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The Best 15 Minutes of Soccer Ever Played - Ep. 96
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We have an emphatic Dub Pod as the Seattle Sounders beat the brakes off Nashville SC at Lumen Field in Matchday 9. We dive into Seattle’s best performance of the season in our game review, featuring the return of Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak from injury and the MLS debut of Ryan Kent.
Later on, we talk about an intriguing development down at LAFC, where head coach Steve Cherundolo announced he’ll be stepping down at the end of the 2025 season.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 96 of Lobbing Scorchers. We're recording this on a rainy Sunday evening in Seattle. And Noah, we have got an emphatic dub pod to lay down right now.
00:00:36
Speaker
How are you feeling? I sure have not felt this good in 2025 once, Ari. The seasonal affective disorder is out. It's sunny. Well, not now, but it was sunny this week.
00:00:49
Speaker
The players are feeling it. And frankly, I'm feeling it too, Ari. This might be the biggest dub pod we've ever experienced. It is an emphatic dub pod as the Seattle Sounders beat the absolute breaks off Nashville SC at Lumen Field 3-0.
Match Highlights and Analysis
00:01:04
Speaker
This game had a moose goal. Had a De La Vega goal. Had a Paul Rothrock goal. This was a very Lobbing Scorchers dub, I think. Yeah, was. That trio is it's our kind of dub.
00:01:15
Speaker
We're going to talk about that in our game review. We're going hit our agenda check and then hit hit on some of the other big headlines from around MLS, including the impending departure of Steve C. from LAFC. Noah, that got announced a couple days ago. I'll tell you what. People are really excited about that, and some people are really terrified about that.
00:01:32
Speaker
It's definitely a interesting and unexpected news. So, yeah, intrigued. We are happy foot, sad foot now. It was a galaxy pod last
Podcast Affiliations and Sponsorships
00:01:44
Speaker
year. yeah where it's you know yeah But before we get into all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobby Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:01:51
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com. No, what's that link? Sounder at heart.com slash L S scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:02:05
Speaker
Uh, we're close to a hundred sounder at heart subs and now more than ever, it's a great time to become a member with the season in full swing. Uh, subscribers also now get access to the audio only versions of our live shows, right to your podcast feed.
00:02:17
Speaker
Uh, and shout out to our sponsors, hacks and ferments, podium menswear and full pole wines, my daddy removal and body spec ever growing list. We have a lot of them.
Community Engagement and New Member Welcome
00:02:27
Speaker
Uh, if you haven't done so yet, please sub to the YouTube.
00:02:30
Speaker
If you're watching on YouTube, like the video, uh, go through and like every single video that we have, including all the live streams and, uh, yeah. Anything else to show or should we, you've been a busy man. You have been live streaming up a storm. and We've both been live streaming up a storm. I think we're up to like four live streams a week. It feels like. Yeah, because I mean, you know, I'm doing kickoff, doing under the lights, then we're doing the postgame lives. let's ah But, you know, ah I love the content grind.
Bonus Content and Special Announcements
00:02:56
Speaker
It's a good content grind. I will say we do have one new Sounder at Heart member I wanted to read out. Yeah.
00:03:01
Speaker
Corey Henry. Corey Henry, thank you for joining the ranks and thank you for joining Sounder at Heart and supporting independent Seattle soccer coverage. We would not be here without them. Go support Sounder at Heart.
00:03:12
Speaker
They're always driving for new members. And how many do we have now? 40 or no, we have 80 something. don't know. I don't know. I'll take that. I'll take
Game Strategy and Key Player Roles
00:03:21
Speaker
We're getting close. We're very close to 90 is alive and well. All right. Before we I want to preview the bonus episode. Okay. We started doing bonus episodes, bonus content for YouTube members. All right. You can become a YouTube member by just hitting the join button. It's also in the description of the YouTube video on our YouTube channel. You can visit youtube.com slash at Lobbingscourchers.
00:03:42
Speaker
But we just posted behind-the-scenes vlog from our from our trip to the U.S. Open Cup. We're going to talk more about that in our post-show. And I'm also going to read a handwritten note.
00:03:55
Speaker
Apology. Apology. To Daniel Musavsky. Okay. we're not If you're not a member yet, you're going to want to be a member for that. Listen, this is like heartfelt and honest. And I feel like it needs to be said behind a paywall. All right. So become a YouTube member and we'll do that. Become a YouTube member. It's a great way to support the show. One of the best top five to 10 best ways.
00:04:16
Speaker
They're all great ways. Pick your poison. No, let's get into this dub pod. Really excited to talk about this game. Seattle Sounders three Nashville SC zero. Let's do our lineup reaction off the top here. You had a moose start in this game ah with Albert Rusnak and Jackson Reagan, ah both not in the starting 11. Jackson Reagan's out four to six. I'm not mistaken.
00:04:40
Speaker
Uh, Albert Rusnak was on the bench for this game. So you had Jesus Ferreira getting some run as he he was, you know, as as the 10, but he was drifting around a lot. He's not like a pure, pure 10, obviously in the same way that Roos neck is, but like in theory, he was taking that role for this game.
00:04:57
Speaker
and then you had Jordan Morris on the bench, making his return to the mash day squad from injury and Ryan Kent made his Seattle Sounders and MLS debut. That was exciting. We're going talk about that later. da And then, uh, yeah, exactly. And then you had, uh, Kim Kihei drawing the start for Jackson Ray and Noah, what were your thoughts when you first saw this lineup?
00:05:19
Speaker
I didn't have any thoughts. I just thought, hell yeah, let's do it. Let's run it. this is This is a game we can win. We're back home. Let's see what happens. I was stoked to see Ferreira again at the 10, see what he can do.
00:05:32
Speaker
Danny Musavsky has been solid at the nine ah comparatively to what... for everyone doing It's been running better with him on the field. So I was glad to see them set up like that. I think it was an obvious move with Rusnak.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, with Rusnak out of the ah starting 11, don't think there is really any other way to set it up. And it turned out to be extremely effective. Let's talk about the key moments from this game. I just have the goals listed here. So let's talk about these goals because all three of these goals were excellent footy.
00:06:05
Speaker
ah All three just beautiful to watch. And ah that three goal in 15 minutes span was electric as electric as I've seen and heard Lumen Field
Debate on Statistics and Player Performance
00:06:15
Speaker
in a while. The crowd the crowd was feeding off the energy that the players were playing with.
00:06:22
Speaker
And it was just, the it it was ah there's nothing like Lumen Field. when the Seattle Sounders are playing like that. That's true. it was It was great to see. you you know You felt it in the LAFC game, but that didn't have as many people there. this There was 31K there, which that is a really good crowd ah for what they've been drawing yeah lately. So it was nice to see it packed in there, and the the atmosphere was great. And the players created that by scoring these goals. So let's let's talk about this first goal here.
00:06:50
Speaker
19th minute, Moose goal. Paul Rothrock plays in Jesus Ferreira. It's a low cross and Ferreira is, he's trying to shoot. He's trying to put it on goal. Moose happens to be in the line of the shot.
00:07:03
Speaker
And he hits it with a, I didn't know he had this in his bag. No, he hits it with like a little flicked kind of back heel kind of thing. Like a Ramona dude. Joe Willis couldn't, couldn't get to it. It bounced off him and into the net. And this goal was originally called Ravis.
00:07:18
Speaker
offside. He could not have been more onside. I think he might've been the most onside of all time. Yeah. That I've ever seen. Very onside. He was very onside. Uh, I know it doesn't really matter as much in the VAR era, but I was still tilted at the AR for missing that because it was so obvious. And it showed the fact that he missed that shows he's not looking at the right thing.
00:07:36
Speaker
So that was, you know, that's, that's kind of a mild complaint. I guess I did. I will say for the record, this is why I'm pro VA. I was saying that on the stream this morning, but like you can't have ever situations where a goal like that doesn't count because he's on side by like three feet.
00:07:53
Speaker
So good on them for, uh, for catching it would have been, uh, shocking if they had hadn't caught that one. Yeah, that would have been, brutal um, but, and but they, it was pretty efficient. that They didn't go over there and spend an hour and a half looking at it.
00:08:08
Speaker
They saw it. It was obvious right away. Immediately confirmed the goal. And honestly, I know some people are really against VAR because it takes like the ah the kind of excitement out of the moment when a guy scores and you're like, oh, wait well, wait, is going to get waved off?
00:08:22
Speaker
but But I thought what Moose did was ah was funny there. ah He waited for it to get confirmed, and then he celebrated as if he had just scored it. So I thought that was a good ah a good little bit. And the the Sounders were off and running.
00:08:35
Speaker
Three goals in 15 minutes here. i think you're I think you're not even giving this goal its moment that it deserves. Yeah, I was going to ask if you had anything on this This was banger, man. I mean, maybe not a certified screamer, but this was a just a beaut, man. Like a, a, a technical goal, a thing that I didn't, I mean, you said it, I didn't think he had it in his bag, but I mean, that's kind of a, that's gotta be a goal of the week candidate. I mean, it might not, I don't even know if they do that anymore, Ari, but that was great. They do. That was sick.
00:09:09
Speaker
Dude, a little behind the flick, ah I don't know. you you You tell me, but... I think the degree of difficulty on it was a lot higher than he made it look. Absolutely. it's not It's not easy to finish a little back heel like that. And that's one of those ones where if you try that and you flub it, imagine the Moose Discourse. if if but it But it worked. It went in, got confirmed on ah video review, and the Sounders are up And, know...
00:09:31
Speaker
and you know Well, people are also saying that, oh, Moose got lucky. This was a lucky goal. Someone did say that this morning. And I was like, man, shut the fuck up. Because here's the thing. Here's what I'll say about this. Jesus Ferreira essentially is shooting the ball in traffic.
00:09:46
Speaker
The whole point is that, like, you never know who it's going to come off of or go in, right? But... Moose is like right next to the goalkeeper. That shot's going to just be just slammed right at the goalkeeper. He's probably catching that.
00:09:57
Speaker
That goal doesn't happen
Player Performance Evaluations
00:09:58
Speaker
if Moose isn't in the position that he is and makes the high level of difficulty play that he does to score that goal. So if you want to call it lucky, all right, whatever. That's fine. you could you can You can feel that way. You're wrong.
00:10:11
Speaker
You're wrong. But you can feel that way. That's cool. Just say you don't know ball. I thought it was funny that someone called it lucky because it was actually such a great example of skills. It was such a great example of skills. It was the perfect thing of like what you have been saying of like, you can't have those opportunities if you're not in the right positions.
00:10:30
Speaker
And he was in the right position. Yeah. Yeah. And I think J.O. had the stat that I read this morning that he's currently ah like number one in MLS in like XG generated or whatever. Whatever. that That's literally not ah a real stat at all. I don't think. I mean, ah XG generated. what are What are we talking about? He scored. What what what does that even mean? OK, we don't have to do this right now, but I guess we're doing it.
00:10:54
Speaker
I'm just saying, does it have more goals? Honestly, this is, you literally are arguing two conflicting things at the same time because you've been, you're saying that Moose's performances have been mattering ah with with that, with respect to whether he's been scoring or not, which is, that's all like those stats are measuring.
00:11:11
Speaker
ah but then you're also But then you're also saying that the that the final result of whether he scores or not is all that matters. So that's two contradictory arguments. No, i'm saying I'm saying it's to your point that he is getting in good positions, but like you are only as good as the the goals you put in, right? That's fair.
00:11:30
Speaker
But XG, what the fuck does that mean? It is literally measuring if you're getting in good positions and generating high quality chances. It's thing. But if they're high quality and they don't go in, what's the point? Because if you do that consistently enough, the odds are drastically higher that they will start to go in. That's the whole point. It just doesn't make sense. I mean, I don't know.
00:11:50
Speaker
Just say that he scores good goals. Why are we saying he's the best XG-er in the league? Like, the what that doesn't... Like, i just don't get it. Like, why are we doing that? This is one of your worst takes. It's one of my best takes, folks. Everyone loves this take. it And everyone agrees with me. It's pretty horrifically bad. But he scored. It's like, what why are we talking about his XG? Who gives a fuck?
00:12:10
Speaker
Who cares? it's It's positioning is what we're talking about. Positioning and how how high quality the chance is That obviously matters when you're talking about how likely he is to score or not. you You literally just said it. But but you don't you don't share that stat unless he scores that goal.
00:12:25
Speaker
Well, no, because we, I, I've been sharing it because he hasn't been scoring. That's also the whole point. Like he hasn't been scoring those goals, like until these last few last couple of weeks. So that's my argument is you share that to, to prove whatever you're talking about. Oh, he's the best X year. Like, cause I could say, Oh, look at this.
00:12:44
Speaker
He's ineffective because he gets all of these chances, but he can never finish them. Right. Or you can say, Oh, look at this. He has all of these chances and now he's finishing them. It was just a numbers game. You can just pick it and pull it and put it wherever you want and make it like follow your argument. This has been the XG segment. I'm sure we can leave it there. Okay. That's where we're even, where even earlier that was a went off the rails there.
00:13:06
Speaker
A half hour mark, a second goal of the game, Pedro de la Vega goal. ah This was a super awesome goal. Christian rolled on. wins the ball. And really this goal was all about Christian rolled on. In my opinion, this goal doesn't happen unless he's ah doing the dirty work, he's a dark and back, uh, bullying that guy off the ball, winning possession in the attacking end, and then sliding in a great pass to Obed. And then, uh, this was a phenomenal play by Obed as well. He has the guy one-on-one in the box and just shoots right by him to the end line. There was such little space, like,
00:13:42
Speaker
between Obed with the guy in between him and the end line that I don't think the defender thought that he could get to that spot and then get the cross back in. We're talking about Obed varga Vargas Vargas. We're talking Obed, vartas here Obed $10 million dollars Vargas. so oh Whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:13:57
Speaker
We're talking Obed $45 million. We're talking Obed $45 million dollar Vargas here. Um, God, what a what a play. yeah Both of them together to just, It was a double pivot of dreams. It was so good. He gets that cross back in and then Pedro de la Vega kicked the absolute daylights out of that ball.
00:14:16
Speaker
that That was a missile. That was about, I think that's as hard as a, as you can kick a soccer ball. And I called it on the, ah on the post game live, the most unsavable goal I think I've ever seen. Yeah. Like there was just, there was literally a net that poor goalkeeper. Yeah. He seared that thing.
00:14:35
Speaker
Uh, and I think there was a, it felt like there was like a, a tinge of frustration behind it. Like I've been waiting a long goddamn time to get an MLS goal from open play. i haven't been able to stay on the field.
00:14:48
Speaker
I'm going to just kick this ball as absolutely hard as I can. And he did that. And, uh, it was an awesome goal. What'd you think of this one? It was beautiful, man. From, from the start of it, that, that Christian rolled on turnover is exactly why he is starting and playing.
00:15:04
Speaker
Even though there are haters out there who want to say he's bad, he's not been good all season, he's trash, he should retire. you know There's people saying these things online.
00:15:16
Speaker
You're wrong. He is great. He's incredible, and he does that dirty work. he's He's a dog, man. And that happens. He wins this turnover on just straight grit, right?
00:15:28
Speaker
Plays this ball in to Obed Vargas. And of course it has to be him. The man who just has some of the best
Team Lineup Dynamics and Strategy
00:15:35
Speaker
vision of, of every player to ever play on the entire planet makes that decision to place in stride the perfect touch to get it just to the end line.
00:15:45
Speaker
Get that half step on his defender, cut back to the perfect space, right? a space occupied by two runners crashing the box.
00:15:56
Speaker
You had Rothrock and you had De La Vega. So you knew someone was getting on that ball and someone was finishing that. donnning Stunning, stunning. Absolutely incredible cinema, soccer royalty.
00:16:10
Speaker
Beautiful. And as good as that goal was, I think this next one might have been even better. Oh, yeah. think this was my favorite goal of the season so far. And really... And we're not biased. And, well, this 15-minute stretch, I was touching on it earlier, but, like...
00:16:26
Speaker
that was what that that was this team. Like when they're at their apex, yeah, that was the identity that they're supposed to play with. Um, that was the intensity, the energy, how quick they were moving the ball around, how they were winning every single second ball. Did you notice that yeah they were out running outworking outclassing the opposition in pretty much every capacity.
00:16:50
Speaker
And you're never going to do that. Probably, over all 90 minutes, of a game. But you know, the idea is to do that as much as possible. And they were just lighting it
Officiating Controversies and Reactions
00:17:00
Speaker
up for that 15 minutes.
00:17:01
Speaker
And it was electric. The crowd was, the crowd was going crazy and you could feel like just from being in the building that they were going to score again after the first goal because of how they were playing.
00:17:14
Speaker
yeah So, uh, it all led to this, uh, Rothrock goal in the 34th minute ah Pedro De La Vega slides it to Ferreira.
00:17:24
Speaker
Excellent ball from De La Vega. Excellent body movement ah ah and positioning from Ferreira to receive the ball and take his first touch in a way that allowed him to pick his head up and see that the midfielder had cheated over and left Paul Rothrock wide-ass open. and that So good the the body movement to set up the pass,
00:17:48
Speaker
the technical ability to hit the pass with the weight that allows Rothrock to take the touch. Then a nice little curler from him paul Rothrock, who was, who was wide open. That was a great goal.
00:17:59
Speaker
Dude, the way he basically volleyed it to himself to, to just like set up that goal. He's a stud, man. Paul is a stud. He's got the swag. He's got the effortlessness of just like being the coolest guy I've ever seen in my entire life.
00:18:14
Speaker
And he's like a certified baller. Like you could put him on basically any team. And I think he's, yeah he's going to work his ass off and get minutes. Like he is not just like a fun story.
00:18:26
Speaker
He is a baller, a certified baller that finish. It didn't cement it. Cause I already believed it, but like, what are you going to say, man? What do you say more about the kid? He's so good.
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. he so good. yeah Oh, and he's like a, ah he rises in the moment, you know? Yeah. He rises in the moment. I think that's a good, a good thing to say about this team too. And the way that they played was like, this was always how they could play.
00:18:55
Speaker
This is always what they could do. We were hoping for and expecting like during preseason that, that right there. that's all this And we do this dance every year. Ari, I was talking about this today. I was having coffee.
00:19:07
Speaker
ah with some friends this morning. And I said, this is always what we do. We've been doing this a few seasons now, Ari. We know what content is going to come when. We know that they're going to be terrible in the start of the season. And they're going to look like they've never played soccer before. There's going to be injuries.
00:19:22
Speaker
And then you're going to see that glimmer of hope. And they're going to ride that glimmer of hope and into one of the just most fire streaks you've ever seen in your life. This is Seattle Sounders, dude. When have they ever played good in the first two months of any season?
00:19:35
Speaker
I feel like that narrative, the narrative of the slow starts has like, they, they managed to squash that a little bit in recent years, but then this year it definitely, that happened again.
00:19:46
Speaker
And, uh, this was a great performance. Now they need to sustain it. Like, From here, the question is if that was like a one off or a blip like the ah like people were saying the LAFC game was at the time, even though that game was kind of two rotated teams. But ah this was a great start on a lot of fronts.
00:20:04
Speaker
I thought the defense had a good game. This Nashville team, I mean, you want to talk about XG. They've been they've been racking it up. Whatever that means. And, uh, okay. I'll put it in terms that, uh, that you can understand. They've been, ah generating really good chances all season, uh, and just haven't finished. So they haven't scored. They're not good at scoring.
00:20:24
Speaker
Do not understand the difference between playing good offense and ah like it's not necessarily related to whether you're scoring or not? Like is that concept like I don't believe that. I don't believe in that concept because it's like if you're what the the game there's you score you put ball in net you score that's one point.
00:20:42
Speaker
If you don't put ball in net and score that's zero point. And you have to score. So bad. You have to put ball in to get point to win games. But to get in positions to get scores, you have to be generating chances.
00:20:55
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So if you're doing that well, you're going to score more. Yeah, but and sometimes you don't. So like if they're actually as high, it's it's saying like, theoretically you can potentially get there. Here's the problem I have with this take Noah is that, uh, you know, that, that, uh, how you play and what the final results are, aren't necessarily related. You are, you have, you talk about that all the time.
00:21:20
Speaker
And that, and then when, when it comes to actually applying a stat that measures it, you dismiss the stat and say that it's stupid. But I know that you understand the concept that how how you play isn't necessarily related to what the final result is. And looking at what the performance is can help you predict what the final result could be. That's why people use stats.
00:21:41
Speaker
So it's like you're arguing something against something that I know you actually know because you literally argue with it. i just you you You literally argue it. I just don't believe it. i don't believe in it.
00:21:54
Speaker
Oh man, we got to go on. What are we doing? Just like, look if they can't score. Okay. Yeah, it was just, yeah. Okay. I don't know. Nashville SC had been, uh, had been playing good offense, uh, going into, uh, and what it wasn't all all just XG merchant. They were scoring some goals too. They were like, they were playing good ball. They were taking some results.
00:22:17
Speaker
BJ has a BJ ball in a little bit. He had them BJ ball in a little bit and they they were XG merchanting, uh, a little bit, but they were also scoring, but they also were scoring. They were scoring is what I'm trying to tell you. And so I think Seattle's defense did a good job of, uh, of keeping a clean sheet against the team. I've rattled Folks have been doing a good job. They did a good job defensively of keeping a clean sheet against a team that had been playing pretty well on offense.
00:22:46
Speaker
Um, Nashville did get their chances, a couple of them in this game, but stuff and Stefan Fry was up for it. He made some really good saves. He had a really good one on surge at the end of the half that if you converted, played a monster game, it would have been, it would have been three, one.
00:22:59
Speaker
And that was, I thought that was a really big play in this game because if surge gets that and it gets to three, one, Then the second half you are thinking it's in the back of your mind a little bit. Like, all right, if they get one, uh, then at three, two, then it's up in the air. Like they, they can actually, they'll have belief that they can take a point in the game if that happens.
00:23:18
Speaker
So I think credit to Stefan Fry credit to, uh, Kim Ki for deputizing admirably. i thought he was great in this game. Uh, I think he made me feel a lot more confident that they'll be able to stay afloat just fine defensively for this period while,
00:23:33
Speaker
Jackson Reagan is out. And I thought the game management in the second half to keep the lead, not let anything crazy happen was good. And then at the end of the game, when, ah when Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak subbed on, they generated a couple of other really good chances at the end to get the fourth or the fifth.
00:23:52
Speaker
I think ah that was a little disappointing that they didn't just because the, the vibes, imagine the vibes of Jordan had like bam that last one. Yeah, but they were high XG. So yeah, I mean, they were, and that's a good thing. So Jordan ah looked good, I thought, in his return from injury. He was running around.
00:24:09
Speaker
He got some good chances. He didn't quite finish those, but I was encouraged by how he played. And then we got our first look at Ryan Kent. Let's talk about Ryan Kent because... He, uh, he got his first MLS action and he did some cool stuff out there. I'm excited to ah watch him play more.
00:24:25
Speaker
My favorite play that he had was the no looker through ball to Ferreira. That was really close to hitting, like connecting and, uh, nice turn to, Yeah, and ah it's just like kind of creativity like that that this team could use more of.
00:24:41
Speaker
Just the idea to to do the to to do a no look in your first game on a new club and then almost have it come off. That was cool. he did ah He did a couple of other cool things out there.
00:24:53
Speaker
um He said he wants to be a bums-off seats right yeah type of player. You could kind of see that, I thought. What did you make of Ryan Kent? No, I loved him. i loved his energy that he brought in that moment.
00:25:06
Speaker
I thought his vision is insanely good. i liked that he was getting into that central space. And also, I think that ah Jordan probably should have laid that ball off to him um when they were both crashing. Jordan had the one-on-one with the goalkeeper and Kent.
00:25:22
Speaker
kind of streaked out to the side. If he would have played it across, Ryan Kent would have had a ah goal on his debut easily. yeah I forgot that. But yeah, I, but like you, you know, that's you. I get why I shot it. I, I, yeah, I'm not here to shit on Jordan. I, that's, that's your problem. would rather him square that, but I get why you're the nine, you're the nine. I get it. But, um, so I mean, I thought in the very limited amount of time that he might be the greatest player to ever touch grass. i yeah mean i like He might be better than Messi.
00:25:50
Speaker
And you had that in agenda check. but I do. um So you were very high on the Ryan Kent debut. yeah i'm ah I'm optimistic that he can inject some energy, some creativity, some dynamic nature to this team.
00:26:05
Speaker
And ah I thought we saw... A little flash of that, just a little flash of that. Excited to watch him play more. Schmidt said that he's going have to earn his minutes, but like the idea is he'll be getting, it'll be ramping up his minutes going forward. And then ah we'll really get to see what he can do. so Listen, Paul Rothrock can't play every game.
00:26:21
Speaker
Okay. Exactly. He Exactly. I mean, if if anything, it's ah it's great for the depth, but it's all there's also a chance that this could be like a a really big impact player for this team. I think that's within the range of outcomes for sure. i agree. When you consider the pedigree and ah and the talent that we're talking about.
00:26:38
Speaker
um Let's do Lobbing Scorchers, Man of the Match. ah For me, ah it can't be anybody other than Obed. I felt like his two-way impact, his assist, and just like... every and but ace space I loved everything about this Obed game, but there's honestly a lot of different ways that you could go with this. So if you have anyone else to shout, if you if you want to do Obed 2, you can do that. But if you have anyone else to shout... I think for me...
00:27:09
Speaker
And this is a pretty obvious one. Jesus Ferreira. He's got to be my man of the match. I think just that's a good segue. That was my next topic. Just from what he's been taking, even from us. I mean, we're very like positive, rational. Okay, maybe not me. I'm not rational. But we generally, this podcast tries to be a rational, sane.
00:27:30
Speaker
What am I saying? We're not rational or sane. I think what you mean is like. We've given a little bit of grief to Jesus Ferreira when we usually don't do that. And I think that this is exactly the type of performance that we believed and have seen that he could play in the past and what we really truly believed he could bring to this team.
00:27:46
Speaker
And I thought that like that has to feel really good as a player. Not only that, but like this is kind of what exactly we were looking for from him. Yeah, I think from the lobbying scorcher's perspective, the way that that integration has been going has been frustrating because um i think un unlike unlike a lot of the people who have been firing takes on this discourse, we actually watched them a lot at FC Dallas. true A lot, a lot. True. I was there when he scored his first goal. Yeah. And yeah he has been in the league for a long time and we both follow the whole league outside Seattle.
00:28:22
Speaker
And so we know like how high level a player he can be in this league. And that's why, that's why we liked the trade. That's why we thought it was a pretty high percentage move. And that's why we were saying that we thought that it was a good move.
00:28:35
Speaker
And the fact that it took a really long time for him to integrate, had people ah you know victory lapping on me earlier this week. So ah really great takes by everyone who was doing that. It took exactly one game for that. I was trying to tell you, I was trying to tell you, but it took exactly one game for that to backfire because the thing is like,
00:28:58
Speaker
we We had people, we had ah one commenter in particular, Noah, right? I think it was about 5,000 words. Yeah, they did go 5K on us. He went 5K on us. I read about one graph in and I was I'm done. He had links to Soundert Heart articles that were speaking positively about the trade. He was saying he predicted it the whole time and that we were giving...
00:29:20
Speaker
him or them grief about that. Yeah, which is not true. And then he felt personally, victimized he was claiming 100% validation on how this is a terrible trade.
00:29:31
Speaker
And I knew it because right positioning on this roster didn't make sense. And ah Craig Weibel is the biggest clown on earth for making this trade because any fan could see what I already knew because I know ball. He went 5k on this.
00:29:45
Speaker
It took one game for ah for that to backfire. So whoever wrote the 5K, congratulations. You absolutely wasted your time. But keep commenting on our videos.
00:29:56
Speaker
Yeah, no, 5K words is probably good for the all-go. But my whole point is just that, like, ah the matchday 8 victory lap, you just shouldn't do that. Well, I, and even, even my, like, you know, my takes, which, you know, I fire stuff off for content all the time, but like something that I truly believed is, and I said it, I was like, he's really bad right now.
00:30:17
Speaker
Like you just, he needed to figure it out. And I'm not going to say that he's, he's done. He's fixed. He's settled. Honestly, if anything, this performance brings up more questions than it does answers. Right? Like,
00:30:31
Speaker
He was playing incredibly well at the 10 and playing it in a different way than Albert Rosnak to a point where it's like, okay, well, where where are you going to play him when when Albert is back? Or is Albert going to have battle for his spot back?
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, this was by far his best game with Seattle so far to assists, uh, but more than just the stat sheet production, which is obviously that's what you want to see at the end of the day.
00:30:58
Speaker
Uh, but it was how he looked all game. I thought he was, ah generating a lot of danger. He was combining with everyone a lot better than he has been felt like they were actually hitting him in spaces where he could be dangerous.
00:31:12
Speaker
where as opposed to like dropping back and you know taking the ball where it's there is no danger. ah so And then, again, the play he makes on the Rothrock assist yeah I thought was excellent.
00:31:25
Speaker
So just a great shift. And by the way, I'm ah i'm not victory lapping in saying that this means it was an awesome trade, ah but I definitely do think that this – Like i've I've been saying for a while now that I just want to see progress with it.
00:31:40
Speaker
I thought we saw incremental progress at Dallas. People were giving me a hard time about that. I didn't say that it was huge progress. I said the bar was admittedly low and that any progress to me is good progress at that point.
00:31:53
Speaker
um But I thought there was a little bit of progress in Dallas, even if it still wasn't super great. I thought this was like meaningful progress progress where you can look at it and be like, all right, like,
00:32:04
Speaker
It seems like they actually have a lot better understanding of how to deploy this guy, the spaces to find him in, like how he combines with everyone. i thought that all looked a lot better. So it has that it has to keep looking like that.
00:32:20
Speaker
has to keep looking like that. And they have to continue to drill it in training and try and unlock him to the best of their ability. ah But this was, ah this was easily the best for error game. And ah I was encouraged by what I saw from him, very encouraged. And he got rewarded with the pair of assists. So let's see him banging some goals, but ah it was a great shift for him in this game.
00:32:41
Speaker
I did have an honorable mention as well if you wanted if if you could yeah if you could hear it out. Yeah. Stephen Fry, eight saves, monster game, 39 years old. Who cares? Let him play until he's 55. Happy birthday. It's his birthday. Yeah, it is. Hey, happy birthday, Stephen Fry. Yeah, I mean, he doesn't look 39 in between the posts. He was... ah It was that it's that's why it pays to have any league goalkeeper, because it allows you to that to they're probably going to win that game anyway.
00:33:08
Speaker
But, you know, if one of those like goals off the chances that Nashville did get goes in and he doesn't make those saves, then you open it up. You open the door for something crazy to happen. I genuinely think he stopped two goals from going in like on his own.
00:33:24
Speaker
Like I think that there were two chances. There were clear cut chances that he made great saves on. If they get to in the back of the net, ah that's anyone's game at that point, especially if the Sounders can't close that out with another goal.
00:33:38
Speaker
Famously, three nil is the most dangerous, most dangerous, you know, bla bla blah, blah, blah, blah. So, I don't know. He's been taking some grief this season. So I thought that ah an honorable mention was due for our boy.
00:33:50
Speaker
ah Let's do positives and negatives and then hit our agenda check. I have so many positives from this game. Maybe you should just take your negatives. I have a ton of positives and one negative. I'm just going to read them through real quick. we did yeah hit these yeah We hit him, but like, I still want to got you still want to read my list. yeah Attack played great.
00:34:11
Speaker
Ferreira had a really good game. De La Vega got a goal. Obed was a monster. Christian was a monster. Fry was a monster. Kim did great for Reagan. Kent looked pretty damn good.
00:34:21
Speaker
ah Jordan looked good. I know he didn't finish, but those are the runs and chances that you want to see him getting. If you get him enough of those chances, XGM enough, he's going to finish some of those. So that was good to see.
00:34:32
Speaker
Rusnak is also back. I didn't think he made ah pronounced a pronounced impact in this game. He didn't really need to. I'm glad to see him back on the field. I actually think him returning. People are saying like, oh, like the they're winning these games and scoring these goals. ah Because Rusnak has been out.
00:34:50
Speaker
I actually think him coming back could boost the team even more. That's what I think about that. ah We'll see how they figure if they figure to play. how to play Bruce snack and frere together. i think that's the big question for when Rousnac is a fully fit is can they play them together? or is it a situation where you literally have to rotate who's in that center attacking mid position, like based on the matchup yeah or fixture congestion, whatever the case may be, or, or can your first choice set up really be Rousnac playing centrally with Ferreira in a wide pocket, kind of drifting around a little more, little like dual 10 action. We'll have to see about that.
00:35:31
Speaker
But ah I don't think so. I'm OK. OK. Dish. Yeah. No, I think that this game and this is kind of what I was hitting on earlier. This game brings up more questions about Ferreira's not spot necessarily, but like where and how you're actually going to play him as opposed to before.
00:35:52
Speaker
It's very clear that this is exactly where he needs to be playing. He needs to be playing at the 10. He needs to be dictating that tempo there. That's where he needs to be. I'm sorry. What are you going to do? Are you going to sit Albert Rusnak? That's a really hard...
00:36:06
Speaker
tough pill to swallow when you're going to bench one of your highest paid players when he's not underperforming when he's not under he has five goal contributions this year exactly and that's what i'm saying so it's one of those where it's like on one hand you have ferrera finally coming into his own feeling confident and all of this in that position and now you're going to do the thing that they used to do with jordan which is And well, yeah, you're good at the nine, but that's not your position because we have another guy ahead of you. Just fucking move out to the wing. Just go go wherever you fit.
00:36:39
Speaker
And then you're not performing as well. You're feeling down. You don't have that confidence. I think it's a situation now where it's like you're going to have to play him there because I don't think he looked good when Albert came in. I think he looked pretty mid when Albert came in, and I think that Albert looked pretty mid because they were both, again, doing the same thing where they're getting in each other's space and all of that.
00:37:03
Speaker
I don't know what you do at that point because the reality is Albert is the starter. But like there will be times to do rotation and all of that. But I think you got it. You got to just let him play at that 10, man. You got to just let him play at the 10. He's a 10.
00:37:18
Speaker
ia I hear what you're saying. i definitely think that him playing that position was easily the best he's looked. I think I see that a little differently than you in that I, I do think that a way exists for them to play together and both be effective and productive.
00:37:36
Speaker
They just, they have not found that way to this point, but I don't think it's out of the question that they can figure that out. Um, we'll just have to see. i think it's a tough ask.
00:37:49
Speaker
it's It's tough, but and I guess there are there are worse problems to have than having two really high-level number 10s. um But I just think Rusnak and Ferreira are both...
00:38:02
Speaker
guys on the roster that you expect to be starting week week out. or Otherwise, you're not getting the most out of that spot and that money, right? I mean, maybe, but I think it can also be a ah situation where you play the hot hand, right? Like, whoever is dealing is dealing, and when they're not dealing, you you you play someone else. you want And the thing is, it's like the 10 is a position. Like, you can have, let's say Jesus starts a match, and it's just, it's not...
00:38:30
Speaker
He's just not on. You slot Roosnack in there at halftime, whatever it may be. He's that kind of guy who wants to bring that no matter what. And like, you know, maybe he's offended, but the dude's getting paid.
00:38:43
Speaker
You know, like I don't ah don't really see where that's at. And at the ah at the same time, if Ferreira is not the number one, but he's finally playing in a position where he feels successful and can show that he is a good player and is successful and rise his own stock,
00:38:57
Speaker
to you know potentially move to Europe, which is kind of his whole point anyway. Doesn't that make more sense than just trying to shoehorn him into every lineup? And the fact is, on the left wing, on the right wing, he's buried even further in the depth chart.
00:39:11
Speaker
He is not a nine. It's very clear. Jordan Morris, one. Danny Musavski, two. Probably, probably, ah um The De Rosario kid, he's probably three and then it's probably Jesus.
00:39:25
Speaker
So like if you're thinking about it, even about the player, he should be the number two at the 10. There's already no fucking like um there's no one else to back up at the 10 anyway.
00:39:37
Speaker
Like who else would play there? Yeah. I don't mind the idea of mixing and matching them ah when it's necessary. i do think that you got to at least try to figure out how to play them together.
00:39:50
Speaker
Like it maybe, maybe that maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. And it's impossible. and maybe I don't, I don't. Yeah. Like I'm here. i'm I'm open for it. That's what we, that's one of the storylines that I think keep an eye on in the next few weeks, how exactly they manage that because Roosnack is back. He is getting more fit.
00:40:04
Speaker
And what they're going to do with that exact position is going to be and it's going to be interesting. Brian, and I do not envy you. I don't I don't know i don't envy that. I will say this.
00:40:15
Speaker
ah A lot, a lot of other teams in this league would love to have be having the debate that we're talking about um between starting Jesus Ferreira and Albert Rustak at the at the 10.
00:40:27
Speaker
A lot of and MLS teams don't have even one guy who can play that position at that high a level. And ah Seattle might have two on their hands if that was the real Jesus Ferreira, which I want to be clear.
00:40:40
Speaker
Like there's just an sample size there's more of a sample size of it being ineffective this season than of of what we just saw on Saturday.
00:40:50
Speaker
But I do think that there's a lot of reason for encouragement from what we did see. And hopefully you can sustain it. Like I feel pretty good about it, though. I i feel a lot better about it than I did. i don't know about you. No, I agree. And that's what I'm saying is like, it's not that it was a negative that he played well. It was a positive, but it's just, it brings up, it brings up a very difficult question with two very talented players that the reality is I don't envy anyone to have to make that decision, but it is going to come down to like,
00:41:23
Speaker
um i just i just hope I just hope that they do not try and shoehorn him somewhere else on the field. he's just You owe him as much to let him play in a place where he is effective and looks comfortable. That's all I'm going to say. But if you're not shoing shoehorning him and he's the number two, then he's then you're shoehorning him onto the bench.
00:41:44
Speaker
so that's i mean that's the But he came onto this team he came onto this team expecting that. To be back to be to play he on the bench. He said, he said, I will have to earn my minutes. If I don't get to play as much, I don't get to play as much. This is a fresh start.
00:41:58
Speaker
I'm gonna work for the minutes that I, that I have. I think he, uh, I definitely think he earned more run in, uh, in this game. that saying I think, that i think they should start. I mean, they're probably going to start him next week. I would assume. Cause I don't, I don't think Albert's full 90 ready. Maybe he is, but you gotta play, you gotta play him after that performance. And I think that's what you say. Run with the hot hand. Yeah, yeah, i can I agree with that. um My one negative from this game was, and Shmetz even noted this in the post-game presser, ah really the first 10 minutes of the game, they weren't on the front foot as much as you would like to see from a home team who's trying to impose their will on an away team. And specifically, Nuhu, who I am apparently the guy who has to defend Nuhu's status on this team or whatever. And i'm i'm you know I'll still do that when I think it's necessary. You sound so excited to do that. But ah I mean, I just, i it's not like a mantle that I seeked out. It just kind of happened. And I will i will keep doing it, but I will say Nuhu was kind of killing me in the first 10 minutes here. Like the the main one the the main one was ah when there was a ball like trickling through to him and he did like four of the unnecessary step overs and then
00:43:10
Speaker
When he could have just booted it, could have just cleared it, which is what he should have done. He did the step overs and then instead of clearing it, he tried to pass it to somebody but gave the ball away like right at the top of the box in a really not good place to ah give it up. And it was just like, just clear it.
00:43:26
Speaker
ah But honestly, it wasn't even just him. Like, I think you coulds it's fair to say that. ah You know, when you're the home team, first 10 minutes, you want to be imposing your will. And they they didn't really do that.
00:43:39
Speaker
But it didn't end up mattering at all because they took over after 15 and scored three goals in 15 minutes and won the game by three goals and kept a clean sheet. Correct. So it's really i don't care at all. But if I'm if I'm reaching for a negative, that would be it.
00:43:55
Speaker
I'm right there with you. I think that was, that was my negative. I thought maybe a KKR could have gotten a little bit more involved. I saw him getting a little frustrated that he wasn't ah getting played in as much, but you know, he's, he's getting run and he's getting used to it. And I don't think that he did any damage to not at all. He didn't, uh, he didn't have the type of like a kind of splash plays that we've seen from him at times, but uh, I,
00:44:21
Speaker
I don't mind at all seeing from him just like a steady game where he doesn't put a foot wrong and is working hard on defense. um Sometimes, you know, the other guys, different guys are going to eat on different weeks. And I think I've seen enough from him to believe that he'll have his opportunities to eat. And I think he's going to capitalize them on ah on them because he seems kind of similar to Rothrock to me in like a fearless yeah mentality.
00:44:46
Speaker
and not like afraid of this stage or a big moment at all. So I think KKR will get his time. He'll get his time. I mean, his debut goal is a banger. So yeah, yeah. yeah you know Both of them. i did get But like even in that game, it felt like he was ah you like noticed him on the field a lot more. Correct. Probably you did in. But sometimes that that's good to see that that's not always what he needs to be doing.
00:45:11
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Like there are some players who like that's their bit is being flashy and being on the ball and wanting the ball and wanting to try things and try things and try things. And to your point, like just having a steady game where, yeah, maybe you're not involved, but like you're also not noticed like that can be OK.
00:45:29
Speaker
You're not like, you know, I don't know. And ah yeah, I think it's a it's also good information to have that ah if Alex Roldan has to miss a game for any reason, ah your' your cover at that position, and looks like he has solidified that role. And I feel pretty good about any game that he needs to start. He's it's like ah he's like the guy this year where it's like he had to earn his earn his status and he's doing that. All right, let's hit our agenda check.
00:45:58
Speaker
ah Should we break? Let's break for an ad first. Let's hit our agenda to check after this ad.
00:46:08
Speaker
Welcome back from the ads. If you skipped our ads, I'm coming to your house. And I'm going to open your eyes back up or your ears, whatever yourre whatever format you're listening to.
00:46:21
Speaker
And I'm going to rewind and play them again for you. Don't skip our ads. Don't skip the ads. um All right. Let's hit this agenda check. We have, I think, five...
00:46:31
Speaker
written down here. Is this six? No, this is five. We got a lot of agendas, but we can we can bust through a couple of these pretty quick, I feel like, because they're ones that we've ah we've talked about. But I wrote down that Ferreira is already a bust agenda that that surfaced earlier this week. ah that was really oh That was really cooking hard on Monday, and by Sunday, it's not looking as hot.
00:46:54
Speaker
And look, i like I'm really not trying to like counter Victory Lap. Like... ah i'm just like I'm just pointing Just a little bit, though. We can do it a little bit. Maybe a little bit, but i'm I'm just pointing out... All I'm pointing out is that the original victory lap is not looking as hot. Literally one game after ah this agenda yeah took off. um Not a good look for you guys. like got all Anytime you doubt... Here's the reality of it, though, right?
00:47:23
Speaker
Anytime you're a fan of a team and you doubt a player, just know they're going turn up at some point and like you're going to look like an idiot. Like I'm not saying that you have to be positive about everything all the time.
00:47:36
Speaker
But like when there's a player that had a valuation at one point of what felt like close to $20 million. dollars He's probably got skills. He's probably got something in the bag. You know, like it's fine to hold your expectations or hold them to a higher standard. But to be like, this dude's.
00:47:54
Speaker
garbage, ah terrible attitude, terrible terrible form, all of that. It's like, all right, cool, that's fine. But the second that he does something good, you're going to have to answer for it.
00:48:05
Speaker
You know i mean? it yeah and he had a... He had a good game. And, it you know, it wasn't ah it wasn't going that well, really, leading up to this game. We've said it. We've said it as much.
00:48:18
Speaker
There's no question about that. but ah But we said it was only a matter of time the before he broke out. The Matchday 8 bust proclamations did not ah did not age well, like, four days later. yeah The next one, ah the the general, kind of in the same vein, but there was the general anti-Moose agenda that's been out there. No, I've not heard of this. can you Can you clue me in on this one? Danny Musavsky had some finishing issues. and but Who amongst us hasn't had performance issues? Danny Musavsky has had issues scoring goals, and ah a lot of people didn't take too kindly to that. I think think I heard someone say that he might be like an ashamed to soccer. Someone who might not ever have. You've seen someone you you don't ever get mad at watching people play soccer. But this specific player like makes you never want to watch soccer again. I've heard I've these are things I've heard around. Yeah. Yeah. and that I don't know who said that. in the way
00:49:19
Speaker
ah Moose now i has ah two straight and MLS games with a goal game winner at ah at FC Dallas. a slick little back heel to get the party started against Nashville SC.
00:49:32
Speaker
And by the way, he was the only, uh, only guy who scored Cruz Azul. He has a CCC goal this year. So three across all comps. So he's actually, had a pretty good start to the season, ah statistically at least, uh, now that we're coming off of this last game where he scored.
00:49:50
Speaker
So, uh, And he almost had another. He had one that was waved off because it hit off of him. He had one that got saved and then he had one where he was doing that slide off the cross and he was just a little... His timing on the run was just a little bit too bad.
00:50:06
Speaker
but he's been playing like pretty well this season in terms of... We don't need to do the XG debate again, but like he's been... ah right The offense has been running pretty well with him on the field at least the last few weeks, and he's been moving well and getting good chances.
00:50:20
Speaker
So I'm happy for him that he is a quiet and quieting the haters a little bit, and we'll see if he can keep producing the rest of this season. But you know if you if you get like even five to seven goals out of your... ah guess I guess he's really the number two yeah striker at this point.
00:50:40
Speaker
If you get... five to five to eight out of your number two striker. I think that's a good range to be in and he's at three. So he's on pace to maybe push 10 goals, which that would be a phenomenal moose season.
00:50:55
Speaker
I will see if he gets there, but ah yeah, just minutes wise mo deserves his credit for how the team has been looking with him playing that position with Jordan out and finally getting rewarded for the good positions that he's been getting in.
00:51:09
Speaker
He hasn't played a full match. Like he hasn't played a full 90 at all. Like that. I'm looking at at the numbers right now. I don't think he's played a single full 90. So he's got three.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah, he's got three, and maybe I'm wrong here, but ah he's got three goals and has not played a single full 90. Like, he's he's he's making a count while he's on the field.
00:51:33
Speaker
I personally have never been down on Moose. I've always been very positive on him. And so, no, I'm i'm i'm joking. this is This is to my point of what I just said.
00:51:44
Speaker
If you... Like a team and you shit on a specific player, eventually they're going to come around and prove you wrong and you're going to have to just deal with it. Okay, maybe not Hebert, but like whatever. He went to China and was balling.
00:51:55
Speaker
Moose is lifting the curse of Hebert. That's what he's doing right now. Moose is breaking the curse. What do you think they did to break the curse? Like did... Maybe there is an extra system. I don't know. But ah really, this position has not been shored up since the days of Will Bruin.
00:52:10
Speaker
And really what Moose is doing is like giving you that Will Bruin presence, you know, like not like ah player profile wise, but like production wise. If he keeps doing this, I agree. Good for him.
00:52:21
Speaker
Good for him. If you want to see my apology members only. it's in my um It's in my therapy journal. ah The next agenda is the Christian Roldan is washed agenda. i do I do know that there was a little bit of this flying around. I don't think it was that prevalent in agenda, but you're right that it was a ah a little bit of a thing. And I think ah Christian would probably... Well, there was a specific person who was pushing this agenda. Yeah.
00:52:50
Speaker
I think Christian would even tell you that the San Diego game was not his finest hour. Uh, uh, and it was no one's finest hour to be clear, but, uh, the double pivot specifically in that game got run over.
00:53:08
Speaker
And, uh, there has been a couple other moments where it's like, he's set such a high standard over the years. that, uh, I think it's fair to say that even outside the San Diego game, there was probably a couple instances where he didn't live up to just like the, uh, you know, Ironman consistency that, uh, we've but come to know and love over his career. And I think this game was goddamn statement that, uh, he's still one of the best midfielders in this league. And
00:53:40
Speaker
His game was he was rated top 20 best American players in MLS. He was like number 18 or something. This was on. so I can't remember exactly where this was, but it was a list like he's he's still considered an incredibly talented player.
00:53:59
Speaker
and And I mean, call him up to the national team pooch. Poke, sorry. Give him more ah give him more caps, Poke. But ah no, in all seriousness, it was good to see him have just like an absolutely monstrous game like that. Because we all was we all know he's he was really feasting. And he ah honestly almost scored a couple goals.
00:54:18
Speaker
um But it was just, ah I think it was just a reaffirmation of ah how good a player he really is. And the ah the double pivot of him and Obed was...
00:54:29
Speaker
excellent in this game. If the San Diego game was like the low point for it this season, that was, that was the high point when that double pivot is on point. That's what it looks like. And ah both of them were on fire in this game.
00:54:41
Speaker
Yeah, I was, this was my agenda. Cause I wanted people to have to reckon with the slander of our number seven, our goat Christian rolled on. Okay. Watch what you say about the man, the myth and the legend.
00:54:57
Speaker
Yeah. um On that same vein. Here's my other one. Should i read my other one? Yeah. Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent. Okay. the The potential croc guy. I still have. Okay, Aria. I don't know about you if you've been able to independently confirm this, but I have asked multiple members of the Sounders staff.
00:55:18
Speaker
if they can confirm that Mr. Kent does in fact own crocodiles, none of them are able to confirm it to me. So we will have to ask him, I think point blank at some point, get them on the pod, you know, all of that.
00:55:31
Speaker
But, but for now we're going to believe it. The crocodile guy, Might be the greatest player to ever play soccer. Might be better than Messi. I cannot wait for him to play against Messi in Miami because he's going to score 20 goals and Messi's going to score zero. He's the greatest to ever walk on the pitch.
00:55:49
Speaker
I hope that that ah turns out to be a correct agenda. ah why ah why what Talk about why you were why you're so high on what you saw. I but know you're being a little facetious. I'm being facetious, absolutely.
00:56:03
Speaker
it seems like you were charged up about it like in a way that maybe i I thought he was good and encouraging, but I wasn't that charged. Well, I think that it's the same thing that Pedro brings. It's a step above of just like hard-nosed football, right? I think that people can people can sometimes rightfully call like Brian Schmetzer ball. We even joke and talk about it. We're like, oh, that's some Schmetzer ball right there.
00:56:28
Speaker
grind it out hard nose like good on possession spring the counter attack whatever but there's just that extra flair that he brings that like you were saying butts out of seats all of that kind of stuff but pedro and him on the wing just this dynamic threat of like you know vision and pace and it's a higher level than you expect to experience a lot of times in the, in the major league soccer that we have gotten to know at least right here in Seattle.
00:56:58
Speaker
And I think that that is, Such a beautiful thing, dude, especially with him in ferrera and and De La Vega and all of this, just this beautiful creativity. I'm really excited to see how he adapts to that because like sometimes that doesn't work in MLS games.
00:57:18
Speaker
But I really do think that you can tell he is not going to be here for a long time. like He is just that talented. I think it was confirmation of the type of upside that exists here.
00:57:31
Speaker
Who knows right now if he if he's going to hit that. But I mean, this guy was a dominant player for Rangers in Scotland for a pretty healthy period of time before his career got off track a little bit. But I don't, I don't think the question here is about talent or ability at all. It's, you know, maybe, maybe more buy-in motivation or how he fits, but in terms of like the skills, I mean, dude, he, he, I'm not that i'm not worried i'm not worried about it yeah at all, but that would be the question if there was one. right um
00:58:04
Speaker
But like based on hearing him talk and how he seems how he seems to be fitting in just from an interpersonal standpoint, I think he's like fully bought in on the team and his role on it, but... ah I think there's an outcome here where he could be like a real pronounced impact player in in the league. Like he's got to go out there and do it but it's possible. And that in itself is exciting right now.
00:58:30
Speaker
Yeah, he said he wanted to come and enjoy playing soccer again yeah and find a place to do that. And that is like, that's that's amazing.
00:58:41
Speaker
That's beautiful. That's what I want to see out of him. And that position is just like, try shit, have fun. There are 4,000 wingers on this football club. Go ahead, try some shit.
00:58:53
Speaker
Go do some shit. Go do that. No look pass. Bring that flair and that technical ability from, you know, just being an Englishman, right, that we've come to expect out of talents from over overseas.
00:59:07
Speaker
He's a great player, man. Like, I just I want to see more. I want to see him start. I want to see what he can get done. ah He's he's he's he's got it.
00:59:17
Speaker
He's got the vision. He could have had a goal. He played for like 10 minutes. He could have had a goal. did ah Did Craig Weibel cook with this acquisition? Craig Weibel's cooking, you just don't know.
00:59:29
Speaker
Remember people were crashing out about that. No, some fucking... That was like the crux of the whole thing that I got into earlier in the week was was that... But like i did I did think it was ah it was funny how the three players that got the goals in this game, Moose, or I guess two out of the three, Rothrock is like ah internal. Technically, technically. but But the fact that both Moose and De La Vega scored in this game, those have been like two of the...
00:59:57
Speaker
ah two of the guys that have been pointed to the most as to why Craig Wives has not been cooking. So I'm just, I don't know. I'm not saying anything. Yeah. can just calm down. not saying anything. I'm just saying that if those two guys happen to get on fire, that would be, that'd be pretty funny. Like narratively.
01:00:16
Speaker
It's just, yeah we don't even have to get into the Craig Weibel thing. That was just a fleeting thought. Yeah. Let's not get into that. People are, yeah. All right. Noah, um unless you got, do you got anything else on the, on the Seattle Sounders or this game or what you want to see moving forward or should we hit her around the league stuff? Let's get around the league. Cause I am.
01:00:37
Speaker
So excited to talk about this. We got some good content from elsewhere and MLS this week. There are days where I just want this to be an around the league show because I'm like, I do not want to talk about the Sounders.
01:00:48
Speaker
This is one of those days where I want to talk about both so bad. a I've been fiending for this. I'm i'm excited for for this next segment. ah First... We have our blazing hot coach press conference of the week sponsored by hacks on ferments.
01:01:03
Speaker
Um, and Noah, this was related. Let's talk about the game first and then we'll play the blazing hot coach press conference sponsored by hacks and ferments. Um, This whole situation spawned out of what I think was the best um MLS game of the season so far ah between LAFC and the Portland Timbies at Providence Park.
01:01:24
Speaker
ah This game was phenomenal. ah there There was goals flying back and forth. It ended 3-3, but really like the whole game was just like this frantic, it wasine of crazy... It was cinema. Yeah, it was absolutely cinematic. It was the most MLS game I've watched in a long time. I've I only actually caught the last like half hour of it and I was enthralled.
01:01:47
Speaker
ah There was just it so It's worth watch. There was so much going on. ah The Timbs were up three, two late. And then ah Diego Chara got called for a penalty on VAR for a foul on Denny Buonga.
01:02:03
Speaker
And Noah, Phil Neville was not happy about this call. ah The broadcast cut to him on the sideline. And you could literally just ah read his lips and and what he was saying unmistakably was fuck off.
01:02:18
Speaker
But he was yelling it at a very loud volume repeatedly. ah So that's what he thought of the PK call that gave LASC the equalizer.
01:02:28
Speaker
And then it didn't slow down after that. Yeah. It was going, there was 11 minutes of stoppage time because of all the other crazy shit that happened in the game. DaCosta, Portland's new DP, had a free kick from right outside the box that would have won it. He banged it off the post.
01:02:45
Speaker
I feel there was like three other shots in this game that banged off the post. Just chances galore, like nonstop action. So as someone who ah does not care at all about the success of either LAFC or the Portland Timbs, I had a great time watching it.
01:03:03
Speaker
ah But Steve C, who we're going to talk about in a bit, Steve c got a red card at one point in this game, ah which... That's hilarious. You don't see a coach get sent off every week. Nope. So that little coach red card, that was pretty fun.
01:03:18
Speaker
ah But then... ah Phil Nebs after the game goes into the ah the press conference room and he had a lot of stuff ah on his on his mind. ah Let's just play a little, ah maybe a clip or two from our blazing hot coach press conference of the week sponsored by Hacks and Ferments featuring Portland Timbs head coach, Phil Neville. Right Timbers head coach, Phil Neville.
01:03:42
Speaker
Phil, do want to start off with thoughts or go to straight to the comments? Yeah, I'm a,
01:03:49
Speaker
It was a high level, brilliant game of football. So i think I think both sets of players should be incredibly proud, incredibly proud of that performance. That is, from a pure player's point of view, that was an incredible advert for MLS football. From a player's point view not officially.
01:04:05
Speaker
From a player's point of view, I don't want to add the officials into that because I've got to say, I think the sending off of Steve Shrunderlow was an absolute disgrace. I really do. ah I got a yellow card at the end for taking my players away from the referee.
01:04:20
Speaker
I thought that I was showing respect. I thought I was doing my job. I thought I was protecting and showing respect to a set of referees that didn't do us any favours, that have never done us any favours. And I get a yellow card and maybe I'm suspended for the next game for actually trying to help them.
01:04:35
Speaker
But that's it. Done. That's it. Me done with them. we'll open up to questions And we will get a report and they'll say that I was causing dissent. I was getting my players away from the officials. And Steve Shrundelow should never have been sent to off, should never been sent off on any game of football in the whole world.
01:04:52
Speaker
And what we're seeing now is is that we've just played a ah three three game against one of the best teams, an incredible advert of football. And I just think that they just want to be the kings of the castle. It's all about them. They just want to show that they are the main people in this league. And and unfortunately, ah it's not good.
01:05:10
Speaker
How do you keep these young players focused and motivated and keep their head in the game when you can't give them a definitive, this is what's going to be called, this is how aggressive I want you to be?
01:05:20
Speaker
Well, i just I just had two or three minutes with Diego Chara, who's 39 years of age, who's who's played more games than anyone else in this league and forget the young players, even he can't understand it. you know Even he can't understand it. so So i'm ah um it's difficult to explain to the younger players when even our most experienced can't. It was an incredible game of football.
01:05:45
Speaker
And it needed, high-level game of football needed high-level officiating. Now, what I would say is I didn't think we deserved to win the game. And I think if you speak to probably LAFC, they probably feel exactly the same way as us. The ah the offside in the first half, could it could have been on.
01:06:02
Speaker
It could have been on. It could have been off. ah I have to see it again. And they probably felt a couple of decisions went there where I know that Jimmy jimmy had some incredible saves from Boanga. So I think 3-3 was probably a fair result.
01:06:17
Speaker
But I just want to be talking about the football. Don't want to be frustrated. i don't I don't want to receive a yellow card for trying to help the situation. I don't want Steve Trundolo to be sent off for for nothing. You know, steve Steve didn't deserve to be sent off. I'm angry because the opposing manager got a red card.
01:06:32
Speaker
I think that shows where I'm at, really. So yeah, that was Phil Neffs. ah Not happy. No. Not happy. And you know I was told that Steve C's presser was ah was hot as well, and i could only find I couldn't find it anywhere. I could only find a one-minute clip on Twitter. They're hiding the evidence. Sorry. They're hiding it But they were both of the coaches were just absolutely livid about the officiating in this game. yeah i mean, Phil Neves, well, Steve C., we live we were listening to it before he started recording.
01:07:04
Speaker
He's getting fined. They're both getting fined. I thought it was funny how Phil Neves right there was like defending in absolute disgrace that Steve C. got sent off. um Yeah, it is it is funny. You don't often see like in a game like that another coach be like,
01:07:20
Speaker
or You know, it was hard-fought game and um whatever, but it's an absolute disgrace that the coach got a red card. I just... I can't. Yeah, you really don't... ah That's like uncharted territory. That's how hard Phil Neves was cooking off this game.
01:07:36
Speaker
It's so incredible. This game, just in general, was a it It was, it was beauty. It was an MLS game for, I think i think Phil Neves was right that it was like a great advertisement for the league. Like when you go to a game, like that's the type of stuff that, uh, that gets the adrenaline going. I think what the sounders did just beating the shit out of the other team.
01:07:59
Speaker
That is one way yeah to like, to, to put on a show. Uh, but games like that, where it's just, uh, two good teams. Like, I mean, unfortunately the Portland Timbies are, uh, they've been scoring a ton of goals lately. They've been playing really dynamic in attack and, uh, LAFC.
01:08:16
Speaker
I think they showed in this game that they've still got a lot, a little bit of that LAFC to them. Uh, so there is, there is like a different type of energy to a back and forth game like that. Uh,
01:08:27
Speaker
where one team has to come back and it's just chances flying back and forth. yeah It was awesome. And that was ah that was a great Blazing Hot Coach press conference of the week. Shout out, Haxon, for Mets. Phil Neves.
01:08:40
Speaker
I think Phil Neves might be on like Mount Rushmore for Flaming Hot Pressers. He really is. And in now that we have lost... The goat of flaming hot coach pressers, which we literally have an ad based around our former Sporting Kansas City goat.
01:08:58
Speaker
um He might have to take. Do you think he's taking the throne? Like, who's the who's the most flaming? I think it's got to be Phil Neves because the thing about Steve C is... He's when he's doing it. Yeah, even when he's cooking, he's composed.
01:09:12
Speaker
Whereas Phil Neves actually puts the the Peter Vermees emotion behind him. Yeah. he yes He gets straight tilted. I think he's taking up the mantle. And, you know, he's got that team playing pretty well. So we've given Phil Neves a hard time.
01:09:27
Speaker
but We did say extend him. Yeah, exactly. You do have to acknowledge that the Timbys, they look like they're... ah They're coming after it right now. Are you excited for that May 6th matchup between Tacoma Defiance and Portland Timbers now?
01:09:45
Speaker
I already knew when that matchup got set that the Timbs are in really good form right now. We'll see what type of lineup they put out there. i mean the The great thing about that matchup is that there's only one team with anything at all to lose, and it's them. Even if ah it becomes a situation where Portland's just dominating them, I'm not going to let that ah chat me too much.
01:10:05
Speaker
um But let that segues into our our next topic, which ah this is an interesting one. This is an interesting
Steve Cherundolo's Departure from LAFC
01:10:13
Speaker
one. Steve C is leaving LAFC at the end of the season. They announced that ah earlier this week that he's going to serve out. He's not getting fired or resigning or anything like that. He's going to serve out the rest of the 2025 season. Which is weird to announce it now. Like, why are you saying anything?
01:10:34
Speaker
Right. Like, ah I mean, maybe they're getting ahead of what they figured would guaranteed be leaks or something. I don't know. But either way, ah he's returning to Germany for family reasons.
01:10:47
Speaker
So he's going to serve out the rest of this season and then he'll be on his way. No more Steve C at LAFC, which, like you said, Noah, that ah That's one thing. ah it i don't think it's probably the first time that a coach has amicably departed ah for family reasons and not necessarily because of performance, which is how they're framing it.
01:11:08
Speaker
But the the curious thing here is, yeah, why announce it in April? Yeah. went so you ah So you have public knowledge that your coach is a lame duck for the rest of the season.
01:11:23
Speaker
i I guess I'm just confused because it's like you announced this. You have your whole season ahead of you. You potentially have a club World Cup spot coming. You've already lost the biggest signing that you were trying to make in Antoine Griezmann, right?
01:11:38
Speaker
They did they did they didnt couldn't make that happen. He re-signs with Atletico, and now you have a lame duck coach while you're trying to recruit a big DP signing? Are...
01:11:51
Speaker
It makes no sense, man. I'm just not sure if I've seen it. i've never I don't know if I've seen a a lame duck he had announced like that. Where's the leverage for who? well and ah you know Travis Hellwig, shout out Happy Foot, Sad Foot. He was pointing this out like on ah his reaction show.
01:12:08
Speaker
ah but they they must They must have... absolute like supreme confidence in his standing, ah within the locker room and just the whole organization.
01:12:22
Speaker
Because, if you're a player playing for a coach that, you know, is lame duck,
01:12:30
Speaker
Doesn't it have to almost seep into your mind? Like, why do I have to listen to this guy? He's leaving. Yeah. I mean, maybe it's like one last run kind of thing. Like maybe it's, a you know, and and and this is this is total speculation, but it's like Denny Bawanga is already unhappy. It seems like he see he seems to not be playing. I mean, theater in this last game, he played really well, but. He bounced back. he bounc it hasn't He hasn't been having like that good. He doesn't seem to be super happy. There's rumors about there's flip gate. If you watch happy foot, sad foot, he hasn't flipped. I don't know if he flipped in Portland, so he didn't, he didn't flip. So that's, there's an issue there, you know, uh, maybe they're blowing it up. Ari.
01:13:09
Speaker
I don't think... Maybe they're blowing it up. I don't think blowing it up is like in the LAFC ethos. No, they they do. They do. They rebuild often.
01:13:21
Speaker
They don't... they they like But they never... They're it's, they're never like not trying to compete. I mean, taking is not really a thing in MLS. cause Yeah. They're not drinking. I'm just saying like there is, like there is our teams that like do tear downs and uh, I don't know if I would describe like the, they do kind of like soft rebuilds I think is more a better way to describe it.
01:13:41
Speaker
um But i like I don't know if it's as much to do with that. or i mean I'm sure like whatever reasons that he's moving for are um are valid reasons for him and his life and everything. i can't just like not say shit for six months? I think that's where I kind of don't get it. is like ah why Why announce it this early? yeah You could announce it like...
01:14:04
Speaker
more towards the end of the season. Although maybe at that point it becomes more of a distraction than if you've just had it out there for all this time. Right. I like, I don't know. I don't know. I'm, I, I, I'm sure there is logic to why they got together and decided, right, we're going we know this is the outcome. We're just going to announce it now. And then have you go through the rest of the season, go our separate ways.
01:14:28
Speaker
But I think like, uh, uh, it ah it's it It has ripple effects like throughout the rest of the West because you've got one of the preeminent big contending teams, LAFC, who now have a lame duck coach, and we'll see how that affects them. Maybe it doesn't affect them at all.
01:14:46
Speaker
Maybe it doesn't affect them at all, and they just keep buzzsawing. They played really well in this last game, so it didn't affect them in ah in Portland, but... There are definitely scenarios that I could think of where having your coach be lame duck for this long of the season could be not good.
01:15:05
Speaker
Like, yeah, I definitely think that that's a possibility. It's just weird business. Like for him, like, is he trying to like attract a Bundesliga job? Cause I saw he's like, I'm moving back to Germany. Yeah.
01:15:17
Speaker
Who the fuck is hiring Steve Chirondolo in the Bundesliga? Well, he played there for his whole playing career. He yeah he got his coaching start there. His family lived there for a really long time. So that connection makes...
01:15:29
Speaker
It makes sense why he would move back, but I'm just saying you don't announce that. He could have just done the rest of this season, seen how it ended up, and then been like, this is the decision that I made either way. Yeah, you can talk to people. It's bizarre business. It's bizarre business. In a business where you don't just say the truth about the situation, it's weird.
01:15:52
Speaker
Because you lose all leverage, right? Like... I don't get it unless it's a unless it was like a LAFC where like, we're going to fucking push you out if you don't at the end of the season or like you're done at the end of the season. then they would just fire him.
01:16:06
Speaker
Yeah. So it's just is so... Weird. I don't understand it It's a bizarre decision. it's definitely a It's definitely not something. i'm i I tried to rack my brain to see if I could remember a like comparable situation, like not even just in MLS, but like in any sport.
01:16:24
Speaker
don't know if I've seen that. Pete Carroll, maybe? No, they didn't announce that he was gone ah during the season. That's true, it was after. It after. That's when you usually it happens you when it usually happens. So weird.
01:16:37
Speaker
so Also, like even if it leaks in the media, you can just say, yeah, i don't know anything about that. and then maybe that's a distraction. I don't know. I don't know. ah For me, what I'm going to be keeping tabs on is what, if any, effect this has on LAFC, either on the field results-wise, or I'd be down for like a little locker room turmoil with them. Yeah, that would be far. Yeah, it like felt like they might be headed towards that ah even before we heard this with Bawanga. There are...
01:17:08
Speaker
There have been like disgruntled vibes from Bwonga. Is that fair to say? Yeah. Like there have been. He wants to be a sounder so bad. He was. He wants to be a sounder so bad. He, uh, it's not even just about like the production. It's just like when you watch him play, he's, uh, he's just bombing into triple teams and doing reckless stuff and not really, fighting with new who yeah not impacting the game like he he normally does in these back-to-back seasons where he's been golden booting and scoring 20 plus goals so uh that was already a thing before this news now you have this hopefully uh i guess that's my main point with this is like the weirdness of it aside if it royals them a little bit that would kind of that would be that would be sick uh not just for seattle but for anyone who's not lfc correct correct
01:17:57
Speaker
Best of luck to Steve C best of luck to Steve C shout out Steve C ah one of the my faves he's a they had a good run with him who I famously continuously called Steve T Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they ah they they lost a a lot of finals with him, and that's why a lot of LAFC fans were doing their dolo out campaign.
01:18:21
Speaker
I'm dolo in for that reason. You know, to be fair, he does have ah he does have an MLS cup and an open cup. Did he get a shield too? Yeah, and they got the Shield double. so So two tournament trophies and Shield. Famously, the U.S. Open Cup is the most important. That's like a good... What do you Now that I think about it like that, like why were they so dolo out? like they've been They've also been like a such a nasty good team.
01:18:45
Speaker
like i think I think that LAFC fans are spoiled as hell. because It's like a victim of his own success kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. like they said People say that about Brian, too. Yeah, like...
01:18:57
Speaker
ah but like The LAFC domination type seasons were just crazy. They had a season where they put up a plus 48 GD. like that That was the like genuinely the best MLS team I think I've ever seen. yeah Aside from these like ah inner Miami Barca boys teams. think that that was better because they actually won something.
01:19:15
Speaker
ah like I guess, no, they won the shield too. So yeah, you're right. You're right. no you're right And leagues cup. yeah you my you're right I think if we're just talking, I like to pretend they don't exist. you like why That was what I was going to say is they don't kind of don't count for the purposes of a discussion like this.
01:19:32
Speaker
I think these Miami teams at their apex play the best ball I've ever seen in the league. But they're basically cheating. And l a of c played ball that was pretty much like that, honestly. Yeah, it's true. 2019, they were as buzzsaw in MLS squad as I've ever seen this side of Messi and the Barca boys. So ah I think it is kind of strange, like, how anti-Dolo sentiment works.
01:20:04
Speaker
there came to be in that fan base because he's had ah quite a lot of success and he got them an MLS cup. So the grass isn't always greener. LAFC fans, whoever you guys bring in might not, uh, they might not be as good as Steve C. I,
01:20:19
Speaker
Grass ain't always greener, folks. Grass ain't always greener. Should we do our winners and losers? Let's hit our winners and losers and then get out of here we and then do our our our post show for our YouTube members. ah Winners, I got three of them.
01:20:32
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, I'm putting them in. I'm putting them in. to Anytime. What a vibe shift yeah yeah in the last two games. What a vibe shift. Anytime you can execute a vibe shift to this extent. And then also... um we were We already talked about it earlier, but those 15 minutes where they were banging those goals in, that was just... Maybe we should title this the best 15 minutes of soccer ever. That's actually a good idea because we were giving them a hard time with that last title.
01:20:59
Speaker
And those 15 minutes was like... It was Lumenfield Nirvana, man. It was. Again, there is really... For me, ah there's nothing like it than crowd at Lumenfield when the Durs are playing like that. It's the best. And...
01:21:14
Speaker
They were, uh, they were putting on a show. It wasn't just that they got the three zero win. It was like how they did it, like how thorough it was, ah how like you, we went down the list of positives earlier.
01:21:26
Speaker
Great result for Seattle. They easily are in one of the winners for this week. um Charlotte FC slammed San Diego 3-0. Did you see that? I did. Charlotte is a good team, that's what I've been saying. they're like I think the yeah you know people should listen to us sometimes because you know we were saying it before the season, and you know all we were doing was parroting what a lot of national pundits who had looked at their roster were saying.
01:21:50
Speaker
ah But you know we took that information, and we were like, all right, this team, based on this is this this and this move, are probably going to be better than they were last year when they were already pretty good. And that is coming to fruition.
01:22:03
Speaker
And we know how good San Diego can be when they're at their top level. So that's definitely not a a Mickey Mouse type of win or anything. I think San Diego, it seems like they're coming down a little bit ah from their blazing hot start, but they can still play, ah ah play attacking soccer with the best. We've seen what they can do. yeah Like you don't just, like So beating them 3-0, that's a great dub for Charlotte. And I think i think they're for real. top of the east They're top of the we East, man. That's what I'm saying. The way that the Sounders played Charlotte, that that that draw was not that bad.
01:22:37
Speaker
That draw was not that bad. The performance was good that You could have gotten the win, sure.
MLS Team Performances and Surprises
01:22:44
Speaker
They really were going to beat that team until that stupid last second concession. But they had that game pretty much won, which, you know, that sucked. But I think what you're saying is right.
01:22:56
Speaker
That game in hindsight is like, damn, they were playing one of the they're playing one of the best teams in the East. Yeah. You know, and the shout out Andrew Privet, Penn State legend. He got a goal in this game, which rocks because he's a fun story to where he basically pushed out Tim Ream from his position.
01:23:14
Speaker
um And that's tight as hell. So shout out to Andrew Privet and also Pep BL might be my favorite MLS player right now. Yeah, no, he's ah he's awesome, and he's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, driving forces behind why they're playing so well.
01:23:32
Speaker
He better get an all-star call-up, dude. More than Zaha. yeah They haven't even really got Zaha fully going yet. No, he's got, what, two goals or something Something like that, and he's really, like, he's not playing bad.
01:23:45
Speaker
It's not like they're they're not talking about him like a bust or anything, but i don't I definitely haven't seen him, like, week in, week out, be a prominent, like... Uh, like any, we're on the way when on the website, we're always promoting like any big name like that.
01:23:58
Speaker
And I haven't really seen him that much, which, uh, I think that if anything, that means that they can probably be helpful that they have even another level yeah to reach. Um, I just realized that my, the last winner I wrote down was actually a loser.
01:24:12
Speaker
Um, Two winners. we could I could just pick one. Go ahead and pick one. Yeah. The Philadelphia Union, Ari. I feel like the Union have been playing better. ah They got a three nil thrashing of Atlanta United, who I'm going to talk about them next. I'm going to talk about them. I've seen folks. They also got a red card in the 56 minute and still hold on to that that clean sheet.
01:24:33
Speaker
So that's always impressive. Um, Ty Buribo is continuing to just slam in a bajillion goals. That's like, I don't know. He's been playing really well contender for sure. Like genuinely seven goals in seven games.
01:24:48
Speaker
Uh, I think Yes, or eight eight, seven, seven goals and seven starts, eight matches. That's kind of exactly the production you want from a striker. um He's been playing out of his mind. So I don't know, just Philly, Philly on the turnaround. They fire their coach and have just looked like a straight up force to be reckoned with. Yeah, I think they started off super hot, and then there was, before this game, there was like ah two to three game stretch where they had cooled a little bit. Yeah, they lost to Inter-Miami, lost Drew ah ju Orlando, and then lost to NYCFC. But like it was like, you know, it's a stretch that people have.
01:25:28
Speaker
Yeah, and it feels like this was a course correction win for them. And, you know, they're at 1.78 points per game, which in your first season under a new coach who I think yeah we were a little skeptical of like why you would move off Jim C yeah ah for Bradley C when that seems like a lateral move, if if not a downgrade.
01:25:49
Speaker
And to be fair, he seems to be doing a good job. He's got buy-in from them and they're taking results. So I think that's a good pick. um let's hit our losers uh and i'll hit atlanta united right off rip here oh wait i want to do one more winner okay because uh atlanta united just because or i'm sorry not atlanta united austin fc just because i feel like they've been putting together kind of a nice uh little run they beat the galaxy which like i could beat the galaxy right now the galaxy one zero i don't know i just i like austin right now and uh that's it that's that's i just wanted to mention them here. I just I like how they're playing. They they want they're like there seems like nikco estean at Nico Estevez has them playing a like grinded out ball, which, you know, their fans are going to be complaining that it's boring. But if they can do it to ah to effect, then that's what they got to do.
01:26:40
Speaker
Uh, my first loser Atlanta United, on the wrong end of that three zero result yeah against the Philly union there that continues their worst start in a club history. Their fans are calling that the most embarrassing, worst performance in club history.
01:26:55
Speaker
And this season for them really, uh, couldn't be starting out much more of a disaster and nightmare. It's really, ah I don't even know what to make of it because I mean, every year I feel like I,
01:27:09
Speaker
buy into the, all right, Atlanta United has been bad for a couple of years. They lit up the league to start their existence. And then the last five years, honestly have been mid at absolute best, mostly actively bad. Frankly, uh, they did make the playoffs last year and be messy. So that was sick. But honestly, aside from that, they have very little to hang their hat on over the last few years.
01:27:31
Speaker
Um, They fire Gonzo Pineda. They ah hire Ronnie Dela. Garth Lagerwey and Chris Henderson, who we all know quite well, they're ah they're down there making their own mark.
01:27:43
Speaker
They spent a metric ton of money on Latte Loth and bringing Almiron back. Your two-by-fours are going up in price because of this football club. i ah I said that Almiron was my favorite move as far as the potential impact that any MLS club made over the offseason. That takes not looking that good. No, it's not. Like, he's getting frustrated. You can tell, like, this is not what he envisioned when he agreed to this homecoming.
01:28:11
Speaker
ah Latte Loth has some goals, but when you spend $22 million dollars on a guy, you better hope that he is the product, the production equals results, right? Like if, lot if, they if Latte Loth is, he puts up 15, 20 goals, but they're like near the bottom of the East, that's still wasted money. Honestly, that you, uh,
01:28:37
Speaker
arguably could have been better served to i don't know what they need to do maybe the spine of their team isn't good maybe their defense just sucks i haven't watched enough of their games this year to know exactly what the issues are all i know is that this was supposed to be their big bounce back year garth garth man like you know we love garth but he had some quotes about how like this is their uh like prove it kind of year. Like the whole organization has to realize is they have to be better. And this is the year where they, and that's not happening at all.
01:29:07
Speaker
And I guess the last thing I'll say about it is that I'm going to continue to bring this up as a relevant example until it stops being one that when, when we talk about stuff like transfer fees and how much money you're spending, how big the name you're getting, how big the bag you're dropping is,
01:29:25
Speaker
it does It does matter. I'm not saying it doesn't matter. And honestly, ah i i honestly share the frustration sometimes and wish that the Sounders would just, you know, say fuck it and drop like a giant bag like Atlanta United does.
01:29:41
Speaker
It doesn't guarantee you anything, man. No, it doesn't. And like, it's not just Atlanta that you can point to as an example of team, a team that spends a lot that is not only underachieving, but like terrible, like Toronto FC are regular, always one of the highest spending teams.
01:29:57
Speaker
They, uh, they dropped record breaking money ah at the time on Insigne on Bernadeschi. Those might be, well, Bernadeschi actually, i respect him. Like he, he puts it in for them. Insigne has been like one of the biggest busts ever.
01:30:10
Speaker
So yeah how you build your team, your youth development, how how you coach, like the identity that you have, all that stuff matters too, man.
01:30:20
Speaker
Like you can't $22 million dollars latte loth your way out of ah situation if you don't have those other things in place.
01:30:31
Speaker
They clearly don't. There's something like organizationally dysfunctional. And, uh, that's too bad for them because if I was a fan of theirs and they spent that much money and they were playing like this, I'd be pissed, man. yep I'd be pissed.
01:30:46
Speaker
Like they're supposed to be like a flagship club and, uh, they're face planning right now. Yeah, I agree. That's you. You literally, you said it, but I have nothing to say. Yeah. You said what I believe. Yeah.
01:31:00
Speaker
The Columbus crew. This was funny. but Always a great time to revel in the Columbus crew not doing well. Wilfred Nancy was crashing out, by the way. Did you see that? press or or were on the sideline On the sidelines. I didn't see that. Yeah. um This was funny because Columbus didn't even play this game in Columbus. They moved it to Cleveland. Cowards, by the way, cowardly. i mean, OK, you know, you know that ah I have my qualms with the corporate oligarchy.
01:31:31
Speaker
Uh, if you look at a situation where we're talking about the difference of 60,000 people compared to 20, which is what lower.com field holds, and you know, you're going to put 60 in there.
01:31:46
Speaker
i don't, i'm I'm not saying that like I would make the same decision necessarily, but like I on i can see like why they did that. Uh, but Like Cleveland, Cleveland, but Cleveland, bro, you you have, you have, bro, you have the, the, the Buckeyes stadium.
01:32:06
Speaker
They could have played the game in Columbus. Also, I'm sorry. Do you think that all of those people were there to see the Columbus crew? Ari? No, no, they're not. That's, and I think that's a fair counter argument against it is like, it wasn't a home game for them. Why are you, you will only get so many home games in major league soccer. Why are you making your home game and away game?
01:32:26
Speaker
That's fucking dumb. You're stupid, Columbus. You deserve this. See, I don't know. I wouldn't ah i wouldn't go that far. but You sell out to get embarrassed. make But couldn't you make an argument that ah if you're trying to expand your brand, bring in new fans, put on a show, like doing it at a bigger venue is ah better than ah venue that is going to hold like 40K less people when you know you're going to put 60 in that and whatever building that is.
01:32:56
Speaker
Uh, like I can see the logic from that perspective, but here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say, but which is that if you're, if you're going to do that, if you're going to do that, you need to put on a show, you need to put on a show. You need to come out and go like toe to toe with messy.
01:33:09
Speaker
Get, you need to score goals that like get the people that are there to support you going, uh, and really like make it a showcase, event kind of like, you know, the LAFC Portland game that we were talking about, you need to like, you need to have it be like that.
01:33:25
Speaker
What they did was they went out, gave up a goal to Benjamin Kramashi in the 30th minute and didn't score and lost one zero. So I think a lot of those like, new fans or people that maybe weren't interested in MLS or the crew that were like, I'll go check this out. Like I like messy and like, uh, you know, I watched some crew games, but I'll go you in a situation where I normally wouldn't just cause messy's there.
01:33:49
Speaker
Uh, but then they they like put a dud out there yeah and those people are probably thinking that wasn't that sick. No. So it did like well I guess what I'm saying is like I can understand the logic maybe more than you're saying, but they didn't capitalize on it.
01:34:04
Speaker
So that's why they're in the loser's section. I don't mind moving stadiums. You moved cities. You moved two hours away from where you play soccer. that Who the fuck is driving two hours to lower.com field after that performance? Nobody, nobody. It's, it's, it's mind boggling. And then to like basically give the biggest F you to your real fans, the ones who come to every game who love that building. That is a beautiful stadium, by the way, to just be like, yeah, nah.
01:34:32
Speaker
Yeah, nah, I know you come to all these games and, you know, whatever. Nah, you got to drive two hours. You got to go to Cleveland. It's like Messi came here in and so we played in Yakima.
01:34:45
Speaker
Like, why why would you do that? What if Yakima had like a 120K stadium that you knew you were going to sell out? That's just, i just don't get, like, why would you do that? You don't play there. You don't play there. I just posed that hypothetical because it was a funny visual. It's just, that that would be actually fire.
01:35:03
Speaker
think, I think if Messi played in Yakima, they could, like, they could, they could figure out a situation where you could get, like, Hundo K+. um i have two losers that uh two more that i'll hit real quick to close it out i mean san diego fc we already talked about um but they've come back down to earth a little bit they you know they boat really boat race seattle and have been playing really well but i think they're getting a little bit of that expansion club reality check yep uh that's what it felt like at least and then dude the la galaxy is this the worst team in the league right now It might be. i think it is.
01:35:35
Speaker
Like, they don't have a win. they're They got it. They're the only winless team, I think. yeah I'm going to check that right now because I didn't fact check that. But, ah okay, CF Montreal doesn't have a win.
01:35:47
Speaker
Basically, basically. So, okay, i I always forget about CF Montreal. CF Montreal are the worst team in the league right now, but the Galaxy are, like, just as bad. Yeah. Which is crazy. That is wild.
01:35:58
Speaker
Like, they just won the cup. And, you know, I've been saying that that's a worthwhile trade to make every time. But, like, to be this bad? Yeah. Like, I was kind of thinking that they would be, like, amiss the playoffs but, like, can stay at least semi-dignified type bad.
01:36:15
Speaker
They're, like... literal worst team in the league type ad. which is that's just That is one that I did not have predicted. Not me neither.
01:36:25
Speaker
Alright. I think we can call it a wrap right there for episode 96. Thank you all so much as always for tuning in. was good show. Good dub pod. Good XG debating.
01:36:37
Speaker
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01:36:51
Speaker
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01:37:03
Speaker
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