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.
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Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. I am Jeremiah Shan. We are here today at the Sounders training facility at Long Acres, fresh off the Dejan Jovalich press conference.
Speaker: We could hear it from Craig Weibel. We heard from Dejan Jovalich. We heard from Brian Schmetzer. Nico Moreno joining me. What was your first impressions from everything we heard today, at least from Jovalich?
Speaker: Well, thank you, Jeremiah. Of course, as always, what's going Sounder Heart family? i like this DP special show right after the presser.
Speaker: And I'm excited, man. I'm ah am'm ecstatic. I am motivated to once again watch this team and not feel like they're going to get just completely...
Speaker: outperformed or at the very least, they're going to be able to score some goals. Because if there's anything that I took out of that press conference, just one, that Jovlich is a immediate starter, right? Brian mentioned that himself.
Speaker: ah He's a guy Literally on Saturday, he said he's going start. It's going to start on Saturday because he's a plug and play type of player. Phenomenal. Number two, the guy has the mentality of a goal scorer. And that's a big one for me because this is the very first time since Raul Rodriguez that the Sounders now once again have an assassin in the 18, have an assassin in the final third, a striker that prides himself on finishing chances, a very Likely to to a guy like Raul Rodriguez in terms of that mentality of it's not that I want to score is that I need to score. Right. It's not that I want the ball. I'm demanding the ball.
Speaker: And man, that's something that this team has needed for a very long time. It's been a huge Achilles heel. multiple times in multiple seasons. So now that you're able to once again rely on a striker that makes you feel like you could be in every single game, I think that that's a win. i win for everyone. win for the team. A win for the fans that have been asking, demanding this sort of move to happen, and they get it done. So credit to the team. Absolutely.
Speaker: Well, you know, it's funny to think about where we were emotionally after the Wednesday's game against Austin FC, where it just felt so depressing.
Speaker: They had just lost to one of the league's worst teams. They were on an eight-game losing streak. They were it not gotten a point in over 100 days.
Speaker: It was as low as I – it was the the probably the smallest crowd at Lumen Field for a regular season game in history. if not in attendance count in butts in seats.
Speaker: The emotions were in the gutter. And what do they do? On the same day, i thought the timing of the of the leak was very interesting.
Speaker: Fabricio Romano, your favorite journalist, puts it out there 4.45 or something like that, like half an hour after the game started. Sounders have closed a deal on Dejanjiova. I want to spend a little time on this.
Speaker: We had been working on this story for days for a couple days. we had gotten ah We had put together the puzzle pieces. we We didn't have the it totally nailed down.
Speaker: But you did a lot of work to get us to the point where I was telling people I think we're signing Dejanjiova. And to have it the rug pulled out a little bit was was kind of frustrating.
Speaker: Yeah, first of all, fuck Fabrizio Romano. I don't care about him at all. how are you going to be like busting this news about Real Madrid and Bayern Munich? Are you going to come and take the peace out of me, out of the Sounders? all of a sudden Not to mention the fact that he went early on this. I mean, he went early on this. There was nothing was done. i obviously put it put out the the whole restructure that, that, that would demand a move like this one in terms of Albert's contract. Something that I'm sure he did not even like have in mind. Cause I'm sure he just gets a call and he gets to just put it out and say, let's go, let's go. Nothing, man. I hate you. Cause I did, we we were waiting on, on just the final things ethically. And and I, again, yeah there are a lot of times that we' We're ethically right. We want to hold it. And it's fine. It happens. We were still able to put out some of the details that that weren't quite there. And now we find out that it immediately got complicated. And actually, some of his reports might i have something to do with how difficult it got and some of the obstacles that emerged throughout the the time that that first leak happened to when the both players signed. because you had to sign Joe Village and you had to sign Albert to an extension, an extension that now has been confirmed that it is two and a half years. Obviously, the details in terms of the salary are not quite there. I'm hearing that it could be between 1.4 to 1.5. We'll see if those numbers even come out and they let us know at least some details on it. But that's fine. It's out there. We can talk about Albert and Joe Village here in a second. But in terms of how it played out,
Speaker: That's how it happened. I was frustrated. I had a difficult weekend can because of it. But now I'm back. I feel pretty good after, you know, now seeing it all come to fruition and seeing that a lot of the reporting that we did was pretty spot on accurately.
Speaker: Yeah, and ah I'll also put it out there. I told you before, early on Saturday, we don't have it. Let's hold until we really have it. And I felt a little guilty about it. But the reality was, i didn't feel good about going with it until we were totally good.
Speaker: And this is the truth of the matter is, Albert didn't actually sign his new contract until this morning. So, yeah, but a lot of stuff was in play. The Sounders had already announced that they were having this press conference.
Speaker: They were clearly confident that that this was going to happen. But it wasn't actually done until this morning. So I do think some people got a little ahead of themselves. And I actually think our reporting was add it added more to it.
Speaker: that Because Albert really was a key component of that. And we may as well address that whole issue right now. you know Albert came up repeatedly in the press conference today. He was credited.
Speaker: ah They were really keep praise on his willingness because this is the thing. He is taking a pay cut. He's taking a pay cut this year. He might even be taking a long-term pay cut. I would be interested to see the math It's entirely possible that he's full-blown leaving money on the table because I would imagine if he had gone into free agency and just said, look, I'll take Max Tam, probably someone would have paid him Max Tam.
Speaker: And even if he's getting Max Tam from the Sounders, that doesn't make him whole from the money he gave up. He's giving up right now. He's giving up like a million dollars this year. That's not nothing. And then for him to than this morning actually drive Jovulic to training. I thought it was a great, great commentary.
Speaker: But the other key element of this is something that Craig Weibel said. Where when they approached Albert, they knew that they could not approach him about opening up his DP spot unless they already had the player essentially signed.
Speaker: Because they knew Albert wasn't just going to give money away for anybody. he wanted to He wanted to feel like this was there was a reason for it, that it was worth doing it. And he had conversations with Yoverle.
Speaker: like They had to hash stuff out. they had to He had to feel good about this is the guy who I'm giving up money for. And I think that it all speaks very highly of the way this organization works, of the way Albert works, of the way Jovolic works.
Speaker: I mean, and that can't be a totally fun conversation for Jovolic to talk to some guys like, yeah, I know you're gonna have to give up the money for me to come play there, but it's worth Right. in this is once again, an example of why the Sanders do such a good job when it comes to intangibles in certain players. You could just see it from Valich's side already his...
Speaker: in his almost, ah you know, the decision to share all this stuff, share that he was driven by Albert Rusnak, give him credit for making the deal happen because without Albert rest restructuring his contract, this doesn't happen, all of it. So I really do think that for all the hate that Albert Rusnak gets, if you really understand that he is essentially...
Speaker: coming down half of the salary that he would make or that he you could think he could make elsewhere, it's a big deal. Not to mention the fact that he's a guy that is still a very good player. I've said it a bunch of times where Albert is not a guy that's going to take over a game. He's not a guy that is going to be your number one player.
Speaker: But when Albert Rusnak is your third, your fourth best player, that's when his attributions come out the most That's when his ability to amplify the game, to be a guy that links up to, to be a guy that currently is, if not leading, he is fighting for most assists from set pieces.
Speaker: Right next to a guy like Evander, who's a $10, $15 million dollars player. Now you're getting that at a, you know, 1.4, 1.5, whatever that one point is. Those are all quality things. He can play multiple positions, I know.
Speaker: I can hear you guys already complaining about he's ah not... great defending and defending contributions are abysmal. And, you know, he's getting older. He's going to be 30 plus.
Speaker: Look, I get it. But in my idea of watching the game, players with Albert's attributes, the vision, the passing, the set pieces, the IQ, ah you know, some of the things that he does within this team, within this locker room, all of those things are valuable as they move forward, especially knowing that if the rules and regulations change with MLS and let's say the salary cap goes up to 30 million, it's now you have a guy at a very palatable salary moving forward for, you know, two and a half more years. So,
Speaker: It's a good gamble, but at the end of the day, it was to get your king, right? Because that was the thing. That was a chess thing. yeah You got it? Yeah, I don't play chess. But that that was the whole thing. It was a move with a lot of moving parts, a lot of tentacles that I think Craig Weibel deserves a lot of credit ah for. Not just for getting it done, but for being persistent, for really hunting this deal down.
Speaker: You know, we have reported on Casper Tax and, you know, on a couple of other guys. Philip Kenny. None of those guys were going to know. Those were not players that I don't think Albert Rusnak was willing to give up. is Correct.
Speaker: Status for the giveaway money for. So credit to the front office for continuing to look, look around plan B. It is. This is a reality. There was a plan A, a plan B and a plan C. And that's sometimes what you got to do because you don't know how the dominance are going to fall and they fell their way. And now they get their guy.
Speaker: Look, I know that there are people out there that were really ready to start shoveling dirt on the Sounders, even Sounders fans. They wanted to. They were looking forward to voting out Craig Weibel. And look, I'm not going begrudge anybody for loving the idea of voting out the GM. There's only one team in North America that gets to even do that.
Speaker: I know a lot of people have been kind of talking themselves up to it. This is the year that it was finally going to happen. And I don't know if it's going happen. And I get, and it's just one move. I get that. And things can still change.
Speaker: But I think there's some people that fell in love with getting rid of Albert Rusna that got rid that kind of got excited about the Sounders having their comeuppance for refusing to make signings for the last four summers.
Speaker: I understand all that frustration, but look, we're all here to watch this team play. And I understand the argument. why don't we just Why don't we just let Albert play out his contract and we'll deal with that next year? Well, I'll tell you, one of the reasons is you probably don't end up with Deion Jovolic.
Speaker: And Jovolic is about as close to the platonic ideal of a striker that the Sounders have been trying to sign for basically ever since Raul Ruiz Diaz was at the top of his game.
Speaker: He is 27 years old. Just turned 27. He's got over 100 professional goals. He's got 66 MLS goals. He comes in from... he comes in from in the league there he's not an international he doesn't need any there's there's no ramp up period he can be starting for you the next day if they had signed an international they'd be waiting on visas they'd be waiting on ah on him getting acclimated they'd be you looking at all kinds of different things this is a near perfect signing i also think that his personality fits the sounders he seems really excited to be playing for the sounders
Speaker: look, if you were telling me that if you're going to wait 40 years to sign someone to better be good, this is the player that I wanted them to sign. Exactly. And look, this is a guy that's proven in MLS. He's a guy that has ah done it with the LA Galaxy. He's done it at Sporting Kansas City. 18 goals with a team that had, ah without a doubt, the the least amount of scoring opportunities last year. They were an abysmal team. So a guy that can put it away under those circumstances. He's done it in Europe. He's done it in Europe. And he's a guy that can play as a lone striker. He could play on a two set with a second striker. I was, you know, I always ask, especially strikers about, you know, who is a player that they kind of tailor the game around.
Speaker: And, you know, i was surprised to hear him talk about Benzema. Right. and And I think that I know I've heard Doyle and I'm not Doyle that he thinks that he's just a poacher. I tend to defer. I think that there is a lot more to Joe village game that hasn't been used because it hasn't been asked, but that I have seen him have moments where he can link up and he could play central and he could create his own shot. I've seen him do those things. Maybe not as consistent as maybe Raul used to do it, but I think that there is a possibility that those are there. I just think that having a guy like Joe village opens up your playbook drastically. to what Bryant-Smithsler can do.
Speaker: As pieces trickle back in you should be getting um ah Christian Roldan, Hassani Dawson, and Jordan Morris all back this week. So, you know, how do you fit those players?
Speaker: Now, it's about... Let me put these guys to put in services to a guy that I know can put the ball in the back of the net. And look, love Danny Masovsky as a person. Nice guy. Love Osase. But this guy is going to come in and take over that role. The role that no one, no one in this roster, including Jordan Morris, has.
Speaker: had the ability to take over. So, hey, look, I just could not be any more sure that this thing is going to work at least to score goals. Is there holes still in this roster? ye Yes. Is there still needs? 100%. And to his credit, Craig did say that they're still looking for a winger. Yep. And they might be looking for some other pieces too.
Speaker: Correct. Whether it's a center midfielder or a left wingback or left back. I mean, there's still ways that you can add pieces of to this team. And I think that's, and again, feel the way you want to feel about the front office, but the urgency to get these things done is what I'm happy with. Again, I don't think that you, you can have it both ways, right? You can't be upset that the team wasn't making moves and now you're calling this panic moves or whatever. I just don't see it i think that this was the right move at the right time.
Speaker: You're still giving yourself some, leeway to ah what Craig told before he left, he's going to go to bed and wake up and do it all over the tomorrow morning. So hopefully they go out there and get some a winger because this team is in desperate need for a guy that's going to beat a player off the dribble that gives them a lot of width, that gives them speed. They have been really bad in transition moments. They have been unable to stretch out defenses. They don't have a guy that just obligates the defense to collapse on one side. So if you can go out there and get that, that's going to be huge because, you know, you lost Georgie.
Speaker: Essentially, now you can get yourself again a better version of Georgie. So there are still ways that you can move it around, but it all goes back to you having your main piece. Everything else you can fit around it, but now you have that pillar that you were looking for.
Speaker: Look, ah it's okay to feel like you wish they had signed someone sooner. It's okay to wish that they had signed someone previous summers. Those are all valid concerns.
Speaker: But what I feel pretty confident in saying is that Jovolech was available now. they It really only was made possible because Sporting Kansas City has a new owner.
Speaker: and the new owner wants to spend a bunch of money. And that created some opportunities to get a player like Yobelich. So look, I don't honestly know if there's anyone else in the league who I would rather, like if if you said, find me one guy from around the league that you think you might be able to get.
Speaker: i don't know that there's like, I realized this might sound crazy. Like, Look, me if you could say everyone's available, sure, maybe there's other guys. But if the guys that who I imagine are available, it doesn't get really much better on paper than Jovalich.
Speaker: I think like this is the guy who we we have talked about wanting to get for years. Now, ah maybe the most valid argument is to say, why didn't the Sounders sign this guy back in 2020? Sure. You know, the start of 2025 when he was previously available.
Speaker: Valid argument. but I don't know if they could have done it then. Their DP situation was different. They had three DPs already locked in at that time as well. Jordan Morris had just gotten his raise.
Speaker: So look, there are there are ah reasons things happen when they happen. And I just have a hard time second guessing because look, you can say the the process was flawed, but the end result kind of justifies a flawed process. That's That's how excited I am about Yobu.
Speaker: Totally. And look, ah yes, there have been, if you look at under the rig league, you could talk about Sam Saric. You out there and get certain guys, Peter, Musa, Petar Musa. There are players that you can get, but for this value, I don't think you get that. Look, there's been two guys that I've won it.
Speaker: that I've said that I really wanted the Sunners to go after when they came off their team. One of them was Jovilić when he came out of a Galaxy. The other one was Milani Lovsky when he left San Diego and they couldn't pay him. Those two guys I wanted, but I will take Jovilić Anytime over Oloski. I mean, this guy is a different type of striker. And I can only hear in his voice the type of responsibility that he feels like he has playing for this team.
Speaker: I love the fact that his family was there. I love the fact that he talked about Jesus Ferreira giving him... the the number because he's gonna take number nine without asking right he's all those little things that he feels like those are gestures for him i think those are important uh for those that might not know jesus ferrera will be taking number 27 uh that is the number that he started his playing career is what i'm told which i'm guessing is early dallas yeah you know maybe he said when he came here he wanted 27 but
Speaker: But Jale Rodriguez had it. Right. Rodelia Rodriguez. Exactly. Yeah. So now he gets the number back. So it's all just fitting together. And is it is one of those situations where I don't know if the situation matters. Like,
Speaker: the The timeline a week before the window. Sometimes all it takes is when you get your guy. That's what matters. If this had been a panic buy, like a panic buy, like Emonos Hishini at one point, those would have been other guys, like maybe the ones we had reported on. I mean, no disrespect.
Speaker: that They're kind of just... ah Just a guy. Just a guy to say you signed somebody. Or maybe a coin toss where maybe it works out. Maybe we're looking for a profile. It's not, this is proven. This is something that that is immediately coming in and is going to have impact right off the bat.
Speaker: Now, the way that Brian can use it against Chicago, that is TBD, right? You know, is he going to... And look, things can go wrong, but in terms of like, the likelihood of a player hitting, sure it doesn't get much higher. right He's already done it for multiple teams.
Speaker: He's already done it in this league. He's all right he's at an age profile where he's going to be around for while. Notably that he signed a contract extension that keeps him at least here until 2930, potentially into 3031.
Speaker: This is a guy who the Sounders want to build around. This is a guy who deserves to have a team built around him. This is a really, look, this is an exciting time and, and they need to go out and they need to prove it on the field.
Speaker: No question about that. But Saturday is a pretty, suddenly looking like a really, really awesome opportunity. Robert Lewandowski and Chicago Fire are going to be coming to town. It's a one 30 kickoff.
Speaker: ah Look, I would imagine the contrast between the atmosphere on Saturday and the atmosphere on the previous Wednesday going to be pretty stark. And this is how you start turning things around. And it doesn't mean everything is fixed.
Speaker: This is still a team, like I said, that hasn't won in over 100 days. yeah yeah they They're on a nine-game winless run. There's still problems. But all of a sudden, it looks like they can solve them.
Speaker: I don't know if they're an MLS content contender right now, but you bring back, if Christians is able to hit the ground running, if Jordan is able to come back, if Dotson is able to come back, all of a sudden, a lot of pieces are starting to fit together.
Speaker: i would imagine Jesus Ferreira is itching to get back on the field a lot more than he was. Not that he wasn't trying to get back on the field, but ah it It feels like there's positive positivity around this team, and we have not had that at all in months. So it feels good to just be excited.
Speaker: Yeah. And look, Chicago is going to be a good parameter. I mean, whether they rotate because they play actually today against Monterey, it is to be determined. But that's a good team. Greg Berhalter has really put some life into the team. You mentioned the superstars, but but they have a lot of quality players that have a very good explosive roster. So it's going to be a really good parameter where the Sounders are.
Speaker: Again, we're not trying to just sit here and tell you that all is well and they're completely back. But this is a step in the right direction. You and I had talked about vision and having the fans understand the optics that the team is heading somewhere. yeah This is the type of move that does that.
Speaker: This is the type of move that shows you that the front office has heard you. You guys out there putting the pressure. You guys with with the the banners, with the signs, assigns the brown bags in your head. this is what we've been That is what it does. And so I'm happy for everyone because this truly is a move that was ambitious, that I feel like timely.
Speaker: And look, if you were thinking that the centers were going to spend $30 million dollars on a, European striker or on a South American baller, then maybe you just need to get in reality checks. But in terms of what this team had to deal with and and the the the resources that took to get this guy in, I just don't know how you get anything better than Joe Bush right now. No, i mean, if you were looking for the Sounders to replicate the Nico Ladero move in 2016, this is about as close.
Speaker: Hmm. I mean, that's that's the reality. ah You know, they they did. And so. I'm hyped, I'm I'm excited, i am excited to see where this goes. Like I said, everything is not fixed. It's not all forgiven, but we're making steps in the right direction.
Speaker: We are getting there. ah you You want to know something real quick, Jeremiah? Yeah. do. Everybody today as they walked out from the field, they signed the fan. There was a fan yeah opportunity today for fans to come watch training.
Speaker: As guys are walking by, everybody was happy. Everybody was happy. i mean, you saw how I mean, but b Brian could not smile any harder. I mean, he was a joy today. I mean, the guy, you would just think that he's having the time of his life.
Speaker: And that's what this sort of moved us. And I don't know if people understand. week ago, he ah yeah I don't think it's it's hard to overstate how bad the mood was in the locker room.
Speaker: what like last ones last Wednesday. Less than a week ago. it was The locker room had never seen the locker room clear out that way. Brian could barely contain himself. He was over.
Speaker: And that that's what this sort of thing does. I just want to get you guys some of that insight on the mental component because yeah you don't... people there there were I mean, Joe was signing babies' foreheads like Ricky Bobby. I mean, he was beautiful. It was amazing, right? and And guys are coming off and they're talking to us and Paula Riola chatted it up with us a little bit and Hassani talked to us for a second. I mean, everybody was just in a better mood because they understand that help has arrived. And ultimately, this team, even Osase and Danny, they have to just be happy that that hopefully this transited in the right direction because he it doesn't help anybody when this team is in such a bad form as they have been over the last eight games. no um and i And I think if Osase and Danny are being honest, they both had their chance to put their rather their signature on the number nine spot.
Speaker: And they didn't they have three goals in the playbook. including Morris there. It's four goals of all three of record. That's just not No. Uh, so I don't think that they can, they can be upset about anything.
Speaker: and they got a fight to just, just keep their spots as it is. I think that's good for the team. Uh, but before we get out here, I did want to give one, we are in the process of adding a show back to the center of heart podcast network.
Speaker: We are still finalizing all the details, but what looks like, it's probably going to be a live show that does Monday afternoons, Nico and, And we'll we'll hold off on giving the co-host for right now, but there is a, another media personality that we're talking to about ah doing a show. I'm excited to expand the Nico Moreno.
Speaker: ah up no and and I appreciate Jeremiah, the the trust. I know that the fans also have been part of me wanting to have that show. Cause you know, you guys' says feedback is important to me and you guys' says demand. And I feel like some of those,
Speaker: shows that we do live are always exciting. You guys commenting and being able to really hear back after, you know, a tough weekend or, you know, after a game that is frustrating or after a game that was a good one. I mean, I'm just, I'm excited to, to, to really get on and, and do this new show. So more exciting news coming in there and ah we'll see how that plays out. We'll see how that plays out.
Speaker: Absolutely. Well, let's get out of here. It's been a wonderful, what do we call this? The designated podcast? That's right. Over here at Long Acres, I'm Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off for Nico Moreno.
Speaker: This is No Sarriete, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, and we'll catch you next time.
Speaker: Let's go at Sounders.
