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Nos Audietis: We’ve got some rumors to discuss!
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With the Fourth of July playing havoc with their schedules, Jeremiah did a solo podcast without Niko Moreno. There was a lot going on this week, including big injury news, a couple signing rumors, a kit leak and a preview of the Crew game.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart podcast network. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. I am coming to you solo today. Nico Moreno was not able to coordinat we were not able to coordinate schedules.
00:00:16
Speaker
Fourth of July threw both of our plans into havoc. But because this was such an active week, so much was going on, I felt like I owed it to you, our listeners, to get on the mic and record a podcast, even if it is solo, even if it's going to miss some of the wonderful banter that Nico and i are so known for.
00:00:39
Speaker
ah But anyway, we have, and just to give you a little bit of a rundown, we have a pretty big injury update. We have a couple different signing rumors, one of them internal, another one of them external.
00:00:51
Speaker
He even got a kit leak. And of course, we'll have a little bit of a preview of the crew game. So let's just get started right off the bat.
Impact of Jao Paulo's Injury
00:00:59
Speaker
Get the bad news out of the way first.
00:01:02
Speaker
Jao Paulo, as you may have heard, is out with a ACL injury. He picked it up on Wednesday in training. It was a non-contact injury. Today, Brian Schmetzer, today's Saturday.
00:01:14
Speaker
Today... today And Brian confirmed that it was to the same right leg that he hurt back in 2022. And, you know, in 2022, he was able to get back in time for the 2023 beginning of the 2023 season. He ended up playing almost 3000 minutes that year, even though he was sort of complaining of hip issues.
00:01:34
Speaker
Last year, he took a step back a little bit. He was able to mostly stay healthy, but he was in more of a reserve role as Obed Vargas sort of emerged as the first choice in the midfield along with Christian Roldan, and they kind of did some other things there.
00:01:52
Speaker
And he was out of contract. He decided to come back this year. He took like a 60% pay cut. ah but he has an option for next year. And so you add that all together and it really does put his future very much in doubt.
00:02:07
Speaker
I suppose there is, you know, he seems like the kind of player who could transition into coaching relatively easily. He has the right personality. He has the right work ethic. He is someone who had to, who understands the tactics of the game. He also is someone who it didn't come easily to. He had to sort of work his way And so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Sounders try to transition him into a coaching.
00:02:32
Speaker
I mean, it's also possible that he wants to try to come back. He is 34, but at 34, you kind of wonder how much juice is there really left to squeeze. You know, he only had played about 500 minutes this year.
00:02:46
Speaker
Maybe he he gets up to 1,000 minutes if he stays healthy. But next year, he's probably going to be you know seeing diminished minutes again. i would imagine the Sounders would be willing to bring him back at ah at a lower contract number. He was on $600,000 this year that just came out in the the release from the Players Union.
00:03:06
Speaker
And, you know, I suppose there's a number that it might make sense for him to come back at. But again, you know, he, on the best case scenario, we're talking six to nine months, he's going to be out. So that would, you know, very, very, you know, it would be a stretch to get back for the beginning of the season. I would suspect that he probably wouldn't get back until, you know,
00:03:30
Speaker
a quarter, a third of the way into the next year at best. And, you know, you look at all the work that you have to put in to get back and then he's going to get back. And for what to, you know, the centers are going to have to bring in someone that's going to take his minutes next year, presumably. So it's, it's going
Roster Challenges and Potential Replacements
00:03:45
Speaker
to be a challenge. ah You know, I don't want to count him out. He's someone who deserves,
00:03:49
Speaker
the opportunity to make that decision for himself obviously but i i think there could be a future for him here especially if he's willing to do something in the non-playing capacity ah but it's it's it is bad timing for the sounders uh they have already used they they're allowed to put him on the season entering sending season ending injury list which would allow him the Sounders to replace him on the roster.
00:04:15
Speaker
That's his senior roster spot, but they are not allowed to get salary cap relief because they've already done that with Paul Areola. Of course, they signed Ryan Kent using that spot. So the Sounders do have some wiggle room in the salary caps to bring in a replacement, a veteran replacement, maybe someone that makes about what he made, which is about $600,000 for the year. you figure you maybe have you know you figure you you maybe have you know, a $300,000 player or something that you might be able to bring in.
00:04:45
Speaker
I don't know. how likely they are to do that. They did ah another thing that we just reported on Snyder Brunel, who is come on defiance player. They signed but least, i don't know if they've officially signed him, but they're, they're planning on signing him to a homegrown contract. Now he's 18. I don't necessarily think he's going to take up a lot of the minutes that Jao Palo was going to play. Otherwise, i think in the short term, we're probably looking at maybe a little bit more time for Danny Leyva. Yeah.
00:05:14
Speaker
maybe Alex Roldan can sort of deputize there. ah Kalani Kosarienzi has looked really good at right back, so that might make it a little easier to try Alex Roldan in the midfield if they need to give you know players a rest. And I do think Obed Vargas and Christian Roldan probably need to start finding some time to take off because both of them right now are on pace to set record ah career highs for minutes played.
00:05:39
Speaker
you you know, ah Christian Roldan is already over 2000 minutes, I believe across all competitions, you know, he would be on pace for something like 3,500 minutes. That is a lot of minutes, especially for a player who, you know, ah has stayed, has been healthy for the most part. But again, even for him, that's a lot of minutes. So I would hope the centers are going to find time to give him off.
00:06:02
Speaker
I would not expect him to play, for instance, much in the leagues cup. Leagues cup is coming up in the, at the end of the month. That would have been ah prime time to see Jao Paulo. But instead, we'll probably see a lot more Danny Leyva. Like i said, we might see some Alex Roldan.
00:06:15
Speaker
Maybe we'll see some Snyder Brunel. And i don't know, maybe it's possible that there are veterans out there that just need minutes. Sean Davis is a player who you may remember...
00:06:27
Speaker
was with Nashville SC last year. He got traded to the Galaxy, and then he got cut right before the season. And he was a player who was pretty good at times. I could see him just you know eating some minutes for the Sounders if they if they need that.
00:06:41
Speaker
So that's a player who is currently, you know, he's actually listed on the MLS Players Association ah salary report. He is out of he is he is not playing with anyone right now. So presumably he's available if any MLS team wanted to sign him.
00:06:55
Speaker
And so, you know, those are not necessarily great options, but that's the situation the centers are in. I would imagine they'll probably take a little bit of time to make a move. They actually can't do anything until July 27th. That's when the transfer window opens.
00:07:11
Speaker
So they have some time to think about it. ah They actually didn't even announce if when Giaopalo's surgery is going to happen. So you know i could I think that's sort of indicative of them sort of assessing their options, as it were.
00:07:25
Speaker
um But then on Snyder Brunel, this is a player who, if you play pay attention to the Tacoma Defiance, you probably know you've probably heard this player's name. He first started playing with the Defiance back in 2023 as an amateur.
00:07:42
Speaker
he you know He, I think, had the second most minutes of an amateur in Tacoma 1 Defiance slash s two history. and he is ah a young player. He's still only 18, and he's someone who kind of plays beyond his years a little bit. He is very, you know, he's very much a two-way player. He has some offensive ability.
00:08:02
Speaker
You know, he's actually scored goals in his last two Tacoma Defiance games, including on Thursday. ah You know, he's starting to get U.S. national team or U.S. youth national team call-ups. In fact, he just played four games with the U18s at the UEFA Friendship Cup, which the U.S. s won, actually, and he started the finale against France. Now, he wasn't on the field when the U.S. won that game in a shootout, but you know, he he helped the U.S. s get to that point.
00:08:28
Speaker
I like him a lot. He has captained the defiance quite a bit for a young player. He is not, he's someone who's not afraid of a tackle. He has some offensive ability. He can, he can play the final pass.
00:08:40
Speaker
He can shoot when needed. So I like him a lot. I do think he's probably a little bit more, you know, in the in the eight mold than as a six, but he's, you know, he's 18 years old, so he can evolve again.
00:08:56
Speaker
i just don't know how much of an immediate help he is. Uh, really, uh, that was actually one of two notable rumors that we got
Pursuing Noah Ohio: A New Prospect
00:09:05
Speaker
this week. The other one was a player named Noah Ohio.
00:09:09
Speaker
He is a six foot forward who is currently with Utrecht. ah Nico Moreno actually reported this, that the Sounders have not only put in an offer, but are sort of in negotiations, active negotiations for Utrecht, or sorry, with Utrecht.
00:09:26
Speaker
And Ohio, I think that's how you say his name. He's apparently of Nigerian descent, but he grew up in England and the Netherlands. He actually has played for both the English and Dutch youth national team setups. I believe he has like 10 goals for their youth, various youth youth national teams.
00:09:45
Speaker
ah But he has moved around a lot. you You know, he has played for seven different organizations. He's only 22 years old He is almost exactly as old as you can be and still qualify for the U22 initiative, which is kind of an interesting ah piece to fit in there. you know He's probably someone whose transfer value has diminished a lot ah bit because he hasn't been able to stick anywhere.
00:10:07
Speaker
you know he's He's moved almost every year. He's played in Belgium. He's played in has played the championship. He's played in the championship. in England. He has played in the Netherlands.
00:10:19
Speaker
ah So he has moved around quite a bit. And, you know, you can see he's one of those players who I think a lot of coaches see promise in him. He has the physical skills. He has the physical appearance. He's a big, a relatively big guy. He's got some speed. He's got some, you know decent skills.
00:10:40
Speaker
And so you can see why Various coaches have been interested in him and why they think he ah could fit. And frankly, he's produced almost everywhere he's went. Now, he hasn't put up huge numbers, but this is a guy who has basically scored at a goal every other, you know, a point. I think it was point four, eight goals per 90 during his professional career. I mean, that's a solid.
00:11:04
Speaker
output, especially for a player who's playing in, you know, relatively competitive leagues. I mean, he's not just toiling away in second divisions ah in sort of second class European leagues. This is a guy who is playing for, you know, getting first team minutes in Belgium, getting first team minutes in the air to VC getting first team minutes in the Austrian Bundesliga again, like he, he had three goals in the English championship and in just eight appearances, ah most of them off the bench.
00:11:32
Speaker
So there is definitely some concern that this is a player who hasn't stuck around for a variety of reasons, who hasn't been able to establish himself as a regular starter for whatever reasons, but is,
00:11:47
Speaker
is someone who has some upside. And frankly, when the the Sounders are shopping in a price point, that is not really guaranteed anything. You know, my understanding is they are in the two to $3 million dollars ah transfer range and, and no Ohio would seemingly fit within that.
00:12:04
Speaker
And, um, and And so when you are shopping in that price range, you're not looking at players who are going to blow you away on the stat sheet and or or else you're looking at really, you know, oftentimes you're looking at young players.
00:12:18
Speaker
So I think what the Sounders are looking at here is someone who has a relatively decent um track record, who has some upside, who they think can potentially excel.
00:12:29
Speaker
Now, is he going to push Jordan Morris for starters minutes? No, I really doubt that, not in the short term, especially. ah Might he push Danny Masofsky for the first, you know, the the top number nine backup on the roster?
00:12:43
Speaker
Maybe. i mean, I think he is at least an upgrade over, or at least you can believe he's an upgrade over Osase DeVosaro, who is, I suppose, the third choice ah number nine.
00:12:54
Speaker
I don't know how Jesus Ferreira really fits in there, but he does look like he's, you know, as an aside, he seems to be looking pretty good out on the right wing. So I think Ohio you know offers some intrigue. I think on in a lot of ways, I've seen him compared to Dejan Jovalich, who of course was the player who is maybe the most successful U22 signing in league history.
00:13:18
Speaker
He took a couple years to really get going with the Galaxy, but he had some you know he had bounced around a lot. And admittedly, he had had more success in Austria, in the on just Austrian Bundesliga, than...
00:13:31
Speaker
Ohio has anywhere, but you know, you can see, you can squint in sort of see a lot of similarities. So I get it. I think if they can get this deal done, I have to admit it's about as good as I would have expected when I've, you know, i think if the Sounders really want to get serious about this roster spot, they need to probably up the budget.
00:13:53
Speaker
Like they can't be shopping in the two to $3 million dollars range. They probably need to be shopping more in the three to $6 million dollar range. But as far as I know, that's not happening. So this is you know, you you sort of make do with what you can and ah and you roll the dice, essentially.
Kit Leak and Fan Reactions
00:14:10
Speaker
ah All right. Well, there was another big sort of piece of rumor news, and that had to do with a kit leak. You know, we if you are a regular listener or a regular reader of Sounder at Heart, certainly if you're in our Discord, you're aware that there is a third kit coming this year.
00:14:28
Speaker
This was effectively confirmation that they are getting a third kit. ah Footy headlines has the, an actual picture of the kit. And Hey, if you don't want to be spoiled, if you want to be totally surprised when this thing gets revealed, I urge you fast forward about two minutes, three minutes. That's about what I'll do on this.
00:14:49
Speaker
And you will not have to have that, that spoiled for you. Now, if you are still here, Let's talk a little bit about what this kit is showing us. ah it It seems to be modeled after the 1994 Nike kit, which is the kit that the Sounders wore when they came back.
00:15:07
Speaker
ah You know, from 1983, the Sounders ceased operations. There were a few teams that operated in the meantime, ah Seattle Storm, Seattle FC, teams like that.
00:15:20
Speaker
And then in 1994,
00:15:23
Speaker
sounders were reborn in the a league which is ah the precursor to the usl they eventually merged and became one league so anyway the sounders came back in 1994 players like wade weber uh Peter Hattrip, players like that were were're on that team. It was a pretty talented team, especially when you look at some of the the players who would go on to be coaches.
00:15:47
Speaker
You know, you look around the landscape of Seattle sports, and it has a lot of players from those A-League era who are still involved in Seattle soccer the seattle soccer scene. Anyway, they had a ah pretty, you know, pretty bold kit for 1994.
00:16:01
Speaker
It was sort of a purple ah purple chest and back, and then it had these sort of like zebra style ah sleeves that were in more of a teal.
00:16:13
Speaker
And that is basically what this shirt looks like. It is like a lot of the new throwback kits that MLS is using. It puts the sponsor on the back, which I'm sure some people will like. And in the place where the sponsor normally is, there is a word mark that is, you know, that says Sounders and it has like the wave going through it. Now that was actually part of the 2023 season.
00:16:37
Speaker
brand refresh, which you may remember, they they came out with ah not only a new crest, but they came out with a new wordmark and they came out with tertiary and second secondary and tertiary logos.
00:16:48
Speaker
One of those logos was also like a little cartoon Sammy. The Sammy will be the crest of this shirt, which I kind of like. I think it's a fun kit. I have not seen it in person, so I'm going to withhold some level of judgment.
00:17:01
Speaker
But from what I've seen, I like the story potentially that they're going to be able to tell with this one. I think that's one of the things that ends up being really making or breaking a lot of these kits. You know, I always think about the Jimi Hendrix kit and how When that leaked, people were losing their mind at how ugly it was. They didn't understand it.
00:17:19
Speaker
It looked like it was just kind of like a hodgepodge to design. And then when people saw it in person, and more importantly, when they saw the story that it told, they were over the moon. They were thrilled. They thought it just looked so good. And they they loved it. And it ended up being maybe the most popular Sounders kit ever.
00:17:36
Speaker
And I don't know that this one has quite that potential, but I do think it will... I have a feeling that once they're able to roll it out completely, people are going to like it. I'm certainly not i'm not discouraged by what I've seen.
00:17:50
Speaker
i don't know. i do think it's kind of funny that the sounders are going to have ah solid or like a green kit, a blue kit, and a purple kit that doesn't offer a ton of contrast. There's not really a classic light and dark kit. It's sort of...
00:18:06
Speaker
shades of dark almost, but you know, whatever I'm, that's not my business. I am not here to, uh, to, to try to plan these kinds of things. If MLS approved it, it's not my problem. I'm not going to get into it.
00:18:20
Speaker
Uh, there is another fun aspect of this is that, uh, we saw that it looks like they're going to have a ah team jacket as well as some Sambas, uh, shoes that are going to come out with this. I would imagine there's going to be other pieces of merch that come out along with this,
00:18:34
Speaker
So that's kind of fun. i think that is kind of a neat thing to be able to do. And again, you know, these are kits. I don't get super worked up over them. Although I imagine people will like this and I think they're going to, they're going buy them.
Game Preparation Against the Crew
00:18:48
Speaker
All right. So the final bit of business here before I get out of here, the Sounders are obviously going to be playing the crew tomorrow. That that is Sunday. It's on Sunday.
00:18:59
Speaker
It's the the Sunday game of the week or whatever, to the MLS game of the week. Andrew Wiebe, Taylor Twelman are in town. They're going to be doing the full broadcast. I think that means there's like a half hour pregame show.
00:19:11
Speaker
It also means there's a sideline reporter. you know, it's a little bit better of a, I've actually been pretty impressed with the the package. I don't know how much it does in terms of ratings, but i I do think it's pretty cool that, you know, when you get to go back and watch these games, it looks cool.
00:19:25
Speaker
ah But the crew come to town. Interesting, this is the first time in a while that the Sounders have played an east Eastern Conference team two years in a row. You might remember last year the Sounders played the crew, and they won 4-0 Columbus.
00:19:38
Speaker
That was the game where the crew only brought one goalkeeper, and that goalkeeper got red-carded in the first half. And so they had to play the end of the first half and the entire second half with – ah ah a field player in goal and Albert Rusnak got a hat trick.
00:19:59
Speaker
And Jordan Morris had a goal on that one as well, ah including a a free kick off the the ensuing, the first play that they, they had the Sounders had after the the red card was a free kick that Albert Rusnak drained and sort of kicked started a pretty solid performance.
00:20:18
Speaker
ah The crew come into this game on a three-game winning streak. Notably, all three of those games were at home. They actually haven't won on the road since April 13th against St. Louis, which is a ah pretty bad team.
00:20:32
Speaker
So it's been, you know, they they I think it's a four or five-game winless run on the road for them. they They lost their last two for sure. I know that for sure. And so, you know, they're not exactly a team that is unbeatable.
00:20:47
Speaker
They are fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They are a good but not necessarily great offensive team. They're a good, not necessarily great defensive team.
00:20:57
Speaker
They tend to give up a relatively high number of good quality chances, especially relative to the number of shots they allow. So the Sounders, you know, might want to keep that in mind, work it around a little bit.
00:21:11
Speaker
What the crew really are known for is that they want the ball and they they lead the league in possession. They lead the league in passing percentage. They lead the league in progressive passes. They lead the league in passes into the final third.
00:21:26
Speaker
and they lead the league in passes into the opposing penalty area. So they like to pass the ball. They like to pass the ball relatively aggressively. That doesn't necessarily ah come out in great scoring chances, but hey, the Sounders know a thing or two about that sort of dichotomy
Set Piece Strategy Discussion
00:21:44
Speaker
as well.
00:21:44
Speaker
My suspicion is that the Sounders probably will be willing to give up the ball a little bit more than they would normally be willing to give it up. I suspect they will press just like they always do. The Sounders have quietly become one of the more aggressive pressing teams in the league.
00:21:59
Speaker
And I think that we're probably going to see that here. they'll They'll probably see what they can to create turnovers. The crew also are a little prone to giving up a good set piece chances. So that's something else that the center the centers have not yet scored a set piece goal this year, I don't believe.
00:22:16
Speaker
So that's something that maybe we can, we can end. ah They, the centers still do generate a fair number of shots offset pieces. So I don't necessarily, I'm not sure who's sure that is ah thing about delivery, but there was actually a pretty interesting article from, or a series of, of,
00:22:34
Speaker
a little investigation that homon or Jamon or Jamin, sorry, Jamin Moore, who actually was on this show a few weeks ago from American soccer analysts. And basically what he was illustrating is how the difference between really good set piece teams and really bad set piece teams, oftentimes it's just a few goals in the span of a year. So it's, it's a high variance it's a high variance part of the game. So I don't know if the Sounders should be too worried that they haven't scored from a set piece yet this year. Last year, of course, it took them a long time to finally get a set piece goal. And then they ended up scoring a bunch of them towards the end of the year.
00:23:10
Speaker
That's sometimes how it just goes. All right.
Supporting Ad-Free Content
00:23:14
Speaker
Well, I have done close to 25 minutes now with you. That's about all I have. Oh, I guess i should I could add a couple other little notes.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yemar Gomez Andrade was able to get through a full day of training today. That's the first time he's trained in full, I believe, since late May when he suffered his hamstring injury. And then he, of course, suffered a setback where he hurt his calf a few weeks later.
00:23:36
Speaker
And it looks like he won't be available for this game, but he might be available sporting Kansas City match, I believe, on July twelfth Jordan Morris has also been able to get through full training sessions.
00:23:47
Speaker
I don't think he's going to start, but he is now eligible. Essentially, he's been cleared to start by the physios. So those are some pieces of good news. And with all that, I should probably sign off.
00:24:00
Speaker
I am Jeremiah Shan. ah This is what we learned this week, which is on Nos Audietes, which is part of the Sounder Art Podcast Network. And I will urge you that if you like listening to the show and you are getting increasingly annoyed at the commercials that we have been inserting, and I will admit we have been inserting a lot more commercials lately, i would urge you to become a subscriber And to start listening to us on the subscriber only feed, if you are already a subscriber, I would urge you to go on to our website, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the member member benefits button, and it will explain to you how you can get access to our members only RSS feed.
00:24:44
Speaker
and how you can listen to that pi ah listen to our podcast without having to listen to all these extra ads. So that's a pitch for you. We are still ah well on our way to 3,000 paid subscribers. We are you you know ah maybe a couple dozen subscribers away from reaching that milestone. So that would be pretty cool if we could do that.
00:25:02
Speaker
And of course, that money not only helps support shows like this one, but it supports all the content that we write. As you may or may not know, every piece of content that runs on Sounder at Heart is we pay for it.
00:25:16
Speaker
ah None of that, ah we don't take volunteer submissions, really. We pay for everything that we run. And we think that's really important to a robust, ah journal that's what that's what journalism is, is we should be getting paid to do this work.
00:25:29
Speaker
So anyway, i I apologize for going on that little rant there. But with all that said, I'm Jeremiah Shan, and I will catch you next time.