Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Sounders FC - Phoenix Rising US Open Cup preview
93 Plays1 year ago
The Seattle Sounders will face defending USL-Championship title holders Phoenix Rising in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on Wednesday. To help us get a better understanding of the opponent, we reached out to Backheeled’s Joe Lowery, who also happens to be the color commentator on Phoenix Rising broadcasts.
Sponsors
Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/
You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.
"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to NOS Arietes. This episode of NOS Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of NOS Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:28
Speaker
A.O. Shen! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win! Here come three years through the middle to crown it the vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations. It's the Sounders' MLS Cup!
Humor Break: Twerking Exchange
00:00:52
Speaker
Niko Liddo leaves out!
00:01:12
Speaker
Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Full
Preview of Open Cup Match with Joe Lowry
00:01:32
Speaker
Pull Wines. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today to help preview this Open Cup match against Phoenix Rising is Joe Lowry, friend of the show and editor. And what's your title at Backheeled?
00:01:45
Speaker
back healed czar. I don't know. There's there's no business card out there. Sort of a I guess pick your own title situation. I don't know. We're helping steer the ship that everybody's rowing in over over back. It is great to be back. I had a blast last time Jeremiah good and and the subject today is near and dear to my heart. Yeah. So you are in addition to
00:02:05
Speaker
being
00:02:22
Speaker
that born and raised out here in Phoenix.
Phoenix Rising: History and Performance
00:02:24
Speaker
It's been it's been so much fun getting to do the color stuff it is. I truly love what we're building it back here as far as just like the thrill of doing something like getting to do a little bit of TV stuff even obviously on a very very small small time level has been a genuine pleasure like it is still the coolest thing that I probably ever done in Maya in my still short career. It's been it's been an absolute blast.
00:02:30
Speaker
one of the voices
00:02:47
Speaker
Well, so you are probably the best person I could think of to talk to you for a preview of Phoenix Rising. Let's get a quick overview. This is the defending U.S.L. Championship title holders. When you're the U.S.L. Championship, it's not the champion.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, it feels weird to say the US championship champions. I've heard a few different solutions this I've heard just USL champions and just sort of ignoring that League one exists. I I tend to go with like winners of the US championship final or something along those lines. I mean really any of these work. It's like my name's Joe my real name is Joseph some growing up. I was Joey and then if I'm in trouble, I get full named so it's like any any of those work just fine.
Phoenix Rising's Current Roster Analysis
00:03:30
Speaker
Okay. Well, they are the defending champions of the USL championship and, and they come into this game. You know, in a, in an interesting place, we, as we, like back when I think a lot of sounders fans will remember Phoenix rising from the Defiance is us all championship days. And at that point, Phoenix rising was this juggernaut of a team. They just felt like they were, I feel like they, they set a points record, right? Yeah.
00:03:58
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there was a lengthy, lengthy historic wind streak. DDA drug bowl is in town. Solomon at Sunday was probably the best player in the second division. Yeah. It was that, that era that you're remembering that led to the final against Louisville with drug by the Phoenix lost a few years back. Like that era was very much
00:04:16
Speaker
both locally and I think in parts in small bits and bursts nationally, like regarded as a real run. And like there was a little bit of buzz behind the club that honestly has not quite been gathered back even with that title win against Charleston last winter, last fall. Like that was a great moment. The club accomplished something that they'd never accomplished before. But even with that, there is still sort of this real concrete difference in era. And I think in fear,
00:04:44
Speaker
that opponents that maybe used to feel against Phoenix that they should still be afraid because there's a lot of good players in this rising team, but it's not quite the same at this point.
00:04:53
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I looked at the roster and I was sort of expecting to see a lot of, you know, MLS veterans or players who came from Europe, but weren't quite, you know, at the top levels of Europe. But when you look at the roster, it's, it's a lot like Louisville's roster, which is not to say it's, it's bad by any stretch, but it's a lot of USL sort of journeyman types. It's a lot of players that maybe had a cup of coffee with MLS, but
00:05:18
Speaker
weren't never MLS regulars. It's a lot of players who have better lifelong pros. There's a lot of veterans, but not a lot of players who are about to break into something bigger is maybe the way I look at it.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's fair. And there's there's probably a couple of reasons for that. First is the players that you're describing, like the ones who have been in MLS for a while and have a lot of upper mobility. Those are just still really few and far between in the U.S.O. Championship. There are more players that and we're seeing this with RSL. We're seeing this with Minnesota United.
00:05:51
Speaker
Carlos Harvey, who's been starting a couple of games from Minnesota United recently, former LA Galaxy player was mostly a second team player for them, was Phoenix Rising's best defense midfielder last year and makes them move up to MLS. So those players do exist, but it's much more ones that haven't really been tested at MLS that have the potential to go up because if you're good enough for an MLS roster, especially as the league expands,
00:06:13
Speaker
It's hard to drop down to that tier. You might go and test yourself over in Europe or whatever it is. But those players don't really exist. And even when you look at a roster like Louisville, a team that we were talking about before we started recording, a team that I think is pretty clearly stronger than Phoenix as things stand right now, they don't have a lot of those guys. So I agree.
00:06:33
Speaker
You, there are a few for Phoenix. Renzo Zambrano was once a Portland timber. He is now the best midfielder and I imagine will absolutely start this game for Danny Stone on Wednesday. You think about someone like Lawrence Wyckle be suspended for this game, but was with Nashville. First stretch Erickson Gallardo, former Toronto FC player, is really a reserve for this rising team. He's much more of a second string guy at this point. So your overall assessment, I think Jeremiah is spot on. Rising don't have a ton of those guys at the same time.
00:07:00
Speaker
There is talent in this team.
Goalkeeper Strategies and Penalty Shootouts
00:07:02
Speaker
Rocco Rios Novo is maybe the highest profile player that's here, has been with Argentina's U23s, likely not going to make the Olympics for for Mascherano, but has been in camps and has played for Argentina's U23s before, which is a really, really impressive thing. This is the team that Tiago Amada has been
00:07:19
Speaker
playing for. So that puts a little bit into context there. He was not very good. Frankly with Atlanta United is short for a goalkeeper, but has been excellent. Was one of the absolute best shot stoppers in the championship last year. Didn't start interestingly enough. The, the round of 32 us open cup game for Phoenix against North Carolina because of the classic cupkeeper thing. And I was on a show yesterday out here in the Valley sort of pondering well,
00:07:43
Speaker
Is Danny Stone going to stick with the number two goalkeeper, as many managers do for cup competitions? We see it all over the world. Or because this game very much could end in a penalty shootout. Seattle's last game against Louisville did. Do you want your best goalkeeper, your best penalty shootout shot stopper who basically win you the championship final last year in penalties against Charleston in Charleston? Do you want that guy in the field? So there is talent here. But again, to go back to the first thing, this is also not the Phoenix rising of 2019.
00:08:11
Speaker
So let's go back to this previous game in the Open Cup, where Phoenix beat North Carolina Courage in overtime, or extra time, or not North Carolina Courage. FC, yes, sorry. I apologize for that. But it was an interesting game. Lawrence Wike, who you mentioned, got red carded in that one. He's not going to be available in this game.
00:08:35
Speaker
Was there anything about the open? No,
Phoenix Rising's Open Cup Journey
00:08:38
Speaker
that was a kind of a weird game and was kind of a U.S.L. U.S.L. game. But was there anything that you.
00:08:44
Speaker
that we can take away from that game specifically, or should we be looking at the broader picture of the Phoenix season? Well, yes and yes, because I really think that that match fits within the broader picture of the Phoenix season in that it's a midweek game. It was rising's first midweek game of 2024. They travel across the country. They had a game against Detroit. Just a couple of days later, they were going to stay out on the eastern portion of the U.S. before coming back home.
00:09:08
Speaker
in large respects even a more difficult travel stretch than this will be for Phoenix going from Phoenix to Seattle and then I actually don't know if they're coming back to Phoenix before going to Indy or not doesn't really matter but the point I'm getting to is rising didn't really change a lot at a high level the personnel changed and I would expect to see a lot fewer personnel changes in the lineup against Seattle than we saw against North Carolina because this is against the Sounders
00:09:34
Speaker
one of the biggest games in club history for Phoenix Rising. It sounds like a trivial sort of thing around a 16 cup game. Phoenix Rising has never been this far in the US Open Cup before ever, even for all of their good seasons. This has never happened before. They do not get to play MLS opposition, even heavily rotated MLS opposition, as I'm sure we both expect from Brian Schmetzer.
00:09:53
Speaker
Like, this doesn't happen. This absolutely doesn't happen. This is a big moment. So we will see a lot of continuity. And really, tactically, we saw a lot of continuity against North Carolina. Danny Stone, new manager, was on Juan Guerra's staff. And maybe a few folks know the name Juan Guerra. I would imagine most don't. He is now an assistant on Ben Olsen's staff with the Houston Dynamo and the Western Conference and MLS. The progression of managers has shifted a bit for Phoenix. But the style is very, very similar to what won them the championship last year.
00:10:21
Speaker
ball dominant, not exclusively, but we will see Phoenix come out and possess four stretches. I'm certain against Seattle at Starfire. They like to be in the three, four, three look. They play with sort of a very similar possession. Look to what Seattle do. It's a bit more fluid. It's a little bit more controlled and how they play with shorter passes and like trying to keep the ball on the ground, maybe a bit more than we see from Seattle. But there are a lot of similarities there and they didn't shift that for the open cup.
00:10:45
Speaker
There was personnel that shifted in goal, a little bit of midfield, a couple of little injuries as well in that stretch. So there were some changes there. But by and large, that North Carolina game tells me that Phoenix obviously has the quality to advance and to throw some punches here against different teams, but really that they know who they are. Phoenix know who they are as a club and don't seem particularly interested in changing that.
00:11:05
Speaker
And so I guess broadly speaking, it's also similar is set up wise tactically to Louisville, who also played sort of possession heavy. And they did frankly dictate the game in the first round, you know, the different the differentiating factors in the in the game ended up being sort of the Sounders making more of the chances they had and then obviously just winning a penalty shootout.
00:11:30
Speaker
And I would imagine that Phoenix could also come out and with a similar attitude of saying like, we're not going to change our game. This isn't, and my expectation is the centers will use a rotated lineup. I don't know how many regular starters or if there will be regular starters in the lineup. And so it seems to me that it's entirely plausible that Phoenix could come out and sort of.
MLS vs. USL: Competitive Dynamics
00:11:52
Speaker
with the attitude of, you know, the game's gonna be played on our terms. And it's not like they should be, you know, Starfire isn't gonna be some weird environment for them. It's gonna be very similar to probably what they face in the U.S. World Championship all the time. Yeah, there's a lot of continuity in terms of the atmosphere as well. Like, it's not going to feel like this crazy, daunting sort of experience, which is both a good thing and a bad thing, right? Like, you know, it undeniably takes a lot of the atmosphere out of it, and I think it's a neutral, is a huge bummer. As a spectator, I think it's super lame.
00:12:22
Speaker
The Starfire experience is unique in its own way. Oh, for sure. They get enough people. I've said this before, I would rather see the sounders play in front of 3,000 at Starfire than 10,000 at Lumen. That said, it does not feel the same as it would, even if it was 15,000 or 20,000 at Lumen.
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah, in a lot of respects, your point, Jeremiah, is spot on. I think about Phoenix just played on the road in Detroit, and Detroit have a great atmosphere. But it's something that these players have experienced before, many of them. And it will not feel super out of place, nor frankly will, I would imagine,
00:13:01
Speaker
the lineup that Brian Smetcher is going to put out on the field. I don't think you can look at that lineup that Seattle rolled out against Louisville and say, we are super scared of these players. Alex Roldan was the only regular starter who was in that 11. Atencio obviously is a good player. Georgie is a promising young winger that I've really enjoyed getting to see play but is super raw.
00:13:22
Speaker
Danny Musaski was probably the best player on the field in general is the most dangerous attacker on either side. And that will likely be the case as well on Wednesday against Phoenix. But like the message from manager Danny Stone to these rising players should be like, guys, we can we can win this game. Like we have every chance to win this game. We just picked up.
00:13:40
Speaker
points against Detroit on the road. We just went to North Carolina in the last round and ensure North Carolina FC not a very good team in the USO championship right now. But we've gone on the road recently and gotten results. There's no reason, realistically, why Phoenix couldn't do that even if I don't think anybody would actually favor them here.
00:14:07
Speaker
I totally agree. I think the gaps between, you know, it's funny, and maybe this is an interesting point of conversation because you watch this every, you watch both of these things every day. You know, Ben Olson got a lot of attention for suggesting as like basically laughing off the idea that the US championship and MLS were even comparable in any way.
00:14:30
Speaker
But, you know, here he was having lost in overtime to a U.S. championship team. And I think we have to be realistic. The gap between good, even not even the best, but just good U.S. championship teams and fully reserve MLS squads is not so big as to guarantee anything.
USL Talent and MLS Perspectives
00:14:51
Speaker
And it's no shame, frankly. You know, you look at anywhere in the world where there are these cup competitions, there are upsets.
00:14:57
Speaker
It's not like a bark of shame where a lower division team beats a higher division team. And I sometimes think we get stuck in this discourse where it's either the gap between MLS and USL is so wide that it's worth laughing off a question or that it's so small as to be
00:15:15
Speaker
irrelevant to the division, the divisions. And I think the truth is somewhere pretty far in between those two kind of like laughable extremes. Yeah, no doubt about it. And the reason why the Olsen comment went so viral in our own little small niche Twitter verse is because of the tone and the timing.
00:15:34
Speaker
He comes off very, very poorly in that clip. He comes off like a sore loser, which he was in that moment. There's no doubt in my mind about that. And I thought John Morris who does great work for us covering the U.S.L. I truly think better than anybody for back yield. His response to that clip that went around the Twitter sphere was basically, this mentality is why so many deserving players don't get a chance to move up. And I think there's a lot of truth to that is you go out and talk to MLS decision makers and by and large, they're not looking in the U.S.L. for talent.
00:16:03
Speaker
And I can understand a lot of that. I can't like you're not going to go shop in the U.S.L. for your next like veteran difference maker. That's that's probably not the right move. We don't see teams doing that from second divisions basically anywhere. We certainly don't see it in a closed system. It doesn't make a lot of sense at the same time.
00:16:20
Speaker
If you want to look for two different categories of players, one that can help fill out your roster, because I think your point, Jeremiah, is spot on. The difference between like players, I don't know, 16 through 20 or whatever, like the bottom end of an MLS roster and the top end of a good U.S.L. championship roster is very, very small. I would say it is about today's performance.
00:16:41
Speaker
Absolutely. And that's the second category of players, right? You can go out there and look for guys who can fill out your squad. That's what Minnesota United did with Carlos Harvey. Like that, that makes sense. They sent Tony Ola Wache out on loan to San Antonio last year. And he was fantastic for them. Now he's back in and was supposed to be a depth option behind Timo Pookie and has been sort of stealing the spotlight for them. You can go and find the depth pieces with occasionally a twist of upside or
00:17:02
Speaker
You can go do what RSL have done better than anybody in Major League Soccer and go find Diego Luna, who's going to be at the Olympics this summer with the US in Paris, in France. And you can go find Fidel Barras, who was a US, and it is a US and in Mexico youth international, who wasn't in the US championship final against Phoenix as a Charleston Battery player because he was off with Mexico on international duty.
00:17:22
Speaker
There's real talent here and the Olson quote, I think came off poorly while he's still absolutely correct. Like if you're looking at these things holistically, if this is the Sounders first team 11, even though everybody would agree right now, the Sounders team is sort of a shell of, of where they've been or where they even could be in six months from now.
00:17:40
Speaker
like there is no there's no competition like there is no usl team that can go out there and compete with that stuff soccer is a low scoring game so it's possible that you could you could not get an upset like we see Saudi Arabia top argentina at a world cup and obviously argentina is the better team no one would argue
Sounders vs. Phoenix: Game Strategies
00:17:56
Speaker
that
00:17:56
Speaker
But it's the timing and the tone of Olsen's comments. But when all of a sudden you're looking at players, I don't know, 13 through 24 in the Sounder squad or whatever it is, and you're looking at players one through 11, essentially, in Phoenix Rising squad, yeah, you can sort of see how the championship side has a chance.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, I would totally agree with that. I think the other thing to keep in mind is just that, you know, the, the, the sounders are out there signing, you know, coma defiance players to their first team roster. These are third division players as well. Like a broad deal. Your Rodriguez was someone that they, you know, he hasn't played for the sounders yet because of injury, but you know, he had a great season at,
00:18:34
Speaker
at, you know, USL champ or in, in, uh, MLS next pro and, and like the gap, but I certainly believe the gap between MLS next pro and us all championship is pretty big too. But these are like, uh, like the idea that there's not talented players at the lower divisions of MLS is just sort of like laughable. There are so many cracks that, that players can fall through, but we're talking about resources. Sure. Like the sounders have a training facility.
00:19:01
Speaker
that now is up there with some of the best in the world. I don't imagine Phoenix has anything close to that. And that's where maybe the comparisons are a little bit more...
00:19:13
Speaker
laughable for you see the gaps. There's no doubt that the gaps are there but the question is just how much do they matter in this particular situation and the answer is well if it's the lineup we saw against Louisville from Seattle the difference is is pretty negligible because even you look at the bench Brian Spencer didn't stack his bench like no there weren't consistent MLS game changers well I mean there are questions about whether Seattle have any of those right now regardless but in general that there weren't those players no there weren't MLS veterans really on the right yeah
00:19:40
Speaker
So a huge question for Phoenix. And ultimately, I think the thing that will decide this game on Wednesday is how much does Brian Schmetzer care about this game? If the Sounders are thinking, hey, we're not thriving in the Western Conference and maybe an open cup trophy would feel really, really good right now, Phoenix should be really, really worried. If it's not that, then I think the odds shift much closer to, I don't know, we'll say 60-40 because the 10% swing there is maybe the home field side.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. And my expectation is that this will be a very competitive game and that it's going to be hopefully fun to watch. And maybe we'll get to see. Honestly, I'm excited to see Andrew Thomas as much as anybody. In case anyone from Phoenix is listening to this, Andrew Thomas put on quite a display against Louisville. He saved three penalties, and then he made the winning kick and then ran around like a
00:20:31
Speaker
just completely unhinged celebration, which was just fun to watch. And I don't, and other than that, I don't, I don't know how much I, one of the other players who I guess might be into this game, that would be interesting to a neutral Georgi Minongo, who, you know, he,
00:20:48
Speaker
is a lot of flash I don't know quite how much substance there is to his game but he's fun to watch especially in you know you know against a opponent who I imagine he matches up very well again yes yes and and so there'll be I think the Sounders will put some interesting talents out there there'll be some things to watch
00:21:08
Speaker
You know, Stu Hawkins is a young center back who's probably going to get a good run out in this one. You know, we might see Reid Baker Whiting might that would actually be a really interesting thing if the centers deemed him ready to start. He's been sort of on a long road back from a hamstring injury last year. He is apparently the player who the center still get the most inquiries about and from foreign talents foreign talent scouts. He's a you know, he's a he could play on either the right or left side as a as a fullback and then
00:21:38
Speaker
Other than that, it's a lot of sort of more squad players that I would expect to see. I like, I would, I'm expecting Danny Sosky to start. I'm expecting Paul Rothrock, Dylan Tevez, Danny Leyva, uh, you know, John Bell.
00:21:53
Speaker
Cody Baker, those are kind of the, those are the, some of the players who I would be expecting to start. Another player who might get some time that is an interesting player to watch for, you know, potentially for Sounders fans. Yeah. For Sounders fans, I suppose is Kalani Kosa Rienzi. He's a, he was their first draft pick this year. He was their first round draft pick this last year.
00:22:13
Speaker
almost made the team out of training camp has been looking pretty good for Tacoma Defiance. He's a very athletic player. He was a center mid in college, but he's been moved out to right back. And I would say he's has some real MLS potential. So there's, there's some, some, some talents to watch for Sounders fans, uh, potentially for Phoenix fans. But I, one thing I am always curious about Phoenix is a market that is constantly
Future of Professional Soccer: Challenges and Expansion
00:22:38
Speaker
brought up sort of on the periphery of potential MLS.
00:22:43
Speaker
in the future. I don't remember if we've actually had any serious like what they've ever really put forward a serious expansion bid. But what's your projection of the future of soccer professional soccer in Phoenix? Yeah, that that
00:22:59
Speaker
Formal expansion bit has never come certainly as far as I'm aware. It's funny that you asked that question because I was just talking with really the Oracle out here in Phoenix of Phoenix rising and professional soccer Owen Evans who does a fantastic job is one of the only people in American soccer, let alone lower division soccer who is traveling to every away game and just puts in a ridiculous shift. He is wow.
00:23:21
Speaker
Truly incredible. And the Phoenix soccer market is beyond lucky to have him involved. I was just chatting with him last night about this very topic, basically. And the TLDR here is nobody knows. It's messy. Phoenix Rising have moved stadiums since they become Phoenix Rising, which was a rebrand, I think, back ahead of the 2017 season from Arizona United. They became Phoenix Rising. They have moved their stadium location three times. They were in Scottsdale.
00:23:50
Speaker
And then they were down in, uh, like sort of South Chandler and now they're in central Phoenix. So this is their second season in central Phoenix. The stadium situation is a legitimate problem. It has been, in my mind, the single largest hurdle to establishing a consistent and growing fan base in the valley. You go out and talk to people and I'll sort of tell them, Oh, you know, this is what I do if they ask and, Oh, I know, I know about Phoenix rising. They still off the 202 and the one on one. And you're like, no, they're down in central Phoenix. And nobody knows, like nobody really understands
00:24:19
Speaker
going on. And it's made it very, very difficult Phoenix to establish a consistent budding group of people that come to their games and care about consuming coverage. And there's all sorts of problems about media coverage that I'm sure you and I could talk about for hours and hours and hours. And we don't need to do that here. But all that to say,
00:24:37
Speaker
The future is uncertain. They're currently in a situation where they have a bit more stability with their stadium. They don't own the land or anything along those lines. So there are still long-term questions. There are leases here that deals that have been signed and they don't last forever. So, you know, is Phoenix Rising going to stay where they are at 38th and Washington and central Phoenix for
00:24:58
Speaker
for a long time, like for as long as I'm doing this, it's not impossible. There are also I think other folks who probably would like to get their hands on that land and we just lost the Arizona Coyotes to Utah recently. So it's an interesting topic around sports here in Phoenix. Phoenix Rising is not going anywhere anytime soon, right? They're not going to fade like San Diego Loyal faded, but they do have their own
00:25:21
Speaker
stadium challenges, at least as it relates to trying to have like, people care about the team and care about the product. So MLS, I imagine still is a possibility as well. It just takes the right, the right person with the right pockets, right? And that's the thing that it seems to me that Phoenix has lacked. And by that, I mean, both like the city of Phoenix, because let's let's not kid ourselves. We don't often see these at this point, these expansion teams
00:25:47
Speaker
go from a U.S.L. to MLS, right? The branding changes and the other MLS, the other U.S.L. team dies, right? There was a team in St. Louis, a U.S.L. team in St. Louis before St. Louis City came into play and they're not around anymore. Yeah, I guess it was the ego.
00:26:02
Speaker
Those teams are Minnesota, the last one. The thing is, it's Natty. It's got to be the last one, right? And Nashville is probably actually the right answer, never mind there. But we don't see that anymore. Miami has a U.S.L. championship team, and they have into Miami, but it's chaos at the U.S.L. championship level. So there's a massive question about, is Phoenix going to get out of a U.S.L. team at all? Is that limbo holding them back from making more long-term decisions to just accept that they should operate as a U.S.L. championship club?
00:26:29
Speaker
There are far more questions as you look out 5, 10, 15 years from now about Phoenix Rising, frankly, than there are answers. And then you've got the whole women's soccer situation where initially with the USO Women's Super League that was just launched, it's a division one league coming on a European sort of calendar to American soccer.
00:26:48
Speaker
Phoenix Rising was one of the initial expansion teams in the Super League. And then they came out and said, actually, sorry, we can't do this. Like we don't, we don't have the, it's not the right time for us to do it. Like the infrastructure wasn't there. It's a huge question. Like is women's soccer actually going to be sort of more of the future here? And I'm not sure. I don't know the answers to these questions, but there are
00:27:09
Speaker
not for next year or the year after, probably even three or four years from now, there aren't real questions about what's going to happen in Phoenix. They're not going to get an MLS team in that timeframe. But maybe they end up with one in a decade or a little bit less if MLS continues to expand or maybe not. It's a strange time in a lot of ways to think ahead and look forward to what all the many possibilities that could end up happening here in the Valley. Well, Joe, thank you again for joining us.
00:27:37
Speaker
People should know that if you are a subscriber at the advocate level or above on Sound at Heart, you get a free subscription to Backheeled. I find Backheeled to be an amazing resource. You've done a great job there,
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:27:51
Speaker
Joe. Thank you. It's been great kind of creating this partnership with you and trying to do some cross-promotion, so to speak. But in this case, it wasn't even
00:28:03
Speaker
It was almost so obvious that it almost missed me that we needed to have you on for this one. So, Joe, other than backheeled, you're also on the Total Soccer Show. Where else can people find you? Yeah. Unfortunately,
00:28:18
Speaker
They won't, they won't find me on the call for this Seattle Phoenix game as much as I would truly love it. We're only doing myself and killing McClatchy out here in Phoenix are doing the home games. So no, uh, no open cup action this week. But if you're ever tuning into a Phoenix rising game, and maybe you want to adopt them as your U S L championship team, because for some reason you don't watch enough soccer in your life, uh, then you can find me at times on ESPN plus or CBS gloves or wherever those games are these days. And then other than that,
00:28:44
Speaker
Probably the safest bet is just to maybe toss a follow my way on Twitter at Joe C. Lowry. That's a good catch-all for you. Very good. Well, Joe, thank you for doing this. I am Jeremiah Shand, signing off for Joe. This is No Study Yetis, and we will catch you next time.
00:29:56
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!