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Soccerwise: The gang previews the Sounders
537 Plays9 days ago
The guys from Soccerwise asked Jeremiah, Ari and Noah onto the show to preview the upcoming Sounders season. They’ll be doing previews of all 30 teams. You can find all of them here.
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Transcript
Introduction to Seattle Sounders Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
We are talking Seattle Sounders. In our season preview, we have a loaded preview for this one. We've had one guest for a lot of these. Sometimes we have two. This time we've got three. The co-hosts of Lobbing Scorchers. We've got Ari and Noah. And then we have Jeremiah O'Shan as well. All of them are across the Sounder at Heart family. But if you want to listen to the podcast specifically, it's Lobbing Scorchers and Nos Adietes.
Sounders' Club World Cup Participation: Achievements and Expectations
00:00:29
Speaker
or however I choose to mispronounce it at whatever time we are at um some of the best platforms covering Major League Soccer overall and of course covering their team Seattle is lucky right Seattle is a major team feeling in a major market it is one of the behemoths of Major League Soccer and we'll talk about it in this show Tom but They're going to do something again, historic. They, they are the only teams ever play in a club world cup. Now they're going to host a group stage of a club world cup against three of the biggest teams on the planet. And like, I can't imagine a better club for it to happen for MLS people than this.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, this is going to be the first team in this competition that actually qualified on on sporting merit for this this award and not um kind of backdoor on on the FIFA stuff. Yeah, Seattle Sounders, historic club in this league, what they do on the field is is obviously one of one of the best of all time, the runs that they've had since the day that they got in into this league, but off the field I think is really what makes them special is that fan support and that connection between this club and the city and guys like you said.
00:01:32
Speaker
The fans are lucky of this team. and And it's earned because they pay for it. They have the appetite. They they tell their local papers. They they show their bloggers and and fans that like, hey, we'll consume all of this stuff because we're a rabid fan base. So um shout out to the fans for that. But like they are a lucky fan base given all these really, really incredible options for local coverage of this team. And gosh, it makes our jobs easier because these people are incredible. And again, they're on the ground every single day,
Fan Enthusiasm and Stadium Atmosphere
00:01:58
Speaker
essentially, at training. And we get to pick their brains about their team.
00:02:02
Speaker
It is one of the must atmospheres. If you are not a Seattle fan and you've never been, you got to get to this stadium. You have to get to the city. It's my dream of downtown stadium. You can walk to the games. Obviously the March is pretty special, but like, it doesn't matter what angle you come from. You're able to sort of be in the city, then go to the game, then come back into the city. Club World Cup's going to be pretty special. The the CCL final there, I think for me was the peak of my experience around Major League Soccer was something I could very easily root for and just the pure like excitement and energy and um we've talked about it a million times. We went out for extra time. We hosted an event the night before and just walk into the stadium and having people yell like we're finally going to win a CCL.
00:02:48
Speaker
at us was just one of the best things I've ever been a part of. So I'm working on a plan for for soccer wise to be on the ground for Club World Cup because I got to go up to the Central District and get my Ethiopian food. Maybe we'll go do a little hike Tom will will start to get the 2025 grind going will sweat out all of all the booze and then we'll go to a game and watch Diego Simeone on the sideline trying to find a way to underlap on Alex Roldan when he's just getting roasted by one of the great right backs in El Salvador history. You're not ready for this PSG. You don't want this heat, Botafogo. It is going to be such a crazy experience watching Jordan at Media Marketing talk about this and just be like,
00:03:31
Speaker
it's cool man like it's gonna be fun like it's just such a weird like there's no expectations and yet it's seattle so there's some but the expectations are that there are no expectations and it's just this weird like i think they're gonna have fun and play loose and like that's kind of dangerous because this is a good team you never fight a man with nothing to lose that's all that's what i always say and that's the seattle sounders 2025 club world cup preview and that's all i got That's
Strategic Roster Moves and Transfers
00:03:57
Speaker
all you need. Uh, we did get a little breaking news after the, um, interview or after this preview, sounders are going to have some flexibility to pull some gam forward and and some additional allocation money to build out this roster. This is normally something you assume the teams had been notified, even though it hadn't come out publicly. So you assume Craig Weibel has been operating under this assumption and we're now just understanding where maybe some of the confidence came to make a Jesus for error, a Paul Ariola trade.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, but they did that sustainably. We were talking about sustainable energy, all all these good things. And he just traded international roster slots to get his Ferreira and Paul Ariel. It's incredible. Usually that was the Nashville move. Nashville would sell six of their international slots and then come back with a new starter with that extra money or just keeping the team together. So well done to Craig Weible in the front office.
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they try and make any other bigger splash going forward. Most of the DP spots are held. Yeah. So it seems kind of hard. And like the way the contract, same thing that Jordan Morris wasn't a DP last year, he hit ah bonuses that made him a DP for this year. Like that could possibly happen in the future with Hayes' Frere or whatever the built-in contract is. Like it won't be maxed-in forever. So they're at a, they're out of excess with the designated player spots. So we'll see how they move all of those around as they can.
00:05:13
Speaker
I know in our Discord, Marcus Rashford's been in there a ton asking about Gam and sort of like super curious about it. So maybe there's a loan that could be done where you bring an an international player in on Gam and they are that team's able to then go and build a castle out of Gam and do something with it. Either way, we had a good time talking about this one. Let's go now to our preview. Let's continue on here in our season previews.
00:05:37
Speaker
And let's talk about one of the big ones. One of the biggest teams in Major League Soccer, the all-capital Seattle Sounders. We have a big preview here. A number of guests. We've got Jeremiah, we've got Ari, and we've got Noah. You know them all from either lobbing scorchers, who are all in their one box right now because they, I assume, are not allowed to record separately, or Nos Adietes, which I pronounced incorrectly as I always do, from Jeremiah's side as well.
00:06:08
Speaker
Well done guys. Well done guys. That was great. I don't appreciate the Ohio State reference, but I'm so excited to be here. I think i I could tell you we just helped record an RSL preview that a lot of people would consider Seattle Sounders maybe the Ohio State o of Major League Soccer, especially the ones in the Big Ten. In their words. Yeah, exactly. In their words. Well, now it it does go sea to shining sea these days. um on On a serious note, Seattle Sounders fans are are absolutely blessed with all of the content and and in um local independent content. um There's a lot to choose from. And not all teams have this. so
00:06:46
Speaker
Seattle Sounders fans that are listening to this, you guys have spoiled for choice here. Absolutely. And if you're listening on the SoccerWise feed, go check out both these shows. You can check out Sounder at Heart as well ah for a ton of written content, both on the MLS and NWSL side, which is huge ah for all of us. And if you're listening on any other feed, welcome to SoccerWise. Just search SoccerWise and you can find us anywhere you want. We like to start these things with a transfer update where things stand right now.
00:07:14
Speaker
ah Tom, it has been, what I wrote in the rundown is the big story is the super January camp USMNT squad that Craig Weibel is putting together. Did you enjoy that? Yeah, i I did. And I was a little disappointed because I was going to go with this is the greatest gold cup roster of all time that the Seattle Sounders have ah put together. So as we're alluding to, he's got no chance right now.
00:07:39
Speaker
So this offseason the big additions were Jesus Freire And re-signing Albert Rusnak and Jau Paulo were big and of course Paul Areola came from Dallas and Kim Kihei out of nowhere He's back in the Seattle Sounders to add to the best defense in MLS in 2024 So, I don't know. I'm just gonna say lobbing scorches here and someone can choose to talk What was the reaction as you heard the like maybe Seattle will trade for another FC Dallas starter?
00:08:07
Speaker
um Well, I think ah Noah and I, when we heard first heard about the Jesus Ferreira links, I think both of us were very intrigued by that immediately. I mean, just when you think about his pedigree, whatever you want to say about his US men's national
Impact of New Acquisitions: Jesus Ferreira and Pedro de la Vega
00:08:22
Speaker
team profile,
00:08:23
Speaker
I mean this is a best 11 attacker from two years ago. It's a guy who's got an 18 goal season on his resume and it's one of those situations which we pointed this out a lot but if you had a player of this pedigree and resume coming from outside the league The way it would get talked about is way different, and it would be way different. And I think ah i think most people know that. So um that move in itself, ah the biggest storyline of this offseason was, could ah Craig Weibull improve this offense? This team scored 51 goals last year. That's not enough goals. They've got CONCACAP Champions Cup. They've got Club World Cup this year. It was very important to bolster this attack. I didn't think you ah the bolstering would come from within the league like this, but now that I've had it.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah. we ah I'm definitely ah very high on that move. When we were grading ah the Seattle's offseason a couple of shows ago, I said that move in itself gets an A. And I think even Paul Arriola, I was thinking about this today, I think he is ah a better MLS player than is being talked about. He's being talked about like it's kind of a replacement level throw in of this offseason. I think he it's pretty clear that he's been a plus MLS player throughout his career.
00:09:35
Speaker
Um, so I think, I guess that's a long way of saying that, uh, we liked the, uh, FC Dallas pilgrimage. And, uh, I know a lot of people are referring it to the 20 as the 2019 gold cup squad derisively, but now I hear that. And I think, uh, 2019 gold cup squad, that might actually play an MLS. it might And you know, think about it. The Sounders are about to go and play their own gold cup, which is Kaka cap champions league and whatnot. So it's like, who else would you want other than the guy who can score on various Caribbean nations?
00:10:05
Speaker
at will. Pirate of the Caribbean, it is. Johnny Depp himself in Jesus for era. Let me ask you this question, Jeremiah. In the names going out and, you know, Royal Maria Diaz being the biggest one, obviously a legend at Seattle, a big DP, Leo Chu, and it's in some of the trades to Dallas, and Nathan Leving as well were replaced by Kim Ki-hee, which is a legendary Seattle moment, like, in its own right.
00:10:34
Speaker
But Rui Diaz is now, Rui Diaz and Nicol Odero have left and the replacements being a Paul Ariel and a Jesus Farah inside the league. Is there frustration at the level of replacement or is there more excitement that from maybe a few stars the money has been spread out across a couple of key pieces?
00:10:53
Speaker
you know i think it depends on where you go looking for the answers uh... if you just go to read it or are browsing social media i think you'll see a lot of understandable under wellness if that's a if that's a a term where people were had sort of built up the idea that they're gonna go inside a big dp they didn't do that you know they didn't go outside the league and make a a big splashy signing and so i think there is some understandable Uh, frustration or disappointment over not getting that. But if you look at it in itself, I think you'll find a lot of satisfaction over what they were able to do within the league. I think generally, you know, we did a survey on sounder at heart that got something like 1500 responses. So it's a ah pretty good sample size.
00:11:39
Speaker
And generally speaking, people seem pretty excited about this year. They seem pretty satisfied with the offseason. Even Craig Weibel, who has gotten a lot of stick from a very vocal contingent, ah he even graded out pretty well according to the respondents of this survey. Again, it's 1,500 people.
00:11:59
Speaker
pretty significant sample sizes even if it is mostly sound or heart readers so I think it's it's a mixed bag but I think mostly people get what's happening here Ariola is the lesser of the two signings from a you know from a name perspective but like no one already said this is a guy who was a DP not I think he was a DP last year yeah he was and he didn't have a bad season he just is sort of For what you're getting from him, maybe he's not producing quite at the level, but this is ah a guy who was a contender for best 11 two seasons ago. He was you know he was an all-star. Everyone loves him in the locker room. you know Everyone at Dallas is talking about what a great guy this guy, how great he is. He came to Seattle and he said every right thing he could possibly say.
00:12:46
Speaker
yeah and Sorry, sorry, Jeremiah. Just to add to this, that we haven't said it yet, he's hitting the cap at like 600,000 or somewhere in that ballpark. That changes the math on all of this. Paul Ariel has a DP, has a Max Tam. Like, I was good with it in Dallas, but moving forward, like, if Seattle made this deal and he was also Max Tam, it'd be really difficult, because you'd really have to find the money for this. Getting him at at this number is a phenomenal sign. And for Ariel, they managed to get for Ariel and Tam as well, which I think is great for now. For now.
00:13:16
Speaker
it is a longterm contract essential and a notebook out right now so something weird's about to happen i don't know if he's doing math about all these contracts or something I think we we talked about ah with Jeremiah on our on one of our streams recently how we looked at Paul Ariel's old contract I mean the Sounders effectively fleeced Dallas on both of these trades. I mean but this is like Insanely good business, you know people want to talk trash on Craig Weibo all day, which you know what find some of its valid. That's cool That's his job is to take the heat sometimes but if you look at it from a peer business perspective Who wouldn't take this to the either of those deals like that? He he he kicked ass with this. Yeah, this is rather than having the
00:13:59
Speaker
me galami roans of the world or whatever. I mean, I'm not even going to go into messy because that's a whole other thing or Kuchos. There are like borderline five DPs on this team, and that's the advantage over having one or two, ah three great ones. let's Let's go to our designated player, Matt Doyle. Let's sit at the feet of the great philosopher of Major League Soccer, and let's see what he has to say. Kind of feel like Craig Weigel cooked this off season in getting Jesus Ferreira and Paul Areola from FC Dallas, and only having to send Anthony Davis the other direction. Oh, wait, no, that was the other Dallas team that was making batch trades.
00:14:35
Speaker
Uh, look, Ferreira is essentially a DP in this league. I think if you got someone of his profile out of like the Colombian league, it would cost you seven, $8 million. dollars So the fact that Seattle were able to get him, uh, and ah just for gam and get him on a sub DP deal, that is just masterful. And if you look at the Sounders now, they had the deepest team in the league. Like I have no questions about their ability to compete.
00:15:04
Speaker
ah across multiple competitions competitions at a high level. The only question I have, and I think it's a question that everybody will have, is do they have the match winners? Do they have the guys who, in the semi-finals or final, will be able to make that special play, find that special moment, and get this team back into the winner circle? In 2022 and 2019, it was Ralry Diaz and Nico Ledero, and none of the guys on the roster now have been quite at that level.
00:15:32
Speaker
So whether it's Ferreira or Albert Rusnak or Jordan Morris, or I think the big hope is that Pedro de la Vega, year two, can be a real goss theorem guy if he is, when sounders are walking out of 2025 with at least a little bit more silverware. Man, groupthink is a beautiful thing. We were all able to get together and have the exact same ideas. Jeremiah, give me your Pedro de la Vega hype.
00:15:58
Speaker
where do you sit for him right now i'm pretty excited you know it was it was funny someone or maybe was his agent i don't know put together a highlight real of his time with the founders last year and if you cut it right it's like glorious you know he made a ton of really good runs he made ah you know he you can but point being you can cut this you put some techno music behind it and you can make Pedro de la Vega in a relatively short time look like he balled out last year with the Sounders now we all know that isn't quite what happened the final ball wasn't there for whatever reason he's he struggled to get on the field for health reasons he you know we could go down a litany of things but i i i think it was illustrative in the sense that he does have
00:16:43
Speaker
some real potential and i think we've also seen it in preseason now again these are preseason games these are against uh... not exactly elite level european opponents but he's got a couple goals he's got an assist he's he looks like he has gotten into can considerably better shape than he was ever in last year he has this real young patrick swayze vibe to him which i am absolutely digging and i'm I'm really hyped about him because this is a player who I don't think most people are coming into the season with very high expectations. And I would not at all be surprised if he goes for eight goals, eight assists, or you know even better than that.
00:17:22
Speaker
Jeremiah a couple a couple quick follow-ups that I want to go to you one you said techno music Was there actually techno music in the background to I was the I think there was yeah Two he was going to also be a Serbian league signing. It was dubstep adjacent. I have to say okay What was there was the caption Pedro de la Vega was a problem was that because that seems like that would fit there and then three Well, did you say eight goals, eight assists? Again, we've all been super positive, so I'm trying to poke the holes here. that's ah That's a pretty kid glove friendly line to set for a player who was bought for $7 million. dollars And last one was the Patrick Swayze reference because he was a ghost last year and just never trained for three days in a row.
00:18:06
Speaker
That's a good line. I felt good about that when you were saying, I i almost had to write that down. Well, the notebook is out. No, that was good. that was it I agree. Eight goals, eight assists is a little kid glovey for expectations. you know if he can But I think if you put in eight goals, eight assists, I think most people would be, if not over the moon about it. i And it obviously depends on how he gets it and and you know how it looks. But you know that's real production. And on a team that is as deep as this one, I would think that's you know if if he's the fourth leading scorer at that which I don't think is crazy to know to consider that you would you'd be thrilled with it and i agree I agree and it's it's all additive as well just because of like like again even last year like
00:18:52
Speaker
I'm sure you guys would hear the same stuff of, you know, hey, you know, even when they were working on that deal, it was like, hey, even if we don't sign him, we think we're really good. And so it'd be great that we would rather have him. We think he's an excellent player. But the baseline here. And and so they've even gotten better. And their floor has gotten even higher over this offseason that Pedro de la Vega is additive, no one. are and Yeah, eight and eight might seem like it's setting the bar low, but think about this. Last year he had one and one. The goal was a penalty kick and the assist was literally a play where he was standing in the box and the cross came in and hit him in the face and deflected right to the guy who scored the goal.
00:19:28
Speaker
So when you think about it through that lens, eight and eight, like I would be thrilled with that. And like you guys said, um that's I think that's about the baseline for ah all they need from him with the pieces around him theoretically. So i for me, ah you just really you really need to see him take a pronounced step forward this year. That's the X x factor, I think, for this team's whole ceiling. And I will say, ah he has He has looked actively good so far in preseason for whatever that's worth. I you know i know it's exhibition games and all that, but um the goal one of he scored two goals, and he has the nicest assist that anyone on the team has had in any of their preseason games so far. So I think that's a reason for Kaush's optimism.
00:20:10
Speaker
Man, when he wins the Ballon d'Or this year after winning the Club World Cup, that trivia fact about what was his first goal and his first assist for Seattle Sounders is going to hit so hard at a soccer-wise live trivia event. I just want you to know that. Everyone, store it in the back of your brains as you go along. Let me ask you about this. It's just on the on the dubstep highlight reel. Yeah.
00:20:31
Speaker
They probably had to lead it, and it's probably the drop every time as you hit it. Club World Cup, June 15th to 23rd, Botafogo Atletico Madrid,
Challenges and Strategies for Club World Cup
00:20:39
Speaker
PSG. Noah, like, what's the expectations? What is this?
00:20:42
Speaker
I am so excited to see what the media meal is in the press box. That's kind of where I'm at at this point. like I'm excited to see what the fanfare of FIFA is and ah you know enjoy my time in the spotlight, ah rack up some videos and some views. and and i Honestly, I'm going to be honest with you. I think the sounders are feeling the same way. like that what What are you going to do? This is a group of deck. How are you supposed to get out of this?
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think my expectation, Club World Cup, what is you just gotta to you got to not embarrass yourself and set the league back like a decade. As long as you do that, I view it as mission accomplished. I'm not that concerned about them making a run at like winning it, so. But like it would be funny if they win more than than Miami. like That'd be tight. That's kind of where I'm like, that'd be sick. That's where I'm going for. um Honestly, one win. like Again, I ah talk making fun of myself, not for kid gloves. One win in this group stage would be phenomenal.
00:21:35
Speaker
even if they don't advance. Undeniably. Yeah. Like, honestly, like, so. I actually would, maybe this is a hot take, but I actually think I would rather be in the Sounders position, where they have a group of death than in Miami's situation, where on where I think the the random observer's gonna look at that and go, oh, they should get out of this group. But it's actually a pretty tough group, and it's not really that much easier than the Sounders group, and I think there's a there's more opportunity for them to sort of embarrass themselves a little bit. Like, the Sounders are,
00:22:05
Speaker
Senators aren't going to embarrass himself. I mean, if they could get killed by PSG and Atletico and people are still going to go like, whatever, those are the two of the best teams in the world, what are you going to do? Yeah. And the fact that everyone in the press box is going to be eating roast duck and tapas as you go into those games. You come in off the top rope after enjoying something like that in that game. For a club or for CONCACAF, it's Antigua in the first round, a chance to most likely play Cruises Zool after that. Sounders will be one of the teams playing in both CONCACAF and Leaks Cup and Club World Cup. So just for everyone who read the release that said MLS teams can only play in two cup competitions, that did not apply to Seattle Sounders in Inter Miami, which I didn't realize until I was getting ready for this show. Well, actually said two North American Cup competitions. They Yeah, they were kind of careful with it, I have to admit. And ASL's lawyers over here, Jarrod.
00:23:03
Speaker
making sure that we uh there's my lawyer dog i'm going to jail no balance sorry david that's ah that's a little bit of a younger guy meme i'm not sure if you if you get it miss all of us don't worry don't worry don't don't worry guys let ah Let me go with, you know, the the real soul of the young people in Major League Soccer, Andrew Webby. He set his line for us on Jesus Frereira, goals plus assists in MLS competitions only. 21 and a half for the 2025 MLS season. Alright, you want to get us started? What do you go, over or under?
00:23:36
Speaker
I mean I obviously want to say over. i i might I might say under just because I feel like it's going to be a pretty spread the wealth type attack. I don't know if there's going to be one guy who like carries the stat sheet to that much of a degree. I think Rusnak is a guy who I could see pushing over 20 goal contributions again just because he's like the centralized focal point of the offense. I don't know if like Ferreira with the rotation and how the wealth is going to be spread. I don't know if he gets over that.
00:24:06
Speaker
That's a tough. You could have a good year and not get over that though. We've been living in Jersey long enough you can settle on. Yeah. I mean you know that's yeah man. My new book he just dropped. ah I'm going to go. I'm going to go under as well. I don't think that it's going to be a bad season for him and he's looked insane in preseason. I love the way he plays in the positioning with him and Jordan and Pedro. It already seems like they have some some good chemistry together. So maybe just barely under just barely under. But I'm going safe Tom.
00:24:35
Speaker
I'm gonna go over um but the same concerns about like like what if he's playing Champions League games and they rotate him out for regular season and you lose X amount of games like I just think that this team is gonna put up more goals than last year and with secondary assists in MLS counting like I Have to assume ages Frere is gonna be involved in a bunch of these I don't think he'll take penalties right like but if he gets penalties and I feel even better about this But I don't think you will Jeremiah Well, I guess i'll i'll I'll go with Tom, just because that's a little bit more fun in this particular case. But I do think it's interesting that at 21.5, Morris had goals and assists last year, and last year was a pretty good season for Jordan Morris. so i i think it's a fair it's it's I just make the point that it's a reasonably high bar, but I'm going to have some fun. Let's go over. I think that he's perfectly capable of you know having an equal season to what he had in 2022 when he was you know absolutely on fire. And he's surrounded by a much better team now than he's ever had in Dallas. He's going to have so much more support. I think that there's going to be a lot less pressure on him from the outside. It's a really ideal situation, I think, for him in a lot of ways. So let's go over and and maybe even clear it by a few goals.
00:25:52
Speaker
Last year, he was injured a bunch on a bad team. He had 11. The year before, he had 18. And then his big year, two years ago, he had 24. I'm gonna go over as well and my ah take is that it's gonna be more assists than goals. I think he's one of those people where he's like when you watch like all USA basketball gets together and Steph Curry's like I'm not gonna shoot I'm just gonna see if I can set people up like feels like Jesus is gonna see it pretty quickly and be like this is fun playing Jordan into space and like playing off of Pedro de la Vega and creating space for
00:26:23
Speaker
um for Roosnack and we haven't talked yet but we had Obed Vargas on this show and he was like I want to score more goals I want to be more dangerous and feels like the team set up for stuff like that so I think Jesus is going to enjoy being the setup guy um but I think combined it's going to go over.
Future Expectations for 2025 Competitions
00:26:39
Speaker
Doyle finished his Doyleism with like there should be silverware. What should the expectation be this year um for fans? Jeremiah let's start with you and like what if 2025 goes well what did it look like?
00:26:55
Speaker
You know, it's the the easy answer is to say they were competitive in every tournament they played in. I think to really call it a successful season, they they have to win a trophy. they They have to. They have to. they they I think the Sounders are at a point where it's impossible to call a season really successful. You can say it wasn't an awful season. You can say it was an okay season. But this is a team that defines itself, ah success for itself, by trophies in the cabinet. And, you know, I think that means Contending for the supporter shield it means contending for leagues cup it means contending for Champions League And it definitely means contending for MLS cup and between one of those four trophies. I think They have to feel like they they should win win
00:27:38
Speaker
No, if you had to pick one, what would be your guess of ah which one it is this year? Everyone has been hating on me for this take, but I've been known to give some terrible takes, so maybe they're right. um I feel like CCC, again, is achievable. I know that this sounds insane. Everyone's like, they have the hardest path. You're wrong. I'm right. That's what I'm going to say. like Honestly,
00:28:00
Speaker
If they can get past one, two rounds, the momentum, the schmetzerisms, the just the the depth of this team, the shit-housery that they've already been through. A lot of these players have already played and won Champions League. I don't know. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. So it starts with Antigua from Guatemala, and then it would be the winner of Cruz Azur, Real Hope. And I don't know if it's pronounced that way. It's from Haiti, so. Real Hope? Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I got Real Hope. We're going to beat them.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah. And then most likely it's the winner of Achievas Club America. Yeah. So this is going to be the Obed Vargas FU tournament, where he says, oh, 10 million is too much. Blah, blah, blah. Give me 20. Give me 20. Cruz Azul are going to put a bid in immediately after the game. 100%.
00:28:49
Speaker
it ah It would reverse any questions around, and I don't think there's a lot around 21, but it's like, you know, the teams that have made it to CCL finals or tried to win an MLS history before had played at a T-gress, at a Club America at some point. Seattle didn't. If you turn around and you beat Cruz Azul and you beat Club America just to make it to a semifinal, I think there would be zero questions left.
00:29:13
Speaker
So I like that table on board. Can I just interject really quickly? ah You're going to fight. I've heard this claim so many times before about how the Sounders did not have a very hard path to 20. I knew it when God started saying that. I fucking knew it. They they beat the reigning MLS Cup champion. And by the way, they didn't have to play these games on the road. they They beat the MLS Cup champion. I don't watch MLS. Who who won that?
00:29:38
Speaker
Exactly. They beat Leon. Leon won the title the next year. They won Champions League the next year and they and somehow like beating Leon doesn't count. ah they and so I don't know really know what people wanted. Pumas was not what they once were, but Pumas beat Cruz Azul to get to the final. like This was not a that was not an easy path. and i think actually someone put together sort of like a like an elo ranking of the coefficient they beat and it was as tough as anyone's ever played also they didn't lose in mexico i just want you all to take this context tom has moved 10 times in 10 years that's the grind when tom moves he moves upstairs both ways through glass that's how you have to win in a conquer cam competition uh to make it worth everything okay
00:30:28
Speaker
If you are listening here on SoccerWise, make sure to go and check out both these shows. Check out Sounder at Heart as well for all your written content around. You can find them both there, by the way. We're all under one roof, so it's OK. No, no, no. Only Ari and Noah are actually under one roof. Yeah. Jeremiah paid the bills for this house, but we are together under one roof.
00:30:50
Speaker
And if you go and listen enough, maybe we could split it out into two separate rooms. Here we go. one to one If you're listening on these platforms, come find us at SoccerWise. We are live talking about MLS at least twice a week on YouTube. Comes out of the podcast. We cover NWSL as well. Follow your Seattle Rain coverage. And we cover a million other things around soccer. Tom really likes to talk to refs, so we'll do that every once in a while.
00:31:15
Speaker
When we get the opportunity. All right. Thank you to all of you for joining us and let's do it again soon Sounds good. Thanks guys. Thank you