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Fans react to Seattle Sounders vs. St. Louis CITY SC!
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We react and take calls following Seattle's MLS Matchday 8 clash with St. Louis CITY SC at Lumen Field.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Streaming Information
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:24
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. today? Well, it's gonna be a scorcher.
Match Recap: Sounders vs. St. Louis City SC
00:00:45
Speaker
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to your post-match live for Match Day 8 in MLS. The Seattle Sounders just beat St. Louis City SC 4-1 here at Lumen Field. We're going to be basking in the wind. We're going to be listening to the presser.
00:01:00
Speaker
We're going to be taking calls. We're going to be doing all doing it all here in this booth. that I'm in at the press box here at Lumen. ah A lot to get to, a lot to talk about.
00:01:12
Speaker
I'll give my initial thoughts on the game while we wait for the Schmetz presser to tee up, which should be in just a few minutes here. So I'll give my initial takes while we wait for that.
00:01:24
Speaker
Noah should be back. He's down at the media availability. He should be back at some point. Oh, it looks like he has uploaded the presser to, okay, okay. I got an empty podium. So the presser should be starting here in just a few minutes regarding a a big win for the Seattle Sounders. You know, I think...
00:01:42
Speaker
Some people are probably going to tell you about how it doesn't count because it was St. Louis City SC. I'm not here to say that. You're not going be hearing any it doesn't count narrative from me tonight. This was a big win, especially after how CONCACAF Champions Cup ended. it was a necessary win. It was a great a great performance.
00:01:58
Speaker
Little palate cleanser. And ah some notable good performances. Christian Roldan. with the brace on two set-piece goals from the Seattle Sounders. Albert Rusnak with the assist on both. Christian Roldan with the finish on both.
00:02:17
Speaker
And it was the same set-piece that they ran twice in a row. So that was kind of funny. It was because it' like they they scored two of the exact same goal for the first two goals. You had an Albert Rusnak penalty kick drawn by Paul Rothrock.
00:02:37
Speaker
on the third goal. And then you had an absolutely great goal by Osaze de Rosario, who subbed on late in the second half, comes on and scores a great goal. So if you were hoping that the great Seattle Sounders number nine debate of 2026 was going to gain any clarity tonight, it did not because what Moose got the start and then Osaze scored one of the best goals anyone on the team has scored all season.
00:03:03
Speaker
So
Post-Match Analysis and Team Focus
00:03:05
Speaker
the great number nine debate We'll continue, but let's talk about this win while we wait for Schmetz here. I'm sure it'll be any second that we'll get the presser going, but think there's a lot to like about this win. You know, CCC ended in less than ideal circumstances. I think it's safe to say. i think we're all a little bit soured about how that ended.
00:03:29
Speaker
I think we all feel like think we all know Seattle got very, very close and really could have advanced and made it to the semifinals of CCC. Obviously that was not to be, but then, you know, the focus turns to you got leagues cup, but you also got Phillip.
00:03:44
Speaker
You home back in on Phillip, you get back to the league season where the Sounders are now five, one and one. For 16 points, um I think they're third or fourth in the West or something right now, but but they're averaging well over two points per game in the league. So that's great.
00:04:01
Speaker
That's a great place to be. The goal differential and the goal total were both helped tonight.
00:04:09
Speaker
So that was good to see. And really, like I think for me, a game like this, i can I can kind of put CCC in the past and just move forward.
00:04:23
Speaker
Azarada with the five. Thank you for getting the super chat train rolling. Appreciate you. CR7, the set piece brace king. Yeah, so let's talk about these this is this sequence with the back-to-back corner kick goals because that was pretty funny. I mean, there's not really all that much to analyze with it. They ran the exact same play twice in a row where...
00:04:44
Speaker
Christian kind of disappeared, went invisible at the back post. He's kind of channeling his inner Paul Rothrock, I guess, sneak into the back post there. Unmarked.
00:04:55
Speaker
Rusnak, nice ball to find him at the back post. He scores it. ah So, you know, that would be That would be one thing for St. Louis City to have that happen one time. You know, they're not the first team to concede set-piece goal, but I think they might be the first team I've ever seen to to concede the exact same set-piece goal back-to-back in that short of a time frame.
00:05:19
Speaker
I mean, i let me look this up. Let me look this up. These these goals were how many minutes apart? Like 10 minutes apart, if that. Okay, 15 minutes. 15 minutes later, they give up the first one to Christian in the 22nd minute.
00:05:37
Speaker
15 minutes later, Seattle runs the exact same play, and Christian does it again.
00:05:44
Speaker
So I don't really know what to make of that as far as ah if the Sounders are now a dangerous set piece operation, which they were not really last year.
00:05:58
Speaker
But I'm definitely not going to question them getting two set piece goals. It was great delivery from Albert Rusnak on both of them. Well taken by Christian, you know, point blank finishes, but that gets Seattle off and running. And at that point, you have a multi-goal lead against a team that's been near the bottom of the West all year. So you just need to not let anything stupid happen. But I'm glad that they kept pushing and I'm glad that they got a couple more goals.
00:06:24
Speaker
That was nice to see. What was not nice to see is that Albert Rusnak was lost with an injury in this game. Forgot to mention that. But that was just upsetting because for all the talk that we had earlier this season about how Rusnak was off to a bit of a slow start, he had three goals and two assists in his last 1.5 games before he had to sub out of this one.
00:06:49
Speaker
So he was looking pretty good. He was starting to look like Albert Rusnak again. And I was excited about the implications that they could have for this offense because, you know, despite what some would tell you, despite what some brigade members would tell you, the Albert Rusnak that we saw against Tigris and the Albert Rusnak that we saw tonight To me, that's the guy he pretty much usually is for this team and usually has been for his entire time on this team. And when he's playing like that, when he's bringing it at that level, this offense is much better.
00:07:20
Speaker
And I thought he was fantastic in the Tigres game, even outside of the two goals.
00:07:28
Speaker
I thought he was pinging dimes all over the field. I mean, Tigres couldn't stop him.
00:07:33
Speaker
And then tonight he gets two more primary assists. So they count from that perspective. I understand they don't count because it's St. Louis city. I get it. I get it. Nothing that happened tonight counted. The win doesn't even count. They actually don't even get the points in the standings because St. Louis City SC is not of sufficient quality for it to count as a victory. So this this victory doesn't count. Albert Rusnak's stats obviously you know don't count. But it was nice to see this yeah Seattle get two set-piece goals, and it was nice to see ah Albert put in the delivery.
00:08:04
Speaker
on both of those. And, you know, hopefully it's not too serious of an injury. When he first went down, he looked frustrated. His body language looked, it looked like he was not happy. And anytime you see a guy react like that,
00:08:20
Speaker
the immediate place my mind goes is all right. I mean, these guys know what a multi-week injury feels like. And when they react like that, that's usually what it means. But then he did, he got up and he walked off gingerly, but seems to be in more positive of spirits than he had been previously when he first felt.
00:08:40
Speaker
whatever happens. So we'll see. ah We'll see if Schmetz has any updates on that right now on the presser, but more likely we'll hear about it in exact diagnosis or prognosis next week.
Player Performance Highlights
00:08:53
Speaker
And I imagine, look, you know, I'm just speculating, but based on the amount of these injuries that I've seen on this team over the last couple years, I imagine you're looking at about a two to four week situation Minimum on the low end. Hopefully, I'm hoping that it was more of just like a slight little tweak or precautionary type situation and that maybe he's held out for a game or two and then he's back good to go. But I think we all know that's not usually how it goes.
00:09:24
Speaker
So, you know, it is, it's just every time, every time you think that the hamstrings and the ligaments are,
00:09:36
Speaker
in as good of a place as you could hope for with this team every time, it seems like. Another one of the boys goes down. So that's the bad news.
00:09:49
Speaker
ah The good news, I would say,
00:09:53
Speaker
is that that is an area of the field where you do have a replacement that you know can do the job at as high a level or at least close to as high level as Albert Rusnak can.
00:10:05
Speaker
And that's Jesus Ferreira, who gets another assist tonight. That's his fifth of the league season. And he actually almost scored a goal tonight, too. Which we were talking about it in the press box.
00:10:20
Speaker
ah It would be really nice for them to, you know, get him more goals. But even more than that, just get him in places where he can take shots.
00:10:32
Speaker
Basically, the entire time he's been on the team and all of this season, he has been in this dime-dishing role, this playmaking role, and it is working. They're scoring goals off it. He's getting assists. But this is a guy, as we all know, that has 60-plus MLS goals to his name. we know I don't think that he got traded to this team and forgot the ability of how to score a goal in a soccer game. I seriously doubt that. I think he still can be that guy. But I do think also when he's in the wide channel with Roosnack Central, they are dual tenning, but I think Jesus, for whatever reason, has not been getting in very many goal-dangerous positions for himself while playing the role that he's been asked to play.
00:11:21
Speaker
on this team. We're going to be, we're going to see him running the show for the next at least couple weeks here. You have to imagine. So what I want to see with that is for him to do what he's been doing in that role and play the Albert role, the way he plays it, which is very effective, but also hopefully get in more positions where we can see Jesus Ferrer, the goal score, you know, finally materialize for the Seattle Sounders because as, as good as he has been,
00:11:49
Speaker
as a playmaker and a facilitator and as productive as he's been,
00:11:56
Speaker
they they could get more goals out of him than they've been getting. So we'll see if they can do that. We'll see if they can do that. ah Max, thank you for the $4. Appreciate you, man. I get to watch four goals and Ari. but hubb but Thank you, Max. Appreciate that.
00:12:12
Speaker
it was It was nice to see them score four goals, wasn't it?
00:12:17
Speaker
We had talked about the offense. in the last couple weeks for how good the results had been in league play so far this season. They only had six goals. I think someone was pointing out it was like tied for the fewest in the West or like the whole league or something. And I do think that it's a little misleading.
00:12:35
Speaker
It's a little misleading because they have been playing in CONCACAF Champions Cup and they have been playing on the road every game. So those are two factors that are going to make scoring three, four goals a game every single game a little problem. That's probably just that does not going to happen. That doesn't happen for any team in this league when they have to play on the road for that extended period of a time.
00:12:56
Speaker
And juggle CCC. You can I mean, if you don't believe me, go look at. LAFC, you know, think they lost to Austin FC. They 0-0'd one of their games. That's just that is just kind of how it goes when you're playing in CCC. And they also did score eight goals in CCC.
00:13:15
Speaker
So they were at 14 all comps, which is much closer to what you're seeing from the other upper tier teams in the West. But, you know, they did they did have to go they did have to go show that they can produce a three or four goal game. And I think they did. I mean, they did do that against Tigris, but we we needed to see them. We needed to see them build on that. We needed to see some consistency to, ah I think, make us all feel better about an offense that we saw score a bunch of goals last year, but had not really kicked into gear in league play.
00:13:52
Speaker
So for tonight, you're playing a St. Louis team that is not that good, admittedly. and that you beat 1-0 in St. Louis earlier this season.
00:14:06
Speaker
But what I will say about that, the whole, like, it doesn't count because it's St. Louis thing, because I know where the people are going to say that.
00:14:14
Speaker
What good teams do is when they play teams that they're way better and better than is they take care of business. They leave no doubt about the result. They beat them decidedly.
00:14:25
Speaker
Decidedly? Decisively. They beat them decisively.
00:14:30
Speaker
That is your assignment for a game like this, where you have a team that's struggling near the bottom of the table, coming into Seattle. You just got eliminated from CCC. You're a little pissed off. Your assignment is to go out there, kick their ass, lay three or four goals on them, take three points, on to the next.
00:14:48
Speaker
And that's what they were able to do tonight. And... I think how they did it was encouraging as well. The XG wasn't cooking as much as four goals would indicate, but the execution on those on those set pieces was great.
00:15:05
Speaker
Great job by Paul Rothrock to win that penalty. And then Osaze.
00:15:12
Speaker
Let's talk about Osaze a little bit. I think going into this game, it's fair to say that Osaze's stock was not what it was Certainly in preseason.
00:15:28
Speaker
But.
00:15:31
Speaker
Sorry, guys. Hold on.
00:16:08
Speaker
I think it's fair to say that Osaze's stock was not what it was in preseason. He was ripping it up in preseason. He looked like the best number line not number nine I'd ever seen in preseason.
00:16:23
Speaker
And he was given to the point that he was given the start. Oh, okay, okay. Thank you for being here. It's past your bedtime. You know if the audio is good on this. is my bedtime too This could be an interesting press conference by virtue of how this is going so far. If you have a question on Zoom, go ahead and hit that raise hand hand function for us. Excuse me. We're to begin with questions in the room. Tim Rogers has the mic.
00:16:47
Speaker
Maz, why don't you lead us off?
00:16:51
Speaker
We talked about intentionality. It's all over.
00:16:59
Speaker
Well, I'm going to give credit where credit's due. So you know we had talked a lot about set pieces being important. And we got the one goal from Christian earlier in the year. And I've been kind of hard on Rico and Jake now, Jake Sheard, telling him to like look, we need to we need to be a little bit more dangerous on the goals. And they looked at St. Louis and how they set up.
00:17:25
Speaker
And they put together some really good set pieces. And Albert, to his credit, delivered the ball to the exact spot where the coaches told Christian to be.
00:17:40
Speaker
And Kalani and the guys at the back post were you know setting the blocks at the back post. And so credit to the coaches, credit to the players to get us started at 2-0.
00:17:52
Speaker
Because we're kind of chasing the ball the first 15 minutes. I don't think we could find our feet. I don't think that first 15 minutes was was good. And set pieces, goals in general, Maz, you know this, goals change games.
00:18:04
Speaker
And those two goals started us on ah you know on a path to a comfortable victory. right we'll go to Jeremiah next.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, speaking of Albert, what is his condition? and he's fine. OK. And then what was his what did he hurt? He didn't hurt anything. Oh. He was just tired.
00:18:26
Speaker
OK. What can you say about his play otherwise, then? Last two games. You guys can talk about it statistically. You guys can talk about it stylistically. You can talk about it, the work that he put in You can talk about it in any way, you shape, or form. But he's playing right now ah but ah at a very high level.
00:18:46
Speaker
Noah? Christian Roldan, two assists, and now two goals in this game. This momentum kind of coming up to the World Cup, how proud of you, RM? Yeah, you know what i mean. And how does his play look?
00:19:00
Speaker
Well, what let's talk about that since you brought it up. So the World Cup and his selection or non-selection, you know, is going to be chosen by someone outside of myself, the fans, our fans, all that Pottaccino has ah as a challenging task.
00:19:23
Speaker
what I would tell you is that there's a lot of people that sometimes are down on Christian because there's a loose pass here or something here that doesn't go right. That's the easiest thing in soccer to see.
00:19:35
Speaker
and somebody makes a bad pass, ah um everybody in the world can see that. What you have to look for when you're talking about the complete player is all of the intangibles, the little things, the effort, the athleticism, and all the stuff that Christian possesses that we take for granted sometimes, or maybe some of our fans take for granted.
00:19:55
Speaker
And so what we discussed with Christian the other day was, okay, let's see how... We can make a strong case for the summer.
00:20:09
Speaker
And it's just concentrate, focus on one thing. Because you do everything else great. Give yourself a goal. Set yourself a goal. Let's just go through the entire game without making an errant pass.
00:20:25
Speaker
And tonight, i don't I can't remember him making an errant pass. I thought he was excellent. He was excellent in not only his goal scoring acumen, you know, because he's good in the air, but all the work, the leadership, all the stuff he does, I thought he had a great performance.
00:20:45
Speaker
Questions on this side? Okay, we'll take one on Zoom here. Nico Antun, go ahead, please.
00:20:52
Speaker
Brian congratulations on the way wanted to ask you about and Tino Lopez he had a pretty solid game played for 90 minutes and 96% passing accuracy, how do you feel like he's been filling in for the team that and filling the the big shoes of Marwell he's gone.
00:21:10
Speaker
Uh, Nico, thank you for that question because that is an excellent question. In that locker room just now, look, the team had a really good performance and I started with that. I said, the team, look, you guys, this was a really, really good performance by everybody in the room.
00:21:26
Speaker
especially coming off a tough emotional loss. Everybody dug deep and if this was really good. But I started off mentioning individuals, some individuals, and Tina was the first guy I talked about.
00:21:40
Speaker
Because Tino has done nothing but excellent work. It's not flashy. It's not a goal. It's not this. But he sacrifices himself to block shots, which a lot of people can't see or don't see. or you know He puts himself in position where the goalkeepers have a better angle to save shots. He does all of the little things defensively very good.
00:22:02
Speaker
And then, yes, to your to your question, his passing was excellent. His decision making on where to pass the ball was excellent. So he's not just pressing Yaimar, but he's pressing Jackson too.
00:22:16
Speaker
I mean, the kid played a really, really good game. All right, we'll go over to Felipe next. Mike's on its way to you, Felipe. Just, it's coming right here.
00:22:29
Speaker
Coach Bryan, congratulations on the win. Four goals, three were set pieces, so were now we're not open play. But the the fourth goal, the Osase was a really great player. He was in between almost the home defenders, and he himself make a room. And Sha, what can you tell me about that?
00:22:54
Speaker
Well, we've got seven goals in two home games. You could say nine if you're talking about our last home game way back when Colorado. So we're averaging three goals a game.
00:23:06
Speaker
ah Look, Osazi is hungry because look, he had a start, you know he started a bunch of games at the beginning of the year and you know things didn't happen for him. And so sometimes as a young player taking a step back, coming on as a sub, being able to deliver a goal, which was a very good goal because He had composure inside the 18-yard box.
00:23:28
Speaker
And he actually brought the ball back this way to shoot back across in between the legs of the defender who was trying to open his legs to block the shot. And so that was a very technical soccer piece.
00:23:41
Speaker
So I'm very pleased for him. And he's a very useful player.
00:23:48
Speaker
All right, others on this side of the room Yeah, Noah, we'll go back to you. Yep.
00:23:58
Speaker
You are only five points off the shield. You have a game in hand. And I know at the beginning of the season, we talked about how that was a team goal. I'm wondering how you're feeling about that and if you're still here in that in the locker room.
Team Goals and Upcoming Competitions
00:24:10
Speaker
Well, the goal, since we're out of CCC, the goals have now shrank a little bit. It's still Cascadia Cup. It's the shield and it's MLS Cup. and We've got Leagues Cup as well, so we've got four.
00:24:23
Speaker
So okay we lost one, but we still got four to play for. And that team, look, that team in there, if you guys can't see it, can't feel it, the strength of this team is the roster that i was handed to me.
00:24:39
Speaker
And I've got a lot of players who are playing at a really high level because they understand that for them to be on the field, they have to play at a high level. And then the beauty of that is,
00:24:53
Speaker
because they're all human beings. They're not always gonna be good on one day or the next day, or you know somebody sniffles or you know but it didn't sleep well.
00:25:03
Speaker
What I have at my disposal is you got a bunch of guys that are gonna come out fired up to play because they wanna keep their starting spots, but somebody's having a bad game and guess what? The next guy's gonna come off the bench and he's gonna fill in and hopefully increase. And that's what I have right now at my disposal.
00:25:23
Speaker
So on bum I'm pretty pleased. I will take couple more. Yep, right here. Brian, we saw a lot of tactical shifts in the last 30 minutes after going up 3-0. You saw Christian Rodon shift back into center back. You saw Peter Kingston come up more of a central role. What kind of looks were you trying to get in the last 30 minutes? Still attacking.
00:25:41
Speaker
Look, I could have brought young Stewie Hawkins on. He deserves a chance to play. you know But the game, you know his rehab and all that sort of stuff. Christian moving back, bringing Peter on, keeps us on the front foot.
00:25:55
Speaker
I tried to do that the other day with Hassani coming out as a center back against Tigris. kind of like that because, look, the fans were loud tonight. I heard them all game long. And we have to entertain our fans. They deserve that.
00:26:11
Speaker
And so I want to stay on the front foot. We got a bunch of home games on a beautiful grass field. This was such a beautiful night. ah We want to entertain people. We want to stay on the front foot. I want to give that team as much confidence as I can winning games to help with the shield race.
00:26:29
Speaker
All right, Maz, you open, why don't you close this? Better be good. I know. just but I got you. I got you, Smith. So, Brian, just in terms of going back to the competition, this is ah this is a together team.
00:26:42
Speaker
They're competitive. But what can say about the closeness of the team? Well, they're all tight. i mean, their wives are all good friends. They all have get-togethers, all that. We've been a good job the last couple of years of you know making sure they have nights off, ah you know just for you guys at press corps or you guys will hear about it from my crack staff. But I gave them three days off because you know they're they're playing well. So I mean, it's a tight-knit group on the field.
00:27:12
Speaker
And there's a lot of friendships off the field as well. And look, if a guy doesn't have kids like Stewie and Snyder and some of the young kids, you know, Pedro's taking them in. You know, the guys with families, you know, they get together. That's a tight-knit group.
00:27:29
Speaker
The guys love coming in because our chefs, David and and Leo, it's it's a tight-knit group. I mean, on a social level, this is this is top.
00:27:44
Speaker
right, with that, we'll leave it there. locker room is open. Thank you all very much for your time. That concludes our post-match press conference.
00:27:52
Speaker
There you have it from Brian Schmetzer. couple things to get to from that, I think. Number one, on the status of Albert Rusnak, he said he's fine. And then when J.O. asked what the injury was, he said there is no injury.
00:28:05
Speaker
And then J.O. said, wow why did he come off that? And he said, because he was tired. So... That seems like like what I saw was it looked like a guy who was laboring, limping a little bit, came up lame. I think that's the term I was looking for. Came up a little lame and went down and then ended up coming off the field, walking a little gingerly.
00:28:33
Speaker
Didn't look like, I mean, maybe that was a fatigue thing. I don't know. It just, that doesn't really match up with what I saw in the situation. But ah if that is indeed the case, then that's great news.
00:28:45
Speaker
That is phenomenal news. That's the best news we could ask for regarding that. ah Because as I was saying at the top of the show, Albert Rusnak is balling right now.
00:28:57
Speaker
Some people aren't going to like that. Some people aren't going want to accept that or admit it. Some people will never admit it. But I mean, it's just one of those things where
00:29:08
Speaker
three goals, two, his five goal contributions in like a game and a half.
00:29:13
Speaker
I'll take that all day. I almost don't really care what else you do. But in this case, he honestly, man, he was diamonded up in the Tigers game too. You could honestly probably...
00:29:28
Speaker
He could a couple more dimes. He could a couple more dimes. He gets one goal, two assists tonight. The goal doesn't count because it was a penalty, but, you know, it's good to see him convert the penalty.
00:29:40
Speaker
ah Tino Lopez. Schmetz had a lot of praise for Tino Lopez. He said in his postgame locker room speech that Tino Lopez was the first one that he highlighted.
00:29:52
Speaker
And I think that's worth talking about, too, because the Tino experience continues to do to go well. I will say Schmetz mentioned it, but ah I would have liked to have seen Stu Hawks get out there tonight. That's my one complaint about this game.
00:30:11
Speaker
Stu Hawks is ostensibly healthy, good to go, has a lot to offer this team, in my opinion. This was a good a great opportunity to get him out there. You're beating these guys like a drum. It's 4-0. You got Christian dropping back at cp z CB instead of getting Stu Hawks to run.
00:30:27
Speaker
Come on.
00:30:29
Speaker
But hopefully he gets worked back into the fold in the coming weeks. I wanted to see him get out there tonight. But as far as Tino goes, there's really, i don't know if there's much negative you can say at this juncture.
00:30:45
Speaker
He's been playing great to the point where I think the discussion, you know, we we talked a lot at Nauseam about Jesus not starting the first game at Tigris.
00:30:59
Speaker
I almost think the Tino part of that is the more interesting discussion.
00:31:09
Speaker
Should Tino have started at Tigris? His defending and his positioning was very good tonight, but also he is a good he is a good distributor.
00:31:21
Speaker
He had one ball in particular where he where he like pinged it over the top. You guys remember that one? That was nice.
00:31:31
Speaker
and was I think they they almost got a goal off that. I don't know. It was a nice pass. And he's had a few really good dimes since he's been playing. So the Tino situation is good.
00:31:43
Speaker
Wish Stu Hawks had played tonight. Hopefully Stu Hawks gets back in there in these games coming up. But great stuff from Tino again. I'll tell you what, guys, I am running double duty and these are always a little tough. So I'm just going to drop this call link in the chat right now.
00:32:00
Speaker
And let's get you guys in here. You can co-host, help me out a little bit and see what you, the people think.
00:32:10
Speaker
Dropping that in the chat right now. There it is. Start tapping in. Genuinely, I need co-hosts. I need co-hosts right now. So tap in. I'll ah i'll keep it going until we get the cue rolling. But ah don't be shy is what I'm saying.
00:32:28
Speaker
ah Thoughts on Hassani Dotson? i I feel like... ah I feel like that's like a TBD situation. it's It's one of those things where at the beginning of the season, it felt like he was deaf. There was an acclimation process going on, and then he got hurt. He got the concussion, so he's out for a little bit, and he's kind of just now working back in. And I thought i thought he played well in the last game, and tonight he was he was solid but like not – what's the word?
00:33:04
Speaker
He wasn't as impactful as I have seen him be at at times during his career at Minnesota United. So, all right. We got Yev and we got Timbo in the queue. We're going to get Yev in here first. Timbo, we'll get you after that. Yev, you are on the stage.
00:33:19
Speaker
ah Take it away while I work on some stuff for a minute. What did you think? 4-1 versus St. Louis City, first game after CCC.
00:33:30
Speaker
Oh, no. You're yeah you're muted. Unmute. Got it okay Classic. Yeah. So, I mean, you said it earlier there perfectly. Job done. Break them over the coals.
00:33:42
Speaker
Let off some steam. Got some good minutes for a lot of guys. And pretty much full steam ahead for the rest of season now. Kind of set the new tone.
00:33:53
Speaker
Kept it rolling with the really aggressive play. But also, what I like more is Schmetzer talked about it. Those first 15 minutes were rough. Like they were, it's a different lineup. They were trying to do the same, some things really sticking to us. I think that's the overall mental system that Schmessler set up and wasn't quite working, but they were able to tweak it around, get something flowing, get some balls over the top.
00:34:23
Speaker
And that, ah that set piece was, I mean, if, I mean, perfectly executed, that's just a textbook thing. It's like, the yeah The backing up and the perfect Goldberg Christian. Super proud of that kid.
00:34:38
Speaker
And then they did it again. And then they did it again. Well, he used the foot, so I feel like that was that was definitely a ah ah done career choice there or a professional choice.
00:34:51
Speaker
Not to stick his head and down there, ah but that was working on a working on it twice, the same concept. It's just, I wish I could have been there and pointed and laughed because those guys were so mad.
00:35:02
Speaker
They were so mad. And it's like, yeah, I mean, it worked again. i think it was Brunel that just ran up to Christian with his arms both open. It's like, defeat Cobra, but no, but it was like, how did that work again?
00:35:15
Speaker
Again, that's great. Oh man, the St. Louis City SC film session next week is going to be tough. they're not There's going to be a lot of this. What?
00:35:26
Speaker
What were you doing? Twice in 15 minutes, the exact same play they ran. like i know like Seattle clearly saw something on their film study and and they got it with the first one. And then they just they were like, wait, they're do they're run it they're doing the same position that we saw on film again. Let's just run it again. And it worked again.
00:35:46
Speaker
Even prettier too. I'm kind of surprised that the the crew called the first one, like the assist of the night. and like the second one, one, mean one time off the foot, but I get it. First goal, technically the winner, technically not great banger, but St. Louis a c player, you know, sucks that we lost shutout streak, but it did crest over 500.
00:36:07
Speaker
Thomas doing good. let's ah Let's acknowledge that the the Edward Lowen goal was, I mean, I can't hate on that. That was. No, it was a banger. I mean, it was a banger. look I mean, popped up lucky, but it was right spot. I mean, that was ah just an amazing goal.
00:36:25
Speaker
So, I mean, sucks, but what are you to Got to start the next, start the next streak. 600. Get over that Adores. which Yeah, before we keep the key pushing here, the Osase goal, what'd you see? What'd you think of it?
00:36:41
Speaker
I mean, that was just pure strength. And I think at the moment at the time too, he was kind of cooking and he was just like, that's that's it. Kind of shrugged off a couple um early challenges, spun a couple of guys around.
00:36:56
Speaker
And i think at that moment he's like, okay, these guys are tired. I'm just going to beast them. And and how he Got it off so quick after that making that turn.
00:37:08
Speaker
Incredible. just I'm going to say picture perfect like his dad, but that quick release with the swivel of the hips, you know that's why the family likes to dance. you know That's where those hips got yeah really get a good workout in. Great goal.
00:37:23
Speaker
Awesome first one of the season, too, to get off like that. Just beasting three dudes and just sneaking it past. Making the guy past the goalkeeper. Fantastic.
00:37:35
Speaker
Overall great win. Yeah. how it's It's funny how he channel channels Dwayne De Rosario on ah on some of these goals. That was a Dwayne DeRoe classic right there. That was fun. Classic. just that And then just spinning it everywhere. He's just missing the flow. That's all he's missing, but he's got the boost. All right. Yeah, great stuff, man. Thanks for tapping on the next one.
00:37:57
Speaker
Take care. All right. We got, we're going to Timbo because he was, he was next and then tapped out. So we're going to tap him in. And then, then we got very normal human person. And then we got Nat. Feel free to tap in guys. We only, we got three people in the queue right now. So if you want to tap in, tap in, but let's get Timbo on the stage right now. Timbo, what's what's up man. Thanks for tapping in for one over St. Louis city SC.
00:38:22
Speaker
What'd you see? What'd you think? I'm fantastic home performance, especially, you know, after the other night ah in the rain. I envy the folks who got enjoy the sun sunshine today versus the Seattle sunshine we got to enjoy on Wednesday night. So.
00:38:39
Speaker
um But yeah, I think I think we expected st Louis to. you know, come in. I don't think I expected those 20 first 20 minutes to go as poorly as they did, but I expect. Yeah. Let's talk about that actually, because I didn't really, i didn't really acknowledge it on my opening monologue at all, but this game started off pretty poorly.
00:39:00
Speaker
Like they were, they were doing this. They were doing the Seattle Sounders being sloppy in possession thing. lot of bad giveaways. They weren't really conceding any chances, but like the attack was not what it wasn't clicking.
00:39:13
Speaker
Right, and and I think there was a mention of the fact that the last game we played in St. Louis, they had 70% of the possession, and we were where we got them on one counter, essentially. and you don't want to We want to be the ones who are possessing the ball. We want to be the dominant force at home.
00:39:27
Speaker
um Much like, I think even the game on Wednesday night was kind of the same thing. Tigres came out really strong. We got that first goal in that 10 minutes, and then –
00:39:41
Speaker
you know dominated the second half i feel and i think if it weren't for uh tigre's you know their goal and and other people flopping that um we would have gotten that fourth goal um moving on from that though like you know you want to see a team that's kind of got an emotional down to get back on the horse and fucking ride and and i think st louis is a perfect team to do that against um yeah fortunately we're not playing one of the I mean, they're at the bottom of the West right now for the most part. i don't I don't know. There's another team below them, but I think it's KC. KC, and there's there's one other team down there with that. I will say, though, having watched them two full games now, Seattle's already played them twice and watching them a little bit. I think their team, I could be wrong, but I think they're a team that's not as bad as their record. Like the footy that they've played in both of these games against Seattle, the first one I thought they looked a lot better than they did last year. And then this one, I feel like 4-1 is a little a little bit harsh on them and flattering to Seattle based on the level of the...
00:40:41
Speaker
level of the footy but I don't know that's that's kind of just like we agree that St. Louis is a better team against Austin and Houston and Casey and but but I don't think they're going out there and beating San Jose this year i don't think they're being real I don't think they're being l LA yeah I think they're comparable maybe Galaxy you know but like but that's like a step forward for them right yeah you know I mean we and we've And honestly, the Sounders, much like if you're looking at the records between teams we played against, this team, St. Louis and Minnesota, we have their number.
00:41:13
Speaker
Their fans, when we go to their house, you know when they say fuck Seattle, good. like Suck it. like Scoreboard. and And it continues to be that way. And i think you know the two games against St. Louis are done and behind us now for the year. And and next year, we'll fucking put another two Ws on them.
00:41:32
Speaker
So I think a great performance. um The one thing to highlight too, I know people, I mean, and and we lost the series on Wednesday night, but we have a, for starting on this new pitch, we got a five goal differential right now in the positive column, like,
00:41:51
Speaker
Test is going next week against Dallas, I think, who's actually a good team this year. and They're a pretty good team. They have the best number nine in the league. That's going to be a a good test for the back line. I think what you're saying about the grass is actually kind of an important takeaway because we were talking about before the Tigres game, like, is this actually going to diminish Seattle's home field advantage? Because I feel like part of what tilts the scales so far towards them at Lumen, it is partially the – the surface, a on the turf right? Yeah. Well, and that there, it's just, they're used to playing on it and they, they play all their home games on it. So they they know everything that what's up with it, as far as how it plays and other teams don't. And that gives Seattle a pretty big advantage. So when you take that away, i did, I was thinking like, you know, I don't think it tells the scales that much, but there could any little at this level, like any little, thing makes a difference what if it's just as simple as not the field they play on, but the talent of the players that we have on the spot, Period. Yeah. like
00:42:49
Speaker
Rain, shine, concrete, let you know what wherever we're playing, clay, whatever we're playing on, we are a good team. We're going to go out there and win some games, it seems to be this year. And and the nice thing about it is i think there's, we were talking about Tito Lopez and some of these young guys coming in. They're not only coming in and kind of meeting the bar that you would expect out of a of a person or a kid, and they're not kids necessarily, but essentially rookies, essentially coming onto a pro team, a first-class team,
00:43:19
Speaker
They're meeting that bar, but then also setting a further bar above. I think we i think Paul Rothrock kind of set that standard to you know two years ago now. Now he's a star player for this team.
00:43:32
Speaker
And we're seeing Patrick Kingston do really well. We're seeing Brunel do fantastic. know Lopez, like is he the number one center back right now? I know Jackson probably won't like to hear that, but like that's there's a competition there now.
00:43:47
Speaker
So it's it's really great to see. It's great to see guys like Darrow come on and score. And and i think I think in Darrow's mind, it's probably long overdue considering that he had some opportunities in previous games. And the goal tonight was fantastic. It really was. It was really wasnt talking about how he hasn't like recaptured that preseason magic. That was a recapturing of that. Like that was what he was doing in preseason, like every game at will. So to actually finally see him bring that to an MLS game, that was like, okay, maybe there's something building here. And now we're like, last thing, Timbo, where are you at on this number nine situation? I mean,
00:44:25
Speaker
Danny Musavski had been boosting his stock scoring a couple goals. So the scar we have Jordan Morris coming back and then Osase does that. Like, where do where do you stand on this? There there are two things about it. The bigger concern is so out of out of the stock right now, the the person who whose stock I'm selling is J. Mo's tonight like.
00:44:42
Speaker
what and that's And he should be the person that should be – you should be able to get the most equity out of that stock. We're paying the most. He's got the most upside, theoretically, right? Because he's got you know that that pedigree, the legacy, all that stuff going on.
00:44:57
Speaker
I'm going back into this whole mode of kind of talking down JMO, but I really would like to – there's talk even in the broadcast tonight, well, is he going to be a winger again or is he going to be a number nine? and like No, he's he's got to be a number nine or we're done.
00:45:11
Speaker
The other thing that was really interesting that I heard some kind of chirping about you know as we came away was Darrow, after that goal, had kind of there was talk about him kind of mean-mugging the sideline. Like, this is my spot. This is this is why why aren't why am I not starting kind of situation. and i don't think i' know if I saw that. but I didn't see that, but I like it.
00:45:31
Speaker
Hopefully you did do that. Well, but i mean that's after mean-mugging St. Louis' defense, I'd mean-mug my – coaching staff and people to look, look what, ah look what you made me do.
00:45:45
Speaker
That reminds me, ruy Diaz famously did that ah the year that Schmetzer benched him and he, he came out and he scored a goal. And I remember him looking over at the sideline and kind of giving Schmetz a little what's up.
00:45:58
Speaker
Maybe, maybe that was D Rose Rui Diaz moment. and And you know what? Who knows? maybe Maybe he gets the start next week against Dallas, and maybe we we see where it goes. I think if nothing else, the competition's there. I think Danny was really pissed off to not continue his you know goal per game progress that he had last year. ah You could see it on him when he came off the field. You've seen it in in in when he's missed opportunities that Paul Rothrock will take over on the backside. Yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker
um Big, big note from tonight. No injuries. Like, it seems like, you know, we've had a pretty healthy schedule of games and no one's no one's coming up limp.
00:46:37
Speaker
Well, there was the roost snack thing, but supposedly he's fine. space I think I again, I don't. Why would why would Brian lie to us about like he I don't I don't get Schmetz is kind of the guy if there's an injury or if there's an issue, he would at least say, hey, there's something we're going to check. We'll get back to you on Monday.
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's if there is an injury, he sometimes is cagey about exactly what the injury is or the extent of it. But like to me, if he says there is no injury, there's not a lot of precedent for him saying that. And then it turns out the guy is injured. If they come out on Monday and are like, Albert Rusnak is out two to four weeks with a hamstring strain, I'm going to be shock i'm go be pretty surprised.
00:47:16
Speaker
Right, we would be shocked about that. Yeah. So, I mean, all in all, great, great win tonight. um What we expect at home. Let's let's keep the train rolling for next week. We got a week week to figure out Dallas.
00:47:28
Speaker
Love it. Timbo, thanks for tapping in, man. Good stuff as always. Appreciate you. And catch you on the next one.
00:47:36
Speaker
All right. Very normal human person. I'm going to bring you onto the stage right now. I don't see any video. Not sure if you're ready, but I'll let you lay down some takes. Sure. Human person. Can you hear me?
00:47:50
Speaker
Hello, hello. i got you. I hear you. 4-1 over St. Louis City SC. Give me the text. Yeah, I can hear you. Give me a second. Because the the stream for me is is on a slight delay. Oh, okay.
00:48:08
Speaker
Okay, it seems to be fixed now. I just had to switch because had it on the YouTube and now I'm back on the stream. Yeah, I have it all the time. Yeah. 4-1 over St. Louis after the unceremonious CCC exit. What did you see? did you think?
00:48:23
Speaker
So you talked a lot about the slow start that we had. And my note on that is that Christian Roldan is what got us out of that.
00:48:34
Speaker
Because he started dropping left into like a left back spot, which pushed Nuhu further forward. And it let Brunel drop deeper into the midfield. And then Brunel, Dotson, and Rusnik were able to get the ball through the midfield. And Nuhu was frequently open as the man when they received the ball there.
00:48:53
Speaker
And then that was what let us progress out of the press.
00:49:00
Speaker
I like that. Separately. Yeah. Separately. ah Christian Roldan was very close to completing a perfect hat trick in this game. It opened up on his left foot there in the second half when he when he got those touches in the box on the on the right side.
00:49:17
Speaker
And he takes the first touch in and it opens up and he doesn't take it on that first touch where it opened up because he wasn't expecting it to. and then he takes the next one and then he hits it. But I think if he hits that when it opens up for him, he gets right foot, left foot, head.
00:49:31
Speaker
and it's a perfect hat trick. Okay, that's what the I was wondering what a perfect what constitutes a perfect hat trick, but that makes that makes sense. That would have been cool. What what did you think of to set piece goal of the exact same set-piece goals back-to-back within 15 minutes? i don't think I don't know if I've ever seen that. that every day where i How can you not mark CR7 in the box?
00:49:55
Speaker
Twice. because This is not complicated. One time it happens. Twice in 15 minutes, that can't happen. Come on. yeah And and he's he's been consistently really good with his head for a long time.
00:50:07
Speaker
like it's ah It's a very underrated part of his game is his aerial ability. Agreed.
00:50:15
Speaker
My other fun take for you. So I've had this one for a while. ah When I watch Osaze play, he reminds me of a badger. So badgers have this thing where they can they can their skin is loose, so they can twist around inside of their own skin.
00:50:34
Speaker
So if something grabs onto them, they can they can literally twist around in their own skin to get the the leverage to escape. Okay, what kind of badger in there? Looseness and shiftiness to him where like he's under pressure and he just kind of like flows around somebody.
00:50:50
Speaker
And it's just fascinating to me. Yeah, like that all all of that stuff was on display on that goal. He had like three or four goals or guys around him, and he just danced right through them and scored anyway. That was i was impressive to watch.
00:51:11
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was my big notes for it.
00:51:16
Speaker
i prepared just a couple of things to to talk through. Nice, nice. Well, to close it out here, I guess, how are you feeling about just the CCC exit and getting this win and how the team is set up for the rest of the season here?
00:51:34
Speaker
So the CCC exit, it's unfortunate. I feel like we had so many chances to score on the first leg and to score on the second leg to score more.
00:51:47
Speaker
um of like It would be one thing if we're a team that is struggling on stat sheet production. And we don't look like we're ever going to get it.
00:51:58
Speaker
But we look like a dangerous team. We look like we have lots of different ways that we can score. We look like we have some different ways that we can control games. um We've had success in a low block.
00:52:11
Speaker
We've had success pressing higher. um you're you're going to lose sometimes in CONCACAF on variants and on some some stuff not going in that you'd expect to go in.
00:52:23
Speaker
I think of like Rusnik had like two big misses across the two legs that that you would have liked to see go in. And then what was the the second half of what you were asking me?
00:52:36
Speaker
ah How the team is set up for the rest of the season as they pursue Phillip and Leagues Cup and the Supporters Shield and those such things? I think we're set up really well.
00:52:47
Speaker
When I was looking at the roster at the start of the season, the the only position that I really circled as a question mark was center back. Because Yamar's getting older.
00:52:58
Speaker
is also you know not getting any younger. um And then behind them, at the start of the season, it's like, okay, Saylor's injured going into the season. Hawkins is injured going into the season.
00:53:11
Speaker
But now that Lopez is doing so well on that spot, and i've been I've been so impressed with his positioning and his ability to to really understand what's going around him tactically, there was a ah moment in that second half where Alex covers all the way over into the...
00:53:31
Speaker
the opposite corner from his side from right back. And as the play continues, Lopez has stepped into that, uh, right center back position from the left.
00:53:44
Speaker
And they wait it's int until it's like out for a throw in to swap back. And just like, whenever a ball is getting crossed into the box, it's just like, you, you know, he's going to be in the right spot.
00:53:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:58
Speaker
Well, very normal human person. Thank you for calling in. Good stuff. I think you're in a first time caller. So appreciate you tapping in and yeah we'll catch you on the next one. Yeah. See you then. All right, we got Nat, we got Max, we got a few more people as well. So let's just keep it rolling here. Nat, bringing you on right now. I'm going to let you cook for for a couple minutes here while i while I do some stuff. So lay it on us. 4-1 over St. Louis City SC after the CCC exit. How are you feeling? What think?
00:54:34
Speaker
Why? Is Albert Reusnack taking the penalty kick? why Give the ball to Christian. Give us the Christian hat trick. Noah was saying that in the in the press box too. Immediately.
00:54:50
Speaker
But, okay, like I understand the sentiment, but it's also like low-key he's missed like four of six in his career. like So let him get back on a track. You need to make it. You got to make it. Let him get back on track. St. Louis wasn't coming back in this game.
00:55:06
Speaker
He wasn't coming back in this game. Let him score against Berkey, of all people. If you score a penalty against Roman Berkey, that's going to be better. let rodon take the penalty and instead of and then like right after that uh he got moved back to center back so then he like stopped going up i was glad at the end of the game he did ah he did uh he did get into the box on in stoppage time when we had that corner i was like i okay we have a chance but let we needed rodon to get the hat trick if he gets the hat trick
00:55:41
Speaker
then uh i feel like yeah i have your confirmation i have a confirmation uh christian rolled on uh albert did ask christian if he wanted to take the penalty and christian said no good guy albert good guy at least he asked if he if he because if he gets a hat trick no one else has a hat trick today i feel like mos uh has to give christian rodon player of the mass day then for a hat trick if you get a hat trick or you score four goals they give you play the match day and that would just be another would have messy still would have been messy that is has really even yeah honestly yeah probably uh that it still goes to him but like yeah
00:56:28
Speaker
Christian was great. yeah Christian was great. We loved Christian. Tino was great. Tino was great. We loved Lopez. um The beginning, as we said, it's not good.
00:56:41
Speaker
The ball was way too much in our half. ah They didn't do anything really with it. but uh it was a lot like okay let's play on the attacking end and then it changed when we got that first goal um and yeah i do wish that i had a camera of in the st louis locker room uh what during halftime because i want to see the crash out that must have happened on after like who are we covering because i want to be a fly on the wall for their first film sesh after training next week because that they're they're they're gonna have to watch that back that's gonna be tough that's good can we also say their jerseys are terrible like what are we doing here well why can't they wear their red those jerseys look like poop like they they look like they're stained on the front uh they're so bad
00:57:39
Speaker
ah Last thing I wanted to say is I wanted to give a shout out to Chris Penzo. We hate on the refs a lot. Chris Penzo had a really, really strong game. Penalty, clear penalty. ah he He called.
00:57:54
Speaker
He didn't put up with any BS from either team. There was that one play where New Who ah and the same newest player both went in for a really hard tackle and both hit the ground hard. And Chris Penzo just looked at them like,
00:58:08
Speaker
what What do you want? what do you want you're both You're both maniacs. I know who you are. I'm not going to call anything. so no Good on Chris Benzo. Chris Benzo, you had a good game.
00:58:20
Speaker
Shout out, Chris P. Well, Nat, thank you for calling in. We appreciate you. Sorry, I just took you off. I didn't mean to press that that quick, but thank you, Nat. um I just wanted to give my little locker room reactions, my little takes. What a win.
00:58:34
Speaker
What a win, folks. um I am thoroughly happy with... That I'm thoroughly happy with that Tigres win, obviously. But let's talk Christian Roman really quick because i did we did talk to him post-match. And Ari said, Noah, can you ask him a couple questions for me? said, of course, I can do anything for you. So I asked him about his momentum, especially going into the World Cup.
00:59:00
Speaker
And he said, I'm not usually a guy who scores. I'm not usually a guy on that score sheet. So it's important that I've been able to do that. And hopefully the the Federation can you know see what I have outside of just the scoring.
00:59:15
Speaker
And you know he said to me that... he's not He's not a lock. He knows he's not a lock. He knows he has to earn his spot. But ah he's proven the haters wrong. And I will say, i think Brian might ah know who Greg Beerholder is. Because he did basically directly mention his posts of like cutting a clip of a missed pass by Christian Roldan, posting it on Twitter, and then like shitting on him for no reason. like He directly addressed the bots.
00:59:47
Speaker
That's awesome. He is the most online coach of all time. I love you, Ryan. This is why you are who you are. So ah great game, great match. All around, what a win. This is kind of exactly what you hoped for and kind of honestly what I expected from a St. Louis team that is just not that good. um Ari, I do have to go. I'm just going to leave my laptop with you and I'll just get it tomorrow.
01:00:14
Speaker
you There you go. I'll let you keep taking calls if that works. ah Do you have any other questions for me? ah No, no. I think you're good to roll.
01:00:27
Speaker
Everybody say bye to Noah, chat. He's leaving me with his laptop. Yeah, just, you know, just, you know, you'll be fine.
01:00:37
Speaker
if you see jane o on the i did i texted okay All right. let's keep this Let's keep this cute rolling. We got Tribe. We got Danny. We got William. And then no one after that. Probably not going to take all that many after these three. But if you ah want to tap in, I'll be around for a little while. So feel free to hit that link. I'll drop the link in the chat one more time here. Okay.
01:01:09
Speaker
v Vlog coming out on Monday, supposedly. All right. That link is in the chat. And let's get a Tribe in here. Tribe, you're on the stage. 4-1 St. Louis City SC.
01:01:24
Speaker
Talk to me. whatd you see? what you think? I'm very happy. I'm very impressed with the first half, how we're able to absorb the pressure and just break away every single time. So, Dave, it's like Real Madrid against Liverpool. You remember that that Champions League final? that That is the perfect example. You just absorb pressure once they do a giveaway.
01:01:44
Speaker
You just break away like like ah like a spring that's wound up. and You just let it go. you know You absorb the pressure, then you take it, take the momentum of the crowd, and take the speed of of your players and just absolutely decimate the defense. I will say for the two rolled on goals, that is the worst, worst back post defending have ever seen in my life. off Twice.
01:02:07
Speaker
Twice in 15 minutes. is It's like a cardinal sin of of of the defenders. If I'm Roman Berkey, I'm getting a little bit physical with someone there. It's it's absolutely disgusting from the defense, but ah Another thing, Osaze de Rosario, I really liked that goal. that That was a very good goal. The way he was like a little little trickster around the two people defending him, got into space, turns and shoots and and scores. It was really good. I want to get your thoughts on ah the a little bit of rotation that we did, but still there wasn't too much change. Do you think that we'll have rotation next game?
01:02:49
Speaker
Yes. Probably, you know, it's hard to tell how much of it was like to conserve energy and how much of it was just getting guys run. You know, Moose deserved some run. yeah Bruce mike had been, you know, he played on Wednesday. So, i mean, i don't know. i To me, it seems like Schmetz, he has his guys that he does rotate. Yeah.
01:03:13
Speaker
like Jesus Ferreira at 63 minutes or whatever, but like guys like Christian uh,
01:03:24
Speaker
Jackson Reagan usually doesn't rotate. So that was kind of a surprise not to see him in the, in the lineup tonight. But honestly, I think for a while here, you might be able to see the lineup like formalize a little bit. Cause you're not juggling competitions for a little bit. So hopefully that means a little less rotation, but there still are, you know, there's still, you got to pick your spots to get some of these guys, some, some run. Like, I don't, I don't know how he's going to handle the number nine situation. That's kind of the stuff I'm curious to see.
01:03:52
Speaker
I'm a little bit put back by just how we switch off a little bit again, as we have last season in the final minutes of the game and conceded goal. I'm glad it wasn't. Of course, it's four goals. You're not going to give away the entire game, right? That's just not, that's out of the picture. But,
01:04:10
Speaker
i i get to I got a little bit of a flashback from, who was it, a Minnesota game that we gave ah that we let them come back from three goals last year or something. i don't know if you remember that. That was a little bit scary, but ah I want to get your take on um how how this team is mentality-wise in the final ah minutes. Do you think that we'll be able to, as of now, sort of,
01:04:37
Speaker
do something the MLS Cup if if we have a good lead, or do you think that will be back to the old Sounders of 2025? I was encouraged by what I had been seeing on that front to start the season here.
01:04:49
Speaker
I felt like there had been clearly an emphasis on that, and there had been a meaningful improvement in that department. And then the Tigris series happened where they got absolutely bammed on on two set pieces.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, which honestly we're talking about how ah St. Louis did that tonight. I mean, Seattle kind of did that in the in the Tigris series. It was two separate games, but that was that, you know, it's hard to see that and not think like, man, that kind of looked like a lot of the issues that we saw. Last year, but I would say tribe I'm cautiously optimistic that they have made progress on that front and that they'll have a better chance to make a run in the playoffs this year if they can hold to that you know the I won't lie the CCC seeing it kind of rear its head again in CCC. It's concerned me a little bit. That wasn't what I wanted to see.
01:05:37
Speaker
but I think I saw enough improvement earlier in the season to where I'm pretty sure that they've been working like hell on that. And I am hopeful and cautiously optimistic that they can kind of carry that into the rest of the season and hopefully into the playoffs.
01:05:52
Speaker
Yeah. Last thing I want to get the line moving. You you guys have, Just been absolutely on fire this year. Great, great year for Lobby Scorchers, obviously. ah Last thing, who who would you start up top? do you Do you think it's now Morris or De Rosario? I mean, Morris hasn't been scoring up top as Musovski and De Rosario has at what we've just seen. what What's your take on that?
01:06:16
Speaker
Man, it's just, it's it's tough, man, because as recently as leg one into Tigris, I was like, this is solved. It's Jordan Morris. Like, neither Osaze nor Moose really can stake a claim that they won it. Jordan's the most proven, and he's got the most he's got the best combination of well-rounded players skill set and proven recordinging track record. So like that is that I thought that was kind of the end of it. But then, you know, I think he's actually been playing pretty well in this sort of hybrid winger role that they have him back in. Like he got a really nice assist in the second Tigris game. And I think like what he's been doing out there has looked dangerous and it's looked effective. So, you know, you could run him out there and then, sort of just rotate between Moose and Osaze, I guess. But I don't know. It's it's really it's a really hard question. like What would you do? I honestly don't know.
01:07:09
Speaker
I would probably have Morris on the wing. I'll be honest. ah Sort of as an inside forward where he can sort of play freely on one side and then make those runs in the middle. He seems absolutely insane at cutting the ball back as ah that's how Musavsky scored, wasn't it, against against Tigres from ah from a cutback from Morris? yeah Or was it Alex? fra Yeah, it was from Alex to more. So, I mean, that that is a perfect combination play, but I do have to go and I hope you have an absolutely amazing rest of your stream and let's enjoy this one. Yeah.
01:07:42
Speaker
You too, Troy. appreciate you, man. We'll catch you next year. 100%. Cheers, brother. All right, we got Danny, Hunch, and then Sam. Danny, I'm going to bring you on the stage right now. I can't see you, but ah I trust that you're there.
01:07:57
Speaker
Okay. i hear Yeah, I hear you. I hear you. 4-1 over St. Louis City SC. What'd you see? Yeah, incredible. So you can't see me because I'm driving home from the game. And so I'm looking in the shadows as I'm driving. Okay, you got your phone set up though. All right, all right, right. As long as you're not on your phone while you're driving, you're good.
01:08:17
Speaker
I'm pulling conca calf with ah Ari and Noah in the car from Vancouver. I'm driving down. But um yeah, I first long time listener, first time caller. um But I was I just had to call in and say, Senator Brunel is absolutely incredible.
01:08:38
Speaker
That kid will over the field and was andm just owning it. He has such a dang hunger. in his eyes and the way he backs the ball and is willing.
01:08:52
Speaker
Just incredible. And so i I had to call in and just give him his, his props as well. Christian was incredible, but it's not, and what a great addition to the team.
01:09:04
Speaker
Yeah, no, I was thinking that tonight too. Like so I feel like every game this year, he's done like three or four things where I'm just like, wo and that's exactly how I used to feel about Obed. Honestly. Yeah.
01:09:14
Speaker
So yeah, no great great shout. Like Snyder is on fire right now
01:09:22
Speaker
now. And same thing with Tino Lopez. I mean, I know that Schmidt is
01:09:32
Speaker
on field, like in in the stands, it's just, he's incredible to watch as well. And so those are the best decisions that they could have made was Tino right when they did.
01:09:47
Speaker
Yeah, no. I mean, I think you got to love what you're seeing from Tino right now. That's what you're talking about, right? Sorry, I was... ah If you're talking about Tino... Yeah, I mean, any anything we can say about Tino is going to be good. So i I'm 100% with you. They should have started him down in with Tigris in that first game. Had him sort of have it being the blockade. I think it might have been a different a different outcome in that first game. But...
01:10:17
Speaker
I'm blown away by what we're seeing from him now.
01:10:23
Speaker
Danny, give me ah give me one more thought to or take to close it out. How are you feeling just after CCC and looking ahead to the rest of the season here after this win? I mean, we got CONCACAFed. What can we say about that one? It was, I mean, sure, and with ah an aggregate with a tie with an away goal, but when it comes down to it, they played incredibly in that in the CONCACAF last game.
01:10:50
Speaker
um So hold our heads up high with that one. Be laser focused on it. I'm feeling good. Hell yeah. Love it. Well, Danny, thank you for tapping in and putting your phone on the dashboard. Appreciate that. Safety first. And we'll catch you next Absolutely.
01:11:09
Speaker
but Like the video, everyone. Like the video. Thank you. Take care. right, chat. Everyone, like the video. I don't know how many likes we're sitting on right now, but it is it is not enough. All right. We got Hunch, we got Sam, and then we got Max after that. Hunch, bring me on stage right now. Yeah, I got you. You're on stage. Oh, man. I don't know happened Wednesday. I'm so i'm so disappointed.
01:11:32
Speaker
i i had I was ready to go. ah Where were you? I was on twice, but but the student studio would not let me in. It doesn't matter. Oh, yeah, that's right. You were, and it was... Twice. There was some crazy tech stuff going on. It's all right. It's all good. Yeah,
01:11:47
Speaker
First, want to shout out Tribe. Dude's always here. I can say, of all the people who call in consistently, you can hear the passion and love he has for the club every time. I appreciate that, dude.
01:11:59
Speaker
Like, he's obviously got his likes and his dislikes, but you know he's through and through. So I just... I'm so down for when Tribe's in and and he's he's willing to share with us. so Shout out Tribe. Yeah. ah Seven goals in three days.
01:12:16
Speaker
And the talk coming up to Wednesday was like, oh, the offense isn't there. kind of Kind of hard to argue that right now. Yeah, it's like, you know, they did get eliminated by Tigris, but yeahp i mean, they were styling on him and they got three goals, could have had more. And then they they got the four on St. Louis. So but things are looking up in that regard.
01:12:39
Speaker
Well, they they're out against Tigris because of what they did a week before that, not because of what happened Wednesday. Yeah, I mean, they did it to themselves, which not only when I say that,
01:12:52
Speaker
They did it to themselves in respect of it. It gave Tigris a strategy then to go in with, which they did. And you saw that with the diving and the time wasting everything else. And then not having the tool in the tool belt of having away goal. So like all of that worked against them, which set up that whole game, not just giving up the one goal. But anyway, the positive side of that, I get to save some money on not having to pay for CCC tickets going forward. Like if we're going go out, let's go out early.
01:13:20
Speaker
You know, even outside of ah that reasoning, we were we were talking about it tonight too. Like, you know, ah if you're not if you're not going to win it, then going out in the quarters is better than going out in the semis, I realize, or in the final. I realize that's like the ultimate cope, but like in all seriousness, I...
01:13:40
Speaker
with the knowledge that they weren't going to win it this year, like it's much better to not make a elongated run for no reason than it is to just like get knocked out in the, in the semifinal or a quarterfinals and then just keep it pushing.
01:13:54
Speaker
The other side of that coin though, is you wasted a birth by getting yeah free compensation up to that. Not that we took full advantage of it simply because we had to play basically away in Spokane. so you know, what did we really gain? I don't know.
01:14:10
Speaker
Uh, this game, last game, i predict, well, I said last game, you know, ah we would have a good result if Roldan had an exceptional night for Roldan, not any other other player, but for himself, I don't think he wrote, he rose that level in the Wednesday game. I thought he improved and we improved even further tonight.
01:14:31
Speaker
And my wild card for that game was Albert, who balled out on Wednesday and has obviously continued that trend. and And I kind of halfway thought like when he came out, it was a minute's half precautionary. It's like, hey, if you feel a ding and it's about time to get subbed, let's pull you off. And that's, I think, what the coach has basically confirmed.
01:14:48
Speaker
That's, yeah, and I think that is what happened, but like when it, like just what I saw on the field, it looked like he was laboring and then went down and he looked all pissed off. That's why I was like, oh God, he did do his hammy, you know? But like, I guess he did it, which is- it could be It could be a cramp. You take a hit the wrong way when you're at your minutes and it just things all up. You're like, okay, this is not going to feel good the rest of the way and I'm getting ready to come off
Training and Preparation for World Cup Break
01:15:13
Speaker
anyway. Let's just do this.
01:15:14
Speaker
And they already have- I'm going to choose to believe that's what happened. Yeah, and they got no reason to cover for that, like, at all. As far as, before we get into the rest of the game, as far as, like, right now is things like that, like, who we're going to do a but with the lineup, who we're going to, how we're going to approach, who's going to start, who's going to be the nine.
01:15:31
Speaker
I'm going to grind these dudes, like, for the next month up to World Cup since they're going get that break. And I was like, we're going at this. You're not getting, a like, we're we're not going to balance.
01:15:41
Speaker
We're going to grind you until you, like, Get your break for two reasons. One, let's let those World Cup stars put a little polish, maybe get that get that call up. And I don't mean just you, I mean whoever.
01:15:54
Speaker
And two, they're about to get an extended break after that. So let's not take it easy and try and do this like, oh, you know, semi-balanced. No, let's put the best guys out there and make them work because they're going to get a midsummer break they've never had.
01:16:07
Speaker
ah Well, at least not in the last four years, right? Yeah. Um, side note, it felt so good to get the smell of that grass field at the game.
01:16:20
Speaker
Like it just felt like soccer. It felt so good. Oh, I didn't like like, you know, I'm up in the, in the booth. So I, I don't get that. Like, I don't get the, the smell of the grass. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it reminded me of playing as a kid, playing all through school. play And as it's going to get warmer, it's going to get even better. And it was true. was It was same as true as for a Club World Cup last year. Like it just.
01:16:45
Speaker
Fulfilling is the term that comes to mind. The aesthetic is incredible. at the I mean, I'm looking at it right now. It looks so good. They've done a fantastic job, and I'm surprised they put in full blown irrigation system like that. Kudos. But I'm sure that was a requirement, not an option.
01:17:02
Speaker
Like they didn't have the water crew, they had sprinklers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, which
Player Evaluations and Defensive Strategies
01:17:07
Speaker
is crazy. um You mentioned early, Hassan E. Dotson.
01:17:13
Speaker
I thought he had an okay game and the term you were looking for when you were saying like he was okay. The term, and but he wasn't blank. The term I think is formidable. I don't think he was formidable. I don't think he controlled his space. Yeah. I got to impactful, but yeah, that's kind of the, uh, what I was getting at for sure. But I think he can get there. Like I don't, I don't have any doubts about the the kid and, and I still have high hopes for him.
01:17:36
Speaker
Snyder had a great game. I mean, we have we have none of our first, let's call it first string, center backs who are signed as such starting this game and none on the bench.
01:17:48
Speaker
If I'm St. Louis, I come out exactly like they did in the in the first 15 and just like, we're going to hammer them because you guys are going to fold like a tent because there's there're no true center back amongst them. I have all the faith in world of Lopez, but he's he's still green. And so, you know, you want to put doubt in his mind, not to mention he can't cover two or three bodies. He's got to pick somebody. So let's go for it, which is what they did. That's what happened.
01:18:11
Speaker
um They saw the lineup that we put out there, and they went after it. And our guys were resilient because top to bottom, as Schmitzer goes, like everybody plays defense. So they were ready. I wasn't so confident.
01:18:23
Speaker
having four subs, five, the fifth remaining after 60 minutes. Four were already off the field with one left and no center back to come in. And he saw St. Louis immediately put three guys on who said, we're gonna go for this.
01:18:37
Speaker
I was like, this could get ugly. And if we just start to turtle, these guys are gonna stand up to the shelling if that's the case. We played balanced. we We still obviously scoring a fourth goal,
01:18:50
Speaker
but back to front still looked good. And I was glad for that. Surprised Christian was in the back. Not that he hasn't done it before.
01:19:00
Speaker
Hunch, what do you think of this whole number nine situation? Well, well first, first what what do you think of the Osaze goal? Let's talk about the Osaze. Okay, how many goals? This is great. this I wanted to hit this point so hard.
01:19:13
Speaker
How many goals has he scored in MLS this season? Osaze? Yeah. One now. Yeah. How many of them were before tonight? Zero. Right.
01:19:26
Speaker
How can you argue with what the coaches did if this got him to get on the board? And Brian has always pointed out, he's like, I want guys who are angry when they come off the field. I want guys who are irritated who don't want to necessarily, he didn't say it this way, but shake my hand. He's like, I want them to be pissed off about this because I want them to want to be there.
01:19:44
Speaker
how is this not reverse psychology? It's like, okay, so I'll we give you the benefit the doubt, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here you are. Okay. Him staring down the sideline when he scores a goal. It's like, yeah, if you have to stare down the sideline every time you score a goal, but every time you put in, you score a goal.
01:19:58
Speaker
We'll take that. We will take that every day of the week. Yeah, absolutely. Right. So but this is a young kid who's got to figure it out. He's not had a great start to the season. And I can tell you this. I was thinking about the first half.
01:20:12
Speaker
who Who do you think was angrier in the first half? The St. Louis defense or Misofsky as we keep putting in goals and he's not the one scored.
01:20:24
Speaker
I mean, mooseat Moose has gotten a couple himself. like He got a couple in this game. When it happens and it's not him, he he's angry. i And I'm here for that. like that's that is That is him.
01:20:39
Speaker
That's my secret cap. you know like and yeah The competition for these minutes is hot right now, and it feels like you know it's kind of... i think it might be bringing out the best in him.
01:20:52
Speaker
Moose plus was kind of... His stock was down, and then he got a couple goals in CCC, and we're talking about him as the easy starter for this game. And then Sazay comes in. His stock had been a little down, and then that was one of the sickest goals anyone scored all all year on this team. So...
01:21:09
Speaker
If that's what it takes, right? It's a good problem to have, in a way. Yeah. I pointed it out. i was like, ah right off, and other than the halfline a half-time sub, which you could even lump that in, Rothrock, Morris, and Jesus Ferreira off the bench. What other team in and MLS has three subs of that caliber a game?
01:21:29
Speaker
And, like, if you're a state leader, like, what the hell just happened? We went from what we had to this? Yeah. Seriously. um Two of the goals of the four, substitution-driven.
01:21:43
Speaker
Obviously, Asazi scoring it, and then Rothrock getting the PK. So 50% of your goals came from your subs. Uh, also
Team Dynamics and Competitive Edge
01:21:51
Speaker
Pete Kingston secondary assist on the Osase goal. So let's make sure to note that.
01:21:57
Speaker
Which, where did he really slot in, in this game? Did he come in as right mid or center mid? I'm not even going to lie. Like after the second wave wave of subs, I was like, I have no, like this formation right now is lit. They have Christian playing center back. They have Pete doing who knows what. um Like you got, you know, I,
01:22:16
Speaker
It was kind of – it was cool because they were up 3-0 so they could do that. But I also was like, I don't know what's going on really. And Nuhu had a great night. I still wish he'd go forward when he had the field in front of him.
01:22:28
Speaker
But it must be a clear directive like, hey, do not press. If you've got it, maintain possession and then like pass it around. But he – I called him a collapsing center back because he constantly collapsed in from his ah left side to really save their ass a number of times with a few – slides tackles whatever not even tackles but just diving blocks that obviously between lopez and alex just both it whether be body size or positioning wasn't there but knew who could see that and he's played in in a five back line when he was a third center back so he he has the instinct as it were so i think that was kind of part of the plan and he did a good job with that i thought
01:23:11
Speaker
All right, Hunch, we're going to Sam in here next, but give me one last take on rest of the season. The floor is yours.
01:23:25
Speaker
Okay. oh Who do we have up next? Do we know?
01:23:30
Speaker
FC Dallas, I want to say. let me I'll check real quick. Is that like in a week or a couple days? uh it looks like the next match is fc yeah so roster wise schedule wise or not well schedule wise obviously but roster wise like anybody i thought it was crazy that reagan wasn't even on the 18 and that gives me a little concern we obviously are missing unimar I think the Reagan thing was just like, look, this guy has been putting it in. Let's just give him a full night off.
01:24:02
Speaker
like But how do you they remember they were supposed to give him a night off a couple of weeks ago and then someone got hurt. He got to play anyway. Like, think it was just load management. Well, that said, i think they have even, well, I think Brian knows what he's doing because he's said, even from preseason, I want competition for positions. And he's definitely got it as your center forward. He's definitely got it on the left, maybe not so much the right wings, but maybe a little bit if Jordan shifts out there. And the center mids are coming up. What we don't have is a CDM, true CDM, like Aussie CDM.
01:24:39
Speaker
that's not on the roster though i mean christian can perform that role but he's he's he's 50 50 of s he's half attacking half sick i think asani gives you asani gives you some of that Well, we got to see it. I mean, I just I'm not seeing it yet. And I'm high on everybody. Like, there's nobody who I'm down on. Resnac is trending up.
01:24:56
Speaker
Roldan is trending up. Morris, I think, is going to trend up. Jesus, like, there's no who's to be down on. Like, who is? there I don't question anybody right now, even as a sub or a backup. Like, you put them in, they're going to go. and Again, if it's about competition for spots, like I'm just high on the team, invest, invest, invest, stocks trending up. So that's my outlook is it's like I expect even more and i I want them to just go balls out and tell the World Cup, which is basically the NMA and like put some points to the board with all these home games on a grass field.
01:25:29
Speaker
Yeah. Really just like run it up, run it up. That's got to be the goal. That's got to be the mantra. The early season mantra was a Seattle Sounders roadshow. The mantra now after CCC, run it up on the league table. Like you got these, you got these back loaded home games. You got the grass.
01:25:47
Speaker
You're playing well. You're banging in goals, run it up. yeah And while you've got the shield on ah in the forefront. Great. Let's get George. Let's get the Cascadia cup because that is a part of achieving your shield.
01:26:00
Speaker
But it's been a while, and if you want to really give the fans something, Vancouver and and Portland will get the job done on your way to you know a 1-2 seed in the Western Conference.
01:26:12
Speaker
Hell yeah. Hunch, great stuff as always, man. Appreciate you. Have a good one. We'll catch you next time Thank you.
01:26:19
Speaker
All right, we got Sam F and then no one else in the queue. So we might be closing it out here. I'll be I'm going to be closing it out here soon either way. ah But ah if you do if anyone else does want to tap in to close it out here, feel free but let's get Sam in here.
01:26:37
Speaker
Sam, what's up, man? You're on the stage for one over St. Louis City SC. What'd you see? What'd think? Oh man. I was really happy with the win we got tonight. I mean, despite being against a pretty bad or at least relative to the stable St. Louis side, I mean, four goals, always great to see.
01:26:56
Speaker
Honestly, it's just kind
Cascadia Cup and Home Advantage Discussion
01:26:57
Speaker
of nice to see us push off from that CCL. Well, I mean, it wasn't a loss, but you know, still got eliminated from there. Kind of felt like we're getting maybe a little bit of similar vibes from after we got eliminated from the club world cup. And, you know, we could kind of really use this homestand that we got coming up and just like,
01:27:14
Speaker
push on and I don't know it just kind of feels like the teams maybe got a bit of a chip on their shoulder and that's definitely a good thing. Yeah, I think ah you know it's not it's not really the chip that I would like them to have on their shoulder. I'd rather that chip has not been put on the shoulder for that reason but you know with the knowledge that that was put on the shoulder for that reason ah Yeah, sure. Use it as use it as motivation. Use it. Channel that channel that frustration into some good results like we're talking about. And I think there probably was a little bit of that tonight. Like like this team plays better when it's pissed off. Maybe that's every team. But like this team in particular, yeah like when you when you piss them off, like it can it can go off the rails for you real quick. So ah it's tough because, you know, you don't want them to be pissed off. But I guess I guess in this situation we kind of do
01:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and it's kind of nice too. I mean, we're sure it's never fun to get eliminated from a competition, but you know, we only got a few games to get through till the World Cup break. After that, we'll have a lot of reinforcements healthy, you know, we'll have Yehmer back, we'll Pedro back, we still got you know, three trophies we can win this year for, if we're including Cascadia cup too, which I really hope we could get that one. It's been too long. It's still not totally sure why, ah why it's being called George, or at least maybe I missed that, but ah I, I, maybe that's what the Cascadia cup trophy is named after. I think, baby I think yeah baby hey I'm going to look that up while, while you keep cooking here.
01:28:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's just kind of also nice to see our attack, like really starting to kick into gear. I mean, seven goals in the last two games is always great. And it's kind of nice to see, i want to say why it's now three goals from our number nine position in the last five games or something like that. And yes, which was a whole, there was a big thing. The number nines haven't been score. it Now they have been, so that's a good to see. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it's, it's not to say that D road didn't get any goals this year either. too, because I mean, you know, he got some in preseason. I want to say he got a couple on international duty to got a brace at some point. Yeah, I think I like a Hattie.
01:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, something like that. He I mean, I can't claim that I watched the game, but hey it's still great to see and hopefully kind of like ah you know Moose and Dero seeing Jordan back has maybe kicked everyone into just like kind of high competition gear, and that kind of keeps them cooking from there. and hey More goals is always good.
01:29:53
Speaker
What do you think of the number nine situation right now? like you know game This game FC Dallas next week, who do you who do you start? Oh, man. i i I mean, that's really tough. Like, it's our our ceiling is almost certainly highest with Jordan. It's just, you know, does it make sense to keep riding him when he maybe isn't the hottest hand? But, you know no one really is terribly hot. And he he did look great on the right wing, too, especially in the last game. So they all three look like they're kind of like about to get hot.
01:30:27
Speaker
That's like, yeah, right, right. But I mean, it it wouldn't really make too much sense to kind of switch up what we've been doing either and try and put two of them in the game at the same time. I mean, that's what they did to start the season. that During preseason, they were like, Osaze is ripping it up too much. We got we literally have to play them both.
01:30:47
Speaker
Yeah. And they're not in that situation now. But then Osaze scores like that goal, which was such a sick goal. What do you think of that goal? Oh my God. I mean, yeah, he took on like what four different players that was a lot of really good tight touches and just like a clean finish. So, I mean, he seems to do this every time and it's really nice to see it come off for him because yeah, those first maybe two or three games of the season. He had a lot of moments like that where he was like just this close to being able to put it away and just couldn't quite do it and
01:31:21
Speaker
you know, nice to see him get rewarded. Hopefully it can continue to, you know, keep parlaying this kind of ah appearance into more like it. But that was, that was just great to see because, ah you know, I didn't, I didn't really necessarily expect him to look in the regular season as good as he looked in preseason. I
Season Outlook and Closing Remarks
01:31:44
Speaker
think that would have been, he looked like a God in preseason. So yeah,
01:31:47
Speaker
That would have been kind of an unreasonable expectation. But then it was like, you know, he was he was playing well, like he was doing good stuff, but he wasn't scoring the goals like he was in preseason. So there was this feeling of just like, oh, man, maybe that was just an illusion, a mirage, if you will. But then to see him do that tonight, I was like, aha, aha, it is in there.
01:32:07
Speaker
It is in there. You can do it in an MLS game. It's exciting. Yeah. and i mean I mean, we saw last year, too. i mean, well, sure, they what weren't all regular season. goals but I mean, five goals in against even Liga and Meckie's competition is, I mean, you can't really say that that's bad in any sort way.
01:32:26
Speaker
No, you can't. ah Well, Sam, ah one last take to close it out here. How are you feeling just about the rest rest of the season and the pursuit of – Schmetzer laid it down. He said there's ah four trophies, four things that they're still playing for right now.
01:32:43
Speaker
Supporter Shield, Leagues Cup, and MLS Cup playoffs, Cascadia Cup. said they're going to be gunning for all of them. How are you feeling about the pursuit of all of those? I mean, it's kind of hard not to feel positive about it, right? I mean, this has got to be like one of the strongest starts that we've had in quite some time. Got a lot of points up on the table, which is really great to see. mean, really. Five one and one in the league. If I told you before the start of the season, they would start five one and one in the league. I mean, that's, you can't.
01:33:13
Speaker
can't really do it up all that much better i mean i know vancouver is like slightly higher paced than them but i mean seattle worked to them in ccc so yeah and i i don't know it it is a little interesting too because if if when i had looked at the just kind of like the games we had lined up for the start of the year before the season began i probably would have told you maybe we'd have a similar point total but I don't think i would have expected the way that we were able to get them and kind of like the quality that the teams we've played against were. I mean, it's just kind of surprising. We've been playing a lot of really good teams, maybe not tonight again, but
01:33:53
Speaker
you know, really just great to see us performing so well against like the likes of like Colorado and San Jose and those kinds guys. And just gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the year. And really, that is a cascadia cup I think that's worth talking about. Cause you know, I know people are going to say that this one doesn't count cause it was just St. Louis, but the the schedule this year has been genuinely like a gauntlet. Like,
01:34:15
Speaker
i don't know I don't know if there's like strength of schedule rankings for MLS, but if there is, this one that Seattle's had to play has got to be like up there. But when you consider that Colorado now looks good, it turns out that RSL is literally one of the best teams in the entire league. And then you had...
01:34:33
Speaker
Vancouver as well, who are on a literal record-breaking pace in CCC. And you beat the Quakes, who are also looking like one of the best teams in the league. That's four teams right there that they all count.
01:34:44
Speaker
Those all count. I want to hear about those how those don't count. Even the Rapids one counts. You can say this one doesn't count. You can say the Houston one doesn't count. They do count in the standings. But ah the rest the rest of the schedule is honestly, it's been a freaking gauntlet. So for them to make it out of that where they are now is definitely a good thing.
01:35:03
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Can't wait for the rest of the year. Hell yeah. All right. Well, Sam, thank you for tapping in Appreciate you, man. And we'll catch you on the next one. Yeah. Have a good one.
01:35:14
Speaker
Take care. All right, guys, I'm going to call it right there. I got to run. But thank you so much for tapping in. As always, I actually am going to hit these last couple super chats. I don't want to forget that. ah We got Timbo. Appreciate you, man. Thanks for calling in. Apologies to Peter Kingston. Yeah, I wasn't going say anything, but you did make a submission to the all botched name 11, which is, you know, that that's always good ah a positive thing in my opinion, because the all Bosch name 11 is funny. But we got Patrick Kingston on there now, but he says, apologies to Peter Kingston. Great to see his performance on the field. The last few weeks should be your, should be your take for me in orbit. And then Amon, thank you.
01:35:54
Speaker
a man pick six, Amon pick six. Thank you for the five. KKR is passing and positioning. Excellent. KKR was great tonight. We didn't even talk about him, but yeah, he's continues to, man, he's fun at that right back spot with all the attacking that he brings. KKR is passing and positioning excellent don't mind our strikers continuing to battle it out our record with so many injuries is outstanding yeah I guess you know like ah the whole striker thing like I said it qualifies as a good problem to have like if your problem is like man the strikers are all kind of scoring sick goals who do we start that's a better problem than a lot of teams have which you know a lot of teams have the problem of like our striker is bad or our striker doesn't score So that's the worst problem, I think.
01:36:39
Speaker
And then... We got Robert Seamster becoming a YouTube member. Robert, thank you so much. If you guys, what one of the best ways to support the show, become a YouTube member. And I want to say thank you to all our YouTube members, by the way. We've had a bunch join over the last couple weeks here.
01:36:58
Speaker
So love and appreciate all of you. We're going keep grinding the bonus content for you guys. we We do bonus content for the YouTube members. So if you haven't signed up and you want in on the bonus content, become a YouTube member.
01:37:09
Speaker
And also... you haven't done so yet, toss a sub to QED Coffee, guys. Lobbing Scorchers kick off title sponsor. ah we need to we We need everyone to be showing them love. Buy stuff from their website. And on it if you can subscribe to QED Coffee, that is honestly one of the number one best ways you can support this show and Lobbing Scorchers in general. So... ah Thank you guys for tuning in. I'll be back at it on Monday with Nico for Lobbing Scorchers kickoff presented by QED Coffee.
01:37:42
Speaker
And then the train keeps rolling. but Don't stop. FC Dallas next weekend. And we'll have all of our coverage leading up to that. So thank you guys as always. Appreciate y'all.
01:37:55
Speaker
Love y'all. See you next time. Peace.