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What We Learned This Week: The 2026 Sounders preseason is under way
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Niko joins Jeremiah to break down the start of the Sounders preseason. They discuss coach Brian Schmetzer's emphasis on player accountability, the internal competition among what seems like 15 players and a high-level of commitment shown by big players like Jordan Morris, Jesus Ferreira and Albert Rusnák. Jeremiah and Niko also talk about new signings Hassani Dotson and Sebastian Gomez as well as the addition of new assistant coach, Ricardo Clark. And of course, the seemingly ongoing drama around Obed Vargas’ status. Jeremiah also announced the launch of Sounder at Heart’s first print magazine, “IV”, coming soon.
Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky and YouTube.
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Transcript
Will Bruin's New Role
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.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaan. Let's go. The 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.
Sounders' Strategy Discussion
00:00:58
Speaker
what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since I wrote a commentary that we didn't take the outcome seriously.
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 Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart podcast
Preseason Excitement
00:01:46
Speaker
network. I am Jeremiah Oshan. is Friday. Preseason has started and I am back with Nico Moreno for what we learned this week. Nico, welcome back. It hasn't been too long since we recorded, but it does feel good to be back in the, we have actually something to share during what we learned this week, a period of season.
00:02:07
Speaker
That's right, baby. We are back into our regular programming hours, baby. I love it. I'm ready to go. We're back. We were finally back at the facility. We got to see the guys for the first time in 2026.
00:02:23
Speaker
Got to make some early assessments on a few players. Got to hear a couple of things. All the new guys were there. So, man, yeah, there's a lot to talk about, Jeremiah. I am excited. Thank you for everyone to for tuning in and for being part of what we learned this week right off the bat.
00:02:42
Speaker
So, man, yeah, I'm excited. Let's do it. Yeah, so just a little bit of housekeeping before we delve into the so our observations from the week.
Sounder Heart's New Magazine
00:02:52
Speaker
I just want to make sure everyone knows Sounder Heart getting ready to launch a print magazine, an actual print magazine that you can hold in your hands. It The short version is that this we're looking at this is sort of sounder at heart 4.0. Pretty exciting stuff.
00:03:07
Speaker
We've already sold almost 750 copies. ah But you can get in on the presale. It's $10. I would just go to sounder at heart.com. There are links all over the site. If you want to get in on that, we are unfortunately, we're going to have to, of course, be printing this ahead of time.
00:03:24
Speaker
So there's going to we are going to print extras. There's the price will go up once we actually submit that order. But if you want to get in on the presale, I would do that ASAP. And hopefully, you know, if this is successful, it'll hopefully turn into like a quarterly magazine. Right now we have two issues planned.
00:03:40
Speaker
And this is ah shaping up to be a very exciting year at Sounder Heart, sort of tangentially related to that. ah We are also going to be making our first ever preseason trip.
00:03:53
Speaker
We, I am going to Marbella. Nico, I don't know if you are a hundred percent committed to this yet. Are you? Not yet. I am trying to figure out some kinks.
00:04:05
Speaker
ah Yes, no. my ah The wife is not completely on board. She did bring up some ah dates of concern a little bit after that. It is also our 20-year anniversary this year.
00:04:18
Speaker
congratulations. Thank you, thank you. That's going to happen in July. But, of course, that also provided some new shed potential... um Cost of the year. So we're going to figure it out. I'm still, I'm still trying to work it out. I think that if I can have a better pitch economically, I think that maybe, maybe that that's an opportunity. And if we could move a couple of ah family dates that apparently fall around that day that I missed out, but, Yep. Excited to either way. Know that for sure. We're going to have Sandra Hart presence there with you and Noah. That's going to be exciting. And I hope to join.
Preseason Plans and Accountability
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So the sort of the, so in case you don't know, the Sounders trained all week this week at Long Acres today was their final day of training at Long Acres. Then they think they have the weekend off. And then I think on Monday they are actually getting on a plane and flying off to ah Portugal where they'll spend about a week. And then they go Marbella for about two weeks after that. And they'll play probably four ish preseason games during the trip. The last of those is against hammer B That's the game that we will be there to cover.
00:05:34
Speaker
We're going to be doing some interviews. We're going be doing all kinds of stuff. One of those interviews will make it into the magazine because it is the last item that we are holding the magazine printing for. Kind of exciting about that.
00:05:47
Speaker
But Nico, this was, ah you know, we, I feel like we actually got to see more actual training this week than we have maybe, i don't know, maybe it's not more than the past, but they actually played a bit this, this week. I think that we were able to make some real observations. Let's just start off with this.
00:06:04
Speaker
What were your your, sort of your big three talking points or takeaways from, from this week? We can get into each of those. That's right. Look, ah my top three observations of the week. Let's start with number one. And I think one that is extremely important. I love that Brian Smetzer, when talking to us for the first time in 2026, really talked about the emphasis that he ah is having the having his players hold themselves accountable.
00:06:34
Speaker
He talked about how great the team was last season. And he even mentioned that there were, before they went out there to practice, he had some of the video from that, that loss against Minnesota and, you know, getting the guys kind of to close down that chapter. And then and he talked about how well cemented the team was and that he loved that Christian called it one of the, or the most together team that he's ever been on. But he said that he wants to add on a, another element to it, which is accountability and leaders on that field. He talked about former leaders like Nicolás Adaro and Clint Dempsey and um Roman Torres. Right. So I really do love the idea of him saying, look, we need a bigger voice out there. Cause there were times last season where I felt like,
00:07:28
Speaker
In some of this, those moments where defensively they'd have those lapses and they weren't positioned correctly. And maybe when the game's about to be over and you might give up a goal, you and I talked about having that leader out there yelling, saying, let's go, guys. You know, last couple seconds, you know, holding ourselves accountable through the game, through the 90, through the week. So for me, love, absolutely love the mentality that I saw from, that I heard from him.
00:07:59
Speaker
Christian Roldan also talked about this team going back to being in that 2024 team when it comes to defense, when it comes to transition defense. So, The mental component of the group of Bryant's Metzer, where he is at the mindset of the team in general. I absolutely love so far out. um Let's you want me to start with that one and just finish the three. Yeah.
00:08:23
Speaker
No, let's start let's like hang on that one for a little bit because I think I wanted to to to build on that a little bit. Related to the mentality, I thought this was, you know, it's a cliche. It's ah it's a preseason training crew cliche to say there's a lot of competition in this team.
00:08:38
Speaker
But I think when it comes to the Sounders, especially right now, And I think also competition can sometimes be code for, we don't have obvious starters. And that can be, that's, you know, if they always say, you know, there's a saying, if you don't, if you have ah a quarterback controversy means you don't have a a quarterback or something, a goalkeeper controversy. You don't really have a starting goalkeeper kind of thing.
00:08:58
Speaker
But I think in the Sounders case, there is genuine competition because they have multiple and MLS quality starters at all. I mean, there's probably... I think conservatively 15 players who are in genuine contention to be starters on this team. And there's going to be weeks when, when this team is fully fit. Now it that's, that's a big caveat because we could have said this last year, there just weren't that many games where they had genuine, you know, all their top players were fit at the same time. So that's always going to be a ah variable, but where we sit right now in preseason with everyone, but essentially Pedro de la Vega fit and, you know, George, you know, knew who are not here yet, which we'll get into later.
00:09:36
Speaker
But as far as the competition goes, I think there's genuine competition at probably five or six different positions in the starting lineup.
00:09:47
Speaker
And the top one of those is goalkeeper where I think Andrew Thomas is probably the odds on favorite. He is, i think it's a real competition in the way that last year was a real competition where Steph was clearly the default starter, but that didn't mean that the door was closed. And I think it's kind of similar this year where Andrew Thomas looks like he's going to be the starter, but the door is not closed. Stephen Fry is not going to just sit there and sit idly by But I thought that that was a salient point at this point in training to talk about how, you know, you've got Hassani Dotson who can potentially push into the starting lineup. You've got Danny Masofsky, who I think the team is approaching him as a potential starter. And then that obviously um impacts whether Jordan Morris or Jesus Ferreira or, you know, Paul Rothrock is another player who could be in or out of the starting lineup. And then you go to the left back where Reed Baker, Whiting and New Who, I think are going to be in a real competition. So, you know, right there, that's, you know, I think that's five spots right there that are at least have some level of competition. And I think this is a good place for the Sounders to be.
00:10:51
Speaker
Totally agree. I mean, competition does show on the field, the show on the training field. If I know that I got to be there all the time, if I got to give 100% or 10%, and it's not like these players aren't going to do it just organically, but having that extra motivation is important. And and that's what takes me to number two of my observations, important observations this week.
00:11:15
Speaker
I thought that the star players, and anything I think it goes perfectly into your point,
Player Performance Highlights
00:11:20
Speaker
Jeremiah. Yes. really came out in the first couple of days when they don't really have to show everything they have, when they don't have to be all over the field running down balls and defending and pressuring the the stars of this team,
00:11:37
Speaker
Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnak, Jesus Ferreira, they all came out to generally play almost as they were fighting for a spot. And let me start with Jesus Ferreira. We talked to Jesus Ferreira. You can check that interview out on Pulse of Sports. He talked about a lot of cool things that, you know, we should touch on, but particularly about this week of training, right?
00:12:00
Speaker
He said that that it was difficult for him, especially the running part, you know, all of the exercise that they they have to do, the testing and all of it because he he was sick. And, you know, he just briefly touched on it and and he talked about how, you know, he was difficult, but he was out there.
00:12:14
Speaker
I talked to him off off the mics and he was really sick, like... 102 plus fever, like really, really, really sick with with with the flu. and And he knew he had to be out there. You know, nobody would have blinked an eye if the player was sick and he couldn't make it to day one. Or, you know, he could have been like, you know why I can't make it. But he felt a need to be out there and not just be out there, but be out there giving everything he had, whether it was 80 or 90 or whatever he had in the tank.
00:12:45
Speaker
he He was all over when he came to Rondos, when he came to small-sided games, when he came to to the 9v9 tournament that apparently his team won with Yamar and a couple of others. So,
00:12:57
Speaker
that was important for me. um Albert Rosnack was another guy that was lights out. He was putting in shots from mid range. He was setting up guys, but mainly he was defending, running down on these young guys, man. I mean, he was really out there as if he didn't have a guarantee spot in this team. And that's huge for me. Jordan Morris, same thing. I mean, he came out drenched in sweat. i mean, he was all over the field. So, so When your stars set the example on the training ground, man, you can't do anything other than just tip your hat.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah. And on that same note, you know, you you mentioned how tired how, uh, how ragged some of these these guys looked or looked, they looked like they had been exerting themselves. The thing that one of the things that stood out to me the other day when Paul Rothrock talked to the media, and this is a player who, you know, just signed a big contract extension who, you know, I think in some cases you would understand if they didn't come with quite the same burning fire and desire that they have had in the previous years in part because they've kind of made it for lack of a better term. He was absolutely pouring sweat when he was talking to us. And I just think that's a great, that's just like something you love to see on those early days of training that, you know, sure.
00:14:11
Speaker
and so you know It can say lots of different things, but I just think it it speaks to how much work these guys are putting in. And it's it's ah committed they're all committed. it is like i feel really good about where the team sits at this point in preseason.
00:14:25
Speaker
ah you know ah we' were i was talking to Danny Jackson. He's the the center's radio announcer. Off the mics, and he came through the Leeds Academy, and he was talking about how when he was ah you know when he was young, guys would show up to the first few days of training, and they'd just be...
00:14:40
Speaker
Totally out of shape. They'd just come off the, you know, they'd come off holiday and, and had been drinking or whatever. and he's just talking about how that just is not the case. That can't be the case anymore. Guys have to come in fit and ready to go. And that is, you know, what we're seeing out at this first week of training. And I would agree with you, like the star players lead sort of set the example and everyone follows in after that.
00:15:00
Speaker
And we're absolutely seeing that this week. All right. What was your, what was your third point that you wanted to get to? Number three is that i like what I see from the new guys. So let's briefly talk about all of them. I thought that Dotson really um didn't surprise me, but he was impressively fit. Like when it comes to just overall ah the running, the the um the strength, the physicality, he's a great,
00:15:29
Speaker
Player of few words, but but he definitely has the right mentality. I love the fact that he told us that he's here to earn his stripes and that he knows that, you know, he's the new guy. He's got to earn it. And he proved it on the field. So maybe not as flashy on the ball, taking down players, but very good on link up little backheel. I saw there. I mean, he he was really involved, really like what I saw from him. Yeah.
00:15:54
Speaker
The two new guys, and by new guys, I mean those that were given first team contracts, Yutsu Konome and Santiago Gomez, didn't see much from you. Maybe you did. Oh, sorry. And Sebastian, Sebas. Sebas Gomez, my bad. I'm sorry. Yes.
00:16:12
Speaker
Sebas definitely looked good. Out of the two guys, I probably got to see more out of Sebas. He was closer to me, but love the creativity. Love how quickly he turns away from pressure. I like where he gets into space. He got ah he had one goal where he makes a phenomenal run behind the defense. He might have been off sides there a bit. by a quick, you know, maybe two steps, but it's, it's, it's practice. And so he, he definitely feels like a guy that's exciting. He told us that he likes to be an entertainer that he, that that's this soccer. And ah I thought you it fit the bill when he came to his training, you didn't get to see too much from him. And then Nikola Petkovich also didn't get to see much from him, but I did hear that Nikola was very good on the ball is what I heard from someone else. And, uh,
00:17:01
Speaker
that he's a guy that definitely is to have some technical abilities, some very interesting technical components. So, so far, so good when it comes to the young guys. Yeah, and then Ryan Saylor and Max Anker were the other two new signings that were, i don't know actually how much they were involved in training this week. I know the first day they were off to the side. ah don't I'm not 100% sure they actually got into training this week, which is part of why we don't have much to say about them. But want to acknowledge that they are here.
00:17:31
Speaker
ah And Saylor was dealing with a knee injury just to fly. Right. Right. Okay. Good, good note there. And then Georgie Manungu and Nuhu have not yet joined training. They're going to meet up with the Sounders, I believe in Portugal for, for this week. So we haven't seen literally everybody, but it was, you know, I, I, I share your optimism about the, about Hassani Dotson too. I thought one of the funniest little observation was, and it was a nice reminder that this is a real local kid. He is not there. You know, it's, it's not like he was here or some brief period of time.
00:18:05
Speaker
he was talking about how he was sleeping in his childhood bedroom with his folks in federal way. And, he and that his, I guess his mom still works concessions at star fire. And ah like, this is a guy who grew up in the region who was sort of overlooked by the sounders. ah You know, he, he,
00:18:23
Speaker
Never got called into the Sounders Academy. he he went to Starfire. That wasn't for a lack of desire to play for the Sounders Academy. I know he tried out for S2 early on. He didn't make that. He and instead went to college, which looks like it was a really smart decision by him because he went to college, played at Oregon State, had a good career there, and then got drafted and obviously established himself as a pretty regular starter over at Minnesota United.
00:18:46
Speaker
And now he comes to the Sounders sort of ready to prove himself to this organization who hasn't always believed in him and they can go all the way you know and like again like we're going back 10 12 years but he's I think he is really enthusiastic about showing that he belongs here I know the Sounders had been interested in acquiring him for at least a couple years so it's not like Dave you know they don't doubt him where he is now but I just think that he he wants to he wants to earn his spot. He is not, I've said this before, but I do not think at all that he is coming here under the auspice that he's just going to be someone's backup.
00:19:25
Speaker
Like if he ends up having to come off the bench, I think he can be comfortable with that, but he is here to compete and to, you know, to, to help bring glory to the Sounders to help, you know, he he wants to perform in front of his friends and family. I'm really excited about Hassani Dotson can bring. And I'm excited about the dynamic that he also brings to the, to the group because the Sounders, I think,
00:19:49
Speaker
it's a two double-edged sword on one hand, there's all this continuity, which is great. And I think it helps raise the baseline performance, but I think sometimes guys can get a little comfortable in their roles. And a guy like Hassani Dotson can kind of shake that up a little bit, which I think is, which is definitely good. And then with Sebastian Gomez, again, ah a genuine local kid. This is someone who told us that he grew up playing soccer at Magnuson Park with Celtic. I believe he is the first Celtic player ah to join the Sounders. Maybe the first Celtic player to probably the first Celtic player to get into MLS period.
00:20:23
Speaker
Cause I don't think Celtic has been around. i don't think Celtic predates the Sounders Academy. So that would make sense. But Sebastian Gomez has been sort of working his way through uh, ah the Sounders development program. He told us that he has been playing with Stu Hawkins since 2017, which is do the math on that. He's 19. Yep.
00:20:43
Speaker
yep he since he was He's been playing with the gender since they were 12, 11, 12 years old. Yeah. So that's, that's just an exciting story too. No, it's cool. And he talks about you know all of this, the soccer community that, again, it might sound like a cliche and people maybe might take it for granted, but but those true stories are are phenomenal. And he talks about the...
00:21:10
Speaker
talent identification by by by the Sounders and the way they they develop their players. So, yeah, I mean, this this kid looks the part. I mean, he he he really does. He talks confidently. He plays confidently.
00:21:25
Speaker
You know, he has that Pedro de la Vega hair. He said he likes to play like Pedro de la Vega. You know, he wants to... That's right, he Inside pockets. So, yeah, no, it's exciting to see some of these players. And again, look, we're giving you guys a rundown on on things. We're not saying that these guys are, you know, this is going to be the best team ever. It's just, you know, a really good first indication of what's going on. We'll see what happens in the preseason. We'll see how guys develop. But, you know, ah what I'm looking at is body language. I'm talking I'm looking at mentality. I'm looking at fitness. I'm looking at first touch at movements, fundamentals and all those things, man, the guy showed it.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree. So on that subject, who are some of your standouts from these early weeks? You've already mentioned you really were impressed with Albert. I think you mentioned that you were impressed with Jesus.
00:22:17
Speaker
Anyone that was maybe outside the, you know, like the guys that we expect to be starters that that you really were impressed by? Yeah, look, that's that's a great question. i think that the the first one that comes to mind is Osasada Rosario. He seemed to be just on when it came to just scoring, finishing, putting balls in the back of the net. I saw him being very vocal, very loud. um He was a guy that ah was beating guys to the ball, just being extremely physical. He he was a player that ah that I thought really, really, really stood out ah going into this this week of training. um
00:23:00
Speaker
Snyder Brunel is another one that I thought was pretty interesting during this week. um I think those are the the main two that really come to mind.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah. I was, i also was very impressed by, Osaza de Rosario. He had a couple really tidy finishes. The finishing in general, I thought was pretty tight for this early in training. ah You know, they weren't, they played some 99 games on,
00:23:29
Speaker
Wednesday and it was, you know, I guess I'm just not used to seeing it quite so open and sharp this early in training. And I was, i was really encouraged by that. The other guy, ah Paul Areola, I think it was very encouraging yeah Just to see him as involved as he was. Now, he wasn't 100% all in He did sit out some of the training sessions, but he was very, um I mean, he's clearly gearing up to be ready for the season opener to at least be available.
00:24:00
Speaker
And the thing I really like about Areola is it's there's two parts of him that I like. One, technically very good player. He also brings this energy that I think is infectious. You know Christian Roldan talked a bit about how he has this positivity about him. And here's a guy who's coming off his second ACL injury.
00:24:21
Speaker
And, and you can just see that he's so excited to just be out doing stuff with teammates, as opposed to having to train on the side and in, you know, on his own or not on his own, but ah independently.
00:24:35
Speaker
that right? I don't know. he He was not with other players and, and he, and Christian talked about how, even though he wasn't, he wasn't involved on the field. He always was going to team events. He was watching the games together. he was watching every game. He never let himself get separated from the team. And I think it helped that he knows, you know, he has personal relationships with Jesus Ferreira and Jordan Morris and Christian rolled on and Alex rolled on. And so he had, he had like a ah friend group already within the team when he got here, but it's just, ah you this is a the, maybe the,
00:25:08
Speaker
biggest X factor, I think for the Sounders this year is how much they can get out of Polly or because it's easy to forget that at the start of last season, he was looking like a, like a very important player for the Sounders. He scored two goals in his first, yeah I guess in two is first two starts, he scored goals and he had only played, I think six games when he got hurt.
00:25:29
Speaker
ah But he is a player who can be a real difference maker and can sort of change the way the Sounders play. Totally agree. Um, It is his fundamentals, as I just mentioned, what really drives him as a player. I mean, it it is the way he receives the ball. It's his delivery on passes. He had a phenomenal goal. I think it was a top shelf, mid-range, the... the The way that he he doesn't feel like he needs to be all all in when he plays out wide. He's a guy that is more than willing to just give you give a little bit of pause and allow his team to really get to those ah places where they're crashing in the box.
00:26:13
Speaker
The IQ from him on that wide play, to me, is very important. It's not just crossing the ball to cross it. It's not just setting the ball. Sometimes it's important to just, you know, put a ball in the 18 and see what happens.
00:26:25
Speaker
But I like to see when there is purposeness to it. And there are times where he will just bring it back. you'll ah like it Maybe instead of going to the far post, he goes near post. Like he is very methodical about the way plays.
00:26:39
Speaker
distributes from those wide areas. He can come inside. I think that despite his frame, because he's not the biggest guy, he so he his center of gravity is very good, and he just knows how to shield the ball. He knows how to get guys off the ball. He dispossesses guys very well. So, man, he he's a guy that's going to be giving Rothrock a run for his money. ah Paul was a bit quiet. i he He wasn't a guy that stood out incredibly during this.
00:27:09
Speaker
couple of days. So look, Paula real is going have a lot to say when it comes to fighting for a starting spot. Absolutely. No, I, I think that there's some interesting, some intrigue there. And I, I mean, and then that's before Pedro de la Vega comes back from injury.
00:27:27
Speaker
ah Pedro de la Vega was not training this week. He was in, so he was at training. He's been inside. We're told basically all week. But I would not be at all surprised that come April, certainly by May, if Pedro de la Vega is right back in the mix. And it'll be interesting to see how that changes the way the Sounders have to play.
Tactical Changes and Coaching Dynamics
00:27:48
Speaker
Because, you know, if you go back to last year, they were playing a lot of lot more sort of three in the back. And I think that we're, you know, looking at hints. to to what Brian Schmetzer is thinking as far as formation. and And I acknowledge from the start that, you know, formations are more of a concept, like more of ah a general concept than they are.
00:28:08
Speaker
Like it doesn't always play out how it's down on paper, but he did seem to indicate that, we may see that they could be playing with wingbacks again and that those wingbacks are going to be getting pretty high.
00:28:19
Speaker
You know, he, Brian Spencer did an interview with Steve's Aquani and Brad Evans, where he talked about switching from, you know, building out in a three, two to more of a two, three, which, you know, I suppose that means both of your, it, I, you can kind of draw it out in your head, but I guess it just means more numbers getting into the, into the, the attack further up in the build out.
00:28:41
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, these are all things that we will have to probably wait on to get real clarity on until we see them playing. But I do like that the Sounders are thinking about constantly re-jiggering the way that they approach games.
00:28:53
Speaker
ah You know, one of the things that last year was their biggest failing was on set pieces. They just gave, I think they gave up I want to say eight more set piece goals than they did the year before that alone covers most of the difference in defense that they they had.
00:29:09
Speaker
And Ricardo Clark is going to be the new assistant. And it looks like that's going to be his main job is sort of working with the team on set pieces. ah Did you have any impressions from Ricardo Clark, the center's new assistant coach?
00:29:24
Speaker
Yes, and and I don't want to ah downplay his importance or anything like it. ah It's just a different personality than Andy. yeah So how that's going to fit.
00:29:39
Speaker
Uh, I'm curious, uh, obviously he hasn't been working with the guys enough for me to have any more insight on it, but just talking to him, uh, watching the way he practiced. Cause I did have a close eye on the way he communicated with the guys. He's definitely on the ball the way Andy would, right. likes to be part of the drills, part of the, um, rondos and things like that, but he is, uh,
00:30:05
Speaker
perhaps more more assertive, maybe not as light personality-wise, the way Andy was. I think Andy could relay a message very differently. um So a different dynamic is what I would say. he He's a yeah different type of coach. He's very knowledgeable at the game. He's very passionate at the game. He understands what he wants to do. He has been part of some winning teams with Gasper and Vinny. So, you know, he has that on his tool belt, but how does he relate that information and how he fits in with this group still to be determined.
00:30:43
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. ah And he's a player, you know, he's someone who has a pretty impressive playing resume. He has two world cup caps with the U S national team. He played for Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. He had a long and illustrious MLS career as well.
00:30:58
Speaker
ah He's someone who I believe actually played with Craig Weibel at Houston dynamo. And I think that's his only direct sounders connection. But I do like that the Sounders are bringing in some voices from outside the organization. i am i understand that they are close to hiring a Tacoma Defiance coach. they may have even i think they may have even actually made an offer on on that. And so we may be getting another coach. I'm pretty sure that is someone coming from outside the organization.
00:31:26
Speaker
ah But the assistant coaches may have some familiar faces that maybe we don't want to get into yet. But I think ah the Sounders are hoping to have that locked up pretty soon. I know. So, ah you know, and originally and the reason I bring that up is because Ricardo Clark was originally hired to be the defiance coach.
00:31:46
Speaker
ah That happened before Andy Rose left the Sounders. And then they decided they interviewed a few people for the assistant, but ultimately they just felt like Ricardo was a good fit to be that third assistant.
00:31:58
Speaker
i And I, this is a good chance to say, we're going to miss Andy Rose. I really liked Andy a lot. I liked him personally. i think he is someone who almost certainly is going to be a head coach in this league. At some point, everyone I've ever talked to about Andy basically says that this is a guy who they think is going to is a very intelligent mind who's someone who's very sharp. He's very personable, man. He sent,
00:32:22
Speaker
I missed it initially, but he, you know he sent me a message on WhatsApp saying, you know, just kind of saying goodbye and, and, and hoping that our paths cross again. But apparently he said that he said not the same message, but he sent messages to a whole host of people, which I think speaks a lot to his character.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I got one of those and different players got different ones. So it it just shows the type of character that Andy had. ah Definitely going to miss him. I know that ah we are in a world of soccer where we tend to think of...
00:33:02
Speaker
We have a very poor mindset of mistaken kindness for weakness. And, ah you know, I think that there is a way that you can coach and be this really real person and real genuinely likable person that at times drives your message better than than it doesn't. So for me, there's always been a different factor of Andy Rose is a coach that I think goes unspoken uh,
00:33:38
Speaker
He just has a quality with people and players. And that's what I feel like is going to take him to that next level at one point and be a head coach. He's going to continue to grow, continue to work on his strategic components and his certification and everything that a coach does. But for me, the X factor is Andy Rose, the person and the way he left and the the footprint that he left in this club is exactly what I mean by that.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, and I think the the other thing that it it sort of his departure illustrates is, ah you know a that he was able to move on from this job into what sounds like the top assistant job at LAFC. That had previously been Ante Razov's job, and it looks like he left LAFC. I don't know where he's going to end up, but he was not among the the coaches listed on their coaching staff when they announced their full coaching staff. But I think it it speaks well to andy to this organization that he can kind of move on from a third assistant job here to a, you know, a higher profile position, another assistant job at LAFC, which is obviously one of the premier teams in the, in the league. But I also think it you know, the fact that Ricardo Clark was sort of,
00:34:51
Speaker
was willing to come here to be the defiance coach. I think it sort of illustrates that the Sounders are still a very attractive place for coaches to come as, you know, as sort of like ah on their pathway. The Sounders are not struggling to find candidates for any of these positions, which I think we should take, ah you know, we should take some, some pride in.
00:35:11
Speaker
Totally. I mean, it talks about um, the name, the respect that goes across with the the Sounders coaching tree and ah the organization, right? What better way to put your name out there as a coach than to be the Tacoma Defiance coach? Because there is such a ah perfect pathway and there's this infrastructure that brings – this polished young players that you can add and help just give them the last bit of, of push right before they go into the first team. So, you know, even coach H, you know, he, he wasn't here very long, but he could very well say in his next job interview, you,
00:35:58
Speaker
Look at the players that I had in Tacoma de France, Kalanis and Osasio Rosarios, the Snyder Burnells. All those guys are first team players. So there is this attractiveness to come be part of that that project. So I do hope that they get the right guy for the job. I know that Joe Paulo is still in the conversations to potentially join that team.
00:36:23
Speaker
group of coaches that are going to take on Tacoma Defiance. We might have some news on that at some point, but there there is a level of desire for just being part of the Sounders organization.
00:36:36
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, I think that's a probably a good place to take a break. We're going to come back and we're going dive into the whole situation going on with Obed Vargas right now. I think that is, especially with the Sounders leaving town, going to, they're going to be in Europe.
00:36:51
Speaker
ah So we're not going to, we might not have a lot to talk about, but I think this is a, this is going to be a good sort of want to set the table for the next few weeks, because if the Sounders are going to move Obed Vargas, it's going to probably happen soon ah because that's just the reality of of the situation. But we'll get into that. We'll explain what's going on there. Try to give some perspective.
00:37:10
Speaker
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00:37:40
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:39:30
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adietes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. All right. So we got kind of two, I guess we got two issues we want to get into here.
Obed Vargas' Future in Soccer
00:39:40
Speaker
the big one being everything that's going on with Obed Vargas and his...
00:39:47
Speaker
desire to go to Europe and sort of how, what's going to, how this is going to play out, I think, or how it could play out and what, what has, where, where how we got to where we are today. ah You know, one of the, we'll start here. He just got called up to the Mexican national team for their January camp. I believe he is the only MLS best base player to be in this camp. This looks like a pretty strong squad that they've called in for January, as you'd expect. And ah They, you know, he's got, he's got a few months to prove himself to get into this, this world cup. He only has two senior national team caps. Only one of those is really recently, but the door is very much open for him to still walk through and to potentially get into the world cup team. But a lot of that is going to depend on, i mean, primarily frankly is going to depend on how he's playing at the club
00:40:41
Speaker
And it would seem like his best chance for playing time and his best opportunity to impress folks is by playing with the Sounders and looking like a you know, potential best 11 type of player that we think he's capable of being. ah And the, but that's maybe a little complicated by the reality that he is in now his final year of his contract We've talked a lot about how this seemed the way his camp seems to have been positioning himself as essentially playing out his contract with the hope of going, so picking his own team as a free agent. He can sign a pre-contract as soon as this summer.
00:41:25
Speaker
and and, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how the Sounders play this because for a long time, the Sounders have, you know, yes, I think Obed has earned his spot, but I think it's been undeniable that part of why that's kept him as such an important, such a big part of the centers lineup is that the founders felt invested in his future as well.
00:41:46
Speaker
And if it gets to a point where they are not as invested in his future, I think there's the possibility that that could impact decision-making on who plays when i don't think the founders going to be cynical. i don't think they're going to punish him. You know, we're seeing over in at Norwich city,
00:42:03
Speaker
ah They just demoted Josh Sargent to the U21 team, essentially, because he's trying to work his way out of the contract there. I don't think anything like that is to happen here, but I could see You know, if there's a real open position battle, I don't know that we can assume that Obed Vargas is going to be playing every game the way that he has in the past.
00:42:22
Speaker
ah But I guess let's, let's just kind of that's the the table setting. Nico, What have you been hearing and on this front? and And how do you see this all playing out over the next few weeks?
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah, let me just ah do a cute little nugget that I got here about that 27-man call-up, just because there aren't any any other MLS players. But it was very interesting that Brian Gutierrez, who just got to Chivas, got a call-up, right? The Chicago Fire. Yeah, so that's interesting. And then Richel Adesma, who also is a dual player,
00:42:56
Speaker
citizen. ah I didn't notice that. Okay. Okay. Call up. So I just thought maybe our audience might enjoy that. So when he, when he comes to Obed Bargis, I really, and we we have been doing, ah think a very good job at reporting as thing plays along. And usually when we,
00:43:19
Speaker
are given the audience that we're reporting on ongoing negotiations, the, the ball, if you will, will go from one side of the,
00:43:30
Speaker
table to the other, right? It'll go, but maybe this is what the club wants. Maybe this is what the player wants is that way things are working out in this one. The ball has stayed the whole time, either in the middle or tours, um, open Bargis's group in terms of just having the situation by in their hands, essentially. i mean, the ball is in their court almost. And and they are the ones that are kind of leading these negotiations for everything that we've been able to to gather on the situation.
00:44:07
Speaker
from multiple sources about different moments of when the negotiation started happening from, you know, the time that the Sounders gave Obert Vargas and his family time to find new representation, all of these things that are like two, three years in the making putting it all together. But right now, right at this moment, as I have said consistently,
00:44:32
Speaker
it just feels like there's not going to be a resolution. There just is not even in the horizon. Like you cannot even see it. There's no light at the end of the tunnel right now because there just isn't anything. As far as I know that Obed Vargas's group is asking for essentially that the sounders can say, here it is.
00:44:52
Speaker
We'll give it to you. And so there is two options and you you talked about one and and we'll just, Clarify and put both them on the table. Either OBIT is sold before the end of the transfer window,
00:45:10
Speaker
of the winter, the one that we're on right now, or he plays out his contract and he's absolutely gone by the end of the year. Now, there are things that could happen in between that where maybe the Sounders sell him and they could bring him up on ah on a loan till the end of the year, whatever, right? But the reality is that there's two roads and they both end with Obert Vargas leaving Ultimately, the Sounders ultimately. Yeah. Yeah. So basically what you're saying, when you say there's no chance for resolution, what you're saying is there's no chance that the Sounders are going to resign him and it will be long term agreement where his future is now in the Sounders hands entirely. And that is exactly what I'm hearing. ah Basically, that.
00:45:53
Speaker
Obed Vargas's people are just not interested in signing a new contract. And what I found was interesting is I don't know that they've been interested in signing a new contract for a long time.
00:46:05
Speaker
And if you really go back to it from the sound of it, This ah sort of all started when he started seeking new representation, I believe in the beginning of 2024 to end of 2023. And apparently he was pretty open with the the agents that they were interviewing that their plan, their long-term plan was to sort of play out the contract with the Sounders.
00:46:28
Speaker
And then go somewhere on a free. And that's totally fine. Like, I don't want to, I don't want to undermine that. past Like, this is his right to do the sound. was, he's been playing out his contract dutifully. It should be said he, no one could ever question the effort that he has put in over the last year and a half, two years, whatever. He has been living up to his contract and then somehow. outplaying his contract.
00:46:54
Speaker
I don't think anyone would, would doubt that. ah But he also wants to control where he plays next. And I think that that is understandable ah from the Sounders perspective. I think there's some frustration there though, that, you know, they've invested a lot in Obed both time and energy and money.
00:47:12
Speaker
And i understandably, I think they'd like to get something material out of that. And, you know, this is a player who, if the Sounders had him under contract and could sell him, you would think he is at least a $10 million dollars player.
00:47:25
Speaker
I do not think the Sounders are under any illusions that they can get anything close to that right now in the next two weeks. But from their perspective, I still think they think there is a pathway a best case scenario where they find a relatively big club that he can go to someone like Dortmund, for example, who is interested in bringing Obed over at some point, but isn't interested in bringing him over right away. And that the Sounders might be able to get him back on a loan, at least through the summer, which puts him in great position to potentially make the World Cup.
00:47:58
Speaker
Everyone wins in that situation. i don't know how likely that is, to be fair. But that is sort of like this from the Sounders perspective, the dream scenario where they find some big club who's willing to pay a relatively cut rate transfer fee, loan them back to the Sounders. And then he goes and joins that team probably in the summer.
00:48:17
Speaker
And even at that point, Ovid Vargas and his group have the right to say yes or no to to correct so whatever happens. So they could find them, um I don't know, a, a let's call it, i don't know, Crystal Palace. right let's Let's just say it's Crystal Palace. That would be amazing, right? But maybe he doesn't want to go to Crystal Palace. Maybe he thinks that, or... or his group believes that he should be in Manchester city or Man U and they could essentially say, Nope. ah Yeah. That sounds really great, but, but we don't want to do that. So essentially all of the power, if not most of the power, if not all of it, it's on, it's on all his hands. And, and that's why I'm with you. I don't know how, how likely it is that they're able to to move them and and sell them. Now, I really hope, I think that there is enough suitors where there could be ah offer that's,
00:49:11
Speaker
unrefusable for, know, but Vargas, I mean, like if a Dortmund comes yeah in and says, and sure, but it's going to have to be someone like that. It can't like the Sounders are not going to be able to transfer him to like mid table, Belgian or Dutch team like that. That's not what Obed is looking for here.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yeah, which is crazy because, bro you know, i thought Bruges was perfectly fine and, you know, PSV or something like that would be a more than acceptable place. But we don't really know exactly what it is that they're being offered ah in terms of what his future is for Ovid Vargas. But for the sound of things, it just feels like there isn't going to be any resolution for the the negotiations. And I really do feel like...
00:50:00
Speaker
Obed Vargas is clearly betting on himself and he has the quality and talent to do it, but he is gambling a lot. This could put him in a situation where it affects his um potential to go to work up with Mexico. Look, I'm looking at, at the midfielders for this camp and there's a whole bunch of new guys that are coming in because I'm sure that Javier Aguirre understands that I've been saying pretty consistently since last year that that midfield is not the greatest. the Mexico's midfield to me has a lot of holes and and even players that were really good at one point, like Charlie, are not in their best moment right now.
00:50:41
Speaker
Um... Iker Fimbres is his first time caller. He can get first time minutes. He's a midfielder for Monterrey. Kevin Castaneda for Cholos, same thing. That tells me that Javier Raga is trying to figure out who are those end guys. Ovid falls into that situation. Now, Ovid can go here in this camp and have a phenomenal camp. But if he's not playing in March or in May... yeah I can guarantee you that he's not making that call up. It's just the way it is. Javier Aguirre wants his guys to be in rhythm. Everybody wants their guys to be in rhythm and and have true minutes of competition. So if he is in this kind of gray area where he doesn't know where he's going or he goes to a new place where maybe he's not getting minutes...
00:51:27
Speaker
He's really gambling on that, not to mention, God help it, a potential injury or anything that might hinder his minutes or his ability to make a new contract with somebody else until the summer. I mean, there's just a lot of gambling that he's doing.
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's not just gambling with the World Cup spot, because I think you can argue that the World Cup, while realistic, is still, you know, we're still talking 25 percentile opportunity. Like this is not by no stretch is he, you know, you we can say Christian Roldan is, know, if he's something like 80, 85 percent likely to get into World Cup squad.
00:52:07
Speaker
Obed is almost the reverse of that. He's in the picture, but he's got, he's got to prove himself. He's got a lot to to prove. So I don't, I don't want to oversell the importance of this, that part of it for his next move.
00:52:20
Speaker
I think the more relevant thing that is going to be an issue is, Him positioning himself in a way where he can actually get to the team that he wants to get to from here. And if he's not playing, if he's not, even if he is playing, there's no guarantee that he's going to have 10 big clubs from Europe begging to sign him on a free.
00:52:43
Speaker
Because the reality is if there were 10 big clubs that were interested in in signing him, some of them would have made... you know, cut rate transfer offers and just get it over with now. So I think his folks, his people, not, i don't want to say his folks because that implies it's literally his parents, but his, his camp, I think has over sold the possibility, the likelihood that that teams in Europe are just going to be lining up to sign him if he's on a free, because I don't think that's a given. i think if the Sounders couldn't find someplace for him to play in Europe that he wants to be, the chances of him finding that on his own, I don't know that are all that much better. And I'll note that even though he's part of a bigger agency that has huge, huge players like Irving, like Holland and and and guys like that, his actual agent doesn't have a great history of putting players in Europe either.
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, he's part of ah of ah of a good group of agents. It's like an agency. Like a super agency almost. Like a super agency, yeah, that that's running things with, you know, a lot of good players. But I'm with you. I always feel like clubs have a...
00:53:58
Speaker
a better chance of moving the tables for transfers because there isn't necessarily a need to, to sell the player all the time. Whether it if on the contrary, if all it goes on his own, you know, a lot of cups might feel like, well, you know what, you either you come with us or, you know, there's not going to be ah a lot of leverage from, from anyone else. So that I don't know. It's a very difficult situation. And now I do not want to,
00:54:27
Speaker
um I do not want to take blame on the Sounders end as well. I understand people's frustrations. I know for a fact that when Ovid came back from his first u twenty with the U-20, he was ready to get a new contract and he was excited. and he was I think that was the time to do it. And then after that, when it didn't happen...
00:54:57
Speaker
and this is just my, ah my thoughts on it, or, you know, my, my guess on the situation is that after not hearing from the club at that time, there was a little bit of resentment of, Oh, okay, well, they didn't sign me now and I'm playing better and kind of things build up. And then you get in the back and forth and now he's decided that maybe he needs another agent. And, you know, because of,
00:55:23
Speaker
That particular time and moment, it didn't quite go the way it could have happened. So there is some blame on on on the centers I've said on maybe have secured the player a while back.
00:55:39
Speaker
But then you also understand where... not having to sign him for 700, 800, maybe gave the Sounders capability to do other stuff with that salary cap. So there's just a lot of situations, but I do feel like there's blame to go around on both ends. But now it just sets us up with where we are now, which is undeniably Obito Vargas leaving at some point this year.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think you can go back to, and that's a salient point here. I think to remember that you can go back to 2023. That's when he got called into the USU 20 team ah into their world U 20 world cup team.
00:56:19
Speaker
yeah,
00:56:22
Speaker
they clearly could have signed him. He had at that point already earned another contract. Danny lay, you know, that was around the same time. I believe that Danny Leyva signed his first extension. Yep. And so the Sounders could have done that with him. ah It's not, but it it should also be said that wasn't without risk. Yeah. If you go back to 2023, you'll remember there was only one new 22 spot.
00:56:45
Speaker
So the Sounders did not have an open new 22 spot. So that would been a point. putting him on the salary cap, which he he has not had to, he'd essentially been an off cap player the entire time he's been with the first team, including right now. ah And now, you know, but once that, that new mechanism was opened up in 2024, know,
00:57:04
Speaker
the window had probably closed to re-sign Obed. So it's I think it's it's fair to second-guess the Sounders' reluctance to sign him to a contract. they They clearly showed that they were willing to sign guys before they were up you know and put them on the cap like they did with Danny Leyva.
00:57:21
Speaker
But it's also, i think we can also undersell the amount of flexibility they really had because, or oversell the amount of flexibility they had because they couldn't just go and sign them to a U22 deal back then. And so I know a lot of the discourse, know,
00:57:37
Speaker
has been a little clouded because there is this sense that they may or may not have offered him a max U22 deal in the last, you know, in the last year or two. But I think the point here is that, that even a max U22 deal the, at least since he got this new agent in 2024, probably wasn't going to do the trick. But you can, and we can also second guess that because the reality is that he's been, while he could have been making $800,000, a million dollars, he'd be making a million dollars right now if he had signed a u twenty two deal.
00:58:07
Speaker
that's real money that would be going into his bank account that, you know, he's, you know, he probably could have made an additional $1.6 million dollars over the last, you know two years, if he had signed U22 deal at the end of 2024.
00:58:20
Speaker
twenty twenty four ah and so that's ah that's a lot of money that, you know, that you know he could be investing and and building sort of a foundation for himself.
00:58:31
Speaker
But I also don't want to make it sound like Obed is a is a bad guy in this. Obed has been doing, you know he said he wants to focus on playing and that's what he's done to his credit. now I don't blame Obed at all in this situation. and I think we can take issue with the sound, we can pick what the Sounders have done wrong.
00:58:48
Speaker
We can pick maybe what is his representation has maybe oversold things. But Obed himself does not deserve really any the direct criticism because he has been doing his job. His job is to play the best he can for the team that he plays for.
00:59:03
Speaker
And he's been doing that. Absolutely. When we asked Brian Schmetzer about that this week, basically he just said, he said, as long as Obed has the Sounders first in his approach, we have no issues.
00:59:16
Speaker
Like Brian understandably doesn't want to get involved in this whole transfer for saga. Oh, but himself doesn't really want to get bogged down in that. And I think Obed deserves a lot of credit for staying focused on being the best player he can. And as long as he does that, I think this will probably work out fine for him.
00:59:33
Speaker
At the same time, I think it's worth it. You know, it's, it's okay to kind of ah question some of the other stuff that's going on. True. And you're right. I mean, Obed is as cool as the other side of the pillow. I mean, when it comes to this sort of situations, he blocks out the noise, blocks out the rumor, blocks out the negotiations, and he goes to work. And that's something that you have to give him credit all the time, regardless of what he's getting paid or what's going on or what federation he's playing for. I mean, the kid...
01:00:05
Speaker
does the work on the field. And i have no doubt as confident as Brian was, I am just as confident that Obed is going to go into this camp. It's going to go into the season with the foot, the pedal to the metal, and he's going to be outstanding. Now, where does that lead to? And hopefully that there isn't anything that, that goes wrong with him and he can have a great season for the Sounders. And then that lands them wherever it is that should land him. But at the end of the day, there is something that's unarguable and is the fact that Obed Vargas has been a true professional, a phenomenal player, a class act, and probably the biggest prospect to come out of the academy.
01:00:49
Speaker
Absolutely. and And the Sounders aren't going to be left completely, ah you know, they're going to have something to gain out of this. They still will get training compensation. If Obed goes on to have the kind to get the kind of contract that he's expected to get, you know we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars that the Sounders can still collect just from training compensation. So it's like, don't,
01:01:08
Speaker
the sounders don't need to be, you don't, we need to cry over their plight. They're, they're going to turn out just fine in this whole situation. They might not turn out the best that they could possibly be. and, and certainly people are going to be, if he ends up walking on a free, people are going to be frustrated.
01:01:22
Speaker
i don't want to downplay those frustrations, oh but I also just think it's, it's fair to level set as to exactly where they they've gone wrong. And, and I don't know if it's, they, I don't know that they've played it quite as wrong as sometimes the perception out there is, ah one more thing we wanted to get to today though.
01:01:41
Speaker
ah And while we're on the subject of the, of the upcoming world cup roster, Jesus Ferreira made some comments to you that I think are worth highlighting as far as that goes.
Jesus Ferreira's World Cup Aspirations
01:01:52
Speaker
Yeah, ah look, I was going to ask the question, but ah George beat me to it. He asked about, you know, the USMNT if he had, you know, goals to be part of the World Cup and,
01:02:09
Speaker
I love the confidence in Jesus's voice. I'll tell you that. He said, I absolutely think I have a chance. That's the way he started it all. And then he talked about that being his goal is to ultimately play that world cup that obviously has to come through him playing great for the Sounders. And that was motivation for him this, this season. And even if he didn't reach that goal and and and didn't get called up, I mean, at least the body of work would speak for itself. And and I'm,
01:02:38
Speaker
I'm all in with it. Look, with, you know, i know I might be called a homer or not. I do think that Jesus Ferreira is an excellent player. And I think that the fact that Ricardo Pepe broke his forearm, his left forearm, and he is clearly not going to be in the picture for the the World Cup. I think that...
01:03:00
Speaker
Man, a guy like Jesus Ferreira could have a chance if he has an unbelievable start of the year. And I only say that because Pochettino has showed us throughout his time with the U.S. 17 that he does not care what you think or his neighbor things or the press things. He's going to give a guy a chance regardless of where he plays, as long as he has the right attitude and is as productive as he can be. And if he sues is out there, just diamond passes and putting the ball in the back of the net early in MLS season, i have no doubt that Pochettino will look his way and say, let's see what you got, because that's just Pochettino's MO. Uh,
01:03:41
Speaker
There isn't really a clear cut. Let me rephrase. There is a clear cut number one for the USMNT. And there's a clear couple of forwards and nines that are definitely going to be going to the World Cup. But there is always room for one more and with Ricardo Pepe's injury. And I think that Jesus could essentially make a case if he's having an unbelievable season. So power to him.
01:04:04
Speaker
Another guy whose mentality I absolutely love. And this is one of those situations where if you're motivated to the point of you having a breakthrough season, I'm all in for it. I am all in for it. I've i've mentioned how I thought that Jesus was going to have an even better season than last year. I think that is, I'm even more confident now. I will double down on that bet, no doubt about it. So to me, it's just about how The Sounders end up playing with the formation. Where do they play him? What's the role? But but to me, Jesus is on his way to having a very, very good second season with the Sounders.
01:04:43
Speaker
Yeah. And you'd love to see that. i mean, Jesus Ferreira, let's not forget. This is a player who scored 18 goals for in a season for FC Dallas. This is a guy who has something like 15 U S national team goals in his career. Jesus Ferreira is a very, very high level player when he is on his game.
01:05:01
Speaker
And there's no reason to think that he can't get back to that level. You know, last year with the Sounders, I think it was more about fitting in and sort of finding his place. But there's every reason to believe that he could come in here and have a big season.
01:05:15
Speaker
And that's another potential X factor for the Sounders is Jesus Ferreira, another player that, you know, I'm very excited about seeing what he can do this year. ah But with all that, I think, I think that, I think we emptied the clip, ah so to speak, right? Right.
01:05:29
Speaker
yeah Absolutely. That's all I had. i ah I am all out. I was deleting ah notes as I went along to make sure that nothing was left in the in the clip, as you so eloquently put it. And yeah, I'm empty, baby. I'm all out.
01:05:45
Speaker
All right. Well, ah with all that, I suppose we should get out of here. Just a reminder, if you want to get be one of the first buyers of Sounder Heart's new magazine, 4, go to sounderatheart.com.
01:05:58
Speaker
i It's linked right there at the top of the page. We are selling those quicker than I had honestly anticipated. I'm really excited about that coming out. We're going to bring a new kind of brand of journalism or bring an old brand of journalism back, I suppose, is a good way of putting it. Exactly. ah But all that said, i we should get out of here. i am Jeremiah O'Shann signing off for Nico Moreno. This is Adiates, part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network, and we'll catch you next time.
01:06:55
Speaker
Let's go and Sounders.