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Matt Doyle breaks down every Western Conference team’s offseason
4k Plays7 days ago
We’re trying something a bit different today. Fresh off the news that ETR has been put on some sort of potentially permanent hiatus, Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle joins the show to go through the entire Western Conference’s offseason so far. Spoiler alert: He really likes what the Sounders have done but isn’t quite as down at the LA Galaxy as we’d like him to be.
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Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more here. You can also watch many of their shows on YouTube.
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“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music here.
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Transcript
Introduction to Fullpool Wines and Sponsorship
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Will Bruin's Role with Sounder at Heart Podcast
00:00:25
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 but
00:00:40
Speaker
about sound <unk> it
00:01:22
Speaker
go.
00:01:30
Speaker
We're seeing Sounder at Heart. What a commentary that we didn't take lo seriously.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Noose Adietes on the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
Pre-season Discussion with Matt Doyle
00:01:47
Speaker
I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today for a bit of a pre-season look at the Western Conference is the one and only armchair analyst Matt Doyle. ah Thank you for doing this and we are going to make a real effort to convince you to come on as regularly as possible since you don't have a podcast anymore. You start by the convincing process by twisting the knife like that? is that
00:02:16
Speaker
Is that what what what convincing isn't? I think you've learned from from Bezos and Gates and all those billionaires out there. You can never be nice. No, no, you know, there's no you don't catch you catch flies with vinegar or something like that. Yeah, or with billions and billions of dollars, which I assume that the the sounder at heart podcast network has at this point stonks only go up.
00:02:41
Speaker
Right, exactly, exactly. We are we are swimming in in billions of of dollars, as it were. yeah ah But Matt, thank you thank you
Matt Doyle's Future Plans in Soccer Media
00:02:51
Speaker
for doing this.
00:02:51
Speaker
um I was very, and as a ah more serious, I was very sad about the demise of, of extra time radio. It is, I am scrambling to figure out how we will fill this void in my, in my personal ah life. Although soccer wise, I will admit seems to be doing a pretty good job of that. So um I'm, I'm hoping to get you, we will still hear from you on podcast platforms.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it does free me up to to come on your show a little bit more often and ah come on soccer wise. I think pretty regularly at that one for if you're a U.S. national team sicko, ill I'll probably be on scuffed quite a bit. So it'll be a lot of fun. um i I'm already missing having my own podcast, but who knows? Maybe we'll get our Lazarus moment with extra time down the road. So we'll see.
00:03:44
Speaker
There we go. are we goingnna or Not to get lost in these weeds, but what what is are we going to see more from you or read more from you on on MLS these days? Yeah, I'll probably be doing three columns a week, so I think it'll be a little bit bit more writing than I've done the past couple of years. and then um yeah i'm I'm planning to do more tactical clips with sort of animation and narration to to make sure that it's not just words like we're in a different time than when I first started writing that column 15 years ago, like you need to have a visual aspect to it. And um I am an old dog, but I've been learning some new tricks in terms ah of software.
00:04:28
Speaker
and and you know, the video part of it. And I'm pretty excited about trying to apply that. And since I like, I don't have to be in the studios on Saturday night. I'm going to be at home watching MLS in my underwear, like the good old days. So I'll have my computer in front of me and be able to pick the clips I want. And, uh, you know, they canceled my podcast, but they didn't take all my gear. So I'll have the good microphone and everything for the the narration. So we're ready to go.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I will say that we, you know, we did this survey on on sound or at heart. And by far, by far the most popular analyst on the Apple TV broadcast, ah at least among our readers, was the was you Matt Doyle. So.
00:05:14
Speaker
and And the one thing that we get requested for more than anything else is more tactical analysis. And when we talk about doing video, they want to see more video. So I think your instincts are correct as to fingers still on the pulse. Jeremiah finger is still on the pulse after all these years.
Western Conference Focus and Team Analysis
00:05:33
Speaker
Absolutely, well, ah the reason I wanted to have you on was to sort of give an overview, to give a sense of a broader picture of what's going on in the Western Conference. The East, I don't care, I don't care what's going on in the Eastern Conference. this is this is what This is why we have a pod, this is what we we're doing away with on the Sounder at Heart podcast network. We barely even recognize that the Eastern Conference exists. And so, sure, Atlanta's gonna go out and sign Miguel Amaron and ah whatever this other guy is from, boro and they're gonna be spending billions of dollars on the East, but on the West, that's where the fun is because, well, it's ah it's a little different on the West Coast. ah You and I, before we started recording, we're discussing whether or not the West has maybe gotten worse than it was last year, ah if you sort of take the the big picture. And at least from my perspective, at the top of the West, it looks like aside from the Sounders,
00:06:31
Speaker
It has most, most of the teams have are either in a, um, best case, they're sort of staying where they were, but a lot of cases are sort of rebuilding.
00:06:46
Speaker
And it's weird that it's the top of the West that's like this. And I actually just wrote a little something on this today up for MLS soccer dot.com. um And it kind of struck me as I was going through the galaxy and then LFC just how much these two teams have changed. And with the Galaxy, it's like, okay, we knew that they were going to have to scramble a little bit because of the Ricky Puig injury and because they were hard up against the cap. Like, Will Kuntz has done amazing work through the last three or four transfer windows because he had to unwind um one of the all-time great boondoggles put together by the guys who preceded him, Chris Klein and Yovan Kirovsky.
00:07:31
Speaker
um So he like he's had to do that while creating a winning team. But what has happened in all of that is they ended up basically above the cap heading into 2025, just as Dejan Jovlich comes off as U22. And just as guys like Jalen Neal are looking for more playing time um and probably bigger number. So that like,
00:07:58
Speaker
It's a lot of changes at the same time. We saw what this team looked like last year without Ricky, right? They have Marco Royce and they have Diego Fagundes and I think they were, ah they played like seven games without Ricky. I think they were five, one in one. Like those guys are more traditional tents. So it won't look the same way they have in pencil and Peck. I mean, you could not ask for a better winger tandem than those guys. Edwin Sario was really good last year. They went out and they got Sean Davis, who's not as good as Mark Delgado, but he's still really good.
00:08:31
Speaker
um maybe not really good. He's still pretty good and he'll be a workhorse in terms of minutes. So it like I don't think that this team is going to fall off a cliff. It is going to put more pressure on Greg Vani to develop some players from within and I think he's always been good at a lot of things as a head coach. That's never been his strong suit. So it's going to test him like that. um But I'm not worried that the galaxy are going to be like a 45 point team. I think they'll be 50 to 55 point. And then ideally if you're a galaxy fan rounding into shape um for the stretch run, it's different with LAFC though.
LA Galaxy and LAFC Team Challenges
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah, it is different with LAFC because dude, I mean they lost 4000 minutes from that back line. They've lost something like eight or 9000 minutes from their midfield of their top five midfielders in terms of minutes. Only one of those guys is back and they've lost a lot of minutes on the front line as well.
00:09:31
Speaker
even before Kiki Oliveira is inevitably sent somewhere, which I really think is a move that's going to happen. And like these were the two best teams in the West last year. One won the open cup, the other one MLS cub. They're not going to be as good in 2025. I would be shocked if they were as good in 2025.
00:09:51
Speaker
Well, we may as well just kind of so dig into this and and start going maybe team by team, and and we may as well may as well start at the top. ah you You said a lot of what I think there is to say about the galaxy, but I i do have one big question. like you can A, we don't know what is going on with Dejan Jovalich. I guess the latest rumor is that he he may be moving, which would be presumably a pretty big blow, and we would maybe almost have to reassess, I think.
00:10:18
Speaker
their situation because that would open up a big hole in their roster. I mean, who who would replace them right now? if If they had to do it tomorrow. They have to open you 22 slots and go Coons is one of the absolute best in the league ah in terms ah of roster ah building. I assume he he probably has like five different targets lined up to be the next day on yellow flinch because remember when he came in.
00:10:45
Speaker
he was a U-22 guy. So that's one way. And the other way is like the galaxy or still the galaxy. They could probably go get the center forward version of Marco Royce. um You know, someone who's 34, 35 years old and will play, you know, 2,500 minutes until mid August and kind of like hit the wall then. But that's when you're able to add another piece in the second half of the season. The thing I want to talk about with the Oveletch is they have to sell him.
00:11:14
Speaker
They absolutely have to sell him because he's a DP caliber player. And during his last year, they have no way to resign him after 2025. If they sell him, they get a full three million dollars worth of game. Right. So that smooths out all of your roster building for the rest of this year. And it smooths out what you can do for 2026. And then there's the the fact that if you're playing the number nine,
00:11:43
Speaker
in front of Marco Royce or Ricky pooja as your number 10 and with Peck on one side and paints alone the other like it you're gonna score you know 12 goals if you're ambulatory you know like if you have two working legs, you can score 12 goals in that situation. And, and that's enough. So I think it like, I think you absolutely have to make the Jovalich move if you're the galaxy. And I know it sucks because he was so good in the playoffs last year scored a huge goal in MLS cup, but it's just the reality of roster building in this league. Pretty big goal in the Western Conference final too, if I remember correctly.
00:12:22
Speaker
Unfortunately. But I mean, I think that is the that is the challenge. You know, it's it's funny because Yovelidge represents both sort of the peak. ah you know He in a lot of ways represents the peak performance you're going to get out of a U-22. He comes in. yep ah He had a pretty good resume. I actually remember thinking like, wow, his resume is a lot better than most U-22s. And he performed about as well as you could expect. He ends his last U-22 season playing, frankly, like a designated player.
00:12:51
Speaker
But then you are also sort of stuck with the flip side of that, which was, at some point, you have to figure out what to do with these players. And it's, you know, like the sounders found or find, you know, had the same situation going into this year where when you have players who perform like DPs, eventually you kind of have to pay on like DPs.
00:13:10
Speaker
And it does make it a little tougher to to replace them when, you know, you're not going to just go out and get a U-22 who's going to hit the ground running. But like you said, maybe they can go and get a, you know, an older player who comes on a ah relatively cat friendly number. ah The bigger questions that I have is still, this was a team who's defense got better as the season went on. And in fact, I think their defensive shortcomings were maybe a little overstated by the end of the season. They they were pretty decent defensively, but at best case scenario, they've gotten shallower defensively, right? Like they, like Jalen Neal was not going to be a necessarily a starter this year, but he was their top center back off the bench. I mean, what is, are you at all worried about their situation defensively?
00:14:00
Speaker
No, once Amiro Garces replaced Jalen Neal in the starting lineup and that came with I think four or five games left in the regular season. um So we got a 10 game sample size with Garces in that starting lineup.
00:14:15
Speaker
um the galaxy had I think a top four defense in the league in terms of expected goals allowed per game. And that was still in the context of them being a heavy possession team with kind of an anchor of a defensive presence ah in Ricky in central midfield.
00:14:34
Speaker
You guys saw, I'm sorry to bring this up. I didn't want it, but you know, of course you twisted the knife right at the start. So I'll just, the moment I realized it's like, Oh, Garza solved their problem was really the Western conference final. Cause there were three times I remember Jordan Morris get into the open field and it's like, Oh, this is at least a chance, probably a goal in Garces was there with him step for step. um And for the way the galaxy played, that's more valuable than what Jalen Neil brought Jalen. Neil is a good ball playing center back. He's not going to keep up with Jordan horse in the open field.
00:15:08
Speaker
ah So they have that and then they went out. Well, first of all, they brought back my Ashita and then they went out and they got a guy by the name of Zanka who's I think 34 year old ah former Danish international has the profile of a guy who can give you 2,500 minutes across all competitions and like OK, I'd like if they had one more, but I kind of trust them to go find that one more because they've done it two straight years now. I'm really bullish on that defense. They also get Julian out a back at left back. They have a couple of guys at right back who but behind Mickey Imani who can give them minutes. I'm just I'm not worried about it in the same way that I was heading into last season. and
00:15:53
Speaker
Fair enough. ah So that that takes care of LA Galaxy pretty thoroughly, I think. Let's turn to LAFC, a team who... I remarked on this after they they sold Mateus Bogus. Somehow they have... they This is a...
00:16:09
Speaker
Oh, this is right where we want them, but then how are they going to squirm out of this one? And yet they always seem to land on their feet. They have made quite a bit of business of transferring players in, but also transferring players out and having sort of a pretty healthy cycle where ah they they bring players in, they raise their value and then they move them on and then they replace them with players who invariably are able to maintain their level.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean look they've had their misses as well. They spent a lot of money on a guy like steep a beuke a couple years ago and they they had to a eat shit on that one and then they had a Bulgarian central midfield. Anyway in large part I think you're correct and I and I think what's kept the floor high is that John Thorrington is really really good at operating um with in terms of interleague player acquisition. If you think back to the 2022 season, like that team didn't win what they, you know, the double because of Garrett, well, Gareth Bale helped obviously, but like because of their DPs, they won because they went out and got Ilya Sanchez and Maxime Crapo and Aaron long and Ryan Howling said, and all these guys who were available to any other team in MLS and they all ended up with LAFC. They went on to win the double in pretty spectacular fashion. And look, he's turned out over the roster. I think it's a little bit soon to do that, given how good LAFC were the past couple of years, but still they got Mark Delgado, who's a midfield workhorse and who
00:17:45
Speaker
I think fits the 523 that Trundleau wants to play. They went out and they got Kose Tafari who I thought two years ago was a best 11 caliber center back and they got him on the cheap from a Dallas team that's just blown itself up. They signed Jeremy Abobasy via free agency. They picked up Yahya Boa and we've seen him in big moments as well. So they have the pieces to keep the floor high. I think at the same time though,
00:18:13
Speaker
they've become even more one dimensional. I think the best version of LAFC is the version that we saw at the start of last year. um Right up until they got stuffed in a locker by the crew. um They got they lost that home game five one to the crew where they went out and they tried to play toe to toe with Columbus and they couldn't do it. And Trundleau threw it all away and went back to that five, two, three, playing on the counter, playing in the open field only. I think it suits Belonga. I'm not sure it suits the rest of the team to that level. And I think it lowers their ceiling. So they're, they're a high floor team still because of the work John loves or as a Thorrington has done. But I think the way that they approach the game, um,
00:19:00
Speaker
I mean, we've we've seen it in a lot of finals over the past few years. they they te Unless it's sporting a terrible sport in Kansas City team at home, they tend not to have that extra gear that the best teams had. And I think it's ah it's a choice it's a tactical choice they make. And I'm curious on that perspective, do you feel like that the change that Gerondolo made was ultimately like yeah It felt like a very pragmatic move, but did it pay off? Was it a good move? I don't think so. I really don't. I think that they couldn't have beaten Columbus unless something fluky happened, playing toe to toe like that. um they didn't But i think you know like I think that against most teams,
00:19:52
Speaker
they would have been better off carrying more of the ball. i really do And that includes against the Sounders. um And I think we saw a little bit of that in you know the final 20, 25 minutes of the the playoff.
00:20:08
Speaker
match up with you guys. Whereas in in the U.S. Open Cup game between those two teams look Seattle was a much better team and but for the grace of a very questionable Jordan Morris offside that's a penalty by the way and a questionable penalty. So it's I look they they hoisted a trophy and that's the point and and they sold one of their players for $10 million, dollars and that's another point. um So you can't knock it too much, but I i still feel like LASCs leaving money on the table every time they go out and choose to play this way.
00:20:47
Speaker
Fair enough. ah So moving down, just going down the standings, Rial Salt Lake, another team who, man, this was, it's funny to think back.
Real Salt Lake's Performance Review
00:20:55
Speaker
If you go back to last summer, this team was flying. It looked like they were a supporter shield contender. They had everything going their way. And then, I don't know how you feel about this, but it even at the time, it felt like maybe they got a little cute in the transfer window.
00:21:10
Speaker
where they sure I understand sometimes you get an offer where you just can't say no, and maybe that was the situation here, but instead of sort of bolstering their roster, they made a lot of changes. I guess they maybe were attempting to bolster their roster, but it was undeniable that they came out of the transfer window a worse team than they were going into it.
00:21:29
Speaker
And they never recovered. You know, some of that was, you know, the whole situation with Chichor Arango. And but it wasn't as simple as that. This is just not the same team after the transfer window as it was before. And they don't seem to have gotten better. Andres Gomez was a best 11 player, the first half of the last year. Like he was every bit as good as Gabriel Peck. um And, we you know, we all know the type of player that that Peck turned into. um They got an offer they couldn't refuse.
00:21:58
Speaker
They got 12 million dollars from a legal team and the player wanted to go. But there there was they tried to say, all right, can you know, you'll go in in January. We've seen a bunch of and MLS teams do that over the past five, six years. And neither the player nor the the I believe is wrong. The the French team um we're were up for that. They're like, no, the offer is for the player now. And they had to make a tough choice. And I'm not going to say it was the wrong choice because who knows maybe he gets hurt and then they go in the toilet the second half of the season anyway. And they also trust their talent ID and they trust their their player development at the same time. Look, Chicha got suspended.
00:22:41
Speaker
um and he lost his best provider and he went in the toilet too. And so it's not a surprise, but it does, even with all of that, RSL had the best regular season in club history. 59 points is their single season points record. it's tough to ah It's tough to wrap my head around that given how great they were from like 2009 to 2014, but 59 points as their record.
00:23:07
Speaker
I'm guessing in 2000, what was it? 2011, 2010, they were probably better on a points per game basis, right? ah They were 56 points and that was 30 games. So that maybe they were slightly better in terms of, yeah, they would that would be slightly better in points per game. And that was also the era of the draw, right? There were a lot more draws in that era of MLS. That's true. um But the point being, they still have the bones of, I think, a very, very good team. But, you know, what whether it's Marshok or Lachlan Brooke, the two wingers that they picked up to replace Gomez, one of those guys is gonna have to hit. And... um
00:23:48
Speaker
They're going to need to figure out whether Elias Manuel, whose underlying numbers are really good, really promising, whether he can lead the line. And then the big piece is how good is Diego Luna? Is he a 10 goal, 15 assist type of number 10 in this league?
00:24:04
Speaker
If he is, then first of all, they're going to have another $10 million dollars sale that they're going to have to adjust for down the road some way. But also, that raises the level of the rest of the guys in the attack. And suddenly, where you and I have questions now, they have answers. But like we're stacking a lot of ifs, one on top of the other with this team. And it's just hard to be as confident going into 2025, given all of that.
00:24:31
Speaker
So I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the Sounders. They obviously finished last year fourth in the table, but um made it to the Western Conference Final. We're really you know ah legitimately 10 minutes away from you know potentially getting to a an MLS Cup, despite
Sounders' Team Strategy and Expectations
00:24:46
Speaker
not... I think everyone agreed that last year they did not have the match winners that they had had in the past, and yet they sort of collectively willed themselves into a position to be contending again.
00:24:58
Speaker
ah I look at their roster and I ah like i i understand the frustration that a large or I should say a vocal contingent of Sounders fans have, which is we were told we were going to get a new designated player and we didn't get one and we are frustrated by that.
00:25:15
Speaker
But I think if you remove that variable from it and you look at it holistically, this is a team that effectively kept the league's best defense together. And I i just found the stat. This is amazing. The Sounders that gave up seven fewer goals in their last two seasons combined than the Quakes gave up last year alone, which is kind of a mind bending stat. ah But they they kept the league's best defense together.
00:25:43
Speaker
And then they bolstered their attack by adding Jesus Ferreira, which I don't know from my perspective, I realized there's some people that have gotten tired of this analogy, but if you sign the Colombian Jesus Ferreira, the 25 year old player who has 53 first division goals under his belt, and he's coming to you from the first division of Columbia.
00:26:06
Speaker
It's hailed as a monumental, really exciting signing, but instead you bring him over from Dallas, where he knows the league, where but he's a known commodity, and and it's sort of somehow underwhelming, especially when you bring him in on a non-DP salary.
00:26:21
Speaker
um And then just to me that makes it more that that makes it not overwhelming, but like that makes it like I'm jacked by that. The fact that that the front office was able to to you know, like like renegotiate and extend this deal in a way that essentially does give you guys a fourth DP because I shouldn't keep saying you guys, but it's okay for that, but no, no, it's okay. All right. but where we we live in our We live in our biases. It's okay.
00:26:52
Speaker
Fair enough. um But the like the Sounders essentially have four DPS now because we've all seen that for the bulk of Jesus Ferreira's career in in Dallas as a starter. He was a DP caliber player. And I like yeah your analogy. I made a similar analogy and in a column I wrote last week where he's like if you got a guy with this resume from Argentina, I think it's an eight to twelve million dollar sign. Yeah. So I mean somewhere.
00:27:20
Speaker
Oh, I was going to say, you you look at like the the best, ah the the most similar situation I've seen and it it wasn't necessarily with Jesus for era, but you know, like we just saw the the rumors that the timbers might go out and sign this player from.
00:27:35
Speaker
Uh, I think from, so but he's playing in in France right now, but yeah essentially he's like, yourself and he's a $10 million dollars player. And you look at his resume and he's a, he's a number 10, but he doesn't have a ton of goals and assists. And you look at, that's what you get. And he's 24 years old.
00:27:53
Speaker
And this is, you're going to end up probably spending $10 million dollars on this player. And instead you bring in, you, you re-sign Albert Rusnak, who is coming off a 11 goal, 19 assists season across all competitions. And in somehow it, it comes off as not, not shooting high enough. And yet this is, these are proven talents that the sounders have sort of stalked their roster with. And I know it's temp and it's probably fair to say that the sounders, if you look at the. The ceiling of the sounders, it feels a little bit lower.
00:28:22
Speaker
But man of the, if you take these four, they're four top players, the, the floor seems pretty darn high. I mean, the floor is the highest of anybody in the league because you kept the, they kept the the defense together because rolled on as a D mid but also getting JP back um on a really good deal and the development of Obed Vargas and Josh attention and even Danny Leyva I thought the second half of last season ended up giving Goodman it's like once you have that back six
00:28:56
Speaker
Like you are going to be, at the very least, a good team. And then we saw last year real development in chemistry, you know guys like Rothrock stepping forward, Georgi Minungu, who I absolutely love, and then Jordan as a center forward.
00:29:13
Speaker
um I really think he changed the entire season for you guys um because of the space he creates with his gravity, with his willingness to make runs that are not for him. Like he will make a lot of off ball runs that are like he knows he's never receiving a pass on this, but suddenly, ah you know, Roosnack has more space to play in or Rothrock can come into the pocket. And then the the hope this year is that it is Pedro de la Vega and Ferreira getting on the ball in those spots and Ferreira going back to the player. He was two years ago and de la Vega making good um the talent that we can all see, but that he's never been able to put together um for any consistent stretch because of the injuries he's dealt with. So I, you know,
00:30:05
Speaker
there were It's MLS. like You're going to have ifs for every single team. And that includes Inter Miami. um But I feel like that front office has done a really good job of mitigating the downsides in every single line from yeah front to back. And the the pressure now is on, frankly, I think Pedro de la Vega.
00:30:28
Speaker
to be better than he was. And Brian Schmetzer um to find the right mix on a week in week out basis, given that you guys are going to play 150 freaking games this year. So it's like, you know, convincing these guys like you need to rest. You are on the bench for this week and and maybe that next week as well, because we can see that that you're lagging a little bit like that's going to be a part of it. um I don't think there's a coach in the league who's better equipped to do that. ah And, you know, I'm, I'm really excited to watch the sounders this year, not just because of the on field stuff. You have a lot of players that I like to watch, but because of the overall
00:31:13
Speaker
sort of logistical and strategic approach to managing five different competitions. say I just think it's going to be, to me, it's going to be absolutely fascinating. yeah forty They have 42 matches on the schedule today, meaning without advancing a single round in any of the tournaments they're playing in,
00:31:32
Speaker
as of today, they have 42 matches on their schedule. ah that could ease i mean it's They could get to 50 matches without even making a ah particularly deep run in any of these tournaments just by making the playoffs. They essentially will be rushing up against 50 matches. But um I guess the the one big question I have for them is,
00:31:54
Speaker
is I guess it's a holistic question, but if they're gonna play three at the back, which does seem to be what they're they're building towards right now, ah they played a ah scrimmage game before they left to Spain where they were playing three in the back. They played three in the back against Pushka's academia in their first preseason game. We've been told they were likely to play three in the back in their next game against Alborg, which is on Friday.
00:32:19
Speaker
ah and we you know we've And they're not even hiding that this is sort of the the plan for now. And then if they have if it doesn't work, they'll they'll change. But how that holistically changes everyone's role, because you know are you goingnna like is that a way to get Jesus Ferrer and Jordan Morris on the field together as as both as forwards? is it a way to you know We've seen them do it as a 3-5-2. We've seen them doing as it as more of a 3-4-2-1.
00:32:45
Speaker
I suppose it's even possible they'll do something like a 3-2-2-3 if they get really crazy. How do you see this playing out and and does that sort of enhance, and for me it it makes it even more interesting because it's gonna be a new look for them.
00:32:58
Speaker
I think, one, it makes it more interesting for the reasons you listed. Two, it's also not necessarily a new look because the Sounders over the past couple of years, when they were possessing the ball, like, okay, we're a 4-2-3-1 team. Like, no, when we're in possession, we're a 3-2-2-3 team.
00:33:18
Speaker
Right. And a lot of what this team has done over the past few years, really since Nico started to age out a little bit, has been more about positional play and patient possession and making sure that your shape both with and without the ball is really structured because, ah you know, turnovers are ah one of the arguably the most valuable currency in the modern game. And you eventually have to take chances, which means you're eventually going to turn the ball over more often than not. How are you positioned to win it back and not get gashed? um So the 3-2-2-3 has been the answer to that on the ball, starting with that formation from the jump.
00:34:03
Speaker
doesn't feel like a big shift. um It's not. I don't think it will be a big shift. And I think that doesn't rule out a more traditional four to three one for big chunks of time, especially if you see a game where like, OK, we're probably going to be able to play in transition a little bit more in this one. Let's get actual wingers out there and let's you know, let's play Rusnak underneath Jordan and we'll have Jesus play as sort of a a pinching left winger, almost the the role that we're seeing Rafina play in ah for Barcelona this season. Like all of that is on the table now. And then again, that goes back to the Schmetzer thing where it's like, okay, I have to solve for all of this, but these are all good problems to have, especially in a league like MLS.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, it was one of the interesting comments that that Brian made during the preseason was he's less worried about whether we're calling it a three center back or not. But as long as he sort of has two defensive midfielders, he feels like everything else sort of like works within the system. ah But anyway, moving on to to Houston.
Challenges and Changes in Western Conference Teams
00:35:10
Speaker
Admittedly, a team who I have not ah been as closely following this offseason, but they came into the offseason with with notably the least amount of game of any team in the league. And that is sort of put them behind the eight ball a little bit, right? Well, yeah, but ah then they just sold Coco Carraschia. Right. So I'm pretty sure they got close to maximum game out of that. So they're not as hard up as they are. It's just that Coco Carraschia was their best player and Hector Herrera was their second best player. And both those guys are gone now. They do have an open DP slot. The the plan with that is to go out and get a number 10.
00:35:50
Speaker
um and then slide a mean bossy to the right in that sort of half a winger half an attacking midfielder role that Coco played so well for the past couple years now that still leaves a big question on who makes the game from you know, deep in central midfield, because at their best, it it was Ache Ache. Right now, the number one guy on that depth chart is Brooklyn Reigns, who's a really good young player. And I have high hopes for him. He's 19 years old. And he'd be asked to replace um one of the greatest midfielders in CONCACAF history ah for a team that actually wants to win stuff this year.
00:36:28
Speaker
So I assume they're gonna go out and get a ah number eight who is a little more proven. The very obvious answer to me is Eduardo Attuesta.
00:36:41
Speaker
who plays the position in almost the exact same way that Hector Herrera did, who can probably be gotten on loan ah for a well below DP number from Palmaris, which is exactly what L.A.S.C. did last year. There's like no better fit in the league than Edward Attuesta to the Houston Dynamo this year ah to to fill that Hector Herrera hole. If they do that, I like the chances a lot.
00:37:10
Speaker
And do they actually have two open DP sponsors? Is Sebastian Ferreras spot already spoken for? He's gone. um And but that's the idea that spot is ah not spoken for. I'm not sure.
00:37:25
Speaker
No, that yeah so sorry, their their plan is to go the two DPS for you 22 model. So that allows them to use ah two million of the U 22 game and then at least keep some of the powder dry on the game. They got for selling cocoa to to Pumas.
00:37:46
Speaker
And then of course, and MLS does also change the rules so that you can change designations of u of four and two and three and three at mid-season if you want to, right? Yeah, I believe July 1st is the date, but then you have to have only used one million of the U22 GAM because that's not tradable and you can't push that into the next season. Like you have to use that in the year that you have chosen the two, four, two designation.
00:38:16
Speaker
So, next team on the list is a team who I think most people have pegged for some improvement, and maybe even the most improvement, just based on the way they finished last season, if nothing else and that's Minnesota United.
00:38:32
Speaker
ah they they were One of the best teams down the stretch last year, I don't know if a lot of people realize that, especially Sounders fans who just sort of get used to rolling over Minnesota United, but this is a good team. ah And they they got they really got good once the Sounders were done playing them. ah So what what can you tell us about Minnesota United's offseason so far?
00:38:54
Speaker
Um, it hasn't been as busy as maybe I thought it would be. ah Part of that is because they went out and they they signed a lot of players, you know, mid-season last year, Yabawa, Pereira, ah Jefferson Diaz as well, who um basically had an assist to Jordan Morris in that game that you you guys played. ah in I think it was right after League's Cup. Yeah. yeah but they you know they they yeah yeah and they sold Mickey Tapias who was a you know starting center back Hasani Dotson um has demanded a trade which is okay but it's not
00:39:34
Speaker
ah they They haven't gone out and gotten the high level central midfielder that they so obviously need if they're going to jump a tier and be an actual contender. Like right now I'm looking at the depth chart. um We still kind of expect Will Trapp to be a starter. Will Trapp had a good long career, is a useful player. um If he's your starter, are you winning a trophy in 2025?
00:40:03
Speaker
I mean, yeah, that's a it's a it's a fair question. Yeah, I don't think you you don't strike me as a MLS Cup winning center mid. Yeah, Michael box all has had a really very good long career 36 years old still starter. Yeah.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean those are those those are those are question marks for sure. Fun team to watch. I love Bongi Longwane as an attacking ah right wing back who sort of, you know, the way they play, they they try to tilt everything to the left side and then that opens up Bongi to attack the back post against, usually he's isolated on a full back and he'll have a physical advantage there every single time.
00:40:44
Speaker
um ah Like they know how they want to play and they can execute it pretty well. I think that there is um Maybe two tiers between them and and the best teams of the league and then did they also got they bought out team and Pookie who ah I believe they bought him out right or maybe they just did know I guess his contract was his Oh, no, no, no. He had a he they bought him out a little early because his contract went through June of twenty twenty five according to the roster. Correct. So they do have an open designated player spot. Do they have they indicated what they're planning on doing with that? They haven't. um My suspicion and I know a few other folks share the suspicion is that they're going to go out and find a DP central midfielder.
00:41:31
Speaker
um I have not heard a single name linked. um And then like I was just singing Edward at the West is praises. I don't think he makes as much sense for um Minnesota for how they want to play. They need someone who's a little more robust in terms of ah field coverage. um But like that level of player would greatly improve this team in my eyes, but still not to the point where I'd expect them to ah have a say and in in who's hoisting which trophy. All right, ah and then the last team, and then we'll we'll take a break after this one, a little bit of a break for people, but ah Colorado Rapids are ah another team who we have not, I feel like I haven't heard much at all from them this offseason. ah They were maybe a little bit of an overachiever last year,
00:42:26
Speaker
They are a team who is, I was joking with you at one point that the Sounders are sort of a ah the Pacific Northwest rapids in that they are ah sort of following a similar model, but on a maybe bigger budget. But the rapids just don't, like last off season was it it was a an outlier in that they went out and spent a bunch of money, but that does not seem to have actually indicated some big change in their philosophy.
00:42:54
Speaker
No I think they're still going to rely on developing young players. um I'll tell you what like I would would feel a lot better about the rapids if they had gone out and gotten Paul areola in Jesus for era this year especially because like they're playing I think a three four two one and you know Chris Armist went out and he told local Rapids reporters like no we're just still gonna play a four two three one but like that's not what I have heard from literally players on that team um so
00:43:25
Speaker
yeah no who would seem you know So, ah you know, they they I think looked at what they have and what they can do within their budget and they came to the conclusion that ah wingers are the most expensive and most hit or miss players in global soccer right now. And you need to have significant money to go out and to load your team up with wingers that make a, or you need to have like an extraordinary talent pipeline to load your team up with wingers. So I think the big adjustment for this team is like, okay,
00:44:08
Speaker
We saw a lot of good stuff from last year, but we think we can be better, and better use our talent if we switch the formation a little bit. And that means getting an extra center back on the field, which they really needed to do after they lost or they sold Moist Bombito. um And that means getting more attacking output from attacking wing backs. And it's a different kind of rubric than when you're using true wingers to make the game. um And I think that's the big shift for the rapids. And I have no idea how you could tell me the rapids end up on 58 points this year. I believe you. You could tell me they ended up on 38 points and I would believe you. I think there's that much variance in what this team can be.
00:44:54
Speaker
And their DP situation is pretty set, too. Cabral is back, ah which, man, that was quite a contract that he he must have been on. I wish I had his agent. I'd still have a podcast.
00:45:05
Speaker
yeah yeah ah Jordan Jordan Mahalovich and how are we pronouncing? Is it Fafa? Navajo? Is that how they pronounce his name? Hafa? Hafa? Navajo is the Brazilian Portuguese way. Okay. of I call him Rafa Navarro. There you go. Because I would say I worked with like a couple of Brazilian guys at you know in the studio last year and they were like you don't have to do that. You don't have to pronounce it.
00:45:34
Speaker
Though I like Kevin, Kevin Egan, who's a great guy who who hosts MLS 360. He was talking about how he has a ah ah buddy from I want to say Kerry, one of the towns in in Ireland where they have a distinct accent and his buddy's name is Steve. But if you're from Kerry, you pronounce it Steve. And he's like, I'm not going to go on the show.
00:46:04
Speaker
and call him Steve. I'm going to say it's Steve. So I think you're okay. Calling half a nava who Rafa Navarro. All right. Great. I appreciate that. I don't have to say it that often. So I do appreciate that. But there are I mean you just jinxed it man. He's scoring a hat trick against the Sounders this year. You're going to have to say it all the time.
00:46:24
Speaker
But i there's not really they they have they have some intriguing youngish talent there. And like you said, the range of potential results is vast. Correct. That's the that's the Colorado Rapid season preview right there for neither of us. No shit.
00:46:45
Speaker
All right, well, we're going to take a little bit of a break ah and we'll come back and we'll kind of go through the the second half of the the Western Conference. Thank you for listening to the Sound Rithhart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sunny at This, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild.
00:47:02
Speaker
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00:47:20
Speaker
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00:47:46
Speaker
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00:48:22
Speaker
All right, welcome back to part two of this Western Conference preview. And we have a ah few fun teams that I think ah our listeners will enjoy. We get to talk about the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers. Let's start with the Whitecaps, who I think people forget. They won a playoff game last year. And the maybe wildest stat that I have seen in a while, they have won two playoff games in the last, in their, I believe two playoff series in their entire history. They won both of those serious five zero. Yes. Yeah. The first one was against the quakes. I want to say in like 2015 and it was like an all time worst quake. like That was like think at the time they were the worst team to ever make the playoffs. Yep. And then the line the other one was ah last year in the wild card round when Vancouver were playing at home
00:49:17
Speaker
in Portland against Portland. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was ah you know it's funny. you You look through one lens and it's like, oh, the Whitecaps are clearly putting it together. They finally have a ah an identity. They had, you know, they were they were playing interesting soccer. They had a fun coach. And then.
00:49:39
Speaker
They just decided to sort of blow it up. They they fired Vani Sartini, then Stuart Armstrong sort of out of the blue decides that he's going to not stick around ah for another. He was there. I mean, he's got to be one of the shortest tenured DPs in MLS history.
00:49:55
Speaker
ah yeah He's going back to England, ah which I don't know if there's a story there, but then then of course there's all these other things that are sort of going on behind the scenes. The Whitecaps are for sale. All of a sudden, the Whitecaps seem to be in the wind, even though it was they came off of arguably their best season in history. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's even arguable. That was their best season in history. um blowing it up the way they did it in terms ah of getting rid of any Sartini made no sense to me. um Not a perfect coach, but had done more, including three straight Canadian championships, which is not.
00:50:37
Speaker
like it't understand it at all it's bad decision from where I sit and then you know losing Armstrong is a hammer blow because he was that third heat in attack that they had ah never really had and they went toe to toe against LA FC in the playoffs when last year 2023 they had gotten absolutely trounced and they looked like a team that could do it. They looked like a team that was like, okay, 2025 is going to be our chance to not just win a Canadian championship, but also like make a real playoff run. And I just don't, unless Ali Ahmed and Pedro Vitay both have two more levels,
00:51:22
Speaker
to their games and they've shown stuff. I just have I can't imagine that this team is a significant presence in any sort of trophy conversation other than the Canadian Championship. And I say that as someone who really likes Brian White and Ryan Gold and Andres Cubas. Like I think those are three really good players. They're not a championship core.
Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers' Struggles
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah. and And then just for good measure, they they let Fafa Pico for go for effectively. I mean, I guess he was a free agent, so they didn't really have much to say there, but they they let him go. And then they all they it looks like they're not going to bring back Reposo either, right? like he like I think I've seen things that they might have bigger contract ah demands and then they're ready to pay, but it it just feels like a team that felt very settled now suddenly is we have no idea what I mean, they might be the worst team in the the ah conference. I don't think they'll be that because their their back line is pretty good and they do still have Kubas, but this is a team with a a very limited.
00:52:25
Speaker
Ceiling and if you told me 50 points, I would tell you like that's a that's about a 95th percentile outcome. Yeah for this group Yeah, I guess um maybe that's a better way They have a lower lower ceiling than than a lot of teams in the in the west that anything we've talked about So far and maybe lower ceiling than any team we're going to talk about as well Like that's that's where the caps are right now Yeah. and And so that brings us to the Portland Timbers. <unk> ah This is ah ah again, a team where if you looked at it through a certain lens was playing really fun soccer. They had a bunch of really exciting players. They seem to be, do like they at least when they played the Sounders, they they figured out how to defend against the Sounders.
00:53:11
Speaker
ah But man, they they gave up 56 goals. They scored 65. They had one of the most robust ah like I think I saw a stat something that among Any team that had three players that went over 10 goals and 10 assists each, I believe that they all were basically supporters, shield contenders. And then you had the timbers who barely made the playoffs. ah What, I don't know what, and and then, and now the thing that like, I guess a van or in a lot of ways sort of encompass it or ah illustrates what they were last year.
00:53:45
Speaker
Uh, the first thing that happens in the off season is he blows up the team saying like, I don't want to be here anymore. And I feel like I was lied to. And it's starting to look like maybe he won't be back. Right. And what's the, what what's your assessment of the timbers where they are right now?
00:54:00
Speaker
I mean my understanding is that if Andrew has played his final game so for the timbers like they everything I've heard is they expect to be able to sell him probably within the league probably to an Eastern Conference team so you don't have to worry about him anymore. He won't hurt you. yeah me guys probably to an Eastern conference team before the season starts. And look, that's a problem. He was MVP caliber player for most of last year. ah And it points to the larger issue with the, with the timbers is that
00:54:34
Speaker
They snuck into the playoffs despite the fact that all three of their DPs were excellent last season. I think combined like they they ended up with like 70 combined goals and assists between the three DPS by far the best three DP most productive three DPS in the league. If you take the every team's DPS, they had by far the most productive unit of designated players. It's unlikely they'll be able to replicate that.
00:55:05
Speaker
no matter who they bring in to replace ah Evander. And then you have, you know, Santi Moreno was really good. I think he had six goals, 10 assists last year. Like, okay, can he step up another level from that? And then, okay, Diego Chara.
00:55:22
Speaker
He's pushing 40 like like his he's finally started to drop off a little bit. And I'm not sure that they have an answer. I know timbers fans were saying after last year, like, well, we spent all these money on teeth all this money on DPS. Why don't we spend that on the back line? It's like, well, if you look at the back line, they actually spent a lot of money on it. You know, like it's they've actually invested pretty heavily um and and in goal as well. And so It's a team that on paper I think should have been a lot better. And I'm not exactly sure why they weren't because I think there's 25 teams that would take Kamal Miller. You know, I think that there's 20 teams that would be interested in in Dario Zuparic. Like there's like there's talent in this group and it just didn't work. And yeah, like,
00:56:22
Speaker
and Good luck to Phil Neville figuring it out. um well i know I don't know how you felt, but I know when the Timbers hired Neville last year, I was like, great, this this is ah this is a gift for the rest of the Western Conference. I think he was better than I expected, but given the but what you you illustrate all the talent that they they've spent money in the places that you want them to spend money, and yet you know like they spend a bunch of ah bunch of money on Crapo, and here he is,
00:56:49
Speaker
He was not really even their starter at the end of the year last year. ah How much of this is on Neville and how much of Neville is Neville sort of being asked to sort of like make the most out of a a talented but really messy roster?
00:57:06
Speaker
i I mean, I don't think it's not Phil Neville. I think ultimately, you know, if if you're the head coach of a team that's losing five nil, essentially at home in the playoffs, um you've you've pulled some wrong levers. You've done something wrong. So I i think it's that but it's also just the larger um cultural issue with the timbers is players don't go there and improve. You don't get a lot of guys, especially domestic guys who are on cost controlled contracts. You don't get a Jackson Reagan. You know, you don't get a Christian rolled on. um And it's it's tough to win consistently. If you don't have guys like that,
00:57:54
Speaker
raising the floor. ah So I think it's a combination ah of maybe Phil Neville not covering himself in glory, but also the timbers overall culture with regard to player acquisition, you know, ID acquisition and development um being subpar. I think it's, you know, subpar is putting it kindly.
00:58:14
Speaker
Yeah, and one one of the more interesting stats and not just a sort of rail on the timbers, but it's something that I feel like doesn't get talked about more enough is that this is a team that effectively has never developed a homegrown player in their entire history. They've barely developed anyone they've drafted.
00:58:30
Speaker
What's even crazier is this is a team that doesn't even really have Americans playing significant roles. They have almost all players that are in that. I mean, I don't know, maybe that sounds bad, but this is, you know, you look at the sounders and this is a team that half their roster grew, ah essentially grew up in the, in the area.
00:58:46
Speaker
And you have a timbers roster who most of these guys probably couldn't have named picked Portland out on a map before they got there. ah And it does, I think, speak to a interest, a strange culture, because it doesn't really make sense to me that you have this this ah team who is built around a a larger culture that is really strong like the the timbers army and And Timbers fans are very passionate and they put a lot into the team. And yet the roster has never never really reflected that during really their entire MLS era. And I don't know how to what to make of that.
00:59:22
Speaker
I mean, it's, it it's, it's just a choice. It's a choice from that front office and and presumably the ownership group as well. And, um, presumably the coaches that they hire is like, okay, we, we're not a team that's going to be looking for domestic talent. We think that there's better talent elsewhere. And the question is like how, how many seasons like last year and the year before do you have until you reassess?
00:59:52
Speaker
Yeah. And I guess one of the so that the the player that I was alluding to who I couldn't remember his name earlier in the show is ah is a player that's playing in France right now named David Costa. I guess that's what he's a Portuguese ah Portuguese player who's currently in France. ah Is it Len Len's? How do you say that? Elianas. Yeah, I think it's a law law. Of course. Well, we're talking about Rafa Navarro.
01:00:21
Speaker
Well, anyway, ah what do you know of this? I mean, his stats don't jump out at me. ah Transfer market tells me he's, ah you know, so he's probably going to end up costing somewhere between seven and $10 million. dollars ah But what do you, do you know anything about this player?
01:00:36
Speaker
I don't I just know that he's supposed to be a number 10. I looked at his FB ref page and it didn't jump out. But yeah, um there's a lot of guys who are not necessarily in the right situations in their current club team um whether it's in Europe or ah South America or even elsewhere in MLS who in a better situation can really blossom.
01:01:02
Speaker
I guess it feels like a risk because it's it's the opposite of what they did with Evander, right? Like the vendor. Everybody knew he was really good because he was leading ah the Europa League in assists. It's like, oh, this guy's a number 10. And we're seeing him play that every week. And now granted, it's that it was at a lower level than this. Douglas is a Douglas to Costa. Yeah, I mean, I his. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, sure. at it But whatever. dave Okay.
01:01:31
Speaker
The potential new number 10. Yeah, exactly. like you you you have to You just have to believe in your scouting, I guess. um I would be surprised if he's as good as Evander, but that's a really, really high bar. You could still be a really effective, minimalist player and not be as good as Evander was last year.
01:01:51
Speaker
And not to go on too much of a tangent, but it also sort of underscores the transfer the world transfer market has gone kind of haywire. it the The money that is being thrown around, especially now that Argentina is suddenly flush with cash and spending wildly on MLS players, which we will which will come back as a ah recurring theme later in this, as we work our way down this list. But it's just really expensive to buy players from abroad these days.
Austin FC's Investments and Roster Strategy
01:02:20
Speaker
It is, though, I think that there are um there are still places where you can get a lot of bang for your buck. And for the most part, that's in the the top second divisions in France and ah Germany and Spain and Italy, maybe less so in the championship in England.
01:02:49
Speaker
ah but like i Look, man, a Cedric Teuscher and Marcel Hartel were awesome for St. Louis when they came on second half of last season. and ah Those guys are not making a ton of money and they would not. they I think they both came for free, but they would not have cost a ton of money in the transfer market either. And both of those guys were were awesome in MLS. So you can you can still find those deals if they're out there. But in general, yeah, I think like the the
01:03:20
Speaker
The TV rights deal in Mexico, um we see those teams thrown around a little a lot of money now, um which to me has been a get out of jail free card for a few teams in MLS because they've they've made money on guys who um I don't think were very good. ah The fact that Argentinian teams, as you said, um but it starts at the top with Saudi Arabia being able to just like change everything about how the global transfer market works. And it's going to have, you know, the actual economy doesn't have any trickle down effect. But the soccer economy amongst these clubs certainly does.
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah. So Austin, uh, the next team on our list here is, uh, a team that, that hits a lot of the marks that we were just sort of talking about. This is a, a team, they, they sort of got to get out of jail free car with Sebastian Drusi. I don't, I still don't understand how any.
01:04:22
Speaker
team looked at what he did in MLS over the last few years and thought, yep, that's a $10 million dollars player for us. And yet somehow, I don't know if if if Austin actually made money on the deal, but they certainly aren't really any worse ah on the on the ledger for it.
01:04:37
Speaker
And they've sort of remade their their roster, at least at the top end. ah they They brought in Brandon Vasquez, who again, another player who I did i don't see a $10 million dollars player, but hey, if an Americans can get $10 million dollars moves like this, i don't want to I don't want to hold it against them. And then they got this Georgian guy who I can't remember his name, but he put up really... Albanian. Albanian. There you go. Sorry.
01:05:04
Speaker
ah And he put up some on unreal numbers at Granada in the in league Liga 2, but it really hadn't done much when they had gone up to La Liga. But on paper, this is a team that has at least raised their ceiling a lot, right?
01:05:23
Speaker
I think so. I think it was a lot. I'm with you is a lot of money for Brandon Vasquez. The argument to spend that is he's 26. He's proven an MLS. He did put up good numbers for Monterey last year. I think he had 14 goals and five assists in about 2300 minutes across all competitions. Yeah, like that's really solid and you're not going to have to worry about that spot for the next five years.
01:05:45
Speaker
Right. Like that's the other ah part of it. And you're not taking up a designated player spot or excuse me, an international roster slot as well. So like there's a lot of boxes to check. I can defend that one. The Merto is anyone. That's the Albanian guy. Yeah.
01:06:04
Speaker
It's a weird fit. It's a weird fit because he really is a second forward. It strikes me as a really weird. But he has scored at every level he's played at and that includes, you know, he wasn't great in La Liga. He had 11 goals. He didn't have a level of a season though. Yeah, you know, like that's that'll probably translate and he has the physical characteristics of a guy who can work in MLS. It's just you hired a coach and Nico Estes who's a 4-3-3 positional play methodical buildup guy and you gave him yeah two center forwards that one center forward and a guy who's more of a second forward than anything else. It's like, okay, is he going to be willing to to play a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2? I know he has said in preseason that he is, but that's a different thing than when the rubber meets the road and the games actually matter.
01:07:00
Speaker
So it's strange. It's a little strange to me. it It is a little strange. The other things that just strikes me. He's a twenty nine year old player who they spent like twelve million dollars. They exercise his by his exit clause on twelve. yeah I think it was twelve million dollars. Twelve million dollars is an outrageous amount of money in MLS. Still like we've gotten used to hearing i eight-figure transfer fees, but still, $12 million dollars is a lot of money to pay for a 29... I mean, I don't know that there's been any 29-year-olds that MLS seems to have spent that much money on.
01:07:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have that off the top of my head. But yeah, if you're spending 12 well, so I'll say this between Osman Bukari who they but he was a right-winger that they brought in over the summer and Brandon Vasquez who's the center forward and Mertos uni who is is ostensibly the left-winger. That's a 30 million dollar frontline.
01:07:53
Speaker
Right. You better get 65 goals. You better get 65 goals this year. Otherwise, what what have you done? Well, and then what the other thing that's strange to me about this roster build is that the player who is presumably being sort of like set up to be their playmaker is a U-22 signing from, what, you Ukraine, I think? ah A U-22 signing, a foreign U-22 signing.
01:08:22
Speaker
who does not have a ton of first team minutes, let alone first team success. Are you talking about, uh, do Bursarsky? Yeah. Cause I think he's more of an eight 10 or it's scary. Sorry. A six eight. Okay. okay butard satellite butar Well, they're going to play I think with two free eights, right? Bessard Sabavich who they brought in for free. I think he was just at Hammerby. He's more of a ah cover. A lot of ground make a lot of those like a Cole Bassett style. Okay from midfield. Okay. And then they're hoping that Danny Pereira who has been
01:09:00
Speaker
maybe miscast as a game controlling number six. They're hoping Danny Pereira can be kind of what Albert Rusnak has been okay in terms of maybe not a true number 10 in a lot of ways, but still puts up numbers by getting guys into the right positions and a lot of pass before the pass work.
01:09:22
Speaker
um We'll see. I don't hate the theory behind it, but it's, you know, it feels like there's, this is another very high variance team. And that's before we even touch on the central defense, which I think gives me more questions than answers. And this was a central defense that wasn't very good to begin with.
01:09:47
Speaker
Correct. Yeah. I thought they played better down the stretch last year. Brendan Heinzeich and ah the the Ukrainian guy that got Alexander Svatok. um But it doesn't strike me as a ah you know, 55 point top of the Western Conference team or nearly there as they were in their miracle season they had a couple of years ago.
01:10:12
Speaker
Yeah. All
FC Dallas' Transition and Rebuild
01:10:13
Speaker
right. So we're now down to FC Dallas. I don't know what there is to say. I mean, this is a team who has. I don't know. They were sort of selling the team for parts and with the idea that they were going to build around Petter Musa and and Velasco and then they sell Velasco with a great offer. I mean, if you can get whatever 12 again, I think it was a $12 million transfer for Velasco. Is that right? Yeah, something like that.
01:10:41
Speaker
and i And so, but then they're they're just sort of starting over. And if I'm a Dallas fan, I'm pulling my hair out. like They've got a lot of money, so and presumably they'll go out and spend some of it, but man, this is a a team that didn't seem, I don't know, they didn't seem that far off last year, did they? I thought they seemed pretty far off. okay I thought they you know they they couldn't,
01:11:08
Speaker
If they were trying to to defend well, they couldn't figure out how to generate any attack. If they were really going out on the attack as they did under Peter Luxon, they weren't able to keep the ball out of the back of the net. Musa put up good numbers.
01:11:25
Speaker
um little worried about the advanced data. If these rumors about AC Milan being interested in him at 15 $18 million dollars if those rumors are true. so I say take the money and run and just go into full rebuild mode. um But there are a team that's you know that we've We've seen them mentioned around Evander and around Lucho Acosta and with the new transfer market in MLS, the cash transfer system, like they very obviously have the ability to to get something like that over the line. but on it
01:12:02
Speaker
if i was If I was a Dallas fan, I would kind of want the rebuild. I would kind of be in. All right. Let's, let's tear it down. Let's get some Academy kids back into the first team. Let's do something about that central defense, which is not great. It's a Lala subuva car and Sebastian to be Aga in 2025. Like let's Let's go back to square one and build from there um because we certainly have the ah we certainly have the financial flexibility to do that. And that includes both game and if you just look at them over the past five years in the transfer market, they're like $25 million dollars in the black. Like they have made a significant profit in the transfer market over the past five years. And that's before you factor in any potential
01:12:55
Speaker
Uh, Peter Moosa move. So yeah. And I guess the other, the the one that really struck me as odd, and maybe it shouldn't, but the, inco the, the Fari move where he he seems to me to be the most talented send central defender they had. I suppose there were pro I assume there were locker room issues there. That was sort of the pro like he's a, he played his senior year at at Seattle university for Pete viewing. And, uh, that was sort of the word here was that they had a falling out. And that's part of why the sounders have never been.
01:13:24
Speaker
really interested in in bringing him to Seattle. But he is clearly a very talented player and ah i it seemed like they sold pretty low on him.
01:13:36
Speaker
I agree. I agree. It just must have become untenable in the locker room because it was two different coaches last year who decided that um he wasn't a starter, even as they were hemorrhaging goals. they They both said, no, he's not for us. But if LAFC can unlock his talent, um it'll ah end up being an all time great steal of a trade. But it's ah it's a massive if. Yeah.
01:14:05
Speaker
ah All right, we're on to
St. Louis and Sporting KC's Roster Moves
01:14:08
Speaker
St. Louis, a team who, if you weren't paying attention, got a lot better during the second half of the season, but during the first half of the season were really, really quite awful.
01:14:23
Speaker
Yeah. I mean St. Louis fans got angry at me um a lot in their inaugural season when I kept pointing out that the numbers their early season when you know wins were that was unsustainable. It was going to regress. And if you look at what happened in the second half of the season ah that was true. And then if you look at what happened the first half of last season that was still true and You know how you know front office and ownership knows that I was right and that it was all true is that there was a new coach and there are at least nine new starters since this team kicked off ah two years ago. So.
01:15:12
Speaker
It feels new in a lot of ways. um The new coach, Olaf Melberg, 3-4-2-1. It's going to be Teutscher and Hartel underneath the center forward. Whether that center forward is Zhao Klaus, who's been terrible since people stopped passing the ball to him. um And by people, I mean opposing defenders, ah whether it's Zhao Klaus or or Simon Betcher up top, I'm not sure. ah But it's a...
01:15:40
Speaker
to me it's a sensible change um because it allows those two guys who were so good after they arrived mid season that allows those two guys to kind of make the game a little bit and then the other big um big ish acquisition this winter is Timo Baumgartel, who's a veteran German center back was really high end prospect at one point. But I think injuries kind of killed his career a little bit. It'll be interesting to see how he holds up in MLS given the heat and the different playing surfaces and the different altitudes you play at and all of that. But I I like this roster.
01:16:21
Speaker
as it's constructed um and just the theory of it much better then than the roster of of the past couple of years that this team said. And I'm sure you appreciate that their coach might have the best beard in MLS.
01:16:36
Speaker
Yeah. ah I mean, he's the beard, but the whole look he's a he's a very handsome guy. Yeah, he really is. It's really quite quite ah disarming. ah And then Marcel Hartle is a player who on paper looked like the exact kind of player every MLS team should be targeting as a designated player, ah just kind of very, very good in the top.
01:17:03
Speaker
or the ah he was very good in the second Bundesliga and then he came here and started off strong. Yeah, I think he's I don't think he'll be a best 11 guy, but like it wouldn't shock me. um he He was massively productive as was Teucher once he arrived as well. It's you know, okay. There's like the the adjustment period is over. So you can expect them, I think both to be among the better attackers in the league. And then it becomes a question of, okay, does the switch to three center backs work? Are we going to have a little bit more of the ball or are we going to be this sort of, um, very direct, very German style team? And, um, can we get answers in terms of winning the ball in central midfield? Cause I think that's, you know, if they're going to start Edward Louvin and
01:17:57
Speaker
Chris Durkin in a ah you know three, four, two, one, if those are your two deep flying midfielders, I don't think you're gonna have the field coverage that you you probably need in the biggest games. ah Next up, Sporting Kansas City, and maybe the biggest get out of jail free card of all of them was somehow Kansas City getting out of Allen Polito's contract this last off, I still don't even believe that what has been reported. It feels like something is off here where he is going back to achieve us to presumably take less money. I mean i don't understand the steel at all. He's already back with them. He was on $3.6 million dollars guaranteed for 2025 and 2026. That's what makes no sense about this. like How did they get out of the contract?
01:18:52
Speaker
I don't know. Like you said it was it's one of the all time get out of jail cards ah in MLS history especially because look really a God is just a better player. Will you got it like other than like his second year which in retrospect we understand now. Oh he was playing on a broken leg. That's why his numbers dipped.
01:19:14
Speaker
um other than that second year, he has been like, he's been consistently a point six xg per 90 type of center for and that's the DP caliber center for so they have that they've gone out now and they spent $5 million on ah the Spanish playmaker and a a Russian winger. They have Steven Afrifa, who was really, really good in limited minute minutes last year as a backup winger. They have sort of a Daniel Nungu type, right? Where he's yeah really good off the dribble.
01:19:45
Speaker
ah I don't think he's as good off the dribble as Georgie. I think he's a little bit better attacking through the lines. Like he he is very sharp in his movement around goal. um But he does add an element that they didn't have last year. They still have Daniel. sch Like you could talk yourself into Sporting Kansas City being good again. I think they will be in the mix for the playoffs. But I also feel like their their moves aren't done.
01:20:14
Speaker
So it's tough to like just looking at their depth chart. um I'm not sure that they have their defensive midfielder. Is it Nemanja Rodoha? I don't think he was great last year. Is it Zoran Pasong? I don't think he was great last year either. Their center back depth chart is very, very thin and none of those guys strike me as best 11 caliber center back. So that a lot of the stuff that the 10 years,
01:20:42
Speaker
great run they had ah last decade. A lot of the stuff that was was foundational for that still feels like it's missing with this team. ah And then on to San Jose who has Who put together one of the all-time?
San Jose's Cultural Overhaul Under Bruce Arena
01:20:59
Speaker
worst seasons in and MLS history last year 21 points they gave up 78 goals, which is honestly better than it was pacing on for a long time like at one point it looked like they might actually Get to a hundred goals a lot like they were shipping goals at an alarming alarming rate ah but
01:21:23
Speaker
I did not have San Jose Earthquakes signing Bruce Arena on my bingo card and yet here we are and then he sort of remakes the roster with not necessarily a lot of flashy signings but a lot of guys who have you know proven and MLS pedigrees.
01:21:41
Speaker
I mean, he went out and he got his guys. And that's what Bruce does, right? Because he wants to change the culture first and foremost. And um men did the quakes need to change the culture after the previous few years, um arguably after the previous 12 years. ah It's just it hasn't been good there. um And he needed to fix that. So Mark Anthony Kaye, Ian Hark's Dave Romney, Nick Lee. I think a bunch of those guys will be starters as well.
01:22:11
Speaker
um But then on top of it, um you get Chicha Orango, who we know at his best is an elite goal scorer in this league, right? And he should be able to click with Christian Espinoza, who is still an elite chance creator in this league.
01:22:32
Speaker
um And then you also get the underrated thing with Bruce, which is his ability to develop players. And he's done that everywhere. And nobody really wanted to give him credit for it with the galaxy. But remember, he had Sean Franklin, he had Omar Gonzalez, he had AJ De La Garza from those those drafts. And that was the the fountain like those were load-bearing you know walls of that galaxy dynasty from 15 years ago.
01:23:01
Speaker
um I think he's going to do really good things with this team. I don't think they're going to compete for any titles this year, but I think you're going to see guys like hopefully Cruz Medina or Chance Cowell, you know, maybe the the two defenders that they took in the top five of the draft, Reed Roberts and Max Floriani, like,
01:23:23
Speaker
Floriani looks as can't miss a super draft center back prospect, as I have seen maybe since I go para, like he's that level of talent from what I've seen. um That's those are the types of pieces that that Bruce has created, ah has turned into guys who lift trophies in his MLS career. um The quakes are a lot more interesting to think about.
01:23:48
Speaker
because of that. And by the way, there their work might not be done because the latest reports are that Estudiantes um and one other Argentinian team are maybe wanting to get her non Lopez ah the number 10 who the quakes bought this time last year. Yeah, they maybe want to bring him back and if that's the case then Bruce will be able to go out and get his own guy in to play as a number 10 and we know when he does that he tends not to miss
01:24:20
Speaker
So i don't I'm not putting the quakes down for 60 points or anything like that, but they should be a hell of a lot more fun ah and hell of a lot better than they were the last couple of years. Yeah, and i'm i'm our listeners know this, but ah you know I grew up in the Bay Area. I know that the Bay Area has a soccer culture, has a really strong soccer soccer culture, but the quakes have never been able to tap into it.
01:24:47
Speaker
and it And it just is can see continuously frustrating for me as someone who knows that market well, how poorly that team has been run and how, you know, you were that you were obviously in the Bay Area for a long time as well. And it's just you see, you see it everywhere. You you know, you look at the players that have come out of the Bay Area, the Greater Bay Area and become good pros and how few of them have gone through the quakes is almost a criminal. ah But maybe it's Bruce Arena, maybe Bruce Arena can finally unlock it. But that he did it. I mean, he did it for New England. Yeah, right. think about they had no right Exactly. and And like, as someone who grew up in New England, let me assure you that the talent level, ah the athletic talent level you get in New England is nowhere near
01:25:39
Speaker
what you get in the Bay Area like they're just more and better athletes especially soccer players in the Bay Area. If Bruce is able to coach for two years and then sort of um steer the ship as CSO for the next four or five after that I think the quakes will be in a really, really good spot in terms of getting all that local talent. And it honestly, I think the the model would be what the Sounders have done over the past seven, eight years in terms of going from a team that didn't have ah any pathway to now a team that has guys like Obed and Atencio and Reed Baker Whiting. And, you know, so you're not relying on, so you know,
01:26:29
Speaker
Once out of the blue thing like a Deandre Yedlin or Jordan Morris where yeah you have something much more robust and thought out. Well, the final team on in the Western Conference is a team who.
01:26:42
Speaker
Obviously,
San Diego FC's New Signings and MLS Challenges
01:26:43
Speaker
as in their first year, San Diego FC, they have made some notable signings, most notably Chucky Lozano. What do you make of this team? are you know I know it's fun to to project them as being... I've seen a lot of people kind of talk them up as as potentially being competitive, but I don't know. is that What do you make of this? what do you How much chance do you give them to be competitive out of the gates?
01:27:08
Speaker
a pretty good chance man. I like the cheeky signing and then they ah matched him with a DP on the other wing in Andres Dreyer who's in his prime ah Danish international winger. They have Marcus Ingivardsen as their go to center forward not a prolific score like does not put the ball in the back of the net a lot, which worries me a little bit. But the midfield getting Luca De La Torre, if he can stay healthy, like the the job of moving the ball from the defensive third to the attacking third is often overlooked in soccer analysis. And Luca De La Torre excels at that.
01:27:53
Speaker
And I think they answered a ah massive question in getting him from Celta Vigo. I think he's going to be a really excellent player in this league. And he's also a local guy. And I think that matters to them as well. So I like a lot of it. um Mikey Varis, he wants the 4-3-3, you know, he wants to control the ball. He wants to control um where on the yeah um on the field the game is going to be played and at what tempo. And I think they've worked to give him pieces to do that. It's all very, very theoretical at this point. um It might not work out, but i it's been thoughtful in a way that some of the less successful ah expansion teams in recent Vintage have not been thoughtful at all.
01:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, well, that'll be ah that'll be that'll be an interesting thing to watch as always. Well, Matt, ah you've been more than than gracious. i I don't know if I knew exactly what I was signing you up for, but I appreciate you doing this with me. ah We went through all 15 teams in the Western Conference. ah Hopefully, this is the first of of what will be a regular sort of check-in with you and in terms of getting a broader picture of what's going on in the league.
01:29:08
Speaker
i Real quick, do you have any sort of parting shots that you want to share about ah what you're expecting this year? I mean, one of the things that's been ringing in my head when I, when I, cause I'm, I'm really starting to dig into like season preview content and like, who's going to win the supporter shield? Who's going to be MLS cup favorites and all that since CONCACAP champions like changed their format back in 2018 and Moved the entire tournament into one calendar year because remember before that it would be the group stage in 2016 and then the knockout round in 2070 So they moved they changed that format and it's still basically that format now in 2025 No team that has played in CCL has one and MLS cup in that same year
01:30:04
Speaker
And I think there's 10 MLS teams playing CCO yeah this year, including every single one that you or I would look at right now and say, like, that's an MLS Cup contender. yeah And I think the other thing to think about, um I think since 2018, the only team to win and MLS Cup that made the playoffs the year before was NYCFC in 2021. They made the playoffs in 2020, but of course that was an expanded field and a shortened season.
01:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, so it's well the Sounders won in 2019 and made the playoffs in 2018. But okay, so that they were the last team to do that. they by Yeah, that would make sense because 2020 it was the crew um one and they missed the playoffs in 2019 21 it was NYC FC one but and they they made the the playoffs in 2020 but 2022 LAFC won, they missed the playoffs in 21, 2023, the crew won, they missed the playoffs in 2022, in 2024, the galaxy won, um and they missed the playoffs in 2023. So we're like, it's, to me, that is just tangible proof that
01:31:23
Speaker
the season is long and it's hard. And if you start stacking, you know, 50 game seasons, one on top of the other, you're probably going to run out of gas. And I think that's what happened to, you know, the very best teams in the league this past year, including that Columbus crew team that I still think played the best soccer over the past 18 or 18 months starting basically in summer 2023 they play the best soccer of any MLS team I've ever seen um and it's something that I have to think about as we're all doing this season preview content because as Deep as the Sounders look right now and it's impressed as I am with Cincinnati's roster build. It's like They're gonna empty the tank four different times this season. and What are they gonna have left in November?
01:32:12
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's a very astute point. I think it's the biggest concern I have for the Sounders is ah is sort of just the wear and tear of this schedule. And it it every team looks reasonably deep before they start stacking up injuries. And then you you get an injury or two and all of a sudden the the cracks start to show. And ah and you know teams that we we thought were ah yeah there We thought we're eighteen teams deep. It's like, well, if you certain pieces at the top, if you take those out, they're harder to replace than others. But, you know, we'll see. um i I do like the sounder's roster build. I think they stack up well in the West. But, you know, there's a lot.
01:32:53
Speaker
There's a whole lot of games to play. ah But thank you for doing this, Matt. I really appreciate it. Of course, read Matt at MLSSoccer.com. ah You can find him on Blue Sky. It's MattDoyle76 on Blue Sky.
01:33:08
Speaker
i I don't even know what I am in blue sky. It's a just Matt Doyle at blue sky. Oh, there you go. You were early. this time Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was one of the early adopters of that one. I've got a new a sub stack as well. That's right. Tactics free zone that sub stack.com. It's just a little bit of extra stuff. I'll probably be writing up off of this as well. Just another place to find my work.
01:33:32
Speaker
So absolutely. Well, thank you for doing this, Matt. And I am Jeremiah Shan. This is no study at this part of the sounder podcast network, and we will catch you next time.
01:34:18
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!