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The Seattle Sounders Played Better Than Inter Miami?! - Ep. 111
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With the Club World Cup now a wrap, the Seattle Sounders returned to league play with a 2-0 victory over Austin FC at Lumen Field. Was this a breakout performance for Jesús Ferreira? We discuss that as part of the Dub Pod and Agenda Check.
We also dive into some more Club World Cup discourse, including Inter Miami’s unceremonious exit from the tournament that leaves some question marks as to the stock of Lionel Messi and the Barca Boys.
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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 Info
00:00:00
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.
Weather and Episode Overview
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:00:43
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers. We have got a dub pod to lay down for you on this beautiful Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
Seattle Sounders and MLS Discussion
00:00:57
Speaker
ah We're also going to be doing a little Club World Cup discourse as well as we as we catch up in one of our first shows like this in a little while. We got a lot of ah lot of stuff to cover as the Seattle Sounders...
00:01:10
Speaker
return to MLS play and look ahead to the rest of the MLS league season. Noah, how are you feeling? It feels good to be back. It was two weeks of... endless content but i was not a part of any of it um i was fighting my way through the credentialing process of fifa i was fighting my way through the hordes and the masses at the matches and uh you know we'll talk to be back on the couch laying down ah yeah laying down a little pod uh
00:01:41
Speaker
Big win for the Seattle Sounders last night. You know, we were talking in the press box before the game, but ah if they had lost this game, it would have it would have been a six-game losing streak, all comps, which three of those were against three of the best teams in the world.
00:01:58
Speaker
in the Club World Cup group of death. But still, you never won a sixth spot, right? You never won a sixth spot. So it was ah it was a necessary win. And ah considering where they were at with the personnel in central defense, it was ah it was an impressive win.
00:02:14
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira, one goal, one assist. They're going to say they don't count, but they did count. ah Danny Musavsky, goal off a 23-pass buildup. That was, I think, one of my favorite goals of the season so far that has been scored by this team.
Promotions and Subscriber Acknowledgment
00:02:28
Speaker
and We're going to be reacting to that, as I said, and doing some Club World gu club club world Cup discourse, hitting our agenda check, and and more bonus content for YouTube members. So it's going to be a big show.
00:02:41
Speaker
ah But before we get into that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderathart.com. What's that link? Sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:03:03
Speaker
ah are we still Are we still on the road? to We're still on the road to 100. Plugging away dr slowly but surely. ah But now more than ever is a great time to become a member with the season obviously in full swing.
00:03:16
Speaker
And subscribers get access to the audio only version of our live shows. right to your podcast feed. ah Noah, you guys, see you got the sub list up right there. Do we have any ah any new ones to thank here? Three new subs here. let's go. Andrew Brestford, Mark Wilkinson, and Kyle Zahn.
00:03:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for supporting independent seat Seattle soccer coverage and and the Lobbing Scorchers podcast, of course. So if you want to get... The best Seattle soccer coverage, you know where to go. Okay, like you you don't have to ask us. You don't have to hit us up in on Blue Sky or Twitter whatever and be like, hey, where do I get the best Seattle soccer coverage? You know it's at soundrightheart.com slash LS.
00:03:55
Speaker
The Lobbing Scorchers Hot Sauce is also now live and operational. did It is out and it's really good. We're very excited about ah what we whipped up with Hacks and Ferments, one of our beloved sponsors.
00:04:09
Speaker
ah Go grab yourself a bottle. Lobbingscorchers.com slash sauce. You can order right from there. And if you use code LS, you get a free bottle with your order. Yeah. So... We're shooting some promo content for that soon. Yeah. Yeah. You'll get, you know, we'll be pumping this, but I have to be honest, Ari.
00:04:26
Speaker
I was going to bring one today and I used the rest of it this morning. Because it's that good. Like I legitimately went through four bottles in like two weeks.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah. It's ridiculous. It's so good. Yeah, Hacks and Ferments, great company, great product. And lobbingscorchers.com slash sauce. Get your bottle and use code LS to get a free bottle.
00:04:49
Speaker
Shout out to Hacks and Ferments and our other sponsors, Podium Menswear and Full Pole Wines. And if you have not yet, for some crazy reason, sub to the ah YouTube channel. And follow us on all socials, including Instagram and TikTok.
Club World Cup Analysis
00:05:03
Speaker
ah The Instagram game, the road to credibility is alive and well, but ah we could always use some more follows on there. The TikTok game is... ah scene It's scene. It's hot, but not necessarily in a good way. Yeah, there's a lot of crash outs out there. there are The comment section on TikTok is a tough scene sometimes, but ah our stuff on there has been ah performing quite well yeah in a in a good way. Sure. So give us a follow on there.
00:05:32
Speaker
All right, Noah, we're going to hit this dub pod in ah in a minute here. But before we do that, I did want to check in on some Club World Cup discourse with you because we haven't really gotten to a debrief since Seattle was officially eliminated from the tournament.
00:05:45
Speaker
ah Talked about it quite a bit, obviously, with Nico on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff. It's been a big ah topic of conversation on under the lights. But we haven't really ah talked about it yet. So what I was going to do is Nico and I did a little thought exercise where we gave Seattle letter grades for their performance in the group of death based on how these games went.
00:06:06
Speaker
Nico was a little harsher than me. He went C minus. i was I was a little harsh at first, too. I went more like C plus. OK. But then after these, this was done like right after the tournament. So it was like my kind of raw emotional reaction. And I, you know, i was still thinking about the new who fell in the Botafogo game.
00:06:25
Speaker
At least a couple couple of goals against Atletico, I want to say were just like, my my thing was like, In terms of the overall performances and results, I think you could give it a B, but the reason I was dating them was for having the type of concessions that are avoidable and stuff that in games like these where the margins are so thin, especially against in the Botafogo game.
00:06:50
Speaker
If you make mistakes like the one Nuhu made on that first foul, I think you kind of it's fair to ding ah the overall assessment of the performance.
00:07:01
Speaker
on ah it if If a team like Atletico Madrid or PSG just their quality outshines your quality. Like the first goal in the Atletico game, the one that Pablo Barrios scored, for example, that's one where you're like, okay, we're playing one of the best teams in the world every single year.
00:07:17
Speaker
And if they had if they hit a shot like that, You tip your cap, that's a GG's, on to the next. ah But there was, in my opinion, too many goals in this tournament that weren't of that category, where ah we that were of the category of the Sounders shooting themselves in the foot in ways that they didn't need to. So that's why I was like, C plus feels more more correct than maybe a B minus.
00:07:42
Speaker
However, I will say, however after VAR after v a r review after after taking a few days to marinate on it and really ah soak it in a little more, i kind of came to the conclusion that In the Bees is actually fair. I mean, look, this group, it was...
00:08:01
Speaker
It was one of the best teams in Spain, the best team in South America from last year, and the literal best, number one best team in the entire world. Yeah.
00:08:11
Speaker
That was who was in this group. ah So I think you do have to take that into account when you are evaluating this, assessing this. And I think with that in mind, the fact that Seattle...
00:08:24
Speaker
was hanging with it in these games. They were competing. They were controlling the run of play at times. They had their chances. They scored two goals in the group play. They gave the fans at Lumen Field some ah some great moments, some great memories where they scored goals that we'll always have the two minutes after Albert Rusnak scored against Atletico Madrid where a result in that game actually felt like it could be on the table.
00:08:47
Speaker
We'll always have the Botafogo game that ah that was a fight till the bitter end. In Madrid. Christian rolled on gets a goal in that game. Noah, my favorite moment of the whole group stage for Seattle was at, I've alluded to this on the live shows, but i'm I'll relive it again.
00:09:03
Speaker
ah the at the at halftime of the Atletico Madrid game when Seattle was down 1-0, got lucky to get out of that half with it at 1-0, but they were fighting out there, they were competing, they were scrapping.
00:09:14
Speaker
They were losing 1-0 at the half, and the Lumen Field crowd gave that gave Seattle a standing ovation as if to say, like, come on, guys, keep going. Like, thank you. you You're competing.
00:09:27
Speaker
you're You're doing us proud right now against one of the best teams in the world. And you're losing the game. But they it was just this like moment of of appreciation from the home crowd. and And you can't you can't like fake moments like that. That's all organic. And the team gave the fans that they gave all of us who who cover this team that.
00:09:48
Speaker
So even with a few unfortunate concessions, I think you do have to, if you look at the positives from that from that type of lens, I think a B or B minus is actually fair despite some admittedly unfortunate concessions. So sorry, I was rambling there. No, you were in the zone. I was in the zone right there.
00:10:07
Speaker
ah Where do you come down on that, Noah? We haven't talked about it. like what would What would your grade be and why would you assess Seattle's performance in the group of death as such? I think it starts for me with the atmosphere, the feeling around the games, the going into this with the expectations that I did.
00:10:27
Speaker
And I've stated this before, like I never expected to win a single one of these games. If they did, that was a success. That would be an A plus. That's an a I said that and I said, if you come out of this with a draw, that's acceptable. That's great. That's a B.
00:10:40
Speaker
That's a B. I think coming out of this, performing, not getting truly embarrassed, think maybe the Atletico game, you got you get a little like you get the most exposed. And I think the PSG game, you probably get lucky to not give a few more away. like i think i think they played them well, but I think that PSG have had couple I would say that they got lucky, honestly, to not get scored on more in the first half of the Atletico game. For sure. And then to me, the PSG game kind of looked like once they went up 2-0, it was kind of just about killing the game off them. Yeah, they the foot off their guys. At least that's what it felt like. I could be wrong about that. But to me, the vibe I got was that if they had truly like tried to turn up and been like, this is the PSG that was just playing in UEFA Champions League,
00:11:24
Speaker
they probably could have hit a different level and just didn't feel the need to, but that's yeah speculation. Like, I think, I think if, if you're, you went into this tournament, like you have to be competitive.
00:11:35
Speaker
This is, this is it. Like if you're an LAFC fan and you have that dog shit group, I mean, it's not terrible, but you know what i mean? None of these groups are easy by any means, especially with the salary cap.
00:11:47
Speaker
Okay. Maybe the Auckland city one, but regardless, It's tough, right? And they went into it thinking, we could win. could get out of this group easily. We have to get out this group. They have to feel like...
00:11:59
Speaker
Maybe if they were fully healthy, they could get a result in this group. I think if they think that they're fully healthy, that they could probably score against PSG and, you know, maybe even be a problem against them.
00:12:13
Speaker
That said, I mean, like you can live in what ifs and whatever is I think they acquitted themselves well and. That's kind of, like, fine. You know, it's there's nothing to be embarrassed about about it. it's It's acceptable, but, you know, if we're going to to give it a letter grade, I'll split the difference between you and Nico. I'm going to go with a C. I think that it's passing along the lines of exactly what I had shared previously of what I thought, like, would be passing or, you know, impressive or or good or whatever. Like, that's just what it is. It's it's fine. It's great.
00:12:46
Speaker
Like, you... you you You scored goals in a group of death and you weren't expected to get out and you didn't, but you didn't look like you didn't belong there. You looked
Inter Miami and LAFC Performance
00:12:56
Speaker
like, yeah, okay. And you got the respect of some fans and you know, you you use this tournament to very clearly like the way that they played against PSG.
00:13:07
Speaker
There was a game plan there. Like they, they, they game planned it. They structured it. The players went out there and they performed like it was, life or death. And that was awesome. And that was super fun to watch. And it's very clear with this Austin game that they've taken notes from these teams that they played and they're applying it to their own gameplay, which is awesome. That's that's kind of all you can ask for. So for me, i had fun. I enjoyed watching it I wouldn't say it was like ah success by any means, but like, yeah, okay, sure. Hell yeah.
00:13:38
Speaker
That's kind of where I'm at. I'm like, yeah, it was fun. I had fun. See passing 70, just like me and most of my grades in all of school. I, uh, yeah, I think that's a fair for me, I guess acquitting themselves. Well was more of a, uh, like the barometer of success when you're, when you're taking into account, uh, competition like this. so Maybe that's grading it on on ah more of a curve than some would, but that's that's how I feel about it.
00:14:09
Speaker
i land more in the B range after marinating on it. But if ah ah if people are are more in the C range, I think that's that's also fair. I think it's perspective to like, what are you disappointed or are you like, I think that's really it's letter grades are always a funny thing, right? Like it's where we don't have numbers to like judge these on.
00:14:32
Speaker
I think the bigger question is, were you disappointed me? Absolutely not. And I don't think, I don't think you could talk to anyone reasonable that would be like, man, I'm really disappointed in the way that they perform. Well, and there there was, i knew kind of no matter what happened, unless they won one of these games or somehow got out of the group, we were going to have to deal with the the discourse, like ah in our comments sections and in our chats and stuff, as people talking about, oh, wow, you hosted three games and didn't even... When a single one didn't even take a single point. How embarrassing for MLS, how embarrassing for you.
00:15:09
Speaker
ah But the the beautiful thing about it from from our perspective, or at least from my perspective, is that the actual narrative is not related to people who want to throw those comments in our set comment sections or chats. They watch the That stuff is based on what happens on the field.
00:15:30
Speaker
It is very clear cut. Anyone who watched the games saw that Seattle acquitted themselves well. And that's the pervasive narrative among other fan bases, how it's been covered by the media and ultimately what the mainstream perception of their performance really is.
00:15:46
Speaker
So if you you can you can come in with those narratives to the effect that ah it was like embarrassing or a horrible performance for Seattle. But you lost.
00:15:57
Speaker
But you lost. You lost that discourse. And i I think maybe one reason I'm giving them is a little a little bit higher of a grade is I appreciate that the players went out there and ah and put that put that to bed, put that notion. like Like, people are going to say that no matter what.
00:16:15
Speaker
But the fact that the performance that Seattle did... put in rendered that objectively like incorrect and not the mainstream narrative that's that Seattle has coming out of this tournament.
00:16:26
Speaker
I love that. I think that's great. So ah there was that. And also I will point out, Noah, the Seattle Sounders did not have the worst ah performance of an MLS club in this competition. It is true. As you mentioned, LAFC.
00:16:40
Speaker
I don't know if I would, i'm I'm not going to sit here and say whether what happened to them was embarrassing or not embarrassing, but I will tell you that their fan base is coming out of this tournament heated.
00:16:52
Speaker
yeah They are pissed. And they're blowing up their damn team, dude. Yeah. Like, yeah. Giroux is out of there. He's back, ah back to France yeah from, ah from whence he came and they, they lost to the ah Tunisian team, which I will say like that team kind of ripped.
00:17:08
Speaker
They were good. I watched that whole LAFC game when they were playing them, and that was that team playing well more than it was LAFC crashing out or playing bad. It a combo. I think that team was playing at their highest potential, and also LAFC was playing at their literal worst. They looked terrible. And they looked like... They missed a penalty! They looked almost just not...
00:17:31
Speaker
They didn't care. Yeah, exactly. Disinterested. They didn't care. They they looked like disinterested at times, and their fans are pointing that out yeah in a way that Seattle fans... Yeah, and Seattle fans don't have to do that. like You can look at it and be like...
00:17:45
Speaker
i The team like played up to the moment in certain respects, and they definitely did not look like disinterested. They were they were were playing much a best they were very much interested. They were playing for the badge out there.
00:17:59
Speaker
So LFC had, I think, easily the worst club World Cup performance of any MLS club. Yeah. And Inter-Miami, they made it out of the group and they made a ton of money by winning one of their games and drawing the other two.
00:18:13
Speaker
ah They played really well in that group. They got out of the group. But also they spend $20 million dollars more than the highest spending team in MLS. So it's like, okay, yeah, you got out of the group and then what? Well, so yeah that's what I was getting to. They played PSG earlier this morning and fared way worse than Seattle did. That game was not close for a second of that game.
00:18:36
Speaker
They scored four in the first half. They scored in the one the opener in the first four minutes of the game. There was not one second of that match that was competitive. They took the foot off the gas the second half. the second half when it was already 4-0, Inter-Miami might have had some nice moments, but it's not like it meant anything.
00:18:54
Speaker
So I think ah they are the only club that got out of their group. You have to give them credit for that. It's not like it was a Mickey Mouse group. mean, yeah, it was. Inter Miami's group? Yeah, it was little Mickey Mouse. I don't think You know they stuck them in there because they wanted them to advance and play PSG.
00:19:10
Speaker
i have to I have to look it up because I can't remember exactly. While you do that, I will say this. Palmeiras, Porto, those are... Porto's trash. that They were not good in that game. Porto is terrible. Palmeiras went through, to fogo but they went through.
00:19:24
Speaker
Al-Ali, we know they're pretty good. Al-Ali, but they drew them, and we watched that game. That was the craziest match I've ever seen in my life. That was the most insane nil-nil. That could have easily been... but i think that Inter-Miami were lucky to draw that game.
00:19:37
Speaker
The Al-Ali game? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it certainly was not anywhere close to the type of competition that Seattle had to play. So they they got their they got their bag off getting those results, and I'm not going to fault them for that.
00:19:49
Speaker
But i i don't want to shield champions i don't think it was a ah I don't think it was a trash group, but it's i mean if we're comparing it to what Seattle had to deal with in the group of death, there is no comparison. I think if we're gonna power if you're going to power rank the groups, I think that's bottom fourth.
00:20:04
Speaker
fourth Yeah. Like, you know, not in, not like in inner Miami included in that. Like, I think that's just the truth. Messy or not messy. Like that's, you know, if you watch, if you watch the, the Fuche ball that they play, they just leak goals all the time. Like every day, that's their favorite thing to do other than the Chicago fire. You could make an argument that, uh,
00:20:26
Speaker
Seattle's overall showing in this tournament was superior to Inter Miami's even with Seattle not taking a single point and they're not going to like that. and or my not like guy Well, look at what happened in the PSG game.
00:20:41
Speaker
Was Inter Miami anywhere in the ballpark? No, and the expectation on their team with what they've spent and what they've put together with their roster is fundamentally different than any other and MLS club. They're supposed to be the club that can rise to a moment like that.
00:20:56
Speaker
And like they just weren't close to that. And people will say... and that's just I think that's not like me being unfair. I think that's just reality. Well, we've seen it time and time again, right? like what I have said this.
00:21:08
Speaker
Inter-Miami with Messi has been a failure so far. It's been a failure. They haven't won shit that is meaningful to anyone. the they they Their whole goal this year was to win Champions Cup.
00:21:21
Speaker
Couldn't do it. Their whole goal before that was to win MLS Cup. A 48-year-old Brad Guzan, who's now a podcaster, ah had to ended their run immediately.
00:21:32
Speaker
You have, what what have they won? Leagues Cup? And the Supporters Shield. And Supporters Shield. Points Record. Which, okay, you know what? I'll give them that. Like, I think that the Supporters Shield run was great.
00:21:42
Speaker
They looked great for stretches. Tata had them playing, like, very nice. Tata had them playing nice. But when you talk about trophies that matter in MLS, they've never won one.
00:21:56
Speaker
League Scup is cool, but they played they played an easy path and they played an MLS team. Maybe I value the Shield more than you. i think so. I think the Shield... It's an unbalanced league, though. it But it still matters, and it's still, I think, a pretty fair... Even with the but with the balance issues, I think it is a pretty fair reflection of who the best team over the regular season actually was.
00:22:17
Speaker
Especially when you win it in the way that they did with 74 points. That's not like a... That's not nothing. I think failure to me would be if they like hadn't won any trophies. Leagues Cup.
00:22:28
Speaker
There's like 7,000 trophies to win, though, in MLS. That's the whole point of MLS. is like but the shield Everyone has a trophy win. The Shield is a... It's the way you qualify for the Club World Cup, Ari. It's on the significant end. I certainly value it over Leagues Cup.
00:22:44
Speaker
Not as much as Champions Cup, obviously. Not as much as MLS Cup. But probably right ah after those two would be the Shield. Unless I'm missing something. I think here's my problem with the shield and this is completely aside is that it's it's it's not like a rest of the world type of points race because you're not playing every team.
00:23:03
Speaker
You're not you're not your travel is different if you're on the East Coast than if you're on the West Coast like just the simply the amount of miles that you're traveling based on what teams and what lineup and all this stuff. It's like, yeah, there's it's not fair. It's not even you don't play every team.
00:23:19
Speaker
You can't really get a good sense. so That said, do I think that on paper and in practice when they were the at their best was Miami the best team in MLS? Yeah.
00:23:29
Speaker
I mean, that' that's undeniable, right? Like, that said— We both watched those games when they were at their peak level, and it's some of the best attacking footy that has ever been played in the league. But there's been a lot of there's been a lot of fraudulent Shield winners, is all I'll say.
00:23:44
Speaker
There's been lot of fraudulent children. I just got to be honest. I don't consider them in that group. I think when you set the points record, that's not really fraudulent. i think I think I would value, for them, I would value League's Cup higher just simply because the potential competition that they can play is higher.
00:24:02
Speaker
they And they had to beat some Liga and Mequis teams. Yeah, they beat one. or Was it only one? I thought i think they only beat one. It was 2022, right? they be I know they got Cruz Azul on the free kick. But also, Leagues Cup all played in the U.S. no so You know, blah, blah, blah. True.
00:24:19
Speaker
I it's, uh, I think I would, I would use the term, uh, disappointment more than failure. i i do put at least a little bit of stock in, in their leagues cup and the supporters shield slash Miami played Orlando city. This is in the, is this in a knockouts, not in the group stage.
00:24:40
Speaker
Cause everyone basically goes through in the group stage. Inter-Miami played Orlando, beat Orlando. Played FC Dallas, beat FC Dallas. Played Charlotte, beat Charlotte. Played Philly, beat Philly.
00:24:51
Speaker
And then played Nashville in the final and won on PKs. So they didn't meaningfully play a Liga Mechies team and the and in the na yeah in the knockout. So it's a it's a little bit like...
00:25:02
Speaker
I'll give it to him. I'll give it to him. Anyone can be good on any day. But, I mean, come on. No, I mean, I think you're... ah Even if I might might not take it as far as, like, categorical failure, i think there's no question that it has not...
00:25:21
Speaker
resulted in the trophy hall that was expected. And those expectations, that is part of what comes with bringing in Messi and the Barca boys. that You bring that on yourself when the...
00:25:34
Speaker
when you have that type of... They openly would advocate for that kind of pressure. Yeah, and they should. But I think it is fair to point out that they have not lived up to that. and they they There's one thing to lose to PSG. It's the best team in the world. But to be abjectly non-competitive like that... With its the best player in the world on your team.
00:25:54
Speaker
And I think there is a question at this point. like Is Messi still the best player in the world? He's still one of. sure But either way, that doesn't change like the ah status and expectations that they've got within the league with that roster right now. The roster's built so fucking poorly, though. That's the problem. is like You have a coach who has no fucking clue what he's doing. You have a GM who i don't fuck i I don't think he's ever... Have we heard from him all year? We haven't heard from him. i don't think he has ever done anything.
00:26:27
Speaker
like i don't think he actually know like i think he's just like a puppet guy. And MLS is a a crazy, weird league. We talk about this all the time. It's one of the reasons why I love it. But the roster is constructed so goddamn poorly.
00:26:42
Speaker
they they have no They've never been able to figure out their defense. They've never been able to figure out how to play their game. Tata had them playing nice. I'll give them that.
00:26:52
Speaker
But they were still vulnerable. The ways that you beat them then were the same ways that you beat them now. But Tata was just minutes managing them way better. And they really they were scoring just at so many goals that yeah the defensive frailties didn't matter. i remember us talking about that when they were in the process of setting the points record.
00:27:09
Speaker
they They were i will stand by they were playing. They were playing the game as high a level in attack as I've ever seen an MLS Cub play it to the point where they were able to set the points record with all these defensive issues that you're alluding to. Right. It didn't matter.
00:27:25
Speaker
They could concede two to three goals a game and they would still win every game because they would score four or five. Yeah. And that was just how it was. Yeah, but every every result they took was like five to three. Five to two, five to three, four to two, four to three.
00:27:39
Speaker
And, you know, that is one way to live if you're able to have Messi and the Barca boys just at look looking like 2011, 2012 Barcelona against MLS defenses. yeah But I think what we're seeing this year is as they have another year of mileage on their legs,
00:27:56
Speaker
And ah there're you're inevitably, when you're talking about guys that are not just in their mid-30s, but like late 30s, you're not going to have them available for even probably 70% of the minutes that you need to soak up in a given year with all these competitions and all these games.
00:28:12
Speaker
And what that what that happens when that happens, like what what's your plan B? What can you go to? What can you tap into to offset the fact that you don't have the Barca boys involved firing at that level, game in, game out, week in, week out.
00:28:27
Speaker
And ah they have not had that good of a season in league play. I think they're at like 1.6 something points per game right now. I'm about to look it up, but it's not so it's not something that much more than that. 1.8.
00:28:38
Speaker
Okay, so they're back. 50%. have been better in league play the last few weeks. They've also played less games. They are by far behind besides the white. Actually, I think the Caps have caught up, ah but they've only played 16 league games.
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah. Which, like, that's part of it is, like, they've been in every tournament under the sun, but... ah They're in a solid spot in league play right now, but it's not, like, not what it was last year. With many games at hand they have, they could still make a shield push.
00:29:09
Speaker
Like, it's not impossible. That's all the win,
Seattle Sounders' Recent Performances
00:29:12
Speaker
but... going back to mls play like they probably i i imagine they probably will They'll take all their frustration out on Montreal, who they play next.
00:29:21
Speaker
Well, and it's like, yeah, Mascherano, I don't know if he knows what he's doing either. Or Montreal is what I was thinking. But, like, he doesn't need to know what he's doing to, like, get that team to be taking results. I disagree. think that...
00:29:35
Speaker
i think i think that He's got him at 1.8 with not like not knowing what he's doing, really. With 16 games. Yeah. We'll see how it bears out in 20 and 30 and whatever, but I'm a i'm still scared. Because here's the problem. When you play in all these tournaments, now they're going to backload their schedule.
00:29:53
Speaker
Right. That's brutal. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how deep your team is. And you cannot have the Barca boys out there for all those minutes. I am waiting for the day. If Messi gets injured, quote-unquote, or real...
00:30:06
Speaker
I think the whole team falls apart. I think he leaves. You think he leaves the team? what What else is it? He's failed winning anything. Why would he stay there? um Maybe he likes living in South Beach or whatever. Maybe. I don't know. Anyway, Messi era in the comments.
00:30:22
Speaker
Has it been a failure? What do you think? All right. No, let's talk about this Austin game. This was some good stuff for the Seattle Sounders. We won! Dub pod! Dub pod. Dub pod. It is a dub pod. It's a necessary dub.
00:30:37
Speaker
Like I said at the top of the show. win lists. Yeah, five win lists and all L's. by the way. so and No Ds. They had to win this game. They had to win this game even with Alex Rodon playing center back.
00:30:50
Speaker
So let's just start right there. We found out in the days leading up to this game that every center back on the entire team, on the entire depth chart, besides... all the way down to like...
00:31:03
Speaker
Like the way, Leo Bernie. Yeah. Like all the way down. Stu Hawks, Leo Bernie, every single guy that could have played this position. It was a situation which these situations happen in MLS where you're down to like the six seventh options on your depth chart. That's what Seattle was the situation they were in in central defense for this game.
00:31:24
Speaker
And their plan, as was reported from training leading up to the game, was Alex Roldan was training with the starters at that spot, which he has never played in an MLS game. And Cody Baker was the appeared to be the secondary option.
00:31:37
Speaker
And he has played center back a lot with the academy and an MLS Next Pro. Has not played it at all, even one minute in MLS play. The two center backs...
00:31:49
Speaker
that they needed to get through this game. Neither one of them had played one minute at the position ah in MLS play going into the game. That is inherently dicey. And I think ah i I was You know, all things being equal, I would favor Seattle against this Austin FC team yeah most times.
00:32:10
Speaker
But ah when you're playing a center back with no experience doing it in an MLS game, that's a tall order. That's a tough proposition. Alex Roldan draws the start there, which I think it's funny that every time they're in this type of situation, yeah it's one of it with the two Roldans. They're like, all right, sorry, Christian, the right backs are all hurt. You got to do it. You got to play, bro. He that for years. Right back Roldan famously.
00:32:32
Speaker
back. ah Until his brother became the literal right back rolled on. yeah But ah that and that but when ah when they needed someone a field player to go in goal, it was like, all right, Alex, you got to... Alex, you played in training. He's like out there making saves against the San Jose Earthquakes, preserving the result.
00:32:49
Speaker
And then in this situation, they don't have any center backs. And it's like, all right, Alex... oh You're up. And ah Stefan Fry noted that in that situation, a player has to totally adjust their mentality and how they think about the stakes of these 1v1 matchups and ah how getting beat when you're a wingback on defense is it's usually to the end of like a cross or some sort of, uh, not like a one V one with the goalkeeper in the same way that if you get beat over the top or through the middle middle as a center back, it's just like an inherently different stakes situation that he was going to have to adapt to.
00:33:35
Speaker
And though I thought he did pretty awesome. Honestly, I loved watching him like, Just reading those long balls. You could tell Austin FC where they were absolutely trying to target him with balls over the top just to like make him deal with it, make him make those reads, make him like get to the right spot and make those clearances.
00:33:55
Speaker
and And he did it. And I thought he... ah ah We'll get to Lobbing Scorchers, man of the match, but I'll just say right now, like I think it was easily Alex Roldan for going out there and...
00:34:08
Speaker
Like, he did he make any, like, horrible mistakes? Like, I know i don't think so. No, and was wearing bright-ass green cleats, too. Like, he stepped out there styling. i wish I wish we would have had a chance to ask him about it but ah in the locker room. But he, yeah, I mean, I think he played great.
00:34:23
Speaker
He looked natural. Is he just a good center back? I think he's just a good defender. I think i think that's really what it is. like Well, I think that ah Steph is correct. He's 100% correct.
00:34:37
Speaker
That it is a different mindset. I think it's a lot less of a shift than... like a winger coming into that position. Like he's still a guy who gets back, defends.
00:34:49
Speaker
He slots into the center back role in transition sometimes. Like it's it's not something that's um completely abnormal, but it is tough, tempo change and it is a checking your lines and like keeping, keeping your lines and, and all these different things. Tracking balls, making sure you're in the right spot.
00:35:08
Speaker
It's like, uh, playing, playing defense is, uh, it's about one V one defending, but it's also about making sure you're in the right spots to deal with those long balls, making sure that, uh, runners aren't getting in behind you.
00:35:21
Speaker
I thought he was pretty clean on all that. It was, uh, it was It was fun to watch, too, because it was like you knew he had. And he's playing against Brandon Vasquez. Yeah. How many million dollars? Ten million dollars. Ten million dollar player. And they kept a clean sheet in a game where Alex Roldan started at center back. So that was good to see.
00:35:40
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira, one goal, one assist. He gets the opener in first half stoppage time. Noah might actually not have to get a tattoo. ah Great ah
00:35:52
Speaker
great team goal, both of these goals. ah But i loved what I saw on this first one from ah from Paul Rothrock. What an assist. can We were talking about this in the in the in the in the PB about how our initial, our first hot take of lobbing Scorchers, it it it hit, it's it's it's gone past like like anything we could have ever imagined. And like, this is fully a guy who like, we're having conversations the press box like, man, you know, this guy could be like really good in the championship. like this And it's not like outlandish. No, like we just really hit...
00:36:34
Speaker
We struggle. Dude, we we hit bullseye on the first attempt, and it's like, do we just walk away now? We might have to retire on that take because like that wouldn't have ah it couldn't have worked out any better. I'm going to ride that one until I die. We're going to talk about it in Agenda Check, but it's like it kind of reinforced what we have been discussing over the last few weeks as to what the best attacking setup for this team is.
00:36:56
Speaker
Rothrock is the one creating danger right now, and ah this team looks the most dynamic on offense. When he's out there, I think, at least at this moment in time, it's pretty clear.
00:37:07
Speaker
He gets a great assist on this goal. It feels like he and Ferreira in particular have developed some chemistry and some ah synergy. ah Great to see Jesus Ferreira making ah making that run to the far post in that wide channel, being in the right spot. It's a phenomenal, ah a phenomenal chance. It's a wide, wide open goal. Yeah. And ah those are the ones where if he gets those opportunities.
00:37:32
Speaker
He has finished those throughout his entire MLS career. I've been saying all season that I felt like there was going to come a time where he's going start getting looks like he's going to figure out he's a very high IQ player.
00:37:45
Speaker
He's going to figure out, the types of runs he needs to be making on this team with this personnel to be getting those chances that he got so much during his FC Dallas career.
00:37:56
Speaker
And that was like a, ah that was a tailor made the the two goals he's scored in the last few weeks. The first one against San Diego, And this one in the ah in this game, those are those are classic Jesus Ferreira goals where he's just in the right spot and then ah lethal finish.
00:38:14
Speaker
and i But I think this one, though, was a little different because it it really came out of this wide area type position, playing off Albert Rusnak centrally and still finding a dangerous chance.
00:38:25
Speaker
and being clinical with the opportunity right on the stroke of first half stoppage time where Austin fc are absolutely trying to just get that game to halftime at 0-0.
00:38:36
Speaker
He didn't let him do it. And really, the goal was great to see. He's at two goals now. How many does he need for you to avoid your little tattoo? Three more. Five total. So you're pace. All comps. All comps. You're on pace to avoid the tattoo.
00:38:50
Speaker
ah But then ah his assist on this Moose goal was also fantastic. But before before we talk about that, because I want i want to really ah break down the 23 pass buildup to that. But ah what did what do you what did you think of ah what you saw from Jesus in this game? And where does it leave you feeling about his stock kind of going into the rest of the season?
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think we'll definitely talk about it more on agenda check just because I want to save that that that good content for after the ad break. But I will say shortly, like, it's not that we're sitting here like being dug, like digging our heels into a take because we want to be right. It's like...
00:39:33
Speaker
I think the idea that he somehow has completely forgotten how to play soccer, that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. Like, you can age out of being talented at certain things in soccer, but soccer doesn't leave you like that. Like, that's just not how it works.
00:39:50
Speaker
And I, i like... For me, I had been saying, when you're using him as the Swiss army knife, it's hard to feel settled. It's hard for him to like figure out where he is what his positioning is.
00:40:01
Speaker
He was coming in unfit. He was coming into a new team. a bunch of new people, never been transferred before, never lived anywhere outside of Dallas before. ah you know Just generally being asked to do a million things like ah a master of none or whatever, right? And I don't think that like, he's got this weight of the price tag of himself on him and like what he wants to do.
00:40:28
Speaker
And in the same vein that we gave Pedro, kind of a little bit of a pass on that last season of like, dude, he's got a lot of weight on him. Like, you know, that can play into it. I think the same thing can can be said with Ferreira. And is this because he scored one goal and one assist? Does that mean that this was the world's best signing and whatever? No, but I think it's just showing you that they didn't leave his bag.
00:40:52
Speaker
Like it still exists. And he is like, it's, if you are reactionary in either way, off of one game, it's like, what what are we doing?
00:41:06
Speaker
What are we doing? I think it is a lesson, you know, free advice, free advice for some of you out there about the ah the benefits of just betting on track record.
00:41:17
Speaker
That's all. I think that's all either of us were ever saying. Like, I would say it the whole time, like, I would be pretty surprised if He just, like you said, like just forgot how to play the game, forgot how to score goals. He's been doing his entire career. Yeah, so that's a lot. That's what I was just going to get to is ah like if you look at the his full body of work this season now as it stands after this game, ah he has two goals, six assists in league play and a couple more like of each all comps if you take into account. Two more assists all comps, I think. Yeah.
00:41:53
Speaker
ah So let's say two goals, eight assists. Did he score in Champions Cup? I don't think he he scored against. Was that Areola? It was Paul Areola. He had the assists. So two goals, eight assists, all comps at this point in the season, which for a Tam player, which is what he is, that is like literally He's a very high Tam player to be fair about.
00:42:14
Speaker
Yeah, but like 10 goal contributions, all comps for ah for a high-tem player. You would like to see the goal scoring total higher. Yes, I would rate that. But like a little bit halfway past the season, 10 goal comps?
00:42:26
Speaker
That's like fine. Yeah. That's pretty good. That's fine. So like...
00:42:32
Speaker
It's fine. It's fine. i'm not that yeah I don't think either of us will get more into it. yeah I don't want to keep yeah like we'll get into it in the agenda check. It's just that's all I got to say is I think he put in a great performance. And the more he scores, the more he contributes, the more he finds his footing, the better he's going to be. That's that's that's just it.
00:42:53
Speaker
That's just it. ah Seattle's second goal in this game, as I mentioned, Danny Musavsky. Greatest player to ever play the game, never said anything bad about him. 22 to 23 pass buildup, depending on ah what' your what Apple TV feed you were looking at. But either way, I was saying it on the postgame live, Noah, but to me, this goal was so great to see because, ah you know, when we talk about identity,
00:43:17
Speaker
the type of stuff that the Seattle Sounders thrive on and need to be doing to be successful. It's stuff like that. Slicing and dicing you, absolutely clinical in possession, one touch passing, moving the ball at a different speed than the defense, ah creating a dangerous opportunity through Jesus Ferreira, playing the ball to Danny Musavsky's feet.
00:43:39
Speaker
And then, ah so just like great work in possession all around to create this opportunity. And then a wonderful dime from Ferreira to send Moose off and running.
00:43:50
Speaker
And then just what an individual individual effort from ah from Moose on this run. It was funny. As soon as he got out and running, he had Paul Rothrock to his left. You could tell he was not going to be doing anything with that.
00:44:03
Speaker
He was about to take it. i literally like There was never any point where he was making that run where I felt like he wasn't going score that goal. Once he turned that defender, it was over. It was over. like He spun the defender, and i was like, oh, that's in the back of the net.
00:44:15
Speaker
But it was ah like he he received that ball from Ferreira very far from the from the 18. He had to make ah he's one on one with that center back that whole run. Jordan Morris to just dropped.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's just like the way he, like you said, turned that defender. i freed himself up to to get that shot and then the finish it was a chef's kiss goal it was ah one of my favorite goals of the season so far and it was good to see obviously Ferreira get the assist but also Moose started to look again i thought outside of the goal this was the best like most dangerous Moose's looked in this in a single game in a while ah he had two other really high percentage chances ah The first one that went the double double post where he hit it off the post and then the defender also hit it off the post.
00:45:04
Speaker
I have no idea. He should have had another one He should have had another one. yeah He also had another one that ah he almost got by Stuber. It was just a little bit wide, but that was another. Those are the types of chances I want to see him getting. And then, of course, he gets the second goal.
00:45:19
Speaker
ah to kind of dust this game. Austin FC didn't have much an attack, it felt like, in this game. So once they went up 2-0, it was just about seeing the game out. But they wouldn't have been in a position to feel that kind of comfort level if Moose doesn't come through in that moment. And so that was just all around ah great to see. Great sequence, great goal, and ah ultimately that's what dusted the game off. So ah any any takes or thoughts on that Moose goal? No, I thought it was great. And, you know, something he said in the postgame in the locker room was someone asked him about, oh, you know, you didn't score in the Club World Cup. Does this feel good? He's like, yeah, well, I was playing against the best
00:45:55
Speaker
center backs in the world. Like it's not really a, I think he's like, I don't think it really says as much about I, this I'm paraphrasing here, but it's like, he was kind of saying like, I think it says less about me and more about the competition we were playing. PSG might be the best defensive team I've seen like ever in my life. Well, yeah, it's like, it's incredible. But that, you know, he was kind of saying like, listen, like,
00:46:15
Speaker
not I didn't take it. like I wasn't like down on myself because I didn't score against PSG. That's kind of expected. so i mean But he was you know he was saying like that that was good competition. and i don't know. yeah He looked good.
00:46:29
Speaker
He looked good tonight. I are i think i think you were right. like This probably was his best game that he's played. and It was it was ah obviously about the goal, but more just like ah you want your number nine to be consistently dangerous like that. So...
00:46:42
Speaker
It's good to have him coming into form right as Jordan Morris is finally coming think that's part of it. Yeah, yeah probably. is Is the competition to stay on the field. But if Jordan can stay on the field for the stretch run here, it's definitely good to have a number nine like Moose that you feel good about putting in situations where maybe Jordan, when he's ramping up, he's only going 60. Yeah, he's not going to be. So only good things can come from – Danny Mussovsky being in form and looking dangerous on the field. and
00:47:13
Speaker
ah This game did have a bit of an unfortunate ending. Another one. Reed Baker Whiting gets ah another red card on a play. Double yellow. Double yellow, and was...
00:47:25
Speaker
it was unnecessary. It's you're up to zero. was a little silly. You're trying to close the game out. It's like the 89th minute and you're up two goals. He gets, uh, correct me if I'm, uh, misrecollecting this, but he got dispossessed at around midfield and then kind of just,
00:47:44
Speaker
studs up, slid into the guy. Yeah, he he he lost the ball or was trying to tackle... so I can't exactly remember if he was trying to tackle someone, and then... ah Yeah, he kind of swung his leg up at the end of his slide and clipped the guy, and he sold it. i mean...
00:47:59
Speaker
If you're on a yellow, you can't go to ground like that and not win the ball. like and you at At that area of the field in particular, yeah you just you just don't need to do it. so and he It wasn't even in a place where, like you're saying, like the counter could have been on, but it wasn't like it's still 2-2 or it's still 2-0. It's late the game.
00:48:19
Speaker
it's late in the game like you got You got to keep your head for that. yeah Like, you got to. Like, it's not that I think that he's a bad player or that this atones and is some sort of scarlet letter on him. It's just like you...
00:48:33
Speaker
that's That's the truth. You gotta you can't do that. You Yeah, and, ah you know, I'm still going to ah keep my ah RBW stock. I know, like, yeah we had the RBW crash-out brigade after the Atletico game, a game where I thought he was he was competing out there. i i You know, I know he got pulled out of position on defense a couple times, but he had some nice moments in attack. So does new by the way. He was he was going head-to-head with like these Atletico Madrid attackers that make like 600 times his salary. And he's 20 years old, ah hasn't played and played all that many many minutes at all outside of the MLS Next Pro level.
00:49:13
Speaker
Certainly never, like, I know he has like a fair amount of first-team appearances at this point, but never, like, consistent run. It feels like he would get out there and fits and starts, and then, yeah, i couldn't stay healthy, and really just hasn't been on the field for the first team all that much in his career.
00:49:29
Speaker
So ah there's going to be some growing pains that come with that. I'm willing to live with that. ah This one wasn't the end of the world because they won the game anyway. But ah you do hope to see because he got a red card last year in Houston as well. Yep. ah In a similarly, like, kind of unnecessary scenario. Late in the game as well. But you could tell how upset he was at and what happened as he got sent off.
00:49:53
Speaker
I had no issues with ah Tim Ford, Bill Ford Tough. Bill Ford Tough. Bill Ford Tough sending him off there was was fair. So hopefully he learns from it. I want to see him get more minutes because I do think that...
00:50:07
Speaker
for For the defensive struggles and like the the need to develop that aspect of his game, he shows things in attack that are just that Noohu just doesn't offer. yeah So if he can ah improve defensively, which I think will come with experience. like Usually these things, as you get more reps, as you get more minutes with the first team, you get better.
00:50:31
Speaker
And if that happens and he can keep developing his attacking game, I think he still has the upside of a really good attacking modern fullback that a lot of teams in Europe have already been interested in, by the way, RBW has been scouted up as much as any Academy kid that Seattle has been brought up.
00:50:49
Speaker
Uh, his stock is not what Obed Vargas has become because of the injuries, but this is a guy where, when you see, i mean, I'm just telling you guys, like, When you see reports of ah Sounders players that are drawing interest from overseas, RBW has at times, in his ascent, been linked to the biggest names out of any youth player that Seattle has ah has brought up.
Sponsor Highlight and Player Recognition
00:51:12
Speaker
So ah you don't have to agree with that, but i'm just ah I'm just telling you that that's what other scouts in Europe have seen from him at times. And i the more I watch him play with the first team, the more I can see...
00:51:24
Speaker
that potential as this modern fullback that can really be an asset in attack. He's just got to get better at defense, which I think was, is within his ability. But, uh, you know, all that being said, yeah you never want to see him get a red card in that type of situation. So, uh, anything else on RBW or, uh, a red Baker Whiting,
00:51:47
Speaker
Red Baker wedding. There you go. All right. We're going to take a quick ad break. We will be right back with Lobbing Scorchers, Man of the Match, and our agenda check. This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar.
00:51:59
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:53:17
Speaker
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00:54:16
Speaker
Welcome back from our ad break that we know that you didn't skip. Don't skip our ads. Or else. Or he's going Don't skip.
00:54:27
Speaker
Don't skip it. I'm going to cry. going to cry. oh no ah No, let's hit our Lobbing Scorchers man of the match real quick. I mean, i already said mine, but I've got Alex rolled on. Anytime you have a guy who has never played a position, especially a high leverage position, such as center back, you go out, you keep a clean sheet.
00:54:45
Speaker
And you actually have these moments where you look like freaking Yamar Gomez on the right eye out there. ah That's good enough for me. I'm obviously Ferreira Moose. There's a lot of different ways you could go with this one, but that's who I got.
00:54:59
Speaker
yeah You wanted to give a different one. Yeah, you know.
00:55:04
Speaker
i'm trying to I'm trying to come up. I always like to to have a creative one here. And i think I think I'm just going to give it to the to the obvious choice, which is Jesus.
00:55:18
Speaker
i think I think one of us had to. I think it's it's just like, I think honorable mention to Christian Roldan. Dude, side tangent, his slide tackle, one of the biggest plays of the game. Yeah.
00:55:30
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I think he continues to be a difference maker every single match. um I think Paul played and out of his mind. He's clearly riding the Club World Cup boost, but I think you have to individually celebrate Jesus in this moment just simply because, like,
00:55:52
Speaker
it's It's been a long time coming to have a monster game like this. And, you know, you got to celebrate the wins. And as a as someone who is relying on him to score five goals, i need to I need to celebrate and use my platform to to lift him up. You are very much relying on him. you've got a lot of ah a lot of skin in the game. I'm going to look so cool if he scores like...
00:56:16
Speaker
his fifth goal as the like game winner in MLS Cup, like final, like, wouldn't that be so sick? Just like, I think you're kind of chilling on this. Yeah. All it takes is for him to get hot one time, which it looks like he might be doing. But no, I think, i think one of the two of us had to, uh,
00:56:33
Speaker
Had to give him the nod because we've been saying for a while that once he gets his feet under him on this team, gets in rhythm, gets more comfortable with his role, figures out what that role even is, which it looks like.
00:56:45
Speaker
It looks like the most clear cut it has yet as far as his understanding of where to be relative to where his teammates were expecting him to be in order to be able to create danger. And ultimately the chances like the one that he finished on the goal that he scored. Correct. And also putting him in a position where he and Moose can combine for that second goal. Yeah. So, no, its I think it was a necessary shout.
00:57:09
Speaker
All right. Let's get into our agenda check. We've got a few for this week. Agenda check. a OK, thanks for that. I didn't know we had an intro music for Agenda Check. New intro theme.
00:57:26
Speaker
Agenda check. These are a lot of check-ins, not like new ones. But I think most of what came out of this game was sort of stuff that we had already been talking about. so ah like When you come to our hood, Ari, you best check in with us. Yeah. Exactly. So let's start with ah one that you mentioned right there, but ah Paul Rothrock.
00:57:45
Speaker
ah There's been some talk. There's been a lot of talk as to who the starting wingers should be on this team. And I think ultimately it's going to be a mix and match rotation. That's what it seems like.
00:57:56
Speaker
ah But Paul Rothrock started the PSG game and then he once again started this game. Correct. And that to me is an indication. that Brian Schmetzer might be coming to a similar conclusion that that we both are. listens to the podcast. He listens to the pod, but which is that i I don't know what to make of this information, and you can all do with this information what you will.
00:58:18
Speaker
To me, it seems pretty obvious at this point that this team is at its most dangerous offensively when Paul Rothrock is on the field. Correct. His skill set does indeed lend itself to a super sub role, like maybe more so than others, but...
00:58:33
Speaker
ah At this point, when he's the one out there in these games, ah taking on defenders, beating his defenders, sending in ah dangerous and accurate service, ah you know getting the assist on that.
00:58:49
Speaker
Absolutely doing techers around defenders. Doing techers around defenders, getting on the stat sheet. I've always loved his work rate and what he offers this team as a two-way player.
00:59:00
Speaker
I love watching him press, just the way he just is dogging the other team. wish had the lungs that he does, dude. I think you could just... yeah he's He's like one of those wind-up boxes, but it never ends. He and just keeps go Christian both, and I remember hearing him say, Paul Rothrock, that is, in an interview at some point this season, like wow he he was basically like, when it comes to just like...
00:59:24
Speaker
running at people and work rate and stuff like that, like i'll bet I will bet on myself like all day. As you thats and he should. As he should. that is not That's not arrogance. That's confidence. that is You earn like that confidence by the way you play and what you put on tape, and that's what he's done this year.
00:59:43
Speaker
and this like I think what you said was is correct. like This was a... just he was a monster in this game. Like it was a great Rothrock game. Great for all of our Rothrock related agendas.
00:59:55
Speaker
And i'm I'm not saying that it's like he has to be written in pen as the first choice starter every single game. But like there's like 9000 wingers on this team, you know, so I get it. Yeah. And like, you know, ah you did have Ryan Kent sub on and I think look better than he has in a while. he had some ah one really great moment in particular ah where Ferreira honestly really could have and should have had another goal. Yeah, correct. And and what was great about that was just seeing Ryan Kent like I love that run where he just kind of sees the space and is able to like put himself into an area where he can set Ferreira up for that type of dangerous opportunity ah so at least you're still seeing that from him but in terms of like consistent danger on like ah play in play out basis and work rate and everything he brings to the table I think this agenda is strengthened
01:00:48
Speaker
It has to be. i you know i I don't dish these takes lightly, Ari. I don't. I don't. I truly believe that he is a starter on this team.
01:01:02
Speaker
it is He is the archetype of what this style of football plays to. And it's not to say that other players can't you know have a different ah different way of playing, but it's the same thing like the high press.
01:01:20
Speaker
following every ball, tracking back, closing down every run, like getting back, getting forward, sprinting your ass off, like not being able to breathe by the time you sub off. Like it's it's who he is. It's in his DNA.
01:01:34
Speaker
Brian even said this last year. He was like, you know, ah It's the same thing with like Obed too, right and why Obed has been so successful. it's like They all like to do the dirty work. They love to do the dirty work. It's a part of the game to them.
01:01:46
Speaker
it's It's something you can't turn off in your brain, and that's a type of player. There's a type of player like that, to where like you see a ball going backward, and you're like, I need to get there. It may not be in my position, but I need to get there, so I can help my team.
01:02:01
Speaker
And these are the players that, especially in MLS, like MLS is just, it's a dog, it's a dog league. It's a dog league. Like you are fighting and running and work the work rate is crazy. He's so good at it.
01:02:16
Speaker
He's so good at it. And there's other leagues like that. Like I alluded to this earlier in the press box, I i brought up this idea. i was like, I can't wait for Paul Rothrock to get ah get signed by a championship team.
01:02:29
Speaker
And like I said it a little facetiously, like, you know, like, ah you know, but then the more that like we all were talking about it, were like, wait, but that actually like that could actually be like a good fit. Like the work rate, just the the big builtness, like playing you hard nose soccer. Yeah, I could see it, man. And and for a kid who.
01:02:51
Speaker
basically got cut to make his way back to the Sounders, say, i will do whatever I have to do to be able to make it on this team. I'll play whatever position you want me to play. i will stay on the second team for as long as you want me to do it, but i'm gonna i'm gonna I am going to play professional soccer.
01:03:10
Speaker
how can you not How can you not love him, man? Yeah. How can you not love him? Well, we'll see. I think there's some good competition now because I did think Ryan Kent looked a little resurgent, at least in a couple instances last night. He and De La Vega weren't on the field for all that long. Ryan Kent-Rothrock duo is pretty nice.
01:03:31
Speaker
I got to say, you did cook on that. You did cook on that. Like when they're playing together... kind of nice. It's kind of nice. It's kind of nice. And I was also, i mean, it's a separate topic, but I was pleased.
01:03:44
Speaker
I was pleased to see Ryan Kent have those moments. because Yeah, let's do Ryan Kent update, agenda check here. Okay, it was not in the outline, but we can't I thought it was better. the The play I'm talking about in particular, where he where he sets up Ferreira. That's the Ryan Kent that we that we saw. And like, I do think like for as much as the stock might have like decreased a little bit, like relative to what it was at the start. yeah He really should have at least at least two, maybe three or four more assists this year based on like the quality of chances that he's generated that I think.
01:04:18
Speaker
ah He's gotten a little unlucky that didn't get finished. The Ferreira one last night was a perfect example. He cannot do anything more to lay the ball on the platter for for his forward. So yeah ah I was just pleased to see that...
01:04:33
Speaker
He's very his spatial awareness is so good. Like that that's all that is to be able to kind of glide himself like away from the defense, like realize that ah he's got the guy right on him and he's got this space where if he just kind of glides off the shoulder, he's going to have room to to send in the service.
01:04:53
Speaker
So I was just i was just happy that he that he did that. And I will say, if he keeps doing that, he is going to start racking assists. like his the What I love about him is that when he's generating chances, they're not just like half chances. They're like they're high real high quality.
01:05:10
Speaker
So I have full confidence that if he keeps playing like that and having plays like that, we're going to see this guy's assist numbers push double digits like by the end of this year.
01:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think also you can tell that when he was in his quote unquote spell of not as great form, a lot of it had to do with just misanticipating his teammates. Like he's he's still feeling it out, man. Like getting getting minutes in practice versus getting minutes on the field is so different. And like, I think that his soccer IQ is incredibly high. And I think that like sometimes you're playing with a guy you're playing with guys who maybe just aren't there yet in terms of their soccer IQ, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. And so they're not anticipating that you're going to be able to make those plays and you're making those plays anticipating that they're going to be in that space.
01:06:07
Speaker
And so, you know, i think that Ferreira almost chance was a good example of him finding the the finding his player and feeling that chemistry a little bit more. So like that's, that's, that's good sign.
01:06:25
Speaker
It's a good sign. It was, a it was definitely, I was encouraged by what I saw from his brief cameo, mainly related to that one play, but just how ah he looked like a spry out there, which was, which was good to see.
01:06:39
Speaker
Pro-Ryan Camp Pod. All right, our next agenda. It's a victory lap for me. Yeah, this is your agenda, so I'll let you just cook on this. I've been saying this. I've been evangelizing it. I gave him man of the match a few times.
01:06:53
Speaker
Alex Roldan is actually quite good ah agenda. I think that we... we've've've I've seen this this circle, this swell of...
01:07:05
Speaker
There's like there's a around my boy. There's been like a offshoot brigade on this. It's very odd. It's and it's and it's an odd group of individuals doing that And it's it seems to me to be separate than the like normal brigade. Yeah.
01:07:16
Speaker
Like they don't really care about him as much. But ah for me. Dude, he's a good player, man. He's versatile. He works hard. He gives you things like being an emergency center back and basically playing perfect.
01:07:33
Speaker
Are we going to debate anymore that this guy is not a very talented soccer player and a really good addition to this team? Whether you want to argue KKR should be starting ahead of him or whatever, bla bla blah, blah, blah.
01:07:45
Speaker
I am very glad that he is on this team. and And I think that it's time that the rest of yous start putting some goddamn respect on his name. And that's how I feel. And that's how I feel, Ari. And you've been saying it for a while, to be fair.
01:08:00
Speaker
So... No, I mean, ah I think if there's any game that demonstrates his value, it's this one. ah To be able to be down to your seventh, eighth choices at at a position and to be able to keep a clean sheet, like especially with the that position in question, being center back, keeping clean sheet.
01:08:20
Speaker
And... And they were testing him like Austin FC didn't bring a lot on offense in this game. But to the extent that they did, they did what I would have done, which is hit long balls at number 16 and make them deal with it.
01:08:32
Speaker
And again, so much of playing center back. Yes, it's one v one defending, but it's positioning and ah and in field awareness. And I thought he he was on point every time they tried to test him over the top.
01:08:44
Speaker
He got to his spot, beat his ah beat the runner there, and got that got that shit out of there. so And it was tight, too, because you got to see Kalani play out wide while roll like while Alex was still on the field, too. So it was an interesting wrinkle.
01:08:58
Speaker
that will I think the ah extension agenda of this is ah Alex rolled on as a center back agenda. Alex rolled on CB agenda? we ah mean you got Listen, Yamar's getting older. he's and the it doesn't It doesn't seem like Yamar's particularly close to getting back. no Kim Kihee, I'm pretty sure, it it seems like he came back too soon to try and put it in for the Club World Cup, yeah which was admirable, but he I don't know what his status is as far as how long he's going to be out.
01:09:25
Speaker
They will have Nuhu and John Bell back from suspension, so I think John Bell, I would rather start John Bell. balling in the club world cup he really was he was one of the under underrated uh he and jackson reagan like in the psg game man his stock had been down so and yeah like they really put it in against psg also like sub agenda we do as many agendas as we want to because this is our show but jackson reagan agenda dude he looks like he's back and better than i like he looks like dude he's a monster
01:09:58
Speaker
The long passing, yeah it's such an asset to ah his height, like when there's when when he's dealing with long balls over the when people try and go over the top against him. I'm like, okay, good luck. by yeah like have fun Have fun with that. You should probably just scrap that one from the game plan because my guy is six foot seven and is going to get his head to that before any of your little attackers record going to run onto it.
Christian Roldan's National Team Potential
01:10:22
Speaker
So yeah. Please keep keep hitting those long balls over the top at him.
01:10:26
Speaker
ah But yeah, no, that's a good sub agenda. Next one we got. This one is one that's not even necessarily from us, like as far as it's Genesis. yeah This is one from you, the people.
01:10:38
Speaker
ah And it's the ah Christian Roldan for the USMNT agenda. Hey, man. Like, if you're if you're debating that at this point, then you're you're just not watching the games.
01:10:49
Speaker
I don't think you ever were. But, like, ah go go watch watch the tape. I'm going to be the watch the tape guy. Watch the tape. Put it in. You do this. you but you go. You dust it off.
01:11:01
Speaker
You put it in the VCR. I know a lot of the people- Silent tape. Yeah. I know a lot of the people you know who are on this anti-Christian Roldan thing don't even have a driver's license.
01:11:13
Speaker
But that said, it's a VCR. It's got a tape. It spins. You put it in the thing. You got the tube tube TV. All right? It gets a little warm, staticky. You feel it? Okay? Watch the tape. Watch the tape, buddy. the tape versus- ah Atletico Madrid, PSG, and Botafogo the Club World Cup.
01:11:30
Speaker
And you tell me who was one of the best players on the field, if not the best player on the field. I think there's a strong case to be made that in a game featuring the Seattle Sounders and Atletico Madrid, the best player on the field on either team...
01:11:44
Speaker
was CR7, Christian Roldan. If you don't agree with me, watch the tape and tell me why I'm wrong. You're not gonna be able to. He was an absolute dog, absolute monster that whole tournament on a level that is higher than the level, let's be real, that is higher than the level that he would be playing at if he was ah playing international ball, which,
01:12:05
Speaker
Look, I don't know if they're going to do it. Maybe there's some argument to be made that because he's 30 now, by the time World Cup rolls around, he'll be a year older than that. ah But as far as what players in the USMNT player pool are in the best form at that position at this moment in time, if you don't put Christian Roldan in that discussion, I have no idea what you are on about. Brother, if you're telling me Johnny Cardoso or Luca De La Torre, I guess Luca De La Torre. He's having a good year. He's having a good year. But if you're going to tell me Johnny Cardoso is better than Christian
01:12:42
Speaker
i got I got some shit to sell you, buddy. I got some shit to sell you, okay? I watched the tape on that one. yeah Let me know how how Johnny C's last USMNT caps have gone. yeah Not that hot.
01:12:55
Speaker
In fact, horribly bad. I'm going to tell you what. ah there is no this was this was a This was a Jeremiah O'Shann certified hood classic here. There is no team, no national team in the entire world better than PSG.
01:13:10
Speaker
There is no national team better in probably the entire world than Atletico Madrid. And most national teams in the entire world are not as good as Botafogo. So if you're going to sit here and tell me the guy who just went out there was the man of the match in the Botafogo game, hands down for either teams, even though they lost, like statistically speaking, visually, all of that.
01:13:30
Speaker
Probably the best Sounders player across all of those three games. Oh, easily. What are we doing? What are we talking about? he is he should be captaining the U.S. Men's National Team.
01:13:43
Speaker
He should be captaining the U.S. Men's National Team. The little, oh, you want to talk about these little shitheads who don't like to work? They don't like to go to work? Oh, listen, I, poke, I can't go to camp because I got to go with my girlfriend to go play golf.
01:13:58
Speaker
My name's Christian Pulisic. Oh, I'm i'm um i'm tired. Buddy, you know who's not going to say that shit? You know who's not going say that shit, Ari? Tell him. Tell him who's not going to say that. Christian Roldan. Christian Roldan.
01:14:09
Speaker
Agenda, sign sealed, delivered. I think we sized that up very well right there. ah These last two we talked about already, but we'll we'll hit on them ah we'll hit on them just to give check-in on their official status. yeah The first one being the Jesus Ferreira is going to come good agenda, which is one I think that you and I have both been... Brother, he's going to come real good. We have both been a proponent of of that, and... ah He still has got to prove it down the stretch.
01:14:38
Speaker
i'm not I said I wasn't victory lapping after he hit the game winner against San Diego. I'm still not going to be totally victory lapping after the monster game that he just had against Austin FC.
01:14:49
Speaker
i know I already know that ah if he if he doesn't score a goal in the next game, people are going to be trashing on him again, and they're going to say that the goal and the assist that he had in this game didn't count because it came against Austin FC. But ah there is absolutely... No conclusion to come to on this one right now aside from that this agenda is strengthened.
01:15:13
Speaker
And I feel good about that. Yeah, i um not much more to say. i mean, he's he had a good game and we'll see what happens. I think that it's a longer play than just is he going to be the best player on the field in the and the in the first season that he's here. so But, you know, God forbid. God forbid we have some longer-term sight on that, all right? God forbid.
01:15:39
Speaker
And then lastly, RBW, I think generals. Give ah RBW some starts agenda. Playing some more. And that was the one that was ah percolating after the Atletico Madrid game because he started because Nuhu got benched.
01:15:56
Speaker
And ah a lot of people, i thought, pretty strangely crashed out about how he played in that game. Yeah, but I understand that. But I think the argument would be, like, he does offer a lot in attack that Nuhu simply does not.
01:16:10
Speaker
and that ah it could add a new intriguing element or dynamic for this team offensively to have he we've talked so much about the joven jones brad smith prototype that this team has lacked in recent years rbw is that theoretically like he has not hit that upside yet obviously but in a world where he does hit his ceiling and upside that's what you're you're gonna get So and I think this agenda is just related to giving him run to try and get him to that ceiling and and theoretically add a new element for this team in attack.
01:16:46
Speaker
And I think... ah I think this this stock has suffered, but because of the red card. yeah Not really because of anything else he did in the game last night.
01:16:58
Speaker
But it's like, if you're going to be a carry the load fullback for the Seattle Sounders, you got to be not getting ejected from the game. Yeah, you got to have the mental component on as well.
01:17:09
Speaker
And honestly, I'm pretty yeah um'm pretty tired of watching Seattle Sounders left backs get ejected every goddamn game. Yeah, like, can we not? It's it's not it's it's a tired bit. It's a bit it's not good bit. It was never a good bit.
01:17:23
Speaker
I'm tired of watching Seattle Sounders. It's hacky. It's hacky. It's hacky. It's tired. yes It's run its course. I'm tired of watching Seattle Sounders left backs commit fouls off the ball that gift goals to Botafogo in the Club World Cup.
01:17:36
Speaker
Not going to mention any names. I'm tired of watching Seattle Sounders. Seemies lose their mark every goddamn game and then go like this and yell at every other player on the field. I'm tired of watching Seattle Sounders left backs, horse collar tackle defenders in Canada for clear as day, dog show red cards.
01:17:56
Speaker
that totally chalk any chance you have of ah of winning a game against a team that just got absolutely slammed in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final. They were shitting themselves. Again, not not talking specifics here, not going mention games.
01:18:08
Speaker
But tired of watching that. And I'm tired of watching Seattle Sounders left backs get sent off in the 89th minute when you're up 2-0 and you're at midfield trying to retain possession and you lose the ball, but it doesn't really even matter that much because you have cover, so like you don't even need to commit the foul that gets you sent off. tired of that. yeah I think everyone involved that. Are you tired, folks? any any and any ah Anyone who's been involved in that, I don't want to see that anymore.
01:18:34
Speaker
But I do. i'm I don't know. To all who have been involved, please seek compensation. Please stop. But RBW...
01:18:45
Speaker
i I do think that he needs to work on ah his defensive awareness and positioning. I think his 1v1 defending, he's at least willing to get in there and mix it up.
01:18:57
Speaker
And yeah, he's probably, I think the issue for him, i don't know, tell me if you agree with this. The issue for him defensively is a lot more like getting pulled out of position and then getting beaten behind.
01:19:07
Speaker
more than it is
Seattle Sounders' Season Outlook and Goals
01:19:08
Speaker
when he's in a 1v1 situation getting mossed. Like, that fair? I think so. Yeah. So that's something that's like coachable and correctable though. Uh, but the mental side of it is also something that he clearly needs to work on. Cause this was his second bad red card, uh, in the last, uh,
01:19:25
Speaker
two years, both times coming at a point where he could have theoretically have been getting more minutes and he he's suspended now for the next game. So I don't know. It's tough to know where to stand on this stock because I do think that the I think the potentially that he has as like a Joven Jones, Brad Smith style left back to me, that's quite obvious. Like, yeah I think that that is that aspect of his game. You've been begging for one of those for years, two or three years.
01:19:53
Speaker
Agenda checked. And that RBW is that. theoretically. agree with everything you said. I have nothing else to add. that that was that was Your agendas have been checked. that that was That was a good RBW tangent. All right. We're going to take another ad break, come back with one final topic, and then that'll be a wrap for this dub pod.
01:20:13
Speaker
ah We'll be right back. Welcome back from another ad break that you most definitely did not skip. Ari cried, by the way. like I did. Because I know a couple people did skip, and yeah so I did ah i did ah cry about it. Just like, why would you do that him? don't need to, because I know no one else did skip. We just had one more topic that we were going to hit for this episode, which was a mid-season check-in.
01:20:39
Speaker
and it it is a little bit past mid-season, but I feel like the Club World Cup was sort of representative of like a ah midway inflection point.
01:20:49
Speaker
And then what were're what we just started with this Austin game was the second act, the stretch run. ah And so we wanted to do kind of just a status check on where the club is right now as we look ahead to this stretch run relative to where we thought and hoped they would be at the beginning of this season.
01:21:09
Speaker
ah Noah, did you want to start or should I give my take first? Yeah, I wanted to kind of hit a couple of different spaces on this. The first one is, do we think this team is going to win anything?
01:21:21
Speaker
If the season ended now, how would we feel? And just relative outlook, like just vibes, you know? So I want to start with, I want to start with the vibes one. I think coming off the Club World Cup,
01:21:36
Speaker
The vibes are hot. The vibes are hot. You can sense it from like being around the team like at at the games and last night as well. locker room was bumping last night. Let me tell you, they had to ask him to turn the music down during the press. Exactly. And you can just feel that they are all riding a high from ah from getting to play in those games. I mean, dude, that must have been so fun.
01:21:59
Speaker
Oh, dude. Being out there against... ah Botafogo, Atletico Madrid, and PSG, and having the games like be up in the in the balance where you're fighting for results that would be legendary if you can pull them off, and they're actually low-key attainable, even though they didn't get them. Just being in a situation where you were you were competing against players like that, you got your family and your friends and 50,000, 55,000 fans, whatever it was, watching you. That must have been the goddamn experience of a lifetime.
01:22:32
Speaker
All the guys are cloud-nining. I agree. the tournament It might sound weird that a tournament where you lost all three games and got grouped like would result in vibes like that, but like that that's real. like That's stuff that everyone who's around the team right now will tell you like they're feeling that.
01:22:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, like, honestly, the vibes seem amazing. Like, it's not... Which they didn't as recently as couple weeks ago. No, no, no. Like, I think it's really truly a reset. Like, we talked about after that Vancouver game how much of a low, just how much of a low this team was on. Like, it felt...
01:23:09
Speaker
Like shit like that game. They fell apart mentally and physically and dropped points in a winnable game in a winnable moment in a moment that they really just like needed those points.
01:23:24
Speaker
Didn't make a run in Champions Cup. Didn't make a run. You know, just we're never really a serious contender for the shield. ah I mean, they weren't even playing an Open Cup, so it's, you know, there was that. And, ah yeah, I think this was really a reset, a mental reset to say, listen, all of the shit that was in our head in the first half of this season, it doesn't matter, dude.
01:23:48
Speaker
I don't care what anyone has to say. I just went toe-to-toe with fucking Hakimi. yeah Like that's, that's, I mean, what are we, what are we talking about? That's incredible. How many people ever can say that they got to do that? Like probably a lot of really stinky, sweaty French people, but like, you regardless, you know, like regardless, that's not many of the average laymen. No, exactly. So I think i think the vibes are high.
01:24:13
Speaker
And when we talk about momentum being kind of everything in this league, um do you think it's going to be peaking like right now? And maybe that's a little too soon because normally you want to you want to peak playoff time.
01:24:25
Speaker
and Could this mean League's Cup run? And usually this team is good about peaking during playoff time. And summer. Yeah, that's been a source of frustration at times, which is like, why can't you just find that level ah earlier in the season as well? But it's also been something that they've ah ridden to great effect over the years because they it's is just a team that historically does get hot at the right time.
01:24:47
Speaker
ah But I think... I mean, overall, let's just look at their their record and point and points per game points total and stuff like that. ah They're eight, six and five at one point five, three points per game, twenty nine points and a plus two goal differential.
01:25:03
Speaker
So if you're just looking at that in isolation, i would say that that's that's not where we would have wanted them to be. if you If you told us that that's where it was going to be without giving us any other information before the season, I think I would say that that is like... That's underwhelming. That's underwhelming relative to what we thought this team could do this year. Signings they made, the money spent. Yeah, like the Ferrari trade, De La Vega ah being how healthy and theoretically getting to contribute. Jordan, Jordan, like being ah set to be a DP and, you know...
01:25:36
Speaker
continuing what he did last year when he moved to the number nine and bagged 19 goal contributions. So all that had us, I think, feeling like this team could should very much be in that 1.7 to 1.89 points per game territory, not 1.53, which is what they're at now.
01:25:52
Speaker
ah But when you look at it in context, and I've mentioned this before, ah given the injury situation at at forward and at center back,
01:26:03
Speaker
that they that they've dealt with in the absences and the context of all that and then what's happened in some of the games, how they played in in Club World Cup, and the fact that they are one point off fourth place in the West right now.
01:26:21
Speaker
I think there's ah there's every reason to believe that this team can compete with first silverware this year. And you have Jordan Morris theoretically coming back healthy, which will hopefully give the the team a boost in attack, even though Moose looked great last night as well. But that's another good sign.
01:26:39
Speaker
i think I think what you were saying is ah is correct. Like the vibes coming off the Club World Cup are vastly improved than what they were even as recently as the Vancouver game.
01:26:51
Speaker
And just at the game last night, it had the feel of a team that was like, all right, like,
01:26:57
Speaker
we have We have this reset, like you said. It's time to get back on track, and we'll see if they can do it. But I want i i want to see them pump that points per game up up towards where ah San Diego, Vancouver, and Minnesota are.
01:27:11
Speaker
And assuming they get back to relative full health, I definitely think they can do that. For sure. will they do that? ah I don't know, but we'll have to see. But they have the tools – if they had if they didn't If I didn't feel like they had the tools at their disposal to do that, I would say that, but I think they do.
01:27:28
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, I'm interested to see how they do in Leagues Cup. we're We're big Leagues Cup defenders over here. People get really upset at us about that, but like...
01:27:39
Speaker
i I enjoy Leagues Cup. You know what? I'm going to say it. I'll say it. You know what? And maybe I'm a shill, but I enjoy it and I would be happy if they won Leagues Cup. That'd be sick. More than more than Leagues Cup itself, I just like watching them play Liga and Meckies teams. Yeah, whenever you get to play a higher level of competition.
01:27:56
Speaker
not saying that Liga and Meckies is a higher level of competition generally than the average MLS team. It's different. It's different. It's just fun. So i think I think that, like, if they can make a run in that, that'd be sick. Dude, them we already went to the final one time. Win it. Bring it home. We don't have that trophy yet. I want that one.
01:28:14
Speaker
It's one to put in the case. I want one. It looks like an hourglass. It's cool. And then second, you know, think the vibes are that, like... it feels like this team is picking up steam.
01:28:25
Speaker
And they're pickeking up they're picking up steam at a time when players are settling into positions. We talked about Ferreira. ah Players are coming back healthy. You're talking about Jordan. And players are legitimately, like, legitimately competing for starting minutes week by week.
01:28:42
Speaker
We're talking about Alex Roldan, KKR. We're talking about every winger. Paul Rothrock pushing out De La Vega. ah It is... It is like this the machine has gotten going, you know, yet you turn the key and it like falters a couple times on your on your old car.
01:28:59
Speaker
Finally caught, and it in it the engine's going. And I think that what that is to mean long term in this season, you know, I don't know. But it's feeling much better.
01:29:13
Speaker
Jeremiah ah and was talking about this on No Sardegna. He was saying... You know, if the best thing that happens this season is you went to the Club World Cup, that's a failure of a season.
01:29:27
Speaker
So with that, I wanted to ask you, if the season ended today, would you be happy or would you be sad? I think any season where you don't win a trophy, this, I mean, this team, this club is held to a standard that that's what defines success is stacking silverware.
01:29:46
Speaker
And it would be a second straight year, if I'm not mistaken, that they wouldn't have gotten one. So that would extend a streak that I know they don't want to extend. Yeah. ah So, I mean... Third straight year, right?
01:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think that would that would be that would be right. 22 was the last time. They need to start like adding to the case. Again, it's a very it's a great case. We all love the case. but we love the case. You got to add to the case.
01:30:10
Speaker
You got opportunities to do that on multiple fronts between now and the ah and the end of the year. So, I do think that... taking one of these trophies that's available is going to be ultimately what defines if it's like an actual, like real success. Yeah. Uh, but you know, let's see how the games go because there is a world where they go on like an insane tear and look like an incredible team and then end up like falling short in the playoffs yeah one of those like high variance scenarios where it comes down Ricky push tears his ACL and Some outplays. That one bounce of the ball either way type thing. So I would assess that as a as it arrives.
01:30:54
Speaker
But no, I mean, I do think that like the the objective and expectation should absolutely be to win either like Leagues Cup or MLS Cup.
01:31:05
Speaker
and I mean, who knows? Like the shield feels pretty out of reach at this point. But if other teams cool down and Seattle gets blazing, blazing hot, maybe they work their way up into the mix for that.
01:31:16
Speaker
I don't think so. I think it's out of reach. I think it's pretty out of reach. But like you're on 29 points and Philly's on 40. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, maybe they maybe they tailspin in Seattle just goes on like a 10 game. with We're losing right now. So.
01:31:30
Speaker
But I'm the shield. I'm not that wrapped up in, but you got leagues cup out there. You got MLS cup out there. You gotta, gotta go while out loud for those. You got to try and win those. If you had to pick one that you think is more like you, you, if you were a be not that you're a betting man, but if you were a betting man and you had to pick one or the other, which one are you putting some money down on?
01:31:53
Speaker
Probably MLS Cup just because this club has such a long track record of, especially under Schmetz. I mean, dude, his playoff record is insane. it's by He has by far the highest winning percentage in the playoffs of any coach in MLS history.
01:32:08
Speaker
People don't ah talk about that enough, in my opinion, when we're assessing the Schmetz overall body of work and legacy. He's the best playoff coach this league has ever seen, like winning-wise. So like Schmetz in the playoffs God-tier.
01:32:22
Speaker
So if I had to put ah but money on him... They were in the Western Conference final last year. Exactly. And they won multiple playoff series to get there again. ah it's It's a good tournament team, but it's specifically a good and MLS Cup playoff team, historically at least.
01:32:39
Speaker
So that's that's why I would put my i would put my wager on that Least we forget that we were one ACL away from probably winning MLS Cup and hosting it in Seattle. Like, yeah, off of a year that like I wouldn't say was bad, but I wouldn't say was extraordinary by any stretch of the term. No, I think if anything, going into the playoffs, people were ah feeling kind of disappointed by how the season went. And then, you know, every people remember that playoff run differently.
01:33:11
Speaker
I thought that was a great playoff. thought it was great too. Maybe it was because we were at all the games. Maybe, maybe. But, ah you know, anytime you come within eight minutes of making an MLS Cup and probably winning it, you are at least in the mix, which in reality, this is all this stuff is all just like bites at the apple and putting yourself in those positions.
01:33:32
Speaker
Sometimes it's not going to work out like last year. But if you put yourself in those positions enough, you'll have years like 2016 and 2019 where it does go your way.
Conclusion and Promotions
01:33:43
Speaker
So it's really, it's more about ah just putting yourself in those situations to to take those results and and ultimately, hopefully win those trophies.
01:33:54
Speaker
Well, that's all I have for a check-in. I think that we can we can update this, but I just, yeah, I think it's interesting to see where we are It feels like the tides are turning, the doors are opening, and I'm just excited for this next half of the season.
01:34:11
Speaker
Absolutely. For the rest of the season. Absolutely. All right. I think we're going to call it right there for this dub pod. Thank you all, as always, for tuning in. Nice to get back to league play and have a win to talk about.
01:34:25
Speaker
Appreciate all the support. Like, comment, subscribe, rate five stars, sub to the channel, follow us on Instagram, Follow us on TikTok. Buy the Lobbing Scorchers hot sauce. LobbingScorchers.com slash sauce. Subscribe to Sounder at Heart.
01:34:40
Speaker
Am I missing anything now? Or is that about size it up? That's about it. Share with Hakimi. I don't know. Nico and I will have been at it already yeahp on Monday. Listen to Lobbing Scorchers kickoff. So check that out. And until next time, we out.
01:34:58
Speaker
Peace.