:03:45
Speaker
But I wanted to start with ah before we get into that with Nico. I mean, you you called this. I was listening to ah what we learned, Sounder at Heart, with you and Sounder at Heart overlord, Jeremiah O'Shan.
00:03:59
Speaker
And you guys were kind of previewing and sizing up this game. And you you made no bones about it. You said, I think Seattle's going to win this game pretty comfortably. I think they're going to win it by multiple goals, ah both because of the form that they're in and also, ah you know, the LA Galaxy. It's been a rough year for them. But they had been playing better lately. So I guess just to start, ah what gave you that sort of...
00:04:26
Speaker
confidence going into this game, even with, you know, both these teams were, they put it in, in league's cup. It would have been and unsurprising to me if they, if that, this didn't look like, if this looked like game where both teams were a little gassed, didn't have everything in the tank, ah but Seattle went out there and absolutely destroyed them. So kind of what, like what led to your outlook going into this game and how do you think the Sounders were able to live up to that?
Defensive Strategies Against LA Galaxy
00:04:55
Speaker
ah Yeah, look, ah when I preview a a game, i based a lot of my analysis on matchups and how ah teams stack up with each other and would what are the strengths of one team compared to ah the deficiencies of the other and then vice versa.
00:05:11
Speaker
yeah Clearly, when I looked into this game and yes, the LA Galaxy have been a team that offensively, I think, have improved a lot from you know earlier this year. A lot of it has to do with specific players finding their rhythm back, like Gabriel Peck and Pencil.
00:05:29
Speaker
ah The fact that you have a guy like Nassim Miento that has really changed that offense, giving you a pinpoint guy at the nine. Very creative guy. Guy de Cadasso finished very well. ah He showed that over the last seven games or so.
00:05:42
Speaker
ah you know The kid's been great. However, ah when you kind of break down the game, you start to see that the Seattle Sounders defensive ah qualities would in one way or another either minimize or completely eliminate some of those things that are working so well for the LA Galaxy, including the battle of the midfield. um As much as i love Diego Fagundes, that's my guy, I've known him since ah the new England Revolution days.
00:06:13
Speaker
He's a good player, but you kind of felt like he might have been
Tactical Analysis: Press, Transition, and Wing Play
00:06:17
Speaker
outmatching this one. Same thing goes for Cerillo. He's really stepped up his game. He's really helped out a lot. And I said that in in that show is to fill some of those Delgado holes that,
00:06:26
Speaker
ah Elie Gassif had had such a hard time trying to fill. But at the end of the day, Seattle's strengths in press, in transition moments, ah in having two guys in the flanks that was gonna were going to give them a whole lot of problems compared to their two fullbacks, Julian Aude, who although is a very...
00:06:48
Speaker
good and talented fullback going forward. He does struggle defensively. And then Cuevas is a guy that's young, that's trying to find his feet, that that has been very good for the LA Galaxy as of late.
00:07:01
Speaker
You could still feel like he was going to be an issue, him going against a guy like Pedro De La Vega. and And that's kind of what happened. Pedro De La Vega was aggressive. He was trying to make things happen consistently. He made all kinds of issues for the LA Galaxy defense on that side. You could see Yoshida consistently, even when Pedro didn't have the ball, he had to have some sort of reference on him, making sure that Cuevas was protected and all those overloads on that side Pedro De La Vega's ability to just put crosses in, not just with...
00:07:34
Speaker
um where he wanted to put it with location, but it's the pace on the ball, which made it so hard for that those ah early balls into the box or even him just taking on players.
00:07:49
Speaker
So hard to decipher. And all in all, I think that we were able to see throughout this game that Seattle was just a better team. And they were the better team in possession. They were the better team defensively. They were the better team when it came to transition moments.
00:08:04
Speaker
They even had a couple of set pieces that I think could have got their way, but didn't. ah So Seattle was just a better team overall. And then when it came to a guy like Nacimiento, as much as he's been good,
00:08:17
Speaker
Anytime that he faces a physical, real savvy, experienced defender, he has some issues. Not to mention that in Guillermo Gomez-Andrade, you get that, but you get that with athleticism and a guy that's going to not allow you to just get behind him easily.
00:08:33
Speaker
And I thought Guillermo Gomez-Andrade had a phenomenal game, including Kim Kihee too, though. the the The duo was was unreal in this game, but it felt like Guillermo Gomez-Andrade was consistently on this kid who, you know, he might be,
00:08:47
Speaker
I don't know, 130 pounds soaking wet. I mean, he he's just not the biggest physical guy. And Yammer was so all over him, pressing him, pushing him, you know, hip checking him. It was consistently where he couldn't get in a rhythm at all. So Seattle was just set in their attributes to expose ah another Galaxy team that, although, as I said, has gotten a little bit of,
00:09:14
Speaker
Traction there's still a team that um if you attack him the right way you could expose him quite easily It's a good shout on the yaimar kim duo and just the defense in general obviously ah The offense is going to deservedly get most of the attention after scoring four more goals As I said 26 in their last eight games, which is just a which is just a crazy stat ah But really ah the reason this game was so one-sided is because of what they were able to do defensively and really smothering an attack that had been playing a lot better lately. Like the galaxy are, you know, they're bottom of the league table. They've been one of the worst teams in the league this year, but, uh, in leagues cup. And even before that, they had started to score some goals and, you know, not look anywhere really close to, uh, the team that won MLS cup last year, but certainly better than they, uh,
00:10:06
Speaker
They started the season and Seattle was able to make them look more like that team that started the year, like Oh 14 and three or whatever. So, uh, that's a credit to the midfield and, uh, and the back line.
00:10:17
Speaker
Uh, we got one from Aquino, sounder at heart, photographer extraordinaire. Thank you for the $4 max. oh yeah appreciate He says, congrats, Nico. Uh, Why is L.A. so bad compared to last year? i can I mean, I can briefly hit that and then you can give your take. But I mean, it's because they had to basically blow up their team, blow up their roster to get compliant.
00:10:40
Speaker
They had to get rid of Dayon Jovolic, who was a key part of their team last year. i think the mark they traded Mark Delgado to LAFC, which sneakily has they haven't been able to replace him. there's I mean, there's a few others.
00:10:52
Speaker
on top of that they basically what they did was they sold out for uh mls cup last year they went all all in on it and uh to be fair they got it so it's one of those situations where uh you know remember when seattle uh won concaf champions league and then missed the playoffs and there's the whole kind of debate of like would do you make that trade if you if You're told that you win CONCACAF Champions League, but you're going to miss the playoffs.
00:11:19
Speaker
do you Do you take that? And I think most people agreed that, I think pretty much everyone agrees that that's a tradeoff that you would make. So it's a similar thing with the Galaxy where it's like, do you make the tradeoff of going all in to sacrifice the next season?
00:11:33
Speaker
I think the the thing is, though, is it's like... ah the if The residual effects that they've felt from that, it's it's been like more pronounced than i think it even should be. so i mean i don't yeah Before we get into the rest of it, Nico, do you have any thoughts on just where the galaxies stand and why they are where they are? and can they Can they get out of this, or is this going to be a long-term project to get back to where they were?
00:12:01
Speaker
No, think you're spot on. Ricky Poo's injury as well, as James points out. That's another thing. Yes, of course. Yeah. So it's obviously the need of a guy like Ricky that kind of amplified everything that Greg Vanney did.
00:12:17
Speaker
um It is the very simple, as you explained it, a championship hangover that that happens, especially in a parity league like MLS, where it's very hard to ah get a team ah with...
00:12:31
Speaker
the amount of of salary and and restrictions that you have ah to flip and turn it around. There's always ways, but it's difficult. Nascimento was a 19 year old player who needed to adopt to the league.
00:12:44
Speaker
They needed to adapt to the team. They've had some really, really bad performances in the back line. guy like Garcés that was phenomenal in his first year has been a Disaster for lack of a better word He's been like he's been a little better He had one of the yes He had one of the ah Roughest stretches of form from an MLS defender I've ever seen to start Yeah This season like it was every single week ah He would be on the ah Low light reel
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah. And I think just finally, there was a lack of some leadership ah in that in that midfield leadership but ah within that that core group ah that, you know, Pencil and Peck, they're great players. they're they're They're athletic. They are defiant. They're very good.
00:13:31
Speaker
Despite Gabriel Peck's issues to find the back of the net throughout the year, you knew that at some point he was going to get it back. Same thing for Pencil, but not having...
00:13:43
Speaker
someone that kind of puts it all together had been an issue. And I think that Marco Reus has slowly got into that place where he's the guy that's kind of helping to just tie it all in.
00:13:54
Speaker
And that's why you've seen some improvements. ah But to your point, I think that This is going to be an ups and down type of season for the LA Galaxy because they're kind of behind the A ball. It's like that horse that got stuck in the gate and the horses have been out and now they're just getting on the race.
00:14:14
Speaker
So I don't know how much more they're going to be able to do. They're clearly you're not going to be the worst team in MLS, which is always
Player Rotations and Rest Management
00:14:20
Speaker
a good thing. But at the same time, when it comes to playoffs, when it comes to being relevant throughout the year,
00:14:25
Speaker
I'd be surprised if they're able to make some noise or get to the playoffs. Let's hit this one from Jake next because it segues into one of the topics I wanted to hit here this morning.
00:14:36
Speaker
ah Christian and Obed are the two most important players on the pitch. How do we get them a break? Is this week until Minnesota enough? Snyder starts in Minnesota. ah Yeah, I mean, double pivot watch continued this week, and they were they were out there again.
00:14:49
Speaker
ah Obed actually did get subbed off, I think, like in the 60-something minute. Christian was out there for most of the game. So that's going to continue to be something to keep an eye on as both of those guys approach 8,000 minutes across all competitions. That's not an exact number, but I think it's something around there at ah this point.
00:15:11
Speaker
But ah I think that's a good ah that's a good excuse, Nico, to talk some Snyder Brunel. Snyder B subs on in this game. It's his MLS debut, and he he scores a goal. He scores a goal in his first ever league game.
00:15:28
Speaker
And i I thought he had been looking good anyway, outside of that, like notably good, not just, you know, with, with young players like this, when they're first breaking in, i always talk about like, are you, are you blending in versus standing out?
00:15:42
Speaker
And I don't know if I would say he was like super standing out, but I thought he, he looked, it it was beyond the way he was combining with everybody and some of the skills he was showing, it was beyond just blending in and not making mistakes.
00:15:54
Speaker
And then he pops up with a, ah with a goal. Hopefully he got his celebratory pancakes in. I think that's what he said when they asked him how he was going to ah celebrate. But I think this is an intriguing option for potentially getting some of these, these guys in the double pivot arrest at some point. It's kind of, that's sort of the, the, the one issue I can see with the depth chart right now is like, you've got the best double pivot in the league, but when you do have to I mean, there's a reason they're not really resting them ever with,
00:16:27
Speaker
with jp out and it's because it's sort of you know it's an uncertain like uh what you're gonna get if you're playing the guys behind them but snyder b i mean if he keeps playing like this he absolutely is gonna break into the rotation uh what have you seen from him so far that you like do you think he can be a consistent contingency plan if they need to uh rest christian or obin and i guess what'd you just make of him popping up with the with a goal in his first league game, because that's, ah that's big
Snyder Brunel's Promising MLS Debut
00:16:58
Speaker
time. I mean, um we haven't seen a homegrown do that yet to my memory.
00:17:03
Speaker
ah No, look at some point, Brian's is going to have to, play another pair of piggins. I mean, that that's just what I think at some point he's going to have to do it.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I love that b Brian doesn't want to lay off the gas pedal right now. And he's either going to have one of those guys in or both of them as much as he can. Of course, in this one was was needed. And I think that he...
00:17:29
Speaker
handled that Leaks Cup rotation very well. ah And then he puts his best in a game like tonight where, as I had mentioned, I thought it was a statement. You needed to do it away on the road, you know, just You needed to do that.
00:17:44
Speaker
But at some point, he's going to have to just let the kids play, you know, for lack of a better word as well, because not both are kids. But I think Danny Leyva is a guy that has proven himself so far, that he had a phenomenal game against ah Santos Laguna that I think is up to the challenge.
00:18:02
Speaker
ah And if you don't want to... ah makeshift a Alex Roldan there or a Kalani there, then just play your pivots that you currently have and and see how it works out because the biggest um attribute or the the biggest...
00:18:22
Speaker
um The that I could say about Burnell ah is that even before this game, ah he is a young player that when you mentioned, does he stand out?
00:18:36
Speaker
I think that he stands out the most if you were to watch the video. of any of his scrimmages or or games, right? Where should he be at this point in time? Where is he picking up the ball?
00:18:47
Speaker
ah How is he intercepting this ball? Is he closing down the passing lane? That's something that I've always kind of looked at. ah Schneider, and I've been very impressed by going back all the way to Marbella, where, as I had mentioned a couple of times here, a lot of guys see that, right? Hey, you know, this kid, he understands the game.
00:19:07
Speaker
If I'm, you know, kind of pressing on this side, ah where is he backing me up at? How quickly is he getting up field to crash the box? And you saw that in this game, that goal that he gets, it's there's a clearance. It's a great win header by...
00:19:25
Speaker
Yemmer Gomez-Andrade that ends up on Georgie Menungu's feet. And you know there's a series of passes where Schneider is part of the buildup and part of that possession.
00:19:36
Speaker
And then once once the ball goes all the way out to the right side, he understands that he has to be there. And hera said he he understands that Georgie Menungu is going to be dragging some midfielders with his run, so he stays back.
00:19:50
Speaker
And that sort of intelligence to be where you need to be and give the ball carrier an option that's a lot clearer than just maybe just testing it and just putting it, whatever.
00:20:03
Speaker
Being very clear, giving you yourself some space. It's a very experienced sort of movement for a young guy. So that's... To me, the biggest praise that I can give Burnell is that to me, there's always been that player that if you were to pause a game, you'd be like, man, he's in the right place.
00:20:25
Speaker
And that's what got him that goal. And I think he's going to continue to do that. I still think that he's young, so I don't want to put too much expectation on him. You know, physically and defensively, there's going to be some things that he's going to have to get used to the speed of the game.
00:20:39
Speaker
Starting is a lot different than coming in but in the last 10 minutes of a game. We've kind of seen that with several players, but I think that he can do it. And like I said, I think at some point you're going to have to do the stress test and just put him out there and then hope that that it holds. Or if it doesn't, then you're going to have to figure out how to fix it and how to develop him into being that guy for you.
00:21:02
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if Minnesota would be the game for me. Minnesota is a very good physical team. You know, that they're going to want to counter you. ah Very good on set pieces, phenomenal on set pieces.
00:21:13
Speaker
So I don't know if this is the game, but at some point I do feel like you're going to have to run both Danny and Snyder Burnett. ah Yeah, regarding Snyder, we know I do have to correct something for the for the record.
00:21:28
Speaker
I said I said last night that he is the nephew of ah ah former NFL quarterback Mark Brunel, which is what I was
Correction on Schneider Burnell's Family Ties
00:21:37
Speaker
told. Apparently, that's actually not true.
00:21:39
Speaker
i yeah I blame J.O. for that. I can't remember if he's the one who who was saying that in the press box. Someone was saying that like it was like just an accepted fact.
00:21:50
Speaker
So I was blatantly disseminating misinformation. Apparently they are maybe related, but not that closely. But he is not in fact... They're supposed to be related because Brian straight up told us after the introductory...
00:22:07
Speaker
conference or scrum that we had with Schneider. and he said, did you guys ask him about being related to Mark Brunel? Or, you know, first he said like ah NFL quarterback and, you know, we're trying to figure it out. And then later, of course, we kind of put one and one together. So I don't know what the relationship is. I haven't looked so deep into it. If Jeremiah said uncle, I mean, I'd,
00:22:28
Speaker
I trust it, but I guess if it's not, I don't know. Well, the reason I'm correcting it is because Jeremiah posted on Blue Sky last night. He was like, that's actually not, he's not his uncle. Wow. So we'll have to. So what is he? Yeah, we're going to have to, you're going to have to get on the investigative scoop game and figure out what the connection is there.
00:22:48
Speaker
um I'll pull the family tree. I got you.
Overcoming Injuries with Offensive Depth
00:22:51
Speaker
um let's Let's talk about ah how the offense played in this game because, I mean, it was another just fantastic performance in attack. And I think what was encouraging about that is, you know, you got the you got some bad injury news coming into this game.
00:23:06
Speaker
Albert Rusnak obviously hurts his hamstring in League's Cup. He's out for this game, probably going to be out for the next couple weeks here. And then ah Ryan Kent is going to be out more long term. It sounds like he has a pretty serious hamstring injury.
00:23:21
Speaker
Schmetz said that he they're planning on having him back. This season, so hopefully probably closer to playoff time. I'm thinking Ryan Kent comes back this year, but without without Rusnak in this game, you know, you're without the your centerpiece number 10 who had been starting and playing pretty much all the minutes throughout this stretch where they're scoring all these goals.
00:23:43
Speaker
So, you know, there was a bit of a question in my mind coming into this game. Can they sustain that level having to operate without Rusnak and sliding Ferreira into that spot?
00:23:55
Speaker
ah And, you know, as far as how Ferreira looked, In this game, ah you know, people were getting on him for a couple of there is he skied one shot. There was that one play where he took the ball down in the box and probably could have slid it to Rothrock crashing in. But he ends up taking a shot that was saved relatively easily. So there were a couple moments like that.
00:24:16
Speaker
I mean, I don't know for me, Nico, when you have the offense running like that and you generate the chances that they did and the eggs G that they did and you score four times and you win the game.
00:24:28
Speaker
4-0. I don't really know what we're nitpicking like with ah with how the number 10 looked. I thought that with him running the offense, it looked as high a level as it had with Rusnak.
00:24:43
Speaker
And, ah you know, some people were trying to make that like, ah oh you don't really need Rusnak thing. I don't really see how you can spin that any other way than as a testament to Ferreira, because he, even if he he didn't get on the stat sheet in this game, but he, he was combining with everyone really well. He just looks so much more confident and dangerous over this last ah over this last stretch.
00:25:12
Speaker
And he he has the shot that Moose scores off the rebound as well. So that was another instance of him getting in a dangerous spot, putting the shot on target, and it leads to a goal.
00:25:23
Speaker
So ah what were your impressions of the early returns on Jesus Ferreira sliding into that ah number 10 spot? Because I felt like it was nothing but encouraging for them to maintain That level with ah with Rusnak not in there.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah, man. Look, there's a lot of issues for a hate out there and I'm not going to shy away from the fact that there were Four or five ah moments that either he's Having an issue bringing down the ball or you know that first touch maybe was a little heavy or he kind of Goes up the ball goes up on him and you know He's just not settling the ball ah There were a couple of moments where maybe he could have Made a decision or a better pass But You have to see The game it In its entirety and When you
00:26:19
Speaker
One, see how effective he was on the press. ah When you see his connectivity and link up, the amount of touches that he got on the ball, ah the spaces that he was kind of, he's he's trying to shift his game, right? He's used to just recently finally getting some traction playing on the right pocket.
00:26:39
Speaker
Now he's having to come all the way to the left. He's having to do a lot of things that Albert did. And I thought that for a guy that's doing that first time, um He was very good.
00:26:50
Speaker
And, you know, the way he switched the ball, the way he is composed on so many levels in transition, he's very good at finding the first quick pass
00:27:04
Speaker
forward, right? Playing positive consistently. So, It wasn't a perfect game. I don't think it was his best game, but I thought that he was good.
00:27:15
Speaker
I thought he was very good. He wasn't great, but he was very good at a position that, as you mentioned, the the biggest way to analyze it on how productive it is, is the way the offense was ran.
00:27:30
Speaker
And I thought that they didn't skip a beat. Yeah. Sure, this game maybe gives you a little bit of um more freedom because as I had mentioned LA Galaxy is a team that's going to play you pretty openly So was it a little bit easier to find those half spaces?
00:27:49
Speaker
Was it easier for him to link up in certain places on the field and then get himself forward in great positions? You can say that, but at the same time, you got to give him credit for being in those positions, for being aggressive, for putting that ball that eventually, and you know, that shot that he takes that, like you said, that Musavsky rebounds off.
00:28:08
Speaker
ah He's part of, of many of the clear opportunities in that first half. But that doesn't mean that he was perfect. And that doesn't mean that he can continue to improve.
00:28:20
Speaker
As I said, a lot of times, know, ah and And something that really bothers me is that we we started to say, okay, well, you know, this team's playing so well. We don't need Jordan Morris. And then of a sudden, you know, we did fine and, and and you know, we scored four goals on l LA without Albert. We don't need Albert.
00:28:36
Speaker
Like, you don't need to do that. You don't need to just say, hey, you know what? This this is working. We're not going to need this player or another because those two players amplify what the Seattle Sounders do.
00:28:48
Speaker
It's going to make you better. It's going to make you elite. I don't know how we continue to try to get rid of Albert with how good he's played for this team. But at the same time, the the depth of this team has been tested. The depth of this team has shined and has reflected on on on the scoreline.
00:29:05
Speaker
And that's exactly why I'm high on Jesus Pereira's versatility to take on that role a difficult role at that and perform to the level and above average. So, and I think that he's going to continue to grow there.
00:29:19
Speaker
I think that as as time goes on and as I'm hearing, it sounds like Albert Resna could be out about four weeks before he could really get out there. So in those four weeks, I expect Jesus to continue to Excel because of his high soccer IQ And those moments And those little sharpness Things like just bringing down the ball They're going to get better What you hit on with the ah with the depth there is a good segue into this Doyle take I wanted
Contributions from Rothrock and De La Vega
00:29:52
Speaker
to talk about. But ah but yeah, I mean, i thought the entire front four was fantastic in this game. Paul Rothrock was playing out of his mind.
00:30:00
Speaker
ah Pedro De La Vega, he doesn't get the assist on the own goal that Rothrock causes there, but I mean... what a freaking dime. I mean, he is on one right now and he had another really good pass. I think that might, it might've set up Ferreira for that shot.
00:30:17
Speaker
Uh, that Moose scored. He had, there was at least one other, just fantastic setup that, uh, that De La Vega had. So he continues to be in really good form. Uh, I thought Ferreira ran the offense to great effect. And then you have Moose with another brace and he's up to 12 goals, all comps. So, uh,
00:30:36
Speaker
That's about as good as it gets. Did you have anything else on on that? Yeah, I mean, I got to say something real quick because you brought up a name that
00:30:48
Speaker
was so good in this game that gets so much heat that I don't understand why people have such a low um expectation of him.
00:31:00
Speaker
And it's Paul Rothrock. So so so to let me just riff with you because I do not understand how much people look upon Paul Rothrock and don't see what he brings to the table and how good he is in this system.
00:31:21
Speaker
And, you know, I've been calling for this Pedro... and Rothrock duo on the flanks for a long time because, as I mentioned, they're the Havoc brothers.
00:31:33
Speaker
Both of these guys create Havoc in very different ways, but they create Pedro on the left with his skill set, with his one-on-one ability, ah with his ah tech technical ability on the ball.
00:31:46
Speaker
Everything that he does is just – it creates havoc. it's It's difficult to defend. And Paul Roffdorff, on his end, his engine, his push, ah the how many times he tries to get behind the back line, his reprints – that you know we Even on the ball, he he got through consistently on that side. And and maybe at the end, you know there's a Yoshida tackle that he kind of brings back.
00:32:11
Speaker
But if you, let me talk to you guys out there. If you look at Paul Rothrock and you do not understand that as Brian from Taken, ah he has very particular set of skills that he's acquired over a long career of time.
00:32:28
Speaker
And he gonna get you. then you don't know ball. You do not know the game. You don't understand soccer. If you don't look up on Rothrock and figure out that he's earned every minute that he's gotten and that he right now, even over a guy with a huge trajectory like Ryan Kent should be probably the starter on the other opposite side of Pedro de la Vega.
00:32:51
Speaker
If not Ferreira, of course, then I don't know what to tell you, but the kid, proves it on the field, and he's not a kid. I just, I use that word pretty often. But Paul Rothrock is a guy that in this particular game could very easily be man of the match.
00:33:06
Speaker
I understand that we're going to go with the guy who got the brace in Mussovsky, but Paul Rothrock and Pedro De La Vega, to me, had phenomenal games, and both guys were so much more influential within the time that they had on the field compared to Moose.
00:33:23
Speaker
So, Let's let Paul Routher be. let let's Let's give him some credit for being as good as he's been with this system and being as good as he's been from the very first time that you saw him.
00:33:37
Speaker
the The guy has put it in on the training field and on the pitch consistently to be where he's at now. So chill out. I think with Rothrock and with Moose, it there's still kind of this element of it where it gets talked about like ah meme.
00:33:56
Speaker
you know like date Because dating back to ah last year and even the beginning of this year when... ah You know, people might have been unhappy about the lack of big new signings or or what have you. And there there was a lot of ah there's a lot of talking points that were like, basically.
00:34:19
Speaker
you know, kind of mocking the fact that guys like Danny Musavsky and Paul Rothrock were considered, you know, some of the most important parts of this team.
00:34:31
Speaker
I think like with how this season has gone, i've I've seen a little less of that, but there's still, you know, you do still see some of that out there. I saw some people saying in chat that like, ah no, like these are like arguments that people aren't making. I mean, you do even that's, that's the funny thing, even with ah how they've been playing, I do still see,
00:34:51
Speaker
some of that stuff. And as far, i mean, as far as Rothrock goes, uh, he gets talked about as like a work rate merchant and like scrappy, you know, you hear those kinds of backhanded compliments still, but he's provided as much end product as, uh,
00:35:06
Speaker
as pretty much any winger on the team this year on the whole. And, you know, in this game, he has two, what should have been goal contributions that aren't going to go on his stat sheet, but those are goals that he, he causes and really all season. He's been one of the main guys who's actually ah providing that end product, getting on the stat sheet and giving that production that you would take out of really like any winger. And it's the same thing with moose at the, uh,
00:35:35
Speaker
at the number nine i mean like the guy has 12 goals all comps like i don't know what to say like it's uh he i get that he doesn't have the name value as uh as a more like big time import number nine would have but you look at the production and it just kind of is what it is so i think that's that's sort of where uh where that whole thing stands uh do you have anything else on that before we uh pull up this doyle take no i i totally agree and uh you know it As a guy that's not a huge ah Danny guy, I absolutely, Danny Wasowski guy, I do get that the guy, I mean, he he he's at the right place the right time. And there's a skill to that.
00:36:14
Speaker
There's a skill to that. He tends to, you know, make me ah uncomfortable when he does certain things on the ball and he misses certain things. But again, he goes back to the system and he goes back to,
00:36:28
Speaker
People got to realize that on the soccer field, you have guys with different skill sets in order to have a good collective performance and success with that.
00:36:39
Speaker
And that's what Seattle does. Seattle doesn't have a golden boot guy at the nine, but they have a very good collective place of where you're getting goals from various players.
00:36:52
Speaker
positions And that's why you got the Rothrocks that provide certain skillsets. And I don't think calling him a high work rate guy is a bad thing. That's that's his game. But that has a certain level of importance in this system.
00:37:05
Speaker
Maybe in others he doesn't, but for Brian Smetzer. and And I think that he is going to have a long career because of that skill set. He plays it to... The best of his abilities He plays with a chip on his shoulder He is fearless He has character ah And again There's There is a lot of um Times where maybe He's undervalued With how good he is on the ball Because I do feel like He's very good on the ball He sees very well That pass That he puts to Danny Masovsky Can we talk about that? That is a phenomenal ball Yeah
00:37:38
Speaker
He doesn't get the assist because, of course, there's a ah save that's made and Danny Musaski gets the rebound. But that pass, tell me you look at that pass and you don't think that this kid is talented.
00:37:53
Speaker
I understand that he his potential is not off charts, but the kid's talented. I mean, I call him a kid. Paul Rothenberg is a talented winger, and and he brings it every single time. In a pass like that,
00:38:08
Speaker
It's not of the blue. he He does that consistently in practice. He has very good underrated technical abilities that maybe what we see the most is that high rate, that effort, that engine, that in-your-face mentality. But, man, he he's a very good winger.
00:38:27
Speaker
I think Rosie has it pretty much right right here. I don't think people hate Rothrock. I think it's more like people are salty that upper management is not signing a top flight player. I think that's ah kind of what I was that's fair trying trying to get at is like, you know, when you just say the names Paul Rothrock and and Danny Musavsky, it doesn't ah doesn't bring the electricity necessarily as like, you know, if they had gone out and splashed $10 million dollars or whatever. But I mean, yeah, like, ah Like you said, like that dime to Moose, as long as they got someone out there who's able to be creative like that and hit those passes and get on the stat sheet, I don't really care who it is.
00:39:10
Speaker
So, I mean, that's just how I feel about it. in One of my favorite phrases by you and Noah, I think you guys just said often, is both things can be true. you You can have a very good...
00:39:22
Speaker
an excellent academy and an excellent way to find players at cost or a guy like Rothrock that I wouldn't call him like he developed in the academy because he didn't, but he's a guy that you found and you brought up that it was in Tacoma and that you ended up bringing in to be the guy that he is.
00:39:39
Speaker
The Kalanis, the Leivas, the Obeds and the Schneider-Burnels, those are all great things. Those are phenomenal elements and pillars of a successful club.
00:39:52
Speaker
But that doesn't mean that we're happy that there's not an investment that's being made to put this team up a whole stratosphere because that would be wrong.
00:40:03
Speaker
I think that you can say, look, Paul Rothfunk is a very good player. That's what makes Seattle Seattle. But at the same time, you can be critical to the fact that we might go another window without or we, the Sounders, could go another window without bringing somebody because it's um It is unacceptable but To a fan base of this caliber But that's an ownership that that That doesn't mean that we have to Shit on the other philosophies Of the club that are working Yeah, no, I know i think there's something to What Wade is saying there, if we signed a top fly player This club would be at another level like yeah it's Whether or not they ah Are broke Or are spending are going to spend money it's like It's a separate issue, I think To what ah to what we're talking about But
00:40:47
Speaker
All right, ah Nico, when you're ah when you're playing like this, 26 goals in your last eight games, you're going to get a little bit of attention ah attention from the national pundit class. Let's take a look at what our friend Matt Doyle has to say about all this.
00:41:00
Speaker
gave a He gave the Sounders a little bit of shine in his recent Match Day rap column. And I wanted to just... throw this out there because I think it's relevant to some of the topics that but we've been talking about and are going to continue to talk about with this team. So I'm just going to read the Doyle take out here and then we'll ah we'll talk about what we think of this.
Seattle Sounders’ Depth and Knockout Game Potential
00:41:23
Speaker
He says, I said on Blue Sky this week how the 2025 Sounders are the deepest team in MLS history. That's Doyle saying it. That's not us saying it. deepest team in MLS history. Let's take stock of how that played out in their 4-0 win down in Carson against what had been a pretty good LA Galaxy side over the past few months.
00:41:38
Speaker
They were without two of their DPs, their starting number nine, Jordan Morris, and their starting number 10, Albert Rusnak. were without two other guys who have been DPs at various points in their career. believe he's referring to Paul Ariel and Jao Paulo.
00:41:50
Speaker
each of whom were supposed to be major contributors this year. They rested their best center back, Jackson Reagan, who's been outstanding all summer. They're easing their legendary goalkeeper, Stephen Fry, back into the fold. By that, I mean he hasn't played yet, even though he's been medically cleared after a nasty concussion.
00:42:04
Speaker
I could go on. Their starting right winger is now filling in as the number 10, and that means ah that's Jesus Ferreira. That means the former starting left winger, Paul Rothrock, is now starting right winger and the guy that had had a hand in each of the first two goals.
00:42:16
Speaker
He's no longer the starting left winger, though, because Seattle's lone remaining DP, Pedro de la Vega, Finally got his chance at left wing three weeks ago and has looked like one of the very best players in the league ever since. Anyway, I think this is one of the very best teams in the league. And I think they're the only ones who could still look at with this number of injuries to absences of cornerstone players.
00:42:33
Speaker
The only question is whether they have enough top end talent to win knockout round games against the best. We'll see if they can answer it in league's cup, and then we'll see if they can answer it again in the playoffs. ah So a couple of things that stood stand out to me here with the,
00:42:48
Speaker
with this analysis. I mean, first of all, deepest team in MLS history. I mean, I don't, I don't know about that, but I do know that Doyle has been a fall in this league since it's very beginning. So if he says that I'm going to put some stock in it, i don't think he would say that for no reason. i mean, and he lays out like just, just seeing it laid out the amount of like absences and injuries and all that stuff that they're dealing with right now.
00:43:12
Speaker
ah It's a lot. And to be able to, ah to maintain this level and score this many goals, I mean, it's been, ah it's been impressive. And then finally the question of top end talent to win knockout round games. I think that is going to be ultimately the, the tell of where this team truly stands. Can they win those knockout round games in leagues cup and in the playoffs? And can they add to the trophy case? That's going to, uh,
00:43:41
Speaker
ultimately be what really defines this season uh but you know for me as far as that last point goes on the top end talent to uh win their knockout round games i mean when you got danny musonowski and snyder burnell that's not even like that much of a question to me but uh nico did anything uh stand out to uh to you from that analysis as far as where uh how the depth has been performing and then ultimately whether it uh it's enough to get them to win knockout round games and, and win trophies.
00:44:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, look, i've I've said a lot of this points on my own. Obviously, Doyle is a guy that knows the league inside and out way better than i could ever have. But I know this team a lot better than he will ever.
00:44:28
Speaker
So what what I will say is that, first of all, calling Jackson Reagan the best defender is inaccurate. I'm sorry to tell you. didn't even think of that. That's a good. You are absolutely wrong. I don't care about the passing. You're a yay more guy. You're yay more guy.
00:44:43
Speaker
I don't care what Doyle will come and bring to the table that Jackson Reagan can pass better and do this better. The most consistent and dominant defender that this team has had since 2020 is J. Marcos Andrade. He's been finalist for MLS Defender of Year and he's been robbed for it at least one time.
00:45:04
Speaker
Best 11, which is kind of funny that, you know, I think Jackson got to, he was finalist for and defender of the year and then he didn't make the 11. So regardless He was the finalist and Yemar was best 11.
00:45:16
Speaker
Yeah, regardless of Yemar, I know that he is probably limited on his passing. He's gotten a lot better and... Yesterday against the Galaxy was a prime example. I thought he was very good on his breakthrough balls. But at the same time, it doesn't matter.
00:45:31
Speaker
Yamar is the best he best defender on this team. You could look at all the end of the year... Defender of the year prices that he's gotten from the Sounders, if not just the eye test. Don't give me statistics. Don't give me anything.
00:45:43
Speaker
He's the best defender on this team and he will continue to be. But other than that, I thought that he was spot on. I don't know if the deepest team in MLS history, you know, I'll take his...
00:45:57
Speaker
I'll take his expertise on that. I respect his expertise as as an MLS historian and a guy that you know knows it inside and out. um But he's also called Miami like the best roster ever built. So what's the difference there? I thought that at 1.2, to be fair. What are the parameters that he's kind of trying to figure out, you know, i' love to talk to him and and debate it and hear from him.
00:46:18
Speaker
ah But that's kind of the only thing that kind of comes up with. But the reality is that he's put on on ah the fact that right now they're the deepest team that that is ah deployed, that depth has been tested the most ah because as you mentioned, all all of the absence they have now, but the absence they've had on goal, the absence they've had, um you know, with center backs throughout the entirety of the season,
00:46:42
Speaker
ah not having Jordan Morris now not having Albert. I mean, this season has been, they've been plagued by injuries. The Sounders have, and they're still top of the West and they've been phenomenal from the club, bro. Come moving forward, even better.
00:46:58
Speaker
So yeah, you got to say that they've been the most tested depth team in MLS history. That I can definitely buy easier. yeah, Overall, the biggest question mark is, do they have the top-end talent to beat out a couple of the top teams in the Western Conference in a playoff game? and And I think that's still to be determined.
00:47:20
Speaker
LAFC, obviously, with the acquisition of Song, we don't know what their top ceiling is. you know those I think when him and Buonga... get a report. It's going to be a very dangerous team.
00:47:33
Speaker
ah You look at San Diego, as much as they were a disappointment in the league's cup, you know, and you could see where they're going to be a problem in in the playoffs. And let's see what they do in the ah transfer window as well. I'm sure they're going to go out there and get some help.
00:47:49
Speaker
ah Vancouver, They're a team that has been phenomenal. And, you know, they had, they hit a spell of bad games, but you can see this weekend that they're back on it. And now with Thomas Miller, as much as I'm not throwing a parade for that acquisition, I thought that that's going to make them ah better. It's going to give them another guy up there with a Brian White or instead of Brian White.
00:48:10
Speaker
So there's a lot of other good teams that you're going to have to figure out if you have the top talent to beat them. I think Pedro De La Vega is going to be a huge part of that. He's the X factor. He's the game changer.
00:48:20
Speaker
He is the DP in this group of players that I think has the highest ceiling. So if he's playing lights out, then the Seattle Sounders are going to be able to match up a lot better.
00:48:33
Speaker
Once you get Jordan Morris back, what version of him do you get back? How quickly he's in... in stride, how ah quickly he's physically ready to go.
00:48:44
Speaker
And Albert Rosnick as well. let's Let's see what happens with that injury and that maybe they'll have enough two to fight, to compete ah with a lot of those high talented rosters like there are in the Western Conference.
00:48:59
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I'm as we sit here today, I'm I'm less concerned about the top end talent question ah because i think we have a lot of evidence of what ceiling this team is able to play at at this point.
00:49:18
Speaker
Twenty six goals in their last eight games, if they're playing like close to that level, then yeah, they have the top end talent to win any individual game. It's just a matter of, you know, are you able to tap into that on any given day against, you know, when you're playing the best teams in the league in the playoffs, it's harder to do that, but can they do that?
00:49:38
Speaker
ah I've seen enough over a large enough sample size at this point that I don't, I don't really question it if they can do it on a given, given game. It's just a matter of if they can tap into that on that day, which I think they can actually doing it as another question. But I think what you mentioned with De La Vega is like a key thing.
00:49:59
Speaker
Like, he for this team to reach its ceiling he needed to develop into a player that is of that top end quality that can that can win you games and provide those individual moments of brilliance when maybe you don't expect it uh we'll see if he can sustain that level that's going to be the question if he's really that type of player like consistently but he's looked like it to me for the last few weeks at least so i to me it's it's more of a question of like you know
00:50:29
Speaker
will they do it as opposed to like, can they do it? I definitely think that they can. ah Nico, what do you, I wanted to ask you about son and Thomas Mueller. So we'll get into, into that to ah close it out in a few minutes here. But ah what do you think of this Minnesota game? It's the loons coming up next on the road.
00:50:48
Speaker
And it's a, it's a Minnesota team that came into Seattle ah a few, a few weeks ago and got a, 3-2 win. That was a big win for them. And that was a good game. That was a very competitive game. They went up two zero They came into Lumen and put it on Seattle.
00:51:06
Speaker
Seattle came back and cut it to two one Then Minnesota scored again to make it 3-1. Seattle gets another goal and ends up ending 2-0. three two So, I mean, for me, Minnesota is one of the best teams in the West.
00:51:18
Speaker
their their Their possession tactics and their set piece merchant thing, I said that it struck me as like a little gimmicky, but I mean, you can't argue with the results that they've had.
00:51:28
Speaker
They did lose yes or yesterday or on Saturday to, ah who was that? Colorado. Colorado. Yeah. So they just lost the Rapids who are not all that great at home. So that's, ah that wasn't a great result for them, but I mean, that's just one game and they've still been ah one of the best teams in the West this year.
00:51:47
Speaker
How are you feeling about ah Seattle's ah chances of going into Allianz field, which is that's, I mean, this is one of the toughest road trips in the league. so I'm looking forward to this game and Seattle getting, it's going to be a lot stiffer of a test than this galaxy game was certainly. I mean, that this was a great result on the road. Don't get me wrong, but the galaxy are the worst team in the league record wise and points per game wise and all that. This loons team is ah is for real. they They have one of the best young coaches in the league. They have one of the most distinct identities, I think, in the league.
00:52:23
Speaker
theyre they They have a clear identity that they stick to, they know how to impart these kind of novelty tactics that Eric Ramsey has them using. So how are you sizing up this game and ah Seattle's chances of taking a result against the wounds here?
00:52:39
Speaker
This is going to be a ah bigger challenge for team. train that the Sounders are on, right? They're they're red hot.
00:52:50
Speaker
This is gonna be a very good parameter on how hot they are because now you're meeting steel. And in steel, I mean a team that is gonna say, come break us down, come beat us at home.
00:53:02
Speaker
They're gonna play deep. They're gonna play with very, tight lines. They're not going to allow you to have a lot of half spaces. ah So can Seattle do that? I think that's going to be to be determined. I'm definitely not as confident as I am going into the LA Galaxy game.
00:53:18
Speaker
That doesn't mean that I don't think they're going lose this game. I think they don't get a result. I think that this is, this to me, looks a lot like a draw. But what is Seattle going to be able to do, right? um I think that going back to the Pedro de la Vega,
00:53:33
Speaker
thing if he continues to play at a high level. He's a guy that can tear up and break and make a defense have to collapse and stretch him out a little bit. As much as Buonguane has been so good throughout the season, I feel like you if you make him defend, if you push him to pin him back, they're structure and the way that they counter does take a hit.
00:53:58
Speaker
um I think the Seattle is going to have to be good on set pieces. They had a couple of really good set piece goals in League's Cup. Can they do it again? Can they be able to use some of those...
00:54:09
Speaker
ah near post corners with a flick in the back that someone is crashing in the back. you know Can you ah get a a free kick that that goes in All those things you're going to need against a team like Minnesota.
00:54:26
Speaker
They're going to overpopulate the midfield. And a guy like Pereira was trouble last time. I remember him fighting and getting through, which doesn't happen quite often, getting through Christian Roldan in an action where Christian tried, tried, tried, and just couldn't get to Pereira.
00:54:41
Speaker
He puts the ball in and they score a goal. ah So Seattle's going to have to be in their best defensive form to prevent any moment of transition to cost them goal.
00:54:57
Speaker
Because once Minnesota gets a goal on you, that's a problem that that's immediately going to change how easy they manage a game. I think what Colorado did right in this game is that they score first and that makes Minnesota have to open up a little bit. They're not going to completely open up, but they're going to have to add some numbers forward. They're going to have to change up the way those three in the middle kind of work for you.
00:55:20
Speaker
ah So, Can Seattle get an early goal? I think that's going to be important. But I don't think they're unbeatable. However, I do think that they're a ah top challenge. And they're probably, without you know looking necessarily at the games that they've played so far, it's probably one of the toughest challenges that they've had after the Club World Cup, just because of how...
00:55:41
Speaker
embedded in their system this Minnesota team is, as you mentioned. Identity goes a long way. Ability to play off of the way that Ramsey has this team playing is important.
00:55:53
Speaker
What will say is that Minnesota also, because they they played such a specific way, their margin for error is very small.
00:56:07
Speaker
So if they can be great off set pieces, if they can keep you away from the ball, yeah I mean, give you the ball, but, but you know, they can keep you in absorb pressure adequately. It all works well, but when it doesn't They have a hard time getting back into games So I think that there's a chance for Seattle To win this game But if not, I think a draw is is is The biggest um or Or most possible situation there Yeah, I was going to ask you what you thought of just there their tactics, because it is very is very novel the extent to which that they will yield possession. Like, they don't keep the ball at all.
00:56:46
Speaker
I don't know if this is still true, but the last time we were previewing a Loon's game, they were on track for, like, a historic level possession. low possession and that's just kind of how they play and then there's also all kinds of numbers that indicate that they're not just the best set piece team in MLS but like globally they get set piece goals at a higher rate than I think like any club in the world right now.
00:57:15
Speaker
So it's just kind of a weird team. But I mean, you can't argue with the ah the results they've got. I mean, I've been saying that this ah this Eric Ramsey guy, i mean, he's literally, he's like my age. He was a Manchester United assistant in his 20s.
00:57:29
Speaker
And this guy, I don't think he's going to be in this league all that much longer because you know he came in as this kind of bright up and coming prodigy coach and you know you're like all right I mean where does this come from is it is it man managing is it tactics now he has some like very kind of unorthodox progressive like new age modern style stuff going on that he's instituted and it it works So it's definitely, it's as far as like the technical, tactical chess match of these matchups, this team with Eric Ramsey in there presents a good one for anybody. Cause you're just, you have to go against a team that's ah playing in a way that and no team in the league plays like this, where they literally just,
00:58:14
Speaker
they make a point of letting you have the ball and their thing is like, yeah, you're going to have the ball, but you're not going to do anything with it. Last time I was hoping, you know, cause Seattle is a team that is when they're playing at their best, they're extremely good in possession and they can, dice they can dice you up if, if other teams are sitting back and letting them have the ball, but like for whatever reason, there's something about the way the loons do it that makes it harder to ah to do that because Seattle was not really able to exploit or capitalize on that in the last matchup.
00:58:48
Speaker
And the Loons won the game at Lumen. So it's just, ah it's a good matchup. I mean, do you have anything else on on the Loons before we hit some league-wide stuff here to close it out? ah No, I think that um this is going to be a game that is one
00:59:06
Speaker
On the margins of error. I think that is going to be a very tight game. Regardless of what it's going to be. um I think that Seattle is going to have to. be very good under press, but be careful to not push that line of confrontation too high where their back line is maybe subjective to getting ah ball behind them.
00:59:30
Speaker
ah But I think it's going to be a good test, man. I think Ramsey understands how he wants to play against Seattle. I think that It works in favor of the Sounders that with Ferreira playing the nine and kind of some of the things that have happened coincidentally are going to make him think a little bit more about how he wants to play this game because it's a lot easier when you have a lot more tape on the team that has played a certain way with certain pieces than now where you have to maybe take into consideration that Ferreira is going to move a little bit different, that there's going to be perhaps some changes in that starting 11.
01:00:07
Speaker
So it's going to be a good one for sure.
01:00:12
Speaker
Uh, Nico, let's, uh, let's talk about some of the big headlines in, uh, in major league soccer that have surfaced over the past week or so, because there's been, uh, there's been some big ones. I haven't caught up with you since, uh, the two biggest, most high-profile transfer moves of the year have taken place.
01:00:33
Speaker
ah Let's start with l LAFC officially bringing in Sun from Tottenham Hotspur. Obviously, I think it's safe to say one of the best players of this last generation, both in the EPL and as captain of the South Korea national team.
01:00:52
Speaker
And it's one of those ones that brings more with it gent than just what the player brings on the field. He has a global following.
01:01:02
Speaker
He is a sort of larger than life figure, ah maybe like not to the extent of like when Messi got here, but Honestly, like in that relative tier of, I think like larger than life footballers, I put, I put him in that, in that group, both just for like his, his off field following and the presence he brings.
01:01:24
Speaker
But then also, I mean, on the field, you know, I've been watching the highlights again, just to refresh myself and I'm not going to lie. I've been watching those and I'm like, okay, I mean,
01:01:34
Speaker
this probably This could make LAFC a lot more dangerous. This guy is ah he's fast as hell. He scores insane goals. He can pull goals out of nowhere.
01:01:46
Speaker
And he is ah fantastic facilitator. It's kind of crazy to think about, but he's ah as good as his goal scoring is, which is some of the best in the world.
01:01:57
Speaker
ah It's his... It's his ah ah abilities as a facilitator and like that force multiplying effect that we talk about. He's had that in in spades throughout his entire career.
01:02:10
Speaker
So I think it definitely has the potential to be a very impact move the needle type signing for them. But you never know with these things. They spend it's a league record transfer fee to get him, by the way, 26 plus million
LAFC's New Talent and Impact
01:02:24
Speaker
dollars, which breaks the record that Atlanta United spent on Latte Loth, which is pretty funny that that's the record that got ah that got broken.
01:02:32
Speaker
But definitely, I mean, there there's a lot of excitement in L.A. and around that club right now ah for this. And then you saw like you kind of already saw the impact that he can make. He made his. He made his debut in ah in their last game and drew a penalty like right after he ah he came into the match. So, Nico, what do you think of just LAFC pulling this off and having son in Major League Soccer, one of the one of the best players of the last 10, 15 years?
01:03:00
Speaker
I think it's a phenomenal move by LAFC, both on and off the field. i think that he fits the system very well. ah He's a guy that's going to bring an entire other spectrum of viewers to MLS and to LAFC. I mean, i don't know what their engagement is on social media, but I'm sure has blown up over the last couple of years.
01:03:22
Speaker
days and weeks ever since there was that rumor of him coming to LAFC. I ah tend to kind of hit the brake it being like one of the biggest signings in history because he he might not be the most successful soccer player that we've gotten in MLS in terms of his trajectory. He might not be the biggest name in soccer.
01:03:45
Speaker
ah You know, I would still put the, obviously Messi, Beckham, Terry Henry, Ibrahamevich, even David Bija, World Cup winners, multiple Ballon d'Or nominations, multiple Ballon d'Ors, you know, whole bunch of things that that we, that I think about when I'm,
01:04:03
Speaker
trying to analyze the biggest signing in MLS. But he's without a doubt one of the top five most influential players that MLS has ever brought it in because of everything that you just mentioned.
01:04:15
Speaker
That bigger than life thing that maybe doesn't eclipse how good he's on the field because he's been phenomenal. At Spurs, maybe if we were talking about him playing for Man City or Manchester United, maybe those accolades would follow because those are bigger clubs. But the fact that he has been able to stay as consistent and...
01:04:38
Speaker
Loyal to that fan base. I mean, you saw him tear up when he was talking the Spurs fans. All the intangibles that he brings in, i think, are phenomenal for LAFC. You saw it yesterday against the Chicago Fire.
01:04:51
Speaker
He comes in about the 60th minute. He takes some great touches on the ball. He displays his pace, his understanding of the game, his timing, his ability on the ball.
01:05:08
Speaker
His savviness, because the PK that he draws, if he doesn't angle his body correctly, if he doesn't put his foot where he put it, there's a good chance that Teron maybe pokes the ball out.
01:05:22
Speaker
But he has perfect perfect shielding on the ball. And he also doesn't try to sell it. He allows the contact to make that happen, to make the call. So,
01:05:33
Speaker
Beyond that, the fact that he doesn't run over to to the ball and say, I'm taking it. This is my chance to to to get on the scoreboard and get this out of the way or or be the the the superstar. No, he...
01:05:46
Speaker
they say hey He's applauding. He's saying, let's go. He allows Danny Mwanga to score or take the PK, finally score. He's still trying to hurry up everybody. Okay, let's go.
01:05:57
Speaker
we got the draw, but let's push for a win. All those things is what I'm looking at in signing and saying, man, this guy to me is the best signing of the summer window.
01:06:08
Speaker
Even above Rodrigo DePaul, which is saying something because Rodrigo DePaul is clearly a younger player, also a World Cup winner. But I see what Song has in terms of his pedigree.
01:06:20
Speaker
And, you know, you talked about it. was probably one one of the most proficient finishers in in in in the Premier League. I mean, his ability to just score on position-based and in times in front of goal is phenomenal.
01:06:35
Speaker
um And I just think he's going to be great for this LAFC team. How do you think he and Buonga are going to fit? Because they technically play the same position. I'm not really – I'm pretty sure that they're going to figure that out. and it's Oh, yeah, they'll figure it out. but but But you could see that right off the bat in those 30 minutes that he had yesterday where maybe him and Buonga still need to create a little bit of rapport so they don't clash. they they They tend to make the same movements.
01:07:00
Speaker
and not Not as often, maybe. that that I mean, it was just 30 minutes, but I saw them either try to occupy the same space or at times occupy the same space. So they're going to be able to kind of shift and and really play off of each other.
01:07:13
Speaker
As I said, if San was any other player that maybe... has this diva mentality that is going to be my team and ah this is the way I'm going to play. But I don't see that from Sun. And, you know, body language and the way demeanor is something that I look at a lot when it comes to players.
01:07:29
Speaker
And you just see a guy that's here to play for LAFC, not play for FC Sun. And that's a huge part of why i think this is going to be a successful acquisition for LAFC.
01:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's one of the number one things that you hear people say about him is like the humility, the unselfishness, the team oriented nature. Like, I think you've already in his short time in the league and with that club, you kind of have seen those those attributes. So, no, I mean, I definitely think it's a ceiling razor for for them if that hits to the extent that it can.
01:08:05
Speaker
they're uh they're gonna be ah trophy contender and really like they needed some sort of vibe shift i think the vibes around them have been kind of weird this season since the uh steve c preemptive quit and they sort of get a shot in the arm 26.5 million dollars nio do you Do you think, like ah because obviously the talking point in Seattle this year has been that you know ownership is broke, they're never going to spend money on a player like this, and God knows, they have not done anything in this transfer window yet to contradict that.
01:08:42
Speaker
that notion and the team is performing at an extremely high level right now. But like we were talking about, uh, when you get down to it and you're actually competing for, for trophies, a lot of the times those, uh, those big money, big time players that you bring in, those are what can make the difference in those games.
01:09:00
Speaker
So we're going to see, I guess, if Seattle, uh, can take results in those situations without the $26.5 million dollars player that LAFC have now.
01:09:15
Speaker
And of course we've seen what inter Miami have done spending what they've spent on messy in the Barca boys. And now Rodrigo DePaul. I mean, if you had to, if you had to make a prediction on it, do you think this is going to get to a point where is Seattle doesn't start?
01:09:30
Speaker
draw I mean, you know, I don't need them to drop 26.5, but like, point five but like I don't think you can go forever dropping like zero. Can you?
01:09:42
Speaker
No, there certainly it's not. And I don't think that's going to be the case. Uh, you know, the word broke is hard for me to use.
Seattle Sounders' Financial Strategies and Challenges
01:09:51
Speaker
You know, the agent hand hour in this group, definitely a rich, maybe they're not rich compared to the rest of the owners.
01:09:57
Speaker
Uh, but I don't know exactly how much it is. i mean, I don't hold the, the, the ownership's finances. Uh, you know, we don't chase, we don't, we don't both bank at chase, but, uh,
01:10:11
Speaker
it's obvious that there's either a hesitation to spend or an inability to spend. So that doesn't matter. The reality is that this team is not putting a lot of money by everything that we've here, by everything that we research, by just the proof is in the putting that, you know, the last time that you spend money was on Pedro de la Vega.
01:10:31
Speaker
um And, you know, it was a young DP, right? It wasn't like you were going to go out there and just swing in for the fences. Yeah. That hopefully will come to fruition and Pedro could be the player that you were expecting him to be.
01:10:44
Speaker
But at the same time, you know you look at this team and it is frustrating that with how good your academy is, with how much sustainable talent you continue to push up,
01:10:59
Speaker
the pipeline ah with some of the the fines that you do get and and they work for you, like Albert Rusnak, right? you You got him on a deal. You brought him in here.
01:11:11
Speaker
You didn't even know what you were going to play necessarily, but you hold on to him. And now he's a guy that's producing for you. If you kind of continue to do that and you inject the a Large amount of money in order to bring top end talent mean sky's the limit for this team and I'm not just talking on the field but as you mentioned with this fan base you bring in a top quality Attacker that's just gonna you know draw more people and you know you're gonna get you know 40,000 you know 37,000 consistently like you used to ah when when it was kind of
01:11:51
Speaker
one of the best shows in town was to go watch the the Seattle Sounders. um And obviously I'm not saying those teams are, were better in in terms of like money and roster wise, but you know, the word the new toy and they were very successful and they, and they were fun to go watch with Oba and Clint and ah right. ah Even back to the Freddie Montero days where, you know, he's shooting bangers from,
01:12:17
Speaker
20 yards out and you know, it was, it was fun. So there is going to be a point where Seattle needs to realize that LL is growing and they're going to have to find the funds to keep up with the league.
01:12:32
Speaker
And I'm not saying forget about what's working for you. I'm just saying, get better. And that that that's not, uh, not
01:12:43
Speaker
ah Criticism on like Craig Weibo I feel like it's a lot of heat The scouting team gets a lot of heat You know even Brian Smester gets a lot of heat from me But at the same time The reality is that ownership Is not giving you All the tools to be even more successful than you already are. i mean, you you you have to give credit where credit is due.
01:13:04
Speaker
You look at this group. We talked about the depth. we we We talk about what they are now. We talk about their performance against the best of the best in club, World Cup. That's awesome. I love it. that That's something that we knew coming into this year that was going to show up.
01:13:19
Speaker
But that doesn't mean that I don't think that what if Seattle would have brought a U-22 in the 10-day window because they had
01:13:28
Speaker
let's call it 11 million to go spend on on ah on a U22 on transfers. And obviously there's salary constrictions, but let's just say 10 or eight. And then we're able to bring in a guy that right now with Danny Misowski, things are awesome. But what if it was a guy that was even better than Nani? Where would this team be?
01:13:45
Speaker
So there is that what if-ness of things. And the biggest part of what I'm talking about will show up moving forward because this is a big year for the Sounders. They have a lot of,
01:13:57
Speaker
executive decisions to make moving forward. Guillermo Gomez-Andrade, think he has an option for next year. I'm sure he's not going to want to just keep the option. He's going to want extend that. um Obed Vargas, last year of his contract, you're going to you're going to have to extend him and you're going to have to give him a big Reason to stay, let's call it that um You know, there's a lot of decisions That moving forward you're going to have to figure out On what you have and what you don't have You're going to have out what's going to happen With Jordan Morris moving forward Obviously he's under contract still for I think Till 27th
01:14:35
Speaker
if I'm not mistaken. But regardless of, there's a lot of decisions are going to be made and how you get the generational change for the next couple of years, that's going to be a huge component on how we judge this team moving forward.
01:14:50
Speaker
Yeah, for me, I think ah a lot of how I think about this is going to be informed by how the rest of this season goes, because i totally agree with the kind of what if.
01:15:03
Speaker
Like, it's it's hard to look at this situation and how the team is playing right now and not feel like, man, what if they $26.5 million dollars bag?
01:15:14
Speaker
on somebody like could that take this team to an even crazier level and but i at on the flip side of that like when i look at how the team is playing specifically in this moment right now 26 goals in their last eight games and pretty much uh producing at a clip an attack that we've never seen this club produce it it's almost like ah it's not it's not that they can't play at a higher level or they shouldn't aspire to play at ah at a higher level.
01:15:48
Speaker
it's It's almost just like, is is but is dropping just one huge bag on one player, is that even the smartest way to way to do it when you've got the depth right now and the team playing at as high a level as it is right now. I'm not saying it's not, but it is something, it is something to think about. And for me, it comes down to winning trophies at the end of the day.
01:16:14
Speaker
So, you know, if they don't make a move in this transfer window, but they run riot through leagues cup competition and win that trophy, or they have a great playoff run and they win MLS cup personally, like That's what matters to me more than the transfer stuff.
01:16:34
Speaker
But when you, like, I understand, like when you see clubs like LAFC doing what they're doing, inter Miami doing what they're doing, or even Atlanta, it hasn't worked for them, but you can't say that they're not expending the resources to, to try and, and maximize what they can be as a club.
01:16:57
Speaker
And it does feel like that there is going to be ah point where,
01:17:03
Speaker
you're gonna have you're like you can't put off like trying to keep up with clubs who are who are spending like lafc and inter miami forever and i think you're also in a unique situation where the infrastructure you have like you mentioned with the academy and the youth development and all that and the depth that you've already accrued it puts you in a uh in a situation where like ah Spending a bag on world class talent that could put you in a ah in a different stratosphere or at least in a place where you can you can go into matchups with LAFC or Inter Miami who Seattle is going to play next month.
01:17:45
Speaker
and feel like you're on a level playing field with a club like that. Whereas as it stands right now, I mean, we're going we're going to see how they stack up with these teams. They're playing inter Miami soon. And then LAFC is a team that they might play in the, ah in the playoffs. But I mean, at the very least it's a it's, it gets, it gets the gears turning to like see LAFC do something like that and realize, I mean, ah I don't know. I guess that sort of segues into the last thing here. I mean, no Ohio deal fell through and ah kind of I'm getting the vibe, Nico, that they might not fill this U22 spot during this, ah during this transfer window. Do you have any updates on, on what the thinking is there or where things stand with that?
01:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, look, as as late as Friday night and actually Saturday morning, um the level of confidence that the u twenty two position is going to get filled, at least by me and by what I'm hearing, is not very high.
01:18:49
Speaker
I'd say that there's a seventy thirty percentage situation where the Seattle Sunners do not fill the U22 spot. ah in this transfer window.
01:19:01
Speaker
There's clearly a lot of things that would make the decision easier than before. One is that you failed to secure at least five players in that position for one reason or another, whether it was budget related or a player not wanting to come to the set of Sounders, you've already missed that chance. ah By logic, you'd think that those five players were the top of their quality or need or scouting.
01:19:29
Speaker
So now you're getting to the lower part of that list. And are those players better than guy like Osase that has looked as good as he has been, that's going to need some minutes um that could potentially give you a different profile player ah because he is kind of a target player.
01:19:48
Speaker
striker Maybe not a Jordan Morris alike, which is what they were looking for, but maybe you get somebody that you're going to want to develop this year. And not develop, because I don't like that word because of his age, but that you could refine, that you can get him to refine.
01:20:05
Speaker
Show what he can provide you for Next season by giving him More minutes and maybe that's A better use of your Time than bringing in a guy right now Especially if you're not getting the right guy If you had the right guy for the right price That you were looking at that you Let's say Ohio, if he was he would have said yes Then cool, that's a home run Because that's the guy you scouted, that's the guy you wanted That's the guy you brought in, now you develop that player Into whatever you want him to be Moving forward, but now it just seems like You're not getting the guy that you necessarily want. it You're getting your sixth best option that you want. It doesn't sound great. So I don't want them to do that. That's not smart. Like, absolutely not. that is, that is making move for the sake of making a move.
01:20:47
Speaker
And honestly, like that, ah that is something I think that this club has been good about is not doing that. And they should not start doing that now just to like appease people like that. you got It's gotta be the, like you said, gotta be the right.
01:21:01
Speaker
Guy it's got to be the player that you believe in Not someone that you're like Trying to make work because You had to settle Yeah and now again I'm not being apologetic for the team I think that if you wanted to get out there And bring the best prospect In South America at the 9th position At 21 years old And it was going to cost you 8 million dollars Could you have brought him in? Probably But you just don't have that right now And it's just not going to happen So Moving forward, I think that the most feasible move for this team is that they're going to bring an MLS team
01:21:37
Speaker
type player to add depth to perhaps the midfield position ah because it is a position that right now, despite you having a couple of prominent pivots, you might need a guy that's a true six, that's a true disturber, that's really going to give you a guy that you're going to be able to bring in and close down the game or that you're going to be able to bring in and do some Christian Roldan-ish type of things because you don't really have that in the group of midfielders, center midfielders that you have at the time.
01:22:04
Speaker
ah So something like that, maybe – a right and good enough attacker that might come in for a year or something like that could be something that the team would do.
01:22:16
Speaker
But in terms of the U22, I just don't i don't see it happening.
Show Wrap-up and Audience Engagement
01:22:22
Speaker
All right. Well, Nico, that is all the time we got here this morning for this edition of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I got a run.
01:22:29
Speaker
But great show as always, man. Thanks for thanks for hopping on. And thank you to everyone for tuning in if you have not done so yet. Please like the video. Everyone's still in chat.
01:22:41
Speaker
Like the video. Subscribe to the channel. ah Rate five stars. Write reviews. Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on TikTok. Lobinscorchers.com slash sauce. Lobinscorchers.com slash archive.
01:22:55
Speaker
I think that's everything. We'll be back at it with a podcast this week under the lights on Thursday. and then post game live after uh after this loons game uh dico thanks again man i really appreciate it last and very quick i know you gotta go big shout out for uh new on another excellent game by the way i can't leave here without that's the last thing on my notes that i wanted to talk about kept up pace for pace with pencil.
01:23:24
Speaker
He's waving down Kim Ki-Hee to make sure that Kim Ki-Hee is in the seventh spot because he's got a one-on-one good, you know, on the ball. I thought that he was very sure of himself. He was very poised.
01:23:36
Speaker
There's one arm that's a little too high early in the game that may be a little bit nervous. But aside from that, Atenu had a ah phenomenal game. He continues to ah show up to the occasion. i think that he is playing with a ship on his shoulder and that's nothing but great for this defense and the Sounders hopes and dreams to get far in League's Cup and get far in MLS play. It's a good shout. Glad you brought it up. All right, we're going to get out of here on that. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Appreciate you and catch you next time.
01:24:04
Speaker
Peace.