Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
Speaker: Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
Speaker: Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a goal! Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
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Speaker: This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
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Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of Nos Arietes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Monday, August 31st, 2026. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shann.
Speaker: Today, I'm joined by Aaron Campo and our engineer, Lickett. Well, Dion Jovolek was nearly enough. The Sounders' new number nine had arguably the best debut in club history, scoring a couple of goals and looking every bit as good as advertised.
Speaker: Unfortunately, that was about all they did on the day, and they were forced to settle for another tie. That's now 10 league games without a win, albeit two straight ties. All in all, Aaron, how you feeling about Jovolek, the Sounders?
Speaker: Is this season... potentially savable. I think the season's savable. I think that Chicago was a very good team. And I think if they had turned in that performance against, you know, a mediocre opponent, you know, if they, if they had done that against let's say Austin, just to, just to pull a name totally randomly out of a hat of random opponent.
Speaker: Yeah, you know, I would feel much worse, but they they looked good against ah one, ah you know, a very good Eastern Conference team ah that is maybe not in the elite tier of MLS teams, but is a very good team. Certainly going to, you know, be one of the I think top four pretty much nailed on teams and in the East ah who have have looked, you know, very good after the break.
Speaker: And the equalizing goal is a goal that there are like three people on the planet that can score that goal. And one of them happened to be playing for the Chicago Fire, ah yeah which, you know, is frustrating in its own way. And and certainly they could they could have done better to prevent that chance from happening. But sometimes you do kind of have to tip your cap.
Speaker: uh frustrating in the sense that they created enough chances that they could have put the game away i think but alternatively they created enough chances that they could have put the game away and that's that's new that's that's a that's a change from from recent times so uh you know i think there are ah what 12 games left and 13 games left actually for the sounders and they're not that far out of it um you know they're uh currently three points out of the last playoff spot.
Speaker: Yes. Which is what they started the day as. Right. So depending on what your criteria for saving the season is, I suppose, uh, for me at this point, what's done is done the, you know, the first 21 games of the year, kind of a sunk cost,
Speaker: ah What I want to see from this team going forward is I want them to make a run and get into the playoffs. That's not enough for me to say overall the season is success, but it's enough for me to say, OK, they've got things moving in the right direction.
Speaker: And I want to see, do we have something that we can build on here? Right. I don't I think it's much tougher to make a run in the playoffs as a low seed than it used to be. So I'm not expecting any kind of 2016 from this team. I certainly wouldn't turn it down, but it's not something that I have a lot of hope to see, but you know, if, if they can perform well the rest of the year,
Speaker: if they can maybe avoid that play in game, you know, getting in the playoffs that way, they're, they're only five points off that currently doesn't seem that crazy with the game in hand. ah You know, I think I can feel pretty good going into the next season. And, and I think that it's okay to say, look, the season overall was kind of a bust that long stretch in the middle sucked, but we're, we're making progress. We've got a guy we can kind of build around. And and I think Dan you have, which certainly looked like that in this game. Hopefully they get another sign in across the line.
Speaker: And, you know, you go into the sprint season, maybe it's kind of a transitional year, but feeling like you're pretty well set up for the future, that you've got positive momentum with the roster, that you're starting to turn things over, and that maybe by the time, you know, the the calendar switch season happens, the Sounders are contenders again.
Speaker: Yeah, I would say that realistically like they could finish if they put together a real run, i don't think fourth is still out of, out of range. The reality is the sounds of earthquakes are in nearly as bad of a free fall as the sounders are right now. And unlike the sounders, the quakes have not brought in a whole bunch of talent. You know, you look at the teams that are between them and, ah and sounds a, there aren't really any teams who are,
Speaker: Great teams. I would say St. Louis is probably the team that's playing the best of all the teams that are ahead of them. but I just am not as worried about, about them, although they are also eight points behind St. Louis. So I guess maybe that that's a, maybe a better team to, to be targeting, but look, if the centers can put together a decent run, they could, they can get into the playoffs, but I don't think the standard for a successful season is any different now than it was when the season started, which is to say, it's not about getting into the playoffs. It's not even about where you finish in the table.
Speaker: It's about what you are able to do in the playoffs and what you do in the other competitions. They're obviously out of leagues cup. They they weren't in open cup. They're out of champions league. All they've got left to play for right now, essentially is MLS cup. And if they make a run in the playoffs, I'm happy to deem this season, at least not a total failure, right? But they've got a long way to go between now and then. and I think what we saw on Saturday is that,
Speaker: it's not as out of the realm of possibility as it felt, you know, against, uh, certainly against Austin, which I think was really the felt like the nadir of the season. Like it was,
Speaker: you know yeah That was one of the worst teams in league. They lost deservedly so to Austin, even though they they created some decent chances. and And it just seemed like if they can't beat this team, who can they beat? and the And then they they got the Cincinnati tie.
Speaker: They got this tie. Again, the Chicago Fire probably... You know, Chicago Fire and and Cincinnati might be the two best, at least on paper, teams they've played in a while. Although Cincinnati looks like they are...
Speaker: maybe I'm overestimating. They score a lot. And I guess right they aren't necessarily a great team. ah But I don't know. i thought this game was also very illustrative of both the potential that they picked up in Jovallik, but also the holes that are still here. Like they still struggled to to control the midfield. They didn't really control the midfield, although they did finally win field tilt.
Speaker: ah You know, Christian Roldan came back. That was a good sign. Jordan Morris came back. That was a good sign. Hasani Dotson came back. None of them really looked great though in their first games back. And maybe that's to be expected. They were all looking rusty.
Speaker: And so yeah we're still on the, I think my point here is that we are still very much in the realm of we're hoping things get better, but we still haven't seen evidence that they are bound to be better. Like there was the first 30 minutes, 20 minutes of this game were really exciting and fun, but they weren't able to carry that momentum.
Speaker: I guess what I, so um on my point here is that, It was a it was there was positive steps forward, but we are a long way off from being able to call anything that they've done successful.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that that is that's absolutely fair. I think that you have to win games, right? Like you can't just look good in drawing teams that are pretty decent. And, you know, they've got a game coming up this weekend that they absolutely have to win. It's it's ah one of the, you know, only teams in the Western Conference or still in the playoff race, I should say, with a worse points per game than Sounders and New York Red Bulls. They have not been very good this year.
Speaker: And, you know, you're you're playing them at home like you you have to win that game. and and they should win that game. And I feel pretty confident that they, that they will win that game, but you have to actually do it.
Speaker: And if they put in another performance where they looked good and they look like maybe they're starting to put it together and they come up with a point, that's not, you know, that's not good enough. Right. And, uh, I think that,
Speaker: Christian is is, I think, probably going to start that game, which should help. And he didn't look great in his first game, but i I did feel like there was a palpable change in the way the game felt when he came back on. They were recovering balls that they're not used to recovering. They didn't look nearly as disjointed in the midfield. Like, things seemed more organized.
Speaker: ah The goal, obviously, you know, the the equalizer, I should say, came on a counterattack, which you don't love to see, but it's not like they just got, like, overrun in the midfield. Yeah. um and And I think that as he gets as he gains fitness, you know that's that's going to help quite a bit.
Speaker: ah Having options off the bench, attacking options off the bench, I think is going to be a game changer. you know Jordan Morris, I didn't think looked... great in that game, but he looked like a professional athlete again, which is better than what we could say for, you know, the last time we saw him. I think he was pretty clearly playing hurt most of that first half against Portland. i feel comfortable saying now. um So, you know, having him being able to bring him in in ah if if you are chasing a goal late is certainly a positive thing.
Speaker: And I think they know now that they have somebody that's going to convert chances. That's going to put away chances. That's, that's going to get into good spots to score goals. And they haven't really had that, that this year. And I think that that's got to help the creators, you know, the, the more creative players, Russ snack and, and I guess Roth rock to some degree, Christian rolled on, right.
Speaker: ah Feel a little more confident and being a little more aggressive because I think that there was this tendency to want to, you hang on to possession and and not take risks because there wasn't a lot of confidence that the person on the other end of the ball was going to put the ball away, right? So you wanted to create the best possible chances to give yourself the best possible chance to score. And I think with someone like Dan Jovolic, you don't necessarily feel that way. You just want to get the ball to him and in reasonably dangerous spots. And as he showed in this game, he's going to put those chances away.
Speaker: Look, ah the Sounders had not gotten a goal from a starting number nine all season, and Jovallik scored one in the 12th minute. So that was, I think, pretty illustrative of of sort of some of the struggles that the Sounders have had. He got two goals in this game. He's the first Sounder to score a brace in a league game all year, I believe.
Speaker: Is that right? That sounds that seems right. That seems right now. And he's certainly the first striker to score a brace in a league game this year.
Speaker: And he also is fifth on the team in scoring. Yeah, which is just i mean, there's so many ways to sort of talk about his the impact that he had in this game. And look, he he only took.
Speaker: two shots, I think. ah And and it's ah it's probably unsustainable that he's going to score every single time he shoots. But the fact that he was able to get those two goals, the first goal especially, i was really encouraged by. it it was started with a pass that he makes at the top of the box. And then he just, I thought he was just very good in his movement, the way that he he worked himself free and and popped up at exactly the spot that he needed to pop up in.
Speaker: And scores a good cross from Sebastian Gomez, who I just want to say I thought had maybe his best game as a sounder. He looked very competent. And at the same time, i would be okay if he doesn't play again.
Speaker: ah Because yeah I really like how I like his progression. I think he has looked good. But I do think it's really illustrative of the sounder's struggles right now that Sebastian Gomez is getting so many minutes.
Speaker: on a team that look, look, if but if the Sounders are a playoff contender, Sebastian Gomez at this point in his career, just doesn't, I don't think have a role on this team. And that's okay. ah That's okay. Like I, that's not a knock on him. I think he is showing a lot of the building blocks that he needs to get there, but he's, he's just not there yet.
Speaker: And in the same way, I don't think Paul Rothrock should be, so should be starting for a team at this point who like, I thought he was decent in this game.
Speaker: He also showed some of his limitations. I, I, I think he has a role on this team. I think he's probably better off not starting. Like he has started. Jeez. He, he is he may be on the most, he may have the most consecutive starts of anyone on the team right now.
Speaker: And It's in the, that's not to say that he's been bad. I just think it's illustrative that, that Paul Rothrock is basically your most written in ink starter at this point.
Speaker: ah Yeah. He started all, but man, the last league game he didn't start was the LA galaxy loss. Yeah. in ah at home that started this streak.
Speaker: He started every other league game. So he started nine straight league games. And he's only not started, ah you know, a handful of games, really. And I think that that's just illustrative of, look, he's a good player. i like him on the team.
Speaker: He can't be an automatic starter either. No, he can't be. ah He can't certainly can't be your leading scorer. I mean, I think no that's just... And and that says, like you said, it says so much more about the situation the sound of the dream than it does about Paul. Yeah, I mean, he's been he's done everything I think you could have expected for him to do this year. He's been I mean, you could make a pretty compelling case that he's been the Sounders best player this year.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think you can say that's. incredible. He's living up to that contract he signed. I'm glad he's on the team. And also that's unacceptable for that to be the case for, for the Sounders. well And it's not like he's having an an amazing season. He's having a a good season, like a perfectly acceptable season. He is not a superstar. And I don't, I don't think that's even a knock against him. I know Nico asked him sort of this question last week, and he clearly didn't love the question or he didn't like what it was implying.
Speaker: But there was a truth there that, look, if Paul Rothrock is your best player, you're in bad shape right now. Because if he had 12 goals and five assists and it's like, hey, look, right that's those are those are leading the team numbers no matter who what team you're on, right? But he's got like five goals and three assists or something. ah one One assist. One is assist. There you go. At least in league play. In league play. Right. Yeah.
Speaker: and And so, again, I think Jovulich helps just sort of knock everyone down ah a peg a little bit. Morris coming back in. Look, if Morris can't outperform Paul Rothrock, that's a major concern, you know? Yeah, that's a problem.
Speaker: And that's just the way that's just the way it is. you know Although, I mean, at this point, you've got to figure those are your two starters, right? i mean Right now, they think they are, yeah. Yeah, yeah hopefully that that will change before the end of the window. Also, just to fact check ourselves real quick, Christian scored brace against St. Louis in back in May. Oh, yeah, that's right. He had two wide-open headers.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly the exact same set piece, I believe. Exactly. Yeah, that feels like a billion years ago, so I'm not shocked to forget about that. but Sure does. Yeah, I think that... ah I am still in the sort of, and maybe this is just a self-protection thing. I'm sort of in the mode of feeling like I'm just, whatever Jordan contributes this year is going to be, you know, a pleasant surprise, right? It's, it's going to be a bonus.
Speaker: Um, but I don't think the Sounders can afford to, to view things that way. Right. Like I think they have to expect him to be, to be Jordan Morris and whatever, you know, 2026 post quad injury, Jordan Morris looks like, um,
Speaker: he needs to be producing. And I think that he's definitely going to have to change his game up a little bit. Like even when he was playing pretty well earlier this season, he he clearly has lost that very top end of his speed.
Speaker: um And that's that's a big loss for him, I think. So he's going to have to change his game and we'll we'll see what that looks like. But he needs to contribute. And and I think he has the the talent to contribute.
Speaker: But I think the Sounders have really got to get another winger across the line. and Yeah, it's... it's hard to imagine this being a serious playoff contender, even if Jordan Morris returns to something like his form of late last season, even if Albert Rusnak returns to the form. And I actually think I'm, I feel very good about Rusnak's chances of getting back to his old self, especially with yeah yol like, I do think that Yovlich has the potential to,
Speaker: ah really improve the production from, from players like Albert Rusnak and, and maybe even Jordan Morris. i And look, if Paul can be a,
Speaker: A sometime starter, I think that would be good. Ideally, there is someone, though, competing for some of those minutes at winger, both on the right and left. ah yeah Like that's pushing like Morris shouldn't be ah an automatic starter either. I mean, that's sort of the right the situation the centers are in.
Speaker: And so I am hopeful. go ahead. Well, I was just going to say they they need to be in a situation where they don't have automatic starters unless they have earned that right. Right. Yeah, like exactly. That's that's where you have to be.
Speaker: Sounder at Heart has been around in one form or another since 2009. In 2026, though, we make a pretty significant evolution when we go analog. Yes, that's right. In the year of our Lord, 2026, we are publishing a real-life magazine. We're calling this thing 4, as in Sounder at Heart 4.0. But we're stylizing it as i IV because we absolutely love Roman numeral. And if you want to refer to it as IV, that's cool too. The first issue has a comic book-style cover that was hand-drawn by local artist Kevin Newbern. I mean, that's kind of the problem. That's been the problem during this 10 game.
Speaker: max achino mike russell and jane gerersshowitz i could not possibly be more proud of the work everyone put into making this and i think you're goingnna absolutely love it if you'd like to get your hands on one of these limited edition copies we're currently selling them for fifteen dollars on our website get yours now i mean that's that's kind of the problem that's been the problem during these ten this ten game winless run is that there are a whole bunch of guys who are starting every week who, who Brian Schmesser just doesn't feel like he can pull them out of the lineup, regardless of how they're performing, because there's no one that he thinks are better than them waiting in the wings. You know, it's going to be interesting to see how the center mid situation plays out because there is some competition there. you know Christian Roldan will hopefully be an automatic starter, but is it Snyder Brunel? Is it Hassani Dodson? Is it Peter Kingston?
Speaker: like Hopefully one of those three is actually playing well enough to, or more than one of those three are playing well enough to make it a competition. But right now, i don't i don't know who that is. you know there There were moments in this game where Snyder Burnell looked really sharp, and I really liked him.
Speaker: There were moments where he looked out of his depth, and you know he's he's just not a great defensive player right now. And you know Alex, I don't think, is best served as a defensive midfielder. I appreciate the work that he's doing there, but I've seen enough where I don't think he needs to be in that rotation.
Speaker: He might be in the rotation at center back. Uh, I, I am intrigued to see, would love to see what this team looks like when they can put him back at right back and have a functional defensive line behind him.
Speaker: But we don't know how long that's going to be. you know, it's like Stu Hawkins and Kim Kiki may actually be the starting center back duo for a while. Uh, And that's, you know, we'll see how that goes. Or it might be Alex Roldan and Stu Hawkins. I don't know. ah But there's still a lot. I guess what I'm saying is there's still a lot of questions on this team.
Speaker: And I think we got one important answer. And that's that they should be able to score some goals as long as Jovo Litch is, you know, being a or decky. We can maybe just call him.
Speaker: is being a contributor. And I do really like him. ah He's not necessarily the best two way player. He's not a perfect forward, but I do think he can be very serviceable. I think he's going to do this. The stuff that centers need him to do is the same stuff that they they've asked Raul Rui Diaz to do in the past that they were asking ah Jordan Morris that Danny Masofsky.
Speaker: These are the things that they, you know, look, score your chances. If you can score your chances, know, That's the main thing and everything else is kind of bonus. So, you know, we'll, we'll see. ah i did want to talk about one other positive from this game.
Speaker: And i was really, i really liked what I saw from Stu Hawkins. And I feel like every week I'm seeing more and more from him. That makes me genuinely excited about his growth curve and the potential that he has to be not just a ah serviceable MLS player, but like, uh, you know, like a, a top 10 center back in the league.
Speaker: Uh, I saw him taking chances with passes. He looks comfortable. He looks confident when he's in defense. I don't know that he made an obvious mistake. I thought Kim Kihee did a serviceable job next to him. He made one massive, massive tackle towards the end of the game that for a while looked like it might actually preserve the win.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, I was i was very happy with Stu Hawkins. And if if that's, you know, if if just his development is one of the things that we learned this year, that will be a positive. Now, it won us it won't salvage the season, but that would be a genuine positive. If if we learn that Stu Hawkins is a center back who demands MLS minutes, I think would be a good thing.
Speaker: Yeah, i mean, he's been outstanding. um All the defensive stuff, right? He had a very tough assignment in this game, and I thought he did really well. ah And he also has been a ah consistent threat on attacking set pieces, which God knows the Sounders could use another, you know, consistent threat on attacking set pieces.
Speaker: ah I thought he looked great with Kim. I thought Kim, like you said, had ah a really excellent game, um but i ah but I thought that Hawkins looked like the better of the two center backs, which is, I think, pretty high praise for a kid of his age with his his level of experience.
Speaker: I think he would pair really well with Reagan once Reagan is back and healthy. And i'm I'm very excited about him. ah I'm trying not to make the same mistake I made with Snyder Brunel, which is to assume that these good performances are going to continue happening week in and week out because there there will certainly be growing pains, I'm sure.
Speaker: And he has had moments this season that that haven't looked as great. But um I thought in this game he looked outstanding and I i want him to get a lot of playing time going forward uh they don't you know like who knows when jamar is going to be ah but available he this his injury situation is quite mysterious to me at this point um but it feels a lot more comfortable now than it did you know a month ago um having having him ah out and and i think it is worth noting that the sounders for All of this awful form for, you know, the lapsided loss they took to Portland.
Speaker: They're still eighth overall in MLS for goals against. Like this has still been a good defensive team for the most part. And that's been true no matter who's been playing center back, no matter who's been in defensive midfield. Like they've managed to prevent goals.
Speaker: They've put themselves under a lot of pressure um by losing the field tilt so dramatically in so many games. But they have largely managed to keep games close. And, you know, that was the case in this game.
Speaker: Stu Hawkins was a big part of that. And i I feel like he's he's got to be. at least we've got a lot of two game weeks coming, but I feel like he's got to be getting a start in at least one of those games every week, if if not sort of like a new starter at this point.
Speaker: Yeah, just to add a little bit more credence to what you're saying is that for all the Sounders struggles over the last few months, and the reality is they have not had a shutout Jeez, the last time the Sounders had a shutout in league play was ah that 1-0 win over Houston on April 4th.
Speaker: So they have given up at least one goal in ah
Speaker: 14 straight games. Right. And despite that, despite that they're only giving up 1.38 goals per or yeah. 1.38 goals per game, which is actually
Speaker: ninth best in the league. Like their defense is not the biggest problem. I would say their ability to control games is a huge problem.
Speaker: ah but their their defense and and you know Andrew Thomas I think showed was maybe one of his best games at least between the pipes ah yeah so pardon the ah the hockey term but he you know his passing continues to to be ah a bit of a roller coaster but he is not uh he He is not the problem defensively. Like he, the save that he made at the on the literal last kick of the game was just another example of of his quality. Like he's he's a he's a good player.
Speaker: Yeah, he's very good. I think he's been outstanding this year. I think in a lot of ways this year for him has been less stressful than Fry's first year was. I mean, that that was a very good Sounders team. Obviously they won the shield that year.
Speaker: But I don't think people always fully appreciate how tough Stuffed Fry's performances were at times. So for right Andrew Thomas to be ahead of a guy who ended up becoming the the legend of legends for this team, I think at this phase is pretty encouraging.
Speaker: ah And yeah, I would obviously like to see his distribution can get better, especially if if they are going to play out of the back as much as they seem to want to. That needs to improve. But I feel like that's something that can improve. and And the stuff that he is really good at is the stuff that you just kind of have or you don't have, right? Like his his shot stopping ability, his reflexes.
Speaker: his ability to read the game. He makes a lot of saves look easy that I think and other goalkeepers would struggle with. Like there are a lot of saves that he is just in the right spot because he's anticipating that I think other keepers are having to dive for and and maybe not giving themselves as as good of a chance for. So I think they're set at goalkeeper for for a very long time.
Speaker: Assuming, you know, goalkeepers are weird. Like sometimes they just forget how to play the sport. And, you know, you can't ever rule out that possibility. But I think the Sounders are in good shape for for the foreseeable future. And hey, that's, you know, that's what three positions now that maybe they're in good shape for a while, center back, goalkeeper and striker. So that's not too bad.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. mean, it's the spine, right? You know, right. The central midfield, maybe the most important of those. and And maybe there are some more questions there, but, you know.
Speaker: Yeah, those are... ah I don't know. I guess I'm not totally convinced that that the roster is quite as broken as it feels at times. Yeah. But it's it's not a roster that feel... like it It definitely feels like it's due for some serious turnover. And whether that happens...
Speaker: Now it's not going to happen now, but i think Jovolic is a good first start, a good first piece, but there's a lot of, there's a lot more that's left to do.
Speaker: And yeah it's, and unfortunately these, all these injured pieces, as much as it's tempting to say, you're never going to overcome this many injuries. you can't really afford to just throw your hands up and go like, well, we're missing Ferreira. We're missing De La Vega. We're missing Reagan. we're missing're We're missing all these guys for undetermined amount of times, maybe maybe for the rest of the year.
Speaker: And that's just the way it is. It's like, no you got to go out and still try to put together a functional team. Yeah. And that, that, that is a frustration I do have with the Sounders is I feel like if they think that their process and roster building strategy was correct and strong,
Speaker: and they've just hit bad luck, there's not a lot of the time and effort to say, well, okay, this is the luck we have, right? Like, we need to pivot and and make adjustments based on the bad luck we've had. And the bad luck we've had means our two guys that are supposed to be our starting wingers, one of whom's a DPE, another is making the max non-DP salary, are out for the year. So we got to go get another winger. And I feel like that's the thing that other teams do, that the Sounders have just not shown a...
Speaker: tendency to do over the years, but I think the situation they're in now is, is hopefully is going to force them to, to change that, that approach. Yeah. Uh, I, and I'd like to think that all of this was,
Speaker: was eyeopening, right? Like, yeah, like they are not through all this by any stretch. They are still very much in the middle of the struggles that they've been in for months.
Speaker: I think this week was a good first step towards correcting some of that, but it can't, I really hope they, and I don't look, I know for a fact that the front office, you like the Craig Weibel, Sean Henderson, that part of the front office,
Speaker: I know that they believe this roster needs upgrading and it needs change. And yeah the question is how much, what do they have in terms of resources to make it happen?
Speaker: And we'll see, you know, I, um it'll be very interesting to see how this all plays out over the next, you know, few days and months, because there's a lot more, even if the sounders don't make a move, there's,
Speaker: going to be a lot left to do. um Yeah. But I think this week was a positive first step, but it, it's not enough. It's not even close to enough. It's, it's barely scratching the surface of, of enough.
Speaker: ah You know, and I think you can go back to the, the letter that Adrian Hanauer put out, like it was good to acknowledge some of these issues, but we need more action, right? ah You know, the Jovlich signing was a good a good move. I really like it a lot, but it can't be all you're doing.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah Getting a result against a team, a good team, like Chicago fire, good start, but that's not enough. You're not going make, you're not going to impress anybody by grinding out time. They didn't even really grind out this tie. It was, you know, like they, they put themselves in a position to win and they didn't.
Speaker: Yeah. Simple as that. ah So yeah, I don't know. Yeah. ah definitely in equal parts frustrating and encouraging performance and just weak in general. Right. Because it's like the game obviously was, was frustrating and encouraging in equal parts, but also getting a player and then hearing a lot of, and we're not done yet. And then not actually seeing any tangible process is like, right.
Speaker: I, I guess I trust you. i don't know why I trust you you you. know, you haven't done, you've done a lot of telling over the last few seasons you've shown exactly one time. so why should I, I'm choosing to believe you because it's better for my mental health that you're going to that you're going to get something else done. And I think it's going to be, I think a failure of whoever is the one that prevents another signing from happening. If that ends up being the case, I think it's a failure on their part.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, um I don't, I don't really have much else to say about this one other than yeah i I think this is, You know, like I think things are trending correctly, but things can stop trending correctly very quickly.
Speaker: And the Sounders don't have a lot of room for error. i I didn't. I was reluctant to call the Chicago Fire game a must win for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the Fire were a good team and the math doesn't say it's a must win.
Speaker: But the red this Red Bulls game is getting a lot closer to, if not a literal must win. It's the kind of game that you absolutely have to win if you are going to ask people to have any faith at all in this season being redeemable.
Speaker: ah The Red Bulls, like you said, are one of the only teams in the playoffs that actually have a lower points per game than the Sounders. they have a pretty bad defense. They're giving up more than two goals per game. They do have a pretty good offense, uh, all things considered, but they're a young team.
Speaker: They're a team who has, whose best days are probably, you know, a year or two from now, but who as of right now are, are not someone the Sounders should be losing at home to. Uh, I think I so feel very safe saying that.
Speaker: And, ah If like, look, if if we're going to be asked to believe that they can go on the road and and even beat a team like the Galaxy, who are not a great team, or the Rapids, who are also not a great team, you got to win home games, right? Yeah, it's as simple as that.
Speaker: Yeah, you absolutely do. I mean, it's, and the Sounders had finally, it felt like turned it around and made Lumen a very difficult place to play again. and And now they're right back to being a very mediocre team this year at home.
Speaker: And, and also they have been bad on the road, which that was their saving grace in the past, right? Is there a mediocre at home, but at least they're good on the road. Well, not Not so much this year. so um Well, not recently anyway.
Speaker: Not recently. No, not recently. um So definitely got to get back to winning. I mean, if you're not if you can't win this game, you're not making the playoffs. You can't ask anyone to take you seriously. Look, I don't think anyone can...
Speaker: ah you can't ask fans to take your aspirations seriously if you can't beat the red bulls at home in this situation i think that's a good way of putting it absolutely yeah unless they make one hell of a signing and then you know go out and batter them and and right i have an unlucky draw maybe then but even then i feel like you still gotta win the game man yeah yeah yeah i also would like to just stop talking about winless runs yeah Yeah, I've had enough of it.
Speaker: ah you know i got the I've had enough. We got the goal from a starter and and a win against ah correct cura Corotaro.
Speaker: Corotaro. Corotaro. ah And that was great, but it was in leagues play in a dead rubber game. So it'd be nice to get, you know, we've got the goal from a starting nine. It'd be nice to get the win now. Yeah, that's another one we don't have talk about anymore.
Speaker: Yeah. So let's just keep, keep on with the trend and then we can start talking about a winning streak maybe after that. oh Oh, let's not get too crazy. Sky's the limit, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: yeah But yeah, you know, what What's the the ah the major league line? If you win one tomorrow, that's a winning streak. you got to win the first one first, though. Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely. ah Did you have i don't know, we didn't really get a chance to talk about this. i may as well ask you, did you have any thoughts on Adrian's letter? I thought it was good. I thought he said a lot of the right things.
Speaker: um I'll be honest. It felt like it had a whiff of GPT to it, but that's, you know, maybe I'm looking for that everywhere nowadays. I mean, I'm glad he did it. He should have. They should have released something like that. This a while ago that it should have come out the day after the Portland game, frankly.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. i agree. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad he did it. But if they don't back it up, I don't care. And and and I don't mean the team. I mean, Adrian specifically. If Adrian Hanauer, the majority owner of the team who is responsible for setting the budgets and spending the money, if he does not act on it,
Speaker: I don't care. Right. but they If they don't make another signing and they go on this great run, I'm still going to be annoyed at Adrian Hanauer because they need players. They need to improve the roster.
Speaker: i Jovlich was a great start, obviously. um And if he writes the letter and backs everything in the letter up with action, great. Like i'm I'm fully back on board, but I need to see the action. I think much like signing one guy was a great first step.
Speaker: ah The letter was a great first step, but the important stuff comes next. Would totally agree with that. And I would I would say that the the other nice piece was, you know, opening up the 300 section I thought was a good gesture, yeah you know, and and there was a great and I would say the energy Lumen Field on Saturday was easily the best.
Speaker: in a long time for a Sounders game. Certainly. i i don't remember exactly how all those early season games felt, but it it felt, it felt like the good old days, you know, it felt like the, the lower bowl was legitimately packed. There were enough people in the 300 sections that made it seem like it was worth opening.
Speaker: I, I love the energy in the stadium, you know, and, and hopefully the Sounders, I think they have underestimated the value of just how,
Speaker: how much a good vibe can, you know, it was fun to be at the game. It was just fun. Yeah. And I, I definitely, it came across too. I mean, it wasn't at the game, but it it very much came across on broadcast.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's good to hear. All right. Well, let's ah let's not belabor this. I think we can call this, call it it, call it here. I don't think we have much more to say. We'll we'll probably come back and do a mailbag episode soon.
Speaker: We will do some coverage of ah the transfer window, which closes on Wednesday. I'm not a hundred percent sure. I'm almost positive it's Wednesday and our time, not Wednesday.
Speaker: Wednesday, like the stroke of midnight on Wednesday on the East. I'm working to confirm that, but ah either way, we're going we're probably going get a much better sense of what the sounder is going to do in the next day or two.
Speaker: Hopefully we'll have some coverage of that on, on here. But all that said, we should get out of here. Thank you to our sponsor, Full Bull Wines. Thank you to our are listeners and our readers who have made August a you know a successful first. you know It's an important month in our calendar.
Speaker: just want to say thank you to everyone for renewing and subscribing. We, of course, are more than happy to have more subscribers. So wanted to get that out there. All that said, I am Jeremiah Oshan signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickett.
Speaker: This is Nos Adietes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. Remember, you'll never get alone.
Speaker: Let's go and Sounders.
