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Seattle Sounders are hosting Lionel Messi in the Leagues Cup FINAL! (feat. Battered Herons) - Ep. 120
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We caught up with Kris from the Inter Miami podcast Battered Herons to preview Sunday's match and get the scoop on Seattle's upcoming opposition.
The Seattle Sounders are off to the Leagues Cup 2025 final coming off Wednesday's massive 2-0 semifinal triumph over the LA Galaxy. Now, a matchup with the GOAT awaits, as Lionel Messi and the Barca Boys get set to come to Lumen Field for Sunday's title match.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Context
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
Guest Introduction: Chris from Battered Herons
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:44
Speaker
All right. We have got tonight's guest tapping in right now. Excited to welcome in welcome in him in on short notice. you know Usually I try and get these guests a little further in advance, but not knowing who the what the matchups were going to be, what the opponent was going to be, I couldn't do it until this morning. And luckily...
00:01:08
Speaker
we've got We found someone nice enough, generous enough to come on here, talk some Inter-Miami versus Seattle Sounders League's Cup Final. Let's bring him to the stage right now. His name is Chris.
00:01:20
Speaker
He's with the Battered Herons Inter-Miami podcast. They have a podcast and YouTube channel where they do great work covering Inter-Miami. Chris,
00:01:31
Speaker
Welcome in. Thanks for joining the show on short notice. Like I said, how are you doing? How are you feeling after the semifinals? ah Feeling good. I mean, luckily, you know, we're in a finals, so that's fantastic.
00:01:46
Speaker
And it's the the the uphill battle still proceeds because we're we're winning trophies this year. So that's what we're looking in for. Yeah, i think that's a that's a good place
Origin Stories: Chris and the Host's Journey into Soccer
00:01:57
Speaker
to start. But but before ah before we get into it and talk this matchup in this game, we do like to give our guests at the top of the show a chance to tell our audience, ah you know, your origin story, how your show got started, where to find your work, and just the type of stuff you guys do covering this team ah week in, week out. So, yeah, feel free to plug anything that you're working on and, like, just give the story on how Mattered Herons came to be. It's a great name, by the way.
00:02:24
Speaker
Thank you. No, and that's that's all credit goes to my co-host, Danny. He but called it battered fans because he's a Jets fan. he you know he's He's been battered his whole entire life. That's tough. For him, he's you know battered fans. Even when your team is is a good team, when they don't make it to the championship, it's a failure.
00:02:45
Speaker
So that's sort of the idea of what a battered fan is, right? ah Him and I sort of started a couple years ago before Messi came on. And I wasn't even a soccer fan.
00:02:55
Speaker
I hated soccer ah about two and a half years ago. And he's like, hey, we should go to a game. I'm like, okay, I got nothing to do. Luckily, they won five to one against a terrible team.
00:03:07
Speaker
It was fun. The atmosphere was amazing. And I said, you know what? Let me buy some season tickets. So I bought season tickets. He's like, you want to podcast? Like, yeah, sure. Let's do it. So we jump on the podcast. And since then, we've just been, you know, racing.
00:03:21
Speaker
That's funny. that's It's a little bit similar to so my origin story, starting with the Sounders, ah which was I was doing like a journalism internship in Seattle and ah my editors didn't really care about soccer.
00:03:36
Speaker
And i was like tangentially into MLS. I liked soccer, but I wasn't obsessive into it. I wasn't like super diehard about it. Yeah. But then they let me cover a couple of Sounders games for this internship. that was This was like 2014. Let me cover a couple of Sounders games. And the first time I went, I was like, yo, what is this?
00:03:56
Speaker
This is like the coolest thing I've ever been to. And i I mean, ever since the first one I went to, I was never not hooked after that. it's It's amazing how that can happen like when you go just like experience it and ah feel like what it's like in the stadium and just ah watch the game live and the the fans and the atmosphere. it can it can pull it can suck you in right away.
00:04:18
Speaker
And obviously, i mean, you guys kind of lucked lucked out because those first couple Inter-Miami years were not that glamorous. ah It took a while for this team to become what it is
Inter-Miami's Evolution and Messi's Impact
00:04:30
Speaker
now. But really, over the last couple years,
00:04:33
Speaker
I guess this is where we'll start. I like to ah give my perception as the as a neutral outsider of ah yeah of the team that Seattle is playing. And then ah you can tell me if ah if how I perceive it is accurate or if there's any amendments you would make based on what you know of, how you guys think of it, how the fan base thinks of it.
00:04:52
Speaker
ah But I mean, I think it's some of these are harder than others. I know more about some teams than others. I think this team, everyone knows it at this point, this InterMiami team, one of the sickest teams to be a fan of right now. um And it's because of what they've done with ah with the players they brought in, obviously specifically Leo Messi, but bringing in his Barcelona comrades that he dominated La Liga with and Champions League with for for so many years.
00:05:20
Speaker
It created what was last year looked looked pretty unstoppable. I was pretty convinced you guys were going to win MLS Cup going away easily after setting the points record ah because of how that season ah went.
00:05:32
Speaker
But I still think that that team last year, ah when they were when they were on it was They were playing the best attacking footy I've ever seen in the league.
00:05:43
Speaker
Every single time that they were on a counter with Messi pulling the strings and running it, it was a dangerous opportunity every single time. i' really like The only time that I've seen anything like that was like the Barcelona teams that all those guys We're on that's what it looked like for for a lot of the season. So really like the on field impact in and product that's been put out in the in a lot of the regular season results you can't really argue with.
00:06:12
Speaker
ah But as I see it right now, when you're talking about like the total final trophy hall the championships that were supposed to come with this. It is not quite lived lived up to that. Like it's there's been meat on the bone with that. They obviously got upset by Atlanta United in the playoffs last year.
00:06:31
Speaker
So I think this team, this inter-Miami team is playing for a lot this year and specifically in this game like this. When you have a team like this, the expectation is win everything, win Leagues Cup, win MLS Cup, you know, win the Shield, which they did last year.
00:06:45
Speaker
And if you if you don't, that's just what comes with it. And if you don't do that, it feels like expectations aren't being met. So the way I see it is this League's Cup game and this tournament and then MLS Cup this year are going to be like hugely determinative in how successful this messy era is thought of, because there's been amazing footy. There's been amazing goals, entertaining stuff.
00:07:11
Speaker
but only a league's cup and a shield so far. Gotta have more. yeah Would you amend anything with that? Or would you say that's where things stand? I would make a couple changes, right? Cause let's start from where you, let's begin where you started, right?
00:07:24
Speaker
Historically, right. You mentioned that the first couple seasons were kind of, you know, stucky. Um, I, One thing that I think is a big misconception is that this team was terrible before Messi came and that Messi is the only reason why we breathe air and and in South Florida.
00:07:43
Speaker
Now, that's not the case because just the year prior, we had a good team that made the playoffs with Alejandro Pozuelo and basically Higuaín and a couple other pieces, right?
00:07:57
Speaker
now inter miami didn't sign anybody to any dp contracts because it was seen that we were going to obtain a big dog the biggest dog ever in messy right so there was plans happening in the background so then everybody's like well what's happening nobody's getting signed posuelo's riding ah a stationary bike on a balcony and brickle and nobody knows what's happening So there was a lot of planning that was happening in place. And then obviously, since half the season in the beginning, you're not signing anybody.
00:08:30
Speaker
Pozuelo's out. ego I mean, it's it's just a disaster. So you, of course, you don't do your best. You drop. And then all of a sudden ah comes in Tata Martino, ah comes in Messi, comes in all the boys.
00:08:44
Speaker
And obviously we start doing incredible. Tata Martino, who is class, right? One of the best managers that we've seen in MLS ends up taking this team and making it essentially into an offensive juggernaut with the greatest player of all time, along with some other really great players of all time.
00:09:03
Speaker
And we start, you know, hitting it strong. Now, unfortunately, we did take a big fat L against ah Atlanta. when it was predicted that we were going to win everything, right?
00:09:16
Speaker
But that's just, I guess, football, right? You know? and so so and And by the way, a lot of people also miss the fact that a player that's not named Messi, his name is Yannick Bright, who was ah his rookie season coming in, he's getting paid like five bucks and a happy meal.
00:09:35
Speaker
He was the difference maker against Atlanta. The first game, we played phenomenal. First half of the second game he was on, played phenomenal. He got injured.
00:09:46
Speaker
Second half of the second game and the third game, we played awful. So that that tells you a little bit more than than what people actually are portraying out there. um When it comes to this year, the expectancy is high because we were expected, or at least the fan base were expecting in the CCC to win, right? and We weren't expecting to win the Club World Cup.
00:10:10
Speaker
but at least the CONCACAF Champions Cup we were expecting to win. When we got bounced out of that, now at this point, it's got to be Leagues Cup and MLS Cup or bust. Yeah.
00:10:21
Speaker
So, yeah. and And that's kind of what you're anticipating. High expectations when you got guys like Messi, Busquets, Alba. you know Now you got Rodrigo de Paul to add on to that.
00:10:32
Speaker
So there's a huge, huge amount of expectancy for this team, especially at this time. Yeah, and you know you want to be at a place where expectations are high.
00:10:44
Speaker
ah But there is like a there's like a pressure and weight of expectations that come with that that ah that I think this team is dealing with. I was wondering, you know obviously, Messi is the biggest...
00:10:58
Speaker
signing that's ever come to the league best player to ever play the game I don't think many people will dispute that at this point ah what is ah what is this era been like of just having him on the team and in the city because i just I feel like I've been around in Seattle when he's been here with Argentina and like like the like I compare it to like people when they're around something that they think is like a god.
00:11:25
Speaker
like That's what the environment is like. People like get emotional. They're crying. ah There's people running after the bus. it's just Everywhere he goes is this just crazy spectacle.
00:11:37
Speaker
ah What's that been like having that come to Miami and, you know, be a part of a club where I think people, people knew David Beckham had some stuff up his sleeve, but the fact that he actually pulled this off, what's just been the sort of impact on the, on the fan base and then the the city at large, I would, add I would say.
00:11:57
Speaker
Well, okay, so I think, yeah, because there's always going to be a before Messi and after Messi, not just for the league, but especially for us in South Florida.
00:12:08
Speaker
We went from ah point where the players were literally walking from their clubhouse area to the stadium and you can just walk up to them and they'll be signing baby diapers right uh to now they get tracked in a bus from the clubhouse yeah maybe like ah ah like a ah just a tenth of a mile to the stadium so it's it's it's pandemonium a lot of people are coming out especially in the beginning in the beginning it was heavy because a lot of people wanted to see messi a lot of argentine fans lot of barcelona fans they came out and they you know attacked they wanted to watch messi live finally have the opportunity to do so
00:12:55
Speaker
I think um it's been great, not just for Inter-Miami, but I think for MLS. I think the idea that you want is you want to hope to retain maybe 10%, 5%, 15% of those fans to watch Major League Soccer.
00:13:12
Speaker
um it's it's been great, but at the same time, you have a lot of fans who basically just come and say, hey, I'm here to watch Messi only. Your league sucks. America sucks.
00:13:23
Speaker
And I'm out of here even if he goes to play like janitor league in like Argentina. I don't know. Yeah, but ah it'll be interesting to see like what the actual lasting impact is ah past when he's here because I think you're right. there are a lot of There's a lot of people. It's not even just like MLS fans right now. It's like people in the world who are a fan of him over a team.
00:13:49
Speaker
And so like it'll be interesting to see how many people maybe get drawn in ah because he, he came here, but then realize, Oh, I actually, i actually like this. I'm going to keep following it and keep being a fan of it past when he's
Upcoming Match Analysis: Strengths and Vulnerabilities
00:14:02
Speaker
here.
00:14:02
Speaker
I don't know what percentage of people that will be, but I, you know, I think there's a decent chance it'll be at, ah at least some got Chris from battered Herons joining, joining the show, talking some inner Miami Seattle Sounders leagues cup final.
00:14:15
Speaker
ah Chris, let's get into this this final coming up on Sunday a little bit because, you know, from from where I sit, ah you never – wouldn't say you ever feel – this is the first time the Sounders have ever played against Lionel Messi.
00:14:34
Speaker
And I wouldn't say I feel great about any matchup going up against him just because, i was you know, i was talking about it. uh earlier he is as much as any player that's ever played the game a guy that like stuff like game state and and tempo and what type of defense you're playing it just doesn't matter like he will pull out a goal on you at any time and there's um not that much you can do to stop it so that is uh you know it makes you wary of the matchup in uh in one sense but you know i've been trying to ah
00:15:05
Speaker
to, uh, come up with the, uh, ways in my mind that Seattle can get at this team. Like what chance does Seattle have in this game? And what I come to is that, uh, with this, with this inner Miami team, I think at least the perception is, uh, you know, phenomenal Lionel Messi led attack.
00:15:21
Speaker
One of the most electric dynamic attacks we've ever seen in in the league when it's on, but a team that is vulnerable defensively at times, at least last year, that's how I thought about it is,
00:15:32
Speaker
All right. Like, I mean, they're leaking some goals. It didn't matter because they scored so many that they still won every game by scoring four or five goals. But they were they would lead goals at times. That was that was a thing.
00:15:43
Speaker
And it seems like that is actually improved this year. Like it's a much more sound, less leaky defensive team than usual. But a team that does have the propensity for still leaking goals at time.
00:15:56
Speaker
So i'm when I'm coming up with reasons why Seattle has a chance, I'm like, all right, Messi might get, he's probably going to get you for at least one. The likelihood that he gets you for two or three is honestly decently high in any given game.
00:16:09
Speaker
ah but Seattle's also in great form in attack right now, and you can get at this team defensively. So ah really the path to victory to me relies on like capitalizing on that matchup more than any, ah any idea of like slowing down or stopping messy doesn't really do much for me because I just don't think that's something that,
00:16:29
Speaker
many, anybody has ever been able to do, it's not possible. So you got to just hope that you swarm, swarm this team, uh, defensively playing at home. But, ah where would you say, inter Miami is at as far as that aspect, uh, of their team right now? Like, is it a team that you feel confident in like going into a road game like this defensively, or is it still an issue, uh, that Mosherano has got to deal with?
00:16:56
Speaker
I think, ah well, first to answer about the messy thing, like it's impossible. yeah Orlando in our in the most recent game, they had like four or five purple jerseys on him and he's still shaking and baking.
00:17:07
Speaker
So there's there's just no way. And his vision is just, ka it's just ridiculous that the the the cutting and the and the running behind, you know, the line, the stuff that he sees is just astronomical.
00:17:20
Speaker
Now, as far as defensively, Jordy Alba, who's someone who pushes back, pushes up pretty high. He actually has a pretty good knack on running back and playing some pretty good defense.
00:17:32
Speaker
ah Ian Frey, who's the right back, he's typically pretty good about that as well. um Doesn't have as much pace, but he's he's he's very good. Did he move from center back? So he at some point was playing center back.
00:17:48
Speaker
They actually at one point in about a season ago or two, he was actually playing CDM like one or two games as well. ah But he was playing a center back position. Then naturally he felt comfortable at the right back position.
00:18:02
Speaker
But he's been competing for that position with a guy named Cello Weigandt. ah It's been a back and forth because they're both very different. Cello's a very defensive-minded player, not great offensively. Ian Frey is great offensively and not as, I guess, consistent as Cello Wagon is on defense.
00:18:21
Speaker
But he's been able to hold his own, especially against Pacey pacey wingers. The center back position is kind of where we have our fear because it's been... a pretty different duo every game or every other game.
00:18:37
Speaker
The last duo to play together was Gonzalo Lujan and Maxi Falcone. ah But Noah Allen, who's a homegrown player, has been the best center back so far this season.
00:18:49
Speaker
um Toto Aviles, he's a pretty good center back. He's been riding the pine for the most part this season. So that is where you're going to see a little bit of... of ah room to be able to roam for Seattle.
00:19:05
Speaker
The only other thing is also Busquets isn't as good as he was five years ago. Defensively, he could be a liability, right? There's some plays where he has that he has great mind to play, to to be in the right place at the right time.
00:19:22
Speaker
And sometimes his lack of speed is a detriment to the team. So those are things that I would see as as advantageous for for Seattle for sure. The Busquets one is interesting because like when they when he first came to the league, he's one of the best passers I've ever seen.
00:19:40
Speaker
like oh yeah, absolutely. In terms of his vision and his mind. Yeah, his long passing and this the switches. and I can see why Messi is like... yeah I feel like he brought all the guys that are like, that's my guy.
00:19:54
Speaker
And I can, I definitely saw right away, having not watched all that much Busquets, like when Busquets got to Miami, I was like, I see why, why Messi like is so intent. It was so intent on bringing this guy to the team. So comfortable.
00:20:08
Speaker
Uh, but you know, i guess what I'm hoping in this game is that, uh, Seattle's double pivot matching up with, uh, inner Miami's midfield. ah you know, hopefully they can use the, uh, kind of dynamic traits that they've been showing in this tournament and maybe, take advantage of a matchup with a guy like Busquets, which might sound crazy, but it's, you know, it's the defensive aspect of it. Like he's gonna, he's gonna hit some crazy passes. He's gonna, he's gonna do his thing out there. I mean, you guys are, the you guys are kind of depleted though. Like,
00:20:44
Speaker
You have people out injured. You have people out. I mean, you guys, I was just going over this in the, in the show that I just had. You guys, since June have had nine red cards.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, it's been, ri it's crazy. Like, yeah, I call it the, uh, I call it the crash out red card boys. They, uh, they, they found a, uh, uh, it's remarkable. The, uh, the multifaceted versatility that they found and how they managed to get sent off.
00:21:12
Speaker
Uh, you got, you know, you got throwing a ball at a fan. Uh, you got flipping off the ref. That was all in the same one. Uh, you've got like the more normal ones that are on a slide tackles, but then you got Danny Musovsky bumping the ref, uh, knew who's gotten three of them by himself. It is this, see they, uh,
00:21:31
Speaker
Steam loves to get red cards. They managed to take results in spite of that somehow. I don't i don't know. It would be nice if they could make it through a match with all 11 guys, but apparently too much to ask, as we saw in the last game. But that is one thing I'm looking for. is Andrew Thomas scares me.
00:21:48
Speaker
that that man That mustache of a man scares me. Just for his his penalty prowess or just his general? I mean, just because he's just a he's just a unit. Like yeah ah he's he he was really good with penalties.
00:22:04
Speaker
I mean, he has the one of the best goalie looks of all time. So he i'm scared this is his first like extended. he He got this whole tournament starting because Stefan Fry got a concussion and Fry's back. But they just let the guy who started the tournament go through the ah tournament. So, that's good yeah, this is our first look at the heir apparent.
00:22:26
Speaker
Uh, and he's been incredible in this tournament, especially in that penalty shootout. Uh, but, uh, How are you feeling, I guess, about about this game? And what would you say the temperature of the of the fan base is? Are people feeling pretty pretty confident? Or is there any apprehension about having to do it on the road, play on turf, any of that stuff?
Team Building and MLS Growth Strategies
00:22:46
Speaker
I think the swing is definitely up in terms of the feeling behind this team. um We have players that have been injured that are contributing and they've been looking better than we anticipated.
00:22:59
Speaker
ah and I feel like everybody feels good about the game coming up against Seattle. Uh, I mean, obviously, you know, ah doing an inner Miami podcast, everybody feels pretty confident that we're going to win. Uh, but for the most part, just generally speaking without any sort of biases, I feel like the swing is definitely up for sure with the contribution, with the players and stuff.
00:23:21
Speaker
It's going to be great. Yeah, I think, uh, I don't know. it's kind of I guess I haven't really taken the full pulse of it. But speaking for my for myself, it's one of those games where ordinarily Seattle in a final, historically, I'll take them all day.
00:23:39
Speaker
It's just that like when you're matching up with Messi, everything just kind of goes up in the air. But ah i'm ah I'm really excited to see how it pans out. This is kind of... ah we We were kind of talking about it on our post-game show. It's sort of like a... ah It's a matchup of like different paths, different ideologies, different ways of ah of team building. you know You've got like the the big flashy superstars.
00:24:06
Speaker
You've got a team that the whole one of the big controversies around this team this year is that they don't spend any money at all on the transfer market. And they'll do stuff like ah sign Snyder Brunel as a homegrown midfielder and be like, see, that's our Yeah.
00:24:18
Speaker
that's our addition and i Yeah, but it's just not it's just not the same thing as what a club like Inter-Miami does or yeah or can do. So I think that kind of storyline with it is a lot of fun as well. And it's I think you know the two preeminent clubs that are near the top of the league and considered the bigger trophy contenders this year going at it. So, ah Chris, I know you said you were on a little bit of a ah of a time crunch, so I won't keep you for...
00:24:47
Speaker
too much longer, but, uh, I guess, uh, anything else about this game that you wanted to hit, or did you have anything that you wanted to ask about from a Seattle perspective that you were, uh, wondering about?
00:25:00
Speaker
I do want to add to what you were just saying now. If there's any team in the West Coast, aside from like the Los Angeles teams, that I feel that can be able to sort of build up, you know, to where the MLS is trying to get to is Seattle.
00:25:16
Speaker
I believe that you guys have probably one of the best fan bases consistently. and a lot of history in terms of ah you know in the mls and american soccer so i feel like at some point you guys can be able to get a big fish from the other side of the pond ah Has there been any talks about that in terms of like Seattle looking around? Because i mean, Thomas Mueller to Vancouver to me was shocking.
00:25:43
Speaker
And I figured to myself, why wouldn't he go to Seattle? It's just, ah it's just not something that this team does. And I don't know if they make it a point of like, not,
00:25:55
Speaker
doing it, but like when you look at the big signings that they have made over the years, it's guys like Nico Ladero and Raul Rui Diaz who are not household names in the same way as like a Thomas Miller or Kyungmin, but these are guys that you know are big money, high pedigree,
00:26:13
Speaker
transfers in their own right that had a lot of uh impact on the club and on the league and on winning and on the trophies that this team has won it's just not the same type of guy and even in the the last big splashy type signing that they made was pedro de la vega who is a high upside he was a high upside prospect when they signed him but not a known commodity so it's just uh like it's not something that they have done historically and not really something i expect them to do especially because... ah
00:26:46
Speaker
they're, they clearly, there's something going on where they're not as willing to spend money in general as they used to be. They have a, you open you 22 spot that they didn't fill in this window. So yeah, no, I, I don't, I don't expect them to really do anything on like a Thomas Mueller or Sun Hung Min type level, but like they, I, I personally don't care as long as they're winning and contending and competing for and ultimately winning trophies.
00:27:10
Speaker
So that's sort of, that's why this game is kind of so huge. Cause it's like, uh, can you offer your proof of concept of how you've been doing this and win this trophy and to get to do it against this team?
00:27:22
Speaker
Like it's the kind of, it's the perfect matchup to like test it really. And I do think, you know, there is kind of there's like a, stigma kind of a negative stigma that comes with name chasing or like the retirement league or signing these guys over at the back end of their career or whatever.
00:27:43
Speaker
But it it is funny. Like when you're talking about messy, that just kind of goes out the window. Like that, that's one where if you have the opportunity to do it, any team in the world would be absolutely just high out of their mind to not do that.
00:27:57
Speaker
So it's just, yeah, it's kind of a different thing. And I think that the whole retirement league deal, I think it's starting to die down seeing that players like Son and like Rodrigo DePaul came over, right?
00:28:10
Speaker
In a time where they're not necessarily retiring. and they're not They might be in their prime a little bit, but They're not retiring, right? They still have some good years ahead of them. yeah And they're spending it here in the MLS.
00:28:23
Speaker
So, like, my whole deal is don't look at Miami and think to yourself, they're doing it wrong. We need to start from the ground up and just work with, you know, people in the in in in in academy.
00:28:37
Speaker
Like, no, let's let's all get on the ball here and make this league better then it can than anybody could ever imagine. You got the corners of the map that can for sure get involved.
00:28:48
Speaker
Right. After that, you'll start to see it branch in a little bit more. I feel like it can definitely be a success. Absolutely. i And like, I think you can have it both ways, like in in a way, like it doesn't, it doesn't have to be one way or the other, where it's like ah we we do it all through our, by ourselves with our internal. I mean, you don't want to be the Philadelphia person.
00:29:08
Speaker
Philadelphia Union, like where they're just getting kids from like, el you know, middle schools like, hey, come on, come over here and join our soccer academy and we'll pick you up. And then like, no, we want some big names. We want people to kind of stir the pot in a positive way.
00:29:23
Speaker
so that they're they're an example of a team where it's like they've had great success doing it one way but haven't really been able to get stuff over the line and like have the trophy yeah hall to show for it and uh i think their fan base feels like that that's part of it it it's like you have such good infrastructure such good foundation some of the best youth development we've ever seen in mls if you guys just like spent a little bit it might doesn't even have to be like ah a big name like if it was even like a ladero or ruy diaz type profile of guy like i think there's a feeling with them that that could elevate them into like a trophy winning club so it's like uh there there's uh there's more than one way to do it and that's what we're gonna like we're gonna see in this matchup it's gonna be like a clash of that stuff so it's gonna be fun uh chris i'll let you go on that uh thank you so much for popping on and uh talking about this game with us uh it was nice nice to meet you
00:30:19
Speaker
ah You got ah anything that you want to plug as far as what you guys are are working on? Coverage you got coming up here?
Closing Remarks and Promotions
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, sure. If you guys want to visit the InterMiami channel, you can go to Battered Herons on YouTube.
00:30:35
Speaker
We also do a MLS show so you can go to Battered MLS fans and you can be able to check us out on there on on what is it? Twitter on YouTube. We do a bunch of other stuff as well.
00:30:47
Speaker
We also do Las Carzas in Spanish coverage in Spanish and in for InterMiami. And check us out. It's a fun time all the time with the chat. Some of the people from the show that just came over, they're hanging out in the chat right now. Shout out to you guys.
00:31:03
Speaker
So it's been really cool. chat everyone go toss a battered herons sub i put the uh put the link in the description so go check out their coverage and uh give them some support and uh chris thanks man looking forward to this game and uh maybe we'll uh get some collab again soon these teams play in a couple weeks so maybe get you uh get you back on for that but uh just thanks for it thanks for popping on on the on the short notice man that great Yeah, no problem. Shout out to you. Thank you guys for having me. And we'll link up soon. I promise.
00:31:37
Speaker
Take care. Have a good one. All right. You too, brother.