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Under the Lights: Seattle Sounders return to MLS play vs. Austin (feat. We Are Austin TV)
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After wrapping up their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup campaign, it's back to the MLS season for the Seattle Sounders, who return to action by hosting Austin FC in Matchday 21.
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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 & Promotions
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. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders' Club World Cup & MLS Return
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening, everybody, and welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Under the Lights. Got a great show for you planned here this evening. The Club World Cup is over.
00:00:56
Speaker
It's done. It's a wrap for the Seattle Sounders, and it is back to league play. in Matchday 21, where they'll be hosting Austin FC at Lumen Field to continue the MLS regular season campaign.
00:01:13
Speaker
We're going to bring Hernan from WeAreAustinTV on to preview that match in just a second. It's going to give us the the inside scoop on what's going on with ATX this season.
00:01:25
Speaker
And then later on, going to hit a little more Club World Cup discourse. Now that I've had some time to sit and marinate on my takeaways from the club world cup. I found, I was thinking about it and I have some amended takes that I want to, that I want to get out there.
00:01:40
Speaker
We got some Jordan Morris sound to react to. He talked to training earlier today. I believe was either today or yesterday. but We got some Jordan Morris sound to react to. ah There was a full slate of MLS action, midweek action last night with some ah other scores from around the league to react to.
00:01:58
Speaker
And then I had ah a little bit of a blazing hot presser from Charlotte FC's Dean Smith that i was gonna that I was going to hit later on. um Real quick, before we get into all that, I did want to ah shill that the Lobbing Scorchers hot sauce is out. If you haven't ah you haven't seen it yet, we've dropped it.
00:02:16
Speaker
ah it's It tastes great. Great product ah that we made in collaboration with one of our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments. ah And if you go to their website, Hacks and Ferments, you'll see our page. And if you order there or lobingscorchers.com slash sauce, you go there and you use the code LS, you get a free bottle with your order.
00:02:37
Speaker
So definitely peep it, try it out and throw some support to our to one of our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, who we, we love working with.
00:02:47
Speaker
And we're really excited about that project we've been, we've been working on with them. All right. Without further ado, let's get into this Austin FC preview. I'm really excited for our next guest.
00:02:59
Speaker
Absolutely love their content.
We Are Austin TV & Austin FC's Background
00:03:02
Speaker
They do some of not only the the best work covering Austin FC, but I think some of the best work of any MLS ah content or YouTube channel.
00:03:13
Speaker
ah So excited to talk to. We're going to bring him onto the stage right now. We've got Hernan from We Are Austin TV, also known as Hernan, thank you so much for taking the time to join the show tonight.
00:03:26
Speaker
How are you doing? I'm doing good, man. You know, just chilling down here in Austin, Texas. Of course, you guys had the Club World Cup to worry about. Austin FC has just kind of, you know, been taking a little bit of a break. You know, they've had a crazy month of May.
00:03:39
Speaker
The fans, the people covering this team also, they had a crazy month of May. And now we're kind of, you know, a month is, you know, coming to an end. But it's definitely been a more relaxed vibe down here in ATX when we're talking about Austin FC. It is hot, though. It is very hot. That does not escape us down here in Texas.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, that Texas heat is no joke. We know that up here from every time the Sounders have to go to either Houston or Dallas or Austin. you know It's always like that abtic added obstacle that you have to take into account. You're like, you know, maybe based on the quality of the teams, this should be an easy win, but it's going to be 126 degrees. So you got to take that into account. But yeah, thank you so much for joining the show tonight. We were talking about it very briefly off air.
00:04:19
Speaker
ah But I absolutely love your guys' content. Anyone in chat has not checked out We Are Austin TV. They do fan reaction interviews after many of the home games at Q2 Stadium.
00:04:32
Speaker
And they are absolutely hilarious, especially the ones during the Wolf Out era. They're so good, dude. Like, i like no notes. the way The questions you guys ask, the answers you get, the way they're edited – Uh, they're just so funny. And, uh, my cohost and I would send them to each other all the time just because of, uh, just how funny of the responses you get. Like, I think your guys' fan reactions are like the, they're the gold standard in major league soccer. So, uh, excited to, uh, excited to get to connect with you and, uh, actually talk some ball with you. Cause, uh, you guys, um, you guys know your stuff as well.
00:05:07
Speaker
Uh, but before we get into it, Hernan, if you want to, I know I just did it a little bit for you, uh, But if you want to give our audience the little backstory on maybe how you guys formed the type of stuff you guys do, the fan reaction videos and just like where to find your work covering the club.
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Well, first of all, thank you for those words, man. I mean, incredible shots right there. And, you know, um I wouldn't, you know, I'll, ah ah I'd be lying if I said that, you know, I haven't heard it from like other people. And it kind of just like, it just adds on to the fact that, you know, the the team that we have down here, you know, because it's not just me, you know, there's ah guys, you know, there's guys that edit, there's guys that also come on to the show too.
00:05:47
Speaker
And ah it's it's all their work with the grain of sand that I put in there as well that, you know, just combines into this project that we call We Are Austin TV down here in Austin, Texas. And yeah, pretty much, man, like what you said, you know, we we were interviewed,
00:06:02
Speaker
a lot of fans outside Q2 stadium since, since day one, you know, since the first ball was kicked for Austin FC, the first game though was out of, out of Austin. It was in l LA. They lost it to one. We had fan reactions in the streets of LA. There was cars passing by that were honking at us saying this Austin boo that Austin. And it just added it to the video. And, and you know, I know that other fans, you know, they, they, they've watched these videos in the past and,
00:06:28
Speaker
You know, maybe they felt happy that it's not their fan base going through it. But there's a whole other side of it, too. You know, I know these people that are in these videos. i see them at Q2 all the time. And I feel their pain, too. You know, and it's been some some some low moments for Austin FC. Like you mentioned, the whole Wolf era.
00:06:44
Speaker
It had highs. i can't I can't come on here and say that we didn't go to the Western Conference on it because we did. But there was more lows. There was way more lows. And I'm just thankful. I'm just thankful for all those times that I got to that i got to experience with Austin MC fan base outside Q2 Stadium and the away games that we've gone to, Houston and Dallas, and they're the ones that we can drive to since the state of Texas and this country is just so big.
00:07:07
Speaker
It's just been a lot of fun with my friends down here in Austin, Texas, guys that I've known since we were in middle school to build this project, you know, to so really just um our our main mission just last. Our main mission was to start something, you know, for our for our city ah to kind of just shine some light on the first professional sports team that came into our community.
00:07:27
Speaker
hometown, Austin, Texas. You know, it's, we have UT Longhorns down here. Yeah, that there's a great college football team, but it's college football. You know, we don't, we've never had a professional sports team. And when Austin FC arrived in Austin, you know, we kind of just got together, we organized and we were like, Hey, let's see what we can do. At first it was just an idea. i just wanted to make phone graphics. I tell everybody, like, I just wanted to make iPhone graphics.
00:07:49
Speaker
After that, I started making player stat graphics and then we got into media zones. And then, you know, we still talk to fans outside and we're kind of like a hybrid platform where we talk to the fans and we have an independent kind of kind of view of of a lot of the things. And then we're also in these media zones where we talk to players, where we talk to coaches and, you know, we have to kind of change the way our tone a little bit, you know, kind of change the way that we talk about the game because those are more serious scenarios than the fans outside Q2. I mean, you've seen them, how they be talking on that mic. So, so yeah, man, it's just been, it's just been a journey. It's been a lot of fun. And I really, really appreciate those, those kind of words that you said there at at at the start of the pod.
00:08:30
Speaker
It's, it's kind of, it just adds fuel into this engine for us to keep going. Absolutely. Now, if anyone in chat, definitely go toss WeAreAustinTV a sub. I put the link in the description for this stream, so just go hit it up right there. Toss these guys a sub, because ah it's it's awesome work, and it's like ah you guys have the comedy. like that that that like It's not like a super... ah always like super taken is super super seriously.
00:08:57
Speaker
Like you guys have the comedy aspect, which I always support. So ah yeah, definitely subscribe everybody. Vamos. I see your question in chat there. I'll, I'll get there in a, in a sec, but I did want to start with, ah I have like kind of a format for how I start these guest previews. So ah what I like to do to start these off is I give the guest My perception of the of the club they cover sort of lies like the outsider neutral perspective.
00:09:20
Speaker
I follow the whole league decently closely. So I know but most of the club is pretty well besides like CF Montreal and like a couple others. But I know the whole league pretty well. So I like to give my outside perspective but i because I don't always
Austin FC's Coaching & Performance Challenges
00:09:34
Speaker
have it right. So you can tell me if ah the way I perceive Austin FC from the outside is correct as someone who covers this club day in, day out.
00:09:43
Speaker
That's fair. my ah My perception of Austin FC is that ah Austin FC, as we sort of alluded to already, I think had one of, if not the most disgruntled fan bases in MLS last year.
00:09:58
Speaker
Every year, there's a handful of handba fan bases that ah that end up disgruntled, but in a way where I feel like the genesis of it was... ah going into a year that had pretty high expectations and then the results kind of not living up to that and the source of that discontent in the eyes of many was the head coach Josh Wolfe who I felt I feel like a lot of the fan base felt like he should have been let go after the 2023 season or during the 2023 season he wasn't he ended up coming back for 24 result
00:10:33
Speaker
and the result when the team ended up playing around, you know, like 1.1 to 1.4 points per game was people were, it it was like, it was basically a movement wolf out.
00:10:44
Speaker
Like I think there was a plane at one point that flew over the stadium with like a banner that said wolf out in all your guys's videos after the game, it was wolf out. It was like a widespread thing, uh, basically until it actually happened.
00:11:00
Speaker
And, ah as far as my impression of what led to that, Sebastian Drew, you see he was on the team at the beginning of last year, last year if I'm not mistaken, or did he get transferred beforehand?
00:11:11
Speaker
No. So he pretty much went on vacation after the 2024 season, went to Argentina and pretty much communicated back like, hey, sell me. I'm not coming back. Yeah, okay. So he was on the club all of last year, which um I was going to ask you about that later, because I think that player sale is one of the most mind-boggling transfers I've ever seen in MLS for the exact reason that you just stated. He was literally talking about how he didn't want to be on the team, and you guys still got a $10 million dollars bag for him, which that's a whole separate topic.
00:11:40
Speaker
But the sort of the way that ah I perceive how the season is going this year for Austin FC is, you know, the wolf out thing kind of it took effect. He was let go and replaced by Nico Estevez, who joins the club from rival FC Dallas.
00:11:57
Speaker
And there was sort of a feeling of like a fresh start, a new era. ah But my impression of it is that the start of this season wasn't going that well results wise.
00:12:08
Speaker
And it seemed like the the cause of that was ah this team's had a lot of trouble scoring goals this year. Like the offense just hasn't been able to get going. Brandon Vasquez took a little while to get going.
00:12:21
Speaker
ah but that in the last like few weeks, maybe like the last month or so, ah there's been a little more of an uptick. You start to see the goals start to come. Some of the results have improved over the last few weeks.
00:12:33
Speaker
So now it's kind of at this place where i feel like people at the start were like, I don't know about this Estevez thing. doesn't i not not sold not working that well yet but like it seems like this is a team that is sort of just now coming uh coming into its own and you're starting to sort of see what nico estevez was getting at is uh is that all roughly accurate or would you make any amendments to that picture that i painted Where do you live, man?
00:13:00
Speaker
Do you Q2 dude it's It's on my ah it's on my ah bucket list for sure. It looks like one of the best names in the league. Haven't been there, but no, I'm just an absolute sicko and know a disgusting amount about this league. that's Pretty spot on, mate. I would say pretty spot on everything that you said. I mean, of course, you know, you know't you you try to pay attention to all the teams so you're not 100% focused with Austin FC. There are some little details that go in a deeper level, but everything that you just mentioned right now, I would say is is pretty spot on.
00:13:33
Speaker
All right. So that I think that presents like an interesting scenario for Seattle, because on one hand, you could perceive of it as a team that's struggled a little bit this year. But on the other hand, they have been playing better. What ah what do you sort of attribute the little uptick in form to? Is it just getting used to the new coach in the system or is there something else that you've noticed that's maybe clicked a little bit?
00:13:57
Speaker
So, you know, we're we're able to now this year, we have a a lot more access to these players, to these coaches, and we're we're able to go to the midweek media, um,
00:14:08
Speaker
Availabilities that they have and you know i'm talking to coach Nico talking to some of the players or whatnot. What they've been asking or not necessarily what they've been asking what they've been saying to the media to the fans or whatnot.
00:14:20
Speaker
ah the The month of May was hectic for coaches for the players there was some injuries there to to some important guys that you know just didn't.
00:14:31
Speaker
It didn't give you anything good. It just made more problems for Coach Nico. And all during that whole month of May, you had ah an interesting MLS schedule, but you also had an Open Cup schedule, right? You had to take care of some games there. You had ah the El Paso Locomotive, which ended up being a pretty tough challenge for the Southern MC side. They got through it.
00:14:50
Speaker
And then you had the the Houston Dynamo in Open Cup, which has just beaten you at their house in MLS play. Then you had to face them. at Q2 for the Open Cup.
00:15:01
Speaker
They got, ah you know, they got business taken care of there. They go on to the next round, the quarterfinals, first time in club history. But the whole time that that was going on, Coach Nico was just alluding to the fact that, hey, we've just been resting.
00:15:15
Speaker
We've been practicing to just recover, pretty much. we're We're not even practicing to prepare for the next opponent that much. We're more focused on how we can recover guys from the previous game.
00:15:28
Speaker
How can we not get not have an injury happen to another one of our key players? And, you know, one of the guys that went down in May that really hurt, in my opinion, it hurt the team the most was Danny.
00:15:40
Speaker
Dani Pereira going down for Austin FC for an entire month was disastrous for the midfield. He's supposed to be one of the leaders, right? He was the first draft pick way back when, when Austin FC came in the league. Now, to me, he is a pillar in the midfield along with Owen Wolfe.
00:15:54
Speaker
But you had guys like Elia Sanchez come in You don't have to really talk so much about Ilya. Everybody knows what what he brings to the table. But then you also had another guy like Vassar Savovic. And there's ah multiple things that going into this.
00:16:05
Speaker
But to put it into short terms, shorter words, it's the fact that you're not able to practice, to prepare for the next team, to practice with your tactics. You're more recovering. But also these guys, these new this new team is still gelling together.
00:16:18
Speaker
And it's not helping them when one of the main guys goes down and then the new guys just kind of have to step up. And that team chemistry is not really there. And guys don't really know if if this guy shoots better with his left foot, if this guy shoots better with his right foot, right? I mean, it's a whole chemistry issue that was going on.
00:16:34
Speaker
And nobody was happy during the month of May. You could just tell. Now you come into the month of June, you get two wins off the bat. You beat the New York Red Bulls for the first time in your club history. So to me, mate, it's more about the rest. It's more about the the team being able to actually practice for the team that's coming up and not just recover and think, man, we have another game midweek.
00:16:54
Speaker
man, we have another game midweek. And as for the fans, it's also a big, refresh it's also a relief for them to not have to go to the stadium, you know, Wednesday again, because they can also relax. You know, the fans go through it themselves.
00:17:06
Speaker
So this this month of June has really just been a reset for this team. And we've seen them play better football. You also have Robert Taylor. He comes back from injury. You sign him from Miami.
00:17:16
Speaker
He gets injured right off the bat in a US Open Cup match. mean, you lose, you also lose him for three, four weeks. You know, things just weren't going their way. But, you know, there's other guys that have to also step up. You know, there's not just a certain amount of guys. There's also bench players that you brought to this team that need to step up.
00:17:31
Speaker
But it's more of a chemistry issue. It's about finding out what their best form is Danny Pereira is a shout that I hadn't really thought about, but that is like a massive loss. Like you mentioned, first overall super draft pick who has become like an excellent player.
00:17:46
Speaker
He's actually one of my favorite players in the league to watch at that position because he's one of those guys where – but It feels like every single time he's on the ball, he just makes the right decision, like every time.
00:17:58
Speaker
And ah he really has become sort of, i guess, hearing you describe it right there, like a linchpin where if you take him out, it kind of has like a domino effect. so ah So that all makes sense.
Player Highlights & Team Dynamics
00:18:09
Speaker
um We got a viewer question in in chat for you if you wouldn't mind hitting this. Vamo Sounders wants to know, can you tell us which players on Austin could cause some trouble for us on Saturday?
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, right off the bat, you know, you got to watch out for guys like Brandon Vasquez. You know, you mentioned how he's kind of got things going. You know, I would want things to be a little bit more going for him. You know, and maybe I could put that in better words. But, you know, he's he's catching form. He's getting into into his bag. You know, he's finding rhythm or whatnot.
00:18:41
Speaker
um But the fans also want more from him. You know, they they got him from – the FO brought him from a Rayavos team that sold him to us. Very expensive, $10 million. dollars You know, he has five goals in MLS right now, was selected for the All-Star. Fans on social media kind of pushed back on that. They were saying, they were saying hey, there's other guys with better numbers out there.
00:19:00
Speaker
And, you know, when you look at the numbers for BV9, for Brandon Vasquez, they might not be what there where you want them to be at this point in the season. things are They start off a lot slower than what you're expecting and what you wanted after the investment that was made into this team, almost $30 million dollars just in the front three players.
00:19:16
Speaker
um He's still a guy that can cause you some some some headaches. you know He's somebody that in the air is dangerous. And also there's there there's been some conversations post-match.
00:19:27
Speaker
I asked Brandon Vasquez. I was like, hey, and there was a goal that they had that they had scored against Red Bulls New York. and There was multiple touches. It was about 10 or 15 touches that went into that goal.
00:19:38
Speaker
And I told Brandon, i was like, hey, ah you know, is this something that you and Buka have been working on? You know, and he said, actually, yeah, we have been working on it. something that him and I and the coaches have been telling me that I need to get into these positions where I'm more dangerous, into these positions where I'm more of a threat.
00:19:52
Speaker
And I'm also more open to getting the ball from the likes like Bukari and also Mirto Uzuni. You know, other than Brandon Vasquez, you know, he is kind of like the main, cause he's the main goal threat it for Austin FC.
00:20:02
Speaker
But I've been saying this for a while. I've been saying to the fans in the Austin FC, community I've been saying, hey, guys, Mirtu Usuri, the $12 million dollars man from Granada, from the second division of Spain, a team that bounces up and down.
00:20:17
Speaker
he has been the most He is the most expensive signing in club history. The numbers are not there. He has not really panned out. it has not worked out for him at all. But there's a small thing in all of that.
00:20:29
Speaker
And I've been saying to the fans, wait until this happens. And now we're at that moment. He recently had a child, hadn't seen his baby, hadn't even carried his baby, went in international duty with Albania recently, just was able to meet the the the child in the airport for 10 minutes, goes back with his national team, flies back to the United States, has a game with Austin FC.
00:20:52
Speaker
They go into this break, Austin FC, and then he travels back to Europe. Is it finally able to have this time with his family to care carry his child for the first time? And now he's back in Austin.
00:21:03
Speaker
And based on some some of the stuff that he's been posting on social media, this guy looks happy. He's smiling. He looks like a different player on the on the surface level. And I really think that for a soccer player, those kind of things matter so much. And people don't even see those kind of things.
00:21:18
Speaker
So be on the lookout for him. Bukhari as well, a designated player. He's quick with the ball at his feet. You know, he's not afraid to take on a guy or two. So if Seattle has some tired legs at the back, expect Bukhari to try to maybe expose those guys. But ah Seattle has some some quality players at the back. So, you know, Seattle is not somebody that you can just talk about like that freely.
00:21:38
Speaker
But to keep an out for him. And, you know, of course, Brad Stuber. You know, Seattle has great cool goalkeepers. And Austin FC has a really good one right now. Brad Stuber. All-star guy. And he's going to be a wall back there. You know, he might not score them, but he definitely saves that goal for Austin FC. He keeps it at zero so much.
00:21:57
Speaker
Yeah, well, I can tell you that ah I'm pretty sure Seattle has one healthy center back right now. So i like I saw reports that they were having guys out there in training, like the right back and the the homegrown kid who played there in the academy, but has never actually played an MLS match there. It's like that right now for Seattle at CB. like It's bad. like that Everyone's injured.
00:22:20
Speaker
And it's been kind of like that for a while, but apparently this week it's like really bad. So I think this is this this is a situation where Seattle has got to, I mean, you're probably going to have some inexperience on the back line. You're going to have either a veteran player who's never played the position or ah like an academy kid with very limited and MLS experience who's never played the position in and MLS. So it should be interesting.
00:22:47
Speaker
I want to add something to that. Us down here in Austin, Texas, where we when when we hear Seattle Sounders and teenagers, We don't get excited or confident anymore. We do not do that anymore.
00:22:59
Speaker
Takes me back to that one day. I forget what year it was. It was 22 maybe or 21 early days. this is Yeah, it was 21. Seattle came into Q2 with nothing but youngsters and won the game. I believe Ruud Diaz scored a banger that match. Yeah, so that's actually one of the most famous Sounders games of the last ah few years.
00:23:18
Speaker
It went down in club lore for the exact reason that you said. It was it was the youngest starting 11 in MLS history at the time. It might still have that distinction. Five teenagers in the starting 11. It was Obed Vargas' and MLS debut. He was 15 and has since gone on to become like the subject of all this European transfer interest.
00:23:39
Speaker
Obed was 15. 15? 15, yeah. He was... Wow. If you go back and watch the highlights, you can see he looks like he's 15. He's ah he's he's ah sounding like he's going to bring in $10 million, dollars no?
00:23:52
Speaker
That's what I've seen on social media? Yeah, I think so. like If it's not 10, that's going to be something in that ballpark. I think most people expect at least... Uh, so yeah, that was the start of that. And then, uh, it was like the kids were just kind of holding their own for the whole game.
00:24:06
Speaker
And then they brought Rui Diaz and he hits a worldie from like 45 yards or whatever that was. yeah Absolutely insane shot. One of the best Rui Diaz goals of his time in Seattle. And, uh, frankly, ah I think you could say an issue that Seattle has had this year or really since he declined and stopped doing stuff like that as much. It's been something that's been hard for Seattle to replace, especially with Jordan Morris being. The idea was that Jordan Morris would be the line leader without within in the post Rory Diaz era, but he's been injured all year.
00:24:39
Speaker
Danny Musavsky was hot for a while, but there have been struggles for sure at scoring goals at times and particularly at that number nine position. ah But yes, that, would that is a game that we remember fondly around here.
00:24:50
Speaker
The legendary night at q two five teenagers in the starting 11. ah yeah that was It was a great night. It's great night. We all, we all loved that night. ah Let's talk, let's talk about ah Brandon Vasquez a little more. You hit, you hit on it a little bit right there, but when I saw that ah Austin FC was getting Brandon Vasquez,
00:25:13
Speaker
$10 million dollars seemed steep, but I liked the move because it felt very high percentage. Like this is a guy who had already been like a carry the load goal scorer up top in major league soccer. He's proven.
00:25:26
Speaker
So it it felt like there was less risk that it might be like worth a little bit of the extra money to mitigate some of the risk that you sometimes have bringing in a guy from an outside league He'd already been in the league and proven that he could do it.
00:25:38
Speaker
So I liked it from that perspective. And it also just seemed like a good fit, like for him specifically where he's at in his career. and also it's, I know he's from ah San Diego, but it's like a, it's like a relatively similar vicinity of the country. It's not like he was going out East or something. So it it all added up like that.
00:25:58
Speaker
ah But it feels like the season, like kind of people expected him to just slide right in and start banging in goals, right? right away. And that wasn't really happening at the, at the beginning of the season.
00:26:10
Speaker
ah Where, what do you kind of make of just how that whole transfer is, ah is working out so far? And would you say that you're still optimistic that he's going to like come good on, on that $10 million dollars price tag, or is there sort of some apprehension here of like, I'm not sure this guy can actually carry the load for this team. Like we might've hoped or thought.
00:26:33
Speaker
No, you know, I want to attack the question about if if he's going to, know, kind of repay on that $10 million or if he's going to, you know, kind of come close to getting that value back to the club that they spent on, you know, bringing him in. And, you know, the fact that, like you said, he was ah a person, he was a player that had it going already in MLS with, you know, Cincy.
00:26:54
Speaker
It's what really inclined a lot of the people in this family is to be like, yeah, let's go get Brandon Voskis. We have to bring him. I was one of those, you know, I was one of those saying, if Brandon Vasquez is out in the market, if Brandon Vasquez is flirting, because he was flirting with San Diego, I remember San Jose, apparently Bruce Arena wanted her bring him in or something like that. There was rumors going around about the Cali teams.
00:27:14
Speaker
And then we had John Gallagher on the pod at the beginning the season, and he said something, but before he said it, he was like, wait, can I say this? And he was like, I think I can because because it already happened. And Gallagher said he was on like,
00:27:25
Speaker
Because they're they're both really close. They know each other from the ATL days. And Gallagher said he was on like, he said that Austin was in for Brandon Vasquez way before the Cali team started even mentioning that they wanted to bring him in to Cali because, you know, that's where he where he's from or whatnot. So that told me that Austin MC was in the run for Brandon Vasquez for a very long time. They wanted to bring him. And even the sporting director, when he presented Brandon Vasquez to the media, he shed a tear.
00:27:54
Speaker
And this is a guy, Rodo Borrell, that won the triple with Man City, worked with a guy like Pep Guardiola, has been through so much talent that you couldn't even you know manage it in in in your brain of how much talent this guy has worked with.
00:28:07
Speaker
For him to get emotional with Brandon Vasquez at the press conference, it tells me that a lot of work was put into this deal. They really wanted him. He's coming in to be the guy. But there's a problem. that Well, before I get to that.
00:28:20
Speaker
And also, he he also brings in an element of of marketing. And I really don't, I hate to go down this path of marketing, but the reality is, is that it goes hand in hand with the world of football where we're at today with so many sponsors on jerseys and so many people sponsoring and ads and all this and that marketing is now something that these teams have to think about when signing players most of the time.
00:28:41
Speaker
and brend And just like you said, Brendan Vasquez fits here so well because of the ginormous Mexican American community. That is in Austin. That is in Texas. And a lot of kids down here will identify with Brandon Vasquez. They'll want to buy his jersey.
00:28:54
Speaker
They'll want to be Brandon Vasquez. You know, they'll want to score goals for the U.S. men's national team, but also feel connected because he is also Mexican. you know what I'm saying? Even though he does support the U.S. men's national team. Well, he represents the U.S. men's national team.
00:29:06
Speaker
But there's a small problem with BV9 is the fact that another player that Austin FC also got, Mirtu Suni, very high price tag as well. They essentially play the same position.
00:29:17
Speaker
And a lot of people down here in Austin, they have been noticing that when they're on the field, they're trying to do the same thing and it hurts their numbers because they're clashing. So that's a problem that we're currently experiencing down here.
00:29:30
Speaker
We're trying to work through it. They've tried to move these guys in different positions. Coach Nico's been asked about it. What are you going to do to separate these guys to you know put them in ah in a position where they can succeed? And he's been trying different things. He's been experimenting. And maybe that's been adding to the fact that Austin FC has not been able to get those results at quickly as people wanted.
00:29:47
Speaker
They're still trying to find their best version because these two guys that cost us so much and you're almost forced to make them work. They're just clashing on the field and it's a difficult problem for Nico and he has to solve it. He's the coach, right?
00:30:01
Speaker
But do I think that Brandon Vasquez is going to come through eventually and you know, maybe kick on more than he is right now, 100%. one hundred percent You know, I think ah this team is, this team is his.
00:30:11
Speaker
I don't think it's anybody else's. He is the new Sebastian Drusi for Austin MC. Then it's not the same amount of talent. Drusi is ah like a whole nother level. He's a camp, very creative player. It's no reason, there's it's no surprise why River Plate paid $10 million dollars for him to get him back at his age, after Austin MC, after his time in MLS, which people criticize so much.
00:30:30
Speaker
Brandon is the new Drusie. This is his team. And whether he likes it or not, he's going to have to continue to work extremely hard to move this team forward. And I think it's more of a it's also a bit of a mental challenge for for him to see if he he he's capable of of doing that.
00:30:46
Speaker
And i think he is. I really do think he is. There's no reason you know there's a reason why they call him Superman, not just because of his looks. But I do see him moving this team forward and taking them into a playoff position, staying in a playoff position, not bouncing up and down,
00:30:59
Speaker
And after we get into the playoffs, hopefully all the other guys around him are going to kick on as well. And ah I think it's just a matter of them figuring figuring their best positions out. You know, it's funny to hear you describe that scenario of them sort of clashing and taking up each other's space and whatnot when they're on the field at the same time, because it's very similar to what the Sounders have been going through with Albert Rusnak and Jesus Ferreira, who was there, ah one of Seattle's big offseason acquisitions via trade from FC Dallas.
00:31:30
Speaker
Uh, it's become pretty clear that Jesus Ferreira's most effective role is sort of in that, uh, playmaking number 10 role centrally. And that's where they have Albert Rusnak, who's their starting DP number 10.
00:31:43
Speaker
And a lot of the early part of the season, ah it was not, it was just not functioning very well when they tried to play together because it was like, they were both, but basically they were both trying to play the number 10 spot. So yeah.
00:31:56
Speaker
Similar type situation. And ah I've been of the mind. I've been ah of ah of the mind in saying that I still think Jesus Ferreira is going to figure out how to be like a good, productive member of this team. But I also, you know, I'll acknowledge that that hasn't it hasn't popped yet in the way that I think the Sounders front office and and the fan base would like.
00:32:16
Speaker
So a little bit of a parallel situations. yeah in that regard, although yeahre we're talking about two DPs for Austin, correct, whereas Ferreira came to Seattle on a TAM deal. But it means it's not that different because either way, Ferreira was thought of and supposed to be relied upon as a big-time member, a big-money member of this attack, and and it hasn't popped yet ah because of that sort of tactical fit, tactical struggle. So it's a clash of tactical struggles. 100%.
00:32:45
Speaker
um I wanted to to ah get your thoughts on Nico Estevez because I think this Austin FC coaching hire was one of the more unique I've seen in MLS in recent years in that they literally got the coach directly from their most heated rival.
Nico Estevez's Role & Expectations
00:33:02
Speaker
You would say FC Dallas is more heated than Houston, correct?
00:33:06
Speaker
No, I would say i'd say i'd say it's a little bit more heated with with with with Houston. And oh I say that because, i say that because and you know not not i don't want to i i don't want to add any you know i want add any spotlight or anything to it, but it's something that happened. It's something that happened, right?
00:33:23
Speaker
in In the early days, there was an incident with the fan bases where they stole a piece of equipment from the Austin MC fans you know that traveled out there.
00:33:34
Speaker
And there was like like a physical altercation. And then recently Houston came over here so Austin. And then, you know, I was told that there was this a situation in a local bar where ah a group of Houston fans were, yeah, a group of Houston fans put some stickers up or whatnot. And,
00:33:55
Speaker
Austin fans didn't like that, took him down, and there was a little bit of an altercation or whatnot and stuff. So that doesn't happen with Dallas. With Dallas, it does it doesn't get you know very verbal, but it hasn't gotten physical. And with Houston, it's gotten physical. So I don't condone violence of any sort, but it's happened with the Houston side.
00:34:17
Speaker
It's funny, it's you you can't manufacture like those aspects of what makes real rivalries. You know like ah you can try try and market it or have people ah hope to have people consider it one way or the other, but in reality, like what decides these things sometimes is yeah like the the equipment that gets stolen by the one fan base, and then from then on, it's just like, ah, screw those guys.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah. That's interesting, though, because I would have ah i would have called it the ah the other way. But either way, it's still in in a big in-state rival that ah oh yeah Austin FC got their coach from. I'm wondering, like, ah what was the reaction ah just to that among yourselves and among the fan base? like ah Because I have to think that maybe there would be some skepticism with that or, like, we're, like, kind of getting our rivals, like – seconds or or whatever, for lack of a better term.
00:35:10
Speaker
ah like what what do you What do you think of how that came about? And do you feel like it's at a place where the fan base is fully behind it and fully behind Nico Estevez project and experience?
00:35:21
Speaker
Or ah is there still like, does he still have a lot to prove to this fan base? Oh, he still has a lot to prove. He still has a lot to prove. And there's a huge chunk of the fan base that is not on, you know, on the Nico train yet. They want to get on, you know, they want to be like, yeah, this guy's to lead us to the promised land. But the reality is, is that when, you know, when, when, when coach Wolf was in limbo, when you kind of knew he was going to get fired, but you thought it it should have happened last year, just like you mentioned, and you, you, you nailed it.
00:35:50
Speaker
Spot on when you said he should have been let go in 23, still came back in 24. They waited till the to literally the game against Colorado decision day that didn't even matter. Davey Arnaud stepped up as an interim coach. By the way, Davey Arnaud undefeated as interim manager for Austin FC, folks. I just want to throw that out there.
00:36:07
Speaker
But anyways, you know, ah there was there was a part that there was a moment in time where the sporting director, Rodo Borrell, was talking a lot to the to the media. He was having press conference. He wasn't just talking out of out of his butt. No, he was having press conference, serious press conferences, and he was addressing the media on what his plans were, what he was going to do, why they had let Josh Wolf go, what they were going to do in in the future.
00:36:29
Speaker
And he said some things that really got the fan base fired up. And you know fans. When fans hear something, I mean, they're going to take it and run with it, right? Because this is the team that they support some sometimes blindly, sometimes very you know skeptic. Some people criticize the team that they support a lot. And you know rightfully so. You've got to hold them accountable, especially if you're a season ticket holder, more more than anything.
00:36:49
Speaker
Because these these clubs, man, they want you to be season ticket holders really, really, really bad. And sometimes a product on there is not worth it. But Robo Boreal, what he said to the to the media, to the fans, he said that there was about 25 coaches, names that you wouldn't believe that wanted to come coach down here in Austin.
00:37:08
Speaker
What goes through your mind when you hear something like that, especially from a guy that had just won the triple with Man City? I'm thinking guys from maybe not the highest teams in Europe, But I'm thinking maybe a championship coach, a Dean Smith kind of guy, somebody that has a yeah EPO experience, maybe La Liga experience, his connections with Liverpool, Barcelona, and Spain, and all this stuff like that.
00:37:31
Speaker
I mean, names were – people were sending me names. They were like, hey, these are my top five. This is my top ten. who I think is going to come coach Austin FC? And was i like, it would be nice.
00:37:42
Speaker
It would be cool. it would and It would be great. But at the same time, that would have costed money to bring in a high-profile coach. It would have costed the team some money. And they had just let a guy go who was who was still on contract. They had to pay him out.
00:37:56
Speaker
right ah The club had kind of, you know, and they didn't necessarily come out and say that they didn't have any money, but we knew that there were situations where, you know, they needed to make a profit. And it just didn't make sense for them to go out and bring in a high-profile manager to me.
00:38:10
Speaker
And so I never thought when that that they were going to bring in Nico. I'm not saying that I guessed it or I predicted it or whatnot, but when he came down to Austin and it hit the news that Coach Nico Estevez was going to be the head coach for Austin FC, I just sat there.
00:38:24
Speaker
And I was all like, well, you know what? I'm going to back this guy until he shows us that he doesn't deserve the job. Because I learned a lot of things under Josh Wolf's era.
00:38:36
Speaker
i learned I learned so many things, right? And under Coach Nico, it didn't work out for him in Dallas. You can bring up excuses, injuries, Ferreira, maybe this and that, Areola, a lot of guys that got hurt, Paxton Pomichal, so many key players that got hurt for Coach Nico.
00:38:54
Speaker
You can bring up, you know, all these things, right? But it also makes sense because there's a thing down here in Austin that we call the U.S. National Team Bubble, and we think we're in it, right?
00:39:05
Speaker
Josh Wolfe, very much in the U.S. National Team Bubble. He coached at Columbus Crew under Berhalter, and the same president that is down here in Austin was also the co-president at Columbus Crew. I don't even have to mention it. I don't even have to mention pre-court.
00:39:20
Speaker
Nico was the assistant coach for the U.S. West National Team when he was hired for Austin FC. Then he stepped down from that position when Pochettino arrived. So there's a bubble here. You know what I'm saying? We think we're in it.
00:39:32
Speaker
And Coach Nico just fit that profile of He's a cheap signing. He already knows what the heat is like down here in Austin. The heat, because he worked in Dallas. And he knows the league very well. He knows what it's like to play in MLS. And I think a lot of people overestimate a coach knowing what the league is like.
00:39:50
Speaker
The salary caps, the dumb rules, not dumb rules, but the very difficult, difficult rules that they put this these teams through. You need a guy that knows what he's getting into.
00:40:00
Speaker
Some of them are pretty dumb. Right. and You know what I'm saying? So, you know, I don't want to keep on going forever, but it just made sense when I sat down and I thought about it. It made sense. And Rodo Borrell, just last thing I'll say, he did say that there was coaches that turned down the job in Austin because they said it was impossible to work and train in this heat.
00:40:22
Speaker
I mean, honestly, as ah as someone who hates the heat, I low-key agree, but I mean, it's also like ah it has been done for for many years, so it clearly can be done. Hernan from ah we Are Austin TV joining the show.
Content Creation during Team Struggles
00:40:40
Speaker
I wanted to ask, what was just the Wolf Out era like for you? Because the content that you guys got was incredible. like it would say It was some of the funniest like and MLS content out there.
00:40:52
Speaker
But it was like it was that funny because of how much the team was struggling and how like passionate. like You can tell the fan base down there is incredibly passionate.
00:41:04
Speaker
knows the team and is super plugged in and if it's not going well uh they're gonna be very they're happy to be vocal about that like honestly even if it was going that poor in uh in seattle if we tried to do fan reactions i don't know if they would be like as good as the stuff you guys uh were getting but like did you ever find yourself torn between like God, we just got some epic footage and also being like, oh, but I root for the team and wish that these these answers weren't necessary for these people to be giving.
00:41:35
Speaker
All the time. All the time. And especially during that era. I want to give a shout out to my boy, B, Brian. You know, he's the one behind the camera all the time. And him and I have been through some moments with this fan base. ah And just ourselves, you know, like ah him and I are are together a lot when we're shooting the content and editing the content.
00:41:54
Speaker
And we've been knowing each other since the first day of middle school. Like he was the first he was a person that I sat next to because we had, he is a club America fan and I'm a Chivas fan since we were kids.
00:42:06
Speaker
And they're bitter rivals. And I walked into sixth grade math class and he had that backpack. And although they were my rivals, I was like, well, this guy knows soccer. I'm gonna just sit next to him. And ever since then, we've been friends and leading up to right now.
00:42:19
Speaker
But there's been a lot of times where we look at each other and we're like, damn it, man. Especially during that era, we would look at each other, we'd be like, damn it, man, we lost. And then we would be like, fans are going to be and you're goingnna be upset.
00:42:34
Speaker
But then we knew what that we knew what that was going to bring. We knew that at that time, a lot of the fans from the outside, from the outside they wanted to see us you know kind of like go through this crash out moment. And there was a very famous famous line that my girl told me one time, you know,
00:42:49
Speaker
um i told her i was like she knew that it was a big game like a huge game and i told her i texted her i was like hey we lost and she was like well at least the fan reactions are gonna be great and i was like yeah but at what cost right what cost you know what i'm saying like i would give everything for us to be a solid consistent team that competes for trophies instead of having you know Good fan reactions for that moment, but there were some epic times and, ah you know, shout out to those fans for, for, for always going on there and voicing their opinions because a lot of it at the beginning, we were criticized at the beginning. We were called negative. We were called the cancer to the club, toxic to the club, but we just wanted to give the fans an opinion. We wanted to give them a voice because the,
00:43:33
Speaker
You know, you we we weve we grew up and ah in a media landscape where it's just the ESPN people talking. It's just the Univision people talking. It's just Telemundo talking, right? But now, you know, fans can have these opinions of the teams that they support and you see and you hear the raw emotion. And that's what we've always wanted to capture and put it in a bottle, which is a video format.
00:43:56
Speaker
the raw emotion coming out of Q2 Stadium when your team just got battered in a very big game and you just you just got out of work and you did everything you could to make it to Q2 on time and you had ah just a demoralizing performance. What does that feel like?
00:44:11
Speaker
Is that cool with you? No, it's not cool with you. You know what I'm saying? And we just wanted to give that fan a voice. But also, we've been there when it's good times. We're not just there when it's bad. We've had some very great moments. We've had some really, really good moments here.
00:44:24
Speaker
And um You know, it's just it's just ups and downs. It's just roller coasters. And I want to give a shout out to Arsenal Fan TV for ultimately being the the the inspiration, I guess, because I really wanted it to kind of take a little bit of the European Premier League and put it into Austin. And I figured that was a good way to do it.
00:44:43
Speaker
And sometimes I get into a little bit of trouble, but I feel like if I could go back and start over, I wouldn't change anything. Yeah, no, everything you everything you just said is spot on. I find myself, I guess, not not torn, but i look at it through two lenses of like how I personally want the team to do, but then also just the content.
00:45:06
Speaker
And when things are going poorly, sometimes it does creep into my mind. I'm like, oh, actually, this is probably going to rack some views, though. So it's kind of tough to ah separate those two things. But ah as far as giving a voice to the fans, that's something that's important on our show, too.
00:45:20
Speaker
We do it in like a call-in show format, like after the games. We have we have fans like call into the streams and just like, just we just let them cook for however long they want. which is a little bit of a different spin on it. But like ah the way you guys actually go out on the ground and do it at the stadium right after the game and then edit the videos.
00:45:40
Speaker
ah It's, it's like a, it's like a great way to, to do it. And ah it it feels like there's just a, ah you've developed like a dynamic where when fans see you guys, they, they,
00:45:52
Speaker
they like, they want to come on and lay down their opinions. And a lot of them are very funny, but then there's a lot of like actual takes as well. Sometimes like you kind of get all ends of the spectrum, but no, i think I like what you said. I totally agree with like, uh, part of what's cool about the, how the, our media landscape has evolved.
00:46:12
Speaker
Like there's negative aspects of it too, but we, we can do stuff like it's within our agency to be able to do stuff that actually like gives voice to the fans. So that's, that's something that we try and do as well.
00:46:24
Speaker
Did you have another take on that, that you want to do? ah and Yeah, no. Yeah. I just wanted to add one thing too, is like, you know, as content creators, right. We don't strive to,
00:46:35
Speaker
put just the negative stuff out there, right? But you do, I don't know about you, but I've noticed that when things go negative, people care and they tune in more. And I'm not about making negative content. i'm i'm ah you know I'm about talking good about the team, but I've noticed that when things go bad, people are more interested. And that's not me. That's trends, algorithm, you know, the numbers are there. The numbers don't lie.
00:46:58
Speaker
And I've seen when Austin has done bad, worse, people always tune in. And when the team is doing great, Not many people care. And that's not me. That's society. That's, you know, people out there. So, you know, it it's it just really got to me when people were calling us toxic or whatnot. And I was like, hey, I'm just um'm just a highway of information. Like, I'm just posting what people are feeling. Like, we're a reflection of what the fan base is feeling.
00:47:23
Speaker
You know what i'm saying? Like, that's all it is. And it's funny that people care more about when things are going bad and than when things are going bad. No, I noticed the ah the same thing. And it's sort of like, I feel like people always want to put you in a box of like, oh, you're the negative show or you're the positive show. And my answer is always like, it's based on what happens on the field.
00:47:42
Speaker
Like if the team is playing well, getting good results, winning games and scoring goals, I'm going to cover them positively. If they're not, doing those things, then I'm going to clown on them at times and probably be a little more negative.
00:47:56
Speaker
it's just That's what it's based on. It's not based on whether I personally am like positive or negative, but I think people, they like to simplify it like that and like, oh, you're so negative or oh, you're delusionally positive.
00:48:10
Speaker
ah But then it's like sometimes the team is doing well and so we're covering them positively and people are like, ah oh, you you guys are just so positive. I'm like, no, it's just the team is doing well. So that's how, ah that's how I'm covering it. And then, you know, we give our opinions on like things as they come, but that's, that's basically what I say to people when they try and hit me with the, you're negative, you're positive. It's mostly people call me like the positive one, I guess.
00:48:35
Speaker
and Like ah the Sounders have like ah given fans a lot of positive stuff over the years. And in recent years, there's been a lot more stuff, I think, to critique them on. And I think we try to do that when it's necessary. So i don't know. It's just a balance. And I think just being like honest about what you're seeing and not like worrying about what's positive or negative per se. 100%. 100%.
00:48:57
Speaker
but percent All right. I just got ah ah um one more or two to hit with you, and then I'll let you go, Hernan. ah Thank you so much for the time this evening. I guess I just wanted to get your thoughts on this upcoming game in particular.
Match Preview: Austin FC vs Seattle Sounders
00:49:10
Speaker
it feels like it's a chance to really continue some momentum for Austin FC. If they're able to go into Seattle, ah capitalize on a Sounders team that's got no center backs right now, to my knowledge. I mean, they have one.
00:49:23
Speaker
They got one center back. But if they're able to go up to Seattle, which is a you know traditionally hard road trip for other MLS teams, and take three points, it would sort of continue this like recent upswing that we've that we've talked about and sort of give another positive mark for Nico Estevez as he tries to, like you said, kind of prove himself to this fan base.
00:49:42
Speaker
But by the same token, it's like yeah if you go out and lose, then perhaps it starts the there starts to be more questions again as to the direction of the project under the new coaching staff and all that. So how are you just kind of like what would be an ideal or an acceptable result for you in this game?
00:50:03
Speaker
And are you expecting Austin FC to be able to hang with Seattle here and either take one point or all three points in this game? Well, you know, we do have down here in mind that Seattle might be a little bit tired, could be a little bit sluggish. You know, folks, or there's this hot take culture that we're kind of into in end right now. and And folks, I know the the the numbers weren't there for Seattle, if you're just looking at it black and white.
00:50:29
Speaker
But I was watching Seattle-Saunders games in this Club World Cup, also LAFC games.
00:50:45
Speaker
Was I muted? Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. I thought it was on my end. I was like, oh, no. My bad. That was me. No, no, you're good. Okay, my bad. I think you were talking about... Yeah, i go for it.
00:50:57
Speaker
So what what what what what what I was saying was down here in Austin, like we have in mind that Seattle could be tired They could be, you know, sluggish or whatnot. They have a center back problem, like you mentioned. But, you know, there's there's, you know, this narrative going on right now in social media where Seattle didn't, they didn't have a ah good club World Cup because the numbers weren't there or whatnot.
00:51:19
Speaker
But I was watching some of their games and i was watching also LA games, Miami games as well, because I wanted the league to do well. I wanted MLS to have a good face in this club world cup. Right. And people down here were calling me, Oh, you're only supposed to root for Austin, this and that. But ah was like, Hey, this and this is this a worldwide tournament.
00:51:34
Speaker
Everybody is looking at MLS, right? I want them to have a good face. So in the future, players will think, Hey, you know what? Maybe MLS is an option for me. think, you know, yeah it's a, it's a whole domino effect, you know, and,
00:51:47
Speaker
Maybe folks are just not understanding that, but I thought Seattle had a good face in the club world cup. I think they showed a really good fight. There was moments in that Botafogo game where if Pedro de la Vega, I don't know what happened to the lad. If he doesn't scuff that shot,
00:52:02
Speaker
everything changes for Seattle. i mean, there was, it was a game of moments and we're talking about Botafogo and we're talking about a team that was supposed to destroy Seattle. They didn't destroy them. Right.
00:52:12
Speaker
It, it just, what what I want to get to is although Seattle could be coming in, in a sluggish or tired form, what I saw in in the club world cup, I'm not sleeping on these guys. I don't want i want, I don't want this team to take their foot off the gas and I'm afraid they already have because they're, they went through a break.
00:52:29
Speaker
There was players that went to Europe to see their family, like I mentioned. There was other players that went to Disney. They went to the beach. Brandon Bosco was at the beach. Everybody just dispersed. So the two games that they were able to put together, back-to-back wins, now you have a break in the middle of that.
00:52:45
Speaker
Now you play Seattle, who had a good Club World Cup in my eyes. It's not really a game where you can think, oh, this is a layup. Oh, this is a slam dunk. Oh, we can take care of business.
00:52:55
Speaker
No, I think Austin has to be very cautious and they have to take care of their chances when they appear, if they open up for Austin FC, because the Seattle side, we can't really go into it thinking that we're going to have a good time.
00:53:09
Speaker
I can definitely tell you that ah the sense that I get, even despite how the final results of the games at the Club World Cup went, the Sounders players are like definitely like on a high from getting to play in those games at all, but also like the fact that they were like pretty good competitive games where they felt like they were in it, and even though they ended up falling short, there's just this vibe of... like they're like, damn, that was actually that was actually pretty sick that we got to like go out there, suit up against PSG, a PSG team that just won UEFA Champions League and was actually had to be going hard in that game, not like they were in a position where they could be taking it lightly.
00:53:48
Speaker
So I do think that there's an opportunity for the Sounders to sort of ah ride that into the second like stretch run of the season here, but they have to go out and – take some results and take some wins to, uh, to actually do that. So that's sort of how I'm thinking of it from a Seattle perspective is like, all right, you're on this high of having played in this historic tournament.
00:54:09
Speaker
You, you did pretty well. I think like I've seen some of the same narratives that you're talking about, but what's great about it from my perspective is that the narrative that you just said that, uh, ah that Seattle actually showed pretty well in those games.
00:54:23
Speaker
That's actually the prevailing narrative that ah that came out of the Club World Cup because that's actually what happened on the field. I think that's the thing people don't understand. Like, we've been getting... we I was worried going to the Club World Cup. I was like, all right, if they get rolled six zero by PSG, our comment section, and our chat's going to be a freaking disaster. It's going to be lame. But, you know, it is what it is. Like, we just have to...
00:54:47
Speaker
deal with that. but But the thing is, the fact that they went out there and did pretty well, we've still had some of those comments and some of those people in our chats saying that stuff. But the beautiful thing is, it's not based what you put in the YouTube comment. It's not based on what you put in the Lobbing Scorchers chat or the TikTok.
00:55:02
Speaker
It's based on what happened on the field. And what happened on the field was good games, competitive games that everyone saw. So like, if you're saying that MLS embarrassed themselves, the Sounders embarrassed themselves.
00:55:13
Speaker
Uh, it's not really like a matter. It's not as subjective as people might think in that way. Like the narrative is actually based on what's happened in the games, like not on, uh, not on what you Not on what people say in comments.
00:55:26
Speaker
And ah that's also ah the feeling the organic feeling that the players got from ah that high. That's
Seattle Sounders' Club World Cup Reflection
00:55:33
Speaker
real for them, too. like They have the chance to channel that because they actually feel that from how the games went. So the internet doesn't define it.
00:55:40
Speaker
that's that's the That's what we're plugged into, but it's not actually like the real world. So anyway, that was a tangent. Hernan, that is all i all I got for you. Thank you so much for the time. we We almost went an hour. Hopefully I didn't keep you too It was great, man. All right. great Really appreciate your time. I'm so glad I got to ah connect with you guys because, like I said, myself and my co-host are like longtime fans of your guys' work.
00:56:05
Speaker
ah we were We were locked in on your on your channel in the Wolf Out era because of ah how good those videos were. And hopefully, hopefully like, ah maybe you maybe they're not putting up as good as stats because, like, in the Wolf Out era, you guys were, like, on absolute fire and you don't want to, like, root for the Crash Out content.
00:56:27
Speaker
But hopefully you guys keep doing your thing and just keep putting out those reaction videos because, like, People across the league just love them. I can tell you that. ah But before I let you go, is there anything at all that you wanted to plug or let people know? We got a lot more people viewing now than we did at the beginning. If you want to plug anything you're working on covering the team or just ah where where people can find your guys' work covering Austin FC.
00:56:53
Speaker
Number one, shout out to you guys. Really good, really good ball knowledge. I wasn't aware with your game with Austin FC Lord. You know what's up down here, mate. And... Kudos to you. Kudos Because a lot of people pretend to know about Austin FC.
00:57:08
Speaker
And when they start talking, I'm like, you you just, you don't know what you're tom about, bro. So keep my club's name out of your mouth. You, my friend, you can talk about Austin FC. You can talk about Austin FC. You got a pass down here. Number two, shout out to Ben Bob. Shout out to this chat. He said, this guy know what's up. Hey, mate.
00:57:24
Speaker
I like Seattle. Seattle's cool, man. You guys are a solid team. You guys are a real team at MLS. You got to give respect to the Sounders. So, you know, whenever they were in, when they were playing in this Club World Cup, I made sure to watch, to watch them. And it's funny how the team that was supposed to have the best Club World Cup, LAFC, had the worst.
00:57:44
Speaker
Oh, by far. I've been pointing that out too. I'm like, Seattle didn't do the worst. Didn't do the worst. that um Did not do the worst. Did not lose to the Tunisian team. No disrespect. That Tunisian team was actually kind of nasty, but still it was not as hard a group at all as what Seattle was doing.
00:57:59
Speaker
so Exactly, man. Exactly. And in Miami, I always say we don't really claim them, but hey, go do your thing against PSG. You got something or else to worry about. but I mean, they're essentially cheating. They're essentially cheating. That's how I look at it. They shouldn't even be there. They they they should they shouldn't even be there. It should have been the Galaxy and we can we can all agree on that most likely.
00:58:17
Speaker
Probably so. But oh yeah Shout out to the chat. Shout out to the chat. And no, yeah, you guys can find us at We're Austin TV, WA TV Media. The All-Star Game is coming up down here in Austin. So we're really going to hit that hard.
00:58:29
Speaker
We're very excited for that. You know, we already got the ah credentials requested. we're We're very, very locked in. We're very excited for this. You know, I'm from Austin and I've never had anything like this.
00:58:41
Speaker
ever other than the biggest thing down here is like college game day yeah ESPN you know what I'm saying just to put it into terms and it's just Pat McAfee coming down here and talking loud in front of a microphone that sounds terrible you know for me as as as a as as as a ah soccer kid as somebody that grew up and in in this culture the fact that All-Star and also the Liga X All-Stars are coming down here as well it's not just the MLS boys You're talking about Ramos, James, Rondon, so many players that are going to be coming down here for Austin. It's going to be a dream, you know, a dream come true. And I'm excited to to be able to, you know, put a migraine of sand in there as as well. And if you guys ever come down here to Austin, let me know. We can grab a beer and we'll have a good time.
00:59:25
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm ah tentatively making potential plans to go to all-star not finalized yet. I'll let you know for sure. If you guys ever need us for anything on your show, just hit us up.
00:59:36
Speaker
ah We're always down to collab. And ah yeah, thanks again for all the time tonight, man. Great stuff. And we'll talk soon. For sure, mate. Thank you for the invite. Yeah. Take care. That was Hernan from WeAreAustinTV. Again, i know I said it during the interview, but can't emphasize enough like how how funny and good their fan reaction videos are on ah on their channel.
01:00:02
Speaker
ah Just like the like I said, the questions they ask, the answers they get. The editing is just top notch. So toss them a sub and shout out to Hernan for giving us the scoop on ah on Austin FC. Yeah, it's on my list for away games as well.
01:00:18
Speaker
ah go to Gonna try and make this all-star trip happen. Noah and I have been talking about it. Just got to get squared away. on a couple things, but we're going to try and make that happen because there'd be a lot of content to get there for sure. Even though ah we haven't talked about this, but Sounders had zero all-stars, which I think is phenomenal.
01:00:38
Speaker
Totally okay with that. But especially having just played in the Club World Cup, I got absolutely no attachment to the idea of anyone on the team going and playing in the All-Star game.
01:00:55
Speaker
i think it's I think it's fine. I think it's great. and As for the reason why they didn't have any, I think there's a couple things to look at. Number one, there's there's basically there's a handful of candidates who would be the obvious guys that are like well-known star players that would make it.
01:01:15
Speaker
One is Jordan Morris, who's been injured all year, so he wasn't going to make it. One is Albert Rusnak, who has all-star caliber production on the stat sheet this year, and is considered an all-star caliber player, but it's just, it's an absolutely freaking loaded position group.
01:01:34
Speaker
and I can't sit here and say any of the guys that made it over him, like, don't deserve it. Christian Espinosa, Evander, Bawanga, I don't know, whoever it was, Messi.
01:01:47
Speaker
So he could have made it, but it's not like an egregious snub. Christian Roldan's the one where I'm like, he's not an all-star. But then you look at it's like Sebastian. I voted for Sebastian Borhalter over him.
01:02:01
Speaker
I could have voted for him, but like Borhalter earned it, man. Like Christian earned it too. He's been an all-star before. Borhalter hasn't. So I really, I don't, I'm not beefing over that, even though ah Christian has quite obviously been an all-star caliber player this year.
01:02:15
Speaker
But he didn't, he doesn't need the all-star game. He just showed that he's not just an all-star, but that he's a world-class player. in the club world cup i think going to talk about it in a second but that's ah one of my one of my other uh happy takeaways from the club world cup is just that like uh know that's a guy christian rolled on is a guy who's taken a lot of heat from the u.s men's national team fan base over the years for like having the audacity to get called in he's taking a lot of heat because they said he couldn't hack it at that level Jeremiah and I were talking about it on the post-game live. like
01:02:52
Speaker
He just showed he can do it at a level higher than that. Playing against PSG's A squad, I know they didn't have Dembele, but other than that, that was the squad that started the UEFA Champions League final pretty much.
01:03:04
Speaker
That's a higher level than anything he ever was having to do with the USMNT. but the us m and And he showed that not only can he hang on that level, but that he can excel at that level. And everyone saw it.
01:03:17
Speaker
So you can't like you can't beat around it. You can't deny it. You can't not give him his credit. Everyone who watched the games saw what he was doing out there. So that was phenomenal.
01:03:32
Speaker
um All right, I'll hit a couple things from chat here. Got on a little bit of a tangent there. been known to happen from time to time. ah What would have happened if Seattle and LAFC switched groups in the club world cup?
01:03:46
Speaker
Seattle probably would have had a better chance of advancing than LAFC put forth. but let's Let's, let's talk about this for a second. Let's talk about what our friends, what our friends at l LAFC in the club world cup.
01:04:00
Speaker
Before we do that, Derek Richards member for six months, Christian is the absolute best. Yeah. Yeah, he is. And like, I was happy for him to get the platform to show that. We but we all know, everyone here knows that he's that good.
01:04:15
Speaker
But it's the USMNT fan base that will would net will never admit that he's that good. And now it's like, we can kind of rub their rub their noses in it.
01:04:29
Speaker
Like,
01:04:35
Speaker
I haven't heard anything from our RB Salzburg friend tonight. Yeah, what was up with that? What was up with that guy? There have been some weird crash outs in the Lobbing Squirters chat recently.
01:04:47
Speaker
There was the RBW brigade. that was That was one of the, I got to say, got to say this. I have to say it.
01:04:58
Speaker
If any of you from the RBW brigade, you know who you are. any of you are watching this right now which i hope you are so you can hear this that was one of the most cringe things i've ever seen in the lobbing scorchers chat that was bad that was that was tough dude you guys have got to like
01:05:24
Speaker
it was embarrassing like i know i know there was like four or five of you so you thought you were cooking you weren't
01:05:32
Speaker
It was so weird. It was cringe. It was like a tantrum at some points.
01:05:41
Speaker
There was like five of you. it it was the one it was the main dude. It was the main dude. I know who you're talking about, Azurata. There was one guy like leading the charge and having like a full-on RBW-related...
01:05:58
Speaker
breakdown. But then there was like, he had like, I don't know if it was his homies or what, but there were that he was flanked by like three or four bots that went in and did the same thing. And yeah, it was, it was confusing because ah like RBW in that RBW is a 20 year old homegrown who was recently as like a year and a half ago was getting all his minutes with Tacoma defiance in MLS next pro.
01:06:29
Speaker
Because of injury, he has not played ah lot in MLS. He just hasn't. So he went out there against Atletico Madrid, one of the best teams in Spain, one of the best teams in the world every year with one of the best coaches in the world.
01:06:45
Speaker
Was he out of position on defense a couple times? Yeah. Did he get beat over the top a couple times? Yeah. Did he almost give up a penalty? Yeah, but he didn't. But you know what he was doing out there?
01:06:57
Speaker
He was competing. Something that a keyboard warrior wouldn't understand.
01:07:08
Speaker
They were negative about him, Derek. They were saying he like had the worst game they've ever seen and that those of us who were pointing out that he actually acquitted himself decently well out there.
01:07:21
Speaker
Like don't have ball knowledge Or delusional But the way they were trashing on him was way over the top It was It was silly and It was weird, it was cringe, it was embarrassing And Every single one of you, god I hope they're watching They're probably not I think they came into our stream to like Crash out about it It was no one that I've ever seen before in here
01:07:47
Speaker
But it was pathetic RBW was playing against Atletico Madrid, and he was competing. His ass off. He was playing hard. Needs to work on his defensive positioning, yes, but had some really good moments in attack.
01:08:04
Speaker
And overall, for a homegrown kid who has not gotten that many MLS minutes, missed a lot of time with injury, he rocked it out there.
01:08:15
Speaker
Exactly, Stuart. Thank you. Rocked it out there. Way to represent. when I just think in general, like, ah
01:08:25
Speaker
we should be supporting the homegrowns. Especially ones, like, that are just breaking in like that. Like, he was thrown into a crazy situation. Imagine being 20.
01:08:37
Speaker
having gotten most of your professional minutes in MLS Next Pro, and then the coach is like, right, ah the starter did something really stupid against Botafogo. You're starting against
01:08:51
Speaker
Atletico Madrid.
01:08:54
Speaker
That's got to be, I mean, would you be nervous? I would.
01:09:02
Speaker
And he didn't really play that nervous. but i kind of What I liked about how he played is even though he did make a couple mistakes, he wasn't playing scared to make mistakes, which you see from young players sometimes. he wasn't He was playing without fear, which got him in trouble a couple times.
01:09:19
Speaker
But i would rather I would rather him be playing fearless and aggressive
01:09:25
Speaker
than playing tentative.
01:09:29
Speaker
He did get got a couple times. But that's it's that that's my thing. like That's going to happen. It's Atletico Madrid.
01:09:41
Speaker
Yeah, he he owned it in the post-game presser also, which I thought was good.
01:09:48
Speaker
But I don't know. like I came out of that game and that tournament excited to see what RBW can do on this team for the rest of the year, especially because New Who's stock is down at the moment.
01:10:01
Speaker
One of my Sounder at Heart colleagues got on me because I wrote a yeah stock up, stock down column based off Noah and I's discussion about player stock before the Club World Cup. So I was like, I wrote a column that was like assessing them after the Club World Cup.
01:10:20
Speaker
And I didn't put New Who in there because we hadn't talked about him. But I didn't put him in there. And he was like, How do you not have New Who stock down? is it because you're the New Who defender?
01:10:33
Speaker
The New Who defender? So you couldn't put New who in there? No, his stock is down.
01:10:41
Speaker
I just didn't put it in the article because we didn't talk about him. But ah not even for that colleague in particular. For anyone wondering about my ah my take on the New Who stock, because apparently I'm the New Who defender, he did not have a good Club World Cup.
01:10:57
Speaker
But that's a good segue.
01:11:00
Speaker
That's a good segue because I did want to hit on a little more Club World Cup discourse. Because like I was saying at the top of the show, ah
01:11:10
Speaker
haven't laid one of these down really since I've had time to like marinate and think about that tournament a little more.
01:11:19
Speaker
Had time to like cool off.
01:11:25
Speaker
let maya let my post-tournament emotions simmer a little bit. And what I wanted to talk about was, ah so Nico and I on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff right over ah right after the Club World Cup, we were giving the team letter grades for for their performance in the Club World Cup. If we had to assess it as a whole, what grade would we give them on the classic A to F scale?
01:11:49
Speaker
And we landed in the C range. Nico was a little harsher than me. He gave a C minus. I was more on the C plus end of it. But I think for relatively similar reasons.
01:12:02
Speaker
We gave them high the high marks. We gave them grade wise were for similar reasons of how competitive they were, how they acquitted themselves out there in general, despite the results.
01:12:14
Speaker
And then dinged them. But for me, I dinged them because I feel like a lot of the mistakes that they made in those in the in that tournament were we self-inflicted.
01:12:25
Speaker
If you get ah like thea the first shot that Pablo bario ah Barrios hit for Atletico Madrid, that's an example of a team with obscene quality just showing it,
01:12:38
Speaker
And
01:12:42
Speaker
like, could you have done but things better defensively to stop the ah opportunity? Maybe, but it's just, ah it's an insane shot. Like it's a great shot.
01:12:53
Speaker
The reason I w I would ding them grade wise for some of these goals they conceded where it was, it was just silly stuff that didn't need to happen. The, uh, the new who foul against Botafogo standing out as ah as the most egregious.
01:13:08
Speaker
But I feel like there was like three or four goals across these three games that it's just like, if you have if you want any chance of like actually taking a result in a situation like this where you're playing against like this iteration of Botafogo or Atletico Madrid, certainly the UEFA Champions League winners, PSG, you you have to not shoot yourself in the foot You can't make plays like Nuhumit and foul a guy off the ball when he baits you into it.
01:13:43
Speaker
So that's that's that was where I was coming from with, like, I feel like C-plus appropriate here because, yeah, they played pretty well on the positive side. On the negative side, ah there there were too many goals, in my opinion, that were given up that were preventable.
01:14:03
Speaker
ah But I, which, and I think all of that remains true. I don't necessarily, the way I think of that hasn't really changed that much, but now that I'm a little more removed from it, I think I'd give them more in the bees, man.
01:14:18
Speaker
I think I'd give them more like a B minus
01:14:24
Speaker
or maybe even a solid B.
01:14:30
Speaker
And you know why? It's because of exactly what Hernan and I were talking about at the end of that interview. they played They played well enough where any serious observer of the game came out of it being like, Seattle seattle acquitted themselves well.
01:14:52
Speaker
They didn't win, but they competed immediately.
01:14:57
Speaker
They played these teams straight up for a lot of ah a lot of these games. They gave Botafogo a real run for their money, which that's looking even better now because Botafogo is one of the like surprise teams of the entire tournament.
01:15:10
Speaker
Seattle were on the margins away from taking a result off that team. Very close.
01:15:22
Speaker
So the fact that they did that means a lot, in my opinion. Because like I was saying, I'm thinking of this from a personal perspective.
01:15:33
Speaker
I don't have to listen to, acknowledge, or take anyone seriously
01:15:39
Speaker
who's trying to portray or illustrate Seattle's performance in the Club World Cup as some sort of like disgrace or embarrassment to the club or to MLS.
01:15:53
Speaker
The way the players played, they gave us that. They gave us that. They gave us the opportunity to be like, no. like that's just
01:16:01
Speaker
that's That's not what happened, and it's not even a subjective discussion because, like I was saying to Hernan, the actual narrative comes from what happened on the field.
01:16:13
Speaker
You can't like gaslight your way out of that. So I appreciate the fact that they that they did that, they that they competed like they did, and that they didn't give ammo. They gave zero ammo to anyone who who's trying to pull stuff like that.
01:16:30
Speaker
And I appreciate that. And I think I will give a higher mark than I previously did for that.
01:16:41
Speaker
Like, more so than, like, I think you do have to ding. I mean, you have to ding them for these, like, concessions that, I mean, the Botafogo game, it could have cost him ah a draw or a win. that's how That's how, like, on the margins that game was.
01:16:58
Speaker
And I didn't even appreciate the significance of that at the time because I knew Botafogo was good, obviously. they They're the best team in South America last year, as proven by winning the Copa Libre de Doris.
01:17:11
Speaker
But I thought they had looked kind of weakened, like based on my research, at least, and like their point totals in the Brazilian top flight. I didn't think they were playing as well as the team that won the Copa Liberta Doris last year.
01:17:27
Speaker
But look at what they've done in this in this tournament.
Global Football Financial Dynamics
01:17:32
Speaker
they They beat PSG.
01:17:37
Speaker
We had the RBW crash outers. That's the other thing they were saying. Or there was another crash outer who was... ah And i've i've seen I've seen this narrative out there. Well, if Botafogo beat PSG, then what's ah what's Seattle's excuse? There's a huge gap between Botafogo and PSG too, and they won their game.
01:17:56
Speaker
So why what's the excuse for Seattle not doing it? Which...
01:18:02
Speaker
It's a temple massager.
01:18:06
Speaker
It's a temple massager.
01:18:09
Speaker
It's really bad. Again, an example of someone who like thinks that they're cooking and is just absolutely not. But for anyone who is pushing that, we can talk about that. Before you dish that talking point, I need you to pull up ah Google.
01:18:26
Speaker
Pull up Google. Pull it up. If you're dishing this talking point, I need you to pull it up and Google a man by the name of John Texter. Okay. You guys know John Texter is?
01:18:39
Speaker
John Texture
01:18:43
Speaker
is an obscenely wealthy, like, American business mogul. His background's in, don't know, I'll look it up right now. His background's in something that's not sports or soccer related.
01:18:57
Speaker
Yeah, chairman of the streaming service FuboTV, recognized for his work in the fields of digital media and entertainment with the nickname Hollywood's Virtual Reality Guru. Okay?
01:19:09
Speaker
Obscene amounts of money.
01:19:13
Speaker
And he probably could, he probably, he definitely could have been an MLS owner, like financially, if he wanted to. I don't know if that's something that he was interested in, but I imagine that he was like, no, fuck that.
01:19:29
Speaker
I'm not going to deal with Tam and Gam and DPs and salary caps. Where in the world can I go and invest my money where I don't have to deal with that.
01:19:39
Speaker
And apparently he landed on, well, a few clubs it looks like.
01:19:45
Speaker
But one of the clubs he landed on was Bodefogo.
01:19:51
Speaker
And he has pumped an obscene amount of money into that club. He's basically, apparently John Texter's lot in life right now is turning Bodefogo into a global powerhouse.
01:20:06
Speaker
Apparently fucking mission accomplished because they beat PSG in the club world cup, not on a fluke.
01:20:17
Speaker
There is no discussion between the resources
01:20:24
Speaker
and financial weight being thrown around at Botafogo in Seattle. There's just not, if you're trying to make that a discussion,
01:20:37
Speaker
it's it's what It's just insane. you got You got to take that into account. Okay? There's just there's no... It's not a comparison.
01:20:49
Speaker
It's not a comparison.
01:20:53
Speaker
They have the gap between what Seattle ah has resource-wise at their disposal to put into their roster and what Botafogo has is obscene.
01:21:05
Speaker
It's obscene. And frankly, it makes Seattle's performance in that game look even better. The fact they almost beat that team. They got decently close to at least drawing that team. And really, without a blunder from New Who,
01:21:20
Speaker
and some contact on the shot from the penalty spot, roughly, from Pedro de la Vega, they could have taken a result in that game.
01:21:33
Speaker
Against a team that has a hundreds hundreds of times their financial resources. It's not close.
01:21:44
Speaker
And the gap between Seattle and PSG is even more significant than that. Obviously. PSG is the number one, like, that one they're one billion euros.
01:21:57
Speaker
We read out their payrolls on one of our shows.
01:22:03
Speaker
ah So, yeah I mean, I'm just saying, you just, you got to take these things into account, man. You can't just, you can't just pop off about how Seattle and Botafogo can go into a game against PSG and feel like they should have like equal chance
01:22:27
Speaker
at competing against them or, or taking a result. It's not a discussion. Like it's just, it's just not.
01:22:41
Speaker
All right. Let's, ah let's hit some more stuff from chat here. Derek. Not sure if I got to your ah gifted membership, but thank you. Appreciate you, man.
01:22:53
Speaker
Maniac, as always.
01:22:57
Speaker
Even the South American teams invested heavily. Look at Botafogo incomings. So, yeah, that's that was going to be the next ah
01:23:05
Speaker
point I was going to hit on, which is that it's not just Botafogo. I think, one um to me, one of the big stories of this tournament is...
01:23:16
Speaker
is how the Brazilian clubs have, they've made a statement. They've made a statement. This John Texter has been apparently just like in the lab. I'm going to turn Botafogo into a team that's,
01:23:32
Speaker
that's just competitive globally. Like he clearly, and he's clearly a guy that has ambition and is like, just like a obsessive enough to make it happen.
01:23:43
Speaker
Because I think there, he did this, he did what he did with a purpose. And he has them as like this surprise dark horse contender at the club world cup, beating PSG.
01:23:54
Speaker
They're on a magic carpet ride. Derek, what you were saying about ah them playing PSG perfectly as the underdog. Yeah, yes. And that's a skill.
01:24:05
Speaker
Like, that is ah that is something that an elite team can do, is go into in a situation where they're overmatched, defend for their godforsaken lives, and poach a goal. that's that it there's a ah There's a skill to doing that, that Botafogo clearly were able to build a squad that could pull that off.
01:24:28
Speaker
But Flamengo beat Chelsea. They got out of their group, too. They beat Chelsea 3-1.
01:24:38
Speaker
Like, there's something there's something happening in in Brazil. I was talking to ah Pedro from Glorious Botafogo. Shout out, Glorious Botafogo.
01:24:48
Speaker
He was telling me, but, like, there's something, they're something. like they're doing something You don't go into the Club World Cup kind of without expectation, or at least from the outside. I don't think anyone, i didn't consider Botafogo or Flamingo clubs that could beat PSG and Chelsea.
01:25:06
Speaker
i'll I'll admit it. I didn't know they were like that. Apparently they're like that.
01:25:14
Speaker
Apparently they're like that.
01:25:23
Speaker
Botafogo has like 15 plus players that would be DPs in MLS. Yeah, exactly. That's what I was trying to explain to the dude who was like crashing out about this the other night.
01:25:34
Speaker
He was saying, they beat PSG, why can't we beat PSG? Because every single player on their team
01:25:41
Speaker
is of the caliber of the top two to three best players on any MLS roster. That's their whole team. That's their whole team because John...
01:25:53
Speaker
John Text, he can do that.
01:26:00
Speaker
i I can respect and ah an owner like John Texter, you know.
01:26:08
Speaker
I have my you know issues with the ah with the oligarch class. Not a lot of common ground between myself and the oligarch class. But ones like John Texter or even Arthur Blank, it hasn't worked for Arthur Blank, but one thing you can't say about Arthur Blank is that he's not going to funnel all the money he's got.
01:26:28
Speaker
I mean, not all the money he's got, but all the money he thinks that he needs to, to like create an elite team. I can respect an oligarch like that more than, than one that's just so greedy that they want to keep it all for themselves and they don't care about making their, making their investments actually good products.
01:26:50
Speaker
Arthur Blank, you can't say he doesn't care. You can't say he's not going to throw his money around. John Texter apparently is just, apparently he's just like, spend whatever it takes to turn Botafogo into ah freaking buzzsaw.
01:27:04
Speaker
um So anyway, yeah, I got on a tangent. But the main point I wanted to make is that I think I'm actually more in the B range for Seattle's performance at the Club World Cup.
01:27:18
Speaker
I think B- is about right. An A would have been any results against any of those three teams. i would ah Whatever happened in the other two games, if they had tied or won any of those three games, that would have been like an auto a
01:27:33
Speaker
And then a B is
01:27:36
Speaker
Competitive, quitting yourself well, not embarrassing yourself, not setting the Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer back multiple decades. There's no question that they did not do any of that.
01:27:52
Speaker
You can call that a low bar. To me, it ain't a low bar when you're talking about playing PSG, Atletico Madrid, and an apparently juggernaut Botafogo team.
01:28:05
Speaker
Maybe I'm too lax of a grader.
01:28:13
Speaker
But I think i think b minus ah
01:28:17
Speaker
i think B- feels about right for me now. And that's kind of what I'm going to... And like just so ah just so you guys understand, like what Hernan was talking about at the end there, about how he watched Seattle in the Club World Cup and came out of it,
01:28:35
Speaker
feeling like they they played pretty well, they represented themselves well. That's what most people think. you you might see the ah You might see the vocal minority on on Twitter or on the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube, certainly the Lobbing Scorchers TikTok, which is surprisingly hot these days.
01:28:53
Speaker
I cannot recommend against that comment section enough. Don't go. i'm I'm just telling you. Some of you might go in there now that I've said this. It's bad. We've had a couple of TikToks pop off recently.
01:29:08
Speaker
One got like seventy k views. The other got like 40. But there's like just an endless stream of comments on both of them that are.
01:29:19
Speaker
It's like one of you want to gouge your eyes out.
01:29:24
Speaker
Oh, we got Salzburg guy. Let's go. He's back, chat.
01:29:31
Speaker
He's back. Oh, boy.
01:29:37
Speaker
Welcome.
01:29:41
Speaker
i don't understand like what this I don't understand what your deal is bro.
01:29:50
Speaker
I think it's because we said that Salzburg was going to finish last in their group and they didn't or whatever, but I don't get, I do not understand why you're, why you're pressed about that.
01:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, I'm the, I'm the one that's triggered in this scenario. Yeah.
01:30:16
Speaker
i literally I don't give a shit if you hang out in our chat. It's like a viewer for us. like i really like It's fine. I was just trying to understand your motivations. like At least with a Timbers fan, I can be like, okay, I'm a Seattle Sounders show.
01:30:32
Speaker
Kimby's fans crashing our chat.
01:30:36
Speaker
It makes sense.
01:30:40
Speaker
Salzburg, have no idea what your angle is.
01:30:50
Speaker
Spencer, my Tottenham fan friend.
01:30:55
Speaker
Tottenham will avenge you and defeat PSG in August. They better.
01:31:00
Speaker
They better, Spencer.
01:31:06
Speaker
Danzig, you can check out the TikTok. it's It's tough.
01:31:11
Speaker
I mean, I'm glad they popped off, but like I think TikTok is just a uniquely bad comment section. Hey, he says we're a great podcast. See, like...
01:31:27
Speaker
Peace, understanding, and mutual respect. You see that chat? That's just heartwarming. That is just heartwarming. um All right, let's say let's get into some ah Jordan Morris sound. Jordan Morris talked at ah ah training today.
Jordan Morris' Recovery & Impact
01:31:44
Speaker
It was today. I don't remember yesterday or today.
01:31:48
Speaker
But he's back in the fold. He got his...
01:31:55
Speaker
He got his ah first minutes back in the very end of the PSG game. And talk to him after the game. If you guys actually go to the Sounders YouTube and look up all the players' post-game interviews from after the game, it's ah predominantly just me asking the questions.
01:32:13
Speaker
Because but the so the way they did the mix zone was they have ah they have like two podiums with a microphone and they have the guys go ah stand there, take questions, give their press conference.
01:32:25
Speaker
And then they move them to the other side where I think theoretically they're supposed to be another gaggle that they meet with. But basic sort of what happened at this PSG game was that all the TV cameras and stuff went to the podiums with the microphone.
01:32:42
Speaker
And no one was over at the other gaggle. So ah those there were interviews with John Bell, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan.
01:32:55
Speaker
I think that was it. But where it was me and the Sounders video team and then ah Jada Evans, shout out Jada Evans from the Seattle Times. She came over for at least a couple of them and it was just me and her like kind of alternating.
01:33:09
Speaker
But like the Alex rolled on one, it's literally just me. yeah Where is everyone? The hell? But that's so that's kind of cool. If you want to watch me interview the players pretty much exclusively, save for for Jada helping me out on a couple of them, check out the Sounders YouTube.
01:33:31
Speaker
But ah Jordan was talking after that game just about getting back, but he ah he talked at training today. So we're going to we're goingnna watch that together, then react to it.
01:33:42
Speaker
One second as i share the screen.
01:33:48
Speaker
There he is. We got bleached blonde Jordan Morris. I think he explains that in this sound. ah Let me know if the if the audio on this is isn't good for whatever reason.
01:34:00
Speaker
I think this should be good. Camera's good. yeah Sweet, Nico, you want to leave us off? Absolutely. Jordan, ah you finally get an opportunity to get back on the field. You do it in a huge stage from the PSG.
01:34:14
Speaker
you know What goes through your mind and you know now that you're here back? How do you come from that high mentally and get ready for what it is at the rest of the MLS healing? Yeah, it felt great to get back out there. Obviously, it's been a frustrating year for me dealing with these injuries. And I've never really had re-injuries like this before. So mentally, it's been pretty tough to kind of be so close to coming back and then having to happen again, especially the last one, being ready to go for the Club World Cup and then having to happen in training and was pretty devastating. Sitting there watching those games was hard. um
01:34:48
Speaker
I wanted to be out there with my teammates. I'm so proud of them and the effort that they put in during this tournament. We showcased that we can compete with these teams, some of the best teams in the world, and I'm just really proud of the group. But yeah, being able to step on the field against that team was exciting.
01:35:01
Speaker
um Really just more importantly, I'm just excited to be back and and ready to go for the rest of the season. So yeah, it was great to be back out there and I'm looking forward to this weekend. Today, where do you feel fitness wise, your explosiveness, you know maybe that confidence to get to certain balls?
01:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, I feel good. I mean, past all the tests and and yeah, I feel great. I feel confident. We have a really good team here.
01:35:28
Speaker
um We did some testing after the game and and I feel good. I felt good in the game. um So I'm ready to go. um Like I said, i'm just excited to be out there with the with my teammates again and and looking forward to getting more significant minutes.
01:35:42
Speaker
It sounds like you're past thinking about the injury and you're more concerned about what's in front of you in terms of the field. Is that fair assessment? Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's always first couple of days back on the field. you're thinking about a little bit.
01:35:55
Speaker
But especially one that's happened a few times, it's hard not to think about it. But I feel like I've gotten past that mentally. I'm in a really good spot. um And yeah, i just focused on on what's to come, which is Austin this weekend. So it's a big game, they're right behind us in the in the standings. And um you know we're we're we're excited for the for the challenge. Going back, when we' that pivot of playing now MLS against this team, how much do you take you know what you all have to do and then take a little bit about the opponent?
01:36:23
Speaker
I think this tournament, obviously the results didn't go how we wanted them to, but the tournament, we can take a lot away from it in terms of of how we played and how we competed and the intensity that we played at. If we bring that um back into the league season, I think we're going to accomplish a lot this year. We have such a good team, such a deep team. And, um you know, if we get all of our pieces back together and and we ah we play like we did during that tournament, I think we're going to be really competitive this year and and we'll fight for trophies, which is, which is our goal. So i think taking that from, from this tournament, obviously learning a little bit about Austin and film this morning and what, what they're going to bring. But I think a lot of it's on us. And if we can bring that same intensity that we did in, in the club world cup, we're going to, we're going accomplish great things this year. go with you
01:37:07
Speaker
If at all, is it a challenge to actually do that, to take that momentum and to not let it be a letdown of going from, you know, this high of the club world cup to, just whole league play?
01:37:17
Speaker
Yeah, of course. I mean, it's it's different. it's um We've played a lot of league games, right? We don't play in the club World Cup. Fortunately, we've been able to play twice, but um that was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity where you get to play at home in front of 50,000 against a team that just won Champions League, right? So that motivation's already there.
01:37:34
Speaker
um You know, you you come back into the league play. It's how you find that motivation within yourself and within the group to to come out and play with that same intensity. Because like I said, if we play like that, I don't think – There's a lot holding us back from accomplishing what we want to accomplish this year. So um a lot of it's going to come from from within, within the group, within each other, and understanding that each of these games are are massive. And at the end of the year, all these games add up. And we want to be hosting playoff games. We want to be in in the position to to ah to try to host someone's cup, things like that. So, um yeah, we we know that that's going to have to come with ourselves within ourselves a little bit. There's not going to be 55,000 fans out there for these games. So it's finding other ways to find that motivation.
01:38:14
Speaker
Going back to the mental stuff, you mentioned that it's been hard with the re-injuries and stuff. it When it's mentally hard, ah what what is the remedy for that? you know Obviously, here you can do various things, help with muscle injuries, but like,
01:38:27
Speaker
Do you lean on certain people, certain things to do to to get through those mental toughs? Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, I've had a couple of big injuries in my career. And um I always say coming out of those, the mental side by far the hardest part. You get through the physical stuff. You've been doing that your whole life. But getting through that mentally is the is the is the toughest part of these these injuries. And this is a new one for me, like I said, being so close to being back on the field, having to get taken away again.
01:38:51
Speaker
um it's been, it's been challenging and finding ways to cope with that mentally is, is important. And I think for me, you know, my, so my son is what I, my lean on my, my family, my wife, um, going home and and being able to escape the game and kind of realize what's important in life. I've said it before. He puts a lot in perspective when you go home and doesn't care, you know, if I'm on the field, i'm um if I'm off the field, I'm just,
01:39:15
Speaker
I'm just dad to him. It might sound like a cliche answer, but it's so true. When I get home, I'm able to, ever since he was born, I'm able to just kind of forget about life at at the facility, forget about life on the field. And i think that's that's super important, especially during these ah kind of mentally tough times. So he's he's been ah he's been huge. haunted When you say that the making it past or making it through as far as playing, do you feel that you're ready to start type of playing or are you minutes restriction? I know Brian makes the initial decision. Yeah, that's up to the coaching staff, up to up to the the training staff. Obviously, only playing, I think, for five minutes in that last game. I'm sure we worked in gradually, especially coming off of a couple couple injuries. you know It's not just an isolated thing. And if they want me healthy for the rest of the year, I want to be healthy for the rest of the year. So that's obviously up to them. I want to play.
01:40:06
Speaker
I'm ready to play. I'm itching to play. um So I'm hoping to get as many minutes as possible. But in the end, that's that's up to them. And does the hair have anything to do with being out?
01:40:16
Speaker
No, I just needed something different. You know, to be honest, I was always planning on it for Club World Cup. um Me and Paul um went went and got it done together. I was always planning it, too. Even when I got hurt, I stuck but to that and went with him. So, yeah, I just needed something different.
01:40:37
Speaker
Good stuff there from Jordan Morris. Talking about ah some of the challenges that come with oh
01:40:47
Speaker
Had the stream open in another tab, sorry. Talking about some of the challenges that ah come with the type of year he's had, which, you know, he was talking about how, I mean, we obviously all know that he's done his eight done two ACLs in his career, but he's never had a situation with like a muscle injury like this where it's like you rehab, ramp up, come back, and then re-aggravate.
01:41:12
Speaker
Kind of new territory. Good question from Jackson Feltz on hor how he, my buddy Jackson Feltz, shout out Sports Radio KJR, how he kind of navigated that. ah But hopefully here's the hoping that he he gets a clean bill of health, can stay on the field the rest of the year, and we can just see what effect that has on this team's ceiling.
01:41:34
Speaker
Because I think so much of the discourse going into the Club World Cup was... ah How, ah you know, Seattle needs to... They need to use that U-22 spot in the special window right now. They need to bring in a striker right now to, like, compete with ah with PSG. they need they They need this number nine right now.
01:41:56
Speaker
Their number nine was hurt. Like, I think you got to acknowledge that, and it just sucks. It's unlucky.
01:42:04
Speaker
But you... I don't know. I don't think you can...
01:42:09
Speaker
You can argue that they should have signed one earlier anyway. i can i can I can see that.
01:42:18
Speaker
But like the idea that they should have brought one in like in the special window or like in the ah in the window before the season started, before they before they had scouted up, who would be a good fit in all that.
01:42:38
Speaker
There is a high caliber number nine on this roster. And I think it's taken as conventional wisdom in some circles that like, he's like not this like not a high caliber number nine. And I think maybe that's where I deviate from some, I think he showed that he is that caliber of number nine.
01:42:59
Speaker
who you can absolutely contend with in MLS. He showed that last year. And look, that's just ah that's just me looking at the stat sheet. They moved him to the full-time number nine little bit into last season.
01:43:14
Speaker
Rui Diaz became the backup. He had fourteen and five
01:43:23
Speaker
if any If any number nine from any other country that they that they brought in came in and put up 14-5 all comps last year, there just wouldn't be like a question about this.
01:43:34
Speaker
And I think you got it like you got to give yeah equity to the guys who perform. Now, if you want to talk about like the the injury situation, that has undermined the team a lot this year. But, I mean, to me, that's just like...
01:43:51
Speaker
That's bad luck. Like, I don't know.
01:43:59
Speaker
don't know if you can, like, inform your, how you're tackling the roster around that.
01:44:06
Speaker
Technically signed De Rosario, yeah. But I think the the argument I'm talking about is more like they should have brought in, like, a big, like a more high pedigree name than a developmental player like that.
01:44:25
Speaker
I will say, too, the Moose thing actually was high-key working for a minute there. Moose got crazy hot. Remember that? We'll always have that. We'll always have that. We're like, damn, there are no strikers on this team. Ferreira doesn't look like he can do it.
01:44:41
Speaker
Moose didn't show he could do it last year.
Seattle Sounders' Performance Challenges
01:44:43
Speaker
What's going to happen? And then Moose just gets insanely hot. Scores for five weeks in a row. To be fair, I think Moose could have kept riding that.
01:44:52
Speaker
But he got remember, he got hurt, too.
01:44:58
Speaker
The Jordan Morris, Danny Musavsky, number nine duo, not the sexiest I've ever seen. I'll acknowledge that.
01:45:07
Speaker
But for me, i I maybe again, maybe this is where I deviate from some. I rate Jordan Morris as as that caliber number nine that can that you can build your attack around with him as the centerpiece.
01:45:18
Speaker
And you can you can win with that. You can contend with that. He scored the most goals in the history of the club. He had 14 and five all comps last year post moving to that spot.
01:45:31
Speaker
So hopefully we get to see that down the stretch here. feel like we haven't been able to ever see this team at its ceiling really this year, especially with ah when you throw the Yammer injury on top of that as well.
01:45:49
Speaker
You know, I think the reality, like, all right, let's talk about this actually, because i think we got to be real about something.
01:46:03
Speaker
We should be real about something.
01:46:07
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders are now, after Wednesday's results, in seventh place in the West.
01:46:16
Speaker
They're at 1.44 points per game in league play. Their record is 7-6-5. And their goal differential is dead even.
01:46:29
Speaker
Those are mid-numbers.
01:46:33
Speaker
There's no way to like slice and dice that up any differently. Those are mid numbers. But I think the question we have to ask ourselves is like, okay, can we identify why do we think there are those mid numbers?
01:46:52
Speaker
To me, it's actually relatively simple.
01:46:56
Speaker
You got one DP spot. Your DP nine who he got that status because of the escalators who's been injured all year. He looked incredible, honestly, to start the year. Do you remember that? You guys remember that? He had three goals in his first like two or three games, but you have one DP spot of a guy who's been injured all year.
01:47:18
Speaker
You have another DP spot of a guy who was injured all last year and hasn't popped this year. and look like you We were talking about positive guy, negative guy. there are a lot of There are a lot of people, my colleagues, other people out there who think i'm that I've been too down on De La Vega.
01:47:39
Speaker
And that's not really where I'm coming from.
01:47:45
Speaker
I think De La Vega has a has genuinely like shown some cool stuff this year. And like I think more than anything, when I watch him play, i can see what they were scouting. I can. I can see what they were getting at.
01:48:00
Speaker
getting that
01:48:03
Speaker
But I think you got to be real about the fact that, ah first of all, when you're when you're when you play for the Seattle Sounders and you wear the number 10, you're the first player to wear number 10 for the Seattle Sounders since Nico Ladero.
01:48:18
Speaker
There's like a weight that comes with that. There's expectations that come with that. and those And those expectations aren't playing adequately, looking developmentally like you could be good in the future.
01:48:35
Speaker
not playing like decent, well, or good enough. The weight of that is like, your that the weight and expectation is you're a carry the load player.
01:48:47
Speaker
You're putting up numbers.
01:48:50
Speaker
You're running the attack.
01:48:55
Speaker
You're setting guys up. You're scoring goals. You're taking over games at times. This is all stuff that Nico Ladero did. And in addition to all that,
01:49:06
Speaker
He was a fantastic leader and a standard setter. I'm not saying the yeah the pressure has been on De La Vega to be all that right away.
01:49:21
Speaker
But I think we have to realize that
01:49:25
Speaker
when you have ah DP spot, that the output that you've gotten in league play is two goals, four assists.
01:49:38
Speaker
One a goal was a penalty against LAFC in the first game of last year.
01:49:48
Speaker
If that's the output that you've gotten over the past year and a half now, it is just that it is a fact of life that that is going to be reflected in and your results.
01:50:02
Speaker
So you combine that with the injury to your DP number nine. I think that explains pretty much
01:50:12
Speaker
why this like this team hasn't been bad at all this year.
01:50:17
Speaker
Their record and their points per game are mid right now. But I mean...
01:50:27
Speaker
are they on the Do they belong in the same like discussion as the ah l LA Galaxy? 0.42 points per game. 1, 13, and 5. Negative 23 goal differential.
01:50:43
Speaker
you're you I think you're... like a lot The way lot of people talk about this team, they talk about it like it's on a team like that. It's not a team like that. This is a team like St. Louis City SC that's at 0.79 points per 3, 10, and 6 with negative 11.
01:50:57
Speaker
No. But the standard with the Seattle Sounders is to be, to me, it's like, I consider like this team with the standard and tradition, what we all expect should be at 1.7 to like 1.9.
01:51:15
Speaker
That should be the standard. That should be the expectation. And if they're not ah if they're not at that, we should talk about the reasons why. And the club brass is going to have to figure out the reasons why.
01:51:27
Speaker
But to me, it's it's this it's this simple. And I'll make a prediction on this. If you get the Jordan Morris that you had last year out there for the rest of this season and De La Vega comes good,
01:51:45
Speaker
this team will be up in the top four. Maybe I'm back too. you got to get the CBs healthy. This CB situation is...
01:51:54
Speaker
It's like, honestly, a little ridiculous. I saw a report, I think from J.O., that they've been like training Alex Roldan and Cody Baker back there.
01:52:08
Speaker
Maybe you can get through a game like that. That doesn't feel like a good for the long-term solution. It's just kind of wild that it's come to that. So you got you got to get that room, the CB room, healthy.
01:52:19
Speaker
But to me, as we head into the stretch run of this season, starting with this Saturday against Austin FC, it's about two guys.
01:52:31
Speaker
Jordan Morris
01:52:35
Speaker
and Pedro De La Vega. I want to hit on this from Derek right here. think this is this is a...
01:52:42
Speaker
This is an important point that I've tried to make before and people don't like it, but I think this is real. One DP and no U22s plus tons of CB injuries in a pretty solid spot in the West, all things considered.
01:52:55
Speaker
There's a lens that you could look at this through. I'm not even saying this is necessarily how I look at it, but there's absolutely a credible lens. You could look at this through that Seattle's position on the table is actually like low key kind of impressive considering
01:53:14
Speaker
the Jordan Morris injury situation
01:53:18
Speaker
and the De La Vega production situation.
01:53:24
Speaker
Mainly the Jordan situation. You hear coaches say all the time when, uh, when they, when their best players get hurt, any team in the league would struggle if they were missing inserts designated player.
01:53:37
Speaker
Any team in the league would, would be 0.7 points per game. They're not down there. They're not below 1.0 points per game without their GP number nine.
01:53:54
Speaker
They're at 1-4-4. Technically have a winning record.
01:54:03
Speaker
So this is a good question. Oh, actually, let's hit on let's let's say this from Roberto first. Jordan going to make Jesus better, too. I was going to bring that up. He's a a full ah force multiplier, I believe.
01:54:16
Speaker
I think he's going to make Jesus better. I know for a fact, from having watched them play together a lot, he's going to make Albert Rusnak better and more productive. that way i don't think people give enough credence to like how effective that the duo is.
01:54:31
Speaker
We were popping off last year about how they were... They had a stretch last year where they were looking like one of the best one-two punches in the league. At least production-wise, you can big-brain me if you want on that.
01:54:45
Speaker
Rusnak gets his stats, but they're they they don't actually count or whatever. Purely based on statistical output, there was a six-week stretch of last year where Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak was one of the most effective, productive, goal-scoring duos in all of Major League Soccer.
01:55:01
Speaker
That's just something that happened. Like, it's not... That has nothing to do with like the brigade debate, what you think of Rusnak's DP status, how you rate Jordan.
01:55:12
Speaker
That's literally just like the goals and assists that they were putting up for five to six weeks in the middle of last season was, ah was as good as anybody. So I absolutely think it's going to help Ferreira.
01:55:24
Speaker
I do.
01:55:27
Speaker
I think he's had effective moments as a wide playmaker.
01:55:33
Speaker
that a number nine like Jordan that's a little different from Moose
01:55:39
Speaker
can help with. But I think it's, I mean, if he stays healthy and he stays on the field, it's going to make Rusnak better. Rusnak's going to start putting up more numbers. I feel pretty confident on that.
01:55:52
Speaker
I think it's going to make Ferreira and Ryan Kent better. Ryan Kent's been struggling. We haven't even talked about that tonight.
01:56:00
Speaker
It's just going to open up space for everyone.
01:56:12
Speaker
Yeah, Bell and New who are suspended for this game.
01:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, the famous two red cards in three minutes. That was a good bit. We all had fun. We all had fun in Vancouver. I went to Canada for that. That was a good was a good time. We all had fun with the two red cards.
01:56:30
Speaker
in three minutes okay but this is what this is the next one here from hunch punch but why are seattle in this position of one dp and no u22s never mind all these injuries the you okay just to clarify something on the u22 situation because i've seen some people bring up the talking point of like this shouldn't be talked about as one spot it should be talked about as all three spots like I see what what people are getting at with that, but I don't think that's an exactly accurate portrayal of the of the situation.
01:57:04
Speaker
They had Leo Chu on one. That opened up when they traded him for Jesus Ferreira. So that is open to Phil. Yes, you're technically allowed to have three, but just based on how the roster is set up,
01:57:21
Speaker
they can't, this is just a correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not like they can just go fill all three of those spots without it having like ripple effects on how the rest of the roster is constructed.
01:57:31
Speaker
They have one spot open. That's the one they're scouting up to fill. And then to fill the other two beyond that, that becomes a matter of like roster maneuvering after the season.
01:57:44
Speaker
But like, they can't just go, they couldn't have like, gone out and filled like all three unit 22 spots. I don't know if that's what you were referencing hunch, but I've just seen that floating around and I don't think that's, ah I don't, I like, don't know. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm missing something.
01:58:04
Speaker
I don't think they could have done that or can do that.
01:58:11
Speaker
But, uh, I mean, as for the, uh, they have three DPs, Jordan Rusnak and De La Vega.
01:58:23
Speaker
So have they got those guys on the ah on the field at the same time at all since they've been the DPs? Pretty much no.
01:58:35
Speaker
So ah we'll see we'll see to what extent a healthy Jordan Morris can be a force multiplier. I feel like I've watched him. i watched i think I've watched every game of his career. So like I feel like I have a pretty good, pretty solid idea of what to expect, how to rate him.
01:58:54
Speaker
Maybe that's why i rate him higher than than some. I don't know. I think some people put a lot of stock in the U.S. national team stuff around him. To me, this is a very proven and MLS goal scorer. This is the leading goal scorer in the history of the club.
01:59:10
Speaker
And more importantly,
01:59:14
Speaker
in my eyes, this is just how I look at it. You earn equity through winning. Okay? Jordan Morris has been a leading contributor on teams that have won MLS cups,
01:59:29
Speaker
CONCACAF champions cup league back then when they did it.
01:59:35
Speaker
So he's got a trophy track record and he's got a lot of wins and he's got a lot of production.
01:59:42
Speaker
I think you like, I don't understand why,
01:59:47
Speaker
There's not equity given to that in the Jordan Morris discourse sometimes. In some circles, it appears to be like just the conventional wisdom that he's like this kind of mid-number nine.
01:59:59
Speaker
like You're not like a serious, ambitious MLS club if Jordan Morris is your number nine.
02:00:08
Speaker
No one ever asks those people why when they say that.
02:00:14
Speaker
It can't be a production-based argument. He's scored the most goals in the history of the club. And that's not just volume trolling. That's just like go through and look at his career. Like he's scored a lot of goals.
02:00:29
Speaker
And he's won a lot.
02:00:34
Speaker
Like am I missing something?
02:00:37
Speaker
Zach, thank you for the $2 super chat. Appreciate you, man. Wondering about the Leo Bernie sitch. He was hurt too. Like, that this is where we're at.
02:00:49
Speaker
Like, he's hurt too right now. He probably would be playing in this situation.
02:00:55
Speaker
But I think he's hurt too. Pretty sure on that.
02:00:59
Speaker
Hamstring FC right now.
02:01:04
Speaker
That's what's going on.
02:01:15
Speaker
You quoted this one DP and no U22s plus tons of CB injuries. Oh, oh, I see. I see. I see. I misread what you were saying. My question is why are they this position?
02:01:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's because
02:01:32
Speaker
to boil it down to the simple answer, it's because you had you had your line leading number nine, your main goal scorer. He's had a snake bit year. he can't He hasn't been able to stay on the field.
02:01:45
Speaker
Could that have been like a accounted for or predicted? I don't know. I know everyone's going point to the ACLs, but that to me is like, it's not like he has like a ah higher track record than normal to my memory or to my eye of like like a must like a hamstring type situation as like any other and as as anyone else.
02:02:07
Speaker
I think it's just been a pretty like disgustingly unlucky year for him. And it's it's hampered the team's ability to score goals.
02:02:19
Speaker
But, like, um'm just saying I'm just saying there's a lens you could look at that
02:02:27
Speaker
that they are in a pretty solid spot because they were able to stay afloat. through Like, Moose, actually, I think Moose deserves a lot of credit.
02:02:37
Speaker
for this for this season, not going totally off the rails. Imagine what would have happened if they hadn't had that moose run where he was just banging in goals and they were winning games.
02:02:49
Speaker
It could be a lot worse than 1.44. I'll tell you that. Even Ferreira. Even Ferreira. for all the discourse that's going on about him right now after the club world cup, which I get it, uh, didn't have a especially great club world cup and his shot in the PSG game when he could have laid it off to Rothrock. I'm going to see it in my nightmares too.
02:03:10
Speaker
He, he won them the San Diego game. He literally won them the San Diego game and, uh, it was a big reason they dominated Nashville SC, which by the way, Nashville SC, one of the best teams in the league since that loss, they haven't lost since then.
02:03:24
Speaker
They are 12 and beaten since that game. So you you had like another off-season acquisition come through and help you win two of those games in that stretch without Jordan Morris.
02:03:38
Speaker
People aren't going like that take.
02:03:41
Speaker
I'm just saying. just telling you what I see, man.
02:03:46
Speaker
I got no agenda on that. I kind of do.
02:03:52
Speaker
But I do think the lens of like, they're actually higher on the table than they probably rightfully should be given, given the DP production situation.
02:04:05
Speaker
You could look at like that if you want to.
02:04:11
Speaker
Ari, what's your grade of our Academy players impact on the first team? oh I'll go, i'll take that just like holistically, not just for like this season.
Seattle Sounders' Academy Evaluation
02:04:24
Speaker
Um, I think it's been really good for specific positions. Like in terms of like the sixes and eights, your Obed Vargas's, your Josh Atencio's, Snyder Brunell coming up.
02:04:44
Speaker
Stu Hawks is a CB. But i guess I think that's almost a different category. But in terms of like midfield FC, sixes and eight FC, fantastic.
02:04:56
Speaker
Obed is, uh, is going to be a $10 million dollars transfer. but That's like what you, do that's what you want. That's what you're aspiring for. And he's helped them win a lot of games. He helped them win Konga Gap championship when he was 16.
02:05:10
Speaker
So I think you got to give him fantastic marks for that. I think where you could critique it is, uh,
02:05:19
Speaker
other than Jordan Morris, who let's be honest that like,
02:05:24
Speaker
That fell onto their lap a little bit. Like his dad was the trainer. He grew up around the club. He was basically like born and bred to be a ah Seattle Sounders striker.
02:05:38
Speaker
They still get credit for developing him, but to me that's like a little different than like
02:05:45
Speaker
Like guys like Danny Leyva or Obed Vargas where they went out and scouted it up and were like, this guy a good fit for us. And then they develop him all, you know. Jordan Morris, it's like the trainer's son and is turned out to be like insanely good, which he, he made like don't get me wrong. Jordan is in the like success story category, but I consider it a little different than a player that they really had to go out and scout up.
02:06:15
Speaker
But I think Danny Leyva, like he's a solid role player in the squad right now. Maybe it didn't pop to the degree that ah some have hoped, but he's at least playing for the for the first team.
02:06:30
Speaker
But what I was getting at earlier is like they haven't developed ah attacking players to the effect that they've developed these like deep-lying midfielders. It's a lot harder to do. The clubs that have been able to do it, I mean, like, there's not that many examples out there. Maybe I should do a show sometime where I ah where i dig into that.
02:06:50
Speaker
But, like,
02:06:53
Speaker
the Chicago Fire, apparently, in one of the clubs that can do it, they they developed Brian Gutierrez and Georgie Mihailovic. There's no Sounders equivalent that has come that has come from the academy of Georgie Mihailovic or Brian Gutierrez.
02:07:09
Speaker
Georgi Mihailovic, the fire fumbled it and traded him, but he's like an upper tier number 10 in MLS. That's like an MLS homegrown of the Chicago fire.
02:07:21
Speaker
I don't think Seattle's got that, ah that equivalent. That's why I'm excited about this Omar Hassan kid coming up. Cause they need to, I think for their Academy to be considered like truly elite, they got to develop, like it's gotta be more multifaceted.
02:07:34
Speaker
ah But like, I think the Stuart Hawks thing is exciting.
02:07:42
Speaker
That's a high leverage position, not in attack, but like a CB, if he really develops, that would be the biggest success developmentally they've had at that position.
02:07:54
Speaker
So I think it's it's like just kind of two different lenses. The the midfielders,
02:08:03
Speaker
which have been fantastic, and then the attack, which ah there's Jordan Morris and not much else. Am I missing anyone? Like, obvious?
02:08:14
Speaker
Jordan Morris is ah is a great success story, but it's kind of the only one in terms of that area the field. That's what I want to see from the ah the academy. They have mastered the deeper-lying midfield role.
02:08:27
Speaker
But I want to see like someone of the caliber of Georgie Mihailovic come out. That would be fire. Chicago fire.
02:08:37
Speaker
Okay, this is a good point, Derek. Thank you for this. This is what I was trying to get here, but could fill all three U22 spots. The thinking is that they're saving two of them for a player like Obed or possibly RBW or Leyva. Yeah, I forgot that detail. I don't think they're going use it on Obed
02:08:58
Speaker
or Leyva. i think obed is I think Obed is gone. think he's transferring. I think that's just a matter of time. But yeah, they can you can use it on your own players like that. I don't know. I'm not sure how they're thinking of it. Maybe they are thinking of it like that.
02:09:10
Speaker
And I still do think that if they were going to go sign one,
02:09:20
Speaker
I feel like that would that would require some sort of maneuvering. I think they're like pretty capped out. But I don't know. That's one of those things where I'd have to like dig into the minutiae of it more than I want to.
02:09:31
Speaker
Yeah.
02:09:36
Speaker
georgie Georgie was from... ah
02:09:40
Speaker
not He's not like a an academy. he They brought him into defiance. They actually paid a transfer fee for Georgie to bring him into the second team, which is like you don't see that happen very often. But he's not like... I think you i think ah if Georgie really ends up popping, you do have to give them credit for it, but it's not in the same way as like someone who like came up through their academy. See what i'm saying?
02:10:03
Speaker
Aaron Long was a Seattle fumble. Yeah, he was.
02:10:08
Speaker
yeah but Yedlin is a good example. They they sold him to Tottenham when he was 19. Remember that?
02:10:22
Speaker
But Yedlin also did play his youth soccer at Crossfire. Not exactly. i still give them credit for Yedlin to an extent, but yeah, no, Danzig's right. It's not like the same thing.
02:10:36
Speaker
Rothrock, yeah, yeah, and Jackson Reagan, but they kind of took more winding paths. They went and played in college, cut their teeth in, Rothrock cut his teeth at Toronto FC2 in MLS Next Pro for a bit.
02:10:54
Speaker
So I don't know. I kind of think of that a little differently as well than like a player like Obed who comes up just fully with them and breaks into the first team.
02:11:05
Speaker
Rothrock is increasingly becoming one that should be talked about with this though. That's just an, it that is just a straight up Academy kid. Like that's what he is.
02:11:19
Speaker
Great strikers locally 20 years ago. They got to bring back the, and they got to bring back the glory days.
02:11:28
Speaker
I just sort of think that's the ah next step developmentally. Um, all right, folks, uh,
02:11:35
Speaker
Rothrock and Reagan played youth soccer at Seattle United. weren't Weren't they... ah
02:11:42
Speaker
Weren't they both the Sounders Academy after that?
02:11:49
Speaker
You're right. You're right. They did do that.
02:11:58
Speaker
Rothrock...
02:12:03
Speaker
It's kind of, it's just, i still kind of think it's crazy to think about sometimes like how the very first episode that we ever recorded of Lobbing Scorchers was talking about how Paul Rothrock, I think the exact title of the episode is Paul Rothrock needs some help. And the whole thesis of episode one of Lobbing Scorchers was like, get the guy himself, get the guy some help.
02:12:26
Speaker
and and And then we talked about the Seahawks. Good episode.
02:12:32
Speaker
But like it's still like now since then it's just become this like
02:12:40
Speaker
Sounders lore, the rise. The rise of Paul Rothrock. And now it's just like at the point where it's like, yeah, he's just like one of the best players on the team without question.
02:12:52
Speaker
Should he be starting over Ryan Kent or Pedro De La Vega? Yeah, probably. Why? Because the offense looks better. like i I don't know what to do with this information.
02:13:09
Speaker
I'm not a coach. I'm just saying like when I watch this team play,
02:13:16
Speaker
i just see pretty clearly that it's a lot more dynamic and productive when Paul Rothrock is out there. Again, i don't know what to, ah
02:13:33
Speaker
I don't know what to make of that. All right. I'll hit one more from, ah oh, ah Barry, I think you're talking about Henry Wingo. Henry Wingo, Hank, Henry Wingo actually had a decent career in Europe.
02:13:49
Speaker
He was playing for this Hungarian team that was all always in UEFA Champions League. think it was Hungarian.
02:13:56
Speaker
But he he actually, like, he played.
02:14:02
Speaker
He played in Champions League lot. He did well for himself. That's a shout. Now he's on Toronto FC. I think he's been injured this year, though. I'm going to hit this from Hunch and then hit some quick reaction from ah last night's results and then get out of here. It's ah been ah been a nice two-hour, 15-minute show so far, but that's fine. I'm good to keep going for a few more minutes. All right.
02:14:28
Speaker
ATX expectations, formation, CB lineup, will there be grass, best result expectation? I can hit a couple of those right away. Will there be grass? I honestly am not sure. I hadn't thought to inquire about that.
02:14:41
Speaker
my My thought was that it was just going to be gone straight after the Club World Cup back to the normal surface, but I actually don't know if that's true. I think someone in chat was saying earlier that they were going to keep it for this one more game and then get rid of it.
02:15:01
Speaker
But honestly, not sure.
02:15:07
Speaker
The CB lineup, that's anyone's guess, man. You might have to do it.
02:15:15
Speaker
One of you might have to just suit up and go play central defense for the Seattle. sound like i don't I don't know what to do about it at this point.
02:15:28
Speaker
It appears that it's Jackson Reagan, And if what I saw, based on what was reported from training, might be one of Alex Roldan or Cody Baker.
02:15:42
Speaker
Who, Cody Baker,
02:15:47
Speaker
he played CB in the academy, and I think for Defiance a fair amount, a little bit. Definitely never done it in an MLS game. I'm not, like, against it.
02:15:57
Speaker
I think he can do it. I think he can get you through a game. It's just not like it. It's just kind of
02:16:04
Speaker
unfortunate, I guess, is the word to just anytime, anytime you're down to like your sixth or seventh option at a given position, it's not good.
02:16:19
Speaker
It's not necessarily what you want.
02:16:25
Speaker
But I mean, I think
02:16:30
Speaker
I think you'll probably see like a normal back line.
02:16:36
Speaker
Like to the extent possible, probably KKR right back. maybe Yeah. Maybe they, uh, man, I, I don't know about Alex rolled on at CB.
02:16:50
Speaker
Can he do it? Maybe it's just remember, remember, uh, when Brad Evans was going through the, uh,
02:17:01
Speaker
the super utility phase of his career where he was just getting plugged in at any random position. And he was getting kind of disillusioned with it. But then they were like, all right, you're a center back now. And he was like, okay.
02:17:14
Speaker
They threw him out there at CB in his first game. i think like, I want to say like 10 minutes into his first game at CB. might've even been shorter than that. He just got absolutely cooked by Wando. And I remember after that game, he was like, dude, I've...
02:17:30
Speaker
Like, it's that's not an easy thing to do. Never have, like, really played there.
02:17:37
Speaker
And he actually turned out to be a good CB. But, like, your first game there when you've never played in MLS?
02:17:47
Speaker
Stu Hawks is hurt, guys. He's not, like, going to be available anytime soon.
02:17:53
Speaker
That would be who that would be it That would be the answer of who's playing is Jackson Reagan and Sue Hawks. He's injured.
02:18:03
Speaker
He blew his, uh, like quarter hammy out.
02:18:10
Speaker
That's frustrating. That's frustrating too. Although, uh, I guess I am glad that, uh, he got a little bit of run in beforehand just so we could see that he could hang an MLS. Um,
02:18:27
Speaker
which he clearly showed he can. So now they have that data point. They know that when he comes back, he can play in a situation like this and it's fine.
02:18:37
Speaker
But it just, this is, this would be a great, this would be the ideal stew Hawks situation. sucks.
02:18:46
Speaker
Lobby scorchers manifested Routhrock. I think we did. don't if we get credit for that, but I think we actually did.
02:18:56
Speaker
JP at CB, like it's going to be something like that, dude. it's to To your last question, Hunch, expectation on result, I think a lot of it just depends how the CB situation holds up.
02:19:07
Speaker
If it holds up, I think Seattle, should they should be favored at home against this iteration of Austin FC, which as we talked to Hernan about, is like playing better,
02:19:26
Speaker
But, i mean their I mean, their goal differential for this season is minus six. like It's not like they're a team that's so hot that they are going to be favored rolling into Lumen, even with the Sounders playing you or me at center back, you know?
02:19:42
Speaker
Swiss Army Evans, yeah. It's funny because like he low-key hated that, I think. I don't know. You'd have to ask him. I just have this memory of him being like, can I get a position over here?
02:19:56
Speaker
Like, what? You just put me wherever you want.
02:20:00
Speaker
And I get that. Like, it's pretty it's pretty hard to, like, find a rhythm and, like, feel like you can garner consistency when you don't have a set position.
02:20:15
Speaker
Let Baker Alex play wider and Reagan cover all the area balls.
02:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be something like that. the cb The CB, this is barren a CB depth chart that as I've seen, honestly. The moment you start talking about moving the right back in there, moving the academy, kit like that's when it's like every single option.
02:20:42
Speaker
Like, dude, Leo Bernie would be getting a start here. over the idea of moving the right back or moving the academy kid who's never played there in MLS.
02:20:56
Speaker
you yeah You don't even have the Leo Bernie option. What have things come to injury-wise when you don't even have the Leo Bernie option? What are we talking about?
02:21:08
Speaker
It's wild.
02:21:11
Speaker
JMO going to be a super sub? I would guess so.
02:21:18
Speaker
I would guess so. I think Moose probably starts and they give Jordan like 30. They're just, this is a delicate situation with him right now. You cannot have another re-aggravation, mostly for the man's own mental health.
02:21:31
Speaker
He needs, and we all need him to just not do his hammy again and be on the field. Okay. Gotta be tactical about this.
02:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, Vamo. It's like the CB depth that was is considered a strength of the team. It's one of the most wild, like, position group injury situations I've seen.
02:21:55
Speaker
don't know if I can think of an equivalent. Like, what was it what's an equivalent? time I mean, there was the game where Alex Roldon played in goal, but that was due to, like, a red card injury sub-type situation, right?
02:22:11
Speaker
This is like that, but from the start of the game at center back. Yeah. um All right, let's talk about some of the results from the Wednesday slate last night. Then going to get out of here and pull it up on two and a half hours.
02:22:22
Speaker
Thank you all for for tuning in and hanging out. Always love my under the lights crowd. These are the real grinders. I'm going to just pull up these scores and then just give you guys my rapid fire takes on what stood out.
02:22:44
Speaker
There was a full slate of MLS action
02:22:51
Speaker
last night. Seattle Sounders weren't a part of it.
02:22:55
Speaker
ah We got to hit this from Barry before we ah before we jump in here. and and here $20 super chat from Barry Soytoro. Thank you so much, man. That just made my night, honestly.
02:23:10
Speaker
You're a god for that.
02:23:13
Speaker
Because the i love the under the lights streams. God god bless them. ah The viewership isn't as high as like a kickoff necessarily.
02:23:25
Speaker
So, or or that it's definitely not as high as the post game lives. So the super chats can be a few and far between. So the 20 spot there means a lot. Really appreciate that.
02:23:37
Speaker
Yeah.
02:23:41
Speaker
Yeah, full slate of games. I was working these, and ah i had ah I had some takeaways for you guys on on this as we take stock of what happened throughout the rest of the league with the Seattle Sounders not playing.
02:23:54
Speaker
I mean, you could see here, Atlanta United,
02:24:01
Speaker
it's just ah it's just tough, man.
02:24:08
Speaker
This is sort of where I'm coming from with the being set sixth or seventh in the West at 1.44. Considering the injury situation is like, it's not the best place to be.
02:24:23
Speaker
But you could be like Atlanta. Atlanta is just whole seasons, just such a disaster right now.
02:24:30
Speaker
And what I wanted to say about I'm always down to give Atlanta takes because there's a little bit of shot in Freud. I'm not going to lie. ah But Ronnie Dyla, I don't think is going to get fired from Atlanta United.
Garth Lagerwey & Atlanta United's Performance
02:24:44
Speaker
And the reason I don't think he is was because Garth has come out in his corner. But I want to talk about the way that Garth came out in Ronnie Dyla's corner. ah Because Garth, Atlanta has been like horrible all year.
02:25:01
Speaker
they They spent like 30 plus million dollars on their team over the offseason. I, like an idiot, got on our show and said, Miguel, ah this is was a take that I gave. I said, Miguel Almiron going to Atlanta United is the best move that any MLS club made all offseason.
02:25:18
Speaker
I said that. And i was like I was serious. I was like, this is um I'm cooking here. This is a take that I'm going to put out for the masses. Miguel Almiron is the best move any MLS club has made over the offseason.
02:25:31
Speaker
That is not panned out. they went and They broke the MLS transfer record, $22 million, dollars on Emmanuel Latte Loth. He started well, but... like He hasn't been scoring goals at all lately.
02:25:44
Speaker
Almiron, I mean, it's it's at this point, that has been a bust, like, categorically. His body language is super bad. He's not producing.
02:25:56
Speaker
He looks, like, actively unhappy out there.
02:26:01
Speaker
And Garth was radio silent for most of the year. I kept waiting, like, when's Garth going to do a presser? I need this. I need this content.
02:26:13
Speaker
And he just wouldn't give one. i was like, what the hell, man?
02:26:17
Speaker
Explain yourself, Garth. $35, $32 million. dollars You can't even get to a point per game?
02:26:29
Speaker
What's up? Like when Garth was the GM in Seattle, he was a man about town. He was swagging around facility.
02:26:39
Speaker
You need me for anything? You need an interview? You can step off to the side. I'll go on the record for whatever. I'm Garth motherfucking Lagerwey.
02:26:52
Speaker
Garth had swag.
02:26:55
Speaker
Now he's like, moni he was't wasn't even talking for all season while Atlanta United tailspun. And then he finally gave an interview a couple weeks ago with Doug Robes. Doug Roberson of ah Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
02:27:08
Speaker
Shout out Doug Roberson. he Garth finally gave an interview with Doug Robes.
02:27:15
Speaker
Oh, no way. No, you didn't. 50 bomb from Hunch Punch.
02:27:24
Speaker
Thank you so much, man.
02:27:28
Speaker
God, I love you guys.
02:27:32
Speaker
Okay, well then, we're doing this. Go Sounders. Keep it up. Love the community building. Always glad to be here when I can. Post-game show Saturday. Business meeting Sunday. Well, first of all, the 50 bomb is goaded, Hunch.
02:27:45
Speaker
Love you, man. Appreciate that. Honestly, just like, more than I can express to you, man, cause
02:27:56
Speaker
because we sit here and do our shows mostly for the love of the game. But we when we can get support like that, it it means a lot. And it, like, genuinely helps keep the show going. So thank you, brother. Always appreciate your calls after the games.
02:28:13
Speaker
And post-game show Saturday, i don't think so, unfortunately. It's just it's ending too late. And I'm and I'm yeah, I think it's going to have to be. ah I think it's going to have to be a Sunday live, unfortunately.
02:28:31
Speaker
We try and do them right post-game when we can.
02:28:37
Speaker
ah feel like I need to now because you just hit us with the 50 bomb. But it's just not always it's just not always possible.
02:28:46
Speaker
And this one is looking like it. it's a 730 kick, 730 kick just inherently makes it tough. Like, especially when it's home games where I'm like there and then would have to come back. We haven't like set up a, we need to work, I guess, on like figuring out how to stream from Lumen. That's not something that we've like dove into yet, but rest assured there will be a ah ah post game live over the weekend and we'll take some calls. So, but yeah,
02:29:16
Speaker
Post game show Sunday night. All right. I'll do that for you hunch for the 50 bomb.
02:29:25
Speaker
I think that, I think that, uh, I think that makes sense anyway. Next stream, uh, next stream will be Sunday's Sunday night, Sunday night post game live.
02:29:39
Speaker
Be reacting to the Austin game, taking some calls.
02:29:45
Speaker
You can follow me on Blue Sky Ramon. I always try and announce the times there. Because sometimes it's a fluid situation. Like right now, I'm not exactly sure when this ah when this Sunday live is going to be.
02:29:57
Speaker
All right. Anyway. I'm start wrapping up here. But i what was I spitting about? Oh, I was spitting about Garth. He finally gave an interview to Doug Robes, Atlanta Journal Constitution.
02:30:09
Speaker
And the quote that he gave that stuck out to me was ah Doug was kind of talking to him about Atlanta has struggled so much this year.
02:30:21
Speaker
um During the game, Rhombus, I don't know, but we wouldn't do it during the game. We'd do it after.
02:30:32
Speaker
Garth's answer, he he said something to the effect of, like, the fact that we're struggling like this right now, is not to do it's not to do with our new coach who just got here four months ago.
02:30:43
Speaker
Like,
02:30:46
Speaker
like with the tone of dismissing the notion...
02:30:51
Speaker
that the coach he hired is in any way responsible for what's happening with the club this season, which that may be true, but like, if you go back and listen to Garth's interviews from before the season, that doesn't match up at all. Like with what he was saying, he literally said he got, he got on the radio, I think in Atlanta and said, we're back, baby.
02:31:15
Speaker
Or like maybe that last year after they signed Marin Chuck, he said, we're back. We're back. You know, it it took a little while for us to find our footing and Chris, Chris Henderson and I to make this our team.
02:31:32
Speaker
But we got Marin Chuck, who's been a bust, by the way, too. We got Marin Chuck.
02:31:39
Speaker
Latte lost on his way. I don't know if he was yet, but like he said, we're back. Like Atlanta United's back. We're going to hit the ground running this season. We got Ronnie Dyla, proven coach, excited to work for him for years. He was saying all that.
02:31:51
Speaker
He wasn't saying like, Hey, listen, man, new coach might take some lumps, might struggle a little bit. That wasn't the expectation setting that was going on and down there. And part of the reason they they're in such a even worse situation right now than they would be. Otherwise is because of the expectations that they had because of the money that they spent.
02:32:09
Speaker
And part of that was to do with like Garth going man about town in Atlanta and saying, we're back. You know, I'm, I don't give a shit. Like I just, it's when they're bad, it's fine with me for the content.
02:32:23
Speaker
I'm just saying like,
02:32:29
Speaker
the I don't, I'm not sure how Garth like navigates this. It's going to be interesting to see.
02:32:42
Speaker
Let's see. What else happened? What else happened? Were any of these? i feel like I thought there was more notables. Oh, okay. Yeah. So Vancouver played San Diego FC.
02:32:55
Speaker
Five to three. San Diego scored five goals. And this guy, Milan Iloski, who I hadn't really like heard of that much. He scored four goals in 12 minutes.
02:33:08
Speaker
Player the match day.
02:33:13
Speaker
That was crazy.
02:33:17
Speaker
But also, so that that result told me two things. Number one, San Diego is like that. They're first in the West right now. If there was any lingering doubt as to whether they're fraudulent, they are not.
02:33:31
Speaker
They're top two to four team in all of MLS right now, which is kind of crazy the expansion side. We saw what they did to Seattle earlier this year.
02:33:43
Speaker
So they're for real. And also Vancouver might be going through it a little bit. Seattle, as we famously know, did not take advantage of their CONCACAF Champions Cup run depletion. San Diego sure as hell did. Hung five at them in Vancouver.
02:33:58
Speaker
So the Whitecaps might be a little bit vulnerable right now. They're tired. They're sick. They're injured. They've played a ton of games. They lost Champions Cup insanely badly.
02:34:08
Speaker
So San Diego stock up. Vancouver stock a little down.
02:34:17
Speaker
I think that was really it. I thought I had more than that on these results.
02:34:22
Speaker
Minnesota beat Houston. Bongi hopped into the crowd and celebrated with his mom and baby brother. That was cute. ah Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts scored twice in second half stoppage time to beat Charlotte FC.
02:34:38
Speaker
ah Dean Smith had a really fun quote after that game.
02:34:45
Speaker
That I was going to play, but it's i'm not i'm I'm not going to do it anymore. It's ah it's late and I'm about to get out of here. But Charlotte FC have been down bad. Remember when we were doing the how does the Charlotte game look now in discourse?
02:34:58
Speaker
Looks like a bad draw now, I guess. They're tail spinning. And then Nashville came from behind to beat New England, which again, that's on the flip side of what I was just saying about Charlotte because Seattle destroyed Nashville SC and they haven't lost since they look like one of the best teams in the league.
02:35:15
Speaker
Vancouver is still missing a bunch of players. Yeah. And when they get their actual team back, that should help.
02:35:24
Speaker
Yeah. They, I think they are selling Ajiman.
02:35:30
Speaker
Which.
02:35:35
Speaker
I think they should they should ah secure the bag for him.
02:35:42
Speaker
I think he's good, but I don't think he's – I think part of part of what's going on with Charlotte FC is that, i mean, he's been better lately. he has six goals, commissioners picked to the All-Star game, but he wasn't scoring goals earlier this year.
02:35:55
Speaker
So –
02:36:00
Speaker
They should secure the bag. San Jose's offense is not a fluke. That is right, Derek. They have 39 goals, which is number one in all of MLS.
02:36:12
Speaker
They still have the quakes in them. They still like to concede a lot of goals, but they're pretty scary. The ah the Joseph Chicho-Rongo forward duo is apparently
02:36:27
Speaker
highly potent.
02:36:32
Speaker
All right. That's all I got for you tonight, guys. I went 237. So I'm going to get out of here. I'm not even going to play the lo-fi tonight. I'm just going to ah cut and run.
02:36:44
Speaker
ah Thank you all, as always, for tuning in. Thank you to Hunch and Barry for the super chat bombs. Love you guys. Appreciate you for that. You guys seriously made my night with that.
02:36:57
Speaker
That awesome. Appreciate you guys. Shout out to Hernan from WeAreAustinTV for coming on for the first hour, chopping it up about this game that we've got on...
02:37:10
Speaker
on saturday i know i said it a couple times already but you guys should all seriously go go over to their channel toss them a sub if you haven't if you don't know what we were talking about with their fan reaction videos just dive into their channel and watch them you can get lost for hours they're freaking hilarious uh they're like uh the ah The way I gauge if comedy is like elite or not is whether if I'm watching it by myself, if I laugh out loud at it, like I'm not with anyone else.
02:37:43
Speaker
And it's so funny that it makes me just like audibly laugh out loud watching solo and their stuff like does that. It's that good. So everyone, everyone goes sub to them.
02:37:54
Speaker
ah Hopefully we get, a we get her on or, or their operation on here back again soon. And yeah, yet follow me on blue sky and uh stay tuned for when the post game live is going to be uh but expect it on uh on sunday sunday for sure probably sunday evening and uh go check out if you haven't yet the uh lobbying scorchers hot sauce i'm gonna toss the i'm actually gonna toss that link in chat hold on one second
02:38:44
Speaker
that is not what I meant to do.
02:38:50
Speaker
It's just this. It's just this.
02:38:57
Speaker
Click that link or paste that link in. Check it out. If you guys want to, if you, okay, if you order a bottle and you do use code LS. Fuck, I forgot to mention that earlier, I think.
02:39:10
Speaker
you order a bottle and use code LS, you get like a, it's like a two for one. You get a free bottle and it's actually good. Like you can put it on your food and it make it taste better.
02:39:20
Speaker
So order up a bottle.
02:39:24
Speaker
It started as a bit because we were thinking of sponsors for the Blazing Hot Coach Presser and now it's a real hot sauce.
02:39:32
Speaker
Give it a try. Use code LS. to get a free bottle. All right. I'll see you guys for the postgame probably on Sunday. I'll let you know on the exact timing timing. Stay tuned here follow me on Blue Sky.
02:39:49
Speaker
Thank you all again for tuning in. Love you guys. Appreciate you guys. Catch you this weekend. Peace.