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Maybe we got a bit ahead of ourselves
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The Seattle Sounders lost 3-1 to Inter Miami, a game they played on two days’ rest and required a cross-country road trip. The result was pretty predictable, if we’re being honest. But what Jeremiah and Aaron point out is the degree to which it’s a problem is mostly a result of dropping points on Saturday.
That sets up a final five-game stretch in which the Sounders have virtually no margin for error if they want to secure home-field advantage through the first round of the playoffs.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Announcements
00:00:01
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. Come on. Hey, O'Shaan.
00:00:14
Speaker
Let's go. Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to crown it for Seattle.
00:00:25
Speaker
The Sounders rule the region. of
00:00:59
Speaker
you know what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since Sander Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take the overcome seriously.
Sponsor Spotlight: Full Pull Wines
00:01:18
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.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Adiates, part of the Sounder Heart podcast network. We are sponsored by Full Pool Wines, Hacks and Ferments, all that good stuff.
00:01:53
Speaker
I'm Jeremiah Oshan. Joining me today is Aaron Campo.
Seattle Sounders' Recent Struggles
00:01:56
Speaker
Sounders, where we're recording this right after a loss. I think this might be the first time that we've recorded the same night of a loss, at least in a long time.
00:02:05
Speaker
But I'm here with Aaron Campo and, of course, Lickett on our engineer. uh second straight frustrating result aaron uh are you are you panicking and we haven't asked that in a long time feel like we haven't asked our ourselves if we're panicking for for months if maybe not all year i'm not panicking because i think that these these uh results both fall into the characteristics of this team right they they went on a great run uh And then they, you know, they they had a disappointing, but I think fairly Sounders-esque result on on a Saturday against the Galaxy where they they looked good on an attack. They scored some goals, but they had some some really inexcusable defensive lapses. and And then, you know, the one tonight, i mean, a lot of people have said this and and it's because it's true.
00:02:56
Speaker
I don't think anybody cares too much about this game if not for the results on Saturday that made this one, you know, of greater urgency. It led to the decision to maybe start a slightly stronger lineup than I think people might have been expecting.
00:03:10
Speaker
and you know, and then they just couldn't couldn't hang with a ah very good Miami team. I mean, I think it's it's easy to forget ah because we just pants them in a cup final that this is a very good team. um Yeah, they they haven't lost at home in quite some time, I don't believe so.
00:03:26
Speaker
Uh, yeah, but they didn't, they didn't get the one against the galaxy on Saturday. And, and, uh, so now they've got one point from the last two, it's going to be really, really hard to hang on to that fourth spot down the stretch without some help.
00:03:38
Speaker
Um, so I'm not panicking, but it is disappointing because I think that, you know, this was a pretty important stretch of games here. and a galaxy game was not a must win, but it was a must win for me to feel really, really good.
00:03:50
Speaker
um going into the stretch run and I don't now. So that's a bummer, but I still think this is a good team that's capable of making a run in the playoffs. They've just made it a little bit harder on themselves. Yeah, I think I would agree with all of that. ah you You take away the drop points against the Galaxy and I think, you know, we've been talking about this game as ah likely loss, you know, probably from the, I said this in the Discord, I'll stand by it.
00:04:15
Speaker
This was probably the most predictable result of the entire season when the you know, when the schedule first came out, playing on short rest at Miami, trying traveling across the country, there was a million reasons why this was not going to be a great performance.
00:04:35
Speaker
ah That said, after they dropped the two points to the Galaxy, all of a sudden there was a little bit more urgency to this one. Like if it was like, oh, if they can get a point out of this one, maybe that solves the wound a little bit from from the Galaxy. And i i do wonder what some of those lineup decisions were that Brian Schmester alluded to sort of making as a result of the Galaxy game.
Analyzing Lineup Decisions and Defensive Errors
00:04:59
Speaker
i would imagine Christian Roldan was one of those players who would have otherwise gotten a day off. Maybe there were some other ones in there. you know ah i' I'm kicking myself because I meant to ask him about the Pedro De La Vega injury situation.
00:05:13
Speaker
i was a little surprised that he traveled and then didn't even make the game day roster. We were not able to get any clarity on that. ah So that's a little bit of ah of a concern, I would say.
00:05:26
Speaker
But yeah, it's on one hand, a totally predictable result. The first half was bad, but the second half was really not that bad. Really, you know, like the the one goal they give up in the second half was frustrating because it comes when Kim Kihee is off the field, essentially because he's getting his hand fixed after it got stepped on.
00:05:48
Speaker
I'm sure we're going to find out that he broke a thumb or something like that. But um other than that, other than that goal, I thought they looked okay in the second half at one point, right after they scored, actually, they seemed like they had some momentum and they looked okay.
00:06:03
Speaker
But yeah, it's, it's a frustrating result, mainly in the context of those drop points against the galaxy, which is really the sort of the original sin of this little stretch here where,
00:06:16
Speaker
they're up to zero at home against the galaxy going into the end of the first half. And then they just give up a goal that they can't give up on a set piece right at the end of the first half. And then they, they really dominate the second half. And I, and I do want to bring it back and talk. We didn't have a chance to record after the galaxy game.
00:06:34
Speaker
And I feel like it's important to talk about that one too. The sounders were controlling the second half really until they inexplicably uh, Like, I just don't understand the defensive setup that they're in and the 87th minute.
00:06:51
Speaker
Why is, you know, why is Steph Rye kicking a ball into touch? Why aren't you just playing that ball? down the middle of the field. why aren't you just kicking that out? Like just boot it as far as you can. There's no reason to give up a throw in in your end of the field.
00:07:06
Speaker
And then defensively, they're all out of position. Jackson Reagan to me looks like he's way, way over committed to the sideline. Christian rolled on looks like he's too far. ah He's, he's too over. He's over committed forward.
00:07:21
Speaker
It's just ah a mess of a, of a defensive sequence. And, And you take out that, you know, really, if you take out that play, this whole game sort of almost doesn't matter. You you just shrug your shoulders and you go, eh, going to lose that game against Miami.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah. And that, and that I think is the thing that makes it so frustrating um because that's not a good galaxy team in the best of times. And they were missing a lot of key players and,
00:07:50
Speaker
they're they're playing on the road and it's a team that you have handled your business against the season. So that's a game you should fully expect to win. and and it ah it almost felt like at the end, that's kind of what happened is they just didn't really see a way that they were going to lose that game and let their, you know, their their mentality lapse. It's the it's the best explanation I can come up with. Right. Like, I hate to try to to play guessing games about the mental state of the players or what they were weren't assuming, but It seems more likely to me that they just kind of let their guard down and they just completely forgot how to organize the defense i and in a pretty critical moment. And, you know, there there were a lot of opportunities that it felt like they should have put away. But ultimately, at the end of the day, like, I think the I don't think the attack was a problem in in this game at all.
00:08:42
Speaker
I think you should expect to win games when you score two goals against LA galaxy at home, the 2025 LA galaxy at home to, especially when you're up to two zero, you know, that that to me is it's not like, yes, they had chances to add a third goal.
00:08:55
Speaker
ah There were a few moments in the galaxy game that really frustrated me on, you know I didn't get to watch it live. i I watched it on rewatch after knowing the result, but there were two big plays that sort of stood out to me as missed opportunities.
00:09:10
Speaker
ah One of them was a chance in the 78th minute when... when Alex Roldan drives, makes a nice play and he drives into the center of the field and he beats his man and he makes, he makes a good play, but unfortunately he has Paul Rothrock absolutely wide open on the left side. Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker
He just feeds to him. And I'm not saying that's an automatic goal or anything, but it's a really good, it's a much better look than, than Alex Roldan's going to get. And that ends up getting say a contested shot ends up getting saved instead of a uncontested shot.
00:09:44
Speaker
And you sort of take your chances with, and then there was another play, right? Like under the 85th minute, essentially right before the equalizer where the sounders drive down the field and And, Georgie Manungu ends up with the ball near the top of the penalty area, about 22 yards out.
00:10:02
Speaker
And he has a bunch of different passing options. No, necessarily. No, no one with a better look, but lots of open players who he can extend the, the possession with. And instead of extending the possession, he kicks it, you know, he takes a shot from 22 yards out. It
Missed Opportunities and Playoff Implications
00:10:16
Speaker
misses,
00:10:17
Speaker
ah And it it wasn't immediately. It was, ah but essentially the, that's what starts the sequence that ultimately ends up leading to the equalizer. But it's not that he, he did something that led to it. It's more that he had an opportunity to waste time to burn clock.
00:10:34
Speaker
And I think that was probably the play that Brian Schmetzer is thinking of most acutely in the post game when he's talking about how, We had opportunities to extend positions and we were just sort of dead set on getting a a third goal, which I like the mentality of. I do appreciate the mentality of let's try to get that third goal, but you got to be smart about it. Right.
00:10:55
Speaker
And I just don't feel like the Sounders were not at their sharpest. They were not their smartest and it bit them pretty badly. And again, it makes this Miami result seem a lot worse than it really should be.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. And it's just like ah it's a vibes thing, too, which has kind of been the theme of the last couple of years, I guess. But it's like you come out of the high in the League's Cup, Christian getting called up, which I think a lot of people were really happy to see him finally get rewarded.
00:11:22
Speaker
um And, you know, you're on this this ah four game winning streak in all competitions and and you've been the best team in the league since... you know, ah early summer, early mid summer. And then to have just these two bad results back to back feels bad. And and that that's the thing, right? At the end of the day, these are only two results.
00:11:41
Speaker
But it's kind of a reminder that for all of the good soccer that the Sounders have been playing, and for the fact that I think most people still think that this is a very legitimate MLS Cup contender, They still had a little bit of a hole to climb out of.
00:11:53
Speaker
And i think it's been easy to forget that because they just have been so good, but they were playing a little bit behind. They were playing a little little bit of catch up and they needed to not waste opportunities like the one against the galaxy to be able to, to improve their position.
00:12:08
Speaker
And, you know, we went through that whole rundown of, of where we thought the Sounders were going to end up and, We were sort of assuming that the teams ahead of them would not play as well as they have been. And I think that was a fair assumption at the time. But, you know, Vancouver and and Minnesota have have kept it up. They've they've been good.
00:12:25
Speaker
And LAFC is a point behind and they've got two games in hand. You actually have to get the results in your game hand to to make that stick. But yeah. I, you know, I'd probably put my my money on LAFC finishing in that spot. So I think after all the good feelings we've gotten in this regular season and after how enjoyable it's been for a few months to get to the playoffs and and not be in the top four, you know, to be fifth, most likely.
00:12:52
Speaker
ah It does feel like kind of a bummer, um especially when we were trying to talk ourselves into winning, you know, finishing first in the West not that long ago. Yeah. And, you know, it is a reminder of just like how quickly this stuff can turn like and and it feels like when it takes a turn for the bad, it happens a lot more quickly than, you know, when when you're trying to get it to turn the other way. But yeah.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah, and I think it's also a reminder that for all the good feelings that we've had since the Club World Cup, a lot of that good feeling was concentrated on their League's Cup performances. Sure.
00:13:28
Speaker
Because in in the reality is that outside of League's Cup, they now, think, six... now i think six 6-2 and, or what, I don't know their exact, right I would have to look there. I know coming into this game, they were averaging 1.9 points per game outside of the league's cup, which is good. It's not, it's not a bad, like, I don't want to make it sound like they've been anything short of good in league play, but they just haven't been spectacular.
00:13:55
Speaker
ah They've dropped a bunch of results. You know, they, they had the, they had the three zero lead against the Rapids where they, they had to settle for a point in that one. They had the late goal against Atlanta that got wiped off the board essentially when they gave up another one.
00:14:08
Speaker
They've dropped six very winnable points in this stretch where they've been playing really well. And those six points are huge. and They're especially huge for the difference between how comfortable they are. like They would be comfortably in fourth place right now.
00:14:22
Speaker
They're still in fourth, but they would be comfortably in fourth if they had secured those six points. And I think that we would feel a lot differently about their position overall. And yeah, it's going to be a dogfight now from here on out to get to the four or five spot. And I don't even think like there is a real, ah you know, if they lose to Austin, which is,
00:14:44
Speaker
Definitely on the table. This is a road game in MLS. There are no gimmies in MLS, but this is suddenly a really, really big game against Austin on Sunday.
00:14:56
Speaker
and you know, Austin is not that far behind them in the standings and it's not outside of the realm of possibility that they could finish six or even seventh. Like the gap from seventh to eighth is big, but they, you know, the, the, and I, and I guess but did the difference between finishing fifth and seventh in a, from a practical perspective is maybe not as that big of a deal, but there is something like mentally about finishing seventh. That feels a lot worse than finishing fifth, but finishing fourth is really what the goal should be.
00:15:26
Speaker
And they have essentially taken away their room for error at this point. and Almost every game from here on out is close to a must win if they want to finish fourth.
00:15:38
Speaker
And the New York city game is maybe the one place that the season finale, the one place where there might potentially be some give, but i don't, you know, they've got, they've got, uh, six games left for home games.
00:15:53
Speaker
Is that right? Or yeah. Uh, let's see. they've played They play 15 away. Yeah. Yeah, 15 away and 14 at home. so Yeah, so they have five games left. Three of them are at home.
00:16:07
Speaker
Those three home games are absolutely must-win games. The Austin game is going to be big, though. and This is a big game. Yeah.
00:16:15
Speaker
They just can't, they they just can't afford, they they just don't have a lot of room for error. That's my point. Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sarietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible through our paid subscribers.
00:16:30
Speaker
Plans start as low as $30 a year and allow us to remain independent and mostly ad-free. subscribers get access to all our written and podcast content, including a full text RSS feed and a mostly ad free podcast feed that includes every show in one spot. If you really like what we're doing though, I'd encourage you to sign up at our higher tiers, which include all sorts of various perks. The most popular of those is our members only discord or the real Sounders sickos hang out. I know I've called this group, the smartest, funniest and best informed Sounders fans in the world, but it's more than the rough equivalent of a Sounders Mensa meeting. Discord is where we make things happen. Like, for real.
00:17:08
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:18:35
Speaker
Yeah. And unfortunately, Austin has only lost twice at home this year. You know, it's it's they they just have not done themselves any favors the the last month or so. um The only teams that have lost at home less than Austin are Philly and Seattle. So that's I guess that's good. But I think that's one of the most frustrating things, too, about the Sounders probably slipping into that lower half of the playoff bracket is they've been so good at home and they have been so mediocre on the road.
00:19:04
Speaker
Right. So they're just very mediocre on the road. That's absolutely true. They're not doing themselves any favors there. And obviously, you know, if you finish fourth, is it really that much of a difference than finishing fifth or sixth? Like not really um in terms in terms of your chances of going all the way. right but it's still, yeah. Um, I mean, yeah, it's just, I think finishing fourth is absolutely a admirable goal. Having home field advantage, even if it's only for the first round is, is important.
00:19:36
Speaker
And then you sort of take your chances after that. Right. Uh, i the The good news is that the gap between first and like for in terms of quality of the teams, the gaps between first and fifth in the West is not that big.
00:19:51
Speaker
Like I'm not that like ah Vancouver looks good. Minnesota looks good. San Diego looks good. LAFC looks good. The Sounders look good too. I think all five of those teams in terms of quality are, you know, you you sort of take it, know,
00:20:07
Speaker
on any of those teams could win on any given day. Uh, and what the Sounders really need to do though, from here on out is separate themselves from the rest of the pack. And that's going to be the trick.
00:20:17
Speaker
Uh, the trick here is going to be if they win, ah they win against Austin, you can kind of forgive the the galaxy result a little bit more. ah But they they still have some tough games at home against their last three home games are all against teams in the playoffs right now.
00:20:33
Speaker
It's a it's against Vancouver, Portland and RSL. Those are very, very oh those are all effectively must win games again if they're the goal is to finish fourth or, you know, maybe maybe better that it's not really that much in play.
00:20:47
Speaker
But. These are suddenly very important games, and it doesn't, you know, and I want to be clear. None of this takes away from my belief that this is a really good team. It was only, ah you know, two games ago that we were talking about these guys being among the MLS Cup favorites.
00:21:05
Speaker
I think on their day, they still are. But like you said, the margins are really, really small.
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah, they are. They are. And and it's, you know, it's MLS is competitive. And I think that um we probably we and and I include myself in that. um I'm not including you in that because that's that's not nice to do.
00:21:27
Speaker
But I think we we probably overrate the sounders at times. um Yeah. Sort of overlook some of their flaws. And that's the fun, you know.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, and and they're they're a lot of fun to watch, right? It's easier to ignore the fact that they have regressed horribly defensively and are a pretty mediocre defensive team this year because they're scoring a bunch of goals and they're winning games in lopsided fashion.
00:21:53
Speaker
um But by goal difference, they're the fifth best team in the in the Western Conference right now. And right ah do I don't think that that necessarily speaks to ultimately their their quality, right? Like, I think that they're ah better team than Minnesota. I think that they're a on equal footing, at least with LAFC.
00:22:12
Speaker
But this is sort of a coming back to earth kind of moment, right?
Sounders' Strengths and Weaknesses
00:22:17
Speaker
Where it was very easy to convince yourself after the league's cup win that this was the best team in MLS and they were going to make an MLS cup run.
00:22:28
Speaker
And I think it's a little harder to talk yourself into that being a certainty at this point. Yeah. I don't think it's a, I think the certainty with which we felt those emotions is probably diminished.
00:22:43
Speaker
It doesn't diminish. they're like, they've shown that on their day, even without their best players, that this is a very good team that is capable of getting results. I really do think that this was a ah team capable of getting results against my result tonight against Miami, but they were not like they, the way they played was not, was not up to their standard. And I think I, know, and Schmetzer sort of owned that to a degree I don't, it's hard to say like if you put in Snyder Brunel for, for Christian Roldan, is that going to change this result?
00:23:20
Speaker
I don't know. I would have felt honestly though, I would have felt better about it. I would have felt a lot better about it. Yes. Snyder Brunel. Yes. If they lose three, one center Brunel starts this game. I feel better if they lose three, one uh,
00:23:33
Speaker
ah you You know, Yamar, I did not. Like, Reagan looked a lot better than Yamar. i In hindsight, I wonder if it would have been better to to flop them. ah But Yamar didn't didn't didn't look up for it.
00:23:45
Speaker
Nuhu did not look good. And that's one that's a little bit more... tough to to handle because he should have the legs to, you know, he, he did not play in the, in the league's cup final.
00:23:58
Speaker
Presumably he would have been a little bit better ah ready. i think his mistakes were more mental. You know, he keeps ah he he kept guys on a couple of times when he shouldn't have, he was, that he seemed to be a little out of position on a couple of the goals.
00:24:12
Speaker
ah You know, that that's a tough one. uh, Rothrock you know, there, you can kind of go down the low. I don't know that anyone who started on Saturday looked entirely up for this one.
00:24:24
Speaker
And that's, that's sort of what's frustrating. Yeah, no, I would, I would agree with that. And, and I think you make a really good point about the, it's not that Brunel would have, um,
00:24:36
Speaker
fix things. Right. It's that because I mean, honestly, Christian looked very bad by his standard in this game. He had like four giveaways that are just not his.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah. Not his stuff, which directly led to a goal led to the first goal. Yeah. But he did have a couple of like pretty good defensive plays. He had, you know, some decent looking attack. He's a good player. Yeah.
00:24:56
Speaker
Right. He's a good player. you And it's, I think that that's exactly the the half that, or not even half, though the half hour that Snyder Brunel had, right? They looked pretty similar. They did some really good things.
00:25:08
Speaker
Snyder had a really bad giveaway that led to a goal. um Almost led to a goal. or not a Not a goal, but ah ah a really good chance. um And, you know, it's, I just, I don't really think it matters, but would have been nice to get k Christian a little more rest because now that Austin game is so much more important, you probably need to start him again.
00:25:28
Speaker
um I do think it's going to be a little easier to recover from this one just because, you know, he's he didn't play the for the US a couple of days ago and um he's going to get most of the the rest of the week off. I'm assuming not off, but um maybe they'll go a little lighter on him in training this week because it's a short week. So, yeah, I honestly I feel like this is one of those ones where.
00:25:51
Speaker
The easier thing would have been maybe to bench it, to not start him against the galaxy on at home. Yeah. And then yeah rest like, let them rest from, I, Like, I don't want to get too much into second guessing Schmetzer. He has pressed a lot of the right buttons, but there are a few lineup decisions between these, this game and the galaxy game that feel a little too easy to second guess.
00:26:14
Speaker
One of them being starting Christian twice. Like i really think they needed to choose one of those two games to start them. Yeah. Yeah. Obed, like i saw a fair number of people complaining about Obed. I actually thought even before his goal, I thought he was fine. i thought, I think he would on the list of players who I, I was frustrated by Obed was not on it.
00:26:34
Speaker
Frankly. I think that the sounders looked, or I thought Obed looked fine. Not maybe not great, but he was, he was not one of the players who I was stressing about, ah you know, Minungu I thought had, you know, was okay. But again, this is ah a player who was fresh.
00:26:50
Speaker
ah But we, I feel like we have maybe not talked enough about the player who a lot of people are going to want us to talk about in this game. And that's Stefan Frye. i asked you know i I asked Schmetzer about him, and i thought his answer was actually fair, which is i don't know if he – look, you can argue he got a bad read on the second goal.
00:27:15
Speaker
But I also have to give him a little bit of of grace in that the reality is –
00:27:24
Speaker
Leo Messi had a look right in front of goal. Like the biggest problem on that goal was probably not Steph Fry's read of Leo Messi's shot.
00:27:36
Speaker
The bigger problem was the cross that comes in and Messi being all alone in front of goal. Like on some level, like could he have done better? Sure. But that's not the the main culprit of why that goal happens.
00:27:50
Speaker
Similarly, on the first goal, he gets a leg to it, but he he does. You know, let's give him credit. He takes the right angle. And he gets his leg on the ball. And sometimes that that goes in and sometimes it doesn't. It went in this time.
00:28:03
Speaker
Hard to put that one too much on him. And then the third goal, again, he gets rooted to the ground. You'd like to see him make a better effort on a ball that is right over his head.
00:28:15
Speaker
But on the other hand, it's an open header from point blank range. It's not that realistic for So it's like, he looked bad, like in ways he looked bad on all three goals, but he also made a bunch of good saves.
00:28:27
Speaker
I don't know. I'm, yeah I'm a little bit of on a, have a mixed feelings about this because on one hand, I i don't understand why you start Steph short rest. This seems to me like a perfect example of look, it's an excuse to, to let Thomas play.
00:28:42
Speaker
And instead you sort of end up in a situation where you're like, like Thomas wouldn't have been worse. I don't think. Yeah. No, I don't know. but so I don't know. Yeah, I think that some of the calls for just the immediate benching of Steph and declaring him done for were a little over the top because he he did have that great save against Messi.
00:29:02
Speaker
He had a couple other nice saves. and And
Goalkeeping Dilemmas: Should Frei Start?
00:29:05
Speaker
honestly, he plays the the one where Messi all in on goal. I thought like he doesn't save that one, but I thought he actually did a good job of creating like of creating of staying big, essentially. But go ahead. I'm sorry. Right.
00:29:19
Speaker
I think, well, I think that the the thing with the second one that's so weird to me is that there's nothing about. The way he reacted to it made me think that there's just something from the camera angle we didn't see, because it's not like he reacted in a way where he just reacted too slowly, like he moved the wrong direction initially.
00:29:38
Speaker
And and so I'm just like, that's just one of those that i'm I'm willing to chalk up. Like, I think it's very bad to not make that save because it was not a very good shot. And he went in a weird direction. But I don't think that that that goal specifically is evidence of him being past it. Right.
00:29:55
Speaker
um And the other two, you know, i i don't know that Thomas makes those saves. um I don't I think like you said, like, I don't I don't think he. ah I don't know that he's going to do any worse in those situations, you know? Right.
00:30:11
Speaker
But it is just one of those things where I think that it is weird to not... give them the start because now you're in a situation where everything is getting second guessed.
00:30:26
Speaker
And I, and I think if ultimately if this game plays out the exact same way and Andrew Thomas is in goal, and I think that that's a reasonable assumption ye to make, yep. Yep. Um, that now you've made your job a little easier because you can say, look, you know, like we want, we want to rotate these guys and Andrew's going to get his chances, but like he had his chance and he didn't do a great job. And ah You know, Steph hasn't made any big mistakes since come in now.
00:30:50
Speaker
You know, it makes it ah a trickier discussion. i mean, I'll be very curious to see who starts against Austin. I will, too. And I think it's sort of like the Brunel situation where, like, no one's expecting standard Brunel to take Christian Roldan's job. Christian Roldan, let me just say, Christian Roldan has been the Sounders best player all year.
00:31:08
Speaker
I'm willing to give him some grace, but I, I just also feel like Brian could have done him a solid and given him a game off in one of these two games. And instead he sort of is playing. You can't tell me he doesn't look tired.
00:31:21
Speaker
Like he, he looked like he had, he was not himself in this game. And I think that's a a lot of it is like, he had just played 90 minutes for the U S or close to 90 minutes for the U S. And then he played,
00:31:34
Speaker
ah he He played, i believe, 90 minutes against Galaxy. And I just it's just give him a break. Like you don't need him to start. you don't need the like, yeah, it would have been nice to get a result from this game.
00:31:46
Speaker
But it just feels like you you can make your life a little easier. And the Thomas one falls into that same situation where just make your life easier. Like I just thought Andy thomas starting Andrew Thomas in this game was an easy, like an, it was an easy, it was like a gimme to me of like, look, give them the game. It doesn't. And if, and I honestly, I, I hate to say this, but I think maybe part of the reason why he doesn't start them in this game is if Andrew Thomas plays well, it makes it, yeah it makes it tougher.
00:32:18
Speaker
But instead you were sort of like stuck on the, like, I like if this was a no win situation, sort of like if the Sounders came into this game thinking, ah you know, this is probably a loss.
00:32:31
Speaker
It's it doesn't help you to put Steph into the in goal. Like again, and I think to now. ah go ahead. Sorry. No, no, no. Go. No, no, no. Well, now you've put yourself into a situation where if you give even if the plan all along was to give stuff this game and give Andrew Thomas the Austin game.
00:32:47
Speaker
Now you put yourself in a situation where by doing that, you're setting the the expectation that it's Thomas's job now and that Steph is getting benched for a bad game against Miami. Like it's just, and to me that suggests that Andrew Thomas is just not going to play the rest of the year. Like that the plan just to give Steph the job and until he lost it.
00:33:09
Speaker
Right. And unfortunately that seems to be, the situation. And I, and I don't on some level, maybe that's unavoidable. ah The idea that Schmetzer is going to bench Steph for all that he's done while he hasn't really done any.
00:33:26
Speaker
And, and to be fair to Fry, he has not been bad. It's not that he looks like, I don't think he looks past it. He made two or three really good saves today.
00:33:36
Speaker
If you look at the XG on Miami, it, he did not, you know, he, They didn't have quite three, but they were very like they had a lot of good chances. And Fry was, for the most part, made the saves that you'd expect. He made a couple maybe that you wouldn't expect.
00:33:51
Speaker
He didn't make one that you would have liked them to have made. It wasn't a bad game. But Andrew Thomas just finished winning League's Cup goalkeeper, know, best goalkeeper of the tournament.
00:34:05
Speaker
And he's the young guy and he's clearly more athletic. And you kind of like the idea of him playing in a penalty shootout a lot more than you like the idea of Steph playing in a penalty shootout.
00:34:17
Speaker
And all of a sudden it's like these decisions just are going to get harder.
Strategic Adjustments for Playoff Success
00:34:21
Speaker
i don't envy Brian Schmetzer, I guess is what I'm saying. And I felt like this was, this was, he could have given himself a a little bit of a break and instead he didn't, you know, and that's what's, that's the bummer about this game.
00:34:34
Speaker
and And like these are the situations I think he's done a really good job of handling over the years. And so i'm I'm willing because we've we've questioned similar things in the past, although I do feel like this is a slightly different situation where Stephen Fry is older. He's coming back from injury. This is a very short rest game. You've got another game coming up on the weekend.
00:34:57
Speaker
um so you've got all the cover in the world you need to say no this has nothing to do with this is just we need we want to make sure stuff is fresh with the stretch run blah blah blah blah blah um but but i do think you know i'm i'm willing to give brian the benefit of the doubt on this kind of stuff but it's i'm just assuming there is something that it's one of those right where it's like there's something i'm not seeing here because it seems so obvious to me Yeah.
00:35:22
Speaker
I mean, I just think it's a very similar situation to Nico and Raul, where they're in there probably last year as starter, and it's just tough to put them on the bench.
00:35:34
Speaker
The difference being that it's different for goalkeepers. Like, it's just, it is is't inherently, it's one thing to bench Raul Rui Diaz for Jordan Morris when there's very clearly a role that Rui Diaz can play off the bench.
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's one thing to bench Niko Ladero for Albert Rusnak when there's still very clearly a role he can play on the team. If you bench Steph for Andrew Thomas...
00:36:01
Speaker
it's like your role as cheerleader essentially like, uh, or if you, you come in in case of an emergency and that's a tough, it's a tougher decision. And i don't envy, i don't envy Brian. You know, he talked about this at the the last time we talked to him about, this is a real, this is a real controversy and it's, and it's a, it's a good kind of controversy, but it's still,
00:36:26
Speaker
gonna cause some issues you know it's it's there's still questions here uh yeah but uh hopefully they can they can put it together for austin i mean austin should not be striking fear into them this is a game very much a game the sounders can win yeah but they need to go out and do it now because they put themselves in that situation they They can win, but I think like a week and a half ago, it would have been they can and should win. And now I'm not so sure about the should. And that's that's kind of bummer. You know, it's yeah, it's but, you know, they've still got time to figure it out.
00:37:01
Speaker
um Maybe maybe it's time where Brian Schmetzer starts getting into postseason mode and we see them approach these games a little bit differently. um Because I will say last year's team, I felt very good about their ability to go on the road and the playoffs and grind out a result.
00:37:15
Speaker
This year, I don't feel as good about that. And so I think they. are going to have to make some changes to the way they play, at least on the road. um And maybe you want to start making some of those adjustments now instead of, you know, three days before the first playoff game. So ah yeah, big game should be interesting, ah would feel real good about a win if they could get it.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, ah we're doing sort of a a short show today. So that's that's basically it. ah Aaron has a concert, I believe, to go to. that's correct. Yeah.
00:37:49
Speaker
And, you know, but we wanted to make sure we were on the record for the Galaxy and Allison game and or whatever. a Who did they play today? Miami. Something like that. Miami. Yeah. But. But ah anyway, well we'll come back and and we'll be we'll ah be back next week for sure.
00:38:06
Speaker
ah doing get Get back into our normal routine. i am Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickett. This is No Saudi at this, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:38:46
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders. um