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Under the Lights: Previewing San Diego FC with Two Balls and a Mic
356 Plays12 days ago
Ryan Kent has officially signed with the Seattle Sounders and spoke with the media at Longacres following his first training session. We'll react to that sound along with Craig Waibel's media scrum, then take a look at this weekend's road match at expansion side San Diego FC.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
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 Stream Information
00:00:00
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be scorcher.
Show Introduction and Discussion Topics Preview
00:00:44
Speaker
morning everybody welcome in another episode of Under the Lights. Got a great stream for you all planned tonight. think you're going to like it. We're going to be talking a lot of Seattle Sounders and MLS.
00:00:57
Speaker
We're going to be talking some CONCACAF Champions Cup. And we're going previewing San Diego FC. I have a special guest, Tony Sanchez from the San Diego Football Podcast, two balls and a mic.
00:01:09
Speaker
He's going to join the show in just about 10 minutes here. Excited to talk to him about some San Diego FC. I'm excited for this game. I am. i I think this is going to be a good test. It's well-timed, and i've been enjoying watching the San Diego FC team so far. So it's going to be a good show.
00:01:32
Speaker
And got a lot to get to. Got a lot to get to. i wanted to actually start by talking about ah some CONCACAF Champions Cup because that's what I was doing last
Whitecaps vs. Pumas Game Analysis
00:01:43
Speaker
night. I was working the desk for for the Whitecaps Pumas game and for LAFC Inter-Miami, which that was the most interesting game of the night.
00:01:53
Speaker
Kind of undermined some takes that I had. So, yeah, we're going to dive into all that. ah Before we do that, though, Please go ahead and like the video. Liking the video is just such a great way to support the show.
00:02:06
Speaker
Puts us in the algorithm. Obviously, subscribe to the channel if you haven't done that yet. Don't know what you're doing. Sub to the channel. Turn noties on. And follow us on Instagram.
00:02:18
Speaker
We're on the road to credibility on Instagram, which I don't know exactly what the benchmark is for credibility, but we're not there yet, but we're on the road to 400. So please give us a follow on there. We've got some good content on there.
00:02:31
Speaker
But ah yeah, as we wait to a preview San Diego C here, i guess I'll just give my takes on what I saw in CONCACAF Champions Cup last night. Joe says ah Tacoma avenged Ballard FC.
00:02:45
Speaker
What is it? Oh, wait, Joe, wait, what do you mean by that? um I was watching ah both of those Champions Cup games last night and the Whitecaps won. They were playing Pumas, of course, who Seattle famously defeated in the 2022 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
00:03:05
Speaker
And, uh, the, the white caps who've been one of the stories of the league in the early going here, ah they actually were looking like they were in, uh, Oh, us open cup. Got you. Okay.
00:03:18
Speaker
Uh, the white caps looked like they were in pretty good shape. They, uh, it was zero zero until late into the second half. And then Brian white got, they got kind of a crazy goal. There was like a mad scramble in the box and Brian white was able to, uh,
00:03:32
Speaker
Toe poke one home. So they were up one zero and that would have been a really good result going against the league. Becky's team like that. And then 87th minute Coco Karaski, formerly of the Houston Dynamo, came in from out of nowhere, hit a really sick volley to make it one one.
00:03:50
Speaker
And that single handedly took that from a pretty good. ah i would say I've been a really good result for the Caps. and turned it into a not that good one at all. I was thinking about that. That's what's kind of fun about these ah CCC series where you have to play them over two legs is, you know, the you get to ah you get to halftime of one after ah one game, and then there's like ah there's a whole other decider.
00:04:16
Speaker
And it really – you can go from ah good result to a bad result with the – Snap of the finger just like that. So that's what happened to the Whitecaps. I don't really like their chances of advancing, but who knows?
00:04:29
Speaker
They might get it done, but they really they needed the clean sheet to have a realistic chance
Guest Tony Sanchez on San Diego FC
00:04:33
Speaker
there. ah But the real the real game of the night was LAFC versus Inter-Miami, which, you know.
00:04:41
Speaker
I was saying i had to take that ah if I was, if I were LAFC, given the struggles that they've had this season, I don't know. i don't even know if I'd want a piece of this series, but I guess that this game showed why that's never really the correct take.
00:04:58
Speaker
You always want a chance at it because LAFC went out there and a fair play to them. They are one zero aggregate leaders over inter Miami and Lionel Messi after that first leg.
00:05:09
Speaker
And yeah, They ah they earned it. It was a good performance. And I'm going to talk about that more later, actually, because right now I just saw Tony Sanchez hop on to the show. So we're going to bring him on to talk San Diego FC.
00:05:23
Speaker
ah Tony, if you can give me a thumbs up, all if you can hear me. Got the thumbs up. All right. Everybody, please welcome in. Tony Sanchez he is of San Diego football's podcast two balls and a mic here to preview this game Seattle Sounders for San Diego SC Tony thank you so much for the time tonight how are you doing man I am good. How are you? Thank you for having me on. i really excited to see some ah Seattle folk coming down to the West coast.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really excited to talk some San Diego FC with you because I feel like, I mean, there's no question about it. This team has been one of the stories of the league in the early going every time, anytime you have an expansion team, it's going to kind of be all eyes on you, especially at the start of the season.
00:06:08
Speaker
And, uh, I have to say, I've been quite impressed with what I've seen so far from San Diego. They're playing at 1.8 points per game in the early going. um But, you know, that's a small sample size and that could be those results could be a fluke. But if you look at the performances and I've watched a lot of the games,
00:06:25
Speaker
There does not seem to be anything fluky about it. So I'm very, I'm curious from someone who's been watching this whole thing develop from day one, from the ground up to where it is now.
00:06:36
Speaker
What do you kind of attribute this early success to what is this team and Mikey virus gotten right to start the season here? Yeah, it really has a lot to go back with the ambition of the club that started here in San Diego. They promised that they would almost essentially revolutionize everything ah soccer in the United States, going down to the model in which you construct a team, right?
00:06:57
Speaker
This team's known each other for a little bit over two months, and yet they're having ah the chemistry of a team that's been together for years. And it also goes paired well with the right to dream play style. So,
00:07:09
Speaker
um with this right to dream model, which is essentially the ownership group that has a couple of academies across the world um with a team in Denmark, FC Northland, a team in Ghana and a team in Egypt.
00:07:22
Speaker
It really goes down to a philosophy of style of play. Right. And so, You have some very important players right down the spine, right down the middle with Yepes Ferskov, who is the captain of a SDFC, and right now injured, Marcos Invalsen, who is the striker. But he, like I said, is injured right now. But it's really just kind of a change of pace and a change of dynamic where a lot of these players are captains in their own national team. So you have a team of leaders and you have a team of youngsters who are putting together really dynamic ah group together. And you pair that with some world-class talent, honestly, with honors that are here.
00:07:57
Speaker
And couple that with ah hopefully Chucky Lozano coming back,
00:08:08
Speaker
I think think you might have frozen there, Tony. Okay, I'm going to remove you from the stage real quick because I think you froze.
00:08:20
Speaker
And then when you're back, I'll get the thumbs up from you. I mean, I hope i hope that wasn't just me where it ah where it just froze. So... Just give me the thumbs up and I'll bring you back on.
00:08:32
Speaker
he was He was cooking there. He was cooking there. He was giving some giving us some good insight onto ah how San Diego FC has been this successful and talking about their style of play. It's a bummer it froze. I was ah really interested to...
00:08:45
Speaker
keep hearing about it so hopefully we'll get tony on in just a second here i see him moving around now so i'm going to bring him back onto the stage tony you froze for a second there but i got you now can you hear me yeah no 100 no it's it's literally being the most southwestern podcast in the nation uh i think i have that i see uh tijuana right from two blocks away so like ah You know, sometimes you get the wires crossed and and whatnot, but ah sorry, must have cut off at some point and ranting and raving off some of the players on the play style and kind of the identity that they were instilling from the beginning.
San Diego FC's Community and Key Players
00:09:25
Speaker
Oh, no, he's frozen again. Oh, wait, no, now I got you. I got you. We're good. We're good. yeah know Yeah. If there's one thing that's not frozen, it's the offense versus the FC. There you go. that's a good thing And the way that they're really managing and and marching across with possession and ah they have the players and a buy-in from the players to really go and move forward with this play style that is very aggressive.
00:09:47
Speaker
And it takes a lot of, um, you know, unselfishness ah to go with the play style of right to dream. So ah there's a lot of factors coming together and, and, you know, you look at galaxy and, you that's a team that's definitely struggling.
00:09:59
Speaker
ah But then you'd look at teams like LAFC who just took it to my inter Miami who were playing pretty well. So um right now, small sample size, but it's an exciting time in San Diego for sure.
00:10:10
Speaker
ah Before we get more into that, I did want to give you a chance to tell our audience about your show and your guys' whole operation. I was looking you guys up on YouTube a little bit. It looks like it's under the San Diego football umbrella, and the show is called Two Balls and a Mic.
00:10:23
Speaker
do You want to just give us the quick nutshell on how you guys got started ah in this soccer scene and where people can find your stuff and subscribe? Yeah, anything we do is at San Diego.Football. That is the umbrella company. Two balls and a mic is the episodic show that we've been having along with my co-host Chiva. We've been doing it for 270 weeks in a row um without a break. So we've we've ah all gassed, no breaks here.
00:10:49
Speaker
Trying to get credentialed for the World Cup. And we were credentialed through USL Championship all the way to Copa America. So we're on our way and now just kind of enjoying MLS. And we have it ah here every weekend every monday at 8 p.m so two balls and a mic and then we have some other podcasts uh on there as well uh as a couple of fun uh adventures we have a podcast about soccer movies with uh espn writer cesar hernandez and you know as you can imagine right breakdown tactics and how ridiculous it is that you know in a movie with uh pele and sylvester stallone sylvester stallone is a soccer star not pele
00:11:26
Speaker
I love that, man. You guys are doing ah doing great work down there. Keep it up. um Tell me just about the vibes in the city in San Diego surrounding this team. you know Like I was saying, expansion teams are always at such an exciting time in whatever city they crop up. And it seems like the community down there has really embraced and gotten behind this team right away. The vibes at Snapdragon seem amazing. What's like the community response been like in the city?
00:11:53
Speaker
I mean, the community going to respond to soccer. ah This is a very much a football town in all the senses, right? You should do share, again, that border with with Tijuana and Mexico where soccer reigns supreme.
00:12:05
Speaker
And then here as well, there's a lot of overflow and a lot of cultures that have just been waiting for an MLS team for years, right? And so you have that marriage between people who had ah soccer and professional setting with USL's championship San Diego Loyal.
00:12:19
Speaker
um But then you also have the introduction of San Diego Wave. So there's a lot of ah for everybody. But then once MLS starts rolling in you know, they kind of pushed USL to the side ah to put it nicely. And ah that in its way kind of disenfranchises some some ah fans there. But ultimately, um the fan base has been here. They've been waiting for an MLS team. And they're responding, as you can see through the television screen.
00:12:42
Speaker
Like it's a passionate bunch. It's a passionate bunch of smart fan base fans and You know, it's it's only a matter of time before it seems that they have a championship team here in San Diego, the way the trajectory is going.
00:12:55
Speaker
And they're here for the long run, and they've really implanted themselves into the community um in some inorganic but organic ways as well. It's still the giant MLS machine. Yeah, no, it's it sounds awesome. The home games look awesome. And i think the fact that the team is playing so well, it just gives it that extra boost. You know, we've seen teams like FC Cincinnati and Minnesota come in in recent years, and they're good now. But at the beginning, it was tough. They were just taking a lot of lumps.
00:13:22
Speaker
It wasn't It wasn't going well, and that really kind of tamped the vibes down, even though they had great fan support. So anytime you can combine a new team with actual like a good winning product on the field, I think you're going to get a great response.
00:13:35
Speaker
One of the things I was really curious to ask you about is you know, as someone who's been following this the whole time, how is the has the team how the team has performed? Is that. ah changed your expectations or i guess what were your expectations going into the season relative to how it's actually panned out because for me I remember looking at this roster and I wasn't really sure what to expect and I ultimately landed on this isn't going to be like a disaster but it's probably going to be more like 1.0 to points per game type of team
00:14:08
Speaker
And now they're up at one point eight so far. So we'll see ah how ah if that sustains itself. But so far, it's exceeded my expectations. How do you kind of size that up as someone who's seen the whole thing?
00:14:19
Speaker
yeah it It all comes down to, again, that chemistry that the team has built. And I don't think the league was ready to see such an offensive onslaught by San Diego FC and be successful, right? Exactly. Like every team has an offense. Every team has their chances. Every team kind of has the same instances, but they're just being lethal ah and in ways that you don't really see a lot of expansion teams being. And they're incredibly aggressive that they are going for the win. and They're not going to sit back.
00:14:46
Speaker
and be content with a 1-1 draw in Utah. No, they're going to come back and win 3-1 and score twice in the last five minutes. like That's the type of team and the type of players that San Diego FC has. and Again, it's that total buy-in by the players who have come in. and It's really hard, and I don't blame anybody who thought, yeah, no, last 14th, maybe, like that in the West, like that's going to be the reality. like I don't blame anybody for thinking that.
00:15:09
Speaker
did you ah Did you know much about ah you know ah great players such as Alex Maiten? Yeah. Right? Like, there's a lot of these areas where just like, okay, like, okay, Patty McNair, recognize McVay, MLS ah veteran. Okay, he's been around for a while. And then you have this guy, captain, in the middle, this like, who gets just the ring general in Yepes Vrskov. And he just plays with a different tempo altogether. And Anibal Godoy, who's going to be on the bench, surely. Nope, he's coming back. And and he's a pivotal part of this team. So,
00:15:44
Speaker
They're shutting a lot of mouths up and there's a lot of expectations, even going back to Dos Santos in the net. He's not a team one goalkeeper. And again, he's putting up these performances that don't just say I'm good with my feet. No, I'm a good shot stopper. I'm a good MLS quality goalkeeper.
00:16:00
Speaker
ah So right now everybody's doing their part except for Truki Lozano because he hasn't need needed to. He's been injured and everybody's still kind of waiting for that moment. And if that ends up happening,
00:16:12
Speaker
And this team unlocks some chemistry with Chucky Lozano. I think the sky's the limit right now. Tony, tell me about this Anders Dreyer guy. had not heard about of him before he got MLS, and this guy is for real. Like every San Diego game I've watched, he stands out. He he jumps off the screen, and he's been producing. He's been scoring clutch goals and has been doing great work as a facilitator.
00:16:40
Speaker
Did you expect him to be this good, or has he exceeded your
Strategic Insights into San Diego FC's Management
00:16:43
Speaker
expectations? No, he he is definitely as expected. If you were kind of paying attention to who he was, right? I'm not saying that I'm here watching Anderlecht games over in Belgium, right? Like, i'm I'm not necessarily doing that, but I'm familiar with that play style with the hierarchy of a team like Anderlecht.
00:16:59
Speaker
And so having him come over and then seeing exactly what general manager Tyler Heaps did and being creative, that's a $10 million dollars valuation for a player that he got for 5 million. So then, you know, you start thinking like that's a good piece of business and see how it pans out. And it's been paying out really well.
00:17:16
Speaker
Andrews drivers is that, um, that heartbeat of this team. Like he gives it all and is, uh, has an incredible work rate, both offensively and defensively. And defensively, I think it's very understated.
00:17:27
Speaker
You can look at that loss that they had against Austin. There wasn't a lot of help. You have Marcus and Varsen going down. Chucky Lozano is not there. So everybody's focused on dry. And he's over here in in and a in a humid that sort of environment where he may not be used to traveling so much.
00:17:43
Speaker
um Mike Ibarra in the preseason told us that you know he overlaid a picture of Europe over the United States just to give context. ah for the amount of travel that they're going to go ahead and endure but ah you can see dryers non dryer jersey which was soaked because of that high work rate and you know that tells you the type of player that he is he's going to give everything for your team and he's an absolutely phenomenal player on the ball and and that that's someone who's going to be a revelation to, to not just MLS, just, you know, this area and cock calf. If he's going to go and go into this trajectory, he's still very young.
00:18:20
Speaker
He's still not at his best. And so that's the type of moves that I think MLS is going to benefit overall. Just having these diamond in the rough situations, not necessarily, you know, dwelling and still going to that retirement league kind of discussion. Like, no, we have some diamonds in the rough and clearly Europe didn't want them. So we're going to go ahead and use them here in the States and and and let them loose. And man, it's it's paying dividends.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah, listening to you talk about him right there, it kind of hit me. You know who he reminds me a lot of is Nicholas Ladero, who obviously was a superstar here in Seattle for many years.
00:18:55
Speaker
But ah that kind of well-rounded skill set that you're talking about, like a a number 10 type player who you would think of as just an attacking player, but also works really, really hard on defense. That's what Ladero brought to the team in Seattle for so many years. And it's kind of It's a little bit of a parallel, I think, with what Dreyer is doing in San Diego. Like you said, he's just that kind of all-out, all-around player. the ah i think the Tyler Heaps thing is really interesting because I ah i ah was pretty skeptical of that. I won't lie. He didn't have any experience in MLS, and he's basically my age. So I was like, ah is this really ah a good job or a good idea to give him this job?
00:19:35
Speaker
And it seems like he ah he might have cooked with this roster. like Well, i what, it how do you think he's performed building this thing compared to what you thought he would do?
00:19:47
Speaker
Look, if you meet him and you are able to have a conversation with him, you'd see how just ah there's a personable guy he is. He's just a dude who loves ball, man. And he loves talking about it and he knows his stuff and he backs it up with analytics. And I think this is where ah there's that added layer, the the new version of of football moving forward, a new version of soccer moving forward with, uh,
00:20:09
Speaker
data-driven scouting and in not saying that this doesn't already happen across the world, but there's still a lot of growth to have in that area. And then not just with that, you pair that with the inexperience of Mike Ivaras.
00:20:20
Speaker
Mike Ivaras had never coached adults, period. He developed players. he played and He coached in the youth system in the national team. Yeah, he coached twice as an interim for the U.S. men's national team, but that was just as a, here you go while we wait to announce you for San Diego.
00:20:33
Speaker
um But in terms of Tyler Heaps, like, he's the real deal. Like i don't, I got it parallel to money ball. If you've ever watched that ah baseball movie it's just like, it's just wheeling and dealing and really knowing where to look again, you find only Valakari who's one of your top scorers and honestly catalysts in the team in the country of Cyprus.
00:20:55
Speaker
He was playing there. Like how many people can point to where that is on a map? ah Not many. I probably land in a different island. It's one of the islands around in the Mediterranean. But um it's it's incredible just to see how in-depth he is and the connection that he does have. He does have experience in Monaco. And we know how good of academy that is.
00:21:16
Speaker
He came up with Right to Dream. And so that's also just a ah testament to the to the pedigree that Right to Dream's academy itself brings. So, I mean, until proving otherwise, they're all doing a great job for all I know.
00:21:31
Speaker
Tony, how are you doing on ah on time? I got a couple more that I wanted to hit with you here, but I don't want to keep you too long. All right. I'm going to hit you with one from our chat first, a little listener ah viewer question.
00:21:42
Speaker
ah Jake asks, what's the vibes from San Diego coming into the weekend against Seattle? They've surprised the league with their play and seem to be playing confidently. Should we expect that confidence against Seattle?
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely should consider themselves as ah the underdog coming into Snapdragon Stadium, Seattle for, you know, obviously kind of looking at the other side and what Seattle's been doing this season and speaking to some people over ah ah in Washington as far as like, hey, what's going on with the Sounders this time around? They're not that great.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. ah So and combine that with ah with ah San Diego's, just everything's worked. Mikey Vadas has had each lineup set perfectly. His substitutions have ah been pivotal. and And even in the games that they looked that they lost against Austin,
00:22:29
Speaker
That was a net positive performance, and I'm one that hates when I ask the question in post-match, hey, what are you taking away from this game? Well, it was a loss, but we'd like the performance. Like, well, ah no, I'll give him that one. Against Austin, he threw 18-year-olds at Brandon Vasquez, and he only scored once.
00:22:45
Speaker
So I don't know who's that ah more of a who who who to point that ah flame on, but... um I think it's going to be a good, a good game where I'm not sure of the ah hatred as far as LAFC and vitriol is there ah with another West coast opponent, but there is a hierarchy. Mikey about us said today to us in media availability that yeah, Seattle Sounders is one of these teams that you have to give respect to at the end of the day, regardless of how they're playing.
00:23:14
Speaker
And because of the the hierarchy and and the way that they play, ah sometimes that's all you need. You need some history to back you up. And and it's you never want to be the team in somebody's story in the season.
00:23:25
Speaker
That's like, oh, after the San Diego game, that's when Seattle figured it out. That's when it all came together. You never want to be that team. No, and that's actually it's funny you say that because the Portland Timbers have ah been riding that to great effect for the last like five years straight against Seattle where they're not playing well.
00:23:44
Speaker
Then they play like Real Madrid against the Sounders and they course correct their entire season. That's happened like three times in the last four years. So definitely familiar with that.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah. I think you got to ah you got to credit Mike Ivarus along the lines of the stuff you were talking about with a lot of the success. Like you mentioned, he's been pushing all the right buttons.
00:24:07
Speaker
I haven't really got to look into him that much. I know he was he was the U-20s correct? Yeah. But yeah, but he'd never been a club a head coach at the club level before.
00:24:18
Speaker
um What's he like, just I guess, in terms of your interactions, like covering him on the day to day? And like, how do you think he was able to get that buy in that you were talking about with this team to have them at this level this early?
00:24:32
Speaker
It has to do a lot with um how malleable a coach can be in terms of adapting to what's already there with right to dream. Again, this is it bears no repeating, but I'll repeat it again.
00:24:46
Speaker
Right to dream is the lifeblood of San Diego FC. Everything that they do down to the academy that they built on tribal land here in San Diego. is ah philosophy that they follow a a way of being. And I think Mikey Varas aligns very much with that, along with his analytical style ah of, of soccer, where that's just the perfect buddy cop partner for Tyler heaps.
00:25:12
Speaker
And those two are, like it's like, ah you know, after, after Top Gun and at the end, when Maverick is on good terms, like it's so like, cool, we're good. Ice man. Hey, rest in peace, Matt Kilmer.
00:25:23
Speaker
um But it's one of these things where it's a perfect storm of things happening. And Mikey Varas is that person who also has that South American passion. He's Chilean, so he understands football, but he's a native to the U.S., so he also understands the dynamics and differences between football and soccer and how to put those two together and really speaks to the players in terms of like, look,
00:25:46
Speaker
I know that you guys have your ways of playing. Here are your strengths. We're going to use your strengths, but for right now, I need the team to be this. And people forget sometimes it's a team sport.
00:25:59
Speaker
It's association football. You need a team. If you have one or two or three bright stars on on ah on a team, that's great. But if your team is playing as a unit, that's when they're most dangerous. And San Diego FC definitely does that. And it's a one brain mentality moving one way.
00:26:14
Speaker
And if they concede five goals, this is what the frustrated part is going to be. If they concede five goals by playing that way, they're going to be stubborn and try to get at least one. And they're going to get five, one back and be like, look, told you it worked.
00:26:26
Speaker
But that's, a that's who Mikey Vada says. He's just going to go ahead and, and and really, um, put this team on his back and, and move forward with, Hey, analytics and, the way I saw the game and and felt it. And it's been working out. That's the It's been working out.
00:26:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he's got the, he's got the team playing great team ball. There's no doubt about it. Tony, I just got a couple more for you and then I'll let you go. Thanks so much for the time. and Another one from our chat here for you.
00:26:55
Speaker
KW asked, what is San Diego's Achilles heel? If there is a weakness that the Sounders can get out, what would you say it is? um I think that it would be just beating them in their own transitions because there are a counterattacking team. They want possession of the ball.
00:27:12
Speaker
You have to be able to take ah those opportunities that San Diego is going to give you both teams, Seattle and San Diego like to have the ball. Guess what? There's only one ball. ah So we're going to have to go ahead and figure that out. And if san Seattle wants to dictate the pace, I think that's something that hasn't been necessarily challenged ah for San Diego. So I hesitate to say that to Achilles heel just because we don't know.
00:27:35
Speaker
It's just a question mark. Hey, Seattle might figure it out. Like like I said, and that's that's how they're going to go ahead and matriculate the way the rest of the season. But um in terms of weakness as of right now, I think um just really attacking... um that with the high pressure and really attacking those small spaces coming out from the goalkeeper and really trying to play out just again very stubborn they're going to go ahead and concede the ball they're going to give it to you after a goal kick but then you better take care of that because guess what if you don't and it's another goal kick they're going come right at you the exact same way
00:28:07
Speaker
So you better learn from those mistakes. And I think ah the stubbornness will be that Achilles heel for this team um to play in a certain style and force certain looks and certain formations, certain plays and overload it. But again, i i don't know. I don't know what what it is right now. And maybe Seattle is the team to kind of point some things out.
00:28:27
Speaker
I wouldn't say, i guess, Achilles heel, international breaks. Technically. Yeah, i mean, that is an Achilles heel for us all, isn't it? Yeah, I was ah i was watching Mikey Varis' availability.
00:28:40
Speaker
i think i think it was from today. It might have been you who asked him about ah kind of the got two two teams that are both possession-oriented going at each other. Was that you or was that... a Yeah, that was ah our actually our editor-in-chief, Abraham Cepeda, who was out there today. But yeah, that's from San Diego Ponto Football. And again, asking asking the soccer questions.
00:29:00
Speaker
it it's okay It was a good question and a good observation. And I thought he gave a good answer to it. But it is it's one of those games where it's kind of like... two teams who are are trying to do similar things, which can always create kind of an interesting dynamic. You know, maybe I think those things kind of can change based on like who's home and away.
00:29:21
Speaker
So I think you're going to see San Diego, obviously, as a home team kind of come out on fire early and Seattle is probably going to have to absorb some pressure as, uh, you often have to do in an MLS road game. So the way I see it, uh, really this game, but any situation like this, if you can make it through that first 15 to 20 minutes and, uh,
00:29:42
Speaker
at least control the tempo of the game and not let it get crazy to any sort of, uh, degree, then that's the first step that you got to pass as the, uh, as the road team in this situation.
00:29:54
Speaker
all right, Tony, just one more for you to to close it out. I wanted to hear about this right to dream Academy that you, uh, we're talking about it seems like it's more than the academy it's sort of like the uh what's the uh word the ethos of the entire club is based around that you were talking about it a little bit uh but i wanted to ask specifically about how they're how they're approaching youth development uh what's your impression of how the right to dream uh works and has been working and are there already like
00:30:25
Speaker
young players coming up through that, that are on the map, or is it really like just, just starting, what, what, what's going on with that?
Youth Development: Right to Dream Academy's Role
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah. So like anything, yeah you know, you'd want to have your foundation. So right. The dream came in and identified, um,
00:30:41
Speaker
A couple of, ah about 50 of the top ah players here in San Diego under the age of 13. And so that's who they're targeting for their first academy team. The academy is going to be at the same training grounds where you saw head coach Machivaras give that meet availability.
00:30:57
Speaker
That's the same place. It's a charter school essentially of soccer. And so this is why this is so important. Cool, because it happens everywhere else in the world where the academy is inlaid with the education of the students. So they eat, breathe, sleep, everything soccer, but still get an education paid for. And Right to Dream pays for all the education for each and every one of its students and players through college.
00:31:21
Speaker
And so no questions asked whether they stick to soccer or not, whether they go professional or drop out um from playing soccer, they will be paid guaranteed through their college education. So right there, that's awesome. Like there there is no question that is fantastic.
00:31:37
Speaker
It also gives an interesting kind of wrinkle because San Diego FC is the only team that can scout into Mexico. ah In MLS because of the radius, the FIFA radius and the headquarters being in Little Italy here in downtown San Diego.
00:31:50
Speaker
That's still within the radius that FIFA allows for scouting. So that's into Tijuana, Mexico. So, not yeah, that's like a ah that's like a hack. I hadn't heard about that.
00:32:01
Speaker
Oh, no, I think we might have lost him. Oh, he cut out. I didn't get to ah send him off. Damn. ah All right. Well, ah that was good info that he that he left us with, folks.
00:32:15
Speaker
That was Tony Sanchez of San Diego football's two balls in the mic. A little bit of internet kind of connectivity issues on ah on that one, but we were able to get some great stuff in there. Everyone go sub to their channel. We like to support our guests around here. So ah go find San Diego football on YouTube and follow.
00:32:37
Speaker
two balls and a mic. I feel like I have a lot more insight on San Diego FC now, not just like their team this year and their style of play, but that was, I thought that was interesting what he was talking about at the, ah at the end there with how they're the technicality of how they're allowed to scout into Mexico like that.
00:32:59
Speaker
That's already one of the most, it's gotta be one of the most talent rich places in the country, then you throw that in in there. It'll be, it'll be worth keeping an eye on how they're at clubs youth development ends up going, because I feel like if they, if they play that right and they're on it with their scouting and they're recruiting, they could really build a powerhouse with that. So that's more for the future than this coming game, but definitely I'm going to be, going to be keeping an eye on that.
00:33:28
Speaker
All right. Thank you to Tony Sanchez for the time. Um, Glad you enjoyed it, KW. Thank you for the question.
00:33:37
Speaker
All right. I had a lot else to a lot of other stuff to get to tonight, so we're going to keep it right on rolling here. Before we got started on that, I was talking a little bit of CONCACAF Champions Cup, and I wanted to talk about the LAFC-Ader Miami game because I think that was a that was a surprise result.
00:33:56
Speaker
I don't think... Oh, okay, wait. this Tony's signing back on.
00:34:07
Speaker
All right, I'm going to bring you back on to close it out here. You totally you you totally cut out, but ah that was ah that was a great answer about the youth development at the end there. And I was really, I'm interested to keep tracking that because I feel like it's going to be talent-rich experience.
00:34:26
Speaker
area down there that is going to pay a lot of dividends in the future. Tony, before I send you out of here, thank you so much for the time. First of all, that was a great conversation. Everyone in our chat loved it.
00:34:38
Speaker
One more time for anyone who might've been signing on late. If you want to shill anything that you guys have been working on your channel, where to find your guys's work.
00:34:49
Speaker
All right. Damn it. He froze again. ah internet. Okay. There you are. There you are. Now you're muted. Wait.
00:35:02
Speaker
I'm just going to go on my phone and plug. I was going to record it from right here. Hey, guys. Go ahead. Shill away. Tell us, tell everyone to where to find your stuff. You can find us with slightly better internet here on sand diego umta football at San San Diego.Football. F-U-T-B-O-L. That is the website and two balls and a mic every Monday at 8 p.m.
00:35:21
Speaker
on our YouTube channel, San Diego.Football. We have a a lot of different soccer content. We're trying to get to the World Cup in 2026 and cover soccer in San Diego. Hell yeah. Love it. Tony, thank you so much for the time, man. That was a, that was a great calm conversation.
00:35:36
Speaker
We'll have to bring you back on again soon. I think these teams play again this season, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There'll be a game in Seattle. I'll, I'll hit you up. We'll get you back on, ah on for that game for sure. Good luck with everything and chat. Everyone go sub to San Diego football's YouTube.
00:35:52
Speaker
ah you good Thank you. Thank you. Night, Tony. All right, that was Tony Sanchez. Slight internet issues, but those aside, great interview. Learned a lot about San Diego FC.
00:36:05
Speaker
All right, now I'm going to get on to this CONCACAF Champions Cup game between LAFC and Inter-Miami. I think this the third time I've tried to ah start to get on this on this game. But ah again, surprise result.
LAFC vs. Inter-Miami Game Analysis
00:36:20
Speaker
I didn't think LAFC... had much in this series. I was pretty sure Messi and the Barca boys were gonna run all over them. And credit to them.
00:36:31
Speaker
They proved my take that they shouldn't even want this series Wrong. And that's why you play the series. That's why that was probably always a bad take to begin with. um And I think the thing about that game, it was 1-0 LAFC.
00:36:46
Speaker
They have ah the one goal aggregate lead going into leg two in Miami. But, you know, 1-0 can always be a situation where one team is dominating the other. The other gets a goal against the run of play. And it's not really reflective of how the game went.
00:37:03
Speaker
That was not the case in this game. I really think that ah ah LAFC, I mean, I'll give them credit. I think that's ah about as that's about as well as you can play Inter-Miami, really on both sides of the ball.
00:37:16
Speaker
They got unlucky to not get at least one more goal in this game, and they did as good a job as I've seen anyone do against Messi and Suarez. I haven't watched every Inter-Miami game, but I've watched a lot of them, and I don't know if I could name one where a team played it that well.
00:37:34
Speaker
So ah it was ah it was a really good performance from LAFC. It was not like a fluke result. They earned it. They have the lead. They're in solid position going into the second leg.
00:37:45
Speaker
However, however, I want to, ah you know, um maybe I'll take them off fraud watch, but I will caution, you know, like I was saying earlier, this is essentially a game that's at halftime.
00:37:59
Speaker
If you get to halftime of a game and you're up 1-0, are you feeling like super confident about it? I mean, it's not like a very safe lead.
00:38:09
Speaker
This is not a safe lead at all. And it's even less safe because the next thing that LAFC has to do is go to Miami and or Fort Lauderdale, I guess, and then play Messi again. They have to do it again.
00:38:22
Speaker
Do I think that they can shut out Messi and the Barca boys back to back games, the second of which is on the road? I doubt it.
00:38:34
Speaker
And really like, this is a situation where, you know, they're up one zero messy could score a goal in the third minute. And then it's just anyone's ball game again, like, or it's really, I mean, it's everyone's ball game right now, but like if basically the lead in the, any advantage they have could be chalked like that.
00:38:53
Speaker
So I'm not crowning LAFC players. just yet they still got to finish the job and frankly i think they're still the underdogs overall in the series even with how that went but uh i will give them credit like i said i did not think that they had much of a prayer in this series against this team based on how lafc has looked this year and uh They came through in that game, so credit to them for that.
00:39:25
Speaker
um Henry says, ah i don't know. Miami have never been able to win ah game in the second half. They do like to choke.
00:39:36
Speaker
I will say that. They choked in CCC last year. And really, if they lose this series to LAFC, I'm going to be side-eyeing Inter-Miami quite a lot. Because they have, they won the shield. They set the points record last year. That's great. They won leagues cup. That's great. But really like the expectation for them should be a win. Like everything with that, with that team, it's the best roster in the history of the league, I think by no small margin. So like the fact that they're even in this situation against LFC, I'm like, what's going on?
00:40:05
Speaker
What's going on with you guys? I mean, they've been destroying everyone all season so far, so it could have just been one off game, but ah it was still like they, it felt like a, Messi really never got going and really the best chance I feel like that they had at least in the second half was LAFC. LAFC tried to give that away.
00:40:25
Speaker
They fouled, they fouled Messi right in that free kick area at the very end of the game where you just cannot foul him ever, especially in that circumstance. Steve C was pissed and he barely missed it, but he usually, he usually makes those honestly.
00:40:40
Speaker
So.
00:40:42
Speaker
Happy foot, sad foot guys. Shout out happy foot, sad foot. Everyone goes sub to them as well. Uh, we're worried about Denny. He has been off it. He's been off it all year. He's been off it all year. We highlighted the happy foot, sad foot guys talk about it every week. He's basically in this, uh,
00:40:59
Speaker
when i When I watch Buonga play right now, it's like a guy who's trying to do it all himself. he missing He's missing passes that he should be hitting. He's trying to take three guys at once and losing the ball.
00:41:11
Speaker
And he's just not really getting in those spots that he's normally so lethal in. And I feel like teams have learned maybe how to defend him a little bit. ah But he also just, like the body language,
00:41:25
Speaker
Even in the game last night, there was a couple sequences where he was just getting really – his body language is bad. He was going after his teammates and stuff. so And then earlier this season, Steve after the Seattle game, when Seattle beat LAFC 5-2, Bawanga subbed on in that game, and Steve C. said that his subs were not up for it in that game in terms of effort and mentality.
00:41:50
Speaker
So –
00:41:52
Speaker
That's a, I don't know if Bwonga is long for that club, but if they can make a CCC run, I bet that salvages the vibe. So um
00:42:03
Speaker
Ari, did you happen to look up a picture of Daniel Mooney? that I did not, but ah I will, ah I will do that here. I'm going to search him right now and then I will take a look at that. And if I see what you're talking about, I'll screen share it.
00:42:16
Speaker
But, oh, wow. right i get All right, i'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to show you guys this. I'm gonna have to show you guys this.
00:42:27
Speaker
I thought you were blowing smoke, but that does kind of look like me. Chat, doesn't that kind of look like me?
00:42:37
Speaker
that's actually That's actually weird. Usually when people say that I look like somebody, i i don't see it but like I cannot say that. That that is that is kind of weird.
00:42:52
Speaker
That is kind of weird. That's my spirit MLS player.
00:42:59
Speaker
Did you think the Nathan yellow was a red? i think he got pretty lucky. It could have been. I don't know. It's one of those ones where if it's not, it's not. But...
00:43:12
Speaker
He he was playing with fire. he would like They seem to think on the broadcast that he got lucky to not get sent off. He didn't get sent sent off, and then he ends up scoring the game-winning goal.
00:43:26
Speaker
That's a homegrown kid for them, so if he turns out to be good, that would be unfortunate. But yeah, he had ah it was an eventful game for Ordaz because had that play, and then he and then he had the game-winner.
00:43:42
Speaker
um Reese says Ryan Kent Kent more fit than half our team somehow we're gonna get to that we're gonna talk we're gonna Ryan Kent gave a interview so I'm gonna play that and then we're gonna react to it um so I'm gonna get to that in just a minute here actually but first I did want to hit some ah some news broken on Sounder at Heart earlier today gonna pull it up right now folks Pedro de la Vega will be available against San Diego FC.
00:44:14
Speaker
Midfielder has been able to make a reasonably speedy recovery. This is from Jeremiah Oshan reporting from training at long acres. Uh, so that's good news. I, uh, I gotta say that didn't even really enter into my thought process for this game.
00:44:27
Speaker
But, uh, if you read the article, it turns out like, you know, they said four to six weeks and this is on, this is about four since the injury. So, uh, I don't know if I would support him playing at all in this game. And Schmetzer even said that if he if he felt like it was sketchy at all, he's probably not going to play him because Schmetzer actually took some of the responsibility for why it happened the first time because yeah he was playing him on short rest with all the fixture congestion.
00:44:58
Speaker
ah So he's saying that he's not going to do that again. ah so but like you just... We're going to see what happens with this. We're going to see what happens with this because he's ramping back up.
00:45:09
Speaker
He's going to get back out there. If he runs 10 feet and then does his hammy or his quad again,
00:45:20
Speaker
i mean, I don't know. I don't know what to do at that at that point. like They got to keep him on the field. This is like going on for long enough.
00:45:32
Speaker
Last year, i think they probably, if they could go back and do it again, they might have held him out a little bit longer the first time. So ia I just, I really, obviously I hope that he stays on the field because it will help it'll help the team, I think.
00:45:48
Speaker
But also, like, just for him as a guy, like, I want, like... I feel badly for him that, uh, that it's gone like this so far, especially with how he started off this year. He was legitimately looking like the player that he was built as.
00:46:04
Speaker
I thought he was like, uh, especially in the, uh, the Antigua series I thought, uh, was great. It wasn't just the goals. It was, really everything about how he was playing.
00:46:18
Speaker
He was, he was playing super hard. He was, he was winning his one V ones is the way he was combining with everyone looked so much better than last year. So we'll see if they want to give him like 10, 15 minutes in this game.
00:46:32
Speaker
If they think that's prudent, then I'm, I'm for whatever plan of action gets him ramped up, ready to go, ready to contribute. But yeah,
00:46:45
Speaker
if like If there's any chance at all of a recurrence, then i would i would hold him out at least one more week.
00:46:55
Speaker
Only way Pedro sees the field is if we are either one goal down with 20 minutes to go. Other reason this week. Only other reason this week to play him. Yeah, like i think ah I think you're right that that is...
00:47:10
Speaker
Likely the only, scene like if they're chasing the game, that would be the, certainly if they're ahead by a goal or multiple goals, I wouldn't expect him to,
00:47:23
Speaker
I wouldn't expect him to play. Jake says Moose is questionable. Hey, Sue's back at the nine. Yeah, Moose is questionable with a with a back issue that I hadn't heard about.
00:47:36
Speaker
So it is possible that we might have to not see. I've been um been clear, said on the last show, i even wrote a little thing for Sounder Heart. clear i want them to run I want them to run that back if they if they can.
00:47:50
Speaker
i just think like, you know, It's not ideal. It's not ideal, but it seems to be the best option at the moment. Like to me, it was super clear in the second half against the Quakes that not only was it running better, everything running better than it did in the first half, it was just running well in general, I thought.
00:48:11
Speaker
And they got a goal out of it. So I'm not saying abandon Ferreira at the nine that he can never play it for this team again. In fact, I think that would be reactionary and not smart to just like throw that out the window because like...
00:48:32
Speaker
I know we all wanted it to not take time, but obviously maybe they'll never figure it out. Maybe he just will never fit with this team. But i mean, I still think that it's a not abnormal timeframe of a new player, any new player, like adjusting to a new team. Sometimes that takes kind of time. um All right.
00:48:52
Speaker
Reese brought it up earlier, but ah Ryan Kent is apparently quite fit. So maybe we'll get to see him soon. ah He spoke at Long Acres a couple of days ago, his first media availability since he joined the
Ryan Kent and Jesus Ferreira's Impact on Seattle Sounders
00:49:07
Speaker
team.
00:49:07
Speaker
ah And he gave some insight into like just his situation with his career and how he ended up here. And ah kind of, it's our first chance to get a feel for him just as a guy.
00:49:18
Speaker
So yeah, I'm going play it. I'm going to play his little press availability here. sure some of you have already watched it, but I'm sure some of you also haven't. So we are going to hear from new Seattle Sounders winger, Ryan Kent. This is his first male ah media availability with the club at Long Acres on, I think this was Tuesday.
00:49:44
Speaker
Just to start us off with with what appealed this view to the Sounders and then coming here? um I think with the the sort of trajectory that the MLS is going right now, you know, it's um it a league that's definitely becoming a lot more exciting, a lot more opportunities. And I'd definitely say a lot more better players are taking the opportunity to join the MLS. So, you know, it's a new chapter for me and one I'm looking forward to.
00:50:11
Speaker
Craig Weibull, the general manager, talked about you you resurrecting your love of football. Can you take us through kind of what that means and maybe expand on im kind of what that part of it is coming here.
00:50:22
Speaker
um Yeah, um I mean, I've had a, you know, probably a couple of difficult years in my career. In recent years, probably more than anything is trying to find the enjoyment in the game.
00:50:35
Speaker
um you know with what went on at the previous club. After speaking to the guys here, it was like a breath of fresh air with the people I was dealing with. um you know like Across the board, the passionate people, passionate about what they do. and you know and and and Coming here and allowing me to express myself as a player was a big factor in coming here.
00:51:00
Speaker
With the opportunities that here this year for this football club, um you know it's It's something that can you know maintain the platform that i'm wanting to play on as well. ah I'm with ja adamvans of the Seattle Times.
00:51:13
Speaker
Wanted to ask a little bit more about that. I mean, what can you say happened? I mean, one of the biggest questions is why you have to play this is, you know, July, you know, just falling out with the coach. Or what can you kind of explain that happened internally? It's probably something I'll touch base on in the future.
00:51:30
Speaker
um you know i don't want to dwell on on these things. you know With you know the likes of Mourinho coming into Benaventure, was an exciting opportunity. um you know And he was great with me. you know I had a good relationship whilst I was there. But you know with the problems that happened the previous year and with the people above, you know there was certainly things there that...
00:51:49
Speaker
you know that there was um you know certain certainly things that that wouldn't allow me to you know carry on playing there at that club. So, yeah. you concerned then about not having not played since July? Like, what do you feel about your fitness?
00:52:05
Speaker
I know you have to pass you know visa wanted a to start playing, but where do you feel about your life? Fitness-wise, I feel great. um you know It's the hardest I've worked and you know in the in the past three months. Dedicated my time to to my body, really.
00:52:19
Speaker
keeping fit, um you know just concentrating on what I needed to do to to allow me to step into you know a footballing environment again and you know get going straight from the beginning. and So, yeah, you know, like I said, I think, you know, time away has allowed me to sort of look forward to, you know, stepping back into the game again. And, you know, that's what, you know, relishing the opportunity. and What has the last few months been like for you? know, you're someone who played a lot of minutes.
00:52:47
Speaker
You know, i can't imagine you've ever had anything close to this much time away from that. No, definitely not. You know, it's, um you know, is it it was an alien environment to be in. Yeah.
00:52:58
Speaker
You know, as a footballer, you're almost a robot in a way, sticking to you know set schedules. um you know it's It's kind of all you know. So, yeah, you know it was a difficult transition in a way, but um you know you know it was good for my body you know to help heal from you know previous little niggles that i' had. you know and i'm really sort of like dial into, you know, the individual side of, you know, you know being an athlete. You know, i was i just able to concentrate on areas that I needed to concentrate on.
00:53:29
Speaker
And, you know, I did that. I enjoyed i enjoyed the work, you know, working every day solid. um Like I said, just to, you know, to get la myself back in a position to get going from the beginning.
00:53:41
Speaker
And being out here on a day like today, I have to imagine it feels kind of homey. Most definitely. Yeah, it's home away from home in a way. You know, I've had the summers are nice here, so it's something to look forward to. go Going back to usual that a player remains with them as far as you have, it seems like you had some possibilities to go.
00:54:05
Speaker
so why did you feel like maybe those things didn't come about? um Yeah, um you know I've turned down a lot of teams. you know Some I hadn't considered, some I did consider and ultimately Seattle was the team for me. um you know There's a host of factors without really getting into it, that um why I wanted to come here and why I turned down other teams.
00:54:30
Speaker
on and i think think more than anything, just the sort of the honesty from from the people i was I was speaking to her.
00:54:41
Speaker
um And like I said, like they you know they're really passionate about what they do. They you know they have a good relationship with the players. you know Just from spending a shop short time ah you know in the dressing room, it's a great bunch of guys. in that so um yeah How was their adaptation with this group?
00:54:58
Speaker
Has anybody already distracted a friendship with Hurley? anybody you know's but I'd say it's actually been the easiest transition of um you know joining a team. you know There's no real egos in the dressing room.
00:55:11
Speaker
and Everyone's you know very welcoming. um you know i Everyone's involved in you know everything that goes on there. So it's you know it's a good environment. What were you doing during your own training? Was that in England? Like when you were that time off where were you? Yeah, was I was abroad doing warm weather training.
00:55:28
Speaker
you know better than doing it back in my hometown where it's raining all the time. ah Yeah, so that was pretty much it. And then if I could sneak one, you are already with the whole, you know, he's here, he's there, he's everywhere, he's everywhere, he can't. how like How many times have you heard that maybe in your, since the show has come out or is that a...
00:55:51
Speaker
oh That's a new thing for me. over the over social media is the popular way to say that might be your, yeah. Keep a lookout for that. Take one or two ah more and I'll go ahead. Ryan, what is it about the Seattle style on the field that you like? Because I'm sure you probably looked at a couple of their games. What did you like about it?
00:56:14
Speaker
Yeah, you know, like, you know, having but i spoken to the guys here before coming, you know, this like defensively, so you know, it so it's a great team. you know And, you know, they were really looking forward to getting somebody in who's looking forward to, you know, dribbling.
00:56:32
Speaker
an ex exciting player. and you know it's's to hair you know To hear the coaches and stuff say that you know they're looking looking for an exciting player, it kind of made me excited in a way.
00:56:45
Speaker
you know You go to some places and managers want to prevent you from doing what you want to do as a player. um I'm an exciting player. i like to lift our buns off seats. um and I like to dribble, you know create loads of opportunity like loads of chances and stuff. and You know, having watched the game the other day, but you know you know, the way the guys played, his um especially out on the on the wide why positions, you know, it looks like there's going to be loads of opportunities to go and run at people. You've played in a couple of different teams, I mean, in your career, probably three or four.
00:57:16
Speaker
Just how do you think that will help you kind of, you know, your entry into this team, get used to the players off the off the pitch and then on the pitch? um I think on the pitch, like, it's...
00:57:29
Speaker
you know I'll be able to bring um you know things from Europe that might not necessarily be installed into this team. you know It's important for me to understand the thear core values of this team.
00:57:43
Speaker
I need to um you know buy into the manager's philosophies and stuff. you know It's important for me to get a quick understanding of how this team plays. you know But I think you know I'll be able to adapt to that you know really fast.
00:57:58
Speaker
There are certain elements of this league that will be different to anything I've ever been involved in before with the travelling on the road and stuff. so um But yes, you know this is an exciting opportunity for me and you know when I'm looking to relish.
00:58:11
Speaker
Why number 77? Last one. but Random. no No real reason to it. A couple numbers that I've only taken. So 77. Yeah, that's yeah that's it
00:58:23
Speaker
All right. That was Ryan Kent in his first media availability as a Seattle Sounder takeaways. My number one biggest takeaway is that ah he didn't know the Ted Lasso reference, which there's just no way.
00:58:41
Speaker
There's no way that he hasn't... That's literally the first thing that everyone has said when they heard his name. is made that that well i found out about this whole thing like live on on stream, and that was the first thing I said.
00:58:56
Speaker
So that was kind of that was kind of surprising to me. But no, in all seriousness, I think my biggest takeaway from that is... just I think the thing everyone is wondering right now is...
00:59:09
Speaker
Like when he's going to be able to play, when he's going to be able to get fit. If you listen to him right there, and then we're going to, we're going to listen to, we're going watch a Craig Weibel's interview that he gave that same day as well.
00:59:22
Speaker
But ah I'm hoping that ramping him up, might actually not be i'm sure like it takes a while even if you've been training on your own no matter how hard you've been training takes a while to get match fit like so and also this p1 visa stuff might even set it back a little more so i still think we're probably looking at like at least three four weeks before realistically they can get him in a game but uh i think that he and in terms of like how fit he actually is. It seems like he's been, he's been training hard and he just seemed to me like from watching him play, listening to him talk, listening to Craig Weibel talk.
01:00:01
Speaker
It just seems like he fitness. There's been some issues with him throughout his career, but fitness, fitness is not one of those issues. He seems like a uniquely fit player.
01:00:12
Speaker
If that makes sense. Yeah. Baby Seaworka says, I think he's not going to be a problem in terms of personality. Maybe he was just misunderstood at other clubs. Yeah, I mean, like without knowing the details of what happened with Mourinho or at that club, like i we really have no idea if that was him being, being a malcontent in the locker room or to the coaches, or maybe it was, maybe it was as simple as like, he just felt like he didn't, ah his role wasn't what he thought it was, or he wasn't getting minutes that he thought he should get. So I honestly, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna hold any of that against him unless I actually heard what happened and then could judge it. But I mean, so far he said the right things there and ah he seems like he's
01:01:03
Speaker
ready to buy in. He said he's excited to play in the league, excited for the opportunity. So I'm excited to see it. Like that's, that was the other takeaway I was going to get to, which is that like he, he specifically pointed out like the team wanted a player who's ah who's excited. I think bums off seats is the, is the British term that he used. He's a player that likes to get bums off seats.
01:01:27
Speaker
So if he can do that, um I mean, that's really, i think what the hope for this is, is for him to be able to provide provide that type of presence on the field and for this team.
01:01:40
Speaker
um All right. the The next sound I was going to play is the Craig Weibel sound. Oops. Okay. Because, all right. So before I play this,
01:01:51
Speaker
ah
01:01:53
Speaker
I don't know if any of you watched this, but ah Craig Weibs and Nico got into a little, had a little back and forth. They a little back and forth. about Jesus Ferreira where, uh,
01:02:06
Speaker
Nico was grilling him a little bit about how the Jesus Ferreira experience has been so far. Craig Wives didn't, he didn't like the line of questioning. It was very clear that he did not like the line of questioning. Nico basically, you guys will see, but Nico is basically grilling him on Jesus Ferreira's fit so far. And if they may, might've mis-evaluated basically something ah on how he would,
01:02:34
Speaker
fit in just based on how these first few games has gone have gone. And you know, if I was Craig Wives in that situation, i would say, hey man, It's been like four games.
01:02:45
Speaker
why don't you Why don't you bring the temperature down a little bit? That's what I would have said if I were him, and that is pretty much exactly what he said. But he said it in starker terms than that. So that was there's there is a lot of ah stuff to talk to talk about with this sound, but youll you guys will see right at the end.
01:03:03
Speaker
ah My Lobbing Scorchers kick off co-host Nico Moreno and Craig Weibel getting in a little ah sparring match, which, you know, Nico... You always got to have someone on the beat who's willing to to do that and not care about necessarily being liked by the interview subject. Nico doesn't.
01:03:23
Speaker
he's he'll He'll ask whatever. So I was glad he did it, if nothing else, for the content. But here, going to bring Craig Weibs up right now.
01:03:37
Speaker
is Craig Weibel. talking about Ryan Kent, among other topics. Let's hear from the man himself. Craig, seems to be a new player out there. Ryan Kent just overall takes on the path to bringing in him and the decisions to do so.
01:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, look, the the MLS rules are nice and confusing, but with Paul's injury, um there's a myriad of steps to go through to replace a player and the limitations that are involved in that.
01:04:06
Speaker
The search gets narrowed down pretty quickly when you get down to the actual budget and money. And so what we wanted to do is add a player that has the potential to be a difference maker, you know, or at add and quality to the group. We didn't want to add just to add. And so It took a little less time than I thought it was going to take, if I'm being honest, just with the budget we had. But the fact the matter was, once we started talking to Ryan, his level of interest in MLS right now and the timing in his career was perfect.
01:04:39
Speaker
You know, he wants to come. He wants to kind of resurrect his joy and football. And I'll let him talk about that more than me, of course. But ah he's, you know, he's had ah he's had a tough ah tough year, given some of the teams he played for and some of the decisions that were made around football.
01:04:55
Speaker
leadership and coaching and playing time. So it's fortuitous for us to be in a position to bring him in and for him to want to come at the at the time when he's 28 years old.
01:05:06
Speaker
Definitely ambitious in terms of potential, but there are some maybe red flags, if you will. He hasn't played since July of last ah year. ah There's clearly some things that he's going to have to get fit and game ready.
01:05:18
Speaker
how How did you go about analyzing those situations with the conscious of what he could ultimately provide you? Yeah. Well, look, I invite you to go watch him. Fitness isn't going to be an issue.
01:05:29
Speaker
He's a, he's a heck of a pro. I mean, he showed up, his testing was better than some of the guys that are four months fit. So he's, he's been working out. Um,
01:05:40
Speaker
In terms of, you know, we all have different different phrases and things we use. Red flags is one I don't typically say just because um sports is full of surprises, so good and bad. ah So, yeah, I mean, anytime we're able to bring a player here, there's going to be the why and the how and the what.
01:05:58
Speaker
You know, for me, the quality of what he is and the age he's at, I just don't know if there were any limitations as to why He can't come here and get you know get back to his top level of performance, which for us is, you know, sky's the limit in terms of the way he can fit in this league.
01:06:17
Speaker
terms of how he can fit, give us a scouting report there. What what skills of his did you like that you wanted to add? Yeah, mean, look, he's a dynamic attacking player. He likes to take players one-on-one, which is something we've been trying to add consistently. We have a couple players that do it well.
01:06:32
Speaker
we have ah We have a lot of guys that are possession-based thinking, which is something that's been a trend over the last eight, ten years of soccer and the way these guys have grown up. So to be able to attract a player that enjoys attacking defenders, that enjoys going at them, that enjoys cutting inside and shooting, that has no fear in going outside of a defender and crossing a ball or cutting a ball back, those are qualities that – um almost any team would want to add not every team but for us specifically it's a profile that we don't necessarily possess at a level of experience we absolutely don't possess within a budget that fits these weird and mls constraints and a motivated player that wants to come be successful you mentioned the budget a couple times now yeah what flexibility do you have for the rest of the 2025 season
01:07:21
Speaker
we We have some flexibility. I mean, obviously we have the U22 spot that we've talked about. that's the That's the main point of flexibility we have at the moment. Clearly there's always flexibility because you in our league you can move players, right?
01:07:35
Speaker
So there's flexibility beyond flexibility in that sense. But in terms of the the way we're structured, the way the MLS structures everything, replacing season-ending injury is limited to the pro rated amount that that player would earn. So when you break that down, there is no money left over to purchase a player, or things like that.
01:07:57
Speaker
In terms of where we are with the roster, we still have the use of a U22. The biggest thing for us is we don't want to add a U22 player that's not going to contribute, you know?
01:08:08
Speaker
um We, we slash I slash we, you know, are really focused on an attacking player and good attacking players that score goals at that age are going to be really hard to attract depending on which part of the world they're living, which part of the world they're coming from.
01:08:29
Speaker
Age is a factor. Experience is factor. Travel is factor. All these different cultural things come in, um you know, but we're not really, looking to settle on a player that we think is going to be good in a year or two.
01:08:41
Speaker
yeah we we We don't think we need to settle, to be honest. We think we we will eventually attract the right guy that can come in and contribute pretty quickly. All right, since this is super long, I feel like there was a enough of the topic he had on enough of the topics that i wanted to talk about right there. But I am going to skip to the end here and try and find this exchange with Nico because we do need to watch that.
01:09:07
Speaker
And I think that it's right about... put If we could. you know My question is... Okay, yeah, here it is.
01:09:19
Speaker
So this is Nico and Craig Wives. They spar right here, guys. They spar. gets a little hot. gets a little hot. it's a little hot kind of harping at. My question is, was there any misconception on the profile that was Jesus Ferreira? Because the need was a striker because you only have two, right? It's Mussovsky and it's Jordan.
01:09:43
Speaker
So where was the misconception or the misunderstanding between what maybe Brian wanted in his style of playing, his soccer module, and what Ferreira provided that's kind of taken him so long to adapt to because he just doesn't seem to be it was so um
01:10:03
Speaker
i guess I guess you're relying on stats right now. like i think I think it's a pretty short window of time to to judge any player, frankly, but I think...
01:10:14
Speaker
um His goal scoring was attractive. The fact that it hasn't translated yet is concerning, but not, I don't know if I'd go as far as you went to insinuate anything abysmal or, you know, like needing a grave, which I feel like that's about as far as you went with that.
01:10:32
Speaker
i think I think he's a good player. I think, like I said, I think we've got a lot of good players, but we still need to get a full healthy squad to really figure out how everyone fits. The chances, again, 50, over 50 shots in our last three games, only 17 on frame, only one goal.
01:10:51
Speaker
I don't think it's one player. I'll be honest. i think I think we're going to ask that question. We need to be asking about the entire attacking half of the field right now and how much responsibility each one of those players wants to take on their shoulders and wants to stand in front of cameras. Yeah, I was just going off of what Brian kind of had insinuated after the San Jose game, where he clearly said that Misowski looked better at that position. and Yeah, against San Jose, Jesus dropping back and Danny in that game, I think was obviously a good move. The second half was much more productive than the than the first. I think that has to do more with that matchup than maybe the overall.
01:11:27
Speaker
But um again, I don't interview Brian after games. You guys do. So I'll let that i'll let him answer that.
01:11:41
Speaker
Testy. Testy. Um, should I just start with that? I'll just start with that and then I'll get to the Ryan Kent stuff because i mean, I mean, that was good content.
01:11:56
Speaker
That was good content for sure. Craig Wibes was not happy with the, uh, line of questioning there. And, uh, you know, I don't think he could have been shocked to get it because the reality is,
01:12:09
Speaker
ah Jesus Ferreira, like it is there is a real thing that one of the supposed benefits of the signing was like him coming within the league would make the adaptation process smoother, easier, and maybe not as long.
01:12:27
Speaker
And that hasn't panned out, which I don't think is that shocking, but it is something that I mean, the fact that that's going to come up. even this early in the season, i don't think, ah I don't think that's surprising.
01:12:41
Speaker
But I think ultimately he gave the answer that, like I said, that's the answer I would have given, which is that it's too early to be burying a player, making any assessment on any one player, Jesus Ferrer or otherwise. We're,
01:12:57
Speaker
six games into the season, give it some time, which, ah you know, there's going to be varying degrees of acceptance from, ah ah from fans on that.
01:13:08
Speaker
Maybe I'm more deferential on that than other than others. You know, some people, i think we all wanted him to be banging in goals right away. I wanted that, but just, I think it's just so clear from watching it that, know,
01:13:22
Speaker
They don't have the reps. They don't have the chemistry yet. So I guess what I'm saying is that answer for me, that answer flies like for now, but it's not going to like you, there's only so much time, right. Where, ah where you can lean on that. Like as we get closer to the midway point of the season,
01:13:46
Speaker
It needs to, I mean, whether it's him at the nine or wherever they find where he works the most, whether that's dropping deeper or out wide in San Jose. i He's, I mean, he's gotta be, he's gotta be scoring some goals, you know, I think like for however much we've been talking about how the nine experience hasn't worked so far.
01:14:07
Speaker
ah He's got four assists across all comps. And I think when I watched him, the totality of how he's played this season. I think ah there's a genuine positive in the fact that he's been productive on the stat sheet as a facilitator and then just also how it's looked as a facilitator. But, you know, he didn't come here to be Steve Nash dropping dimes.
01:14:33
Speaker
He has 50 plus and MLS goals. And that's why, i don't know. so I really think that
01:14:41
Speaker
there i don't I don't know if he's going to look like FC Dallas Jesus Ferreira here, but I've watched enough of him in in his career to know that he's a good player that can score goals.
01:14:54
Speaker
So it's just a matter of them unlocking how we can do that within this team, which they haven't done yet.
Challenges in Team Adaptation and Strategy
01:15:01
Speaker
But ah either way, that was a good little exchange between Nico and Craig. We got some takes in chat on that ah on that interview. So ah let's see. Let's see what the people are thinking.
01:15:13
Speaker
TR says, I do agree with Craig's response about it being the whole attacking half that we need to ask these questions. Yeah, that's that's true, but i do always laugh when it's sort of like ah Peter Vermeer, shout out, ah parted ways with Sporting Kansas City, but like he was the technical director for Sporting Kansas City for all the years that he was the coach too.
01:15:35
Speaker
And I would always laugh when he would go into, uh, uh, press conferences after a big loss. You'd be like, these guys played horrible there. That was a terrible, terrible performance by my team. These players suck.
01:15:48
Speaker
Like who, uh, who put this team together? Who made this roster? This is ridiculous. You know, like, like Craig is, is right. But like, ultimately, ah whether those guys answer for it or not, like he's going to be, he's the one who answers for it all at the end of the day. That's the part of what happens when you're a GM. So again, I think it's a situation where he is technically right.
01:16:12
Speaker
yeah, but And like, ah you know, if he's going to lean on that for now, I think that's honestly fair. It's fair. Like, we we all do get reactive sometimes. It is six games into the season. So the small samples, any can any like take you want to have,
01:16:30
Speaker
Good or bad, the small sample size caveat applies. You know, he's also got to take into account, like, what clubs the stats even count against, you know?
01:16:41
Speaker
I don't think anyone asked him about that. Like, yeah, Roosnack scored a goal, but it was against the Quakes, so that's basically not even a goal, Craig. How about that?
01:16:53
Speaker
ah Jake says, I think Craig and Nico are both correct here. The fact that Jesus didn't come in as fit as Ryan Kent has been a detriment to his production. started off while well with Paul e
01:17:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i don't i don't I just don't know what was going on with Pereira's fitness. Like, they never... The U.S. soccer slandered him. He came in. He clearly wasn't fit. He was on a a minutes limit that Schmetz wouldn't acknowledge. Then Schmetz did acknowledge the minutes limit. So I don't know if it was just purely fitness or if there is an injury there. So don't know. that was ah That was a weird situation.
01:17:31
Speaker
Formula meme says, I think that it is hard to compare Jesus to other sounder strikers because the system that was built around Jordan as a nine is very different than the one for Raul as a nine.
01:17:42
Speaker
Well, yeah, I think that, so that's part of what is at issue here is the lack of, adaptation in how they were playing and ah and attacking these games with Ferreira playing that position compared to when Jordan plays that position.
01:17:59
Speaker
There's just, even in the, even in the quakes game, there was too many times where it was like they were playing a ball to Ferreira like they would play to Jordan. Like there's been times where they're hitting these through balls that Jordan loves to run on to.
01:18:14
Speaker
ah There is one in the San Jose game and a few like balls over the top where it's just like ah foot rate. That's just not Ferreira's game. And they weren't,
01:18:26
Speaker
tailoring they weren't changing how they were playing based on how he plays the position but like i think they haven't it it seems clear to me they haven't fully discovered like what tweak to make to accommodate for that which you would think a whole a whole preseason and the amount of games that they've played it would be further along than it's turned out to be but it i mean it also you can You can grind something in training to death.
01:18:55
Speaker
You can can train it all you want. like once Once you're in a game, it's just a different animal. Jesus would have been a better fit into the system that was built for Raul. yeah Yeah, there's a little more overlap there in the sense that Raul wasn't necessarily like a ah sprint onto through balls and balls over the top.
01:19:24
Speaker
as much like as Jordan, you know, so I see what you're saying there.
01:19:30
Speaker
ah Barry says the thing missing from this team is the guy. We had Alonzo for a decade in transition to Nico. We no longer have the guy, you know, I think you're hitting on something there that, ah you know, in the, in the heat of all the discourse that ah people have been, i think I, I kind of,
01:19:54
Speaker
I agree with that to an extent. I think they have – I think there's good leadership in the locker room. It's a veteran team, so it's not really a leadership thing. It's maybe just like a personality or mentality thing. That's what's felt like it has been missing at times to me.
01:20:14
Speaker
And, ah you know, i't i don't have an expectation necessarily that Ryan Kent will – solve all of that. But I have been saying that I hope that stuff like that is something that he can bring to the table. I don't know Like based on watching his interview, he seems actually like kind of like a low key guy. He's not someone who's going to come in and ah be a super prominent vocal leader, probably off the bat. But when you watch him on the field, he's a dog.
01:20:41
Speaker
He never stops running and he plays really hard. So I think I don't like I don't know if he'll be like the guy in the way that you're talking about. But my hope is that he brings at least some of those attributes. And that's something that he can bring to the table in addition to whatever he brings on the field.
01:21:03
Speaker
Wait to see what a 4-2-3-1 month with Jesus and Pedro on the wings and Albert centrally with Jordan up top. It's going to be a good day. It's going to be a good day. Jordan Morris is, it seems like he's quite a bit further out than De La Vega is, which I think makes sense. It seems like he did his hamstring pretty good.
01:21:25
Speaker
So...
01:21:29
Speaker
Hopefully they can get a full lineup out there soon. I'm excited that it seems like De La Vega is on his way back. I'm nervous about the idea of him playing this weekend, but I guess even if he doesn't, which I think someone said earlier that like game state or the scoreboard might dictate that, but even if he doesn't, seems like he's right on the precipice.
01:21:51
Speaker
So.
01:21:54
Speaker
To the credit to the haters, though, there was talk when Jesus signed about actually Jesus can play running at the defense off passes like Jordan. I might have said that. i don't remember i don't remember me ah saying that. But to be fair to the haters, I mean, I think i was i was high on the trade. I loved the trade, honestly. When I found out that he wasn't on ah on a DP deal, I thought it was a finesse, man. And I still think that it could be.
01:22:22
Speaker
I know that ah people are down on it so far, but
01:22:29
Speaker
it just seems like skillset-wise, it's been a trickier process than we all would have hoped or anticipated. And like if I said that about Jesus...
01:22:42
Speaker
That might have been based on false FC Dallas memories or something. or maybe i saw I don't think it's like he can't do that. It's just not his it's not his game.
01:22:53
Speaker
That's not like what he's been most effective as.
01:22:58
Speaker
Jordan has basically zero support on the wings until Rothrock and Georgie. Kent has helped. Pedro has helped. Jesus has helped. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And i thought ah I thought Paul and Rothrock and Georgie were excellent against the Quakes.
01:23:14
Speaker
And if they can maintain – I think the issue with them – is that Because like when with all these injuries, when they're starting out wide, it feels like the offense is like pretty hit or miss. And I think that is speaks to just consistency.
01:23:31
Speaker
where Georgie has been really exciting and really fun to watch, but he's not a finished product as far as far as like consistently bringing it week in, week out, game game out.
01:23:44
Speaker
And so you'll get you'll get situations like the RSL game where...
01:23:50
Speaker
he didn't play very well. And then the LAFC game where he was awesome, this Quakes game where he was awesome. But even in the Quakes game, it was like exciting moments that didn't really, that didn't result in end product. Although to be fair, one of the sitters that Moose missed, Georgie so set him up really well. But like, I guess what I'm saying is that like a lot of how,
01:24:20
Speaker
the depth on this team can perform at least on offense will probably come down to Georgie and Rothrock finding a level that we know that they can find and doing it, doing it reliably, doing it consistently. It feels like when they're carrying the load again, like hit or miss.
01:24:42
Speaker
uh another one from baby sea orca i think albert is good because of jordan and jordan is good because of albert the system is made for albert and jordan playing together Yeah, like i think I think that's actually dead on. I don't's i don't think it's that there there one is good because of the other.
01:25:02
Speaker
i just think it's this team is designed so that when like everyone is healthy and at their disposal, that is who the whole offense is built around. And you know for whatever people want to say about that, ah it's been a very effective duo.
01:25:23
Speaker
for a lot of the time that they've played together. i thought last year, like last year I was doing kind of a ah facetious agenda about how they are the best one, two punch in the league, which I don't think, I don't think they're the best one, two punch in the league. Like that was for the, that was for the memes, but I think they're very, they've been a very good one, two punch in the league. And there, honestly, there was, there was like a,
01:25:51
Speaker
month-long, like four or five-week-long stretch last year where they were going nuts. Like, they were putting up huge numbers. They didn't do that all season, but there was a pretty lengthy stretch in the middle of the season where they looked really good playing off each other, and they were producing.
01:26:11
Speaker
So it's unfortunate that Jordan's injury happened when it did this year because it actually it seemed like ah they were kind of picking up where they left off. With that, Roosnack's already got five goal contributions and Jordan's already got three goals.
01:26:25
Speaker
So, I mean, you guys know I've always been on the camp that the the number nine and the number 10 on this team or are not the problems.
01:26:36
Speaker
But obviously, we all know that not everyone agrees with that.
01:26:47
Speaker
Those wingers, Pauly and Georgie, will be best off the bench in depth minutes behind Kent, Pedro, and Jesus. Yeah. And I think that... I mean, doesn't that... I like that. I like that depth chart. what we have to We still have to see what Ryan Kent can bring. And these things always seem a lot... Oops. Those things always seem seem a lot... Seem one way on paper, and then they don't always work out like that in in practice. But I think a yeah
01:27:15
Speaker
a winger core of Ryan Kent, De La Vega, and Jesus Ferrer, even though he's not like, ah even when he was playing out there, he's not really like a pure winger in the traditional sense. i don't know. It's kind of the more I watch him, the more I'm like, this is a, it's weird. he's He's sort of like a Dempsey in the, not having like a real, not like in skillset necessarily, but in like not having a real position, position like,
01:27:44
Speaker
When people ask, like, what position did Dempsey play when he was on the Sounders? And really, I think during his time in the Prem, it's kind of a hard question to answer. It's like he's a 10, but he's a 9. He's like a 9.5. Ferrer, it's kind of the same vibe. I'm like, I don't know.
01:28:03
Speaker
He's like 10, but there when there's a 10 on the field, he's a more of false 9. I don't know. I envisioned to him when they made the trade as functionally functionally like a second striker playing off Jordan.
01:28:23
Speaker
And I still think that that has the potential to work. They just, you know, because Jordan got hurt, Ferreira wasn't really fit earlier in the season. It's just that had never that hasn't come to pass yet.
01:28:36
Speaker
So I'm definitely looking forward to Jordan getting back and seeing how he fits in all this. i imagine... Like, he'll be back in the next couple weeks, and then at that point, Ryan Kent should be closer to being able to play.
01:28:54
Speaker
So, really, the way I see this season right now is
01:29:01
Speaker
it's going to be a little bit of a grind until Jordan Morris, Pedro De La Vega, and Ryan Kent are all fit and playing. Like...
01:29:15
Speaker
The reality is you might you might, not to be a downer, but you might see some games here that are like grinded out style games, just you know like the 24 sounders, ah which is unfortunate, obviously, but...
01:29:34
Speaker
Like I was, when I, before, before, when I was analyzing this team before the season, I didn't think that that would be the outcome, but I was thinking of it from a situation of Pedro De La Vega, Jordan Morris and Paul Areola. We're all going to be playing.
01:29:47
Speaker
Or if they weren't playing, it would be like one of them was missing and not everyone at the same time. So like, you're just in a situation where you're pretty up against it with personnel. So I'm hoping that, uh,
01:30:04
Speaker
Maybe what they unlock where what they did in the second half of the San Jose game can carry over because honestly, if they play like that, they should be able to, you know, and don't think they're going to be scoring goals like Real Madrid, but they racked almost three XG against the Quakes, which I know everyone's going to say that ah go, go to the XG merchant allegations. But honestly, when, the when the number is that high,
01:30:35
Speaker
If you keep playing like that, you're going to score some goals. Like, it's honestly kind of crazy that they only got one goal in that Quakes game with three XG. One real goal on three fake goals is like, that's crazy.
01:30:53
Speaker
The vibes changed so fast this season. Yeah, no, it was, like remember of the preseason vibes? Those were incredible. Take me back to preseason. want the yeah Desert Diamond Cup. Just the possibilities seemed, but see, that's the thing, man. That's how it always goes in MLS.
01:31:12
Speaker
You go into the season and you're like, oh man, the squad's looking deep. If this guy goes down, you just put that guy in. If you have fixture congestion, you just do it right and put this guy right. And then by the third game of the season, Christian rolled on playing right mid.
01:31:27
Speaker
That's just, that's how this Lee works. Or at least when you're the Seattle Sounders.
01:31:35
Speaker
When do they need to start racking points? ah I would say now. Yeah, that's... You know, we joke about how the ah the MLS season doesn't start until June or July, which is... I think that's honestly there is some truth to that.
01:31:52
Speaker
But they've already dropped a lot of home points this year to where... if they can't figure out a way to start racking points and they're like taking L's, like it you don't, you don't want to be in a situation where you got to like dig yourself out of the hole. lot of 2016. That sucks. Like there was ah something thrilling about that season or really the the couple of seasons where they've managed those turnarounds, because basically like remember in 2016, halfway through the season, every single game was a playoff game.
01:32:29
Speaker
And it shouldn't have taken that to light the fire, but they wrote it all the way to and MLS cup. So it can be done. Yeah, that's right. I mentioned the the desert diamond cup.
01:32:43
Speaker
I mentioned it. This is a desert diamond cup friendly podcast.
San Diego's Play Style and Expansion Teams' Success
01:32:52
Speaker
How do we think Sounders will beat San Diego? Score predictions. Yeah, i mean, if you've got score predictions, go ahead and drop them in chat. I feel like the... yeah the vibes going into this game, like people are pretty negative about the team right now.
01:33:08
Speaker
And the quakes game didn't do much to dispel that. So I don't know. I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but it feels like people are expecting an L here because i mean, if you missed the, my interview with Tony Sanchez from ah San Diego football,
01:33:24
Speaker
Go back and check it out. But he was talking about just how much confidence that team is playing with right now. And I mean, I've watched, I've watched them a lot. Cause I always like to watch expansion teams just to see what's up.
01:33:37
Speaker
They look like they've been in the league for like five years. They really do. Like I don't know if I would put them in the same tier as like the Atlanta United or LAFCs when the, when those teams first burst into the league and were immediately,
01:33:53
Speaker
one of the elite teams in the league, like right off the bat. I don't, we'll see if, i mean, if they play at 1.8 the rest of the year, then they will be, we'll see if ah they can sustain that.
01:34:04
Speaker
But no, I mean, they're playing with confidence right now. They are scoring goals. Like their, their attack is really productive. And ah i think there's a lot
01:34:16
Speaker
uh, a lot that vibes play into when you're the new kids on the block and, uh, your fans are honeymooning every time you score a goal. It's just like those, uh,
01:34:29
Speaker
That dopamine, like the entire city of San Diego, is they're riding that high right now. and like we saw we literally saw what that high can do with St. Louis. that team The St. Louis team couple years ago was not that good.
01:34:43
Speaker
They won the West, and they they won the West pretty much all based on vibes. Any underlying number that you looked at showed that they were fraudulent and punching way above their weight and what they should have been.
01:34:57
Speaker
like the results they should have been getting, but they absolutely just rode the vibes and won the West. And then the next year it all came crashing down on them. So I guess that's sort of what I'm interested to see with this San Diego team is where they end up on that spectrum. We're going to find out if this is a St. Louis situation or an LAFC Atlanta United situation.
01:35:20
Speaker
but like, they're not, ah They're not Nashville-ing it either. Remember, Nashville came in and they were taking results, but it was pretty like, okay, you guys are just dropping numbers behind the ball, trying to counter, grinding out 0-0s and 1-0s, which is, honestly, if was building an expansion team on not that big a budget, I would handle it exactly how Nashville did. I would just build like a really strong spine and really strong back line, get a really good goalkeeper, and then...
01:35:53
Speaker
Try and just grind. and just grind. other like if If you try and ah do what FC Cincinnati did and bring up your whole like USL squad, which scored 85 goals in the USL, and then just like drop that into MLS, that didn't work.
01:36:10
Speaker
That famously... Did not work. um But credit to this San Diego team, because as far as I can tell their ownership, like they're dropping bags on these players, but they're not Arthur blanking it.
01:36:22
Speaker
um But like Tony was talking about, they're spending very smart and hitting on their signings. And they have, they, you can tell when you watch them play, they have like a very clear idea and identity for how they want to play.
01:36:41
Speaker
which they I'm sure they talked about in preseason, but the fact that it's actually come to life pretty much exactly how they planned it, it's impressive, man.
01:36:51
Speaker
It's impressive. sir Like I said, this isn't a ah St. Louis City situation where it's ah where it's all fake. you know Derek's feeling cynical.
01:37:08
Speaker
He says 1-0 San Diego. Workflow 3-1 Sounders. See, it could be, okay, like, so something else we've seen happen before is Seattle. When Seattle played St. Louis during that year, St. Louis, that was like around the time that St. Louis, they were off to the best start in expansion history. They started 5-0-0 that year.
01:37:34
Speaker
They were the first expansion club in history to do that. I think they dropped a couple results by the time they played Seattle, but they were still kind of the league darlings at that point. and people were like, all right, you know, we don't know if this team's for real yet, but Seattle's probably going to have their hands full. This is going to be like a ah tough game because this team looks really good.
01:37:56
Speaker
And then Seattle beat the brakes off them in that game, if you remember. That was the game where ah Josh Atencio scored his first MLS goal, Galazzo. So I'm not saying, I'm not predicting that that's going to happen in this game.
01:38:10
Speaker
I'm just saying that ah we've seen a situation where an expansion team comes in riding on a high and and like you are like, you're going to get reality checked at some point during your expansion season happened to ever, even LAFCs and Atlanta United's, those seasons had individual games where they got the expansion reality check.
01:38:34
Speaker
But don't know if I had to do a, if I had to guess right now and I could be a prisoner of the moment, but I feel like, uh, what San Diego is doing, it seems sustainable to me. Maybe not at 1.8 points per game, but above 1.5 because they defend well.
01:38:57
Speaker
They're really good in possession. They're good in transition. They got, they got finishers. They're playing good ball. They were playing genuinely good ball. And there's one guy I'm telling you guys to watch out for. Tony and I were talking about him as well, but Andrews Dreyer.
01:39:17
Speaker
i kind of came to the Nicholas Ladero comp on the spot there. But I think there's parallels there in what we were talking about with but the work rate.
01:39:31
Speaker
and like that like that type of two-way skill set, which is unique for a number 10, that's so hard to find. and
01:39:41
Speaker
That guy is ah guy's for real, and he's hes he's like their point guard, but he also scores goals. so
01:39:52
Speaker
Eric says, I'm not super convinced on it San Diego offense. that is like ah I would color myself... I mean, I know I just said that I felt like it was sustainable, but if there is an area that's most likely to even out compared to what they're doing now, it would seem to be that.
01:40:16
Speaker
Like, they've been just banging in goals so far, which typically over the course of an MLS season, you're not going to play like that all season, you know, unless you're like inter Miami 2019 LAFC or like ah outlier team like that, they can just wreck shop the entire year.
01:40:37
Speaker
But most teams it's going to come down to earth at some point.
01:40:44
Speaker
Like the quakes game. I expect at least one goal and at least one point from the Sounders. I don't know. We can goose them, but we should be able to hold them to one goalie. I would not expect to goose him. I don't expect to goose him.
01:40:57
Speaker
They're going to be pumped up playing at home. This is like, ah you know, Seattle's stature in the in the league.
01:41:08
Speaker
It feels like you always get, they always get everyone's best shot. and an expansion side wanting to put on a show for their home crowd, getting able able to take down ah West coast opponent.
01:41:24
Speaker
They're going to be, uh, they're going to come out on fire. And I think like, I think it's a great moment for this game for Seattle because it's, it's like, all right. Yeah. Sink or swim, you know, everyone, ah everyone's saying that, uh,
01:41:42
Speaker
The team is bunk right now. They're dealing with allegations of being the same old Seattle Sounders. Allegations like from our show, by the way.
01:41:55
Speaker
So it's like, how do you respond?
01:41:59
Speaker
You got a team. You're you're playing the vibiest team in the league on the road. in their building, coming off a game where you didn't get a great result.
01:42:13
Speaker
But I think it's fair to say that that was an encouraging second half. I think that's fair to say. They played a lot better in the second half. They got a nice goal in the second half. So now the stage is set. The stage is set. Build on that.
01:42:27
Speaker
Score a couple goals. And I've been saying, you know, like,
01:42:34
Speaker
you know, if you don't, if you draw this game, it's not the end of the world. If you take it, if you take like a convincing L here, that would be obviously really bad. If you draw here, it's not the end of the world, but you do need to start picking off some of these road games and turning them into wins. You do.
01:42:47
Speaker
So this is a good place to, to start for that.
01:42:53
Speaker
It was a, beauty it was a beautiful goal. was a beautiful goal.
01:43:02
Speaker
Oh, he's asking hunch this, but throw it to everyone. How do we figure out how to break the defensive line? Every team we're playing right now is pushing the defense so far up the field.
01:43:15
Speaker
Yeah, that is ah that's kind of what they haven't been able to figure out since since Jordan got hurt. But i really I hope Moose can play in this game.
01:43:26
Speaker
I do. Hope he can play in this game because I feel like they looked a lot more competent at line breaking when he was on the field than they did in the first half.
01:43:38
Speaker
So, ah you know, if you got to bake in three or four missed sitters with that, That's just the price that's got to be paid right now, apparently. It's not a price that I'm advocating for ah wanting to pay. it just appears That appears to be the reality of the situation.
01:43:58
Speaker
Only scored three against LAFC. Seattle scored five on LAFC. People forget. People forget. They say doesn't count.
01:44:08
Speaker
say it doesn't count Oh, that's one where I ah ah feel like I'm taking crazy pills on that one, because obviously no one wants to give Seattle credit for scoring five goals against LAFC.
01:44:20
Speaker
So they're saying, oh, it's because LAFC was rotated. Like, am I out of my mind or was Seattle not just as rotated? Like, what am I? at Like, it doesn't count crowd. Like, do you explain that?
01:44:34
Speaker
Like why, if it's two teams that are in the exact same situation, then why does it not count for one? And it would, like if LAFC won that, you would have said it does count. So like, yes, if, if that had been Seattle's first choice 11 against LAFC's backups or a rotated lineup, then you could honestly say that, but that wasn't the situation.
01:44:57
Speaker
It's like people like, had the talking point, like ready to go. And then didn't account for like what lineups were actually out there. I don't know.
01:45:09
Speaker
Those five goals counted in my opinion, Jordan and Moose break lines. It's really like, uh,
01:45:22
Speaker
Without Jordan, it's just they haven't been able to – they weren't really able to do it until the second half against the Quakes when Moose was playing. I think that's just – it's as simple as that.
01:45:34
Speaker
Hunchpunch says, I would semi-rotate between mid and back lines so it could be five at the back for a few minutes until wingbacks can push up as a guess. I like that. It's good thinking.
01:45:47
Speaker
thought having Jesus on the wing was working last game only tuned in after halftime in the offense looked pretty good against Houston or uh do you mean at San Jose but no you're right like it was working like I don't think that's ideal because that's not his best uh position historically but it legitimately did like seem to work it actually did Like, it wasn't just that the team looked better, which it did.
01:46:18
Speaker
He looked a lot better. And he got a secondary assist on the goal, which I'm going to keep pointing that out. It a good pass.
01:46:31
Speaker
I would argue that the LAFC game wasn't indicative of how the teams would perform in the next game because both teams were rotated.
01:46:43
Speaker
Not quite sure you mean by that, Joe. want to clarify that?
01:46:50
Speaker
How many players on the Sounders do you expect to still be on the team in 2030? 2030. That is,
01:46:59
Speaker
i mean, what what even years is it? So five years from now?
01:47:06
Speaker
I mean, just, I guess, like, these homegrown guys, like ah like RBW, Hawks, maybe, but, you know, those guys can always get transferred.
01:47:20
Speaker
That's just a long time in the future to to know. But, like... Honestly, this is this is still a core that's got some guys that are on the um the older side, like 30 and older.
Performance Review and Future Signings
01:47:34
Speaker
So by 2030, think pretty much all of this will have turned over.
01:47:42
Speaker
Jake says, can we talk about how oh, Stephen Fry. Yeah, that's, can we talk about how Obed hasn't been playing well with all the transfer talks? I expected more from him this season. He's playing decent with flashes of great, but very inconsistent.
01:47:54
Speaker
ah I thought he was looking, Giannis, I thought the to start the season, preseason in the first few games and like uh the first champions league series i thought he looked like he was leveling up to be honest and then i would i would grant that the last couple weeks uh he hasn't looked like as like his superstar self but i mean i don't know if that's indicative of anything other than that uh
01:48:25
Speaker
over the course of a given season, any player is probably going to have ah one to two game stretch where they're not like lighting it totally on fire. So I'm definitely not super worried about Obed yet. I think like, i think one thing, at least to me when I watch it is like, uh, the team,
01:48:46
Speaker
The team is a lot better, I think, when he's on the field because he just does – so many of the little things like in terms of ah ball progression and ball progression in possession and connecting play and then like ah his his distribution is some of the best on the team.
01:49:04
Speaker
Like if you look at a lot of the chances that they generate, it's pretty frequent that Obed had something to do with it. Yeah.
01:49:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, Andrew Thomas, Jordan Morris, and Albert Rusnak. I hope they both are, Reese. I hope they are.
01:49:26
Speaker
Just for you. Oh, KW, thank you for bringing this up. I kind of totally, totally forgot. I meant to hit on this and totally forgot. plan to speak on Craig's comments on signing an impactful U22 as an offensive threat.
01:49:39
Speaker
But that was the most transparent he's been to date on their plans and how they intend to use the spot. Yeah, it was, I think the clearest, uh, indication that that he's given yet on how they're thinking about using it. And basically what he was saying is that he was saying that attracting the type of profile of player, which like a reliable goal scorer is what they're trying to use that spot to fill.
01:50:08
Speaker
Attracting that profile of player at that age is difficult. That's what like, these U22 spots are really not like not easy to hit on the hit rate.
01:50:19
Speaker
I don't know the exact stats, but i feel like it's gotta be a lot lower than like your standard signing, just because young players are more uncertain in general. So he was saying that they're going to be, uh, you're going to be prudent about it.
01:50:33
Speaker
And, really make them like not, not a, not make an ad that they're not like sure can actually contribute in MLS right away, which ah we'll have to see that in practice. But in terms of process, in terms of process, I think they've approached the spot the right way.
01:50:51
Speaker
People were talking about how they should have used it to bolster the squad. like this season because of club world cup implications and stuff, I guess, you know, there's an argument for that. If you're really, I mean, I've been saying that I don't, they could sign the best U22 in the world.
01:51:09
Speaker
And I really don't think that that would make a difference as far as the club world cup is concerned. Um, but But what they said at the time was that we're going to wait to fill that spot.
01:51:21
Speaker
we We want to see how the team plays. That will give us an idea of where the need is, and then we'll go make the addition. I actually think that was shown to be the correct approach because, like...
01:51:33
Speaker
You can have an idea of how things are going to play, but until you see the games and you see how the team is actually playing, you don't know. So the need could be until you see the team play, the team could end up being totally different than what you think it's going to be. And I think that's sort of exactly what happened.
01:51:54
Speaker
if you go into the season thinking, okay, like if you have to rotate Jordan Morris out, then Jesus Ferreira is just going to be the nine. That's what I was thinking. And I'm think that's what they were thinking, but ah that hasn't panned out.
01:52:08
Speaker
And so now, now, now a nine has become ah need because and unless Moose like breaks out, starts banging in goals at a breakneck clip,
01:52:22
Speaker
Nico said it on a kickoff this week. Like they need to, they need to sign it, sign a nine with that spot. And I think what, a what Craig is saying is right. Like it is hard to reliably fill those spots.
01:52:37
Speaker
Like when you're going for a goal scorer with a U 22 spot, the degree of difficulty on that is higher. It is, but it can be done day on. You know, which,
01:52:50
Speaker
was a u22 for the galaxy that's like the a1 example of using that to hit uh but that shows that it can be done i'm pretty sure alonzo martinez for nyc who looks really good i could be totally wrong about this i think you and nyc has been been using their u22s to great effect though so okay alonzo martinez isn't i think i yeah my bad I think I'm thinking of someone else.
01:53:18
Speaker
But there are, if you go through and maybe I'll do this on a, on another stream, go look at the U 20. I'm going to do this on another stream. Like go look, make a list of all the 22 signings, or at least like the most prominent ones and like, see who hit, see who didn't hit, get an idea of what the success rate is like.
01:53:37
Speaker
um But, you know, ah team like the Sounders, Should be expected to be able to go scout it up and find the guy who will fill that spot and come in and be able to like, I think what Craig was saying is it's like he doesn't want it to be a developmental situation where it's like this guy, we're going stash him and then unleash him in like a year or two.
01:54:02
Speaker
No, like they want the guy to be able to come in and score goals in MLS right away. So again, easier said than done. But, uh, I was, ah I was honestly glad to hear Craig say that that was how they were thinking of filling the spot because it's just clearly with the situation you've got with Ferreira and Moose, neither looking like they're the, uh,
01:54:30
Speaker
long term and like ferrera even if he was you know now that i think about it ferrera probably i don't think is necessarily long for this team anyway we'll see how that pans out but i mean i don't know if they never figure out how to use them then uh i don't think his transfer aspirations will come to fruit fruition but you see what i'm saying
01:54:54
Speaker
Young DP. Hey, Leo Chu. ah Yeah, that was a famously... See, that's what you that's the situation that you are trying to avoid. The Leo Chu experience was... I think it was more up and down than people say in hindsight.
01:55:13
Speaker
Most people, if you ask them about the Leo Chu era, they would say it was like he was a total bust. He had 21 goal contributions in like...
01:55:25
Speaker
60, I don't know. How many games did Leo Chu play? I'm going to pull this up real quick. See you how, Leo Chu
01:55:34
Speaker
actually did.
01:55:38
Speaker
Yeah. So he had 20. Okay. He played a lot more games than I thought. Leo Chu played 80 or 79 games for the Sounders and had 21 gold contributions. But to be fair, to be fair on that,
01:55:50
Speaker
ah First of all, it's not like a horrible number anyway, but 79 games and 46 starts. So a lot of those were like spot duty when he was coming in late in the game or in the second half.
01:56:04
Speaker
And I remember specifically when he was for like the first year he was on the team. He all he was playing was in spot duty and everyone was like, this guy's a bust. He's terrible. And it's like he well he played 146 minutes in spot duty.
01:56:18
Speaker
and eight games in spot duty And he actually had one goal, one assist that year. So, yeah. like
01:56:28
Speaker
The point being that Leo Chu was never consistent, but he wasn't horrible. He had some really good moments and stretches of play. And had a four-assist game against the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts.
01:56:43
Speaker
Remember that game? That game was sick. That game was sick.
01:56:48
Speaker
Hot take, Brad Smith and Leo Chu are the same player. They're definitely, in terms of that left-sided, low-cross type of vibe, Leo Chu is a lot more goal-dangerous than Brad Smith, although Brad Smith was low-key pretty goal-dangerous.
01:57:09
Speaker
um All right, guys, we're coming up on two hours here. That one really flew by, but that's a about how long I run these under the light
Stream Wrap Up and Future Content Plans
01:57:17
Speaker
streams. So you guys know what that means. That means I'm going to turn on the lo-fi and start to wrap it up.
01:57:24
Speaker
That's what I'm going to do. um But make sure the volume is not too high.
01:57:38
Speaker
Love a good spot duty.
01:57:43
Speaker
ah Yes, if you got any final questions or topics you want to hit go ahead and drop them in chat. Looks like I got zero super chats tonight, but that's fine. We don't do it for the super chats. We do it for love of the game and the super chats.
01:58:02
Speaker
Noah wasn't lurking tonight because he's got like a job or or something. That's why I run these. That's why I run these solos. he did ah He did join last week though because I didn't have my mic.
01:58:19
Speaker
recorded at his place and then left the mic cables over there. And I got on the stream. i was like, let's go. Ready to do this. And i fire i fire up under the lights and just start cooking and there's no mic cable, which I'll be honest with you guys. That was almost had an anxiety attack live on live on air But then he came over with the mic cable and then we ended up doing a two-man stream and it worked out.
01:58:50
Speaker
No crash out, Chris's. Thank you, Derek. i knew I knew you would come through. and was fishing for it. Appreciate you, man. You're our number one supporter.
01:59:02
Speaker
We love you, man.
01:59:05
Speaker
Reese, I'm going hold you to that. But I'm glad you brought that up because ah we are starting do exclusive content for our YouTube members. So if you were thinking about joining, but we're just like, there's no reason to, now there's a reason to.
01:59:20
Speaker
We did a fun little thing where we revealed a secret project that we've been working on with Hacks and Ferments to our YouTube members. So they, I mean, we posted on Instagram too. So you guys probably, some of you might know, but we did that. And then, but we're going to start doing more stuff like that where uh uh i'll plug it guys we got tom booger tommy scoops interview coming out i think either tomorrow or this weekend
01:59:53
Speaker
It's coming out soon.
01:59:57
Speaker
And we we yeah we did like a 30, 35 minute interview with Tommy Scoops. And then he was gracious enough to stay on and do some exclusive content with us that we're going to make only available to the the YouTube members.
02:00:14
Speaker
So if you want exclusive Tommy Scoops content, you got to become a YouTube member. I don't know what to tell you.
02:00:23
Speaker
Derek Richards has been a member for four months. Follow his example. Thanks for putting out so much entertaining content. We try. It's what we're here for at the end of the day.
02:00:36
Speaker
To entertain and have a good time.
02:00:40
Speaker
Jump headfirst into the blazing hot discourse. I saw, ah you know, we posted the clip of ah my Roost Neck defense, and I saw that it had 10 comments in the first, like, 15 minutes that it was up. And I was like, you know what? I'm just not going It's like... ah
02:01:05
Speaker
throwing a match onto the kerosene and then just like walking away and not looking at the results. That's basically how I'm treating that Roustag video. It ruffled some feathers.
02:01:19
Speaker
But see, that's what, you know, that's what we're going for.
02:01:23
Speaker
Eric, thank you so much for the $2 super chat. Appreciate the support, man. It is lo-fi time. I love lo-fi time. i know I always say it, but like the under the lights crowd is my favorite crowd. These are the sickos. These are the real ones.
02:01:40
Speaker
LS crew has been churning. We've been churning and we're not going to stop churning. We're enjoying it. This is our first like full season with the like with the YouTube running at full capacity and doing the live shows.
02:01:55
Speaker
And I've been having a lot of fun with it. I've gotten into a nice like routine and rhythm of it. I feel like we're getting we and better at it.
02:02:06
Speaker
Less technical difficulties. So
02:02:13
Speaker
The grind's not stopping. The grind's not stopping. All right. With that, I'm past two hours. I'm going to call it tonight call it a night. Thank you all for tuning in, as always.
02:02:24
Speaker
ah Please, if you haven't yet, like the video. Like the video right now. Everyone in chat. You, you, you, you, and you, and you.
02:02:36
Speaker
like the video if you're in here and haven't subbed the channel no clue what you're doing but sub the channel and uh once again follow us on instagram and jake yes on post-match reaction plan for san diego most road games we're gonna i feel like every road game will will try and do one barring unforeseen circumstances We're gonna do that for sure. everyone Everyone is welcome to call in on those and dish takes with us, which is a lot of fun.
02:03:13
Speaker
Like hearing like directly from the fans. And we get pretty good participation. Like the last one started off slow, but we usually get like a good handful of calls every time we do it. So don't be shy what I'm saying.
02:03:33
Speaker
All right. We call it right there. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Be back at it on Saturday for the postgame live after after the San Diego game, which I'm looking forward to.
02:03:44
Speaker
Lobbing Scorchers kickoff 8 a.m. on Monday with Nico. I'm going to ask Nico about that Craig Weibel exchange that I played for you guys tonight. So it'll be fun to get his reaction on that whole thing.
02:03:56
Speaker
And we'll stick on Ryan Kempwatch as well. All right. All right, guys.