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Episode 352: Mediocrity is hard to talk about
76 Plays3 years ago
The Seattle Sounders are stuck in a bit of a rut right now, not necessarily playing badly but definitely not playing well. They're losing a lot of one-goal games these days and that's making it a little harder to have a strong opinion. We talked it through.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Sponsor Spotlight: Full Pool Wines
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food. Lots of it. Fullpool's unique writing styles applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving, turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Seattle Sounders' Triumph and Recent Struggles
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win!
00:00:52
Speaker
important the KSA's genius. Here comes Rui Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle. They have climbed the mountain and now are masters of all that they survey. Michael Odero leaves absolutely no doubt the Saldars rule the region. Seattle Saldars is convinced
00:01:18
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome. The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills the greenest green in Seattle.
00:01:48
Speaker
like a beautiful child growing up free and wide. I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking? I have no idea. I don't know. Welcome to another edition of Noose Audio, sponsored by Full Pole Wines and our newest sponsor, Watson's Counter. This is episode 352 and we're recording on Tuesday, August 9th, 2022. I'm your host, Jeremiah Shannon. Joining me as usual is Aaron Campo and Lickett P.
00:02:17
Speaker
The Sounders are stuck in a bit of a rut right now. It's not that they're playing badly per se, but they aren't getting results at the clip we're used to. And now it's been about a few months of this. They're just three and six in their past nine with all but one of those losses coming by just a single goal. Their latest setback came on Saturday against Atlanta United with the deciding goal coming in the 93rd minute off a 25 yard strike from left back Andrew Gutman.
00:02:43
Speaker
I thought the Sounders actually played reasonably well in the match, but they put themselves in a position to surrender late. It's kind of been this way all year with the team piling up 10 one goal losses. Despite all this, the Sounders are still just one point out of the out of playoff position and could feasibly move up as high as third with a few positive results. But they've probably left at least five points on the table in games like the one against Atlanta. Aaron, I don't we we were sort of just talking about this off air.
00:03:08
Speaker
But it's a weird place because in some ways it would give us a little bit more to talk about if the sounders were just like objectively bad. But I don't think we think they're objectively bad. They're sort of the definition of mediocre. They are, you know, not necessarily playing well, but I don't think they're playing awful either.
00:03:31
Speaker
No, I think that mediocre is unfortunately a great way to put it, which is, you know, another thing we're talking about is in some ways that's the worst thing to be because
00:03:42
Speaker
You can't really get excited. You can't check out. It's hard to get pissed off, which can be kind of cathartic because there are, you know, as much as I think the sounders are over underachieving, even what they should be doing, there are reasons for their underwhelming performance, you know, that are kind of out of their hands injuries and whatnot.
Sounders' Playoff Hopes and Injury Woes
00:04:04
Speaker
And, you know, they're just in this weird place where it feels like any given game, they can play with anybody. They can beat anybody. They, they haven't, you know,
00:04:13
Speaker
looked outclassed completely very often, but they also haven't looked like they were outclassing anybody very often. Absolutely. They seem very mediocre and it's not a lot of fun to watch.
00:04:31
Speaker
I still think the smart money is betting on them to make the playoffs to kind of get it together. But at a certain point, you do actually have to do that. Right. And we've kind of been expecting them to do that for a while now. It really felt like they had kind of turned the corner.
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, a couple weeks after the CCL run finished up and that they were back to their best, they were within spitting distance of LFC. We were talking about the potential of them making a run for the splorter shield is remote of a possibility as that seemed at the time. It was certainly plausible. You know, it wasn't a crazy thing to think was within reach. And now, you know,
00:05:11
Speaker
it's gonna be a nervy one coming down the stretch. I mean, this could be the closest they've come to missing the playoffs. I don't, 2016, I don't recall off the top of my head where things were at. I mean, they've needed results in the final game of the, or they're in positions to potentially need a result in the final game, I think a couple times to make the playoffs. They ended up making it relatively easy when it's ever that's happened, but that,
00:05:36
Speaker
But yes, I think that this is potentially coming down to be a nervy ending. They are, you know, they're definitely not going to win the supporter shield. I think even a top two spot is probably out of reach. Austin seems to be pretty securely in that spot right now. But the funny thing is they could easily, like, I don't think it's a stretch to think that this team could finish third or fourth in the West. And that's a very familiar position for this team, although not necessarily during the Bryant Schmetzer era.
00:06:03
Speaker
But it's been, you know, that that's that would be a comfortable place for them, third or fourth, I think, you know, and I wouldn't be shocked. Like, in my mind, I keep seeing this scenario play out, you know, they play someone like RSL on the first round.
00:06:18
Speaker
They probably have to play like LAFC in the second round. And you know, right now I don't feel like they're going to be favorites, especially on the road against LAFC, but I could see them, you know, springing in upset, but it's just, it takes some faith and it's not that the, the sounders aren't giving us a lot to think that that's likely right now. And, you know, and I guess it's in some ways frustrating to think that, yeah, they might, they might pull it together, uh, because the talent is there.
00:06:47
Speaker
Uh, if they can get everyone, you know, if they can get reasonably healthy, you know, I think the big one right now is if Raul Rui Diaz can, can stay on the field for the, for the last 10 games of the season. I really liked their chances to make a move up the up to standings, but I don't know. It's, it's where we sit right now. It's hard to get excited about this team. I think it's tough to get too mad about it either, because like we said, they've won CONCACAP champions. Like they gave us a big prize this year. It's, it's hard to get mad about where the team is right now, given that.
00:07:17
Speaker
But on top of that, they aren't getting results for reasons that I think we can all explain. Jauphalo being out, Obed Bergus being out, Raul Ruideas is missed two-thirds of the season. These are valid explanations, but they don't make it any easier sort of to assess this season.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean that's I think that that's that's the thing right is that if they were just playing badly and they were really underachieving and there weren't all these just sort of understandable frustrating things happening that explains the predicament.
00:07:52
Speaker
that there's really nothing anybody can do about, you know, again, that's one of those things where it's just easier to be pissed off because you've got a target for your ire. Right. And in this case, it's just like, I mean, even I think the way that they lost that game against Atlanta is a great example of just kind of the general feeling about the season. It sucked really bad. It was a kick in the in wherever is the most unpleasant place for you to be kicked. Let's go for the sake of the family. We'll go. We'll go teeth. And we want to be inclusive and nobody likes getting kicked in the teeth.
00:08:22
Speaker
It was a huge bummer, and it was also a total wonder strike, a goal that's going to be a goal 5% of the time. Yeah, it would have been nice if the defense had stepped up a little more. It would have been nice if Stephen Fry could have gotten a slightly better read on it. But ultimately, you can't be that pissed off if you lose to a goal like that.
00:08:45
Speaker
And that's just, that kind of feels like a microcosm of the season where it's like, well, yeah, they probably put, you know, some miles on the tires winning, uh, CCL and they definitely lost, you know, one of, if not their most important player.
00:09:01
Speaker
And, you know, the injuries have piled up. You can't like you can't predict a kid who is a literal kid who has become a key part of your team, breaking his back, you know, like,
00:09:18
Speaker
Who are you going to get mad about, like God? I mean, you know, other things to get mad about God about that are maybe a little more important. So it's just it's it's frustrating to watch. It's not a lot of fun, but ultimately it's it's just sort of happening like it's just sort of there. It's just there's just kind of this malaise over it. And, you know, if they go on a good enough run, get into the playoffs, I'm sure it will be exciting again. But right now it's just kind of blah.
00:09:47
Speaker
Yeah, it is kind of bleh. Let's focus on the game against Atlanta, at least for the time being. I know there were some frustrations that they didn't necessarily come out stronger, but I think all things considered, it was actually a reasonable approach. They were playing on short rest. Atlanta was not. They traveled across the country. Atlanta had not.
00:10:08
Speaker
uh they weren't at full strength atlanta was closer to full strength although atlanta is having their own problems too and they're in and frankly were shaped than the sounders are uh but it was it you know the sounders uh gave up a goal that wasn't great defense but still
Match Analysis: Atlanta Recap
00:10:27
Speaker
Took an unfortunate bounce and that's how it ended up going into the net. And they go in at halftime down 1-0. They come out of half. They look a lot better. They end up equalizing. And frankly, I thought they looked like they were the better team up until the final play of the game. Like I thought if someone was going to get a winner, I kind of figured it was going to be the Sounders. And it just didn't happen.
00:10:54
Speaker
I don't, you know, and it's, it's like, what are you going to do? Like it's, it's, it's an annoying result. I was pissed. I don't blame anyone for being pissed, but like, what, what is the change? Like, what, what are you going to do about that? Right? Like, what are you going to, what, what change are we demanding? Are we saying that Garth Loggerway has screwed up this team? I don't.
00:11:13
Speaker
I think anyone was really saying that. Are we saying that the team is too old? I'm sure there are definitely people out there that are saying the team is too old. So what do you do about it, right? Like this team is now under contract. Basically everyone on this team is under contract through next season at least.
00:11:28
Speaker
And I don't think that's necessarily a bad place to be. Lidero looks a lot better, maybe not quite pre-injury himself. Jordan Morris is showing glimpses of his, you know, he's still not quite the player he was, but
00:11:44
Speaker
I think he'll be fine. Roldan has been solid. If Xiaopalo returns, I think that's good stuff. Raul Rui Diaz, when he's been healthy, has been very good. There's a lot of things to like about this team going forward. So it's not even like, I don't think you can reasonably say they should blow the team up. Speak nothing of the difficulty of actually trying to pull that off.
00:12:08
Speaker
I don't know, it's a weird place to be stuck in. It is. And I mean, I do think like this is sort of the downside of going all in is that you can end up in situations like this where you don't have a lot of flexibility. And if that's the case that the sounders find themselves in where the team is just out of gas and
00:12:35
Speaker
they can't really strengthen, well, they won the Champions League, right? They won multiple MLS cups with this core. You can't really ask for a lot more, especially in an MLS. And I think that that's fatalistic to even think of that that's the most likely scenario. I think the Sounders have shown on multiple occasions that they can rebuild on the fly without taking too much of a hit.
00:13:03
Speaker
I hope I'm right about this, but I believe they're still in the playoff position as it stands. They are. They're one point out right now. So they're
Sounders' Roster and Future Strategies
00:13:12
Speaker
one point out. I mean, that's not a bad spot to be. No, they're not. They're not in a bad spot. I mean, they win three straight games. There's a decent chance they're all the way up to third or fourth. Right. And so if the worst thing that happens is
00:13:26
Speaker
You know, you win a couple of most cops, you win a Champions League and then you limp into the playoffs one year and you get a chance to slightly retool the next year or just run it back, you know, and hope that your guys get healthy. A lot of teams have less success at the end of a championship window and are garbage for a decade.
00:13:46
Speaker
I think you can argue that's sort of what happened last year. And so what they did is they ran it back and then they won champions league. And so I suppose we could find ourselves in that situation again. I don't know how that's going to turn out this time, but it's just, I think we've said this, but it's just tough to, I know we've said this, it's tough to get worked up.
00:14:10
Speaker
That doesn't make it suck any less, really. And I think that's what's tough. I understand the frustration people are having right now. There are definitely a few players on this team that you're like, eh, I wouldn't mind replacing them. And it would have been great if the centers could have brought someone in at the right price.
00:14:33
Speaker
to sort of make a run at this year during the transfer window. I suppose there's still a chance they can sign someone from the CAD or from Defiance. They can still pick guys up that are on waivers. They can still sign free agents from out of the world. So it's not like they can't do anything right now, but they have a limited capacity to do anything. And I suppose
00:14:58
Speaker
You can find a glimmer of hope in that because if the sounders, you know, I think we have to trust the sounders ability to assess their own talent. And if they're not really itching to make a dramatic move right now, it tells me that they really believe that the windows open for another year. Yeah. And I think, I mean, I think it is, I think that.
00:15:19
Speaker
Players, as they get old, yeah, they're probably going to be more likely to get injured. They're probably going to be more likely to take more time to bounce back when they get injured. But it's not like, you know, Nico, everybody, well, not everybody, but I thought there was a really good chance he might be washed last year.
00:15:37
Speaker
I think a fair number of people were legitimately concerned over that. Yeah. And, you know, he's been 90% of his 85, 90% of his best this year. And, you know, if the Sounders can get 85% of Nico Ledero, 85% of Raul Rudeas, and the rest of the guys, you know, regress back to their historical means, because those two guys are really the guys that when I think of the core of this team, the ones that I worry about,
00:16:06
Speaker
hitting a wall, right? Like everybody else is well within their expected peak. And, you know, if those guys can give you 85% of what they've given you historically, and everybody else can bounce back when they've got a little less crazy of a season, if JP can come back strong next year,
00:16:26
Speaker
There's no reason to think that this team is not a competitive team. And people, when other teams that aren't the sounders are really good, I think people kind of want to blow out of proportion how good they are. LAFC is a very good team. Austin's a very good team. It wasn't that long ago that people were talking about how Toronto had completely outclassed us and we're playing a different game than we were. So I do think that there's some concern in some areas of the fan base that
00:16:55
Speaker
You know we're being lapped that this was our last hurrah and that we're not going to be able to keep up with these teams in the future and I just, I don't really see any reason to be concerned about that and I think that people forget about how good this team was at its peak. I mean, this is a team that.
00:17:11
Speaker
pretty thoroughly outclassed two good Mexican teams that beat the defending in the last cup winner and one of the other teams in the league this year across two legs. And, you know, it took a toll on them for sure.
00:17:28
Speaker
But they still have the talent to do those things. And now they just have to play like it. Right. And I guess that's the kicker, right? It's that believing the seam can put together a good run is not one based purely on faith. I mean, we've seen it now. Granted, that's with Joe Paulo. And they aren't going to have Joe Paulo this year. And maybe he is that important. I don't want to diminish that. But it surely lowered the sounder ceiling.
00:17:55
Speaker
But I still think this is a team that's capable of putting it together. You know, they made that run sort of without raw ideas for large chunks of it. You know, it would be nice. I think the biggest thing right now for me is still they're not a bad defensive team. I think they've given up the six most goals.
00:18:15
Speaker
uh by point by goals per game which is a perfectly good defensive record uh their problem really is scoring goals they're uh towards the they're in the bottom half of the league in terms of goal scoring and if roll reed is returns to form i think that potentially fixes it you put those two things together all of a sudden we're looking okay now i still feel like
00:18:43
Speaker
the area where the sounders need to find some consistency is at Center Midfield where Christian Roldan is currently filling that space that was vacated by Jaupalo and then Obed Bergus. I was reluctant to make that move, but maybe it's starting to look like maybe it was the right one. And maybe that's what they need to just sort of have some consistency there. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that
00:19:12
Speaker
All things considered Christian outright is, is a better situation. When you have your ideal lineup, that's what you probably want to put them. That's where you want to put them. Right. But, you know, I mean, the sounders are missing option and option B and it's been filled and they'll get those guys back at some point. And, um,
00:19:34
Speaker
I think of the parents they've had the, you know, the one with Christian and it has has been the most successful. I still like labor like I like attention potential I think.
00:19:46
Speaker
I think it's worth considering those options, but I think especially now that the chips are kind of down, like you've got to start winning, you've got to start getting results. Christian, I think is a safer, safer option there. And I think that, you know, there's reasons to really like that. I'd love to see Leo Chiu play better.
00:20:08
Speaker
That would be nice. I would feel much better. And it's not like this. This is another guy where it's just like we've talked about this with with Leo Chiu a lot this season. He's not playing badly, I don't think, but he's not really blowing anyone away. Like he's not contributing that much to like the bottom line.
00:20:31
Speaker
You can see glimpses of why he's an intriguing player, but he's not putting it together for 60 minutes. You can see glimpses of why he's intriguing, and you can see full-on staring at right in the eyes why he's not starting regularly. But when the sounders are at full health, it's... Yeah, I mean, it's...
00:20:58
Speaker
I would feel much better about that. And there really aren't any other options that I can see that are any better than just hoping layout kind of clicks at that position because they've tried a bunch of stuff.
00:21:14
Speaker
And none of it's worked too well. So, you know, uh, I do, I do think that what we have seen with the lineup, they ran out there against Atlanta, uh, as much as I'd like some of those guys to perform a little better has been their most promising shape and personnel. Yeah. Uh, you know, I guess Jimmy Madranda is the other guy that maybe gets in there. Yeah.
00:21:38
Speaker
I don't know that I would expect a whole lot more. And frankly, if the sounders are going to go down, I want to know what they have in layout too. It would be a shame for them to
00:21:54
Speaker
even finish sixth or seventh and then go out in the first round and do it with a whole veteran group. If they did that with Danny Leyva, Josh Atencio, Leo Chiu, that would be a little bit more palpable because at least you have a sense that you're building for something. But if they're doing it with a bunch of 27 to 32-year-olds, you're like,
00:22:18
Speaker
What do we like? Right. For sure. And, you know, I think that like, ultimately they paid a decent chunk of money for Leo, too. Yeah. He's like, you've got to figure out and it would be a good time to figure it out because exactly if he's not going to be like, if he can't contribute to the point where you feel confident in him being able to contribute next season, if he if he can't show some progression this year, do you have to figure out something else for that spot?
00:22:47
Speaker
Or at the very least, you got to know enough to know if you should be protecting them in the upcoming expansion draft. And that's not an insignificant consideration. I've looked at it a few different ways, and I think
00:23:04
Speaker
Like someone like New Who or Steph Fry might have to be exposed if Leo Chu is protected. And you need to really know if he's worth protecting or not. Because it would be, you know, and I, because it's like, as it is now, I think you're going to be tempted to protect him just to protect an asset. And that's just not, you know, like, that's fine. But you got to have some real expectation of what's to come out of it.
00:23:33
Speaker
Yep, absolutely. And, you know, it's almost like you're looking for excuses not to play them at this point, if you're not giving them those starts. And you can be doing that with the guy that costs like real resources to pick up. Like, it's one thing for an academy graduate, you maybe don't want to give them a sink or swim sort of ultimatum. But with somebody that you paid real money for, you know, not an unreasonable thing to ask.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We're going to come back. We're going to talk a little bit about some brighter things.
Yacht-Con Event Details
00:24:12
Speaker
Yacht-Con Endless Summer is coming up in about a month from now. We are going to talk about that a little bit. We're going to talk about just some other things that you guys were asking about. You're listening to NOS Arietes.
00:24:32
Speaker
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00:24:51
Speaker
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00:25:11
Speaker
Thanks to Watson's Counter for sponsoring this episode. Located in Ballard, Watson's Counter is your neighborhood specialty coffee shop, brunch spot, and now, coffee roaster. Sourcing exclusively high-scoring coffees, Watson's Counter has started their coffee roasting project to showcase amazing coffees grown around the world. Their first featured coffee is the beautifully complexed, washed Ethiopian Odola.
00:25:32
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at Watson's Counter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered. Welcome back to NOS Adiata. So let's start with a little bit of housekeeping.
00:25:58
Speaker
If you had forgotten, I think the last show we may have announced that Yacht-Con is officially back on. We have a name. It's Endless Summer. If you don't know where that's from, I urge you to Google that. It's a wonderful documentary about surfing, but it's coming in September 13th at the Elks Lodge right across the drawbridge from Fremont. It's on the ship canal. It's a cool space. It's not very big.
00:26:28
Speaker
and I will get this out of the way early. As a result of that, it's going to be pretty limited attendance. We're only going to be selling probably 80-ish tickets, so we're probably going to be putting those on sale either later this week or early next week. The price will probably reflect that relative scarcity. I don't think it's going to be anything outlandish, but we
00:26:54
Speaker
We're trying to be mindful of not packing it in too tight and trying to have a good event and still trying to raise money for Seattle Children's Autism Center. Hopefully people are into it, but we like the space. We think it's going to be a lot of fun. It'll be good to see people in person again. We're probably going to be urging people to wear masks still as lame as that is. But this is the world we're in these days. I don't know.
00:27:22
Speaker
I wish I wish it was different. Yeah, I think I mean, I would hope everybody wishes that we're different, but you know, but yeah, but yeah, we've gotten some commitments from from Sounders folks. I would expect the usual characters to be there.
00:27:38
Speaker
Uh, and, and some surprise guests, hopefully as well. And yeah, it's going to be a little bit of a different event this year, I think, uh, for a variety of reasons. Like I said, the size being one of them, but we'll, we'll have some, we'll do the silent auction again. Uh, they've got a, there's a bar, there's two bars that we'll have access to. Uh, there's, uh, an actual, uh,
00:27:59
Speaker
kitchen there so we'll be able to they're gonna have a cook, making shorter food essentially. So it'll be a different event I think it's gonna be a lot of fun and hopefully people get out there and we get to see each other face to face for, I'm sure, at least this group of people for the first time in a long time.
00:28:18
Speaker
But yeah, so September 13th, the Elks Lodge in the Fremont neighborhood. And I think I don't know. I don't know. Are we calling that Fremont neighborhood? Is that still Fremont? I guess it's technically not. Yeah, I know. I was never fully clear on where is the the ship now is the natural barrier. But like, I don't know. What do we call on that? It's not Queen Anne. We can't call that lower Queen Anne. No, there is a name for that for that neighborhood.
00:28:47
Speaker
But I think interesting. Yeah, I think, I think so. I think I honestly think that might be it or like, uh, maybe, uh, what, what's the call SPU? Is that it? Yeah. SPU. Yeah. SPU. Yeah. I've actually, my daughter's been taking class, uh, a biking class up at SPU. And so I've been.
00:29:05
Speaker
I've been seeing the inside of SPU's campus more recently than I ever had before. Nice campus. It is a nice campus. It's got some cool stuff on it. But anyway, so that's that. That's the housekeeping bit. Another thing I wanted to bring up that we can discuss before we get to questions. Today, a story came out that Real Madrid has not been notified that they need to clear their calendar for the Club World Cup.
Club World Cup Speculations and Sounders' Prospects
00:29:33
Speaker
This is not necessarily breaking news, but is a sort of reminder that the club World Cup is still not on the calendar. Uh, they have not officially told us when it's going to be. And I think it's probably fair to wonder, is this thing going to happen? And how do it, it's like, I think it kind of sucks. What do you think if the club World Cup didn't happen, how big of a deal is that Aaron?
00:29:57
Speaker
I think, I mean, I think you know how I feel about that. I know. That's why I want to hear you say it. I don't, I don't care. I mean, it's a bummer because I know that it means lots of players. I know it means a lot to Garth and Brian and the organization. And on that level, it's a bummer.
00:30:12
Speaker
but I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. Yeah, and I guess there's some speculation that even if the Sounders, or even if they don't play the club world cup this year, that the Sounders would get an invite at the next world club world cup, which is presumably the expanded one where they would take like the three previous CONCACAF champions. And so maybe it's not all for, maybe it's- That one would actually be more fun, I think. It might be, yeah.
00:30:40
Speaker
So maybe it's for the best. We just don't have to worry about doing it right now. And maybe that's roster wise, man. That's good for the standards too. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. Yeah, and now that I think I just talked to myself into being less worried about it. I guess we all Madrid is upset potentially because they have a chance to go for a
00:31:06
Speaker
uh, sextuple or something like that. No, I'm sure they'll, I'm sure they'll live sure they'll live Barcelona. I don't know if they will, but Real Madrid does seem to have a
00:31:20
Speaker
their life ahead of them a little bit. All right, well, we've got a bunch of questions, not too many, but we've got a few. We got some questions. Yeah, you want to kick it off? Let's kick it off. On the same subject, Con. Yeah, on the topic of external competitions, Bill Jones, CRBT, does winning CCL this year give us a CCL birth next year?
00:31:45
Speaker
Unfortunately, not only does the CCO winner not guarantee a spot in the next Champions League, which is the last of the current format, after that it's going to be expanded by quite a bit. And even in that expanded version, the reigning champion won't get a spot, which seems a little silly.
00:32:09
Speaker
And I don't know if I really understand the logic behind not giving them a spot now. Maybe it's not as common as we tend to think just because they do that in Europe. I don't know how common it is in the other Champions League. And they didn't do it in Europe until...
00:32:26
Speaker
they realized, oh, you know, there's a pretty good chance that Chelsea is not going to pick the champions league. I think it was Chelsea. Yeah. Chelsea. I know Chelsea was the first reigning champion to get in, uh, automatic spot. So it's, it hasn't been that way for, for a super duper long time. It's not like an old tradition of it. Um, I mean, I can kind of understand the logic behind it of like, you know, uh, you got to actually be a champion, but, but I, I do think that the,
00:32:56
Speaker
prevailing wisdom would seem to me to be, well, you deserve a right to defend your championship. Um, yeah, but you know, it's, I think that given some of the stuff we talked about in the last segment with older players, a lot of miles on the tires, how much the CCL run took out of them.
00:33:17
Speaker
If you're going to miss CCL, maybe next year is not the worst time to miss it. Yeah. Yeah. It would be fun to try to defend the title, but I agree. I agree. All right. This one's from Nick in Seattle. I believe in this club and fundamentally think the poor form right now is just injuries stacked up. I'm not panicking. Don't see a need to change course. Is it okay to just kind of care less about watching every match while they're bruised and battered?
00:33:41
Speaker
Yes, emphatically. Yes, it is OK. It's healthy. OK, it is healthy. It is healthy to not care as much about sports as I think we're sort of conditioned to care about them and have this obligation to live and die with every game and and feel certain emotions with every game and, you know, make every game appointment television. I haven't watched a live game. I watched the
00:34:08
Speaker
game last Tuesday live. Other than that, it's been a while since I watched the game live because I just like, I'm not going to not go to the farmer's market with my wife or not go out to, well, I know I'm, I gotta get that bread, buddy.
00:34:25
Speaker
you know, not like go out with friends. Like I'm not gonna, yes, literal bread. I don't have a farmer's market stall. I'm not gonna like miss out on doing fun things to watch a team that's not a whole lot of fun to watch when that's why God meant to DVRs, right? So I think it's totally fine to just kind of tune out a little bit. I think it's, you know, it's the sounders have given us a lot. And so I understand like the, the desire to
00:34:53
Speaker
want to be loyal and all that stuff, but they're just, they're not, you know, it's okay. It's, it's fine. It's, it's, it's okay to take a step back and check back in when, when it's either more fun or the stakes are a little higher. Uh, the next one is from drone 637. Are we just going to shift to the shift, the middle five constantly throughout the season? Or do you think we will settle on a set of players and positions?
00:35:21
Speaker
Well, I think to some degree, the amount of shifting is not really the plan. I think Brian and the coaching staff would love to settle on a lineup, not even just the midfield, but all 11 guys. And I think right now, my expectation is that we're
00:35:45
Speaker
Close to set on that midfield five. I think Morris is locked in, Ladero's locked in, Rusnak's locked in, Christian Roldon's locked in. And that fifth one is a big variable right now because we've seen Leo Chu there, we've seen Jimmy Madranda, we've seen Danny Leyva, we might still see Josh Atencio.
00:36:08
Speaker
And we might be a week or two away from being totally set. Like, if they had played really well against Atlanta with Leochu in there, I think we would have probably had a chance of seeing that pretty consistently on the way out. But Leochu didn't exactly win that spot with his performance. In fact, I think he may open the door even more. So it's going to be interesting to see what they do there for sure. And I wish I could tell you
00:36:37
Speaker
It's locked in, but I don't, I don't think it is. Yeah. I, uh, it is kind of funny when you run into situations like this where you realize just how much of a luxury that kind of consistency that, you know, the sounders had, uh, in their, their best seasons is, you know, um, 2019, um,
00:37:00
Speaker
2018 for that long stretch where everybody was healthy. And then you get into a situation like this, where it's just this constant revolving door and it's hard to find consistency and get into a rhythm. It'd be nice to go back to that. It would. It would. This one's from Michael Dodd. He says, Sounders shocked in the early window when they usually go in the summer. Should we expect something similar next year? Or do you think the team stands mostly pat until summer?
00:37:26
Speaker
I think the reality is that it, my understanding of it, at least Jeremiah's is obviously going to be a little better, but it is that the sounders are kind of up against it. They don't have a lot of flexibility. They don't have a lot of room. There's always the potential with an off season with teams looking to retool that, you know, the sounders can make some room. Um, they, they managed to move Brad Smith last year, last off season and got a pretty nice return. Um, and then we're able to free up some space there. Um, but.
00:37:56
Speaker
it's going to require something like that, I think, for them to do anything significant, most likely. Yeah. I mean, the reality is they have most of their allocation money, like the reason they didn't make a big move this window was they, most of their allocation money is already kind of earmarked for next year. And unless something changes, I don't think
00:38:23
Speaker
Like there's no new money that I don't think is coming online as of now now.
00:38:30
Speaker
big variable is they, let's say they trade, they, they're able to sell new who for, I don't know, $5 million. I have no idea if that's likely, but let's just say they were able to do it. That all of a sudden gives them a big chunk of allocation money. That's it's like a million dollars in allocation money so that they could go on that changes what they're able to do. And so maybe they do spend some money in, in, in the fall or in the winter. Uh,
00:38:55
Speaker
But, or maybe, you know, I don't know, maybe Nico Ledero decides that he is, he wants to go to national now and all of a sudden they open up a designated player spot. So, you know, there's all kinds of things, right? Like, and I, that I don't necessarily think are likely, but could feasibly happen. But something like that, I think would have to happen in order for them to.
00:39:14
Speaker
suddenly decide that they're going to make a big move. And even beyond that, you know, traditionally this team has said that they like shopping in the summer window. The only reason they didn't do that this last year was they wanted to make a run at Champions League and they were able to get someone like an Albert Rusnak on a free agent deal. So, you know, maybe they, I would expect them to make some move.
00:39:38
Speaker
during the winter, they always make some move. They're going to free up. Every single guy on the team is not going to be back next year. They're going to have some money. But if we're looking at a real roster altering type of move, a DP or a TAM level player, right now, it's hard to see that happening. The other thing, too, that's worth considering is that the
00:40:02
Speaker
winter transfer window this year, I think is going to be really a typical in terms of who's spending money, who's signing players, because this is a winter world cup. So all of those showcase those guys that break out, make a name for themselves and move to bigger clubs that starts kind of like the dominoes falling that's happening in the winter versus the summer. I think teams and the big leagues are going to be more likely to want to get reinforcements in those windows because they're going to like their key players are going to have a little bit more
00:40:31
Speaker
you know, on the legs. So I think it could make things even less advantageous of an environment for MLS teams than maybe they normally would be, but could also free up some potentially intriguing free transfer type possibilities as well.
00:40:57
Speaker
Let's see. Is it my turn or your turn? Your turn. Okay. From AD 206, if things don't work out for him in Atlanta, what's the chance we ever see Gonzo Pineda back on our sidelines as a member of the coaching staff?
00:41:08
Speaker
I don't, I don't know why that wouldn't happen. You know, I, I, I suspect that he may have other head coaching opportunities after this one that sends to be how it goes. Uh, it sort of depends on how it ends in Atlanta. You know, if he, you know, they, they might not make the playoffs this year. If he survives next into next year, I think he's, you know, any, anywhere to make a playoff run that, that changes things. But.
00:41:35
Speaker
I don't know. So I don't know how likely the justification, you know, what would lead him back here, but I will say that the door is not closed. Like the Sounders would love to bring Gonzo Panetta back. I think that he's probably got some more head coaching gigs in him. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him stick around in Atlanta, regardless of how this season goes. And they at least start next year with him. I think they're probably a little gun shy about
00:42:04
Speaker
making another head coaching decision. This would be, I guess they're, Gonzo's already their fourth head coach, right?
00:42:14
Speaker
So I would imagine they want to see this out a little bit more. But who knows? I definitely get the sense, at least for me Atlanta fans, that I follow on Twitter and have visibility to their opinions. They're super duper frustrated with Atlanta United. But they do not seem to place a lot of blame on Gonzalo Pineda. They seem really frustrated with the approach of the front office, with Boca Negra, with
00:42:42
Speaker
sort of the general, the way things have gone that have kind of led to this point, that have led to Rossford getting to this point, but they don't seem to be calling for his head quite yet. Yeah. I mean, I don't have, I think there's some frustration with him. I don't necessarily think that it's, it's like demands for him to be fired though. Right. All right. This one is from D hype. He says, what if we're actual ass or did that TFO versus Portland jinx us?
00:43:12
Speaker
I think the thing with about the, the, the always braggadacious TFO always have the potential for backfiring, but it was objectively true. Yeah. And I just, I can't celebrate your victories. What are we doing? Right. Exactly. And it's like, it's still, this is like the bummer, the big time bummer of CCL being in the middle of the season is that I think every MLS team that makes a deep run in CCL is probably going to be kind of hamstrung.
00:43:42
Speaker
And so every team that wins it is probably gonna be a worse version of themselves from here on out. And, you know, that's kind of a bummer. Whereas in like most other countries, it's the end of the season, it's the last game you play. So you get to, you know, ride that high for a whole off season. But, you know, I don't think we're actual ass. But if we are, you know, not a bad way to,
00:44:10
Speaker
Finish that transformation. I will say that it does feel like the season really started to unravel. I mean, I guess they had already lost one of the home games.
00:44:25
Speaker
It does feel like the season started to unravel when they celebrated this Champions League victory, which is a bummer, but I don't think these are related things. No. The universe has a sense of humor, but I don't think that there's a cause and effect. That's a good way of putting it.
00:44:44
Speaker
But I think, too, no matter what, we would have found something to blame it on, right? Because we're... There's always something to blame. I mean, last year it was the coaches leaving. This year it was getting too excited about Champions League. But how much more of a bummer would it be if they didn't celebrate Champions League like this and they still went on this run? Like, you have to seize those opportunities, right? You have to...
00:45:13
Speaker
You can't not celebrate because you're worried that it will backfire. You'll never celebrate anything. Yeah. And I think too, at the end of the day, Portland came to Seattle. They won pretty convincingly in Seattle. I suppose they put a damper on the celebration, but the Sounders still raised Champions League banner.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yeah. They still won the champions league. They still got to celebrate the bay. They got the, yeah, it was still a fun, it was still a fun event to be there for. Yeah. Right. Would have been better if they had won five. No, but you know, sure would have been sure would have been, uh, but
00:45:54
Speaker
You know, that's kind of the way the season seems to be going for the last few months anyway. And I guess in some ways it's fitting in some weird way, but that's, so that's the show. Thanks for hanging out with us. You know, I wish we had more hot takes for you, but that's, I guess it's not really a large thing. It's not our fault.
00:46:21
Speaker
It's not our fault. Exactly. On that note though, I'll sign off. I'll just remind you again, September 13th, Yacht-Con Endless Summer. Look for tickets soon.
00:46:33
Speaker
I'm Jeremiah Shan. Oh, I should say thanks to our sponsors, full pool wines and Watson's counter. Uh, there will also, I think they're going to be donating some cool stuff to, uh, to Yacon. Uh, so look for that as well. Uh, but on that note, uh, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is no study at this. Remember you'll never get alone.
00:46:59
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
00:47:37
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!