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Is Albert Rusnak the hottest player in MLS? - Ep. 49
69 Plays9 months ago
It’s yet another dub pod as the Seattle Sounders have emerged victorious once again with Saturday’s 2-0 result over the New England Revolution. We break down Seattle’s latest three-point result, which included another virtuoso performance from the 1-2 punch of Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris – the hottest duo in MLS at the moment.
Later on, we preview Seattle’s upcoming US Open Cup fixture at Sacramento Republic, then jump around the league with thoughts on the latest comedic defeat for the Philadelphia Union and FC Cincinnati’s demolition of Inter Miami.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com.
Episode Highlights and Seattle Sounders' Performance
00:00:36
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome into episode 49 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, another week, another dub pod. This is becoming commonplace for us. How are you feeling? Oh, Ari, man, it's hot and warm in Seattle. We are enjoying this beautiful sun and even better, a four game win streak, Ari. Last time that happened, 2020.
00:01:04
Speaker
four game home win streak. That's correct. Three game, a three game win streak overall in MLS play. And yeah, that's right folks. It's another dub pod with Seattle Sounders beat the new England revolution two zero at Loom and field on Saturday. Jordan Morris scored another goal.
00:01:21
Speaker
Albert Rusnak scored another goal and the Sounders are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league. They're now 8-7 and 7 overall with 31 points up to 6 in the Western Conference. So we're going to break it all down as we always do.
00:01:37
Speaker
I think it's going to be a good dub pod. There's a lot of good stuff to talk about from this game. I'm excited to talk about it. So we're going to dive into that. We're going to hit some around the league stuff at the end of the show. We're going to do a little preview of Seattle's open cup game coming up. We got winners and losers. So it's a, it's a pack. We got agenda check. It's a packed show today. We might go a little long on this one. We'll try and be as efficient as we can, but there's a lot to get to. I'm excited though. But
00:02:04
Speaker
Before we get into all that, some brief housekeeping at the top of the show. First of all, Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:02:30
Speaker
As always, I'd like to thank all of our paid subs, those of you who have migrated from our Buzzsprout platform over to Sounder at Heart. We appreciate each and every one of you. And you know what, Noah? I'm going to go back to doing the thing where I read the list. Let's go. Because that's how much we love and appreciate our subscribers. I'd like to thank
00:02:48
Speaker
Kenneth Wade, Joey Pasconelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Dan Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bonnier, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Malley, Andy Hill, Mike Lentini, Nate Bonnier, David Rodriguez, and my nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate the support. And if you'd like to join the ranks of our faithful supporters, go to sounderatheart.com slash LS sub to sounderatheart.
Seattle Sounders' Lineup and Key Players
00:03:15
Speaker
That's the best way to help and support the show.
00:03:18
Speaker
Also, if you're listening to this, and you haven't done so yet, subscribe to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. We're kind of popping on there, Noah. We're up to 223 or something subscribers on there and all our little video clips and stuff they're doing. We had one about the US Men's National Team, which is unfortunate that this is the one that popped, but we had one that popped for almost like a thousand views, which for our YouTube, that's hot. That's hot. So thank you to everyone who's been driving our engagement on there and
00:03:49
Speaker
Easy way to support us as well is to go just click that subscribe button help grow our presence on that platform Alright, that's enough of that Noah. Let's get into this sounders game because this was a good one this week another dub Let's talk about our lineup reaction off the top for for this fixture with the New England Revolution at Lumen Field and
00:04:07
Speaker
You had new who back in the starting 11 after he was famously suspended following the FC Dallas game You had Christian rolled on at right back right back rolled on back in the action right back Christian rolled on I guess you have to clarify Yeah
00:04:24
Speaker
Right Back Christian Rolled On was back in action. We'll talk about that later as well in the agenda check. You had a Paul Rothrock start, which that's always very exciting for us here at this show. Paul Rothrock was opposite Leo Chu. And you still had Ruidias coming off the bench, which I think is what we've come to expect these days. Jordan Morris was starting at the 9.
00:04:45
Speaker
No real surprises there. I guess the big surprise is that They kept riding right back Christian. Yes on you know Alex is healthy now He has been the starting right back on this team for the last few years and but I think just with where they're at right now the right back Christian rolled on thing is
00:05:06
Speaker
I think Schmetz said something after the game that he was kind of rioting the hot hand there, going with what worked. That's something that he tends to do. And so I think you might see right back Christian Roldon more moving forward.
00:05:22
Speaker
Seattle started off on the front foot in this game and they got the opener on 15 minutes. It was that Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnak connection again. The sequence on that goal started when Jackson Reagan made a clearance all the way at the other end of the field. And Leo Chu, Leo, the story of Leo Chu in this game was a dramatic and harrowing one, but he actually did make
00:05:45
Speaker
It ended negatively, I would say. That's fair to say. But he did actually make a nice play on this sequence to win the ball. He won the header that got to Jordan. Then Jordan and Rusnak had a little combination play.
00:06:00
Speaker
Rizniak hit an unbelievable dime on this play. That was, I mean, that's a world-class assist. He and Jordan, I mean, we're going to talk about it, but their connection right now of Rizniak seeing those runs, Jordan making those runs, and then Rizniak hitting those dimes. I mean, that was a great dime. Just the angle on that one. That's just, it's so satisfying to watch when a guy hits one that perfectly from,
00:06:25
Speaker
a tough angle and just the vision to see that pass and then also the technical ability to hit it. Just very, very good. And vintage Jordan run on that play. And great finish too. We've seen him score goals like that.
00:06:43
Speaker
a fair amount in his MLS career. But that's not as easy as he makes it look. To be able to hit that shot with that power and that accuracy while basically on a dead sprint, that's not easy. And he cashed that. He mossed poor Dave Romney. The story of Dave Romney in this game was also a pretty tragic one. I believe he was also pretty much at fault on the second goal that the Revs conceded, which we'll talk about.
00:07:12
Speaker
So Seattle gets the opener in the first 15 minutes, which, you know, when I think when you're the home team, I think that is your your first task that you need to accomplish is, you know, taking control of the game in that time period, and then ideally getting the first goal. And so they passed that test, they were able to do that. And
00:07:34
Speaker
They haven't really been able to do that all that frequently in their home games this year, which is why they've dropped a lot of home points. They have five home draws this year, so it was good to see them get that early goal. Credit to the Revs, though. The Revs, I would say, took pretty clean control of the game after that for the rest of the first half. They really, they dominated play for lengthy portions of that. Seattle were the ones absorbing pressure.
00:08:00
Speaker
Basically, I would say for most of the time period after Seattle scored the goal, the Rebs felt like they were in control, and they almost equalized a couple times. One time in particular where Stephen Fry made a huge double save. Verroni had the first shot that he managed to, he made a reaction save on it. The rebound spilled to their 18-year-old homegrown prodigy who had another shot.
00:08:29
Speaker
I mean, Stephen Fry was on the ground for that rebound shot and he got his leg out and managed to make a kick save from the ground. That was a huge play in this game. That very much could have been the equalizing goal right there. And Stephen Fry came through with a game-changing double save.
00:08:50
Speaker
And Seattle did manage to make it to half at 1-0. It gets to a certain point where in the first half, if you haven't scored that second goal to extend your lead, I think the mission just becomes get to halftime with it still at 1-0. They managed to do that with the help of some good goalkeeping. So that was test number two passed in
Match Analysis: Seattle vs. New England Revolution
00:09:12
Speaker
this game.
00:09:12
Speaker
Let's get into the Leo Chiu drama. I think that's about where we're at as we recap this story Leo Chiu was subbed out at the half replaced by RBW and You know, I don't know how you reacted in the moment to that I thought he might have been injured But you know, it did feel like kind of like a performance coaches decision kind of sub Leo Chiu has not been in super great form or anything and then I think there's kind of
00:09:42
Speaker
If you listen to Smith's postgame press conference, there's definitely it He alluded to not being pleased with his effort. Really the quote was something to the effect of You know guys who want to play hard for the home fans are the ones that are going to be on the field which the implication is that Leo Chu was not playing hard for the home fans and thus he was taken off the field and
00:10:07
Speaker
So we're going to get to that when I get to my takeaways from the game. But that was that was a little dramatic wrinkle on the on the other side of halftime. No Leo Chiu in the second half. The second half was much better from Seattle. But they couldn't get the second goal until the 81st minute. So towards the end of the game.
00:10:29
Speaker
But they finally got rewarded for for some of the chances they were generating in the 81st minute it was Obed Vargas another assist for him wins a header that he puts right to Rusnak in a bunch of space and then Another really good finish from Rusnak from outside the area. I really I enjoy watching him shoot like you notice this like when he shoots he has this like
00:10:55
Speaker
He really puts his full body into it. He has this exaggerated motion. It's like a power-up. Yeah. But it's like, I don't know. It's a good athletic move when he really gets into the shot. The follow-through. The follow-through, exactly. That's the word I'm looking for. But he cashed that shot 2-0 at that point. It's done and dusted. That's another dub. Seattle moves to 8-7 and 7.
00:11:23
Speaker
And if you look at the West table right now, I mean, a top four seed is very much attainable. There's not that much. The rapids won last night, so they're up to 37 points. They're in fourth. Then you got Portland at 33. They also won big last night. Vancouver at 32. Seattle at 31. So, okay, I was saying sixth. They moved into sixth after the game, but with the rest of the results last night, now they're in seventh.
00:11:49
Speaker
but they are right in the mix for a top four spot. Top three spot, I mean, you got LA of Sea Salt Lake and LA that are all 12 points ahead of Seattle's pace, so that might be a little ambitious in terms of getting into that territory, but they're within striking distance for a top four spot, for fourth place.
00:12:11
Speaker
I'm gonna lay down my takeaways on this game really quick. I mean the first one Albert Rusnak is arguably the hottest player in the league right now I mean if you just look at that output that he's had over the last four to five weeks four goals six assists in his last 11 games and then in this five match unbeaten run that Seattle's on right now of which they've won four and
00:12:34
Speaker
three goals, five assists, eight goal contributions and five games. I mean, that is ballistic form. That is not just a heater. That is that. I mean, he's thought he he's the hottest player in the league. There is there's a couple of guys that you could throw in there. Lucio Acosta is very hot right now. Diego Luna has been pretty hot. He had four goal contributions in real salt lakes game.
00:12:58
Speaker
So there's some guys that are on heaters right now, but Rizniak's heater that he's on is on par or exceeding the best of them. That's how well he's playing right now. That's how much he's producing.
00:13:15
Speaker
Jordan Morris is one of the only other players in MLS that's as hot as Rusnak as well. If you were going to list down all the heaters that are going on across MLS right now, Jordans would be right up there. Seven goals in his last nine games, seven of the eight that he's scored this season. So he's been eaten. He's got the city on his back. That was
00:13:39
Speaker
that was a classic Jordan Morris goal in this game and really he's been getting these classic Jordan Morris goals I think that's probably the most important takeaway is that these are bread and butter type goals that seem it just seems like in general the offense right now looks
00:13:56
Speaker
It feels a lot more sustainable and repeatable, the type of offense that they're playing. Back when they took a couple of results and they had a couple games where they scored multiple goals, but it was just Rui Diaz bombing Hail Marys. It never really felt like they were going to be able to sustain that.
00:14:15
Speaker
The type of ball they're playing right now, to me, feels a lot more sustainable. It feels like it's a lot more bread and butter type sequences, which that's what you want to see because that's how you can rightfully hope and expect that they'll be able to sustain it moving forward.
00:14:37
Speaker
I'm not exactly sure what led to this but it felt like something that had been festering for a while potentially that sort of boiled over and Schmetz was finally like alright I'm gonna pull you off the field like I don't remember
00:14:52
Speaker
watching him in the first half and thinking that his effort seemed off or subpar but to be fair I wasn't like looking for that so I'm not saying that I mean if Schmetz saw that like there was probably there's probably some Lofenet going on out there and you know there's just been all these reports that you know he's been linked to these transfers to Brazil
00:15:13
Speaker
He's pretty outwardly expressed that he wants to go back to Brazil at some point. He was interviewed recently, if I'm remembering correctly, and he did say something to the effect of like, that's something I could be interested in at some point, but I'm focused on Seattle right now. So that's the correct answer to give.
00:15:31
Speaker
but just like there's been a couple other instances where he's been subbed off and been outwardly unhappy about it and now he gets subbed off in this game for ostensibly a lack of effort
00:15:46
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like we might see a report in the coming days that he's off to Brazil. Although, you know, maybe it's something that they can smooth over. They could honestly like for this open cup game, this wouldn't have been a bad place to start him. But if he's not in good standing, I mean, I don't know. It's a storyline to track.
00:16:06
Speaker
I do think it's worth noting as well. The Rebs were Incredibly depleted for this game. They were on short rest. They have an entire like laundry list of injuries right now and then Dylan Barrero their talented homegrown who was gonna be one of their main guys leading their attack in this game They lost him
00:16:28
Speaker
In pregame warmups, they had to start like a random 20 year old. Caleb Porter was all too happy to talk about that after the game. Did you see his press? I didn't see the press. So it was it was a little salty. He wasn't doing the classic Caleb Porter move, which is when his one of his teams loses to talk about how his team was the drastically superior team and might be the greatest team of all time, but just like
00:16:52
Speaker
got unlucky on the day. But what he was talking about was, you know, where we were so depleted coming into this game. And he kept talking about how Seattle subbed on De La Vega
Player Performance and Team Depth
00:17:05
Speaker
and Ruby Diaz. So he's like, yeah, you've got these $10 million players, which I don't know if either of them are quite $10 million players, but that's neither here nor there.
00:17:16
Speaker
Um, his point was that Seattle was subbing on, uh, these big time player. But then like, what I thought was funny about it was it came off honestly, like he was back-handedly sandbagging his own players. He literally, he dismissively and kind of derisively said they're subbing on $10 million players. We're subbing on a revs two player. Like subbing on a revs two player is like the biggest joke that he could think of.
00:17:39
Speaker
It's like dude. That's your player. Yeah, I get what you're saying But I don't know if you should be saying it in those start like that revs two players got he's got feelings. He's probably gonna hear that he's I wouldn't really feel that good if I was the revs two-player also the kid is like I mean they had like three 19 year olds out there, so I Don't know
00:18:01
Speaker
I just kind of funny. I always recommend a Caleb Porter L presser because you're usually going to get some good content like that. But I did want to point out not to discount Seattle's dub because when you're playing an overmatched and undermanned opponent, you got to take care of business. Seattle did exactly that. But I do think
00:18:22
Speaker
I thought the revs actually given those circumstances I thought they actually hung with it like they were pretty close to tying it in the first half and they stayed in the game they could have had a couple goals I will say Seattle could have had a couple more goals as well they probably could have had at least three maybe four goals in this game the one that comes to mind is
00:18:44
Speaker
I mean, Risnak almost had another assist. He had a really, really good corner kick that Yemar won the header on. And Eva Chich just made an insane save. Like, that's a goal, a heavy percentage of the time. But great delivery on the set piece. God, Risnak's set pieces and just his delivery into the box in general right now, it just lights out. He hit that one on an absolute dime. It's honestly unfortunate he didn't get an assist for that corner kick.
00:19:14
Speaker
And there was at least one more big chance, I think, that Seattle could have had. But, you know, credit to the Rebs for staying in that game to the extent that they did, because, I mean, I will admit, their roster was a little bit... It got pretty comedic just with where they were at, personnel-wise. So those were my takeaways. Noah, did you have anything on this game before we get into the agenda check?
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah, I wanted to bang on that rue snack drum again because I mean I said it last week that he might be the hottest player I don't know if I said hottest player, but he might be in the best form in the league right now And it just continues. I don't know if he'll make team of the week this week. Oh, okay Okay, okay, okay, we we confirmed but uh
00:20:03
Speaker
That's what that's three MLS team of the week in a row. He's hit his connection with Jordan is elite. I have not seen two Sounders players have a connection like that in a long time.
00:20:26
Speaker
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00:20:52
Speaker
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00:21:22
Speaker
It's it's a little Dempsey Oba vibes. Yeah. Yeah, like I am I'm very impressed and I'm also very impressed with Jordan that that effort that he made to get off that pass to Albert and then trust that Albert was gonna find him It was an amazing pass from Albert, but what a finish from Jordan to he completely bodied that defender too like
00:21:47
Speaker
one of the things that i just that i don't like about jordan sometimes is how many touches he takes before he tees one up which is like that's just who he is that's just how he shoots i'm never gonna i'm never gonna complain when he's scoring goals but he did his classic thing he's like i need one more touch
00:22:04
Speaker
bodies the dude off gives him enough space and then just Rockets that into the top of the net it was that sequence was incredible the movement was incredible leo Chiu winning the header and then pulling off or at least putting a little bit of confusion into the defender by making that run up the left side to open up space and drawing the eyes out to like
00:22:28
Speaker
those are the flashes that we want to see from him that clearly you know the the effort might be there but it's not enough to keep him so with the leo chew situation i didn't think he i thought this was probably a pretty good game for him uh but i don't think that it was like
Coaching Decisions and Player Critiques
00:22:45
Speaker
an amazing game or you know a four assist game like he's had in the past and that was another thing that Brian said was I know his standard his standard is what he set last year and if he's not going to be up to his standard then you know he's that's that's on him
00:23:01
Speaker
Schmetz saw something that really like I don't know I feel like you don't usually see him make a rage sub like that yeah it's kind of out of character so whatever he saw he definitely didn't like it yet
00:23:18
Speaker
Couple things on the stuff that you just mentioned. I mean number one. I do have to take an L on On a take that I had given What's been going on last few weeks? Which is that you know I argued? As recently as probably six weeks ago when we were debating who should be the starting number nine for this team I was saying that it should still be Rudy Diaz because I
00:23:41
Speaker
Felt so and my logic I think was defensible which was that when you have a situation where neither one of them are producing You might as well just go with the one who has more of a propensity for pulling goals out of nowhere then the one who does not have that attribute to the same extent and
00:24:04
Speaker
So that's how I was thinking of it. But to be fair, I think I did also say something to the effect of, you know, if Jordan, all Jordan has to do to change my mind and win the job is start scoring goals. That's exactly what he's doing. And he's won the job right now. I don't think there's any any question that he's going to be starting up top for this team week in, week out, like in a scenario where
00:24:31
Speaker
they can feel their first choice, 11. But, you know, I always try to be upfront about admitting when I'm wrong. And I was wrong about that. The play was definitely to start, Jordan, and it's paying off right now. And yeah, no, the connection that they have right now, it's a dynamic duo.
00:24:58
Speaker
The numbers they're putting up are I mean, it's I read them off earlier. They're pretty incredible and You know, we're gonna see if they can sustain it and I think the biggest thing to keep an eye on is if Rusnak can sustain I don't think he's gonna stay this hot. Yeah, but if he keeps producing at Even you know
00:25:18
Speaker
70 to 75 percent of this clip We're gonna have the discussion about whether he should be brought back as a DP But I mean I'm just telling you if he keeps producing like this it would be foolish to not bring him back as a DP because the thing is if he ends up at something like seven to nine goals and 15 to 20 assists
00:25:42
Speaker
You can go try and find another DP number 10, but all you're doing is looking for someone who can give you output like that. So if you already have it and you already have a guy who has been in the team, has the chemistry with everyone, and has been putting up crooked stats and leading an offense that's been productive,
00:26:05
Speaker
You should keep rolling with that so he does have to sustain production like this if this is just a flash in the pan and It goes back to be this offense goes back to being like pulling teeth again then you're gonna we're gonna have the discussion the other direction but like I Mean if he if he keeps producing like this I think that debates honestly gonna be a pretty easy one which is I mean
00:26:31
Speaker
Like I said, man, that's funny because I think as recently as a month ago, it was just conventional wisdom that he was not producing like a DP like player and that he might not be that quality of a player. And he's proven that wrong right now. He is. He's the hottest player in the league.
00:26:51
Speaker
Let's get into this agenda chat or actually okay. I had one more. I had one more chat hit one more one more We had a listener Dan was asking about like what's different with Rusnak last week, and we talked about it a little bit and you know I was kind of just chalking it up to a talented player who sort of
00:27:12
Speaker
coming into his own but you know I wanted to kind of pontificate on what the reasons behind that might be a little bit more and I think what you're seeing is a guy who has gotten consistent run in his preferred primary position which if you look at the first two years that Risnak was on this team
00:27:37
Speaker
He was playing out position for most of it. He wouldn't I mean Nico was the primary number 10 for For that whole time and he took a backseat to that He played a deeper lying midfield role and he played it quite effectively He helped him win Champions League playing that role, but it's not his primary role. I
00:27:56
Speaker
So I think you are seeing him getting comfortable and acclimated in his primary position. And then also sometimes it takes time to develop chemistry. You know, we always want a new player to come in and hit the ground running and instantly have that connection with his teammates. That's not always quite how it works.
00:28:17
Speaker
I think that chemistry, that understanding between Rusnak and everyone else in the attack has gotten to a point where they're able to play off each other a lot better. They know each other's tendencies a lot more and specifically just his connection with Jordan right now. I mean like you said like
00:28:36
Speaker
He the the runs that Jordan's making the timing of them and then the quality of the passes is just it's top-notch right now and I think that's another one of my takeaways is it's just like it's been fun to watch again over this last month, you know, yeah, like this feels like this feels like The teams that we've watched in past years this feels like the team that we expected to be watching going into this year and
00:29:04
Speaker
so that's nice to see as well but um yeah i mean all like the national pundits are not taking serious note of uh real snack and uh really the team as a whole
00:29:19
Speaker
quite yet in fact on i'm almost wrapped last night uh... bradley right phillips was still arguing that he thinks uh... that seattle is fraudulent i didn't really understand his life he's a he's an idiot i'm gonna be honest he has some of the worst analysis i like i like i like some of the wv's takes uh... and i think he has credibility to dish takes because he was a very good player for a long time but i did not understand his seattle takes because
00:29:48
Speaker
I mean he's basically saying you know they haven't been consistent this season therefore I'm that's why I'm writing them off buddy never heard of 2016 well yeah exactly and then also I mean we're talking about We're talking about like a month run of form now. It's not just it wasn't it I would understand that if it was just one game sure but like this is it's not a huge sample size, but it is a sample size and now the team is fully healthy and
00:30:15
Speaker
But yeah, and that's another good point. And Caitlin Carr brought up the De La Vega thing and BWP was unmoved. But the point is, the national pundits have not come around yet.
00:30:31
Speaker
Rusnak is not being talked about you know in the same vein as some of the other like big stars in the league who are on their heaters right now, which I wouldn't necessarily expect him to until he He does it for a few more weeks here but like I'm just telling you the way he's producing right now like it is a
00:30:53
Speaker
It's a Lucho Acosta, Haney Mukhtar-esque type run. When those guys get on their heaters where they end up getting individual accolades and getting talked about in MVP type stuff, this is the type of run that they go on. I mean, eight goal contributions in five games. If Lucho or Haney Mukhtar did that, people would be like, yeah, that's what they do, because they're MVP type players. So I'm not saying Rusnak's necessarily going to be in the MVP mix.
00:31:23
Speaker
but if he stays this hot like that honest honestly if he stays this hot like he will be in that conversation yeah as he should he's been so good and you know it's it's honestly it's kind of fine that no one's talking yeah I'm good with it I'm good like you know I think that's a very classic Seattle Sounders moment to not really get the the love and attention but like still be producing no matter what so
00:31:50
Speaker
sorry BWP you're you're you're you're a great player though I did love watching him in the league but he was nasty for that takes let's get into this agenda check we have I believe six written down here so yeah we'll dive into this
00:32:06
Speaker
Starting with the Rusnak is terrible agenda, which you know is we haven't really heard that much from the purveyors of that Agenda in recent weeks, but I mean I'm just ready to say it like it's diminished to the point of being entirely dead He has 14 goal contributions
00:32:22
Speaker
on the year, including eight in the last five games, which Seattle has won four. He's up to double digit assists. He's playing out of his mind right now. So I understand why people were frustrated with it earlier in the year. I think we shared some of those frustrations. We talked quite openly about how we were unsure at best regarding his
00:32:49
Speaker
Dp status on the roster and that you know he was arguably more of a tan player But you know any player can always prove any take like that wrong by producing and that's what he's doing right now, and he looks every bit like a DP in number 10 and
00:33:08
Speaker
The Jordan Morris at the nine agenda we already talked about that but Strengthened another really good goal in this game. He's got the city on his back Seven goals in his last nine games Got you got the hottest number ten and the hottest number nine Both playing for the same team your Seattle Sounders. I don't know if they're both the hottest in the league, but they're I mean I'm just saying they're like I
00:33:35
Speaker
I'll go back through it a little bit more today, but I don't think you're going to be able to find a number 10 that has eight goal contributions in the last five games, nor are you going to be able to find a number nine that has seven goals in his last nine games. Like I'm just talking to output right now. I'm not really, I'm not talking about what I test.
00:33:55
Speaker
And honestly, it doesn't really matter whether they're technically the hottest. They are certainly among the hottest, which I think is the important takeaway here.
Emerging Players and Strategies
00:34:05
Speaker
Paul Roth, I think we got this far into the show, Noah, and we have not talked about...
00:34:10
Speaker
I guess we did talk about him a little bit, but usually we do 10 to 15 minutes on Paul Rothrock per section of the show. So this is our first really in depth look at the story of Paul Rothrock in this game. I mean, my take on the agenda is I put not skyrocketed, but strong as ever.
00:34:33
Speaker
I thought it was good to see him start the game first of all and I thought his presence and energy again was good even though he didn't bring the score sheet and you know I was thinking about so remember the play pretty early in the game where so Yemar won the ball back
00:34:50
Speaker
and he one-timed it to Rothrock and when Rothrock made a solo run to the top of the area and he took a shot deflected off the defender and it ended up going to the goalkeeper and it wasn't particularly close to being a goal but like I remember thinking like after that play
00:35:09
Speaker
Like that's like I'd appreciate that he just like try stuff like that I think a lot of what's happened with Seattle's attack this year like when it was struggling is that I think guys were in their head own head a little bit and it felt very tentative and guys were like afraid to take chances yeah and
00:35:31
Speaker
Rothrock doesn't give a fuck dude. He just goes out there and Like he plays every game like it's his last exactly and I love that about him. You know like
00:35:45
Speaker
It's a little there's there's like shades of like Dempsey was like that man like he played every game like it was his last and would just like he would just try stuff in the moment and sometimes it would work sometimes it wouldn't but I just I don't know I appreciate the
00:36:03
Speaker
the innovative nature to try even like when it's uh not necessarily the most hyper like you know that shot that that shot that he took is like sure you know sometimes you take that shot and instead of flexion and it might go in you know so i don't know that's sort of that was my uh paul rothrock takeaway for the week he didn't find the stat sheet the agenda didn't skyrocket but uh
00:36:27
Speaker
I think as it stands right now with De La Vega still getting fit, I saw nothing that dissuaded me from my belief that he should be starting right now.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah. I think also if he played more minutes, obviously they had to sub him off because they have to keep him ready for the open cup where he's going to score 45 goals on Wednesday. But, uh, yeah, I mean, who would you rather have out there? Paul Rothrock or Leo chew, because I feel like when you play Leo chew of the ball, he's very one dimensional. And when you, when you get the ball to Paul Rothrock, like
00:36:58
Speaker
He just he'll try shit. He'll do shit. That's not gonna be Run it up the wing up to the byline to the end line and look for a cross He's like he'll do that or he'll just start sprinting straight towards the goalkeeper and rip off a shot, you know
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, and he just he makes goal dangerous runs, too Yeah, so like that's and that if you look at the goals that he's been scoring this season it's there mostly just he's charging towards the goal and getting right on the doorstep and Getting like a tap-in finish and then he had the one goal in Houston where he really he really made that one happen member He like clipped it over the guy hit it off the goalkeeper and then scored the rebound but
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the agenda is strong as ever it lives Obed Vargas strengthened another assist That assist is a that's a good play. That's a heads-up play. He puts himself in good position there and then also to to spot the header
00:38:04
Speaker
hit it accurately, like put it right in the spot. Rizniak had a ton of space, but it's still a nice play by Obed to put himself in position to win the ball, find the pass, and it leads to a goal. Five assists, so he's got six goal contributions now this year, which I think, again, that's the most exciting thing for me with Obed is that stat sheet production. That's what I've been waiting to see from this group of homegrowns, and he's really
00:38:33
Speaker
I mean like if you consider that he's played most of his time this year as a defensive midfielder and then you know briefly there was the period where he was playing right mid which remember we were really excited about that I thought that looked really good at times but um
00:38:54
Speaker
six goal contributions at this point in the season from a guy who's primarily been playing in your defensive midfield. That's great. You know, like if JP was at one goal, five assists at this point in the season, I think we would be thrilled with that. So the fact that Obed is giving you that production along with all the other stuff that he does, like he was the one who, uh, we haven't even talked about the Javier Yaga revenge game.
00:39:20
Speaker
He drew a yellow on Javi. Shout out to Javi. That could have been a red. It should have been. Honestly, I'm not going to get pressed about that, but definitely could have been a red, which I thought was honestly an appropriate Javi Ariaga reunion defense. It's like he makes his return to Lumen Field, the triumphant return, and immediately in the first half, almost gets sent off.
00:39:50
Speaker
To be fair, I thought he actually, he actually had a pretty good game. He's been playing really good for them. Well, yeah. And like, I was thinking about this too. Like one of the reasons, so like the revs going into this game, they had gotten boat raced by the crew recently, but other than that,
00:40:06
Speaker
They had won, they won four straight at one point. I think they won five of six or something. They've been playing a lot better after a historically bad start. And I honestly think like if you ask Caleb Porter this, he would probably tell you a big reason they've been playing better is the stability that Javi has brought them at the CB spot. They were just
00:40:27
Speaker
With injuries and everything they were severely lacking bodies at that spot And he's come in there and just been a solid starting MLS CB for them And it's helped them quite a bit And I think you kind of saw saw why in this game like he did he did almost kill Obed, but he He played pretty well but anyway
00:40:51
Speaker
That play by Obed, that was he was making stuff. He forced Havi into a bad foul. He had the assist. The kid is just good, man. I get excited to watch him play every week because it seems like every week he gets a little better, a little more confident.
00:41:12
Speaker
He's impacting games. It's a full on, it is a full on breakout season when you think about the impact that he's having on this game, on these games combined with the actual stat sheet production that he's now providing.
00:41:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna suck to see him leave you know like I don't want him to I want him to be on this team forever Genuinely like he is he's a talented talented player I mean, I'm gonna root for him wherever he goes genuinely and especially with the news that uh Monterey made a bid for him I think that it was reported that it was like three million dollars You gotta get a bigger bag which like they're not they're not gonna sell him for that so
00:41:51
Speaker
ten million dollars or i'm hanging up the phone damn right give us that bag the stephen fry is washed andy t should start agenda diminished diminished yeah this was stephen fry's best game of the season easily that that double saved so that's that's where it like i understand and i think stephen fry himself
00:42:16
Speaker
would tell you that there's been too many goals this year that he let in that should have been saved but like that double save that he makes
00:42:24
Speaker
I don't know if Andy T makes that like maybe he does And it's not to take away from anything from Andy T. We're pro Andy T podcast any T has played like an MLS number one this year, but That's a veteran. We've seen that's a veteran move. We've seen fry. We've seen something fried do that so many times over the years For me, I just
00:42:49
Speaker
there's just pretty much no one that even with the the bad goal concessions that there's been this year just based on track record there's no one that I really trust more in an individual game or in a big game situation or in a big moment like we've just seen him do it so many times
00:43:07
Speaker
And it wasn't even just the double save, honestly. Without Stephen Fry, this easily, easily could have been a draw, at least. But he made the double save, and then there was at least one or two more really good reaction saves. So I think the Stephen Fry is washed stuff.
00:43:36
Speaker
It's not it's not looking like a very powerful agenda this week. I was a purveyor. I was a purveyor. I was a starter. You were. Yeah, you know, I got to I got to write my apologies to Stefan 40 year old fry because he could start for another five seasons potentially, I think at this at this point.
00:43:55
Speaker
Might play man might play into his 50s let him know you had one on on Raoul What did you want to cook on there?
Match Reflection and Upcoming Challenges
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah? I just wanted to say like I know after New who and both knew who and Raoul got suspended obviously coming back You know knew who starting his first game back I'm correct on that right. I'm not imagining that yeah his first start back. He like
00:44:21
Speaker
played pretty good i thought i thought he played pretty good defense got a clean sheet yeah and um there was clearly you know an attitude shift and raul coming off the bench and looking way better than he has in a while obviously he didn't score so that's not like
00:44:38
Speaker
That's that that's all you're looking for from him But in the limited minutes that he played he looked way more energized than if he would be starting. Yeah, it's not it's not what you want in terms of Resource allocation to be having your big-time DP number nine as a super sub it is a pretty nasty super sub to have and I think There is
00:45:03
Speaker
There was something to Caleb Porter's point with that, which is that De La Vega and Ruby Diaz coming off the bench.
00:45:13
Speaker
That's potent. That's potent. It's kind of a demonstration of the type of depth that we thought and hoped this team had going into the year. Every time you go into the year, you're always thinking of it like, man, if everyone stays healthy, who do you even start? You're going to be able to rotate it so that you have this guy coming off the bed. And then it's always injuries in poor form just blow up whatever your expectations were.
00:45:43
Speaker
With the team getting a little healthier. We're actually kind of seeing what it's like when they have their full depth at their disposal and It's been pretty nice. It's been pretty nice. Yeah, so I mean my agenda I guess in general is just that Raul's super sub It went up. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that Maybe not skyrocketed but strengthened. It's it's there Raul's value is going up I would say at that position not for the price, but you know whatever I
00:46:10
Speaker
Let's get into questions. We have a bunch submitted by you, the people. Thank you to everyone, as always, who submits and gets the discourse flowing. We don't get to all of them, but we'll get to as many as we can. We've got this first one here from Kenny. Kenny asks, Yemar was once again immense. When will he get his flowers? Seems like national punditry rates him higher than our own media at times.
00:46:38
Speaker
That's an interesting point I think he is rated higher by the national pundit class than he is sometimes in Seattle I think this year Both the the CBs have I mean there's been rocky form at times back there. There's been some ill-timed concessions, and I think there's been moments where both of them have had their part in that but
00:47:07
Speaker
It's a good shout. This was a very good Yeymar game. I thought both CBs were solid in this game. But Yeymar was lights out and it was a bummer that he didn't get a goal on that corner kick because, I mean, that was a great header. Incredible save by Ivicich.
00:47:26
Speaker
This one comes from Ken. Ken asks, just like last week, I was a little concerned about how we didn't dominate a less than worthy opponent. Ari, do you agree with that? I give more credit to the Revs for that.
00:47:41
Speaker
I thought they acquitted themselves well, they played well, but I thought overall it was honestly a pretty comfortable victory. I mean a 2-0 where you get the clean sheet and probably could have had a couple more goals. It wasn't like a super dominant blowout, but it was a pretty comfortable victory which I think at this point that's
00:48:07
Speaker
That's all you want out of your home games is a comfortable three point result because you've had a lot of drop points at home this year. I mean, you've tied five games. A couple of them are zero zeros against drastically inferior opponents. So a result like this is at least a market improvement over that.
00:48:25
Speaker
This one comes from Soundaboy. Jamo used to be known for being a fast player. I think he's still fast, but is it fair to say his strength is now his more important quality? On his goal, he made a defender look like a little kid. He did, and then I was also thinking about on that play how there has been a lot of talk about how his pace isn't what it used to be. I don't know if it's exactly what it used to be. Looked pretty good on that play. Looks pretty good to me. I don't know.
00:48:52
Speaker
I think I think the speed is still there probably more than people lend credence to. But you are right. Like the strength and power on that play. I mean, Romney, God bless him. He did not have a chance on that play. He got he got must.
00:49:12
Speaker
Yeah, I I don't I mean I think he's still fast, but I think he's probably the strongest he's ever been He's been eating the haters for breakfast. I think like that's Yeah This one comes from el serio that ref saved New England from going for now How'd you think what do you think about that? I feel like that's not true, but that's that's just me. I
00:49:35
Speaker
What did there was the ref like super terrible in this game? I think there was a shout for a penalty on Rothrock and then maybe should have been a red card on I thought the hobby play was was borderline like it could have been a red, but I'm not outraged that it was a yellow I guess yeah same this one comes from Ian. Can I be happy now?
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah, go for it, Ben. Honestly, it's been a tough season at times. It's been dragging at times. We've watched a lot of games where the offense is pulling teeth. They're not scoring goals. They've scored multiple goals, I think, in five straight games or something like that. Remember how much earlier this season we were complaining about how they couldn't score multiple goals? Now they're doing it just as commonplace occurrence.
00:50:23
Speaker
The offense looks great. Rusnak and Morris is the hottest 1-2 combination in the league over the last four to five games. Enjoy it, man. Enjoy the uptake and form. Enjoy being right back in the middle of the playoff mix. I think the rest of the season has the potential to be pretty fun here. If they keep playing like this on offense and keep stacking results and move up the table,
00:50:51
Speaker
We're going to be talking about the discussion will change into if they're a real trophy contender and they've got open cup coming up, which we're going to talk about. So that's they could be playing for a trophy really soon in that tournament as well.
00:51:07
Speaker
Last one here comes from Daniel is Rusnak quote parentheses all of a sudden the most important player on the field parentheses back next year or do they see de la Vega as a cam Morris up top PDLV left a gold dangerous right and Russ at cam could be a dangerous front for
00:51:24
Speaker
It's a good question and I want to see De La Vega get some consistent run with Rusnak and Morris with De La Vega playing out wide and just see how that works.
00:51:39
Speaker
But my thought on it right now, I mean, I mentioned this, I talked about it earlier, but I think if if if Risenac keeps playing like this and producing like this and you keep stacking good results and we'll see what happens in a theoretical playoff run.
00:52:01
Speaker
But I think if he keeps producing like this, I think you bring him back. I honestly do. Like, I know that the purveyors of the anti-realist neck agenda might still not want to hear that. But based on what I've seen over the last month, if it sustains itself anywhere near this degree, I don't see why you wouldn't bring him back. Because like I said, all you're doing if you don't is looking for a replacement that provides exactly what he's doing. So what's the point of that?
00:52:31
Speaker
Thank you all for your questions. Yeah, thank you, as always, to everyone who submits. You can always blow up my mentions with any takes or questions that you have. And we appreciate you all getting the discourse flowing. Let's get into some news items here before we hit the Around the League and Winners and Losers section. Josh, don't forget the preview. Oh, and we're going to talk in the Open Cup preview. Yeah.
00:52:59
Speaker
Josh Atencio officially named as one of four alternates to the US Olympic team. So he'll travel to Paris after Tuesday's Open Cup game. So I guess when you're an alternate, you're not like in the game day squads, but it's like if there's an injury, you're there training and you're ready to fill in.
00:53:17
Speaker
That's cool for Josh attention the big story around that right now, which we don't really need to get super into But Diego Luna of real Salt Lake got snubbed for that squad yeah, which I think is really dumb Yeah, and then he went out and had one goal three assists. He was like fuck you guys. It's like I like honestly like he's having I mean he has 12 assists this year
00:53:41
Speaker
Yeah, I don't understand it. Yeah. Also, Jordan was asked to be. Oh, yeah. But they couldn't agree on a timeline and he cares way more apparently about the club forum than going to the Olympics, which I respect. He's been to the World Cup. Who cares? Yeah, I wouldn't really like if he was still in the age bracket like, yeah, but I don't know about like being one of the senior guys. Yeah, like it doesn't surprise me that he didn't take them up on that.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah, the Olympics is for people who want to go to Europe or people want to go to other countries and they can get scouted and I don't think Jordan has any intentions of doing that now. They asked Diego Luna to be an alternate. He said no. Good for him. Good for him, man. Let's hit this Sac Republic Open Cup preview because that game is coming up tomorrow. Yeah. So we definitely should talk about that. I think the lens I wanted to talk about it through was what lineup they should feel because I think this is a situation where you're deep enough in the tournament
00:54:39
Speaker
Where you're definitely gonna feel the line up with the full intent of winning this game, but you also did just play So it's gonna be a short turnaround so that I think some rotation is inevitable just from a physical standpoint, but I think the my main thoughts on how they should how they should approach this is I think I think it's a perfect opportunity to start really DS I do yeah, I think you should start them up top. I mean I
00:55:05
Speaker
Don't know if Jordan feels like physically good to go on that short of turnaround then I mean You can also do that but I just think with Rudy Diaz not getting as much run lately and being on short rest it's a I guess against the USL squad to like Rudy Diaz against USL defenders that would however washed or not washed you think he might be like I think he could
00:55:34
Speaker
I think he could still eat against the usl backline and it's not like a like this sac republic team is a solid usl team but they're not like hyper elite or anything they're not new mexico united they're not new mexico united so i would start rue Diaz
00:55:50
Speaker
I would start Paul Rothrock because he's an open cup God. You know, I know he's on a short rest after having played, but he he subbed out of this revs game, right? DC early. Yeah. Yeah. So he should be good to go. I would start Paul Rothrock. I would start. I think this could be a good John Bell game.
00:56:10
Speaker
Yeah, he'll be back from or he's back from Copa and then Atencio is not leaving until after this game, so I might do the Atencio Lava double pivot save Obed and JP
00:56:27
Speaker
And Danny Leyva has been in really good form for Tacoma Defiance. He's hitting some of the nastiest free kicks on the team. He scored a really sick free kick the other day and his service on dead balls has been really good. So I don't think it's a bad spot for a Danny Leyva spot start, although, you know,
00:56:46
Speaker
Obed Obed's a young guy so he can he can probably play again if you need him to but I'm just thinking of like Logical opportunities to get guys some some run But John Bell is what's going on with Nathan? Can Nathan play or is he still in here? He played he played like 10 minutes or something. Oh wait a couple matches ago. Oh, okay. Yeah
00:57:07
Speaker
So a Nathan like John Bell kind of vibe on the back line. I think you start Alex here right back. Do you play as well? I feel like you probably play new. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's I don't know. Is there anything there that you agree or disagree with?
00:57:23
Speaker
Don't know maybe slit slide a little dylan tabas in there who knows they could they could get a goal He had a goal last last night last night. Yeah, so he might be I guess that's pretty quick turnaround as well for For the defiance boys, but I honestly feel like moose will start, but that's just that's just me I think it'd be sick to see rowel play I
00:57:46
Speaker
like I think you could justify a moose start but with Raoul not starting the league games yeah I think you run them here I think you run them here you give them a chance to find some form a little bit get on the score sheet and because like you
00:58:04
Speaker
Like I said you're at the point in this tournament where if you win this game you're like You're one game away from a final right so yeah like You got to get this dumb, and I think if you approach it with the notion that Jordan could use some rest here I think I would like to see where I will start this game. I would yeah I Do it Brian?
00:58:29
Speaker
Before we get into the around the league stuff, I did want to mention that my boys, my favorite team, New Mexico United, my hometown club, we play LAFC in the Open Cup on Wednesday, I believe, and I just wanted to point out
00:58:45
Speaker
LFC Hello rotated their lineup. Yeah this weekend and I see no other conclusion to draw from that than that. They are Scared of New Mexico United, which I would be to Mexico United is in first place in the USO Western Conference we're one of the best teams in the league this year and You know
00:59:09
Speaker
I honestly can't say I have much of an expectation that we're going to beat LAFC. We're going on the road to BMO Stadium. And just the notion of my little U.S.L. squad going up against like Bwanga and all that.
00:59:28
Speaker
it's a little it's a little scary but you know if if New Mexico United wins that game I will shotgun a white claw live on the podcast heck yeah all right let's get into this around the league stuff before we do winners and losers gonna hit a few quick headlines
Discussion on Other MLS Matches
00:59:48
Speaker
El Trafico happens during the midweek, which, you know, I don't really have too many in-depth takes on it because it wasn't that great in El Trafico, but LAFC won it two to one. And so I think my takeaway was that
01:00:06
Speaker
Honestly, I think the LA teams are pretty even they're a lot more even than I thought going into the year It was a hard-fought competitive game, but I just think LA FC still has the edge on the galaxy Because the galaxy they're the some of the goals they concede. It's just they can't they can't quite help themselves From being the galaxy, you know
01:00:31
Speaker
They've gotten a lot better. They're one of the best teams in the league right now. They definitely have one of the best offenses.
01:00:40
Speaker
Can't change what he is. It's true in LA Galaxy love to concede really bad ill-timed goals and They have just not quite bucked that reputation Nashville SC Have hired BJ Callahan as their new head coach yeah US men's national team assistant who was so BJ Callahan remember when
01:01:06
Speaker
There was that period where Berhalter's contract was up and they didn't have a new coach yet and so BJ Callahan was like the interim coach and then he coached the team during Nations League. We won Nations League, looked honestly incredible and everyone was like BJ Callahan, it's BJ Callahan.
01:01:22
Speaker
Yeah, even though he's the one in he's him. He's Even though he's been an assistant under the guy that we hate and is ostensibly Just like you know affiliated and connected to the guy that we hate we love him and think he would be the best coach Yeah, he was like a sleeper cell all time. Yeah, exactly so I always thought that
01:01:45
Speaker
Was kind of funny, but he's now Nashville SC's head coach, so we'll see how he does I mean I'd be fair like I think he He did do some decent stuff Like during his interim stint with the US. It's just kind of hard to know like how much to read into that but
01:02:03
Speaker
They've made their hire. Also, I wanted to point out, we did our whole USMNT show. I don't think we're going to do all that much with the Copa, but I do think it's funny. Canada is absolutely bawling out at the Copa. They have made it to the semifinals. The vibes under Jesse Marsh are incredible. They're better than us at soccer. Easily. Yeah, sadly.
01:02:28
Speaker
So they got first in the octagonal in last World Cup qualifying, I thought looked better than us throughout all of World Cup qualifying. They totally flopped at the World Cup, whereas we had a little bit better of a run at the World Cup than they did.
01:02:44
Speaker
So I think it kind of got you know their superiority to us as a footballing nation kind of got overshadowed by how badly they flopped at the cup, but I mean Just the fact that they well first of all that they hired Jesse Marsh who a lot of people thought that the US should have hired and then now that and then we crashed out of the Copa in embarrassing fashion because we have a fraudulent team and
01:03:14
Speaker
And now they're in the semis of the Copa. They're playing Argentina. They're probably not going to win that. Jacob Schaffelberg is going to bring them. It's already a successful start to the Jesse Marsh era for them. Their vibes are just so much better. Their strikers are so much better. Their team chemistry are so much better.
01:03:33
Speaker
They have 14 MLS players on their Copa roster. So, I mean, you already know that their team is better than our fraudulent like Euro squad, you know. Yeah. And Euro fraud. Yeah. We're a Euro fraud squad. Canada's got it figured out, man. But a superior footballing nation to the United States.
01:03:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, Maxime Crapo, Jacob Schaffelberg bring home an MLS victory over MLS is Leo Messi. That's good. I was gonna be a good game. I'm I'm watching the hell out of that. Yeah, I'm stoked for that one. Let's do winners and losers and then get out of here. Does that sound good? No, let's do it. All right for winners from this. There's kind of there's a lot. There's
01:04:16
Speaker
two match days I mean I think it's all match day 25 but like a lot of teams played midweek and then some played again this weekend and then so there's like a lot of results to pick from here but this is what I got from winners I got I mean FC Cincinnati so FC Cincinnati was playing in her short-handed in her Miami you know without all their guys in a kind of
01:04:37
Speaker
battle for the supporter shield type showdown and You know so enter Miami didn't have their big guns, but they had won four straight games with their short-handed squad before this game Cincinnati boat raced him. Oh, they murdered six to one. They hung a six spot on him. That's crazy. That's messed up like for even even for a short-handed enter Miami to give up a six spot
01:05:04
Speaker
Even on the road FC Cincinnati just seems like They have this Gear this year that I feel like they didn't really have consistently last year last year their rep They won the shield but their reputation was very much like a grind it out one goal win type of team tons of one zeros to one type of games and
01:05:27
Speaker
They didn't have these games where they dropped four, five, six goals. They've done that a few times this year. And Lucho, I mean, you know, we obviously as a Seattle show, we've been talking a lot about Albert Rissnack.
01:05:43
Speaker
Lucio is like just he's that level of hot right now, and that's just his normal state. Yeah being like the the numbers he puts up the goals that he's got his his first goal in this game. I think he actually only scored one his goal in this game just thought footwork in the way he just eliminated entirely three defenders yeah three
01:06:08
Speaker
and he does that all the time like he'll dribble through like three four five six guys like uh when he's on the ball you cannot get it off of him and then he's clinical with it um uh with his shooting so i think he's probably uh you know with messy excluded from all these discussions and points of comparison when i make these comparisons like
01:06:32
Speaker
he's probably the most dynamic player in the league right now you know you got your guitars you got you got your guys i think he's better than messy right now well i mean it's tough just because messy's been gone for a while so luchos numbers like at least his assist numbers are a little better i mean messy had
01:06:53
Speaker
25 goal contributions in like 13 games. I guess I'm getting out of myself here, but he's been gone. Yeah, so but like lucho out of the non messy guys.
01:07:08
Speaker
lucho i think is the best and my favorite to watch yeah and he was on one in this game just he gets in those he gets in those zones man where it's like a it's like a snowball rolling down a hill like you can't stop him he is so good i think he genuinely might go down as one of the best mls players of all time because he played you know he played in dc and he put up he didn't put up as good of numbers he was good
01:07:34
Speaker
on DC, but he, yeah, in 137 games, he had 25 goals in 135 with since he has 50 goals. Yeah. And like, what are his assist numbers? Like that's what he, he, uh, he's at 15 or I guess MLS stats are different with the second assist, but I mean he's just, he's genuinely
01:07:55
Speaker
So fun to watch nasty with it. Absolutely nasty. We all saw Lake are still absolutely cooking. They beat the dynamo three to midweek and then five to over Atlanta United who are down horrifically bad right now. Obviously fired their coach. Sold. Yaka Makis sold Tiago Amada and they're selling their other guys. There's just they're selling everybody. Garth has blown it up. But, uh,
01:08:22
Speaker
We also lake they definitely I mean we've talked about them a fair amount in recent weeks But they also really have just that kind of buzzsaw type gear they are Especially like with orango producing for them the way he has been
01:08:39
Speaker
They're very much they've gotten their credit, I would say over the last month or so as one of the best teams in the league this year. And they've gotten to that level of team where like when they go into a game against a team that's outmanned and overmatched like Atlanta was in this game, like you just you already know what's what's coming. You already know like they're probably going to hang three to five goals on you and it's not going to be pretty. So we all Salt Lake.
01:09:10
Speaker
Arguably the best team in the West you know the LA teams will have their say about that, but RSL is up there My last winter I got the Colorado rapids they slam st. Louis City SC for one who st. Louis Just fired their coach, but the rapids are a top they're a top four team in the West right now So it's just crazy to think about it's funny how fast things can change in MLS because I
01:09:37
Speaker
the rapids were dead last in the west last year i believe and hire a new coach make some good roster moves um george mihailovich is a name that i didn't bring up uh when i was talking about the other red hot number 10s in the league to go along with rusnak but uh
01:09:56
Speaker
He's been arguably the biggest reason I think behind the rapids turn around and they're getting like Kevin Cabral is scoring goals sometime. That's how you know. That's how you know you're cooking. Yeah. When Kevin Cabral is actually like consistently contributing to the success of your team. Um, losers. No. Oh, the Philly union man. Oh no.
01:10:24
Speaker
Every week, I think they can't top themselves. Every week. I think that they have, like there's no way that they could have a more ridiculous comedic defeat than the one that they had the previous week. And they outdid themselves again. They pulled a Chicago fire against the Chicago fire.
01:10:50
Speaker
The Philly Union were playing at the Chicago Fire midweek And they were ahead they were ahead Like I'd like three one there had three one. That's crazy and they lost four to three That's what happens to the Chicago Fire The Chicago Fire don't do that to other teams No, like how do you let the Chicago Fire do that to you?
01:11:19
Speaker
That's crazy. And it was also another game where the Chicago Fire took the lead and blew the lead. And then the union had a two goal lead. You can't have two Chicago Fire games in one game. That's just unacceptable. That's I mean.
01:11:36
Speaker
So Tom Boggs also reported that Jim See is like not on the hot seat at all. That's crazy. And they're sticking with them. I mean, it's just getting to a point where like every single week like you're losing in these create in these crazy fashions. They gave up goals in the eighty second eighty ninth and ninety second minute Jesus to lose this game after being up through one.
01:12:03
Speaker
That's crazy and you know what's even Wilder is that there were again sell the team chance at this last weekend match They even had a banner like a sell the team banner and the head of season tickets Opera I don't know one of the ticket like the head of of ticket sales came over and was fighting with the The supporters section fans and like ripped the banner away and walked off. Yeah, it's getting yeah, and then they
01:12:30
Speaker
After they pulled the Chicago fire against the Chicago fire they plagued the Red Bulls at home This weekend and drew zero zero which so they can't get a home dub to save their lives there I mean, they're just down so bad and it's kind of like
01:12:48
Speaker
I don't understand it like their roster is pretty much it was they stole they sold Carranza, but like it was pretty much the same roster that it was Last year and like a lot of the same guys from the last like few years where they've been one of the best teams And they still have all their really good homegrown so I don't know I think we talked about a few weeks ago how their money balling might have been like finally caught up with them, but I
01:13:13
Speaker
It's really it's not the results as much as it is the nature of their results where like They just find just new and impressive ways to draw points every single week DC United lost 5-0 at Orlando City in their last in the East right now their choice They're cooked and it's an unfortunate turn of events for my boy. Troy Lissane because I do think he is a good coach, but I think
01:13:43
Speaker
They're rostering to me if it feels like it's like Benteke or bust. Yeah Dude has 14 goals. I mean the only he was balling He was the hottest number nine in the league for a pretty long stretch of the early part of the season. He was scoring hat tricks He was member air Benteke like head of goals like every five minutes, you know
01:14:04
Speaker
I feel bad for him because he has been He's been laying it all on the line for that squad this year scoring a bunch of goals really in great form and he's just not getting any support and Five like Orlando City's not having a great year. So It's one thing to lose to them when you're on the road, but to give up a five spot That's not good
01:14:32
Speaker
saying is he on the hot seat I mean I really don't want him to be because I want him to have success in MLS because of what he did for New Mexico United but
01:14:45
Speaker
I don't know, but I just I don't think there's much that he could be doing to the roster construction is pretty bad It doesn't seem that good My foot my last loser Minnesota United, so they lost to one to the galaxy which that's not the most shocking result the galaxy are really really good, but like I
01:15:05
Speaker
I was just looking at the table and Minnesota United have fallen way off. Yeah, they were up in the top four or five Spots for a lot of the early part of the season. They're all the way down to tenth They're eight nine and five negative two goal differential one point three two points per game Yeah below the playoff line right now I was high on their new head coach Eric Ramsey
01:15:34
Speaker
They were getting a lot of contributions from kind of unsung players that were helping keep them afloat earlier in the season. It seems like reality has come for the loons and I think this will be interesting because
01:15:50
Speaker
Eric Ramsey seemed like a really good with it, like impressive young up and coming coach when they first hired him. This is going to be a test of his medal a little bit. He's going to have to figure out how to get them out of this even with so Timo Pookie. Finally, he scored in this galaxy game, but he hasn't been producing for them. And then
01:16:09
Speaker
Emmanuel Reynoso famously is no longer on the team. He no one knows where he is, but he's not with an MLS club right now. Yeah, so We're gonna see what Eric Ramsey has got and Whether he can get them back up the table
01:16:28
Speaker
Well, good news for the Sounders because they play Minnesota twice in rapid succession on July 26 for League's Cup opener and then their return to MLS will be against Minnesota United again. So pretty funny.
01:16:40
Speaker
okay well yeah we'll see how that goes um all right i think we're gonna call it right there for episode 49 um might have been a little bit of a long one today but we had a lot to get to we did um thank you as always to everyone for tuning in we really appreciate uh the increased listenership that we've seen in recent weeks all our new listeners we appreciate you guys are paid subs
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01:17:04
Speaker
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01:17:34
Speaker
Peace.