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Episode 251: Dancing With The Bear
60 Plays8 years ago
Just writing these words feels totally wrong: The Seattle Sounders are off to their worst-ever start. Yes, that means worse than 2010, 2011 and even 2016. It’s not that the Sounders have played bad, per se, but the results simply haven’t been there.
We tried to make sense of this start, discussed the recent news surrounding S2 and interviewed Will Bruin (who apparently lives in Ballard!). Enjoy.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Messages
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of NOS Audiadis is sponsored by Queen and Acupuncture. Queen and Acupuncture has over a decade of experience healing the injuries of athletes. Marathon runners, snowboarders, yoga instructors and weekend warriors have all found relief from pain and have enhanced performance with the use of Acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
00:00:22
Speaker
Queen Anne acupuncture has treated players from many of the Seattle area's soccer leagues for a wide range of injuries. Acupuncture also happens to be one of the best treatments for stress. Credit cards are welcome but Queen Anne acupuncture is also in network with insurance plans including Primera, Aetna, LifeWise, Cigna and Group Health Cooperative.
00:00:45
Speaker
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Seattle Sounders' Historic Challenges
00:01:20
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills the greenest green in Seattle. Welcome back to another edition of Most Audio Discs, sponsored by Focal Wines, Constellation & Company, Queen Anne Acupuncture, Verdi Credit Inn, Designer's Marble, and her broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 251 and we're recording on Monday, May 8th, 2017. I am your host, Jeremiah Shannon, and I'm joined by my co-host,
00:01:49
Speaker
Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett. Also joining us later in the show is one of the newest sounders, Will Bruin. It's official, the sounders are off to their worst ever start through nine games. Yes, that's worse than 2010. Yes, it's worse than 2011. Yes, it's even worse than last year.
00:02:08
Speaker
Now, it should be said that the Sounders would vault up several spots on this ignominious list with a win in game number 10, but this is not what we envisioned when they started their most recent two-game home stand. That home stand, though, yielded just a single point, and that came in a game they somehow managed to tie after falling behind by three goals. Now, if you look at the stats aside from points, you won't see much cause for alarm. Their goals against, their goals, their goal difference, are all in the top third of the league.
00:02:33
Speaker
The expected goals models still love them, and somehow they're behind such teams as Minnesota United, who has a negative 12 goal difference. It doesn't feel like a bad start, but here we are. Aaron, what do we make of all this? Is this, like, should we be freaking out? Are all the stats lying to us? I mean, wow, wow. Makes sense of this for me.
00:02:56
Speaker
I don't think we should be freaking out. I don't think the stats are lying to us. I also don't think the team is playing up to its potential, especially in the attack, especially in being able to break down teams that are playing really defensively, which lately kind of seems like everybody. I don't want to say that the book is out on the Sounders because that kind of implies that they've been
00:03:17
Speaker
figured out, but teams definitely have an approach that they take. We saw it from Toronto, they played pretty defensively, they nicked a goal on a penalty, went into a shell, and if you can defend the crosses that are going to come in after 15 minutes of not being able to break down that shell,
00:03:39
Speaker
Um, you should be fine. I mean, that was the thing with New England is that they just did not defend adequately, um, even with a three goal lead. And, you know, the Sounders were able to take advantage of that, but, um, New England definitely has quite a bit of fault there. And you know, with, uh, with Toronto, they just dealt
Sounders' Tactical and Luck Issues
00:03:57
Speaker
really, really well with what the Sounders were trying to do. The Sounders didn't execute. They didn't have anything. Uh, and so I think until the Sounders can, you know, either get out front early or
00:04:07
Speaker
learn to break down those, those bunkered defensive teams. Teams are going to, are going to keep doing it. The game state then I think kind of gives the Sounders more opportunities than they would from an even game state. And I think they've benefited from that in terms of the way the statistics look. But at the same time, you know, I don't think they're playing terribly. I do think they've been unlucky in a lot of ways. I don't think that they were against Toronto aside from the handball penalty that probably should have gotten called.
00:04:37
Speaker
definitely should have gotten called but they didn't they didn't play well at all and against New England I thought they played exceptionally well in the attack and they made some you know defensive mistakes that you wouldn't expect them to make that often so
00:04:52
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, the Toronto game, I think it was a huge downer for everyone. It just wasn't pleasant to watch at all. The sounders really didn't execute well. But I think if you look at the story of the season as a whole, it's a little rosier. And I don't have huge concerns.
00:05:10
Speaker
It's just frustrating because there are things that definitely aren't working. And even if this team was having better luck, if they were having more of those shots go in, if they were playing up to what the expected goals model expects them to, those things would still be present. They would still be frustrating. So there's definitely room for improvement.
00:05:32
Speaker
And I think we'll probably see it. I think that they're going to figure some of this stuff out. I think Jordan Morris getting healthy will be a huge benefit. And they're probably going to, her luck's probably going to even out as well.
00:05:46
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, I agree. I think maybe the biggest thing that underscores the degree of luck that they're experiencing right now is they've hit the goalpost or the crossbar 10 times this year at the end. That was I think three times they did that against New England. Was that right? Yeah, they did three times against New England.
00:06:08
Speaker
Obviously a very different game if they convert any of those chances. But you can go back and they have several crossbars or posts that have cost them points. There was the one against Atlanta. There was the, what was the other one I'm thinking of? Vancouver of course, they had a couple in that one. I mean you can go through the list and they've had crossbars and posts that have kind of deflated their goal scoring and probably to some degree their points.
00:06:36
Speaker
but at the same time you're right they don't seem to be generating a ton of great chances from open play and the game state
00:06:45
Speaker
has undeniably benefited them in terms of what the statistics are showing. And I actually went back and looked at it today.
Scoring and Refereeing Controversies
00:06:53
Speaker
They've scored seven goals while trailing. Now, I don't think that's an exceptionally high percentage when you consider that that's half their goal totals, but they have, I think, four goals when they're tied and they have three goals when they're ahead. And I guess that maybe speaks to why, for all the goals they've given up, or they've scored, why they don't have more points to show for it.
00:07:15
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, I, I agree. I, you know, I just think that anytime the team is not getting results, especially, you know, I think coming into this home stand, people felt like, um, okay, we're not off to a great start. You know, uh, we, we haven't looked great in, in some games, but if we can get into this home stand, you know, and get four or six points out of it, we'll feel okay. And then to get a point out of it.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah. Definitely, you know, doesn't improve the mood. I think at this point though, I mean, the downside obviously is that if you want to compete for supporter shield, that's going to be a hell of a lot tougher now, right? Yes. You know, and that's a bummer. And it's probably more of a bummer now than it was before we won the MLS Cup, because now that, you know, we've got that feather in our cap, it's back to kind of, I think, wanting to
00:08:04
Speaker
You know, that's out of the way. So now I just want the team to be consistently good. But I just, I don't see any way this team misses a playoffs. I think there's a pretty good chance that they end up with, you know, either hosting a knockout game or, you know, avoiding the knockout round altogether. I think they're a good team. The start's not ideal. I just don't see any plausible reason right now to think that they're going to keep getting the results that they've been getting.
00:08:33
Speaker
And I think even if you look at this game against Toronto FC, and I think that you can probably make an argument that it was their... maybe not their worst performance of the season, but it was one of the first half I thought was pretty...
00:08:46
Speaker
Like it was not good. The first half wasn't great. And in the second half, they didn't generate a ton more chances. But as bad as they looked at times, it's a one goal loss. And by all rights, and maybe this is worth getting into, is the penalty they gave up is pretty soft.
00:09:06
Speaker
I think it's a fair penalty, but it was soft. But then on the other end, I thought that there was an absolutely blatant handball on Clint Dempsey's shot. It hits Benoit Chayrou in the arm while he's flailing it around. I mean, that's the kind of call that if the ref sees it, you definitely expect that to be awarded a penalty. You score that one, it's the 60th minute, all of a sudden it's a very different game.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And I think, too, that as bad as the rest of that game was, the sounders looked really, really good until the penalty and until going behind. And the penalty, I'm trying to remember how soon that was after the offside goal was called off.
00:09:53
Speaker
It was like 20 minutes, I want to say. The goal came in like the fifth minute and the penalty came in like the 25th minute. Yeah, I mean, so they weren't that close, I guess. But I think really until the penalty, the Sounders were creating pretty good chances. They had a couple really, really great sequences with some really slick interplay between Ledero and Dempsey that I don't think we've seen that much this year. So that was pretty encouraging. And if they end up with a point in that game, that's not a good result.
00:10:22
Speaker
And I think that they probably should have. The penalty that they didn't get called was pretty blatant. And I'm convinced that Marufo saw it too, and that's the most frustrating thing. He just decided not to give it, and that's...
00:10:35
Speaker
I have no idea why. It did happen almost right in front of him. He's looking right at him. You have to think he saw it. You have to think he saw it. This is kind of a tangent, but it's why I really hate the whole like, well, you have to determine whether or not there was intent and blah, blah, blah. I mean, no. If your hand is like in a position that's not reasonable and it touches the ball, it's a penalty.
00:11:04
Speaker
Well, and I think it was our favorite referee, Paul Cox, actually looked up a directive by US soccer that basically said that if your arm's in an unnatural position, intent is kind of assumed if you're
Defensive Mistakes and Tactical Adjustments
00:11:21
Speaker
If you're being essentially reckless with your body and swipping your arm around is, I would say, pretty reckless, it's definitely an unnatural position, that hits your arm, that's a penalty. We've seen it called a million times against the Sounders that way. I'm sure the Sounders have benefited from that same kind of call.
00:11:41
Speaker
It's just kind of astounding to me that that's not a penalty There was someone on Twitter that was trying to explain to me that it wasn't a penalty Which I don't see how you can watch that replay and and just not immediately See that it was a penalty and while we're talking about refereeing. This was a very strange game Like you can like I absolutely think
00:12:01
Speaker
The Gustaf Svensson offside was correct. I think that any interpretation of a player involving himself in the play that fits it, I don't have a problem with that. I tend to think that that shot may have gone in regardless of Svensson making a play on it. I know a lot of people disagree with that, whatever, but it was the right call.
00:12:24
Speaker
I'm even willing to acknowledge that as soft as the Josie Altidore penalty was, you know, he basically, he stops to create contact, he's not kind of continuing, he stops chasing the ball to create contact, he's drawing a penalty, whatever, that happens.
00:12:41
Speaker
I'm willing to live with that, but then there are so many calls that were just mind-boggling like the yellow on Jordy Delham in which he basically gets cleated in the shin. Somehow that's a yellow card on him. And then the most hilarious one is that Ozzie Alonso gets a yellow card for
00:13:00
Speaker
Seemingly, absolutely nothing. I think it actually may have been a mistaken identity. It definitely was. And if Maruffa was trying to give a yellow to Jordy Delham, who that would have been an absolute travesty if he ends up getting a second yellow for...
00:13:15
Speaker
Nothing for for that like getting thrown out of the game when the first one was so ridiculous But just a very strange game in a lot of ways. Yeah, and I think I mean this is one of those things where if you ever bring up shitty officiating in a game that you lose people say well the referees didn't lose the game and that's and it's just like yeah, no shit, but I think it's still reasonable to point out that he had a horrible game and
00:13:38
Speaker
Um, but I'm, I'm with you on the Torres penalty. I mean, I think that you're the Altador penalty, I guess is the more appropriate way to say it. It's soft and you know, Altador is definitely looking for the penalty there, but a good way to avoid, you know, having it awarded is to not run into the back home and not let him get goals. Right. And not to not give up. I mean,
00:13:58
Speaker
Right, exactly. You know, we gave Gustaf's, well, I guess we didn't because we haven't recorded yet, but Gustaf Senson got a lot of grief for letting Juan Agadero get goalside him on a header. Now, it's a lot worse when you let a runner get goalside of you in the position that Roman Torres was where he's literally chasing him into the box on really a nothing move. I mean, that was another frustrating
00:14:21
Speaker
penalty to give up just because it was so avoidable. It came from really nothing and there was no reason that if Roman Torres doesn't do anything, that's not a dangerous play because I don't think Josie Outdoor is going to control that pass.
00:14:38
Speaker
So it's just, I don't know, it's a very frustrating situation to have the centers put themselves in, but they, it should also be said that they're creating these own, their own, like, you know, it's said you create your own luck while you also expose yourself to bad luck when you're not creating, when you're not scoring. You know, whenever you're, when you're not scoring goals as often as you should be, and I, you know, we can kind of go up and down about whether 14 goals over the course of the nine games is enough, but, uh,
00:15:07
Speaker
You can kind of go back and forth about that, but if the centers are scoring goals, they can survive some of these mistakes that they're making. Yeah, definitely. And even to get a little more granular, they can avoid luck coming into play in that situation just by Torres not making kind of a silly play. I feel like the number of mental errors that they've made defensively this year has been pretty uncharacteristic.
00:15:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's just I don't feel like it was something that that's happened a lot in the past It definitely didn't happen a lot down the stretch last season And and that's one of those things that I think Maybe the short offseason has has some impact there And I don't expect like I don't expect Roman Torres to keep making mistakes like that and that's another reason I feel a little bit better about the way things have started but
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean it's just it's frustrating all around and I think one of the most frustrating things about it is that
00:16:12
Speaker
I do think that they're playing reasonably well. I don't think that the team is broken. I mean, I think there are some roster construction issues. I think that there are some things they've got to figure out tactically, especially in the attack. And I do think maybe they need to be a little more incisive in the final third and be less concerned with keeping the ball more concerned with trying to make the killer pass. But it's really easy to see this season being
00:16:39
Speaker
a much faster start. I think it's totally reasonable to think that they could have very easily had another probably nine points so far. And then we're talking about this being one of the fastest starts in team history. And so I think the margins are pretty thin, but as long as this doesn't get dragged out, I don't think it's any, I just don't really think there's any cause for concern unless they hit the panic button and try to fix things that are actually working pretty well.
00:17:09
Speaker
I think if you look at it this way it starts to maybe put into contrast how the season's gone like how many games have they played this year that you think that they've been Genuinely outplayed like I think you can say the Houston game. I think you maybe can say the Vancouver game but other than that
00:17:32
Speaker
I don't know that, and I don't even know if the Vancouver game, they were really outplayed. They gave up too late goals. They kind of, you know, on kind of dumb marking mistakes. But even if you grant those two games, I don't think that they've been really roundly outplayed by anyone. And that's kind of what's frustrating, is that every other year that they've started badly, there's been at least one or two games where you're just like, oh my god, what is wrong with this team?
00:18:01
Speaker
And in some ways, like I asked this question a lot today out of training, and I think I even asked it to Will Bruin when he was on our show, is like, does it make it worse somehow that you haven't been outplayed and you're off to this bad start? And everyone at least is saying that it's actually a source of encouragement, that no one is like getting, no one's pointing fingers, no one's getting upset, no one feels like something is totally off the tracks. And I guess somewhere along the line of,
00:18:31
Speaker
explanations for why the season's going the way it is, is Chad Marshall has missed half the season, Roman Torres has missed half the season, Brad Evans hasn't even played a single minute yet. I mean these are important defensive pieces and they've been absent for the most part. We haven't had a single good, I don't think we've had one kind of
00:18:53
Speaker
great Roman Torres performance. You know, so that basically means I don't know that we've had our two best center backs haven't been able to play together for an extended period. So I guess that helps explain some of the defensive issues. And then I guess this is the last issue I really wanted to get into is that it's starting to look like teams are basically realizing that the Sounders are an exceptionally left-sided team. And that means that
00:19:20
Speaker
that a lot of their width is basically coming, almost all of their width is coming from Jovan Jones. And the effective play that Nico Lidero is able to generate is more from a cutting in and middle to the left side of the field. He hasn't necessarily done a lot on the right wing. And Jordy Delham is the guy who has, I think,
00:19:47
Speaker
Has not been great I don't think he's been I think he's been about as good as you can expect a fourth or fifth string right back to be But it's pretty clear that teams are effectively daring Jordy Dellum to kind of beat them
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, that's a winning strategy, I think. And it's, I mean, I do think that part of the struggles on both sides of the ball are, you know, the fact that Jovan Jones is being expected to do as much as he has explained some of that. The sounders don't have a player in the attacking band that provides with at all.
00:20:25
Speaker
You know, that's okay if you have one of those guys, right? Like Nico Ledero is gonna cut in from, you know, from the right-hand side and orchestrate in the middle. And lots of great playmakers operate that way. I don't think that's a problem, but you have to have some balance there. If, you know, if Jovan Jones was a right back, I don't think we'd be having nearly the same problems, even if we had, you know, the left-footed version of Jordy Delham playing on the left.
00:20:53
Speaker
But I don't know I mean Morris is not a winger right now. No, he's a striker plain wide Maybe that makes the most sense, you know for where the teams out right now I still I still don't think it does and I think that
00:21:09
Speaker
his lack of, I'll be charitable and say, defensive prowess on the wing has been a pretty major problem. And so, you know, I just, I don't think this shape that they're in is a long-term solution, but
00:21:28
Speaker
you know, Alvaro Fernandez is not a true classic winger that's gonna stay wide. Harry Ship is not a true classic winger that's gonna stay wide. Henry Wingo might be, but I don't think that that's, you know, anybody's idea of a solution right now. So, you know, I think they're just gonna have to
00:21:45
Speaker
either learn how to play with a really narrow team and hold Jovan back a little bit more. And you can play without a ton of width. I mean, you can play and be successful. It's hard. It's hard and it's not always pretty, but it can work. Or Morris is going to have to start actually staying wide and actually playing as a winger a little bit more.
00:22:06
Speaker
Right, which, you know, I don't know how likely that is to happen, especially with him on the left side, where he's basically set up to be cutting in from there. Right, and you can't really expect Ledero to do the same kind of things on the left either. Right. Exactly. It's like if you want wide play, you're going to have to bring in players that are more capable of it. Now, and I guess you can possibly, again, another injured player, Aaron Kovar, who hasn't played a single minute,
00:22:32
Speaker
And I don't know how close he is to getting onto the field, but that's probably the one kind of real wide player that they have left on the roster. And I guess that's maybe also where they miss a guy like Andrea Savanjic a little bit, is they just don't have attacking players that can whip in a cross from, you know, the end line side of the, like, the whip in that kind of cross.
00:22:56
Speaker
or even, you know, beat a full back and draw a center back out of position and open things up in the middle. And I think, and I think you don't even have to be like, you're starting 11. Doesn't even have to have that kind of attacking with, but not having the option, not having the player that can provide that. Um, I mean, it's kind of like the same situation they're in with strikers right now since Bruin is starting. I mean, they don't, you know, they're having to do things like bring room on tourism to play striker because they don't, they don't have any of those options. And if there's, I mean, if there's a serious.
00:23:23
Speaker
criticism I think that you can you know make of the way this roster is constructed is that it's great having like for like players that can play in a lot of different positions but you have to have a change of pace and they just they don't really have that right now and I think it's you know it's they felt the impact of that.
00:23:41
Speaker
right and i mean i guess to some degree there's you know it's you can only plan for so many things and and i i i know it's tempting to blame roster construction on this and and the reality is they do have some open roster spots that are maybe coming back to bite them right now especially with all these injuries but
00:24:00
Speaker
I don't know, it'll be interesting to see how this happens, how this all breaks down.
Player Integration and Lifestyle Insights
00:24:05
Speaker
By the time you listen to this show, the transfer window is going to be closed and barring some huge surprise, I don't think the sender is going to be adding anyone right now.
00:24:16
Speaker
We'll be interesting, hopefully the Sanders can kind of turn this thing around. But I think that's probably a good place to end it. We're gonna do our Will Bruin interview. Hopefully you get to know him a little bit better. And then we'll come back, take your questions. You're listening to Nos Adiates.
00:24:36
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:26:19
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another edition of Nos Ariates. We are here with Will Bruin, one of the newest sounders. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Great to have you on. You seem like you fit in very nicely with this group of players. It seems like you have a personality that meshes easily with the Chad Marchels and the Brad Evans of the team. Yeah, exactly. I think I come right in stride with those guys character-wise in the locker room and stuff. And we kind of feed off each other when we get going.
00:26:48
Speaker
So how would you describe your time in Houston? And I've heard you say that you were kind of ready to leave. Yeah. You know, six years is a long time to be there. I got drafted there. I was there for all of Dom's era. And then the last few years, it was a lot of coaches coming in and out and change. So I just could feel in my gut that it was time to move on. And I couldn't be happier with where I am.
00:27:16
Speaker
So Dom has a reputation of being a pretty hard-nosed coach, demanding and that kind of thing. Brian has a little bit more of a players coach reputation. Is that a fair way to describe their coaching styles or is that maybe overblown?
00:27:34
Speaker
No, I'd say that's pretty fair, Dom. If you can get through your first year or two with Dom when you're young, then it's pretty smooth sailing. But, you know, they're kind of opposites. Dom's louder yelling at the fourth official and yelling at the players sometimes. And then Brian's obviously, I don't think I've seen him yell at fourth official. He's more laid back. But it's got like, you know, a calm confidence about him.
00:27:57
Speaker
What are some of the, I don't know, is there maybe an anecdote you can share, a Brian Schmetzer anecdote? We've gotten to know Brian pretty well over the years, but I'm always interested to hear players, especially new players, that don't necessarily have a long history with him. Yeah, I mean, he's kind of a hard person to read at first when I was getting to meet, getting to know him and kind of feel him out, see how he was as a person, but he's a great guy.
00:28:22
Speaker
He sincerely wants us the best for his players and the team. It just has people outside of soccer and he's definitely a player's coach.
00:28:31
Speaker
And I guess that's always another thing that we were trying to figure out last year. Like Siggy seemed like he has a good reputation among former players especially. Maybe one of those guys who when you're on the team you feel differently than when you even look back on it. But immediately Brian kind of got this reputation as being a players coach.
00:28:54
Speaker
And I think a lot of people interpret that as being like, he wants to be everyone's friend, but I think that maybe is unfair. How would you say the difference between a player's coach and maybe more of an authoritarian coach? Yeah, that's exactly what I would say Dom was, an authoritarian or whatever you say that. Authoritarian? Yeah, something like that. I butchered that. Yeah, that's all right. I butchered it too.
00:29:19
Speaker
No, but I'm assuming it's tough being an assistant coach because, you know, the assistant coaches players feel more comfortable going to. And you can be more friendly and stuff. But I'm sure he's trying to find the balance of being that authority figure. I'm not going to try to use the word again, authoritarian or whatever. We're real linguists on this show. We're real professional. But now he's, I'm sure he's trying to figure that, find that fine line. I think he's done a good job with it.
00:29:48
Speaker
So you kind of went through a similar situation that the Sounders went through last year, where a coach was fired midway through, and then a assistant was raised up, was way buried, right? Had you played with him before? I did not play with him, no. He retired before I got there, but he was there my whole time.
00:30:14
Speaker
I mean, and I wouldn't say that it went wrong necessarily there, but you obviously didn't make the dramatic turnaround that the Sounders made. What kind of challenges does a new coach like that face when he's not, I mean, he's a relatively young coach. He's a former player. I'm sure some of the players must have known him from his playing days. And they also knew him as like the assistant coach who I'm guessing a lot of guys would go to and complain about the head coach. Exactly. That's kind of what we were talking about with Schmetz. And now he's the head coach. He was an assistant.
00:30:43
Speaker
I thought Wade, when he took over, did a very good job. He has a good mind, a good soccer mind, tactically knows what he wants to do. It was just unfortunate because you could kind of see the writing on the wall that he wasn't going to get the job long term because they were going a different route. So that was the only unfortunate thing. So it was kind of like almost that they kind of threw the towel in once they gave him the
00:31:04
Speaker
And now that I'm remembering, and I guess I misstated what happened to Owen Coyle, he didn't actually get fired. He kind of disappeared and then showed up with Blackburn. Yeah, exactly. I'm doing the finger quotes for mutual consent to leave.
00:31:20
Speaker
You know, I don't think he truly ever got settled. I know his family didn't come over, so it's kind of tough, but... Remember a good sign, I guess, when the coach doesn't bring his family over. That's what I'm saying. So, you know, he already mutually parted ways with Blackburn as well, so it's just, it is what it is. Fair enough. So, coming over to the sounders,
00:31:40
Speaker
you've been kind of filling in as a, or not filling in, you've been playing a role of kind of a classic nine. I know that you weren't necessarily like a classic, like you played a nine, but not necessarily a post-up kind of, maybe more in a Kenny Cooper type of style. How would you say that this, like, how are you being asked to play differently now than you maybe were in Houston?
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah, I have a defined role here. I think it makes it easier for me. I got to keep the center backs occupied. In Toronto's case, all five center backs. But keep the back line occupied. Let our creative guys, Nico, Clint, Jordan with pace, get in behind and just take some of the beating so they can do what they do with the ball. So you, in the Toronto game,
00:32:28
Speaker
you end up going with like 17 touches, which I have to imagine is kind of a frustrating game for you when you're basically your only job at that point is getting into fights with the center backs. Exactly. Well, 19 touches. Sorry. It is frustrating though, but that kind of tells us, for me it kind of tells the tale of the game.
00:32:49
Speaker
We went east and west when sometimes games call to go north and just straight route one. So I think the possession is all nice, but at times we need to be more dynamic going forward.
00:33:00
Speaker
What can the team do in that way to, obviously you don't want to just give up possession. Possession is somewhat a symptom of something else that's going on. But what do you think the team can do to either make the possession that they have more meaningful, or it's weird. You look at the one game you guys didn't have possession advantage was the Red Bulls game where you actually played really well. Yeah, he scored three goals. I think we were more
00:33:28
Speaker
direct in that game and obviously sometimes you got to be more direct. It's not going to be the prettiest but it's efficient and effective. Finding that balance is something that I think is important.
00:33:42
Speaker
you know, we'll get it going. So, you know, you look at the run you guys are on and I don't think it's a bad run by any stretch, you know, you look at almost any of the numbers, no matter its goals, goals against, you know, you look at all the ancillary stats and they all point to a team that looks like it's in pretty good shape, except for maybe the points table.
00:34:03
Speaker
which is obviously the most important one. Is it more frustrating when you look at the stat sheet and you go, wait a minute, you should be doing okay? Or is it somehow more encouraging that if we keep playing this way, things will turn around? I think it's a little bit of both, but I like what you said, how things will turn around. I think throughout the long season, things find a way of balancing out.
00:34:26
Speaker
So right now things aren't really falling our way. Like you could tell that Toronto game just nothing was bouncing our way. It kind of, they would deflect a header and it would go right to a guy on a counter attack. So it was just like little things like that. I don't think we get to change anything we're doing because like I said, we're going to, the results will come and the only disappointing thing was one point with two home games that we just had. So that's, that's the frustrating in this league. You got to maximize your home games, but you know, we got a good opportunity to get some points on the road coming up.
00:34:54
Speaker
So switching gears a little bit, how have you found Seattle off the field? Great. It's been amazing. It's so beautiful. I know we were just talking about this earlier. I went over to Bainbridge Island and just the scenery here and the elevation and the mountains and the water and everything's just... pictures don't do it justice. You really have to see it.
00:35:13
Speaker
So you came here with your wife. Yes. I guess she's living here with you. Yep. Yep. Was that a, was, is that ever a decision that you, you know, you kick about, you know, we talked about own coil, not bringing his family over. Is that something that, that players will sometimes do as well? Like not bring, like they're not sure if they're somewhere long-term. Yeah. I'm sure every situation's different calls for different things, but Caitlin, my wife's been great with it. She kind of knew we dated in college. She played volleyball. I played soccer. So, um,
00:35:44
Speaker
She kind of knew what she was getting into, and we had stability in Houston for six years, but we were both ready to go somewhere that wasn't as humid. So have you been able to try some of the local restaurants and whatnot? Yeah, I like Bramblin Cross. I think it's an Ethan Stonewall restaurant. It's always one of my favorite spots to go to. They got a nice little happy hour menu.
00:36:10
Speaker
And then we went to Batteau the other night, so that was pretty good too, where they use all the meat and they cross it off the board and put stuff in Capitol Hill. And you know the food here has been great. So I saw that Bramley Cross is a $17 burger. At what point did you start rolling your eyes at the cost of a burger?
00:36:32
Speaker
Hence the happy hour. Very good, very astute. Happy hour in Seattle is actually, it's pretty good. They've got some good deals. I think the burger's like 10 bucks as opposed to 17 bucks exactly. But I have had the burger, it is really good. I don't know if I'd pay 17 bucks for it.
00:36:53
Speaker
And you got to get the pickled fries. It's not fried pickles. It's pickle seasoning. Oh, pickle seasoning? Yeah. OK. So it's not like they are serving you pickled potatoes. No. Because that's what I thought at first. I was like, that sounds awful. And then I was talking to the waiter, and he was like, yeah, everybody thinks that, but that's not really what it is.
00:37:11
Speaker
And, and so is this is Seattle feel like kind of like you're, are you from Indiana or are you? St. Louis, Missouri. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, exactly. It's all the same. When you're from the west coast, it's, it all blurs together. It's fine. It already feels like we've been here for a long time. So that's, that's a good, good sign.
00:37:31
Speaker
I have to say, you said that you are actually living in Ballard. I feel like there's only a handful of players the Sounders have had that have made it that far north and west. Yeah. Well, I mean, we kind of just looked at what we like to do. We like to go out to restaurants and stuff. And we didn't want to be driving all around. And there's a lot of places in Ballard. It's like its own little niche, kind of. Like you said, once you're in Ballard, you don't really leave unless you've got to go somewhere.
00:38:01
Speaker
It's definitely a different real estate market than Houston was, that's for sure. I can imagine. Yeah, my... It's not too fun at the end of the month. Yeah, that has definitely been a kind of loud wake-up call for Seattle. It's kind of mirrored the sounders when people came here in 2009.
00:38:26
Speaker
The market looked a lot different than it does now. Yeah, I'm sure.
Seattle's Real Estate and Team Evolution
00:38:29
Speaker
That would have been a smart time to get some stuff there. Any players that were here in their initial year and actually bought a house probably feel really good about that. Yeah, they're probably licking their chops with that investment right now. Yeah, well, Will, it's been great having you on. I don't want to take any more of your time. This is great. Oh, that's right. And thanks for listening to Nos Arigatas. All right.
00:38:53
Speaker
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00:39:27
Speaker
Full Pool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nos adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of 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.
00:39:47
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing, and three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. Welcome back to NOS Adiadis. We have lots of questions, or not lots, we have some questions that Likud's gonna now ask.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yes I am. Chamber Eye Seattle asks, two wins in the first nine games. Time to picnic or panic.
00:40:26
Speaker
I don't think picnic is the right, I don't feel like picnic is the right reaction, but I would be genuinely disappointed if they did something drastic like say drop out of that to defense it like change formations dramatically like move Alonzo or Roll Dawn into a different role or I don't know what other kind of dramatic things might they do.
00:40:50
Speaker
I mean, I guess they could make a trade of some kind and give up like actual assets to get back another striker, winger, or I don't know. You know who's a player I wouldn't mind on this team? Speaking of trades. Hmm. You know, like, and I don't think he's available, but I would love like a Justin Miram. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Justin Miram would be great. I mean, just someone that can kinda
00:41:21
Speaker
be like the Chad Barrett, but hopefully better. Um, you know, like this, I just feel like this team kind of needs like an attacking Swiss army knife. Like they have so much more Nagel, maybe.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah. I will say, and I know that's going to drive some people crazy because, uh, Lamar polarizes a lot of people, but I will say having a player like, like maybe not literally Lamar, but having a player like that, at least on your roster. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I mean, I think realistically.
00:41:52
Speaker
Lamar didn't make sense because I think he was at a point in his career where he felt like he wanted to be a starter. And he was making starters money. Yeah, for sure. And I just like that player, yeah, like I don't think it made sense for him to stay with the Sounders at that point. But yeah, a player like Lamar Nagel that can play multiple positions that
00:42:13
Speaker
you know, can even if he's got some rough edges on a lot of, you know, parts of his game can put the ball on the net. You know, when it comes down to it, that would be a pretty useful guy to have right now.
00:42:29
Speaker
Hey, Undertablefan asks, what is this team? Did well at the end of last season. Now with Clint at it, it seems a mess. Possession with little intent, no more crosses. That's more. I think no more crosses is a request, right? I think so. I think so. Go ahead.
00:42:46
Speaker
I was going to say that I do think one of the things about crossing, and we kind of got into this earlier, is that it's a symptom of a disease. It's not the disease. The centers aren't going into games thinking we should pump in 25, 30 crosses. But what happens is that when defense is bunker in and you're not, when you're giving teams a chance to get set, to get bunkered, all of a sudden crosses are the most effective way to break that down.
00:43:13
Speaker
and you kind of got to prove you can break it down. They did it in the revolution game, granted it was kind of a crazy scenario. But yeah, they got to move the ball faster and I think one of the things that they alluded to is they got to do a better job of spotting that early pass and taking the shot earlier in the sequence.
00:43:35
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree with you that crosses are a symptom and not the problem itself. That being said, I feel like they just resort to it way too early. It's really frustrating to watch. I think that they're not going in without being the plan. I think that's 100% true.
00:43:55
Speaker
But I think teams kind of know that they're going to not be especially incisive with the final ball. And so they're comfortable going to the bunker earlier. And they've got guys that can make that pass. They can make the killer ball. They can totally, I hate to use this term, but totally unlock a defense. They have multiple guys on the roster that can do that. And for whatever reason, they've just seemed kind of reluctant to do it this year.
00:44:23
Speaker
Um, you know, I, I don't know exactly what it is, but it's, it's been a problem. Uh, and, and I don't think, uh, you know, Gustav Svensson had some quotes after the game that said, you know, maybe possession, we have too much possession. And, um, I don't buy that, you know, I think possession is a really effective tool, um, for, you know, keeping, I mean, the other team can't score if they don't have the ball, right? So, I mean, I think it's a really effective tool for wearing teams down. Um,
00:44:50
Speaker
You know, it's hard to have a ton of energy when you're chasing shadows all day. But if nothing is ever coming from that possession, then that's a problem. And I think that at times, I don't think necessarily that keeping the ball is the goal, but
00:45:07
Speaker
it's kind of like crossing, where with, you know, they just like, they don't feel like the pass is there. So they recycle possession a lot and they've just got to be a little more risky in the final third.
00:45:22
Speaker
So the related question to that was DX underscore D home asks a similar question, but then he asks, are we relying on Jones too much for the attack? Yeah, we, we definitely are. I mean, I think that as good as he's been, um, for one, his, his, his contribution just isn't sustainable. Um, he's putting up just crazy numbers for anyone really, but especially for your left back. Um, but I mean, he's running an insane, he's covering so much distance.
00:45:51
Speaker
in every game and that left flank is exposed a lot and that's pulling apart the defensive shape. I think we've seen a lot of counter attacks this year where Jones is in the attack.
00:46:10
Speaker
to come cover that flank and, you know, gets pulled out of the center, be it Roldan or Ozzy, and then the attack comes back through the center. It's just, you know, modern fullbacks are a huge part of attacking, and we're really lucky to have a good one, I think probably the best in MLS, but it can't be an integral part of every attack. Every time you have the ball, you can't be relying on one of your fullbacks to be the guy to deliver the final pass.
00:46:39
Speaker
And I think one of the other things I thought was an interesting piece, and I would recommend everyone go read it, is a story on Sender at Heart, whose username I can't really pronounce, but his name's Ben. And he wrote a piece looking at the defensive action share of the Sounders' more offensive players. And what he found was that the guys that are up top for the Sounders
00:47:09
Speaker
supply less of the defensive work than most teams' equivalent players.
00:47:30
Speaker
He did a lot of defensive work by pressuring up front, by creating turnovers and whether he wasn't obviously scoring, but he was helping generate kind of scoring chances by supplying that work rate. Okay.
00:47:48
Speaker
Ryan M. Balm asks, I know I've asked this before, but do you really think Nico is more effective on the wing? I'm starting to disagree. He ends up in the middle anyway. Couple that with the lack of right back choices and the sounders don't seem to have any right wing width. I still think Nico is a much better player on the wing. And I think that the problems that maybe it's causing are more about the fact that we're playing with our
00:48:16
Speaker
what, fifth choice right back? Depending on how well you de-rolled on. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I think that pulling, you know, your arguably your best essential midfielder out of position to play right back is
00:48:32
Speaker
is crazy, but I think he is a better right back than Dellum. I just think that if you have an effective right back, it doesn't even have to be great, just a reasonably effective right back. It's probably much less of a problem, and I think with Evans and Fischer getting
00:48:49
Speaker
you know, getting healthy and it's going to be less of a problem going forward. I think he can be a perfectly effective player centrally, but I think I would much rather, and we've kind of talked about this, I'd much rather have him taking on full backs and center backs. And he does, yeah, he ends up in the middle, but he finds space on the wings and cuts inside. And, you know, I think he's going to drift out to wide areas anyway to find that space. So, yeah. Well, the other issue with moving
00:49:18
Speaker
nico into the middle is is one that i don't entirely understand not sure if people just don't see this or what their solution for it is but is that right now essentially you have clint Dempsey playing there now obviously you could move clint Dempsey out to one of the wings i think that he's going to be far less
00:49:39
Speaker
effective if you move them out wide. I suppose you could move them up to like a nine. I think that's probably a mistake as well. I don't think you're gonna fix any of the problems that you're dealing with. So I guess the, or you could maybe go to a diamond formation, but again, I don't think that you have the personnel that's set up very well for a diamond. Now, so like in a perfect world,
00:50:01
Speaker
Is Niko better as a central playmaker? Maybe? I don't know. I mean, we haven't seen that. We haven't seen him since he's been with the Sounders. We've never really seen him in a perfect world scenario as a number 10. But I think given the personnel that the Sounders have, putting him out on the wing makes a ton of sense. And I think that he also clearly
00:50:23
Speaker
seems to like being out there. He's able to move around a lot more freely. He's able to, you know, I do think they need to do a better job of switching when that happens. Like how many I feel like we've seen Nico and Jordan ending up on the same win way too often. But yeah, I mean, I don't think the answer is just moving him into the middle of the park and that's gonna somehow fix everything. Okay.
00:50:49
Speaker
Beowulf asks, might be time to explain the offside rule again. Saw a lot of confusion online. I'm guessing if you frame it about what happened with this Svensson call. Be good enough.
00:51:04
Speaker
Well, so the rule is not what, so I think if I'm assuming what happened is that people were confused, like Jordan got a header on it, the ball went in the net, no one touched it after Jordan, what's the problem? Well, the problem was that once Jordan made contact with it, there's a new, there's obviously that's a new point of offside, and Gustav Sensen was definitely ahead of him, he was ahead of the ball, he was ahead of the last defender,
00:51:33
Speaker
And I guess as soon as he enters the play, he made an attempt at the ball. He's involved in the play, and he's offside, and that's that. I don't know, am I missing anything, Aaron?
00:51:47
Speaker
No, that's yeah, I think that's more or less it I think I think there was another point where they were they were emphasizing that the goalie had to pause Because of sentencing so there was like this confusion. I think that people were thinking well he didn't have to pause Thus he wasn't outside blah blah blah, but well it doesn't I mean I think that's kind of
00:52:10
Speaker
Yeah, how the goalkeeper reacts is not factored into the offside. Whether or not Erwin was reacting to Svensson or he was just misreading the play, it doesn't really matter because Svensson made an attempt at the ball. Right. Right. And I think what happened wasn't that Erwin saw Svensson coming out of the corner of his eye. I think he figured there was going to be a runner on that
00:52:39
Speaker
you know, on that post that was going to head it back across and he figured that ball's not going to go in. At the same time, I mean, I think it's the right call. You know, I think it's just...
00:52:48
Speaker
It's a bummer, because I think if Svensson's not offside, he doesn't touch the ball, and he doesn't get close to the ball because he's not offside, and that ball still goes in, but oh well. I think that's kind of the point I was making, is that Svensson being offside didn't help that ball get in the net. If he's a step farther back, I still think that Erwin plays the ball the same way, because he's just expecting a far post run.
00:53:16
Speaker
And it's not that he sees Svensson, it's just that he expects a far post run. He doesn't think that Morris's shot is going in by itself, and then he gets stuck, but whatever. Well, and a good set piece makes, you know, forces... Goalkeepers make it exactly. Yeah, to make decisions. It's not even a misread, it's just he knows that run's coming and, you know, it was flicked on well, so. You see those kinds of headers score all the time in exactly that kind of situation.
00:53:46
Speaker
He was still outside, though. That was a rare call. He was still outside, right. There's no argument. He's outside. He's outside because he made a play. Right, exactly. That's all we need to know. OK. Grouchy Val asks, will players start doing push-ups after hitting the woodwork during games? Hashtag WillieMaezA's. That would be pretty great. Yeah, that would be good. That would be good. Jeff Park used to do push-ups before. And then slap himself. Right, exactly. Before both halves, maybe?
00:54:11
Speaker
It was just before the game. Yeah, and he did the, uh, the, like you pop the, um, what is it that the, like the smelling salts or whatever? Oh, that's right. Yeah. Evan just does that too. It's, it's gross. Yeah. Those things are awful. I don't know if you've ever actually smelled them. No, I haven't. They're terrible. Yeah. Uh, Bill Jones, S T E R P T S. When can we have Chad back in the 11th? Chicago seems to have an attack now.
00:54:39
Speaker
Yeah, it would be nice. I think Chad, my guess is Chad's going to play this week. He was training with the first team today. If you're training with the first team on Monday, that's usually a good sign. Similarly, Brad Evans was full in today. I don't know that he'll start, but I would be a little surprised if he doesn't at least see some playing time. Yeah. And that Chicago game feels big because they do look like a pretty good team this year. I mean, they're not great. They're like a borderline playoff contender, but they can beat you.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. But it's still a winnable game. And if you drop points at home, you've got to pick up points on the road. Right, absolutely. It feels like a big game.
00:55:18
Speaker
Jay Mantello has a question. And Emily R. Cummings has a question. They're kind of related, so I kind of put them together. Do you think our starting right back will start any games this year? No, but seriously, which of these two of these three should actually be on the back line right now? Evans, Torres, Fenson, and Emily asks, do you think Brad will make it back to a regular starting spot this season?
00:55:43
Speaker
I, well, I think he's going to get every opportunity to lose the right back job. Um, just because if, I think Fisher is an adequate guy to have as a backup. If you're starting right back is maybe a little bit fragile. Um, but I think Evans is clearly, you know, the better choice there. Uh, and, and Spencer, um, as high as we were on him as a center back the last time you recorded, um,
00:56:10
Speaker
I don't think he's been the Sounders best center back this year anymore, I think it's fair to say. And I think he can do a job at right back, but I don't think he's, I don't think he's a perfect, you know, a great answer there either. So I think Svensson's gonna continue to kind of rotate. Roldon and Ozzy are gonna need time off, you know, there will be a place for him. But I think Evans and Torres are definitely the, you know, the definite first choice. So we've got a stretch coming up where we've got
00:56:40
Speaker
two games in the span of four days or three games in the span of eight days maybe and my suspicion is that Gustav Svensson is going to get his first day off probably against sporting Kansas City and my suspicion is that he's going to
00:57:00
Speaker
Yeah, he'll probably start one way or another against Chicago, and that maybe we see Evan starting it right back, we see Torres starting it center back, we see Marshall starting it center back, and we see closer to what this team was envisioned as against Sporting Kansas City, but we'll see. What is Fisher's status, by the way? He's still training on the side, but it sounds like this hamstring issue is really
00:57:25
Speaker
Is is really lingering and and I don't know maybe they rushed him back or he felt like he needed to I mean I would imagine he was a big part of that like
Sounders' Future and Transfer Speculation
00:57:35
Speaker
if you're if you're O'Neill Fisher This is your opportunity to kind of make your mark to like put your to like become a starter and you're gonna want to play and you're gonna want to push it and and so I think he kind of probably to some degree
00:57:52
Speaker
did it to himself but he's doesn't look like he's like I don't I don't think he's gonna play for a couple weeks okay these two next questions you kind of already answered the one but the other one is related so here we go jm underscore Murph asks does the F will make a move before the window closes tonight and an ex slacker ass is durlis aware that you're recording if not can we notify him
00:58:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think the Dirl East Gonzales boat has left the dock. He's been playing lately for... what is his dock? Is it... Dynamo? Do you know Kiev? Kiev, Kiev. I knew it was dynamo, I just couldn't remember what city. But yeah, I don't foresee us making a move tonight. Maybe I'll be wrong, in the morning I'll look like an idiot.
00:58:44
Speaker
Well, that's fine. That would be awesome. You should be used to it, so. Yeah. Right. Actually, I think the, was the deadline at 8 o'clock our time? Yeah, I think it's already done. Yeah. Maybe, I wonder if they did anything while we've been recording. Oh, who knows? That would be funny. I want Jeremiah to look like an idiot. That'd be so awesome. Yeah, let's look. Go ahead and ask your next question.
00:59:08
Speaker
Uh, Justin B Sisk asked, in your opinion, do's and don'ts, pros and cons of moving, rebranding S2. Oh yes, we could have gotten into this whole subject. That's a good dime to get into the subject. Well, I'll start off by saying that I am a fan of this decision, I think. I like the look of it. I think building a soccer-specific stadium in
00:59:36
Speaker
Tacoma makes a lot of sense. I think that from the very beginning when the first idea of the Sounders launching a U.S.L. side came up, I think it was back in 2013, that playing in Tacoma made the most sense right away. And it was really only, or maybe it was even 2012, no it was 2013, when they actually played a game in Tacoma, a reserve game in Tacoma, and Dom Dwyer scored I think a couple goals against the Sounders.
01:00:06
Speaker
But I think it makes a lot of sense like from the top level like if you if you're gonna get a and I think it makes a lot of sense for the centers to get out of running the business of a U.S.L. team. They think it's a massive distraction. I remember at one point Adrian Hanauer was talking to me about potentially running
01:00:24
Speaker
a women's team, and one of the reasons they didn't want to run a women's team was because they thought it would take away attention from the first team, and I think that's kind of what you're seeing with S2, is that it's taking up manpower that could otherwise be used for the first team. Of course, the difference being that S2 is able to serve directly the first team, at least technically. But yeah, I think that it makes a ton of sense.
01:00:51
Speaker
We can get into some of the cons, but what do you want to say, Aaron? Well, yeah, I think that it makes a ton of sense. I'm hugely in favor of it. I think the Rainier's are really, really, really good at the sort of business and marketing side of running a minor league team. S2 has always just felt...
01:01:14
Speaker
half-assed, I guess, in terms of the actual marketing of the team, really from the get-go. I mean, the whole earn-your-crust thing. It's cheesy and kind of silly. And it's tough with minor league sports because there is a ton of turnover. There is a lot of coming and going, so it's harder to market the players. So you kind of have to market the experience, and that's why minor league teams have
01:01:42
Speaker
you know, a lot of theme nights and just like a lot of fun, silly, goofy stuff. And I think that, you know, that's okay. And I saw it suggested by a couple of people actually that Tacoma is a bad decision because there are already successful minor league teams in Tacoma, which seems totally backwards to me, just like completely backwards to me. I mean, I think that that shows that this is a market that will come out from minor league sports. And, you know... Were they including the stars in that calculation?
01:02:12
Speaker
Uh, maybe, I don't know. I mean, they were definitely including the Thunderbirds, which is weird, because Kent is...
01:02:19
Speaker
not in Tacoma. But like the reineers, it's like, well, they're going to be competing with the reineers. Well, no, the reineers are going to compete with themselves. You know, so I just think it's a misreading of the situation. I mean, and, you know, it definitely sucks for people that live in the North Sound that live north of Seattle, you know, that they go to S2 games that aren't going to be able to go anymore. It sucks. I totally get that it sucks.
01:02:44
Speaker
But the reality is that Starfire is not working. And as a destination for people, Starfire kind of sucks, to be honest. It's a super fun game to see, a first team open cup game. But that's because it's a first team game and the atmosphere is crazy. For us too, it just never felt that special.
01:03:08
Speaker
Uh, and so, you know, I think they need their, their own home. Um, that's a little more accessible. I mean, Starfire is closer to Tukwila or to Seattle. Um, but it's just not, it's a, it's a weird location. Like if you're coming from anywhere, but downtown Seattle, it's kind of weird to get to. Um, and it's, I dunno, it's just, it's a, it's a weird environment for, for anything, but a us open cup game. Um, so I think having their own, their own spot will be cool.
01:03:36
Speaker
And, you know, I think Tacoma's gonna support them really well. And I just like, this is, the USL team is not something that the Sounders can continue to lose money on at the rate they're losing money on it. Like it's probably never gonna be a huge money earner, but it's just not sustainable, you know, what they're doing so far. So I think this is a good solution. And I think, you know, anything that gives the South Sound some more options for live soccer is a really positive thing.
01:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, and they haven't had any outdoor soccer there since the Tides essentially stopped playing there. They're in the PDL. When was the last time? When the Tides rebranded, it was the U23s. That was what, 2011, something like that.
01:04:24
Speaker
They haven't had anything like top level, like US level outdoor soccer. I don't think ever in Tacoma. But I'll also say this about Starfire. Like I'm, I'm sensitive. Like I get it. Like there are maybe a couple hundred people that put their time, their energy, their money, their hearts, their emotions, their, you know, they, they put a lot of time and they, they, they invested a lot in,
01:04:50
Speaker
in s2 at starfire and i get it like for those people for those several hundred people however many people it is it's really unfortunate and i understand that there are people that felt like the sounders never fulfilled their promises with the launch of s2 and they never made like the sounders never kind of went out of their way to make starfire a anything like a permanent venue like they they never did significant upgrades other than the seats that they put in uh they they never like
01:05:19
Speaker
originally they were supposed to have food trucks out there every game. That went away after a while. They were supposed to allow ECS to have smoke going off at games. The Kaibosh got put on that. And there was a lot of missteps and mismanagement, especially in that first year. But there are some inescapable things about Starfire that make it tough. Parking is always going to be bad there.
01:05:40
Speaker
Starfire is always going to be competing with space with the various youth leagues that play there. Starfire is a very busy venue.
01:05:56
Speaker
And it was not designed to host a top-level team. And I guess the Sounders did a decent job of making it a USO home in the pre-MLS days. And it is a fun place to watch Open Cup games. But I just think that for the vast majority of Sounders fans, for the vast majority, for the organization, I just think Tacoma makes just so much more sense.
01:06:23
Speaker
And I'm excited to go down to Tacoma for a few games, like as close to Starfire is, and I think I'm a pretty big Sounders fan, I've not been out there since the first season. And I think that says a lot. Keeping with the theme, Twimberly23 asked, does Tacoma announcement increase likelihood Starfire's long-term training facilities with capital improvements coming?
01:06:48
Speaker
You know, that's a question I asked, I actually asked Adrian about that on Saturdays, if they're still planning on doing some of the non, kind of, some of the other upgrades, like they had planned on expanding the Academy locker rooms, and they had talked about building out better referee locker rooms, and just kind of upgrading the facilities in general at Starfire. And I suspect that some of that will still happen, but there's no timeline on it. I haven't been given any, like I didn't get a definite answer on it.
01:07:22
Speaker
BM Vaughn asks, any read on a favor for Cascadia Cup thus far? The important stuff.
01:07:33
Speaker
I don't know, it's Portland off to, are they in Portland looking to favorites, I guess? I guess. They've looked a little more, a little less world beaty as of late. But I think it's entirely possible they have the best team. And yeah, I don't know. It's tough because
01:07:56
Speaker
It seems like shitty teams win it a lot. So I don't know. I mean, like you can be the best team in Cascadia and not win. I mean, Vancouver was the worst team in Cascadia and won last year. I believe Portland was the worst team in Cascadia two years, three years ago when they won. 2014, right? 2014, yeah. Cause they won the Cascadia Cup and there were people that were like, well, I would way rather have the Cascadia Cup than the supporter shield.
01:08:29
Speaker
Yeah, it happens. The Sounders have never benefited from being the worst team in Cascadia and still winning Cascadia Cup, but it has happened a few times.
01:08:40
Speaker
Um, I think, I'm just going to say, I think Vancouver is going to win this year again. Just, I'm just going to pick one. Yeah, that works. That's a good call. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I would have liked to have won the Sounders to have won Cascadia Cup last year, but I felt like the MLS Cup was a good door prize. Yeah, for sure. It'll work for an hour, right? Right. Exactly. Okay. Two more questions. Serpentine Miner asks, which Genesis song should the Sounders listen to before games to pump it up?
01:09:08
Speaker
Shane, you son of a bitch. I swear to God. It's gotta be a Peter Gabriel era Genesis, right? Yeah, yeah. It's the only good Genesis. It's gotta be that song about where he finds the guy who murders the guy who could have done something about it. Exactly. Yeah. In the air. Come on. Yeah, there you go. Is there a question beyond that?
01:09:31
Speaker
Emily are coming. I do like the idea. I would like to say that I do really like the idea of the of the sounders blasting Genesis songs in the pregame locker room That's not a bad idea How would you pour his dance to that though opposing team locker room, right? Yeah, that's a better idea Last question Emily our coming is asked what is the better film galaxy quest or Mars attacks Mars attacks
01:09:56
Speaker
Mars Attacks rules. I love Mars Attacks. Really? Yeah, it's great. I was so excited when Mars Attacks came out and I felt like it was kind of like it didn't live up to my expectations. I had no expectations. Galaxy Quest, on the other hand, came out and I had negative, I thought was going to be a garbage movie and it's actually pretty funny. That's pretty good. I think I might go Galaxy Quest. I think I'm going Galaxy Quest. It's fine. I mean, you guys can be wrong. That's fine.
01:10:28
Speaker
When, how old were you when Mars Attacks came out, Aaron? That's 13. Yeah, I feel like that might have helped your case there. Cause I feel like I was, I was in college, I think when that came out. And so my, I had, I don't think I got, maybe if I watched it again now, maybe I'd appreciate it more, but I definitely don't think I was ready for, for what that movie was. I mean, those, come on, those Martians didn't even look realistic. Jeez. Right. Exactly. Like I was hoping for, uh,
01:10:54
Speaker
for Independence Day, and I didn't get that, and I wasn't really open for that. I was not. That's the user error then, if that's okay. Although, I do think it came out around at the same time as Independence. I feel like it came out very close to Independence Day. Anywho, that's it. That's it? That's it? All right, well, I'll just share something. I started watching Sense8 last night. I thought that was pretty good. Okay.
01:11:21
Speaker
That's great. Yeah, isn't that a good story? Thanks for sharing.
01:11:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. All right, well, I guess that's the show. Thanks for listening, everyone. Thanks to our sponsors, Verity Credit Union, Focal Ones, Constellation & Company, Queen Acupuncture, Designers Marble, and of course our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. I am Jeremiah O'Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickit. This is no study at this. Remember, you will never yodel on.
01:11:54
Speaker
Green Douglas Square where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:12:27
Speaker
Lickit's gonna love re-editing this. Yeah, that's fine. He doesn't need to. That's fine. We can just show everybody how the sausage is made. We love you. Let's win another one!