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What We Learned This (Mid-)Week: the Hassani Dotson signing with Jeff Reuter and Niko
154 Plays58 minutes ago
What We Learned This Week meets up earlier than usual to discuss the recent signing of Federal Way native Hassani Dotson, formerly with Minnesota United. Jeff Reuter (Five Asides, Total Soccer Show’s MLS Weekly) joins Niko and Jeremiah to talk about what Dotson could bring to the Sounders. They also talk about Tacoma Defiance’s new head coach and possibly dropping news about a former Sounder being offered an assistant role?
Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky and YouTube. Follow Jeff Reuter on BlueSky.
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Transcript
Will Bruin: Seattle Sounders Legend
00:00:01
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. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaan.
Seattle Sounders: MLS Cup Victory
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to crown it for Seattle.
00:00:25
Speaker
The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:58
Speaker
what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since I wrote a commentary that we didn't take the outcome seriously.
Sponsorship: Full Pull Wines
00:01:18
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 Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Adiates on the Sounder at Heart podcast network. I am Jeremiah Chan.
Key Signing: Hassani Dotson
00:01:48
Speaker
It's Wednesday, December 17th, and we wouldn't normally be recording on a random Wednesday, but yesterday of the Sounders broke probably the biggest piece of off-season news this year, or yeah, ah biggest signing at least. They are bringing in Hassani Dotson, a Federal Way native who has been with Minnesota United for the past seven, seasons six seasons and ah pretty good signing for the Sounders, especially as a death piece to talk about it
Analyzing Dotson's Role
00:02:17
Speaker
with me. I have Nico Moreno, of course, and one of our favorite correspondents, Jeff Reuter, formerly of the athletic.
00:02:25
Speaker
And ah yeah, he, he got to know Hassani pretty good during his time in Minnesota. ah Jeff ah or Nico and Jeff, how are you guys doing? Nico, go ahead. How are things?
00:02:38
Speaker
Hey, what's going on, Jeremiah? i Just happy to obviously be on again, especially with Jeff, you're an extraordinaire, you know, doing all the great work out there. So just excited to hear from his side what he thinks of Hassani and the overall potential, because that's kind of where I am, um you know, having certain opinions and thoughts on it, you know, whether, you know, how high that potential is. So I'm excited. i love to have a a good debate. have,
00:03:08
Speaker
So we'll talk about that. Jeff, how are you? I'm doing well. Yeah. And thanks for having me back, guys. It's it's awesome to be in offseason mode. Right. And it it's just that that hard shift that MLS takes. I do appreciate it, actually, that there isn't there's so many gaps in MLS's format across the board. This is not one of them. And so I've been appreciating that being able to get coaching hires, some signings across the board. And yeah, I mean, to your point, I was actually there when Hassani was drafted. and And I remember at the time it was MLS or Minnesota's third super draft since they had gone into major league soccer.
00:03:40
Speaker
And they took Dane St. Clair with their first pick. They took Chase Gasper, traded back into the first round to get Chase Gasper. And then they took Hassani at 31, which is why he wore 31 in Minnesota. And I remember speaking with Amos McGee, who is still with the club and now is with their academy, but at the time was director of player personnel because he was often doing the college scouting. I remember talking with him in Chicago at the draft and saying, OK, well, second rounder, they hadn't had a single guy who if they hadn't taken in the first round ever play a minute in Major League Soccer. So I was like, OK, do I need to get to know who this Dotson kid is?
00:04:11
Speaker
And McGee laughed and was just like, don't ask him that to his face. Like, do not ask if he's a real deal signing or not. And he was the most impressive Minnesota player of any age in their preseason. And that's a preseason where they brought in Ike Parra, Ozzie Alonzo, Vito Manone. And it was Hassani who was setting the tempo, winning the beat test, doing all these sorts of things where From then on, he was just pretty much part of the furniture with Minnesota through all of its changes as Adrian Heath chopped and changed the roster. And then of course the change over from Heath to Colette Alamada, CSO and Eric Ramsey is the head coach who's so beloved by Seattle Sounders fans. um I, you know, I think that he's been able to weather all of those and it's exciting to be able to talk about Hassani and, you know, in in a focus on him because so often players like him are not the focal point of discussion. So ah really excited about this one.
00:05:02
Speaker
Well, you know, you you got you gave us a lot right there on Hassani out of the the box. But, ah you know, to give a little bit more history on Dodson's time at MLS, you know, when he first came in, i think my read on him and I think my my consistent read on him has been sort of like a poor man's Christian rolled on in that he does a lot of the same things.
00:05:25
Speaker
He can does them. Well, he, you know, at one point I believe he had a nickname, a bangers only. He scores yeah some really impressive goals. Not a lot of them, but you know, he's got 18 goals. I would be willing to bet 12 of those are big highlight type of, of, of yeah outside the box. First time touch, something like that. i agree. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:47
Speaker
And he has some versatile versatility to like rolled on where he played some right back. He has played on the wing. He's played mostly, ah i think he's mostly a defensive midfielder, but you know, can you speak a little bit to that and and the way his positional he has, he's been positionally for Minnesota.
00:06:03
Speaker
Yeah. and And I think initially when he was drafted, the first of all, he was used primarily as the backup right back. And that was out of necessity. They just simply didn't have cover at right fullback at the time. And so he was playing a lot of minutes then, which helped him get in and around the box from a different vantage point. And so when you look at, you know, the bangers only mantra, two of his first goals are running in and kind of doing modern inverted wingback stuff.
00:06:26
Speaker
at a time when he's playing on the right side of ah a back four against, i think it was Philadelphia and Cincinnati. um So he changes his approach once he moves central. And there's something that he speaks about in a lot of interviews, you know, like you already alluded to grew up in federal way. He loved watching Ozzy Alonzo play when he was sound as fan.
00:06:43
Speaker
And so I think, it became difficult not to assume he was watching Ozzie Alonso because that's how he wanted to play the
Dotson's Style and Challenges
00:06:51
Speaker
game. And I think over time, what we learned is Ozzie Alonso was just a great player to watch in his heyday. But Hassani is not a defensive midfielder in the strict sense of ball winning, positionally being a defensive anchor, these sorts of things. These are not parts that have ever really manifested Hassani's game under either coach, under either Heath or Ramsey.
00:07:11
Speaker
Instead of Hassani is much more of a box to box player. He does have that work rate where he wants to get involved in all phases, where he's going to be a passing outlet along a wing, or he's going to work into the midfield, willing to drop back if, you know, his midfield partner is advancing forward, but not necessarily then coming in with that sort of like convergence that you see with like a true number six or something that rolled on, certainly added to his game over the last few years that we weren't seeing before.
00:07:36
Speaker
when, as you alluded to Hassani and rolled on, maybe would have been seen as more similar players. I think right now there would be more complimentary, but I also wonder if Dotson works best in a midfield trio where you do have someone else who is doing more of that. Um, you know obviously the defensive screening, but also someone that can interplay and you have triangles. And I think that he works really well working into those, um,
00:07:59
Speaker
We haven't talked about his injuries yet. and And this is probably the right time. I think in 2022 tore his right ACL and then early 2025 tore the meniscus in his right knee. So he is right footed. So, so that is inevitably something that's a concern, but it's not the plant foot, which then is usually almost more awkward for a player to come back from if they're not able to get good, stable balance as they're doing technique, but that will hamper his technique, right? And technique was never really his calling card.
00:08:26
Speaker
But I think around 23, 24, the two best seasons of his career, it seemed like he might be on a bit of a career trajectory akin to Sebastian Berhalter, who's a similar age, who took a while to break out, who isn't necessarily the quickest player, but has good work rate.
00:08:39
Speaker
But those injuries do keep you from refining the technique in the way that Berhalter has with Vancouver over the last two years, specifically with his long distribution. And so it's just a little harder to project where Hassani's best role is if it remains a two-man midfield. But I do also think...
00:08:59
Speaker
he can cover either of those roles capably. He does have enough of the skills of both roles. If if we're looking at it from Vargas and Roldan in 2025, where he can do a lot of those parts, just not as specialized. and I think some of that actually is a byproduct of him being forced to play fullback.
00:09:18
Speaker
At the start of his MLS career, he simply wasn't getting the training reps in midfield necessary to really bolster his credentials either as a true box-to-box six with the passing range necessary like Berhalter has alluded to or the defensive motor and positional awareness and things.
00:09:33
Speaker
And this is something that you just see a lot with young players who get played out of position to fill gaps early in their careers. And I think that there's a few examples of this from the Adrian Heath era, but probably none more prominent than Hassani Dodson.
00:09:44
Speaker
And just to add a little bit of context, you know, you mentioned that he had a meniscus injury last year. It is notable that he came back. Now he didn't make any starts after coming back, but he did play in Minnesota's last seven games, including all three ah playoff games against the Sounders. So it does look like, you know, my expectation is that he'll enter preseason camp fully ready to to go So to the degree that the injury is behind him,
00:10:11
Speaker
You know, it seems like that's the case. ah But Nico, you sort of alluded to having some maybe some skepticism about this deal. i'm I'm guessing it's at least partly the injury. But what was your reaction to to this news?
00:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, initially, um I understand it. I mean, this is a sounders guy through and through when it comes to the just thesis of everything and not just the local aspect. Right. But the versatility, the grit, you know, a lot of those things that, you know, are Brian's matters.
00:10:43
Speaker
ah Shopping lists. when he When you talk about a player, the right mentality. But the only reason why i was initially not not underwhelmed, I just i I didn't find it interesting is because I thought that and you guys kind of alluded to this a bit.
00:11:03
Speaker
Is that for the guys that they were looking at or it seemed like they were looking out outside of MLS? they were trying to replicate some of the things that JP, Leyva, and Obed could potentially leave out, right? you leave You guys literally talked about it. Him and Christian do seem to almost do ah a lot of the same things with the exception of that defensive tracking and just gravitating defensively. But for what I've been able to study all morning and in terms of Dotson is, I don't see him being that... ah
00:11:37
Speaker
Breaking line passer for through balls into the attacking end. That's something that, the you know, Obed Vargas has been really good at. Breaking the ball with his possession and dribbling skills and being that guy that overloads. um Those seem to be things that some of these guys that I was kind of looking at had. And I don't know if Dotson necessarily provides those. The the second one is potential. I totally understand that there was always going to be a safer move. Because maybe Snyder Bernal is looked at as the high potential guy and the ah prospect and the one going to try to mold in.
00:12:13
Speaker
But it seems like, and and this is where Jeff is going to be you know very important in in helping me understand this, it feels like his potential has peaked. And I don't know how much higher he can necessarily get.
00:12:27
Speaker
Part of it is injuries, of course. But it just seems like taking a secondary role last season, I don't know how much of a high ceiling type of move this could be in the scenario, of course. And it's one that we got to prepare for. If Obed Vargas goes in January, February, can Dotson be that guy that holds on to that position and becomes a starter?
00:12:54
Speaker
It's possible.
Dotson's Motivation and Role
00:12:56
Speaker
and And I think that you're framing it really well. And I want to come back to the point about Snyder Brunel's development as well, because I do think that that actually makes this move make even more sense for a lot of the reasons you've already laid out. But I think that when you look at the potential for Hassani, it's,
00:13:11
Speaker
it's hard when you look at a young player, you assume there's going to be some physical development. Right. And so that's simply like, i mean, again, I'm sorry, I'm going to use the Berhalter example, speaking with him about training sessions he had in 2020, when he was about 21, 22 years old with his father, Greg, that was a lot of what they were working on was his like ability to quickly get to top speed and retain it rather than how long does it take you to get into your stride. Right.
00:13:32
Speaker
You can't really do that as well when you are, you know, 28 going on 29 years old, which I believe Dotson is coming into this deal with Seattle. Yeah. so what you look at then is you can still refine some technique, right? And maybe it is simply the, our movement patterns will provide you with a little more space where you can play those through balls than what Ramsey ball was offering you. Because I, I don't think I need to tell any Seattle fans Ramsey ball is not necessarily the most spacious, pretty possession, dominant soccer you will ever see.
00:14:03
Speaker
Right. So in a different system, you see a different side of players and games. And when you go back to the Adrian Heath era, and let's say specifically 2023, Look at that data, because that is going to be a little bit closer to playing actual on ball soccer, certainly. And I think that it will actually will be stylistically a little bit closer than what you saw. They certainly played in a 4-2-3-1 every single game while Adrian was there.
00:14:25
Speaker
With Dodson, you're also going to see a mental evolution. And I think that this is something that he was always really standing out at once he did stick around in midfield around 2021 and stopped putting in those shifts at left right back, is that the way that he reads the field makes him very good at knowing the risks he can take. He's a really good box crasher. He's a late arriver. He's someone who's going to come in and try to provide an outlet for a shot from 20, 25 yards out, uh, or to be able to recirculate quick, get it out to the wing and you get a different cross. He's really good at playing both of those, but he also is is exceptionally good at being in the right spot where when, if the ball turns over and he has to hustle back to track back to cover, not just for his own positioning, but the fullbacks maybe who've advanced, he's really good at picking his angle and getting to
00:15:10
Speaker
the attacker's intended point before them. And it's something that you even saw after he came back from the meniscus before he had kind of another little setback. It was something that he was doing against San Jose this year. And you looked and said, okay, he does still have the mobility. Now, how much of that is going to come back after the latest one? We'll find out. But that is something that does show the mental acuity that he has to be able to make those sorts of rotations, which would be necessary if it's a two-man midfield.
00:15:39
Speaker
I also do think that with his age profile, you look and say, okay, probably three years of peak left. And then you're looking at who's coming in for his minutes. Well, that can be a really natural progression for Snyder where you don't have to force him into more action, regardless of what happens with Obed. Right. And so I think that having someone in prime, I also understand there's something naturally In like a really perverse way, because the examples that you were citing, Nico, were very much like international signings in a similar spot, right? And so when you see someone coming from federal away, on the one hand, it's like, it's great. there's There's someone who understands the culture, someone who grew up around the MLS version of the Sounders and will have that sort of respect for the badge. And that's sort of like, I'm just so glad to have my name on this jersey that I'm willing to to come sign for the team. But sometimes you wonder, okay,
00:16:24
Speaker
playing close to home is always going to be a priority for a player. So does that mean that he was that safety net target where it was like, yeah, we know we can acquire him because he'll want to come back here. But does it imply that you miss some other targets? I do think his quality does bear out that he is a certified starting central midfielder in major league soccer. and And he is close friends personally with Eric Williamson from some us U S U 23 camps that they were in. And then beforehand as well. And I think that there are some similarities with their career trajectories, unfortunately, when you think of the injuries and the fits and the starts, but I think in a very different way,
00:16:59
Speaker
When Williamson signed with, i believe it was Charlotte last year, there was the assumption that eventually it will be to get his career back on track. And I think in a similar way, you can look and say, this isn't Dotson going back home because that's where the money is. I think it's a case where he'll also look and say, hey, there are minutes here available for me, especially after the sale of Danny Leva. And it makes a ton of sense for me to come in here now at this point in my career, rather than waiting five more years.
Sounder at Heart: Subscriber Perks
00:17:22
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Adietes, Loving Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible through our paid subscribers. Plans start as low as $30 a year and allow us to remain independent and mostly ad-free. subscribers get access to all our written and podcast content, including a full text RSS feed and a mostly ad free podcast feed that includes every show in one spot. If you really like what we're doing though, I'd encourage you to sign up at our higher tiers, which include all sorts of various perks. The most popular of those is our members only discord, where the real Sounders sickos hang out. I know I've called this group the smartest, funniest and best informed Sounders fans in the world, but it's more than the rough equivalent of a Sounders Mensa meeting. Discord is where we make things happen. Like, for real. You know the promotion the Sounders ran that offered fans the opportunity to trade in their messy jersey for a Paul Rothrock one? That originated in our community. You'll not only be the first to know about stuff, but you also have a semi-direct line to the movers and shakers at the Sounders organization. If you want to be one of the totally normal people who will occupy the Sounder at Heart Discord, just become a supporter of Sounder at Heart. Anyway, thanks for listening, and go Durs.
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Speaker
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00:19:39
Speaker
You know, and along those lines, i I also wonder if there's a, like there's ah I always got the sense from him that there was a little chip on the shoulder when it comes to the Sounders specifically, because he, you know, he didn't plan the Sounders Academy.
00:19:53
Speaker
i believe he tried out for the Sounders Academy. I believe I'm pretty sure he, He tried out for S2 as well. At one point, the Sounders obviously never made drafting him a priority. And so I think he always felt this knee, this, there was this kind of sense of the Sounders have passed me over and, and didn't really take me seriously. And I would imagine on some level, this was ah also a flattering thing for him, for the Sounders to be coming to him and saying, no, we we've seen what you've been doing. We like you. We think you're the, our kind of player. And so there is sort of this sense of, I think,
00:20:25
Speaker
I can imagine him really wanting to make the most of this and prove himself. And, you know, if it ends up being, you know, whatever, but I just don't, I have no doubt at all that he's going to come in with the mentality that I can win a starting spot. Now, whether or not on paper, that's realistic. I don't know, but I think that's going to be his mentality coming in here is that he wants to prove,
00:20:47
Speaker
himself right essentially in all of this and show the sounders like this is what you've been missing and now I'm here to provide it and you guys didn't make a mistake and and I mean I like that mentality that potential and he seems like the kind of guy who plays with that like he's ah he seems humble but he also seems like he's prideful and believes in himself and this is a chance to sort of make that bet Yeah. and And I saw that over the years and it was not just when he was coming back from injuries and had that sort of internal, I need to prove it, but I need to keep calm. So I don't rush this and you know take the wrong step and set myself back. It was also when things were going very well.
00:21:24
Speaker
Right. And it's the idea that when he is a crucial player in 23, and I believe he scores the goal that clinches a playoff spot for them that year, or the year beforehand, he's not necessarily then walking around the locker room. Like he he just took over the team and now it's his right. It's, right We all did this together. i was fortunate to get in the right spot and I'm trusted myself to have the technique to do what needed to be done in the moment with the mental dis resolve. Right? Like he, he is this very well-rounded mentally sort of figure where he was both shh.
00:21:53
Speaker
A vital link between sort of like different factions of the locker room. This was something that happened a lot during the Heath era where none of the coaching staff throughout his entire tenure ever spoke Spanish. So you would often often see a cohort of the Spanish speakers separate from the rest of the team in like a really weird way. He was pretty vital in bridging those gaps eventually around 2021, 2020 once Emmanuel comes in.
00:22:14
Speaker
ah He also was really proactive about welcoming new players to the locker room. And so whether it was super draft picks or players coming up from the Academy, especially younger players, he did serve as something of a mentor for Tani Oluweshe, for example. So I think that there is also some...
00:22:31
Speaker
locker room factor here that you can just kind of sprinkle in as like, he's a good glue guy. And once he integrates into it, um, you know, he'll have the humility to not just be like, well, this is how I've always been in a locker room. And this is always how I've interacted with teammates and built social groups and these sorts of things. I think that he'll be very happy to acclimate into the existing culture and and add to it from there.
00:22:50
Speaker
to To that effect, uh, Jeff, what did you make about how publicly it became that he wanted to trade out of Minnesota. Cause that's something that had caught my eye. And I went back to look at some of his audio and this goes entwined with the fact that even in our last show, Jeremiah and I, I had mentioned that the Sounders were talking to Hosanna Thompson, but it it seemed from what I had heard that he was asking for max money and he, he wanted to obviously get a a better deal. of the what 680 he was making last season.
00:23:29
Speaker
I definitely don't think the Sounders would pay him that. i'm I'm guessing that it's below it. Just thinking of how the Sounders operate. I'm not 100% sure, but the question goes more towards how that kind of played out. And is that something that you felt like it was coming out of a bad place or or how would you kind of articulate how that whole situation played out?
00:23:54
Speaker
Yeah, I will say that that caught me off guard when that was first brought to light. I think it was with Tom Bogart at the time um and his agent speaking first to Tom and then Hassani gave comments two days later in training when it was pretty unavoidable, if I remember right. um And it was very out of character from what we had seen. But I think that you have to kind of appreciate experience role of both continuity and upside at the time, it's a very different circumstance than where he's at in his career right now.
00:24:26
Speaker
So after 2023, uh, you know, when he's still on this contract that just concluded at the end of 2025 and in 2023, it's the first like bonafide Hassani Dotson is a top 10, 15, 15,
00:24:37
Speaker
ten fifteen box to box midfielder, major league soccer, which isn't to say he's getting best 11 love, but he's no one's questioning whether or not he's just starting number eight the following year. Right. So he puts in that sort of season. He sees the contract airing with Eric Williamson gets from the Portland Timbers, similar CV, similar track record of success at this point, coming off of injuries,
00:24:59
Speaker
Adrian Heath is gone. Okay. Well, it's going to be harder for Minnesota United to offer him that new contract when they don't have a CSO yet with that search concluding around Christmas and then having all these other deals where players who had guaranteed deals for 2024 were never going to be the priority for them for dogs. Okay. goes out in 2024 as another year, much like 2023. Underlying numbers are a little bit different. i think he scores more, assists less. But when you look at it like his passing rates, his defensive metrics, his his just work rate, miles ran and these sorts of things.
00:25:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's still Hassani Dotson. You're still projecting at 2025. Now he wants that contract, but now Minnesota is saying, Hey, we didn't really do any business last winter. This is our off season to actually start tinkering with the squad. We have other priorities. You're under a contract in 2025. And you can understand then where if a player, the coach who signed them to the last deal is gone and you thought you were going to be able to get your deal a year later. And now you're told, Hey, you've got to wait because you've still got that deal. And we're not really renewing contracts at this point for players who have those guarantees. Right.
00:26:02
Speaker
I can understand them where you have to take a different tactic. And it made sense that it came first from, you know, source, close to player or agent. I can't remember how it was framed, but um I mean, in those situations, those only like a few people who actually might pick up the phone and call a media member. Right. um So, yeah,
00:26:19
Speaker
When you go from there to no, actually i do want that move. All of that happens before the injury as well. Then you pick up the injury and then, well, you're not going to get a trade nor should you, and you're going play out the rest of your contract. And I think at that point it made more sense to to wait on free agency.
00:26:38
Speaker
I think in the benefit of hindsight, that trade wasn't going to happen. The new contract probably wasn't going to happen. I think it would have been a stalemate all season, most likely. And it would have been sort of ah okay, prove it on the field and you're going to get a bigger deal from us as the next team in free agency.
00:26:52
Speaker
So it was ah a strange circumstance, but it seemed like one kind of born more out of needing to try something different out of necessity for what had now become over a 12 month sort of contract stalemate. And it's not even a stalemate. It was just waiting for something to kick off.
00:27:08
Speaker
Well, it's good to you know hear you talk about how it was added character. That's one of the things that I was kind of, when I'm trying to figure out a player, and this is something that Sounders do very well, which in the same line, i feel confident that he's a high intangible guy. Because look, whenever you have a guy like Sean Henderson are involved in scouting, he's going to do his due diligence when it comes to that department. you know You're going to get a guy that's bought in into the Sounders system, he's going to come continue here and perform. Brian, you know same thing. Those are non-negotiables for him. But it is good to hear you say that because those are one of the things that, you know, i was speculating about it and why, you know, I wasn't necessarily thrilled about the whole thing. So I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with the move and I think I like it. But you're helping me just become a lot more knowledgeable about the player as he's coming in which is obviously what the whole purpose of this show is. Right, Jeremiah?
00:28:03
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think what's kind of one of the things I like about it is that this is a, I mean, if you look at what the, the universe of possible moves, the sounders were going to make for this spot,
00:28:15
Speaker
there were certainly higher upside moves that they could make. There was more conservative moves they could have made as well, but this seems to hit a pretty good middle ground of a player who has proven himself in MLS, who's still very much in the prime of their career, who has some real upside. Like if he ends up being this, if they move, let's just say they move Obed this winter,
00:28:37
Speaker
and you start the season with Hassani Dotson starting next to k Christian Roldan, I think on paper, you feel pretty good about that. And you have, you know, you have Snyder Brunel waiting in the wings. You, you know, you potentially have some other guys that you're going to be bringing in to to kind of fill in around them.
00:28:53
Speaker
But if you also, if you enter the season with Obed Vargas, Christian Roldan and Hassani Dotson, all sort of fighting for minutes, you can at least see a real rotation being put into place where you're not having to rely quite so heavily on dots in on just rolled on and Vargas who played virtually every minute that they were available last year. And by the way, there's a decent chance you're going to move. You're going lose Christian rolled on for some period this summer when they, when you you know, for the world cup, there's a chance. I mean, there's a chance you could lose Vargas for that matter to the world cup. So adding depth,
00:29:28
Speaker
Yeah.
Coaching Prospects: Tacoma Defiance
00:29:29
Speaker
So just adding depth, if nothing else is a good move. I do like this one. um You know, one thing I wanted to ask Nico about, you know, one thing we've, we've been following with the Sounders this off season is Palo, who has already said he's not coming back as a player, but what are you hearing as far as the coaching situation as it relates to Xiao Palo?
00:29:50
Speaker
ah Yes, obviously, you know, now i can go ahead and say that there has been an offer from the Sounders for him to come in as a coach for Tacoma Defiance. And I say a coach because he's more of an assistant role. ah He obviously has no other background other than just playing and having that ability to move into coaching position. But um additionally to that, it sounds like Tacoma Defiance or the Sounders organization has decided to bring in Ricardo Clark. He's an assistant coach for Vancouver, you know, former player, and he's going to be the one that's taken over that Tacoma defiance role. And if Joe Paulo was to take that offer from the Sounders, he would be an assistant to Ricardo. So that one's interesting. We haven't reported on that. We haven't, um you know, tweeted it, posted it, nothing. and We're probably going to allow this show to to bring that you know small notice nothing crazy it's not a you know huge move or anything like that but it's something that you know our fan base would probably like to hear and so yeah uh i don't know what your thoughts are on that there germany
00:31:00
Speaker
Well, Ricardo Clark, as people may recognize this name, he actually was a World Cup player for the U.S. national team. Unfortunately, most famous probably for being pulled before halftime in the Ghana game 2010, I believe was.
00:31:15
Speaker
i believe it was Yeah. And, but he had a good, you know, he had, he had a good career. ah you like I said, he was a, he was a world cup player for the S national team. he had a nice time in MLS most recently for Houston dynamo. And I guess, I think he may have actually been the white cap FC to a head coach last year, as maybe as well as an assistant for the for the white caps. But,
00:31:38
Speaker
It's an interesting hire. It's someone who, ah you know, I don't know a lot about his coaching profile, but it's certainly an interesting one. And, you know, you like bringing in ah player, you know, you you, it can't hurt the recruitment to have a ah player of his CV in the organization. you know, I would imagine maybe, i don't know. I don't want to speculate too much on that, but yeah.
00:32:00
Speaker
it's an interesting It's an interesting move. Of course, Sounders also ah announced the signing of Stephen Fry this week.
Draft Strategies and New Signings
00:32:07
Speaker
Hearing some other rumors of potential signings that could be in the offing. When is the draft, Jeff? Is that tomorrow? Thursday. Yeah, Thursday, to but December 18th. Yeah.
00:32:18
Speaker
yeah And it'll be interesting if the Sounders are, or how active the Sounders have, or going to be in that the one player that they have, that is of some note is there's a a guy named trace Terry, who they drafted last year, who they retain his MLS rights for another year, but he's someone who you can see them bringing into defiance ah most likely to compete for time there. don't know. Do you, do you spend much time looking at the draft these days, Jeff? Yeah. I don't know. And i'm I'm busy thinking about like the locker room dynamic of a Ricardo clock, Joe Paolo, like the mentality monsters of that next yeah team is just going to be off the charts. I cannot wait to see that. um
00:33:00
Speaker
No, I, I think that at this point, the draft is very interesting for people who do like to see that career progression. I think that you can see that's where your players like Osaza are going to come through most likely moving forward, right? It's the idea that you drafted, you've kind of stashed at your next pro team for a couple of years. You have a really good consistency and you're going to graduate. But thankfully, because of that pipeline, MLS teams so far,
00:33:26
Speaker
I was really worried when it was going to start that the third division nature of it was going to make it a very difficult jump to make from next pro to MLS. I think what we're finding is actually players who excel at next pro tend to be doing pretty well at getting yeah rotational roles in MLS. I'm talking like 600 to 1200 minutes a year in major league soccer, but that's,
00:33:44
Speaker
I mean, that's a $400,000 player some years of major league soccer, and or that's a guy that might be coming in on a TAM deal too young and needs a full year to acclimate. So you're actually saving a ton of money that way. And I think you're getting players who are hungrier and maybe, you know, they' pushing a little bit harder in different ways because that is what they've been you know, working to get. So all of this, just to say the super draft, it's very different now. i had gotten a sense it's kind of top heavy. And some of that is actually just coming from reading the tea leaves of the trade market, where you look at a couple of teams have traded, I think for pick three and pick 20 have gone the last couple of weeks. And the valuation on those are about
00:34:19
Speaker
they're they're off compared to most years. Like it is really expensive now to trade into the top three for Montreal or Dallas, excuse me. And it's actually really cheap to trade into the back half of it or so. So I'll be interested to see, you know, check American soccer analysis, Paul Harvey there, Travis Clark always in top drawer. He's always got like, I think that you've got your resources that are far better than me is what I'm saying. i have To actually get a sense of a lot of the specific prospects. I'm just talking on vibes at this point.
00:34:49
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that if people are interested in the draft, ASA, American Soccer Analysis, and Paul Harvey have built this really cool tool that analyzes every player in college and sort of gives a draft profile of them. ah based you know it's It's all based on numbers. It's not a lot of qualitative stuff, but it is a lot of interesting quantitative analysis And, uh, and you can see how players in 2024 as well. I should add it. It was like, it shows this one word too, but it had a very good hit rate last year. So I'm, I'm using it too.
00:35:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, no, exactly. Well, that's, I guess that's it on, you know, of course the sounders are probably going to go do something that, that messes this up and makes this a little bit less
Significance of Dotson's Signing
00:35:30
Speaker
timely. But I wanted to get something on the record about Dotson. I think it's a relatively significant move. It's worthy of of spending some time. Jeff, thank you so much for giving us some insight into Hassani's background.
00:35:42
Speaker
Nico, thank you for hopping on here doing this sort of emergency podcast. Anything going on with you, Jeff, that we should be knowing about? Uh, yeah, mean, on Tuesdays right now, I'm still doing total soccer show MLS weekly. So we, we talked yesterday, we broadened the scope of it to the USL and the NWSL as well, because it was just Taylor Rockwell and I, but, uh, yeah, stay tuned. Uh, I should be back to writing more regularly soon. Yes. Like that.
00:36:10
Speaker
like that so And of course, Nico, you're still doing soccer down here, lobbying scorchers. You are, we are always looking for ways to get you even more involved on sound or art.
00:36:22
Speaker
Anything else you want to plug Nico? No, no, no. I think that's everything. I mean, I'll be, uh, try to be pretty active in, in regards to following up on the, um, Paul Rothbrook situation and see where that leads. Uh, you obviously just my Twitter is where you, or my ex is where you'll find a lot of it. I'm doing better on blue sky. I'll tell you that I'm, Oh, good. Good. i Some stuff in there. I'm really working hard, trying, trying it to to get it out there. But yeah, no other than that, I'm just excited to hear what's next text for the Sounders.
00:36:55
Speaker
Awesome. All right. Well, let's get out of here. i am Jeremiah Shan signing off for Nos Adietes, which is part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And we will catch you next time.
00:37:33
Speaker
Let's go Sounders.