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Seattle Sounders Midseason Report Card + USMNT WORLD CUP Roster Reaction!
1 Plays3 seconds ago
As MLS pauses for the World Cup, we'll give our takes on the weekend's loss to LAFC, then revisit the letter grades we handed out for the Seattle Sounders’ strikers, midfielders, defenders, goalkeepers, and coaching staff a few weeks ago and update them. Who’s improved, who’s slipped, and have any of our assessments changed based on the challenging last few weeks? We'll also react to The Guardian leak confirming Cristian Roldan on the USMNT roster (cue the meltdown from the USMNT bots and haters) and run through Pochettino’s full squad and debate whether this group actually has a shot to perform at the World Cup.
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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 Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
As you know, we are big fans of supporting small business, and we have partnered with Seattle coffee roaster QED Coffee to bring a full spectrum of coffees to our listeners. Matt, the owner, he is a diehard Sounders fan, an inaugural season ticket holder at that.
00:00:16
Speaker
who often can be overheard talking about the latest Sounders game from behind the bar making your espresso. Thankfully though, you don't have to live in Seattle to get high quality coffees. QED offers their high quality coffee subscription service with our favorite blends right to your door at lobingscorchers.com slash coffee. First time subscribers can get 25% off your order. And additionally, QED is offering Lobbingscorchers supporters 25% off site-wide with code l s seventy four Visit one of their three locations in Mount Baker, West Seattle, and Three Tree Point, or go to lobbingscorchers.com slash coffee and use code LS74 at checkout.
Episode Context and Hosts' Return
00:00:55
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or Lobbingscorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:01:21
Speaker
scorch you today like the scorcher today it's go to be a
00:01:40
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff presented by QED Coffee. I'm Ari. That's Nico. We are back at it after taking the holiday off. I took the weekend off. I was out of town. I was at a wedding. Shout out to Noah for handing holding down the postgame show. But we are back at it with a new episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff, and we're going to be hanging out, talking some Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer.
00:02:06
Speaker
Nico, what's up, man? We are back at it. It's the
Seattle Sounders' World Cup Break Struggles
00:02:09
Speaker
World Cup break. How are you feeling here this morning? That's right. hoping everybody had a good Memorial Day weekend. Got to relax. Got to enjoy the day. i got to celebrate in whatever fashion they celebrate the holiday. And now we're back. You know, we had to do it on a Tuesday because we are not going to have much to talk about when it comes to the Sounders specifically, just the Sounders. And so we had to come in here and try to dissect, try to decipher what happened at
00:02:40
Speaker
LAFC, another disappointed result. So yeah, man, let's break it down. Let's see what the what the audience has to say, of course. Let's get the chat going, engaging, thoughts, takes, whatever you may have, questions, let us know.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, we got a lot planned for this. We're going to be giving our takes on that LAFC game, which I have not done so yet. And then what I wanted to do, Nico, was revisit the letter grades that we handed out for the Seattle Sounders position groups and coaching staffs a couple weeks ago. What we're going to do is we're going to kind of compare how we feel about the team now after the struggles of the last few weeks that you've mentioned compared to how we thought of it back then. See if anyone's slipped, if any of our assessments have changed, if anyone's improved.
00:03:25
Speaker
Based on these challenging last few weeks, we're going to get into that.
USMNT Roster Reaction and Roldan's Inclusion
00:03:28
Speaker
And then, folks, we do have USMNT roster reaction to get to. The Guardian, shout out The Guardian, shout out friend of the pod, Jeff Reuter, for publicizing the USMNT roster because we were able to find out not just the whole roster, but get confirmation that a one Christian Roldan, ever heard of him? He is going to the World Cup.
00:03:49
Speaker
The bots and the haters, they are in shambles. So we're going react to that. We're going to also take a look at the full squad and see what we think of this roster going into the World Cup. So we'll get to that later, Nico. But let's do the Sounders first. But before we do all that, I do have to let you know, as always, that Lobbing Scorchers kickoff is now presented.
00:04:10
Speaker
Buy QED Coffee, our favorite Seattle-based coffee roaster, shop, and subscription service. Visit them in person at one of the three Seattle locations in West Seattle, Three Tree Point and Biriam, and Mountmaker Ridge, or online and use the code LS74 for 25% off anything site-wide. That's just lobingscorchers.com slash coffee. Get your subscription to QED Coffee today. What are you waiting for? But ah all right, Nico, without further ado, you know, we took yesterday off for the holiday. So let's get
Sounders vs. LAFC Game Analysis
00:04:40
Speaker
into it.
00:04:40
Speaker
And let's start with this. Let's just start with this LAFC game. You know, I was out of town for the postgame show, like I said. So I haven't gotten to lay down my takes on this at all. I was not able to watch it live, but I was able to watch it back. So I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what went down at BMO Stadium. But Nico, I'll kick it to you to to start it off. Basically, we've got a situation where, you know, I think this team this team started off the season very well, at least record and points per game wise. But I think there's no question about it. This last month or so has, you know what it reminds me of, Nico, is this is a lot of the same type of stuff that we dealt with in Merchanting Era Sounders.
00:05:28
Speaker
where, you know, the footy at times was good. The chance generation at times was good, but they're they're not finishing. They're not scoring, and you're losing a lot of these one-goal games. You're on the wrong side now of a lot of these one-zeros, where earlier in the season, you were on the right side of these one-zeros. And you got a situation where Pedro de la Vega is injured, and it just feels like there's kind of something missing from the attack.
00:05:56
Speaker
uh so where do you stand with things nico first let's just talk about this game specifically what you see in this uh lafc game and then get my take uh yeah look i uh have watched this game twice i think i felt a lot worse after i saw it live i was on um Q13 after the the game in the postgame show. And I think I i struggled with a couple of the questions specifically about what changed in that second half because i don't think that I saw it as – I didn't see as big of a change as maybe Brian –
00:06:43
Speaker
alluded to during the post game conference. I thought that the team was better, but it was still not good enough when you look at the chances that were created. So what I would say is this.
00:06:56
Speaker
Game was always going to be difficult because the Sounders have never beat LAFC at home in the regular season. This is a quality team, a team that started off the season in LAFC with an undefeated streak.
00:07:11
Speaker
Actually, there would they wouldn't even get scored on for like the first seven or eight games of the season. In this particular game, I thought that the Sounders started off on the right foot.
00:07:22
Speaker
They had the intensity. They had the ah the game plan that they wanted to do. Long spells of possession. ah Keep the ball away from LAFC. Don't let it turn into a foot race. You don't want it to open up against LAFC. They have a chance early with Albert Rusnak.
00:07:41
Speaker
But as that first half continues, LAFC just takes over. The Sounders are pushed back and they get too deep for this game.
00:07:54
Speaker
The Sounders' plan was to have more of a mid-block or a mid-high block. I thought that they just got way too deep in that first half, and they allowed LAFC to just get on the ball too often.
00:08:08
Speaker
They did a couple of things well, and I know that the audience and and myself know that Brian made some calls for this game that he's going to have to sit on for couple of months.
00:08:25
Speaker
Kim Kihee starts for the first time in 2026. That's a bald move, but I thought that one worked out. I thought Kim Kihee played well. I thought that he was poised. I thought that he ah his anticipation was well. He didn't look ah like he's lost a beat.
00:08:42
Speaker
And the Hassani Dotson move instead of Snyder Burnell, that's the difficult one. But I do think that when you look at that first half, it worked out in terms of keeping...
00:08:56
Speaker
Son Hong Min from getting into prime scoring positions, right? And not dragging out the center backs in the way that the center backs were dragged out in the LA Galaxy game. And I thought a lot of it had to do with Hassani Dotson playing a lot deeper and being able to take up Sonny, whenever he dropped to a certain part of the field and that allowed the center backs to sit back and look for the majority ah of the game. and And that first half specifically, there was a lot of bodies behind the ball. You kept a lot of guys in front of Denny Buanga, who I thought you contained pretty well.
00:09:34
Speaker
Sonny, you contained pretty well. You forced this team to a lot of mid-range shots, but the problem continued to be the lack of elite and clinical finishes in front of goal.
00:09:46
Speaker
Jordan Morris gets one opportunity in a very good Hassani Dodson through ball where I think Jordan doesn't take the right angle. I think he's a little late to get behind that ball. If he gets that a little bit quicker, he's able to chip the ball and and that changes the game completely. And in the second half, because I don't want to call it a tale of two halves because I didn't see it so drastically changed. The Sounders were better. And once Snyder Burnell came onto the field, you had another creative player at that pivot area that did help the team. And you were able to have someone that was going to carry the ball. And Christian was able to get a little bit deeper. And I thought that you pushed up the line of confrontation
00:10:30
Speaker
to where you wanted it to start this game initially. And so it looked a little bit better, but it still wasn't good enough. And you do have that opportunity where Jordan gets that shot off and then Albert Rusnak picks it up and he's trying to figure out what to do with it. then he tries to chip it onto the, into the 18 and it doesn't quite work. And then there's that opportunity with Danny Masovsky that hits the post. That was the one. But that's it. That's really the real opportunities that were clear chances to me were just those two. The other ones, sure, you get a couple of tallies on the shots on target and Snyder takes a couple of shots from mid-range and you kind of force a save. Christian Roldan shoots one as well that forces a save, but it's not a difficult save. So,
00:11:24
Speaker
I think that's my conclusion, that even though the team did get better and they were able to at least look more in control and had more tempo in the second half, it just still didn't look dangerous enough and you still were unable to put the ball in the back of the net.
00:11:41
Speaker
Yeah, the one that you mentioned that Moose put off the post, that was that was the big one. They really needed that one to go in. And, you know, it was interesting from my perspective to be tracking it because, you know, like I said, i was i was at a wedding and the reception was right during the game. So I could not really watch it live, but I was able to – sneak away a couple times, you know, when I was in line at the bar, just, you know, pull the phone up, look at the look at the feed. i I did have the video pulled up, kind of just trying to be trying to be subtle about it. And one of the sequences I was actually able to pull up my phone on the video was right when Danny Musavsky put that one off the post, off the feed from Jordan Morris. And, you know, I'm sitting there, it's 0-0 at that time. And I was like, ah, you know, obviously that would have been too much to ask for that to just go in. But also I'm like, you know, they needed that.
00:12:32
Speaker
to go in there's not the chances were few and far between and when you have a clean look like that which you know credit to him that was a good chance but like you said it was kind of the only chance and i agree with what gianni was saying in chat like i actually i think xg merchanting actually isn't really an accurate way to portray what's gone on in the last two games xg merchant is when, ah you know, the i'm not that guy yeah the sporting KC game or the San Diego game, I think you could say, I mean, you know, you could take the actual XG out of it and just ask yourself it was if it was the type of game where Seattle was really troubling the opposing goalkeeper, if it looked like they had the other team under pressure. And I think the the KC game, the San Diego game, if you wanted to cope and say that I did cope,
00:13:19
Speaker
and say that for those games. You can't really say that for these last couple games or this LAFC game. So that's going to be a continued issue. You know, people are going to, we're going to be keep doing the number nine discourse. I'm on record as saying that the number nine discourse specifically might be a little bit overblown, but I think, you know, for me, it's more Pedro de la Vega.
00:13:41
Speaker
discourse because i think, like I said, it's similar to the 2024, 2025 ish situations where we were talking about, man, this attack just needs something else. It needs some more creativity, some explosiveness, explosiveness, some dynamism. If that's going out and getting a new number nine, then, then fine. I do think that a healthy fit, productive Pedro de la Vega can provide what people are talking about with that. So that's where I'm coming from with that. But The fact remains, you have a situation where you got a team that's 7-3-3, so that's a good record, 1.85 points per game. If you told me going into the season that they'd be at 1.85 points per game going into the World Cup break, I'm probably taking that, but you know you you can't really escape the feeling that unless something boosts this attack,
00:14:30
Speaker
the ceiling of this team is going to be
Media Strategies and Player Accountability
00:14:32
Speaker
capped again. And that's even with like, ah this is another one of those situations where, yeah, the defense gives up a goal at the end. But when I was thinking to myself, kind of just tracking the zero zero was like, okay, I mean, as long as this stays zero zero, you're susceptible to the exact type of outcome that ended up happening. Like the dam is going to break.
00:14:51
Speaker
eventually like the longer that things stay zero zero on the road at l lafc you're just you're kind of just asking for the result that they got so that's where things stand right now but nico i want i did want to mention you want to know my least favorite part of this game i i want to i want to talk about this my least favorite part of this game uh you know and it's related to what you mentioned about the decision to uh to not start Snyder Brunel in this game. Hassani Dotson gets the start, which that in and of itself, if you want to give Hassani some run, get him going, get him more acclimated. yo um He missed time him with injury to start this year with the concussion protocol. So if you want to start Hassani Dotson in this game, fine. That's fine.
00:15:32
Speaker
But here's my question, Nico. Here's my question. Why? Why in the hostage video after the game are Snyder Burnell and Tino Lopez, the ones that they send out to do the hostage video and talk to the media. I'm i'm serious though. i'm so I'm serious. This is my least favorite thing that MLS teams do. And I made fun of inter Miami a few weeks ago when they did it with ah like Noah Allen and Ian Frey. And we were talking about why are messy and the Barca boys, not the ones out there. Why are none of them ever asking questions? Why is it after there's a negative result, they send out Noah Allen and Ian Frey?
00:16:10
Speaker
You know, why is it that the Sounders are sending out Snyder B who didn't even start the game and Tino Lopez, who's in his like fourth MLS game and you send them out there. they Didn't start either. Yeah, he wouldn't start either.
00:16:26
Speaker
There's no way, man. There is no way that they can be the ones who go up there and have to answer that. I'm sorry. I don't know whose responsibility that is, but for me, the the big money, the star player on this team, they should be the ones who have to go to the podium after that and, like,
00:16:44
Speaker
I don't know, man. I just i think sending the sending the young guns out there to have to do that is just, that's that's lame to me. And like, it's not a Seattle specific thing. A lot of teams do that. Like I just mentioned, Inter-Miami is a great example. They do that too.
00:16:58
Speaker
I don't know, man. Am I am i being am i being nitpicky about that? Because I just think that's, I think that's so whack, dude. I don't think you're wrong on your on your take and and your disappointment. as i I was too. What I will say in the Sounders defense, or at least the PR staff defense, is that this is very uncharacteristic of the Sounders. it It is rare that you allow two subs and actually...
00:17:27
Speaker
a couple that came on late to to be the guys to talk to the press afterwards. There's usually a Christian Roldan that's willing to talk. There's usually a Jordan Morris that's willing to talk.
00:17:38
Speaker
At the very least, you'll get one guy, you know, even an Andrew Thomas. So I don't know what happened in this one.
00:17:49
Speaker
There is no way that, There is no way, and and I can almost bet whatever you want on that that Kevin, who was in charge of pulling those players at to talk to the media, those were his two guys. I mean, he had to have exhausted his resources and try to talk to three or four guys. And and maybe that just talks to...
00:18:14
Speaker
how gut wrenching that loss was and how difficult it was to give up a late goal on a game that you thought you were starting to perhaps either get a result on, or you thought that you deserve to win there at the end. Although I wouldn't necessarily agree with that, but as a player, you're putting in the shift, you're working, you're trying to get the the goal and maybe you feel like you deserve more from that game. And so,
00:18:44
Speaker
if you can't get a Christian Rodan to talk to us, that means that it must've been a real gut punch into that locker room. And I would put it there. I do think that it was the players that,
00:18:57
Speaker
possibly declined to talk. Oh, I guarantee. i see I guarantee that's what, what happened. And Christian's the one guy that ah I will, I will give a pass to on that because it used to be him that they may do this. If you remember back in his like rookie year in his second year, we had a running bit. We had a joke on the beat, like, Oh, they took an L let's let's send Christian rolled on out there age 19. And he would always do it. He would always step up and he would always do it even when he didn't want to. So that's the that's the one guy on the team where if he says, i am steamed about this loss, I don't feel like doing this right now. Just send someone else to do it, Kevin.
00:19:37
Speaker
He's the one guy that I'll accept that from. But I don't know, man. I guess it's kind of a small thing ultimately. But it is surprising. And I think that's why you felt that way because it – It's rare that the Sounders do that. I think that there are teams that... I guess to be fair, they're better at it than some teams. It's not like Inter-Miami, where have you ever seen Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez on the podium after win, let alone a tough loss? They would never do that. And so, yeah, to be fair, there have been more situations where one of the big star players for Seattle has stepped up and spoken after a loss, but in this case, they didn't. Gianni's got the theory that...
00:20:18
Speaker
those two were the only that Schmetzer didn't want to chew out. Everyone else was getting it. All right. Okay. If that's the, if that was the case too, then I guess I can accept that. But I think generally speaking in that situation, it's just the, the young guys shouldn't have to be the ones who do that. If, you want to send them out there after win to get them the experience and give them the glow, then that then that's fine. But in that situation, I feel like it's the DPs, the big money guys that ah that should have to answer for that. yeah that's just me.
00:20:49
Speaker
You know what? ah ah on On that regard, i don't know or I've yet to to find out what was the feel on the locker room or what Bryant's message was.
00:21:02
Speaker
but I did feel like we got a very poised and calm Bryant's Metzer after a loss like that. I mean, he really was, you know, not freaking out. He wasn't, you know, irate. He answered the questions pretty calmly. I thought maybe he even gave a little too much credit to certain players on on the goal they gave up. You know, he he said that maybe...
00:21:29
Speaker
Nuhu got a touch on that cross, which I've looked at that a couple of times. I don't see it. I talked about Kalani just, you know, doing better there. And he said Tino was on covering another player. And so, look, I thought that he did a good job at backing his guys up.
00:21:49
Speaker
I don't know if that was completely different in the locker room where he's just laying out on on the guys. So he came out and just... Provided calmness to the media. So that'd be interesting to see how that played out. But there was a lot of things to be upset about when it came to that last goal. um I do think that New Who closes down a little too late. I think that Voight picks up that ball from Delgado with too much space.
00:22:19
Speaker
I know Tino is doing his job by keeping eyes on someone else, but you gotta be able to react when you find yourself in no man's land, in that part of the field and, and, and try to get a header on that. And Kalani, man, I mean, that, that, that's, that's him, right? I mean, he, he needs to do better and you could tell he was frustrated yeah yeah and he's been so good in so many ways. And he's a guy that I'm extremely high on. And I think he's going to continue to get better. And this is on characteristic as well, but yeah, that, that, that sort of thing just,
00:22:52
Speaker
Shouldn't happen. and and Tillman, out of all people, Tillman, the guy that had been from had gone from bad to worse over the last six, seven weeks with LAFC, he becomes the hero?
Sounders' Defensive Challenges
00:23:06
Speaker
That's the hero? Oh, man. That's tough. Getting posterized by Timothy Tillman is definitely tough to take. I can tell you guys that LAFC fans, they like hate that guy. Like he has become one of the most polarizing figures in their fan base. I would say he's kind of like their version of Rusnak in a way, except I would argue he doesn't have like the productivity to fall back on necessarily that Albert Rusnak at least
00:23:34
Speaker
does But, like, that's who you get bammed on by. But I will say, like, i almost I almost don't really care about the blame game on the concession because I just feel like it's such a classic situation where, like, yeah, you got posterized by Tim Tillman.
00:23:49
Speaker
You gave up a goal. But the reason you lose the game off that is because it's you're fighting for your life at zero zero in the 86th minute at l LAFC. You are asking to lose that game if you can't score a goal before then, where if you had been able to score before then, say that Danny Musavsky one goes in. But if you're able to do that, then you can give up the goal at the end and you still take the result and you don't take. the l So the idea that you were ever going to grind out the zero zero in that game, you got close to doing it, but that's just not what you can bank on or plan on. And if you're in that situation where that's what you are banking on and it doesn't work out, you only really have yourself to blame for not being able to score. So that like I don't it's it's for me. I don't blame the defense for this L. I think it's another L that's ah that's on the offense. But ah Nico, any last things on that before we jump into our little ah midseason report card here?
00:24:45
Speaker
I don't want to shy away from the pink elephant in the room. And I think you're absolutely spot on. This sort of game, you have to put on the guys that have the responsibility to get the wins, to get the team going in the right direction, to create the tempo, to create the intensity, to put the goals in the back of the net. So, look, I thought Christian Roldan...
00:25:15
Speaker
was okay. I expected more from him in this particular game because when you have a Sonny Dotson as the guy that's supposed to be in charge of playing more defensively, playing deeper, being the guy that picks up Sonny when he drops to those soft spots and and those in-between lines...
00:25:32
Speaker
Christian should have been released a lot more, should be able to get on the off offensive a lot better. And I didn't quite see that from him. I wanted him to be a lot more dangerous on the ball, put himself in better spots.
00:25:45
Speaker
I thought that Albert Rusnak was okay as well. expected a little bit more from him in, in set pieces, expected a little bit more to ah create moments on the ball. That didn't quite happen after Jordan Morris, man. I hate to beat a dead horse, but at the nine position, he just needs to be a lot more dangerous, pick up the ball in certain areas, help pivot and help link up a little bit more. That didn't quite happen. I thought, uh,
00:26:12
Speaker
Paul Rothrock, as good as he's been, didn't have a great game, only 25 touches on the ball. He, you know, obviously is difficult when you have to worry about Hollingstead and Martinez defensively. and And I thought that's where they did well, right? I thought that Paul and Jesus both did a phenomenal job.
00:26:34
Speaker
Defending and and not allowing those guys to get released, right? same as Kalani. And Brian said it after the game. Look, I can't put it on the kid because he... ah shut out one of the best players in the league in the Nibuanga. And I would agree with that. i yeah I totally would agree. And I thought that Jesus himself too was dropping deep and in chasing down guys and picking up balls and intercepting and doing all this anticipation. And I thought that there was a lot of effort in that regard. But when it comes to that attacking end and being able to be more dangerous, because as i mentioned,
00:27:12
Speaker
even just the the chances in the second half when you were quote unquote better, right? You still were not dangerous enough, in my opinion, or not dangerous to the degree that you have been against San Jose, against San Diego, and all these other games where Kansas city, where you're like, Oh man, we know we didn't put it in the back of the net, but we created all these chances, all these opportunities, so many clear chances. I i didn't see that here. So yeah,
00:27:39
Speaker
you do got to put it on those guys. And I think that they will hold themselves accountable when it comes to this sort of game and they have to be better. So when it comes to the discourse and everything, it does feel like you need something else up top. And and it's not just Pedro de Oliveira, because I would agree that I think he's going to make this team so much better, but you need to have a finisher, man. And that is something that,
00:28:07
Speaker
Regardless of what happens moving forward in this two months, Craig Weibel is going to be pondering, how can I make this team better? And I don't think that anyone could disagree that just adding one more striker would give you a different profile and give you just another guy that you can look into when things aren't working for all these other guys.
00:28:28
Speaker
See, I see that maybe a little bit differently. I do think there's at least an outcome where when Pedro de la Vega comes back, which is supposedly going to be after the World Cup break.
00:28:39
Speaker
I think that there's a very good chance that that could have the elevating effect on this offense that we're talking about in the way that like, yeah, you're You definitely you need more lethality in general in attack. But if there's one thing that Pedro de la Vega can do, it's that he can get in situations where he's able to kick the ball at the goal, and he runs at the ball, and he kicks the shit out of the ball extremely hard directly at the goal, and oftentimes it goes in. That's what this attack needs right now is someone who will do that. I do think he can do that. And I also think that his presence should theoretically open up space for
00:29:19
Speaker
for the number nines and the strikers to hopefully have more chances and more looks on goal than they had in this LAFC game. For instance, just because of the attention that he's now going to demand and take from opposing defenses that can have the effect of opening things up for other players. I think that's something that this offense needs now right now as well. So I don't necessarily want to make it like a whole thing where we're doing the Pedro de la Vega as the savior thing.
00:29:46
Speaker
discourse because, you know, that famously has not panned out well in necessarily in past years. But when I think back to the level that he did show at points last year, particularly in League's Cup, if you inject that player into this attack, I think there's a great chance that it could help a lot, even with the number nines that you
Player Performance and Future Outlook
00:30:05
Speaker
have. Now, you know, that's not guaranteed and you don't necessarily want to hedge that much all on one guy. But when I look at where things are at and I look at the performances from the last... few weeks I'll just say my hope, my hope and cope is that when they get Pedro de la Vega back, which is theoretically supposed to be soon, that that can be something that elevates this attack and generate space for other players helps the chance generation. And again, just a guy that will kick the ball as hard as he possibly can. at the goal. This team needs that so badly right now. And we at least have some sort of precedent that he can be a player who provides that. So maybe that's hoping against hope.
00:30:46
Speaker
I don't know. no and i and and And I don't think you're wrong. Cause I don't think anyone can deny that Pedro de la Vega is a game changer and he's an X factor and he is maybe the only player in this roster that could at any moment take over a game all by himself. And what you're referring to is the way that he can cut inside and strike the ball mid range. He can you know be one of the guys that that adds another guy crashing the box. He has the quality to collapse defense onto his side and open up those lanes for your nine or even an Albert Rusnak. coming in sight, laid into the box. He does that better than anyone in in this roster. Whether or not he can stay healthy, that's a separate conversation, and you hope that he can. But in terms of what he does, it's undeniable that he makes this team better. However, I want to...
00:31:49
Speaker
intention from the front office to make this team better. And the only area that I feel like this team really needs help in is in the finishing component, right? So when you have a, and both you and I have talked about the U22s and how they don't necessarily hit the floor running and they're not going to have an immediate impact.
00:32:14
Speaker
At this point, I would be satisfied with just having, a a quality, if you find the right guy. I just don't want i want panic purchases, right? I don't want you to go get a guy just to go get a guy. But if you're able to find a U22 that, as far as I know, is the the spot on this roster that this team really wants to pursue because it doesn't hit the cap and it and it it's just the something that you need to really capitalize on,
00:32:46
Speaker
go and get that guy. And maybe some guy that's completely different to what you have.
00:32:54
Speaker
And that way you just don't have an option of someone else, but you also create more of a burning fire under all three of these guys and see if that works. But, but, but to me, I just want the intention that the, the,
00:33:11
Speaker
the approach of going into the second part of the season and saying, look, the team got better here, here and here. And that that that's all I'm hoping for.
00:33:23
Speaker
Rob coming in with the first super chat of the stream. Thank you for the $1.74. Appreciate you, man. Yeah, you know, I'm just, I'm looking at chat right now and they're ah they're not feeling the ah Pedro de la Vega as the savior agenda. Look, I get it.
00:33:35
Speaker
I get it. I understand why there's a healthy skepticism on that front. I just, the way I see it with the situation you're in at this exact juncture, that's that's one of that's the only kind of theoretical certainty. And i don't I don't want to call it a certainty because we all know nothing is certain with that situation. But it's a certainty in the sense that you have a theoretical rough timeline, at least, for when you're going to be bringing him back. He's on the roster. It's not like you have to go out and get him. So, you know, i mean i maybe it's delusional hope. Maybe it's never going to happen. But for right now, that's basically the that's the only set in stone part of the plan that I could think of to address the situation. So that's what we're working with right now. Like, I don't know. i don't know how else to say it. And is is it a.
00:34:26
Speaker
Is it a good thing necessarily to be gambling and banking on that? I don't disagree that ah not necessarily. No, it's not. But it's just, it's what you have. It's it's what you already have in place. So that's basically that's basically the situation right now.
00:34:42
Speaker
Polo Mogna coming in with $1.99. Thank you for the support. Appreciate you. says, go get zo Zaha. Yeah, that's right. Our boy, oh hell the friend of the pod, Willie Zaha is out on the open market. He's no longer with Charlotte FC. Maybe that's what...
00:34:56
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders need to elevate their attack. Put Willie Zaha in the locker room. You want to curveball? You want to curve to change the vibes? That would be the way to do it. Before we get into this midseason report card, Nico, that does remind me. Well, first of all, everyone liked the video and subscribe to the channel if you if you have not.
MLS Coaching Changes
00:35:15
Speaker
But I meant to shout this out at the part of the show at the top of the show, Nico, but I forgot. I did want to note that we've had a bunch of coaching changes in Major League Soccer In the last couple of weeks, you had Henrik Rheinstrom out at Columbus and Nico Steves out at Austin. But everyone, everyone, raise your glasses, raise your QED mugs, and pour one out for the Phil Neville era at the Portland Timbys. They have officially mutually parted ways down in Portland with Phil Neves, which is a very sad day here at Lobbing Scorchers. You know, we we think that Phil Neville is a great coach that they should have devoted more time and resources to And frankly signed to a contract extension. Uh, but you know, in all, in all seriousness, uh, it's the world cup break has brought, uh, the teams that really felt like they needed to make whole scale changes and blow things up are doing it. And the Timby has turned out to be in that category. So a shout out to Phil Neves. He was a provider of great content on this show over the years, even dating back to his days at inner Miami, but especially during his distinguished, distinguished run in, uh,
00:36:19
Speaker
portland but it is funny just to uh think back of the moment that phil neville got hired by portland and our reaction on the show was yeah great hire that's yeah that's who you want put him in place for as long as you want and extend him and you're gonna do great guys and it went about as well as you would think it did they held on to that longer than i thought they would but uh shout out phil nevs and uh it's it's a sad day it's a sad day we really wanted the portland timbies to keep him but uh he's gonna he's going to be a great addition to Apple TV. He should absolutely just start his broadcast career now.
00:36:56
Speaker
Quit on the whole coaching thing, my guy. just you You got it. You put it on your resume. Move on. You know, do Sky TV or do Apple TV or Fox or whatever you want to do. Join the panel with Gio Savarese. You can have a Timby's panel of the former coaches. It'll be great, I guess. Totally. All right.
Midseason Sounders Evaluation
00:37:17
Speaker
ah Let's do this midseason report card, but we got a couple of super chats coming in. Thank you guys for the support and the love this morning. Appreciate y'all. We got Wade with the 499. He says, late to the party. Are we targeting anyone for this summer transfer window? Nico, you got anything there? He said, I do I'm not nothing nothing I want to share yet But okay but there is something There is and you'd be surprised It's pretty it's it's more open Than I thought it was going to be ah So you know it's not just The nine there there is some Looks into some wingers And some fullbacks ah So yeah I definitely have ah A lot bigger range of of of Positions that I'm
00:37:57
Speaker
scene movement on that that, you know, just talks about, in my opinion, the front office understanding that they need to make some moves and and and and really shake things up a bit to, you course correct this team in the second half of the season hey look i'm all i'm all for that i think some people might think that i'm like not for that but i'm uh i'm definitely not against that uh kenny thank you for the dollar 99 appreciate that he says we need two we need two attackers and a backup dm and left back money money and then we got poosley with the ten dollar thank you so much for the support man appreciate you he says can phil play striker i believe he was a uh a center back in his day but you know this team could that too so i like that that's good all right nico let's uh give me uh right phillips if we're gonna pick some of those guys out let me get him get the bwp sasha question duo back together at that number nine and number ten wade's campaigning for uh for zaha which you know i know you're anti zaha nico i'm pro so You hate Zaha. I love Zaha. So ah i I do think for entertainment value, Zaha would be a lot of fun as far as actually improving the vibes and making the team better. Maybe, maybe not. But like, you know, as someone who's content brained, I can't say that the idea doesn't intrigue me. But I wouldn't make it through the first video breakdown with Brian Schmetzer. He would be out the door.
00:39:29
Speaker
him and Brian would go at it like cats and dogs. As soon as Saha talks about Saha being Saha, Brian is having a fit and he he's out of here, man. No, don' do not do that.
00:39:42
Speaker
Caleb, sorry I missed this one. $2. Thank you for the support. Appreciate you, man. He says, I gave Pedro de la Vega drumsticks. Yeah, you did this. When de la Vega gets back, it's going to be a huge day for the Caleb agenda. Thank you, Caleb and Wade. Thank you for being a member for 12 months. Appreciate you, my guy. He says, targeting Mo Salah. Thank you for confirming. Hey, there. Now we're talking.
00:40:02
Speaker
Now we're cooking. But all right, Nico, let's jump into this midseason report card. And basically what I wanted to do, we don't we we don't have all that much time, but we can go through. And I kind of wanted to make it more of a comparison of how we're feeling right now compared to how we were feeling a few weeks ago when we did this exercise. And if you remember, we went through, we gave grades for every, ah every position group. And that was back when things were going, I think it's fair to say quite a bit better. There was kind of shades of this XG Merchanting inability to finish stuff going on, but they were on the right side of those results. And I think we were, I was definitely feeling better about the state of affairs back then. So I kind of want to make it a thing where we sort of assess where we're at ah right now compared to even just a couple weeks ago. So let's just go through the position groups and talk about where we think things stand at the World Cup break. And just with the team in general, you know, this team is is struggling right now. But if you look at the big picture of where they're at on the table with their record and their points per game, they're at least in a situation where they're breaking your way back into that top tier of contender and trophy contention. There's at least, I think, a path to get there. But we do got to talk about the issues going on right now. that they're going to have to kind of get over in order to, to do that, to break back into that tier, because I think it's safe to, it's fair to say that, uh, while early in the season, they were very much up there with the big dogs and deserve to be considered with the big dogs. And also the West is wide open, but like they've, they've opened themselves up to the contention that they're in that like tier right below the big dogs, the supporter shield contenders and the MLS cup contenders. But, uh, Let's go through it and let's start with the biggest hot button issue of the moment, Nico, which is the the strikers. When we talked about this a few weeks ago, I gave them a B minus and you gave them more in the in the C range. And I think since then, this position group has even been more of a question. And I'll just start for my part, Nico. was saying B range, maybe even like
00:42:04
Speaker
i think i was bb minus ish and now i think for for this group six goals all comps three goals in league play combined from uh osaze and danny musavsky jordan morris is still sitting at one goal the fan base is pining for a new number nine And I think like I think like C range C minus range for this position group is fair right now.
00:42:27
Speaker
And as much as I've said that, ah you know, I buy into the the platoon concept of the number nine that you don't necessarily need to splash on a on a Sam surge when you have a position group where I'm grading it in the in the C range. It's also kind of hard to argue with the opposing viewpoint that people have. on that but uh that's that's where i'm at with the strikers right now nico would you i think and i think that's where you were at the last time we talked about it has your view on this changed at all or are you kind of in the same uh boat that you were in earlier no i i would stay with it you know maybe c minus wise just because ah i expected jordan to
00:43:07
Speaker
shake some of the rust off a lot quicker. i thought that he would at least have three or four goals by now, to be quite frank. I expected a lot of um a team that, in my opinion, with Jesus and Albert putting through balls, it should benefit a runner but behind the back line like Jordan. hasn't quite worked out. Osase was a guy that in the preseason we were extremely high on and, and, and, you know, you were kind of waiting for that to
00:43:44
Speaker
that reveal itself throughout the season and and it hasn't quite yet. So yeah, I think C minus is, is where, where I would stay. Cause I do believe that there is still something there. and And I think that they've done enough to get this team off to a very good start, at least of the season.
00:44:05
Speaker
before this last, I don't know, four or five games since sporting Kansas City. So you've got to credit him that. so So, yeah, I think C- minus is is fair. Yeah, a lot of chat saying, oh, these should be Fs, these should be Ds. The reason I don't think it's an F or even a D is because, like, I would give an F if it was, like, just abjectly they hadn't scored at all, they hadn't done anything, and they looked like a total joke out there all season. That, to me, is what an F would be, and I think it's a little dramatic to characterize it like that. There has been good moments. Okay, Moose scored two goals yesterday, in the CCC series versus Vancouver. So I think that was a good moment for the, ah for the group. Osaze, yes, he has not lived up to the preseason God tier mode.
00:44:50
Speaker
Osaze, but he does have a couple of nice goals in the last few weeks. The goal he scored against St. Louis was a really awesome goal that kind of looked like the stuff he was doing in preseason. And then of course he had the game winner against the, against the So that was a that was a good moment. Jordan helped the team win the game against FC Dallas, which I know he was playing out wide, but I kind of I still include him in that bucket. So I don't think I think it is melodramatic to say that has been across the board abject embarrassment of ah of a failure. That doesn't mean that it it's been good enough. It hasn't. But that's just, I'm just explaining, that's how I land in the C range as opposed to the D or the F range. I think if we're being fair about it, you do have to go give credit to the good stuff that they have done. And there has been a handful of instances of good stuff. So that's how I land at the C range. ah James coming in with the $2. Nines can't score if the DP number 10 is 50th in MLS in XA. Well, so we know where James comes down on that. But I guess that's good segue. Thank you, James. Vico, what do you think of the... let's Let's just do the the midfielders. I guess we can split the attacking midfield and the and the defensive midfield into two different buckets. But ah like if I was great in Rusnak specifically, you know probably...
00:46:10
Speaker
B minus, you know, as much as great, the brigade might not like that. B b minus, he has ah three goals, four assists. And I think there has been times where like the, like the Tigris game, for instance, Rusnak was great in that game. So I think if you're actually being fair about it, he would get credit for the good stuff he's done, just like he gets dinged for the the bad stuff he's done so far this year. But I don't know. I kind of see the group in the...
00:46:38
Speaker
in the B, B minus range, which is not like incredible, but what do you think, Nico? ah you ah Do you remember what what I put on there? You were B-range. You were B-range. B-range. Yeah, I think that B is fair.
00:46:52
Speaker
I think that Jesus Ferrer has been as advertised as we thought he would. I forgot to mention him, but I think he's been excellent at times. Yes, he's he's been great. And if not, and and this is what we got to look at the full body of work. I mean, guys, don't look at things just with stats and XG and all of this stuff. You got to look at the body of work. And that goes to the attention.
00:47:15
Speaker
the forward conversation that we just talked about, because there is a system that if you conduct your role to the best of your ability and you execute that role,
00:47:26
Speaker
it helps everything else. and And you don't have a team that's what fifth in the Western conference without that working. So for me, i thought he su has been really, really good. um He's cooled down a little bit over the last couple of games, but I think the entire offense has cooled down over the last couple of games. I still think that his defensive output is there, his creativity. There's always moments. I think that I would agree with you. Albert has at the very least been really good on,
00:47:56
Speaker
getting some assists, getting some goals. I think that in set pieces, he's done his job. The Sounders haven't been able to really put those away always, but you had a couple of really good ah Christian Roldan, far post all by myself. I'm going to put it in the back of the net. I think that that's credit to to to Albert as well. I think Jesus has also been really good with some set pieces when his number has been called there.
00:48:19
Speaker
Yes, he missed that PK. Don't remind me of it, but he has had some really good moments. um I would add Paul Rothrock, a guy that in that, I guess, yeah is that midfield or wing play? i mean, it's kind of, are we breaking that down? Rothrock and Jesus are in this bucket.
00:48:35
Speaker
Okay. So, yeah. So I think that that's been working well. And Paul Rothrock has shown it being the goal scorer for this team and being a magnet of, of,
00:48:49
Speaker
be being one of those few guys that can, ah if not take over a game, create some really problematic moments for defenses. um i always use the word havoc when it comes to ah Paul Rothrock. So because of all that, I think that B is spot on. it Could it be better? Absolutely. That's why I'm not going to go with an A. But I think B, they have been the motor, the engine that has this team where they are right now.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah, so for me, it's a situation where when you look at the strikers in the attacking midfield, we have them kind of both in the aggregate in that like B minus to C plus sort of range. So I think it's fair if we were grading the whole attack, ah you could call it a B minus C plus sort of situation. And that's not where you want it in terms of if you're trying to be a trophy contender, shield contender, an MLS cup contender, doing so with a B minus C plus type of attack, you're probably not going to get there with that. And that's the reality. And I think people are correct to point that out. I think the question is, what's the path to getting that into the B plus A minus type of range where you can really feel good about it? uh going into a road game at l lafc for instance and not feel like you're going to be hanging on for life and unable to finish and be at zero zero in the uh 86 minute uh but like i also i think the other takeaway from that is that it i don't think it's like an f like people are saying like i don't think it's like a d minus this is an embarrassment this is a disgrace this attack is not done anything. I think it's more in that inconsistent type of range, slumping type of range where you just kind of, you have to assess and get evaluations on what you need to get that great hire.
00:50:36
Speaker
And that's where we're at right now. And you have Pedro de la Vega coming back, you know, as much as people want to say that you can't bank on that for anything. I think if you actually apply what we saw from him last year,
00:50:48
Speaker
and grant that it could be at least similar to that range when he comes back this year, maybe that's something that can help the situation. That's ah that's all I'm saying. But ah all right, Nico, let's ah let's move on to the ah the defensive midfielders, the Christian Roldan, Hassani Dotson, Snyder Brunel, Maybe you can throw pet Kingston, a couple other guys in this bucket as well. But I think this is one where a couple of weeks ago I had them at like a a, a plus. I think you had them in the a range as well. And I i think this is a,
00:51:20
Speaker
This is a group where I might bump them down to like the B-ish. I think B-ish range is about fair. B-minus might be a little harsh because I do think there has some bit some really awesome stuff from this group, ah particularly from Christian. And I love what I've seen from Snyder this year. But I do think it's fair to say that it hasn't been as cohesive and consistent in the ah in the last few weeks. Snyder's maybe hit a couple of growing pains. He doesn't start the last game. And then I feel like the Hassani thing has just not...
00:51:50
Speaker
really gotten going in the way that we hoped or thought it might the last time we talked about this and that's one where like uh when we we were going through the salary guy hasani's on 828k so you need to be getting plus production and performances out of that position in a way that i don't think it's entirely his fault that he hasn't gotten there because he did have the concussion he missed some time and then it's been this thing where he hasn't really gotten fully back acclimated in the swing of it and when you're a new guy coming into a new team that can make that even more difficult. So I get that and I sympathize with it.
00:52:23
Speaker
At the same time, when you have a guy that's on that salary number and you're not getting those production and performances that you need, that's something that could be an issue for the position position group and have ripple effects on the midfield and the team. So I think this is ah that this grade has backslid a little bit, Nico. What do you what do you think? That's how I see it.
00:52:45
Speaker
I would agree. I think that the Hassani Dotson agenda specifically has not been what we all thought it was going to be. ah Even from the defensive role, you just expect more for for the the sort of resources that you're spending on him. And and I really like Hassani. I want it to work out and perhaps it's just something along the lines of of getting a better rapport with the system, with the group.
00:53:14
Speaker
But it always seems like there is not enough there. And and and whether it's having moments of tracking back where maybe a technical foul should have happened or a a turnover in a bad spot, that has been Hassani all season, there's always, he's always a little short to even your expectation for and an average CDM. And and
00:53:49
Speaker
I'm not ready to give up on him at all, but I do think that he needs to get better with the minutes that he does get, including a game like the one that just happened. I thought that he was okay defensively defensively.
00:54:06
Speaker
below that on attack. So it just needs to be a little bit better. And look, he created a couple of moments. So you got to give him credit for that. But he still feels like you could do you demand a little more from there. Because Snyder, when he comes in, he creates a difference. And it's a totally different type of midfielder. But he has more moments in the game than Hassani does. And you look, frankly, the guy leading the charge here should be Christian Rodin. And he has been good.
00:54:36
Speaker
He just hasn't been as good as maybe he was last season. And I think a lot of it has to do with the changes of his partnership right next to him. um i think that there's been a lot of turnovers this season in bad areas. He had one against l LAFC that thankfully knew who really, you know, helps him out and bails him out completely because that that would have been a really, really bad goal to give up. So because of that, I do think that ah what What did I have it at? A or B?
00:55:08
Speaker
I don't remember. The beat B. B. Yeah, I'd say um I don't want to go C. C would be ah let's go B minus. Let's go B minus, C plus. I mean, it's in between those two.
00:55:24
Speaker
maybe a couple of points but but i would agree that maybe it hasn't been as effective as i initially thought so i do want to note that so so b minus c plus that's where i kind of sit yeah i think that's fair i want to i want to explain something just going back to the attack thing reese is saying second lowest goal scored in the west only in front of skc yeah so you're right on the attack being a b minus i Just to explain how I'm looking at it, and I understand that clearly some people disagree with this, I'm giving credit to the, i'm I'm factoring CCC into this, and I'm giving credit and equity to the performances in CCC as part of the evaluation. Now, I know you could say that they got eliminated from CCC, so maybe that doesn't mean anything, but I think it's a case where performance and results are
00:56:11
Speaker
ah need to be thought of as two different things. If you look at the full body of work in CCC, ah you know, they did score eight goals and they took down the Vancouver Whitecaps. They won 3-0 at BC Place. That was an impressive performance. That was a great game for the attack. And then the Tigris series, Like, yes, they got eliminated, but ah that series finished 3-3 on aggregate. You got eliminated on road goals. So it's not a situation where you like couldn't score on Tigris in the home leg or anything like that. I thought they put it on Tigris pretty good, honestly, in that second game. I was happy with that performance. I thought that was exactly what that performance needed to look like. for them to give themselves a chance at advancing.
00:56:53
Speaker
ah That series was lost in the roadleg. So if you want to critique the CCC performance, I think it's totally fair to say, like, look, the roadleg in Mexico wasn't where it needed to be to rightfully expect to advance.
00:57:04
Speaker
ah But the homeleg, they put it on him pretty good. They had a good game. Bruce Knack had a good game. Moose scored two goals in the Whitecaps series. So and I think that's important to consider because Earlier in the season, when you're balancing it with CCC, like, yeah, you were not lighting up the score sheet in league play. But I actually I give them credit for the results they took during that period. I thought a lot of those those one zeros that they were grinding out on the road. They were getting the goals that they needed to take results in those games. And that's a big reason why, you know, as kind of negative as the discourse is right now, we are still talking about a team that's at one point eight points per game. And that's a credit to the fact that they were able to score the goals that they needed to and take the results that they needed to earlier in the season to be able to give themselves some, some cushion to be able to withstand some of these bad results that they've taken. So that's kind of how,
00:57:54
Speaker
I see that and why I think it's ah it's a little misleading. you're ah You're framing it misleadingly to get to the conclusion that you want rather than giving credit to the good in addition to the bad. So that's... Nico, any thoughts there?
00:58:10
Speaker
Nope. I would absolutely agree. And I think that This is the group that probably gets the most demand out of this system. And and and that bar is higher than i think any grouping because those pivots are the pillar that holds this system together. So for what it's worth,
00:58:31
Speaker
it has been good enough to give this team fourth place in the Western conference and have some really good games and create some really good moments. Could it be better? Absolutely. but But I think that the grading is fair there.
00:58:46
Speaker
All right, Nico, to close it out here, we're going to hit defenders, goalkeepers, and then ah we'll grade the coaching staff real quick. But I'm interested to hear what you think about the defense because, you know, i was i was giving them an A-plus on the last show, and you were in the A-range as well. And at that time, they were kind of killing it. I think that we were we were very excited about that, especially because i think the biggest thing that we wanted to see improve this year from last year was was exactly that. We talked a lot about how this team, contrary to some narratives, actually scored a lot of goals last year. And it was the defense that did them in a lot of times during the season last year. And that's what did them in, in the, in the playoffs, man. Like, you know, I think there's some revisionist history on that sometimes, but like they hung seven goals on Minnesota United in the last two games, of that series. They were bamming in goals on that team for fun. They were also getting bammed on for fun, and that's why they lost the series. So I really wanted to see some better improved defensive solidity this year, and I think we were getting that for the first few weeks of the season. And I think overall, if I'm looking at how the defense has performed, if just purely from a numerically goals conceded standpoint. You know, they've conceded 11 in league play.
00:59:58
Speaker
That's pretty good. That's one of the better numbers in MLS. But I do think there's a flip side of it of ah some of the concessions that they've had in the last few weeks. Well, first of all, there's been a couple where they're literally just giving the other team the ball right in front of the goal.
01:00:13
Speaker
And they're saying, you guys want a goal. Here you go. You can have it. We're going to give you the ball right here. Day on Jovovich, a sporting KC, worst team in the league. Would you like a goal that's just going to hand you a result in this game that you don't deserve?
01:00:26
Speaker
Here you go. You can have it. So that's not good. You don't want to see that. That's happened multiple times. And so I think that for me, actually, even though the overall numbers and goals conceded look good, ah this this is no longer like an A+, plus because there's been there's been some...
01:00:42
Speaker
Bad concessions the last couple weeks. So I put this group, I think in the, in the B plus range. Cause I do think they've been playing well. And also like, dude, like I said, this l LAFC game. Yes. They conceded a bad goal. They got bammed on by Tim Tillman. You need to be able to score one yourself. So that doesn't cost you the entire game. That that is not on the defense, in my opinion. I think they've been hung out to dry a little bit by the fact that the attack can't can't prop them up and support them in a couple of these situations. So that's why I land more in the the B plus range. But what do you think of the defense?
01:01:14
Speaker
I would go down to A-, minus but I still want to give him an A because, look, this is the best version of Nuhu that I have maybe ever seen. ah he has been as as balanced, poised, controlled, it you know, two-way player that that I have seen since – He's been here. And you got to give him credit for that. It hasn't all been perfect. He's had bad moments. He's had some turnovers. The lucky for him haven't resulted in in goals. He's had couple of moments where he is off the mark and and and has been...
01:01:48
Speaker
responsible for at least a couple of goals, but overall he's been really good. Jackson Reagan has been outstanding specifically from a passing a distribution and line breaking passing capabilities. He's been really good putting his body on the line. And if you look at the start of the season for this team, it doesn't happen without, you know, Jackson Reagan. i think Tino Lopez has been a revelation. He's started to,
01:02:14
Speaker
have some issues and tread some water here as of recent, but I thought that was a huge find. um I think Alain Jordan has been phenomenal just covering at that center back position. And um Kalani Kosariensi, I mean, he's part of this group and he is ah shown to be a a guy that could, you know,
01:02:37
Speaker
really be asking for a full-on starting role. I think that is going to create some problems when Yehmer comes back and you have to put Alex Holden on that right back position, but he has really, really,
01:02:52
Speaker
took advantage of this opportunity. And he he has really looked like a guy that's going to continue to be great for this squad. So overall, yes, the team has been leaky. Like they've leaked goals recently. And it's kind of ironic that they're still number one, I think, in conceded goals or they're tied for number one and in in less goals conceded in MLS. Yeah.
01:03:12
Speaker
steel game this They have conceded the fewest goals in the in the West, and they're tied with Nashville SC for the fewest goals conceded in the league, yeah in the entire league. So that's why i want to keep in mind. Yeah, maybe this group should just still get an A. There's been some bad concessions for sure, like I said, but... ah They're the types of concessions that are go that are going to happen at different junctures throughout the season. Like, the odds that you're going to go on the road to LAFC and keep a clean sheet, they got way closer to doing that than they rightfully probably should have. So, yeah. No, I think that's kind of like... A is fair, I think. Yeah, and I think that, you know, the being like you said, I think you pointed out well that they they've been...
01:04:00
Speaker
left hung out to dry a little bit with some bad turnovers in the midfield, inability to hold long spells of possessions. There's been a couple of bad moments from the defense as well. You know, Jackson Reagan,
01:04:15
Speaker
Had that last pass against ah LA Galaxy at the end. In this one at LAFC, he gives up a ball that luckily Andrew Thomas does a phenomenal save there, but he's the one that creates that turnover on ah in a bad moment. He gives really a medicine ball and and and a bad pass into the midfield, and he creates ah a counter moment for LAFC. But overall, I would still keep it at at an A- minus for for this squad.
01:04:44
Speaker
All right, let's hit the let's hit the goalkeepers and the coaching staff to close it out quickly here, Nico, and then we'll hit our USMNT roster reaction. I think goalkeepers we can do pretty quickly because I think Andrew Thomas has had an A season so far. And then even i thought Fry in CCC looked good. Like I thought he looked better than I expected for the the fact that he's, you know,
01:05:08
Speaker
40 years old he didn't look 40 to me he was kind of killing it in the uh vancouver series there was a couple saves in that away leg at bc place where he made some like potentially series altering saves so uh when i saw that i was like all right i guess fries still got it and then andrew thomas is looking like one of the better kind of up-and-coming goalkeepers in mls right now so uh yeah no a a for those boys a for tommy dutra i got no complaints about the goalkeepers do you ah Yeah, goalkeepers have been great. I would totally agree. A performance from Andrew Thomas, phenomenal shot stopper. He has by himself held this team from quite a few games and it's
01:05:53
Speaker
It's his ability to really put his body on the line that's been really impressive, like one-on-one situations, um corner kicks. just He's gotten so much progressively better in so many aspects of the game. His distribution has gotten better.
01:06:08
Speaker
It's taken some steps forward. And i agree with you on Stephen Fry. I thought he was really good in CCC. I see him every day in in the training grounds, and he looks like a guy that – ah whenever you need him to step up, he's going to step up. He he has not lost a beat. He's still so ah concentrated on keeping his body right, has phenomenal shot-stopping abilities at practice. I mean, it's fun to watch him, so I would totally agree. And in terms of the the entire staff, that's a tough one, I guess. I think Brian has had some moments of
01:06:44
Speaker
putting certain guys and in certain positions and rotating that has been okay But, you know, I guess for the overall staff, I think a B plus. I really enjoyed Freddie Juarez and a lot of those tactics that he provides and on pressing moments and all of these things. So, yeah, I think a B is solid for that coaching staff.
01:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think there's instances where you could hindsight critique some of the lineup decisions in the rotation. This this l LAFC game, I think, is honestly the first game where I've really been like, man, i don't I don't know about some of this. like i don't like why Why not start Snyder at LAFC, especially if you're going to make him do the hostage video? Yeah. Why not start Snyder at l LAFC when he... I feel like Snyder's been balling this season. Maybe Schmetz felt like that his performances had been a little more uneven over the last couple weeks leading into the LAFC game, which I could maybe buy, but I don't know. I'm just such a Snyder fan. I probably would have liked him to start that game. Kim Keehee getting the start at LAFC. When I saw that, I wasn't over the moon about it. But I felt... What did you think of Kim in that game? I felt like he...
01:07:53
Speaker
Did pretty well, honestly, but I admittedly, again, I was out of town for the game and had to like catch up on rewatch and all that stuff. So maybe I wasn't seeing something. I thought he was all right. do you think of Kim?
01:08:04
Speaker
I thought he was good. All things considered. i mean, first start, difficult game. ah you know, one of your idols on the field right against you. I thought his anticipation was good. I thought physicality-wise he was good. I thought that in set pieces specifically, just that lower center of gravity and that experience, you know, it just, it really shined in those moments. um Distribution and things like that, of course, there's still, that's probably the hardest thing to kind of get back, get back into rhythm. But overall, for the minutes he had,
01:08:39
Speaker
i thought it was solid. So Nico, to close it out here, if you had to give the 2026 Seattle Sounders a letter grade through the World Cup break, where would you land? We have a team that is seven wins, three losses, three draws through 13 matches, 1.85 points per game. They are in sixth on the Western Conference table right now, but they are third in points per game, and they do have at least two games in hand on every team above them except for Vancouver and Real Salt Lake, who they have one game in a hand on. So their points per game is still top three in the West. They are 4-1-1 at home.
01:09:20
Speaker
They are 3-2-2 on the road, which is honestly still, ah I think that's an acceptable road record at this point, even with the downturn in form in the last couple weeks. But how are you feeling, Nico? I think for me, i give him i give him a solid B through the World Cup break. I don't think you can give him an A based on the offensive attacking struggles that we've seen over the last couple weeks. But I do think that ah if you're if we're being fair, you have to give them credit for the good stuff. The start of the season, the results were excellent. Like those performances on the road where they took those 1-0s, I'm not going to knock them for that. that was That was expertly juggled CCC and MLS play. You can't draw it up much better than that, frankly.
01:10:04
Speaker
But you do have to ding them for the fact that in the last few weeks, the goals have ah have dried up. And they just in general kind of look like an attack right now that when we're talking about shield contenders and cup contenders, the attack needs to elevate to get them into that tier. And for that reason, like if they, if I felt like they were in that tier, I would give them an A even kind of irrespective of results, but I don't think there's kind of any way you could look at the last few weeks and and say that. So that's where I land on, uh, on B. What do you think Nico?
01:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, B- for me. I mean, I think it'd be unfair to give him ah C or anything below a B, to be quite frank. You know, they're still a top five team, one of the best defensive teams in MLS. They have had some bad moments as of recent, but you can't forget about with the way they started. a lot of good performances in CCC as well that you got to take into consideration. Yeah.
01:10:59
Speaker
you have some some breakout players like Snyder Burnell. You've picked up some really promising players in in Peter Kingston and Tino Lopez. And so overall, I think that with the performances of of your goalkeeper and Nuhu and Jackson, as good as they've been, Ferreira, you know, I just think that B-minus is fair. ah And I say B-minus because I think that they could, they've lost some of that,
01:11:30
Speaker
intensity They've lost some of that discipline, you know, just way too many cheap goals that they're giving up as of recent. But you got to be able to, again, take the full body of work. You can't just focus on the last week or so. Are they trending in the right direction? No, they're not trending in the right direction. But that doesn't mean that for the entirety of the of the year, they haven't been a B- b minus team. So I'll keep it them ah out of B-. minus what do you think about their potential path to getting back to, uh, back to the a range? Because, like I've been saying, um maybe I'm the last holdout apparently on a Pedro de la Vega Island. I still think that he has more of a chance at being that kind of catalyst, that elevating effect than people are taking into account.
01:12:19
Speaker
But I also, i understand where people are coming from with the, uh, with the skepticism on that, you know, I just, I can't get the league's cup version of them out of my head. Nico, like if they get that player, if they get the league's cup 2025 version of Pedro de la Vega, I really, i feel like that could just change everything.
01:12:38
Speaker
But ah like, I get why people don't want to hedge their bets on that. I get it. But I think the reality of it actually could be that if there is a path to me, that is it more than like a Ladero-esque type signing. That's how I see it. But what do you think?
Roster Improvements and Team Resilience
01:12:56
Speaker
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01:13:10
Speaker
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01:13:27
Speaker
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01:13:38
Speaker
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Speaker
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01:14:14
Speaker
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Speaker
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01:14:55
Speaker
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01:15:06
Speaker
I want you to think about what's actually happening here for a second. The World Cup in Seattle with Christian Roldan? Yes, the same Christian Roldan once referred to by Mauricio Pochettino himself as the perfect player. Christian Roldan is an example of if you want to build your perfect player. Well, now you can get the perfect kit for the perfect player. The official U.S. soccer store has jerseys, scarves, and all the gear. It's a full circle moment for Seattle soccer fans, and you need to be dressed properly for the return of our GOAT. Go to lobingscorchers.com slash USA and use code SCORCHERS for 10% off most items.
01:15:46
Speaker
ah I think there's a good chance that they go back to the A grade level. And I say that because not just Pedro La Vega and regardless of what people think, let's remember that that was a bone injury, wasn't a ligament, it wasn't a muscle. I know that he has a history of injuries, but this injury was completely different to anything he's had in the past. I've seen him. He looks in shape. He looks in form. He's going to be on a very different level and workout pattern than any other player that is obviously... You're getting days off, but because of his recovery, he has something completely different individually working for him. So I think he's going to be ready to go.
01:16:32
Speaker
i don't know if right off the World Cup, to be quite frank, but... slowly after that. ah He's definitely not going to be there for the Portland game, in my opinion. But maybe after that game, you start to see some minutes being played. But I do believe that he's a big one. But Guillermo Gomez and Draymond, he is going to be a guy that's coming right into that Portland game. He's going to be immediately back. He's going to give you that that presence, that physicality, that dominant guy when it comes to set pieces. So the the best partner for Jackson Reagan, he said it before, he doesn't work with anyone as good as Yemiro Gomez-Andrade. So with all that said, I also think, and I'm extremely confident that we will have at least –
01:17:17
Speaker
two new players in, in, in the next half of the season. So where those go, what they apply, what sort of effect they will have, it doesn't matter um because I do think that it's going to make your team better. It's going to give you depth. It's going to give you a different profile of player. Hopefully they hit the floor running, but even if you got to be patient, it just makes your team better. So to me,
01:17:43
Speaker
there's a good chance that we have this team back on an a and and And look, if you hit it right and you get the signing that you want, I mean, sky's the limit because this team has been exactly what we thought they were going to be.
01:17:57
Speaker
High floor, not as high of a ceiling. I wouldn't want to call it low ceiling ceiling, but maybe mid ceiling. They need that additional talent level to get over that. And in they they lack high end talent, but If you put a couple of pieces, man, I think that's a very, very good team.
01:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, no, i I think so, too. Another thing i will say about this team, which this was I thought this was good cope after the last couple weeks, but one thing I will say about this team is they haven't really gotten blown out yet.
01:18:29
Speaker
And you can say that that's ah kind of grasping at straws for something positive after the loss the last couple weeks, but that is genuinely something that ah that I look at when I'm trying to assess kind of just like mental toughness You know, they haven't had one of those games where they just got absolutely blasted off the field. I think the closest was the Tigris away leg where they were under it for a lot of that game and they ended up taking the 2-0. But even that game in like I thought they hung with it ah decently well for a CCC road game in Mexico against a team like that. They just, if they could have made that to one, they would have won that series, you know? So that's a frustrating thing, but that was the worst game, the worst result of the season. That was the only game where it felt like, man, like they're really like not on the level of the other team. Every other game that they've played, they've at least been in the game. They've been hanging with it. They've been competitive against every single team that you would think that they're chasing. Even this l LAFC game, they were there for a result in that game too. yeah,
01:19:31
Speaker
Uh, that's, that's just, that's, that's a small thing where I look at it and I'm like, maybe that's a reason why the path back to the a range that we're talking about could be more possible because they're just, there hasn't looked like any competition yet. That's just like clearly smoking them. So there's at least that, uh, Nico, any, uh, last things on the mid season report card or, uh, are we good on that?
01:19:52
Speaker
Nope. I think we're good. i think we hit it all. Uh-oh, did Nico freeze? hopefully there is
01:20:06
Speaker
we get a lot of engagement ah all right you're you're freezing and cutting out a little bit so i'm gonna okay all right you're back here there we go we didn't hear anything that you just said but that is totally fine uh we're gonna close out the show uh we're going a little bit past our normal time today but i got a little bit of time since we're doing it on a different day so uh Let's close it out here with our USMNT roster reaction, Nico. And we wanted to pull this up for a couple reasons because, you know, we're at the World Cup break.
Celebrating Christian Roldan's USMNT Role
01:20:34
Speaker
The USMNT is about to to get at it in the World Cup. And Christian Roldan, as per the Guardian leaking the roster, which was awesome, shout out Jeff Reuter, Christian Roldan has made the USMNT World Cup team. So the first thing I have to say about that to the bots and to the haters, get wrecked, get slammed,
01:20:54
Speaker
get bammed on, get ready to learn Christian Roldan at the World Cup because ah he's going to be playing in it, which ah honestly, in all seriousness, congratulations to ah to Christian. That's a great accomplishment. And it's a deserved, it's a deserved accomplishment, a deserved accolade. This guy should absolutely be on the World Cup team. We out here in Seattle, we see it week in, week out.
01:21:15
Speaker
the type of stuff that this guy can do he is uh one of the goats the mount rushmores of the seattle sounders and now he's going to be playing at the world cup and i think if he actually gets an opportunity to get some run he's going to show what type of player that uh that he is and everyone else is just going to have to accept it but uh nico let's uh well first uh i'm going pull up the uh roster here but uh what do you uh what do you think of christian actually making it were you surprised to see that he actually made it it felt like the writing was on the wall No, I wasn't surprised. I think that is well-deserved. People ask me, how did he earn it? ah He's earned it by ah being one of the best players in his position league-wide for the last couple of seasons, even today when he might not be at his ultimate best in terms of what he's done with the Sounders recently. He's still at the heart and soul of this team.
01:22:06
Speaker
And specifically, he earned it on those camps that Pochettino called him to. And he was good in the minutes that he had on the field. He created moments. He ah put his mark and in print on that entire team in in just the the trainings alone. And you can call it you know, what you want and motivational or your, you know, all of this really soft jabs at him because they think he's just a guy that's there for the vibes. But the reality is, is that having a guy that has his intangibles is important. And and I think that the biggest thing that I see looking at this roster is that he's going to have some real play time. And and that's a big responsibility for him because when you look at those center midfielders, the guys that are going to be able to play those pivots, there's only one other guy that's that has or can't play defensive mid or hold it mid for this team. And it's, aside from ah Tyler Adams, of course, is it's, it's,
01:23:06
Speaker
ah Christian Roldan, he is the only other six that you are going to have in this roster because that's not Berhalter's thing. Berhalter has Kubas next to him in Vancouver. He's more of an attacking a player.
01:23:19
Speaker
ah You know, Weston McKinney is a guy that um gets used by Pochettino higher up the field as a 10. Maybe Timothy Tillman can drop, but he's not a defensive guy. So to me, it's clear that Christian Roldan is going to be a guy that...
01:23:35
Speaker
will get a lot of play time. And I would like all of the haters and all of the ignorant comments that barely see the Sounders, that don't raid the league, that watch Christian Roldan on highlight reels and judge him on stats and judge him off of FUDMOP type of websites.
01:23:52
Speaker
You have no idea what you're talking about. And he's a guy that can simplify the game. And sometimes when you have a national team, that is the most talented or is in the highest league. It's about a guy that can conduct a role and be a system guy. and and And that's what Christian can do is be a system guy, simplify the game, i allow other guys to amplify. And he's going to be doing the dirty work. He is a incredibly...
01:24:21
Speaker
unselfish player and he's going to sacrifice himself in every way possible to be a very good defender. So I'm not saying that he's going to start right off the bat, but I do think that he'll get a start. I think that he'll have some real minutes with Pochettino.
01:24:34
Speaker
I had to put you back at center stage in the spotlight there. You were absolutely cooking, but ah let's pull the rest of this. roster back up. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as Christian goes there. But ah Nico, what do you think of the Yanks, the USMNT going into this ah World Cup, just looking at the rest
USMNT Roster Strengths and Weaknesses
01:24:51
Speaker
of the roster? Because, ah you know, I'm looking at it ah not...
01:24:55
Speaker
Not that good of a roster. I think that we probably make it out of the group and then get thermoblasted by someone way better in the round of 16. That's sort of how it seems like it's lining up to me. ah But I mean, let we can just go through it. You got your goalkeepers, Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Matt Turner.
01:25:13
Speaker
Any objections there? I don't know. Like, I think Freeze is probably the starter at this point, which I guess is fine. All um MLS guys. ah But I don't think any one of these three are better than Andrew Thomas. But, you know, that's just me. That's just me. That's a biased take. Yeah. So any takes on the goalkeepers or the defenders, you got Max Arson, Columbus Crews, Serginio Dest, Alex Freeman, now Avila Real, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Anthony Robinson, Jedi, Miles Robinson, Joe Scali, Austin Trustee.
01:25:46
Speaker
ah i don't know, man. This just roster seems kind of mid to me. But ah what do you think of the goalkeepers and defenders? Look, Chris Brady, no disrespect to him. i know that they really like him and they see a goalkeeper of the future. But, you know,
01:26:03
Speaker
Typically, in my opinion, should be the other way around with the third goalkeeper. He's got to provide you something else. And I guess you're maybe nurturing him into being the guy for the next World Cup. But I usually like the third goalkeeper to be a real experienced guy. You know, that's the way they do it in Colombia and other South American countries.
01:26:25
Speaker
teams. Columbia took David Ospina just as that other experienced guy. But so i aside from Chris Brady, I really like Matt Turner and Matt Freeze. He's earned it as well. So I like that. Defenders is where I have issues. I think that Tim Ream is going to be a liability. I do not know how Miles Robinson got into this roster. I think that he's been for quite some time gone from ah a defender that was talked about hitting Europe and all of these things and, and hasn't fit the bill or or to me that he has not fulfilled expectations. And so I don't know what he's doing here. And, and, and, you know, when we look at the midfielders, I would have much rather,
01:27:14
Speaker
left Miles Robinson at home and added an Aiden Morris to that midfield group because I'm, I'm very concerned. Now that there is good things about this where, you know, if, if Pochettino changes it up and goes with three in the back, Alex Freeman could play back there. And I think Joe Scali is a really good player. And, and,
01:27:34
Speaker
Overall, at least your fullbacks are of are are good or or very good. You know, Serge Gino Dest, Antoine Robinson. I mean, all these guys are are pretty good, but center backs specifically, I'm a little bit concerned about.
01:27:47
Speaker
Yeah. Doesn't this defensive midfield group just feel kind of thin in general? I think you were touching... on it but i was pretty surprised to see that neither of aiden morris or tanner testman made it i know i think a lot of that probably has to do with how poorly the uh march camp went and i think both of those guys in particular had rough showings in that camp but you are you are in a situation where you're only four deep at that position and uh you know as much as i love seb berhalter and christian rolled on it just feels like you could use more support
01:28:20
Speaker
at that area of the roster that feels real thin. And then, okay. When I look at the attacking midfielders, that's also where I have some issues. Brendan Aronson. If you actually look at it, I was listening to soccer wise yesterday and they were laying it down. He has one goal, one assist. And I think his last 23 USMNT caps. I like Brendan Aronson. I love that. He's, he kind of reminds me of like a Jesus Ferreira, Nico Ladero type player in that. He's always going to have, know,
01:28:47
Speaker
that work rate and that energy, but he also, he doesn't have the end product lately of either of those guys. So I, I just, I don't know what he gives you, frankly, that a Diego Luna doesn't. And that's where, when I see that Diego Luna didn't make it I'm like, all right, like if you want to tell me Diego Luna was a bubble guy all along,
01:29:06
Speaker
I guess I don't even really agree with that because if you look at who's actually been playing for the badge and been scoring goals and making things happen for this team over the last like year or so, Diego Luna has been doing that way more than Brendan Aronson, certainly way more than Gio Reyna and certainly way more than Malik Tillman, you know? So I just, I feel like Diego Luna should have been on this team. That's my opinion. And I think that could have been at the expense of a guy like Brendan Aronson, who is a more name than game at this point. And I think that's probably doubly true for a guy like Gio Reyna, who ah has not even been playing in the Bundesliga for Mönchengladbach. He hasn't been playing. He's always injured. And he famously, it didn't go very well the last World Cup that he went to. There was some notable drama, let's call it, surrounding the player. at that event. So that's just another thing where it's like, all right, if you're going create one of the all time, most insane dramatic soap operas in the history of the world cup, then you got to be playing and producing at least at the club level, I think to be guaranteed a spot at the next one. Now, if you want to sell me on the idea that ah yeah, Gio Reyna hasn't been playing, but he is in terms of just raw individual talent, probably more than anyone in the pool.
01:30:21
Speaker
is a guy that's capable of that individual moment of brilliance, kind of like we were talking about with a, like a De La Vega. You want to sell me that Gio Reyna should be on the team because this pool doesn't have enough guys with that type of ability and quality and just like raw talent.
01:30:37
Speaker
I guess, I can buy that, but I mean, i don't know, man. Just he never plays, always injured, ah dramatic soap opera. Diego Luna is not going to give you any of that drama at the very least. So like this is what I'll say about Gio Reyna. Like he better he better play and he better look good and he better do stuff.
01:30:57
Speaker
All right. If you're going to you're going put him on this team over ah a guy like Diego Luna, based on that premise that he's got more of that, just individual dynamism, then he's got to be out on the field at this World Cup and he's got to show it. So if he does that more power to him, I would be happy to see that. But like, I i don't think I should be blamed for being a little bit skeptical on that. ah And, you know, Noah's saying to be, by that logic, Pulisic shouldn't be there since he didn't score a goal. I mean, look, ah I just think that situation in particular, you could definitely argue that. Pulisic, his last, I don't know, the last year, I feel like he hasn't been that effective. And also his body language and just general vibe and disposition has seemed not very good. It's just, he's a guy where it's like, he's such an ingrained and trench centerpiece at this point that I don't feel like there was ever any discussion of him actually being goal. on the bubble. Whereas Gio Rada, like, I think there was that discussion. If he had gotten left off this team, I don't think anyone would have been able to say that that's unjustified. So I don't know. I am, I'm side eyeing the Gio Rada thing a little bit though, man. He's got a, he's got to put up this time. But, and then you look at a guy like Zendejas,
01:32:08
Speaker
I'm actually, I'm okay with that because he's one of the only other guys that's got that kind of explosiveness and creativity and sort of flair that I think this attack just really, really lacks. So if you, if you want to sell me on Zendejas and Reyna with that, I'll buy it. I just got to see it, I guess. So that's where I'm at with the attacking midfielders and wingers. But ah I think Diego Luna shouldn't have been, should have been on this team. Nico, what do you think?
01:32:32
Speaker
I think Luna had some concerns with injuries or or he has, he think he picked something up or he hasn't been able to to really get out there. that That's kind of what what what I had somewhat heard. Same thing as with Tessman.
01:32:47
Speaker
I think it's something a lot bigger than than than that. ah I'm not too concerned about it. I think that they are kind of shooting for, the highest potential player. um I don't disagree with anything you said in regards to Gio Reyna or Brandon Aronson.
01:33:07
Speaker
What I would say is that if you were going to add somebody out of Realza Lake, it should have been Goso. things I think Xavier Goso would have been very interesting in yeah in this lineup, right? A wider player. You don't have a lot of wide players. I know that with Poach, it's been kind of a three four three that that that really...
01:33:25
Speaker
looks like in in the attack. So you your width is provided by your wingbacks. But, you know, I thought Gauze would be another guy that would be very interesting for this. ah Look, the Gio Reyna take is, and it's not just Gio Reyna. Gio Reyna, Pulisic, Aronson.
01:33:42
Speaker
If the U.S. men's national team is going to get grouped, and let's hope that it doesn't happen, it's not going to be because of the Christian Roldans and the Sebastian Vellentors. is going to be because your top players are not in top form. Christian Pulisic, I don't know anyone that is close to the U.S. national team and that follows it on a daily basis or that has sources within U.S. soccer that is in that it's not in some shape, shape way, or form concerned about what form of...
01:34:17
Speaker
Pulisic we're going to see in the World Cup. We don't know what what type of Pulisic we're going to see. And when your top guys don't perform, that's when teams go down a river in World Cups. That's the the real difference makers. When those guys that are supposed to carry your team are unable to do so, that's when you get grouped. So
01:34:40
Speaker
go somewhere else and spare me the, if the, if the U.S. national team gets, gets grouped is because Christian Woldan made the team. No, it's going to be because Pulisic is not playing well because you're in a, it's in barely any sort of form. Doesn't have competitive minutes has been in between teams and not really playing for like two years. So, uh, Not to mention the ice block in his chest that holds him down from being any player that I would ever want on my team. But look, he has the overall talent. I get why you call him. But to me, this group of players attacking midfielders, this is where this US national team is either going to make or break. These players right here are responsible for how far this team goes.
01:35:25
Speaker
Nico, to close it out here, what do you think of the
Conclusion and World Cup Content Preview
01:35:28
Speaker
strikers? We got Fuller and Balogun, Ricardo Pepe, Haji Wright. I guess to me this comes down to if Balogun is actually that guy. He was billed as the number nine that this team needed to ah take it to the next level. Kind of similar to Seattle Sounders discourse with this position group, quite frankly. But, you know, they brought in Balogun a couple years ago, and honestly that was like a really hot start.
01:35:51
Speaker
I remember thinking at the time his first couple games, like, wow, this guy actually might be the guy that they're billing him as that could really help this team, that lethal number nine, that guy who's going to step up and finish those chances and get you a goal. I think there's been ah some XG merchanting discourse with the USMNT at times, and he was supposed to solve that. But honestly, there is a long period of time where I was like, wait a minute, I don't think he actually is the guy that's going to solve this. He doesn't look all that much different or better than all of the sort of mid-number nines that we've had on this team over the last few years. I do think, ah if I'm being fair, the last ah he the his stock has gone up a little bit over the last like six months,
01:36:30
Speaker
to a year, unless I'm drastically misremembering something, but he's got eight goals and 25 caps overall. And i think when I watched the eye test, Balogun does some stuff that the Elbert number nines haven't been doing. He looks more dangerous and he's a better finisher, but I don't think that you can really look at it and say that he has become just this sure fire elite productive number nine at the international level. So this world cup is where he's also going to need to show that you got a lot of guys just improve it situations. But if you want to base this group around Balogun, I guess that's a,
01:37:07
Speaker
That's acceptable. Just similar to Gio Reyna. It's got to work this time. And as far as Pepe and Haji Wright goes, ah you know, I know there's a lot of Pepe truthers out there that think he's the greatest player since that sliced bread. Shout out Reese. But I think Pepe and Haji Wright, I don't really see them any differently going into this World Cup than I ever have before. which is as guys that might be able to pop up with a goal every now and then, but are just, they're still unproven. And if you're unproven at this point, Haji Wright was playing in the last World Cup and I don't think of him any differently really as a player now than I did back then. So Nico, bring us home here. What do you think of the USMNT strikers?
01:37:46
Speaker
I think Hadji Wright is in better form than he was last World Cup. So I'm high on him. I think Florin is going to be your number one guy. And you're going to have to allow him to show you whether he is that guy, if if he is him or not. But it does fall on Bolligan to be that end of the spear and that that killer, that assassin in the box. I expect him to be for the U.S. national team's chances to be...
01:38:13
Speaker
great to move on and and and maybe make a run. So there's a lot of responsibility there. I like all three. As long Pochettino, who I like a lot, never, ever, ever, ever tries the Pulisic at false nine again, I'm all good.
01:38:29
Speaker
All right. ah Nico, let's call it right there for this morning. It's time to call it a wrap for this episode of Lobby Scorchers Kickoff. But thank you all so much for tuning in. Great midseason report card. And thank you all for the support through the World Cup break. We're going to be at it through the World Cup where I don't think we're exactly have our content plans finalized. But rest assured, we will be making content. We'll be here doing our shows as usual. so Appreciate you guys hanging with us through up through this point. It's going to be a great rest of the season. Hopefully it's going to be a great World Cup.
01:39:02
Speaker
And we'll talk soon. Let you guys know what's going on this week. And we'll catch you next time. Love y'all. Peace.