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Nos Audietis: Through 3 weeks, West is wide open
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With Matt Doyle on vacation, Backheeled’s Joe Lowery joins Jeremiah on the latest episode of “How the West will be Won.” Joe has been particularly impressed by San Diego FC and is still quite down on Austin FC.
But more than anything, he thinks the West is about as wide open as it’s ever been.
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If you like what Joe has to say, consider becoming a Backheeled.com subscriber. You can also support Backheeled by becoming a Sounder at Heart Advocate, which comes with a complimentary subscription to Backheeled.
Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube.
“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here.
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Transcript
Sponsorships and New Additions
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
00:00:16
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Come on. Hey, O'Shea.
00:00:39
Speaker
Let's go. I'm sorry, Mark Fry. The Seattle Sounders have done it. I don't know.
00:00:57
Speaker
sounder that has come nila
00:01:17
Speaker
This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht thing. Ever since 7th, I wrote a commentary that we take
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos
Western Conference Dynamics
00:01:44
Speaker
Adientes. I am Jeremiah Oshan. Joining me today in place of Matt Doyle is Joseph Lowry of Backhill. Very excited to have Joe on the the the podcast ah in a series that we're calling How the West Will Be Won, where we kind of focus on the Western Conference.
00:02:01
Speaker
Joe, ah thank you for joining us. it's It's great to be here. I don't know if I can replicate Doyle's impressive level of cynicism at times that he manages, nor do I know if I'll be able to replicate his level of insight because I very much enjoyed him coming on the show and you two talking about the Western Conference.
00:02:19
Speaker
I do also love the the branding for this recurring episode, not least because the West feels kind of like a big old giant crapshoot right now in a way that the East... Does not. and and And there's a certain amount of that that we should expect so early on in the season.
00:02:33
Speaker
But the longer I like look at the West and think about the West, I feel like I'm entering this spiral ah the longer I sit there and look at it. So maybe talking it out is going to help both of us. Yeah, you know, i still think i look at the East and I still think my priors are holding pretty strong. Like Miami is going to be good.
00:02:50
Speaker
Cincinnati is going to be good. Crew are probably going to be fine. Atlanta looks like improved. And, you know, and you can kind of go. don't know. The order might be changing a little bit, but it's still.
00:03:02
Speaker
it's still ruminating. Whereas the, the West feels like three weeks in we're getting some curve balls. Yeah. Very, very much. So that's fought. I'm right there with
San Diego's Surprising Start
00:03:12
Speaker
you. Yeah. And so I don't know for me, the biggest curve ball, maybe you weren't quite as surprised. You were apparently much higher on San Diego than just about anybody else.
00:03:21
Speaker
But the biggest curve ball to me has been San Diego being, ah what are they? Two Oh, and one now. Yeah, they're they're sitting on seven points so far this season. I had them. Yeah, I had them eighth in the West coming into this year. And, you know, you're always going out on a limb with expansion teams, right? I mean, there's there's things that you think you know about about them, but you don't really know a whole lot. And I guess that's true for a lot of other teams as well. Like, you know, the Reds over the Eastern Conference.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, back, I think, 37 percent of their minutes from last year to this year. Yeah. They're the closest thing to an expansion team outside of San Diego that we had in this league. like like There was a lot of turnover. And so it's hard to know exactly what to make of teams sometimes. But San Diego, for them to lose Chucky Lozano in that game against saint ah you what St. Louis last week. Yes, St. Louis. For them to lose Chucky Lozano.
00:04:07
Speaker
30 minutes in and then for them to go on the road and beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 and they didn't look great I didn't think in that game but neither did RSL and San Diego did just what they needed to do to get a couple of goals late in the in the second half to walk out with three points so I didn't expect them to be quite as comprehensive as they've been so far but they have been impressive Yeah, road wins now at LA Galaxy, which is starting to look maybe less impressive as as the season goes on. Still beating the defending MLS Cup champs on the road in the season opener is a huge accomplishment.
00:04:41
Speaker
ah The Sounders are very well aware of what a big accomplishment it is to win at RSL. Here's your stat of the day. san San Diego in three games in their existence have won as many times at ah RSL in the regular season as the Sounders have in their...
00:04:57
Speaker
I don't even know how many games the Sounders have won once at RSL in 15, 16 seasons. ah This is unbelievable stat, but they, and I don't know.
00:05:08
Speaker
ah RSL missed a lot of chances in this game. They probably should have been leading going into stoppage time, which is when this game sort of turned on its head. yeah, Full credit to San Diego for taking their chances.
00:05:23
Speaker
They look like they are, you know, their season has some eerie similarities to LAFC's expansion season in 2018. Yeah, I would certainly agree with that.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, yes, 2018. twenty eight ten That sounds right. I'm with you on that. this This San Diego team has has legit quality, and and a lot of their unknowns coming into this season have become very, very strong knowns.
00:05:47
Speaker
already even just through three games. And the two players that really stand out the most to me are two of the first players that San Diego ever signed in Yepe Tverskov at the base of midfield, who is this like kind of hulking number six, but is so incredibly technical.
00:06:01
Speaker
And then Marcus Ingvartsen, who is their their ah their striker, who has a 10-goal Bundesliga season under his belt. Both of those players were were sort of black boxes to me coming into this year, where I watched a little bit of tape, but you just don't know how it's all going to fit together.
00:06:14
Speaker
and And neither one of them had been lighting things up. over at San Diego sister club FC Norgeland over in Denmark and all of a sudden Tverskow is looking like the most reliable possession base midfielder not named Darlington Nagby in Major League Soccer he's been that good he's been excellent at the base of midfield for the San Diego team and then Marcus Ingvartsen scored a goal over the weekend against ah RSL he had the the second of those two stoppage time goals for San Diego but he's also showing real positional flexibility where he is built and plays like a classic number nine, where maybe he's got a little bit more finesse kind of dropping between the lines and the classic nine, but he's got that sort of frame and generally plays that way without Chucky Lozano. He played on the left wing in a very narrow left wing and role, but it was Tomas and hell, former Phoenix rising player, Tomas and hell stand up by the way.
00:06:58
Speaker
um yeah It was Tomas and hell playing through the middle for San Diego. ingvats And Ingvartson was moved wider to the left because Well, one, because San Diego don't have great depth in their squad, but also because he's really, really technical. He is capable of doing a lot of very creative things, and he's a savvy player.
00:07:13
Speaker
Those two guys have looked really, really good. And even if San Diego didn't look altogether perfect against ah RSL, they lost Patty McNair 10 minutes into the second half, and and they had to make ah a change at center back, which is a concern for them because they don't have depth.
00:07:26
Speaker
But man, I have been impressed, like like far more impressed than I thought anybody was going to be about San Diego through three games. Yeah, and Anders Dreyer, once again, school just coming through in the clutch for them, he seems to be have been a great signing.
00:07:41
Speaker
ah yeah He was their biggest signing, right or maybe i guess Lozano was probably a bigger signing, but this was ah there another DP signing who's been every bit what they hoped for, I would imagine.
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, Dreyer has hit in a real way. I mean, he was super impressive in what was an otherwise you know pretty tepid attacking performance against the Galaxy way back on on opening weekend. And he's kind of carried that theme through where he has been the brightest final third player of anybody in the San Diego squad. And that included the you know, a hundred or so minutes that Chucky Lozano played so far this year. Dreyer looks like the guy who's going to pick out that final pass where Lozano looks like, and this has been Chucky Lozano throughout his career.
00:08:19
Speaker
He's the guy who's going to terrorize you in the open field. And Dreyer brings a bit more finesse and he has looked excellent. I mean, he absolutely has. And the other player who has, who deserves real credit here is Luca De La Torre. who has come in and immediately looked like one of the best number eights in this entire league where he's pushing forward and often into that that sort of attacking line of five that San Diego likes to create, not unlike what the Sounders are are doing and have done at times in the past, and a lot of and MLS teams are doing that now.
00:08:43
Speaker
But De La Torre. looks really good. And all of a sudden, you have Tverskob and De La Torre in midfield who are both looking like excellent players and Godoy, who is a capable MLS guy for his, you know, 2,000, 2,200 minutes or whatever it's going to be.
00:08:55
Speaker
Dreyer looks like one of the better wingers in the league. Ingvardson looks very capable. You hope he gets something out of Chicky Lozano. And defensively, you're doing a lot of work with the ball, right? You're you're doing what the crew do or what the Houston Dynamo have done in the Western Conference the last couple of years under Ben Olsen, where, you know, maybe you don't have the the most elite 1v1 defensive personnel,
00:09:13
Speaker
But you can't get scored on if you have the ball and they don't. Right. And and San Diego were tested in in a way maybe they hadn't been previously against ah RSL where they give up a really nice goal from um RSL.
00:09:24
Speaker
And they there are other chances as as well that you mentioned, Jeremiah. But man, the San Diego team have they've hit so far, man. They absolutely have. So you've seen Thomas on hell play a lot more than, than most of us. I know there was a lot of skepticism about his ability to be really an MLS player, let alone an MLS starter, but he's looked like quite a playmaker. I didn't, I didn't really expect that.
00:09:46
Speaker
Like yes he's, he's, Go ahead. Sorry to interrupt you there. He is a fun kind of weird tweener player where he's played a lot of of of nine throughout his career so far, both in Columbia with the Colombian youth national teams coming into MLS with LAFC.
00:10:02
Speaker
Then they signed Olivier Giroud last year and Tomas and Hell gets sent out on loan to Phoenix. He wasn't good in Phoenix last year. and And part of that's because Phoenix weren't very good at creating chances, but he is a guy who works well in a high functioning attacking team. like he's a guy who works well when your team's going to have a lot of the ball when there are other players around him that he can feed because in some ways he's more of a nine and a half than he is like ah a true number nine. He's not a big guy. He's not a box presence.
00:10:26
Speaker
He's happier to have the ball at his feet, pulling some strings than he is to go in and really be the focal point of an attack. I, I honestly don't know if Tomas in hell is a, an MLS player. I certainly don't think he's a starter on a good MLS team, but maybe San Diego are finding a way. Mikey Varis is finding a way to use him in a way that, that makes sense.
00:10:45
Speaker
Well, I'm guessing that the one are the the things I wanted to talk to you was your biggest surprises. I'm guessing one of your other big surprises is LA Galaxy. i don't know. Maybe you were. I was not.
00:10:56
Speaker
I was kind of. dead I was. I saw some warning signs here. I don't think I'm alone in that. But, you know, Matt was really high on on LA going into this season, even with all the struggles they had from a cap perspective.
00:11:08
Speaker
But, man, they are. They're winless in four. they're They have four losses. They are. And that includes losing at Aradiano. And then they just got absolutely smashed in the second half by St. Louis, who had not scored any goals coming into this game.
00:11:24
Speaker
And it just it just sort of fell apart for them this week. It's been bad, man. We've never seen an MLS team i start a title defense, start an MLS Cup defense by dropping three straight games in the regular season. That's what the Galaxy have done. They've made the wrong kind of history so far this season.
00:11:41
Speaker
and And they have looked legit bad. Not just like, oh, there's you know there's something coming. They're just not getting the right bounces. Maybe there was a twist of that against St. Louis where I thought the attack looked looked the best it has to hold this season.
00:11:54
Speaker
Vanny seemed very upbeat about his first half, at least yeah in terms of the way they are moving the ball. And I thought that was fair. Although it also felt a little bit like grasping at straws a little.
00:12:06
Speaker
Well, and that's the thing is, even when the attack has looked good, it hasn't looked amazing. And and there were some nights moments, truly. I think i think Vanny was was right in some ways to reach for at least a couple of those straws.
00:12:17
Speaker
But this team looks kind of broken. Now, I still think that they're going to be a solid team come the end of this season. I had them third in the Western Conference. Honestly, though, a lot of that was, I think the West coming into this year was
Challenges and Success in LA and Vancouver
00:12:30
Speaker
was pretty questionable, almost across the board. I had LAFC and Seattle in that order on top of my Western Conference standings.
00:12:36
Speaker
And then kind of the Galaxy by default, because you look at the rest of the Western Conference, Minnesota United did not make meaningful transfer moves this offseason. The Colorado Rapids did not make meaningful transfer moves this offseason.
00:12:46
Speaker
Real Salt Lake got worse over the offseason. The Houston Dynamo got worse over the offseason. San Diego is the question mark. Austin, still don't quite see the vision. Maybe we'll talk about that later. St. Louis didn't get better over the offseason. Vancouver got worse. I mean, you run through the list of teams, and it's like, where are the teams that are going to surge over in the West? And I'm probably discounting a couple of those teams there for for the sake of this point. I think Colorado did get better. Some others did too.
00:13:08
Speaker
But the Galaxy, with the top-end talent that they have, should still be a good team. The problem is they've got a whole mess of injuries right now, coupled with the fact that Novak Mitrovic in goal has looked very, very poor so far.
00:13:19
Speaker
Amiro Garces is a a crazy athlete, but looks positionally ill-disciplined, to say the least, so far. The midfield can't figure itself out. Marco Reus doesn't seem like he cares, ah frankly.
00:13:30
Speaker
And you could see that in the first goal that St. Louis scored, where he's just standing at the back post, watching the ball bounce four yards away from him and doing absolutely nothing. There's a lot of work to do, man. There's a lot of talent for the Galaxy, but I thought they were going to start this year a whole lot stronger, even with the injuries than they actually have.
00:13:45
Speaker
Now, this is obviously, you know, 2020 hindsight, but where we sit right now, part it seems like a significant part of their problem starts with signing Marco Royce last summer where they gave up a lot of assets.
00:14:02
Speaker
They signed him to a big contract. I'm assuming they had to pull a bunch of money forward in order to, to to be cap compliant last year. He, I don't know. He wasn't a non factor last year, but he wasn't a huge positive factor. I don't, I think you could probably talk to yourself into them winning MLS cup with, or without him, frankly.
00:14:20
Speaker
And right now it's looking really questionable because he was sort of the fallback option for Ricky Pooge going down and he has not even come close to, to filling those shoes. And I don't know if it was realistic to ask him to do that.
00:14:36
Speaker
No, and he just I don't think the Galaxy, and thats that's a huge problem and is not necessarily new for Marco Reus. I don't think the Galaxy would have ever imagined signing Marco Reus as the the Ricky Pooj replacement or the Ricky Pooj backup.
00:14:49
Speaker
you You don't plan, i mean, you'd like to plan, you don't plan for your star player tearing their ACL and and being out for most of the season. So I don't put any blame for the Galaxy on that. fact, I think, and Will Koontz told me this, and I wrote this up for Backfield, you know, they thought they had the ability to go for it.
00:15:03
Speaker
last summer when they could sign Michael Royce. And you saw an MLS onside that Charlotte wanted him and the Galaxy kind of swooped in and they made that deal happen. And I can't really blame them for that. If I'm being completely honest, to get someone like Michael Royce on a non-DP deal, they got real tight against the cap. They went all in last season and it honestly, it works.
00:15:20
Speaker
And i think they did a pretty okay job of transitioning a lot of that squad where they had to move on from Jovovich in all practical senses. Gabriel Peck was coming off that young DP deal. So his cap hit was about to skyrocket and that's what but the Galaxy have dealt with.
00:15:33
Speaker
And then all of a sudden you lose Ricky Pooge and the job gets even harder. It just isn't, isn't clicking. I can't shake the idea though, that if this group was healthy, where they're not missing Mickey Amane, um they've they've had a fully healthy Amiro Garces.
00:15:45
Speaker
Maybe we're still seeing John McCarthy and goal instead of Michovic. ah They've also lost Sanabria and they've, I mean, they've lost just so many dudes, even outside of Ricky Pooge. I don't honestly know if there's yeah. Painsel, painsel, of course.
00:15:57
Speaker
I honestly don't know that there's a ah team in MLS who can withstand this sort of injury barrage that the Galaxy have had. Yeah, and I think that that's a fair point. it's And and this a lot of those guys will get healthy eventually. you know Pooj may or may not, but if you it's not just Pooj. It's a litany of players who have gone out. in And the Sounders were sort of in a similar position last year, frankly.
00:16:21
Speaker
So maybe it's it's unfair to judge right now. ah But on the other end of the spectrum, you've got the Vancouver Whitecaps who are – they probably got worse in the off season. They lost one of their big ah DP signings for basic for basically nothing.
00:16:37
Speaker
And here they are sitting atop the Western conference at ah when nine points through three games, plus six goal difference. And i wouldn't say they look like a juggernaut, but, and I guess to some degree that their schedule has been a little, a little soft, but man, hard to argue with, with the results so far.
00:17:00
Speaker
Totally, totally agree with that. There are, ah there's only one team in major league soccer who's competing in the CONCACAF champions cup as well. That has been perfect. And MLS play so far this year, it's not into Miami. It's not FC Cincinnati. It's not LAFC. It's not the galaxy. I mean, it's the Vancouver whitecaps. It feels wrong. It feels weird.
00:17:16
Speaker
I had this team dropping in the Western conference coming into this year and they still well might, right? That's the right yeah the hard thing is it feels like honestly to me, cause I watch all these games. It feels like the and MLS season has been going on for forever already.
00:17:27
Speaker
And it it it really hasn't like the sample size is still so crazy small. And I do think you're right. The further we get away from that galaxy win, the softer it looks. You look at the Montreal way to Montreal or in the middle of their giant roads road trip to start the season. They're not super formidable.
00:17:40
Speaker
This is a Vancouver team that has not had quite, quite a super rigorous and MLS schedule so far at the same time. I think they look super competent. I think they look really, really capable in the early stages of 2025 in a season where a lot of the other teams in CCC out West have tripped over themselves. And Seattle's not not outside of that. LAFC are in that group.
00:18:01
Speaker
The Galaxy certainly, even though they got to the CCC party late. like Teams are are tripping a lot in the Western Conference right now. And the Whitecaps just... aren't they are right at the moment this something curious to watch going forward they're missing already a couple of guys due to injury so jade nelson put on that you know four goal contribution burner against portland to start the season in a truly wild game and then he ends up uh injured a game or two ago ryan gold goes down in the first half of uh vancouver's two no win over montreal that's a concern apparently it's a knee sprain he's gonna miss a few weeks that probably ends the disaster that it not the disaster that it looked like it might be though
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, not not a total disaster. But if we're talking about this team continuing the pace they've been on, that's probably not going happen. That was probably never going to happen. But Jesper Sorensen has kind of normalized this team in some ways. like I guess that's impossible to do to not do when you're following Vanny Sartini.
00:18:55
Speaker
But they play a pretty standard 4-3-3. It looks like players understand their roles. It is a a very solid, if unspectacular, squad. And they're picking up results left and right. Yeah, and and that includes 1-1 tie, albeit at home, albeit against a you know somewhat rotated Monterrey team.
00:19:12
Speaker
But they were the better team. they They needed a late goal to get the result there. But they're still in that series. You know, who who knows? They might get smashed ah when they go down to Mexico.
00:19:23
Speaker
But it's a real team that they got a real result against that can't be discounted. you know i don't I don't know if I would put a whole bunch of money on Vancouver winning the West right now, but I do think it's it's fair to say that their early season, they look as good as anybody.
00:19:39
Speaker
you know and And who knows how long it lasts, but they've been really good and they deserve to you know they deserve flowers for that. Yes, totally agree. It's the continuity that I think has really served them well. When you look at the the player perspective, losing Stu Armstrong hurts a ton because he looked like a difference maker.
00:19:56
Speaker
He also barely played for this team last year and they were a a good, but not great team before he got there. And I would imagine when the dust settles on 2025, the safe bet at this point is that Vancouver looks like a good, but not quite great team in 25. The question is just, are there going to end up being great teams in the West? I think the answer is probably yes.
00:20:14
Speaker
Well, let's talk about two of those teams that might be among the the contenders for the best teams in the West. And when it's all said, to the Sounders and LAFC both rotated heavily.
00:20:25
Speaker
You know, they both yeah had eight changes from midweek ah and the Sounders... at least brought in, you know, by the end of the the game, they looked more like the roster that you would expect to see LAFC.
00:20:39
Speaker
Let's just go. I mean, they they rotated and then they rotated those guys. ah So it was not the first choice LAFC, but for a rivalry that has been as one sided as this one, you know, there I'll, I'll throw a stat at you.
00:20:53
Speaker
ah Even including the Sounders win over l LAFC in the final in the quarterfinals of last year's playoffs. The Sounders had been outscored 18 to five in their last 11 games against LAFC.
00:21:06
Speaker
They score five goals, obviously in this one. ah And it was, you know, the first half was pretty even. The Sounders got a great goal, I thought, from Kalani Kosarienzi. It was probably fair that it ended the half tied, even if it was kind of an ugly goal.
00:21:20
Speaker
But then the Sounders were just heads and shoulders the better team in second half. Is that fair as a neutral observer? Yes. No, I think that is spot on. This game was a bit of a snoozer in the first 45, and that's not a huge shock when you look at the rotation that's happened here.
00:21:36
Speaker
Outside of that goal, which is absolutely phenomenal from Kosarienzi. great goal, right? It's a really, really great goal. That was like the one shining moment in an otherwise pretty bleak picture in the first 45 minutes.
00:21:46
Speaker
But Seattle, to their credit, they they brought on a lot of the big guns and got some production out of players that are are not big guns in this team, even though Paul Rothrock is is making a case to to jump into that sort of category.
00:21:58
Speaker
They were able to get some serious juice out of this team in the second half. they were better. And this is finally the case for Seattle's depth that I feel like I've been making for backheeled all year long, where we started running myself and Ben Wright, these in-depth power rankings that we do every Wednesday and we go through and we don't just rank every team, although we do do that, but we also analyze the teams and and look at what's interesting about them each week.
00:22:19
Speaker
And for Seattle, They've consistently ranked really high across both Ben and my rankings. And I've been getting roasted on social media for that when I put out the rankings because people see Seattle Sounders and they see a tuna loss for Real Salt Lake. Or they see Seattle Sounders and they see a 2-2 draw with Charlotte FC, even though that game was was bizarre. I'm assuming that these some of these folks aren't maybe watching these games.
00:22:39
Speaker
This is the case for Seattle's depth where you out there and the the CCC result is disappointing against Cruz Azul, but you give yourself a chance in the second leg. And in the meantime, you take care of business in what could end up being a six pointer for seeding later in the year.
00:22:53
Speaker
Like when you can start a front three in a rotated game of Danny Mussovsky, Pedro de la Vega, unfortunate to see him go down with an injury. and Jesus Ferreira and get legit production from a bunch of other players in that starting 11 against a team that has Olivier Giroud and some other like capable players in their lineup as well.
00:23:09
Speaker
and You just have to feel good about that result. The scoreline helps you feel good about it. a lot of the individual performances in the second half help you feel good about it. This is sort of the the rotated Seattle team that I was expecting to see when the season started.
00:23:22
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sound at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues.
00:23:35
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:24:09
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:24:12
Speaker
It's getting to be that time of year when you need to figure out how to watch Sounders News. If you're an a Alliance member, you are getting a free subscription to MLS Season Pass and you're covered. Similarly, if you're a T-Mobile subscriber, you're also covered.
00:24:25
Speaker
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00:24:43
Speaker
Just to make things extra easy, we'll put a link in the show notes too. Thanks.
00:24:49
Speaker
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00:25:32
Speaker
At checkout, you will get a free hot sauce with your order. Again, go to hacks and ferments.com. Use the code sounder at heart at checkout for a free hot sauce with your order.
00:25:45
Speaker
Accent ferments is a proud sponsor of that sounder at heart podcast network. Yeah. So there are six games into their season all across all competitions. They've been averaging six changes every week, every game. Yeah.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah. Like that's ah the, like, it's hard, I think sometimes to understand what depth looks like in MLS, but what depth looks like in MLS is how do you look when the other team is, when you're rotating, how do you compare against the other teams that are rotating? It's not necessarily, how does your second team look against their first team? There's not a lot of, there's not a lot of teams in MLS that can really rotate fully and beat any other team's first choice squad. If it are fully rested first choice squad, that's not always a fair way of looking at it.
00:26:28
Speaker
But when you put up two teams that are both rotating, And one of, you know and this is a good comparison, I think of, of how the Sounders depth looks to, you know, an LAFC when the Sounders, you bring in their reinforcements. They're bringing Alex rolled on off the bench. They're bringing Christian Christian rolled on off the bench.
00:26:45
Speaker
They're bringing Jordan Morris. They're bringing ah Albert Rusnak was a, you know, Pedro de la Vega goes down in the first half and who do they bring off the bench? Albert Rusnak. That's a pretty nice, ah that's a pretty nice fallback option.
00:26:58
Speaker
And, and I don't know, I think it probably worked out okay for Rusnak. I doubt he had to exert himself fully for whatever 60 minutes that he played. So he might be able to go again against Cruz Azul.
00:27:09
Speaker
But this is I thought this was a really encouraging performance from the Sounders. And frankly, they they needed something like this against LAFC, who has just absolutely owned the Sounders for you know the better part of the last four or five years.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Agreed on that all across the board. I think it's fascinating for the Seattle team and telling when it comes to their depth that Pedro de la Vega can go down, you know, 30 minutes into this game. And to me, and I recognize I'm out i'm outside of Seattle, it just doesn't feel like that big of a deal.
00:27:38
Speaker
And I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for that. One is that he wasn't good last year when he was on the field. Another is that he wasn't on the field very much last year and has a pretty well-established injury track record. But man, and I wrote this in the Sunday night column that I've been putting together, like the the depth for Seattle, the way that they have consistently tapped into atypical ways of getting players into the first team squad. You look at Koso Rienzi, who's, you know, you all were talking about how he's he's inked that professional deal, right? Like that that's coming for him or has already happened.
00:28:07
Speaker
You look at yeah Danny Leyva as a guy who's who's come out of the academy in a more traditional way. You look at Paul Rothrock and George Minungu who have come from NextPro and Koso Rienzi fits into that bucket as well. John Bell adding depth from within the league when they acquire him. like Like there's just so much, there's so much here that when you lose a Pedro de la Vega, it it should be harder than this. Like it should matter more to lose Pedro de la Vega for every other team, not every other team, for almost every other team in MLS, losing someone like that,
00:28:35
Speaker
Matters a ton. And for Seattle, it matters a little, maybe more than a little, but it doesn't feel like it matters a lot. And that is a real testament to how deep and how well built this team is. Yeah. You know, one of the things we talked about a lot this off season was within the Sounders community was, yeah you know, when they signed De La Vega, it was sort of this hope that we don't need to rely on him to be a star right away. And that's part of why you can gamble a little bit on on signing a younger player who was who maybe had a little bit of an injury history. And you sort of are playing on that upside.
00:29:06
Speaker
And there was sort of this argument like, well, but that blew up in their face. And it's like, well, did it though, because they still made it to the Western conference semifinals without virtually any production out of their big off season acquisition.
00:29:18
Speaker
There's not a lot of teams that could afford to do that. And I think, yes, it lowers your ceiling when your most expensive players and on the field, that's sort of the nature of the game. But if it doesn't, but for the sounders that didn't bottom them out, it didn't push them.
00:29:32
Speaker
They were still, you know, contending with the, you know, they were, they were right there with the LA galaxy. They, they played as well defensively against the LA galaxy as anyone did. ah during that whole playoff run and you know I think we're seeing it now too it'll be interesting to see where this team goes I'm curious your perspective on Jesus Ferreira who got his first start in MLS play he has three assists so it's not like he's been bad but he hasn't been as gold dangerous as a lot of people thought but you know there were I think there was also this belief that maybe he was a better playmaker than he had shown before
00:30:05
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, very much so. I've always been a big fan of Jesus Ferreira as ah a sort of second forward or as one of the half space guys in a ah a front five, which is what Seattle have been running this year. That's what they ran a lot. of lot I mean, we've seen it for for years now for Seattle in that way. Yeah, I really like Ferreira in half spaces. I think he's very, very smooth on the ball.
00:30:23
Speaker
I also think when he is bedded into this team in a more real and concrete way, we're going to see more of Ferreira, the scorer. But Schmetzer's not really setting him up to be that goal-scoring type. When you see him, he's not playing through the center very much.
00:30:37
Speaker
he's He's mostly been playing off the shoulder, or even further than that, of another number nine. So honestly, i haven't really been surprised that Ferreira hasn't been you know finding the back of the net, even in the early stages, when you factor in the role that he's been asked to play, and the stat that you dropped earlier, Jeremiah, of all the changes that have happened in this team from one game to the next game to the next.
00:30:56
Speaker
Can I go back really quickly on De La Vega? Because I know this is probably pretty well-traveled ground, but I don't get the chance to talk about Pedro dela De La Vega a whole lot. Please. So i want i want to do my bit here. I think this is a classic things can be two things situation where everything you said about the Sounders not bottoming out last year is absolutely correct.
00:31:12
Speaker
They did not need Pedro De La Vega, as it turned out, to be a very, very, very good MLS team last year. They were minutes away from making MLS. Like they were, they were good. They were really, really good after the opening stages of last season.
00:31:24
Speaker
That's true. It's also true. ah And maybe I'm not quite ready to fully condemn this signing, but I'm i'm pretty close.
Transfer Debates and Team Strategies
00:31:30
Speaker
It's also true that it it just wasn't a great signing. I know we looked a bit better in preseason and I think there was something there.
00:31:36
Speaker
So I don't want to go all the way on this. But the Sounders would have been a better team if they, yeah and this is the most obvious thing to say in the world, they would have been a better team if they spent $7.5 million dollars on somebody else. Like that's, that's the reality is it's, it was, it seems to me a huge miss when it comes to this trophy window for the Sounders where you have Jordan Morris and rolled on and, and the other pieces in this team.
00:31:58
Speaker
It was a miss for them last year where they couldn't quite turn what should have been a trophy filled season or could have been into one last year. it's It's a whiff. And I think it is a black mark on on the roster build.
00:32:09
Speaker
It's just maybe the only black mark on the roster build. Yeah, and I think that that's that's fair to say, certainly of last year. i think the jury is out. We'll see. it you know if he's you know What we're hearing, he's going to be out two to three weeks, probably with this injury. If he can come back and pick up where he left off, you know he he has three goals, granted, all against all in CONCACAF Champions Cup play.
00:32:31
Speaker
He had a fourth goal waved off against Cruz Azul that I thought was well taken. He looks like a a potential difference maker if you can stay healthy and you know we'll see. ah You're right. I think that it can be both things that you're right, that it's, it can be both a failed signing and a risk that was possibly worth taking.
00:32:50
Speaker
well and And sometimes risks don't pay off. Yeah, that's true. And maybe there's a risk worth taking. I guess the way I'd frame it is it didn't ruin the Sounders season at all last year that they lost him, but it put a cap on their ceiling, or at least it made it harder for them to hit their ceiling. It did, for sure.
00:33:06
Speaker
And I don't know. I just... I don't think it was the wisest decision to get ownership to shell out $7.5 million dollars or whatever the fee was for somebody of his profile with his background who hadn't put up a lot of numbers in Argentina.
00:33:19
Speaker
and And that Brian Spencer didn't seem to know how to use or or you know didn't know exactly how he wanted. There were just so many weird things about that signing. We don't need to relay relitigate all that stuff. But to me, it is...
00:33:31
Speaker
Like, I guess I'm much slower to let Seattle off the hook for that. And maybe that's just because there's renewed hope around De La Vega. But like, imagine what last year could have been they had Diego Rossi in this team instead of a Pedro De La Vega.
00:33:44
Speaker
Like that, I feel like that didn't get talked about a whole lot because the team was still really good. And I feel like it should get talked about a little bit more. Yeah, that's that's fair. I think the biggest question to me about De La Vega is that put the injuries themselves aside, the reality is that he was not at the fitness level that they wanted him to be at. And that's a huge miss.
00:34:03
Speaker
That's something where you should, like, there's no reason you shouldn't know what his baseline fitness is. coming in and clearly he was not meeting the sounder standard. And that was, that contributed a lot to his struggles was that they just felt like they needed to build up his strength and his fitness so much that they, you know, they, those are related to the injuries, but there was an underlying concern there that I think there was a miss,
00:34:29
Speaker
alignment in terms of what they expected out of them and what they were getting. And that is, you know, that's a, that's a miss on some level for sure. So yeah, I think what you're saying is fair. I'm, I'm a little bit more inclined to to give them a little bit more time and see how this plays out, but you're not wrong. I don't think you're wrong at all.
00:34:46
Speaker
All right. So moving elsewhere onto this, onto our list of, of surprises and maybe unknowns. Sounds a started off the season with two straight wins.
00:34:58
Speaker
kind of come crashing back to earth with a loss at home to Minnesota United, a good Minnesota United team. But maybe that was a little bit more indicative of what San Jose is we We don't think San Jose is for real still, right?
00:35:11
Speaker
I guess it depends on what you mean by for real. I don't think that there are contender. Okay. Maybe i i wouldn't be fully shocked. So I had San Jose at 14th coming into the season, the Western conference, a whole one spot better than they were in 2024. Yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
Mostly because I still think that they have a lot of gaps in this squad. the The LaRue and Horrocks midfield is not one that inspires me. The center back pool still doesn't particularly inspire me.
00:35:37
Speaker
I think they're still missing ah a playmaker because I don't like Hernan Lopez a whole lot. and And they missed him, I suppose, a little bit this weekend. But don't think they missed him all. a whole lot given what what little he's produced on the field so far.
00:35:48
Speaker
They look though so much more competent. This game against Minnesota, it's a bad goal. They give up off of a free kick where it's it's shades of 2024 San Jose Earthquakes defending, but they create a few chances going the other way and stay largely defensively resolute in this match.
00:36:03
Speaker
And they've looked pretty good in their first two games in the season. So in a West that feels murky at the moment, San Jose don't look out of place among teams in sort of the middle third of the Western Conference.
00:36:14
Speaker
Probably not higher than that, but also maybe not lower than that right now. Yeah. They are a team who look like they're going to be competent. And I think that's sort of a hallmark of Bruce arena's coach squads, right? Like they just Bruce arena's teams just don't ever look out of depth out of their depth.
00:36:31
Speaker
I think that the big question is like, how much improvement can you really expect? And they needed to improve a lot. Like if they were to make the playoffs, they would probably have to improve by 25 30 points. mean, huge jump for anyone. Uh,
00:36:44
Speaker
jump for ah anyone i That's an enormous jump. ah But Danielle looks like he has sort of regained some of his goalkeeping prowess of a couple years ago when he was, ah by the numbers, one of the best goalkeepers in the league and then fell through the floor last year.
00:37:02
Speaker
ah I don't know. That's an interesting one for me, too. I think it's going to be fascinating to watch, ah completely unrelated to what they're doing on the field. As someone who has watched a lot of sounds the earthquakes games, I love that they actually seem to have supporters in both ends of the field this year. i don't know if people remember this, but they have this thing called like the longest bar in America that opens up to one side of the field.
00:37:26
Speaker
And it was kind of like a distraction because this is like one whole end of the field. and And now they have supporters over there, which I think gives the the games a much better feel, at least on TV.
00:37:38
Speaker
I love that. I love that so much. I had forgotten about the longest bar in America. It's incredible, first of all. And and i think the atmosphere and the energy is improved this year. It seems like it, yeah. The quality on the play is so clearly better. And they had San Jose, what I think is a really good offseason, where they address...
00:37:57
Speaker
Every line of field in one form or another, and you bring in two starting attackers as they view them in Chicho Rongo and Joseph Martinez. And those two guys have looked like they're building some nice chemistry together in a front two, although was more of a front three this past weekend because I'm all Pellegrino slotted into that that trio with Hernan Lopez out injured.
00:38:13
Speaker
But they add some energy in midfield. They're getting stuff out of super draft picks. Jamal Ricketts has has looked ah fairly good as that left wing back for this team. There's the the floor is just higher for this team.
00:38:25
Speaker
I didn't know how much higher it was going to be. And there still felt like a lot of unknowns, which is why I only bumped them up to 14th. I had Dallas 15th. I don't feel good about either one of those because those teams both look like they could be in the middle third of the West or you know what? We could go through another month of the season and they could be right back down where I had them.
00:38:41
Speaker
Like it is still just so early, but San Jose are are certainly at this point. I think we can say with absolute certainty. going to be noticeably better than they were last year. The question that you pose, I think is is spot on or the topic is, can they be 25 points better?
00:38:55
Speaker
And I don't, I don't feel confident saying that, Oh, of course they're going to be 25 points better. Yeah. Is there anyone that you who, who's the team you think you've changed your opinion on the most? Understanding that it's still very early and that we are reserving the right to change our opinions many times throughout the year. Yeah.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah. The galaxy are are, it's still too early for me to dunk on the galaxy fully and feel like, you know, feel good about it. The ones that, that do come to mind for me, RSL and Houston, I had both as like solid playoff teams coming into this year.
00:39:25
Speaker
And the reason for that is, ah is the, the known quantities that we're returning. right? Bringing back coaches, continuing tactical ideologies, both, ah you know, sort of similar teams and in some ways in terms of how they play and, and bringing a lot of players back.
00:39:40
Speaker
The problem is they both did get a little bit worse over the off season. i just didn't know exactly how much worse. RSL, when you lose Chicho Arango, he didn't give them anything to end last season anyway. you know, he went half the season without putting the ball in the back of the net and ah RSL, we're still a very, very solid playoff team by the end of the the end of the season.
00:39:56
Speaker
The Houston Dynamo implode in that first round against Seattle, they lose Hector Herrera, they lose Coco Carrasquilla, but they bring in Jack McGlynn and some other pieces that I like into that team. And then they lose Mikael and it feels like some of the the wheels have come off, but still they looked like something more of a known quantity. And honestly, even though they have both struggled in their own ways, when I look at Houston and RSL, do I think that they're a worse team than Austin or Portland or SKC or, you know, the Quakes or Dallas?
00:40:25
Speaker
Maybe not still. So I, I probably have changed my mind on those teams, but it is still just so wildly early for me to look at these squads and think, know, who has really separated themselves. And I guess I'll pose this to you, Jeremiah, like who has, who has separated themselves in the West and maybe it's Vancouver in some ways, maybe it's San Diego,
00:40:43
Speaker
minute I like it just feels super. Nobody. still this Yeah, I think it's it's still very unclear. Like if you had to ask me who was going to win the West, I think I'm still inclined to pick one of LAFC or the Sounders, ah even though they're not knocking things. You know, they're not just they're not tearing it up.
00:41:00
Speaker
You know, before like before this, for all the night all the the positives, you know, LAFC had a four game winning streak across all comps coming into this game. they hadn't given up a goal in any of those four games, but they had to also only scored four goals, right?
00:41:14
Speaker
They, they aren't looking like a, an attacking juggernaut either. So they have, and the and the Sounders I think are still have some questions about their, their attack as well. Like that, this this game doesn't answer everything. So I agree with you. I think it's still pretty jumbled in terms of who we think the elite teams are in the West.
00:41:32
Speaker
I I'm, I'm, I've, I agree with you on this one. I do think it's interesting that you, you really do not think much of Austin's rebuild. It doesn't sound like. and No, not, not especially, man. I look at this team and I know Doyle has talked about this as well on this very program.
00:41:48
Speaker
It just seems like their off season business was weird. And you out and spend really weird. Right. mean, you spent a lot of money on Brandon Vasquez and you spent 12 million and change on Mirto Azuni who are both good players. right? Would I spend $10 million dollars on Brandon Vasquez if I was trying to get an owner to convince ah to give convince's an owner to spend $10 million dollars on a player for my team? No, I would not.
00:42:08
Speaker
Is Brandon Vasquez a good striker in Major League Soccer? I think he is. So you spend $10 million on Vasquez, great. It seems to me that the next logical move would have been to find somebody to feed Brandon Vasquez. And that's just not what happened. They go out there get Mirta Wazuni and Nico Estevez has been playing those two guys up top together. And that's fine. I don't have a real issue with that.
00:42:26
Speaker
But there's nobody to really feed them the ball. Usman Bukhari comes in for $7 million last last summer. And he's their club record transfer the time. He's coming over from from Red Star in Serbia. And he looks like a fun player, but doesn't look like ah a top-end winger at this point. And certainly doesn't look like a top-end chance creator. When you think about somebody to feed those two center forwards, which is really what they are, Austin...
00:42:48
Speaker
hit 35 crosses against the Colorado Rapids on, on Saturday. It's a lot of crosses. It's a, it's a whole mess of crosses. I think they only had more than 35 in two games last season. When you go and look at the numbers, they went down to the 18th minute.
00:43:00
Speaker
They had, they had like 70 plus, it ended up being close to eight plus minutes because they had a ton of stoppage time in the second half to get an equalizer and they just couldn't do it. And Nico Estevez after the game is talking about how he's still so surprised that they couldn't score.
00:43:14
Speaker
And I just felt like I watched a different game where they had a couple of chances. And Uzuni looks like a good player when they can find him, but they just did not find those nines often enough. Maybe they figure it out. It's too early for me to say that they're going be bad this year.
00:43:27
Speaker
But I felt a bit torn even moving them up to ninth in my preseason predictions in the Western Conference as that that last sort of you know that last year of playoff teams. And I don't know, maybe I should have listened to my gut and said that this team is just still super flawed and how Rodolfo Burrell has built the squad because they just don't look convincing so far.
00:43:46
Speaker
It's a lot of money to spend without really seeing market and proven improvement at more than one theoretical area. And frankly, it's an area where you need service.
00:43:57
Speaker
Like it's just such a weird, it's such a weird investment strategy. I don't, I don't understand it. are there well Are there any play? inside Just to finish off that, to finish off that note, it's especially odd coming off of last season where it seemed to me that last year was the year of the the budget striker and MLS in so many ways. or Patrick Ajiman is scoring a bunch of goals for Charlotte and Alonzo Martinez is scoring a bunch of goals for NYCFC as like this, this converted winger. And you go and look around the league and there's a lot of players who are not super high profile scoring a ton of goals. And Austin just got there and spend 20 plus million dollars on two guys who need service and don't go out there and get somebody to provide them service. So maybe it's Bukari.
00:44:37
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe it's Owen Wolf. It just feels awkward anyway. Yeah. Are there any players who have sort of surprised you that have sort of maybe leveled up in a way that you didn't foresee or are you just been pleasantly you've enjoyed watching them um do it?
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah. A couple of guys were already mentioned in, ah in San Diego. When I think about Tvershkov and Ingvardsen Tvershkov in particular, like if, if folks haven't watched this guy play, you know, maybe maybe turn on a San Diego game at some point and just, just watch him. He is the weight that he puts on his passes is almost always perfect. He's always passing to the right foot.
00:45:15
Speaker
He's got the frame to shield the ball in, in tight spots. He's strong that he can charge at a midfield because he has that sort of size and and ground coverage. He's just he's just awesome. So that that's one player. Another person that comes to mind for me, and this is not a new name, but he's in a little bit of a new old role is George Mihaljevic, where last year for Chris Armas, he was playing as the the number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 for the vast majority of the season.
00:45:38
Speaker
This year, Colorado have shifted their theyre shape a little bit, and they're playing in much more of a 4-3-3 with a single number six, and that's been Josh Atencio. Shout out, Josh Atencio. and And then two number eights, and it's been Cole Bassett as the right-sided eight, and Ali Larraz as the left-sided number eight. So that's the three-man midfield.
00:45:56
Speaker
And then it's been George Mihaljevic as the nominal left winger. And I say nominal because he's still always coming inside to find the game, but his touches are happening further further in that left half space.
00:46:07
Speaker
And he's been really good. He picks Austin apart on that opening goal that, that half an avarro scores for, ah for for the Rapids against Austin over the weekend. It's a great assist. He was super influential. Georgie in in the Rapids last game out in the regular season.
00:46:20
Speaker
He had some bright moments in, in CCC play as well. he has returned in some ways to the role that Wilford Nance was using in it way back in 2022 with CF Montreal, where Georgie was playing as this like half left winger, half number 10 sort of player for Montreal, who themselves have pivoted from a 3-4-3 with a front three with Georgie as that left-sided player to a 3-5-2, where Georgie would then come inside and drop into central midfield or drop into that 10 spot.
00:46:48
Speaker
And he was really good that season. that was That was like Georgie's true breakout year in Major League Soccer in a lot of ways, even though he'd been in ah around and had been a name for a really long time. He's doing a lot of that stuff again. And I think Georgie's probably going to produce regardless of where he's positioned on the field.
00:47:03
Speaker
But it's been fun seeing Armas and Ivan had a chance to ask him about this, but it's it's been fun to see him maybe take a page out of Nantes' book or maybe this is a decision made for other reasons. I'm sure there's a lot of of them wanting to get Atencio and Bassett. And apparently they like Oliver LaRoz a lot.
00:47:18
Speaker
It's wanting to get those guys in the field as well. But Georgie has looked really fun a lot of the time in the early stages of 2025. Well, ah one note I forgot. i always I never think about them, so this is why i i forgot to bring it up.
00:47:34
Speaker
But this wouldn't be a show on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network if I didn't ask you to throw a little dirt on the Portland Timbers who are not looking so hot these days. They just lost 2-0 to Nashville, but they gave up – They gave up two goals. You got it. Yep.
00:47:55
Speaker
They gave up two goals. They gave up two penalties and neither one of those penalties were converted.
00:48:02
Speaker
Yep. Amazing. It was so bizarre. I honestly don't know if I've seen a game like this before. um This is like the easiest time to come on the pod and talk, you know, a little bit of attraction, the Portland Timbers, because i would be doing that regardless of where I was coming on to talk about, ah about soccer and in MLS.
00:48:18
Speaker
Like the Timbers are just bizarre right now. And you look at how they play in this game against Nashville and it's Zach McGraw taking a page out of the Kamal Miller, you know, book of defending and he's just clattering into dudes inside his own box.
00:48:31
Speaker
And they're considering a penalty inside of five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's just wild. And this is a team that in some ways, this is a ah positive point for Timbers fans, if there are any listening.
00:48:42
Speaker
And in some ways it is a little bit of condemnation about this team. This Timbers team cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes. I mean, not a lot of teams in MLS can afford to make those kinds of mistakes, but the Portland Timbers are betting in a new DP number 10 while they try to replace Evander and David DaCosta.
00:48:58
Speaker
And he's only a couple of starts into his his time in Portland. They're missing. There are other, you know really two best playmakers in Jonathan Rodriguez, who's a DP and was excellent. Very, very good coming in from Portland last season.
00:49:09
Speaker
he's He's a star and they're missing him. He's out with an injury. He'll be back, you know, as as far as I'm aware, sometime in the next month. I don't know when. Sandy Moreno is one of the better non-DP attackers in all of Major League Soccer. is is a a good, maybe even very good winger in this league.
00:49:24
Speaker
He's out injured as well. Sort of similar timeframe. Maybe he's a little bit further ahead. I think he is than than Jonathan Rodriguez. They're missing both of those guys. And that means that they have very few options for DaCosta to find in the attack outside of Felipe Mora, who did not start over the weekend and is always sort of on the of the brink of an injury.
00:49:41
Speaker
They're missing pieces, which means one of two things. It means either that this Timbers team is going to get better. And I think they will to one degree or another. They're going to get a bit better as the season goes on. It also means that their defense is just well and truly broken.
00:49:52
Speaker
When you have nothing else to do but defend very compact and be focused on your defensive work and try to scrape by withdrawals on the road, you should be playing better than this, especially against a team like Nashville, who aren't just not very good and not very talented. And for you to go out there and shoot yourselves in the foot yet again, it's just, it's honestly mind-boggling stuff. And something's got to change.
00:50:13
Speaker
Hopefully for Portland Timbers fans, it is just them getting their attackers back healthy. i don't know if that's going to solve these problems. Yeah. ah And then to give up another penalty just like 10 minutes later, and even worse foul.
00:50:26
Speaker
Like really, no, there was no, it didn't feel like there was any point. it And it should be said, it really should be said, ah both were well saved. Like those those were i like, though I didn't, I didn't think the penalties were were actually bad attempts.
00:50:40
Speaker
And ah I don't know to to have just sort of, like it just feels like it's, it's such a ah shame to like hang your goalkeeper out to dry like that, to have them come up with two big plays that especially early in the game.
00:50:54
Speaker
And then just, and and it had to count for nothing to, to literally count for nothing. Yep. And it's – this is a case where it's also a sort of things can be two things. It is a really soft goal that ah ah that Portland do end up allowing from Andy Nahar. Pentemus does not cover himself in glory on that. But the guy had already saved two penalties. Like, he's still giving you a plus one across the board even after allowing a bit of a soft goal at the near post. So it's just – It's one problem after another for for Portland, too.
00:51:22
Speaker
I didn't think we're going to be a great team anyway in 2025. They are are bottoming out in the early season, and even with the injuries in the squad, in a way that I i didn't quite see coming in this manner.
00:51:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a it's a shame. It's a shame, I guess, is is maybe how although Andy Nahar's flip, I appreciate that he was it's good stuff. ah It's good stuff. i I appreciated that he did it.
00:51:47
Speaker
Although, man, it looked like he almost hurt himself pretty bad on the landing. Like he did not he did not complete that at all. You know, is that I wonder if that's what what happens when you're on the other side of 30 doing flips like that. I don't know if that's sort the case for Andy Nahar.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yeah. mean Also, just out of practice, man. Like, Nashville aren't scoring a lot of goals. They're not doing a lot of fun stuff in the attack just yet in the season. maybe he just needs a few more reps on the flip. Yeah. Well, Joe, thank you so much for filling in. I want to make sure to give a plug, though. Backheeled is doing amazing work. I mean, you guys are are putting out.
00:52:22
Speaker
I think if you are a smart fan who likes to read about this crazy North American soccer scene, and I i do expand it beyond just MLS. You guys just did previews on every USL championship team you're doing. I believe you're doing the same thing for NWSL, right?
00:52:38
Speaker
No, not not for NWSL just yet. okay Although we do have some news coming out on the NWSL front that I'm i'm excited about. But yeah, okay MLS and and USL stuff, Men's, I mean, there's it's a lot.
00:52:50
Speaker
It's a lot. It's a lot. I really am. I'm proud i'm proud of the stuff we're doing, man. like I think... I think it's good. Yeah. And I want to remind if you are a sounder at heart subscriber at the advocate level or above, you get a free subscription to back yield.
00:53:02
Speaker
And ah that that's money that we basically pay to back yield in order to have this partnership. I love doing this. I hope people are into it. I would urge anyone who is eligible to sign up for, for this account.
00:53:17
Speaker
And ah Joe, you guys are doing great work. Just wanted to say thank you again and keep it up. Thank you, first of all, for for having me. And thank you for all the amazing work that that you and Sounder at Heart are doing, because I think in so many ways you all up set the standard for what an independent outlet should look like. And yes, of course, there's a lot of differences in in what we're doing and even at times the styles of what we're doing just because we're covering different things.
00:53:40
Speaker
But it is, it's encouraging to have somebody to look over to and get to even ask questions to and we'll go back and forth and and chat about some of the stuff all the time. And I am, I'm just really appreciative of the work that you all do. Because when I write about the Sounders, it makes my life easier. When I think about the Sounders, it makes me smarter at all that stuff.
00:53:56
Speaker
I hope people feel that way when they're reading about other teams, when they come over to Backheeled. And they should be advocates on Sounder at Heart because that gets them back healed. and other cool stuff. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. All right. Well, with all that said, am Jeremiah Shan signing off for Joe Lowry of Backheeled.
00:54:12
Speaker
This is No Side Yet Des, part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, and we'll catch you next time.
00:54:53
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!