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These MLS clubs are on DOWNFALL watch
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On this bonus episode, Ari goes through his Watchability rankings for Matchday 3 in MLS.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Bonus Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome to another bonus episode of Lobbing Scorchers. It's just going to be me tonight. No, Noah this week. So going be running the bonus content solo, but it's still going to be fire.
00:00:34
Speaker
Trust me. Got some good stuff lined up for you guys on this one. Thank you. As always, our YouTube members, some of our best and most valuable supporters, a great way to support the show. So we, we love and appreciate all of you. And we're happy to keep ripping this bonus content for you guys. And, uh, Hopefully you all are enjoying it. We're getting some good feedback on it. So ah yeah, but thank you to you guys for all the support. I really can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate it. But ah yeah, I'm going to be laying down this this bonus content.
MLS Watchability Rankings Overview
00:01:07
Speaker
And we're going to start with the Watchability bot, the Watchability rankings. That's something that we've been doing on these bonus shows. So I'm thinking I'm kind of going to center it around that. And we're going to pull the schedule up as well and just kind of talk through the matchups that I'm watching this week and kind of tie that in with the watchability rankings. And yeah, see where it goes from there. You know, ah different topics, different things always seem to come up when we do these things. so I'm going to pull the schedule up right now, though, and we're going to start these Watchability rankings. So for for anyone who doesn't know or forgot how this works, we we are collaborating with the Watchability app, and the Watchability bot ranks its five most watchable games in MLS
Seattle vs. St. Louis Analysis
00:01:56
Speaker
every week. And so we've been picking our five most watchable matches in MLS every week and comparing
00:02:04
Speaker
uh, how we, how we rank it against how the bot ranks it. So, uh, yeah, without further ado, let's just get right into it. Uh, it's honestly, it's not my favorite slate this week.
00:02:16
Speaker
Uh, but there is some good stuff and I have ranked them. Uh, I did not put Seattle versus St. Louis in there because, ah really, i don't think St. Louis is particularly watchable. don't know how much St. Louis city SC you guys watched last year. And if you watch them this year, but like they are not a team that scores goals a lot. That's just not something that they do. We saw that when Seattle played there last year. And honestly, I think they were among the least watchable teams in the league last year. So, you know, hopefully Seattle is able to capitalize on that this year in a way that they weren't last year. But like, I don't have that one as particularly watchable, but I'll tell you the ones that I did
Galaxy vs. Colorado Match Intrigue
00:03:02
Speaker
list. It's the most watchable matches in MLS for match day three. Number five.
00:03:08
Speaker
I have got the LA Galaxy at the Colorado Rapids. Now, I know we did some Are the Galaxy back content on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff after they destroyed Charlotte FC And, you know, we've been questioning the pundits who were high on the LA Galaxy because i don't i think, you know, both Noah and I were skeptical of the Zhao Klaus trade. And just in general, coming off the season that they had last year, i was pretty not sure why everyone was ranking them super Highly on their on their MLS Cup odds and all that but I will say last week they were very watchable they hung three goals on Charlotte FC in the first like 10 to 15 minutes of the game and Joao Klaus looked really good it looks like that actually was a good fit with Marco Royce and Joey Paints and Gabrielle Peck and and the whole gang So maybe they are cooking on something there, but regardless of how good a team they are, aren't going to be, think they're, they're intriguing viewing right now, the galaxy, because ah if they're good, then it's like, Oh, the galaxy are back. It's how Klaus is good. And, you know, you got one of the preeminent powers theoretically in league history ah back to what they used to be. So that's going to be something that all the pundits obviously are tracking, But then also, if it turns out that they're bad and they lay an egg against Colorado, then we get to go back to making fun of the Galaxy. So from my perspective, that makes this game ah very watchable, even though they are playing against a Rapids team that ah did not look very good against Seattle in matchday one. but actually did look very good against Portland in match day too. I think that Colorado, I don't know if they're gonna be good this year, but I think they're, I think they're going to be better than they showed in Seattle in that first match. Like they kind of looked overmatched in that game and it was their first game under a new coach, integrating some new players and they did not look ready for the smoke, but they did handle Portland pretty easily. So ah I think, and also theoretically Colorado, if they do improve in the way that I think they might, they should be a team that can play well and attack at times. So I'm hoping that creates kind of a shootout situation against the galaxy. And this one ends up being more watchable than you would think for a game that involves the Colorado
Atlanta and Real Salt Lake Discussion
00:05:36
Speaker
Rapids. Next up at number four, I'm going outside the box.
00:05:41
Speaker
with this one. And you know, those of you who know my takes on this team we're about to talk about, we'll probably understand why I'm picking them, but I've got Atlanta United versus real Salt Lake Atlanta United looking like one of the worst teams in the league so far this year.
00:06:03
Speaker
And that puts them on downfall watch basically. Like they, we already saw their downfall last year, but then over the off season, right. They bring back Tata Martino. Everyone's like, Oh, this is going to be what brings them back. I think most people, the people were more measured about it this year, because if you look at the year that they had last year and where their roster was at, there was a lot of talk of like, well, Tata is probably going to need some time, but he should be able to get this team back to just respectability.
00:06:33
Speaker
That's all that, uh, that they're trying to achieve this year is baseline competence and respectability. And through the first two games, they don't look anywhere close to that. They got absolutely destroyed by the San Jose earthquakes two to zero last, last weekend after getting absolutely destroyed two zero in their, in their opening game of the season as well against FC Cincinnati.
00:06:57
Speaker
So they're on full-on downfall watch. I'm curious to see how long it takes before we get Tata Martino on the hot seat stuff. But really, like ah it's watchable in the sense that it's a team that it looks bad and might well continue to be bad. But whenever you have a team that spends as much money as they do and have the high-profile coach, the high-profile DP, Miguel Almiron, the league record transfer, Emmanuel Latte Loth, and it's going this poorly, to me, that is like one of the most watchable traits maybe that makes me a sick person but that's how I feel about it and they're playing a real salt lake team that I think is surprisingly very watchable right now after uh after what we saw in the Seattle game this could it could be a little bit of recency bias here but I mean these young guys they got are are good and pretty fun to watch like I I'm watching that game against the Sounders I had to be like all right
00:07:52
Speaker
Okay. Apparently these kids are hella good, but also like, uh, I think goes out a lot of fun to watch these fast young kids. They, uh, that are, you know, super motivated, super hungry that, that is always watchable. And I think it's going to be, this is going to be like a good test for them in the sense that they just played a team that's way better than Atlanta United in Seattle. Um, and beat them, not easily, but you know that was that was a good win. That was a really good win, and it was delivered by all these young kids. So now it's like you're going on the road, but you're playing a vastly inferior opponent. So what I'm going to be watching there is like,
00:08:31
Speaker
ah RSL are are these kids like, was that, was that like a one-off just like they played like gods against Seattle and then it's going to be more like the growing pains from young players that you would expect or is, ah is this like just going to be a really good team built kind of, you know, not built around these young guys, but with these young guys playing a huge part. And then you got Diego Luna coming back at some juncture, I think, and you got their new designated player who We'll see. You never know with ah with these DPs, but ah this guy, Morgan, I can't remember. is Anyway, I looked him up and I've looked at his pedigree and everything. And to the extent that you can tell anything about a guy from looking at Transfer Marked and wikipedia transfermarked in Wikipedia,
00:09:15
Speaker
I feel like this is one where I'm like, I feel like this guy is going to be good. And if he is and they get Diego Luna back and then you got Gozo and Aiden and whoever else they had out there in the Seattle game, those kids are actually this good. They're going to be a very fun team to watch this year, especially because Pablo's got them playing some. It's kind of like the Seattle game was absorb pressure and counter.
00:09:39
Speaker
But then when they, when Gozo is off on the counter, it was pretty, it was, it wasn't fun to watch because they were doing it to Seattle, but like as a neutral, I'm curious to see if they can keep doing it in this Atlanta game who are on downfall watch.
00:09:53
Speaker
I think that's a, I think that's pretty watchable.
Toronto vs. Cincinnati Match-Up
00:09:56
Speaker
Uh, coming at third, I put FC Cincinnati versus, uh, Toronto FC, which I don't really know how I feel about this pick, but my logic was, uh, FC Cincinnati. I think it kind of might actually depend on if they get Evander back. If Evander isn't back, then it's a little less watchable. And I'm kind of actually questioning the pick as I go through this rationale right now. But FC Cincinnati are a our fun a fun team to watch. They have a lot of star power. Even if Evander does miss the game, you got a golden boot caliber striker in Kevin Danke. And you got USMNT, Miles Robinson storyline as well. And they're playing a Toronto team that also...
00:10:41
Speaker
Could be bad, but here, okay, this is, now I remember why I picked this game. Because Toronto FC, they just officially introduced Josh Sargent on Wednesday, and I think all signs are that he's going to make his club debut in this game against Cincy, probably as a sub. But I'm going to, I'm definitely...
00:11:01
Speaker
The Josh Sargent thing, 22, potentially $27 million dollars with add-ons for Josh Sargent. That's an overpay. I think if you gave Toronto FC club brass, some truth serum and asked him if it was an overpay, they'd be like, yeah, it's an overpay. I don't think anyone really thinks that Josh sharp Sargent is a $27 million dollars striker, but like, I think you have to think about it from Toronto FC's perspective, right? Like,
00:11:31
Speaker
It's very similar to Atlanta. They're just trying to get a baseline of competence. If they average 1.1 points per game, 1.2 points per game this year, to me, that would be like a smashing success for them.
00:11:44
Speaker
So I think you can look at the steps that they took over the off season and dating back to last year, ah you know, they signed Walker Zimmerman over the off season. That is a very, like, we're trying to establish a floor of competency type signing Walker Zimmerman. That's a guy who is multiple time defender of the year. And think, you know, the idea is if we just sign Walker Zimmerman, it's Walker Zimmerman. Like,
00:12:07
Speaker
He is going to be at the very least in above average MLS CB. You can even at age 32, you can write him in ink for a competent to pretty much guaranteed above average MLS CB season, even at his age. And then, I mean, you have last year, they traded for Georgie Mihailovic. That was another big trade. And he's looked good, I think. He had, I think, eight goal contributions in 10 games to close the season last year. They weren't performing particularly well as a team, but he was performing individually, like the way that you would want him to perform. But what they didn't have is a reliable option to give him to, for Georgie Mihailovic to pair pair with, give service to. And Josh Sargent is that.
00:13:00
Speaker
And i will say too, like, He was very good for Norwich City. Like, he was a ah dominant at times striker in the championship, to my understanding. There were stretches of periods of time at Norwich where he was just like, you couldn't stop him. It was like twenty twenty five Danny Mussovsky. Like, he was just scoring a goal every game. And I think there is...
00:13:25
Speaker
i don't think the championship is honestly uh we talk about this all the time but i don't think the championship is as much better than mls ah as people would have you think but in theory if you have a guy like josh sargent who has been very productive in the championship It seems like there's decent enough odds that he's going to be able to translate that to MLS. He's got some pedigree. He was at one time considered the future of the USMNT at the striker position. He is not considered that anymore, but he does have a pretty proven track record in the championship of being a really reliable at times dominant goal scorer.
00:14:01
Speaker
Will he do that at Toronto FC? I don't know. But I think when you have, that this is the other thing, that when you have as much money as they do, like you're able to do stuff.
00:14:14
Speaker
like that you're able to spend $22 million dollars on Josh Sargent in search of just like a reliable good number nine. And what is, what does anyone else care? You know, it's not our money. So it is an overpay, but I can see why they did it is what I'm saying. But ah anyway, like I think at least the early intrigue of the Josh Sargent thing that makes Toronto FC imminently more watchable and, You know, they're they're kind of one of those bad teams like the San Jose Earthquakes of recent years who are entertainingly bad. Like, they'll have games where they score a bunch of goals and still lose, like, these 4-3 shootout type games. I feel like they played a lot of those last year. So you combine Cincy's star power with Toronto FC...
00:15:02
Speaker
going out and getting Josh Sargent and this may be being his debut. I'll I'm going to, I'm going to shoot my shot there and put FC Cincy in Toronto at first chronology on there.
High-Scoring Match Potential
00:15:14
Speaker
Next at number two, I got the Columbus crew against the Chicago fire. And I want to just make sure that, yeah. Okay. Okay. Columbus Crew Chicago Fire at newly named Scott's Miracle Grow Field.
00:15:31
Speaker
They changed, I guess, the Columbus Crew Stadium from Lower.com Field to Scott's Miracle Grow Field. But I think what you got here is a Chicago team that I think Noah and I are both Very high on. I guess high on in terms of, for me at least, like they scored a boatload of goals last year and they just, they got some sick players in attack. Like you got Jonathan Bamba who scored in their last game. You got Hugo Kuypers with one of the best number nines in the league. And you know, you got Greg Berhalter pulling the strings who, know,
00:16:05
Speaker
I think Greg Berhalter at this point, like he is when you talk about like the floor raising competency conversations that we just had with Atlanta United and Toronto FC, that's what Chicago was doing last year with Berhalter. And it worked like this. That's an example of, they had a very successful season last year, even though it was still, there's still them some classic Chicago fire.
00:16:27
Speaker
to it I think they lost a game 7-0 at one point, but at the end of the day, they they made the playoffs. They were competitive. They took a very meaningful step forward last year, and I think it stands to reason that I know they lost their first game, but Berhalter in his second year, they've been a trendy pick on our show and and elsewhere to kind of be a step forward type of team this year.
00:16:51
Speaker
And i think they're also, they were what they were one of the most fun teams to watch in the league last year. Not always in a good way, but I think this year, I think it could be the year they take the step from being, you know, watchable in a kind of bad way into being watchable in a good way.
00:17:09
Speaker
And then you got a Columbus team that... I don't really know what to make of them right now. It seems pretty clear that they are adjusting to a new coach. So ah that might be why their season, they haven't won either of their first two games and they definitely haven't looked like the kind of buzzsaw juggernaut so far that they looked like under Wilford Nancy, which makes sense because Reinstrom, I think his name is it is is, he's trying to impart his identity and all that. And it looks like it's taking a while. but like there's still, there's still a team that's got Diego Rossi and this personnel that should lead to a team that's going to score a lot of goals. And I guess that's sort of what I'm, ah what I'm looking for when I'm right doing these watchability rankings is it's like,
00:17:56
Speaker
Games that could end up being shootouts, I think, catch my eye as ah being the most entertaining and the most watchable. And this this Columbus versus Chicago matchup, it's got shootout written all over it. I will be disappointed if these two teams don't combine for at least five or six goals. I'm thinking like a 3-2 or a 3-3 or something like that ah because – I think the fire, their whole success this year is going to be determined by if they can take a step forward defensively.
00:18:25
Speaker
And I think that they will do that mostly because it'd be hard to be, they conceded like a lot of like 60 some goals or something last year. So I think they're to concede less than that. And that's all they need to do to be a much better team is perform better on that side of the ball. But I also don't know. ah I'm just watching them so far. I have seen some shades of like the old Chicago fire being leaky defensively and ah putting themselves in situations where they can conceiv concede goals. So I think that's why, especially with Columbus, they're going to come out flying. and they They need to get their first win of the season. And they really they really need to kind of just show that they're heading in the right direction under this new coach. So you got the motivation factor as well. I think this should be a fun game.
Cascadia Derby Spotlight
00:19:13
Speaker
And then at number one, I have got Cascadia Darby, the Portland Timbs against the Vancouver Whitecaps. I think this is an easy one.
00:19:23
Speaker
Looking at the schedule, I don't think there's any other candidate for number one. I have actually not looked at what the bot has so far. So we'll see if we agree on this. But like Cascadia Darby, you got the Timbs who...
00:19:39
Speaker
uh they're they're watchable team usually from the standpoint of they're all they're always going to be a team that can score counter attack goals so uh that's kind of their thing that's like what they do it doesn't really lead to trophy contention a lot but it does lead to teams that even when they're bad results wise they're still usually pretty fun to watch from a neutral perspective because of just how they play and the type of game states that it leads to. Like you want to talk about like back and forth and, and shootout types games. Kimby's play a lot of those. And in this scenario, they've got a it's a rivalry game against Vancouver and Vancouver
00:20:21
Speaker
They beat RSL at home in their season opener, but like not all that convincingly. It was only 1-0. AZ Jackson ended up scoring a goal finally. But it could have been I think it could have been worse. They could have scored more goals in that game. But we were talking about it, actually, when we were scouting them up for CCC, which was that ah the Whitecaps...
00:20:45
Speaker
they didn't look like the juggernaut buzzsaw whitecaps of old in that ah RSL game. But then last week they were playing Toronto FC. We just talked about, and they waxed him three zero. Tommy Mule was back to, ah to doing his thing.
00:21:00
Speaker
And so aside from, you know, making me think of the CCC series with Seattle a little bit differently, where now i look at it and I'm like, Oh man, that kind of looked like the 25 whitecaps. Seattle going to have to deal with a juggernaut again. but that also, I think they're going to feeling good going into this, uh, going into this Timby's game and, you know, a Cascadia rivalry game, the Darby component to it, that always adds something to it as well.
00:21:25
Speaker
So I mean, I think this one, I don't even need to explain that much. Like I, when I look at the whole slate, there was kind of a lot of lack lackluster matchups that I'm not super jazzed on, but this is one, like I'm going be watching this game. So, uh,
00:21:40
Speaker
that's how that's That's the rankings that I came up with for the week. LA Galaxy at Colorado, number five. Atlanta United, Real Salt Lake, number four. SC Cincy, Toronto FC, number three. I don't know if that was a good pick. I don't think the bot's going have that.
00:21:55
Speaker
Columbus Crew versus Chicago Fire. And then Portland Timbs versus
AI Bot Rankings Comparison
00:22:00
Speaker
Whitecaps. So, ah all right. Let's take a look at what the bot had and see if we are looking...
00:22:09
Speaker
at the same thing all right at number five ah all right the bot has columbus crew chicago fire that's what i had at number two bots got it at number five and the rationale is chicago hasn't won here since 2013 okay so like this little seattle sounders versus uh real salt lake kind of vibe going on i didn't know that but good pull from the bot chicago has not won in columbus since 2013 Uh, right. Stram the new coach right. Stram's defense bleeds on the counter. Okay. See, that's kind of what I was thinking as well. Pleads on the counter. Uh, Philip Zinkernagel Chicago fire all-star from last year finds every gap you leave. He does do that. Good point from the bot. Uh, the streak survives. It always does. So they are predicting Columbus to win.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think I didn't know that stat that, uh, Chicago hadn't won in Columbus since 2013. But, uh, I mean, we just saw how hard it is to break a curse like that.
00:23:06
Speaker
So I'm with the bot though. Like the defense bleeds on counter so far that has been an issue for Columbus and Zinkernagel is a really fun player to watch. He's one of the most fun players in the league to watch right now, kind of low key understatedly. So I definitely it could see him capitalizing on the exact sort of thing that this matchup presents. Number four, the bot has one that I did not have.
00:23:32
Speaker
The Philly Union San Jose Earthquakes. I did consider that. Maybe I should have put that in over the Cincy Toronto game. Let's see the bots rationale. Philadelphia has zero points to red cards.
00:23:44
Speaker
Timo Werner is already delivering for San Jose. San Jose are 2-0 and look perfect. The Shield can't predict protect the Union now. Yeah, I think most of the intrigue for me for this game was on is on the San Jose side because Timo Werner did come. He made his debut last week and got an assist immediately. So he looked good.
00:24:05
Speaker
It was also against Atlanta United, so I'm going to wait to dub him newcomer of the year. But he definitely... He makes the quakes pretty much. He's the biggest reason to watch the quakes right now. But, you know, as the bot points out, the quakes have looked good so far.
00:24:21
Speaker
I think we all kind of wrote them off after the ridiculous offseason they had accidentally losing Christian Espinosa, signing Chicho Arango to a contract extension, and then immediately having to transfer him to Columbia.
00:24:33
Speaker
Not ideal. So, uh, I thought they were chalked this year, but they are two and o It's been a weak schedule and especially the Atlanta game. It's like, I really know what to make of them working Atlanta like that. I don't know what to make of Timo Werner looking that good against them because, uh, you know, it counts, it counts, but it's just, I want to see more before I declare the quakes as this big up and coming contender, but they also are notoriously one of the most fun teams to watch. So I kind of, I'm with the bot here. Actually. I think I should have put this one in somewhere.
00:25:09
Speaker
But like the union, I think the reason I didn't is because the union are not, they, they might be bad this year. Like, I always felt like this year was going to be the test of like, all right, are these guys as savvy with it as they say they are? Because they got rid of just so many guys, Glessness, Kai Wagner, like two other cornerstone type players.
00:25:35
Speaker
And it just feels like that's a lot to... that's a lot to lose in one window. And they didn't really replace all of those guys with like for likes. So they think of themselves as like, we're the team that's going to be the best anyway, no matter that we're not spending any money and we're getting rid of all these players. But it just seemed like kind of risky business this year, or at least like that they might even be accepting that they're going to have to take some lumps in the short term. So we'll see, like it's the Philly union. So I'm never going to like count them out.
00:26:07
Speaker
But the the reason that I didn't put this on there was because I don't think the Philly Union are that watchable right now, which is kind of It's kind of weird to say because they're usually a very watchable team, but right now, I don't i don't know. i don't know. Not really liking what's going on with the Philly Union. Number three, of course, I intentionally did not put this one in.
00:26:29
Speaker
The bot has DC United against Inter-Miami. I'm not going to do the thing where I put Inter-Miami in there every single week because they got messy in the Barca boys, all right? And like this is an example. like if there' If there's a blockbuster matchup with them, okay,
00:26:45
Speaker
i will I will put Inter-Miami in the watchability rankings. They're playing D.C. United. All right, so let's see what the bot had to say here. says, Messi missed D.C.' 's last two visits. 70K show up in Baltimore Saturday. That is true. They are doing the classic thing where they move the Messi game to a different stadium in a different city. They're playing this game in Baltimore where the Ravens play. 70k so i guess that'll be a spectacle sort of although i kind of am with noah like it's kind of stupid when like when they move the crew to cleveland and now they're moving dc united to baltimore i get that that's all the same area but like i don't know but i mean it is true they're gonna have 70k there is gonna be the messy spectacle so i guess there is something to that uh dc needs shape in a miracle the debt finally comes due is the last thing the bot i I'm kind of i'm I'm deviating from the bot on this one. I don't think it's inherently the most watchable game just because it's Inter-Miami when they're playing a team like DC, who I don't know how much intrigue there is around them right now. And they kind of got, they to me, DC's got to prove their half of this before I will put this game in the watchability rankings. At number two, the bot has got LAFC, FC Dallas. ah
00:28:03
Speaker
Yeah, i think I could see the case for that. LAFC, lots of star power. They're always watchable. FC Dallas has been pretty watchable so far too. That's another one that maybe I could have put in ah with FC Cincy instead of FC Cincy versus Toronto.
00:28:18
Speaker
But...
00:28:22
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I guess FC Dallas, they're not really doing it for me right now. I think they they have a chance at being better than they were last year, and there's some fun pieces in place, but I don't know. um I think I see where the bo what they're where the bot is coming from with this one, but I think FC Dallas, I want to see more from them before I put them in the watchable tier with the other teams that I consider the most watchable. But I mean, LAFC, you can't really argue with on a weekly basis. The bot says...
00:28:56
Speaker
Sun and Bawanga look unstoppable. True. Dallas walked in with one win. True. Sun scored here last year too. True. History is not on Dallas's side. Probably true. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if this one would be...
00:29:11
Speaker
I don't know if it should be number two, but I mean, it seems like the bot is going to put LAFC and inter Miami in here every week. So maybe I'm just going to start doing that to see if I can get the exact same picks as the bot. That's sort of what I'm doing is like trying to pick what the bot is going to do and had some success with that, but it seems to really favor LAFC and inter Miami. And then, all right, let's see what it's got for number one.
00:29:38
Speaker
I'll be very surprised if it's not Portland, Vancouver, but ah let's find out. And it is, it is indeed. All right. So I feel validated on that. It is the clear, clearly the best game of the slate, but let's see the bots rationale. Portland is True.
00:29:55
Speaker
The alarm is ringing. Vancouver hasn't conceded once in 2026. Yeah. Miller has already banged in two goals. Neville is on very thin ice.
00:30:05
Speaker
That's yeah. That's a good point that I didn't even bring up, but I think that's also a a fun little thing to hit on to close it out. Neville is on thin ice. He probably should have been on thin ice last year. you could argue the ice should have broken last year.
00:30:21
Speaker
ah But no, they decided we love Phil Neves. He's is the greatest. We want him to be our coach forever, which I'm fully in favor of that because I don't think he's that great of a coach. But when're we're talking about downfall watch with Atlanta United.
00:30:35
Speaker
If the Timbe season goes off the rails, Phil Neves is going to be under it. I do want to double check one thing from the bot there. The bot did say that Portland is 0-2. Is that accurate? I thought they took a result in at least one of their games. So we're going fact check the bot right now. and Yeah, bot wrong. The Timbys won one of their games. yeah That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Let's see. Let's make sure I didn't. I'm not slandering the bot here.
00:31:09
Speaker
um
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, it says Portland is o and two I don't know if maybe that means against the Whitecaps or something, but Portland's not on two Not true. They are 1-1. But they did lose their last game, and also the game that they won, it was a game where I think it was 3-2. I can't remember who they were playing, but now that I'm thinking about it, like it was a game where they had to come back. It was a little bit of – don't want to use the term lucky. you know There are no lucky wins.
00:31:40
Speaker
But i didn't I don't look at the game that they won and think, oh, okay, Phil Neves got it all figured out. The Timbs are going to be an MLS Cup contender this year. Not yet. Not yet. We'll see what happens. But this game will be a tell. I mean, this Whitecaps team, we know how good they are. They got Tommy Mule. They got everyone. So if the Timbs can...
00:32:01
Speaker
get this done here maybe they do start to feel some positive momentum under uh phil nevs and he can start the job preservation campaign but like i think phil nevs is definitely in the category of if things go off the rails and they're below one point per game for any sustained period of time Their fans, I think, already want him out. they have wanted him They wanted him out before he even got hired.
00:32:26
Speaker
so And then it's not like the results have been super great in the two years that he's been the coach. So I don't know why they're so committed to the Phil Neville thing. Apparently they are. So, but that does, that makes the Timbs watchable, I think from the perspective, same thing as ah as Atlanta. Like if we see their downfall, you could see a coach firing, you could see drama, you could see it all come apart at the seams. So that adds to the watchability. And that's just another reason why I think this one is number one for the team.
00:32:54
Speaker
All right. I just ripped 32 minutes on the watchability bot. So I'm going to call it right there for the bonus content. But thank you guys, as always, for tuning into these. Thank you, as always, for being YouTube members. we love and appreciate every single one of you. We're going to do our absolute level best to put out these bonus episodes every time we record a show this year. And we've been good about it so far. So we're going stay on it and appreciate you guys. Love you all. We'll catch you for the next one.
00:33:22
Speaker
Peace.