Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Rothrock n' Roll - Ep. 43
69 Plays1 year ago
On today's episode of Lobbing Scorchers, Ari and Noah open the show recapping the Seattle Sounders' 2-0 win against Minnesota United. Highlighting the elite performance from the greatest player to ever walk the earth: Paul Rothrock.
This week's Agenda Check takes a look at the current vibes around Obed Vargas, Leo Chu, Paul Rothrock, Stefan Frei, João Paulo and Albert Rusnak.
Rounding out the show we preview the upcoming midweek matchup with the Houston Dynamo, winners and losers around MLS and preview Copa America.
- Support the show by subscribing to Sounder at Heart and get 1 FREE month!
- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
---
Follow Lobbing Scorchers on Social Media:
Follow Ari Liljenwall
Follow Noah Riffe
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
---
Visit Sounder at Heart:
Website
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Recommended
Transcript
Episode 43 Introduction and Partnership Announcement
00:00:09
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome into episode 43 of Lobbing Scorchers, now brought to you by Sounder at Heart. This is Ari Lillianwall. I've got producer Noah here with me in my new apartment. Noah, we got a dub pod for the people today. How are you feeling? We got a dub pod and Ari, you're out of the squalor.
00:00:28
Speaker
You've upgraded I've upgraded Heart money does I got it exactly. Yeah, I got a new apartment on Capitol Hill that I'm very happy about great neighborhood Great location. So and Noah and I are practically names. We're literally named over here and it took you only like five ten minutes to get over here. Yeah, I
Significance of Partnership with Sounder at Heart
00:00:47
Speaker
We got an exciting show for you today, like I mentioned. We got a dub pod. We got one of the most significant days in Lobbing Scorcher's history, in my opinion. I agree. That's for multiple reasons. Number one, it's technically our second episode under our new partnership with Sounder at Heart.
00:01:04
Speaker
But I kind of feel like it's the partnership debut in a way. The last one was the announcement episode, and now a new era really begins. So this was already slated to be a big historic show for that reason. But we got a dub pod for you today.
Seattle Sounders 2-0 Victory Over Minnesota United
00:01:20
Speaker
The fifth dub pod of the season, the Seattle Sounders beat Minnesota United 2-0 at Loom & Field last night.
00:01:28
Speaker
I think the LA Galaxy might be back. We're going to talk about that around the league section. I think that that that MLS agenda that I've been pushing might have made a comeback. We got the Copa Americas starting. There's a lot going on. But before we get into all that at the top of the show, as we always do, I'd like to thank all our paid subs. We have a new one this week. I'd like to thank Tom. Looks like Tom James Martin.
00:01:53
Speaker
thank you for the sub and no I'm just gonna go down the whole list like I always do I feel like we're at the point where that's still something that I feel compelled to do I'd like to thank Lachlan Sam Nate Joey Brenna Pete rhombus Nate Tyler
00:02:09
Speaker
Owen, David, Christopher, Bill, Mike, Aaron B, Derek Richards, Sounder Naves, Dan Paveto, Mike Standish, Ryan, Eric Stanley, CJ and Miles Maranakis, Andy Hill, Ian Mitchell and Greg Hogart. That list is getting longer by the week and we really appreciate all the support and we're looking forward to bringing in some new listeners and new people into our
00:02:31
Speaker
community now that we've latched on with Sounder at Heart. We already noticed our numbers going up from that, so welcome in to any new listeners who haven't listened to the show before. We appreciate you. If you'd like to support the show, subscribe to Sounder at Heart. That's the new way that you can do it.
00:02:47
Speaker
Any subscriber that we bring on, you know, that's good for us. We collect a little coin. Yeah, financially speaking. But even better for you guys. Yeah, exactly. We're offering you a free month.
Building a Community and Subscriber Encouragement
00:02:59
Speaker
So if you've never subscribed to Sound Art Art before, you get a free month by using the link in the description of this show. It's easy. It's easy peasy. One free month.
00:03:08
Speaker
Exactly. Just do what Noah said. And yeah, we appreciate everyone who continues to support the show and will support it in the future. Also, if you have yet to do so yet, subscribe to The Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. We're still trying to grow on there. What are we up to now, Noah? Like 128 or something? Yeah. We're closing in on 150. 150 is the new goal. So if you're listening to this and you haven't yet,
00:03:34
Speaker
subscribe to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube.
Game Recap: Sounders vs Minnesota with Key Highlights
00:03:37
Speaker
Now that that's out of the way, let's get into this Sounders game, Noah, because a dub pod is always a special day this season. We haven't gotten to do them all that consistently. So it's always a novel event. And this was a good dub. Unfortunately, this was another dub where I didn't get to watch it live. I had another wedding, Noah. I think I mentioned it on the last show. But yeah, I'm apparently at the phase in my life
00:04:02
Speaker
again, where all my friends are getting married within a few months of each other. It's like this wasn't even the last one. I got a few more. I went through this a few years ago, like in my mid 20s, where all my friends were getting married at the same time. And now in my early 30s, it seems to have heated up again. And
00:04:18
Speaker
I've had to miss a couple sounders game in the last couple weeks because of that. So I didn't get to watch this one live. But this time I did do an in-depth review of it. Last time I was kind of doing a thing where I was going to try and give analysis, having watched hardly any of it, except for the goals and a couple of keyplays. But this time I went back through, watched all the highlights, saw all the keyplays, saw the goals. I think I got a pretty good feel for what the game was like.
00:04:44
Speaker
and what went down and Noah I might have you fill in a couple gaps here and there and if I say something that was totally off base of what happened which is possible you can correct me but honestly I think I have a pretty good handle on what happened in this game enough to give some some good analysis on it so to start off our sounders recap let's do our lineup reaction like we always do because this was a
00:05:07
Speaker
This could have been a turning of the page, so to speak. We've talked a lot about, and debated quite a bit, who should be the starting number nine for this team. And it's mostly centered on Raul Ruideas and Jordan Morris. And in this game, Brian Schmetzer had been starting Raul Ruideas consistently throughout that whole debate. And in this game, with Raul Ruideas, ostensibly fully fit and available,
00:05:31
Speaker
Jordan Morris was your starting number nine. Brian Schmetzer made that change and Raul did not even sub into this game. So we're going to talk about our thoughts on that decision and what it means moving forward. But you also had Obed back to the double pivot with JP in this game and Christian back at Wright Mid. Obed had been playing higher up the field in recent weeks. We talked a lot about that.
00:05:52
Speaker
And Christian had moved back to the spot that he played earlier in his career back in that double pivot. But this game, that was flipped again. So we'll talk about that. Alex Roldon got injured in this game just after kickoff. It wasn't like the first or second minute, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like 30 seconds. Like 30 seconds into the game. And he got to get subbed off immediately. And so Paul Rothrock ended up replacing him in the first minute of the game.
00:06:20
Speaker
And that turned out to be a historic moment for the Seattle Sounders as a whole, I think, but also specifically for us on this podcast, because you had a situation where Paul Rothrock, who is a guy we've been advocating for going back multiple months now, and I guess really, it started last season. It started last season, but it really picked up this season.
00:06:44
Speaker
You know, but the thing is, you only really got to see Paul Rothrock in these cameo type appearances, and he would make the most of them every time he played in the US Open Cup, he would score a goal. He scored a game winner in Houston last year. He kept scoring goals in the Open Cup this year. But now he actually had an MLS game where we got to see him play the entire game.
00:07:04
Speaker
And boy, I mean, we're going to talk about it in the agenda check. But, you know, it wasn't just it wasn't just the goal, it was it was the whole shift. So that was that potentially season altering development there, folks. Paul Rothrock played the entire game and it was electric. It wasn't like it really was. Seattle struck first in this game, Jordan Morris with the opener in the 28th minute. So that that choice to start him as the number nine
00:07:32
Speaker
paid dividends and Jordan is heating up he's now got four goals in his last five games that's the type of production that has been needed from him that hasn't been provided by him or frankly any of the other attackers on this team so you know that's potentially significant development as well if he's in a legitimately sustained run of form where he's finding the score sheet with this type of regularity that would be a big thing for this team i don't think it's any secret that they've been
00:08:00
Speaker
Lack inconsistent production such as that and Jordan Morris is providing it right now Albert Rusnak with the set piece assist Great ball from Albert. He is nasty on those free kicks Yeah for ever else you want to say about him Which I realize a lot of people feel like he's in underwhelming number 10 and we've expressed a similar sentiment to that at points but he had a nice free kick on that one and after foul won by Paul Rothrock
00:08:26
Speaker
Paul Roth, that goal doesn't happen if Paul Rothrock doesn't make the play to win that foul. That impacted the game even before he found the score sheet. Seattle had a fun little celebration after this goal. They all sat down and they were miming playing cards. Noah, did you want to explain the genesis of that celebration? Because that was a fun little moment.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yeah, post-match Paul Rothrock was interviewed on KJR. Shout out to Friends of the Pod. And he clued in a little bit. He didn't want to give us too much information, but he said that the team has been getting really close recently with all of the away games and travel that they've had to do over the past month and a half.
00:09:06
Speaker
and so yeah they all like to play cards together and that whole group celebration was kind of just paying tribute to that and paying tribute to like no matter what we're a team we're sticking together we're getting through this he said it like hard time um and yeah so kind of sick and i think that's like the first
00:09:25
Speaker
team celebration I've seen in a long time for the Sounders. That was well put, Noah. And I don't think there's all that much deep to read into that. But I do think it does kind of show that, like you said, in the midst of the storm that the team hasn't given up. They haven't quit. They're still playing for each other.
00:09:47
Speaker
You know, I think that there is there is something to that a little bit, just that the fact that they're trying to maintain the chemistry and the vibes and kind of get out of this. So that was that was a fun moment. No, this was a big development in the great number nine debate of 2024, as I mentioned.
00:10:05
Speaker
Um, you have a situation where, like I mentioned, Jordan Morris now has four goals in five.
Debate on Jordan Morris as Starting Number Nine
00:10:11
Speaker
And I think the question is that, you know, I wanted us to chew on a little bit is, you know, do we think this will be the setup moving forward? And is it the right call to set it up like this moving forward? You know, you have been advocating for this more than I have. I will say that, um, back, uh,
00:10:26
Speaker
Back earlier in the season, I kind of was saying that it seemed like your best plan was to let Raul Rui Diaz tee up really low percentage long distance shots and hope he hits them sometimes because nothing else seems to be working. And I guess I was skeptical that Jordan at the nine was going to offer you all that much more production than the plan of letting Raul will just kick Hail Mary's. You know, I don't know how much evidence there was to go on that you would get all that much more, but
00:10:55
Speaker
you know, I was sympathetic to the argument too that it was worth trying. But I mean, I'll just give you my take, which is that, I mean, Brian Schmetzer is a coach historically who I would say it's fair to say he usually rides the hot hand in a situation like this. If something's working like with the Obed thing at right mid a few weeks ago, he wrote that for a little while. And I expect Jordan to keep getting starts there as long as he is getting on the score sheet, which he actually is right now.
00:11:23
Speaker
So I think that you're probably, at least in the short term and potentially in the long term, you're probably going to see him starting there with Raul as the multiple million dollar DP super sub. Do you see it differently?
00:11:38
Speaker
No, I think that Jordan playing the nine is probably we're probably going to see it a lot more in the coming weeks. That said, the schedule is still congested. So honestly, I really wouldn't be shocked to see Raoul starting next match up at the nine, maybe with Jordan outside on the right mid, then maybe, you know.
00:11:56
Speaker
45 to 65 and rowell comes off jordan slots back into that to that nine position But yeah, I mean hey like yeah, he's been playing really well. He's been he's been finishing his chances I think that his confidence is is growing. I don't think he's the best option of of anyone at the nine like I still think that he's way more productive as a right or a right mid or you know a midfield player he's just
00:12:22
Speaker
better, frankly, there. But for what we have right now, yeah, might as well ride him. Listen, I've been saying it. I don't think Jordan Morris is a nine, but it doesn't mean that he isn't the best possible nine that we have on the team. No, it's true. And it was a really good header. He had to get way up to win that header and there was a center back right on him and he won that header and he placed it perfectly.
00:12:46
Speaker
And it looked pretty cool because it kind of went off the back of his head and he wasn't facing the goal, but you could see that he knew it went in. That must have felt so good. Great positioning. That's the thing with those. He got there, he got over his man, and he finished his chance. You really can't ask for much more from a striker. You can't.
00:13:05
Speaker
Seattle stayed up 1-0 until the 57th minute when I mean I've alluded to it already multiple times on this episode But we got a historic moment here at lobbing scorchers Paul Rothrock MLS goal 57th minute honestly One of the sickest goals of the season Noah like it really was it was the whole chance got created by some great interplay with Leo Chu and Obed Vargas and
00:13:29
Speaker
Down the right side and Obed kind of he did a little one-two with Leo chew and sprung him in into the into the penalty box and Leo made a great assist He put the ball right back across goal and there was Paul Roth Paul Rothrock lurking there for an easy tap-in finish and you know, it was very reminiscent of honestly a few of the goals that Paul Rothrock has scored either in the open cup or I'm thinking of the game winner in Houston last year where yeah is the same thing where he was just right in front of the goal and
00:13:59
Speaker
Perfect positioning and gets an easy little tap-in like let me ask you this how many times have we seen Raoul Rui Diaz do that in the last 12 to 14 months. Yeah now pretty much like not very many and frankly Jordan it's not like he's done that all that he's he probably has a few more of those than Raoul does but
00:14:23
Speaker
It's a striker's goal, a poacher's goal, but he's a winger. Here's what I'll say about that. Some people are going to try and downplay it by saying, oh, we think he's just like a tap-in merchant, but that is bullshit because getting in a position like that for a high percentage look is, A, a skill, and B, exactly what you want your attackers to do. Ideally, you're trying to generate as many high percentage chances close to goal as possible. So credit.
00:14:49
Speaker
to Paul Rothrock for getting himself in that position. We haven't seen enough guys on this team put themselves in position like that this season or dating back to last season. And it's a validating day in the history of our podcast, Noah, because we've been talking about this. We have.
00:15:07
Speaker
You know, I mentioned it a few weeks ago when Paul Rothrock scored it in the Open Cup, you know, it's just kind of what he does. You know, he puts himself in positions to score goals and then he puts his shots on target and sometimes they go in, which a lot of pretty much the rest of the strikers and the and the wingers on this team, they don't, you know, it sounds simple, but they don't really do that. They don't know. Do we think that this will afford Paul Rothrock more minutes going forward? I mean, it had better.
00:15:36
Speaker
It should. All he does is score goals when you give him the opportunities. And for a team that's been as goal starved as this, he should get an opportunity to build on that. And the thing is, I think the Paul Rothrock thing
00:15:53
Speaker
When it first started out, we were being a little tongue in cheek. It was a little facetious. The bit being that it's this random guy who's considered a backup to the backups on the roster who you got from Toronto FC2. He's from here, but he has no MLS experience.
00:16:11
Speaker
Randomly starts bammin in goals in open cup gets a gets another pretty random game winner in Houston and we start to be like, okay Maybe this guy can cook a little bit but like I don't know if I really believed it in in my in my soul Yeah, that Paul Rothrock was like a real answer to much of anything if he actually got the minutes that we were advocating for But you know every time he scores another goal my thoughts on that Like I get a little more
00:16:40
Speaker
just into the agenda and we're gonna we're gonna talk about that yeah no i you know one of the things that i really and we'll talk about this more uh in our favorite section the agenda check but his off the ball positioning in this game i know that you didn't watch the full match so you probably didn't know talk about it i want to hear about it you probably didn't get such a great but like
00:17:00
Speaker
his inner play with other players just looks so good like we'll talk about leo chew that that ball was awesome that interplay with obed was awesome but paul rothrock genuinely made new who look like a star and new who was like i don't want to take anything away from new this was his best match of the season and
00:17:23
Speaker
He was playing with a lot of confidence. He was playing well. He wasn't being really reckless. He maybe had one reckless play, but that's a new one. Reckless play from him. That's like fucking that's baked in. That's yeah, you know, and he just his his his positioning his mental. He was two steps ahead of his defender.
00:17:41
Speaker
He was getting in those positions just like you were talking about with, you're not a tap-in merchant when you're, you're delaying your run so that two defenders can kind of cling on to Jordan Morris. He can hold his run and you're there in the back for the tap-in. Exactly. He is, you know, he said he had a really good week at training and he expected to have a lot of minutes, but he's heating up. He's heating up Ari.
00:18:03
Speaker
I only hope that he gets more chances going forward to to build on that because it's honestly for me right now It's definitely among the top subplots that are keeping me going. Yeah Yeah, I know I was gonna mention that we'll get to that in the agenda check I did want to I did want to take a second to give Leo chew credit For his work on this play Leo choose a guy that's taken a lot of criticism during his time on the team including you know some from us like I you know and
00:18:33
Speaker
I won't deny it. Sometimes.
00:18:35
Speaker
There are a lot of times where watching Leochu try and take on a defender make me want to break my electronic possessions. That is a reality. But the thing that I'll say about him, and I've said it before, is he is, for whatever you want to say about him, he is one of the only attackers on this team that makes plays and gets on the stat sheet with any kind of consistent regularity when he gets his minutes. He's been injured this season.
00:19:05
Speaker
But I do think there are these moments with Leo Chu where you do see it. You see it. There's just not that consistent. There's not end product like we saw on this goal, like enough and consistently enough to as of yet justify the U22 contract that they gave him. But he made a great play on this goal.
00:19:38
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart podcast network, which now includes No Sunnietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:20:04
Speaker
If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks, most notably entry into our Members Only Discord, where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit soundrathart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's undeniable. I think that like there were large parts of this game where he was a ghost And honestly, it was funny because I tweeted literally right before he he had that assist I tweeted I was like he's losing steam like Brian should really get a sub ready He literally i'm like he's gonna give like he kind of gets into the box i'm like, oh he's he's he's powering up He can tell that he's about to come out
00:20:57
Speaker
So clearly I have Brian's ear, first of all, but second of all, he makes that great assist and then Brian subs him off. So I mean, he's working back from an injury, but I think I think that this specific play exactly what you were saying. It's like he shows those signs of brilliance, but it's not necessarily there yet in consistency to warrant a U-20 designing. But you know what? You got to give him his flowers. The kid fucking had an awesome play.
00:21:23
Speaker
That was nasty. And Obed too, man. It was a great team goal. It was one of the better team goals of the season, if not the best, in my opinion, when you combine the work that Leo Chu and Obed did to set it up with a Paul Rothrock finish. I mean, it's honestly, it's like a, it's a lobbing scorcher's goal.
00:21:38
Speaker
It is like with Obed factored in as well like it really is. And like let's give credit to Jordan too because he was smart enough to hold his right. He could have tried to poke it in right as he's like face to face with the goalkeeper but he was confident enough and Paul Rothrock that he was going to be there to finish that chance, shout out to Jordan too.
Paul Rothrock's Performance and Agenda Check
00:21:56
Speaker
Let's hit this agenda check, Noah, because I have a lot for it, and we're going to hit on a lot of the same points, but I still like to do the agenda check just because I feel like it contextualizes a lot of what goes on in the aftermath of these games. Let's start with the obvious one, the biggest talking point that we have for this episode.
00:22:15
Speaker
The Paul Rothrock agenda, Noah skyrocketed, unreal. Because like you said, and I said this at the top of the show too, but it was not just the goal. He had another play that was very similar to that that should have been a goal. Like he really, it was honestly the agenda might have taken a hit if he hadn't scored the goal later in the game, if he had missed that big of a sitter. I might be sitting here singing a different tune even though
00:22:42
Speaker
I don't really even think so though because the rest of his game was so good. He won the free kick that Russnak played in for the Morris School. He did really great to get himself in position for the chance that he did miss. When you get yourself in those chances multiple times in a game with consistency,
00:23:03
Speaker
a lot of the times you are going to act eventually score a goal. So the fact that he, the fact that he missed one, honestly, um, it honestly actually strengthens the agenda. I think because, um, I can't remember the last time I saw a Sounders attacker get that high percentage of an opportunity twice in one game, let alone score one. So, um, the Paul Rothrock agenda, it's, it's through the roof. I would say it's probably the hottest agenda of the season right now.
00:23:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's the hottest it's ever been and yeah to add on to that like Missing that high percentage chance, but not even 15 minutes later Creating the same exact chance and burying it that's been the problem with the sounders that we keep talking about is like the reason that this team looks so bad is not necessarily because The whole team is a failure or they're not generating chances. It's that
00:23:55
Speaker
They're just failing to finish the chances. And it's, you know, Paul Rothrock, man, he finishes the chances that he gets one for two. I don't know. That's pretty good. That's a pretty good. That's a good average. That's a great average. I did. I did want to read this little stat because I, I don't know. It's a little bit funny and silly, but, uh, this is goals per 90 for the Seattle Sounders. Who do you think are, who do you think the top three are? Who's number one, do you think?
00:24:23
Speaker
Uh, Jordan? No. Raul. But Jordan's there. Oh, okay. Who's number two? Who's number two? Jordan. Nope. Paul Rothrock. Who's number three? Oh, okay. Is it still not Jordan? It's Jordan. Okay. But he's in the top three in goals per nineties. Right. Okay. See like, which over a really small sample size, but you know, to find out if that's real, you have to make it a bigger sample size. That's what I'm saying. That's the point. Yeah.
Obed Vargas's Decision to Play for Mexico
00:24:45
Speaker
The Obed Vargas agenda. Let's talk about this one. We have a news item with this one, actually, which we haven't recorded since this dropped. But Obed actually filed a one-time FIFA-approved switch from representing the United States to Mexico. Obed is going to represent El Tree at the international level, which I'm a USMNT fan. But if you listen to Obed talk about his motivation for this switch, which I actually wrote up his quotes from that interview and posted them on, you can read it on MLSSoccer.com.
00:25:16
Speaker
But Obed was brought up in L Tree Fan. His dad actually, did you know this? His dad played at the Liga MX Youth Academy for the team that Raul used to play for and won a couple of Liga MX Golden Boots for. So that's kind of a random connection. But so Obed's dad was a very good youth player and as I understand it, didn't end up pursuing a professional career because he wanted to be more of a family man.
00:25:44
Speaker
And they ended up relocating to Anchorage, Alaska, where Obed was brought up, immersed in the game, but also as a die-hard Mexico fan. That was the team that he loved, that he watched with his dad, that he wanted to play for, that he dreamed of playing for. And the way he described it, it was like, now that I have this opportunity to live out this dream, it's just something he said. He literally used the phrase, following my heart. So I can totally rock with that.
00:26:15
Speaker
That's a good decision for Obed and I'm excited to see what he does for L-Tree because another thing he mentioned was that they're in the midst of a bit of a generational change on that team and they need new young blood to like take over, take the torch to the next generation and it would be cool if Obed established himself as a player who can do that for them.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, no, I fully support that. I love it. I love that. I love that he switched because at the end of the day, like that's that is kind of the whole thing, right? Like you're representing the team that you feel the most connected to, you know, that you feel the most allegiance to. And, you know, he said that.
00:26:51
Speaker
Um, he didn't want to initially switch or commit to Mexico at the first, because he came up in the U S he, you know, he came up in the Sanders Academy, he came up in the U S soccer system and, you know, they afforded him a lot of, you know, opportunity. And so he respected that and wanted to let that run its course, but it had kind of come to be the time where he needed to make a decision. And he, he literally said it was, it had nothing more to do than with. It was just what was in his heart. And I love that. But if you're going to look at it from a.
00:27:21
Speaker
tactical I guess standpoint like it's a great time to switch to Mexico because yeah their teams kind of in shambles and he's a great young player they've had a kind of a failure to bring up young talent up into their national team so
00:27:39
Speaker
This gives him an opportunity to completely change that narrative. And I don't know, I love it for him. And he was also asked, you know, later in his career, would he, you know, would he want to go play in Mexico if that was ever like a part of his decision making? And he said it wasn't a part of his decision making, but if he were to, he would want to go play for the club that his dad played for, which I thought was really cool. That would be, that would be cool for him.
00:28:01
Speaker
as for the how the agenda is doing I mean I think strengthened and the reason I think so is that you know he was playing back in the double pivot in this game which we had talked quite a bit about know how much more we like what we were seeing from him playing higher up the field at that right mid spot spot and
00:28:19
Speaker
And I was I was kind of thinking of it before this game that I was kind of fully converted to the look of Christian back in the double pivot and open playing at right mid. And I was hoping they would keep doing that. But I think what he showed in this game is that he appears to be developing in a way where he can make a similar impact on the game and still make plays.
00:28:41
Speaker
playing that deeper lying midfield spot and he doesn't you don't necessarily meet him at right mid so a double pivot of him and JP with Christian at right mid if you want what for maybe for a particular matchup you want what Christian brings at that spot and you can drop Obed back there he can still he can still make plays he can still impact the game and
00:29:01
Speaker
Um, he was all over the highlight reel in this game. He was, uh, he created a couple of dangerous chances. He gets a secondary assist right on that goal. So it gets on the stash sheet again. Uh, I think the Obed agenda is as strong as ever and decently strengthened by this game.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah, incredibly strengthened. It's still so obvious he has a stamp on every single game that he's been playing in. He is involved in all of the final products that turn out well. I don't think this was his best game, but I still think that he created the chance that led to a goal, so you can't ding him for that.
00:29:40
Speaker
you know I'm gonna ask you this Ari and maybe some people won't like it I'll give my take first but do we think that Brian Schmetzer has done a good job developing Obed? I think giving him the confidence by putting him in an attacking position and allowing him to feel like he has way more freedom to move on the ball and give him the confidence to show that he can create these chances was a really good
Coaching Insights: Brian Schmetzer's Influence
00:30:00
Speaker
thing for his game.
00:30:00
Speaker
That's actually a good point. That is good coaching by Schmetz to realize that he could be deployed there to positive effect. And yeah, like you said, having the confidence to keep running him out there and letting him develop new skills. I think you do have to credit Schmetz for that. Yeah. And I think Obed has become a lot more multifaceted because of that, or at least he's showing how multifaceted
00:30:25
Speaker
he really is uh in these last few weeks and it was another standout game for him even playing a different position again um the leochu is terrible agenda that's a big agenda um i think that agenda i think it's weakened in this game just because that assist was so good um but
00:30:43
Speaker
I think
00:30:59
Speaker
You see those moments of brilliance and you just wish that he could do that over the course of a season, which he has yet to do in his MLS career. And to be fair, he's been injured for a lot of this year, so he hasn't had as much of a chance to. But in the minutes that he played,
00:31:16
Speaker
Prior to that injury, I felt like it was pretty much going the same as it had been. But I will say, seeing him make a play like that, it gives some type of hope that he can maybe get on a good run of form and be a positive contributor to getting this team back up the table.
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we're still waiting for him to get over that hump that we talked about with when a young player hits or doesn't hit, it's when they're meaningfully contributing statistically game in and game out. I don't want to be mean to the guy. He got an assist, but 98% of the game that he played, he was a ghost. And he really wasn't involved. He had a really great first 10 to 12 minutes. And then he was a ghost until he assisted that goal.
00:32:04
Speaker
I also want to preface that by saying like, he's coming off an injury. He's getting back the feeling on that, but I just, I don't think that's that, that it's strengthened. I still don't think that it's diminished, but for me personally, the agenda has not moved. I still think it's questionable at best. That's fair. Um, what about the, uh, Stefan fries washed and Andy T should start agenda. Uh, you could speak better to that than I can.
00:32:29
Speaker
having watched the full game but I mean my at least perception of it is the defense played pretty well in this game they kept a clean sheet and I don't know how much fry had to do or how much this agenda could be affected based on the chances that Minnesota United may or may not have generated but I don't know what do you think
00:32:47
Speaker
I mean, he did have one where he almost, the ball almost slipped out of his hands and it was, which like, whatever he got it, it was clean, but yeah, he really wasn't tested that much. I'm not going to say that it's strengthened. I think Andy T would have also had a clean sheet. I think I could have stepped, stepped in there as goalkeeper and might've had a clean sheet. Uh, so the defense did a really great job. Shout out Yamar and Jackson Reagan both had really great games. Uh, same with new. So, uh, and, um,
00:33:14
Speaker
I guess Christian, Christian rolled on as well because he slid back in there as right back. So shout out to all of them. They they they honestly they strengthened the fry agenda just based on the fact that he didn't have to do much. So OK, interesting. How about your JP is cooked agenda? That was one that you had been toying with the last few weeks. And we haven't even mentioned this yet. But I mean, JP easily had his best game of the season. I mean, if you just look at the stats, which I believe you have pulled up. Yeah.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah. He, he did kind of, he kind of went off. I mean, he was on the highlight reel quite a bit as well. Yeah. He was, I mean, if you give, you give a shit about stats or foot mob rating or anything, he was the player of the match easily. Statistically he completed 89% of his passes. Um, he had a 0.38 XG plus XA. So he was creating chances. Um, 50% accurate crossing and accurate long balls. He was involved in the defense as well. Won all of his tackles.
00:34:10
Speaker
had uh you know 12 recoveries and 11 defensive action so he was really all over the field he was playing in some fucking beautiful passes too i mean he was yeah he you know and i will i will give him credit he was he was the first one to say that this has not been his best season he you know in in his uh press conference at training i think it was last week he said that like he personally took accountability and wanted to play better and that this hadn't been his best season and
00:34:39
Speaker
I mean, I'm not saying I was a hater because we both really love JP when he's on but he he self-admittedly and not been playing well and so the agenda was on but He kind of cooked me. He kind of cooked me on the washed on the wall You know just listening to the breakdown of it all right now Noah Like I feel like this could be the most significant development from this game out of any of them Yeah, if this portends a run of form like this from JP moving forward I mean because
00:35:08
Speaker
you're right like he hasn't been in his peak form this season and i don't think he really has frankly since he got back from the acl tear yeah i honestly this this felt like a vintage jp game and you know it can be easy to forget but i mean this was at one time one of the more like dominant midfielders in mls in terms of the two-way impact that he can have
00:35:33
Speaker
on a game. JP is very much a player in my opinion that I mean he can flip games he can earn get you points and get you results when maybe you shouldn't just because of how versatile he is and just how many jobs he does at an elite level on the field when he's on his game and I think the fact that he had not been performing at this at that level this season like you said self admittedly that's
00:35:59
Speaker
probably an under talked about reason why this team has struggled as much as it has. I think particularly as it pertains to the attack because this has been pretty good to very good defense for a lot of this last year or so now that they've kind of been struggling, but it's just been an offense that's been lagging.
00:36:22
Speaker
And JP is such a key to that offense. And that's why when he was coming back from his injury earlier this season, I was pretty sure that was going to have a very pronounced positive impact because of all those things. But then he didn't really perform at the level needed to have that impact. But he did in this game. And if he does moving forward,
00:36:43
Speaker
I mean, I'm telling you guys, that probably, as much as the number nine debate or Paul Rothrock or anything else, JP becoming JP again, if that's the case, and he does that moving forward, that could be huge.
00:36:57
Speaker
No, I agree. That's we've been missing that leadership and that calm and that, you know, that ability or that trust that you have the ability to turn games when you're on the back foot or you're on your heels. Like that's been huge, you know?
00:37:13
Speaker
one of the biggest things i think for me that i looked at this game was the 15 minutes after they scored how did they look 15 minutes after they scored a goal because they've looked atrocious every single time no matter home or away 15 minutes after they score a goal and
00:37:30
Speaker
they were doing well to absorb the pressure that came immediately and then they would try and retain their possession they would do what the sounders used to do yeah and i don't want to say that like everything has changed in the matter of one game but it definitely looked like
00:37:47
Speaker
If this is the core that you have, if this is the players that you have and want to be competitive with this team, that's exactly how you have to play every single game. They at least they they at least are clearly able to go out and execute that. Let's hope over the next month to two months they can keep that up.
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah, and it should be noted, Minnesota United was not even close to full strength for this game. They had a lot of guys missing. But you know, I don't bring that up to take much away from the result because the thing is, when you have an undermanned opponent that's playing in your building and you have them in a situation where you're playing them at less than full strength,
00:38:24
Speaker
your job is to go soundly dispatch of them and not leave anything, not let anything crazy happen, not give them any signs of life, not let them in the game, not let them have long periods of the game where they're controlling the game and on the front foot and generating chances.
00:38:41
Speaker
And that's something that Seattle has struggled with at home this season. I mean they have five draws at home this season, so They did their second home win. They did exactly what you what you're supposed to do and what you have to do against an underman opponent, which is
00:38:57
Speaker
taken easy and comfortable victory where you more or less dominate. Last one for the agenda check for the week, Noah, I got the anti-rust snack agenda, which, I mean, that's been a permeating agenda among a lot of facets of the fan base for a lot of this season. And he got a really nice assist in this game. I can't speak as well to how well he played other than that, so maybe you can give some thoughts there.
00:39:26
Speaker
Overall I was thinking to myself just watching that free kick that look that looked like one of the kind of vintage Rusnak RSL era just pinpoint free kicks Where he put it he put that one right on the money, so you at least have to give that to him Yeah, I don't think the agenda is gonna change in many people's eyes that much based off of that But that's that's the type of play that you need your DP tend to be making so I guess it was nice to see him make it this week and
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, I think our our view on the agenda has generally always been that it comes down to the contract that he's on. Is he performing at a DP level? I still don't think so. He had a couple of chances. He had a really nice shot on target that he probably should have buried. But, you know, what are you going to do? They won.
00:40:14
Speaker
I don't think that he was a game breaker or a game changer. His cross was really nice, really nice, but that's bare minimum. You got to get that ball in there. Jordan did the work to get up above his man and finish that. I'll give credit to him there, but I don't think it's diminished or strengthened. I just think that the problem again is not that he is a bad player. The problem is that
00:40:36
Speaker
for what he
00:40:52
Speaker
coming off this game too I think that's sort of the hope with the team right now is that they can take a performance like this apply what they learned about how to execute at that level which they did and hopefully get on a run they're back in they're back up in the number nine spot I believe in the west so they're in the mix for the playoffs once you get in the playoffs anything can happen but they're still at you know this is a 1.17 or whatever points per game team right now so it's up to them to change that
00:41:18
Speaker
One thing I will note just before we move on here that it's not really relating to a specific agenda, but I would say the sounders attacking agenda, most of their shots, all but one shot came from inside the box. That's an important stat. And that is important because we've not seen that. And guess what? When you do that.
00:41:38
Speaker
You score goals sometimes. It's interesting how that works. That'll do it for the agenda check. We're not going to do questions this week. I didn't send out the crowdsourcing tweet, unfortunately. I was traveling. I didn't have a chance to. So we'll get back on to answering your questions and getting the discourse flown.
00:41:56
Speaker
Flowing next week now that I'm back in action But apologies for that no question section this week Let's talk about a little do a little preview of the upcoming match on Wednesday when Seattle will head to Houston to take on Houston Dynamo FC Western Conference matchup, but on a short turnaround, so I think what you mentioned earlier about possibly a rotated lineup
Preview: Upcoming Match Against Houston Dynamo
00:42:22
Speaker
is
00:42:22
Speaker
Like maybe Raul starting at the nine instead of Jordan or I mean in a situation like this It's you're usually gonna see some mixing and matching you like you have to to keep your legs fresh So it's just funny every time that happens The lineup gets a rotated lineup gets released and everyone gets outraged about how they're not taking it seriously. Yeah I do expect at least some degree of squad rotation with the short turnaround and
00:42:48
Speaker
The other thing I'll say is the Houston Dynamo, they were a surprise good team last year. They hired Ben Olson, who was the coach of DC United forever. Famously, to hear him tell it, he wasn't exactly given a lot of resources to field an elite team.
00:43:09
Speaker
they were kind of the DC United in the Benio days you remember they were kind of like known as this sort of like money ball team yeah they would they would try and ball on a budget and there were some years where it worked okay and they were they would make the playoffs but not really usually make much noise in the playoffs I think they won an open cup
00:43:28
Speaker
And then they also had a couple years in there where they were like insanely bad remember like the 2013 team was Famously one of the worst MLS teams Like the building was falling apart Like we did a whole like episode on the raccoon at the Philly Union game Yeah, RFK used to have entire like good
00:43:51
Speaker
They have families. They have a specific raccoon that's only born inside RFK. It's like a whole thing. Yeah, so they were down bad in those days. But I do think Benio, he had them punching above their weight to an extent for a lot of his time there. And he's also a DC United lifer. He played for the team for over 10 years, I think. He was a captain of the team. Then he coached the team for another 15 years.
00:44:19
Speaker
The guy is like DC United through and through, but I do think, uh, I mean, I remember the reaction when he was hired by Houston is that a lot of people were kind of clowning on it. They were like, this is, I mean, you got this guy who was at the home for DC United where they were largely a mediocre, nothing special. Uh, if anything, they had a couple of years where they were in the like vast lower tier of the league. And now you're just going to hire this retread to run the dynamo, which there hasn't been a lot of excitement around them in recent years anyway.
00:44:49
Speaker
And I will say they haven't been as good this year as they were last year, but The Benny Oh hire has worked out for them much better than I think a lot of people Would have thought at the time that that hire was made Hector Herrera has been a great signing for them longtime Mexican national team player and a very popular player in the Houston market and He's really he's kind of I think
00:45:17
Speaker
HH has reinvigorated them by himself in a lot of ways. But I do credit, I honestly, I credit Benio too for a lot of what his job is in a situation where he's coming in like that with a team in transition is it's like culture building. It's culture building and man management and kind of just trying to create vibes again as much as anything. And Benio turned out to be, I mean, he turned out to be a good person to do that. Like he's been in the league forever. He kind of knows how to do that stuff.
00:45:46
Speaker
The Dynamo do have a new ownership group and they've been splashing more on players, even though they're not, they don't, Hector Herrera is like their biggest signing. And I think that the next step for them is to kind of keep building around that and sign a couple more guys that can sort of take them to the next level. But this team won the US Open Cup last year. They have one of the best midfielders in the league. Hector Herrera had 17 assists last year.
00:46:10
Speaker
They got karaskia who I love. Yeah, he's a really sick player. They've got a lot of really good midfielders. I think our tour boss Yeah, bossy is really good so This is not gonna be an easy game. All that is to say especially when you factor in that
00:46:29
Speaker
Seattle going to Houston usually doesn't go that well. Any road trip to Texas, you can pretty much count on being a really pain in the ass, difficult game. A lot of that is because Dallas and Houston at times have had varying degrees of competitive teams.
00:46:47
Speaker
especially at this time of year now we're into June it's just so goddamn hot and humid it's like a brutal place to play a soccer game it's gonna be 88% humidity 81 degrees and pouring rain that sounds just absolutely awful
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know. I feel like any time you do a Texas road trip, whether it's to Frisco or for Houston, even in days where the Sounders are in really good form going into the game, it's just tough playing in those conditions. And it usually is a slog. It's usually not all that fun to watch. There's usually not a ton of great offense played. This is a midweek game. So it's going to be probably a mix to match lineup to some extent.
00:47:36
Speaker
Hopefully, that means we get a Paul Rothrock start, which I think would greatly enhance this team's chances of scoring multiple goals. She's done it before there. Yeah, and that's another thing that I was going to bring up, which is that with all that being said, the last time Seattle went to Houston last year, they won.
00:47:53
Speaker
And Paul Rothrock scored the game winner. It was late in the game, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like 90 plus 8 or something. It was really late in the game. And Paul Rothrock got the game winner. It was a pretty funny W, because Seattle had random guys like Paul Rothrock, who back then he was even more random than he still is.
00:48:14
Speaker
That was back in the days when the agenda was just formulating. I think that was where the agenda started. Those were fun times. And I remember that goal in particular fueling it in my mind because you had to open cup goals to that point and now you're like, okay, he actually did it in an MLS game and scored a game winner.
00:48:34
Speaker
now he's got another MLS goal to his name so you know yeah not to do it like a fourth Paul Rothrock segment but like he scored the game winner against the dynamo last year so it's actually relevant yeah exactly so maybe you'll get a chance to do it again maybe won't but um
00:48:50
Speaker
Think overall my thoughts on the dynamo are they are a team that is not They're not playing at the level that they were last year when they won the open cup right now So that does present an opportunity for Seattle to pull a result. It's just Like the current form like almost doesn't matter when you're talking about a road trip in conditions like this It's sort of just a toss-up game where
00:49:16
Speaker
I don't know it's tough it's definitely tough for me to expect a result in this game just based on the past history of I've watched a lot of sounders away games at Houston at this point some of them have gone okay like the Rothrock game winner and I think they won in the they won in the playoffs there yeah like one of the years they won and I think during the 2019 run I want to say yeah I think it feels right don't quote us though
00:49:40
Speaker
No, because I saw what I remember about it is, uh, Nico missed the penalty. Do you remember that? It was, and it was the away leg down there, but it didn't end up like costing them. Um, but so they did, they did have playoff success there, but a lot, I was most of the regular season games.
00:49:58
Speaker
I've watched of Seattle away. He's been pretty awful to be honest. Yeah, no and especially with the form they've been in like, you know The juice is already seen I mean this game there was a lot of juice But you know, let's hope they can take that juice and keep it rolling into this match because you really need it You gotta like you got to keep your head up
00:50:18
Speaker
when you're playing in 88% humidity. Like, I lived and played in Dallas, and when I moved from here to, from Seattle to Dallas, I tried out for a team, and it was literally like 90% humidity in the tryouts, and I thought I was gonna die. Like, you can't breathe. It's hard to breathe. It's just the worst. So it's terrible. Yeah, it sucks. I think these two teams are roughly the same quality. I mean, you've got Seattle at five, seven, and six.
00:50:44
Speaker
one point one seven points per game and a plus one goal differential and you've got Houston at six six and five one point three five points per game with an even goal differential 20 goals scored 20 goals against There it's a little bit of a we got a little bit of a Western Conference mid off going on No, they haven't a mid off. They're having a mid off I think that's good for the Houston preview. What do you think what score per do you have a score prediction? Just like a win-loss draw
00:51:12
Speaker
I bet it's a draw. I feel a draw coming through. I'm happy with that. A draw at Houston is an objectively good result under almost all circumstances. It's just that the Seattle put themselves in a position where you need to be trying to bag three just wherever you can to try and get up the table. So I mean, if they could get three here, that would be big. But road trips to Houston suck, man. It's probably going to be a bad game.
00:51:41
Speaker
Let's jump around the league and do winners and losers, and then I wanted to talk about the Copa just a little bit, and then we can get out
League Highlights: LA Galaxy's Offensive Potential
00:51:47
Speaker
of here. Does that sound good? Let's do it. Okay. For winners and losers around MLS this week, winners, I got the LA Galaxy. I mentioned this at the top of the show. Joey Paints is back from injury. Thank God. He scored a goal. The Galaxy hung four goals on Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts.
00:52:02
Speaker
in a 4-2 victory home for LA and I mean I just think the fact that Joey Paints is back and you get four goals I don't think that means that the Galaxy are for sure back just based off one game but I think it means that I mean they've got a key part of their personnel back and I still think despite the fact that they've struggled in the Galaxy agenda has taken a hit in recent weeks
00:52:27
Speaker
I just think like when they're at the top of their game and attack It's one of the it's it's the most electric attack in MLS I still think besides when inner Miami is like peak inner Miami Yeah, that's how I still think of the galaxy which I think a lot of their shine has seemingly worn off But I still look at them that way and this I think this showed like that top level that they're capable of They just can't stop conceding goals. No, they love doing love that. Yeah, so I
00:52:55
Speaker
I don't expect that to stop, but when you're, when you can score three to five goals, like they can at the drop of the hat, when they are at their top level, that can mask a lot of defense defensive deficiencies. And I don't know if they'll win MLS cup off that. Cause usually when you get to the playoffs, the defenses get better and it's a little harder to pop off. Like they can pop off. Um, but if they get hot, like at the end of the season,
00:53:21
Speaker
no one's gonna wanna play them. Are you kidding me? It's very classic MLS because, you know, you only have DP, you have three DP spots, so you're really not gonna, 99% of teams, unless you're doing a designated team model, are going to go and get, you know, an attacking player as a DP, so it's really hard to get like a DP. You see DP defensive mids and CBs like sometimes, but like, you're right, like generally speaking, most teams are gonna pump that money into the attack, and then, yeah, you have
00:53:49
Speaker
Less than optimal defending at times. Exactly. It's the inner Miami model. Yeah, they just They took that to the extreme and it low-key kind of works My second winner for the week Chicago fired they've just randomly bammed on Toronto FC 4 to 1 Not really what I expected at all Toronto FC has been talked about as being surprisingly good this year and rightfully so they've definitely surpassed my expectations in their first year under John Hurtman and
00:54:16
Speaker
I just think it's fun. It's a classic MLS thing where the Chicago Fire have been one of the worst teams in the league all year. They probably couldn't even tell you the last time they scored four goals in a game. They famously don't score a lot of goals. The Chicago Fire, they love blowing leads more than any team I think I've ever seen in any sport.
00:54:38
Speaker
Like if the Chicago fire have a lead, I don't even consider the notion that they're going to see out whatever game they're playing with that same lead. It's without fail and it's unreal to watch. I can't believe they held the lead in this game. Um, but when you score four, that's what happens. And, uh, I think it's, I wanted to give the fire some shine for a week because they're probably not going to be getting all that much this season. So good dub for them.
00:55:04
Speaker
Yeah, it is quite funny that I'm just looking here on foot mob and and the predictions that people made it was 65% of people thought Toronto would win 15% thought it would be a drawn 20% thought Chicago would bam and yet it's quite funny, especially because they hadn't won an away game in their last eight matches. Yeah, exactly. Just absolutely out of nowhere. Yeah. And then I got the Colorado rapids for their two zero victory over Austin FC. And I think, I think the rapids like
00:55:33
Speaker
I'm ready to say that they're better than I thought they would be. They were another team. They were picked to be like a Chicago Fire tier team. And it's another coaching hire, like an MLS Retrade coaching hire that everyone made fun of and was like, how could you possibly hire Chris Armas? He's the worst coach of all time, which...
00:55:51
Speaker
his tenure at Toronto FC was famously disastrous. It was pretty bad. Quite comedic in a lot of ways though, like just the drama and the insane stuff that happened. So I understand where the anti-armist sentiment comes from, but I mean you can't like you can't deny that he has this rapids team like
00:56:09
Speaker
playing decently well. They're a mid team, but when you were expected to be as bad as they were, mid is a pretty good outcome, because it seems like they're making progress. And they have Georgi Mihailovic, who they're building around. And there's also stats to suggest that they're signing of Zach Steffen, which that's another one that took a little bit of criticism at the time.
00:56:32
Speaker
But that's not working out very well. And honestly, if they had even average goalkeeping instead of some of the worst in the league, they would be even higher up the table. The stat I saw was that their GD would be plus six or seven instead of what it is right now, which is even after they beat Austin 2-0. So Colorado, not actually that bad. That's my takeaway there.
00:56:57
Speaker
I think that's a good, you've been, you've been, you've been banging on that. I feel like that they're not, they're not the worst. They're not the best. I just wasn't sure about it yet. And like they were playing an Austin team that I don't think is very good at all. But again, uh, it's, you know, similar to what I was saying about Seattle, like that's, they get credit there for taking care of business against an underman inferior opponent. And I know Austin's record is like roughly the same, but I just, I don't believe in that idea.
00:57:23
Speaker
Yeah, it is crazy that Zach seven is just become a bond one of the worst in the league Like Man City, I guess it just shows you know being in a system matters more than being an individual player But man, that's just crazy I mean when he was he was he was goalkeeper of the year when he was on the crew Which I know a lot of people thought that he shouldn't have been but he did have a really good year that year Yeah, I looking back on it though. I'm like Man City like
00:57:47
Speaker
Yeah, bro played like 21 matches for man city. That's crazy. And now he's toiling. Yeah on the Colorado rapids Statistically one of the worst goalkeepers in MLS kind of slept on storyline. Yeah We need a whole documentary about that. We want the 30 for 30 Loser section Zach Stepan I had the Philly Union
00:58:13
Speaker
Oh, even worse. This was one of the craziest Ls I've seen an MLS team take in some time. The Philly Union were playing inner Miami at home at Subaru Park, where they've just been clowning for like the last month or so. Remember when Seattle was going there to play that game? And I was talking about how dominant they were at home. That Seattle game was kind of in the midst of this stretch, where they have no home field advantage at all. And if anything, every team going in there right now has to feel great.
00:58:42
Speaker
about their chances of getting a result. This latest one was a gut punch to say the least. The Philly Union were tied with Inter Miami 1-1 late in the game and Inter Miami was down to nine men. They got a red card at some point in the second half and then they got a late one in like the 84th or 85th minute.
00:59:02
Speaker
They were down to nine men. And so Philly had the rest of the match, which was five or six minutes plus stoppage time to try and score against a nine man team and take a home victory. And instead they gave up a game winner to enter Miami who had no Lionel Messi, who's away with Argentina for the Copa to a guy who Leo Alfonso, who was a super draft pick.
00:59:25
Speaker
I believe who was playing at the University of Virginia last year bammed on bam like banger the Philly Union are cooked. They are so they're so cooked like just when you factor in the run of L's that they took at home.
00:59:47
Speaker
On top of this L where you lose to a team with nine men doesn't have any of their superstar players. They're just praying to get anything out of the game. And instead they get two red cards and you give up a game winner to Leo Alfonso, who he actually I was looking him up because I didn't really know much about him. And it seems like a kind of situation where he played college soccer when realistically he was like way too good for that level.
01:00:16
Speaker
So I think it's it's not like he's just a total rando super draft pick But I mean still like he was a he was a he was in the Union Academy as well. So yeah Yeah, like and I think he he switched from Philly to inner Miami and then chose to play college at Virginia Virginia so but it's just it's just a really random guy to get bammed on with no Lionel Messi in the game and
01:00:41
Speaker
Yeah. He's like a next pro star. Like he's played three matches and scored four goals in next pro. And then he's played eight matches for inner Miami. Probably 90% of those are off the bench, scored two goals. Like it's just, it's a mind boggling L for the Philly union to take on their home field, especially in the context of the rest of the results they've taken there lately.
01:01:00
Speaker
The Vancouver Whitecaps down bad lost 3-2 to the Revs who I think the Revs have won three straight now or three or four or something so they're looking a little like the Revs were on a like worst wooden spoon team of all time to have pace in terms of the stats they were putting up over a relatively small sample size still to start the season but still just a terrible start under Caleb Porter
01:01:22
Speaker
Um, but so they've been playing a little bit better than that, which that doesn't surprise me that that's evening out a little bit because I do think that, I mean, there's still some talented players on the revs. Carlos heel is one of the best players in the league at one point. Uh, and I still think he's got that level in him and, uh, Dylan Barrero and Noah Buck are pretty good young players. Uh, and they've got some, they've got some good MLS vets. So I was surprised to see them that bad, but the white cap should still be handling that team. If the white caps are what we thought they were earlier in the season, which
01:01:52
Speaker
I think we talked about them as a mid-tier team that was on the precipice of becoming an upper-tier team and had started to look and play like an upper-tier team. And seeing this result, I'm just like, guys.
01:02:10
Speaker
If you want to be an upper tier team in the league as the Whitecaps have been have been billed as You got it. You got to handle the revs right there at least take a point. Yeah, you got to take a point. It was
01:02:23
Speaker
It's it's sad. It's like I'm you know funny enough people will say like oh the Vancouver or the Sounders Rebels. I'm rooting for him. I'm rooting for him. I like I like I like yeah, they're Scottish messy, and I love Vanny Sartini Yeah, I really want them I want them to do well because I want him to stay in the league as much as possible because of his like entertaining press conferences Yeah, exactly so pick it up boys pick it up
01:02:47
Speaker
Come on, come on caps And then finally I've got the San Jose earthquakes who got absolutely bammed on for two at home by FC Cincinnati They're so bad, dude. Yeah, they're they're so bad Like I know they don't have the worst record in the league right now, but they have the least amount of points though They do they have 11
01:03:08
Speaker
Okay, which is five less than the revs. The quakes are charging towards the wooden spoon because, yeah, Sporting Kansas City beat Seattle. It's funny. Seattle is lost to Sporting Kansas City and San Jose, who are the bottom two teams in the West right now. Tough. So that's not what you want. No. But, yeah, I mean, the quakes are one of the worst teams in the league. They're gold differential is hilarious, too. Their mine is 17.
01:03:36
Speaker
They've been scored on 43 times. 43 goals against you. That's insane. That's the most in the league. I'm looking at it right now. It's the most in the league by a long shot. No one else is more than like 35 or 36. So not good. Especially, you know, FC Cincinnati is
01:03:58
Speaker
They're a top two to three team in the league right now, and if any take that FC Cincinnati is the best team in the league right now, I wouldn't necessarily argue with that. I mean, I think that, you know, Miami, like FC Cincinnati is still doing the thing where they're winning every game that they win by one goal. But like, if you look at their results from the last few weeks,
01:04:19
Speaker
They've actually They had another four spot and then they had this four spot. They won this game by multiple goals So if they start performing like that consistently, I mean they're very much up with the big dogs which the big dogs to me right now is inner Miami and
01:04:36
Speaker
Real Salt Lake LA FC Columbus Crew not really right now. I think you know and I kind of They have to do it consistently, but I think NYC FC is right there. They they went on like a insane heater in these last couple weeks where they won like eight straight and like nine of ten or something and all their young players are
01:05:01
Speaker
They have like a team of layout shoes that are all breaking out at the same time. That's like what's going on at NYC FC. But they paid the price for it. They let those guys play a lot last year to some underwhelming results, but now they are reaping the rewards of what happens when you develop your young players and you make the right signings.
01:05:21
Speaker
My game to watch next for this next match day is LA versus New York City FC. LA Galaxy versus New York City FC. That's a great shout. That is easy. That's going to be one of the most fun games because you have that kind of turbo charge galaxy attack against. I mean, NYC FC, if you want a young, fun, like pretty entertaining team that has been scoring a lot of goals, they're a good one to watch.
01:05:40
Speaker
Either that or Columbus or Miami, that'll be a fun one as well. Yeah, good shots. I wanted to talk about the Copa just real quick and then we can get out of here, Noah. The Copa America is starting international break underway.
Copa America and USMNT's Progress
01:05:54
Speaker
The international break we're playing through, by the way. Yeah, exactly.
01:06:01
Speaker
I figured we should talk about the USMNT a little bit, because we hadn't recorded since the Brazil draw, which the last time we talked about the USMNT and these pre-Kopa friendlies, they got whammed on 5-1 by Colombia. And we had a lot of negative things to say about it, as I think most people did. You can't really have a 5-1 and have very many positive things to say about it. And I was questioning a lot of
01:06:29
Speaker
Was question I was like devolving into a bot. No, I kind of I had a little I had some bot takes like without a doubt But then they go out there in their final pre Copa tune-up friendly against Brazil and even better team than Columbia and they take a 1-1 But they they played really well in that game. They did. I don't want to really hear about how Brazil wasn't trying or how like like they had they had some of their guys out there at least and
01:06:59
Speaker
The U.S. went toe to toe with them. Christian Pulisic scored a really nice goal. And I think overall it was just a really good performance and a fun game to watch. Like it was entertaining footy and it kind of now now I'm back. Instead of being a bot, I'm back on like extend Berhalter. Oh, I mean, not really. I'm just overcorrecting. But
01:07:24
Speaker
it made me it did make me like more intrigued to watch the Copa again because at least as it pertains to the US because after the Columbia game I was like oh boy this could be bad yeah this we could get absolutely embarrassed and I could still happen but at least seeing a game against an opponent like Brazil where the team plays as well as they did and gets like like a 1-1 against Brazil I think that's like a pretty good
01:07:50
Speaker
You can't really hope for much more than that. I mean, Brazil is perennially one of the two, three best teams in the world at any given time. So US opens up against Bolivia on the 23rd and I'm actually excited and intrigued to watch it. And I'm really excited and intrigued for the whole tournament.
01:08:10
Speaker
There's some good games kicking it off. You got Argentina, Canada on Thursday, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela. And then the other one I'll be watching for sure is Mexico, Jamaica. How good would it be if El Trie loses that game? It's totally possible. And it's very possible with where they're at right now. And shout out to John Bell. He got a call up to Jamaica. John Bell got called to Jamaica. Yeah, good shout.
01:08:36
Speaker
I think there's so much pressure on L-Tree in this tournament. They've been struggling so bad. They need to have a good showing and show that they're headed somewhat in the right direction. But frankly, there's a lot of pressure on the U.S. too.
01:08:55
Speaker
We talked about it after the Columbia game when, you know, I was still I was still pretty emotional about it, I guess. But this team, this these guys were billed as the Golden Generation. They're all playing at these big time clubs there whenever they move. It's however many millions of transfer fees. This is supposed to be the team that like.
01:09:15
Speaker
takes the program to the next level, right? And we haven't really seen it yet, which I think it's fair to say that we're on a timeline where you couldn't rightfully necessarily expect to have seen it yet, like by the last World Cup, when a lot of these guys were still really young and getting their first taste of playing on big stages like this. But now I think this is a good benchmark moment to see what the progress really is. And if we can see glimpses of the type of team that this is supposed to be, ultimately.
01:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm I'm excited to watch it. I was actually photographed the 2016 Copa America that was also in the U.S. They the U.S. played at Loom and feel like it's then century link. I love the Copa. The Copa is fine. Yeah, I covered those games too. And it was a blast.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm stoked that we get to see, you know, more Central American and U.S. teams in there. It's always fun when it's hosted here as well. I'm really excited. But but yeah, like you said, like this is really going to define what happens next for this team, because this is the first big test.
01:10:21
Speaker
Preparing them for the World Cup which they are expected to do well when you're a host country like they are expected and have Unfortunately or unfortunately they have a pressure of growing soccer in America on this generation They're supposed to take them to the next level. So yeah, if you don't get business done like
01:10:40
Speaker
The narrative is hard. The narrative is hard. Let's say the Copa goes really bad and the US crashes out in the group stage and we just totally embarrass ourselves on the Copa stage. Bearhalter might actually get sacked. 100%. I think you actually would in that scenario.
01:11:01
Speaker
I don't I mean, I don't think that's gonna happen, but it's within the range of outcomes. Yeah, which That would make a lot of people really happy. But like honestly if that happened I would be I Would be a little bit skeptical that this actually is the generation that's ultimately gonna take us to that next level and you know, I I won't want to base it on like
01:11:26
Speaker
one tournament or one game but like this is the exact stage where you're supposed to now not just hold your own not just be happy to be there happy to compete but like excel yeah so that's what I'm hoping to see at least to some extent I don't expect us to win the tournament but
01:11:43
Speaker
But in 2016, the U.S. finished fourth in the Copa. That was with Clint Dempsey and John Brooks. Like, no disrespect to those players because Clint Dempsey was absolutely a stud. But he was in the twilight of his career in 2016. And it's fucking John Brooks. No disrespect. Well, and that whole that whole player pool just doesn't hold a candle to like the top level talent that we have in the player pool now. Exactly. So I think you got to at least finish fourth at least. I think that's reasonable.
01:12:13
Speaker
All right, I was gonna call it right there Noah, unless you had anything else. Thank you so much as always to everyone for tuning in and hopefully some new listeners as our new partnership with Sounder at Heart gets underway. We're really excited about that. I'm gonna be throwing down some written content on Sounder at Heart where I'm gonna be doing stuff that's gonna accompany these podcasts and then I'm hoping to also do some more kind of broader MLS coverage because
01:12:41
Speaker
You know, I'm covering the whole league every day on and over on MLS soccer comm and you know, I got a big Depth of knowledge on the whole league that I would be happy to share So we'll see how exactly that component of it pans out But again, thank you to everyone for all the support and for getting us to the point where we could do a partnership like this and expand our reach and Generate a little bit money of money off the show, which we're obviously excited about couldn't do it without you guys
01:13:11
Speaker
So thanks so much we'll see you back here for episode 44 probably after the After the midweek game against Houston for a post game pod about that Until then we out subscribe don't forget to subscribe sub you sub to sounder at heart sub to sounder at heart one free month sub to the YouTube share with who are we sharing with Ari and
01:13:35
Speaker
Your friends family everyone, you know exactly enjoy paints. All right. Now we have peace