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Postgame Live: Fans react to Seattle Sounders PERFECT Leagues Cup start!
343 Plays9 days ago
We react and take calls following Seattle's Leagues Cup 2025 Phase One match vs. Club Tijuana at Lumen Field.
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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
Introduction and Viewing Information
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 a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening everybody. Welcome in. to a post-game live. I'm here at Lumen Field running it solo, and hopefully my audio is working.
00:00:57
Speaker
Noah is out of town, so we're going to do this ah flying by the seat of my pants.
00:01:05
Speaker
Let me know if you can hear me or not. That's going to be important information.
Match Recap: Seattle Sounders vs Club Tijuana
00:01:12
Speaker
But the Seattle Sounders, if you can hear me,
00:01:19
Speaker
just beat Club Tijuana 2-1, and they're the only folks, the only MLS club to go a perfect 3-0-0 through League's Cup Phase 1.
00:01:38
Speaker
It didn't necessarily like feel like that. I would say, like during the game in the immediate aftermath, ah because that was not the prettiest game.
00:01:51
Speaker
ah Seattle got scored on first. They had to come back.
00:01:57
Speaker
ah They had to deal with some late shenanigans.
00:02:06
Speaker
but But they get the job done, and they are at... 3-0-0, 11 goals scored, plus 9 GD, and they are through to the League's Cup quarterfinals.
Injuries and Team Depth
00:02:21
Speaker
um Like I said, not as ah not as euphoric as a 7-1, perhaps. But, I mean, a monumental win nonetheless. I mean, Seattle just beat three Liga Mequis teams in a row, guys.
00:02:42
Speaker
That's not easy to do. That's not easy to do under any circumstances.
00:02:51
Speaker
Max, I am, uh, I am in a, uh, broadcast booth vacated that they let this is the same one that Noah and I use last time, but I'm doing this for my laptop. So I saw so someone said that the lighting was weird. Sorry. That's this is all, this is all I can do. This is all I can do tonight, guys.
00:03:09
Speaker
Uh, but We're going to make it work. We're going to make it work. Thank you guys for tuning in. Like the video, please sub to the channel. Great five stars. Right. Reviews.
00:03:21
Speaker
Lobbing scorchers.com slash sauce. Lobbing scorchers.com slash archive. um It was a gritty game. That was a gritty game, like a couple of you have mentioned. Albert Rusnak and Ryan Kent both lead with injuries, which was unfortunate.
00:03:38
Speaker
ah So that's something that's going to have to be contended with in the coming days. I'm not primed to what updates schmetri Schmetz might have given at the presser for that. So we'll have to find out.
00:03:51
Speaker
But the boys gave their hammies for the cause. They did. And hopefully it's those aren't too serious. I mean, now if they're going to win this tournament, Albert Rusnak,
00:04:05
Speaker
you would think would have to play a big part of it. ah I think they are better equipped than most with the depth that this team has to handle an absence like that.
00:04:18
Speaker
ah But it's still, you know, it's not ideal. But they had to gut this one out. And they did exactly that.
Missed Opportunities and Key Contributions
00:04:26
Speaker
Where do you guys want to start? ah Well, first of all, I'm going to drop the call link in the chat right now.
00:04:32
Speaker
And honestly, I'm running double duty for a few more minutes here. So if you guys want to jump on and just lay down takes, it would legitimately help me out. So feel free to hop in.
00:04:44
Speaker
But I'll just start with ah with the first half because ah
00:04:52
Speaker
they really, they should have had at least two goals in the first half that could have dusted this way earlier and made it way less dramatic than it ended up being.
00:05:06
Speaker
So the first one was
00:05:14
Speaker
The sequence where Rusnak put the corner kick in, Yamar heads it off the post. Ferreira, it goes right to Ferreira, who has a wide open net, and he heads it off the post.
00:05:27
Speaker
So that was unfortunate. And then Seattle gets a penalty kick right at the end of the first half, which Rusnak bams off the post. And, you know, it's funny.
00:05:39
Speaker
Right as Rusnak hit that one off the post, I was like, man...
00:05:46
Speaker
they're going to score before the half, aren't they? That's the thought that went through my head. And they did. It was, I mean, it was a nice goal by their number 10. I'm not even going lie. He hit that nice. He hit that nice.
00:05:59
Speaker
So Seattle goes, ah goes to the locker room one zero. But you know, for me at that point,
00:06:07
Speaker
it like them scoring a goal is kind of irrelevant when you need,
00:06:13
Speaker
one ah one goal. That means you need to score once at home against club Tijuana to go through. So
00:06:22
Speaker
if you can't do that, you don't deserve deserve to advance, right? And they did do that. Osaze and Moose get the goals. ah We got a caller named Albert Hayter in the queue. All right, we're gonna we're going to bring him on. We're going to bring
Listener Feedback and Strategic Insights
00:06:36
Speaker
him on. I ah wonder how this is going to go.
00:06:40
Speaker
But I'm Albert Hader, what's up, man? Thanks for calling in 2-1 over Club Tijuana. 3-0-0 in ah Phase 1 play. Only perfect MLS club. ah what do you What do you think?
00:06:54
Speaker
Well, ah I appreciate the content, first of all. um I'm really impressed. i don't think weve moved this i don't think we moved the ball around this well in, like, okay a couple games.
00:07:07
Speaker
And... I really don't think we need Albert. I mean, I think the way Roldan and Obed is playing, if Pedro keeps this up, I think we'll be fine. um i think De Rosario's looking really good. I know it's mainly like headers and aerial play from him, but who knows? maybe Maybe we should play him and Moose up top and we just keep putting crosses in and pray for the best.
00:07:31
Speaker
Okay, my ah your audio was out for me for the first, like, all of that, so I didn't i didn't hear the first part of the ah take. Can you hear it can you hear me is it Yeah, no, you're good.
00:07:43
Speaker
I'm good. All right, I mean, if can you give me the nutshell of your of your original take, and I'll ah tell you what I think? Yeah, I think we're moving the ball really well. I don't think Albert's going to be a huge miss.
00:07:55
Speaker
um I think other people can thread the ball through the middle. I think other people can take set pieces. um i know I know you guys are big Albert guys. and we're on the We're on the other side of that debate. yeah Yeah. I mean, I'm not really an Albert hater. and We have rapport with the brigade. It's fine.
00:08:12
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I'm not really an Albert hater. I just don't think he's DP level quality. Yeah, that's a common take. Right. I think he did earn it last year if you just look at the numbers, but I think it'd be nice to move on to someone else. But back to the game. Yeah, I think since the Club World Cup,
00:08:30
Speaker
It feels like the Club World Cup was like a really good gym that we went to and we got stronger as a result of it. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I'm not really afraid of and anyone right now. It'd be nice if Ryan Kent was more consistent.
00:08:42
Speaker
I'm a big Pedro guy and hopefully he can keep it up. um I mean, do you think Pedro's not match fit enough to play like two games
Lineup, Rotation, and Tactical Adjustments
00:08:51
Speaker
in a week? Like what's going on over there? Well, I think this lineup tonight was more rotated than i was expecting anyway. And I think in this situation, it was probably ah more he was falling into the category of everyone else who got arrested. I mean, this phase one schedule was pretty crazy. These games are all pretty close together.
00:09:13
Speaker
So, I mean, i think ah they probably are being... more careful with him than they might be with some other guys given given the history there but like based on how schmetz handled the rest of the 11 i it didn't surprise me that he was part of the group that uh that got rotated out but i definitely found myself in the first half and especially in the second half too feeling like man i mean this could use uh god mode pedro which is what he's been lately Yeah, I mean, I know he needs to be rotated, like you said. It's not unexpected, but we also want to keep his momentum up. And you know he's a guy that needs a lot of chances in a game.
00:09:50
Speaker
so Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And that is ah that is a tricky balance with him. But I think in this situation where they made the calculation that... moving some guys out, you know, starting Osaze and KKR and RBW and stuff.
00:10:07
Speaker
Uh, they clearly made the calculation that that was something that they, ah had to do except for the double pivot. You already know that the double pivot is going to play no matter what. Uh, but I guess I don't like, I don't know. Were you, uh, were you tripping about the lineup at all when, when you saw it or, uh, I mean, once again, it's not shocking. Um, it's just kind of how it's been this season. I think, um,
00:10:30
Speaker
KKR should play more often, but I'm just biased. I know it's probably good to you know, shift it based on who you're playing, but I feel like we could rotate less in general, but it's different with the Leagues Cup because there's multiple games in a week. So so I get that.
00:10:44
Speaker
Kind of like the Club World Cup, right? Yeah, exactly. ah Well, Albert Hader, I got one person in the queue behind you, but do you got any other takes you wanted to lay down there, get out there about this game or a Leagues Cup or the game's coming up?
00:11:00
Speaker
No, I think I got it all out. I'm just looking forward to more Pedro. Hell yeah. I mean, I think we all, ah we can all co-sign that agenda. Thanks for calling in, man. Appreciate you.
00:11:10
Speaker
Call back in on the next one. Thank you. Take care.
00:11:16
Speaker
ah All right. We're going to keep it pushing. We got Sam up next. Sam, if you can hear me, give me that thumbs up. All right. Sam, what's up, man? I got I got a little double duty. I have to run here. So Seattle Sounders to one over Club Tijuana, only perfect MLS club in phase one play. How are you feeling? Take it away for for a minute or two here.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, obviously that's amazing to you know say that we're the only team that won all three of our League Cups games. And obviously in the new format, it was against League MXE teams. So it's great to say.
00:11:52
Speaker
i think it's kind of funny that we are going to be rooting for LA Galaxy to win ah tomorrow to knock Portland out. because you know also Someone saying that Seattle people should be rooting against the Galaxy because they have hosting rights.
00:12:08
Speaker
But like what does that really mean with the 2025 LA Galaxy? I mean, for me, I'm like, I'd rather play the Galaxy versus Portland because, ah well, you know, you know Portland rivalry and all that. But in Galaxy, they're pretty trash. So, i mean, they've been played better recently, but...
00:12:28
Speaker
i was I was thinking just in general, like it's going to be pretty nice tomorrow to be able to just kind of watch the rest of these games and watch the rest of everyone scrap it out already knowing that Seattle clinched first. That's going to be nice and relaxing.
00:12:41
Speaker
I'm glad we don't have to deal with like having it up to some other results tomorrow. I'm not sure if you know, but like how how like the rest of the based off like the standings, how the rest of the matches play out with us having to play the LA Galaxy on Sunday.
00:13:00
Speaker
i don't know if that's going to get moved. That's still going to happen. And then like obviously, what is the lineup going to look like if we have a game after that or before that?
00:13:10
Speaker
Sorry say that again. So with ah with us now advancing, I don't know, like we play LA Galaxy. We're supposed to play LA Galaxy on Sunday, I believe. So I don't know if our next League Cup matches before after that and then what lineups would look like. it it would be It's after that. I'm pretty sure the quarters aren't for like a couple weeks here. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
00:13:31
Speaker
But it's not like it's coming right up like that. They are going have to juggle and balance and mix and match and all that ah when that comes. But for now, ah I think there's, as I understand it,
00:13:42
Speaker
at least a week or two, I think between, uh, phase one in the quarters. So they can kind of, ah chill for now, but then it's going to pick back up again. Yeah. Not till August 20th. Thanks, Dan.
00:13:55
Speaker
Uh, what did, uh, let's talk some, uh, let's talk some Osaze, I guess, uh, last caller mentioned it, but another goal, uh, this, I think this was his best goal. Don't you think? I mean, rising up, he beasted that guy and it was in a big spot. Like they needed that goal and he came through. So, I mean,
00:14:11
Speaker
ah i've been I've been saying that i
00:14:16
Speaker
getting goal scoring goals is the way to get everyone's attention and make your case for more run, and that's what he's doing right now. So what did you see from the kid? Yeah, so I actually was very happy with him. I i was texting my other friends. that One of them was at the game, and I said, like, not very I'm not that much upset about not getting Noah Ohio now because I'm like, I want to see more from Osazi, you know?
00:14:39
Speaker
ah's That's kind of how I feel. Like, i don't know I don't know if that's, like, jumping the gun, but, like, when you have ah an internal option that's producing like this, But it's worth finding out if you hit, if you struck gold, because that can give you a pretty big leg up. So, yeah, I mean, you and Noah mentioned it like all the time. It was like, you don't know how a transfer is going to come in. Right. So like seeing how like Asazé has come up through the system, like they come up through the sound of system. He kind of knows like how the sounders play.
00:15:11
Speaker
um You know, we might get more out of him than we would have got out of Noah, Ohio. Like we don't know. Right. Like that's. To be seen but like as of how the last few games have gone I'm like, okay, I'm cool with like let me see how like more of these minutes go and then maybe we concentrate those you 22 is on replacing Obed or replacing like I'm still on the band of, uh, I think it's time to move on from new who. So even though I feel like he's had decent games recently, um I still, I'm like, I want to see a better left back, go back to the like Joven Jones and, uh, you know, Brad Smith era.
00:15:52
Speaker
Uh, absolutely. Uh, Sam, I got two people in the queue behind you, but, uh, anything else that you wanted to to hit on here with this game or leagues cup, uh, before further movement on The one thing i I just want to say is I was a big fan of the ah Pedro and Paul ah on the winger. So I'd like to see more of that, you know, Pedro, Paul, Albert, and then Danny or Osazi up top is what I want to see more of. So hopefully we can see more of that. And if not, you know, we'll see what happens.
Match Atmosphere and Strategy Critique
00:16:27
Speaker
Hell yeah, Sam. ah Thanks for calling in, man. I'm going to bring Max on next, but good stuff. We'll catch you on the next one. Thank you. Yeah, have a good one.
00:16:39
Speaker
All right, we got the sounder at heart guru, photographer for photographer extraordinaire, Max Aquino himself jumping on the show right now. Looks like he's back in the press box, is he not?
00:16:53
Speaker
No, I'm hiding in the hallway. Oh, okay. Well, you're you're basically there. ah First of all, ah were I mean, were you shooting tonight or were you just hanging out? who Oh, I was shooting tonight. You got some good snaps?
00:17:06
Speaker
get all the goals yeah Yeah, I was in a good spot for Moose's celebration. So those should be, um those would probably the game recap photos. So hooray. Hell yeah. what did you think of ah What did you think of the match? Only perfect MLS club in in phase one play.
00:17:23
Speaker
It was not a CONCACAF game, but it's the second most CONCACAF-y game I've seen. Oh, yeah. tell the We were chatting about that. Tell the reference that you that you made for that. I'd forgotten about this one.
00:17:34
Speaker
ah the The CD Olympia game from 2015 when Olympia scored early in the game, then time wasted the rest, and then Freeburg put in a goal. Then ah Brad Evans got that last-second PK and got right in the goalkeeper's face. That that was the craziest thing.
00:17:51
Speaker
ConkyCast style game I've seen today was up there. It was definitely up there. um I wish that the referee would have locked down on the time wasting because they were time wasting from the opening whistle.
00:18:04
Speaker
um But i thought I thought she actually had a pretty good game. There's no point where it's like, what the heck is a foul? I thought so i thought so too. i thought she i thought she was ah pretty good actually for the for the most part. their Their game plan was interesting because I think you're right. they work They were doing that gamesmanship stuff, but I'm looking at it and I'm like, you guys, don't you have to –
00:18:26
Speaker
ah score like four to realistically go through. So should you really be playing it like this? But i mean, that's what they did. And it like it felt like the right game plan for a game that they only had to win by one goal. It would have been an actively good game plan for that. But for them needing to like get a big multi-goal win, ah it felt like it was a ah ah like sit deep and and counter setup, which I don't know lends itself well on the road in a game that you need to win like they did. But i don't know.
00:18:56
Speaker
Right. um I got to say that De Rosario, I was really impressed with, like like his movement was good. His header was good. What most impressed me was his ability to to body defenders off of the ball.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yes. able to create his own space at least three or four times that created opportunities. and And when he touched it to the end line, where I've seen us previously let the ball go out of bounds, he managed to control the ball and actually bring it back in.
00:19:24
Speaker
And, he even know, he recycled it every time. Yeah. it kept, it kept attacks alive. I think he's got the potential
Osaze's Impact and Team's Offensive Strength
00:19:30
Speaker
be something special. So, ah and I wasn't saying that or the sign was the first time was like, okay, this kid's got, this kid could be good.
00:19:36
Speaker
He could be good. That's I'm, I'm, I mean, every goal he scores, he's going to make people feel like that more and more. It's kind of a weird situation because he's 24 and hasn't really gotten his career off the ground yet. And you don't usually see someone who hasn't popped like at that age, take some kind of crazy leap.
00:19:53
Speaker
But one portion of the Schmetz presser that I did here tonight was when he was asked about Osaze. And he said, he said this, this game was a step forward for him. Like Schmetz saw something that was like different than he had been seeing that he was like very pleased with.
00:20:06
Speaker
And he clearly thinks highly enough of him to start him in a game like this, which is, I think no small thing. So yeah the, the, yeah the Osaze stock, man, it's, it's intriguing at the very least, you know, like it is still small sample and it is kind of an unconventional, know,
00:20:23
Speaker
trajectory that he's on but he's scoring goals right now and tonight he he came up big tonight he really did yeah and i i was disappointed that we didn't get no ohio but i'm actually i don't i'm not itching for another forward at this point i think we could use some a little bit more depth especially like if moose gets injured or if a sauce gets injured but i mean i don't really also i don't want to see them i don't want see a sauce relegated the bench either So I, I want to see more of what he's got.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, no, like I was, i had talked myself into the no oh Ohio thing, but now that it's not happening and Osaza is scoring goals. And, you know, I've been saying that, uh, his type of profile is a low hit rate anyway, which should not preclude you from, from taking swings. Like, I definitely think you got to take swings when you have these U22 spots open, but, uh,
00:21:18
Speaker
like, I don't think that that transfer going through or not going through is going to make or break the season or the roster. If, if they get Osaze banging in goals, that's sort of, I think offsets whatever you might've theoretically lost by not getting no Ohio over the line. If that makes sense.
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah. And I know, I know you got more people on the line, so I'll keep it pretty short here. Last thing I wanted to mention that ah what I really appreciated tonight from the entire team was a lot of times when we,
00:21:48
Speaker
start an attack and we sort of lose it, we just kind of give up and retreat into a defensive shell to get the counter press going. But what I appreciated tonight is how many how often we made second attempts at the ball and third attempts at the ball and were able to poke it free and then keep it and recycle it one more time.
00:22:05
Speaker
It probably led us to probably like four or five extra attacks, which I think, you know, makes a difference over time. And ah the only thing that thought we were missing was that when we, a lot of times we'd have like these really quick one-two, one-twos, and then someone wasn't expecting the one two. So I think that once we get our test anticipation and our chemistry together just a little bit more, I think i think it's there.
00:22:27
Speaker
I really am excited to see what we do going forward, but I think that we're on the right track, so. I mean, definitely like the, ah the offense has been, this has been the hottest attack in MLS. And if you combine Leagues Cup in there for the past like month now, they scored 11 goals in Leagues Cup, ah which, you know, skewed slightly by the seven spot. But to me, you know, if you drop a seven spot,
00:22:55
Speaker
I mean, that's, that's yeah, exactly. You're doing something right. But Max, thanks for calling in again, man. Appreciate you. We got bad sequels up next, but ah have a good one. Yeah. I'll, I'll see you. I'll see you at the next one.
00:23:09
Speaker
ah All right. Bad sequels up next. If you can hear me.
00:23:14
Speaker
Bringing you to the stage right now. Bad Sequels, welcome in. I don't know if you've ah called in before, but I know you're a big supporter. So first of all. i haven't. Yeah, thank you. First time caller. Appreciate you, man. You're a big supporter. So thank you for that. And while I attend to something here, take it away, man. Appreciate you.
00:23:33
Speaker
Perfect 3-0-0, Leagues Cup, only MLS club to do it. how are you feeling? Yeah, no, thank you. Yeah, long time listener, first time caller, so appreciate it. ah Yeah, thought it was a good game, definitely a tense game. the The first point I was going to bring up that I feel like I haven't heard yet was i thought RBW had a pretty good game. Glad you brought it up. yeah i think yeah Tell me if you agree. Tell me if you agree.
00:23:57
Speaker
I think that was the best RBW game I've seen in terms of like complete performance front to back. Yeah. Especially from a defensive standpoint. I mean, they threw like whatever the 16 year old messy out there and he shut them up. Like i shut I didn't hear from that kid. I don't think one time the whole game. No, no The crowd was silent after he made his, you know, so sub sub appear on. So yeah I thought RBW had a strong game, you know, didn't like put up anything crazy assist wise or you know, um,
00:24:24
Speaker
in the offensive side, but yeah, all around complete performance wise, definitely thought it was his best game. It was the, ah it was the defense for me, man. It was the defense. Like yeah he was winning his one V ones. He was clearing balls out. He is positioning was on point. Like I, I,
00:24:42
Speaker
that's been the thing with RBW very good going forward. Uh, not as disciplined or positionally sound perhaps yeah and yeah in defense. And so it was just good to see him do that. I'm glad, I'm glad, uh, I'm glad you brought that up.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah, it was nice to see it. No yellow cards, you know, he made it through the game. just like He didn't get ejected. No one got ejected. In fact, the only person to get ejected was on their team. So, like, that's a nice welcome change of pace. yeah Yeah, nice when the tables are turned a little bit. Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
um Yeah, nice to see just like all, but you know, all around kind of a good backline performance. I mean, you can't really stop a goal like that ah in certain games. So I feel like Andy T really only gets beat by like Galazzo's. So I feel bad for the guy. i gone to the hit shout out Yeah. He almost got to that and he had a couple big time saves they had that breakaway kind of near the end that I don't I might have been to one at that point and yeah now and made a big save so Andy T continues to continues to shine What what ah
Team Depth and Future Competitions
00:25:50
Speaker
what else you see? What did you like not like how are you feeling about their chances in this tournament?
00:25:55
Speaker
Yeah, honestly feeling pretty good. I mean, to go like a three-peat against some Liga Mechies teams, I mean, I feel like that's a pretty good confidence boost going in to to have the one spot.
00:26:06
Speaker
um Feeling pretty good about like how the team's doing, especially like... Today's game, I felt like was a little bit more lineup rotation heavy to some extent, especially up top and to still be able to like pump out, you know, what what did you say, 11 goals in the last few games, even with some like rotation. i feel like once we really get like a true 11 out there, well we'll have a pretty good chance.
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully. And we'll we'll see what happens with Rusnak. You know, I think any, like, fully full-strength 11 for this team has has him in there. Yeah. But, you know, you do have, like, I think it's... Inter-Miami looked great without Messi tonight, but, like, for them, his presence alone defines the ceiling. Yeah. Whereas Seattle, I think, you know, it's a...
00:26:53
Speaker
their roster is like more top heavy Seattle's is deeper. So like theoretically the deeper team should be able to withstand a situation like that more than the team that's more top heavy. I mean, they won three, one tonight, so I'm not like taking anything like but it's ah without messy, but like, I like,
00:27:11
Speaker
If Ferreira has to play there, i would feel okay yeah about that, even Danny Leyva. Yeah, I felt good about some of the rotation with the subs coming in, just with some of the shifting lineups. So, ah yeah, all in all, happy with with how the team's looking. You know, Moose is looking like a really competent backup. I thought DiRosario had a good game.
00:27:32
Speaker
ah It was weird. I felt like me and my dad were chatting the whole game and thought some of his like pressing was could have been a little bit better at some times but um then he you know he shuts us up with with that great goal so can't complain.
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think. ah like the sort of pressing that Schmetzer ball requires, he's maybe not like as refined on that yet.
00:27:57
Speaker
But like, I think the encouraging thing with Osaze at least is like, he is, he's like, learning it it feels like he's learning and improving. And i think that's what kind Schmetzer was talking about ah at the presser. So I don't have anyone else in the queue right now, bad sequels. So if you want to cook a another cake or two, feel free.
00:28:19
Speaker
ah Trying to think what else I thought of the game. ah Nice to see. I mean, just all in all, nice to see like the league side coming in, not like overly chippy. I mean, I know it got like a little bit crazy at some points, but I just thought it was a clean game on all in all.
00:28:36
Speaker
Didn't think the refs did a good, did a bad job. So was nice to see a little bit. we We hit on it a little bit, but like I think, you know, we've been talking negatively about officiating a lot dating back to the last few games of the league season.
00:28:54
Speaker
So it was nice to watch a game where i pretty much was like, all right, I see why that was called. There's relative consistency now. Fouls are being called. ah You know, there's always going to be a few calls in there that like like I didn't understand how the dude who trucked Alex Roldan didn't get a yellow. There's a couple things like that. There's couple weird calls like that. yeah i had i I had something that ah I wanted to hit that I haven't hit yet, though.
00:29:18
Speaker
ah that That sequence at the end where they tried the the coordinated offside trap.
Defensive Tactics and Match Analysis
00:29:25
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. And then it didn't... ah get called offside and Seattle got the corner awarded ah and then scored off that subsequent corner.
00:29:35
Speaker
That was hilarious. ah They were so mad about that, that their number their number six got a red, like after the final whistle red card, where they were crashing out about it on the field when it happened.
00:29:48
Speaker
i don't know if I've ever, seen that before. I'm sure that they're like, that's something that like teams, teams have done. Like, I don't think they're the first team to do that, but like everyone on their line jumped forward at the same time, which yeah I thought it worked. I thought the, that the AR did like miss that Seattle, everyone on Seattle was offside, but dude, that is risky as hell to pull that out that juncture in the game, because if you do miss time that which and and like you saw why, because it didn't get called and it gives the other team just like everyone is wide as open right in front of goal. So you got to be like absolutely perfect on that. And I don't did you did you think that they pulled it off? Because I actually i actually thought that if you slowed it down, they were
00:30:38
Speaker
f seattle was was offside and it just didn't get called and then they scored out on the uh subsequent corner which was sick yeah it honestly happened so fast i i feel like i didn't even give it a second thought that the guys in the row behind me were definitely asking about it they were they were chatting if it was offside or not so i mean i feel like they probably had a chance to look at it var maybe but um Well, see, they didn't score though. They didn't score. so far or wouldn't look at it And that was what was so funny about it was that they kept ah doing the VAR sign at the ref, but it's like, that's not going to, they're not going to review an offside call where they don't, that you can pull it back for fouls and stuff like that.
00:31:19
Speaker
But like, I don't think a call like that, they would ever do that. So yeah. That was – You know, I'll take it. I'll take it, honestly, at the end of the day. so Whatever. If you're pulling out stops like that at that juncture in the game, that yeah in plus it doesn't work. you can't I don't think you can feel that aggrieved. But it was like – I don't think I've ever seen that.
00:31:42
Speaker
And i was just kind of pondering the – like how effective – That could actually be because if it had worked, it would have been pretty sick.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah. Didn't worry. I mean, I would have been great if they pulled it off. Yeah. We would have been saying it was just like, uh, yeah, a perfect maneuver, but. Yeah, I was pretty shocked that um even even on the corner, I thought there was a little offsides on the corner, but it looked like Moose played it perfect. So, you know.
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, they he was onside on the corner. And I think that's another takeaway for me from these last couple games is how much better the set pieces have been. That has been a weak link of the team this year. After being a strong suit last year, at least on – like dead ball situations. Yeah. So ah not me, not on corners. I know, but like ah the free kicks, Bruce next free kicks were really good last year.
00:32:32
Speaker
He hasn't been as on point with those this year. So his to see them getting these goals off set pieces. And then yeah the last one was a Ferreira corner. So that was, ah that was nice to see as well. Yeah. yeah got Oh, we got a bunch of people tapping in now. So sequels, if you got any other last takes here, feel free to let them rip. Thanks for calling in, man.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think I ran about all my takes dry, so appreciate the time. Thank you. Hell yeah, man. Thanks for all your support and call into the next one. I will.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'll do my best. I appreciate it. Love it. Yeah, take care. Have a good one. All right, we got Danny up next, Tribe after that, Kenny after that, Hunch after that. There's a bunch of you here, so ah I'm going to bring Danny on right now.
00:33:17
Speaker
And Danny, floor is yours. 2-1-3.
00:33:22
Speaker
victory over Club Tijuana, 3-0-0, only ah MLS club to achieve phase one perfection. How are you feeling? I think i the it was a tough win, right? It wasn't like one of the, the yeah, I don't know. It was kind of like a battle. you know It was a little bit more chippy of a match. That's my take.
00:33:44
Speaker
So I don't know. it It wasn't as clear of like, oh, we dominated the game necessarily. I felt like It was just a little bit more badly than, say, the Cruises rule game, if you will, you know?
00:33:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. Like, ah but that's that's sort of ah k again that's it's more normal for a tournament footy. Like the Cruises rule game was fun, but like realistically, that's just not going to happen.
00:34:11
Speaker
ever again probably, like a sense on a league and a team where you score one of the best goals in global footy like all year. not just It was awesome, I wish that would happen in every tournament game.
00:34:24
Speaker
But like this is much more what these games are like. So I think like the attrition and the the survival aspect of it, these are like important experiences and it's like, it's why this team goes God mode in in tournaments.
00:34:38
Speaker
like this because they know how to be in a game where they get scored on first and things aren't looking that good and they're not going well and you figure you just find a way so I think that's another encouraging thing as well uh do you uh uh have anything on uh Osaze I feel like that's the uh other big storyline of the night ah saucy I was saying he dunked on the dude. like He just like rose up and literally like but like over the dude that was defending him. He just got his ups. and the It's like, oh, you're not jumping with me? Okay, well, I'll just dunk on you. like
00:35:12
Speaker
He just like... ah Yeah, it was just... It was a good way to describe it. like he He posterized that guy, which it's like... That is the type of stuff like with his physical profile that he brings to the table, right? Like he, yeah he's that like big bodied target physical number nine type profile that we've said that this team could use for a while. So whether he becomes like a consistent goal scorer with that profile remains to be seen, but he's doing it right now. So that was a good, ah I remember Clint Dempsey when he scored the game winner in Portland, that that famous one at Providence after the game, he was like, man, that must be what it feels like to dunk in a basketball game. feel like Osase must've felt like that. like
00:35:58
Speaker
It was like one of those drop step dunks where you just like in the paint and you just drop on a guy that's on you and you hip check them and just totally just like like I've dunked on like 6'4", you know, so like I've done it once or twice, you know, but yeah.
00:36:13
Speaker
So it was it's, it's, it was kind of cool to see just him just like, Oh, you're like, when people don't go with you, you're like, Oh, you're not coming up with me. And he just had it on. But I like hot take before that though, before that goal, I was like, Ooh, is he getting subbed out at half? Are we moving like Jesus up the line? You know, like, are we going to put De La Vague? Like, I was kind of think I was like doing my little b Brian. I had the same thought actually. Like, do you, do you do this at 45? Like straight up that half was not good. You're down a goal. yeah Like, do you, but ah I think,
00:36:44
Speaker
Schmetz sticking with it ended up paying off. And I think i think me thinking that at least was probably a little reactionary. I mean, because they are they they should have been ahead in that half.
00:36:55
Speaker
Like the fact that that double poster one, like with the Amar and Ferreira, like that yeah that is a goal like nine times out of 10. I don't know how neither of those went in. And then they get a PK, that Rusnak, who is usually like...
00:37:11
Speaker
Pretty good on his PKs, I think. like he he doesn't He's not like a guy that I consider that that I don't trust from the spot. He's been making him at least the last two years since he's been taking him, since Ladero left.
00:37:22
Speaker
I think he only missed, think that was his, well, I think that was actually his third miss. So... Maybe he's not ah the most lockdown. but He's not Ladero-level lockdown on PTA. Wasn't Brad Evans like never missed any of them or something like that? like there's Brad Evans famously never missed one. I think he went like eight for eight or something. Yeah, like a wild story. i would' have be Yeah, they needed Brad out there for sure. But – Like my hot take, you got no more people queue. I'll just give my last little take is like, I think this is a good depth charge.
00:37:54
Speaker
You know, we went a little deep. There was a couple subs, you know, so that's, you know, it was good to see can't get a run out. I'm not sure on the injuries yet because I just got home.
00:38:05
Speaker
So like what what the Kent or and or wrist neck injury is. I don't know either at this point. I haven't peeped the Schmetz presser. He probably doesn't have fully up-to-date info yet, but we'll find out. that's the I think that is the the downside of this game is the ah is the injuries.
00:38:24
Speaker
Obviously, Rusnak is a crucial player, but then even – I mean, Ryan Kent's got two assists in his last two games, and I felt like he was – Honestly, not that effective in the first half, but I mean, he gutted through it. These teams are fouling the shit out of him They're bullying him and ah he's fought through it and got a couple of times in the last two games.
00:38:46
Speaker
So hopefully he can get back in short order because I i still have my stock. I still have it. But these are like, he's, I think he's a little, you know, I think he's better in the championship player at the, you know, in the UK, you know i'm saying? Like, ah and championship is chippy. Like it's, it's foully. It's kind of rough, like CONCACAF. As far as I know, I'm not too. No, you're, you're right. At least reputationally. Yeah.
00:39:09
Speaker
yeah and so to me i think like i think he's a step above that and so it's kind of hard for him to play down like i don't know when it's like chippy and fouley but uh like like i said my last take was like at least we were able to play him he was able to get meaningful minutes and play well i thought like at least there was a couple plays that he played there was sometimes he got his you know the ball picked off of him he's trying to be too clever still getting dispossessed a little too much yeah yeah But ah you're able to give him minutes, meaningful minutes. It's important, you know, to get confidence and just relax. He's contributing right now, which like I think in that little a period of time where he wasn't playing as well, it felt like he wasn't contributing like we saw that he could in his first few games. So just seeing him like –
00:39:55
Speaker
even having just sequences in these games where he looks more like that again. I thought he had a couple of nice shake and bake jukes tonight to get him into space. Like we saw him do in those early games. And then of course, like getting on the stat sheet, you can't argue with that, but all right, Danny, ah we're going bring tribe on now, but thank you so much for the call as always, man.
00:40:15
Speaker
ah Good stuff. And we'll catch you on the next one. Adios. Take care. All right, Tribe, my guy Tribe, we're bringing him on right now.
00:40:27
Speaker
Tribe, what's up, man? ah Go ahead and take it away. over Club Tijuana. Only MLS club to go 3-0-0 in League's Cup Phase 1. Off to the quarters. are you feeling?
00:40:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah i don't have I don't have your audio. Hold up. Oh, there you are. Yep, you're good now. All right. What's up? Sorry. I'm a little bit ah disappointed. We should have had more goals again. Another offside. It's just every single game. house was wing That was annoying. and it's like It's like by 0.2 inches, dude. like Every single game, man. It's really annoying.
00:41:05
Speaker
Jesus Ferrer missed the easiest header of of anyone's life. Paul Rothrock could have just slid it in in the second half. completely straight at the keeper. And this is what I'm saying. We need more clinical players.
00:41:18
Speaker
Paul Rothrock and Jesus Ferrer just aren't doing it for me in the big moments. You know what I'm saying? Of course they can play any good little pass to be in the right position. But when it comes to the final third, the final touch, the final shot, you have to be that step up to be a real good player.
00:41:33
Speaker
And I think Ryan Kent is that. Even though he wasn't effective in the first half, he really stepped up in the second half and got one of while a really, really good assist to Osaze, I mean, Osaze is just great. He reminds me of Benjamin Czesko, you know, being able to jump up so high, so, so fast, really good feet in the final third. we saw that in the first half.
00:41:57
Speaker
um I am a bit disappointed. Again, we had so many opportunities. We could have scored four or five more. but next Yeah, I hear where you're coming from. and that and like It's not even just this game. like It was last game, too, where you like you get the win and you and you do score two goals, ah but ah you're left feeling like there was...
00:42:17
Speaker
a lot left on the table, which on one hand is frustrating. On the other hand, to me, that indicates that the the chance the chance generation has been quite good. And like stuff like to me, stuff like balls off the post like that, that's like variance stuff where if you just keep spamming chances and generating them like at the clip that they are, then you're going to start to see those fall. And like, ah you might actually get those games where you put up three, four, five or seven against Cruz Azul.
00:42:48
Speaker
But like, I know what you mean, like, especially in this game too, in the first half to have the Yamar and Ferrer one off the post, then the PK off the post and then have them score. You're like, it should, it could be three, zero in it. Three, zero Seattle. And it's one, zero them.
00:43:04
Speaker
So Yeah, I feel like we need we need Kent and De La Vega to start because Kent is very good on the right as well. Kent has shown that Rangers. He's very good on the right just as well on the left.
00:43:16
Speaker
We need to start both of them because they're very very good players and De La Vega man this this tournament. I see it as an opportunity to see where our players are at for MLS in the MLS playoffs because there's a lot of rotation because one in three games, you know, a whole game in in three days, sorry.
00:43:35
Speaker
um that We need a lot of rotation. So we get a checkup on on each player, see how they're where they're at right now. And i feel like Kent, every single game, it feels like he gets an assist, right?
00:43:47
Speaker
And De La Vega, my God, came off the bench. Two bangers and just so good on the wing, being able to go in and out of players if he needs to. A a couple times gets dispossessed.
00:43:58
Speaker
He's getting better on that. I feel like those are two starters on the wing. I feel like Osaze up front over Musovsky, even though Musovsky got a goal. That's a spicy take. Musovsky has 10 goals all comps.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah, but Osaze is big and he can get... he can get up. I feel like if, if Osaze was, was our starter, he would maybe have. There's a, ah there's a more intriguing potential ceiling with Osaze. Like I'm, I'm fully on the allure of Osaze page just because of, I mean, how he's been producing, but just, just his like profile, a type of forward he is ah would be a big asset to this team.
00:44:41
Speaker
Actually reminds me of Noah Ohio when i watched him. he He really, really does have that same sort of play style, just not as defined. It comes with time.
00:44:52
Speaker
comes with time and experience. But if we can get Osaze, my God, he it might be a hot take, but i feel like he could become the all-time leading goal scorer for the club if if we give him the chances that he needs. And if if we have Menungu, he needs to be a sub every single game, as I've said before.
00:45:10
Speaker
and get him some minutes. My God, we have a really good team, but I feel like Brian Schmetzer just isn't utilizing it how he could get the max potential, you know? the ah The Ryan Kent on the right thing is something that, I mean, like, my thing is like, well, you did you did it with De La Vega and that worked, so why not try it with ah Ryan Kent? But ah all right, Tribe, I got a few people in the queue behind you here, but any last ah any last takes or anything you wanted to get out there?
00:45:38
Speaker
Fuck Portland. All right. they ah They couldn't quite get it done against Club America tonight. The Timbys got a red card and then lost the shootout. Pathetic from Club America. Pathetic. So yeah you're ah they're kind of at the mercy of the other results tomorrow. So that'll be nice and nerve-wracking for them. But ah all right, Trapp, good stuff as always, man. Thanks for calling in. We'll talk to you on the next one.
00:46:00
Speaker
Cheers. I'll see you. Later. All right. We got Kenny. Got Kenny up next. Kenny, what's up, Ari? Floor is yours.
00:46:12
Speaker
Floor is yours. 2-1 over Club Tijuana. Three straight Liga and Mechies teams go down the hands of the Seattle Sounders, and they finish as the only MLS club but to be perfect through Phase 1 and Leagues Cup 2025. How are you feeling?
00:46:26
Speaker
they're the They're the only club to go perfect, right? Is any Mexican club perfect? I don't think so. No. Yeah, actually, that's a good point. would I've been saying MLS club, but yeah. Plus 9 goal differential, is that correct?
00:46:39
Speaker
yeah Plus nine, 11 to two. Plus nine, not bad at all. I wanted to actually start off ah with like um some non-match things. Like ah for this whole um week of games in League's Cup, they've been doing the club.
00:46:55
Speaker
Introduced the Vamos Sounders Club. And it's like for Spanish speakers. And it was giving two free tickets, $15 for each additional one.
00:47:07
Speaker
Bro. i got I got five tickets. I got like 25 fucking people into this game with those free tickets, boy. I got a whole fucking like Mexican little soccer team to come too. They were all up in the tunnel like high-fiving the players and stuff.
00:47:21
Speaker
I love that kind of outreach from the club. Like, you know, they're making all those kids fans for life. They got them all hats and shit and all kinds of merch and got to high-five all the players. Got to high-five Chihuahua players too coming out.
00:47:34
Speaker
And they're all Latino kids too, so it's extra special kind of moment. And so I was sitting with all the Latino people in the Vamos Club. ah They got, it was like VIP entrance, you know, fast entrance through the lines and everything. And ah it was cool. It was a kind of a different,
00:47:54
Speaker
Somewhat different atmosphere. It's a very diverse atmosphere at every sounders game, but this one was very Everybody screaming and cussing in Spanish and stuff all the kids are playing and like getting into the game and everything so so I took at least two people to their first game that I know of and then and Every I sent I sent that link out to everybody man, and I know a lot of people who got to there go to their first Sounders match because of this That's sick, man. Yeah, that kind of stuff is, that's what's fun about these international tournaments is you get different types of atmospheres, different types of crowds, and it it just creates like sort of a unique experience, unique environment, and ah like ah creates new fans, like you said. So, I mean, that's cool to hear that hopefully like they're taking steps to kind of maximize that type of stuff that they can get out of having
00:48:49
Speaker
like ah an international tournament like this. And then I guess getting into the game, it's good that they maximize the opportunity for their youngsters to get a game. We really rotated into this game.
00:49:00
Speaker
I mean, i guess there was only four starters changed, I believe. The fullbacks, the striker, and ah one winger.
00:49:11
Speaker
One winger was different, right? I think it was more changes than that. It was both wingers. It was both wingers, wasn't it? the fullback, both wingers, the striker, the double pivot, the 10 were the same. Yep. And the shoulder was the same. But, yeah, got some good run out for them.
00:49:28
Speaker
i Like the last caller was saying, I loved Osaze's technicality, technical ability in the in and around. you know just under pressure you know i feel like that's something we may have been missing like not that our strikers can't hold it up but um there was a lot of intent with his play tonight i couldn't jive with like uh the starter club goal record he lost me on that part but he looks like a solid piece he looks like he's at he's at his level man he's playing playing against mexicans and mexican clubs and scoring on them so osaze really has impressed me in this tournament
00:50:05
Speaker
Um, Kalani, just Energizer Bunny, man. That guy's, that guy's bred for this club. He is. He's like the classic. yeahther When you started playing regularly, I was like, this is a classic Brian Schmetzer player.
00:50:22
Speaker
Classic Seattle player, man. um and some of the injuries were really concerning to me. Like you were saying, I haven't heard any updates on Albert and,
00:50:34
Speaker
um Who else was it? Kent got hurt, right? And yeah I know Alex took a knock as well, but he's he's a tough kid. Tough kid. Exactly.
00:50:44
Speaker
He looked great. Again. Kenny, one one ah one more take, Cook. Go for it And then ah I got to get the rest of this cue on here.
00:50:59
Speaker
Noah Ohio who? Noah Ohio who? Noah Ohio? No, just kidding, brother. Appreciate you, Ari. Let him go. Thanks, Kenny. Appreciate you, man. We'll talk to you on the next one.
00:51:11
Speaker
All right, Hunch, I'm sorry to ah make you wait, but ah Nico Moreno, Lobbing Scorchers kickoff co-host, called in and he's still at the field here. So I'm going to bring him on for just a couple minutes here to so he can get headed home, which is what I'm going to do relatively soon here.
00:51:28
Speaker
ah But Nico, what's up, dude? Sorry I ah ignored your call. I was in the middle of the show. Thanks for calling in, though. what did you ah What did you think of this match tonight? And I guess phase one overall with Seattle being the only club in either league, as ah as Kenny just pointed out, to go three oh and o How are you feeling about all this?
00:51:48
Speaker
Good. Yeah, I mean, I called you because I thought I'd catch you, but they locked you in there. So I could not get in. So I was like, they locked the doors to where you're at. So I was like, well, all right. Oh, shit. You hope I can get out.
00:52:00
Speaker
I'm pretty sure you can from the inside. I hope that you can. If not, yeah. If not, you're going to have to bust my ass out here. I mean, I was here this exact same time the other night, so. Yeah, no, it's all good. ah In terms of what the Sounders did, ah man, I think it's remarkable, right? I mean, it's not every day that an MLS club that consistently gets a lot of crap, for lack of a better term, for not signing lot of big-time players and ah maybe, and fairly so, maybe not adding ah as many signings of ah as other clubs.
00:52:34
Speaker
I think that, you know, going head to head with some of Mexico's best teams and coming across undefeated while, you know, you've got teams like Puebla that are bottom of the barrel in Liga MX going through. You've got a team like Juarez being a Cinderella story, ah beating a team like Cincinnati that, you know, spent probably more on one player than Seattle has in, you know, half of their roster.
00:52:59
Speaker
yeah, that's merit to a team that ah has a lot of talent and maybe the the ceiling and and the potential that you saw against Cruz Azul is not going to be something that you do all the time. And that's, that's obvious. And I think that's what everybody should do because you if you continue to,
00:53:20
Speaker
use that as a marker of where this this team should be, you're going to come out disappointed pretty quickly. Just put that in the back pocket, frame that memory of that 7-0 game.
00:53:31
Speaker
I think it's something to build on, and he shows that this team you know has a lot of talented players. ah But overall, I think that these types of wins, when you have a show of teams that were going to come in here, that were going to...
00:53:45
Speaker
defend you deep with two deep blocks. They were going to force you to break them down. They were going to concede you possession. You know, Loco Abreu was a very animated coach that his stamp is that physicalness, that tempo.
00:53:59
Speaker
And Seattle was able to match it, specifically in the second half. I thought they were a little bit flat in the first half. um I agree with your point on Ryan Kent not being as effective on the first half. And Ryan Kent, to me, you know, he wasn't brilliant, but he was good enough to deserve the time that he got on the field today. i thought that in the second half, obviously the assist, but but it wasn't just that. It wasn't just him getting and the goal contribution stats.
00:54:25
Speaker
It was more of what he did with the ball. He was a lot more vertical. After that, he did a lot of positive stuff ah for the team. But the rotational components, I think that's the best thing out of today's match.
00:54:36
Speaker
Osase getting a goal, Osase being a guy that... ah continues to earn more minutes. I still think that the Danny Misowski experiment is alive. b Brian called him the Messiah. Did you hear that? Were you...
00:54:49
Speaker
I saw a bunch people saying that in our chat, but I didn't realize that was a Schmetz quote. He called him the Messiah. That was Schmetz quote. He said, the Messiah saved us again. That literally called the Messiah. Are you messing with me right now? I am not messing with you. Call the Messiah.
00:55:04
Speaker
My jaw near hit the floor. ah so it's clearly going to be a thing where you're going to continue to be. You got the Messiah. You got Georgie getting sent off for the Christ shirt. I mean, this is divine and intervention, folks.
00:55:18
Speaker
Man, I'm telling you that that that is, you know, you got all of the, you know, wonderful takes there with Jesus Ferreira and the Messiah. I mean, it's it's honestly um something that maybe sounds kind of funny, but you got to give Moose credit. He comes in.
00:55:35
Speaker
plays. gets to the right ball at the right time, puts it away. i think maybe the criticism of Jesus is a bit much. I thought that he had ah a lot of good other place in this game where he created some really good passes. He put himself in some very good positions.
00:55:53
Speaker
And yes, of course, you're always going to judge Ferrer by the goals. I talked to him after the game. He told me that he, you know, a lot of people wanted to see him go down with that header. But to his point, the goalkeeper was right there.
00:56:05
Speaker
So he tried to kind of go up so he would keep it away from the goalkeeper. Okay, so it was that was calculated. That's interesting. It was calculated. What I was going to say about that play in particular, because I know, like, you know, people are going to give him a hard time for that. He's right in front of goal. oh Pretty much, like, just put it anywhere.
00:56:22
Speaker
ah other than that. And and it's a goal. I feel like that's just pretty unlucky, man. Like, i don't, I mean, that's, Most times he hits that it's going to be a goal, but he just smashed it off the post, ah which is unfortunate, but it does happen. And it's like also those those situations, obviously, ah you want them to be goals, but you also want guys getting in those high percentage spots, which is something that he's been doing of a much better job but lately over the last like
00:56:58
Speaker
month or so. So, uh, it, that should have been a goal, but he's been in good enough form him lately. And, you know, I'm, everyone knows I've been a defender the whole time, but he's been in good enough form lately where I'm not going to like crush him that much over it, even though it was like, dude, how is that not a goal?
00:57:14
Speaker
Like, I love me some Jesus Ferrer, man. I've gotten a lot of heat too, but today he had a pass that is just very methodical and he kind of hits it. And I forgot who's the player that kind of goes through and doesn't put it away. Oh, it's that play where um I think it's Albert ends up getting the ball then he passes it out to Kalani and Kalani doesn't really shoot it He kind of passes it in and it goes nowhere. But if you look at Jesus' link up play throughout the game, I thought it was outstanding.
00:57:45
Speaker
His pressure and defensive moments were very good. Look, to be honest, I'm just very pleased with what the overall team was able to do today and what they've been able to do through the tournament. And look, obviously, you got to go home and I got to go home. But I want to leave you with this. The team is trending in the right direction.
00:58:07
Speaker
I know that there's been offside calls. There's been a whole bunch of those. There have been moments where maybe the team hasn't scored. They've missed penalties, all these things. But Seattle generating and being as aggressive and as on the front foot as they have been, I think is a huge positive for this team.
00:58:23
Speaker
A year ago, it maybe even two years ago, we were wondering why this team was unable to create chances and why they were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. And now we we're getting that.
00:58:35
Speaker
I mean, this team, I think they put up 22 shots today or 26 shots today. Their XG was over four. I'm not a good guy. I'm not a stats guy. But I know that we have very...
00:58:48
Speaker
XG driven audience. So let me say that, right? I mean, this team offensively has done very well and people need to be encouraged by at least that element of the game.
00:58:59
Speaker
That no, that's a that's a great point because we talked so much about ah how much this team on ah offense was like pulling teeth for the first like half of last year and then it it got better.
00:59:10
Speaker
They brought it back and had a strong finish to the season. ah But this it's it's funny last year. ah If you asked me what I had the most confidence in and would hang my hat on with this team, it would would have been the defense.
00:59:22
Speaker
Now it's easily the offense. Like the defense has been spotty this year and they've been pretty leaky at times. This offense right now is like turbo powered. Like they're generating crazy XG and spamming goals every single game. And they just dropped seven on Cruz Azul. So like that, that should not be overlooked. It's ah it's a good point, but I'll let you.
00:59:45
Speaker
Hopefully Albert is, is okay. I think that's the toughest. Anything about Albert or, or Ryan Kent? He said that they were both ham hamstrings, that he's going to have to get them checked out to figure out what the severity of those are.
00:59:59
Speaker
in at first hand, he kind of feels like Alberts might be tougher than Ryan's, which is unfortunate. ah Hopefully it's not. Jeremiah looked at his history of hamstrings. It's not really there.
01:00:11
Speaker
But maybe his recovery time will be better because he hasn't suffered one in the past. ah But I thought Ferreira, did very well when he had to move into that 10 position. That red card is generated at the end of the game off of a Jesus Ferrer through ball to Obed Vargas out of that 10 position.
01:00:33
Speaker
And that should have been a goal, but the guy obviously takes down Obed and he gets the red. So, you know, that's exactly why i am So on the Jesus for train and I haven't got off. I've i've been on it from beginning. and haven't got off. And I really, be but I think that he's going to be a guy that's going to continue to produce, but Ari,
01:00:54
Speaker
You the man, audience, I love the Loving Scorchers audience always. I'm going to try to get out of here. Call me if you cannot get out of there, and then I will get back to you with a crowbar. I got a crowbar in the car. You let me know.
01:01:05
Speaker
I hope they didn't lock my ass in here. We're about to find out. But, yeah, thanks, Nico. I'll catch you later, and see you for the next episode of Kickoff as well, brother. Yes, sir. Have good Have a good one.
01:01:17
Speaker
All right. We're going to close it out with hunch. Going to bring him to the stage right now and give him the floor hunch. Sorry about that. Thanks for waiting though, man.
01:01:26
Speaker
Floor is yours. Perfect. Three, three, Oh, and Oh only club in either league to do it to one over to you. How are you feeling? Pretty good, never can complain about a win, especially, and then moving on in the tournament, that's that's fantastic. and And by the way, you don't have to apologize to me, man. I don't expect to be on here. Matter of fact, I'd prefer to not be on here. I'm just happy to provide content.
01:01:47
Speaker
And if i can if I can be supportive, I'm happy to do it. And I would say this, I love to hear from the post-game folks like that are at the match and afterwards, you know, not so much press, but Nico's the exception.
01:01:58
Speaker
Nico's fearless in how he provides opinions and looks at the good and the bad. So absolutely love hearing from him, have no qualms waiting. And like I said, if you don't get to me in any given show, that is 100% perfectly fine.
01:02:10
Speaker
Appreciate that, man. Okay. So I got two parts here. I got the current match and then going forward and I'll fly through what I can here. I think Muslowski got me out of the match.
01:02:21
Speaker
Ooh, okay. He did have a nice ah nice goal. Was there more more to that take? I disagree with it. i Clearly, the man of the match was the left post.
01:02:33
Speaker
Oh. Had more shades. Oh, Mussovsky got awarded it. I thought you were saying. he did. Okay, okay. No, no, he was actually awarded it. I think the left post actually is the one who deserves it. Yeah, I mean, Yeah.
01:02:46
Speaker
ah but he no i i moose didn't score in the first two matches and he worked his butt off so i am glad especially coming in with short minutes he's just you know potent as he was and i'll circle back to the the center forwards and going forward there but that we're in good shape um both wingers being out man not ah no pedro no rothrock Christian is a one man engine.
01:03:12
Speaker
And as much as he exerts, he can't, he doesn't inspire a stamina driven team by himself. he he He still looks pretty gassed to me right now. There was still more of those giveaways that like he just doesn't make when he's at full strength.
01:03:28
Speaker
So he and he and Obed both, man, they're putting it in, playing every single minute of every single game still and still playing at a high level even though you can tell they're tired. no hundred i'm not I'm not criticizing what I'm saying. He goes box to box, but it's just like no one on the team seems to like want to match him.
01:03:43
Speaker
but when you add Rothrock or add Pedro or add them both the rest of the team just kind of picks up their levels like these guys are running we're going and we had both of them off and it it looked like it it looked like we were up for a walk in that first half and I mean not for nothing not complaining three first halves three no goals or three shutouts that's not great mean you can't argue with the totals and the wins But if you come out in the front foot here against Tijuana, you put them away, they got nothing to play for in the second half. Yeah. yeah would be if
01:04:16
Speaker
If you're nitpicking how this game went, it's that they didn't dust it in the first half because they had the chances to. Like they very much could have. And it was kind of a similar vibe of the ah last game. But – I guess the positive aspect of that is they're generating they're generating so many of these chances to barely miss, right?
01:04:38
Speaker
yeah No, i'm not I'm not complaining. I'm just saying, i mean, bri it Brian's on words. Goals change games. Yeah. Goals would have changed this game in the first half to put Tijuana out in the second half, and potentially you save both Rusnak and Kent from injury if you want to get to that point.
01:04:52
Speaker
I'm not going to extrapolate that far, but I'm saying maybe that's a different scenario. But to that point, Resnack being out, I'm going to guess he's probably go out a couple games. ah Severe, not severe. They're not going to any chances.
01:05:04
Speaker
Really interested to see Jesus, who I would bet, slot into that spot. Yeah, he will. um that could That could be super interesting. And now Jesus has had enough time to build some chemistry over the season with the rest of the players.
01:05:16
Speaker
mean, we already started with the Vargas red card right there. It's He's got good vision and then he's lethal if the ball comes back to him for some reason in the same way that Resnac has. So I'm not in in doubt there. it'll be gra I'll be glad to have both, if not either one of them back going into the next round.
01:05:33
Speaker
um kent i think showed that he's better running onto the ball like when he's in possession and sits back on his heels and he offers up the ball to try and beat someone they just take it from him but when he's running onto it when he's in possession i mean that's he got he got his assist tonight from that so maybe we just need to hit him in sort of a different method on the wing as opposed to letting him bring it up the wing himself i don't know um center forward man i mean got Osaze, who imagine what he's going to be like after a full season of training and off-season training going into next year.
01:06:05
Speaker
Yeah, man. Especially he puts on 10 pounds or something like that and gets a little bit faster on top of it. He is going to be a beast. You got the poacher that's Moose, so I mean a good one too.
01:06:16
Speaker
And if not him, you've got Jordan. i mean, can you imagine the heading targets if you've got Jordan and Osaze in the same game up top in a 4-4-2 or something like that? Ooh, Jordan and Osaze, dual strikers playing off each other? Yeah.
01:06:31
Speaker
I mean, yeah. So you twenty two striker, not I would say it's still a ah good thing to do because if we can develop, we, I mean. the the You know what? Screw screw the U22 striker. Give me Osaze.
01:06:45
Speaker
Give me Osaze de Resort. No, 100%. 100%. But we need to be mindful of, we need to bring in players that we can, if we don't have them stay here, we can push them on at a and as sale.
01:06:56
Speaker
like something that we profit from that through development. And we just, we haven't done that. And and mean look at the spending of the club over the last, whatever, since 2019. And they showed that like the Sounders haven't spent like $12 million, dollars whatever.
01:07:08
Speaker
But a U22 is higher chance to profit. Let's put it that way. Like if they come in and they they're effective, then we push them on or winger. But yeah, I mean, if we didn't, I'm fine given that these guys are the the stable.
01:07:22
Speaker
um but yeah now overall let's talk tournament let's talk going forward let's do it um this is gonna sound contrarian i've been to every match i normally wouldn't care this is the second year leagues cup and i'm i'm not deriding it but in terms of how this tournament has operated how it's organized and some of the rules in it it's a freaking clown show yeah It's an absolute clown show, like the top four seeds of both teams and then like who gets us. And I feel bad for some of them.
01:07:51
Speaker
All these Mexican teams are having to go on the road for all this. I mean, they look like we do when we go into CONCACAF Champions League. get the You know, we're in our preseason. They're in their midseason. Yeah, a couple of things on that. Number one, like i like I've been saying that I agree that for this tournament to be fully like balanced, you would need like Liga Mechies teams to have hosting rights.
01:08:14
Speaker
I don't know if this was true, but as I understand it, like what I was told is that part of the reason that and MLS teams are hosting every game is because that's how...
01:08:25
Speaker
I don't know about all of the Liga and Mechies teams, but a lot of the Liga and Mechies teams want it that way, actually. Like, weirdly enough, they see it as a way to kind of, like, expand their brand and their fan bases to, like, play the games here.
01:08:38
Speaker
Well, and yeah, like, they have a lot of them, like, like Club America and Chivas and, like, clubs like that, CF Monterey. They have absolutely massive fan bases here. Club America has a bigger fan base in this country than any MLS team.
01:08:50
Speaker
Like, I think that's pretty like undeniably true. So it may like, I guess it makes sense, but like to me, like Seattle had like such a clear advantage, like hosting all these games.
01:09:01
Speaker
I feel absolutely no sympathy or remorse for the ah fact that they took advantage of that. Like they did, that's like the upshot of cultivating ah a fortress over the course of like 15 years is that if you have a situation where you're hosting games like this,
01:09:17
Speaker
you get You get the advantage and you get the chance to like capitalize on that. But as for the format itself, it's definitely kind of weird and I think probably needs to be tweaked and perfected a little bit.
01:09:29
Speaker
But I did think there was something... ah compelling I guess about having every single like I was going into this game tonight and I was like, man, like Seattle seven old Cruz Azul.
01:09:46
Speaker
They got a big win in their in their next game over another. Liga and Mequis team Santos Laguna. And then it's like, if they lose tonight, they're out. Like literally like yeah that, that doesn't even mean anything that they dropped, dropped seven and have the most goals and the best GD over two games. If they lose, they are out. There is zero margin for error. Every game is like, you have to, you have to be pretty much,
01:10:10
Speaker
perfect like to uh to make you you can't lose you but you can't lose a game but right now that's that's because and MLS has been dominating the league of MECI's teams because they're basically in their preseason and so we're competing against the other and MLS teams not against anybody else and it really comes it could come down to a group like somebody could have an easier group and somebody could have a difficult group and it's like they could be a better team but they're not going to get out of there compared to the MLS results so that you know all the other teams and that's why i said it's it's kind of ridiculous I will say this I don't think any of the teams we face have nearly had the fervor or the vigor of any of the Conquer Calf Champions League matches we ever played in.
01:10:47
Speaker
I don't think any of those three teams were playing at that level. I mean, Cruz Azul certainly was not... I think Santos, Laguna, and Tijuana, they're not that good, like...
01:10:59
Speaker
in general. ah And to me, i don't know how you saw it, but like, to me, it felt like Tijuana's game plan was pretty clearly like ah absorb pressure and encounter, which doesn't like lend itself to like an exciting CONCACAF-y end-to-end frantic style game.
01:11:19
Speaker
so they't even They weren't even gamesmanshiping like Santos was trying. Yeah. um I mean, they kind of did it, but not to the the same level. mean, it was a night and day difference between those two teams.
Time-Wasting and Rule Enforcement
01:11:29
Speaker
They were, Tijuana was time wasting a little bit, which I'm like, you guys, do you want to advance? Like, you need to beat Seattle by like three or four goals right here. Like, grinding out the 1-0, you're still going to eliminated. Which brings me to the next thing.
01:11:44
Speaker
How in the world, I've watched multiple matches, not just ours. How in the world, we're the only team to end up with an eight-second corner kick penalty. Yeah. but but And ah you could have written an essay, a dissertation on time-wasting by just watching Tijuana in this game, and it never even came up?
01:12:00
Speaker
Not even a yet? Come on. Like, going have the rule and you're going make a deal about it, do it. Otherwise, stop talking about it. Like, that was nonsense. Which game was that where they got called for that? The very first one against Cruz Azul. Yeah. It was in live play. It wasn't even a stop ball, which makes it even more egregious where it's like, you can waste twice the time.
01:12:18
Speaker
Ugh. So just, I mean, between that and and going back, speaking which, the yellow cards, we lost a player due to a celebration. So what you're telling me is if you just don't pick up a foul, it's okay to celebrate.
01:12:31
Speaker
Like if Georgie just didn't happen have a first yellow, it's fine. he wouldve gotten He would have gotten a yellow. Yeah, but who cares at that point? It's just one. yeah that's I think that's where the ah situational awareness has to come into play because you do see it happen every so every so often. It happened to ah someone on the Defiance a couple years ago where they were on a yellow and then took their shirt off. Oh, it was... ah Damn it, I can't remember.
01:12:58
Speaker
Like you see it ah happen every so often where guys forget that they're on a yellow already, take their shirt off after a goal and get sent off for it. So it's circumstantial. So Georgie should have given his shirt underneath to someone else who was not going to score a goal and it still could have been fine. It just, he wouldn't have gotten a red. My point being is this, it's punitive in a dumb way because it's not meant to curb the behavior.
01:13:20
Speaker
If they wanted to curb the behavior, make it a red card. No one would do it. That's how you stop it. But it's not about that. It's about being ticky-tack and nonsense for whatever dumb reason that they still have their life around. had a couple of, because Nico and I were talking on kickoff about how we think that's a dumb rule.
01:13:35
Speaker
We had a couple people commenting, saying that they think it's because of sponsorship stuff. Like the Jersey sponsors want there to be seen in these big moments where guys are celebrating goals.
01:13:46
Speaker
And if you have guys ripping their jerseys off and ah tossing them around and stuff, you like, don't that but that to me, that is not a good reason. like
Tournament Seeding and Hosting Rights
01:13:55
Speaker
The sponsors can can deal with it.
01:13:57
Speaker
Guys should be allowed to just take their jerseys off to celebrate goals. It's like a fun thing that no one has a problem with. So like I understand, you know, capitalism rules all.
01:14:12
Speaker
Well, that's not about stopping the behavior. A yellow card, it just happens to be circumstantial if so it would stop somebody. If they're in the 93rd minute and they score, they don't have a yellow, why wouldn't they do it? And you talk about press and coverage and photo op.
01:14:25
Speaker
guarantee you that's going to get more, has been have more legs than somebody who scores in the third minute and does it and they lose the game. Right. Like, it like I said, it's just a silly, silly rule either, either have it and make it effective or get rid of it.
01:14:41
Speaker
Uh,
01:14:44
Speaker
Last thing I'll say, other than the the nonsense and the clown show nature of how this tournament is run is this whole hosting thing. That the Galaxy could end up hosting their round and and the final because they won MLS Cup.
01:14:57
Speaker
It's pretty funny how that worked out because if you had told, like, I didn't really think much of that, ah like in principle, but the fact that they're so bad this year.
01:15:09
Speaker
Yeah. If you're below one point per game, you should lose that. You should lose that hosting rate. Well, what if they don't even qualify? Like, what if they don't make to next round? Then what? and And here's what it should be.
01:15:19
Speaker
Going into this whatever, even though, because if they're going to seed this, let's do it. It should be the last four CONCACAF winners. ah Ideally, if they're Liga MX or or MLS. And just have that rotating be the next round of four games.
01:15:32
Speaker
Whoever it is. So, for the last... That's a reward because we're rewarding a team that won a championship a year ago. Like, why isn't it the, you know, maybe it is the league at MXU.
01:15:43
Speaker
I think, I think, I don't think we would really think much of that if they were performing at the level of any normal defending champion. They're just literally the literal worst team in the league right now.
01:15:53
Speaker
So them getting hosting rights in a tournament like this is just, I mean, it's whatever. I don't even think they're going to, I think they need some stuff to break for them to see what, uh, ah it's it's It's not that they're terrible and they don't deserve to host it. It's that what's the point of having the seeding if it's not going to matter? Like if we have to play like two or three a road road games as being the top qualifying team when they have seeded one to four against each other going forward, but then who cares about seeding?
01:16:21
Speaker
Like this is this is just dumb.
Conclusion and Community Appreciation
01:16:23
Speaker
That is a good point. I was thinking of it more just like they're terrible and they don't deserve it, which I think is. That's gas on the fire. That's what that is. Yeah, exactly.
01:16:32
Speaker
But ah all right, Hunch, I got to try and break out of Lumen Field apparently. You might have looked me in here. You guys will find out. I'll all fire up a ah stream tomorrow if I'm still in here and have someone come rescue me. But ah thanks for calling in, man. Good talking to you always. And catch you on the next one.
01:16:53
Speaker
Thanks, Ed. Take care. ah All right, guys, that's going to do it for me. As I said, i have to ah try and break out of this broadcast room at Lumen.
01:17:03
Speaker
ah Thank you guys for tuning in. As always, please like the video. ah before Before I go, though, i I got some super chats to blast through. that I kind of forgot to do while I was in the zone with calls, so I'm just going to hit these.
01:17:16
Speaker
ah We got Jose becoming YouTuber member. Thank you, man. That's awesome. Great way to support the show. Joined by Daniel Dang. Jose and Daniel, appreciate you guys. That's big time.
01:17:27
Speaker
ah We got Sklar. Thank you for the $5. Super appreciate you. League's Cup is fun. I mean, it's pretty fun when you're 3-0-0 with 11 goals and a plus 9 GD and the only club in either league to run phase one, like that was pretty fun.
01:17:47
Speaker
And also, ah not only was phase one fun for the Seattle Sounders in general, but ah
01:17:57
Speaker
the Cruz Azul game was like was legendary. I mean, and the nice thing about the fact that they made sure that they advanced is that it takes away at least one caveat that if they had not advanced, like say they lost this game and didn't advance the Cruz Azul game, it would it would still have been fire, but it would not have had the same. wouldn't it hit the same.
01:18:21
Speaker
But now that it came in the context of them running in the phase one table.
01:18:27
Speaker
Hell yeah. And then we got Rob closing it out with the $1. Appreciate you, Rob. Every single super counts and helps support and grow our show. So thank you guys.
01:18:44
Speaker
All right. I, uh, I'm hitting the road on that 12, 17 AM exit. Let's go closing down the press box. Hopefully I can get out of here. Uh, love you guys. Appreciate you guys like the video, uh, more content, more content on the way podcasts, lobbing the scorchers kickoff.
01:19:02
Speaker
We got all that, uh, catch you guys then. peace