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Tough Week to be Canadian - Ep. 11
48 Plays2 years ago
Ari and Noah chat about the Seattle Sounders FC win over the Vancouver Whitecaps, Concacaf Gold Cup win for USMNT over Canada in penalties, preview Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes and chat about happenings around Major League Soccer.
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Transcript
Intro & Sounders' Victory
00:00:10
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to episode 11 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. Producer Noah, say what's up to the people. It's a dub pod, Ari. And we were both wrong. We were so wrong.
00:00:27
Speaker
We were wrong. Yeah, we have another dub pod for you all today. Very exciting. Our second straight dub pod. So we're excited to talk about that. It's always more fun when you've got a dub pod.
00:00:42
Speaker
This was a good dub, so we're going to vibe out and break down the Seattle Sounders 3-2 dub at Vancouver. It was a crazy game. It was not how we prognosticated that it would go. I said on the preview show that I was willing to be proven wrong about Seattle's ability to score multiple goals in a game without Christian rolled on. I said that if they wanted to disprove that narrative, all they had to do was go out and score multiple goals in the game.
00:01:12
Speaker
And they did that. And this was a much, this was a much sexier dub than the Houston dub, for sure. The Houston dub, it was necessary and it was a good dub. But this, this is more what I'm talking about. This is what I'm talking about. Two separate comebacks, a leo chew brace and a Yemar game winner.
00:01:30
Speaker
That was some good stuff. So we're gonna get into all of that We're gonna talk about some US men's national team in the Gold Cup because they also had a victory over a Canadian opponent last night so and then a couple quick hitters at the end and then we'll call it a wrap here for episode 11 We're gonna start with the Seattle Sounders.
Ari's Pizza Opinions & Canadian Soccer
00:01:53
Speaker
We're gonna start with the Seattle Sounders 3-2 dub at Vancouver and
00:01:59
Speaker
I mean, just in general, this is going to be a difficult show for the country of Canada today. It just is. And look, I don't necessarily take joy in that. It's nothing personal against the country of Canada. I've been on record for all this. All right. Listen.
00:02:15
Speaker
Canadian bacon is good. I don't really know what differentiates Canadian bacon from regular bacon. I guess I could Google that pretty easily. But as I understand it, Canadian bacon is more ham adjacent in terms of the whole vibe as opposed to your more traditional American bacon. But either way, if we're talking about my top options for a pizza,
00:02:37
Speaker
And some people aren't going to like this, but I'm going to say a pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple gas. That's in my top five pizza options. And depending on my mood, maybe even top two or three, you know, I'm also a, I'm also a pineapple on pizza guy. So I'm glad that we shared that. Okay. Well, I mean, I don't really, yeah, I'm never interested why that's unpopular, but either way,
00:02:56
Speaker
This isn't about Canadian bacon or any negative feelings that I have regarding it. And on top of that, as it pertains to Tim Hortons, I've made my thoughts clear on this. So not only do I like Tim Hortons, I've actively defended it on this show multiple times now. I've defended it multiple times, even in the face of some people from Canada that argue against the merits of Tim Hortons. So this isn't about Tim Hortons. It's not about Canadian bacon.
00:03:23
Speaker
It's not about maple syrup either. No, it's not about hockey But the reality is it was a difficult weekend for the country of Canada on multiple fronts But especially on the soccer pitch, so we're gonna have to talk about both of those things apologies to Canada
00:03:39
Speaker
I'm not in control of the results. I can only comment on what's in front of me. And in this case, the country of Canada had a difficult couple of days.
Sounders' Game Analysis
00:03:50
Speaker
All right. It all started on Saturday at B.C. Place, where the Vancouver Whitecaps were hosting the Seattle Sounders, the same Seattle Sounders that they beat 2-0 at B.C. Place back in May.
00:04:02
Speaker
The same Seattle Sounders that have scored multiple goals in a game one time since April. And unfortunately for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the country of Canada, the Seattle Sounders won this game 3-2. Yaymar with the game winner in second half stoppage time. And that was the first time that the Sounders had the lead in this game.
00:04:23
Speaker
They went down 1-0 and 2-1, came back to tie up both times, then got the game winner in I think it was the 92nd minute. But this game, this game was all about Leo Chu. And really the last stretch of this season for Seattle has been all about Leo Chu.
00:04:41
Speaker
way what you scored two goals in this game he's getting all kinds of attention from the national pundits player of the week they named him MLS a player of the matchday as it's now referred to as he also made MLS team of the week along with Jackson Reagan and Brian Schmetzer so really a lot of national press
00:05:02
Speaker
for the squad this week. Seattle, they were kind of the main characters in a good way for this dub. They got a lot of attention for it, I think, rightfully so, given the dramatic nature of it. But Leo Chu, you know, he's been the only one on this team making things happen on offense consistently for many weeks now.
00:05:25
Speaker
Without Christian Roldan and Jordan Morris, that's been Seattle's whole offense. It's get Laochu running down the left side, hit him with a through ball over a ball over the top, let him cook on the right back and send in a cross. That's the whole offense. And as one dimensional as it's been at times, they really should have racked more goals off of it than they have because Laochu has been cooking. And there's still a couple plays every game where the end product could be sharper.
00:05:50
Speaker
But on the whole, he's been making the right runs. He's been timing them up correctly. He's been connecting with the other midfielders very well. And he's putting himself in situations to create opportunities. And he's either not had enough runners in the box for the service to be dangerous, or the strikers aren't finishing the chances.
00:06:07
Speaker
But on the whole, he's been playing well this whole time and he got rewarded for it in this game. Both times the Sounders were losing in this game, first after they conceded the set-piece goal to Renko Veselinovich, then after they went down to one on the Ryan Gald goal, Leochou scored the equalizer.
00:06:27
Speaker
We can talk about Vancouver's goals their first goal from ranko came off a set piece and That made it 1-0 and when that happened, I was just like alright Here we go again. Yeah teams playing reasonably well, but not scoring can see to soft goal now They're gonna be behind the eight ball and basically just hoping they can pull off a 1-1 but
00:06:48
Speaker
Credit to Seattle. They got the equalizer after Renko scored that. So they didn't fold. They didn't fold. They had it at 1-1. But then Ryan Gold got Vancouver's second goal. That one is a little harder to prevent. I've watched the replay a few times. I think that was a good play by Vancouver.
00:07:04
Speaker
He split the defenders perfectly. He split them perfectly. It came off a goal kick. So you never want to concede off that. But it was a good goal kick. And then Brian White actually made a good play on that header. He's contesting for the header with Yeymar. And what he did was he gave Yeymar just like a little body shot, just enough to knock him back for a half second to make it harder for him to contest the header. And that body shot gave him just enough time to win the header outright.
00:07:32
Speaker
and he flicked it on perfectly like you said between Alex Roldon and Jackson Reagan and then Gald had the run timed up so it basically becomes a breakaway on Steph Cleveland after that. Maybe Jackson could have been shaded a little more towards Ryan Gald when the goal kick was coming in but really as soon as Yamar loses the header I don't really think it would have mattered so I think on that play you got to give it to Vancouver they executed that one well.
00:07:58
Speaker
Seattle also probably should have had a penalty kick in the first half. There are two. Yeah. So yeah, there are arguably two handballs on that sequence, neither of which were awarded. The first one I was actually good with the no call. I can't remember who it was at the top of my head, but it was pretty run of play. Well, the way I try and look at that is I always
00:08:22
Speaker
try and look at it like if they had called that, if the roles were reversed and it was Seattle getting called for the potential handball, like how pissed would I be if I was awarded? So if it was Seattle in that situation on the first one, I would have been like, dude, that's so harsh. That's soft. That's ticky tack. So I was good with them not awarding the first one. The second one on Felipe Martins, that is a handball.
00:08:49
Speaker
That's a handball. I don't really know how that doesn't get. I mean, not a great way for pro was not. We'll talk about that, but.
00:08:59
Speaker
The Felipe Martin ones should have hit a handball, but you know, I was already to give a big speech about how much that I don't care about that call. If Seattle had tied or lost this game, you got to be able to score from open play or on your set pieces. You cannot rely on the refs to be those calls are 50 50. Okay. Sometimes you're going to get him. Sometimes you're not going to get him. If you're banking on that,
00:09:24
Speaker
to get your results, that's not a sustainable way to do it. If they had tied that game 1-1 off a penalty kick off that handball, but hadn't generated any other chances on offense and didn't score any goals from open play, it would have been a fine result, but that wouldn't have changed anything as far as the team's outlook on offense. What they needed to do was score some goals either from the run of play or off their set pieces. So luckily, I don't really have to give that whole speech.
00:09:52
Speaker
about how much I don't care about that handball call because they did, they scored two goals off set pieces and then scored the game winner from open play. So thankfully that whole penalty kick saga turned out to be irrelevant because I was going to be pretty annoyed with the discourse off that if that factored into the result.
Fan Reactions & Stats Debate
00:10:11
Speaker
I tend to get frustrated with I would say the casual Twitter fan about
00:10:17
Speaker
Complaining putting it all on the refs like if it comes down to you not scoring a penalty or not being awarded a penalty
00:10:25
Speaker
That's on you. That's on you guys. That's on you. That's on you guys. And to their credit, you know, there was, there was no sulking. No, Seattle bear down. They put their heads down. They got three goals. Well, I mean, there was no sulking, but in the moment when everyone was screaming for a handball and not playing on that did bother me a little bit. I don't know about you, but it seems like, it seemed like they were like, not again, not again. We need to just get a goal back. I guess it just, it didn't end up.
00:10:50
Speaker
impacting the game or the overall performance. I guess the moment more was in the moment, you know, you're right. They were, they were going for the call, but I mean, I think that's honestly an understandable reaction because the Felipe Martins one, I just, I don't really know how that's not a handball, but you know, whatever. I don't know. I'm more of a play to the whistle guy, but that's, that's ticky. You have to play to the whistle. Um,
00:11:17
Speaker
Both of the two goals that Leo Chu scored in this game came off set pieces, and that's honestly one of my most important takeaways from this game. When you're struggling to generate offense from open play, set pieces can be the remedy. And Seattle hasn't been dangerous enough on set pieces over this last stretch with Christian out.
00:11:35
Speaker
It had gotten to the point these last few weeks where every time they got a corner kick, I was like, OK, this is basically meaningless. Nothing's going to happen with this. But Seattle was dominant on set pieces in this game. Both of these goals were executed perfectly. You got to give credit to the coaching staff for that. Brian Schmetzer after the game said that Andy Rose was the one that scouted that up. He saw something on film where Vancouver was vulnerable and Seattle exploited it to perfection.
00:12:01
Speaker
The formula on both of those, they're basically carbon copies of one another. The first one was from halfway between the midfield line and the 18. Perfect service from Nico Ledero. Jackson Reagan wins his one-on-one and heads it in front of goal, and Leo Chu finishes it easily. The second one was a corner kick with perfect service from Nico Ledero. Jackson Reagan wins his header, heads it in front of goal, and Leo Chu finishes it easily. You can't scheme it up any better. You can't execute it any better.
00:12:28
Speaker
So that was just great to see. That was great to see. They need to be more dangerous on set pieces while they're kind of struggling like this in attack. And that was what helped them get the win in this game. So they needed to do that. And it was great to see him get it done. Dominant performance on set pieces. A lot of you out there and I think you know who you are. You should really be retracting and taking accountability for your takes on Leochu.
00:12:59
Speaker
A lot of you were calling Leochu a bust. You said it was a bunk signing. And the thing is, you were saying that before he had gotten any sort of consistent run of minutes. He got here in 2021, barely played, started eight games in 2022, was mostly playing in spot duty off the bench,
00:13:17
Speaker
He never got a consistent enough run to say whether he was a bust or not. And I was saying this the whole time. Like you cannot make an evaluation on this player one way or the other until he actually gets a consistent run of minutes to be able to say that. So everyone who had their little analyst hat on saying he wasn't good enough and was a bust signing.
00:13:39
Speaker
Hopefully we got a little lesson here on the concept of sample size Actually making your evaluations based on an actual set of data if guy hasn't played You can say that you want him to play more to find out and that was my point the whole time is you got to play him You got to play him to find out I said before this season started that he needs to have a big role on this team this year he needs to play a lot of minutes and then you can evaluate but
00:14:07
Speaker
You can't call someone a bust with that small of a sample size. That's not good analysis. And there was a lot of tweets over the last year and a half or so to the effect that Leo Chu is a bust. And now we're finding out, now that he's gotten a consistent run, that that is not the case.
00:14:25
Speaker
Way would she was breaking out? It's time to call it player the match day for match day 24 as we mentioned Three goals eight assists in about 1200 minutes now I don't want to hear it about how four of those assists all came in one game against sporting, Kansas Let me see you get four professional game. I'm sorry I mean, it's just not how it works You don't get to just hack four assists off the total because it doesn't fit your narrative and
00:14:50
Speaker
This isn't XG folks. We don't make up numbers. This is real assists. Every assist he got in that game counts towards his stat total. He gets credit for those. Still don't really understand where people get the notion that you can just take stats away like that. You see it with Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira most recently with the US national team all the time. People just look at the opponent and they're like,
00:15:15
Speaker
I don't think that opponent counts. That goal doesn't count. People were doing it with Leo Chu. But we're going to retire that talking point. If you can just hack Leo Chu's assist total because four of them came in one game so those don't count, then you also have to count all the ones where you should have had an assist but didn't get one because the strikers couldn't finish, don't you?
00:15:35
Speaker
I could do that just as easily. That's happened at least five or six times this year where he's created a sitter and the strikers haven't finished it. So if you want to hack four from the sporting game, I get to add five or six that he didn't get because of the strikers. So try that one on for size. Think about that. Food for thought. Think about it.
00:15:52
Speaker
Leo Chiu was everywhere in this game, though. It wasn't just the goals. He was cooking. Not only did he score the two goals and light it up on the left side all night long, he also drew that second yellow card on Matias Laborda right before second half stoppage time that puts Seattle up a man. I watched the replay of that yellow a few times because I always try and look at those when a guy takes a second yellow like that and, you know, think about was it avoidable or did he have to do it?
00:16:16
Speaker
And in this case, Leochou had him cooked on that play. He had him beat on the run, and Nico put the through ball in to where if Laborda lets Leochou buy him, he's off and running. There's acres of space, and it's very likely a dangerous opportunity if he lets him make the run. But he did have an interesting calculation to make, because he was already on a yellow. So he knew that if I make this foul, there's at least a 50-50 chance, probably greater, that I get sent off here.
00:16:41
Speaker
So he had to make a split second call. Do I let him buy and yield a dangerous opportunity or do I take this foul and risk getting sent off? He ends up taking the foul and there's arguments both ways as to whether he should have done that. It wasn't dogso in this case, but it was about to be a dangerous run.
00:16:57
Speaker
And the thing is, they were so far away from goal, and that's why I wouldn't have done it if I was LaGuarda. It was a bad play. They're so far away from goal, and Leochu only had one runner, Rui Diaz, and the Whitecaps had him double marked. But it's a tough situation. If you let him buy in Seattle scores off it, and you give up the game winner, then you're probably in the doghouse with the coaches. So he took the foul, got sent off, and then credit to Seattle, though. They capitalized pretty much immediately.
00:17:24
Speaker
The game winner came on one of the first sequences after the red card. Yamar scored on the rebound, but that goal was created by Nico Ledero, Albert Rusnak, and Leo Chu. God, that Rusnak flick was... I was just going to say, so good interplay between those three and just great ball by Albert to put Leo Chu in on goal. Another tough day for the Albert Rusnak is bad crowd.
00:17:48
Speaker
That crowd was watching that play. I don't know if you all saw it, but that pass, that goal doesn't happen without a perfect lofted ball by Rusnak to find Leochu. Leochu has a rip across the face of goal. Whitecaps goalkeeper makes a good kick save. That ball's going in. If it doesn't get, if he doesn't get his foot to it and Leochu would have had a Hattie.
00:18:07
Speaker
But kick save deflects out to a mark who just kicks the shit out of it And all he really had to do was get it on target because the white caps defense Was scrambling their goalkeeper was on his back from for making the kick save Yay mark converts three two and that's ballgame three points second straight win. Was that not the perfect Sounders goal? What do you mean?
00:18:38
Speaker
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00:19:04
Speaker
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00:19:34
Speaker
was that like, for one, to prove all the haters wrong, there's lots of haters about Roastnack and Rowel being washed, Niko being washed, all of this stuff, right? And then for Yemar, who, you know, some people are like the greatest CB of all time, as we talked about in the older, a couple episodes ago, which he's not, but just, it was such good interplay and just such a good sounder's goal altogether of like,
00:20:05
Speaker
the tactically well executed and just taking advantage of the moment and the opportunity that they were given like something that I feel like we haven't seen in a little bit like with this lineup yet I don't know it just felt very sounders ask yeah well so when we were talking about the game winner from the Houston game
00:20:27
Speaker
We were talking about how the one touch, the interplay, the quick passing and stuff, how all that looked like the team looked earlier in the season when they were in really good form. And yeah, that goal was the exact same thing.
00:20:43
Speaker
one touch interplay combination play all that stuff uh was really on point on that goal um so yeah no i think that's i think that's a good shout and uh another thing on that is i will say nico lidero had a great game he was cooking he was cooking like you said there's been a lot of talk about how washed he is i have not been ready to say that because
Player Performances & Team Dynamics
00:21:04
Speaker
Honestly, there's been about as much of a sample of Nico looking like old Nico this year as there has been of him being less productive. The less productive stretch is just the most recent stretch. So that's what people are. It's a little bit of a recency bias with that.
00:21:23
Speaker
But early on in the season, you know, I've said it before, Nico looked pretty much just like old Nico. I see nothing to suggest that his work rate and fitness and athletic ability have diminished at all. So, you know,
00:21:38
Speaker
I don't fully know why he hasn't been as productive the last few weeks. I mean, these last few games, he's been playing out of position at right mid. I don't know how much that has to do with it because he floats all over the field anyway, no matter where he's playing. The guy basically plays all three midfield spots every game. So he's a player where it doesn't really, it shouldn't matter that much where you line them up. But either way, he looked a lot like his old self in this game. He picked up two secondary assists, which
00:22:06
Speaker
I guess, let's go on a tangent real quick. No, you were saying that you think secondary assists are Mickey Mouse. I don't think that they're Mickey Mouse. I just don't think that they're like straight up assist. I get it. If it's like you play in a ball at the flex off a defender and then someone scores that and like giving the person who, but you don't get, I'm a less doesn't give an assist for those. Okay. Well then what's, I mean, I don't know. Honky assists are weird. They're Mickey Mouse.
00:22:34
Speaker
Okay, so a lot of people have that take and say that secondary assists are bush league because MLS is the only league really that counts them.
00:22:44
Speaker
I feel like the concept of a secondary assist makes perfect sense. If you think about it, the guy who lays in the pass that allows the guy to pick up the assist, you're contributing to the goal. You are assisting on the goal. Both of these set-piece goals, which Nico Ledero got secondary assists on, Jackson Reagan can't head in those assists if the initial delivery from Ledero isn't perfect. So the whole sequence
00:23:13
Speaker
is attributable to those three guys. It results in, I don't know, I just feel like in principle, people are like, how could you count this? And it's like, well,
00:23:25
Speaker
Logically, I don't really see what doesn't make sense about that like yeah The third guy is contributing to the goal in equal parts as the second guy You could say where do you draw the line like what about the fourth fifth six? Yeah, that's kind of my argument Okay, well you draw the line at two degrees of separation the third the first guy who puts the ball in the second guy who gets the primary assist and
00:23:47
Speaker
those are the two guys who get the assists and then anything past that you're talking probably more degrees of separation than should rightfully be contributed on the statute the way I see it but like the guy who puts in the initial ball
00:24:02
Speaker
He's assisting on the goal. Ledero should get assists for those. Those are great passes that Jackson Reagan can't get the primary assist if Nico Ledero is not putting in the perfect ball for his secondary assist. I don't know. That's my soapbox on that because you see a lot like- I think for the first time in Lobbins quarter's history, you changed my mind live on the podcast. That's actually a really good argument there. I don't think that there's a- I never really had a problem with
00:24:27
Speaker
Appreciating the interplay and stuff like that. So like yeah, fuck it. Why not? Yeah, I mean why not? It's only assists or assists are really like who gives a fuck anyway Well, so here's my thing. Everyone calls MOS bush league because they're the only way that counts secondary assists But like what if
00:24:46
Speaker
All the other leagues are actually Bush league for not giving secondary assists. I don't know if I really think about people don't really think about that. I'm just saying something to think about. Yeah. Primary league is Bush league. Yeah, exactly. I get secondary assists. Like I don't really know how they can call themselves on the level of major league soccer, but agreed.
00:25:06
Speaker
Anyway, we talked about the Leo Chu breakout, and that's the one that's getting most of the attention from the national pundits. But there's another breakout taking place for Seattle that's equally significant. Jackson Reagan is breaking out. God, I love him. Two assists in this game, primaries fists. That gives him three for the season.
00:25:27
Speaker
I've been pining for exactly this. Jackson Reagan is 6'6". He's one of the more physically imposing presences in the league from the center back position. And Seattle has not made enough use of that so far in his career. He should be a target on pretty much every set piece like Chad Marshall used to be. He has all the physical attributes, namely height, to be a dominant aerial player. And he is on defense.
00:25:50
Speaker
So it was great to see Seattle scheme upset pieces where they're letting him use his height to crush those headers and in this game he ends up picking up two assists both on 1v1 headers that he won easily because he's six feet six and the other guy is not six foot six. If Jackson Reagan adds that element to his game and I want to see him start getting looks on goal in those situations too.
00:26:13
Speaker
But if he has that element to his game He has the potential to be a dominant player because it's all there on defense His long passing is really good. His other assists this season came off that long pass to christian rolled on and charlotte So if he becomes a dominant aerial presence on set pieces on attacking set pieces, too I mean We're talking about a guy who should probably go to europe like yeah, I mean, I don't know like uh
00:26:44
Speaker
that he could be that beastly of a presence when you combine his physical gifts with his passing ability, his defending. And now he's having multi assist games, you know, one goal to assist from your center backs in this game. That's good stuff, man. That's good stuff. That's insane. Love to see that. And
00:27:03
Speaker
Jackson Reagan is looking like a beast more and more of a beast every week this guy Putting a six foot six domestic CB on this roster that that's it's been it's been a huge boost it really has so
00:27:18
Speaker
He was good in college, but I watched him because I was at Penn State, watched him play at Michigan, watched him lose to Penn State, unfortunate. But I could have never predicted that he would be this dominant. He's a really good player. He's lights out. He's been lights out.
00:27:37
Speaker
Stefan Cleveland was fantastic in this guy was good I was gonna ask you about him right yeah I said on the preview show that I was not worried about Steph Cleveland filling in that he's looked like an MLS number one to me from everything that I've seen never saw anything to dissuade me of that notion and this game did nothing to dissuade me from that notion to be a number one goalkeeper in a top-flight league you have to not just make the saves that you're supposed to make and
00:28:02
Speaker
You have to make the ones you're not supposed to make. You have to be able to make the ones that change games. Steph Cleveland did that twice in this game. He had the one on Sebastian Berhalter in the first half, which was honestly one of the best saves I've seen in MLS this season. It was so sick. Then he did it again on the one just a few minutes before the red card in the second half. Full extension both times.
00:28:23
Speaker
Those are plays that easily could have been goals if he doesn't stand on his head. So shout out Steph Cleveland. You got to give him his flowers. He was not just a functional, capable, filling in backup in this game. He stood out and he made two game-changing saves. They don't win this game unless Steph Cleveland does that. Not at all. So I guess that's just encouraging in the sense that Steph Rye at this point in his career, age 37,
00:28:49
Speaker
Not necessarily going to be able to play every single game. You got league's cub coming up. Um, I don't know. I just feel like uh You need two goalkeepers on on every team Um, you need your backup goalkeeper to be able to come in and do that So it's just good that he's able to do that And if you need to rotate steph fry out, uh at any point again or during league's cup I don't know if he's going to be uh out of concussion protocol by wednesday. So you might uh see steph cleveland again and
00:29:17
Speaker
I feel fine about that. I feel fine about that. It was his first start of the season and give him some more minutes. Amazing. Yeah. Um, I think that was all I had on the white cabs game. Uh, so unless you had anything else, no, we can get into the San Jose preview.
00:29:37
Speaker
Tough weekend for all Canadians, but yeah, sorry. Great weekend for all Seattleites. I think that that win cements kind of what I was saying of this, this version, the second tier version of the Sounders.
00:29:53
Speaker
I mean, it's almost first tier, I would say, looks like a team that can win with this lineup, which they should be able to, and come back from two gold deficit, one gold deficit, and that's...
00:30:11
Speaker
That's exciting. Well, you know a point we were making was that they've been running this kind of new look lineup with Jordan and Christian gone Yeah, and they have they still haven't really been hadn't really been scoring goals with it until this game But sometimes it takes a few weeks to get the chemistry figure out what tactics work what everyone's roles are going to be like in that new look sort of formation so
Sounders' Strategy & Lineup Potential
00:30:36
Speaker
I said on the preview show that I was open to the idea that the increased reps and the games under their belt that they have with this lineup now could pay off and they could actually break out in attack. I didn't necessarily predict or think that it was going to happen. I said I'll believe it when I see it. And I completely stand by that as a valid way to look at it based on what we had seen. But it looked a lot better in this game.
00:31:04
Speaker
2.2 xg in this game no a 2.2 xg. That's really good. Yeah, you know how you know how you end up scoring three real goals Yeah in a game a lot easier easier is if you get over 2 xg So that's like that's really what you want to see if they
00:31:19
Speaker
didn't didn't didn't Vancouver have like point nine yes exactly so like what does that mean it means if they had zero point six something you know what that means it means that Seattle would dominated them pretty much in this game and played a lot better than them even though it was only three to realistically like with how much Seattle was generating on offense compared to what's Vancouver was generating on offense this could have been like more like a
00:31:45
Speaker
a multi-goal victory if the final score had reflected what the underlying performances were. Interesting. I have one question before we move on. Yeah. Rusenek moving to the 10. Yeah. And the, him getting settled into that position more like, and then the way that we've seen this team transition into being able to score, one being able to score period, and two being able to score now multiple goals. How much do you think that has to do with all of that?
00:32:13
Speaker
OK so here's the only caveat that I will give and it's not much of a caveat but it's something to think about like with two of the three goals coming off of set pieces both of the goals that the Sounders have scored from open play.
00:32:30
Speaker
over the last two games have come when they were up a man. And they didn't score from open play until they were up a man in this game again. So there's no caveat when your goals come off set pieces. Like I said, when you're struggling from open play, you need to try and dominate on set pieces. That's the way to cure it. But I'm not totally sure that
00:32:59
Speaker
the offenses, you know, somehow can be tabbed as like broken out until they, I want to see them score from open play consistently. You know, like I think that's still something even after this game where they got the three goals, they need to show that, that they can do that when it's 11 on 11, you know, um, as good as the attack or as, as improved as the attack looked in this game,
00:33:27
Speaker
I don't know if I can look at it and be like, okay, like the new lineup with Rusnak at the 10 is totally cooking and they're going to be racking up 2.2 XG every single game now. A lot of that XG was because those set pieces generated such clean opportunities, which is fine. That's what they're going to have to do.
00:33:49
Speaker
I guess I still want to see more from this lineup and they need to be generating consistent chances from open play more still. Like I would say even after getting three goals in this game, I still left it feeling like that.
00:34:06
Speaker
Yeah, not that's not to say that the the set piece goals don't count like way Oh choose Don't count like those count 100% and it's actually 100% like the thing that they should be honing in the most on in training I think is is Dominating on set pieces because you saw in this game like how big of a difference how much of an advantage that can give you if you're dominating on set pieces But I don't know did that answer your question. That's a good shot. Okay
00:34:35
Speaker
The San Jose earthquakes are up next at PayPal Park on PPP Wednesday. Their loans are going to be forgiven. So short turnaround for this game against San Jose. The San Jose earthquakes beat Seattle beat Seattle in Seattle. The last time these two teams played back on June 1st, but they've only won one other game since then. That was a two one home victory over the Philadelphia Union.
00:35:03
Speaker
So San Jose are winless in their last four. They're coming off a 1-1 draw against Hungover at LAFC. And they've lost two and drawn three over their last five games. So it's not like the Quakes are in world-beating form right now.
00:35:26
Speaker
That being said this is going to be a tough game by definition because you got a short turnaround And so I expect this to be a heavily heavily Rotated lineup. I would be pretty surprised if you see Rui Diaz start in this game I think you're looking at a bear up top. Why why I? Think maybe you can maybe you can get a goal
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah, that would be great. I'm in for it manifesting. I mean, wasn't your take that he's not going to score one for the rest of the season? My take is that, but I also would like to see the Sounders win. And as much as I am a not a bear believer, I'm not evil. I would love to see him do well.
00:36:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I I really I really hope that he gets one because I am personally of the conviction that a lot of what's going on is he I mean he's snake bit he's having is he's having some of the worst luck I've ever seen from a Seattle striker and I covered Nelson Valdez all right so I've seen incredibly Nelson Valdez is probably the gold standard of in MLS history
00:36:32
Speaker
An unlucky striker everyone remembers the fact that he only scored one league goal for Seattle until the playoff game against sport in Kansas City But it's honestly very it's it's very similar. It's very similar like Nelson Valdez I felt so bad for the guy because he He just couldn't catch a break He couldn't catch a break and he had so many where he just smashed him off the post or he just somehow missed a sitter and It's very similar stuff that's going on with a bear. So
00:37:02
Speaker
We're rooting for a bear to get a goal in this game. I think he probably gets to start. I think Josh attention probably gets to start. I think ABC Soko probably gets to start. I think Cody Baker probably gets to start. I don't know if all those guys I just ripped off are going to be starting, but it's going to be some lineup like that.
00:37:19
Speaker
you can count on that maybe they ride Rusnak again I think you can probably get away with running out either Rusnak or Ledero at center attacking mid in this game and just sit the other one and then mix and match in the rest of the midfield if you feel like you got to but either way they're just gonna they're gonna have to rotate they're gonna have to rotate and hopefully we don't get any complaints or angry tweets about that because they have to
00:37:48
Speaker
You can't run out the exact same 11 for a Wednesday game after a Saturday game. You can't do it. So we're going to see if this rotated squad can get it done against San Jose.
00:38:03
Speaker
San Jose is there seven seven and eight with a minus three goal differential So as as much positive press from the pundits as they were getting earlier this season They've come down to earth quite a bit. I think Lucci Gonzalez, you know He's doing what he can but their roster probably still has a little ways to go realistically before they're a real Western Conference contender so
00:38:27
Speaker
It's not real Madrid is what I'm saying. A rotated squad should be able to pull a draw in this game. I think if you do pull a draw in this game, that's a good result. It's your second of a two game road trip. So, you know, I was saying a drug at Vancouver would have been a fine result. I think the same can be said here. You know, they got the dub in Vancouver if they get a dub here.
00:38:52
Speaker
That would be huge honestly because you know as tough as things have been the last few weeks Seattle is in good shape on the table. Yeah, they are they really are there at 35 points from 22 matches St. Louis and LFC and Austin all only have one game in hand. Yep, so it's not like LFC are reeling. Yeah, LFC are Leathily Leathily hungover. Yeah, the only team honestly that I'm worried about is RSL
00:39:21
Speaker
Well, yeah. Okay. I'm glad you brought that up because I had a I had a take on that for the for the quick intersection. Well, we'll save it for that then. Yeah. But no, I think I think everybody should be worried about RSL. I see like I don't really know when they're going to get over this hangover. It seems like one of those ones that it's like two or three days later and your head's still throbbing and you're like, God damn, like when's this going to go away? Do I have to like drink a beer to ease the pain now? But maybe that's just going to make me feel worse. I don't know. So that's the boat that they're in.
00:39:52
Speaker
But Seattle's only three points off the pace of St. Louis City FC. Yeah. And so if you can, if you can poach one at San Jose here, you're going to be right up there with them. You know, they, they, if St. Louis wins their game, you know, they're still going to be that three points clear, but I'm hoping for a draw in that match.
00:40:11
Speaker
in the St. Louis match? St. Louis LAFC, yeah. Okay, so is that who plays it? Yeah, yeah, St. Louis LAFC. That's actually perfect for Seattle because, yeah, a draw would be beneficial because both of those teams would draw points. But if one loses and Seattle beats San Jose, then you get padding on whoever lost. Correct. But you know, I picked St. Louis in that game at this point. Is it in St. Louis? Let's check.
00:40:40
Speaker
It is, I think it, yeah, it looks like it is. I think it would happen. No, it's in Beemo Stadium. It's at Beemo Stadium. Yeah. All right. All right. I mean, I think a result is attainable for St. Louis city in that game, just how LFC have looked lately. I don't, LFC, they look like this will be their second road game for St. Louis city when they just pulled off the win in Toronto. So,
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, and St. Louis, both of their big DPs are hurt. And they've still been racking wins. But at a certain point, you have to wonder when that's going to catch up to them. I mean, they stacked the wins against the Quakes and the Rapids and Toronto. Yeah, exactly. They're riding like Slam and Sam at Dinner On and Azriel Jackson. And those young guys have been doing well.
00:41:32
Speaker
I question how far that can really take them until they get Jaal Klaus and Edward Lowenbach. I think we haven't really mentioned this that much, but the sounders are in a position where if they can kind of
00:41:48
Speaker
pick it up in the next two, three, four weeks, they could easily push into first place and hold that, especially St. Louis City with those injuries. God knows what the hell's going on with LAFC. You don't know how long they're going to be out, but if they start stacking points, period,
00:42:06
Speaker
That's not a bad look. Number one seed in the West is right there. I think it's kind of funny because the discourse around the team, this entire last stretch of games has been so negative. There's been so much talk about it's time to blow it up. This season is chalked.
00:42:24
Speaker
I'm not going to say I don't understand where it's coming from because the results have been poor, the performances haven't been much better, and they've taken a couple of really bad L's at home. So it's not like I would expect anything different necessarily, but if you've been keeping track of the table this entire time, they are right in it for a top two seed in the West. They're in second right now, and first place is right in striking distance.
00:42:49
Speaker
There's everything to play for this season. It's all about this season right now. It's not about the future. It's not about blowing it up. It's not about moving on from eco Ledero and all that and all that stuff like you get to that at the end of the season right now. It's all about gunning for that number one seed and it's there for the taking if they can get on a good run of form and Christian and Jordan are coming back eventually and that's really going to help. We have seen what this team looks like on offense with Christian rolled on playing.
00:43:17
Speaker
Yeah, there's gonna be some interesting lineup decisions because I don't know if you put Rusnak back a line when when Jordan and Christian get back and Like you had you have to start Nico at the 10 or do you drop Albert back? Or do you keep Albert up higher and use Nico as a super sub like is Nico even in the first choice 11 anymore? That's a good debate like we're probably gonna have to have that debate when those guys get back get back, but for now
00:43:45
Speaker
It's all about trying to rack these points by whatever means necessary, and they're going to try and do that midweek at San Jose. San Jose is a lot better team at home. They're one of those classic MLS teams that's pretty dominant at home but can't win on the road. They're 6'1 and 4' at home.
00:44:02
Speaker
Uh, that shows that they're really hard to beat at home, but it also shows that you can poach a draw off these guys. You can poach a draw off these guys at PayPal if, uh, if you play your cards, right. So it should be an interesting one. It's going to be a wonky lineup. We'll see what happens. Um, but definitely tune into Apple TV on Wednesday. Uh, it'll be a good game. We're going to be, yeah. Quakes games are always entertaining. They're, they're, they're, they're hunting for a win cause they're, they're winless in five. So yeah, that's going to be, you know, they want one.
00:44:31
Speaker
They want one. They've got some good players. I mean, we saw that when they won in Seattle. Christian Espinoza was an MVP candidate earlier in the season. He slowed down a little bit. Jeremy of OBC is a high-end MLS striker. So they definitely have some guys, but you can get at them on defense for sure. And their starting goalkeeper, Daniel, got a red card in their last game.
00:44:56
Speaker
So, they're not going to have their starting goalkeeper who's really, really good. So, I guess Seattle can hope that that plays in their favor a little bit. I think they'll probably be starting JT Marcinkowski, who I believe is still their backup.
00:45:11
Speaker
He's a fine goalkeeper, but Daniel is much better. So Yeah, I think that about wraps it for the quakes preview I'm gonna jump into some US men's national team Gold Cup takes now
USMNT Gold Cup Insights
00:45:28
Speaker
the second of the bad days for Canada. Well, same day, right? So it didn't get any better for the country of Canada on the international level than it did in the MLS level. I'm sorry to report, Canada. The Canadian men's national team has been eliminated from the gold cup by the United States in penalty kicks, 2-2 in regulation, then the US won the shootout. Matt Turner made two saves in the shootout, then a Canadian bam the last one off the post to win it for the US.
00:45:55
Speaker
So shout out to Matt Turner, you know, as soon as that game went to penalties, I was like, okay, Matt Turner versus Dane St. Clair. I'm taking us here all day, all day. And sure enough, he saved each of the first two. Matt Turner, you really can't say it enough. He's such a beast, man. Did you know this? No, he saved 14 of 29 penalties that he's faced in his professional career. That's pretty crazy. That is a mind boggling stat.
00:46:19
Speaker
I mean this guy penalty merchant he's a penalty merchant and like I feel like he doesn't even really get talked about as a penalty merchant because he's mainly known as an elite shot stopper yeah, but like he like I like I said like I had zero nerves that we were going to lose the game when it went to a shootout and
00:46:38
Speaker
It was Matt Turner versus Dane St. Clair. I was like that we have the edge there You know that's it's penalties, and it's a toss-up every time But like you give me that situation ahead of time. I'm always taking Matt Turner The US looked pretty bad in this game. Yeah A lot of people aren't happy about that I made the mistake of going into the USMNT Twitter mentions after the goal On the tweets about the gold mistake come on. That's content
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, it was a bad call the anonymous bots weren't happy and you know I realized it's pointless to point out But you know this is the B squad and and when I say B squad I want to be very clear that I'd never mean that in a derogatory way at all all it means is that this squad is not the first choice group that we saw in Nations League and it's not the it's not the group of players in the pool that we would be starting if we had like a must-win game or a game in a actually big tournament like
00:47:32
Speaker
No offense to the gold cup, but it's like it's a developmental type tournament where you're kind of just trying to get looks for the Deeper guys in the pool So yeah, you know for anyone wondering I saw a lot of comments on Twitter that were like why didn't you just call in the
00:47:50
Speaker
First choice, guys. This is a disgrace. What a joke. Look at all these MLS players. Why would you not call in Christian Pulisic and Gio for the Gold Cup? And, you know, just to clarify, the answer to that is because that would be fucking stupid and pointless to call in the exact same Nations League team for the Gold Cup.
00:48:08
Speaker
First of all, they just played Nations League right before. That final was six days before the Gold Cup started. So I don't think it would make a lot of sense to just throw that exact team into a different tournament six days later. But more importantly than that, it just makes way more sense to use a tournament like this to evaluate the other guys in the pool.
00:48:27
Speaker
Giving minutes to the B squad, guys, is how you find out which ones can contribute to the A squad. All right, that's not hard to understand. We could have called in the A squad and smashed Canada in this game like we did in Nations League, but you don't gain anything from that. The A squad we already know about. You don't need any more data points or evaluation on Gio or Pulisic or Yunus Musa or Weston McKinney.
00:48:49
Speaker
You just got to be an adult about it and realize that there's going to be a quality drop off. We might not win the tournament. But these are still good data points for the other group of players in the pool. And for that reason, I'm rooting for us to win. And I'm glad that we won just because I want to see this group of players get as much minutes as possible to see what they can do. When Brandon Vasquez put us up 1-0 in the 88th, I literally, I promise I'm not joking. I was thinking to myself, I really wouldn't mind
00:49:17
Speaker
Like if Canada got the equalizer here because then we would get to cook in extra time a little bit and we can see a little bit more from these players and I'm pretty sure we're still going to win because we've been out playing Canada and the only reason that they tied it was because we gave up a really dumb penalty.
00:49:35
Speaker
The Gold Cup in general has also showed that the B.J. Callahan is the greatest coach of all time crowd. You probably should have just slowed your roll from the jump on that. It's so funny to me that there were actually these takes flying around during Nations League like, look at how good we look with B.J. Callahan. Just think about it.
00:49:53
Speaker
BJ Callahan calling the shots this guy clearly knows what he's doing and now we get to the gold cup we look pretty bad because there's a quality drop-off on the roster that got called in and We're barely taking results against the higher level teams that were playing and now no one's saying anything about the coaching You know funny how that's not true because one of my favorite things on US men's national team Twitter right now are the conspiracy theories that Greg is he really coaching the team which I think is awesome and
00:50:22
Speaker
Yeah, I would love it if Greg was shadow coaching. Yeah, there was some funny memes going around, a handle for Ian, our friend. He had a really good bit going of great actual coaching by BJ Callahan on that Vasquez goal, but terrible shadow coaching from Greg to give up the equalizer.
00:50:44
Speaker
It's so stupid man I Barely even when created to the shadow coaching thing like I just I feel like that's from like the deep deep QAnon yeah Dude, he's been the coach. He's been the coach if Like what I don't know what do you mean like yeah? I'm the coach of the team you know just to be clear the reason that we looked so good in Nations League was because the players on the a squad are
00:51:11
Speaker
are a really good and b it seems pretty clear to me took some kind of significant developmental leap like we've never looked that good no under any coach and
00:51:23
Speaker
A lot of the time the coach is only as good as the roster, man. That is why you can have a situation where we look like one way in Nations League and then we look another way in the gold cup with the same guy coaching the team. That's the biggest thing, the quality of the player pool and how they work together and whether they develop or not. Those are the things that affect the results on the field more than who the coach is.
00:51:46
Speaker
And that's why I don't really care about this Burr Hall to rehire one way or the other. And I think it's probably fine because I feel more confident in the quality of the first choice player pool than I ever have after seeing what they looked like in Nations League. And that's the most important thing.
00:52:02
Speaker
So I don't say that no knock on BJ Callahan. I've been on record saying that he's doing a fine job on this interim stint I'm just saying if you were talking about how good he was during Nations League and how he deserved the full-time job based off that Then it just doesn't really logically follow that you're not criticizing him for the lackluster results and performances that we've had in the gold cup Does it you know they can't have that one way in Nations League and then when there's a drop-off in the gold cup? Not point out the same thing. I don't think it works like that. So
00:52:33
Speaker
Either way, we probably should have lost this game. Brandon Vasquez put us up one zero in the 88th minute or so. And for him, send him to the Bundesliga. And at that point, it's pretty criminal that we didn't just see that game out. Miles Robinson gave up an egregiously bad penalty that allowed Canada to tie it.
00:52:50
Speaker
And that was his second handball of the game. He got bailed out in the first half. He committed a handball and they VA'ed it and it would have been a penalty kick. The only reason it wasn't a penalty kick is because they also spotted a foul on the play that negated the entire play. So the handball was canceled.
00:53:06
Speaker
But that really could have been a penalty and then the one he gave up the equalizer on he's making a challenge on the ball with his arm Fully extended out and yeah, he got unlucky that it deflected off of it But I feel like you got it to have your hands behind your back right there You know do the new who you can't have your arm out like that. You're risking the handball every time so rough game for miles rough game for both the CBs and
00:53:27
Speaker
Jaylen Neal had a rough one too, but see that like the Jaylen Neal thing is one where I give some grace and I'm not gonna like harp on the kid for it. Jaylen Neal is 19. He's probably playing for the senior team before he's fully ready realistically. That's what it looked like to me.
00:53:42
Speaker
but that's the thing with these gold cup games it's a chance to give guys like that a run and let them sink or swim why not it's fucking gold cup doesn't matter in this case i think he sank a little bit but if they're high on him as a prospect internally there is nothing wrong with throwing him out there and living with the growing pains of which were there were a few in this game but in the end the back line was bad in this game there's kind of no way around that yeah i mean
00:54:08
Speaker
Jacob Schaffelberg, we had him out there looking like a multi-million dollar transfer target. He was cooking Brian Reynolds. Yeah, he was. Okay. Jacob Schaffelberg plays for Nashville SC. He's a Toronto FC homegrown. He's a fine MLS player. He's having a good little year for Nashville SC actually.
00:54:28
Speaker
He's not that good. He should not have been eating Brian Reynolds lunch the entire game, or at least the entire time he was on the field. I'm not sure he might have subbed on. But I mean, he was out competing whoever we had on the right side of the field the entire time he was out there. He absolutely bammed on Matt Miasga on the go ahead goal that they scored in extra time. So just a pretty rough game on defense. But you know,
00:54:59
Speaker
I mean, credit to the U.S. for getting the equalizer after Schaffelberg scored that and then winning the shootout. It's fine. We're moving on. No harm done. My only other big takeaway from this game is that Brandon Vasquez is winning the sweepstakes for one of those backup forward spots. True. We should obviously, I think, be starting balligan in every game of consequence, but, you know, this three-man horse race for the backup nine spot with Brandon Vasquez, Ricardo Pepe, and Jesus Pereira,
00:55:26
Speaker
you know Pepe Pepe still has a good shout but I think Vasquez is arguably the front runner yeah I agree he scored two big goals in this tournament and they were against the two higher level teams that we've played you know in Jamaica and in Canada and
00:55:42
Speaker
And as much as I think the Jesus Ferreras goals against minnows argument is pretty dumb in the same way that Leo choose for assists don't count argument is dumb. I think it does work in Vasquez's favor here that he's scoring the goals in the bigger games against the higher level opponents. I do think you have to wait that.
00:55:59
Speaker
you know if neither of them were scoring against the minnows or in the big games you know that would be a tough situation or if they were both only scoring against the minnows you know it might be harder to evaluate it but I think they're different strikers though they are different strikers and he's just rare like he's a finesse guy he
00:56:21
Speaker
He also this game. I don't even know what they had him doing in this game They were they did the same thing they did in the World Cup where they shot in 4000 crosses to this five foot seven guy and pray well But then at one point after Vasquez subbed on Ferreira like dropped back to like he was like a yeah But then he was also like out wide and launching in crosses like he was a winger. Yeah
00:56:42
Speaker
Yeah, it was so I don't know if BJ Callahan like told him to play like just whatever spot he felt like or what was going on But either way like he was not playing as a nine for a lot of that game He was to start but like it evolved into this thing where he was kind of just Freestyling which he was just they let him cook They said fuck it. Let him cook and he was cooking and he didn't score a goal But Brandon Vasquez did so
00:57:08
Speaker
I mean this game honestly needed Jordan. This was a Jordan Morris game. Jordan did sub on for extra time. Yeah Jordan also Christian subbed on to and you know we didn't score. We didn't score the equalizer or when the shoot out until Christian was on the field. Correct. I think about that. That's something for you to think about USMNT Twitter. Okay. Think about that one. Yeah.
00:57:34
Speaker
We'll keep Jordan, but you can you can call up with Christian Jordan, at least. It's just another situation where, you know, people are going to talk about how they weren't doing anything. Christian was out there. They had him playing right back. They literally did the right back roll down rolled on meme for the national team.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, I've never have had any idea what Christian rolled ons role is supposed to be for the US men's national team It's obnoxious They they they played him as a holding mid. They've played him at right mid. They've played him at center mid I'm a goalkeeper like you know they do what the Sounders do which is put him like wherever so he's never been given a defined role so he goes out there in an undefined role and
00:58:17
Speaker
doesn't look fully acclimated or fully comfortable because he's playing in a role that hasn't been defined with players that he hasn't played a lot yet. Everyone talks about how underwhelming the performance is when a lot of the times it was 10 minutes at the end of the game out of position with players that he hasn't played with a lot.
00:58:36
Speaker
That is just always way too small of a sample size to credibly evaluate. But people want to fire their takes off anyway. If you're going to call him in, give him a roll. Give him an actual roll. Tell him what his position is. Don't put him out there in extra time playing right back. I mean, it's fine. He can do that.
00:58:53
Speaker
You're never going to get a good idea of what he can really contribute to the team unless you give him a role. So I mean, that's my rant on that. I just, I just saw him out there at right back and I was like, dude, are you kidding me? Like I talk about that as like a joke when Seattle does it. Then they drafted his brother who ended up actually becoming right back rolled on. So we didn't have to do it anymore. And then now he's getting called into the national team and they're doing it again. Like Seattle finally was like, all right, we're putting him at right mid. Like that's his position. And now they can't play without him.
00:59:22
Speaker
And now they now the offense can't function without him. And now the US national team is putting him at right back. It's ridiculous. It's like crack dude. Once you go roll down, you never go back. I don't know. I don't know. Whatever that's saying is. I have no clue. I got I wasn't even going to talk about it on the pod, but you reminded me of the right. I saw right back rolled on for the US national team. And I was just like, bro, what are we what are we talking about?
00:59:49
Speaker
What are we doing? It's because Greg is shadow coaching. I'm telling you shadow coach Greg give Christian, you know, I don't care what position it is. Yeah. If it's right back, you know, I thought he probably looked better than Brian Reynolds did. Everyone's talking about how Brian Reynolds is like the future behind desk or whatever because he plays in Italy and my guy went out there and got absolutely cooked on by Jacob Schaffelberg. All right.
01:00:15
Speaker
like, maybe the Joe Scali looks great nations league, but maybe the sweepstakes behind, Virginia desk should include Christian rolled on. I don't know. I'm not trying to bag on Brian Reynolds. I'm just saying it's dumb that we got Christian rolled on playing right back. You know, if you're going to commit to that, commit to that and make him a right back, come out and say it. BJ, I'm putting the pressure on you. Give the man a, give the man a chance.
01:00:39
Speaker
give the man a chance. Couple other quick hitters from around MLS and then we can call it a wrap on Episode 11 Noah. Let's see what did I have. Bruce Arena was very unhappy after this week's slate of games.
01:00:56
Speaker
He was pissed, and he actually had a right to be. I have my share of fun with Bruce Arena's disgruntled press conferences after there's a call that he doesn't like. But this was really, really bad. This was probably the worst pro referee error of the season. It was one of those ones where they had to issue an official statement. They were like,
01:01:16
Speaker
we screwed this one up unfortunately unfortunately we're gonna have to apologize we apologize to the new england revolution that was our bad you should have had a draw but instead you took it now our fault uh we're not changing the result but our bad
01:01:33
Speaker
Basically what happened was New England was playing the New York Red Bulls They were down to one in the 93rd minute Andrew Farrell scored a really great
Refereeing Controversies & MLS Highlights
01:01:42
Speaker
goal for them. It was a shame. It was erroneously waved off it was a banger from outside the box and They called the New England striker for being in the field division of the goalkeeper in an offside position which is
01:01:57
Speaker
Technically, that is supposed to disallow a goal, so the referee went, he VAR'd it, he looked at it, and he saw that the striker was in an offside position and immediately, or I don't know if it was immediate, it might have been a 25-minute check. I hope not, because they ended up getting the call wrong.
01:02:15
Speaker
So the striker Veroni was in an offside position but what they missed was that there was a deflection on the on the shot and if there's a deflection on the shot and the Offside guys blocking the goalkeeper's field of vision. It doesn't matter because the shot was deflected So the goal should stand and the referee somehow went to VAR
01:02:38
Speaker
Looked at the replay. I'm assuming multiple times because they always look at it 27 times correct, and he still got the car on he got the car on and Disallowed the goal even though that there is a clear deflection that you can see on the replay so Pro had to issue an apology the revs got hosed they took a 2-1 L when they should have had a really good 2-2 draw and You know I'm really
01:03:02
Speaker
I feel like I've been pretty consistent on this show. I'm not someone who harps on on refereeing decisions. Typically, I think if you're if you're hedging everything,
01:03:17
Speaker
on a result based on one call, you can't be leaving it to one 50-50 call. Most circumstances, you only have yourself to blame if one 50-50 call determines whether you got the result you wanted or not.
01:03:33
Speaker
But what you can't have is situations where refs are going and looking at the VAR and still missing the call. That just blows my mind, man. You have the replay right there. Like everyone else can see it. How do you miss that?
01:03:50
Speaker
How do you miss that? It's pretty bad. You wet, like the whole point of it is so you go look and correct it. So you can't, you cannot do that. You can't have that. That is, I mean, like, I don't know. Like I feel like you should, like, you should get suspended as a ref. Oh, it probably will. If you have that, like, I doubt that they'll let the VAR who was on that match and the, and the center official, they'll probably ban them for like undisclosed number of games or whatever.
01:04:17
Speaker
That was probably the worst call I've seen all season. Bruce was pissed off rightfully.
01:04:24
Speaker
the revs got hosed so unfortunate unfortunate but wanted to highlight that one because it was the worst call that i've seen all season hungover lafc drew 1-1 to san jose at home so they continue to be hungover we don't really need to talk about that l.a. just hungover unfortunate but what i did want to talk about was and you mentioned it earlier noah but
01:04:49
Speaker
Marbury also a late take is looking good. Yeah, it is. Mark Castner at Sounder at Heart, from Sounder at Heart, that hack who writes for that hack website. I'm just kidding. Shout out Mark Castner. Shout out Sounder at Heart. Shout out Jeremiah O'Shawn. Shout out Dave Clark.
01:05:05
Speaker
But you know, so I dished the RSL might be cooking take. And then they went down to zero in their next game. And he was like, he hit me up on the group chat. He was like, Oh, how you feeling? How you feeling about that take now ourselves losing to zero. And I was like, just wait, just wait, just wait for the RSL take. All right.
01:05:22
Speaker
four zero over Atlanta, Orlando city of a C at America first field, which is still the dumbest stadium name in the league. But what are you talking about brother? Come on now. Four zero at America first field. And this was the debut of Chico Arango and Chico Arango scored a goal 23 minutes into the game. All right.
01:05:42
Speaker
God's here. RSL has a number nine and it's even funnier because it's totally at the expense of LAFC. They never wanted to lose Chicho Arango. They had to sell them on to Liga MX because of their salary cap and roster situation.
01:05:59
Speaker
And I think it's incredibly tight that he ended up going to League MX, spending like half a season there and then immediately defecting to RSL and now turning RSL into what looks like could be a powerhouse. I mean, RSL was balling in this game. Chicho scored 23 minutes into his team debut. Justin Glad scored another goal. Savarino, their other DP, scored a goal. Anderson Julio, who I'm not sure is a DP anymore, but is a DP or TAM level player for them. He scored a goal.
01:06:29
Speaker
so i'm telling you all we also lake is cooking with gas down there they are they are going to finish higher than la fc i think they probably if if they keep cooking like this they're going to be up towards the top of the west because the thing about rsl is that it's pablo ball so they're always going to be tough to break down on defense that's like pablo just drills that into every team he coaches is like you're never going to score on us but um
01:06:58
Speaker
Now he's also never really had a roster like this where you have an elite number nine in Chichorongo, an elite MLS number nine, and then you have a young prospect who has a ton of upside with Diego Luna where just say for the sake of argument that Diego Luna hits and breaks out in a similar way that Leo Chiu is for Seattle say,
01:07:26
Speaker
Mean all of a sudden you're talking about a loaded roster. Yeah with Chico and Diego Luna and guys like Anderson Julio Pablo Ruiz who scored the Really sick half field goal a couple weeks ago. He had three assists in this game crazy. So but it doesn't count
01:07:45
Speaker
That doesn't count because they all came in one game. Correct. Thank you for pointing that out. You have to discount that. They had the type of performance where you can't not look at that and be like, okay. Yeah. Okay. We might be talking about something with RSO. We might be talking about something with RSO. They've been kind of like a Pablo ball grind it out team the last year and a half or two years, however long he's been there.
01:08:12
Speaker
They're cooking. They're cooking. They look like a forest in the west. And I'm predicting that that's going to continue. I just really like their roster. I think they've done really good work down there. And the Chicho signing was great. And they absolutely whammed on Orlando. Orlando did not have a chance. LAFC punching the air right now.
01:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's just funny, man, like they. Chicho was a big reason that they had a lot of the success that they did last year, and they were still they were still cooking earlier this season with doing the Carlos Velez, the false nine thing, and they were making that work. But I think as much as the Champions League hangover in the fatigue, they don't have a number nine right now.
01:08:59
Speaker
No, they don't they got it like so and I think they know they got to go sign one That's why they traded a poku to get some to get some salary cap Space like I it's only if see so you know they're gonna sign some big-time guy They're gonna sign some guy who's just as good as chicha arango Yeah, you can write that down, and that's probably gonna help them a lot until that happens like They could they could get over this hangover, and I don't know how much la fc is is gonna be able to
01:09:27
Speaker
really like break out of this like they need a number nine they need they need a lot of stuff on their roster right now they're gonna be willing and dealing that's why you see them making trades and stuff so that's one to keep an eye on
01:09:42
Speaker
The Houston Dynamo scored one of my favorite goals that's been scored in MLS this season in their 2-2 draw against Sporting Kansas City. This was one of those just really amazing team goals. Hector Herrera, their Mexico international, who's been playing increasingly better ball for them.
01:09:58
Speaker
the last few weeks. He was really the orchestrator of it. It was just really good combination play where he combined with a guy at the top of the penalty area and he backheeled it back to him and Hector Herrera made the perfect run onto it.
01:10:15
Speaker
They absolutely sliced up the supporting KC defense on this play. The back heel finds Herrera perfectly. I love an unselfish pass to a guy in front of an open net for a tap-in.
01:10:32
Speaker
Hector Herrera, that's just what makes him such a good player is He's not he's not immediate his first instinct isn't necessarily I need to score this myself because I'm in on goal and I have an angle where I can probably score it He sees his guy wide open make the unselfish play
01:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, and it makes it look way cooler. It looked like a FIFA goal. So I wanted to I wanted to shout that one out because it's probably not going to get goal of the week. But like a goal like that is goal of the week in my eyes just as much as a banger because that's that's just a great team goal. Like that's one of the best team goals that you're going to see all year. So good job by the Houston Dynamo.
01:11:10
Speaker
And I think that was pretty much it for episode 11 Noah I think we can call it right there We I think we laid down some red hot audio there. So oh one thing I did forget during the US game I don't know if you saw this but after the game there was a little scuffle as the team's on into the locker room and Allegedly it was over maple syrup
01:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna say like did someone steal the Tim Hortons from the locker room? Yeah, no idea what happened But just thought it was funny that Canada and Mexico B teams are fighting. I'm sorry Canada. I'm sorry. It's all out of love It's all out of love and I really do I really do think that your national team has made impressive strides in the last couple years I mean you guys won the octagonal. I really can't say shit
01:11:55
Speaker
like you bammed on us really hard at Tim Hortons field in the octagonal correct and then won the octagonal so then proceeded to do absolutely nothing in the World Cup and then lost all three games at the World Cup and then got totally bammed on us in Nations League and then lost to us in the gold cup in penalties and had the white caps lose to the Sounders
01:12:14
Speaker
But you know, it's all out of love. It's all out of love. I got no animosity towards the country of Canada. I definitely got no animosity towards Tim Hortons. I don't know how much clearer I can make that. Tim Hortons sponsor the pot. I think that at this point, we deserve to be sponsored by Tim Hortons for the amount of Tim Hortons content that we've done on this show. I agree.
01:12:40
Speaker
Thank you, as always, to everyone who's been tuning in. We continue to put up really solid numbers. We're coming in at about 100 or 120 of you or so per episode, which is just really great. I love that we have that baseline. And I just really appreciate the support. It's been so much fun doing a podcast that people actually listen to and interact with. I'll do another round of questions and takes soon where you guys can submit your takes, and we'll talk about them on the pod.
01:13:09
Speaker
But for now, we're going to get out of here and we will see you again after the quakes game on Wednesday. We'll tee up a little reaction episode and break down that game and then preview the next game, which is I don't even remember. It's one of them if they're going to play soccer games are going to stop the season. The grind is going to keep going and we're going to keep riding the content because we've been having a lot of
01:13:36
Speaker
a lot of fun with this content so far we're gonna keep putting it out so correct until then we out peace