Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
MLS Cup playoff preview vs. Minnesota United and what team will most likely lose MLS Cup to the Sounders
0 Plays3 seconds ago
Jeff Reuter (most recently with the Athletic) joins the show to give us insight into the 2025 MLS Cup playoff matchup against Minnesota United. They also dive into the Western Conference and Eastern Conference playoff pictures including which team would most likely lose MLS Cup to the Sounders if we make it that far. Jeremiah and Jeff wrap up the show by giving their MLS end of year award picks.
Follow Jeff Reuter on BlueSky.
Sponsor
🍷 Full Pull Wines: Love wine but not wine clubs? Check out the boutique wine seller who lets you browse their selections and pick whatever you want. You can join their mailing list here: https://fullpullwines.com/signup.php
***
Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which has been primarily listener supported since 2023. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube.
Aside from becoming a Sounder at Heart subscriber, you can also support the show by using this link to purchase MLS Season Pass or checking out our merch table to buy various shirt designs.
“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Will Bruin and Seattle Sounders
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Here we go. Come on. Hey, O'Shaan.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to crown it for Seattle.
00:00:25
Speaker
The Sounders rule the region. see of
00:00:59
Speaker
you know what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since I wrote a commentary that we didn't take the outcome seriously.
Sounders' Partnerships and Guest Introduction
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Adientes, part of the Sounder Heart podcast network and sponsored by Full Pool Wines and Hacks and Ferments. I am Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today in what we will loosely call another episode of How the West Will Be Won, but we're going to get a lot bigger than that, is Jeff Reuter, formerly of The Athletic, ah now free to the world. He's Yeah.
00:02:05
Speaker
Welcome to the show, Jeff. Thank you. And I guess I'm here because I am a customer of X and Ferments. Funny enough, I actually did buy the one that, yeah, yeah, yeah. I bought the Lobbing Scorcher sauce and I had to get a buy one. go So I got their Bloody Mary one and it's quite good. It's a different kind of hot sauce.
00:02:21
Speaker
ah well I'm familiar with one of your sponsors and that's very nice. So they're they're in my fridge. I used one this weekend. Thanks for having me. Yeah, well, if that's what it took to get you on the show, I think we'll take that.
00:02:32
Speaker
Hot sauce. I've done worse things to get some good hot sauce. Exactly. Well, ah so we're going to touch on a few things today.
Sounders vs Minnesota United Match Preview
00:02:40
Speaker
but first of all, let's get this out of the way early on so that we can get into really fun stuff.
00:02:46
Speaker
But the Sounders going playing Minnesota United. You are in Are you in Minneapolis or St. Paul? St. Paul, thanks for asking. Most don't. Yeah, right. It's but super important, which is also where the stadium is, right? That's right.
00:03:00
Speaker
That's right. It's a mile and a half from my front door. Okay. It's great. All right. It's wonderful. So this is a 4-5 matchup. Obviously, Minnesota United has had, this is probably their best season ever, right?
00:03:13
Speaker
It's... Yeah, and and then it's funny because you say their best since 2020 and then you bring in the Seattle Sounders looming specter of it all, right? And i guess there's like there's 2019 was their best regular season. That's when Vito Madone and Aiko Parra and Ozzy Alonso coming in and like completely...
00:03:32
Speaker
It's reminding Minnesotans that defending is part of soccer, basically. Yes. And then 2020, they caught fire. Kevin Molina with the best form of his career, as it turns out, unfortunately, given his injuries thereafter ah with Emmanuel Reynoso. And then I would say this year is probably their best in terms of like consistency across a 34 game season. OK, so I would agree with you overall.
00:03:55
Speaker
So this is, i guess, coming into the from a high level, I'm sensing a lot of anxiety from Minnesota fans over this matchup and maybe a lot of excitement for Sounders fans, not necessarily because they think they're favorites, but because of all the top.
00:04:10
Speaker
Once you eliminate a top four finish from a Sounders perspective, I think they see Minnesota as the team that they most wanted to play. what How would you describe sort of like the mood around it on the Minnesota side?
00:04:24
Speaker
I think for Minnesota, they feel very disappointed about their home stretch. But it's something that I on the total soccer show was talking about the day the window closed, which is that Minnesota United closed its summer window in the most unserious way of any of the let's even be very generous top 12 contenders to win MLS Cup.
00:04:45
Speaker
Right. So let's say eight sides from the seven sides from the east, five sides from the west. We're really still in the thick of it once we got to that point of August. And Minnesota Soltani Oluwashayi, they took you know a very high valuation from Villarreal.
00:04:57
Speaker
Great. They did not bring up a backup striker of an MLS standard. They brought in a striker from the USL Championship, a 19, 20-year-old from Hartford Athletic. That's great. He's a prospect. He's a project. We'll see what he is in two years. He wasn't brought in to come off the bench in the 70th minute like Will Bruin used to do for fun, right? Right.
00:05:14
Speaker
And so... Kelvin Yeboah gets hurt in the first half of the U.S. Open Cup semifinal. They don't have a backup striker. They're playing guys out of position. They end up losing in the like 120 plus third minute right before penalties to Austin FC.
00:05:28
Speaker
So there goes the chance at that trophy. OK, their shifted focus from that point was let's finish first in the West. They beat San Diego at one point. That looks like the result that they're going to need to be able to do it. And then they just capitulate down the stretch. They aren't able to get the results that they need against some of the worst teams in the Western Conference, ah including the LA Galaxy, of course, on Decision Day. On Decision Day.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah, at this point, a lot of this has been determined for them. And at this point now, they have fallen off from the team that maybe look best equipped to go head to head with Vancouver in the Western Conference in terms of style, execution, defensive shape to a team that looks like they've suddenly really forgotten what got them so far in the first place and are really hoping that the fine margins.
00:06:11
Speaker
will continue to bail them out in terms of either their defensive structure on one end or their mastery of set pieces and creating scoring opportunities from dead ball situations like throw-ins and free kicks from midfield that other teams are wasting on the vine.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, so you know you look at their last... Four games after the Austin loss, which was obviously a huge disappointment. That was a home game against ah right that was a home game, right? Yeah, it was home game. That's right.
00:06:38
Speaker
A step away. and they would have hosted sorry They would have hosted the final as well. So they knew that this would have because of how the draw works. It's always the west side or the east side of the bracket. Right. Yeah, right. And so, like you said, they were coming out of a 3-1 win over San Diego on the road, which seemed to be like sort of a statement win.
00:06:55
Speaker
That itself was at the end of a that ended off a cap. They capped off a four game unbeaten streak that included a 1-0 win over the Sounders. And then they immediately come out of Austin. They lose three zero at home to Chicago, a team who at the time did not. I mean, Chicago was sort of like put together a nice little run at the end of the season to finish the season strong.
00:07:15
Speaker
But it started there. Yeah, it kind of did start there. And then they tie Colorado, which maybe in itself isn't a horrible result. They beat Sporting Kansas City, and they that that at least give themselves a chance to win the West in on decision day.
00:07:30
Speaker
They absolutely needed to win, but they also needed help. They needed everyone else ahead of them to to lose, essentially. and they And that didn't happen, obviously. No. ah And so they end up with a a draw against a Sounders team who they did beat twice this year. It should be said. They beat them 3-2 at Lumen, and then they beat them 1-0 at home.
00:07:47
Speaker
But those are also two of the three times that they beat them all time in like 17 meetings. ah The Sounders have, but I believe, a fourteen two and three or fourteen three and two record against Minnesota United all time.
00:08:01
Speaker
And it seems like a situation where maybe tough to beat the same team three times in a year, essentially. Yeah, it's you're getting into the part of the penalty kick shootout where the guys already made two penalties in regulation. And now it's like, do you go left? Do you go right? And he's right. That's the fear, right? Is like you you're out of options and you're out of your counter option at this point. And what you saw, you saw twofold, the three to win. You saw a more opportunistic Minnesota United. Yes, absolutely. You a team that was wanting to put what is, in my opinion, a pretty slow and backtracking Seattle Sounders defense on its heels. You wanted to be able to play the ball over them, force them into transition transitions where they just can't keep up, get those clever passes, cutbacks, cross the simple finishes. And that's what Minnesota was doing in the first one.
00:08:45
Speaker
Then you get to the one zero international break. I believe the Sounders started that game without a single designated player in the lineup, if I remember. That's that's ah yeah, that could be. It wouldn't the first time. ah Right. And so Minnesota also every team in MLS at that point is gassed. Right. And so Minnesota condenses.
00:09:01
Speaker
They play compact. You are correct, by the way, that they had no, they had both Rusnak and Morris. And of course, not of course, but De La Vega was on the bench. De La Vega was the only player that was actually even ah only DP that was even available in that game. But that's right.
00:09:15
Speaker
That's right. No, it's it's one of those, though, where I was very excited for this matchup because I thought it could be like a conference final facsimile. And and so once you get to August in the um MLS season and and you just cannot bring yourself to watch a game that's involving Sporting Kansas City or Toronto FC again, then you are looking for the best matchup.
00:09:33
Speaker
And that looked like it was going to be it. And it was miserable. But Minnesota was able to do what they did, lean into their background, which is, OK, great, set pieces and defend it. And they did that and they succeeded.
00:09:44
Speaker
I don't know what the third version of Minnesota's game plan is anymore. I don't know if they have it because they made so many changes. It isn't just the Taniolo Shea who granted, I think Seattle will be breathing a big sigh of relief to see him yeah because he was their toughest to contain and transition with kind of like he doesn't need much of the ball. He just needs it in the right spot.
00:10:02
Speaker
um Whereas Yeboah wants a little bit more time to ball. Kevin Yeboah, their other star striker who is still on the team. um the The difference with Minnesota, though, is they got rid of a lot of they moved around a lot of parts who you would say are guys, let's say, like 10 through 22 in their overall pecking order.
00:10:19
Speaker
And that will change a lot of how your games flow, because these are the guys who are trying to facilitate the ball upfield coming in to do a job. And so they're more specialists. They kind of have their more limited skill set than your starters, maybe.
00:10:31
Speaker
And Minnesota has a lot of those guys who just simply were not in Major League Soccer until about two months ago. who are still trying to acclimate, still trying to learn the country, much less the league, much less the system.
00:10:43
Speaker
And that is what they're walking into the playoffs with right now. If you go one through 11, Minnesota is still going to be neck and neck with, I would say the rest of the Western Conference and Vancouver is the only one that's giving me some hesitation.
00:10:56
Speaker
um But they've left themselves razor thin where one suspension, one injury could be enough to completely unsettle their momentum this postseason. So you mentioned Yeboah. What is his status now? Is he expected back or is he kind of done for the still for the series? Yeah, I think last I had heard, they were still trying to monitor the situation.
00:11:19
Speaker
um he hasn't been seen in a month at this point. It was him and Carlos Harvey, who is a very important center back from them, Panama International, was also hurt both of them in that semifinal against Austin.
00:11:30
Speaker
um I'm not sure. I'll be watching looking really closely for Andy Greeter of the Pioneer Press and John Marthaler of the Star Tribune, the two like on the ground beat writers covering training. They will be um the most updated on Yeboah and Harvey. So go give them a follow on Blue Sky and Twitter and wherever else people look for stuff anymore.
00:11:46
Speaker
Um, but at this time, if they don't have a healthy Yeboah, like you're probably looking at Bonky Longwane, who has mostly played at right wing back this season, or Robin Ludd, who has mostly played as a central midfielder for the last two or three years now, um, like a true proper eight. So, um,
00:12:05
Speaker
Diffin. And and that's that's where your playoff games are decided. Unfortunately, like we all like, I think it's been this fun narrative that I've like kind of, I'm i'm as guilty of proliferating as anyone in the national side of things where you don't need a like highly paid striker to win a major league soccer anymore.
00:12:20
Speaker
But if you don't have contingency plans, yeah, the reason they cost a lot of money is because they're usually consistent and good. And if you don't have those guys, you're just going to struggle in these close games. You simply are.
00:12:33
Speaker
So my read on this, and and certainly correct me if you feel like it was different, but in the two meetings between the Sounders and Minnesota, I thought the game in Lumen was played almost exactly how Minnesota would have wanted it to be played, which is yeah they they got good opportunities. They got out in transition. The Sounders scored a couple times.
00:12:52
Speaker
it was not I want to say it was 2-0. like I think Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and i'd say we're up three and they were up 3-1 when the Sounders got their second goal. And so it just was never quite as tight as the score might have suggested.
00:13:05
Speaker
And Minnesota, like I said, they just played their game. They they got some ah counterattacking goals. they They look good on set pieces. But then the second game, I did not think I actually thought the Sounders did a much better job of adjusting their plan game plan and playing a game where the underlying numbers would have suggested the Sounders deserved better, for lack of a better term. Yes.
00:13:26
Speaker
And the goal ends up coming from sort of a fluky shots, you know, like, it is it a is it really, is it really a cross? Is it really a shot? Or is it, was he trying to cross that in and it, and ah you know, Stephen Fry, maybe he misplays it. He doesn't maybe really see it, but it's not the kind of goal. It's not I wouldn't call it a repeatable goal.
00:13:45
Speaker
That's fair.
Sounders' Strategies and Challenges
00:13:46
Speaker
And I think ah I believe it came on a set piece. It was a free kick. and I believe so as well. I think, yeah, I can picture it right now. I think it was one of those where it was a looping indirect seem like it could have been an indirect angle of a free kick. And then it just kind of like spotted it direct. Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, so there is anyway, and and so I don't know if I'm yeah like if I'm the sounders, I don't I don't know that I'm feeling like I have to really change things up too much because you you're going to get two shots at this at least to get it to a game three.
00:14:20
Speaker
and you just need to break serve once. Exactly. Right. Exactly. Right. ah And so I don't know. I'm as far as matchups go. I feel like the sounder like I don't know. This is what happens when you don't finish in the top four.
00:14:33
Speaker
You sort of take what you get. And I feel like from a of of the top four teams, Minnesota feels like the one that is the most vulnerable to a first round upset. I think so, because the other story of that reverse leg in August, which I think came just before it was at the quarterfinal the semifinal of the League's Cup. So Seattle is also split on two fronts at this point. Yeah, I seem to remember two chances that I'm fully confident.
00:14:58
Speaker
Jordan or Musavsky or any number of players finish, but Osaze, De Rosario, unfortunately, Skye is one of them and just sends the other one, like I think he directly at the goalkeeper's gut.
00:15:10
Speaker
And yeah that's all. And that's it. And that makes the difference, right? If those two go in, which most strikers you would assume would connect with, they're winning this game and suddenly it's a completely different tone and Minnesota does not have the, well, we won both. Now they're like, well, we lost to them at home. We didn't lose many games at home. What do we do?
00:15:26
Speaker
It's as simple as that. So I think that there's also reason for Seattle to take optimism from that. Yeah. I think when you look at the West, it's, it's, it's a very different, sort of feel because I think right now we were texting about this last night.
00:15:38
Speaker
um The East is known as the tougher conference this year. Yeah. All nine teams in the East won at least 1.5 points per game. That's unbelievable. Right. So they collected more points than they dropped. I'm sure it's the first time in history that a hundred percent is the first time. Yeah, it has to be.
00:15:53
Speaker
and It's certainly in the expanded playoff, to your point, right? Like certainly since we got into this nine teams make the playoffs debacle of ah ah format. um But you look at the West and you have a qualifier, the Real Salt Lake on one point two points per game.
00:16:05
Speaker
Like that's the difference. So we've always talked about the West as being weaker. This is the point of the season where I think it changes and say, actually, I think that the West has the better teams. I think that there i have more confidence in the top five teams of the Western Conference to yield an MLS Cup winner, the Anastasia Trophy, than I do the top five teams in the Eastern Conference, which to name them is Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Miami, Charlotte, New York City.
00:16:30
Speaker
It's just like I think you're getting to a point now where we've seen Vancouver, San Diego, l LAFC, Seattle and Minnesota weather tests better throughout the season, adjust and evolve.
00:16:40
Speaker
Whereas these other teams still have their Achilles heels. You know how you beat Miami if you come up against them. You know how to ah get Cincinnati and Phillies game models to struggle. I don't think you have that same sort of clear cut answer with any of the top five teams except now.
00:16:55
Speaker
partly because of their own creating minnesota united and so i think that when you're looking at it from seattle's perspective it's okay well we're gonna have to go through these teams anyway if you're gonna want to make it to mls cup you're gonna have to get through at least one probably two of san diego and vancouver and lafc so let's just get the mini boss out of the way which is the four seed which is i mean this is the matchup that y'all had last year to be fair with houston right and it can be ugly it can be an ugly group because the fifth team feels like we should have been the fourth and the fourth team barely even has the advantage over him so like it's a fun series but a messy series and I think if you get into that case I don't think the Seattle Sounders are going to back down I don't think Minnesota is either I'm still really excited about the matchup but it's worse than it would have been two months ago or could have been with some smarter operating of the transfer market
00:17:44
Speaker
Yeah, that was – mean, like I get it on some level. Like you you take the sales that they as they come, but it just seems like it was maybe poor planning to not be ready to make a make an addition, especially when yeah this is such a – you know, Minnesota was playing for the top seed in the West. I mean, there's no reason that Minnesota shouldn't have gone into this summer transfer window thinking – You know, things might go this way. We need to have some plans and just sort of like on the at the very end of the window, just be like, well, what if we just ah just move our most effective offensive player?
00:18:20
Speaker
And they almost moved and they they almost moved. ah Why am I blanking on the Joaquin Pereira? their other most effective, their most effective chance creator. Right. And I think that the justification that they gave Khaled El-Ahmad, their CSO gave afterwards was what we knew we had offers. It was Chabz and Shafor, if I remember right, in Turkey was offering a similar kind of $6 million, dollars which they ultimately accepted for, well, was Shea at striker.
00:18:41
Speaker
Um, And Pereira was someone who has a previous history of European interest, kind of like De La Vega, it was like when he was in Argentina, teams were monitoring him closely. He didn't get the move then, so he moves MLS. And now teams are paying more attention to him again, whatever the case may be.
00:18:56
Speaker
Similar sort of background with him. And so then they bring in two midfielders, a six, which they've needed since Ozzy Alonso kind of fell off in 21 or so. um Nictarios Triantis, who did very well in Scotland last year. And I think generally the ah conversion rate of hard-nosed players coming from the premiership to MLS is fine.
00:19:16
Speaker
So that has worked out really well for them already. He scored a goal from midfield as well that got some good highlight love. That's ah Dominic Fitz was a number eight who they brought in who said he'll be a good Pereira replacement who can be kind of like a ball facilitator, more of a progressor, and you need someone else to do the chance creation. He's getting maybe 10 minutes a game.
00:19:35
Speaker
Meanwhile, they don't have a striker. And this is just that thing where it's like they almost assumed they were going to sell the other guy. i would argue that they made the right decision. They just didn't have the make way. And they didn't have a backup striker in the wings who was of an MLS standard. And now you're seeing it because Kelvin Yeboah has been out for a month and they're really, really struggling to score goals without him.
00:19:55
Speaker
So I guess ah while we're here talking about Minnesota, you know, they have gotten a reputation. Well, was there? I mean, undeniable reputation for not wanting the ball and just being really good on set pieces.
00:20:10
Speaker
Is that but it also seems like that's evolved a little bit as we've gotten down the stretch. Is this still a team that is as extreme in their game model as they were for most of the early part of the season?
00:20:24
Speaker
As much as they can, because this is where you get into the familiarity or lack thereof of all the newcomers to be able to execute what was such a well-crystallized game model. And that's one part of it. The other part, of course, is teams eventually are going to try to stop this thing from working. And you started to see more teams. I think it was starting with San Jose and Chicho Arango of all players trying to mark throw-ins and trying to like kind of like pretty much getting to the net like you're playing volleyball to try to stop them from or having to loop it longer, which means you throw it shorter or whatever. I don't know. We've played those miniature tanks sort of trajectory games on Flash websites back in the 2000s. And so they're trying to play these sorts of games with them.
00:21:02
Speaker
And it works to a degree. The long throw is still a gambit that works really well. And I think Minnesota has actually improved at getting flick on headers. And so now they're not trying to get assists from these long throws. They're trying to get second assists, which are still assists in Major League Soccer anyway. But now it's even harder to defend.
00:21:18
Speaker
And the other flip side now is corner kicks. Teams are getting much wiser to their movement patterns. Anthony Markanich will still slip away. He has something like a dozen goals at left back and most of them on set pieces, something just absolutely ridiculous.
00:21:31
Speaker
um But beyond that, there is... Some variety in buildup. I think that the players have been saying throughout all of this that they do want to play with the ball more. I think the defenders get tired of defending and I think that the attackers not bored per se, but I think that they know that they have a little bit more.
00:21:54
Speaker
verve about them, more quality technical aspects so that they just don't get credit for having ever. And so as a result of that, they want to show more of that. Joaquin Pereira has been like a fantastic facilitator as that one of those kind of hybrid eight tens that's so in vogue in um MLS right now, um doing number 10 things from an eight position.
00:22:12
Speaker
Uh, The wings, they still don't really know what they want from width. They don't play with wingers. They play with wingbacks, but their wingbacks will often be told to kind of hold up. And so they don't really have anyone sending in late crosses by the touchline or anything. Yeah.
00:22:28
Speaker
It's still a very defense first sort of team. And Eric Ramsey has set them up with a mentality to be very tough to break down. It can be unpopular from an aesthetic standpoint, even in its current iteration, which is a little bit more relaxed and loose. And you guys don't really know this system. We weren't given time to integrate you into it. So we're going to make the best of it.
00:22:53
Speaker
They're having to make a ton of those concessions without Yeboah because, again, they do not have a second MLS caliber striker on the roster. So their whole game model has had to change as a result. um It's going to be a big, big. I think it's as big of an injury to watch as any team has of the 18 still in contention for MLS Cup.
00:23:12
Speaker
Well, you are obviously not just a... ah In fact, your your job was not covering Minnesota United. We just go to you because you're in Minnesota. and but i So I assume you have some some big opinions of the of the Sounders as well.
00:23:26
Speaker
you know What would you say the perception is outside... you know In Seattle, we were been one of the discussion points we've been having ever since they won Leagues Cup is, is this season a success? And I think you can argue that we're now at the point where it was...
00:23:42
Speaker
the baseline of success has been met. I think even there is a satisfaction with what they did this year, especially finally getting over the hump and beating the Timbers at home. Yeah. But where, where do you think from ah a league perspective is, was how, what was the perception of the sounder season? Like I, and I feel like it's all, yeah all over the place a little bit.
00:24:04
Speaker
Well, it's funny, too, because I covered a lot of Club World Cup this summer. ah So I actually have like I recognize what those teams thought the competition was, and that is a cash cow.
00:24:15
Speaker
But right they also didn't embarrass themselves. And that was the first thing that impressed me about the Seattle Sounders is they had far and away the toughest draw of any of the MLS teams playing three teams that in any other group would have comfortably advanced out of their groups into the knockouts of this tournament. which again, newfangled, whatever, you do whatever hand gestures you want to when you talk about the club or cup. And I agree with him probably, but at the end of the day, they did farewell. They went toe to toe.
00:24:38
Speaker
I think that they really found gold, gold, Beyond evaluation that they thought they had with that partnership between Vargas and Roldan in midfield. And I think that it really helped them figure out, OK, these two can do that work. They can do that work against PSG and Atleti and Botafogo. So they must be able to do it against Real Salt Lake. So we can actually confidently project to keep those two as a pivot. And we have a third guy that usually you're throwing in midfield that now you can throw further up. You can throw him in the back, whatever the case may be, our team shape.
00:25:09
Speaker
can be built comfortably with these two at the base of. And I think, again, I still think that they have their issues defensively. I think that if you can get them in transition and they have to defend backtracking, they are as liable to give up a goal as any team in major league soccer this year.
00:25:24
Speaker
Um, it's just the person. They've also struggled a lot of set pieces. Yeah. Yeah, and and that's where you get into kind of quick twitch mobility, right? This isn't where you're necessarily thinking of you need your your track stars, but you you need those guys who are going to be able to have the core strength to be able to hold someone off their back while they're trying to direct a header to get out of the box. And there's just a lot of these calisthenics that are really difficult to execute in tight spaces.
00:25:50
Speaker
And that's fine. I would be terrible at defending set pieces. I know that about me. I have chronic back issues. So like I empathize for any of these guys. But at the same point, You're paid to do that. And if you're conceding a lot of those goals, you need to set up your team in a different way, whether it's zonal, man marking, hybrid, whatever the case may be.
00:26:05
Speaker
You need to figure that out. I think for Seattle, you've also found a much better balance in their attack when Paul Rothrock comes on. It was something I wrote about at the Club World Cup, especially that game against Botafogo, where they, i think, gave up two goals and then pulled one back. And ah they really came out of their shell.
00:26:21
Speaker
And part of this might have just been nerves about the tournament. No one knew what they're getting into. And this was the game that on paper looked like the one they could win because they weren't from Europe. Right. Right. And, uh, You had Ryan Kent starting, if I remember right, with Jesus Ferreira and Pedro De La Vega.
00:26:39
Speaker
And i don't think it was Musavsky. But i I think you had too many players who were trying to play hero ball, too many players who were trying to decide the game for themselves. And what Rothrock's been able to do is be the player who comes in and knows he's not taking touches off of Bruce Knox's foot.
00:26:53
Speaker
He knows he's not going to be getting the primary scoring looks that... Morris and Ferreira are going to be getting, but he's really good at moving off the ball. He's really hardworking. He's really, he's one of MLS's best players at getting into transition and then playing the correct ball once he's in space and doing that square and cross to a shooter. He's one of the best in MLS at this of any nationality.
00:27:15
Speaker
And once he came into the team more, not just as a rotational guy, kind of like Manungu was last year, more so maybe, right but actually being, a starter and then some of these other guys are coming in off the bench to kind of run the offense kind of like when you think of like a second point guard or whatever the Sonics when they used to have Sonics.
00:27:32
Speaker
Um, that you need a guy who knows what he's doing, pulling the strings and has a point to prove off the bench. And I think they finally found that rotation. And I've liked how their attack flows, even if they're not getting all the goals that they feel like they've created chances to earn.
00:27:50
Speaker
i like how the attack feels, moves, progresses and evolves once the ball gets into the final third in the back since the Club World Cup a lot more than I liked it beforehand. Yeah. And so I think in that sense, you know, I picked the Seattle Sounders to win MLS Cup in preseason. You can find that at the athletic.
00:28:09
Speaker
um I'm not backing off of it yet. There's one team in the West that's really making me wonder if I should do my one time switch and I'm not going to do it. ah But if they get there, I won't be surprised.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah, so and what I hear you're saying is basically that Rothrock is doing more than just what his numbers are saying. Yes, much more. And I think we can see that. you know I had actually forgotten that he didn't start either of the first two Club World Cup games. He didn't start against Botafogo. He didn't start against Atletico. He did start against PSG.
00:28:42
Speaker
And then essentially he became the starter from that point forward. Just without... Yeah, up and and then with the i Interestingly, against he didn't start against New York City.
00:28:54
Speaker
Pedro de la Vega ends up getting hurt and Sounders scored two goals after after he came into the game. and Not necessarily because of him, but i but he does do a lot of that sound a selfless running. And he does a lot of the work that doesn't always get on the score sheet. But he you watch the game and you can see how he is impacting it and how he he tends to make the right decision. he isn't doing you know He's not making selfish ah plays. you know he's He's almost always available. He's almost always in the in the spot where you expect him to be and where you want him to be.
00:29:26
Speaker
And it's been an it's been a really interesting ah case study and sort of like how doing the little stuff can really help with the big stuff. It was really funny. I loved Brian's quote right before the League's Cup final of like, yeah, they have the greatest player of all time. right We have Paul Rothrock because in my mind, my first thought is, oh, you know, Messi would love to play with Paul Rothrock.
00:29:45
Speaker
Like he's the exact kind of player that is someone like Lionel Messi at this point of his career would be so grateful to have who's doing all this sort of work. And he would get so many assists in a system like that and and whatever the case may be. But um yeah, my other observation with the Sounders since the League's Cup is i kind of wonder if the emotion, this actually is a perfect transition into it, the emotion of that moment. And and I kind of want your assessment in return to just for this, but it really seemed like the hype around it.
00:30:15
Speaker
that it felt like a big occasion because we started by talking about is this season a success or a failure? There's like four trophies you can win any year in MLS. Right. And i'm i'm I'm equating the Open Cup with the Voyagers Cup. Yeah. Right. So you have your national trophy and then you have CONCACAF, Leagues Cup and MLS Cup.
00:30:30
Speaker
Same page. So there's five. Right. But but it's the same page. Once you get to Canada, the US, s they are the same in MLS's eyes. And you won one of them. So, yeah, it's a success. Right.
00:30:41
Speaker
Like, period. I think this is a successful season for the Seattle Sounders. I also think that they did much more to evolve past the Lodera and Ruiz Diaz era this year than they did last year. So that's also a really good step in the right direction.
00:30:54
Speaker
But the emotion of it, the before the game and certainly the afters of it, the fact that like. I think maybe now I have a greater appreciation for like public public interest in these sorts of decisions.
00:31:07
Speaker
And I think that there's a lot of the discourse being as Luis Suarez ever going to play an MLS again, as Sergio Busquets going to be able to play an MLS again. in the And then those suspensions come down and they're harder on the sounder side ah of the of the of the breakdown than Inter Miami's.
00:31:24
Speaker
And I just, it looked like it just rattled, unsettled, pissed off to a detrimental extent. too much where it just took a while. Like when I was watching the Sounders this year, I was waiting for the moment. They'd flip the switch, do the thing that they did in 2016 and 17 and 18 and 19 and 20, where suddenly sometime in July, they make that one lineup change. And I could have sworn it was Rothrock coming in.
00:31:47
Speaker
And suddenly they're just gangbusters. They're soaring up the table. They finished third in the West and they're the team. Nobody wants to face in the conference. And instead they're down in fifth where they, They're going to need what what is the cutoff point? I think there's six, five teams in the Eastern conference ahead of them on points right now. It goes all the way down to New York city, which has five. Correct. Yeah. Five five teams. So yeah they will need a six, seven or eight seed to advance from the East to host MLS. Sure. Yeah. Okay. Fine. Orlando, Orlando and Chicago.
00:32:19
Speaker
yeah Whatever. Like it does matter. And they are a nine seat. If they advance, I like, They deserve it. They are not suddenly the eighth team in the conference. I do think we should be right pedantic about that.
00:32:31
Speaker
But yeah, i I don't think that there's a couple of those teams I could talk into, but Seattle lost a chance to host MLS Cup. they they They blew an opportunity with the squad that they built, which my friend Matt Doyle has been calling one of the deepest teams in the history of MLS. And I concur certainly over the last 12 years. And that's when we're talking about modern squad building where academies factor into this to a greater extent than ever before.
00:32:56
Speaker
I think that they do have that level of depth. They just haven't figured out how to perform at the level that you would expect from a champion. And that's what gives me pauses as they enter this bracket.
00:33:06
Speaker
It's not Minnesota United. It's not about having to face San Diego if they win. Who's the one seed? It's just the general. They never really embodied their talk. You know, I think of Obed Vargas at the All-Star game telling me that they should win every game 3-0 because of how competitive they were at the Club World Cup.
00:33:24
Speaker
They've just never looked like that team. Yeah, and I would agree. I think there was an emotional, certain sort of emotional letdown after the, after the league's cup. And you can just look at the first game that they played, you know, they jump out to a two zero lead. It looks like they're flying against the galaxy. And then they end up conceding, you know, kind of a dumb goal right before halftime. And they give up another really dumb goal right before the end of the game to, to drop those points. And those, you know, you, you can go back and if they had just gotten four more points,
00:33:54
Speaker
they would be sitting in the four seed. They, you know, they very much, and they, they dropped a lot more than, you know, they, they dropped a and a result earlier this year where they led three zero at home against the Rapids. And, you know, you just take those two points and the two points from the galaxy game and a game, they led two zero at home against at the time, one of the, the worst team in the league.
00:34:13
Speaker
And can make it even easier if you'd like to. And remember when we talked about how they outplayed Minnesota in St. Paul, but Osase had his misses in Minnesota, right that shot that scored. If that game finishes one, one Seattle's in fourth, Minnesota's in fifth.
00:34:25
Speaker
Because then they're level on wins. They both have 15 wins. You go to, um is it goal difference or ah goals for MLS? Goals differences. Now I had a goals for, but yeah. Okay. Okay. So they did fix that. So then it would have been different. You need one more point somewhere else, but like, that's where, that's where, again, you look and it's just like a team that's going to be contending to win MLS cup and also be one of the best teams of the regular season has to get these sorts of results. And they just didn't do it.
00:34:51
Speaker
Right. And, you know, so one of the interesting little exercise I did is I actually went through all the teams drop points this year and and kind of like gave them the points they would have gotten if they had ah if they had kept all those points. And the Sounders did not drop an inordinate amount of points in that person.
00:35:09
Speaker
From that perspective, they dropped 14 points, which is seems like a fair amount, but it's like right in the middle. if you gave them ah everyone, all their points, they'd still finished right around where they finished. But what was, what was so painful about what the way the sounders dropped those points is they dropped a bunch of them late in games. So they had, they had the galaxy game where it was like the 87th minute. They had the Austin game where they, that came ah and stop. It was like the last play of the game. Essentially they had. yeah ah And so you can kind of go through and find actually quite a few. They had Atlanta where they gave up the goal also essentially on the last play of the game.
00:35:44
Speaker
They had a Charlotte game early in the season where it was an own goal very late in the game. So there's all these kind of late drop points that end up. Yeah, those catch up. sort of like not feeling like that season ever totally kicked into gear. And they sort of just like shown that they can do it. It's just that they aren't able to do it. on And this was the what's funny is that they won the last three games of the year. I'd say none of those three games did they look great in.
00:36:11
Speaker
But that was the only three game league winning streak they had all year.
00:36:18
Speaker
Of course, that's just how these things work out. And to be fair, it's one of the few where they played three games in a row in Major League Soccer without all these other things getting thrown into mix to complicate it. Right. But I mean, like you look at like even the breakdown of how long each team was winning and losing in their games and the Sounders like 45 percent of the time in their games was spent with a level score line.
00:36:37
Speaker
And they were winning 33% and they were losing 22. So at least you had a better balance there. But that's a lot of time where you're leaving things up for grabs, right? Yeah. and And you look in 33%, that's about bang average for an MLS team to be leading. And I know that you kind of look and you're like, well, you would assume so, right? But like teams will have 40% or more level because of how games work. Games start at 0-0. They don't start with a team winner, right? Like it's just simple logic sort stuff like that.
00:37:01
Speaker
And Seattle just wasn't ruthless in the way that maybe we expected them to. and And I have a bigger concern about that lack of ruthlessness with other teams like Orlando City. It's why they fell to ninth after being in contention for top four in the Eastern Conference. And, um you know, Minnesota, maybe to be fair, but I think that they're ruthless by their own definition of it.
00:37:21
Speaker
um But I think I just think when you look at the Seattle Sounders, I think that you see a team that is very comfortable with the ball in its defensive half. If they have to recirculate back to Reagan, if they have to recirculate back all the way to Stefan Fry, they're not going to necessarily be panicking as much.
00:37:36
Speaker
But once they move the ball into the attacking half, I like how it flows. I like the movement they have. My concern, though, is whether or not they know where the final ball is supposed is it supposed to land. and who is And part of that is, again, you've had a rotation at striker throughout the season for Seattle.
00:37:52
Speaker
So you don't yeah like strikers have their preferences. Zlatan wanted the ball in a very different spot than Clint Dempsey wanted the ball. Right. But they both wanted the ball consistently in similar spots for them so that they could do what they do best.
00:38:04
Speaker
And there's no right or wrong answer. You just need a consistent answer to be able to tailor your game model in the final third. And when you're going from Rosario to Morris to Ferreira to Musavski. Manu actually did get a start in there as well.
00:38:20
Speaker
There you go. first Why not? Let's just throw another one in there, right? Like, it's just like all of those guys are going to want to play in a different way. And that has knock on decisions. Like, I understand. I empathize with the players. Like, this is a better group of players than their record showed, but they never coordinated their availability to be able to show it.
00:38:41
Speaker
And so they could now. they They possibly are equipped right now, and that's why I'm not backing off them as my MLS Cup pick. I still think that there is a very clear path where the Seattle Sounders can win MLS Cup.
00:38:52
Speaker
um Granted, I'm also pocketing my one-time switch for a round later if they lose, but... i think that I think that as it's constructed, I don't feel like it's delusional to look at the Sounders group and say head-to-head, I like them better than LAFC.
00:39:05
Speaker
Okay, I like them better than San Diego. I have a lot of questions about Vancouver. I think that's clear. And then when you get to the East, I think I like the top five teams in the West better than I like pretty much any team in the Eastern Conference to win an MLS Cup one-off game.
00:39:18
Speaker
So... You just need to get through this side of the bracket. And weirdly, it's going to look a little bit easier because they are so. so
00:39:29
Speaker
The East is weird. you You have you have these stylistic splits between the East and the West, where the East has a similar climate, a more similar climate throughout the bulk of its team so they can play in a consistent game model because they're it's not going to be like you're not going to Houston in July, guaranteed every single season and Dallas and Austin and Salt Lake City. where you're playing all these 90 something degrees and humid games, and we haven't even gotten to Missouri.
00:39:54
Speaker
Like you need to set up differently. You need to be more nimble in the Western Conference with how MLS has set it up geographically based. And as a result of that, I do think that the West has more of an advantage because I think that they are more adaptable than the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
00:40:12
Speaker
Well, that's a good place to take a break. We're going to come back and we're going to zoom out a bit. and We're going to talk about the field and we're going to talk, we're actually going get into some of our end of season award picks as well. ah You're listening to Nos Adietes.
00:40:26
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Adietes, Loving Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible through our paid subscribers.
00:40:37
Speaker
Plans start as low as $30 a year and allow us to remain independent and mostly ad-free. subscribers get access to all our written and podcast content, including a full text RSS feed and a mostly ad free podcast feed that includes every show in one spot. If you really like what we're doing though, I'd encourage you to sign up at our higher tiers, which include all sorts of various perks. The most popular of those is our members only discord or the real Sounders sickos hang out. I know I've called this group, the smartest, funniest and best informed Sounders fans in the world, but it's more than the rough equivalent of a Sounders Mensa meeting. Discord is where we make things happen. Like, for real.
00:41:14
Speaker
You know the promotion the Sounders ran that offered fans the opportunity to trade in their messy jersey for a Paul Rothrock one? That originated in our community. You'll not only be the first to know about stuff, but you also have a semi-direct line to the movers and shakers at the Sounders organization. If you want to be one of the totally normal people who occupy the Sounder at Heart Discord, just become a supporter of Sounder at Heart. Anyway, thanks for listening, and go Durs.
00:41:41
Speaker
Nos Adietes, admittedly, is not exactly known for our spicy takes, but that doesn't mean we want our food to be mild. Spice up your life with Hacks and Ferments. Handcrafted in Georgetown and made it with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest, they specialize in unique small batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars.
00:41:59
Speaker
Hacks and Ferments brings bold flavors and natural fermentation together for something truly special. Whether you're a heat seeker or just looking to elevate your cooking, you'll find something you love at haxanferments.com.
00:42:12
Speaker
That's H-A-X-A-N-F-E-R-M-E-N-T-S dot com. And right now, if you use the code sounder at heart, that's all one word, at checkout, you will get a free hot sauce with your order.
00:42:28
Speaker
Again, go to hacksandferments.com, use the code sounder at heart at checkout for a free hot sauce with your order. Hacks and Ferments is a proud sponsor of that Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:42:42
Speaker
Welcome back to No Studied at this on the Sounder Heart podcast network. ah We are here with Jeff Reuter. We are talking about the and MLS playoffs and we have dispensed with all the, uh,
00:42:56
Speaker
the localities of it. Let's get into some bigger picture things. You have alluded to your perception of the West being top heavy, but also five real contenders.
00:43:09
Speaker
Yeah. East, wide open basically as white, like, even though the Philadelphia union are the supporter shield winners, even though inner Miami have been at times, one of the best teams in the year, uh, FC Cincinnati looks like a sort of a sleeping giant. And yet you go all the way down the list and there are big, big questions. I think about every team and there is real upside on the bottom end of that, uh, of the playoff bracket as well.
00:43:35
Speaker
What's sort of like, how would you describe the Eastern conference right now as we head into the playoffs? It was ah it was ah very clear separation early in the season, by maybe April, that there were nine teams of a playoff caliber, and then the rest, including, maybe surprisingly, the New York Red Bulls, though that was entirely of their own doing.
00:43:56
Speaker
And this was kind of just desserts for, i'd say, like five years of uninspiring operation that they finally end their playoff streak that had been, what was it, 14 years in a row or something like that of qualifying? I believe it was 16, 17 years.
00:44:08
Speaker
yeah six Yeah, because it was
Eastern Conference Dynamics
00:44:10
Speaker
one it was longer. the They had been one year behind the Sounders, and then the Sounders obviously missed the p playoffs 2022. And so then they overtook them. Yeah, right exactly. And they kept getting in by the skin of their teeth.
00:44:22
Speaker
ah At least you made it got a trophy that year. They can't say the same this year. hu um You look at the East and we already talked about every team in the East that qualified has that over one and a half points per game. Another way to look at it is that the difference between first and ninth, which is um Orlando Chicago tied for eight, nine in terms of 53 points.
00:44:39
Speaker
That's 13 points behind first in the conference. When you're looking at the difference between the the best teams in the Western Conference, San Diego, Vancouver, 63 points, all the way down to your Salt Lake, Colorado, San Jose, 8 through 10, 41 points.
00:44:52
Speaker
That's 22-point gap. That's seven games of difference rather than four games of difference, five games of difference. Right. And that makes a big difference because these teams were taking a lot of points off of each other. There weren't a ton of draws. There were more draws in the West this year than the East. You look at a team like Charlotte, for example, that had a record tying winning streak. A lot of those were one zero or two one wins um that ended famously lost the XG battle during their nine game ah wins, right? I believe.
00:45:19
Speaker
They had two draws all season. That is like when when we had bad expansion teams coming in who were getting like 10 expansion picks, no allocation money, like the Sounders model of expansion rather than the modern model where you get the extra money and you get, you know, whatever.
00:45:36
Speaker
You would expect those teams to get two draws because they did not know how to hang in close games with real MLS opposition. Right. Charlotte is the four seat in the Eastern Conference. They finished above New York City.
00:45:47
Speaker
They finished above Columbus. People maybe didn't expect that. They finished above Nashville. That's a team that I think has generally been been looked at as kind of similar to Seattle in a very different way. A team that's just a little better than their record indicates that they are.
00:46:00
Speaker
that look, feel like more of a contender than their place on the table suggests they should be, right? And you have more of those teams. You throw in the fact that Miami maybe hasn't looked any better with Rodrigo DePaul.
00:46:13
Speaker
That's not great. You throw in the fact that Miami is as reliant on one player as any MLS team ever has been. And yeah, they picked the right player to do that.
00:46:24
Speaker
If you're going to be that reliant, like I think Ricky Pooge is kind of the alternative for the Galaxy in modern times. And they suffered for it, certainly. But I just i I look at Miami and I think that that's still a team that's very susceptible to lose games that they shouldn't.
00:46:40
Speaker
I think that you look at Philadelphia and we haven't seen team. We've seen teams win supporter shields with energy drink soccer. We haven't seen them win MLS Cup. And this is the latest version of it. And I'll believe it when I see it. But I think that other teams in the East, much less the West, are going to be able to get through Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cincinnati.
00:46:58
Speaker
They've struggled with injuries in their midfield. They found it very difficult to get ball progression consistently um and to get the ball to Evander. And then um Brenner came back, but Kevin Denke, their one time briefly MLS record signing, who then was usurped by Emmanuel Lade-Loth, how'd that work out?
00:47:15
Speaker
ah They... are struggling to get the results that they feel they should as well. They only have five draws. So like they just aren't close game teams. The point tallies are inflated by some really bad teams in the East, DC United, Atlanta, Montreal, Toronto.
00:47:33
Speaker
Those are new England. Those are five of the eight worst teams in MLS this year comfortably. So it's, it's a really screwy balance this year. um I love it.
00:47:44
Speaker
It's something that like MLS fosters this very much with its geographic build and not doing what like the NFL or the NBA does where East and West are parts of each conference. So there's more balance, right?
00:47:56
Speaker
Like you're seeing the byproducts of splitting it geographically down the Mississippi river really play out in the last couple of years. And it's just been really fascinating. And I think that again,
00:48:08
Speaker
This year, it makes the East look a little flimsy. Some years, it'll make it look incredibly stout when there is that separation of your Jesse Marsh Red Bulls, your Tato Martino Atlantas from the chaff.
00:48:19
Speaker
We just haven't seen that this year. Yeah. And so I guess from a Sounders perspective, the thing we're most interested in, we'll talk about the top of the the East too. But if you're going to pick one team, if you're going to give a Sounders fan hope that they may actually manage to host MLS Cup, which of those teams from the bottom four spots in the Eastern Conference do you feel like has the most capacity for a serious run through the Eastern Conference?
00:48:46
Speaker
I think that there's two genuinely viable teams, and we talked about them earlier. It's Columbus and Nashville, I think, are the most viable. Nashville just embarrassed itself against Miami. They now have to play them again. That's tougher.
00:49:00
Speaker
So I think I'm going Columbus. Columbus also ended up on the relatively leaner side of the bracket, and I think that Columbus has really, like, they've been to scale. Atlanta has been the biggest underperformers of the season.
00:49:12
Speaker
but to scale of the playoff teams, it's Columbus, right? And Columbus is a team that I think everyone was like, okay, they were the one seed. ah They won MLS cup two years ago. They were the two seed last year, brought back a fair amount of their core. They just lost Kucha. Well, I think that they found that Diego Rossi is more of a, ah more of a Rothrock than a messy in terms of like, you know, thrives playing off of a guy like Kucha rather than being the focal point. And so their attack struggled. Daniel Gosdaw did not transition at all from Philadelphia after his cash trade.
00:49:40
Speaker
Um, They've looked worse, but their game model has succeeded in the MLS Cup playoffs recently. So I have more confidence in that. They're up against Cincinnati. That's a matchup that I mean, throw form out the window, blah. You guys are you hear it every time the Timbers come to town. But at the same point, like.
00:49:59
Speaker
there it is There are certain matchups where you you can't really look at the last five results head to head or last five in the league or anything, right? Like it's just going to be on the matchup who's more locked in and who executes the game plan better. And I think that Newton V. Nancy is one of those great coaching rivalries we've seen in terms of the tactical ideologies.
00:50:15
Speaker
So if they get through. Cincinnati, then they get the winner of Miami, Nashville, probably Miami. I bet Columbus to beat Miami. And then you would get to Philadelphia or Charlotte or New York or the wildcard team. And I think at that point, Columbus will like their footing as well.
00:50:29
Speaker
So I think Columbus is your best bet. The consolation worth mentioning, Nashville is on the same side of the bracket. So if they got past Miami, then they're riding high of the, yeah, we beat inter Miami in the first round playoffs.
00:50:39
Speaker
We can beat anybody. And that's when you could say, okay, maybe they can get through Cincinnati and Columbus and Philadelphia and Charlotte or New York. So, um yeah, I think that there is a realistic possibility, especially like a Seattle Columbus rematch five years later.
00:50:55
Speaker
i could see that being ah the most likely of the scenarios that gets MLS Cup to lumen. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't, again, we're not necessari saying that's the most likely MLS cup matchup, just that if it's going to be Sounders against at hosting at home, that's probably who it would be against.
00:51:16
Speaker
yeah So removing that, that part of it, who do you like coming from the East? How do you sort of see the playoffs? Who are your favorites going into this? You've said that you like the Sounders still, but who else are like, so especially from the East do you like?
00:51:31
Speaker
It's funny because the teams I like the best finish 5-6-7, and that's not really useful. But across the season, I liked a lot of New York City, Nashville, and Columbus, just in terms of their their're potential. Less Columbus, but I think especially Nashville and New York City, I liked a lot of what they were doing. I like that Mukhtar and Surridge really found a partnership that Mukhtar had previously never had with the revolving door of strikers that he had gotten. New York City looked really well really coherent in the second half of the season under Pascal Janssen after that coaching change.
00:52:03
Speaker
Alonzo Martinez is one of the most informed strikers in Major League Soccer. I also think that they have one of the best midfields when you look at um you know Keaton Parks and Max Morales has been in and out a little bit. Johnny Shore has not been playing as much, but 2222 defense midfielder. Those are a rare breed to get, especially at 18.
00:52:21
Speaker
So I like their balance. I like New York City getting past Charlotte and their matchup. I like... Columbus's matchup more than Nashville. But if you're looking at the top four, like i think it is Cincinnati.
00:52:32
Speaker
I think I'm pretty comfortable projecting that the winner of hell is real is the front runner to win the Eastern conference this year, because I think that that is the sternest test that any team will have in that first round. And I don't think there's enough separating teams one through six or seven in this conference to really,
00:52:54
Speaker
re to to really avoid receding, so to speak, in that way. man Yeah. um Like, I don't think I'm going to learn a thing from Philadelphia against Chicago or Orlando to the same extent. Right. And Miami, we know what Miami's game plan looks like. And it's, you know, Messi has a good day today.
00:53:11
Speaker
ah Charlotte. We know how fallible Charlotte is. Like, it it really is just that Cincinnati Columbus series. I think that is. one MLS should be so grateful that it got a matchup like that because I don't think we've really, yeah yeah, I don't think we've had a best, like I guess St. Louis and Kansas city, but then St. Louis lines and lost their first two and it's an expansion team that year. So it's not like you even have the old highlight clips that you can pull from like years ago, matchups or whatever that make these things feel real and not synthetic. Right.
00:53:43
Speaker
Um, you I think it's ah it's a really big opportunity, honestly, for MLS to show that it knows how to enhance its best storylines that aren't wearing hair in pink.
00:53:54
Speaker
And I hope they take the opportunity. I really do. Yeah, it's an interesting, ah for sure, it's a fascinating matchup. And I think that that makes a lot of sense for the sort of the favorite. And i I think I want to dig into Philadelphia has routine. like A lot of people have expressed skepticism about Philadelphia. And I think yeah that's un i think for a lot of people, that seems odd for a Supporter Shield winner. A team that, frankly, clinches a Supporter Shield with a game to go.
00:54:21
Speaker
didn't have anything on the line in the season finale, why people are so skeptical. and i And I think one of the reasons, and it's a relatively straightforward reason, is that they just have not looked good against the top teams in the league.
00:54:36
Speaker
You know, you look at they they lost to Nashville in the Open Cup semifinals. They lost to ah Vancouver 7-0. Granted, a rotated lineup, but they lost it.
00:54:48
Speaker
They lost to everyone. Everyone rotates in MLS. You have to rotate. That's and that's that's part of the design of the league. You can't lose by seven. You can. They lost to Nashville in the ah regular season. They lost it the to Columbus.
00:55:02
Speaker
They lost to New York City. They lost to Miami. they They actually lost to Nashville twice in this thing. ah They just, you know, they really kind of ran up the score. And this is how you win a Supporter Shield, right?
00:55:13
Speaker
Yes, it is. You win Supporter Shield by winning the games you should win. And you can afford to lose drop points elsewhere in the table. And that's exactly what Philadelphia did. And that's not to take anything away from...
00:55:25
Speaker
what a great season this is. This is a team that won a trophy. Yeah. They didn't, and they didn't make the playoffs last year. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. They, because I think they dropped more points than any team in the league.
00:55:37
Speaker
and And so they fell from, from winning positions. Thank you. And so I think that they, they went from pretty much what would have been the four seed in the East to missing the playoffs entirely. And then Jim Curtin has shown the door.
00:55:47
Speaker
Yeah. Right. And then they didn't do that this year. That was the other thing that they didn't do is they didn't do. They just didn't drop points. They yeah ah by my. Yeah, they they dropped eight points from winning positions all year this year.
00:56:00
Speaker
And that's that's frankly, that's a recipe for how you win a shield. You win the games you're supposed to win. And and. Again, not to take anything away from them, but I think that's that sort of explains why they aren't everyone's favorite and why a lot of people don't even have them in their top tier of contenders.
00:56:19
Speaker
And I think that they've also had one of those injuries you can't afford to have in the after the summer transfer window closes where Quinn Sullivan tears his ACL. And the reason they were able to trade away Daniel Gosdaw was because Quinn Sullivan was a far better fit as the chief facilitator in a kind of breakneck, you know, defend counter sort of system like Carnell Ball will be.
00:56:44
Speaker
Sullivan is an excellent transition operator. He's very good at finding that pass at dribbling by guys ah without losing speed at all. um And he tears his ACL and they don't have a like for like. I know that they have a genetic like for like. I've heard of the kid, too, but he's not ready.
00:57:01
Speaker
Kevin's not ready to be a starting. You know, he'll probably play a thousand minutes next year in um MLS. like I think next year you'll maybe finally see him. He just hasn't been in the rotation to that extent yet. So. you know I think that without that, it's a little harder to see where they pick up their goals.
00:57:15
Speaker
um And so then it it really does get to, okay, well, how are are they defending like the Dickens? Okay, well, how did it go for St. Louis in the first round last time? They were the one seed. They lost in two games to a sporting Kansas City team that to scale comparatively was much worse than St. Louis than either Chicago or Orlando will be compared to Philadelphia this year.
00:57:36
Speaker
Right? When we talk again about the difference between one and eight in the conferences this year. i I worry about Philadelphia. I, you know, ah like, look, I thought that they were going to fall off at some point, but eventually remembered that the shields are just won by teams that don't get hurt and that right don't drop points from winning positions. And they did those two things until they did get hurt, but it was late enough in the season where it wouldn't cost them the shield.
00:57:59
Speaker
So for them, they've had a successful season. They have a good springboard for year two under Bradley Carnell. ah with Ernst Tanner continuing to cobble the roster together and turn over the academy kids as they leave. But um just this year.
00:58:11
Speaker
Yeah, they they don't they don't intimidate me as a team that is built to thrive over the next six weeks. Like I see from five teams in the Western Conference and probably five or six teams in the East.
00:58:24
Speaker
And so the team in the West that you've said that you like the best is the Whitecaps. We haven't really got into what you like about the Whitecaps so much. why are they what is for sorensen done so well that is you know i i think you can argue that they are maybe the deserving even one seed in the west they are only not the one seed because uh mls uses the uh wins as the primary tiebreaker instead of right difference uh they finished equal on points with san diego yeah what do you like about them so much
00:58:58
Speaker
i I like how they've been able to regenerate on the fly and they've been able to do it much more nimbly than other teams have. And yeah, they have like, let's let's get it out of the way. They've they've made the first time in the history of the Vancouver Whitecaps. They made the sort of summer signing that contenders make, which is Thomas Muller's out of contract without wants to come to America spot.
00:59:22
Speaker
It's insane, right? Like this is one of those things where it's like, I didn't know that teams who weren't in l LA or Miami were allowed to make bookkeeping decisions like this, right? Like phenomenal that they executed it. And you're actually really glad to see it happen to the rest of the league just to remember or to remind them to be ambitious to a similar extent, right? And I think that Mueller has come in um And been a very good sort of ace in the hole guy who can play alongside Ryan Gold if he plays on the right wing and it will work. But if Ryan Gold's not there and you have another runner like a savvy or Jay Nelson, it will still work, too.
00:59:54
Speaker
I think that they did really. really well to rebound from disappointment in the CONCACAF champions cup in a way that Seattle couldn't do in 2022, that the Columbus crew couldn't do in 2024 when they made the final and lost in similarly tough fashion to Vancouver this year.
01:00:12
Speaker
um Sorensen has been excellent at building his plane on the fly and keeping it from touching the ground at any given point. Veselinovich getting injured for the rest of the season, that's a key center back injury that would doom a lot of teams, and yet the team still defends capably.
01:00:29
Speaker
um you know They sold... ah was a co No, it wasn't Kubas. ah They sold... um One of their nimble playmakers, Pedro Vita, midseason. And they were able to say, OK, I guess we play with a 10 now. Welcome, Thomas Muller. And it's worked fine. Like, I think that they are better equipped to roll with the punches, maybe is a good way to put it, than San Diego, who did not show that they had that sort of thing once they fell behind in games previously.
01:00:53
Speaker
They really struggled because their game model um was now playing against a even more difficult defense when they're just trying to like, you know win possession and tire opponents out. ah Minnesota, I don't think that they've adapted as well as they need to, but they have a game model that wins close games.
01:01:09
Speaker
LAFC has been the other forum team. So I think that that second round of Vancouver and LAFC get passed. Um, Dallas and at Austin respectively is going to be a fascinating one-off game that feels worthy of a conference final.
01:01:22
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, I just, I like the core. I like the, the, the, it's one of those where you also then look at lineups and say, I'd like that guy. I like that guy. I like that guy. I like that guy. And if you're doing the combined 11 sort of thing that used to be all the rage and social graphics in 2016, Yes, you probably pick seven white caps, right? Like one of those sorts of things, too, where this year, unlike the teams under Vanny Sartini, they do have a talent advantage as well. Right. And it's just fantastic to see from this core of players how, you know, your Sebastian Berhalters and Brian Weitz are in the form of their life and all these Tristan Blackman, it Taka Yoka and goal.
01:01:59
Speaker
I like the Vancouver Whitecaps a lot. I won't be surprised if they make a 10-1 cup. And I don't think you've even mentioned that they played almost this entire season without Ryan gold, who has yeah been a MVP candidate for each of the past two or three years.
01:02:14
Speaker
And he is now back and he hasn't necessarily played a ton, but he does look like he's ready to ah be a contributor going into the playoffs. Uh, yeah. It's a it's there's a lot to like about the Whitecaps. And it's i don't know. We've talked about this before on the show, but it's it's funny. You would think that with a Cascadia rivalry that Sounders fans would be just as interested in rooting against the Whitecaps as anyone else. And that's just not true.
01:02:40
Speaker
and Like I actually like I was rooting for the Whitecaps to pull it out against against Dallas in the season finale because I wanted to see them finish atop the West. Now, I will say if there is a concern that I have about the Whitecaps, it's this.
01:02:54
Speaker
So they as a result of not winning that game or not tying the getting the point that they needed from the Dallas game, which was at home, they lose the border to a red card.
01:03:07
Speaker
He was already a emergency option for them at center back. They are woefully thin at center back. So I don't, I guess Ralph Preso is the player that's probably going to have to step in to play there at center back for him.
01:03:20
Speaker
And then on top of that, Dallas is going to be getting back. They didn't have Peter Moussa. They didn't have Logan Farrington. Right. that Yeah. After Moussa's insane yellow card in that second to last game against l a Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. That's right. That's right.
01:03:32
Speaker
and And so all of a sudden, Dallas has a couple of their you know really good offensive players coming back into this game. Vancouver is going to be missing one of their better defenders in this game.
01:03:45
Speaker
How concerned are you? This is not a long-term concern, but this is a concern for at least game one. And yeah you you don't win game one. That puts you really behind the the eight ball.
01:03:56
Speaker
How much concern is there for you over that? I think that they've had to find out how to shield that second center back pretty well throughout the last because I think it was all star week when Veselinovich got his injury. yeah So like they've they've had some time at least to work out how to hide this thing. And has it has it been as successful as it needed to be? Well, no, they're the two seed, not the one.
01:04:15
Speaker
Right. So to your point, they are dropping these sorts of points. Dallas is a fascinating one because I think most years Dallas doesn't make the playoffs. And I think that absolutely yes they deserve that, right? Because they were in a scenario where ah they went all in on building with a new coach around Lucho Acosta.
01:04:34
Speaker
And then Lucho Acosta decided I'm super done with MLS, regardless if I'm on an MLS roster and has to get kind of shown the back doors before things really blow up. And they've gotten better for it, thankfully, which is good. Moussa is a genuine top five, six striker in major league soccer on his day. So he is a serious scoring threat.
01:04:53
Speaker
um You know, i've I've seen more guys kind of come from North Texas, like Sam Sarver has really impressed me down the stretch with as one of those kind of hustle guys um who's going to be, yeah actually kind of has a little bit of Rothrock to him with his like, I'm trying to play high octane, but I'm also really clever with the ball at my feet and I can make good decisions as well, which really separates me from a lot of these sort of hustle guys that you'll see coming off the bench.
01:05:14
Speaker
um I don't think Dallas is ready to take down a giant in a knockout series, but this is where you get into MLS is. I wrote a column about it last year that obviously I don't have a place to write this column this year, ah but about how the playoff format is just not.
01:05:34
Speaker
It doesn't. Justify a good regular season, a lick because every team gets to host a first round playoff game. So. ah yeah teams don't win two thirds of their home games in this league.
01:05:49
Speaker
So of course they're going to be susceptible, especially if you're tied after 90 and you go to penalties and anything can happen at that point. There's like no advantage to a good regular season. and So sure. Like i I would feel a lot better about Vancouver if this was a one or a two leg than a three leg, I'll put it that way. But the way that it's set up right now, upsets have never been easier because there's no other time in soccer where you can, it's rare. It's very rare.
01:06:12
Speaker
This only ever happens. Like, And they have like Barcelona and Madrid in like 2011 or whenever that was when they had like four games in 16 days. And they've made about 50 documentaries about this stretch of time already.
01:06:23
Speaker
But you don't get a coach and their analysts the freedom to just focus on one appointment opponent over a two and a half week stretch the way that it gets. This is why Atlanta was able to beat Miami last year. This is why ah the Red Bulls were able to get past Columbus because they didn't need to be one of the best teams in Major League Soccer for the next two and a half weeks.
01:06:44
Speaker
They just had to be a team that would beat Columbus or Miami, in this case, beat Vancouver. You're not game planning soccer. You're game planning chess, right? And at that point, it's a little bit easier for Eric Quill to sort of figure out his path forward. So I see what you're saying. I can definitely talk myself into any of these first top four teams losing simply because of how on soccer the schedule of the MLS playoffs has become.
01:07:11
Speaker
It is not conducive to the sports usual flow at any point of the world. but It is a very strange environment that they've created. Yeah. Like the best of three is just, it's such a novelty.
01:07:24
Speaker
And I enjoy, like, I enjoy learning more about this beast. But the more I learn, the more I'm just like, I'd be so pissed if I was a top four seed. I would hate this format. And I would love it if I was five through nine.
01:07:36
Speaker
I would especially love it if I was eight or nine. And I got through the wild card. I have some momentum. And now I just get to go. just be like, we have nothing to lose. Everyone's expecting us to lose two games, five, zero. Let's
MLS Playoffs Unpredictability
01:07:46
Speaker
beat them. And it's happening.
01:07:47
Speaker
We've had the one seed fall. Uh, we, this is the third year of this experiment. We had the one seed in the West fall in 23, the one scene in the East fall in 24. It's, it's possible. It definitely is possible. Uh, so the other team that at least like, I don't, I don't mean to discount San Diego. I do tend to think that there's something to be said though, about playoff experience.
01:08:06
Speaker
And this is a team that has virtually none. Uh, Anibal Godoy is the only starter who has any significant, uh, playoff experience. Uh, uh, They have maybe three other players that have literally any playoff experience.
01:08:21
Speaker
I just sounds right. and And I think they'll, they'll probably figure out how to beat either ah RSL or the Timbers. I'm much more skeptical though, when they go up against the winner of the Sandy of the Sounders, Minnesota series.
01:08:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah That said, ah the team that I feel like is just an absolute potential juggernaut is LAFC. And it's really, it's not that it's not that creative, but Denny Bwonga and Sun are just seemingly an unstoppable force. Like it's basically taking Oba Deuce from 2014, 2015, and just injecting it with yeah steroids and Red Bull and just saying go for it. I mean, this is a two-man team that is unlike anything MLS has ever seen.
01:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's like Obadus, Joseph and Almiron, this. right That's kind of the the lineage since like Keane Donovan. But even that wasn't like a tandem in the same way. But this just seems like it's on a different level, right?
01:09:26
Speaker
It does. But like part of it is also ah Steve Shrundel is back in the playoffs, man. And like on the one hand, it's his final year before he's leaving and returning to Germany. He announced that back in April or May. I respect a coach for being that like transparent to their teams. I always think save that one for August to try to build your momentum into the playoffs. Like there's a point you do it too soon. Whatever. ah I'm not in the locker room. Maybe April was the perfect time.
01:09:51
Speaker
um The thing with LAFC, though, is that. they do still have that history in big games. Like this is where that big game experience can be detrimental where they have had their hiccups, you know, MLS cup 2023, they'll feel as a missed opportunity, even though everyone kind of felt that this was Columbus and Wilfred Nancy's coronation, right? Well, they, you know, They were the team that lost in MLS Cup and they felt like they were a better fit for the matchup. You get to last year and they get past the Vancouver Whitecaps, but it takes three games for them. OK, they didn't really expect that.
01:10:23
Speaker
um And then you have the Sounders. Right. And so they didn't even get as far a year ago. And yes, right Sun Hyung-min was not there. Sun Hyung-min is a better player than anyone on that roster. Denny Blanca included over 34 game season. But.
01:10:37
Speaker
but Sonny Omen's been playing nonstop since August of 2024. And there's just a point where you have to say the guy was still a starter under post a cold glue for a Europa League winning team for most of the season in 2425. He got phased out a little bit once March rolled around and Kulisevsky was in or or healthy before he was hurt.
01:10:58
Speaker
But they just... there's there's going to be a time eventually where any veteran player, any player just needs a break. Right. And maybe that won't come in this postseason, but that is a potential that is looming as he is one of those guys who has not had time.
01:11:13
Speaker
It is a long postseason with no breaks and he is still a star for career public. So he will still be called into these games in between rounds where he's not going to get a breather that his opponents are going get.
01:11:24
Speaker
Do I think that necessarily having him flying there? And I'm trying to remember if, um, If Buonga is going to be involved in that window, I think so. Probably. I'm not totally sure. But yeah, that's a yeah but another so like variable. That's complicating. They will both be flinging to other corners of the globe in the middle of the playoffs. That would concern me if I'm LAFC. And then I get into LAFC does have some good ah you know facilitators. I think Andrew Moran has been a really good pickup for them from Brighton on alone as someone who can kind of...
01:11:55
Speaker
get the ball to Bwonga and Sonnen transition that they didn't really have with Timothy Tillman being that guy. ah So I like some of their matchups, but I still just, Sharundalo in big games will but play it conservative to such a detrimental extent so often that unless they have an obvious talent advantage, like they did MLS Cup 22 against Philly,
01:12:19
Speaker
I just I still have my concerns and I would still say I think Vancouver, especially after losing in the first round to LAFC in each of the last two post seasons, will feel like they have an axe to grind this group of players, even with a different coach against LAFC. If both teams get out of the first round, because they would be two, three.
01:12:35
Speaker
um And then, yeah, San Diego, Minnesota, Seattle waiting for them on the other side of the bracket. um Maybe it looks a little easier than Vancouver, but yeah. I don't know. LAFC is just it's an anomaly to me. It feels like if if I had ah global city and one of the best sporting directors in Major League Soccer and one of the most wealthy ownership groups in Major League Soccer and a stadium we control and a great brand, that is not how I would want my team to play soccer.
01:13:06
Speaker
Like, I just I would not want to set up to be like an underdog on the field the way that Shurundalo does. But that's what they do. and We'll see how it goes. It is it is strange. And yet, on the other hand, I mean, I guess and the other thing I think I'm i'm worried about to a degree is they are so dependent It seems they've become such a two-man team that if something happens, if they are one of them having an off day, that they are very susceptible and you know as good as they are. but And by the way, Gabon does play on that November 13 window.
01:13:38
Speaker
So you're going to potentially have... both of them returning from international duty, ah piling up even, even though Bwonga seems like he's a robot and he can just get off of a little plane and do anything. Uh, it does seem to cause some, some area for concern.
01:13:55
Speaker
all right well before we get out of here i thought it'd be fun to go through our end of season awards and ah you know i don't we have to go through your whole list but and i think there's a lot of consensus here uh everyone seems to agree that messi there was some debate last year as to whether or not messi really played enough to be mvp right yeah that's not an issue this he is i was making that argument too last year to be fair yeah and i think a lot of people i think a lot of people made that argument. I don't think wrongly. He ended up, the way he played, though I know for me, his last game of the season is what sort of closed the door on it and was like, okay, he deserves to be MVP. Yeah. But yeah ah this year he's had maybe the best season in MLS history. I know Carlos Vela had more, i think he had one more goal and assist, but he did it in 300 more minutes. Right. Correct.
01:14:44
Speaker
ah minute right so It's it is really an amazing season that Messi has put together and he kept it off with this unreal performance against Nashville.
01:14:55
Speaker
I have I don't know that there's going much of a of a of a fight as far it shouldn't be. But it is very interesting. and And, you know, my my former colleague, John Muller, pointed this out on Blue Sky over the weekend to like the greatest player of our lifetime, if not any lifetime, just had arguably the greatest season in Major League Soccer. And no one really seems moved.
01:15:16
Speaker
buy it. Yeah. Which is just like, it's an interesting. Yeah. Like I, I, I kind of equate it to just people having burnout of like kind of big franchises being pushed over and over and there's that sort of fatigue.
01:15:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, and that's sort of my read on it too. And and it's that, I don't know. i don't know. I don't, I don't know what the, 99th percentile version of Messi coming here really looked like in terms of it. Yeah, because he's been a success on the field. Even though he hasn't won MLS Cup, he's had trophy lifting moments.
01:15:48
Speaker
He's been in trophy lifting game. i mean, the League's Cup was a ah wonderful. I think even if you He obviously maybe wasn't the result everyone wanted, but it was a spectacle. It was absolutely an event.
01:16:00
Speaker
And yet there isn't this buzz about Messi being here. And I almost wonder if it's partly because it just got overdone so quick. Like it was just yeah so like bludgeoned over your head.
01:16:11
Speaker
But I also don't know that there was – the way that MLS has been set up so much is you root for your local team. And the national narratives have never really been sort of the the focus, even though the league has made efforts to to do that.
01:16:27
Speaker
It's just a league that has lended itself to local interest primarily, and then and it goes from there. ah So i don't I don't even know what ah you know a league-wide, what a win for the league would have been with Messi. But I i i take more as...
01:16:41
Speaker
No, you go ahead, because I completely agree with you. I don't know. I don't think they did know because Mueller also put out a piece that he had written at the time where he was trying to figure out what does this growth look like? And it kind of boils down to a quote from Gary Stevenson, who is a very influential executive at MLS. He has a lot of control over like how it looks on Apple and some of the decisions with like their partnerships that they'll make and whatever.
01:17:00
Speaker
Yeah. in their ecosystem. And, and Stevenson just said by 26, we assume that we will double our fan base. You can imagine what that means. And then we'll try to double it again. And that was like the full quote, genuinely. I'm not skipping anything. I'm not boiling this down to make it sound plain speak.
01:17:16
Speaker
He said that you can imagine what that means. It's like, no, I can't because it hasn't happened. So what what should we expect? what are we looking for? And it hasn't happened. There's no way they've doubled their fan interest, right? Maybe globally, maybe you can say we've picked up a bigger footprint in Argentina than we ever could have dreamt of having. And therefore we have doubled it. Sure. That's cute.
01:17:33
Speaker
Are they buying jerseys? Is that going to last? Is it going to last? Are they still going to be here in three years, you know, at longest when he's gone or whatever the case may be, right? The other thing with Messi that's really interesting too, is that um there is franchise fatigue.
01:17:48
Speaker
It's been 15 years or man, we're like 18 years now where every conversation about soccer at the highest level starts with Messi and Ronaldo and they're still going and there's still big deals in their each of their own sort of non luxury league.
01:18:03
Speaker
And I think a lot of people are just really tired and just really ready for new stars. And I think that they want to know where to go next. And so I think it isn't even really anything that could have been controlled by MLS on this side. It's just like,
01:18:15
Speaker
there has never been an athlete who has been as adequately covered to an extent where there just isn't much mystery beyond what he does on a field than Lionel Messi has been in the 21st century. And that's okay. But like, then how do you build off of that? If everyone feels like they've really already have a crystallized feeling on the guy.
01:18:31
Speaker
Right. Right. Right. And so then you get to this situation and like in 24, I voted for Cucho Hernandez for MVP because I thought, first of all, he played like twice as much. And second, he was about just as important to another yeah shield contender.
01:18:42
Speaker
So that was great. Ricky Pooge would have been a very good MVP pick as well in hindsight, but he was more important in the playoffs as we found out. So that's fine. um I think with Messi, there just isn't ah an alternative. Are you going to get cute and say that someone with 15 fewer goal contributions should have won it over him?
01:18:57
Speaker
Because you have to. That's what your argument has to be. So you almost have to do the super clever, the best defender or the best two-way midfielder is more valuable. The best non-Messi player is really what you're looking for. It's sort of like the same, you know, back in the 90s when it was like Michael Jordan could be MVP every year. So you come up with a reason why Charles Barkley should be the MVP. Exactly. Right.
01:19:18
Speaker
right Tiger Woods can't be the golfer of the year because it's like, that's boring. So yeah, they came up with a great way to stop that run, by the way. But um yeah, no, I completely agree with you. Like it's ah it's there's just a fatigue.
01:19:33
Speaker
and And now it's here. He'll he'll be the first back to back MVP in MLS history. I think what the second player to win multiple MVPs with Precky, if I remember right. Yeah. yeah that You're supposed to leave Precky out of it so that we could do the, you know who the second, the other one is? It's so disingenuous with you and me though, isn't it?
01:19:52
Speaker
I think that, but that's where the money is and that's why. That's why I'm a free agent, maybe. um No, I think that, ah ah look, if you want to win two MVPs in Major League Soccer, it's so easy. Just like shorten your name to five letters and make sure it ends with an I. That's all you got to Look at that.
01:20:10
Speaker
Pulling it together. I think there's probably everyone's seen It's actually very convenient. because Anders Dreyer is probably the second pick for MVP for most people. And it's very convenient that he's up for newcomer of the year ah because he now is the, he's now the, the runaway winner or newcomer. It's like the safest ballot.
01:20:29
Speaker
Yeah. It's yeah. And it should be said he had an amazing seat. Like if you talk about a first DP, sign or yeah I guess he wasn't their first DP signing, but you talk about a DP to build your expansion team around. It really couldn't be better than Anders Dreyer.
01:20:45
Speaker
No, and it's especially fun because he wasn't the DP who was built around, right? It was Chucky Lozano. And it's not even like Chucky Lozano had a bad year. He was fine. He was good. He'll be even better next year for the acclimation and the swallow your pride at coming back from Europe to North America sooner than you expected and all that sort of stuff.
01:21:00
Speaker
Anders Dreyer is just like that, that Mukdar sort of profile of a guy who felt like he could cut it in a big five league, never got that look, is kind of doing some counter-programming on the side that's more fulfilling where he gets to be the most important player on a team that's playing in world-class facilities.
01:21:14
Speaker
in a world class like or like not world class country. i I'll bite my tongue there. ah But like, ah you know, like ah ah a first world country.
01:21:25
Speaker
was going to what nice things can we still say about the United States in 2025? I think we call ourselves first world. i' do First world sounds right. Yeah. So so like ah ah the checks will also clear. Maybe that's another say it too. Ownership groups are vetted and proven enough where you're never going to run into a situation that you might run into in Turkey or other countries. Honestly, most places in the world.
01:21:42
Speaker
Yes. The reliability of the paycheck here is just can't be overstated. No. Yeah. And so like good come here, especially if you're being offered as high of sums as someone like Anders Dreyer compared to what he could have got with Andre Lecter elsewhere.
01:21:54
Speaker
And he's been phenomenal. And he's playing with that sort of like tenacity and sort of dogged determination where even if it's a game that they're winning to one is having like three weeks ago in the 93rd minute. He is still doing a long busting run with the ball up the field to make sure that they win by two things like that, where it's just like, yeah, you're going to be ah endearing yourself to a fan base for a very long time. I think San san Diego has found their honey Mukhtar. I really do. And I think that Dreyer, fine consolation for him to be the newcomer the year.
01:22:23
Speaker
Absolutely. I suspect you and I agree on goalkeeper. i had Dane St. Clair. I'm guessing you did too. Yeah. But like, I didn't think it was a great year for MLS goalkeepers.
01:22:34
Speaker
and I didn't think we had like a 24 Kalina like a Pete Stephan Fry when he should have won over Zach Stephan. Cause I voted for him that year. I, every time I come on a Seattle podcast, I need to say that out loud. Um, and it's like that. And I picked them to win MLS in 25. And then everyone's like, okay, we want to hear what this guy has to say. This is good. Um,
01:22:53
Speaker
ah So call back go let's let the guy talk. right hold hold he's he's fun He's fine. He's fine. ah So I've been vetting. I said the password at the door, basically. that Stefan Frey. should have won goalkeeper the year that year.
01:23:04
Speaker
um But there wasn't really someone like Kalina or like Carlos Cornell was. But then the Red Bulls missed the playoffs. And I think Cornell would have been the slam dunk. This team would have been miserable without the guy.
01:23:16
Speaker
But if they finish 10th and they miss the playoffs by seven points like or more, can you really give the guy goalkeeper of the year? Dane St. Clair has been more consistent. Dane St. Clair has helped his team get results. I think that he had a perfect...
01:23:31
Speaker
ah Like like, you know how like on TV series at the Emmys, you're not nominated for the full season. You have to submit like, OK, this was my best acting performance of the season. And that's what they put in. So it's really the best episode of that season, whatever.
01:23:43
Speaker
Similarly, Dane Sinclair had one of those against San Diego in that 3-1 win in San Diego, where he just had like four point blank shots with probably like 0.4 XG or higher come fizzing at him.
01:23:54
Speaker
And he parried them away and never gave up a follow up shot. That was like the thing that was just like, whoa, this guy is catching it or he's punching it into safe territories, including out of bounds. And the it's neutralized. No other goalkeeper. Like there's there's that like aura that kind of comes about, as the kids say, where like there's certain goalkeepers where it's just like you see them, you come up against them, just like, our team's going to have a bad time. And Dane Sinclair this year entered that echelon. I think that he was kind of bubbling under for a couple of years. This year he put it together. He's improved over his past seasons. I think it's it's a good year for him, but I will say like,
01:24:26
Speaker
I don't think that there was a slam dunk front runner in this category like we've seen either in past years or certainly other award categories in 25. Yeah, Sean Johnson statistically had a very good season. But again, was on a horrible team.
01:24:40
Speaker
And I don't know that. Like, I don't know. I feel like there's some. ah No, I don't hear any buzz for Sean Johnson for goalkeeper. No. I don't think there's going to be one. I mean, Kalina did have a decent year.
01:24:51
Speaker
ah But yeah, this was a this would have been a good year for Stephen Fry to like stay healthy and put together a good kind of campaign because it was maybe there to win. But no, unfortunately, Steph Fry is not in the contention this year.
01:25:04
Speaker
Uh, let's see. ah you know, the and then I guess it gets a little bit more interesting here. Defender of the year was a tough one for me because there was not so much a player who I felt like really stood out. There's a lot of good players, but like I ended up voting for Tristan Blackman.
01:25:21
Speaker
Uh, but I, there's, I think there's a valid argument for a bunch of players in this, in this award. Yeah, and i I went for Michael Boxall, who I felt yeah stronger That was right up there for me, too.
01:25:32
Speaker
And like look, I am national. I don't have a rooting interest in this league. But obviously, if I go to an MLS game, 90% of the time or higher, it's at Allianz Field. So I see a lot of Minnesota United. So I know that I have this sort of like familiarity bias, if you will.
01:25:45
Speaker
But I think with Boxall, it's a case that's similar to like Stephen Marrera two years ago. And he ended up winning, I think, a year late. where it was more like it isn't just the defending. Yeah, he wins. head Yeah, he'll shove a guy off the ball and whatever. And he does that center back sort of stuff.
01:25:58
Speaker
But the long throws are genuinely one of those like you're a defender who's found a way to influence your team beyond what most defenders ever get to do. And I think it is like one of those little tricks like Marrera running and joining the attack and then hustling back to center back where it just makes you that much more valuable in your role than the alternative.
01:26:18
Speaker
Even if they were, even if you put Tim Ream in plays a box. So for the like 35 plus center back who is still, still hanging at the highest of levels that he possibly could in MLS, right? Like Tim Ream isn't doing the same sort of stuff that Michael Boxo can do. So I think that,
01:26:33
Speaker
I think that has to factor into it because you would, you would say the same thing if there, if the assist leader was a left back or a right back, right? Like right this would be the same argument. And I think that similarly, you can say, um you know, Michael Boxall overall has, has put it together and and weirdly kind of had his best year of his career at 38. Like that's, that's also just a phenomenal achievement.
01:26:54
Speaker
So, you know, and I think that's almost one of the things that kept me from voting him is just like, ah, but it's still my Michael Boxall. Sure. This is so i still the guy. that But I think you you would he would. If he ends up winning, I think he's a very deserved winner. ah Yeah.
01:27:08
Speaker
Young player of the year. I have to admit, I don't necessarily admit this easily, but I ended up voting for Diego Luna, who I i felt like was an obvious shit when I was filling out my ballot.
01:27:20
Speaker
I don't think it was the right pick. I actually think Alex Freeman was probably the bang on Alex Freeman. Yeah, I had Obed Vargas on my 22 under 22 ballot. And then I had Alex Freeman on my young player of the year.
01:27:33
Speaker
Interesting. Figure that one out. Yeah, I think Obed deserves a shout for it. ah But I think like to me, what and I think he he deserved to be the U twenty under the 22 under 22. Yeah, fully winner in part because I think there's there's this built in.
01:27:47
Speaker
um potential aspect to it. And it's a little bit of a different, like, this is just to me who had the best year in it. Alex Freeman is just sort of off the charts in terms of his, ah his analytics, especially.
01:28:00
Speaker
And there's just like that narrative boost, like national teams shouldn't matter in these MLS awards, but the fact that he was able to go from like, playing five minutes last year for Orlando City to being Pochettino's favorite right wing back at the moment is like it's it's just a it's a non-scale measurement for these sorts of like growth right and you you look at how Pereira or yeah Oscar Pereira pretty much had to change his game model to make sure Freeman got into the final third more often kind of shifted it off center in a really clever way that maybe he couldn't have done if Torres was still there but
01:28:33
Speaker
Um, that is also sort of a compliment of achievement. Right. And, and I think that you look at his, his creativity, his defensive chops, um, Defenders don't usually win this category, right? And, like, Luna was also a a contender. I thought Luna was maybe, like, a good third place. Like, I can't tell you he got me better than he was when it. That's the thing that kills me.
01:28:53
Speaker
I don't think he was... I don't know if I would have put him second if I were really give it a little bit more... Like, if you did rank choice voting or whatever. Right, exactly. Yeah. ah Yeah. So, I feel bad about this one. but no but, like, I don't... I think it's defensible, right? Like, Owen Wolfe is maybe, like, fourth and Quinsolven is fifth.
01:29:09
Speaker
It's been a really good Owen Wolfe would have been good one. This is maybe the thing is like MLS is to a point now where more teams have these guys like like, yeah, because they're not rookies anymore. Right. Exactly. And that's part of a rookie award.
01:29:22
Speaker
it's These aren't first year players. These are players that oftentimes have in Obed Vargas's case. This is his fourth season. It's crazy. It's crazy. Like he's a veteran in that locker room at this point to a degree. Right. And it's it's it's wonderful to see because you're also seeing a greater variety of teams.
01:29:39
Speaker
That's sure. Yeah. 21 that does that. Yeah. Because I was good that he actually got some appearances in 21. But yeah. ah And then 22, of course, like the champions. 22 is when he became like a regular starter. But yeah. Yeah.
01:29:52
Speaker
For sure. And so comeback play of the year was an interesting award this year, in part because they I think this have been the first year they really pared down. what it meant to be, because it used to be a long time comeback player of the year was like, what did they come back from?
01:30:07
Speaker
Like Eddie Johnson, one comeback player of the year from having a bad year, essentially. so That's right. That's happened a few times where guys just came back from, generic adversity or something played over 2000 minutes, but didn't.
01:30:20
Speaker
Yeah, right. Exactly. Like they weren't, it's not, there was no injury you could point to. Yeah, right. Exactly. Whereas this year, on everyone, I think there may have been like a minimum amount of time they had to miss last year or Cause there was only, I feel like 10 players even nominated for this award.
01:30:35
Speaker
ah I ended up voting for Pablo Ruiz, but I didn't, and as a result, there there was not like a, to me, there was not a obvious winner. This was sort of, and I don't know how, important comeback player of the year is really and maybe it's a word that is i agree like i think it's more like humanitarian award where it means a ton to the winner and to the team yes but yes but we're not necessarily spending as long on it right like and i went with nick haglin because like his his injury was really rough and he's been right he has immediately become very important to his hometown team again and i think that there's just there's something about a lot of us may gave
01:31:09
Speaker
ah Cincinnati a really hard time for how much they had traded Toronto just to get a guy from Cincinnati when they're an expansion team. And it was a bad decision at the time, but the way he's continued to validate it and make it so it's a forgettable mistake of the Jeff Burding and Alan Koch roster build is so commendable that I think I actually just kind of gave it for that.
01:31:28
Speaker
Yeah, on the list of mistakes that they made, that would may have been their best mistake. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. You know, ah coach of the year. It's funny there's a lot of coaches who I feel like in a normal year would be perfectly valid winners.
01:31:47
Speaker
But honestly, where I came down is Jesper Sorensen just is. ah he's the definition of like, you take every book. Like it's almost always the coach who had the best narrative. I feel like it's sort of like the way this award ends up going is like, did you, did you set a, did you set a record or did you ah turn your season around?
01:32:09
Speaker
And I guess in some ways he turned the season around, but I just feel like any year, Jesper Sorensen this year would be, a great winner. Like he, he, he's the like one of the, one of the all time great jobs in part because it wasn't like he overdid the roster.
01:32:25
Speaker
This is essentially the same roster that been Vanny Sartini had. And that most outside observers thought, what are you doing? Vancouver? Vanny Sartini is this great coach. He's over chief.
01:32:36
Speaker
Me too. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't believe he got fired. And, uh, has come in and just amazing job. Absolutely. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, so like if you go with a narrative angle, there's a narrative that's really strong. If you just go with like on-field performance, tied for first in the West, that'll qualify. That's no problem at all. And then you get into the the sort of stylistic, sort of intrinsic... you also won a Canadian championship, but which should should should be said. he won Yeah, won won a trophy. They got to the... kind of competing against the Cacaca Champions Cup, Cacaca Champions Cup final. They were competing for the Shield towards the the end of the season like they're competitive on multiple fronts throughout the season. So there you go.
01:33:13
Speaker
But you also throw in the stylistic and this is where like Wilfred Nance kind of like was starting to become like a juggernaut in this arena where it's just sort of like whether it's Montreal or Columbus, his style of play is so successful and so aesthetic that you want to reward and encourage more people to
Coaching Highlights and Future Plans
01:33:26
Speaker
take that leap. So you're casting your ballot almost symbolically, kind of like 2016 and you're caucusing for Bernie Sanders when you know what the DNC is going to be doing deep down.
01:33:34
Speaker
right It's like a similar sort of thing. in a very different arena. Right. But I think that now you're looking, you're saying the heart vote is the successful. And it is a case where Jesper Sorensen doesn't just have his team as the most entertaining team across the 34 games from start to finish. I would say probably the best, best of highlights package that you'll get.
01:33:54
Speaker
um But also the success, the pragmatism, the multiple fronts, the all of it, it's a slam dunk. Like there's, there's, I'm not really hearing alternative arguments at this point. I'm sure I'll hear one on the total soccer show, but I think that both Joe and I went,
01:34:07
Speaker
ah with yeah yeah I mean I guess our belt I mean I would think in a normal in ah the other years Bradley Carnell would have a good shout who also by thinking i feel like there was a couple others who I feel like yeah I mean like look you would probably say Mikey Varys for setting like the most expansion points in a season right and you could maybe say ah like Noonan for weathering the the storm and sincere whatever he's done great Dean Smith getting Charlotte to the top for sure BJ Callahan for making Nashville fun for once that's great.
01:34:36
Speaker
It's a good show. Eric Ramsey, you could say for the, the, the stylistic changes up until the, the, the bottom fell out, right? Like there's a lot of worthy candidates. And I would say like, even and I would, it's hard because you're not supposed to consider other competitions, but you can't, you like the way MLS is set up, you can't not consider you have to exactly. and so I would say that like Brian Schmetzer, I know there's that whole, like, why has he never won it thing? And, um,
01:35:00
Speaker
you know, like this is this is going to be one of the better, i think. this is already one of his better seasons in his first decade in the job. um Yeah. So, and and I, and I'll just give a, shit i I don't think branchment was going to win.
01:35:15
Speaker
There's no way he was going to win this award based on this, but I do think this was arguably his best coaching season. Like he, sure. ah They, they had to deal with so many injuries.
01:35:26
Speaker
They want, they've already won a trophy. They have sort of remade, who they are in a way that I, I don't know if is fully appreciated outside of Seattle, but this is a team that was built on defense first and foremost, ah really for the last two years at the very least, maybe even going back to 2022. And this year they were a much more ah creative offensive team. They, they sort of, and it's funny to hear Brian Daly's like, well, this is the coach I've always wanted to be.
01:35:55
Speaker
it's like, really? Cause nothing you say suggests you want to play this way all the time, but okay, fair enough. ah
01:36:03
Speaker
But ah yeah, I don't. So ah ah I don't know what we should. Who is your reference? Did you pick a referee over the year? I guess what I think it was Drew Fisher. picked Alan Chapman.
01:36:14
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's its is I always think it's interesting that you get three choices in this and it's ah like they don't let you pick. Like, why don't you let us pick anyone? we've on Why do you why do you got it? I wish they would also just at a minimum tell us why you picked these three.
01:36:30
Speaker
Like, just like because you're also educating on this is what makes a good referee. There is a consistency. We have some weird Audi sponsored formula that is VAR reviews needed because of your staff's game call or whatever. Right. Like come up with something. But the fact that there isn't like my absolute favorite category every year is the assistant referee of the year, because you kind of learn about the existence of two to three different people you didn't know were on the planet before.
01:36:55
Speaker
We just don't look that far down the referee list. so i go out a ah But honestly, how would I go about like, let's be real. Yeah. Here's the description. You ready? Here, let's let's clear this up with MLS's own words.
01:37:09
Speaker
The description of the award, the best performing assistant referee of the 2025 season. and Are you clear yet? No. OK, here's the eligibility. This might help. Assistant referees must have earned an assignment in at least one MLS regular season game.
01:37:21
Speaker
Pro facilitates a nomination process that includes input from match officials to discern in the final candidates. So there could be some ref who called the game of their life one time and they are as eligible as anyone else.
01:37:35
Speaker
And it's just a bizarre sort of pageant for us to vote on. To put it up to us is ridiculous. Like, look, pro, I think it's a worthy award.
01:37:47
Speaker
Let pro pick it. I don't need to be involved in I could not agree more. Could not agree more. And similarly, i kind of have the same attitude about the ah community, ah like the community winner, where I feel like, look,
01:38:01
Speaker
I voted for Steph Fry. I feel like most people are going to vote for whoever their local player is because they don't see, like, there's no way they they can give us a, they give us a little pitch.
01:38:11
Speaker
They give us a little, like, this is what they did. I don't, yeah I don't, I feel like this is something that should be picked by eml like ah the community arm of the league. I don't think this is something we should be voting on.
01:38:22
Speaker
The MLS internal arm, it's like the alternative Oscars, right? Where it's like the tech awards or whatever. um um MLS will award executive of the year. But let us pick assistant referee of the year.
01:38:35
Speaker
Like it's so silly. I know much more about how I feel about the sporting directors. I totally agree. And I feel about the assistant referees in this league. Maybe the players can vote. Maybe they remember these and they know like, okay, well, this is the assistant, but I doubt it. Exactly. Like I doubt it.
01:38:52
Speaker
I think they're a little busy to think about these sorts of things. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one that should be more in house. Certainly assistant, if not main referee. And yeah, I want to vote for the executive of the year, man. i want that. I do too. I would love to cast that ballot. I don't understand that.
01:39:08
Speaker
And yeah i do I think we get to vote for the the media team of the year. The media team of the year, yeah, which is usually just you listing. I had good access from the team I covered the closest. And if I didn't have good access from them, then there's this one team I did a one-off piece and they were so happy to work with me and set it up so that I got Patrick Ajimang the next day and I was so grateful to Charlotte, so I guess they're my pick, right?
01:39:30
Speaker
They gave me Teal Bunbury's cell phone number without any questions. Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. they ah They left the room when I sat down with Ovid so that he and I could do a one-on-one where he didn't feel like he was being monitored.
01:39:42
Speaker
And I was forever grateful in that winter for that. Or whatever the case may be. Right. No, I feel like that's exactly how that award goes. Yeah. But all right. Let's do our best 11 real quick, and I'll let you get out of here. We've done...
01:39:54
Speaker
This is to be one of our longest shows. So I really appreciate you doing this, Jeff. What else do I do these days, Jeremiah? what I cleared my deck for this. So I'm glad we we made the most of it. Good, you needed I have so many thoughts these days, man.
01:40:07
Speaker
um All right. Yeah, let's keep going. I guess goalkeeper of the year we we already picked is Dane Sinclair. I'm assuming we agree on that one. yeah What I thought was interesting this year about best 11 is that most of the time I'm like every other, ah every other Joe who just goes three, four, three, and I pick three center backs and I pick three forwards and I probably pick like three, if not four ah tens to be yes like, it's a very unfunctional best 11.
01:40:37
Speaker
And yet this year, i I did pick a four, three, three, but I felt like it was a really functional team. I picked a left back. I picked a right back. I picked eight. I picked a 10. I picked a six.
01:40:48
Speaker
I did not have a center forward, but I had three actual forwards in the, on this team. That sounds familiar to me too, actually. Okay. Okay. Interesting. it felt kind of like, and it wasn't because, and the thing I, the reason I bring it up is not because I was doing it out of some great sense of, Oh, it's going to, it's very important that I pick a functional team. It's that I actually felt like there were deserving left backs and right backs and eights and sixes and,
01:41:14
Speaker
and tens and whatever else. I'll just run through mine and you can give yours. That might be an easier way of doing this. I had Dane St. Clair and then at left back I had Kai Wagner who had another outstanding season. I think, you know, I've heard an argument that he might deserve consideration for defender of the year, not because he was the best defender, but because he's had the best season of anyone who's eligible.
01:41:35
Speaker
That makes sense. and then Yeah. And then I think I had Jacob Glessonis and, Jakob Glessonis and ah Tristan Blackman as my center backs. I was tempted to put Jackson Reagan in there. I was tempted to put, ah I know the other Philadelphia center back is the, whose name I'm blanking on. Yeah. He's like, he's one of the bubbling under like 2222 types. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Right.
01:41:56
Speaker
um yeah But then at right back, I had Andy Nahar who had good fantastic season, a really fantastic season. And then Christian Roldan is my six. I had Zinkernoggle as my eight.
01:42:09
Speaker
And I had Evander as my 10. And then my forwards were Dreyer, Buonga, and Messi. Okay. We have more overlap than differences.
01:42:20
Speaker
Oh, first of all. So first of all, we agree on the forward line entirely. So it's not even really worth talking about. My, my biggest decision was Buonga versus Sam Surridge. Um, but just Buonga was so ever present and so vital before Sun arrived and then unlocked even further with Sun's arrival that I didn't know how I could leave him off and good conscious. So, uh, messy Buonga dryer there, uh, Dane St. Clair and goal. Yes.
01:42:41
Speaker
ah midfield two thirds. I had Christian Roldan in there and I had Evander in there. um I actually put in Yepe Tverskov because I noticed that, yes, Anders Dreyer was there, but like I thought that Tverskov's ability to transition to playing out of his home nation for his first time in his mid in his late 20s was is already a really difficult thing for a lot of people to do when they come to major league soccer from, especially outside of North America.
01:43:04
Speaker
Um, but I thought that he was so vital and was playing the six in a way that we don't see enough MLS number six is really do, which is just like, yeah, I like doing this. Maybe it's the best way to put it. Well, Don's another one who does this now, but it's like,
01:43:18
Speaker
a lot of times it looks like they would rather be a little further afield, right? So um my midfield is, you know, it's a 6-8-10. I think it's also functional. Yeah, I would say if you were going to play this, Serskov and Roldan could easily be a pairing, especially behind a player like Evander, who... 100%.
01:43:38
Speaker
is not going to defend. No, he's not, but he doesn't need to right now, which is crazy because we also like, I had a right back, but I almost had Wagner on my team. And then I was getting to selection decisions. Cause I picked Boxel as defender of the year, right. Who didn't make your ballot.
01:43:53
Speaker
So then it was just like, okay, I think I need Gleznes on this team more than Kai Wagner. So I went with Gleznes. um So I've got Boxone Gleznes. I've got Tristan Blackman. I also thought about um Jackson Reagan there. It was down to Reagan and Blackman for the final spot on my team. And I just could not see how I could put this team out without a single Vancouver Whitecap.
01:44:13
Speaker
And Sebastian Berhalter was also getting some consideration from me in midfield, but I had a really tough time um moving one of Roald Honore Tverskov from those spots. So Berhalter fell off. I needed Blackman on there.
01:44:25
Speaker
And then I had Alex Freeman at right back over Andy Nahar just. And maybe that's not actually... a crazy defensible pick. I think that you could very easily say Nahar had a better season or a more impactful season.
01:44:36
Speaker
um But either way, like aside from the left back, the glaring miss at left back, like you're right. Like it is a year where maybe part of is you have more teams, maybe you more tactical variety where teams are actually trying to use their fullbacks cleverly or their midfield matters more.
01:44:51
Speaker
But it felt a lot easier to build a coherent team this year, though I will say I wish MLS allowed. I don't know why they don't just like load up the module for MLS fantasy unless build our best 11s using that where we get some flexibility of Messi's a midfielder or a forward yeah or whatever the case may be, because right now it's just really strict and it gets difficult because it's like I would probably say Serge is more deserving than Tverskov or Freeman or Blackman on my ballot.
01:45:16
Speaker
But I could not pick him unless I left off one of Dreyer, Buonga and messy and that was just going happen. to happen and that's fine and i like you need to force some selection that aches but i think the other big missed opportunity for this is that and mls is at a point now where we should have a second team we should have a third team oh yes there's just no reason to me that uh even if we're not voting for it like fine take the the second and third place vote vote getters these totally but one there should absolutely be a second and third team for you know the league is that we have 30 teams 30 we have 30 teams so many that's so many teams that's like 25 more teams than most and mls fans pay attention to to any extent
01:45:55
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Your team, your rival, the team that you can't wait till your team finally beats, the team that your team always beats. There you go. Right. Those are your four. Yeah.
01:46:06
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's ah that's a good way
Plans for Sounders vs. Minnesota Meetup
01:46:08
Speaker
of putting it. I hadn't really thought of how many teams I really pay attention to. But yeah, it's probably like four or five teams that I something like that i really pay attention to. ah All right. Well, Jeff, it's been great.
01:46:17
Speaker
You've been yeah a really good sport about giving me your time. and ah you know, hopefully we'll we'll find some other clever ways to to meet and to get together. I am going to really, you know, I haven't talked to my wife yet. So if she's listening to this, this may come as breaking news.
01:46:32
Speaker
But I am going if we if the if Minnesota plays a game three against the Sounders, I'm going to do my best to get out there. So, you know, maybe. We'll get out there with Wes Burdine and I'll try to get him to set something up in person at the bar. I think that would a lot of fun for us to do that, but that would be great. Maybe we'll tell Mark.
01:46:48
Speaker
Yeah, tell Mark. Mark Kastner should maybe know about these things. hu he'll He'll learn about this listening to. ah No, man. But I mean, like, thank you so much. like je Like, just personally, selfishly, it's been a weird time professionally for me lately. this None of this is going to come as surprise for people who are familiar with my work. You know, obviously, I'm no longer at the athletics. So being able to just like sit down and and talk about soccer and talk about MLS with someone else who is...
01:47:12
Speaker
clearly caring about paying attention to it and everything is just, it's, I appreciate it. I don't think that there is a team specific site that does as well. Sounders at heart. So I always have admired what you do at sound or singular at heart. Don't worry. I do know. Look at that. Look at that. You fixed it. I did. I know. I was just going to let it go, but.
01:47:31
Speaker
but No, but like look, I used to be at 55 one and people would get the number wrong all the time with our Minnesota thing. It's just like, no, it's a point of pride. You were intentional with how you named it. and You should be called the name. I get called Reuter all the time, right? Like things like this. But um no, you guys continue to do phenomenal work to to to validate my subscription that I put in. And, um wow you know, looking forward to it again.
01:47:54
Speaker
Well, ah with that, we should probably get out of here. Thank you so much for doing this, Jeff. ah Where can they follow you, though? on You are on Blue Sky. i am on Blue Sky. ah And you should maybe just look up if I'm on Substack.
01:48:09
Speaker
I'll say that. Great. All right. ah i should I should get on and follow you on. I guess I should do some self-research. I will say this. If I did any subs, I'm weighing this. I'm just going to say this I'm thinking about whether or not to do a sub stack this year. And I've decided if I do one during the playoffs, it will be free access.
01:48:27
Speaker
I've been behind a paywall for seven years and I'm kind of tired of it. It would be cool if people could just click through and read it as a dream. As a treat, as a treat to all of us. All right. Well, thank you so much for doing this, Jeff.
01:48:38
Speaker
I am Jeremiah Shan. This is Nos Adietes, part of the Sounder Heart podcast network, and we will catch you next time.
01:49:12
Speaker
Let's go and sounders. um