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Under the Lights: Can the Seattle Sounders stay hot vs. Minnesota? (feat. Jeff Rueter)
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Coming off two straight 1-0 victories, the Seattle Sounders have a golden opportunity to keep it rolling with Minnesota United's Matchday 17 visit to Lumen Field.
We're joined by Minnesota-based journalist Jeff Rueter of the Athletic to talk about the Loons' 2025 form under rising head coach Eric Ramsay.
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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 Episode Setup
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.
Guest Introduction: Jeff Reuter
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What, the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Under the Lights. Got a great show for you all planned this evening. We got Jeff Reuter from The Athletic.
00:00:57
Speaker
He's going to join us in just a minute here to preview this weekend's matchup against Minnesota United. We're going to be talking about another Seattle Sounders win. We did the postgame live last night, but we give some more thoughts on that game versus San Diego FC.
00:01:15
Speaker
ah We're going to we might even do a little all star ballot later. was thinking about doing that. And I got a couple other topics lined up as well. So it's a jam packed show.
00:01:28
Speaker
Got a lot to get to. ah But before we get into all of it, I'm going Like the video, like the video, subscribe to the channel, rate five stars, write reviews, do all that stuff.
00:01:42
Speaker
ah Help us with the algorithm. All right, let's get into it. Let's just get right into it. Like I said, big show. Hey, Tom, ah we'll get to the next segment at the end.
Jeff Reuter's Career Journey
00:01:55
Speaker
We'll do a next segment for you, but that means you have to stay up and watch all of it. ah Let's get right into it. We have got a very special guest this evening once again to preview Seattle's upcoming upcoming opposition and we'll be talking about some national storylines from around Major League Soccer as well.
00:02:11
Speaker
Let's bring him to the stage. We have got Jeff Ruder. Senior writer at The Athletic, yeah covers Major League Soccer, covers the ah the game globally as well.
00:02:22
Speaker
One of the best in the game. Very excited to have him on the show tonight. ah Jeff, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Talk some Minnesota United, talk some Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer.
00:02:32
Speaker
are you doing this evening? I'm good. This is great. Like, this is it's weird. I don't get to do night podcasts anymore. Like everyone's always like, here are your hours. Here's our corporatized way to do it. And it's like, no, this is this is where the magic happens. Like, I'm so good to be back. Thanks for having me, man.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's the upshot of being a ah West Coast show. We can stay up late. And it's like, you know, we're the originators of MLS After Dark out here. Yeah. amen Jeff, excited to talk about this ah ah game with you. It's a matchup between two teams that are pretty high up on the table right now. So I'm excited to watch it. But before we get into all that, I do like to give our guests a little chance to talk about their background and the work that they do.
00:03:14
Speaker
ah So why don't you just give us the ah the abridged version of your path to the athletic and then what is your day-to-day role is there as a ah senior writer? I got the title right.
00:03:24
Speaker
You did. Yeah, you did. Yeah. um I guess I appreciate that. um No, I mean, it's I am a homegrown of the Minnesota United podcasting system. um They got no solidarity payments. They never do.
00:03:37
Speaker
And yeah, so I started off. I was going to Loon's Games in 2015 with my brother and Uh, we were talking at a halftime and some guy nudged me and was just like, Hey, sounds like, you know what you're talking about and you have a good rapport or whatever. Do either of you want to hop on and, you know, come onto my podcast. I need a guest host until I can find a real one. My guy just quit the nature of fan podcasting.
00:03:57
Speaker
And so I hopped on for a few episodes. My brother didn't want to do it. Um, glad he didn't in hindsight and uh yeah so i started on being that regular host in the two united fans show and then wes burdine and i launched the 55 one podcast about two years after that i was writing independently for the 55 one which was our local website um doing some you know really good work at the time and uh yeah and then eventually started freelancing for the guardian espn uh the athletic launched in 2018 um Yeah.
00:04:27
Speaker
And then I've been on staff since 2019, got promoted senior in 2024. And right now I cover MLS, NWSL, men's, women's national teams, international club. i was watching the conference league final with like working intention, like an absolute sicko yesterday. Uh, so, you know, it's a bit of everything at this point, but it's a lot of game coverage it's a lot of kind of like big picture,
00:04:47
Speaker
um yeah What does all of this mean? Try to do the 10,000 foot look on a lot of things. So it's been a weird, fun path to get there and kind of a weird point plateau right now to be at where it's just like, yeah, and I just watched the conference league. And then i like, I'll go to a ah press conference with Emma Hayes two days later. But it's ah it's been a blast.
00:05:05
Speaker
And it's ah very, very grateful for what I get to do. That's a, ah you know, I never knew that origin story. And that's one of those ones where it's like just a random moment of fate, it seems like. Like, yeah do you ever think about like your entire path in life was sounds like created by just like a random fortuitous moment at a soccer game?
00:05:27
Speaker
Some guy on his third strong bow in Blaine, Minnesota. Yeah, I ah i think so. i do think about it. I think that
Minnesota United's Playing Style
00:05:35
Speaker
website's launch was crucial. And I think I would have tried to like, get involved with that. But I had a little bit of an inroad because I was, you know, I think Wes and I did our first podcast. It was like an overlap. There was an older Minnesota show with Wes and then Bruce McGuire called the Denord podcast. And we did it like a crossover episode, like it's a 90s sitcom.
00:05:51
Speaker
And yeah, it was it was really cool to meet him at that time. And I got into the website with him and Brian Corstead. But um Yeah, I mean, just can't take it for granted, right? like Like you said, like it was just if I went to a different section that day, might have ended up in a different place. So um I have no idea what else I would have done. I got a degree in playwriting. So this is much better than the alternatives I had.
00:06:11
Speaker
Playwriting. I was an English major. so you get it. I was going to be. I was going to be. But then I realized I could get out in seven semesters instead of eight if I did a theater arts program.
00:06:22
Speaker
So I did mostly English classes and called it playwriting. And they're like, whatever. but sir ah All right, Jeff, let's get into ah Seattle Sounders versus Minnesota United. The way I like to start these off when we're doing our kind of ah scouting the opponent portion of these interviews is I like to give my perception of the team as an outsider.
00:06:45
Speaker
love that. I have watched. Okay. So you yeah you'll tell me if it matches up with what is actually going on with the team day in, day out. ah You're not like on the loons beat every day, but you're still very plugged in with the team. You know what's going on.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah. And it's actually really nice. Like nationally, I can't stress enough. Like if you're not in an MLS market, I don't know how I could do this job because I go to loons games and I will often, if I'm not in the box, I'll stand at like the top of it so I can watch how the team use width. But then you have your like baseline. So it's easier to scout other teams.
00:07:15
Speaker
when they come to the stadium. So I still go, but yeah, you're right. Like I haven't been a loons beat writer for four years now. Yeah. Wow. That's, let's go. That's where you cut your teeth.
00:07:26
Speaker
It is. um Yeah. Minnesota United. All right. My, my impression of Minnesota United is that they are, they're having ah very, very good year so far. That is not really, it's, but it's quietly.
00:07:40
Speaker
They're not really getting talked about that much. ah when you're talking about like the teams that are near the top of the table their name doesn't come up with the other teams that are up there it feels like as uh as often but they're clearly doing something right because they're third in the west right now uh but as i was i admittedly i'm guilty of it i haven't watched all that much loons this year i know the basics but i can't say that i've been watching super closely week in week out there are too many teams this league i Exactly, yeah. But ah like I'm a sicko for the whole league. I'd like to think my knowledge of every team is pretty good, but there's definitely some that I know better than others.
00:08:16
Speaker
And despite how successful the Loons have been this year, they're, I would say on the end of teams that I haven't followed as closely as I i probably should be following them closer because things are going pretty well in the Twin Cities.
00:08:28
Speaker
ah But what stuck out to me, Jeff, when I was doing a little bit of research, digging into Minnesota United, how did they get to third in the table? That's what I was trying to figure out. sure it they It seems like they are employing some tactics right now that are highly unique, almost historically so, when you look at the history of MLS, at least the recent history.
00:08:49
Speaker
And what I mean by that is ah they apparently have a passionate hatred for possessing the ball. They don't want it. They don't want it. They want you to have it. If you want the ball, you take the ball. Minnesota. it's Right. Yeah.
00:09:02
Speaker
You can have it for like 70% of the game most of the time. And we're just going to dice you up on the counter and be, so hard to break down that it doesn't even it's possession without purpose we'll let you knock the ball around all day but so that those tactics in themselves aren't that novel but uh just the amount that they have leaned in to those tactics and that strategy is uh it's well it's really unprecedented i'll let uh the armchair analyst matthew doyle take it away he laid it out in his uh
00:09:34
Speaker
in his column about our preview column for the games this weekend. I'm just going to read how he sized it up. He said- you doing a Matt Doyle impression? I'm really excited. We do a lot of Matt Doyle impressions on here. I'm not going to do his, ah I'm not going to do it. yet. just going to read what he wrote. Sure.
00:09:50
Speaker
he said He said, consult any MLS database you can find, and this year's loons will be bottom of the possession charts. Doesn't matter if you go back five years, 10 years, 15, or 30.
00:10:01
Speaker
Eric Ramsey's side will be propping up the entire table with just 38.3% the ball. mostly served them well as their third in the West entering the weekend, but they've also got some limitations because of their allergy to knocking it around, which we'll touch on below.
00:10:16
Speaker
ah Jeff, I'm very curious as someone who has watched this team a lot more than I have. What do you think of these tactics, first of all? And what is the reason? Is there a reason? Personnel or just Eric Ramsey's beliefs about the game?
00:10:31
Speaker
Why are they leaning so, so heavily into this anti-possession strategy? I think, yeah, it's twofold. um And they're very chaotic neutral with their possession. Like Doyle said, it's 38.3% possession. It's also 38.3% field tilt.
00:10:47
Speaker
I have the their stats up in front of me as well in Opta. um which means And field tilt is like the comparing the attacking third touches between each team. So it's not even like they're just like, we're going to sit off the ball as long as we can. But like Red Bulls, like think about them. like They try to win the field tilt and they have like a very advantageous field tilt to try to keep the ball in that area. right like This isn't that.
00:11:06
Speaker
um I think part of it is personnel, right? To be fair, like they have two good transition goal scorers who are also okay at doing holdup work, which gives each other time to work. They are like the first fully functional strike tandem, true, true strikers that I've seen in MLS in quite some time as well, which works, but it also means you have one less body for defensive or midfield lines, which also help you with possession, right?
00:11:28
Speaker
So you can see where some of those trade-offs come from. um They're quick. Kelvin Yeboah and Tani Oluwasehi and they're good at scoring, and they are pretty selfless. Both of them are the type of personality where if their team won and they got an assist, they'd be happier and if their team drew and they got a brace. So that mentality generally plays well.
00:11:46
Speaker
um Michael Boxall gets better with age every single year. like I think I saw him absolutely like muscle Brian White off the ball in about the 80th minute when White had come off the bench 20 minutes earlier and Boxall had been on an 80-minute shift.
00:11:56
Speaker
um So he's putting in the best work of his career the last two and a half years, an absolute veteran, one of the oldest field players in the league at this point. Um, the other personnel factor in here is their midfields really bad ah by the standard read of like, i thought there might be something yeah explain, explain that. No, it's, it's this one weird trick, right? And it's this thing where it's like, everyone focuses on like good midfield play and good defensive midfielders who like to take the ball off of opponents and midfielders like to progress the ball and break lines through the central channel and the half spaces, right? All this is baloney. It doesn't matter where you get the ball up field in their mind.
00:12:30
Speaker
Right. And so they have, generally two water carriers in the midfield no true hardman but two players who will like sit on the ball a little bit and then say i don't like where this is going i' and send it back to the back line they'll recirculate out wide or okay let's end up the channel or let's try to go out to the sprint to the wings for them to run on to right um they don't like doing back and forth passing triangles they don't like trying to bypass a midfield block whatsoever they try to go around it or over it not through it um So you'll see two water carriers and then one creative fulcrum who kind of plays like a 10, but a free roaming
Tactics in High-Stakes Matches
00:13:05
Speaker
10.
00:13:05
Speaker
um So it's been Joaquin Pereira lately, who I think most systems would say is like a good... box-to-box playmaker, you generally do want him further back in the field, but his finishing is really good.
00:13:16
Speaker
So they've been trying to unleash him in the attacking half a bit more as well. And like keeping him there, which means that they have those two other guys. So it's, it's a weird midfield trio. It isn't one of those like classic Peter Vermees, like there's a six, there's an eight, there's a 10 sort of thing that like at the height of SKC, they were running out.
00:13:32
Speaker
And it's just very, we have three bodies there and they rotate and the roles are different every single week. I think the ah the next place my mind goes when I see a team that's employing tactics that are so far outside the statistical norm is, well, first of all, I think like,
00:13:50
Speaker
Like there but there's gotta be a reason that most teams don't do that. Yeah. That extreme. So if it is working and they are getting results and they're, they're high on the table, more power to them.
00:14:03
Speaker
But I guess the, the question becomes when it comes down to it and you're playing for trophies, you're in the playoffs, the playoffs, deep in leagues cup, whatever the case may be.
00:14:14
Speaker
Like, is there a point where playing like that stops being as tenable as it might be during the regular season? So my question is when you look at just how, ah how they're playing so far this season and how kind of just extreme it is, do you buy Minnesota United as a real contender with the other top teams in MLS? Yeah.
00:14:39
Speaker
depends on the matchups in the bracket. And like, I know that feels like a cop-out, like a wait and see. I don't mean it like a general. I'm saying there's like two or three teams in the West that they cannot get past if they're at full strength.
00:14:52
Speaker
um And you know, one of them, right? Like Seattle has always had Minnesota's number. That's no secret. The 2020 wrestling conference final is like the the the highlight slash low light, depending on who's talking about it. But like it's, it's been throughout Minnesota's time in Major League Soccer. There's no opponent that they've played worse than the Sounders. And that's, I think, a huge credit to, you know, Brian Schmetzer and the the continuity of of the team shape, even as they're going with 3-4-3 more now. Like, it's a very difficult matchup. The other team that has continually done it until this year, but they're not doing well against anybody, is the Galaxy with Ricky Pooge, right? And that's two very different sort of styles in midfield. But you can see that these are teams that know what they want to do
00:15:33
Speaker
in the heart of the park, right? Whether it is like having a good trio with Roltan and Joe Paolo and Obed and whoever's playing that day, right? Like you you generally like, let's keep the ball moving. Let's move it around, whatever. And and everyone knows what their role is, depending on the combination, right?
00:15:46
Speaker
um With the Galaxy, obviously, that whole thing is just we have a player who you can't take the ball off his foot and he's running around everywhere with it. And every time you think you've got him cornered, he's going to spray it, you know just do a little flick over to another guy and then he'll get on the ball two seconds later and you're out of shape, right?
00:16:01
Speaker
So those sorts of teams will always pose a threat to Minnesota United as currently constructed. um But when you look at teams like LAFC, who also want to do a lot of transition work and don't want to keep the ball ah for long, even if you look at Vancouver, frankly, which was a bit of a surprise, but a team that's kind of cross heavy you where they're going to be playing it to wide areas anyway, like, okay, well, that's fine because they're going away from the heart of the park that you're kind of sacrificing.
00:16:25
Speaker
Um, So there's like gambles and trade-offs. I actually do like the Minnesota matchup from their perspective
Eric Ramsey's Coaching Influence
00:16:32
Speaker
against teams like LAFC and Vancouver a lot more than Seattle. If we're looking at like kind of the relative projected top four right now.
00:16:39
Speaker
um Beyond that, like, you know, you can see where there is potential for an upset where this is a team that could lose a best of three series. If they come up against a team that's just like, Hey, let's just fortify bodies. Let's keep the ball in the middle of the field.
00:16:53
Speaker
And they don't really know how to take it off of us. Yeah, that's kind of ah how I was thinking of it is like specifically as it pertains to a matchup against Seattle.
00:17:04
Speaker
Seattle is a team that's traditionally very good in possession. That's like one of the hallmarks of their identity. Man, Seattle played San Diego FC last night. They might have been the best and MLS team in possession I've seen all season.
00:17:19
Speaker
It was yeah it's pretty unreal, to be honest. Like, When they have the ball, it's that all right. Well, they have it now. I guess that's just what ah what life is like. We give up. We can't get it. Yeah.
00:17:29
Speaker
They're not going to make any mistake. they're not They never do the thing where they pass it to the other team. When they have the ball, they just have the ball. But it seems like that like a Minnesota United ah versus San Diego playoff series or playoff game,
00:17:43
Speaker
I would like, I would be worried about that if I was Eric Ramsey. i mean, do you think he's like dug in on this and it's like, we run our stuff no matter what, or playing like looking at this game where you have a team that is a lot more inclined to dice you up in possession. And like, does that change anything or is he more like dogmatic? I guess.
00:18:04
Speaker
Uh, he's willing to be flexible. He doesn't want to be known as a, one of the young coaches who's like, uh, I, I, I don't know, a spreadsheet manager. And so I know this is my system that works best. And I refuse to move off of it because the data says it'll work out, right? Like, uh, even our tether or whatever, right? Like he's not that profile per se. He is going to be someone who wants to be pragmatic. He will work with a four man backline. Most often he did last year, actually.
00:18:28
Speaker
um But for that matchup, like you could also convince me that this is a team that's working on its second look last year, they made a pretty dramatic reinvention from a team that just kind of rolls the balls out and sees what they do for the first 20 games and it worked for the first eight.
00:18:43
Speaker
And then it really didn't work for the middle 12. But given MLS is format. You have some wiggle room with those first 20. And then they came back like around the start of August. And they really figured out after a loss to the Sounders at home, actually, um that they figured out this is how we should operate. And it looks a lot more like what you see now.
00:19:00
Speaker
That's very much how Minnesota started to play around start of August last year. So it wouldn't surprise me if there's an evolution again. And at that point, though, they do need personnel because the flip side of this is it isn't just that Ramsey.
00:19:13
Speaker
like designs tactics go around and over a part of it is, I don't think that you can really win MLS cup. If your midfield trio is, um, yeah, I mean, who have they been starting lately because they've had Hassani dots and injured, um, you know, Seattle favorite son, uh, they've been playing, I think Owen Jean, who's a new signing and he's not very used to it. Robin Lude and, Joaquin Pereira have kind of been alternating in that free creative role.
00:19:35
Speaker
Will traps getting a ton of minutes. I think most minutes of the field players this year, um, I just don't think that that's a core Carlos Harvey Panama international who also plays center back sometimes as well. That's pretty much who they've been rolling out with.
00:19:46
Speaker
And it's just, it it isn't a midfield that I think can contend with someone who is as confident on it as San Diego. Like you're alluding to as an example, like I just, I don't really think they have the personnel, so it's going to be a big summer for them, but yeah,
00:20:00
Speaker
that, you know, it's one of the lower spending on transfer fees organizations and MLS since they joined 2017. But like if the incentive is this is a pretty good year to try to take on the entire West, and I think we can, you know, make a good run to the conference final again or further, like, I think that they would recognize the opportunity.
00:20:17
Speaker
Tom, I just sent out the Blue Sky post. ah So thanks for thanks for the reminder. I'm really bad about that. Thanks, Tom. I just sent it out. So re-posted or whatever the the Blue Sky term is.
00:20:31
Speaker
Reskeet? Reskeet. It's a night show. You can say that, right? I guess that's what ah what we're going with. so Yeah, guess. All right. Eric Ramsey, that's I wanted to ask. We've talked about his tactics, but I wanted to ask about your impressions of him in general, because I actually when he was first hired, I read up on him a little bit. But then I actually got assigned that day to do the to pick up the audio from the Zoom call so we could write our Minnesota United's new coach article. Amazing. So I was like, all right I'm curious, like coming from Manchester United and he's my age. Let's see what this guy is all about.
00:21:10
Speaker
And ah I'll be honest, I came out of that presser and I was like, and I don't usually necessarily feel like this. I feel like an opening press conference. I know a coach press conference. Yeah, we're gonna take it to opponents.
00:21:21
Speaker
We're going to get fans of their seats. We're going give them winning team. Exactly. It's usually all lip service. And you can't really tell much about the actual coach or the guy.
00:21:31
Speaker
But I came out of that Eric Ramsey intro presser, and I was like, that guy seems real sharp. like I think they might have... ah uh done real good here with this hire uh like he was 31 or whatever 32 when they hired him and uh it seems like he's just this really uh genuinely ah well thought of up-and-coming coach not just like he's got a global rep a little bit he literally was coaching for man you before he came to mls with and chelsea so that yeah yeah yeah
00:22:01
Speaker
And then so after he took over, ah the results weren't necessarily super amazing, but you know it's his first year taking over the team. He's working with infrastructure and a roster that somebody else put together. Didn't really have a chance to put his own stamp on it.
00:22:17
Speaker
This year, it feels like it's more like his team. And I mean, you know, I can say what I want about ah skepticism regarding the tactics, but yeah the side is taking results. They're playing really good offense and ah they look like they're going to be contending for a top four spot in the West all season.
00:22:36
Speaker
So how do you think he sort of ah put his imprint on the team in the organization in the time that he's been there and just what, what is it about his style or just how he does it that's made him successful so Yeah, I think that he's, but it was interesting speaking with him about like, why did you come to MLS? Why didn't you go to the championship? Like so many English managers do, right? You just start with Millwall or Darby or Swansea, one of those three, always one of those three. And then either they get, they avoid relegation and your career may continue or they get relegated and they'll never coach in England ever again.
00:23:09
Speaker
And you'll never coach anywhere, frankly. Like it's it's incredibly harsh. And he'd seen that happen with one of his peers um who I've signed in football managers, my assistant coach on multiple occasions. ah And he he got the mill wall job, I want to say.
00:23:23
Speaker
And he got relegated and he hasn't coached since. And so he was like, maybe I should go somewhere else, build my stock before I take on England, take on the, the you know, the richest football system in the world. OK, no problem.
00:23:34
Speaker
um So he was genuinely interested in the opportunity in Minnesota, but also interested in it as like a I have a lot of work to do. And so like it's not like this is the safe landing place to like try it, but also like this is a league that's going world class facilities where I can learn what I want to do at the highest level. So so he's an ambitious dude.
00:23:52
Speaker
um He's also very personable players. As you've alluded to, he's around our age, right? He's in his young 30s. So a lot of players would say like, okay, it's, um you know, he could be one of the boys, whatever. And so how are you going to have authority in a locker room, right? And he always kind of stops as short of that. He likes rapport, but he is still going to stop short of like going out for, you know, a happy hour whatever after the season ends and all that sort of stuff. Like he's going to be very, um,
00:24:19
Speaker
very much leaving some of that to his assistants, but also really dressing as captains like Boxall and trap and really like they're kind of the liaisons and Robin load. They'll have their meetings kind of like how Berhalter was doing with the men's national team for a while with that, like leadership core where it's like, I have my, my kind of surrogates where I understand what's going on the locker room without having to like hang out and kick my feet back. Right.
00:24:38
Speaker
um And tactically, like his I think is he's still learning what really moves him. But one thing that he told me last fall when I sat down with him during the like five month break between the first and second round of the playoffs.
00:24:51
Speaker
I asked him just like, you know, that that whole like system soccer. Like, are you someone who like really eventually wants to get to the point where in 25 you're installing like a really strict thing? He was like, honestly, I don't think fans come for that. Like, I don't think fans come to watch the chess game like they want to see someone take a wild shot. And it was like right when like Prime Barclays was like becoming a big meme.
00:25:10
Speaker
And he was just like, yeah, it's like fans want that sort of stuff. And I want my players to know, like, I know that you grew up wanting to do that. So do it if you can do it, but don't lose us games doing it. And so it's like finding that sort of happy medium of all of it. So like he he's someone that's really endeared himself to a lot of players in an organic way and not in the sort of like, how do you do fellow kids sort of way, which I think will always play a lot better.
00:25:34
Speaker
How long do you think he is for Minnesota? Because when I look at it, like if he keeps on this trajectory, i I'm having trouble honestly seeing any way like some really big club doesn't swoop him up.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah. But at the same point, we said the same thing about Wilfred Nancy after 2023. Right. And he's, he's still in Columbus. And part of that, again, is like what the coach wants. And I think, uh, Nancy sees a lot of value in staying at Columbus for a while until he feels like his project, however, he'll define that himself, right.
00:26:03
Speaker
Is done. I think with Ramsey, he is still, he recognized opportunities. He was linked to the Southampton job, you know, didn't want it. I wouldn't, it's fine. Like, I think I'd rather coach MLS than a recently relegated team, but that's just me.
00:26:16
Speaker
Um, But I do kind of have a difficult time. Let's see if if they won a major trophy this year. So they're in the quarterfinal of the Open Cup. um I don't think they'll get the shield at this point. And they have MLS Cup to play for possible still to play for it, still to play for for the LA Galaxy as well.
00:26:33
Speaker
um So if they won one or two of those, it might be. a lot quicker that he'd feel like he could go but i think that he wants to give it two full years maybe three um i didn't get the sense that he was just like no like a like like just kind of taking jobs yeah total mercenary about it thank you yeah i almost said merchant and that was just like categorically wrong so i use that term a lot too yeah yeah it doesn't seem that way about it i'll say that All right, i'll be I'll be interested to see how long he is how long he is in the league. Because and when you got a 32-year-old former Man U assistant who's like like, if he wins a trophy, like you said, i think his stock his stock is going to be real high
00:27:20
Speaker
Well, and Ten Hag got a job now, too. Right? Like, don't forget, like, that might actually matter, because I think usually the head coach someone was an assistant under, they're kind of, like, assessed as, like, a do we see success there? And if Leibkiews is willing to give Eric Ten Hag the job, like, I think it's easier for, like, I don't know, Portsmouth in two years if they're pushing or wrecks him because he's Welsh, like, to look and say, like, hey, there might be opportunity here.
00:27:44
Speaker
joined by Jeff Reuter, senior writer at The Athletic. If you guys have ah any questions for Jeff, drop them in chat. And if they're if they're not stupid, i'll ah I'll relay them to him. we we We haven't had any chat questions yet. and to say you can ask a stupid one You can ask stupid questions. Ask ask whatever. Until we get other questions, the stupid ones. we got a We got a national writer here who would be happy to answer your questions.
00:28:12
Speaker
um What was my next one? ah This Julian Gressel trade. yeah What do you think of it? I, cause the, the whole thing, whatever was going on with him at inter Miami, I wasn't really sure what was going on.
00:28:25
Speaker
I was like, is he playing pro soccer this year? Is he a podcaster? Unclear. Still feel like he like, it's not like the last time he played, he looked washed. He's not that old. And at the, yeah, at the peak of his powers. And frankly, I've seen nothing to suggest other otherwise. This is one of the best. Yes. Yes.
00:28:44
Speaker
some of the best wide service that I've ever seen in MLS, to be
Gressel's Trade and Impact
00:28:48
Speaker
honest. Yeah, I agree. And it's just, it adds such like a ah unique dynamic to any team that he's on. just yeah He's a specialist. He's such a specialist and he is so good at that one thing. He was incredible at it ah for Atlanta United. He helped the crew win um MLS Cup. He did it when he was on the Whitecaps as well.
00:29:08
Speaker
And really, it's a guy that ah for years I've been like, man, I would love Seattle to get that guy just because he's so good. He's so good. And and he's, ah he's always, always seemed like a great tactical fit as well.
00:29:22
Speaker
yeah But now he's on Minnesota United. He scored a goal. Was that his first game? Second game? like a Second game. Yeah. Second score to goal in his second game. ah How has he looked so far? And just, what do you think of what this trade, do you see it as a big ceiling booster? Maybe does it not move the needle as much? How do you size it up?
00:29:41
Speaker
I think, look, it doesn't fix the midfield issues. Right. And that's not every move has to address your biggest need. Right. you don't always have to draft for need at the top of the board. um And I think that ultimately they they wanted more flexibility with what they could do at right wing back and a little bit more help with like that playmaking, especially outside of midfield, because, again, scary midfields can't have that.
00:30:03
Speaker
ah That's their whole thing this year. I don't it's been their whole thing since Ozzy Alonso left, honestly, which is just hilarious when you compare it to what's happened in Seattle since Ozzy left. But I digress. Um, the, the Gressel thing helps a lot because Longwane hasn't been a natural fit at right wing back. Boggy Longwane is a South African international. He's a converted center forward, played some right wing as well. So he's fully right back now.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, and he's been playing as, like, it categorically lines up as a back five. Like, it's one of those where it's like, okay, is this Antonio Conte 3-4-3, right? Or no, this is, like, a true, like, he is a right back, right, who runs up the wing and provides all of the width.
00:30:41
Speaker
And he looks bored. There was a time... um What team were they playing against? And he... was dribbling out to end a game, whatever. And he was far from the corner.
00:30:52
Speaker
And so he just started doing dribbling tricks like right at midfield. And then he got kicked, which good. ah But like, that's, that's the sort of thing. It's not a natural fit for him. He could be better as kind of an auxiliary striker. Or if again, in a new shape, you see something of like a three man frontline, he'd be a good kind of off ball runner um who could also finish in his own right. i think he's the second leading scorer in their MLS history already, which happened really quickly.
00:31:15
Speaker
Yeah. So there's opportunity there. And I think Russell is a more natural tactical fit. I think he has more um restraint, ah whether he's playing against Inter Miami or he's ah playing against his non-ex employers. He's still like is very willing to recirculate and keep the ball um moving within their own half rather than make a stupid mistake that'll ship a goal, even if it's a blowout, right? like that Like that kind of player where he's going to be really big picture about it.
00:31:43
Speaker
Um, so I think it's just a really good fit. One of those players you don't expect to see available and only a few clubs like granted, like Miami had to eat a lot of his salary. Right.
00:31:54
Speaker
And there was the waiver process with all of that as well with the buyout. But, um, I think that there was a very thin number of clubs that could still afford a senior roster slot as well as the salary necessary to bring in Gressel. So that really limits your pool of suitors. And, um,
00:32:10
Speaker
you know, he's a guy who likes to win. And I guess Minnesota looked like one of the best opportunities to him. Yeah. When I saw that trade, I was like, Oh, that, Oh, that's a good, yeah that's a good fit. yeah That's a good fit for the loons. All right. We got a few in, in, ah in chat here. Here we go. So let's knock these out.
00:32:27
Speaker
ah We got one from PK ah is Dane St. Clair. Okay. He looked like he got kind of banged up last night, last game. Do you have any updates on the status of Dane St. Clair for this, uh,
00:32:37
Speaker
I have no updates on his status, but I will say he's been looking really good this year. And so there's every understandable reason, like, look, Dane's one of those goalkeepers. He's a, he's a Maryland goalkeeper actually. So like Zach McMath and Zach Steffen, um, sometimes they have random little 10 game spells where they look like they haven't played much goalkeeper lately. Right.
00:32:56
Speaker
And it'll be in the middle of the season and it will cause results. And he had a couple of those spells in 2023. since the start of um And Lunes fans would be like, what changed between 2023 and 2024?
00:33:09
Speaker
Right. But like ah since then, he has looked more comfortable. He has looked more assured and like just like has that sort of like command of area and eccentricity and stuff that will play. So um big loss. They don't really have a good backup at this point this year.
00:33:25
Speaker
um But yeah, I would say check Andy Greeter and John Martholler. They're the ones going to training every day.
00:33:32
Speaker
This one's from North Sound. Jeff, any Aussie stories? ah Yeah, you tell yours and then I can tell mine. yeah I have a famously good Aussie story. going to say, you'll have a better one, I promise. Because I think by the time, like, it was one of those things where it's,
00:33:45
Speaker
his His heart was, it was no joke, the whole Corazon thing, like his heart was Seattle, right? And so it was a very different sort of like post hype. um um i i But I will say the way that the locker room talked about him, like the first interactions with him, was they had, it was like him and Ike Opara came in within a week, right? Which is just like an insane influx of like late 10 MLS,
00:34:13
Speaker
best 11 threat every single year defensive stout to bring in a year and the work of like Ozzie and Ike like more than anything else probably transformed Minnesota United as a club like yeah all together having that professionalism um he was one of the first guys to work with the Academy kids and like Minnesota's never had a good Academy ah they've punted on their Academy twice already since going to MLS so they're on the third try of an Academy in the last eight years, not a good rate, but Ozzy was like there working with the young kids, like the family sort of family friendly atmosphere Minnesota as being a smaller market and all that sort of stuff. So nothing really audacious. He's got the first goal in Allianz field history. So like that's the thing that he'll, yeah, that's the thing that he'll, he'll always be beloved for by Minnesota fans. And yeah, to date, he's still the only actual defensive midfielder the club has employed since coming to MLS, which is also a weird thing for him to hold on to.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think, ah honestly, if I were naming my all-time favorite Sounders, he if he's not one, he's like in the top two to three. There's other candidates. Who's your top This is an entire episode. like we actually did We literally have done content on this on a Mount Rushmore. But it's got to change, right?
00:35:31
Speaker
like I mean, yeah, I don't know. like we we eliminat it We did all field players for it. But um on my personal one, Ozzy's on it. Ladero can't not be on it. And then beyond that, there's just so much, there's so many guys that have yeah cases for it. I'm sure I admit like naming just those two guys, there are like 10 other guys that people are going to say I should have how is named. No question. Yeah. but yeah But, uh, my Aussie story, I'll keep it. I usually, uh, go into the details on this story, but, ah he ah He one time ah screenshotted one of my articles and posted it on his Instagram because there was ah there was something in there about ah his injury history. And at that time, he really wanted a new contract and really didn't want he didn't want any narrative out there that he was injury prone.
00:36:19
Speaker
And so he screenshotted it and wrote this caption that was like, I've been taking injections in my knee every day to be able to play and lay my heart on the That's not a good thing to admit, by the way. i mean, I yeah know. I mean, exactly.
00:36:34
Speaker
But ah he my name was in it. And, you know, of course, in that situation, when ah when you have like an athlete calling out the writer, no one's going to take the writer's side. It's all know and ever move the evil media is out to get you. Yes. But anyway, that wasn't like a super fun day on the Internet.
00:36:52
Speaker
ah But but it has a happy ending because I got a call from PR and they said, hey, he like didn't realize that was your article. Like if you when you come out to training today, we'll set you up with them and ah you guys you guys can squash this or whatever.
00:37:08
Speaker
i was like, okay, I don't really want to do that. But like, cause you know, Ozzy's like- Where was Sounders PR when Drake and Kendrick dropped the first track? It's all could have ended so much. I appreciated that like he was willing to do that, I guess. But anyway, they, ah they set us up and he was like, Hey man, like, sorry. Like I didn't, if I, he said, if I didn't, if I'd known you wrote it, like I wouldn't have posted that.
00:37:29
Speaker
I think it was the first time he ever made the connection uh, Like the people who are at training every day asking him questions are the same people who like write the articles that he's reading. It didn't seem like he'd ever, he he was like, oh that was you.
00:37:42
Speaker
like the loss Like, sorry, man. You don't all have the hats with the playlists. With the typewriter. But anyway, he would he was like, if i had known that was you, I wouldn't have posted that. Like, my bad. And then we actually hugged it out.
00:37:55
Speaker
so Oh my god. Yeah, that's great. Okay, so like tell me, what kind of hugger is Ozzy Alonso? Is he like a kind of like an X shape, you do that, you do that? Is he a fist bump and like clap, clap? but i think it and I think it was ah like ah a clap and then a like one of those. Strong.
00:38:10
Speaker
yeah That's captain's material right there. Exactly, exactly. yeah Yeah, still respect some boundaries, but at same point, we're brothers. that's yeah But anyway, that's my, ah that's my Ozzie Alonzo. That's a good one. That's a really good one.
00:38:21
Speaker
I actually, that's, I told that story recently when I was talking to, i was speaking at a middle school career day where at a school where my friend teaches and they, a lot of them were very disinterested, but they liked that story.
Rusnak's Value and Player Acquisitions
00:38:35
Speaker
Is he ahead of their time already? Of the player getting- kids don't know Ozzie Alonzo. Yeah, exactly. That's that' sad. ah Well, I didn't think they were much- In 2018, right? Sorry. Yeah, I'm just realizing. That's like, yeah, the kids. Sure, sure, sure, sure.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. um All right. We got two people who asked a question on the same topic. One from Pat, one from Jake. I'll just pull ah Jake's up here. And actually, i I was going to ask you about this as well.
00:38:59
Speaker
I don't know how ah familiar familiar you are with the Albert Rusnak discourse that goes on in the Sounders fan base. Oh, yes. I'm a gawker. Yeah, I'm an Albert Rusak truther, to be fair. Like, I i think he's good at soccer, yeah. And he was on my best 11 last year, I want to say that out loud.
00:39:16
Speaker
Okay, so you went you went that far. You went best 11. I had him over Ryan Gold as my last pick in midfield. All right, so that kind of gets into the question that Jake had here, but he said... Jeff, there's a debate here in Seattle about if Albert Rusnak is worth his DP slot.
00:39:31
Speaker
Do you think Rusnak is really in the conversation for MVP? If not, why are you in the anti-Rusnak brigade wrong? And i would I guess I would add to that, like... ah what what do you make of the fact that there's a debate over his dp status at all because like i honestly there is a point where i was like all right obviously the people who are saying that he's like terrible like in an actively bad player are pretty delusional but i i suppose there is a debate to be had as to whether this uh is this guy's worth bringing back as a dp or if uh if you should tam or walk it offer him tam and if he doesn't because is he that good like is he like as should you be paying him like a lucho a costa or something like that that's like more of a that's more of a debate i still think especially with how this season has started and how he's still producing i think even that has become not a debate but that's just my opinion what uh what are your takes on the yeah i am my my distracted look like it's not that i'm like nervous can't make eye contact about
00:40:32
Speaker
Talking about Albert Roustock, it is I am loading my Opta data console to to do some fun with numbers just to back my case because that's a ridiculous clamoring. If you look at attacking midfielders since the start of 2024, only three have more non-penalty goals and assists.
00:40:48
Speaker
in Major League Soccer competition. So that includes the playoffs. Evander, Lucho Acosta. Hey, that's fun that those guys are linked together. And Diego Luna, who is the second coming of Christ. So yeah like that is generally good company to be in for Major League Soccer.
00:41:02
Speaker
um If you're looking at the players actually pulled this because I'm doing our team guide because I have to write about the Club World Cup. Which is too bad. But I am.
00:41:12
Speaker
And I'm going to the Sounders game against Botafogo, which is going to be a blast. Jeff's coming to Seattle. I am coming to Seattle. It's going awesome. I can't wait. ah And I wrote 41.7% of the goals that he has scored since the start of last year won games.
00:41:29
Speaker
Yep. Which is one of those things that's like... okay, well, it's just timing is everything, right? But, like, if you look at it, that is a rate where very few players who score multiple game-winning goals will actually hit that rate. That's, like, Lucho Acosta level. That's just above Jordan Morris if you're looking against forwards and wingers. Yeah. like,
00:41:47
Speaker
so like That's a really good sign that someone's worth a DP slot because i would argue that the most important job of a designated player is to greatly improve your team's chances of winning soccer games. Yes.
00:42:01
Speaker
More than anything else. Like, I don't care where you do it. I kind of care. I wouldn't use a TV slot on a fullback ever, but like probably not a goalkeeper either. But like, I think that when you're using them in the right area on the right player, your chances as a team, your ceiling,
00:42:18
Speaker
will fluctuate because it depends on the rest the around you, but your floor is going to get higher. You're going to have fewer opportunities to lose games because you just didn't have that game breaker like Ricky Pooj or Tiago Almada. Right. it's like Guys who aren't here anymore, I guess. um Like you don't have that guy.
00:42:35
Speaker
You can't win as... close of games. And I think Albert Rusak is that guy. I think that he's been that guy with RSL. yeah So he has a track record. I think that if you wanted to play devil's advocate a little bit, you would point out that he's 30, right? He's hit 30.
00:42:51
Speaker
he's hit thirty so How long are you extending him? but my See, my argument for that is like, ah he it's it's not like his game is super reliant on speed or athleticism. it's He's a more cerebral player.
00:43:07
Speaker
So that's why I didn't mind them bringing him back when he was 30 because it's not like a it's not a player that's like, oh, if he's not like max level explosive, his level is going to drop that much. Like he has a game that will age well, I think.
00:43:22
Speaker
Absolutely. He does. and And you've seen it in Seattle, right? Like it's just if you have the right playmaker who knows how to like turn athleticism into guile, right? Because that that makes it a little bit easier if you're if you're like bag of tricks and like knowing the game enough to predict tendencies of opponents and exploit them before they happen.
00:43:40
Speaker
Like that stuff you can't really do in your 20s. Not as well. Unless you're like a prodigy. So I still think there's a DP contract in there for him. I will say I do understand the like hand-wringing about the last offseason.
00:43:57
Speaker
I liked a lot of the moves Seattle made. I thought Craig Weibel had a hell of a window. um I really liked the Ferreira pickup. um I have a series that I do on the athletic called moves. I like, which is exactly as it sounds. And I don't try to sensationalize it. And that's just like, I like this.
00:44:14
Speaker
And I got Danny Masavsky right in 2024 feels really good right now. And Jesus Ferreira finally came good. the kid San Diego is kind of needing that one, but I liked the fit overall because I think that this evolution of the sounders kind of needed to get,
00:44:28
Speaker
I think that versatility of different looks is going to be a massive help because it's just a little bit harder to do what Atlanta did to Miami last fall and just say, okay, well, I know exactly how you're going to play. And I know exactly how I'm going stifle it. RSL did it a few years ago. That was scary. Right.
00:44:43
Speaker
So like, you've got to find a little bit more, don't change too much, but make sure that you have a shape that can kind of unsettle opponents based on the matchup. And, and so I thought for really helped with that. Another guy where it's like between him, La Vega, Roth rock, you know,
00:45:00
Speaker
Paul Arreola, we thought was going to play a little bit more of a role this year, unfortunately. ah But like when you have all those guys, plus Jordan Morris, Andrew Stock, it's like, okay, there's so much you can do with that front four. There's so much you can do with a three and then like one of your midfielders, like,
00:45:17
Speaker
it's just worth having that flexibility because of the gold cup this year and injuries that always happen and potential for transfers elsewhere. So um I liked the moves a lot.
00:45:29
Speaker
I think you need that versatility. And so I can understand where if someone says i like the versatility too, but are we sure Roosnock is like, I don't think he's ever made the like the top three top five of mp mvp voting so yeah exactly that's prereq like fine but i mean i would rather have a guy who's proven it for most of a decade already and is still only like 30 years old than gamble on a guy who's never lived outside of europe before and hope that he hits the ground running
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah, so I was actually, i was thinking about this ah this topic today, and I was going to talk about it later, but we're on it right now. So I'm i'm i'm curious your thoughts on ah on this, which is that I think ah i think the main the main reason that moves like...
00:46:18
Speaker
Albert Rusnak joining the Sounders in the first place or them going out and getting Jesus Ferreira. They weren't necessarily received that well by ah ah not like the majority, but a fair amount of the family fan base. And I felt like, yeah, they felt like they were underwhelming. And I'm pretty sure that the primary reason for that is because they are coming from another MLS team. And I don't think there's that much more.
00:46:43
Speaker
to it than that. Albert Rusnak had played for Real Salt Lake for a few years, so he was established in and MLS when the Sounders went out and acquired him. And, you know, the anti-Rusnak people, they don't they really don't like it when I point this out.
00:46:56
Speaker
But literally, like I always said, just like just pretend the RSL ah like tenure never yet literally just pretend that he didn't play for ah RSL and they signed him from the air to BCA where he was playing before he went to MLS.
00:47:11
Speaker
And, and then if they, if you just put that out of your mind, then you'll look at the production and be like, if this guy didn't come from another MLS team, we would be talking about what a hit this signing was. That's a great framing. absolutely true they know it's true too and that's why they don't like it when i bring that up but i think the same thing i was thinking about how as it applies to ferrera you know there was there's been a lot of discourse the last few weeks because ferrera took a really long time to score his first goal for the sounders and there are people saying that the signing was looking like a a total bust
00:47:42
Speaker
but you know i'm looking at it and i'm i'm seeing a guy that yeah he hadn't scored a goal yet but he had done some genuinely good work for this team as a playmaker this year forest has its ah he has five assists in league play two of those are primary but like still five assists in league play seven across all comps because he had a couple in ccc as well so like the uh the playmaking production has been fully there if yeah If Jesus Ferreira did not come from FC Dallas, say they got him from name whatever league you want name.
00:48:12
Speaker
Like if Jesus Ferreira came to this team from a different league like that ah with the with the pretty much the same production and pedigree ah and he had seven assists, all comps, but hadn't scored yet.
00:48:25
Speaker
the The narrative around him, and this is true, would be, damn, this guy's kind of lighting it up with the assists. Like he's really good. I can't believe Brentford didn't sign him. yeah like Yeah, he's doing awesome as a playmaker.
00:48:39
Speaker
and like i you know He hasn't scored a goal yet, but that'll probably come. He's got like a good track record. So this is like a really encouraging, awesome acquisition. That is how it would be talked about if these guys didn't come from other MLS teams.
00:48:52
Speaker
So optically, that's what happens when you when you acquire guys like that. However, this is what I was thinking about. In actual practice, don't you drastically increase the odds of a signing or a trade acquisition hitting if you're getting a guy who already has been ah provenly productive in the league? With Rusnak, one of the reasons I liked the move when they originally made it was because, well, watched him play for years, but also it's like you pretty much already know
00:49:23
Speaker
what you're gonna be getting ah production-wise because you've already seen him do it in the league. Ferreira had 50-plus goals in the league before he got here. and played so i actually years ago yeah i actually think that there's like something like strategically smart about sound about a yes sound in uh targeting guys when you can that have already been in the league and shown that they can do it so while it might not be exciting because you're not going out and getting them from some other league that people perceive as superior you're actually putting yourself in a situation where the odds that you're going to hit on the acquisition are quite a bit higher and think we've seen that with rusnak and i think that it's gonna when when it's all said and done we're probably going to be saying the same thing about ferrer like what do you think of that strategy I think that's like the biggest reason I was very excited about the cash cash transfer or cash trade is such a silly way to say we have a transfer market in this league now, but only if it's for like good players, right? Like, and just like, don't start doing like, we're going to spend less than the $50,000 minimum allocation money and spend $20,000 on your third goalkeeper, just to say piss off to Don Garber's rules. Right? Like it's not bad, but like,
00:50:37
Speaker
seeing Jack McGlynn, like that be the next step in his evolution before he goes abroad. That's really fun. Like if sporting Kansas city wants to like bail out the galaxy a little bit with their cap situation and spend a lot, despite the team behind him, not being ready for a striker of his profile.
00:50:53
Speaker
Great. Let them do it. But I think that there's an actual opportunity like the Jesus Ferreira trade where you look at it and trade. I just said it.
Player Transfers in MLS
00:51:00
Speaker
They won. Damn it, Ari, they got me. The transfer, like it it does help a lot to be able to actually look and say like um he's worth this much to us and the fee is going to be lower because it's MLS and it's our own league. So we're still building the ecosystem. I don't think any team there's like very few players in this league that I think that if like Seattle called and was like, we're interested in blank.
00:51:24
Speaker
How much is this price? They would give you an eight figure valuation. Right. And think of how many times you've seen an MLS team named Atlanta United spend over 10 million dollars on a like very mediocre Argentine. Right.
00:51:35
Speaker
So like six times. yeah Yeah, exactly. Right. And that's just one team. So like you're right. There is value there because inherently the market hasn't been established enough. to establish a baseline that is higher than the actual return you'll probably get compared to alternatives, right? Like you said, the the fake guy who's just Albert Rusnak, but like with a time glitch who comes from the air to busy, he is going to be like so much more expensive, right? Because you're competing. Exactly.
00:52:06
Speaker
Exactly. And you're competing at that point, not just for, I think that that player is worth $10 million. dollars You're competing against the club that has that guy saying, yeah, but I know if I wait,
00:52:17
Speaker
until the summer instead of the winter, I can probably get 15 out of a LaLiga side. So no, I won't sell him yet. Right. But like with an MLS, I don't know, there's an opportunity there. They have real cash that they can reinvest like Um, and, and if they, sometimes there are teams that just get twitchy and say, we need a new DP because it's like one of three things we can do every off season that actually gets a fan base excited.
00:52:40
Speaker
Right. There's like three things MLS teams can do from the months for like, if you miss the playoffs from October until March that you can do to actually keep your fan base engaged.
00:52:51
Speaker
You have a new coach. You have a new stadium and you have a new DP. The stadium one shouldn't happen too often. The coach one, unless you're St. Louis, isn't going to happen terribly frequently either or Montreal.
00:53:03
Speaker
But if you are most teams, designated players are the surest way to do it or a jersey. But then he' putting a lot of faith in Adidas at that point. um I just think it's a no brainer. Like if you see a player who doesn't quite work in a different system or is available that you wouldn't expect, why won't you want to kick the tires on that? Like it's just it makes no sense to me why that would be.
00:53:22
Speaker
underwhelming unless you're expecting the second coming of Obafemi Martins, right? Like, but at the same point, who's that guy? And is he going to be better value or a better fit than someone who already knows how to take? I will say like the one other thing with for Ferreira, I'm not surprised it took this long because it wasn't just that he you got a move with an MLS and he wanted to go to Europe and was so close to going to shock car or what was it? Sporting?
00:53:44
Speaker
It was Moscow Moscow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Last year that he almost went there. It's not that. It's also his first time living away from home. yeah ah he dude Yeah, of course it's going to take a minute for any homegrown to adjust and acclimate like of any caliber.
00:54:00
Speaker
it just It makes total sense. and I think he's got the right people around him. It looks like he's finally you know on his way to to begging the goals or whatever. Yeah, the ah the timing of him getting his first goal was ah absolutely phenomenal for me individually because we started a miniature firestorm of discourse with a clip that I had talking about how I thought everyone who was calling him a bust was like being way, way melodramatic about the whole situation.
00:54:28
Speaker
And, you know, on the live shows, I'm just ripping, I was ripping for like 12 minutes. So yeah, like I, it's just 12 minutes of me being like, yeah, he has some assists guys. He has some assists.
00:54:38
Speaker
He's got a lot of goals. It's going to just call, it's going to be fine. Like I was doing that doing that whole thing. And then the next game, the next game he scored guy. you know He heard you. He listened to that in his locker room, just threw on the headphones in just 12 minutes. just i i am that i can I can take credit for it for leaving.
00:54:56
Speaker
But like it's like it's it's one of those things where it's actually not hard to predict. like when you like all Literally, all I was doing was just going off track record.
00:55:08
Speaker
So like, it's, it's just funny to me that we've seen situations like that happen like so many times and people just kind of still don't learn. ah We got Wes in the chat. Wes, welcome in. I think first time Lobbing Scorchers chatter Wes.
00:55:23
Speaker
ah He says, just logged on. Jeff, have we already hit Heath to St. Louis? What is he talking about? Did that happen? Or is that just an idea? It's a, it's an idea that people are talking about. What are you thinking?
00:55:35
Speaker
There are many people who are talking about Adrian Heath to St. Louis City. um Look, I kind of like it. I kind of like it. Tell me why. let's Let's start with that. Yeah. i'll I'll give you some context. Basically, the idea is St. Louis just fired their coach yeah and they need a coach.
00:55:51
Speaker
And there is a guy who has maybe helped a team outperform in the past yeah compared to ownership investment. And he would like to coach again. yeah He just, ah I mean, you would know better if he was actually a good coach or not, but I do know that he had some pretty good Minnesota United teams when he was the coach and they did a little bit of punching above their weight, which is what a club like St. Louis would need to do.
00:56:16
Speaker
And he just seemed, he struck me as like, his strength as a coach seemed like kind of culture building, like sort of setting a foundation, setting a standard.
00:56:27
Speaker
And like, he was really, he kind of built the loons up from the, one of the worst expansion launches ever into like a legitimate team, which I i always thought that that was like,
00:56:39
Speaker
probably not the easiest thing to do. And even if like his like in game decisions and substitutions and tactics, sometimes I was like, I'm not fully sure he knows what he's doing in terms of the ah yeah like the other stuff that you need a coach to be good at.
00:56:57
Speaker
it It seems like a club like St. Louis could actually benefit from a coach of that profile. That's what I was thinking. But what are your takes on whether he's actually a good coach or not? Because I honestly don't know.
00:57:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's there's like good value in what you're saying to like, that's that's what a club like that needs like. ah Cincinnati kind of over not overcorrected. they Like there's a certain benchmark you expect a team to hit when you have no culture, when you continually are going to the European well and like no one knows what's going on because it's MLS. And so all they do is they spend all their meetings complaining about the roster rules instead of like trying to navigate around them. Right. Like that's Cincinnati before Chris Albright and Pat Newton.
00:57:35
Speaker
Right. And obviously they got a genuine like franchise changing coach who can be there for over half a decade. But I think that most teams would settle for a guy who will stabilize, get you some wins you wouldn't have won before, and maybe in the second year get you into the playoffs. And then once it looks like the message has kind of stopped, then you move on to your sexier hire that you had kind of in the back of your mind all along.
00:57:59
Speaker
um At this stage of his career, that's probably more likely just because I think eventually Adrian would also like to be a sporting director, like just full time with that. I don't think he got double duty. He was like, it was like one of four guys or three guys. It was like him for me and Bruce arena at one point. And Bob Bradley, I think we're the only four who had like,
00:58:21
Speaker
both the the sporting director responsibility and head coaching. Uh, I would say if you make him focus on one or the other, he'll do better. And hey I know players liked him a lot.
00:58:33
Speaker
Like there are a lot of veterans who yeah like Michael Boxall and Robin Lowe, who will say like our careers are much, much better because of him. Um, I think though, like your, your concerns of in-game management, like that's a viable counterpoint. And so too is like his team's defending when they didn't have two best 11 caliber, like ah a center back and defensive midfielder. And then that year's goalkeeper of the year in 2019, like every other year outside of that, they struggled lot defensively and they were known to like ship goals at weird times ah for one reason or another. So I think that there's, it's understandable why like,
00:59:07
Speaker
Austin, Houston, maybe decided to go and or not Houston. He was still there in the job, but like Austin and Dallas, whatever. Like I get what they wanted to do differently, but like, yeah, I think in the right circumstance, they could be, um,
00:59:22
Speaker
I don't know. I think it makes sense. I think that there are, you know, how it was like a meme for almost half a decade in MLS circles, like, well, they should just hire Dom Kinnear, right? Yeah. It's just like he knows the league and he'll, he'll get the boys to listen and he'll, he'll tell them to trust their instincts and it'll work for at least a year and a half. Like, I think he's at that point where like, yes, if if he got the right core of players and could tell them to trust their instincts, like I think they'd outperform what they did under Olaf Melberg.
00:59:47
Speaker
Got a couple from Steve here in chat. Let's talk about these and ah Jeff, I'll have you weigh in
Strategic Acquisitions and Fan Excitement
00:59:51
Speaker
here as well. Cause I think this is actually an interesting topic. ah The Sounders are great at making solid moves that don't excite their fan base at a certain point. Exciting the fan base is actually important thing on its own Ari.
01:00:02
Speaker
And then he says, Oh yeah, that was aggressive. yeah The Ferrer haters were way premature and calling him a bust. Let's see if the Ferrer fans are also premature and victory laughing after he scores one goal with nearly half an MLS season gone. That's Coming in hot, but ah um ah I'll give my take on these.
01:00:20
Speaker
ah The first point, like ah making moves that excite the fan base actually is important. i I agree with that too like to an extent. And I actually, ah I was advocating for them to like try and make splashier moves like for that reason. Because I do think it's important when to like ah when you're making an acquisition to try and have people actually be excited about it however that should not face at you like if you're faced with a situation where albert rusnak or jesus ferreira are available you shouldn't not get them based on that and furthermore i would i think like the idea that they never have made like exciting moves i don't think i would agree with that i think nico ladero and raul rui diaz were both uh very exciting high pedigree moves that uh
01:01:09
Speaker
you know not you know It wasn't like huge names necessarily, but they were players of exciting profiles. And I think even this year, ah Ryan Kent has generated a lot of buzz ah from what he's done on the field, but also ah just when they got him. they that It generated some excitement because of you know where he was coming from, the type of player he was.
01:01:32
Speaker
So ah like I understand the premise, but I just i don't think you can... use that approach to like inform whether or not you acquire a player like the excitement factor can't be like the difference between going and getting albert rusnak if you can yeah or getting it going and getting his who's fair if you can uh and not doing it you still got to do it even if it might not be the flashiest thing And as for the victory lapping thing, I was very clear on the post game live that I wasn't victory lapping.
01:02:02
Speaker
I know that it's only one goal. I was just remarking that the timing is pretty funny in that ah like, yeah, I'm not validated yet, but I think him getting his first goal combined with what he's done as a playmaker this year, my, my take that he hasn't been a bust and probably won't be a bust is looking a lot better right now than, uh,
01:02:23
Speaker
the people who were crashing out three days ago about how he's a bus because he didn't have a goal yet. So. Sing it. Totally agree. And on the first point, I will say, like, I get what you're saying about, like, are these exciting? Don't you need to excite your fan base? But like, one, you're still here. I'm sorry.
01:02:40
Speaker
Like, there's a certain point where if you're that diehard, it's going to take like an off field scandal to kind of, or the team just being like unbelievably bad for like 10 years. Like, I think there are probably still a good number of galaxy fans Okay.
01:02:58
Speaker
There's a profile of Galaxy fan that because they were irrelevant for four years, found it very easy to jump ship and go for LAFC, right? Like, that's a weird factor in this hypothetical I just tried to, like, reference.
01:03:10
Speaker
ah But the fans who stuck with them probably loved the 2024 MLS Cup more than, like... any of the previous ones because of the weight. And I think that payoff is the intoxicating thing that keeps all of us coming back. Right.
01:03:26
Speaker
But I will say for like, relevance within Seattle, ah kids wanting to play for the Academy and or just wanting to play ball. Right. And like actually like pick it up.
01:03:37
Speaker
You know what does that more than signing David DaCosta like Portland did, who like most people in Portland hadn't heard of before he showed up and they're all like, who? Right. Because there's a learning curve and acclimation with that. This isn't like the NBA where it's like, OK, we just traded for this guy. Look at his highlight package in the same league. We've played him. We know him. Right.
01:03:53
Speaker
um You know, it does more than than that. Having the emergence of Paul Rothrock Like I kid you not like that probably moves the needle more for Seattle specifically having someone who is from Seattle, like actually step in, step up and like suddenly find his best and be like hardworking. I can see myself out there when he's on the field. And like, I think like, I know that there's some eye rolling and there's some like, come on, but you didn't spend anything for him. But like that genuinely is,
01:04:26
Speaker
the sort of thing that gets that excitement to a like meaningful, sustainable level. The people who are really upset about which club, which league they brought in are probably already like there.
01:04:37
Speaker
So, yeah, i don't know. like what What you hit on with youth development there, I think is an an an important point. Like what I, what I love about what they've done with the commitment to the Academy and like really developing these players and having them be impact players for the first team.
01:04:53
Speaker
It makes it, it makes the team like really feel like it's, Seattle. Like it's a, it's a Seattle team. It's got a lot of Seattle athletes. They put a lot of, uh, time, effort, resources, and money in like having there be like a real Seattle identity um on the team.
01:05:10
Speaker
Like Jordan Morris has obviously been a huge part of that, but you could go down the list like Jackson Reagan, Seattle guy, Paul Rothrock, like you mentioned in this game. Like I thought it was so sick at the game last night, uh, when Stu Hawks got called, it got called on, called into duty And went out there and helped the team keep a clean sheet. And it's like, yeah, that's why you, ah that's why you invest locally like that and bring these guys up because you can be in a situation where you have like five center backs hurt and you can put the homegrown kid out there and he's going perform.
01:05:45
Speaker
So like, And if he makes a mistake, I'll tell you what, your fans will be a little more forgiving than if he was a guy that you signed from Columbia for a transfer fee who has a similar background.
01:05:56
Speaker
Right. It's true. Yeah. hu Jeff, I got I got a ah couple more for you. I don't want to keep you up too late. But if you if you do need to jet at any point and and I'm rambling, just. ah Go ahead. But ah I guess ah let's let's hit a couple of other more national storylines. And again, if you got any any other questions or topics you want us to hit, go ahead and drop them in chat.
01:06:18
Speaker
ah But you mentioned you mentioned it very briefly, but like, what do you make of what's up with the a Galaxy right now? Like both in terms of like just how like historically ah bad this run is, but also just the strategy of going all in like that.
01:06:38
Speaker
Totally all in putting all your chips in the middle of the table and knowing, knowing that it's you're going to pay the bills going to come due. You're going to pay a price for it. ah And like, has what's happened to them changed the way you think about that at all? Because I've been saying the whole time, like from the beginning of the season when they didn't start off that well, all the way to when it went fully off the rails.
01:06:58
Speaker
It doesn't say when did it start going well? i would like i Like, yeah, the no, two point. I just, I thought that once it went off the rails, I was like, it's still worth it. It was still worth it.
01:07:10
Speaker
Like sometimes you got to sell out, go get the ring. And if you get it and you pay a price for it, it's worth it. Shiny trophy, shiny trophy, still shiny. You know, I got to say they are like pushing the limits of what, of what I, if I think that trade-off was actually worth it just because of how much it's gone off the rails. Yeah.
01:07:31
Speaker
And like, I get it. Like I have no issue with them going all in and putting their chips in the table like that. But for it to be this bad, it's almost like they've already sacrificed a lot of the equity they got from the cup. It really does feel like that.
01:07:47
Speaker
Greg Vanney, who just got extended, walked over there and like was apologizing to the fans and stuff last night. That's the type of stuff that was happening when they were doing the Chris Klein out. Yeah, that' right no that's right.
01:07:57
Speaker
How are they already back in that situation after literally just winning MLS Cup. I'm surprised they're in that position. Not for the reason. I'm surprised that there's this much disdain for it.
01:08:09
Speaker
This is actually one of the most fascinating things for me that's made me like, shit, am I a contrarian? Like, I don't understand all the fervor and upsetness about this shit.
01:08:20
Speaker
Like, it's it's funny, man. Like, if if the league's commitment to parity is as good as they try to make it, you will only win MLS Cup once every 30 years.
01:08:31
Speaker
It doesn't work like
Team Strategies and Player Retention
01:08:32
Speaker
that. I know. I'm really sorry, CF Montreal. It doesn't work like that. But if it did, it would still be too long between and MLS Cups.
01:08:42
Speaker
So you should probably celebrate them when you get them, is my point. ah I think it made a ton of sense for them to go all in. I think it was reckless in the sense of their inability to keep guys 5 through 14.
01:08:59
Speaker
On their roster, which is too many guys to have to like make compromises on for your next season. Right. Like I think that's the part that's reckless, but yeah, if if I had a chance to win MLS cup with a Ricky Pooge guy at the heart of it, I'd do it every time.
01:09:17
Speaker
Cause that's the sort of stuff that like fans are going to love. Fans love possession. This is my, my big thing with like watching Minnesota is like no team in MLS history has been more allergic to possession. Right. Right. And how do you get fans excited? You have to win.
01:09:31
Speaker
If you don't win, you better be entertaining. If you're not entertaining, why are they still here? Right? There's just like, that's the the symbiotic relationship sort of with teams and their fan bases. And I think that when you get to the galaxy, you did it.
01:09:43
Speaker
And I think you did it in a way that was so reliant on one player that once he tore his ACL, this year was always fucked. But this fucked?
01:09:55
Speaker
This fucked. No, not this fucked. 0-12-4. Yeah, and that's what goes back to the 5-14 issue, right, with their squad management. And that's that's where I think the more interesting discussion lies, and that's not the discussion I've been seeing.
01:10:06
Speaker
um But, like, yeah, they were never going to finish higher than fourth without Ricky Pooge, and even then fourth would have been like, how did you do that? Because that entire team operates around him to such an extent that every player in their midfield is playing out of position right now because Ricky Pooge isn't there, and there are squad limits, so they need to make sure they keep...
01:10:26
Speaker
the spot available for him. And therefore, that you know, whatever your whole midfield calibration, there's no second Ricky pooch that you can just install and the whole thing operates similarly. um Attackers, Paintsville and Peck look a lot worse without him. I'm not surprised. They're both better off the ball. They're having to do more on the ball. That's just going to happen.
01:10:42
Speaker
Everyone is worse with more of the ball, given the amount of shares that he has. You can't discount how unique, not just how uniquely important he is, but how unique of a player he is and how difficult that's going to be to like make the whole thing work.
01:10:56
Speaker
when you've already kind of made half of your commitments for the next season before his knee goes. I don't know. I just like the other thing is if if the guy who won you a championship likes playing for this coach, like, yeah, maybe don't announce the contract renewal.
01:11:11
Speaker
I've actually, I've actually come to the conclusion that keeping him is perfectly defensible and might even be, it might be, it might even be like the actively right move because, uh,
01:11:24
Speaker
With Greg Vanney, you have a situation where like he like lives and dies by that club. He loves the l LA Galaxy. he it's he's a It's a little similar to Schmetzer in a way in that like there's... I don't think anyone on the planet Earth that cares more about the success of the LA Galaxy than Greg Vanney.
01:11:42
Speaker
And when you have someone who's got like that deep of loyalty and passion and devotion for something, I can understand like sticking with them through tough times, especially when they just won you a championship.
Emmanuel Reynoso: Enigmatic Player
01:11:53
Speaker
But just back to the whole topic of the trade-off, like Seattle people can relate relate to that exact trade-off because when they won Champions League in 2022, it tanked their season. like at And they missed the playoffs for the first time in club history.
01:12:08
Speaker
And ah I said and still say and will always say that there's there's literally not even the remotest, faintest of a hint of a debate about like whether that trade-off was worth it. you Couldn't agree more. You take champions league over the playoffs anytime. If that's the trade trade-off that has to be made.
01:12:27
Speaker
But the difference is like when Seattle was struggling in 2022 after winning champions league. ah Yeah. Like they lost Joe Paulo with the torn ACL. ah There was a lot of like fatigue, additional injuries and the team just kind of fell apart.
01:12:42
Speaker
ah And it was bad, but it wasn't like that bad. They, they ended up at like 1.2 to 1.3 points per game, which, points per game which is bad, but it's like, whatever. It's not like the worst. You were contending until at least the second. Yeah. Like it's not the worst and MLS season I've ever seen.
01:12:59
Speaker
ah This galaxy team has, they haven't won a game, Jeff. They literally haven't won a game. That's not good. 16 games through the season. Like it just, it, uh, yeah yeah even Even with the knowledge that the trade-off is worth it. Like I said, they're like pushing the bounds of like and what I consider to be worth it And maybe I am getting like way too trust the process of all of this. and like I don't know. I just think there are so many worse mistakes that they could have made if they tried to like panic and course correct. right
01:13:35
Speaker
Where they could try to... I don't know, force a sale for Gabriel pack on the back of his newcomer of the year trophy and hope his value is high enough and bring in a totally different guy who now you have to get used to. Okay. He spends six months being a DP on the LA galaxy, which is yes. One of the few teams in the MLS where that actually has cash aid to international signings, right?
01:13:55
Speaker
ah Beckham and, keen and whatever is Zlatan so like sure if he gets to continue that lineage that's great he's gonna be excited and then all of a sudden Ricky Pooch comes back and it's like okay how do these guys get along do they get along do they fit like you would hope that you did your scouting and like they will fit tactically but personality wise is this the sort of thing where the locker room has sort shifted like that would be the end of your championship window yeah but a very understandable alternative that I think a lot of fans would have liked to see like, okay, can you just get Griezmann? Can you just get Kevin DeBrona? Whatever the case is like, ah or
01:14:31
Speaker
you let your doctors do their thing. You let your recovery staff do their thing. ah This year looks really bad, but if you're back in the Western conference final in 2026, no one's really going to remember it except for as like a nudge, nudge sort of joke.
01:14:44
Speaker
Like, yeah, we punted on this year, but it's MLS, whatever. We came back and we made the conference final. Like, I just, there's so much worse that could have happened than what the galaxy have brought onto themselves, which is still very, very bad to be. Yeah.
01:14:58
Speaker
It's just like, uh, I don't know. I never thought like a trade off in my mind and like that in my mind would even be a question, but 12 and four, And it's just like ah the ways that they're finding to lose these games. It's ah it's incredible content for me.
01:15:13
Speaker
Totally. I say it's it's almost become like a league-wide bit at this point. like Everyone's like, it as don't lose to him. Don't lose to him. Keep it going. Let's keep it going. yes got it And every week...
01:15:25
Speaker
I'll tell you what, I wouldn't be surprised if sporting directors or coaches have like a little side pool going on. Like who gets the first loss to these guys? You can't be the first one. You can't, no one can be the first one. Yeah. at dinner at the not exist super draft of event I know when coaches even all get together anymore. Media day.
01:15:40
Speaker
That's sad. Yeah. I miss the super draft. Jeff, a couple more for you here and then I'll let you go. I mean, we're, we're going to be pulling up on like an hour 20 years soon. So, uh, can't, can't stay up all night, but, uh, yeah. Thank you for, uh, spending this much time with us in our audience. and Really, really appreciate it. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. We'll, we'll, we'll get you back on again soon.
01:16:02
Speaker
Please. And you're going to be in, uh, you're going to be in Seattle for club. It's going to be great. Um, gonna be great du um Okay, right. I have one that I have to ask back to Minnesota United, which cool i would be I would be remiss if I didn't ask this one, which is on the Minnesota United beat, you had the opportunity to cover who I consider one of, if not the most mysterious players in MLS history.
01:16:31
Speaker
And his name is Emmanuel Reynoso. Ooh, not the guy I thought you meant. Okay. This guy has, i think, one of the more ah like fascinating and MLS legacies of any player that I can think of.
01:16:48
Speaker
he ah He rolled up in, what what year was it, 2018 or 19 or something? It was 2020. So that also has to be Mystique, right? like He started playing in empty stadiums and all this sort of thing, besides Texas. so yeah yeah yeah he rolled up with a lot of pedigree from was it boca juniors uh juniors yeah yeah he wrote like uh like nico ladero rolled up as like the number 10 from boca juniors to minnesota united it was a big signing uh at the time and on the field he was just fantastic i mean the uh i think one of the best pure dime dishers i've ever seen in mls the vision and the passing the that the passes he could pick out the through balls, the switches, the long passing, ah the set pieces, just a absolute wizard out there.
01:17:33
Speaker
ah But his time with Minnesota United ended up colored by a lot of very bizarre situations where yeah he would, ah he would just not come back from Argentina in the off season.
01:17:49
Speaker
They'd be like, Hey, right now. So it's time to, we got camp and he'd be like, I'm not, And then sometimes sometimes they would be like, no, you really got to. And he was just wouldn't answer. Wouldn't answer at all. Yeah. Where is he?
01:18:01
Speaker
the storie the The stories became like, where is Emmanuel Reynoso? And no one ever knew. And that would have been weird enough if it happened one time.
01:18:12
Speaker
Happened like three or four times every yeah There was like multiple times in There was one time where he showed up For the first day preseason and was like oh I have to go get my passport that yeah gone And then he's gone And then they're like People are like well did you talk to him do you know where he is They're like no we don't know Right no And so, you know, from the outside perspective, ah my biggest question would always be, you know, where is this man?
01:18:38
Speaker
can ah Can someone go find him? is This is feels concerning at ah at this point. And really, well, first, I wanted to pitch my idea about this, which is...
01:18:52
Speaker
like an HBO style series about Emmanuel Reynoso with him as the main character but like the the storyline of the series is like what he was doing wow while he was away away from Minnesota United and no one knew where he was and you just because honestly like based on what got myself somemate yeah yeah based on what had did come out about it like it sounded like stuff was pretty crazy at times. Like we don't need to get into the exact, like what he did, but like going to parties, getting in fights, like getting photographed, holding a pistol by a bag of cash. Yeah.
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Potential
01:19:27
Speaker
Stuff like that.
01:19:29
Speaker
to say hypothetical So as someone who was covering the team yeah day in, day out while the, while this was going on, I guess, what was that like? And how do you, how do you sort of tackle it as a reporter when you have a really like bizarre situation? like that yeah i think that's that's one where you just gotta like you gotta trust your relationships there and also respect them right so it's like that thing where you don't push too hard and not out and in this case it wasn't as a like just just go easy man they'll tell you when they're ready because that doesn't that's not how chadwis works but like it's more of a oh they're not talking for a reason okay and what i vividly remember because i remember a lot of that was virtual for that first year but by the time
01:20:15
Speaker
he started his kind of Ray no show routine. Like it was one of those, I can't take it. Like 50,000 people came up with that joke. Like at the same time when he didn't show up for camp. So I've made, I've made that joke, but it's it's still good. It's still, it's still bangs.
01:20:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It really, it will play ah for the ages. Um, When that started, i remember there was a lot of eye rolling for a while and it was just like, are you kidding me? This is the guy who almost brought us to MLS Cup until stuff happened in Seattle. And then happens and yeah, we hit some.
01:20:51
Speaker
kind of rocky waves, there was a little bit of a turnover with the roster. Kevin Molino left. And i think people kind of have already forgotten how good Kevin Molino could be in the late 2010s through like 2020 between like ACL tears one and three.
01:21:04
Speaker
Like he was so good. and And that was the best he ever looked in MLS. And probably his entire career was like 2020 when they made that run. And so he suddenly was gone.
01:21:15
Speaker
um He went to Columbus, I think at the time. And he was finding it a little harder to have his allies. So there weren't many people in the locker room who were still going to be like, hey, just give him time, whatever. Right. Like a lot of those guys in his corner, maybe at the locker room had already left.
01:21:29
Speaker
um And then he stopped showing up. And at first it was just a Yeah, I know. Total diva. Like we ran into this with Johan Venegas. It's ridiculous. Like, but whatever, he'll show up before the season to like a.
01:21:44
Speaker
We're to a point now where we're really upset and like we're assuming that we need to look at contract termination and maybe legal action against this guy or whatever. Right.
01:21:54
Speaker
And I went out to that years. It was 2023 was like the most prominent time of this, I think. And it was deep in the preseason. He still hadn't reported. I don't think he ended up reporting until like April, basically, or like March and then didn't play until April.
01:22:12
Speaker
and I went to the Coachella Invitational, uh, cover like half a dozen MLS teams at once, which is just such a rare opportunity post super draft now. Um, And I went to interview Hassani Dotson for a like just real quick sort of like he was coming off his own injury and he became a dad. Yaddle native.
01:22:30
Speaker
Exactly. Right. So I was just like the local angle, right? The twice local angle. I was writing a profile on him and I remember asking him and it was the first time where I saw someone's body language change when I brought up Reynoso and not go in like a like ah whatever sort of like place or like a frustrated and like I hope you don't ask me because I'm going to like punch something if you do say his name because I've heard it too much in bad context lately instead it was like him being like I want him to know that we are here for him yeah and that we hope he's okay it's just like oh shit and then it started to come out that like his family had like history in the barrios and they were being like
01:23:09
Speaker
The HBO series would have content. I'll put it that way. They would have plenty that they could work with. And once that became the case, the sort of Minnesotan empathy of just like, man, I just hope that you're all right because you're not just your career, like at this point, fuck your career, right? Yeah. like Your life could get like...
01:23:30
Speaker
really damaged. And it like, I mean, the photos came out, they were all over. Like it it did get damaged to an extent. He's, he's still playing, but he's like a squad guy in Liga Mequis. I think at this point, I was going to ask if I knew what he was, what do he was back in Argentina now. I think he's at his, um,
01:23:46
Speaker
Is he at a, what was it? It says with a T, but it's his his boyhood club. um Tenure, not Tenure if that's in Spain. Anyway, um he's back in Argentina and I hope that that's a good move for him to be close enough, but not too close, but at the same point, hit it.
01:24:02
Speaker
it crossing? Tiaris. Tiaris, yeah, okay, good. It did start with a T. Okay, there's some credibility. so um But yeah, in a it is a really sad story of like if you have the wrong people in your corner and you get to a point where your own team is going to give you a little bit of leeway and you don't know how to respect it for what it is and you take all of the leeway, like it got really, really bad for him, unfortunately.
01:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, it is. We, we, you know, I'm guilty of, uh, I made the Ray no show joke, but, uh, it is sad, uh, because of like, you know, all the stuff you mentioned. And then also on top of that, just, uh, excellent player.
01:24:44
Speaker
Like he really, yeah. yeah Like the, the list of guys who you're pretty confident from anywhere on the field could hit it to anywhere else in the field, like on a dime is like so small, like even like some of the best players were like up against him and like assists, like Espinosa or Carlos Hill, like,
01:25:00
Speaker
and Now there's something, there's something different about a Reynoso dime. I don't really know. I don't know either. I think it was just like the effortlessness. Like it was one of those things where it just like, like i was watching a really good, like foolish baseball episode yesterday where it was just like Hank Aaron's power came from his wrists. And it's one of those things where he wouldn't swing the prettiest. He didn't have like a Griffey swing or anything like that, but like he could just like whatever with anything and always hit it to like deep center for 25. Like,
01:25:24
Speaker
like It's one of those where it's just like if you just have that strength and that like nimbleness with like your footwork, you can just do whatever you want. And I think he truly could have done with like the right people in his corner.
01:25:36
Speaker
That was the kind of talent where he could have played in any league in the world and started. But, you know, really, ah I think Minnesota feels still. I don't think anyone will say many kind words about him at this point among the Minnesota fan base, but I think within the locker room, the holdovers and the organization, it was just like a pleasure to play with him and a shame that it ended like it did.
01:25:57
Speaker
Yeah. I do remember it getting to a point where there was quotes coming out of like preseason camp where the players were kind of, where they were fed up with it. They were like, we don't want like, it's like you're all either in or you're out. And if you're not showing up, then if you're out, you're out.
01:26:12
Speaker
Like, so yeah. that is uh it's yeah the whole situation was really sad and i did uh i did really enjoy watching him play it is a crazy story that i i think the hbo series is that's one of my they should look into it one of my better takes like uh you give you just give like any good screenwriter the details of that story and just have a showrunner though don't just give screenwriters like have a showrunner to oversee this whole thing from start the you're the playwriting uh Yeah.
Philadelphia Union's Strengths
01:26:39
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, for one episode, right. I'll set the tone episode one and then we'll just send loose and people with better ideas.
01:26:46
Speaker
ah All right, Jeff, one more topic here for you and ah and I'll let you go, which is just let's let's talk a little bit about this Sounders game on Sunday Night Soccer presented by... Fun concept, by the way. They're doing it pretty well.
01:27:01
Speaker
ah well Yeah, no, I agree with that and it'll be fun. i don't know if Seattle's been on Sunday Night Soccer this year. think you're going to be on two weeks in a row. It's like Vancouver and because I was watching the Minnesota-Vancouver game before I watched the Seattle-San Diego on Wednesday and...
01:27:15
Speaker
They were like, oh, yeah, both of our next two Sunday night soccer is involved. The Sounders because Minnesota is playing Vancouver. So they're doing plugs for both, which is funny. Anyway, I dig i think it's your first time.
01:27:28
Speaker
What do you what do you make of this of this matchup with where these two teams are at right now? And I guess if I could add on ah a little bit to that, what, a what is your more general perspective on the Seattle Sounders as they stand right now, like from a national lens? I think people will be interested to hear that.
01:27:50
Speaker
Yeah. I think for the matchup, I have a tough time seeing Minnesota winning at Lumen until they've done it. Like I just, I wouldn't, I know that they have that style that's really exploitative when you're away from home and against teams that want more than 50% of the ball. And I know those are two. So like, could this be a time where it could shift?
01:28:09
Speaker
Yes, it could. Right. Like there are, and think Jordan Morris scored a lot of goals against Minnesota over the years. Like that's a change. Right. So like, I think that having him gone maybe gives Minnesota a sort of little more confidence that they can avoid past mistakes. But I still think at this point I'd have more confidence in Seattle.
01:28:25
Speaker
um But I've had confidence Seattle all year. They were my preseason pick to win MLS Cup. So, oh, hell yeah. Hear that chat? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm standing by it. I will say this is the longest in a season in recent memory I can remember where i felt good about my um MLS Cup pick.
01:28:42
Speaker
Yeah. Usually it goes off the rails. like Right. Match day four. Yeah. Yeah. I think last year I had the crew, which felt really good until the first round of the playoffs and this year much better so far.
01:28:54
Speaker
um And I think part of that is also like, I knew it would take a little bit of time, but like, this is a coach who understands how to like get the pacing of momentum and like, understand not to panic too soon. Right. And throw out the entire plan and keep building to something. So like, I think Seattle is a really good spot. They're fourth in the league and expect goal difference, which is just general underlying numbers, bullshit for like, they're actually better than the opponents they play in terms of chances created and chances conceded.
01:29:21
Speaker
Um, And they're at a level that looks really sustainable, man. Like it's, I still think the Western conference goes through Seattle this year. I think that l LAFC did get a bit of a shot in the arm with Shurundalo announcing this would be his last year. Cause I think there are a lot of players in that locker room who will want to do something for him this year because they've struggled so much in big games under him. So it's like not just his reputation on the line, but kind of theirs with LAFC anyway, to scale.
01:29:46
Speaker
Uh, yeah. So I think that's different, obviously the galaxy or shit. So like there's, there's one less contender to really worry about RSL fell off in big way. People forget they finished third in the conference last year. Like, you know, so it's just like, it's a very different West. You've got Vancouver, but competitive on all fronts. We'll see.
01:30:05
Speaker
Uh, if eventually like there's something, yes, for sorenson said last week, where it was kind of like, we have to keep evolving no matter how good we are, because we do recognize teams are starting to learn what we're doing. And we'll see if they can kind of outpace opponents with that.
01:30:17
Speaker
Uh, I still think they have the talent to pull it off, but it's just, it's always interesting. The team that starts the season strongest, I don't think often wins MLS cup, right? Like I I'd have to go like The white caps are not going to win cup this year.
01:30:30
Speaker
I don't think so. I don't think so. Not because they're of like any drop in quality or fall off. It's just the best team usually doesn't. Yeah. And they're clearly the best team. And that's fair. That's totally fair. like they're goingnna They might win CCC, but Cup are not going to win.
01:30:46
Speaker
That's actually a really good point, though, because like I think people forget, like and even in 2023, Columbus didn't win the East, much less the Supporters' Shield. You know what I mean? like that's That's kind of one of those teams where as soon as you see it, it's one of those that just kind of stays in your memory. It's like, this is a very, very good... to like No, this is a great to excellent and MLS team, right? Yeah.
01:31:06
Speaker
and And they stick with you. Like 2018 Atlanta, I think, kind of had that verb about 2017 Toronto, 2016 Seattle. They're just sort of like versions of these teams that you just kind of retain. It's like like in old Madden games when Madden was good, right? And they would have those like historical teams that they would bring back and be like, do you want to play against the like greatest show on turf? Or do you want to play against the 85 Bears? Like those sorts of teams where it's like, these are the ones that like are kind of the benchmark.
01:31:30
Speaker
That's what Columbus 23 is. But you're right. They weren't the best team for most of the year. And so I think that there is still time for someone else to kind of ah step into this conversation.
01:31:42
Speaker
And I don't know if I would say it's Philly either. they still think that like, are you not sold on Philly? Not, no, I'm not. Why not? I kind am. I'm sold on them as a team that's going get a lot of regular season points, but I'm also not sold on that ideology as one that wins MLS cup, because I think that we've seen other teams with better squads and more established cores plus coaches. And I'm specifically talking about Jesse Marsh's Red Bulls, not do it where I just think that teams can figure it out, whether it's him, Chris Armis or Bradley Carnell.
01:32:15
Speaker
So I don't think that they'll win MLS Cup either. Yeah, I think ah think that's a good point. I really like what the Philly Union have going on right now. I really like that ah the Jean Jacques guy that they signed.
01:32:27
Speaker
Yeah. He's awesome. and And Quinn Sullivan as well. It's been great. ah His breakout's awesome. Yeah, yeah. No, they've got some and like Tybur Evo winning the golden boot race so far. It's just like it's one of those where it's like the meme potential of Christian Benteke winning an MLS golden boot over Messi and Suarez was irresistible.
01:32:48
Speaker
So I'm glad it happened. Like that's one of those things that I'm just like grateful to have witnessed it. Yeah, because i don't think the European mind can comprehend Christian Benteke winning a golden boot, but it certainly can't ideally. the concept of Tybur Rebo winning a golden boot overly and all messy. So I truly hope that that continues.
01:33:08
Speaker
Yeah. But I still don't believe in the Philly union as like, I think they're a top four team in the East this year, bar none at the end of the year.
Vancouver Whitecaps' Momentum
01:33:15
Speaker
Like, I think it's like them since he and Columbus are the teams I'm most i' confident in entering the bracket.
01:33:22
Speaker
But yeah, that's, you know I still think I'd take a team from Ohio over them. Who you got in the CCC final? Do you think the Caps closed this out or do you think they it ends in heartbreak?
01:33:34
Speaker
I think it might end in heartbreak, but I do think I actually have more. if i could only bet If I had to choose a winner from one or the other, I think I would go Caps over LAFC in the Club World Cup playing game that night against Club America.
01:33:47
Speaker
um Look, I think that the run that they've been on, they... They need this feeling again, like they fed off of like where the underdog absolutely no one pays attention to.
01:33:58
Speaker
And we know that we're good. So let's just fucking show them. Right. And that was like their entire thing in February, March, April, May hype train caught them. in a big way right like and whatever like they've been like leading ah yeah almost said extra time that got said they they've been like the the one of the like predomin bring back extra time can i just is is this bring back extra time where can say that please bring bring it back and the ecosystem misses it so goddamn much like yeah it needs extra time it really does um but they would be leading every episode
01:34:31
Speaker
If this was a just world. um I also think that they are like the the Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter. Like, I think Sebastian Berhalter is suddenly becoming one of those like the streets know it guys like Nagby was when he was in Portland.
01:34:45
Speaker
Right. Where it was just like, if you know ball, you know that he's actually good at it. He's really quickly getting into that because he's like. He's a superstar man like I don't know how else to put it like and I don't know how or why that happened, but it did apparently it I mean it did happen. He's that good blew my mind talking to him because I did a piece with him before the second leg against Miami and did a one-on-one and we talked about like his dad and all this sort of stuff. And I kind of like, it was just like, Hey, we're going to talk about the world cup. I know you're at the 2022 world cup. I know you know what happened right after it with a close family friend.
01:35:16
Speaker
We'll get into that. So I was expecting that to be a little tense and he was, he was good about it. Like he addressed it head on, apply directly to forehead. So that was awesome. um But the other thing with him was like, my dad didn't want to roll in my career development.
01:35:28
Speaker
Even when I was a kid, he was like, obviously no shit. I have to drive you to practice. It's me or your mom. Right. But like, I'm not going to call coaches and say, you got to play my son. I'm not gonna, I'm not going to trade for you. If I ever work in this league right away again, you know i mean Like you've got to kind of earn this on your own. So the first time that they really got reps together was during COVID where Greg was already in the job and Seb was with Columbus and they ended up winning um MLS cup this year. That was his first homegrown year. And he was like,
01:35:57
Speaker
was him and Aiden Morris were kind of the new homegrown midfielders, which is just a hell of a pairing to graduate at the same time. um And it was just Greg and Seb working on a park and in Chicago and just like working on his speed predominantly, which is funny because I still don't think of speed as like one of like Seb Berhalter's things.
01:36:16
Speaker
But when you think about it's probably one of those things where you need to get it to a certain level so that the rest of your skill set sings, right? Like if you eventually can't outmaneuver, run away from an opponent, it's going to be a lot harder to go into your bag of tricks.
01:36:30
Speaker
So I think that he has been phenomenal. Yeah, I mean, I got a Gold Cup. Look, I'm really glad. Yeah, I mean, that's it would have been insane, honestly, if he hadn't with the form that he's in.
01:36:43
Speaker
I mean, yeah, you could just go down the list with what's going on with that team right now. But like ah Pedro Vitae, one of my favorite players in the league, obviously everyone knows about Brian White. So. yeah I actually. And one of the best defenders in the league. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like you can't. eat Jaden Nelson's apparently like the best wing. I know. It's nuts. Takeoka is like, I think he's like that level of goalkeeper it's just like if he was on my team, I'd probably feel really confident.
01:37:07
Speaker
One of the like, you just kind of know when you feel like I'm a Bournemouth fan. I'd kept Arisa Balaga this year. i was never confident. but Yeah, no, honestly, i think they ah I think they have a great chance of getting it over the line. I don't want to jinx them. It's going to be a really hard game. They're traveling for it.
01:37:22
Speaker
Berhalter's not playing because of a bullshit CONCACAF policy. My rule, if I'm ever FIFA president, is going to be that, like... There's only like certain suspension wins. You can't get a yellow card accumulation suspension in a tournament for a final, ah but you can get a straight red.
01:37:42
Speaker
So don't do that. They got it. They got it. They got to do something about that rule. i already did a lot of soap boxes about that. Cause I'm pissed about it. I want to watch Berhalter needs to be playing in this game like for it to be like a true, the the true game that it can be. Who is the actual champion, right? Like, yeah. need because And if they lose, you know, I'm going to be saying, I mean, if Berhalter, you want me both, man, like that so that's yard i there's already a baked in narrative there um all right jeff that is all i got for you tonight man thank you so much for taking all this time i mean you just streamed with me for an hour and 38 minutes so yeah yeah we'll absolutely uh get you on here again soon and i'll see you in a couple weeks i guess for uh seattle sounders versus yeah a couple weeks yeah um before uh before you get out of here any work with the athletic that you have anything you got coming up that you want to plug or promote or just anything uh up that way yeah i would say yeah i mean one thanks for having me like shows like this are like the the best the best so like appreciate being able to come on to a late night recording and hit a couple of highlights quick um
01:38:51
Speaker
The athletic I mean, like i've covered Club World Cup, so I'll be writing about the Sounders. I'm kind of the token like, yes, I actually know and watch the Sounders a lot guy. and and So like I will I swear to you, I will try my best to actually convey the team and not just they are in an MLS team.
01:39:06
Speaker
So as I cover it, that is my pledge. um I think that there are others who are focusing on Miami more. um And then, yeah, U.S. Women's National Team is in town, so I'll be doing something there. But ah Total Soccer Show, I'm i'm on that every Tuesday. Oh, yeah, i forgot to mention that, yeah. That's fine. it's It's new this year. where It's an informal.
01:39:24
Speaker
I just happen to show up every single Tuesday. I'm not officially on the Patreon. but like friend of a Friend of Lobbing Scorchers, Joe Lowry. The man. He's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. With Joe, it's Joe and Taylor and I every Tuesday, sometimes Graham Griffin as well. But like, it's, it's been a blast just to actually be like back to podcasting and again. I miss a lot.
01:39:44
Speaker
And I say, I'm a lot more than I used to and I'm working on it and I probably did too much tonight, but you're not always doing this. So that's always for the best. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you again, man. Much appreciated. And ah we'll talk soon.
01:39:59
Speaker
Sounds good, man. Thanks for having me. Take care.
01:40:02
Speaker
That was Jeff Reuter of the athletic.
01:40:08
Speaker
Really great interview there. I hit on a lot of stuff for over an hour and, uh, that's one of the most knowledgeable, uh, MLS reporters in the game right there.
01:40:21
Speaker
So glad we got time to, uh, dig into some Seattle sounders with him and talk about the league as a whole. And, uh, again, always feel like I learned a lot about the, uh, Seattle's upcoming opposition, uh, when we do these interviews. So hopefully you guys are enjoying them and, uh, I'm going to keep trying to do them every week.
01:40:41
Speaker
Uh, Derek Richards coming in with the gifted gifted membership. I don't know how many of those we've had. That's awesome. Thank you, Derek. Appreciate you as always, man.
01:40:53
Speaker
um
MLS All-Star Team Selections
01:40:55
Speaker
All right. Probably not going to stay on too much longer. Honestly, we went we went longer than I probably planned, but we were cooking. We were spitting. So had to be done.
01:41:08
Speaker
ah But i' I'll hang out for a little bit. If you guys got any other topics or questions related to the to the Sounders or anything, really go ahead and drop them in chat. I'll get to as many as I can.
01:41:21
Speaker
Squared coming in with the $10 super sticker. Thank you so much squared for the support. Appreciate you. If you haven't done so yet, please like the video.
01:41:33
Speaker
That is like, honestly, apparently the most important thing for the algorithm. Like the video, subscribe to the channel. And yeah, let's keep it rolling here.
01:41:46
Speaker
ah Man, i was I was planning on busting out the all-star ballot, but... I feel like I'll get so in the weeds with that. I'll be on for another like two hours.
01:41:59
Speaker
Uh, I think, i think I'm going to push that chat. I think I'm going push that, uh, because I'm a little tired and I don't want to do that time commitment, but I, uh,
01:42:10
Speaker
I will I will stream when I do the ah when when I do the all star voting because i kind of liked the idea of talking it through with all you guys like while I'm while I'm voting.
01:42:24
Speaker
So we will. ah We will do that. ah
01:42:31
Speaker
Podcoming this week, i think I think so. I got to get aligned with Noah on that. we're kind of We're realizing this week that with ah with a midweek game, it kind of messes with the shelf life a lot.
01:42:48
Speaker
Like when you have ah that short of a turnaround and you can't record until like the day before the game. So I think what we... What we might try and do is put out like kickoff audio in that situation, but we'll see.
01:43:05
Speaker
We'll see if we can get one out before this Minnesota game. But if, ah if we, if we don't, for whatever reason, I definitely can pledge that we will do a, like a homestand review conventional pod.
01:43:20
Speaker
Yeah. Triple, triple dub pod. Exactly. That thoughts on Dax McCarty's All-Star 11. ah All right. let's ah Let's talk about Dax's. Let's do that. Let's do that.
01:43:35
Speaker
That's a good shout. I got it pulled up right here. And I'll give my takes on his take. And maybe that'll inform on who I'm thinking about for All-Star.
01:43:46
Speaker
So let's just pull this up right here. All right.
01:43:55
Speaker
We got Dax there. Hey, Dax.
01:44:05
Speaker
and MLS All-Star 2025, which players deserve your vote? There's Dax. There's Denny Buonga. All right. Let's see who he's got here.
01:44:18
Speaker
So for his honorable mentions, let's see, let's look at these guys who didn't make it. These are kind of the, uh, the bubble guys, the controversial omissions. He's got Kevin Denke, Chicho Arango, Tawny from Minnesota, Alonzo Martinez, uh, and Oh, Albert Rusnak.
01:44:36
Speaker
Albert Rusnak is in Dax McCarty's honorable mentions. Uh, what an outrage. Yeah. What an outrage that Rusnak wasn't in there. Honestly, man, I, you know, I vote for, I vote, I do this vote every year. It's so hard.
01:44:52
Speaker
Like there there's just so many guys at every position. Like if you're talking about who you would put on as the starting all-star number 10, like I think Rusnak for sure had an all-star caliber year, but let me, let's see, let's see who he put.
01:45:09
Speaker
Let's see who he put.
01:45:12
Speaker
So these are the attacking mids that made it. Let's see if we think that Rusnak is snubbed for any of these guys. Dax has Evander, Martino Heda as his two attacking mids, and then Pep Bial, Carlos Gil, Georgie, Diego Luna in this like in this other honorable mention.
01:45:32
Speaker
See, honestly...
01:45:35
Speaker
Like, do you do we think that Rusnak is far and away clearly should be in there over Evander and Martino Heda?
01:45:46
Speaker
i'd ah I'd argue that he's played, like, in the vicinity of the those guys' level this year, but, like, I can't be outraged that those guys would get, like, ah get a shout over him.
01:46:00
Speaker
It's just... ah
01:46:03
Speaker
It's just tough, man. It's tough. but Anyway, let's go back up.
01:46:09
Speaker
For goalkeeper, he's got a Dane St. Clair as the starter. I think that's actually a good shout.
01:46:20
Speaker
I was thinking... ah
01:46:23
Speaker
I was thinking Zach Steffen, who he's gotten the honorable mention. i don't know if Zach Steffen has stayed as hot as he was earlier this year, but there was a, there was a period earlier this season where Zach Steffen was on like an absolute, one of the biggest heaters I've ever seen from a goalkeeper. It was unreal.
01:46:47
Speaker
So that's maybe that's sort of weighing in my mind. And I don't know, I don't know if he's like sustained that, but,
01:46:55
Speaker
I might go with Zach Steffen. might go with Zach Steffen when I do it.
01:47:00
Speaker
we actually want any sounders putting more minutes on their bodies risking injury in a mid-season exhibition match match yeah honestly not really like that's why every year when people are like oh christian rolled on got subbed again i'm like i mean i wish he'd made it for like for him like for the bonus and the honor of it and stuff but low-key i mean they're not like running the guys into the ground during during the all-star game they sub everyone out like at half and they they just sub a lot in general. So I've never been like super, super worried about someone getting hurt in the all-star game, but I definitely like the MLS season is such like a ridiculous grind anyway, you know, throw another game in there.
01:47:48
Speaker
ah Selfishly. i don't mind it when a sounder gets snubbed because and don't want them out there like risking it. Center back Tristan Blackman. That is like a ah no doubt about it has to be in there.
01:48:04
Speaker
Any ballot that doesn't have him on there is objectively wrong. That is who I will be casting my vote for at one of the center back spots. But I think the yeah the next one is interesting. It really could go a million different ways.
01:48:20
Speaker
He's got it as Glessness. I think that's a good shout. I think that's actually a really good shout. I really, that's not one that would have popped into my mind, my head, like right off the top, but I'm a little more, I'm a little more in on the Philly union stock than, ah than Jeff is.
01:48:40
Speaker
I think they've got it. They've got it going on and he is a big reason why. And he has been for a few years, but when we're talking about, ah I mean, he was, yeah, like Dax mentions here, 2022 MLS defender of the year.
01:48:53
Speaker
But, uh, I think Blackman Glessis is a defensible. I mean, like I said, Blackman has to be in there. I don't mind the Glessis pick. I don't think that's what I'm going to go with, but I don't mind it. I don't hate it.
01:49:05
Speaker
Uh, let's see who he's gotten these honorable mentions. Fofana for the revs. See, that's one, like, I don't know that much about. I'll have to look into that. Uh, Miles Robinson.
01:49:18
Speaker
Good shout. I kind of you know what, chat? You know what? I kind of like the, ah kind of like the box all shout here. I do. I do.
01:49:29
Speaker
ah You know what? Fuck it, man. Let's do my ballot. Let's just do it.
01:49:36
Speaker
Let's just do it.
01:49:41
Speaker
This is making me, like going through Dax's ballot is making me want to want to do it. So let's do it. Sorry, I have to pull it up. Pull up the fan vote.
01:50:03
Speaker
All right. Vote now. Here we go. That's what I'm trying to do. Vote for the 2025 MLS All-Star Team. Get started.
01:50:13
Speaker
It's that simple.
01:50:17
Speaker
Okay. Chat. Who's got passionate feelings on who the goalkeeper should be? I was saying Zach Steffen. To me, it's Steffen.
01:50:33
Speaker
Guy, I say, who is the other one?
01:50:42
Speaker
Dax had St. Clair. I don't know.
01:50:47
Speaker
i'm kind of I'm kind of feeling Stefan. I'm going to, I reserve to the right to change my mind on any of these. And all right, look, like I know a lot of people are going to, like if I don't do this 11 all Seattle, but I'm trying to be like, ah trying to be objective here.
01:51:09
Speaker
But has like, has Zach Stefan really been better than Frye? I probably should like look at underlying stats a little more, but like, I kind of like doing, ah I kind of like doing all-star voting off, like just who i think is the best when I watch them play. Like you can, you can really break it down, but like, if i if I like what Stefan's been doing,
01:51:33
Speaker
I want to go with that. Like what i what I think more than really breaking down all their underlying stats and like going, and just going, who's better off that. Like Stefan, his, uh, has been like the thing about what he's doing this year is he's the degree of difficulty on his saves by the eye test is just unbelievable.
01:52:00
Speaker
Um, I'm going to put him in there for now. if Jake's still mad at ah Zach Steffen for getting goalkeeper of the year the year. That fry probably should have got it.
01:52:12
Speaker
Definitely should have got it that year. I agree with that. But that's not Zach Steffen's fault. he's not He's not the one who makes that decision. Like, what do you want him to do? Decline it?
01:52:24
Speaker
ah
01:52:29
Speaker
All right. Let's hit left back. Let's hit left back.
01:52:33
Speaker
I think, ah
01:52:38
Speaker
man, I think you got to go Kai Wagner here.
01:52:44
Speaker
Or Wagner. What did I call him, Wagner? Kai Wagner.
01:52:53
Speaker
I think... ah I'm pretty sure Kai Wagner is ah still racking up crazy assists this year. he was yeah one he's got He's got seven assists.
01:53:07
Speaker
This guy's pretty incredible. He just grinds out double-digit assists seasons like it's absolutely nothing. so He's doing it again this year, and the Philly Union are playing really well.
01:53:19
Speaker
Derek, me too, man. Me too. i've been ah I've been wanting that one. for More than Gressel, man. More than Gressel. I was telling Jeff about how how much I wanted Julian Gressel on the Sounders for a long time.
01:53:38
Speaker
But Kai Wagner, even more so.
01:53:42
Speaker
um All right. let's just Let's just get Blackman out of the way.
01:53:51
Speaker
No shot that it's any anyone else.
01:53:57
Speaker
But who should I hit for that second center back?
01:54:01
Speaker
Who should I hit? I was saying Boxall. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I like it.
01:54:11
Speaker
I like it.
01:54:15
Speaker
Blackman box all that's that's such a nice center back duo.
01:54:20
Speaker
Right back. All right. This is actually an interesting one. i think Andy Nahar has a good shout here.
01:54:31
Speaker
But I think I'm going to go with my heart here chat. I think I'm going to go with my heart. Tell me what you guys think of this.
01:54:43
Speaker
Alex Freeman. I think he deserves it. I really, I think like, I think this is the pick here. He's been that good. And ah what's interesting about him is just how like different he is as like, in terms of his profile than you typically see from a fullback. He's like six foot, like three or four.
01:55:05
Speaker
He's like more like a center back in terms of his physical profile. I feel like, ah but, his His attacking play for for them, for Orlando City from that position, is elite.
01:55:21
Speaker
And like he's just such an imposing presence defensively. he he is he is incredible. Honestly, you guys have not been watching Orlando City this year, watch some Orlando City. Watch some Alex Freeman.
01:55:35
Speaker
guy is The guy is incredible.
01:55:42
Speaker
Can I not change the formation? Is this like a, cause there's only one defensive mid spot, whatever. I'll just, I'll figure it out. Um, all right. Defensive mid defensive mid.
01:56:00
Speaker
This is tough, man. This is tough. If we're going one spot,
01:56:06
Speaker
this is tough.
01:56:13
Speaker
The thing is, Christian Roldan absolutely deserves it.
01:56:21
Speaker
But Sebastian Berhalter,
01:56:26
Speaker
in my in my heart of hearts, can I say that ah Christian's having a better year than Sebastian Berhalter? I don't think I can. Which is crazy to say because Christian's having an elite year.
01:56:42
Speaker
But Berhalter is the best number eight in the league right now. And he's done it all season. I would say that's if you're making the argument of him over Christian.
01:56:56
Speaker
Christian, ah his start to the season, it wasn't it wasn't like bad, but it wasn't as good as he's been. Really, his his surge has been in the last like five, six weeks, I would say.
01:57:07
Speaker
Whereas Berhalter's been doing it since day one. But the thing is, this Terskov guy for San Diego also deserves this.
01:57:17
Speaker
Like...
01:57:20
Speaker
He's been insane too. You really have three guys. I want to give it to all three of them, but I think Eric's right. I think, I think this is the right call here.
01:57:33
Speaker
If we're basing it on who's played at an elite level, the most consistently in the most dynamic had the most impact on his team's success.
01:57:46
Speaker
I think, I think it has to be done.
01:57:55
Speaker
uh kai wagner and alex freeman aren't in the west did you mean like all the players up here are in the western conference higher rated than verhalter by some analytics interest interesting
01:58:13
Speaker
i'll have to look into that more but like i said like i'm uh oh all the dms in the west okay i got you yeah that is true
01:58:26
Speaker
Like, I don't know. I just think i guess I just think Berhalter is that guy this year. I think he's that guy. Christian is that guy too, and I watch him do it every week. And honestly, Christian's been playing some of the best ball I've ever. I've watched every game he's played as a professional.
01:58:46
Speaker
And the stuff he's doing like lately has been unbelievable.
01:58:53
Speaker
He deserves a spot. But i gotta i got gotta go with ah I gotta go with my gut, chat. I gotta go with my gut.
01:59:02
Speaker
All right, attacking mids. I think Evander gets one of these spots.
01:59:10
Speaker
That seems pretty clear cut.
01:59:13
Speaker
But then what do we do?
01:59:17
Speaker
Then what do we do? Dax went Ojeda. Pep BL is Noah's guy, but I feel like he and their team have fallen off a little bit. ah Carlos Hill, Georgie Mihailovic. I'm to be honest, guys.
01:59:33
Speaker
I'm to be honest.
01:59:37
Speaker
I kind of like Diego Luna right here.
01:59:41
Speaker
Although, if I'm...
01:59:45
Speaker
You know, it's one of those things, like how much do you weigh team success? Because ah RSL is not very good this year. But
01:59:54
Speaker
Diego Luna, individually, it's not it's definitely not his fault that they're not very good. He's been fantastic, and he's a really fun young player. But also, it's like Rusnak has been more valuable to a team that's had a lot more success than Real Salt Lake.
02:00:20
Speaker
I don't know. God, this is always this is always so hard. Only guy on that team, exactly. That's what I'm saying. like he he has to He has to do it all, and he does do it all.
02:00:31
Speaker
i'm I'm kind of feeling that. i'm I'm totally just going off like pure vibes right now. I'm i'm feeling this. feels It just feels right. It feels like I'm doing the right thing.
02:00:47
Speaker
God, this lineup is pretty sick.
02:00:52
Speaker
to actually such a nasty nasty looking lineup in a good way
02:01:03
Speaker
oh uh espinoza he you can put espinoza as a forward i think of like so these are like you know this yeah center and then you can have
02:01:18
Speaker
I think Espinoza, right, this is how I see this right now. This is how I see this. Baribo.
02:01:30
Speaker
he should but He should have been in the middle. Why was it? Did I click the wrong one?
02:01:39
Speaker
OK, it's just doing that automatically.
02:01:43
Speaker
ah Baribo, one of them.
02:01:49
Speaker
I think Espinoza...
02:01:56
Speaker
Okay, here's what it is. Here's what it is. Here's what it is.
02:02:03
Speaker
I'm not doing this and not having Brian White on there. I got three whitecaps in here, but it's that is merited. The fact that... Oh, man.
02:02:14
Speaker
Oh, I just remembered Pedro Vitae. Pedro... Pedro Vitae, Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, and Tristan Blackman all deserve to be here.
02:02:27
Speaker
Like, I honestly believe that. But it's like, like if I feel wrong not having Pedro Vitae on this. he's like one He's like the best one arguably.
02:02:42
Speaker
Doesn't feel right not having him on this.
02:02:48
Speaker
But can I have four whitecaps? Chat, yes or no? Can I have four whitecaps? Should I have four whitecaps?
02:02:56
Speaker
Because i I have no problem on principle putting Pedro Vita in there instead of Diego Luna. But then I got four caps. Is that overkill?
02:03:12
Speaker
This last spot is tough too. Like Buonga could be in there.
02:03:18
Speaker
You know what? I'm i'm i'm actually not going to give it Buonga.
02:03:24
Speaker
I'm not going to give it to Buonga. He's been really good lately. Their team has been looking better. But there is on his start to the season, like I think consistency has to be taken into account with this.
02:03:39
Speaker
Consistency has to be taken into account. Buonga was hit or miss earlier in the season. So I would rather give it to a guy who's been more consistent like... ah like an Espinosa.
02:03:54
Speaker
Oh, how do I leave Chucky Lozano out too? How do I leave Andrews Dreyer out? See, this is just, it's really, you gotta have, I think people were, I think people were saying like, they need to do like two best 11s to get everyone in there. Cause like, like honestly, Chucky, Chucky, I really think should be,
02:04:20
Speaker
in there, although, you know, he missed some time with injuries. so speaking to the consistency longevity thing, maybe I can use that as the, uh, the tiebreaker there. I think dryer Espinosa, I think that's probably correct.
02:04:32
Speaker
I think that's probably correct. And I think I'm going to go with Espinosa.
02:04:40
Speaker
Oh, but he can't because he's, oh, that's, but it's like, I'm putting him as a winger. Come on.
02:04:50
Speaker
Okay, so I can't do Espinoza. I'd have to do Chicho if I was going to give it to someone from the Quakes. These are our options right here.
02:05:01
Speaker
Maybe I have to give it to Buonga then. i think that's, Espinoza should easily be, hold
02:05:09
Speaker
hold on, going to put Kuyper's there for now. All right, actually, take that out. All right, all right, all right.
02:05:18
Speaker
I think this has to be done. I think it does.
02:05:28
Speaker
I like that more. I do. Diego Luna is still, I had him in there. I had him in there. was valid, it was a valid shout.
02:05:41
Speaker
He deserves it. But I think Espinosa has been a little better.
02:05:49
Speaker
So that leaves us with one more forward spot.
02:05:58
Speaker
What do you guys think? What do you guys think? I know, I just, formation. What are we doing?
02:06:08
Speaker
It's looking like, all right, Kuypers, Bwonga, Denke is still out there.
02:06:17
Speaker
Those three are all and okay. Dreyer is eligible. ah I kind of want to do Dreyer chat. Kind of want to do it. The haters are going to say that ah it it should be Buonga. All right, let's let's just see what this looks like.
02:06:36
Speaker
i thought um
Podcast Wrap-Up and Listener Engagement
02:06:39
Speaker
I don't know to really understand the eligibility.
02:06:44
Speaker
Like positional eligibility.
02:06:50
Speaker
Nah, Latte Loth. Team success, I'm factoring in there. He scored a few goals, but
02:07:00
Speaker
all three all three I have in there over him, I've been like way better for way better teams. Yeah, hasn't scored in eight games. That's kind of crazy. What do you guys think? I kind of like this. I think I might submit any any ah anything egregious here.
02:07:18
Speaker
Am I missing something? Did I do something stupid? Let me know.
02:07:26
Speaker
I just am not including Messi. I think everyone knows that he's good enough to be an all-star.
02:07:36
Speaker
He can be an MLS all-star. Lionel Messi can be an MLS all-star this year. I'll allow it, but to try and give shine to to these other guys.
02:07:45
Speaker
Let's talk about this in terms of like the non-negotiables. Like who's debatable? Goalkeeper's like probably the most debatable one. That's the one where I'm like, I don't know if I've made the right decision here.
02:08:00
Speaker
I think Stefan's a good pick, but I don't, it's not like a slam dunk situation.
02:08:06
Speaker
I think left back is debatable, but i picked the one that I personally liked the best, which I think is a fair thing to vote on.
02:08:15
Speaker
I like what I did with the with the second CB spot. I was kind of struggling with that when I was initially thinking about it, but I feel good about Boxy. To me, Freeman is lights-out pick.
02:08:31
Speaker
It's not like if someone wanted to debate for one of the other guys, like I wouldn't argue with it, but for me, that's a slam dunk. For me, Berhalter is a slam dunk. There ain't no way.
02:08:44
Speaker
There ain't no way you can have this lineup without him. He and Blackman.
02:08:51
Speaker
I think Evander is pretty non-negotiable.
02:08:55
Speaker
The Espinosa spot's the one you could debate a little more.
02:09:01
Speaker
That's what's what I'm saying. Like, I want to do, I want to be able to rock a double pivot here. Like, I want, If I could rock a double pivot, I would drop Espinoza and put Terzkov or Christian.
02:09:16
Speaker
And I think that would be like more representative of...
02:09:22
Speaker
Takahoka, that would be four caps. That would be four caps. I was already told that I shouldn't do four caps. It's just crazy that like half the Vancouver Whitecaps starting 11...
02:09:37
Speaker
fully, fully, like no doubt about it, deserve to be on this team.
02:09:46
Speaker
I'm pissed that I can't get ah Pedro Vitae in there. I'm pretty sure Christians on the Berhalter Christian should run the Gold Cup.
02:09:58
Speaker
They could do it. They could do it. They don't have the courage to do it.
02:10:05
Speaker
The bots wouldn't like it.
02:10:08
Speaker
But that would, oh God, that would be good. They actually, there's actually like a scenario where you could have a Berhalter Christian rolled on double pivot and they're too cowardly. They're too cowardly to let it happen.
02:10:24
Speaker
Christian will be like in the, like it's the Berhalter spot. Like that's where I would have to put him.
02:10:30
Speaker
And I just can't, like i can't do that.
02:10:37
Speaker
i think this i think i I think I feel good about this. think I feel like I've made ah the right decisions. Let's look at goalkeeper one more time. That's the only one that I don't feel as good about.
02:10:53
Speaker
Should i just give it to Fry?
02:10:57
Speaker
Is that like a homer pick? Man. Ugh.
02:11:02
Speaker
You know, just like ah just going off my gut right now, i kind of i kind of like Gaieste over Stefan.
02:11:14
Speaker
Give it to Fry. I'm going to do it, man. I'm going to do it.
02:11:25
Speaker
They can call me a homer. That's the only sounder that I have in the eleven
02:11:37
Speaker
I was kind of between Gaese or Fry.
02:11:42
Speaker
Need a sounder in there. All right. All right. You guys are right. You guys are right.
02:11:54
Speaker
I think this is it.
02:12:02
Speaker
Yeah. Fry, Christian, and Roosnack all deserve it. But I think, man, like, I could i could go Rusnak over Espinoza, and I would feel i would feel justified in that.
02:12:20
Speaker
Here's the thing. Here's the, like, if i'm if I'm trying to look at this, like, say I was an outside observer. Rusnak did miss some time with ah with injury which he still played at an all all-star level and still produced at an all-star level but in a tiebreaker scenario like this I think giving it to the guy who's like played more games would be fair check the stats all right let's see
02:12:58
Speaker
Let's see what Espinoza's got here. got four and eight. Four and eight.
02:13:13
Speaker
And
02:13:17
Speaker
he's been very influential for one of the best attacking teams in the league, both on the stat sheet and just in terms of like his role for them week week out.
02:13:29
Speaker
He's got 12 goal contributions. Rusnak has 10. Rusnak would, in all likelihood, have more if he hadn't missed a little bit of time with injury. But Espinosa does have more.
02:13:45
Speaker
It's close. It's close, but I'm really trying to look at it like I would look at at it if I was a total, impartial outsider.
02:13:56
Speaker
And I know myself well enough. to know that if I was doing that,
02:14:04
Speaker
I would probably go Espinoza. 260 more minutes.
02:14:12
Speaker
That's kind of a lot, isn't it?
02:14:22
Speaker
Yeah, the formation is,
02:14:29
Speaker
Kind of what's tough here.
02:14:35
Speaker
I think I feel good about this.
02:14:40
Speaker
ah like that I was able to get drier in there.
02:14:45
Speaker
I feel like all the non-negotiables
02:14:50
Speaker
I have in there.
02:14:54
Speaker
I feel good about getting fry in there.
02:15:02
Speaker
I think I'm gonna I think I'm going to submit this chat like I'm gonna submitter right here.
02:15:09
Speaker
Am I missing am I missing anything am I doing anything crazy here. Am I doing anything crazy I don't think I think this is all at least like defensible. It's not like a ballot that an outsider would see and be like.
02:15:20
Speaker
What is this guy doing. He has no credibility. All right. Oh nominate your captain.
02:15:32
Speaker
Nominate your captain.
02:15:38
Speaker
Stephen Fry. Why not?
02:15:46
Speaker
Locked in.
02:15:49
Speaker
Locked in. All-star vote submitted. The deed is done.
02:15:56
Speaker
Steph Fry.
02:15:59
Speaker
Come on down. If my ballot turns out to be a predictive, you're an MLS all star.
02:16:10
Speaker
That was fine
02:16:14
Speaker
fun. Fun little thought exercise there.
02:16:19
Speaker
Thanks for talking through the picks with me. All right, chat. I'm going to start the process of wrapping it up here. So you already know what time it is.
02:16:33
Speaker
We're going to hit the lo-fi.
02:16:44
Speaker
to hang out for a few more minutes. If you guys got any last questions, topics, agendas, observations, want me to hit before I get out of here, drop them in chat, get to as but many as I can.
02:17:03
Speaker
Hunchpunch asks, this starting 11 versus the starting 11 for the Gold Cup USMNT, who you got? ah The All-Stars. Bro. like ah
02:17:18
Speaker
i Like, I actually like the Gold Cup roster because it's got, like, some of the underappreciated and MLS guys. Except not Christian Roldan.
02:17:32
Speaker
But, uh,
02:17:35
Speaker
I like I would straight up I would pick the this all-star team over like the first choice USMNT
02:17:43
Speaker
our our uh our center backs like Tim Ream or whoever it is right now going against Evander and Christian Espinosa and Ty Buribo I guess Brian White in this scenario would have to be playing for both teams
02:18:09
Speaker
Can we beat Minnesota and Vancouver? Yeah. I mean, can. Yeah. Like, uh, Minnesota is really good this year, but they always, even they've been good in the past.
02:18:22
Speaker
And like, for whatever reason, it's Seattle's a bogey team for them. You know how we always talk about like, uh,
02:18:31
Speaker
Portland or LAFC or whoever it may be like, and people get really tired of like the bogey. That's what, that is what Seattle is to Minnesota. They're the team that when they see it on the schedule, they're like, uh, there's gonna, they're, we're going to find some way to lose that. Like their fan base. I'm saying that's how they feel about the Sounders.
02:18:53
Speaker
kind of nice being on the other side of that. But so that's, I think that's especially them coming here. They always struggle when they come here. They famously came here for a playoff game the COVID year and almost won it, but didn't.
02:19:08
Speaker
So even though the Loons are good at home, Seattle will be favored. And then that Vancouver game is going to be Like, they're going to have nine, like, it's right after the CCC final, which we all know that can famously cause hangovers. I don't think it will for them. But also, they're going to be missing, I think, nine guys for that game for international duty.
02:19:33
Speaker
I'm pretty sure. Something like that.
02:19:38
Speaker
So that that Vancouver game is like very winnable just because of that. If they were playing like the peak capacity Whitecaps with Pedro Vitae, Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, Tristan Blackman, and the gang, Jaden Nelson.
02:19:54
Speaker
That Whitecaps team would be pretty heavily favored in any game they play against Seattle, like the full capacity Whitecaps.
02:20:05
Speaker
They'd be favored against anyone in MLS right now, so that's not like a not a knock on anybody on anybody that they play. But
02:20:18
Speaker
home or away, that's how i mean that's just how good they've been.
02:20:23
Speaker
They'll be the favorite in any MLS game that they play until they cool down.
02:20:31
Speaker
Jumped on late. Jesus goal celebration takes. i I loved it. I loved how ah how juiced he was because if you've been paying attention, you'll notice that he's been celebrating all his assists like that or just when somebody else scores.
02:20:53
Speaker
So it was nice to see him but get to be able to do that for a goal that he scored himself finally. because he really has done like a lot of great work setting other guys up this year.
02:21:10
Speaker
Him at the nine has not always looked super hot and him playing out wide has not looked always looked super hot, but he's been really, he's been unselfish. He's been deferential.
02:21:27
Speaker
He's been getting his assists. He's been getting on the stat sheet. So to see him let loose like that in the direct aftermath was a fun moment. And then he did the ah the baby thing. He's having a baby. So congratulations to him as well.
02:21:47
Speaker
and was a That was a fun goal. It was a really good goal too. I was watching the highlights again today. i love that goal because it was a very, it was an absolutely vintage classic Jesus Ferreira goal.
02:22:01
Speaker
That goal is
02:22:06
Speaker
a lot to do with IQ and savvy, which is a lot of what he makes his living on. is like you know He's not the biggest guy in the world. He's not the most athletic guy in the world. He's pretty fast, but he's not like a Denny Bawanga.
02:22:22
Speaker
But he's a very smart player. That's what I've always liked about him, dating back to his ah FC Dallas days. That's why I knew Brian Schmetzer would like him. because he's extremely unselfish
02:22:35
Speaker
and he's a good work rate player. I'll say it again, this narrative that was going around regarding his, his like buy-in or care level.
02:22:47
Speaker
I think that's bullshit. I really do. I had like, I know everyone sees different things.
02:22:56
Speaker
when they watch the game and maybe there's maybe there's individual instances you could point to where there's definitely been instances where his body language hasn't been good and
02:23:07
Speaker
that is for sure true and that's not what you want but i i think i mean to me it looked like some of the bad body language was because because he cares right
02:23:20
Speaker
but to me, I've seen the, I've seen the buy-in and the effort and the work right there the whole time. I just, the goals weren't there. So
02:23:31
Speaker
great goal, great, ah great work by rolled on and Roth rock to create that opportunity. And then that, that touch and turn really nice, really nice goal.
02:23:49
Speaker
Sorry, I'm, uh, there's a lot of questions in the chat here. Kim Kihee update. Uh, not that i heard today. um but.
02:24:01
Speaker
Based on my non expert, non medically certified opinion, a calf strain or pull like that you're usually talking about. I feel like it's pretty similar to a hammy now, like two, four weeks, probably minimum.
02:24:17
Speaker
And then depending on the severity could be more like six. So let's hope it's not that, uh, but I mean, any muscle injury or like that, you're looking at the next couple of weeks, which that's not good.
02:24:32
Speaker
But Stu Hawks, man.
02:24:35
Speaker
I've been saying this has been a good week for my agendas.
02:24:40
Speaker
The Ferreira is actually not a bust agenda. Got a little boost. Not victory lapping. Not victory lapping. But that that agenda definitely looks better after this last game than it did previously.
02:24:55
Speaker
And I've been saying, I've been saying, I've been saying free Stu Hawks. Let him play. We've been hearing for like five years about how he is the highest upside defender in the Seattle's youth setup.
02:25:08
Speaker
He signed to the first team. Let him play. They weren't letting him play. Now they are letting him play. Look what happens when you let him play. you see what happens?
02:25:19
Speaker
Chuky Lozano had no idea what to do with Stu Hawks.
02:25:24
Speaker
He was in his pocket.
02:25:30
Speaker
Who should be the starting nine against Botafogo if Jordan is healthy?
02:25:36
Speaker
think the answer to that question depends on if he was able to get any minutes like at all to get his fitness up before the start of the game. If he hasn't played at all yet and it's his first game back, there's no way you start him.
02:25:54
Speaker
both because of the uncertainty of like his fitness, but also he's not like going to be sharpened in rhythm. Like he's very starting his very first game back like that. It takes it takes a while, especially for a striker to get back fully sharp and Moose. We'll see what happens with the Moose injury, but Moose uh, has been in form.
02:26:21
Speaker
So, If Jordan is healthy and he hasn't played at all, you still start Moose. If he's put that, it becomes a more interesting question. I think if he, uh,
02:26:34
Speaker
if he does get any game time before then, and if he looks fit, but like just the timeline of the injury, I don't think there's any way that he's going to be ready. So,
02:26:47
Speaker
would love to see Ferreira in a 4-4-2 with Jordan Morris. That's ah like, that was what we all, or not, I don't know, we all, but like when I heard that they were trading for Jesus Ferreira and I was envisioning how it would look, it was as, not as like a dual striker setup, but like at a four four two with both of them up top, but with Ferreira as the second striker kind of playing off Jordan.
02:27:13
Speaker
And I was thinking about that and i was like, I feel like that could be really good. Jordan's been injured, so they haven't been playing together.
02:27:24
Speaker
But we'll see if they can like align it. I feel like when they did play together, it didn't look like it had popped yet, but like he's been on the team for longer now. maybe maybe Maybe that'll work better. I don't know, but that's still the idea that I like.
02:27:43
Speaker
Do we feel Kent is better off the bench a la Georgie? Feel like he's been a bit muted since he's been starting. Could be teams adjusting and scouting though? Yeah, it's a really good ah question because i agree. like I think a bit muted is a is a good way to describe it. And I think it is very it's very clear that you know everyone watches their film.
02:28:08
Speaker
Clearly, clearly everyone watches their film because they'll send two, three guys at him a lot. of It's like like the the game plan, and I think because the Timbys had a little bit of success with it, other teams are copying them right now, where it's like when he gets the ball, you just have immediately have another runner just coming at him trying to ah make his life difficult.
02:28:32
Speaker
And he's been dispossessed more in these last games that he's been starting than he was like in those first couple of games, which were so electric.
02:28:43
Speaker
But I will say, man, and I don't know, I still think he's a pretty clear starter on this team. And I was i was thinking about this even in the ah San Diego game. I just love watching him play.
02:28:55
Speaker
I really do. Like the ah just the jukes, the no looks, sauce.
02:29:04
Speaker
Even when it's not working as well as it as it did like against in the St. Louis game, it's still just darting around out there.
02:29:15
Speaker
They've needed a player like this who brings the sauce like that. They haven't had one like that's that that's this saucy for a while, and I love it.
02:29:25
Speaker
It's like he's a... he's like a
02:29:29
Speaker
Like like a Dempsey used to describe playing with Obafemi Martins as like like pickup, like street soccer. got a little Kent has a little bit of that to him. He's like ah making an and one mixtape.
02:29:49
Speaker
Hopefully he gets it back to where the end. What was so sick about what was he was doing against St. Louis and in Houston in those first couple games is that he was doing that stuff and the end product was there.
02:30:01
Speaker
But I still, i like, like ah let's remember, too, like, he almost had another really good assist in the FC Dallas game, but Georgie was, like, a tiny bit offside.
02:30:13
Speaker
But that, like,
02:30:17
Speaker
that was another great play that didn't end up counting.
02:30:26
Speaker
this is This is the good point, Jake. like I didn't dive into it, but yeah you can't have the double pivot, Rusnak, and a second striker all at the same time. It sounds like Brian is married to the double pivot, and now we're just proved his value. it's not like I'm talking more of like theoretical setups than what the first choice setup would be. For the for for a first choice setup, like you got one game, how do you line it up?
02:30:51
Speaker
You're right. But like, say there's a situation where you've got like a few injuries or guys missing or whatever, but Ferreira and Morris are both fit. Can you run something like where where they're playing up top, like kind of playing off each other?
02:31:09
Speaker
Maybe. I don't know.
02:31:13
Speaker
Kent has been scouted, but he appears to be playing like he's trying too hard instead of just his own game. Needs to relax a bit and let the game come to him, hit his moments. I think there's an element of that too.
02:31:24
Speaker
He's pressing a little bit.
02:31:30
Speaker
I think he'll... ah
02:31:35
Speaker
i think he'll get I think he's going to get back like closer to what we were seeing. I think we were all so amped because his first couple appearances, he looked like the best player I've ever seen.
02:31:49
Speaker
never thought i never really thought that he was going to look like that every single game. that would be i mean He would be MVP played like that every single game
02:32:05
Speaker
but i was i was hopeful like man mate what if he what if he's even like 75 of this very consistently
02:32:15
Speaker
this could be incredible now i'm a little more like all right it's cool that the the stock has cooled down like a little bit but again like just like the enjoyment that i get out of watching him play what he brings to just kind of like the attitude of the team swagger It's still been great, even if it hasn't been as productive in the last couple of games.
02:32:39
Speaker
And like, you can just see the, the talent is so evident.
02:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. Similar to Pedro. Yeah.
Fan Enthusiasm and Closing Remarks
02:32:53
Speaker
Really like our team now that they're winning. It's funny how that works.
02:33:02
Speaker
Playing for a top three spot on Saturday. Exactly.
02:33:13
Speaker
He definitely lifts bums off seats. That is fact. All right, guys. I'm past two and a half hours. So I'm going to get out of here.
02:33:25
Speaker
Thank you all so much as always for tuning in. Thank you to Jeff Ruder for joining the show for like an hour 40. That was an awesome interview. I hope you guys enjoyed that. We'll get him.
02:33:36
Speaker
We'll get him back on soon. Like the video, subscribe to the channel, rate five stars, tell your friends, tell your parents, uh,
02:33:49
Speaker
Catch you guys, uh, catch you guys this weekend. Post game live. Post game live on Sunday. i think, uh,
02:34:01
Speaker
Wait, I think I'm actually, it might be, it might be tough to do it like right after final whistle, but I'll definitely do my best to do it like, like we did it for this last one.
02:34:13
Speaker
And if not, we'll hit it in the morning. All right. Thanks guys. I will see you for the next one. Peace.