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Kickoff: Who should the Seattle Sounders want to face in the playoffs?
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It was a second straight 1-0 victory for the Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field on Saturday, as the Rave Green topped Real Salt Lake on a Paul Rothrock game-winner. With fifth place in the West all but locked up, we'll discuss Seattle's prospective postseason opponents, and preview this weekend's Decision Day clash at New York City FC.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
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
Introduction and Live Recording
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What, the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be
00:00:44
Speaker
Good morning, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I'm Ari. That's Nico. We got a big show for you all here this morning. Apologies for a bit of a late start, but we're here now and we are rolling.
00:00:57
Speaker
The content is commencing. ah We got
Seattle Sounders' Recent Matches
00:01:01
Speaker
a lot to talk about. The Seattle Sounders, a second straight 1-0 victory this time over Real Salt Lake. And we got decision day coming up.
00:01:11
Speaker
Seattle is going to be heading to to the Big Apple, New York City FC, playing the New York Yankees outfield. And there's going to be a lot going on throughout the league. So ah it's going to be a big content week.
00:01:24
Speaker
Nico, what's up, man? How you feeling? Hey, what's going on, Ari? Family of Loving Scorchers kickoff. Thank you for being here, of course, after, hey, a greedy win. They don't all have to be brilliant. They don't all have to be entertaining.
00:01:40
Speaker
You know, like one sir, Dom Toretto said one time, doesn't matter if it's by an inch or a mile, a win is a win, baby. And sometimes you got to take it that way. And that's what happened to the Sounders, man. They went in, they did the work. So I'm ready to talk about it, man. Ready.
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah, I know. I mean, I think you could say you could say that about ah about each of the last two games. Both kind of gritty, grinded out, 1-0 victories. The first one over Portland, you expect that from a derby.
00:02:09
Speaker
And then this one, I guess let's just ah let's just start with the circumstances of ah of the lineup, and then we'll talk about the game itself. ah Before we get into it, i do need you all to like the video.
00:02:23
Speaker
Sub to the channel if you haven't. Buy the Lobbing Scorchers hot sauce. Support hacks and ferments. LobbingScorchers.com slash sauce. ah And follow us on Instagram and YouTube. Become a yeah YouTube member.
00:02:37
Speaker
All that good stuff. ah Nico, this ah this ah RSL game, let's ah we started late, so let's just get ah let's just jump right into it. The... the the The lineup, there's a lot of guys missing. I went down the list on ah under the lights. Let's see if I still have it. Yeah, yeah okay. Obed Vargas, Snyder Brunel, Reed Baker Whiting, Albert Rusnak, Georgie Manungu, Christian Roldan, Nuhu, Yamar, Kim Ki. I mean, am I am i missing anybody? was that the Was that the whole list? You had a lot of missing.
00:03:11
Speaker
Out and no I think Those are the important ones because I did Have a little bit of an issue with in the Broadcast they were talking about 11 guys Because I'm sure they're referring to Areola And Ryan Kent yeah like The guys who are already out on Exactly, those shouldn't be part of that So no, but that that that's the list The starting 11 The starting 11 itself I mean ah it was It was Rotated, there was a lot of guys Missing who would be in the first choice 11 But it actually, there it was only like
00:03:44
Speaker
I think we counted it, like three or four changes from ah from the Portland game. So the 11 was decently strong. It was when you got to the bench where ah where you know you had extreme call-ups.
00:03:57
Speaker
You had Antino Lopez. ah Why am I blanking on the... Peter Kingston, Tino Lopez, and Seba Gomez. Pete, that's who that's the obvious one that i was missing.
00:04:09
Speaker
You had Pete out there. Pete actually ah got some minutes, which that was cool to see. But I guess, Nico, to start it off, what did you make of how the team was able to pull out this result, you know, even with all these guys missing.
00:04:22
Speaker
ah It's kind of a, that's a test of your depth and that's a test of your, I think, fortitude to an extent. What did you make of how they handled all the absences and just this performance against
Lineup Challenges and Player Performance
00:04:33
Speaker
RSL? You get the, uh,
00:04:35
Speaker
The early goal from Rothrock, which was great. I thought the first whole first half hour was honestly excellent. That's the best they've looked since League's Cup, I think by far. That first like 30, 35 minutes. ah And then you yeah have the penalty kick as well. So ah what did what did you make of that whole ah that whole match against RSL?
00:04:55
Speaker
Look, I was satisfied with that performance. And I know that a lot of people were upset about... you know This is also an RSL team that was missing key players. and ah you know You're at home and you missed the PK and you know you had opportunities.
00:05:12
Speaker
and The same problems are there. i just have a hard time saying the same problems remain when you're playing without eight to nine players. You are...
00:05:24
Speaker
having to call in Tacoma Defiance guys, you had three players that at one point in time needed to come out because they have some sort of limitation.
00:05:37
Speaker
JP, Jordan Morris, and Pedro de la Vega, you knew that they were going to come out. So to me going into this game and, you know, doing a little bit of radio there in Spanish, first thing I said is,
00:05:51
Speaker
The first 60 minutes will tell you exactly where the sounders stand. And that's going to be the key to the game, right? Because once those 60 minutes are up, you're forced to get into that very light, only 17-player deep, uh,
00:06:07
Speaker
ah you know, rotation. Obviously, you have three guys that are new, but you still don't have a full bench. ah Most of the players that you had in from the senior team were two attackers that you were probably just going to need one of those.
00:06:22
Speaker
So there just wasn't a lot of options. But I was encouraged by a lot of it, man. Look, I... Again, I would hope that by now people know that I'm i'm far from an optimist and and and a guy that's always going to be looking at the bright side. You're not a guy you're not a Glazer.
00:06:39
Speaker
Not a Glazer at all. So for me, I thought that the first 40 minutes, maybe 37 minutes, 37, 40 minutes of that game we were were great. Were great for the circumstances that you had. I thought that The spacing was phenomenal. I thought that they controlled possession. They controlled the tempo.
00:06:59
Speaker
I thought that they were good defensively. This was a team that JP hasn't played since May, and he looked great. and he He was a guy, i mean, start since May, and he is a guy that looked great on the ball. He was ah consistently helping out the build out. I thought that he was good defensively.
00:07:21
Speaker
physically there. He had two or three great balls in the time he was in to start off a transition moment. ah One of them, I want to say, was the Kalani and his, you know, the outside of the boot and he curls perfectly. I mean, I thought that JP was showed you that he is a guy that you can rely on moving forward.
00:07:44
Speaker
And that's huge as it is because you had that question mark of where JP is. So I thought that was a big one. Danny Leyva, as someone who is, you know, one of the main candidates to eventually take over if Ovid Vargas does make that move away from this team, I thought he looked very good.
00:08:05
Speaker
i tweeted that he... There were two things in display. One, his passing ability and technical ability, which we knew he's always had. But he also put in this display his growth ability on his defensive effort and his reach and athleticism, which is something that was a criticism of Danny Leyva.
00:08:25
Speaker
I think he's worked hard to better that. There's a couple of runs late in that game that he's making now that maybe he wasn't making a couple of years ago. So that's another encouraging thing for me. And the Jordan Morris situation, look. Let's get into it.
00:08:41
Speaker
Jordan Morris, I thought that that run that he makes to – get the ball back because, you know, he's pressing. He gets it, runs into the 18, and then passes. That that that drawback pass at at the end line, that's something that he has just zeroed in. That was a great assist. like It was a great assist, and he's done before. He hasn't scored a goal since he got back. He's missed a couple of chances. i think that's his second assist since he's got back, and we should – We should acknowledge that he looked dangerous. He was a yeah contributor to that excellent first 35, 40 minutes that ah that we were talking about. He gets the assist and he wins the penalty that he ended up missing with a dangerous...
00:09:28
Speaker
play. So while, while people are going to harp on the, uh, the Ms. PK, I think we should, uh, we should, we should be real about the totality of his performance. There was some good stuff in there. He looked a lot more, I think like the, uh, the Jordan Morris of old, but, uh, sorry, i cut you off. What did you make of that, uh, of the whole situation with the, uh, with the PK, ah you, you know, you have Ferreira and De La Vega out there that those, if we were kind of talking the press box, we're like, who's going to take this right now?
00:09:57
Speaker
Who takes this? There's no Rusnak. ah Who takes it? And I was like, all right, probably Jesus Ferreira. Jesus Ferreira takes the ball. And he does the little, like, I'm going to take it thing. But ah Jordan ends up taking it. It gets saved.
00:10:09
Speaker
ah What did you think of just the the decision that to have him take it, the logic behind it. And can you at least, can you understand why they had him take it, even if it didn't work out?
00:10:21
Speaker
And I, I also think, i mean, tell me what you think of this, but I also think there's a decent possibility that ah it's not like he was like, no, I need to take it to get myself going. I think Jesus Ferreira was, I think there was probably part of him that was like, I'm going to let Jordan take it. i don't know.
00:10:36
Speaker
that's just yeah It sounded as I expected it to be that it was a player decision. So that to me makes it all that much better because if Jordan Morris was insistent on taking it or was willing to take it because he knows that he's got to get himself right, he's putting himself in a position where he's He knows the outcome. I mean, it could either be great for my confidence or it could be that worse if that penalty gets safe. But I thought that the courage to go out there and get on the spot is big.
00:11:11
Speaker
The camaraderie, like you mentioned, whether it was Alex Roldan or Ferreira, who are the two guys that I would have thought would have taken that PK, I wanted him to have it. that That all works well for me, right? I think that...
00:11:23
Speaker
You should be able to allow your st striker to get some confidence. Now, there's that the other side of the coin, which is it was a poor taking penalty. wasn't very good. wasn't placed. It didn't have a lot of pace.
00:11:37
Speaker
It's a great save by Cabral. It had the pace. Yeah. But it's not it's not a good height. It's not really yes that's well placed. It's a good save. Yeah, and it's a great save, right? Cabral is a guy that is pretty good at him, right? He's 50. He's ah batting 500, right? He's stopped four out of eight this year.
00:11:55
Speaker
ah And just he reads it well, too. So... That's the negative part of it. But for Jordan to just get that out of the way, you know, and and in a moment of the game that you knew wasn't going to cost anyone, right? Because had it been a different circumstance late in the game, needed to win, and he's like him or or the group decides that he's going to take it, maybe you could harp on that a little more, whether selfishness or wrong decision or whatever.
00:12:25
Speaker
But I thought that with the lead, right? and this is something that Jeremiah and Tim kind of helped me digest a little bit on at the press box, was that that, you know, the moment in time where the the penalty was taken, you know, there wasn't as much pressure, but it was a good moment to potentially get ahead.
00:12:42
Speaker
So there was more to be win than lost in that particular time. Now, you know, I'm talking... With, you know, the newspaper under my arm where I know that the result didn't get taken away. And I know people are going to comment on that.
00:12:57
Speaker
But I still think that regardless of the Sounders were in such control over, you know, 45, 35 minutes of the game that, you know, they give themselves a good opportunity to win. And therefore, I didn't think that the decision was bad.
00:13:14
Speaker
Uh, yeah, no, I agree. Like the way I think of any kind of in-game decision that you have to make like that during a given game, in this case, who takes a penalty?
00:13:25
Speaker
ah the way I look at it is if it backfires, I try and think of it from a lens of like, all right can at least understand why they did it? You know? And if the process behind how you got to the, uh, to the result,
00:13:39
Speaker
makes sense to me and I can at least understand why you did it, then, you know, then I can live with it if it backfires. And in this case, you know, you you have your DP number nine coming back from injury. he' Been a frustrating year. He's barely played this year because he's been injured all year.
00:13:52
Speaker
ah He is looking okay since he got back, but not really like it's not. it's He feels like he hasn't fully gotten going yet. You got a penalty kick ah at a point in a game against a team that you're way better than that. You're beating the shit out of.
00:14:05
Speaker
At the time, you're already ahead 1-0. if if if that game is tied and it's late, then I probably, late in the game, like tie game, games in the balance, and you have ah a guy who who has never taken a PK in an MLS game taking it,
00:14:20
Speaker
That's where I would question him more. But I think with the game being in that situation, I can understand why they had him take it. you You stand to benefit a lot if he hits that. It is risky from the sense that if you if you have it saved, ah you know, I think Jordan is like a confidence player to a degree. All number nines kind of are confidence players.
00:14:39
Speaker
to a degree and he's no different so uh i understand why they did it even if it didn't work out and luckily it didn't end up costing them the result in this case uh it almost did though nico it almost did ah they did uh they did do their level best to blow another lead at home they looked like they gave up the equalizer and then uh var to the rescue it was correctly waved off ah But that was still, there was a couple frustrating parts of this game. The fact that they couldn't get the second goal after the saved penalty was a little frustrating.
00:15:14
Speaker
And then just the fact that they got that close to another blown lead, it's just like, oh my God. Like when they, when he scored that ah equalizer that ended up getting waved off, it just was like so exasperated because you're like, all right, like you felt like you knew it was, it was coming. yeah.
00:15:30
Speaker
that was That was pretty frustrating. But, Nico, I wanted to ask you, ah the surprisingly to me, some of the hottest discourse on the postgame show was regarding Danny Musavsky.
00:15:41
Speaker
ah People were really frustrated at the yellow card that he that he took where he... I can't remember exactly what happened. He fouled a guy in a pretty dangerous spot for a free kick that gave them a look at the equalizer.
00:15:56
Speaker
And then also, I think with the... ah He out of all the crash out red card boys, his crash out red
Discussion on Player Futures and Team Strategy
00:16:04
Speaker
card in in League's Cup was one of the worst. ah So I think people were frustrated about that.
00:16:10
Speaker
Noah said that that sent him over the edge and that he wants moves off the team next year. I was like, yeah, well, I was like, that seems reactionary. But I'll tell you, ah there was a few people in chat and at least one person who called in who was like who agreed. I think what it is, Nico, is like, ah I think people are just kind of tired of the crash out red card boys.
00:16:29
Speaker
Like when he committed that fat, that ah he, when he, when he took that yellow, they get a dangerous free kick. It's just like one of those needless things where ah you put yourself in. If you put yourself in enough situations to choke the equalizer, you're going to choke the equalizer. This has happened a lot over the last few weeks.
00:16:47
Speaker
I am. I don't understand ah why this foul from Moose gets singled out compared to anyone else who's crashed out this year. This team's got nine red cards. He didn't even get sent off. If he got sent off in this situation, i would understand it more.
00:17:02
Speaker
But, you know, we were we were talking about Moose's status on the team. for next year. Cause I was saying like, I'm, I am not on this page of like, I'm that, I'm that pressed about the yellow that he took. It's like kind of annoying, but, uh, but it's whatever.
00:17:17
Speaker
But I do think like, if you look at this roster for, for next year and how they're going to handle it and like keep the guys that they, that they want to keep, you're not going to be able to keep everybody. There are going to be decisions that are going to but have to be made.
00:17:29
Speaker
Uh, there's There's just like a very strong argument strategically for trading Moose with the year that he's had this year pumping up his value like it has. You could probably get a lot for him.
00:17:42
Speaker
And then the resources that you can theoretically get from him in a trade, you can use to either keep someone else that you might not have been able to keep or kick towards, you know, someone that ah someone else that you bring in at another position that you want to strengthen.
00:17:57
Speaker
And then you still have Jordan. And Osaze, who's had a great year in that position group as well. And then you also you also have a situation where what the the blueprint of what they did with Moose could you theoretically replicate that again? I mean, the the scouting department and the analytics team, they, they cooked on this signing. They saw a guy that his underlying numbers and his efficiency numbers were excellent. He had just never gotten ah full compliment of minutes to see if he could have a season like the season that he's having.
00:18:30
Speaker
this year and they took the bet like that. We believe that if we put this guy who has these attributes, attributes and these underlying numbers in, in our system with our chance generation, he would probably eat He'll probably That's the bet they made and it paid off handsomely.
00:18:46
Speaker
And the result is now you got a player whose value is skyrocketed. It's higher than it's ever been. That's the best time to trade somebody. So really like you could take all the crash out yellows and red cards, ah aside And the strategic argument for trading Moose this off season would be still be a pretty strong one.
00:19:03
Speaker
I mean, it's at least something that ah that's going to get talked about and they're definite. I mean, you know, they're there as they evaluate what they're going to next year. They're thinking about that. So, ah I mean, ah what did you, ah what do you think of the, just, I guess the yellow card discourse, does that do anything for you? And then, no but like, on I guess the general concept of, uh,
00:19:24
Speaker
trading moves and then how they should handle the number nine for next year. No, I think you basically touched on, on everything that we've talked about in the past. And I feel like that's not just my thought process. I think that as an organization and, you know, reading in between the lines of what we've heard, Craig Weibel said that that's going to be the case ah that the, the little bit of attitude issue,
00:19:51
Speaker
He's almost perturbed as a little bit whiny at times, but then it it is crash outs. This is something that he does even at training. Like he'll get up, he'll have those little tantrums. I mean, he's crash out. No one described him at one point as crash out adjacent.
00:20:05
Speaker
yeah He is. I thought I didn't realize he really had that much of it to him until the league's cup. And then since then I'm like, okay, yeah. Yeah. And sometimes it comes off as a little bit of a tantrum. Sometimes it comes up aggressive. So there is a thing there, but it doesn't sway me.
00:20:21
Speaker
Anyway, because look, at the end of the day,
00:20:26
Speaker
his performance this year, I feel like, yes, it has to do a lot with him getting on this hot streak, but it also has to do with the volume of play that has clearly raised compared to years prior.
00:20:42
Speaker
You know, I asked Brian about it and he said he's been trying to do it his whole career, but this is as dynamic as I've seen a Sounders team be.
00:20:52
Speaker
and And that's why I'm so encouraged on on things that I saw in this RSL game. Because conceptually, the identity is still there regardless of who's there. but the The pressing, in this one, they press like a 3-4-3. The volume of play, the movements, the spacing, all this stuff is good.
00:21:10
Speaker
So when you have a guy like Danny Mussovsky, I think that you can go out there and very easily replace him. keeping the system intact and those other players that amplify that and and go out there and get yourself a poacher for a lot less and with less ah crash this crash out adjacent tendencies, right? So Jason tendencies, exactly. So,
00:21:37
Speaker
ah For me, it is clear that regardless of the yellow or not, it doesn't sway me any the way. When he did it, and I think that people probably got upset that he kind of goes hard at the ref, and that's what got him in trouble last time. It was like similar to what he did in League's Cup. Yeah. just like dude Exactly.
00:21:56
Speaker
and so So those are the things that, yeah, they don't really sway me any other way because I know his limitations. I think that you're absolutely right. You got to sell high when you got him low, especially when you've kind of rescued his career in a certain sense.
00:22:11
Speaker
and then you let him go and you go find somebody else. So ah that to me is um is written stone. I really don't expect him to be part of this team in 2026. Yeah. There was, there was just like a ah moment when, you know, he was going at the ref or whatever, where, I mean, it's impossible with how, uh, with how this year has gone when those situations come up to not be like, okay, here we go. You know, the, the, uh, Timbers game as, uh, as soon as Rusnak went into that tackle, was like, all right, all right.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yep. Yep. There it is. And then that like when, when Moose was doing his thing in this game, I had, I did have that same, uh, thought go through my head, uh, Jacob says red card fatigue. We have red card fatigue. Any red card or card at this point is exhausting and feels way worse than it is potentially. And yeah, I get that. i I mean, he didn't get sent off. I think let's be fair. You know, yeah i get why, ah why people are reacting like that.
00:23:07
Speaker
Trust me. I have as much red card for fatigue as anybody. ah But like in this situation, he didn't end up getting sent off. it was just a yellow. But i do i do understand where people are coming from.
00:23:20
Speaker
ah Jacob, get the super chat train rolling. Appreciate you. Hey, Jacob! Says Moose has increased his value dollars-wise this year. it's almost It's most likely can only go down moving forward. Sell him all his stock is high.
00:23:33
Speaker
Exactly. that is the That's the thinking behind it. And just purely ah strategically. I do think... the ah The idea of like, oh, you can just go ah you can just go replace Moose probably pretty easily for a lot cheaper.
00:23:47
Speaker
That's easier said than done. i think Moose makes what he's done this year look easy. but i'm just I'm telling you guys, like a high level poacher like that is actually, that's, it's not easy to do, number one. And it's not that easy to find. Like,
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah, but the problem is that he's not a high-level poacher. He has one high-level poaching season. He's had a season. And like I told you before, Jeremy Ling had a season. And Sir Mix-a-Lot had, you know, i't a couple of... I don't know about that, though, because if you if you look at his if you look at his underlying numbers from before he got to Seattle, I think he's always been this level of player. He just didn't get the minutes. That was like that that was why it was such good find.
00:24:34
Speaker
Maybe, maybe. But, you know, he had minutes last season. And again, you always the the reason why a lot of times we do what we do is just so people get a little bit of the inside and everything training.
00:24:46
Speaker
It wasn't like he was lighting it up. You know what I mean? So I think that. Without disrespecting him, of course, and and and understanding that you've got to give him credit for what he's done this year.
00:24:58
Speaker
To me, you have to look at the longevity of someone's consistency to really call him a high-level poacher. Like Chicharito Hernandez, that's a high-level poacher. He's done his whole career. He's done it with little minutes, with bunch of minutes. He's done it the national team level, club team level.
00:25:15
Speaker
um He's Chicharito-ing this year, Mooses. did that Exactly. yeah he He definitely is. And that's great. You know you need those guys to do it. ah But I just don't know if it'd be hard to to find a guy that's going to give you that.
00:25:27
Speaker
Not to mention the fact that this team has a... a real need to go and find the next best thing at the striker position. It's just, it's just a must, right?
00:25:40
Speaker
As much as I love Jordan Morris, again, I've said it a million times, you got go look for that replacement. So there's going to be one more guy that you bring in um If you want an experienced guy, again, within MLS, I think that you can go out there and get yourself a guy that's going to give you a couple of goals, you know, 10, if not seven or eight, because you shouldn't be,
00:26:00
Speaker
You shouldn't be counting on ah Moose having another season like this one. You should be focusing on Jordan Morris having a season like he had ah couple of years ago, getting him healthy, making sure that he's your guy, and then having this new U-22 that you go out there and get to be that replacement to Jordan Morris.
00:26:19
Speaker
I just think that there's a broader spectrum than just focusing on Danny or what Danny could do or or or or that replacement of Danny, which would be an experienced MLS player. slaves you know just Just say it in that way.
00:26:33
Speaker
um So yeah, I think there's bigger things at play than what we do with that Moose's spot. Yeah, Scott says D-Rowe has earned it you know I think that's ah that something that you got to think about too. is he was He was doing essentially a lot of the same stuff that Moose was doing, I think, coming out of MLS Next Pro. He was he was banging in goals and is a younger player.
00:26:57
Speaker
ah maybe and he's a more complete attacker, in my opinion. Yeah, and more, like, theoretical future upside as well. Like, Moose, you know, that this is his peak.
00:27:08
Speaker
D-Row theoretically hasn't reached his peak. He hasn't been getting as many minutes and since Jordan came back. He was about to get in this game, was he not? And then didn't Schmetz switch the sub? Isn't that what happened? Like, he he had D-Row coming in.
00:27:25
Speaker
And then the VAR took away the the goal. And then he switched it with ah either. I think it was Kingston who we yeah we switched it with. But hopefully Osaze gets some more minutes maybe in this decision day game. And then ah we'll see what happens in the season.
00:27:45
Speaker
in the playoffs. Nico, anything else on this ah RSL game before we, ah before we move on? I mean, we hit the PK discussion, we hit the moose discussion, we hit the lineup discussion. ah it was a big win. I think, you know, you got two wins in a row now after not winning since the league's cup final, ah the Timbers game.
00:28:02
Speaker
I feel like there was a, there was some, good stuff, but maybe not like a totally complete performance. I don't think this was a complete performance either, but I i did think it was very encouraging. I was encouraged to see how they played for, ah for most of the first half that felt, that felt, didn't that feel just more like the team that we saw in, in leagues cup with how, how well the press was working. They were on top of RSL.
00:28:26
Speaker
That was nice to see. They got the early goal. That was nice to see. And then also, I mean, I think the thing that I've loved about this team this year is just, how many the volume so chances that they, uh,
00:28:38
Speaker
that they're creating and then the quality of the chances they're creating. I mean, I think this is the best, uh, this is the best attacking sounders team I've seen maybe ever just in, uh, in terms uh, from the standpoint of like, uh, how many chances that they generate and just when when they, when they get locked in, like it's a high powered, really productive, ah really like fun to watch offense. So it was good to see them tap into that level.
00:29:06
Speaker
And the stats back it up. Like for me, ah I'd have to do some real, i don't know, soul searching. Because to me, the best attack this team has ever had continues to be Jordan, Raul, Nico Triangle.
00:29:23
Speaker
um Love that. I just thought that it was so good when all those guys were healthy. Maybe healthy could be the reason why it never happened. Broke out this way I don't know But this team does feel like They create a lot more chances You know XGY is just The volume of play The amount of chances But in terms of talent I don't know why I just I can't get away from that You're a Raul guy You're a Raul guy Yeah, Raul, Nico. I mean, you know, and Nico first, then Raul, then, you know, and then Jordan. I mean, those three guys in their prime just kind of tells you, it's like, man, that should be the best attacking. But it really does doesn't feel like that. that
00:30:03
Speaker
This is a team that consistently throughout the whole season, regardless of having a lot of injuries, and that's something that we should ask out on, the fact that if but they've only lost one game at home all season.
00:30:16
Speaker
And they did that with all the injuries and all the things, and they still kept their identity. I think that's huge. And that's why I continue to say that. I feel like this is the best ah coaching job that I've seen Brian do. and And you can see it in his smile when I asked him about the offense. And he feels like he's succeeded. And and and and I believe him.
00:30:33
Speaker
I've given him a lot of credit this year for... I called it reinventing himself, but maybe that's not it because he's been trying to do it, but just succeeding ah with this particular group to getting him going. But there are a couple of things that I want to touch on before ah we do discuss, hopefully very briefly, the unveiling of the Leagues Cup banner.
00:30:51
Speaker
ah But there's a couple of things here. Once again, there's the positives, the negatives. For me, there couple. One of them is that if there is a recurring factor, it's just...
00:31:05
Speaker
The decision making I think Kalani is a guy that's so good at times and he gets in such good positions But his vision sometimes is not quite there. There's a transition moment where if he sees Ferreira on his left side making a run and he leads him on Ferreira is straight on goal to for an opportunity to Hold the whole stadium man. the whole stadium was yelling Everybody was pointing right? He just passed it the wrong way, know Yeah, and then there was another one with Kalani again where he cut we he makes a great play on the ball.
00:31:35
Speaker
ah He sustains it well. He gets in the inside channel. And again, he just kind of he's very narrow-visioned, at times tunnel-visioned. And you got Rothrock asking for the ball at the top of the corner of the 18.
00:31:48
Speaker
Doesn't see him. um I think Ferreira had a couple of moments where also maybe he... Holds the ball a little bit too long there at the final end, although he was very good. He was great. I'm not trying to say that he didn't have a great game. I'm just saying that those little moments are what I think at some point Seattle needs to do a lot better in order to get through in the playoffs.
00:32:09
Speaker
um And then finally, I thought that you got to credit RSL as well. Mastrani did a great job at understanding, look, in the second half is when we need to press and push and do certain things.
00:32:23
Speaker
And as soon as it was the 45-minute, the second half, it started. He hiking up his line, hiking up his ah confrontation line. He knew that he had Russell on the bench, Agata on the bench.
00:32:36
Speaker
he He had those guys ready to go, while the Sounders, they didn't have that depth. They didn't have that ability to match player for player. And then you saw that really pushed the Sounders deep into their own um third.
00:32:50
Speaker
And that's when the team got a ah little bit disjointed. JP comes off. You get Stu in, who, by the way, we got to give credit to Stu. I thought he was very good. I wanted to see him on. We needed to see him on because we still don't know what's going to happen with Kim Kihee.
00:33:07
Speaker
We know Yammer won't be there for New York City FC. We hope that he's there for the first round of playoffs, but you need to figure out if st Stu can handle his business. And I thought he did.
00:33:18
Speaker
i thought he handled it well. And of course, Alex did too at the center back position, but you likely don't want him there. i saw I thought Stu coming in it was great. but you got to credit RSL because I think that they did a good job at knowing when to bring guys in to really push the boundaries and really pin back a Sounders team that, you know, was a little bit gassed after the 60th minute. And then the guys that came on at the Peter Kingston was okay.
00:33:42
Speaker
I honestly wanted to see Seba Gomez more than I wanted to see Peter Kingston, ah but Peter Kingston was okay. Obviously his first start, couple of bad touches so and, uh, couple of bad decisions, but still did decent work.
00:33:56
Speaker
And then Lopez coming in and kind of playing left back, more of a ah stay home top of left back. I thought it was OK. It was something I wanted to see.
00:34:07
Speaker
um But yeah, that's that's all I have in terms of the game. ah Stefan Fry, another clean sheet. That's also in my notes. Obviously, he wasn't tested all too much, but when he did, he responded.
00:34:19
Speaker
Once again, his distribution was outstanding. Traffic control, you know the way he just leads that ah goal line, I think is important. And I think that's all I have, man.
00:34:31
Speaker
Oh, and of course, De La Vega and Rothrock, great all game. I thought Rothrock was big and De La Vega was big. That's where I was going to go because we got Pat talking about, can we talk about Pedro on the right? Still good, but I thought it really contrasted with him being so elite on the left.
00:34:46
Speaker
I thought De La Vega was excellent in this game. I thought he was great. I thought he was cooking. i think what was frustrating for me is ah that they couldn't get more than one goal in the game for how well La Vega and Jesus Ferreira both played. I felt like they, based on the, the danger that both of those guys were generating, especially in the first half, they really like, they deserved more than more than one goal. But in a way that's a positive because like, if they keep playing, if Jesus Ferreira and De La Vega play like that in the playoffs, the goals will, the chances in the goals will be there like 100%.
00:35:24
Speaker
so I was encouraged to see that from, uh, from that standpoint. But, I mean, did you, did you see anything different from De La Vega? as far as his, I feel like he was, um he was floating around a lot. Like he was playing with a lot of energy. He was flying around.
00:35:38
Speaker
It was almost like he was, uh, reminded me a little of the Nico days where he would just kind of like play wherever. And, uh, That was just great to see because, you know, he's got this tendonitis thing going on.
00:35:50
Speaker
Wasn't playing at all for a couple of games there. And I thought he looked awesome. I thought he looked like the the player that we saw in League's Cup, which was great. to see Yeah, I thought Pedro had a lot of freedom. And I think this is where me and Jeremiah were having a discussion. He saw it more as a 4-2-3-1 in the attack.
00:36:07
Speaker
I think most of the time I saw it more like a 3-4-2-1 because I think that Ferreira and um Pedro had just a lot of interchange and a lot of freedom in those inside channels, ah in those pockets inside.
00:36:22
Speaker
And the the guys giving you the width were Kalani on one side and Paul Rothrock in the other, which, of course, you get a lot of those same concepts from the 4-2-3-1. So I guess that's why we have – ah that that debate of what it was. But I do think that Pedro had a phenomenal game.
00:36:40
Speaker
Again, and it's not just ah the assist, which was it accidental or not? I mean, I still think that, you know, he was trying to get the ball here, I think, on the right side. he was trying do He gets it the left. He was not trying to do that. This is why secondary assists are good, actually.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah. Because ah a situation like that, Jordan Moore, it would be really... unjust if De La Vega got an assist on that play and Jordan didn't get anything.
00:37:07
Speaker
But his position in and in spacing, I think that that that was excellent. i think him and Ferreira, they're certainly building in a little bit of a an excellent report. And Ferreira is slowly really getting into the group. I really love to see that. um By the way, he for all our audience, ah check out his Twitch stream.
00:37:29
Speaker
Is it Twitch? Is that what it's called? Yeah, I think Twitch. He does streaming. He does streaming. He's going to be doing a lot more of it. He just did a stream last night, I think, of ah just him playing FIFA. But um ah I think he's going to be doing a lot of the stuff he used to do in Dallas well where he'll bring on you know, guys from the team and talks to them. And sometimes it's FIFA, sometimes it's other stuff. So check that out. I think that's interesting when, you know, guys have like that secondary, you know, passion for other things.
00:37:57
Speaker
ah Some people don't like it. Some people do. Sometimes he goes well, sometimes he doesn't. You know, Kun Aguero and Javier Hernandez, they kind of rub people the wrong way. I don't know if Ferreira will be that. i think Ferreira will do it correctly, but just check that out.
00:38:12
Speaker
But no, I thought it was good. and But for Rothbrook too, I don't want to, Half his effort go unnoticed I thought that you know there was A couple of times where maybe he wasn't a sharp In the final third of course he gets The goal but I thought defensively man he was just So all over the field there's that Moment where he picks up a ball yeah In in in around 18.
00:38:34
Speaker
And for some reason, the ref stops the run of play. And he's like, what's going on, man Because he was getting ready to just rocket on that side. So I thought that his effort overall was was just very good throughout the whole game. So Paul continuing to make a case for all his contract negotiations, which, oh, by the way, he told us he didn't want to talk too much about it, but it wasn't quite there yet. So obviously team's still trying to extend his contract.
00:39:03
Speaker
He's on those negotiations. So maybe that's something that we also want to throw out there because it was part of what we heard from the team afterwards. Real quick, what do you what do you make of that whole situation? Because ah my impression of it, Nico, I don't know if you've heard similar rumblings.
00:39:20
Speaker
But ah what I've heard is that they are not particularly close on ah on what the number is. And that, ah I mean, you know you know, we don't know what the outcome is We don't know how these negotiations go. Like, maybe when you're negotiating, sometimes you ask for, like, the maximum, and then you come down, and the sides meet in the middle.
00:39:40
Speaker
But... it does seem It does seem like there's like a possibility that Rothrock might actually they might have they might let him walk. because ah he is Everyone knows that he has earned a substantial...
00:39:53
Speaker
raise, but ah how much how much of a raise, I think, becomes the question. ah But you you have a guy who's been such an integral part of the team this year, but I think another factor is like how they've kind of propped him up as like a like the face of the team in in some ways, as far as all the marketing and stuff they were doing with him in League's Cup and like trading the trade the messy jerseys and stuff.
00:40:19
Speaker
When you do all that stuff, you kind of ah you kind of Plant the idea probably in the players camps mind that ah that they're worth even more than they would have already been asking for.
00:40:30
Speaker
Anyway, I don't know. That's just my kind of read on it. But if you have you heard anything on that or do you have any thoughts on how those ne negotiations might pan out? Because like ah we haven't talked about it that much, but that's going to be one of the like testier ones.
00:40:45
Speaker
I think like he's going to be deservedly rightfully asking for a big raise. And I just don't know. I just don't know if the team is going to give him what, what he's asking for. ah Yeah. So, you know, I talked about this on Thursday on soccer down here, but I'll just repeat what we talked about.
00:41:05
Speaker
i understand that Paul Rothrock is an older player that came into the scene late. In just terms of soccer Well in terms of sports in general right I mean he's 26 so I understand that he needs A payday cause not Many of those are coming his way in the Near future in soccer By the time you're 30 you're kind of thought Of as already going downhill So he's gotta get it while he can get it However I do think that there is a way to go about it.
00:41:39
Speaker
And as much as I have been a Paul Rothrock guy, and I absolutely understand maybe more than most what he provides and the skillset that is so important, you cannot go from $104,000 in salary, which is what the last time the MLSPA put out the numbers,
00:42:01
Speaker
to the 800s, to the nine hundreds I always come- That's what he's trying to do too. I'm sure. That's what I think is is happening. And of course, his agent wouldn't be his agent if he wasn't asking for the world. So I get that till about there.
00:42:16
Speaker
But there's going to be a moment where I hope that the right choice gets made. And he's like, okay, we're not going to get it. Let's settle at six to seven.
00:42:27
Speaker
I put that line because that's what they gave Jackson Reagan, which is a very similar situation because both Jackson and Paul, as we all know,
00:42:39
Speaker
They've been so together in their whole lives and careers that they both kind of came in as walk-ons to the Sounders. And now they're this success story, which is phenomenal, but you cannot skip that much ahead because it's just not the way things happen. Not to mention the fact that Paul Rothrock, I think, a lot benefits from this system. and That's the argument they're going to make.
00:43:01
Speaker
And I don't want to undervalue his skill set again or his talent, and I don't want to sell him short. But the reality is is that there's a lot of competition at the winger position.
00:43:12
Speaker
You got Georgie, Pedro, Ferreira. Eventually, Paul Arriola. We'll see what happens with Ryan Kent. Yeah. You know, Kalani plays that position. and Reed Baker-Whiten plays out wide.
00:43:25
Speaker
There's just so many other options that it would be very hard for the Sounders to look at their roster construction and say, yes, I think that we need to pay Paul Rothrock $900,000 to stay.
00:43:38
Speaker
So I think both parties would benefit by coming to a settlement on that $600,000 to $700,000 area. because I feel like they both need each other. And the last thing I would want as someone who has enjoyed and really learned to value what Paul Rothrock does for this team, last thing I want is for him to better on himself, decide to move on, and then his career is no longer the same. And it completely goes downhill.
00:44:13
Speaker
um And maybe that next step, he gets one payday, But then it it stops after that, right? So whether it's he thinks he can get to the championship or whether it's that he thinks he can go to another MLS team or whatever it is that his agent, his group himself,
00:44:30
Speaker
are thinking that might be next, I feel like would be better served if he continues to push us up his value in a team that will be playing CONCACAF Cup next year or in the future, and that will be a contender, that is clearly a protagonist in MLS, rather than trying to figure out where are you going to fit him next and where you might or might not get minutes moving forward.
00:44:55
Speaker
He could go to D.C. United or Atlanta United, for and they will they will pay him more money than Seattle will. They will. Those teams like that, they need players like Paul Rothrock and... Sporting Kansas City is a team that I thought he could do wonders. Yeah, I think the question is, if you go to a team like that, will you be set up for success in the same way that you are this team? Correct.
00:45:24
Speaker
you know, maybe if that, if that's a bet that, uh, that he wants to make, like I'm the type of player that moves the needle to the point where if I go to a team like that, like I, uh, I make them better to the, to the point where like, it's a good move and it'll make sense. Then, uh, I will never fault a player for, for betting on themselves and for taking, like you said, like there's a fine mine finite amount of time you have as an athlete to maximize your, uh,
00:45:49
Speaker
earning potential, but it is, i mean, it's tough. You got to weigh, you got to weigh both things. ah Nico, ah before we hit a decision day or, or playoffs, was there any, Oh, ah the
League's Cup Banner Ceremony
00:46:02
Speaker
banner. Yeah. Let's, let's, ah let's talk about the banner a little bit and then we'll hit a decision day and, and playoff stuff.
00:46:09
Speaker
What did, what did you, what did you have on the ah banner ceremony? They did unveil the league's cup banner. that was pretty cool they did it up the they know how to do a ceremony and i guess my thought on it is uh it went a lot better than the last time they unveiled a banner at lumen field which was uh famously in 2022 when they unveiled the concave champions league banner against the portland timbies very clearly with the intent of rubbing it in their face type of thing and then the timbies did their thing played like real madrid and won three zero that was not that fun
00:46:42
Speaker
This was this was a lot better of a way to commemorate the League's Cup title with a good performance and ah and a victory than the last time. And ah I guess the other thing I was thinking about during that ceremony was just like, you know, God, look how many banners this team has put up there.
00:47:00
Speaker
going to say something controversial. People aren't going to like it. My friends don't like it. When I say this, this is the only team in this city that consistently like wins. That's look it true. Look at who actually puts the banners in that building.
00:47:11
Speaker
My friends who are like, you know, Seahawks fans, Mariners fans, they don't, they don't like it. When I point this out, who puts the banners in the building? yeah I will say Seattle sports was an incredible weekend for Seattle sports. The Seahawks got the dub and the Mariners. I want to give them their credit. Like they've been irrelevant for a long time, but they're in the freaking ALCS right now.
00:47:30
Speaker
They won game one in Toronto. They might actually go to the world series. So they are in the process of like getting over their reputation. But if you look at like the recent history, like let's just, let's just be real.
00:47:41
Speaker
There's one team in this city that puts, rings on fingers, puts banners in the building, and it's this team. And ah the people who don't want to acknowledge that are like people who say that it doesn't count because they play in Major League Soccer, which is ah like you know not the number one ranked league in the world.
00:47:59
Speaker
That's a bad point. It's a stupid point. I got a lot of friends that make that point. It's a horrible point. and MLS is a the top flight league in this country. So it's the highest level of domestic like league competition that they can possibly play in. And they've been one of the best teams in that. And then it's that point is further undermined by the fact that they have now won ah two international like continental titles in CONCACAF champions league in leagues cup. So it's not even just about being the best team in MLS, whatever you think of the league.
00:48:29
Speaker
It's a, It's about like winning those international tournaments too, which are a way bigger deal, which this team has done. So ah just, ah I always try and give the the Sounders their due in the local space for the amount of winning that they do. Cause like I said, man, like, like just, just look, look at that stadium.
00:48:52
Speaker
Look at the banners that are hanging in it. Who's hanging them? Who's hanging That's what I got to say about that. Yeah, no, actually, ironically, and this was a conversation that we struck with Jada Evans and Jeremiah Shen, where they made me realize that, you know, i always thought that maybe the Sounders were the second more popular team in the city.
00:49:14
Speaker
ah But the Mariners might be actually... Seattle Storm have won a a bunch of titles, too. It's the Sounders and the Storm. Those are the ones that Yeah. And they're the middle least ah popular. and That's the funny part that, you know, they actually made a very good point that the Mariners are actually the more, the most popular team in in the city. And now that they're winning, you could see it. I mean, I, I've been to like, I don't know, Red Robin and just like random restaurants where it's, pack it was a packed bar full of people watching the game. I mean, it's everywhere. It's all over, but um it is kind of ironic that, know,
00:49:47
Speaker
Probably the least successful franchise out of all of them is the most popular. And then actually didn't realize the Hawks haven't been an NFC championship game since 2015. No, that a while. I don't know why it felt like it was just a couple of years ago. They've been irrelevant for like a decade. They're getting relevant. Crazy. They've been irrelevant.
00:50:07
Speaker
Crazy. What did you think so the ceremony? i thought it was great. I thought it was, ah you know, as expected. liked the banner. I thought it looked nice. and I like the fact that the Champions Cup is obviously bigger. um I still would like to see something else more structurally sound for the, as you mentioned, the success that the Sounders have done within Lumen. And I understand that.
00:50:30
Speaker
It's not the Sounders Stadium and, you know, a lot of things probably go into debate. ah But I thought it was great. I thought it was phenomenal. I wanted to talk about it because i I spoke to DeAndre Jetlin, and you could find this interview on Sounder at Hard on YouTube.
00:50:47
Speaker
And bring him home. Bring him home. I would love I should ask that afterwards, too, but i didn't get a chance. So he did say that he'd love to come home, but that was off the mics at some point.
00:50:58
Speaker
But ah the reality is that. He's been watching and he had no problem saying how proud he was of what the Sounders had accomplished, you know, in the time he was gone. And he reminded us that he was the Sounders very first homegrown player. And he talked about the fact that he's just proud that so many more have come after him and ah talked about Siggy Smith, who, by the way, if you're an Alliance member and you have a vote for the Sounders eternal circle of legends, get that vote in.
00:51:31
Speaker
I think it's a super cool thing. You got Jimmy Gabriel, Siggy Smith, and Casey Keller as the three nominees. So if you're an Alliance member, if you have a chance, if you are available to vote, go ahead and get that in.
00:51:42
Speaker
i think you have to the end of the day tonight. ah So go ahead and get that. Cause I think it's a pretty cool thing that the Sounders are doing to continue to build this culture, this community community. and this history. And they're one of the very few teams in MLS that could actually have true roots to their history. So go ahead and help on and that regard.
00:52:00
Speaker
ah But, you know, he talked about Siggy Smith and all of it. It just, you could see that the unveiling of that banner meant something to DeAndre Jelen, a guy that had a huge career outside of the Sounders. And At the end of the day, he was only here a couple of years and he was gone, but he he feels it in here. And I felt like everybody of those 32,000 plus that were in that stadium, they felt it the same. So I was proud to see it.
00:52:27
Speaker
i love to see the grin Brian Smutzer's face when it was coming down. he he was just in a very good mood. You could tell he tried to scare Jeremiah by smacking the the back of the the benches. I mean, he was just like a kid in Christmas. and and And, you know, I like to see that part of ah Brian because you could tell how how much it means to him. So I thought it was great overall.
00:52:53
Speaker
He was he was ah happy at the at the presser, too, but people were talking about it in chat at the beginning of the show. he got he got a little testy on a couple of the questions at the end, and then you guys had a little thing. yeah and then I kind of ruined it at the end. I you know was starting to banter with him a little bit because I was going to ask about the banner. He was like, you guys didn't ask about the banner.
00:53:14
Speaker
So then when he didn't ask about it, when he just kind of shared his opinion, and i decided to go for another one. And I should have asked about DeAndre, but I ended up just throwing the Danny Laver thing out there, which was completely offside of – That next question. He was trying to get out of there at that point. He was trying to get out there. But then I did a poor job asking that last question.
00:53:34
Speaker
I think if I would asked about DeAndre, he might have sat down and be like, oh, da-da-da-da-da. But he didn't because he didn't need to because it was a bad question. yeah It happens. ah Nico...
00:53:47
Speaker
let's ah Let's talk some playoffs in decision day. What do you want to do
Upcoming Decision Day and Playoff Outlook
00:53:52
Speaker
first? What do you what are you what are you feeling? Do you want to talk playoff matchups or about NYC? No, let's go chronological. Let's go decision day, and then we'll end up with the p playoffs.
00:54:07
Speaker
Okay, yeah. I mean, you got decision day coming up. Seattle's off to the Big Apple, New York City. They're going to play in the New York Mets outfield. I keep saying Yankees. They're going play in the New York Mets. Outfield, which is always ah fun time.
00:54:21
Speaker
Nico, this game does not really matter in the in the standings. Fifth place is locked down. And I think this is definitely the lowest stress stress decision day since they started doing this.
00:54:34
Speaker
If they lose the game, it literally does not matter. They are in fifth either way. ah So I think this game is much more about putting in a good performance. It's always NYC is one of the most challenging road trips, both because of the distance. And then when you're playing in the outfield of a baseball field, it's like the, you City field, the Mets outfield is not like as weird of dimensions as Yankee Stadium, but it's still pretty weird.
00:54:58
Speaker
And it's just it's a very narrow pitch. and And MLS teams are not used to playing on dimensions like this. And it gives NYC one of the biggest home field advantages in the league in recent years.
00:55:10
Speaker
They have not been as they as good. They weren't as good last year. ah just in general, but this year it feels like they are, uh, they're back to being like the and NYCFC that we're used to. I mean, the NYCFC, this is just, they they don't really get talked about that much, but they're every year. It feels like they're one of the best teams in the East.
00:55:31
Speaker
And, uh, this is the fit. This is the fifth place team in the, uh, in the East. So it's kind of like the Eastern conference version of the Sounders in that way, I guess, as far as where they are on the table. Uh,
00:55:42
Speaker
17-11-5 record, plus seven goal differential. And they're only 11-5 at home this year, so that's a solid road record, but it's not like ballistic. Seattle's 10-1-6 at home.
00:55:54
Speaker
ah But I guess the question becomes how you how you should approach this lineup-wise with the notion that you still got ah you you got some guys injured, you got guys coming back, you should have more of your regular team.
00:56:08
Speaker
But a I guess how do you approach it? Do you throw out your fully first choice 11 with the intent of keeping everyone sharp and fit and everything before the playoffs and trying to put in a good performance?
00:56:21
Speaker
Or do you throw out a more rotated lineup with the idea of resting people? I kind of think that that's what they should do. i would be... fully fine with seeing ah a lineup with some guys out there that haven't been getting a lot of minutes lately.
00:56:37
Speaker
And i think my main agenda on that train, we talked, you talked, you mentioned it earlier, but I think this is the Stu Hawks, Stu Hawks should start this game. He got 30 minutes against real Salt Lake.
00:56:50
Speaker
He did great. They called him too skinny. They said he couldn't do it. He went out there. He looked, he looked good to me. Like, And he bulked up. I've been saying this. People don't listen to me. That dude, he was hitting the gym.
00:57:02
Speaker
dad That injury, you know, I talked to Andrew Rose for a little bit off the mics, and he's like, look, man, that injury happened, and it just gave time to just bulk up. And and and he did, man. He looks good.
00:57:14
Speaker
Stu Hawk's been grinding. I would love a Stu Hawk start. And I mean, he probably isn't 90 fit yet, but start Stu Hawks for 60, however long he's able to go.
00:57:24
Speaker
And then from there, I think like I'm OK with the lineup having just that kind of ah tenor. I just think the team right now is it's been a little gassed since League's Cup. I think if we're looking at why the form has taken ah bit of a downturn since League's Cup, that's probably like the injuries play a part in it. There's probably a mental component to it. But I think a big part of it is the physical, just like.
00:57:47
Speaker
drain that this long of a season has on you when when you when you're playing your league season and a couple of different tournaments including a tournament that you go all the way in ah when you have opportunities to maybe get guys some rest. Like I would not want Christian playing in this game. It's probably going to be the Christian Obed double pivot. Let's be real.
00:58:07
Speaker
But, uh, I, I would be okay if they didn't do that. Uh, what do you think? Like, how should they approach this one in the, uh, decision day in the big apple? It's exciting. It is exciting. Um, it's a great question by the way.
00:58:21
Speaker
um But I just – it's on a player-to-player basis, and this is what Brian would tell us no matter what, is we're going to put the best 11 out there.
00:58:33
Speaker
And that in reality means we're going to look at the metrics. We're going look at where guys are physically. Because, look, if you look at Reid Baker-Whiten, a guy that, you know, he came on in the 79th minute and the U.S. is lost against Morocco 3-1.
00:58:48
Speaker
He didn't play a lot of minutes in this tournament. He's a guy that you might want to play, obviously, at that left-back position. Get him some more minutes, get him going, and get him in the right direction. But a guy like Ovid that was a pillar for a Mexico team that ended up but losing their heads completely against Argentina. Yeah, what was up with They got a red card, didn't they?
00:59:10
Speaker
Yeah, they were fighting. They were elbowing guys. Yeah. Yeah, no, no. I mean, Argentina is a team that just is going to get under your skin. And if you're not prepared for it, you're going to suffer. And then they also had an injury early, early goal.
00:59:23
Speaker
ah They just didn't have a great game. So I think it was a lot of frustration, but A guy like Obed that has played so many minutes that I'm sure would love to play. Maybe that's a guy that you rest in this one.
00:59:34
Speaker
Christian, he plays maybe tomorrow against Australia. So we'll still have to figure out whether he plays or not. ah If he does play, then depending on how many minutes he played, do you hold him?
00:59:45
Speaker
Maybe. So I think it's on a case-to-case basis, depending on where the players are at. But I do think that this is a very proud group. I think that it wouldn't be great for the Sounders to completely rotate and get, i don't know, beat down 4-0 right before the playoffs. yeah That's just bad momentum.
01:00:05
Speaker
So you do want to get a competitive group to play New York City, who, by the way, is desperate because they need a win because they're trying to get up in the standings. Yeah. So they're going to go with everything they have. They're a good team, especially in transition.
01:00:20
Speaker
I think Alonso Martinez is very very good. Nico's been a great, I mean, that's a good team. So you want to make sure that you are competitive as I'm sure there's no question about it. They're going to be out there and, and hopefully be competitive, but you definitely just don't want to rotate.
01:00:35
Speaker
And, you know, I've heard, just put the Tacoma defiance and call it a day. Right. I mean, you you can't do that, right. You, you gotta be able to stay competitive and, and, uh, get the guys that need minutes. I think JP is a guy that should start again.
01:00:49
Speaker
ah and, and or ah or just come in in the second half and get more minutes ah because you do want revamp them up, continue to keep them at a, at a high level.
01:00:59
Speaker
i thought Danny Leyva deserves a second chance. So I wouldn't mind that pivot repeating against New York city FC. But again, I think that the whole point is that you want to put a competitive group out there so you don't get beat down in New York.
01:01:13
Speaker
Is Alonzo Martinez the most underrated player in? I think he is. I mean, this guy was ridiculous last year. He had 16 goals in 1500 minutes. And then them. 17 goals.
01:01:24
Speaker
this year he's played twenty four hundred minutes for them seventeen goals i mean Let me put it to you like this. If he was not Costa Rican and he was Brazilian or Argentinian or yeah English, I don't know. like he they if They'd be all over this guy, but because he's from Costa Rica.
01:01:42
Speaker
And I mean, to be fair, how old is he? 26 I mean he wow you know he's still good But I do think that a lot of times that Passport weighs players down And maybe that's what it is but I'm with you I think he he's a great finisher I love to have him you know with with The sounders imagine goals i i want or That's the most replacement He'd kill wouldn't have you couldn't afford him now but But he he would kill In this system would be absolutely Nuclear they got to just They got to find the U22 who's essentially Alonzo Martinez, but 22.
01:02:16
Speaker
twenty two thats yeah How do you find that? how do you i wanted them to go for Nacer, which is the the current nine for ah Colombia.
01:02:27
Speaker
ah He got a hat trick, though, and it's over. I mean, he's got that that just his value just went up to like... Off to the prim. ah Yeah, it's over. he He's going to be in Spain. I think it's... ah Atletico, the one that was following him. So, yeah, it's over. Now now it now it's over. He got a hat trick.
01:02:43
Speaker
It's done and over with. but But a guy like that, I mean, there's a lot of interesting guys there in the U-20. ah Magno's asking, is Snyder B going to be back? is I think Snyder's going to be back for this game, isn't he?
01:02:55
Speaker
I believe so, yes. I believe that this was just a ah camp ah in Spain. thats i Why did yeah and you have to miss that game for camp? Whatever, it's fine. They got to run the Danny Leiva-JP double pivot, and it looked good. JP, ah we didn't mention it at all, but I thought JP was pretty... That's the closest he's looked to 2022 since like twenty twenty two Yeah, no, no, no, I definitely mentioned because he he was a guy that that for me was was just stellar. He was just so sharp on the ball.
01:03:28
Speaker
ah He understands the game at a different level. His decision making so much quicker at times than than others. I just thought he was on point. so So he's a guy that i was very encouraged by what he could provide you moving forward.
01:03:44
Speaker
ah It's going to be a good decision day. we we got ah i mean the ah The Seattle game, i'm really I'm happy about the fact that there's every other time that they've been in this situation, it's been with like the number two seed on the line, or there's just there's so much movement that's going to be taking place on the table where they could finish anywhere from you know like this place to this place, and then every goal is so stressful. There's so much weight on everything.
01:04:11
Speaker
fun, but it's stressful. like it's stressful This time, it's like they can go into this game, and I think you you you want a good competitive performance, like you said, for momentum purposes, but it's not like the ah season or home field advantage or anything like that hangs on this. You're in fifth no matter what happens in this game, so that's kind of nice.
01:04:31
Speaker
And then there you got some... you're We're going to be able to kind of sit back and watch everyone else who is in that situation where their seating is on the line fight it out, and that always is exciting.
01:04:42
Speaker
But, Nico, the game I'm looking the most forward to is the wooden spoon bowl between Atlanta United and DC United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. ah These two teams, they they're – They're fighting it out for the spoon down here at the bottom of the East.
01:04:56
Speaker
If DC United wins this game, they, ah they leap Atlanta and Atlanta United would actually wouldn't spoon in a year after they spent $30 million dollars bolstering their attack over the off season.
01:05:12
Speaker
And if Atlanta ties or, or lose loses to your, if a yeah, if Atlanta ties or loses, they're, Tizer wins. Sorry. They will avoid that fate.
01:05:23
Speaker
The fact that they're even playing for it, I think that kind of says that says enough. But it is still like the principle of it, right, of getting the ah of getting the wooden spoon. they they They can't have that. So that's actually sneakily one of the biggest games of the weekend.
01:05:40
Speaker
But there's – I mean, the whole league is going be playing. You've got Portland, San Diego. They're going to be going at it. The Whitecaps have FC Dallas. LAFC has the Colorado Rapids. So I think Seattle's one tougher games. That's the big one for me. I think that's the one that – Everybody's going to be watching because look, Minnesota plays the galaxy and if Minnesota wins LAFC, just like they did this weekend, dropping points against Austin 1-0, they're going to and LAFC would play Seattle.
01:06:11
Speaker
I believe they would drop in the standings because Minnesota would that's it would surpass them. yeah And that's not what we want. or Or at least, I mean, I guess you could talk yourself into saying, well, you know, there is, you know, that underdog thing, you know, it's going to be like 2019 and nobody believes in us.
01:06:30
Speaker
Maybe, but I don't want it. but But I feel like that's a big game because again, LAFC drop points against Austin is going to be at Colorado. Colorado is a team that at times looks really good. a lot of time looks, looks really poor.
01:06:45
Speaker
They got some quality players. ah So man, i really, I'm going to be just watching that one that. That one is the big game for me that I'll be watching. I think Minnesota should be able to get over the galaxy who also got a bit of a funky win against Dallas.
01:07:02
Speaker
Cause they got, Honestly, Dallas was done wrong. ah Farrington gets a red card that he did not deserve. It changes the game completely. And then the Galaxy end up winning that game 2-1 with a very good game from Gabriel Peck.
01:07:16
Speaker
So, yeah, they they they got put into a bad position, Dallas did. So now I don't know. ah Galaxy against Minnesota, it could be anybody's game. But those are the two games that I feel like if you're a Seattle Sounders fan, you're going to be watching.
Playoff Matchup Preferences
01:07:30
Speaker
So, yeah, let's just hit hit this to close it out. Jake is saying, can we spend some minutes on who we want to face in round one, San Diego, Minnesota, or LAFC? That's kind of what you were getting at. that's That is what is on the line for this decision day for Seattle is who they're going to be playing in that fourth spot. And it could be any of those teams that ah Jake mentioned.
01:07:53
Speaker
I've been saying, I'm curious where you land on this. I've been saying, give me Minnesota. I think that is, that's the team that I feel like Seattle has the the best chance against, frankly.
01:08:06
Speaker
I know that Minnesota beat them twice this year, but I almost feel like that ah it's pretty hard to beat a team three times in a row, first of all. And I also, I've been saying that I felt like that that second game in Minnesota, I know they lost, but it was like,
01:08:22
Speaker
I felt like they figured out how to crack the Minnesota United code way better than they did in the first game. And I would just rather, i would rather play a team that plays against the ball all the time.
01:08:33
Speaker
Like they do. Then I would a team that's got like, uh, LAC in San Diego. We're talking about like just crazy firepower. We're talking about Danny Bwonga and Son Young men. We're talking about Anders Dreyer and Chucky Lozano. Like,
01:08:46
Speaker
Over a three game series, that much firepower, it's, it's hard to, it's hard to keep that quiet for that period of time. So I'm, I'm hella rooting for it to be the loons.
01:08:59
Speaker
I don't, it's not like a, you know, it's it's still any team that you play in the playoffs is going to be a really hard, talented, difficult opponent. In this case, Seattle is for sure going to be playing someone who finished ahead of them in the standings, but that's, that's the one that I, that I circled. Do you see that different?
01:09:15
Speaker
No, it's Minnesota and it's not even close because, look, they they have been struggling over the last five games. They have not been the same team of before for several reasons.
01:09:27
Speaker
They've lost players. Tanny's gone. ah Obviously, they sold them. Yeboah has been hurt that they've been so bleak offensively that right now they're two strikers or forwards attackers up top are Pereira who's not that and then uh Lod who isn't that either but you know he's just a very kind of whatever they're in a like tough roster situation with injuries or they go to Lod maybe they go to Lod yeah it's It could be left back. It could be D mid. It could be at the 10. It could be on the wing.
01:09:59
Speaker
It could be up top. It could be in goal. You don't know. They're just going to play more. You don't know. So they, they, they, they lost three series in Chicago. They tie one, one against Colorado. They obviously lost the U S open cup final against Austin semifinal against Austin. So they've been struggling and now they beat Portland city three zero, but it's working on series awful.
01:10:19
Speaker
They're so bad that, Minnesota actually won in possession and chances created. That's how bad sporting Kansas City is. that That they allow Minnesota to beat them in possession and chances. So ah I do think that there's only one answer to that, and it's Minnesota.
01:10:35
Speaker
Again, i think you could talk yourself into saying, well, if you beat LAFC and then of sudden you take out a one and you are creating better chances to win, Moving forward, maybe hosting a couple of games.
01:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, like in in in in theory, that sounds awesome. But in reality... You don't want San Diego. You don't want LAFC. I think most of those teams, in my opinion, Seattle doesn't match up well with either one of those teams.
01:11:02
Speaker
um Regardless of the Sounders beating, obviously, San Diego once this year, I just don't know. I don't think that the Sounders match up well against either one of those teams. So don't give me San Diego. Don't give me a LAFC, which I guess San Diego we shouldn't be talking about because they're not going drop.
01:11:18
Speaker
But regardless of, Minnesota is that right answer. What do you think of this? It's the second year right of this format where they do the first round. That's the best of three series.
01:11:32
Speaker
i hate it I hate it. I think the argument the argument for it is it kind of resembles more of like a traditional, Americanized like playoff system. you know In baseball and basketball, you have like series like this, so they're doing that.
01:11:48
Speaker
I just think that... like These series that go to like game three, the same team three times in a row, just that's too much in soccer.
01:11:59
Speaker
I don't understand for the life of me why they wouldn't. What was wrong with the years where they just did home and away two match series, home and away aggregate scoring?
01:12:11
Speaker
What was wrong with that? no idea. that was I don't know. it know you wanted do me thing a If you want to do multiple games in round one, just do that. Yeah. Yeah. Just do two legs. Just keep it simple. Keep it normal. Each side gets one game.
01:12:24
Speaker
It's over. Right. I just I don't get it. I know that they were probably if I recall some of those conversations from when they decided to this, it was about not only adding one game to each side, but then it adds like a it it makes sure that teams can't just bunker down and, ah you know, play, you know, hold off and then just play better in the second game and there's less goals, whole bunch of nonsense.
01:12:51
Speaker
ah But yeah, I hate it. I hate this series. I feel like it's unnecessary. I feel like it prolongs this first round. ah So yeah, I just, I don't like it. Not one little bit, but it is what we get.
Show Conclusion and Future Plans
01:13:05
Speaker
All right, Nico, we are about out of time. Let's call it right there. ah Thank you all so much, as always, for tuning in to Lobbing Scorchers kickoff. Apologies for a bit of a late start this morning, but ah we got it done. We got that content out there. You know, we weren't going leave you guys hanging. and So, yeah, we got cooking. we I think we hit all our points today. got a We got a good show.
01:13:26
Speaker
laid down for you uh who's still here watching please like the video sub to the channel uh follow us on instagram follow us on uh on tiktok we'll be back at it this week uh all your decision day preview coverage i'll be at it under the lights on thursday and then also some exciting news we i don't think we've uh i hadn't even told you about this yet uh nico but we're gonna be marathoning for decision day we're gonna do like a live show watch along where ah we're going to be tracking all the games and doing i'm going to be doing my broadcast commentary i'm a really high level good broadcaster as some of you oh all right it's like when we're doing watch alongs i like uh i like commentate the games like i'm a broadcaster but i'm like ah you know i'm not a broadcaster so it's kind of a bit like that
01:14:17
Speaker
But we're going doing all that fun stuff and we're what we're going to try to do is have like a rotating a cast of characters ah tap in while we're streaming. So, Nico, I expect you to be ah tapping in at least for a few minutes at a at some point. Watch the games with us and ah it's going to be a lot of fun. that is ah that We were talking about it yesterday. We're like, should we do something like that? And then we're like, yeah.
01:14:38
Speaker
let's do it. It's decision day. And we haven't done a watch long in a bit. And the watch long content's been pretty popular. So that'll be going down on Saturday. And before then, i'll have I'll have under the lights as well. Maybe try and line up a New York City guest.
01:14:52
Speaker
So ah appreciate you guys. And Nico, thanks for tapping in as always, man. Great show. Thank you, man. That was good. And I'll hop on the live show. Hell yeah. Let's go. At least for a little bit. i will ah I will catch you guys on Thursday and then and then on Sunday after that.
01:15:10
Speaker
see you then. Peace.