Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
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Speaker: This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
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Speaker: Welcome to another episode of Nos Adiates, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, and now the SoccerWise Media Collective, sponsored by Full Pool Wines, and of course, our subscribers. We're recording on Tuesday, October 27th, 2026. am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan.
Speaker: Today, I am joined by Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett. It was a night of promise and frustration. The Sounders looked pretty uninspiring in the first half, then jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half, and even after giving up a penalty, seemed to be coasting to victory.
Speaker: That is until the fourth minute of stoppage time when Stu Hawkins got called for what I still think was an extraordinarily soft penalty. In the end, the Sounders had to settle for a 2-2 tie with San Diego FC.
Speaker: Not an awful result, but certainly less than it seemed they were going to get. Aaron, I know early in this game, you made a comment about how this team is way too boring for the talent that they have, I believe is the way you put it.
Speaker: uh yeah i imagine less yeah and i would imagine you felt a little better in the second half but how disappointed or how did you come out of this game feeling well in some ways i feel like the referees bailed the sounders out in the sense that i would have been a lot more pissed off at them had they had they come across this come about this result in a different way sure um i and look i'll just get it out of the way um There's a consensus opinion among sports fans and players and coaches that you never blame the referees and the referee is never why you don't get a result that you're looking for.
Speaker: And I think that's true. 97% of the time. Yeah. This game falls into the 3%. The Sounders did not get a win in this game because the referee made two calls that meet the the level of questionable. And one that I think was egregiously bad. And I'm sure we'll talk about those, but I do think, I do think the Sounders deserve to win this game.
Speaker: uh, Without question, they were the much better team in the second half, especially. and they were bad in the first half, but San Diego was just as bad. And to say they were bad is not really fair because defensively they were fine. They were totally in control of of the whole game. Yeah, more or less. They gave up one decent chance and it wasn't really that great of a chance. It was a good shot by Anders Dreyer that hit the post.
Speaker: But other than that, San Diego really did not threaten in the first half. No, no, definitely not. and didn't really do a whole lot of threatening in the second half, frankly. No.
Speaker: And neither the penalty. The first penalty. Was to be clear, I think of a completely fair penalty. I think that is Stonewall's penalty as you're ever going to see.
Speaker: um And that was a very good chance. And I think there's a very good chance that that is. if not a goal, a much tougher shot for Andrew Thomas to stop, if not for the foul.
Speaker: So fair enough on that one, right? That's a really good chance that they created, but that was really it for the game. So defensively, the Sounders were very solid, but I think until late in stoppage time after they'd actually equalized, but Kumba got another good chance to win the game. They did come very close to to losing. Yeah. Yeah, but ah right. ah To your point, there were not a lot of great chances in this game.
Speaker: And let's just get into these these big referee calls because we may as well get it out of the way early. ah The first one comes. So VAR intervenes on this right after the Sounders take 2-0 lead, like oh maybe even the next possession.
Speaker: San Diego comes down. They make a nice little play. Dreyer, I believe, hits a back heel to Amal Pellegrino, who is in on goal. And Alex Roldan's a little late to react.
Speaker: He comes in he he Pellegrino gets his shot off, but right after his shot, Alex Roldan cleats Pellegrino in the ankle.
Speaker: They call a penalty. And then Thomas saves the penalty. And, ah but the, the, San Diego ends up scoring on the rebound, but the replays show very clearly that there is at least one and maybe even two players from the, from San Diego who have encroached into the box.
Speaker: Uh, and, and we, I'm thinking, Oh, this is going to for sure be called back. Uh, and, and then it it doesn't get called back. And in the aftermath of this, we are basically told, uh, in fact, I got a, I got a correspondence from pro that, that,
Speaker: confirmed that this was the position that they were taking is that because the player who was very obviously encroaching was not directly involved, meaning he did not score the rebound and he did not directly impede any defenders from getting there that he is considered inconsequential to the play.
Speaker: And that just seems crazy to me because first of all, that's not how the rule is written. And, and second of all, I don't see how you can argue that a player who is very clearly challenging for the ball is not having a material impact on the, on the play.
Speaker: Yeah, it very clearly. And it, If it's that same situation, he encroaches the same way, makes the same run, and the save goes the other way, and another player picks it up on the other side of the goal and scores from there, okay.
Speaker: I still think that if an attacking player comes into the box before the penalty is taken, that's encroachment, and at the very least, they should have to retake the penalty. But whatever, you want to change the rule to encourage more scoring, I'm assuming, fine.
Speaker: um he's clearly if the encroachment have been called there's they don't retake it that would have been a dead ball it would have been it's just like offside it would have been a good save and that would have been the end of it but go on yeah and and i think that um it's it's it's crazy to me to make the argument that a player who at one point in time was very clearly the furthest ahead right so that's gonna for sure that's that's gonna impact which direction defenders are going. That's going to impact how Andrew Thomas is reacting.
Speaker: It's creating confusion in the box. Like, yeah, he doesn't literally touch the ball, but he's sliding in there for the ball. He just doesn't get to it first. Right. So if he was slightly faster and gets there first and scores,
Speaker: It's no goal, but because he was slow as hell, he's not un impacting the play. That's just crazy. It's crazy. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny. I was pretty shocked to see the MLS referee stats account on Blue Sky defending the call because most of the time when they are defending a call and they give an explanation, i say, you know what? I was wrong on this one. That explanation makes sense. They understand the rules better than me.
Speaker: I did not think that the explanation was satisfying at all. Well, let me just Yeah. Let me just read though, from the, from the laws of the game, the way that the yeah it is written. This is law 14.2.
Speaker: point two If you're curious about looking it up and it it is talking about, there's all these caveats, but basically the, the important part is the encroaching, ah the kicker accidentally kicks the ball with an, Oh, all right. So they say if the encroaching player plays the ball or challenges an opponent, challenges an opponent,
Speaker: for the ball. And this prevents the opponents from scoring, attempting to score or creating a goal scoring opportunity. The, Oh wait, that's the actually, but that's defensive encroachment. That's defensive encroachment. Uh, shoot.
Speaker: Oh man. Now I'm going to to through in this look. I mean, essentially it's point being the, um, it's challenging is the way it is written. I should have had been better prepared for this. I'm very annoyed with myself, but um anyway, basically it's written as challenges, challenges for the ball, not, and what I don't love about this. First of all, it appears that the ah defensive ah encroachment is judged more harshly.
Speaker: And also the to me, it seems like it should be the same standard as offside where, you know, we see this all the time where, A player is offside, but he's not really impacting the play. He doesn't touch the ball.
Speaker: And they just say, well, he's kind of in the goalkeeper's sight, so he's offside. It's like, okay, well, clearly this guy is involved broadly in the play. right ah i don't know. i don't It doesn't sit well with me.
Speaker: Whether or not the rule is was consistently applied is honestly a little maybe even beside the point for me because This is, it just feels wrong. Like this does not feel like the right way to to adjudicate it.
Speaker: It doesn't. And and i I take your point about the consistency not being as much the issue, and I agree, but it certainly makes it more annoying that the situations where it's the most ambiguity and the referee has the most leeway to use their judgment and is the least likely to have their judgment questioned,
Speaker: are the highest leverage situations. Right. I mean, the Christian rolled on penalty last week, lack of penalty, right? Where he gets kicked in the head. Right.
Speaker: That seems like a clear penalty to me. Right. This seems like a clear case where there is, ah where the goal would be waived off. And I think in seven out of 10 games, Christian probably gets the penalty. The school probably gets waived off.
Speaker: But 30% is often enough that like people don't feel like you should feel aggrieved by it. But I really think that in those situations, you should leave as little room for interpretation as possible.
Speaker: I'm fine with the referees having some discretion and how much they let go in terms of fouls, how strict they want to be for stuff like that, um how strict they want to be with stuff like time wasting, whatever. Give the referees discretion for that stuff, for the things that literally decide the game.
Speaker: in ah in a game with an extremely low scoring environment where goals have an outsized impact on the game, have the black and white rules, even if they don't give you exactly what you want in terms of number of goals scored, right? Like, have them be very black and white so that we don't have to bitch about stuff like this.
Speaker: Yeah, I will also say this is beside the point, but I just got to say, i i don't love that the ye penalty is a live ball.
Speaker: Like, yeah, I don't really understand why the penalty has to be a live ball. Like if the goalkeeper makes the save, I feel like that should be it. That should be enough.
Speaker: ah I don't love like the the offense has a massive, massive advantage. 76% likely to score on a penalty. They don't need an extra few percent chance. No, they might score on the rebound. I i really don't love that at all.
Speaker: I don't, especially because so many penalties are. This is not an example of that. This penalty was very fairly given. But so many penalties are like the second one that was given where there's no danger and it just happens to be a foul committed in the box.
Speaker: And and i I'm fine with every foul in the box being a penalty, right? Like, don't don't foul a guy in the box. But it's not like every penalty is so is so clearly a goal taken away.
Speaker: Like, every penalty is not Luis Suarez in the 2010 World Cup making a stop with his hand on the goal line. Like, most penalties are a 30% chance of gold being prevented.
Speaker: And so, yeah, 76% conversion rate seems, seems good to me. And yeah I've always felt that way as well. You don't need a second bite of the apple. You really don't. would think yeah you really, this is obviously beside the point. I'm not arguing in this case that they should have.
Speaker: I'm just saying, generally speaking, I don't love the live ball after a penalty. Yeah. And then, of course, there was the second penalty. And what I think made it more frustrating is that, first of all, Alan Chapman is notorious for letting teams play.
Speaker: He does not call a lot of penalties. He does not give a lot of red cards. He does not give you a lot of yellow cards. He does not blow his whistle all that often. In fact, he whistles fewer fouls in a game than any other referee in MLS.
Speaker: In this game, he only called 13 fouls. Two of them were penalties, which is just wild to me. But one of them, the first penalty, sorry to go back to this. The first penalty he did not call. The first penalty was of our review and he was standing like five feet away, looking directly at it. And it was as clear as day a penalty.
Speaker: Right, right. So even that one, he was willing to let go. Right, exactly. And so then on the, what is what ends up being, so it's 94th minute of the game. The Sounders have been honestly playing spectacular keepaways.
Speaker: They have been doing, I know there's some frustration in the fan base, like, oh, they should have been going at the goal more often. And I guess you could maybe find one or two moments where they they could have been a little bit more aggressive. But I actually, I was very pleased. I was very impressed.
Speaker: I thought they showed, you know, sobet Sebastian Gomez and Sander Bernal in particular showed a lot of maturity in their, and a lot of discipline in their ability to just not get sucked in.
Speaker: to stay positionally sound. They were pinging the ball around. And finally, San Diego gets the ball back on, ah you know, an instance where Andrew Thomas is just booting the ball as far away from goal as possible, which I think is a perfectly justified position. I know there was some debate over Andrew Thomas's decision. It frustrated me in the moment, but it's not, it's not a big deal.
Speaker: Yeah, i honestly didn't. I didn't mind it. If if only because san Diego was basically set up to press there. And I think he could have but like Hawkins is open.
Speaker: But yeah you never know what, how you know, you give the ball to the center back. you never know what's going to happen. Right. And, and Sounders have certainly been caught doing this kind of thing. It's late in the game, milk clock, right?
Speaker: So anyway, San Diego comes back and they're just kind of passing it around. They put a ball in the box. Nothing really to see here. And, ah Stu Hawkins is fighting is kind of like a wrestling with Surkov and Surkov just goes down like a sack of potatoes.
Speaker: And yeah, Hawkins has his Jersey. He's holding onto it. He's not pulling it. ah He's very clearly not pulling it. His arm does not reach back at all. It's it's his arm is almost locked out.
Speaker: He probably should have let go of the ball or the, the player, but the ball is literally rolling out of bounds. He Surkov has made a bad touch. And there is no danger here.
Speaker: And when honestly, the first thing when I saw Chapman point, I thought he was calling for a goal kick because I thought there's no way he's calling a penalty right here. But no, he was very authoritative in calling that a penalty.
Speaker: And I just like, look, can't. Is that an excusable call? Sure. It just feels so out of character for the way that Chapman was refereeing the game. I don't see that. You just do not see that called very often.
Speaker: It's a, it's a weak penalty. i i hated it. I hate it now. I hated it. Then i have not come down at all on my insinuation that it was a Charmin shot soft penalty. yeah I hate that call. I really, I just absolutely hate it. It's a, for me, it's more of a dive than anything else.
Speaker: ah And I hate talking this much about refereeing, but those two calls drove me crazy. Yeah, that that second one is as pissed off as I've been about a call.
Speaker: ah Me too. In in MLS in Long time. over Maybe over a decade, right? like Maybe. it's it's It's awful. I think to call it a dive is being generous. It it was a sit. He just sat down. it is He just sat down, yeah. He's fighting for the ball, very clearly not being impeded. As soon as he realizes it's going out of touch, he puts his hands up in the air and just sits down.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think that if you are a referee at this level, and you're watching that, and you fall for that, you should be embarrassed. You should be genuinely ashamed of yourself. like I hope that's on his year-end performance review.
Speaker: I hope they show the two fouls back-to-back, and they say, now this one, where the guy comes in from behind with two feet, and gets the guy in the ankle on the follow-through. You had to go to the monitor for that one.
Speaker: yeah But this one, where the guy just... decides to sit down. And it's it's such an obvious... The thing that killed me is' such an obvious bailout. ah yeah It wasn't like San Diego... you know be It almost feels like it would have been more excusable if San Diego had been you know just putting the Sounders under a ton of pressure.
Speaker: and And it's like, well, the Sounders are desperate defending. What are going to do? There was... It wasn't that, um you know, and I suppose there there is a teachable moment here for Stu Hawkins where it's like you just you just can't keep holding the player like that.
Speaker: I was a little surprised to hear Brian Dunseth on the broadcast. Call it a stone cold penalty. I was I like I like Dunseth. I do too. he's He's one of my favorite color guys. I was losing my mind at that. i It was me too.
Speaker: Baffling. And I think to me, that's more him being frustrated with a younger player for not being a little smarter. Yeah. I think that's, there's probably some of that for sure. But I would agree.
Speaker: I disagreed with Mr. Dumseth pretty, yeah pretty strongly. I did too. ah Yeah. So, you know, those two plays and and it it was, it was also frustrating that it ended up being the Sounders end up getting a little bit fortunate to not blow all three points.
Speaker: ah Yeah. Cause Makumba who scored the first goal. ended up getting a very good look on scoring a second. And Andrew Thomas made a great save to to stop, stop that one.
Speaker: ah I, I, I came away from this game, both encouraged and frustrated, maybe in equal parts. And I mean, not quite as equal. I think I was more frustrated, but there was a lot of encouraging play, especially in the second half. And Sebastian Gomez was,
Speaker: Every single game, it seems like he's doing something else to just show that he belongs in the regular rotation. And it's getting to a point where we almost have to wonder, does he should he be starting?
Speaker: I mean, one thing I'm starting to wonder for sure is, as i think it's clear that the most talented attacking group that they have is Morris, Rusnak, Barrera, and Jovalich.
Speaker: I don't know that those four players, like this was the first time they all started together. So we don't have a lot of, we haven't seen them together a lot, but they did not look like they had a coherent understanding of one another in the first half.
Speaker: And I'm, I'm at the point where I don't know if it's worth trying to figure it out. If they, they can at this point, I,
Speaker: It's very hard for me to believe there's not a system in which these four can not only coexist, but thrive. I mean, Jovulic is the different, you know, is is the change, right? Obviously, he wasn't around last year. yeah Sounders scored a boatload of goals with these guys on the field last year.
Speaker: Yeah. and I'm completely unconvinced that you can't make it work. I'm also completely unconvinced that Brian Schmetzer is changing the system. This is what he wants to do. It's just what he wants to do.
Speaker: If his hand is forced, maybe he'll deviate from it from for some period of time. But this is what he this is what he wants his teams to do. that He wants this this setup. And if he's going to play this setup, this system, this style, formation, I think you've got to have one of Russ Nacker Ferreira on the bench. I think it's probably got to be Ferreira. And I think that it's a pretty big problem that Jesus Ferreira has been here for almost two years now, and Brian Schmetzer hasn't figured out use because we've seen him be very good. We've seen him be close to unplayable at times.
Speaker: i But in this, in the role he's been tasked with playing for most of the season, it's just not happening. And, and I, I, you know, I just don't know. and don't know what to do about that. Yeah. I, you know, last year, it's interesting. I, in my head, I was, had convinced myself that Ferrer really hasn't played on the left.
Speaker: ah That's not quite true. Ferrer played on the left in the, in the playoffs last year. Yeah. ah And so I don't, I don't, I think that's at least worth a shot.
Speaker: If we're going to do this, I don't think Morris works on the, on the right really with this group, with this, with this setup, or he works on the right on this group. he doesn't work on the left. And I don't know if I would say that it has to be Ferreira or rust snack, but I do think it has to, it can only be two of,
Speaker: it might it might only be two of Ferreira, Rusnak, and Morris. Like, I think you could, you know, you could have Ferreira and Rusnak if you had Gomez on the left or maybe Paul Areola on the left.
Speaker: I think those are both viable options. ah I mean, we've seen some good moments out of Jesus Ferreira since he came back from injury. He hasn't, you know, he hasn't played a ton.
Speaker: And, you know, I suppose if they can... If they can clinch, let's let's just say they clinch this week, like if they can beat Houston and the Timbers drop points against St. Louis, the Sounders would clinch a playoff spot.
Speaker: And at that point, maybe you have the freedom to to play around with some formations. But i I guess my point is i think Brian needs to be more focused on finding a formation ah or a personnel grouping that works and less focused on how do I get the most out of all my best players? Because they just don't have a lot of time to figure it out.
Speaker: Yeah, I would tend to agree with that. I think I do think it's worth trying and it's not that huge of of a departure to try Morris on the right and Jesus on the left. Yeah. Yeah. The only real moments of danger that I remember in the first half came when they had sort of switched and they were set up that way.
Speaker: And I think the the main issue with Morris on the left, Hazus on the right, is that when Morris is on the left, he's cutting inside. Hazus plays in the pocket as a pocket winger.
Speaker: All of the depth is coming from the fullbacks. And knew who was not going to provide you a lot of value as an attacking player providing the whip. Alex Holden is better and that in that role, obviously, but he's not as dangerous in the attack as he was a couple years ago.
Speaker: And i just, you've got to have somebody that's going to play wide on one of the two sides. I think Morris can do that on the right. When he plays on the right, he's much more of a traditional winger, at least until he gets to the end line. He's going to cut in at a certain point, but he's providing that with a little further up the pitch.
Speaker: And, you know, Jesus is probably going to cut in on the left, but I think that's okay. Like, I think you can have one guy cutting in. It's when both players are coming central, role pretty far up the pitch that it becomes an issue.
Speaker: What's up everybody David Goss here from soccer wise. This is our MLS minute presented by continental tire. We're so excited to be working with some of the best local MLS coverage in the league as part of our new collective. And we welcomed the north end podcast out of Austin, Texas to our fold. So a big week for us on top.
Speaker: of the Open Cup Final and so much more. So after you're done listening about your team, come on over. Listen to myself, Doyle, and Tom talk about the entire league. And if you are a Pharma Soccer fan, 615 Soccer fan, if you are in Nashville, congratulations, because it is officially done.
Speaker: Nashville has clinched the 2026 MLS Supporters' Shield as the guaranteed best record in the league, only the second trophy. in their club's history after last year's US Open Cup victory. But Nashville are not done. They're pursuing the MLS single season points record, which sits at 74, set by Inter Miami back in 2024. So Nashville on 70 points have three matches left to try and hit that. And a reminder.
Speaker: No team has won back-to-back Supporters Shield since the LA Galaxy in 2010 and 2011. It shows where parity lives in MLS. Nashville's trophy celebration was on the road in Montreal where they clinched it. It was one of two trophy celebrations in Montreal last week, and neither of them were for CF Montreal. Fords knocked them off in the Canadian Championship midweek. The CPL squad, the first to win a Canadian Championship. And then, of course, Nashville's win. Things are bad in Montreal. The fans have said they will not return to the supporters section this season. And it just seems like an all-around meltdown as Alexis Sanchez refused to come on in the Canadian Championship. The Golden Boot race is still sort of alive, and that's thanks partially to the New York Red Bulls, who held Messi scoreless off the bench in a 2-0 win for the New York squad to keep their spot in the playoffs for one more week.
Speaker: One point ahead of Columbus, who pasted TFC out of their U.S. Open Cup. final loss. It was 4-0 in the 50th minute. In the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia had their first loss in 15 matches. No Kevin Sullivan in the home loss to the New England Revolution. And Antoine Griezmann had his 20th goal contribution.
Speaker: He now is the second fastest MLS player to reach that mark behind Messi. Right behind Messi in the Golden Boot standings this year is Petar Musa, who scored a brace to move within three goals of Messi for that race. The two goals got Dallas a victory over San Jose, and with St. Louis' is huge letdown off their Open Cup victory against RSL, Dallas has moved to sole possession of second place in the West. RSL's victory, Portland's victory, and Austin's victory means that all of them have kept pressure on the Galaxy in Colorado at the bottom of the West. and On the NWSL side, by the way, seven of the eight teams have clinched their spot in the playoffs as we head to decision day next weekend. So we'll have coverage for that.
Speaker: course, we've got CONCACAF Nations League around the corner for the U.S. Men's National Team. and We cover it all at Sokkawek. So come on over and hang out. This has been your MLS Minute presented by Continental Tire.
Speaker: Thank you for listening to the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, which recently added Monday Soundcheck to our roster of shows. Soundcheck airs live on Mondays at 1 p.m. You can watch it on our YouTube channel or listen to it at your convenience, however you consume podcasts. It joins a roster that already includes Nos Adietes, which airs on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Cooler Guild, who cover the Seattle rain. If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a member of Sounder at Heart.
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Speaker: We're also looking for sponsors. Send an email to partners at pnwsoccermedia.com and we'll get you all set up. Thanks for listening. Yeah, and and just to clarify to kind of round this out, Ferreira started the last two games of the playoffs, so the center scored seven goals in the two games that he started against Minnesota. ah He did not start in the first game on the left. It was Rothrock and Ferreira with Morris as the forward in the first leg.
Speaker: Which is to say this is not a completely untested theory. You would like to think that Joe Vlitch is a significant upgrade over Danny Mussovsky and the Sounders scored seven goals with Mussovsky on the, as the starting forward and in those two games. So, right. You know, I, it's probably worth a shot.
Speaker: I think it's, it's, it is, it is worth a shot. I, I, I continue to, to be very, to come back to it. I, I'm just really becoming, blown away at, at Sebastian Gomez's ability to impact games.
Speaker: And, you know, he, he, it's something like 2.27 goals or something per 90 when he's on the field. That's not all him, but they're scoring almost like a goal in three, 1.75 more goals per game with him on the field and off the field.
Speaker: He's not the only, he's not the only part of that, but he's, He's part of it. Like he's he's making runs that no one else is really making. he is right ah attacking defenders in ways that other players aren't really attacking.
Speaker: He's really grown into his own. I, I, I've liked him a lot. I, I think he's got a role to play no matter what. ah And I think Paul Areola probably has a role to play too. Yeah. I thought Areola looked, you know, he was sometimes playing as a nine. Yeah.
Speaker: in those last 15 minutes or so. And he was, you know, he he brought energy. He almost set up a goal ah for, for Snyder Brunel shortly after he came on.
Speaker: ah The centers have options. That's good. What, one other thing that I wanted to ask you about ah in his column, Matt Doyle ah said that,
Speaker: He doesn't think Alex Roldan is a center back on a championship winning team. He doesn't think Stu Hawkins is a center back on a championship winning team, which might be fair enough. But I do think there's a general misunderstanding of how good Alex has been at center back. Like he's, he's not, I don't think he's a elite center back, but the centers have only lost like one of 15 games that he started at center back. They're like seven, one in seven in games. He started at center back.
Speaker: Do you know, probably not offhand. This is kind of a, I'm kind of rude to do this to you, but you know offhand how many of those were with Jackson. I would guess most of them. Most of them were. Yeah. yeah And that's, and but that's who he's paired with now.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. I mean, I, uh, if anything, I would have expected it to be fewer of them until I thought about it and said, well, he was mostly playing in Yamar's place and right.
Speaker: So it's been out basically all year. Yeah. Yeah. ah I don't,
Speaker: I know I've been guilty of saying player is not a Y on a championship team before. So I think it's an oversimplification of things. sure And yeah, is Alex alex and Stu Hawkins a championship winning center back pairing? Probably not.
Speaker: Stu Hawkins is not the starting center back on this team. It would be Alex and Jackson Reagan. right and that's i i mean i agree i agree i like stew a lot i think he's got a huge future i think he has the potential to be the best center back the sounders have ever had uh but he's not who i'd be starting in the playoffs and jackson i mean i guess that's the that's the question is like who do you feel more comfortable starting right now stew or alex yeah i i think alex pretty clearly um
Speaker: I I'm not as high on Alex at center back as I think you are. And as I think a lot of people are, but I think he's certainly good enough to, to be like on a of championship competitive team.
Speaker: You know, like I don't think he's, he's not going to be the weak link at center back. Like he's Alex at center back is not going to be the win weak link on any team. Right.
Speaker: And so, yeah, teams have won MLS cups with much worse center backs than Alex. Yeah. And I, and like, right. Yeah. I would totally agree. Like if I have to start, if I have to pick a starting line of Alex or with, without Yamar, I think Alex Rodon is probably my starting center back.
Speaker: yeah I, and I, and part of it is cause I, I'm still, i mean, I guess part of the equation here is do you like Alex at right back more than Kalani? Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but do I like Kalani at right back more than I like Stewart center back? I guess this kind of ends up being the question. and I think I like Kalani at right back still more than Stewart center back, but um I don't think these are horrible options. Like that's not the biggest. The the Sounders defense is not what's going to hold them back. I'm pretty convinced of that. It's it's absolutely not. They've been one of the best defensive teams in the league this year.
Speaker: Right. Absolutely. it's it's It's a very strange thing to focus on, I would say. you No, I think that the the thing that the Sounders need to be figuring out is how do we reliably score goals?
Speaker: Right. And that's, you know, it's a continuing problem. Like, there's no real way around it. There's no way that a team with Daniel Vlitch...
Speaker: Albert Rosnack, Jordan Morris, Jesus Ferreira should be this toothless as we saw in this game. yeah Even though they scored two goals, one of them was an exceptionally low probability chance.
Speaker: yeah The Sounders got almost doubled up on XG in this game. Now, granted, that they did give up two penalties. That's a big chunk of it. And then a rebound off the penalty.
Speaker: Right, right. But most of the XG was on four shots, but Still digress. Like yeah it's not like it's it's less that it's less that San Diego was playing really well ah offensively and more that they didn't really play that well offensively and still out XG the Sounders. Yeah, fair enough.
Speaker: Fair enough. um I mean, you can't depend on Daniel, which scoring worldies to get you to a championship. just can't know. Although he has done it with remarkable regulators. Yes. And that that's, I feel like a bonus. Like, I don't think that's the kind of guy we expected him to be. no So I'm thrilled that he's done it and shown the ability to do it somewhat consistently, but they're low percentage chances for a reason. And if you have a guy who is as elite of a poacher as he is, who is as dangerous around the box as he is,
Speaker: you've got to be creating more chances than the Sounders have been creating. Yeah. they there The Sounders really outside of the Dallas game have absolutely struggled to create regular chances for Yoke, which, and that's a problem. Like the, they did a great job of creating chances for him in the Dallas game, which I think is a good sign that they are capable of doing it.
Speaker: But, you know, outside of that game, he's probably only had three or four really good scoring chances that, you know, weren't these banger goals that he's been scoring.
Speaker: right Although as a funny aside, he is currently tied for the Sounders lead in regular season goal scoring. Yeah, not a not a great sign. um Yeah, in this game, the Sounders created one big chance by Footmobs. And that was the Gomez. That was the Gomez goal, right? Which was a great chance and a great goal.
Speaker: It was, you got to do more than once. Yeah, and this sounds like nitpicking, but it was also like not a super repeatable one. It was just people executing really well. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was Dotson winning his battle and then Gomez making a good run.
Speaker: they were not creating that goal from set play, like not set play, but open play pattern, right? Like pattern, pattern, pattern play. Yeah. That was opportunism, which is, Hey, that's ah super important too. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. But, um, yeah, you, you'd like to see them creating more chances just from possession, especially if they have as much possession as they had in this game. I mean, it's, it's right.
Speaker: Yeah. and And, there were, yeah, I think that's the, that's the big conundrum here is they, they got to figure out how to create more regular scoring chances. And yeah, you know, Jordan Morris had another game where he, he didn't have a lot of great chances. I don't know if he actually took a shot in this game.
Speaker: May have taken one shot. Uh, but like he had his last play in the game ends up being a chance where he basically gets in on goal. And instead of shooting with his left, he pulls it back and and tries to make a pass.
Speaker: And, you know, like maybe Jordan is the, is the odd man out. I think that's a totally viable thing too. ah Yeah. Like Jordan.
Speaker: Good. Yeah. I was just going to say, if you feel like you have to get, that you need to get saved on the field. Yeah, I think you can make a case for Jordan. I mean, we're going to know the reason that I feel like he can change games pretty effectively off the bench, maybe more than he's just can.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, possibly, but they, you're right. They have too much talent. There's too many talented players on this roster to be, you know, fifth from the bottom and scoring.
Speaker: And, and granted that's a lot of that is because they were, you know, they threw away the middle part of their season and, you know, and to their credit, they they have been averaging about two goals a game over the last seven or eight games.
Speaker: So it's not like they can't score, but they they need to be creating more. Like we have not seen them play a complete game since the the Revolution game. And I think that's, yeah they're they're just sort of letting themselves down. You know, they they pay they played great against the Revolution in both halves.
Speaker: They had a great first half against Dallas and they weren't that good in the second half. They had a good, decent second half against Montreal, but they were really bad in the first half. They had a really good second half against San Diego, but they weren't really great the first half.
Speaker: So they just need to, they have to be able to put together a complete game. And, you know, I feel like on some level, we are ultimately talking about a team that is very flawed, that does not really feel like a championship caliber team, but is giving us enough belief to think,
Speaker: Maybe they, they, they could like, they, they show you just enough every week to like, keep you hoping that something's going to change. And, you know, we've got three games left in the regular season. I am very confident that they are a playoff team.
Speaker: I feel like six or seventh is the most likely place that they're going to finish this season. And they're going to have a puncher's chance in the playoffs. But they also need some talent upgrades. I think in in if they're going to be real contenders, they they're going to have to make some upgrades.
Speaker: it It might be, you know, I guess there's a possibility that Pedro de la Vega comes back and is the player that he was at his best last year. I don't feel like that's a super viable plan, but I suspect they are going to at least explore that in the sprint season and then maybe...
Speaker: figure out a actual solution in the 27, 28 season, but yeah it's, I don't know. It's a, it's, it's a frustrating time right now. I'm not going to try to sugarcoat it it. It is, it's, it could be a lot better.
Speaker: It could be a lot better. It could. Yeah. It's, ah it I do think that this is the, if you're someone like me who appreciates Adrian Hanauer's position and the front office's public position on look like, yes, we get that we're not competing for supporter shields, but we're always in the mix at the end of the playoffs. And, you know, like that's what's important to us is winning MLS cups and and winning trophies generally. And and like, look, we won the League's Cup last year, like still competitive.
Speaker: this season is giving people like me a lot of ammo to say, but the season's 34 games long. I guess next season isn't, but generally, and next year, they're not going to have a chance to pull this. Well, yeah, we fell asleep for half the year. Like, you've got to be good because you've got 17 games. Right. Right. And it's just like, this season has sucked, man. Like it's not been pleasant. It's not been fun. It's, it's the last time it felt fun was that like consistently fun not in isolation because the new england game 14 games by the way they're only playing 14 games oh my god that's right that's it's so crazy they're doing that uh i i understand why they're doing it and i don't blame them for doing it but it's it's kind of crazy but
Speaker: that the win over Vancouver and CCL was the last time this season as a whole felt fun. And that was months ago, months, a lifetime ago, seasons ago.
Speaker: Yeah. it It was a long time ago. And, and it feels that way all the time with this team. Last year, they had that great run in the middle of the season and that was fun and everything.
Speaker: But the first part of the season sucked ass and the playoffs sucked ass. ah even though like the home playoff game was fun, right? Whatever. ah But it's just every, and it's just like, can we just have a normal team that wins and loses at a normal amount, normal distribution, and that you feel like is not going to have to play terrorist ball to get through the playoffs? Yeah. Because I think the Sounders can do that.
Speaker: And to be clear, if the Sounders go into the playoffs and play terrorist ball and get to an MLS cup, I'm going to enjoy every second of it, but I'd be looking more forward to going in and saying, we're just going to blow the doors off. at the ends Yeah.
Speaker: That's the standard that was set that those are what the expectations should be. And I just I don't know how many more seasons like this people have got in them to have the same level of engagement and enthusiasm. It's just it's year after year. And I think you've got to give people reason to pay attention and be excited and be engaged in.
Speaker: You know, 20 games into the season, I was going to say, in August, but soon that'll be the beginning of the season, so. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, I seasons like this are just such a slog, man.
Speaker: It has been a slog. it It really has been. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. I was thinking about that a lot today, actually about how this season feels like it's been in some ways, the longest season that the Sounders have ever had. And I haven't had the playoffs yet.
Speaker: And I'm, and I'm not looking and I say that as I don't want it to be over. I just want it to be fun. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Uh, but I don't, I don't know if I have much more to say about this one. Uh, the centers going to play Houston on Wednesday, which will probably be today when, if you're listening to this and it is kind of a must win game.
Speaker: I know we've been saying that a lot lately. and this is not technically a must win game. They, they, they're, you know, but, it it does feel like the last best chance to make a statement in front of your fans.
Speaker: Yeah. Houston is a good, but not great team. They are currently on a seven game winless run. a lot of ties in there. They've never won a game in at Lumen, which I'm sure is a jinx now.
Speaker: but That seems crazy to is crazy. It's the longest it's the longest streak in MLS history, I think, for a team to never that's why i won a game at a away venue.
Speaker: But 15 games. it that yeah that's crazy here without it feels like they played here a lot more than that it feels like we're always playing houston well that's in the i guess that's the regular season uh but i i think it's there's two three playoff games so yeah it might be it might actually be 18. just and then there's an open cup game not at lumen but there was an open cup i guess we've been at this for 17 years now so we have been at this for 17 years yeah That's true. and And I think the only reason there aren't more is because Houston was in the Eastern Conference, I think, for a couple of years.
Speaker: True. But, yeah, so a good opportunity for the Sounders to, you know, maybe pull one out. You know, it's a ah midweek game against a team that's traveling. So that's always you'd like to think. Of course, that was the idea with Montreal as well.
Speaker: You know, that worked out. But yeah. yeah Yeah, it would be nice if the Sounders could win this one and then and then make the last two games a little bit more, ah you know, about placement and less about survival. and Yeah, I don't want to go into that LAFC game feeling like there's real table stakes, you know?
Speaker: I do not. It would be nice if, like, I'll accept playing for, like, the fifth or sixth spot as the stakes of that game. Sure. I do not want any piece of if this game is going to be the difference between going into the plan game or God forbid going into the playoffs.
Speaker: But yeah, because I'm going I'm probably going to that game. So I'd i'd really rather i'd really rather just have fun. But yeah, you know, and see also public service announcement about the Vancouver game.
Speaker: The MLS website and I believe the Sounders website say the game is at 1 30 However, however November 1st is the first day of the new Pacific coast time zone, which in Vancouver means they are not falling back.
Speaker: So it's 1 30 PM Vancouver time, 12 30 PM Seattle time. So plan according to the other way, other way. No, cause we're falling back. I think the game is at two 30, right? But I think it's at two 30.
Speaker: You think so? I think the game, someone, someone with the sound or something, the game is at two 30, their a time, even though it says one. thing Okay. Okay, because they were they were saying the 1.30 today.
Speaker: one thirty today but Well, we're get to the bottom of this one. cause Double check. Yeah, double check. the the look what One way or the other, it's an hour off from what um it is here. because and i I didn't even know they were doing that because I was up there on Friday, and my buddy was hanging out with was like, yeah, well, you know, after this, next time you come up and visit, we'll be in different time zones. And I was like, what are we talking about? I didn't know that either.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm amazed that that's sort of escaped ah escape mention. It's because it's a, I feel like a pretty big deal, you know, like. Yeah. City four hours away being an hour hour ahead of us. So it's like a very Midwest phenomenon, I feel like.
Speaker: Yeah, very much so so. And the West Coast, we're not used to cities ah having it's cities that you would visit by driving, being in different times. Right. Right. Yeah, it's that's wild.
Speaker: But all right, well, let's get out of here. ah Thank you, of course, to our sponsor, Full Pull Wines. ah Thank you to our subscribers. ah Just as a reminder, i feel like I need to really impress upon this is the only reason we're able to do this. the only reason Sounder Heart is able to operate is because of subscribers like you.
Speaker: And I get it. ah This has been the season's been taxing. And. It's been a lot of people sending me cancellation emails saying like, I just don't watch the team that much anymore. And I appreciate where you're coming from.
Speaker: But that just means that folks who are regularly listening and reading and consuming sound or heart, if you want us to stick around, we need you to kind of step up and and become a member.
Speaker: And if you are a member, consider upgrading your membership. And I just feel like I have to say that. But with all that said, thank you to everyone who does do those things. It's it's definitely appreciated.
Speaker: I take a lot of pride in Sounder Heart being an independent media outlet. We're getting constant reminders in the media world of mergers and acquisitions and cutbacks and all these kinds of things. And pretty special that Sounder Heart still exists as a an independent thing.
Speaker: And we get to focus on Sounders and Rain and... the local Seattle soccer scene, which no one else is really doing in our depth. And don't know why you're listening to this. You know that and don't need to, but let's get out here. I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and lick it.
Speaker: This is no Saudi at this part of the sounder heart podcast network and the soccer wise media collective. Remember you'll never get alone.
Speaker: Let's go at Sounders.
