Transcript
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.
Speaker: Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
Speaker: Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what cross! And what goal! Where's my copy? got bunch of them in the car. How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
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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.
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Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of what we learned this week on No Sardietes and the Sounder at Heart podcast network. It's Friday. i am Jeremiah Shan. We are at the Sounder at Heart studios in International District of Seattle. And I am, of course, joined by Nico Moreno. How's it going, Nico? It's going good. You know, studio, clubhouse and event center. that's I know. We're starting to all kinds of crazy stuff here. Got it.
Speaker: Well, we're basking in the afterglow of of win first Sounders win in four months. And I know some people are taking umbrage with the idea that it's been four months, but it was a 13 match winless run that is finally over it at times felt like it could just go on forever.
Speaker: But the Sounders finally met a team who was even worse than they were. But I don't I don't want to like discount the win entirely. But I guess broadly speaking, how do you feel about finally having a win to talk about? This is the first time we've been able to talk about a win. and like i don't even remember the last time we talked about a win Yeah, no, look, and you're not wrong, right? I mean, this is the RSL team that was also in a winning list streak of 12. They had 10 players out because of injury. yeah They had another four out because of international duty. I mean, this was a depleted side. Then they lost a guy in warm-up. They did lose a – they lost up a player in warm-up. Now, it was funny. I was talking to one of the ah guys who covers ah RSL for Wasatch Soccer Sentinel, and he was saying...
Speaker: Look, they were probably missing four starters. Like, realistically, there were four starters out. But still, that's a deplete. know So it's like on on some level, not that different than the Sounders. But, yeah, this is a team that has been as bad or maybe worse than the Sounders then since the World Cup break. I mean, like the Sounders, the first half of the season, they look great.
Speaker: Second half of the season, they have been absolute genius. garbage ah They would come into this game with only three points from their lap from since the World Cup break. So they actually had two fewer points than the Sounders since the World Cup break. And they played like it, at least offensively. Now, they I don't know. Maybe that's too harsh.
Speaker: I thought at times RSL looked OK. I'm a little surprised that they've been as bad as they have been. But I mean, look, the Sounders are not in a position to be taking any wins for granted. They had to they had to grind this one out.
Speaker: And you can only win the games that you get. I mean, it's that simple. And you start off on the right foot because this was the three games that you were obligated to win, right? Because not just your homestand, but the fact that every team that you're going to be playing in this three-game span was going to be either above right at level or below you, right? i mean this was These are the three teams they want to play.
Speaker: Exactly. So, you know, that's what you get. And I thought that you're right. Look, Pablo is going to be a guy that's never going to be afraid to be pragmatic. I thought that he was OK playing in a very deep block. Yes. I counted multiple times where there was a back line of six. I mean, yes, it was the five. And then sometimes you'd get one of the midfielders to just drop in immediately. So there was a lot of jerseys just covering inside the box, especially in the first half. Especially in the first half, yeah right? In the first half, they were packing the box in You could see the Sounders were struggling to move it around. Now, I do want to say that the Sounders did a good job in the first half, especially of counter pressing, yes of ah applying high pressure, of keeping the ball in their half.
Speaker: And even though the possession numbers were relatively equal, if you look where the possession was happening, the Sounders were where it had a lot more of the ball in the opposing third than the other way around.
Speaker: And I thought that, you know, though if there was one issue that we did see cropping up is like there was some questionable decision making, I think, about maybe trying too many passes. We saw multiple examples of players passing up shots that it seems like when you're struggling to score as much as the Sounders are, sometimes you got to just let it rip.
Speaker: And sure enough, the goal they get comes out of transition and it comes on a shot from outside the box and on On a play that started on one of those counter press opportunities where they turned ah RSL over deep in their end. They quickly cycled it and Danny Masofsky saw an opening and he went for it. He is not known for scoring from outside the box, which he joked about. And they, you know, but it was it was a good strike.
Speaker: And you can just feel the energy in the building change dramatically at that point. Yeah, and look, I want to credit Paul Arriola because he gets two assists, one maybe that wasn't as great, but this one for the first goal, he actually pokes the ball out. yeah They have like a little one-two give and go between him and Danny Wasaskin. And Danny, look, he sees an opportunity. He takes a shot and shooters got to shoot. He probably doesn't put that in.
Speaker: You know, very often, but yeah, he does a good job of just getting it right past ah Cabral and that's credit to him. Right. I mean, you know, he talked about maybe his daughter's, his good luck charm because, you know, he did he doesn't put the ball where he goes. But hey, at this point, whatever you can get is a ah ah block of momentum. And so have to pull out real up, had a very good game. Even in the first half, he created a couple of chances. Yeah.
Speaker: I feel like he locked down that starting position on the left wing as Paul Rotherick is not there and and Pedro La Vega is not there. Unless Jordan Morris can be a guy that obviously plays there. But I have a feeling that while Joe Valich is gone, Jordan is going to playing more as a nine.
Speaker: Danny is going to play there. But I feel like you have less depth at that position. So maybe you start off with Jordan and then you bring in Danny late because out wide in wide areas, you have at least other options. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be interesting to see what they do against Minnesota because you would think they're going to have to rotate some.
Speaker: Brian mentioned that as it was, they let Ariella go a little longer than they had him slated for. he ended up playing about 83 minutes. I would imagine he was probably slated for closer to 70, but he said he was feeling good.
Speaker: You know, this was as the long, he he said it was the longest time. in run out he's had since he joined the Sounders. I didn't double check him. That doesn't sound quite right to me. It seems like he would have played more minutes at least last year, but maybe not. I don't know. I may as well check it. But ah it was, I really liked what we saw from Paul Areola the last three games. And let's just go through it.
Speaker: Look, he hits the ball at the crossbar against the Red Bull at the very end of the game. He scores the late equalizing goal on a, on like, look, he had nowhere to go, but to push it in the net, but he has to make that You gotta to be there. You gotta be there.
Speaker: And then I thought the, uh, the performance against ah RSL was maybe his best performance as a sounder. And he's had some good performances last year where, and he had a, you know, he had a two goal game earlier this year.
Speaker: So it's not like he's been bad But this was a game where he was showing like all the little pieces that we almost forget that he was known as a, as a wingback, that he is someone who can get into a tackle, who is aggressive on defense, who is clever around the box.
Speaker: And we saw that. And, you know, you, you say that you, you, he gets a soft de assist on the second goal. And I agree, you know, the pass itself is not anything special. But what I liked is he had just a little bit of extra time on the ball where he pulls the defense away and he is able to put Albert into a whole acre of space.
Speaker: Whereas if he just one touches that, the defense is able to rotate and maybe it's not as good of a look. So I really liked what I saw from Areola. He had, you know, yeah and then early in the game, he had probably the Sounders two best looks.
Speaker: He had one ball that he put off the side netting. And then he had another one where ah it was a deflected ball and it came to him in the box and it gets blocked. But both of those were him being in the right place at the right time and being opportunistic.
Speaker: You know, Areola, if he can emerge as a, he doesn't have to be a superstar. If he can just emerge as like a second, third tier scorer, that's a huge deal for this team that is really now starting to find different ways to score goals. And he's a very smart.
Speaker: He's suck right cues there. So to your point in that pass, Maybe part of the assist is also making that run to look dangerous yeah so that no one presses Albert, right? cause there is danger for somebody else to pick up the ball. So, yes, I absolutely love Polariola's game.
Speaker: I also think that in i relate to him in this – in this way because he's not the biggest guy but he walks tall. I mean, that that's good point. He's not afraid to just take the yellow. He's not afraid to come in hard. He has a good center of gravity, and and he just goes at the ball with everything he has. And I thought that against a Pablo Mastrani RSL, that was huge. He was a guy that was willing to just go ahead and go in there with everything he had. he That yellow was like orange. I mean, he smacks We were joking with him afterwards in the locker room because he came in with everything. but But yeah, he's definitely a guy that can be a difference maker, especially now when you have so many guys off in his experience, his leadership. He's someone that the the players do respect. So i I absolutely love it. I will say that we have not talked enough about it. and And I feel like even during the press conference, we didn't.
Speaker: before Misovsky's goal, that big save by Andrew Thomas is huge. Massive, massive. Game-changing. Momentum changer. I mean, if that ball goes in in in a moment where Jackson Reagan gets caught What Jackson Reagan I don't know what Jackson Reagan's doing. Maybe he's just, he's shaking the cobwebs off. Yeah. He's getting some of that rust off, right? Right. But Brian was very clear today and said, look, he's had a couple of those. He knows better. Exactly. And it's,
Speaker: If you, my mind at first was that he misplayed the ball. I just don't think he was aware enough or worse. So longs was because he didn't, I don't think he touches the ball. Actually. He's sort of like, let he lets the ball bounce, which they always say you don't want to do as a center back.
Speaker: That would have been a tough one to play out of the air, but he doesn't put any body on salons at all. He sort of just lets salons come around him. And then So lawns is the in on goal. If people missed it.
Speaker: And he basically what he tries to do is he tries to touch it around Thomas, but Thomas is able to just his reflexes are such that he's able to dive out and knock the ball away and, and prevent the goal. He doesn't even get a save on that, but he, he does, you know, it's a great defensive play.
Speaker: And then he, the sounders literally come right back down the field, score the goal. And then on the next time down the full field, so lawns gets another chance, puts a left footed shot,
Speaker: that looks like it's going upper V and, ah and Andrew Thomas is there with a big right hand to make the save. Those three plays are the whole game, essentially.
Speaker: Absolutely. And look, it might look easy to kind of hold your ground and look big without giving yourself up, but it's not easy right now. You know, I think ah ah who's the player that had the opportunity For RSL Salon. He obviously takes an early touch. He maybe gives himself away a little bit more than he could have. But the explosiveness and the athleticism for...
Speaker: Andrew Thomas to get to that ball is significant. I just thought that he he played it perfectly well. Maybe if this is a more experienced, high-caliber striker on the ball in that opportunity, he either chips him or he goes early or maybe he does a better touch to get around the goalkeeper. But you've got to give so much credit to Andrew Thomas for just that composure, that technique.
Speaker: completely annihilating the angle of opportunity for the player. And then again, the athleticism to get to that ball. So huge, huge moment for, for Andrew, who also maybe needed a game like this. Yeah, he did. I think. Yeah. And you know, it's funny. I i went through and looked at the numbers.
Speaker: He's on seven shutouts, which I was surprised that he has that many shutouts because He only has two since mid-May or whatever, or actually earlier than April, I think.
Speaker: But they were so – I kind of forgotten how good the Sounders were defensively yeah in the first part of the season. But so he's he's like fourth in the league in shutouts. He's something like sixth in the league in ah in save percentage.
Speaker: And he's leading the league in a stat that Opta calls goals prevented, which is basically – His, you know, based on expected goals, how many goals he's saving, but he's best in the league. It's not surprising that he was apparently on the short list for the U.S. s national team call up. He ended up not getting called in, which I'm sure the Sounders are ah thrilled, thrilled about to have him for these three important games.
Speaker: But he's not that far away from being in the U.S. national team picture. Yes, in case you're wondering, even though he has a British accent, he is American. His dad is American.
Speaker: ah He grew up in England, but he's lived here since he was in college. and ah And yeah, he he's he actually has... some time, I believe with the U23s at some point, but, um, you know, it was funny. I was asking him about that today and he was seemed a little like sheepish about the idea of getting called in, but like, look, this is what we are with Andrew Thomas. I think he has the athleticism. His passing is not, is still not great. Yeah. His distribution is not great.
Speaker: Uh, he's got a big leg, but he is not the most, you know, accurate, accurate passer that can be developed. The other stuff though, is, is a lead at least by MLS stand.
Speaker: No, hundred percent. And that's kind of the, the beauty of Andrew Thomas. Cause he's a guy that he's so elite at shot stop and so a lead with his athleticism with, you know, his ah PK ball.
Speaker: Ability, stopping picking ability. I think that he has a really good – he's found his voice this year. And look, it's not easy. And I think that you saw that from him where you know it's been a difficult season because he's given up some goals. This is your first time being the main guy.
Speaker: I mean, there's a lot of pressure that goes into it. I feel like we put a lot of pressure on him because we were asking him about – all-star game we're asking about usbiz national team and he does a great job at just trying to stay very even keel and and not you know get get too high on himself but still i mean there's got to be a lot of pressure so this was a huge game for him because of the the the saves because of the clean sheet and i really think that that's going to build in the right way for uh andrew thomas Yeah, I mean, I like Andrew a lot. Obviously, we made him the cover boy of ah the first issue of four.
Speaker: And so we jeremi we put pressure on him, but he's performed. i think and that it's I think sometimes we got lost in the raw goals that the Sounders were allowing during this winless run. And you just go, gosh, he's giving up a lot of goals, but he's not really. I mean, if you look at his goals against average, it's right there among the the league leaders. He you know yeah wasn't getting as many shutouts as we would like.
Speaker: But again, like I said, he's right there among the league leaders. It's not that far out of the realm of possibility that he could be up in the top three or so once the season's all dead or once once the season's all over. ah But this was an important performance on so many levels, the shutout, the goals, and then Albert Rusnak getting back on the scoring sheet as well. And that was a vintage Rusnak goal where he you know he just pulls up on in transition,
Speaker: and shoots from about 20 yards out and beats the goalkeeper to the near post. That's the kind of stuff that we need more from Albert and Albert. You know, it's funny. I was going through his numbers today. Again, another player who sneakily is actually putting up. Okay. Numbers like he's not going to probably get to double digit goals, but he's almost certainly he's on. He's certainly on on, nine primary assists already.
Speaker: i He is, I think four or six in the league in primary assists. Not bad. It's pretty good. ah He is he's going to end up with his numbers, I guess is my point.
Speaker: And, ah you know, if he and he's not a DP anymore. i like this extension. I know people sometimes are just like, they're ready to move on and they're ready to get into the next thing. But if we can get Albert just scoring,
Speaker: you know, on a regular clip, he doesn't need to score a goal every other game, but if he can score every, you know three or four games, that would be a huge boost to the Sounders. And the problem has never been that Albert isn't good enough. It's that he doesn't feel like a number one DP. yeah He's not a D he's not even a DP. Now you get your village back. You can get it. Hopefully you can get Jordan Morris looking like himself. And that was another positive from this game.
Speaker: Jordan coming off the bench played 30 minutes, didn't get a goal, but he was goal dangerous. He looked like himself. And this is just another piece of evidence that Morris might actually be able to get to the version of the player that got the DP contract.
Speaker: Absolutely. And look, just to finish up on on Albert, I really do think that this was one of his best performances of the season. I just thought that he was finding players in between lines in a way that he needs to do more consistently. And look he created five chances. ah He was the the highest... passer when he when he came to the final third. I thought that his delivery on set pieces was very good. And then he gets the goal. And I also thought that if you look at his heat map and what he was able to do defensively, i mean, it's just the effort. Maybe he wasn't getting to every ball. He wasn't pressing everywhere. But just just his ability to just be part of that press, I thought also played pretty well now. Again, it's a
Speaker: It's RSL. It's RSL. We put the caveats out there to begin with because we understand who they were playing. Absolutely. and But you you can only beat who you were playing against. And especially in the second half, they were, I think they were every, if they had played, then the the if they had gotten two goals in the first half, I don't think no one would be complaining about a 4-0. No.
Speaker: If it had been a 4-0 game, they didn't play well enough. But point being, they played well enough in the second half. They deserved they were the deserved winner. I don't have any complaints about that. Now, you got to keep this going, though. Yeah. Which we'll talk about later. Yeah.
Speaker: Now that you say that, and and Brian even said it today, that go before before watching the video, they thought that they didn't play their... best first half, which makes me wonder why he looks so surprised or he he felt like he was not in in in agreement when I asked him about the slow starts and this team not being able to get going early and them having second half. It's okay for him to say it, not for you to say it. Exactly. Maybe that's what it is. So we're going to let that go because before we do talk about a couple of things that i that the are curs concerning concerning for me, yeah I want to give two shouts. One, because you talked about
Speaker: feeling like yourself, looking like yourself, like your old self, Christian Roldan. He looked like before the injury, before the World Cup. This was the most vintage Christian Roldan performance of the season. So good, so good, just in every line. He's just so good at just recoveries. He's so good at transition moments, distribution. Defensively, he was just on it the entire game. I just thought that he was very underrated because of the stats,
Speaker: almost candidate for player of the match if it wasn't for obviously the goals and the assist, but he was phenomenal. Just a key component and on both sides of the of the ball, right? Defense and offense. I just thought he looked great.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, Christian Roldan was maybe the single most encouraging performance because look, if the Sounders are going to make any kind of run and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but look, that's the first caveat. Sure. If Christian Roldan can get to being an elite midfielder, the way that he was last year,
Speaker: A run is possible, but that's sort of the base. That's that's your that's your your table stakes. You need to get Christian O'Don playing the way that he was last year. And if you do, you've got a chance to be something special because all this other stuff, like they're not to be an elite offensive team, but they can score enough goals if they're elite defensively.
Speaker: And being elite defensively is going to start with Christian O'Don. Totally. And again, you will talk about what I'm concerned about because I don't know who his best partner is, but he himself can change the game completely. And the other shout that's important, Nuhu. I thought Nuhu had a very, very good game.
Speaker: I thought that he's passing, he's defending whenever he was getting forward. And then he was so close, was scoring a ah free kick. I mean, that that that was wild. I was not expecting it.
Speaker: I really thought Kingston was going to take it. theyre Not even for a second. But I think they knew who was going to take that shot. But he gets around the wall. He almost, course, he almost catches Cabral slacking because I don't think he realized either he reacted late or he just like us.
Speaker: Just didn't think that he was going to be the left footed player in that scenario that was going to take that free kick because he took it by surprise. Yeah, it was funny. That also prompted Brian Schmenzer to use a line that I don't think I've ever actually heard him say before, but ah no one thinks Nuhu can score except Nuhu. And I want to say he is telling the truth about Nuhu practicing those free kicks.
Speaker: Now, I think when we watch him do it, you don't go, he's doing this in order to take them in games. But it is absolutely true he that he sits there and 20-yard, 30-yard, 25-yard free kicks after practice a lot of the time. I mean, as much as anyone. Like, when Danny Leyva was here, it was him and Danny Leyva. Now, Danny.
Speaker: doing it from different perspectives of how likely it is to happen in a game. But absolutely he is out there taking free kicks. i think this is the first time I've actually seen one and take one in a game.
Speaker: It is. But, you know, because he's also out there playing goalkeeper sometimes. Yeah, it's true. He just tries to do it all. But I do think that he wants it to be part of his, you know, repertoire. But it's just – Yeah. It's difficult because usually the poor yellow plastic man take a lot of hits when he's, you know, shooting the ball. He does not score a lot of – No. He's not – putting them in at a rate where you go, I want him taking them, but he, but he sits there in practice. He does sit there in practice. That is accurate. And so, yeah, he, cause I wonder if I do kind of assume that a lot of people heard Brian say that and didn't really take it seriously, but no, it's, he was being totally serious that he takes those a lot. And then also it was good to see Moose score. Moose had not scored since April.
Speaker: It had been a long or in a league game. He had not scored a league game since April. And he did, like we said, he had a baby girl. She's six days old or she was six days old.
Speaker: ah he He shouted her out. And look, ah is Moose going to get back to the 18 goal scorer from last year? Probably not. But if he can score a handful of goals, that's great. And I just want to note, I know a lot of people were saying, oh man, and we it would have been great to have Osase De Rosario during this window.
Speaker: He would not have been here. He's on international duty. Right. So it like, look, he wasn't going to that's okay. No. And look, I felt to credit Danny. I think Danny grew into the game and he didn't get frustrated because he didn't really get a lot. He did not look good in the first half. No, first half was not good. He was very, you know, not influential that he wasn't getting in the right spots. He had a couple of, you know, bad turnovers or, So I really do think that he grew into the game, but credit to him for staying, you know, positive. And, and, you know, he was in a second half particularly. I thought that he kind of found himself again. And then he was motivated after the goal pushing and he got fouled a couple of really hard fouls for a second. So look, I, I really enjoyed the fact that he was able to get that goal, but let's go to what I'm concerned about. One, it is the slow starts. I really do not like this team.
Speaker: being unable to be on the front foot early and just waiting until the halftime and the talk and the substitutions for it to really work out. And I've said it before. I think that you need to figure out what your best 11 is so you can start off on the front foot. You can't always have a team like RSL that's going to allow you back into a game. There are teams, especially after this next couple of games, that are going to put their foot on your foot on your throat and they're not going to let you get up. So you've got to be able to compete right off the beginning. And the other one is the most concerning to me.
Speaker: And I don't know if I was being too overcritical because he's statistically, he did not have a bad game. But I thought Snyder Burnell, looking at the game this morning again, love the kid, love the potential. But so many giveaways on moments where, yes, maybe it's a difficult ball and you're unable to really gather it But there was a lot of turnovers in moments that I was just like,
Speaker: i don't I don't get maybe it has to be some sort of like difficulty with the way things are moving and the speed of the game or i don't know, maybe some sort of confidence that he's starting to lose a bit. But there were just moments in this game where I found myself scratching my head at some of the turnovers. There's one opportunity in the first half where he loses the ball twice.
Speaker: in the RSL half that he comes back all the way, defending well in the box. And then he gives it up again, going off of the 18. So I just want to know what it is that maybe is making it difficult for him. he has moments, always, every single game, there's moments you're like, wow, great turn. Wow, great pass. But there's also a lot of those other moments. And so I asked Brian about it today.
Speaker: How do you kind of work with that? i't Again, Brian being Brian, he tends to kind contradict me. I just kind of, you know, he he thought that he had a decent game. But I don't know what you thought about Snyder-Burno.
Speaker: You know, I'm with you. i think Brunel is showing us almost every game what why you are excited about him. He has great turns. He has, i think, really good instincts.
Speaker: He has a nice touch. But I think there are times, there was one play where he, in the first half, where he made a great turn to get around someone and then ran right into a dead dead end. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And it ended up being a turnover in the, in the backend and ended up not being that big of a deal, but it's like pretty indicative of the Snyder Brunel experience, which is he will show you really high potential, but then he will make kind of silly mistakes.
Speaker: everyone, David Goss here from SoccerWise and I am coming to you with our MLS Minute presented by Continental. We are so excited to be working with some of the best local MLS coverage in the league as part of our new collective. So after you're done listening, hear about your team. Come on over and listen to myself, Doyle and Tom talk about the entire league.
Speaker: Let's dig into the highlights of the weekend. And we start, of course, the Hudson River Derby. Julian Hall, a Manhattan native, a Red Bull Academy grad, just wants to kill NYCFC.
Speaker: He scored the game winner in a 1-0 victory on Friday night. Hall scored his 10th goal of the season the same week. He got his first ever call up to the U.S. men's national team. He becomes the youngest player in MLS history to score 10 goals in a single season at 18 years and 178 days is also the third most single season goal scored by a teenager in league history. Now, if they were to play NYCFC again, he would be going up against a New Jersey native and a former Red Bull Academy graduate himself in Matt Miazga, who Tom is reporting will be joining NYCFC.
Speaker: But Julian Hall wasn't the only American teenager who got a call up this week and followed it up with a big performance. Peyton Miller out in New England scored two goals to help his team to a 4-2 victory over over Orlando. He got called for a penalty kick.
Speaker: to equalize 2-2, but came back and scored the game winner for his team alongside Brooklyn Reigns, who also will be a part of the national team. And another set of American teenagers who starred this weekend were for Philadelphia. Now, first...
Speaker: It was Andre Luis, the $18 million dollars signing for Sporting Kansas City, who had two goals in 10 minutes. Probably could have had three, but helped put SKC up 3-0 early on. But Philadelphia came back with four goals. in a nine minute span in the second half capped by an own goal by Zoran Basang to win four three for the Philadelphia Union Frankie Westfield got it started and of course Kevin Sullivan had a goal in this one as well we had some stoppage time drama across the league let's start
Speaker: with San Jose playing against LAFC at Levi's Stadium. It was a wild match. An early Aaron Long red card puts LAFC down a man, but Son and Buanga both scored and late on LAFC was clinging to a two one lead when none other than Reed Roberts, the center back,
Speaker: steps up with a stunner from outside the box to equalize in the 98th minute and send the stadium wild. In Cincinnati, Kevin Denke scored a stoppage time equalizer for the second straight game. Last week, it was in the 91st for a 3-3 draw against Charlotte. This week, it was a penalty kick in the 97th versus Houston to make it 2-2 in the final. Nashville, Vancouver, each won 3-0 to extend their leads towards the top of both conferences this week one Wednesday game and a full slate of weekend games next week that will be during the international break so we will have all your USMNT coverage coming up as well as MLS and NWSL this week on the soccer wise channels this is the MLS minute is a part of our soccer wise media collective sponsored by Continental Tire where we are proud to work with local soccer media partners across the country
Speaker: Thank you for listening to the SoundRatHeart Podcast Network, which recently added Monday Soundcheck to our roster of shows. Soundcheck airs live on Mondays at 1pm. You can watch it on our YouTube channel or listen to it at your convenience, however you consume podcasts. It joins a roster that already includes Nos Adietes, which airs on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Cooler Guild, who cover the Seattle rain. If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a member of SoundRatHeart.
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Speaker: We're also looking for sponsors. Send an email to partners at pnwsoccermedia.com and we'll get you all set up. Thanks for listening. And we saw that a lot in this game.
Speaker: i like that they keep giving him runouts because worse he needs those. His confidence is not where it was early in the season. That's fine. But Hassani Dotson also is, you know, I thought he was very good in the 30 minutes that he came up. He helped stabilize the team, the game a lot.
Speaker: And, and I hope that we keep seeing some rotation there, but it would be nice if someone could just stand up and take the role. And, you know, Peter Kingston was another player who has been sort of in that rotation.
Speaker: And, you know, like he picked up a yellow card almost immediately after coming on at the second half. And it was not a It was kind of a soft yellow card. He basically pulls someone down who's behind the play, but it's also the kind of thing that referees are supposed to be looking for sure because that's not, ah it's, it is a yellow card offense to do that thing.
Speaker: ah You don't always see it called, but you just gotta to be smart. Like there was no advantage to be gained by him doing it. And so it was kind of frustrating to see him pick up that yellow card in the end to play the whole second half with the yellow card. I will say related to that, though, I appreciate that Brian seems to be much more aware of pulling guys off, especially younger guys off when they're sitting on yellows. Oh, yeah. A couple of years ago, he got in trouble with Reed Baker Whiting, where he basically let him play the longest that he had played up to that point.
Speaker: And he ended up getting sent off with a ah ah silly second yellow card. And the centers ended up, I think, losing that game. But I feel like he maybe learned something from that because it was like, why? There's not like if you have if you have the ability to pull these guys off, why not pull Kalani off at halftime? Like he's not playing bad, but he's on a yellow. Yep. Get him off the field. Snyder, Brunel, same thing.
Speaker: He pulled him off because he was sitting on a yellow. And that was another frustrating yellow for me because that was a clean tackle. He, he, he gets, what the frustrating part for me was what happens. And I think that's what, where he put himself in that position.
Speaker: Yeah. Because he he gets a, ah I don't know if it was a deflection. He brings it down. And then he takes a bad touch with his knee yeah that he goes far from him. So he's trying to catch up to it. He throws, he goes to ground. He does go to ground. And that's where, where that happens. But I would agree with you in terms of Hassani.
Speaker: I thought he had a pretty good run when he came on. He actually, and I put this in my notes, he sparks the second goal by Albert. He's the one that, picks up the ball at midfield and then the ball goes over and it eventually ends in Paul Arriola, Arriola to Rusnak, and then he shoots that mid-range shot. So, A, you know what? I think he's someone that maybe, as we've both mentioned, he maybe is a safer player when maybe you don't need as much offensively and you need –
Speaker: you know, Christian's partner to do too much. And Brian said this himself this week. He could also be a guy that can allow Christian to rest. Now, obviously you're going to be dropping your level of play with the pivots if you do that. But I do think that he is serviceable to replace Christian at times.
Speaker: Yeah, and on the subject of slow starts, Mark Kastner, friend of the show, had a pretty an interesting stat. He basically said that Sounders have only led for 90 minutes during the – basically since during this winless run, and this is before they scored.
Speaker: ah they They ended up leading in this game for 40 minutes. But ah up until then, i actually just looked at the numbers. I think it actually may be closer to 70 minutes. Cause they basically led the Portland game for 14 minutes or so. And then they led twice during the Chicago game.
Speaker: i don't think they had led at all other than that. And this was another game where they were scoreless in the first half. They didn't fall behind, but you know, during this, this, what has now been a six game,
Speaker: ah a six game unbeaten streak. They've only, I think they've only scored one first half goal. And that was the the equalizer against the Rapids. Three of those ties, they had to come back to get a result.
Speaker: The slow starts are a thing and that's not super sustainable. I mean, this is, if you're going get on a roll, they got to start getting some early goals and building on those leads. Hopefully they can do it against Minnesota United, but you know, so it was good that they got the first goal against RSL. It wasn't ideal that they had to wait till the second half to do it No, no, absolutely not. And it is something that I do think has to do with the lineup choices and the maybe lack of consistency in certain areas. And it's difficult because you have had rotating doors of of many positions and and many players out. So I do feel like there is some continuity
Speaker: parts of it. I also think that, you know, you have some pretty good super subs that really make a difference because thought that Jordan and Hassani both coming in at the same time really helped to keep that game in a certain momentum going for the Sounders. But it is something you've got to figure out. You, again, cannot this against every single team. could against Minnesota. don't know if you could do it against Minnesota. Minnesota a pretty good team on the road. They are awful at home, but on the road, they also have a lot of players that won't be available, whether it is because of injury or because they're going to be on, on international duty. But at the end of the day, this is team that is going to come in hungry and wanting to get some points. Minnesota will be without Carlos Harvey. There's Randall, uh,
Speaker: Riznovich, Alex Mir, and Triantis, which Triantis is a very important player for this Minnesota team. Now, they're obviously a team that's going to want to play off of set pieces. They're going to go off of long throws, quick starts, quick restarts. And so Seattle has to be very mindful of that. But one thing that I did learn this week, looking at training is that although Yamar Gomez-Andrade will likely be available, i thought that he was going to be maybe ready for a start. But watching him play today, I feel like he's still at like 70%. His explosiveness wasn't quite there. He he looked a little tight. ah So I do think that he'll probably start on the bench in this particular game. They could use him because Jaboa is a very physical player.
Speaker: striker uh whether there is you know trying to find the the back of defenders because he's also very fast but when he comes to set pieces as well so you're gonna have to figure out who it is that you go with my guess is alex and reagan again Yeah, i honestly, i was I was just running through my head and I didn't know if I really clocked who I think is to be starting in this game. um They do seem to like Alex at center back, though.
Speaker: ah and don't know if we talked about this already, but i asked Brian, I guess it was this week, so maybe we didn't talk about it, but I asked Brian where they see Alex playing and he insists that he still sees him as a right back.
Speaker: My working theory has been that It's the hip issue that the Sounders just don't feel like it's worth him stretching it out like that because he hasn't played right back almost at all since i don't think he's played it at all since he came back from his last injury. And and so it seems fishy to me.
Speaker: And it makes sense that they just want him on the field. Like Kalani has been serviceable as a right back. I think he has still upside potential, but he's not been so good that you want, now that you feel like you need to to find a way to get him on the field. And so ideally we get Alex back at right back. It does not seem like that's, it's going to be this game.
Speaker: I wouldn't expect it for the Kansas city game either. ah So maybe down the road, we'll see him. But I, again, I still am impressed by Stu Hawkins. I thought he in and, uh,
Speaker: Jackson Reagan paired up just fine against ah RSL. oh We all, and I, we should just address this. We don't have any more information on why Alex left at halftime.
Speaker: All we know is that it was a family issue. We've gotten some clarity that it was nothing. that The impression was that it was not a life and death situation, that it was some sort of emergency he had to deal with.
Speaker: We were joking that maybe it was that his wife didn't know how to use the TiVo, ah but that's probably insensitive. We shouldn't say that out loud. Yeah, no, definitely not. Definitely not. No, I honestly thought that ah be there was something wrong with the little ones and just wanting to maybe get to somewhere, you know, whether it's a doctor's office or a hospital or whatever. But it was nice to see him at practice today. He at a practice today. He looked fine. Yeah. um Talked Christian for a little bit. He's fresher, I suppose, after not only playing 45 minutes. Yeah, it's exactly that too. But ah in terms of what's going on at home,
Speaker: looking at the body language between Christian and Alex, I think everything's a okay. Okay. I mean, that's, that's like, look, only reason we make a slight joke about it is because it seems like things are okay. Yeah. Hopefully. i mean, it's still alarming to see a player running off the field to go home.
Speaker: And I do be honest with you. know that we'll ever find out. And it's probably not important what it was. As long as we know things are okay. That's what the important thing is. Uh, but we felt like we had to at least address it. Uh,
Speaker: Dion Jovolec has been at on international duty. i don't know if we really want to get into that, but he almost scored the winning goal for Serbia against Greece. had a ball late.
Speaker: He had ah a late look at a goal, uh, hit off the, off the post. And then Greece came back and I believe one ultimately won that game. Uh, if people are keeping track, Osazi de Rosario scored for Guyana, uh,
Speaker: So he's, you know, things are going well for him, but it's a quiet window internationally for the Sounders. Hopefully they can take advantage of this though, ah because Minnesota, like you said, is missing a few players. Yeah. ah You noted that they are pretty good on the road and yeah, they, they, especially first half of the season, they were really good on the road. They haven't been quite as good in the second half of the season, but their one win in the second half of the season was at San Jose randomly a five, one win over San Jose, who since then has just been on fire.
Speaker: ah But it just goes to show that this is a team that can be dangerous that you have to be careful about. Joaquin Pereira, especially is a dangerous player. Yep.
Speaker: ah They are not, and they are not the same. They're not quite the same team that they were last year where they just want to play exclusively behind the ball, look for set pieces.
Speaker: They're a little bit more expansive under Cameron Knowles, their new head coach. They have been though in a really bad run of form. They have just one win in I think 11 games since the break.
Speaker: They are six and six and four
Speaker: since the break, the Sounders are catching them at the right time. They're on a four game losing streak. yeah They just are coming off a three, two loss to the galaxy in which they blew a couple of leads, I believe. Yeah. And and they, they've given up 14 goals in those four games that they've lost. And there's definitely no longer the Ramsey ball, Minnesota, the,
Speaker: a team that would just kind of not allow you to move and will keep you at bay and would frustrate you through. Jabal is their leading scorer with 11 goals. He is 14 goals, and he's definitely a player that I think is going to be important for him. I think, ah you know, Traps had a couple of decent games. i think in the back end, again, whether it's Boxall or whoever's in the back, they do tend to give up some goals. They push their wingbacks pretty high, and I think that's what Brown was referring to. that, you know, with this new way of of play, they're a team that maybe goes four games a little more, or a lot more than they did with Ramsey.
Speaker: Yeah. Uh, it hasn't led to, like I said, they, they have about 46, 47% of the ball. They're not exactly a possession heavy team, but they can still beat you in certain ways.
Speaker: Pereira. We just, that we actually have a big story in, uh, in center heart, uh, about Joaquin Pereira and sort of like the way that he approaches games. He's a tricky player. He's really good on set pieces.
Speaker: He's sneakily really effective, uh, defending from the front as well. Uh, So this is a team who has talent, but they just have not really been able to put it together in the second half of the season, especially.
Speaker: ah So I don't know that the Sounders need to look at this as a game where they can build some momentum. And the thing is, is that they are currently that win put them on essentially in playoff position. They're tied on points.
Speaker: with the Timbers, the Timbers technically have a tie break because they have one more win than the Sounders, but the Sounders have a better ah goals per game or sorry, points per game.
Speaker: And they have fewer losses. If the Sounders can win these next two games, they will be right there in the thick of the race. They'll be in a playoff spot.
Speaker: And all of a sudden, seventh looks very... though They should only be about one point behind in seventh. All of a sudden, it feels very possible that they can climb up the table and make a run.
Speaker: and yet... Yes, they would not have necessarily beaten great teams, but you got to build some momentum and suddenly you have some confidence going on to this road trip. And and who knows what happens from there? And you take advantage of it. Look, Portland has a very difficult game against San Jose, one that I yeah don't know how they're going to win it. They're missing Finn, who's out with injury. actually has an MCL, I think injury might be out for like four to six weeks. uh the goalkeeper pinterest i always remember his name ah he's out on international duty so you know if portland loses pentemis andtemis if portland loses and you get yourself another six hopefully i mean you give yourself a pretty yeah you all of a sudden you have you have some breathing room absolutely so this this is an important game i do think that uh caldera which is the
Speaker: basically the new striker right next to Yeboah is a pretty good attacker in the air. I feel like they go off of each other pretty well. And I do think that there are times where this Smetzer system can have issues whenever you do have those dual strikers, the two striker setups. So it'll be interesting how they're able to match up with this team.
Speaker: And look, it is it is a big night. It is um Hispanic Heritage Month. I'm sure that there's going to be some celebration game. I'm sure there's going be something for Tom that's going to get done yeah before the game. So there's a lot. There's also the annual business meeting before, which we can we can talk about. I just wanted to, before we get into that, I wanted to say, have you seen the... the the merchant job that they're doing for Hispanic heritage? No, I haven't. Oh, it's it's tight. It's really good. got to check it out. They have, the they worked with some designer in l LA and it's, it's ah it's much more Mexican than it is ah Hispanic broadly, but I, I do really dig it. I think they did a good job with it.
Speaker: ah You know, I suppose you, you will be the more qualified person to say how well it represents yeah Hispanic heritage. i they i Like new gear and stuff. Well, I mean, they got like, they got a poster and they've got like a,
Speaker: They've got a shirt and they've just got a like a couple designs that I thought looked really good. I'm hoping to make it to game. I got a kind of tight calendar with my daughter's games, but I really hope so. If I go, I mean, I'm definitely getting one because that's... Yeah, no, it looks it looks good. So the annual business meeting, though, for the first time ever, they're holding it on the same day as a game. They're having it from 2 to 4 o'clock in the West Club concourse. So I believe you have to ah RSVP to get in.
Speaker: It's a pretty decent sized space. So hopefully there's room to get everyone in there that wants to go. And there's going to be a lot of questions that I think get asked of a lot of potentially awkward questions that get asked. You know, the ABM is traditionally a, one of the rare opportunities where fans get to pose questions directly to leadership of the club.
Speaker: And oftentimes the, We don't get, you know, there's not a lot to say. The the state of the club is generally pretty good. This is the first time where I think it feels like there's ah a sense of crisis going on. yeah You know, they obviously had this long ah winless run. They had their longest ever losing streak.
Speaker: the play They were outside of the playoff picture. ah They are technically still outside of the playoff picture. So things have not been great right now. A lot of consternation overspending. And we had a few, I had of a few you know, we we put out a story on Sounder at Heart where we talked about some of the key questions that we think are going to hopefully get answered.
Speaker: I know Adrian has also been meeting with groups of fans ah talking about some of this stuff. ah You know, there was a story there was a post on Reddit where I recounted some of it. We heard another telling of that same meeting that was maybe not quite as negative.
Speaker: But I think some of the big issues that going to have to deal with, ah just kind of go through them, how they think spending is going to keep up or what we can expect as far as roster spending going forward. I think that's probably the top of everyone's mind. They kind of started to address that with Dan Jovolic, but look, $6 million dollars for a DP striker.
Speaker: Those are table stakes. Now that's, it's good to see the Sounders do it. But that can't be the end of the investment. That has to be the beginning of a new phase of investment. And that's that's nothing to be ah you know to throw a parade about, or there or that number is not a number can replicate. Every team has spent at least $6 million dollars on one player. That's not...
Speaker: There's no parades over that. Again, it's the most money that the Sounders, where you include his salary, it's the most money the Sounders have spent on an acquisition since Clint Dempsey. We can say that's good, but then it also says something that a you know they they invested, let's call it $20 million dollars into Jovlich, that that's the most that they've ever invested since then is what's more telling probably. Right, and and I'm hoping that there is a way that Adrian can set a vision for what's ahead. And I feel like he's going to be the one taking or should take most most of the questions because, look, yeah with Peppered, Brian, with questions about this, with Peppered, Craig Weibel, with questions about this, I think Adrian's the one that has fallen short of being very transparent and getting statements out on his own. So I feel like the heat might be on his side mainly. Yeah, and this is the first, like he's made, like I said, he's met with fans. He's talked to groups of people. This is his first public comments really in a long time.
Speaker: I don't remember the last time we talked to him on the record. Now, i have I'll be honest. I've talked to him many times in the time since then, but it's different getting on the record comments versus off the record comments. Sure. And so I think this is going to be really important to hear from him, his perspective on spending.
Speaker: ah You know, I think one of the other big questions is, what did they really end up learning from the World Cup being here? There was this a lot of attention about we will take it from here and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker: But I don't know other than the 38,000 that they drew for the Chicago Fire match. A lot of it's just felt like the same. And it's that, Adam. And if we go by, you know, just the crowd, the midweek game, I mean, there's maybe 18,000 people there in the stadium. 18,000. Right. And and that that says a lot and and people do want to see more of that. And maybe, you know, that goes back to the spending where, you know,
Speaker: Adrian may assimilate the fact that, look, I got a big time player and he had a really good positive reaction with the fans. And hopefully I get to continue doing that. So, yeah, i think that's a good question. And then next on the list is where do we see the future of the Sounders? Is it in downtown Seattle?
Speaker: Is it in Renton? This is going to maybe be the thing that defines the Sounders for the next 50 years, frankly, is like, i I think what we've seen heard privately is that the stance on moving to Renton has softened a little bit, but that hasn't changed the general belief that they don't have a lot of good options.
Speaker: And so Renton is very much still on the table. But I think we need to hear it from ownership. We need to hear them articulate why, if they are thinking about moving to Renton, why that would be and what it would take to stay in Seattle. Because I think that's what most fans want. I think that's, I'm sure that's what they're hearing from people is if you move to Renton, you're dead to me. No shade on Renton. Renton is a great place, but it's not where the Sounders should be playing their home games. This is Renton-Taquila again. This is not Renton- This is like downtown Renton. It's like Renton right next to the South Center Mall. So I get people's frustration with the location. Not to mention that it's a very industrial area where you'd have to really go off and beyond to create roads and a different parking lot and accessibility. And sure, I mean- And it's next to a train it's next to a train station, but that train station does not run on game days for the most part.
Speaker: No, and I'm with the fans where I want my team being in a um almost like a cornerstone of the of the city. yes I want it to be a staple. I want it to be right there, just like T-Mobile Park, just like Lumenfield. you know and and you know whether it is you Maybe you've got to push it more down to Soto or whatever, but I just want to be in the vicinity. I don't want to be in Renton or Auburn or Enumclaw, Bonnie Lake. I mean, no disrespect to any of the cities, but i just I want to be closer to to downtown areas. Yeah, and one of the the lines that i've I've heard said before is, show me a 14-acre lot in Seattle and we'll talk.
Speaker: yeah Well, I guarantee there are 14-acre lots that could potentially have a stadium. And it's on the Sounders to like figure out if they can get one of those spots. I realize it's going to be really expensive, but this is the future of the club we're talking about. We're talking about where the team will most likely be playing home games for the next 25 to 50 years. You can't get that wrong.
Speaker: You just can't. With the amount of open office space that there is in Seattle today, just knock some buildings down, man. If that's what it is, take Macy's, that building, I don't know. But you got to figure it out because you're right. That is...
Speaker: another way to solidify your, your fans, right. Reassure them that, that, that this is where we're going. Cause you're starting to, again, see the hit on season ticket holders. You're seeing it in just everyday games and and it's understanding you you have to be able to really ah find yourself with some empathy for this fans that have, you know, given up,
Speaker: get thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars and time right and everything and not know what this blood sweat and tears blood sweat and tears uh all right so i think then also i think we we're gonna want to know what the relationship has so far been with like with the hawks new owners as well as what's going on with the allen estates 25 stake in the sounders as far as we know the the new hawks owners did not buy that 25 stake So what's going on with that? where When do we expect? I don't know how straight of an answer we'll get there, but that's obviously important. It also feeds into the relationship that the Sounders have with the Seahawks and whether or not they can coexist without being under the same ownership.
Speaker: ah Apparently, Adrian acknowledged at one of these meetings that ah it would be ideal if there was a little bit more of a synergy between the ownerships. I think that's fair. This is all going to... I think these are things that fans going to want to know. And I think also how Long Acres, even if it's not the stadium location, how is that going to be better connected to fans? You know, when they launched, when they opened Long Acres, it was opened as a club. They called it a clubhouse yeah that it was supposed to be this place where fans we were going to be welcome to come and be. we We know that it's no longer an open facility of the way that it was at Starfire.
Speaker: And they they have started to do more things where fans are invited, but it does not feel like a clubhouse to me. It does not feel like it's open to the public in any meaningful way. Are there plans to to do that, to make it more of a ah place ah that fans can go, whether with an appointment or not?
Speaker: But right now, it's it's just not really set up to have fans on a regular basis. Yeah, I just look, to be honest, I thought that there was going to be more to the facility. I thought there was going to be like a separate, i don't know, medical facility and maybe a place where you ah create a a building for like academy kids to stay or, you know, trialists that you bring from other countries. I don't know. I just I i felt like there was a bigger picture to it than than what we've seen so far with it. So I think that's a phenomenal, phenomenal question. and i don't know if we have any comments on on on the chat, but
Speaker: If there is a question that I also want answer, and it goes to something that you kind of just talked about, is what happened with the whole idea that you were going to get this injection of capita by going to look for, yeah you publicly went out and said, hey, we're open. We want people to come in. like That's a great question. Why did it die out? Because there's no interest, because you've talked to some people and it went nowhere. like What happened with that? Well, we know that it's, there's not been any movement. It would be, fat I think that you're absolutely right that that's another question, maybe connected to the Allen estate share of like, what's going on with this, ah with this investment?
Speaker: And is, you know, and how are these, you know, how are these things all connected? You know, I suppose that they might all, all of these things could very well be connected the stadium, the spending, the ownership, the relationship with the Seahawks.
Speaker: It's all sort of like, it's, it's, you know, you maybe, and I think this would be good to, for the sounders to sort of articulate sure a an a, a path forward, what they, a vision for what they see, how they see all these things working out.
Speaker: And, you know, I, I think this is a great opportunity to be transparent, to open up with the fans, to answer some frustrations, because there is going to be a lot of frustrated energy in that room. Sure. And I think the Sounders need to be prepared to have some real answers and to not just sort of do the ah the normal thing where they they sort of give half answers and say, look, what do you want from us?
Speaker: I totally agree. I think that that's going to be a huge component, maybe even bigger than the whole ah voting of Craig Weibel, which obviously also part of this whole thing. But all of these answers, all of these questions... This like the first... Yeah, this is like the...
Speaker: The voting has not obviously started, but this is going to be a lot of this, I think. And I i think the Sanders understand this, but the vote, the GM vote to me is much more of a referendum on the Sanders overall direction.
Speaker: And it's probably not fair to Craig that ah his name is the one on the ballot. But the Sounders are fooling themselves if they think that it's just Craig who the vote's about.
Speaker: Sure. the The vote is about the entire organization. It's front office. And if he gets voted out, it's it's it's a bad look for the whole organization. and it's ah And it's basically fans saying we don't like the direction of the club. course. Much more so than it is we don't like the job that Craig is doing.
Speaker: And so hopefully we get to see some answers. And that's why I think this ABM is far more important than probably any other previous ABM other than than maybe the first one where we got the sense of what is even what is this thing? ah And so hopefully we we get some really good answers. Before we get out of here, we did get a question from ah Mr. Trivia. They just want to know what we think is going on with Caden Clark. He's obviously played.
Speaker: ah The last couple of games he scored against the Rapids. He i came on and played about 10 minutes against ah RSL. That seems to be the role. like they're They're easing him into this, it seems.
Speaker: I do. I think that's the Brian Smetzer pragmatic way of doing things. It should be no surprise to anyone that knows Brian Smetzer that he has his guys and Caden is new.
Speaker: And he's not. He's not going to give him minutes over Paul Areola or Seba Gomez. Maybe so he gets some of Seba Gomez, but Seba Gomez is playing well. Yeah.
Speaker: up But I do think we're probably going to see Caden Clark more and more. he he seems to be sort of winning over the the coaching staff slowly but surely. So hopefully we we do see a little bit more. of And he looks great in training. He's a guy that consistently ah has been available multiple times. He's so good on the ball. You saw a little bit of that in this last game where he he almost glides with the ball. He has this... yeah speed and and and burst that is almost effortless his first touch phenomenal i love the way that he turns his body on move so i i have a lot of expectations for him and i'm hoping that is the case uh that he gets a start at some point i really do want to see him get a start but again it's no surprise that brian is just being careful and cautious as he brings him in into speed i guess Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think that's about what we have. Just as a reminder, we have started doing these shows live on YouTube for folks that are in the discord, essentially, if you want to be in the discord, just go become a supporter.
Speaker: of Sounder at Heart and and email us. We'll get you all set up. But we we're doing these things at like one o'clock on Fridays. We are also doing a live show that's open to everyone on Mondays. It's called Monday Soundcheck, which with Nico and Adam Race, who we've loved. Of course, we're still doing Nos Adietes. There's still the Cooler Guild, which is covering the rain.
Speaker: And just want to say in general, thank you to everyone who is supporting us, who is helping us through this transition. And hopefully you like this, this live stuff. We will put this eventually up on YouTube as well.
Speaker: So it'll, it'll be, ah it'll be there. It just isn't live ah for everybody. Just doing that as a little bit of a subscriber perk. So hopefully people understand and appreciate that. And shout out Lickit.
Speaker: Yeah, look at this. He's running the board today. Running the board. That's right, kind of fun having someone running the board while we're doing this. It's crazy. Yeah, it a it makes makes it different. and i will say that, obviously, the times are difficult that for what we learned this week because usually we're coming off a training. But it should be around this time, you know, in the vicinity of this time. so I mean, I'm hoping that we get more and more people involved as part of the Discord or the limited subscription. Yep. absolutely yeah But definitely, I know that it's hard because of the ah time. It's not always the same. Right, exactly. But with all that said, let's get out of here. i am Jeremiah Shan, signing off from Nico Moreno. This is What We Learned Last Week, which is on Nos Adietes and the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network.
Speaker: And we'll catch you next time.
Speaker: Let's go and sounders.
