Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Fans react to Seattle Sounders at San Jose Earthquakes!
0 Plays2 seconds ago
We react and take calls following the Seattle Sounders' Western Conference matchup at San Jose in MLS Matchday 4.
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
SPONSORS
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2026 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
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.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Live Streaming
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders' Recent Victories
00:00:43
Speaker
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to your post-match live for Match Day 4 in MLS. Seattle Sounders just took another road victory. That's a 1-0 result at San Jose. We're going to be talking about it, breaking it all down.
00:00:58
Speaker
ah Streaming the presser. I've got this stream up in another tab, so it's messing with me right now. Okay. We're going to be spinning the presser. We're going be giving our takeaways. We're going to be raging at the oligarchs for taking um my away Cody Baker's goal, and we're going be taking your calls. ah Noah, three three wins and four in the league to start the season, four wins and five all comps, 3-0 in CCC, plus six goal differential, Jesus Ferreira, five assists. Life is pretty good. How you doing? How are you feeling?
00:01:29
Speaker
chat, are we cooking? are are Are we cooking right now? Because I think we're absolutely cooking right now. I got to be honest with you. ah This club is cooking. This win was significant. These players are playing ball.
00:01:49
Speaker
Did we just have another Austin FC moment, Ari? Did we just have another Sounders at Austin moment today? That's what I want to know.
Lineup Rotation and Key Performances
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if it's to that full level, but there are definitely shades of it in this situation. Maybe not as many teenagers in the starting lineup, but definitely a novelty lineup, a lineup that was rotated a lot with CCC obligations. You had the the famed Pete Kingston, Nikola Petkovic, double pivot. You had Tino Lopez. The season was saying, that's our starting duo. Yeah, exactly. Pete Kingston definitely getting a lot of MLS starts. That was on my bingo card. ah You had Tina Lopez out there. You had Cody Baker out there getting robbed by the oligarchs. It was just ah one of those games that i in past years, this team would not win, like to be quite honest. And most MLS teams, Don't win these games in these circumstances. I mean, like if you need evidence of that, look what happened to FC Cincinnati today. They're doing the same thing that Seattle is trying to do. Juggle CCC. They took a three Oh, in their first round of 16 game. ah Did you see the score of their game against the revs today?
00:02:59
Speaker
Because it was it i watched it one, it was six to one. And that's honestly, like, I don't think it says much about them. I think that most teams when they're trying to juggle these competitions, you know, That can be what happens like it's really hard to to balance these and still take results and not let your league form suffer. And the Sounders haven't let that happen yet. That's back to back one zero road wins. The Seattle Sounders road show two wins in their first three road games, obviously an unfortunate L at Salt Lake. But these last two wins have been, I mean, fantastic results. We'll talk about the performance as the show goes on because this was these are not perfect games. They're not the prettiest of games, but what they are is wins.
00:03:42
Speaker
And you can't really argue with that when you're trying to make a run in CCC and also stay afloat in the league. They're doing ah they're doing a good job of that right now, even if this game, you know, this was a lot of...
00:03:56
Speaker
Last-ditch defending, absorbing pressure, conceding corners. The Quakes had 17 corner kicks, which I would argue Which also, like, they came in the last 20 minutes of the game. It was... I just... It feels like both of these last two games, even the Caps game, there was a lot of corner kicks conceded. And, you know, letting Seb Berhalter and Timo Werner just pump crosses corner kicks into the box, like, all game, every game, is not typically... It's not like. It's not what I like watching. It's not typically what you think will lead to victorious results. But I think we can start there while we
Defensive Highlights and Strategies
00:04:29
Speaker
wait for the presser to start. I think you got to shout out the defense and specifically Tino Lopez.
00:04:35
Speaker
I mean, that goal line clearance that he had, am i am i a prisoner of the moment to say that that is one of the sickest individual plays I've ever seen a Sounders CB make? That was incredible, dude. That was an incredible.
00:04:49
Speaker
He nailed the audition. He got the part. He is literally Timothee Chalamet. Can we start calling him Timothy Chalamet? Tino Chalamet? I hadn't made that connection yet. cause like You can call him that.
00:05:03
Speaker
This dude just crushes it. He's like Marty Supreme. He stays winning. like I don't know what to tell you. This guy is a winner, and here he is about to talk to us on the presser. Tino Lopez and Osaze. Hi, O'Shan. Jeremiah, go for it, please.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, we may as well start with Tino. That's your, first I believe your first MLS start. um Got to feel pretty good. what's What's sort of going through your head though on that that bowl you cleared up the line?
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. I feel amazing. And I saw the ball going and I was like, have to do everything i possibly we can because I'm here to help the team and prove that I can play with them and help them wish to win more games. So all I wanted to do was help the team and I'm glad I able to do that.
00:05:56
Speaker
And then just real quick, you played for the Sounders Academy, right? are you Are you from Seattle or where are you actually you're from? Originally from Vegas, but yeah, I played in the Academy for my senior year high school.
00:06:09
Speaker
Okay, great, thanks. Alright next question will go over to Maz Vita Maree Maz go for it please. Hey Paul just real quickly, a can you talk about the the Resolute defending by all 11 and then just how proud you are of the guy to your left in terms of you know earning his spot and making a tough decision for the organization.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yeah that was um that was a real green win. um Our defense had a monster game tonight. you know Jackson was only playing on playing the half, he ended up playing the whole game and he had a great game.
00:06:45
Speaker
These two had a great game together. thought Kingston made some huge tackles. Injured made some massive saves. i mean Across the board there were some great defensive performances and then you know this guy and I don't think people realize quite how hard it is to stay patient in the second team system. it's It beats you down and this guy's been doing it for three years now. all ands um I can't say enough good things. I'm so proud of him. I remember the first preseason I was here with us and I thought they were going to sign then, but they've kept him waiting.
00:07:27
Speaker
monster game from you just like showed he belongs here and it's some huge tackles for us so yeah a lot of credit to you man thank all right next one we'll go to jorge santos uh george go for it
00:07:50
Speaker
george you're okay you gotta take yourself off mute yep uh so uh paul uh this is more for you but also for you know can you guys talk about what it is about the common defiance that keeps churning out great quality players for the saunders yeah i think um you know it's uh it's a credit to a lot of people i think guys like wade lever have been sending the standard there for a long time um i think they
00:08:23
Speaker
They pride themselves in picking guys with character and and that's really paid off.
Player Development and Team Dynamics
00:08:27
Speaker
And you see all the guys that have signed here have have an edge to them in a good way. And you know I think that is credit to the players. I think ultimately the players build the pathway, right? And you know guys as far back as like Sam Rogers and Jackson know and and then me. know Jackson was who I,
00:08:51
Speaker
was a role model for me because he did it and then it made me believe that I could. And I hope I'm doing the same for for guys like me that, you know, they believe that if you work hard and you take your chances when you can here that it's going to happen for you. And and I think now we get we get better players coming here too because they believe that there's a real pathway here.
00:09:16
Speaker
And then, you know, it's down to guys stepping up when their names called and this guy's done that a number of times. Peter did it tonight too. You know, Saazé and Kalani stepped up too when, at first when they came on and then have continued to prove themselves. And, you know, I also think it comes from the veterans because they they continue to prove themselves every game. And that's the culture that is part of the Seattle Sounders.
00:09:44
Speaker
Okay, Felipe Makeda, over to you, please.
00:09:50
Speaker
Thank you, Alex. um This is for Tino. Tino, most of the time, the man of the match is a a player that makes a goal, but you saved a goal.
00:10:02
Speaker
Can you share with me your your emotions? What does it mean for you in your in your and your first game Can you save the team so they can win the game?
00:10:16
Speaker
I would first say it wasn't just me and a safety team. Like Paul said, we all defended together and that's that's what won us the game in my opinion. But during that clearance, I was just putting everything on the mind.
00:10:30
Speaker
Obviously before the game, as the first start, I was nervous obviously, the butterflies were going. Maybe sometimes was little bit in my own head just because it's the first start in front of our team that's three and O's.
00:10:44
Speaker
fake it big game for us. And to be able to do something like that and prove that I can help this team was all I wanted to do the whole game. So, but I, we, we won this game because we all work together. We all defended together and we were able to push each other to win this, that won us the game really.
00:11:07
Speaker
All right we'll take one or two more here before heading over to head coach Brian Schmetzer and his availability. to Jeremiah, go for your follow-up, please. Yeah, Paul, i right before the the goal, you would it seemed like you were kind of struggling to get your touch a little bit.
00:11:22
Speaker
um what I don't know, what's sort of like going through your head on on um when that ball is played into you? Yeah, I think you're right. I started the game off a little sloppy.
00:11:34
Speaker
the two giveaways that I'd like back and, you know, the position. haven't played a lot of that position at all, um you know, here and there and training. But um yeah, I think the best players I know are able to forget things quickly. And and thankfully, I think I did that and was just playing to the next play. And, you know, Jesus and I talked about that before the game that,
00:12:04
Speaker
she's got He's got great, he's got a good it got a great pass in behind and we just talked together like, hey, if he gets his head up in some of those moments in that pocket, I'm gonna run it behind the back line and credit to him, played a great ball.
00:12:21
Speaker
know I actually probably should have had a couple tonight because couple guys found me in behind. here Nico Fekovic the first half well, put a great ball in behind. Peter Kaysen in the second half. So um that was something that we had talked about on film too, that that same ball. So credit to our video team as well. the They picked that out for us. and And then I just had to finish off the play. And thankfully, we did that. And know Cody Baker got a goal too, in my mind. So happy for him as well.
00:12:55
Speaker
All right, guys, thank you very much. Congratulations. Once again, we're going let you get out of here and on the plan home. Thanks, guys. See you. All right, we'll reset the deck here for head coach Brian Schmetzer. So if you have a question for Brian, please go ahead and re-hit that raised hand function button for us, and we'll get started as soon as he sits down.
00:13:19
Speaker
they're just ah They're just fixing the camera there. yeah You got to get the hostage. you gotta to get This is Kevin. Everyone say hi, Kevin. Chat, say hi, Kevin. Hi, Kevin. Man, how do you ah how do you like that media-trained answer from Tino Lopez?
00:13:34
Speaker
They asked him how it felt to save the game for the team, and he said, I didn't save the game for the team. We all we all saved the team. Dude, I'm telling you, together that's start veteran that's that's some veteran stuff right there. like that is You usually don't see that answer until like at least a year or two into their into their career. that That is good stuff.
00:13:56
Speaker
No, i i I don't quite... We all won the game. but Just like put it... ah Listen, Ari, at the beginning of this team, I posted on our Instagram.
00:14:07
Speaker
I said, Hello Kitty, I'm so sorry for what Tino Lopez is about to do to you. And I'm just telling you guys... i The moment that Brian Schmetzer in a post-match press conference says, oh yeah, we're going to start Tino Lopez. that was he He called that shot. I knew. I knew.
00:14:25
Speaker
Wait, did Brian Schmetzer just do a we have Paul Rothrock? He doesn't gas a young player like that unless he's like supremely confident that they're going to make him look good for it. So, that I mean, it is it is a good tell. It is a good tell.
00:14:39
Speaker
I just absolutely knew that it was going to be... It was going to be a match for the kid, man. Like, yeah, like he said, he's been in this squad for like three years already.
00:14:50
Speaker
i think, I mean, I'm loving, I'm loving Alex Roldan at center back. What if, what if we just signed Tino?
00:15:01
Speaker
I mean, I signed Tino and started Tino. I don't think that he could have made a much better case for getting on the first team tonight. Like that, that was, if you want to make a case, that's the type of stuff you got to go do. Make game changing, game saving plays. He literally did that tonight. So, you know, I don't want to anoint him as a the second coming off one game. But anyway, here's Schmetz. Brian.
00:15:25
Speaker
Six is a really good number. It's my lucky number, actually, Alex. I'm happy that you're happy. Would you like an opener tonight? ah Yeah, sure. So when the fans see Jingle Bells,
00:15:40
Speaker
I think I spoiled it. But Tino Lopez has, well, Craig Weibel is sending something in the mail to Tino to get him signed up because the kid deserved it.
00:15:55
Speaker
And I'm also going to congratulate Tino. And I'm ah also going to petition Craig to sign Peter Kingston because that kid has done enough. Wow.
00:16:06
Speaker
So ga he's in a good way. He got a happy, tired bunch of guys. mean, they're and they're tired, but you know that that's a happy crew.
00:16:21
Speaker
All right. With that, we'll get started with questions. Jeremiah, over to you, please. ah first of all, welcome or congratulations on the win. If you could just talk a little bit about the the total defensive effort there. I think you guys faced 25 shots, 17 corners. You only had you know about 37% possession, but it seemed like it was you know you you had you had some control of it still.
00:16:46
Speaker
would have been 2-0. Yeah.
00:16:49
Speaker
And I'm not just talking about the... just not talking about the... you know the the offside, you know, infringing the goalkeeper where Albert should have just kept running.
00:17:01
Speaker
If Albert would kept running, tries to get himself back onside Cody Baker, but Paul had another chance in second half. We had some breakaways some half-chances. So sometimes Jeremiah, that's just the way the game goes. I know Bruce talking to him after the game, he feels a little snake bit and rightly so.
00:17:17
Speaker
I mean, look, they were on top of us, but if you take anything away from this three-game stretch, and even in the RSL a little bit, gritty, defending, everybody pitching in set piece defending. We talked ad nauseam.
00:17:37
Speaker
about not giving up set piece goals and what they have tonight, 16, 18, I don't know, a bunch of corner kicks that we had to withstand some free kicks from wide channel areas as well. So that's correct to Andrew, credit to Jackson. I mean, Jackson had another monster game.
00:17:55
Speaker
I mean, he should be in consideration for the March camp, ah but you know, ah team The team's defending well collectively. And then you get the you know you get the individual performances like Tino Lopez to save the ball off the line, never gives up. Knew who did one the other day against Vancouver.
00:18:13
Speaker
i mean, we got guys, Cody Baker, getting you know getting torpedoed, landing on his back. He's got eight ice bags on his back right now.
00:18:25
Speaker
They all put it in.
00:18:29
Speaker
All right, Maz, over to you, please. Hey, Brian. um I think I got this right. You started Paul in the pocket this game. What was the decision there? Paul who?
00:18:39
Speaker
Paul Rothroth. No, he was. Paul was on one side. Or she was on the other.
00:18:47
Speaker
Yeah, he said he started in to he played a different position is what he said. Maybe I got that one. Left to right. And we asked him to sometimes be wide, sometimes come in the inside shoulder of the left back.
00:19:02
Speaker
But, you know, if Paul thinks that's a new position, I don't even care. He can play whatever position he thinks he's playing. I don't care. George Arnaoutakis, That he it don't want to start anything brings. George Arnaoutakis, Oh good i'll watch this i'll watch his interview tomorrow about his new position.
00:19:21
Speaker
George Arnaoutakis, Arnaoutakis, Alright, George go ahead and ask your question, please. Coach, you had an interview over the break where you mentioned that you didn't want to be coaching while you were 70. I mean, it's still ah many years from now, but looking at Bruce Arena, the do you reconsider your opinion on that?
00:19:44
Speaker
ah You're talking about my retirement? Well, you you mentioned you didn't want to be coaching when you were 70.
00:19:53
Speaker
No, I still stick by that. Yeah. Okay, i would just ask you to... only I mean, that's that's a long time Yeah, but Bruce Erwin is 74 and he seems like he's still enjoying it. Oh, okay. All right. So I didn't hear that you said you included Bruce.
00:20:13
Speaker
Okay. Look, I had good words with Bruce before the game. You know, I love Dave Sarakin. Shalri Joseph is going to be a head coach one day in this league. I like this staff. I like San Jose staff. They are good professionals.
00:20:28
Speaker
Bruce is the goat of MLS coaches. And whether he wants to retire or not, that's his that's his prerogative. Look, I'm 63. Where my career takes me, who knows?
00:20:41
Speaker
I'm just trying to live in this moment right now. That's that's what I always tell the guys. You know, live in this moment. You never know when it might not go your way. You might be somewhere else. You might be in front of a bus or something. But I'm enjoying this moment. I enjoyed it.
00:20:57
Speaker
you know, the last game I enjoyed the, i actually enjoyed all the games this year so far. Okay, next question to Felina Nadehda. Thank you, Coach Brian. um And Tino Lopez just mentioned that the team won up because he saved that goal and because the effort for the whole team.
00:21:19
Speaker
But I would like you to hear about the Andrew Thomas performance because the the the number of saves that he had, it was was incredible. Thank you.
00:21:31
Speaker
Andrew Thomas is a number one goalkeeper in this league. stefan fry is the number one goalkeeper in this league it's all due to tom dutra the best goalkeeper coach in this league no questions asked and andrew took a step forward today not just because felipe he made some saves off crosses he's young he's brave he's such a good athlete but his decision making like on the one ball where Tino cleared the ball off the line, you know, sometimes a younger goalkeeper would have, you know, maybe come off, you know, my it might have come off his line and made a poor decision. Maybe it's a red card.
00:22:13
Speaker
There were moments in the game, and this is all the league games, where Andrew is kind of figuring out some of the nuances of his position.
00:22:24
Speaker
He's a great shot stopper. He's very good on crosses, but his mental side of the game, and look, he's had a good teacher again with Steph, the angles he takes for saves, you know, all of those little things that's going to make him a number one goalkeeper in MLS.
00:22:42
Speaker
He's, he's heading down that path. All right, time for one or two follow ups or first time questions. If there are any, please go ahead and hit that raise hand function button for us if that's the case. Jeremiah, we'll take your follow first.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah, I guess, how does this set you up for Wednesday? It seems like you were, I'm assuming you you were able to get the the rest you've you felt like you needed to get rest for. Only Jackson. Jackson was a sub and I wanted to get some miles off of him.
00:23:13
Speaker
But You know, the game was there. I didn't want to take him out. Again, he had a monster game, but everything else kind of worked according to plan.
00:23:24
Speaker
Okay, Miles, back to you, please. Hey, Brian, the importance of whether it's Danny Maslovsky or De Rosario Sazo there, their length of because even in the first goal, Danny had a play in the part there, them serving as an outlet. How important is that to your counterattacking?
00:23:44
Speaker
Yeah, look, Danny and Osazi, they're paid to score goals, but they're also, as you well know, Maz, they're paid to do other things. They're paid to defend because that's what I expect.
00:23:56
Speaker
They're paid to be part of the buildup to help us get from back to front. They're paid for a lot of different things. Both of those guys are tremendous players. It's good competition between the two of them. I thought Danny had a good performance tonight.
00:24:08
Speaker
Osazi, when he came on, I think his second wind, he needed to get a little bit more second wind. but he made some plays in the offensive end. ah So look, I'm blessed with, you know, three starting center forwards. If I talk about Osase, Masaski, Jordan, I mean, I got a deep squad.
00:24:29
Speaker
So we're going to keep this train rolling. George Arnaoutakis, And when Jordan ready sorry had sneak that in there. George Arnaoutakis, Maybe maybe Spokane, but I can say for sure if it's not if he doesn't make it isn't clear, some of the last little tests, then for sure Minnesota. George Arnaoutakis, Thank all right George last one to you, please.
00:24:49
Speaker
ah but Could you talk a little bit about Cody Baker, he was sent out on one last year, and i think he's been doing ah a great job ever. He seen came back and played different positions if you could talk a little bit about him.
00:25:03
Speaker
Well, I love talking about Cody. I wish I wish I would have been able to give him a game ball because that would have been his first MLS goal. And Nolan Meyer, I kind of made fun of him. I made him scramble because I was going to give him a ball anyway, just because he put that much effort into the game.
00:25:22
Speaker
But you know Cody has proven his value. He's a tremendous young man. Whatever happens in his career, his life, or whatever, I know he's going to go far because he's dedicated, he's loyal, he works hard, he works smart, he's a great kid.
00:25:40
Speaker
We'll leave it there. Brian, congratulations once again. Safe flight home. Thanks, Alex. If you have any needs for Spokane, please let us know. reminder that
00:25:53
Speaker
Beautiful. You're muted. Wow. It wasn't me this time. There you have it from Brian Schmetzer. And Noah, he just broke like a lot of news. This guy, Fab Germano.
00:26:05
Speaker
and Literally that whole time I was making an Instagram post. I'm posting. Uh, yeah, so let's let's talk about all that and then I want to get to our shout outs and then we'll ah take some calls.
00:26:16
Speaker
ah But yeah, so he said let's go through it that Tino Lopez. They're giving him a contract. did he Isn't that what he said? He was like, we're gonna send it in the mail. So that's basically effectively announcing that they're signing Tino Lopez to the first team. He also said I'm gonna campaign Craig to sign Pete.
00:26:33
Speaker
Were you expecting that? campaigning for the Pete signing. He did not announce Pete, but he said he wants Pete on the first team. He wants Pete, dude. Announce Pete, but also... Announce Pete. Announce Pete. I want every Sounders fan to reply to every Sounders tweet from now going forward. Announce Tino and announce Pete. you know Let's get some announce Pete in the chat. Let's go. I wasn't expecting the Pete, but honestly, he played he played well. I don't think he was, he didn't have a Tino Lopez-esque explosive game, but I don't think he needed to. i thought he was yeah still'll be He was still being asked to do a lot, but like he held his own and played just as good as Petkovic, who, I mean, I would love to hear your Petkovic takes as well.
00:27:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, Pete, i think I think when you're Pete in this situation, it can be tough because you want to have a smashing audition and make plays and like show that you should be on the first team. But you also you also can't be the guy who messes anything up or makes an egregious mistake. So that is a, that is an admittedly tough balance, especially for a guy that's been real on the fringes like him. Like you can't have the play that loses the game. So he was able to avoid anything. I think particularly close to that. He had one really nice pass that sprung Rothrock that Rothrock honestly could have scored on. He could have had an assist on that. And then I think just in general, he, uh,
00:27:59
Speaker
He contributed to the team winning the game. So that's kind of all you can ask for, I think, from Pete in that situation. But, I mean, I thought Petkovic was good, man. i thought he was I thought he was good, too. I thought he was good. Okay, because like i've been I'm trying to like be measured about him, you know manage expectations. We've talked a lot about how these U-22 hit rates are not that high. he has He was in kind of a less exciting situation than most.
00:28:26
Speaker
I'd say it's fair to say coming over from crown legacy, like having not broken through already on another and MLS team. So didn't really know what to expect was trying to keep my expectations in check. But honestly, like I, I genuinely like what I've seen so far. I thought in his first cameo, he hit a couple dimes and then he was really dominant up tonight. The, uh, some of these like three balls and switches and stuff that he can hit.
00:28:48
Speaker
It's good stuff. So I like, I definitely, Maybe they're on to something there. I don't know. like It's still early days, but like I think it's encouraging to see that ah the first couple times you actually get to watch him play with the first team, he's doing good stuff. He's contributing. He's not looking like he doesn't belong out there or that he's not on the same page with the other guys. I think he's looking pretty good. What did you think of Petkovich?
00:29:12
Speaker
I was... I've been continuously happy with the way that he's looked in his small cameos. He's made some really good passes. He's looked kind of like the prospect that Charlotte spent quite a bit of money for. Yeah.
00:29:28
Speaker
four It makes me question Charlotte more than anything because, yeah, he didn't have an assist. He may not have had a statistical output this match, but he was close. He was feeding dangerous passes. He took a couple of nice shots from distance that I liked. I don't mind him like trying that. I thought one of those looked pretty good. That's the kind of shot that i I'm down with him taking based on what we know of his skill set. so Yeah, like they gave him away for a bag of chips, you know, like, and he looks pretty good on this team so far. like Again, again, I want to want to be cautious on the Petkovich, but, but like, I would say I have liked what I've seen from him.
00:30:07
Speaker
it was nice to see get real minutes. Yeah. Because you can see something in a small flash. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. He looked consistent yeah and he looked good. defense He was, he was getting back defensively as well.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yes, he did. He would did some hard work on defense. I think he got a yellow card at one point for getting in on a challenge. So yeah, I would say I have liked what I've seen from him like quite a bit significantly more than I expected to. So that's pretty cool. I think that's good to know that you can put him in a the lineup, the starting lineup in a situation like this. And he at least looks like he's got the ability to be a plus player, like someone who can really contribute and get not just get you through these games, but contribute to winning these games. And I thought he did that in this game. So that was one shout out that I had. ah
00:30:55
Speaker
Let's ah let's get to Cody Baker, because honestly, i had a lot of fun watching him going at it with Timo Werner. You could tell him. Yeah, you like you could tell that the Quakes did nothing against Cody, the Pitbull Baker.
00:31:10
Speaker
And you can tell that the big, a big part of their game plan was to spam Timo Werner down the left. I'm sure Bruce, as I would expect him to, told Timo Werner, that kid is 20 and he's from Issaquah. Like, just go at him. You'll probably get the better of him a couple of times. But Cody Baker was legitimately up for it. There was a couple of sequences where Timo Werner was tearing down that left flank and Cody Baker was trying to keep up with them. And he was stride for stride, bodying up with him, not backing down. That was fun watch. Like, like to see an Academy kid get to go against a world-class big name player like that and not just hold his own, but I think,
00:31:44
Speaker
Pretty much get the better of them. People in chat were saying that they thought Timo Werner looked really bad or ghosted. I didn't think so. i like I came out of this game thinking that San Jose is not fraudulent and Timo Werner looks pretty good. like he yeah He looked like pretty, at least physically, like he was explosive, he was fast. He put in a couple of real nice crosses. He had that one cross in particular that really could have been a goal. Like he had two actually where it's like, I'm i'm sure he was probably thinking to himself like, God damn it. Like if I had better teammates, I would have two assists in this game. Like a couple of them, like just the, they they could have been finished if the teammate had put a shot on target, which they didn't. But like i agree Cody Baker and Cody Baker and Tino Lopez, Timo Werner was going at both of them a lot and they were, they were up for it pretty much every time.
00:32:31
Speaker
What I loved about Cody was he's never, he never fears an opponent. Like he's the type of guy who you can just put in a game and he's going to be like, okay, I'm i'm ready. yet Let's go. That's what I always loved about him in the open cup too. Like when they had defiance playing in the open cup, he would just slot in. He'd be, he was a leader. he was really good on the defense and he was just up for it. He was like, yeah, I don't care that I'm playing for the Tacoma defiance. I'm playing goddamn football right now. Like that's all I care about. And I mean, we have both been huge Cody Baker fans. We we hope that he gets more run.
00:33:05
Speaker
It's awesome that he's going to be able to get more run this year as, you know, the backline seemingly, um you know, develops into ah whatever it becomes. I think that that's, you know, something you said in the preseason is like, it doesn't really matter ever what the depth chart is. With the Sounders, if you're on the roster, there's a chance you could become a starter and or just,
00:33:28
Speaker
An important player in general. Cody Baker went from, I think maybe playing one or two matches last season to he started in San Jose demolished one of the best players in the league. Timo Werner. I'm sorry. San Jose.
00:33:43
Speaker
You can say what you want about them. They're a much different, much better team. He is that whole team. he is yeah it was it was kind of like It was kind of like, all right, these guys don't have like other ideas beyond this. It's a good idea in theory, but ah that there's not more than one of them.
00:34:00
Speaker
Like, and I, like, I would probably do the same thing if i I were in their position, you know, he's been playing really well and you're going against the back line with young players and, you know, he's got the pedigree and experience to theoretically exploit that, but it was kind of nice that, that they didn't end up benefiting from that. It's like, no, you're going to go up against Cody Baker and Tino Lopez and your team's going to get clean sheeted. That's what's going to happen in your stadium. So that was, uh, speaking of speaking of clean sheets, can we talk about the guy who I have been saying should have been the number one goalkeeper for two Yeah.
00:34:35
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that was next. I was next. You think you think that anyone else gets that job done? Absolutely not. Andrew Thomas was dipping, diving, floating, throwing his body, throwing punches, throwing saves, throwing ass to get that win.
00:34:53
Speaker
Yeah, I love this guy. I love this guy. He's so good. He's so, so good. He's so smart. What Brian said about him is like, he is so smart with the way that he plays to when to come out when not to he's looking even more confident every time he plays. It's incredible.
00:35:13
Speaker
I don't know i don't know why no one was listening to me. That's all I got to say. Why was no one listening to me? He should have been doing this down the stretch of last year. He would have been doing this down the stretch of last year.
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, I agree. He was great tonight. I've been kind of rolling my eyes when Schmetz gives the I have two number ones thing. But honestly, after he less but less looking at how that CCC game went, I'm like, all right, maybe you just, maybe. yeah Yes, Schmetz, you have two number ones. yeah Start Steph Fry in CCC. I'm fine with it. now i can't I can't argue with that after the that he had. If Schmetz had a performance minutess like he did in CCC, you can't say anything about that. he Exactly. he was nasty.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah, like that that was honestly, I think I said it was one of the, the save you out on the border. I think that was one the better Steph Fry saves like ever. That was awesome. Well, so I will say, i will say this was a very different match from that game.
00:36:08
Speaker
I don't think that Stephen Fry makes about half of the saves that Thomas was able to do because a lot of the saves that Thomas was making were a lot more acrobatic. They were a lot more not backed up by his defense. He he had a little bit of a shaky defense, right? You know, you have Jackson Reagan pairing with Tino Lopez. Tino Lopez played amazing, but those two haven't played much together. You would see sometimes they would get a little bit disconnected. New who was playing great on the wing. Cody Baker was playing. Captain knew who.
00:36:33
Speaker
Captain knew who. Captain knew who no crash out. We got, he got an early yellow card and I was like, all right, this is what happened. Okay. I'm sorry. That was not a yellow. That was soft. That was soft. That was not a yellow. soft Not because honestly, I have to say, I think they were biased because it was new. Who, I think that ref gave him a yellow because it was new. Who,
00:36:52
Speaker
I agree. i agree i didn't like I didn't like that yellow. I didn't like that yellow. i didn't like that yellow either. Andrew Thomas, yeah, definitely big shout-out. Jesus Ferreira.
00:37:04
Speaker
Let's talk about Jesus Ferreira again. MVP. MVP. MVP. Come on, chat. MVP. Another class assist. That gives him yeah five, right?
00:37:19
Speaker
He has four games, I think. That was what it was after the Whitecaps game. Oh, them five and five. And one of them was secondary, so four primary assists so far this season. But he's been playing fantastic. I've been kind of also taking it slow as far as victory lapping on the fact that we were saying last year that he was in the bust and give him time. He really turned it on down the stretch last year. And he looks absolutely incredible to start this year. So I'm kind ready to start victory lapping. But I'll say this. You know, I saw someone in chat said was Jesus Ferreira hater, but he's changing my mind. And now I've converted. That's fine. I'll let that stand. You're allowed to change. You're allowed to change. You're allowed to change your mind on this podcast when you have new information. So if you originally were skeptical and hesitant on the Jesus Ferreira thing, but now you've seen how he played to end last season and to start this one and you've decided you want to get on the Jesus train, you are welcome aboard. He has been one of the best playmakers in major league soccer so far to start this season. And this was another, Oh my God. He dimed up Rothrock. Absolutely. Perfect on that goal. Just great stuff, man. Great stuff. And watching him play that number 10 role too, man. I thought he was cooking.
00:38:39
Speaker
Great. Great. No notes. No notes. never Never had any notes. Never will have any notes for Jesus, the goat, Ferreira. Question for you.
00:38:49
Speaker
Yeah. I saw this pose in our group chat. Is Jesus... the, you know, the plan for when Albert is phased out.
00:39:01
Speaker
Could he be the heir apparent? Yeah. And my reply in the group chat was that those DP escalators are going to hit so clean. The discourse on that day is going to be great. And you know what? I'm going to support it when he becomes a DP for this club because he's freaking playing like one right now. Like, I don't think that i don't think you can deny it. Give him the escalators. Give him the... That's my that's my point. Give him the The haters are going to say that you should be more ambitious than making him a DP, but, like, come on now.
00:39:30
Speaker
I'm sorry, man. Does Hyunmin... Does Hyunsun Min have four assists in five assists in five games? No. yeah no He doesn't. He doesn't. Do they have...
00:39:41
Speaker
Four clean sheets. I don't care what LAFC... They don't have Jesus Ferreira. They couldn't even touch Jesus Ferreira with a 10,000-foot pole. He's so much better than their entire roster. yeah No, he's in good form, great form right right now to start the season. So that can only mean good things. And also, you know, he's...
00:39:58
Speaker
Go for it. Go for it. He's he's starting this game like after having just played midweek. so That's exactly what I was going to say. not Not operating with a full tank of gas in all likelihood. And he goes out there and gets the game-winning assist. So like this this guy doesn't miss games. He puts it in every single game, every single week, sometimes multiple times in a week. And he's been he's been performing. So give the guys credit.
00:40:22
Speaker
um I love you. Jesus. I love it We're big Jesus guys on this show. ah Big Christ supporters. I mean, yeah. Praise be, honestly. Can we get follower of Jesus shirts and then on the back, it's just Jesus for his face?
00:40:38
Speaker
yeah Yeah, we can. should merch We should merch that up. another Another shout-out I wanted to get to was Jackson Reagan. That was monstrous. Oh, my God. Just crushing those headers.
00:40:48
Speaker
Poke, come onke come on. Come on. If he's not in the camp, genuinely, if he's not in his next camp, there's There's some sort of broad, there's some sort of video that Tim Ream has on Mauricio Puchetino and potentially his entire family. He might be holding one of the Pocatinos hostage. ah Because you're telling me Tim Ream is the guy and not Jackson Reagan?
00:41:16
Speaker
Shut up. Shut up. Has he committed to Tim Ream yet? maybe Maybe we're criticizing too early. Maybe he's going to actually well give Jackson Reagan a chance. Who else? Like, he, I think what I, what was going through my mind watching this game was like, I think we might be watching in ascendancy with Jackson Reagan. Like, he's been a very, very good to great center back for this team for the last few years. But I think he looks like he's leveled up.
00:41:40
Speaker
Like, he is. crazy. Playing lights out right now. Like, would you have thought that was going to happen? I didn't think he had a next gear. Like, yeahm big yeah, he's like this really good center back and he's very solid. He's a very good MLS center back. Now he just looks like a worldly center back, like a a center back that could...
00:42:01
Speaker
go somewhere else and play and start and be really good. Like there, I say it in the championship, maybe La Liga. It makes it so hard to run a game plan against this team that has any element of like pumping in crosses. Cause I mean, you put it anywhere in the box where he could track it down and it's just over. Like it's that's out of there.
00:42:23
Speaker
It's just in in like the addition of his distribution, There's literally, I've never seen a player with a distribution like his, especially in MLS. Like, you are a center back who's a shot-stopping, saving, sliding, tackling, nine-foot-tall center back. Oh, my God, the double the double block he had?
00:42:43
Speaker
Triple. Or, yeah, was it a trip? Triple. He saved it three times. You had the, the CBs were like all over the highlight reel tonight, which is not what you want really. Like you don't want your CBs flying around doing that stuff. But when you're playing a road game on short rest with a rotated lineup, like there's going to be moments like that. You're going to have to absorb a lot of pressure like they did. You're going to have, there's going to probably be good chances coming at you and the good teams are able to absorb that pressure and win in those moments. And so that's why it was great to see them be able to do that. But like,
00:43:15
Speaker
with Tino Lopez out there with that. I mean, could talk about that clearance, that goal line clearance all night. And like, I want to say too, and Schmetz mentioned this. The technique too. Because he did, that is a clearance that like eight out of 10 MLS defenders roof into their own net.
00:43:32
Speaker
Yeah. The technique was fire. Yeah, and ah Schmetz mentioned this, but Nuhu also had a goal line clearance in Vancouver that I don't think we gave enough shine to on the postgame show. That very well might have saved that game. It was 0-0 at that point, and that looked like it was going in, and Nuhu clears that one, goal line clearance on that one. I love how hard everybody's playing right now. Guys are putting their bodies on the line. They're flying around. They're jumping around. uh that's that's playing for the badge that's what you need that's what you need if you want to take results and take wins and road games like this that's what you need and uh you know credit just credit to the defense these last couple games we give them a hard time i think you know it's merited in a lot of these situations especially with all the drop points and blown results last year but like what they're doing right now in these games is what we were asking for them to do last year. you know Bear down and get it over the line. Don't give up the goal. Do whatever you have to do to not give up the goal that flips the result or changes the result. So honestly, breath of fresh air, man, the St. Louis game and this game, I know they're like ugly and grinded out, and the other team looks like they're on top of you a lot, but like that it's just...
00:44:42
Speaker
I love seeing them actually take wins in scenarios like that because the the reality is MLS is a freaking grind and a lot of teams are not able to take results in situations like that. So it's a sign of a good team when you're able to to do this, even if it doesn't, it's not like the most aesthetically pleasing or fun thing to watch of all time.
00:45:02
Speaker
Against a team who had been humming against, I mean, granted they had played a handful of the worst teams in the entire league and Philadelphia union, Atlanta United and sporting Kansas city. I don't think they're fraudulent. I don't think they're fraudulent. but yeah' pretty good i don't think they're fraudulent I think Timo Werner is great, but I do think he can be limited. And I think a lot of other teams are going to take the Sounders playbook from this. Like,
00:45:28
Speaker
They absorbed, absorbed, absorbed, absorbed and sprung counters like crazy. can i have I have a question for you, Ori. Yeah. Do you think Georgie Madungu knows the offside rule? We were debating that during the game. is he always offside?
00:45:45
Speaker
You know, though, I think it actually ended up kind of helping the play on the Rothrock goal because, ah you know, maybe the defenders for like 0.5 seconds were like, it was a pass intended for him while he's offside. And that maybe a half-second switch. This is the narrative I'm going to be pushing. That half-second switch is what allowed Rothrock to win on the play as much as he did. I thought they were going to call it back because he was standing right there. Like he was technically impeding. Okay. So he was impeding just as much as Albert Rustenak was on the way from Cody Baker. And let's, let's get into that. Let's complain about the oligarchs. Cause honestly, my prevailing emotion right after this game ended was I was pissed off, dude. I was tilted. I slammed 17 blue sky posts about VAR. It's just like, so I am staunchly pro-VAR historically.
VAR Controversies and Game Flow
00:46:36
Speaker
I understand people's complaints about it, but I defend it as something that you have to have to make sure you're getting these calls right. And also, you know, the the times where it doesn't work like it's supposed to get all the headlines. But you could point to way more instances, honestly, where it's pretty the process is fine and they get the calls right. And there are calls that would change the results of games that they missed that they're able to pretty easily correct and make sure that nothing stupid like that happens. But, dude, I'm getting to the point where I'm getting radicalized on this. the the first Okay, the first one was the first almost crash out I had was after the Rothrock goal when they're taking 10 to 15 minutes to look at it to try and find some reason to ah wave it off. You don't need to be you don't need to be doing that. In fact, you can't be doing that. There is there was absolutely no... was not close to offside.
00:47:27
Speaker
It was not close to offside. you You need to look at that one time to tell that that he's not offside, and you keep it pushing. Stop stopping the game for that long to look at it. Stop. Just stop. like You got to keep it pushing. Every big league in the world has fucking automatic lasers that tell you if they're offside or not, which I don't even agree with.
00:47:49
Speaker
I don't even agree with. I'm sorry. I, and maybe this is a little bit traditional, okay? I like a ref to be wrong sometimes. I like a little a little bit of uncertainty, unca things to talk about.
00:48:04
Speaker
We want to be so perfect nowadays that the problem is it ends up looping back around to where the VAR is the one always trying to find something wrong. They're looking. They're looking for, they're looking to try and wave them off. And the problem is too, ARs don't do shit anymore.
00:48:21
Speaker
They don't want to raise their flag. They won't raise their flag. So plays continue. Runners are exerting way more energy than they should have. And they're getting injured because of it. their had I think someone needs to do a study on the amount of extra like running stamina pressure that's been put since the VAR era because ARs don't want to raise their fucking flag even when they can see it. They're like, oh, well, we need to let the play develop and then I can listen into my ear and they can tell me if I'm right or wrong or not. I'm sorry. Why do we even have referees on the field? Let's let them call it from the, the, the fucking trailer in Dallas, instead of having a guy in the middle of the field, just let them play. Who cares? Why don't they just call their own fouls? And you know what, if it's wrong, they can take it to the booth. They can watch it for 45 minutes and they can tell you if it's right or wrong. There should, this is how it should go. Ari, this is how it should go.
00:49:18
Speaker
VAR sees something egregiously wrong. They have 30 seconds to find it and articulate it. They can send a notification and call the referee over. The referee gets 30 seconds to review the play with the VAR microphones off.
00:49:35
Speaker
VAR should not be able to directly communicate with the referee once he's viewing the board. After that 30 seconds is up, he must make a decision. If he can't make a decision within that 30 seconds, the original call stands. That is exactly how it should go. Every time they're going to the monitor, we're adding five to eight minutes of stoppage time. This is happening every single match in MLS. I'm sorry.
00:49:59
Speaker
Nobody wants to watch that. It's not a good viewing experience in the stadium. It's not a good viewing experience on the TV. Maybe if you would turn the microphones of the VAR people on for the TV, it would be okay.
00:50:10
Speaker
But I honestly don't want to hear a dude who is who has butt stain, sweat stain on his chair, tell an official who's actually running back and forth what the call should be. He understands the players better. He understands the situation. And he understands...
00:50:27
Speaker
Everything else going on in the game. Then again, a guy in a box eating hot Cheetos in Dallas, Texas. Why does he have any say over this? Cancel VAR or completely reform it because the fact that center referees and associate and AARs have no more power in the game anymore is ridiculous. And they're too cow. Those center officials are too cowardly to stand up to the Reddit moderator sitting in Dallas and So maybe they should do something about it. But it just i this is this it's it's it's gone too far. We need to go backwards. I'm okay with VAR if it's very very, very, very, very rarely used, which it was when they first initiated it. And it has just been a slippery slope that has landed us to Cody Baker being robbed by the oligarchs. I just can't take it anymore. I can't take it anymore.
00:51:21
Speaker
The I think the solution like you can have VAR to be able to correct egregiously wrong calls, but not have it. like I think a time limit is what it is. It's got to have a time limit, dude. We cannot we cannot be sitting there just twiddling our thumbs for five, 10 minutes at a time. And then, like you said, adding double digits, eight to 10 minutes of stoppage time because you delayed the game for so long. which that affects how the game goes, the flow of the game and potentially the result, you know, like the fact that Seattle should have been, you know, close to halftime, I think at at that time. And or no, well, that was ah so I was after the Rothrock goal. But then there was like another there was all kinds of stoppage in the first half that shouldn't have been there is my point.
00:52:02
Speaker
So yeah, it's got to have a time limit on it. We can't keep doing this. The Cody Baker goal. Let's talk about that call because it's another example of like, okay, if you look at it for eight minutes, then yeah, you're, you can, you're, you're going to, you're to be able to find something on any goal. Probably if you look at it for eight minutes, but was Rusnak technically impeding on that play?
00:52:26
Speaker
You could argue he was sure, but that if they don't call that on the field, then it needs to be like, very, very egregious to where you can tell in way less time than that in order to wave off the goal. Otherwise you have to leave it. They're not picking. It's taken all of the fun and the questionability out of the game. Who amongst us doesn't have a story of going to a game and feeling absolutely robbed by the referees or feeling like God was on our side that day because the official was like, didn't see something.
00:52:58
Speaker
ah I understand if there's like potentially violent conduct or there's like really, really bad, you know, an egregiously missed call. But the thing is, we need to be letting the referees in the stadium referee the game. I do not want a guy with a Call of Duty headset telling the center official that he needs to spend 45 minutes looking at pixels on a screen and the guy with the Call of Duty headset saying...
00:53:27
Speaker
ah No, you just don't understand. You just don't understand. Hassani Dotson is offside. Hassani Dotson commits a foul. Reckless jumping. ah buth but but We released that whole video.
00:53:38
Speaker
The VAR have no fucking idea what they're doing. They just want to be involved. They're like, we get credit for this, right? like we're We're part of the class project too, right? like bro Bro thinks he's on the team. He's not. You're not on the team, bro.
00:53:52
Speaker
You're not on the team. You're not on the team. Yeah, i mean and I know we're going get some comments that are like, you guys are crashing out about a call in a game that Seattle won. But it's like it's not about like the the result of the game or how the game went in this situation. This is, like you said, a prevailing issue throughout the league. You're seeing this in a lot of games every week where you end up with 8, 10, 12 minutes of stoppage because of this stuff. And they've got to do something about it. So I think we can we can leave it there. But i'm honestly, yeah you you kind of cooked there. That was pretty good. I've had that built up for so long and I know i know that there's going to be the fucking dweebs that are going to come after me for it. Well, actually, I think it's a good thing because we should be trying to get things. No, we shouldn't be trying to get things right. I'm sorry. I want a little whimsy. I want a little excitement. I don't think everything needs to be by the textbook letter of the law. I think sometimes it's OK if they fuck up.
00:54:47
Speaker
then I can be mad at the ref. Not again, a hot Cheeto Reddit moderator with a gaming headset on. I, I full on almost lost full composure twice during this game. After the, after the Roth rock goal, I was literally yelling. My neighbors probably heard me. i was literally yelling, like, like stop looking at it. Like get the game back going, get it back going. Like this is, this is done. This is done. You guys have been looking at it for 25 minutes. If you can't tell by now, you need to, you need to,
00:55:18
Speaker
And then I also crashed out when the oligarchs took Cody Baker's goal. Cause it's like, dude, come on. life You're going to do it to Danny Leyva. Now you're going to do it to Cody Bakes. You got, you would not be doing this if it was not these kids that you haven't heard of. You think of Timo Werner's in that exact situation. You're letting him have that.
00:55:33
Speaker
yeah Absolutely. Like you can call that conspiracy, but there is a 0% chance that if Timo Werner, Lionel Messi, any big star, they would, they would not wave that off. They wouldn't, they wouldn't, but they think they can because it's Cody Bakes and his bullshit.
00:55:46
Speaker
I'm just saying, listen, Listen, I'm actually not going to say that. Never mind. That might get me in trouble. um I do want to get your take after this incredible referee rant about a guy who...
00:56:00
Speaker
we we've known about his talent for a very long time. In fact, we were the original provocateurs of the agenda, but I said it last week or a couple of weeks ago that ah I shouldn't be surprised of how good Rothrock is every time he plays, but every time he plays, he makes the biggest impact, one of the biggest impacts in the game.
00:56:23
Speaker
I don't... I don't really know how San Jose is feeling, but ah they were one of the teams who allegedly made offers for them. God, that's that felt so good to have him bam on them.
00:56:35
Speaker
And he is so good. it's her It's just like the the biggest thing that I've been thinking about that to start this season is just like, thank God they paid him. I had i literally come to a point of acceptance that he was going to walk.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'd accepted it. Like, it seemed like the reports that we were hearing, and he's talking to San Jose, he's talking to Nashville, they're probably going to make him offers for more money than Seattle would, you would think, to try and get him on the team because Bruce Arena and BJ Callahan both know ball. So I had accepted that he was going to be a San Jose earthquake or part of Nashville SC pretty much. ah Like I got to the point where I didn't think it was that likely that he was coming back, but they luckily, they luckily got him signed. They brought him back and I don't like, they're not where they're at to start the season right now without him, you know, with the injuries that they've had to, ah to Jordan Morris and 27 other guys, they, he has been kind of carrying the team in a lot of ways. Yeah. So he did he did it again. He stepped up and made the play when the team needed it. He's he's performing easily all-star, like borderline best 11 clip right now. didn't want say
00:57:41
Speaker
easily all-star like borderline best eleven type clip right now like ah didt want to say it I said, maybe did you get an all-star shout. I don't know if he keeps doing this. Like he will. That's that's I don't think there's any question about it because the thing is in the past, he's been kind of known as an ex dog guy, but now he's putting up the numbers.
00:58:01
Speaker
So once you start getting the numbers, that's when you start getting more actual mainstream recognition that if he keeps playing like this, he's going to start to get that because he's really, he's, he's coming up huge for this team every single week right now. Scoring these goals. Like he doesn't it feel like he, uh, he was talking about the off season work that he did. It feels like he almost has leveled up in terms of his finishing and really just, yeah, getting, getting the final product from those dangerous spots that he always gets into. These are not necessarily the easiest goal. Like, I don't think he made this goal tonight look easy, but like, he's got a guy right on him on him. It's not the easiest angle. Like you gotta be locked in to finish that. And, uh,
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, also that San Jose goalkeeper, believe it or not, is one of the best goalkeepers in the league right now in the first few games. Like he has been statistic like his statistical, statistical, non-statistical X dog, everything. Like he has been very good. Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, right Daniel. damn daniel um Anyone remember that one? That's that's a throwback. Yeah.
00:59:06
Speaker
Damn, Daniel. Anyway, let's ah let's drop the call link in the chat. yeah yeah I'm going to head out once the calls start. But ah okay yeah I will. i we We cooked here. we cooked here I'm glad that I got that VAR rant off my chest. Call link. in the chat right now, if you want to hop on and lay down some, I'll pin it in the YouTube in that. Uh, and, uh, yeah, anyone feel free to hop in and lay down your takes, uh, pretty good stuff from the Seattle Sounders right now for four wins and five to start the, uh, season all comps.
00:59:40
Speaker
Can't really argue with that. The, uh, you know, the one l was unfortunate, but like, if you told me three and one in league play, and then, uh, 3-0 up on Vancouver and Champions Cup. I mean, you take that all day. Hell yeah. Jordan, always down to ah leave it off. So Noah, if you want to. Thank you for the YouTube. Oh yeah. Danny, thanks for joining. Everyone follow Danny's lead, become a YouTube member. We have a lot of bonus content that we we we're going to be putting out this year. We've already been putting it out. So if you want access to that, become a YouTube member. Great way to support the show. Before I leave.
01:00:12
Speaker
Please like the video. Please, please. There's 200 of you in here and I know there's not 200 likes. Secondarily, please, please, please look out for our next YouTube video. You should subscribe. We did an interview with Will Bruin and we ruined it up. We drank some brews and he revealed to us bruce something shocking.
01:00:34
Speaker
his current five-a-side teammate for indoor over 30. You will be shocked. You will laugh. You will have a great time with this interview. It's going come out next week. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel.
01:00:47
Speaker
Hit the bell notification. Then you'll know when when our videos go live. That's all I have to preview, but it is going to be a great week. I will see you all in Spokane.
01:01:01
Speaker
Peace. Later. Yeah, go ah go check check out the Will Bruin interview next week. And also, if you haven't yet, check out our interview with Keith Costigan, who was on the call for this game. There's a little bit of like previewing the San Jose game stuff in there, but we had discussions about other stuff that ah will still be timely. So if you have not watched that,
01:01:20
Speaker
uh go ahead and give that a click and a view as well all right we got jordan and parker in the queue we're gonna get jordan in here parker up next and then we only got two people in here right now so if anyone else wants to tap in and uh bask in this win feel free link should be pinned in the chat uh let's get jordan on the stage right now though jordan what's up not guy thanks for uh thanks for leading it off as always i feel like you're our most dependable lead off man uh Second straight 1-0 victory in the league, this time against the San Jose Earthquakes. Four wins and five across all comps to start the season. Three road goals on the Caps in CCC. Life seems pretty good. ah How are you doing How are you feeling?
01:01:58
Speaker
Great. I listened to the whole game. I didn't get to watch it. I literally just got home from work. So I was listening to all of the panic of all of the goal line clearances and every Have you seen the Tino one yet?
01:02:11
Speaker
I actually did. i was able to get back okay and see him lay his body on the line. And I was literally thinking after the game, like, just give him Ryan Saylor's contract. Like, just give him Ryan Saylor's full contract. Get him into the team. And then Brian Smecher comes on and goes like, yeah, he's on the team. I'm like, perfect. That's after that performance, you got to pay the kid. So I'm glad that he's he's on the team for sure.
01:02:38
Speaker
man The difference in vibes between Tino Lopez and Ryan Saylor right now is quite pronounced. I mean, I have played as much as for the Seattle Sounders as Ryan Saylor, and one of us is getting paid to do so.
01:02:51
Speaker
yeah So it's like just at this point, um don't even care about all the outside stuff. You haven't practiced. You haven't played. You got a graphic where you're in a Miami jersey, and I've never seen anything of you in Seattle gear whatsoever.
01:03:07
Speaker
just And Tino is like a young up-and-comer with way more upside, which I think he he showed tonight. 100%, yeah, 100%. So I think great on him, great on Kingston. I thought from what I could catch what I could hear, yeah, he didn't have an outstanding game, but you, especially in the midfield,
01:03:30
Speaker
Like Christian O'Don played like 80 billion minutes last season. Being able to have more people to rotate them with is never a bad thing. Yeah, no, you can't have too many bodies. And really, it was good stuff from Pete and Petkovic. Like when you go back and watch, definitely ah keep an eye on Petkovic because this guy is hitting some nice dimes. Like I like what he's From what i like i said what I could catch him when I was listening to, this is probably his best performance. I mean...
01:03:59
Speaker
It's really his only like extended action, so there's not a lot to compare it to. But like I think both of the... can like He had a really brief cameo, and then he played 60-plus minutes in this game. And across those two appearances, I think i would describe it as actively good. like it's in Yeah, I mean, the the the pass he makes to Rothrock was a great pass. I mean, especially since...
01:04:24
Speaker
you know One of the times he's come on, he's come on as a 10. So to see him be able to move back the line and still you know be able to pull strings, maybe that's a little bit better. Putting his body on the line.
01:04:35
Speaker
um i mean, this defense they gave the man of the match to Paul Rothrock. I get it. He scored the goal. But... Should have been Tino or Andrew Thomas or Jackson. Jackson Reagan was literally like...
01:04:47
Speaker
every corner, the ah first name of here and there's Jackson Reagan. Yeah. Always. It was always Jackson. So I do want to say, and this don't just let me get to the whole thing. Don't kill me. When I say cook, the original signing of Jesus for, for what it was supposed to be was a flop and is a flop because the number on his back is nine. He was brought in to be the goal scorer. to alleviate the load for Jordan Morris.
01:05:22
Speaker
The signing of Jesus Ferrer as a creative player has been one of the best signings in recent history, hands down. I think that's a perfect way to frame it. And I've kind of been trying to get at that recently. And and that's why, like, honestly, we, yeah you know, we go back and forth with the anti Jesus crash out brigade. But I honestly understand that, especially early last year when he wasn't scoring and the whole offense didn't look very good. it It did look like it was not going to go well. But like like you said, it just ended up hitting, but in a different way than we all expected. Because, yeah, his ah his work as a creative focal point facilitator is excellent. But we talk we also talk all the time about how good he how hard he works, how good he is defensively, and how how good he is at pressing. That's the thing I like the most about him. He is such like an intelligent person.
01:06:16
Speaker
presser That is, it's like a subtle skill, but it's not as ah easy to do without leaving yourself exposed. There's so much like timing to it that he's just so good at. Yeah, it's a huge team thing for sure. um Like you...
01:06:33
Speaker
you You need that person who will press from the front and it's not normally your striker, even though you know you're like, well, he's the guy up top. It's normally your 10 and Jesus Frere is willing to run down the ball.
01:06:47
Speaker
um I also really love this as I will forever hate the San Jose earthquakes. I literally drove to Sacramento to hate watch them and cheer on the Sacramento Republic, even though I don't watch them whatsoever.
01:06:59
Speaker
why do you hit the quakes? I will never forgive Chris Wondolowski for missing an open net against Belgium. that okay one of the one You're one of those guys. one of so i will never I will hate that man. until He also bammed on the Sounders a lot in his career. so that's so this that That World Cup was actually the World Cup that really got me into... like i fell in love with Clint Dempsey in that World Cup.
01:07:26
Speaker
And then I was like, well, I know nothing about soccer outside of the men's national team. So where does Clint Dempsey play? Seattle Saunders? All right, boom. there There it is. And then since that point, then I've paid attention like the whole way through.
01:07:40
Speaker
So you know plus Timo Werner being a former Spurs player. I'm so glad that they lost. hate Timo Werner. He will never impress me. he is one of the like list of players who no matter what they do in this league,
01:07:54
Speaker
Because I know what they should be or what they should have been. They will never impress me. Yes, he played great today. But when he first came up as a big name before his move to Chelsea, he was one of the best, most exciting strikers in the world.
01:08:10
Speaker
And then never hit that ever again. Yeah, he never really like hit the level that he was projected. he's he's like he's like probably one of three players where I don't care how many trophies they win, assists, goals, in the MLS, you can never get me to be impressed by them. And so I'm so glad that coy maker took his lunch break two kids just absolutely bullied him off the park. he ran They were like, okay, so we ran down the wing. What if we do it again and again? And it never worked.
01:08:44
Speaker
And the rest of his team, like you said, they failed him. The amount of times I hear Timo Werner puts the ball into the middle and then no one's ever there. he was getting pissed. He he was getting pissed. he he's He's a striker. he Honestly, him playing on the wing has only been in development, I would say, probably in the last...
01:09:02
Speaker
two or three seasons of his career. I thought he looked pretty good out there. He's pretty, he's fast. and his speed His speed is the main reason he's been moved to a winger. He put in some nice wide service. I thought that the chances that they did have, it was him winning his one V one out wide and then just putting in a low cross that looked pretty dangerous couple times.
01:09:21
Speaker
But I mean, listen, a road win, one nil, it's a defense fest, but that's what it takes on the road. You know, it needs to be like that. Should there have been a second goal?
01:09:34
Speaker
I agree with the fact that it was called offside. I don't agree the fact that it took so long. That's my issue. The second, the two of our, the two of our things I'll go through real quick. The first one.
01:09:47
Speaker
The first thing you need to look at is Paul Rothbard inside. Yes, boom, done. The second thing is, does Georgie Manungu go to touch the ball? No, he doesn't. Boom, done. VAR should have been done that quickly. It should not have taken as long as it did.
01:09:59
Speaker
The second one, the second the referee gets called over and they show the clip from behind. And yes, I know he doesn't touch the ball. He doesn't make an attempt. But when you can see the fact that the ball literally bends around Bruce snack and the goalkeeper has no line of sight, it should have been instantly boom offside impeding.
01:10:19
Speaker
See, I could have lived even lived with that. I could have lived with that. It's the but but' the length of time. It's the the fact that it took that long. It should never take that long when it is is clear and obvious. The fact that it took the VAR guy forever to go through it and then took forever for the referee to go through it. Like he watched that replay five times.
01:10:39
Speaker
Very obviously after the first replay, I would have blown the whistle. I'm done here. I've seen what I need to see. He's impeding. No goal. And then move on with left. No need to watch it 27 times. You just don't.
01:10:51
Speaker
But it didn't matter, they can't stop us. Another road win, hopefully an easy game in Spokane this week and just enjoy it. Enjoy the vibes, enjoy the wins. The season's still new, but I'm very quietly optimistic that we won't have to wait another three years for a trophy like it has been.
Fan Reactions and Optimism
01:11:12
Speaker
i'm thinking I'm thinking there's something coming home this season.
01:11:17
Speaker
Hell yeah. I love that. Well, Jordan, we're going to get Parker in here, but thank you so much for calling in and leading it off as always, brother. We'll catch you on the next one. CCC up next. Yes, sir. good night.
01:11:27
Speaker
Take care. All right, we got Parker up up next, and then no one else in the queue. So if you want to hop on and lay down some takes, tap in right now because ah we got to get it queued up. We got no one in after Parker. But we're going Parker in right now, and we're just going to let him cook until someone else signs on. ah Parker, thanks for tapping in. As always, good to see you. Another brand win on the road, this time 1-0 at San Jose. Four wins in five across all comps, three road goals on the caps. How you doing? How you feeling?
01:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, Schmetz saw his shadow today.
01:12:06
Speaker
Like Groundhog Day. He saw shadow. Oh, okay. Not sure what he's getting at there. Yeah, I was like going to try and let him go. I got you.
01:12:20
Speaker
He doesn't get sassy like that unless he knows something that we don't know. Yeah. there's There's like a happy sassy that he could be, and then there's like a grumpy, like, I don't want to talk to him kind of thing. Today was like, I think he sees the writing on the wall, and we're going to have several wins just over the next few weeks.
01:12:40
Speaker
I'm excited. You're feeling good about the Seattle Sounders Roadshow. That's what they're calling it. and Exactly. who went Two wins out of three for the Seattle Sounders Roadshow so far. And, you know, the the one that they lost, apparently that team is hella good. So I didn't know that when they played, but that's actually turned out. I'm looking at that loss now, and I'm like, I mean, they have a bunch of high school demons that are apparently really good. so Tatum and Tanner or whatever. but Yeah, you can just let you can just write that one off. I'm not...
01:13:12
Speaker
yeah not trying to mess with aiden and you all them no no even schmetz said i'm happy with every game this season i'm like oh wow um on another point uh andrew thomas i like i underst like it's so insane i understand i'm honestly like i don't i don't even know how to explain it just the fact that we waited so long to put him in as number one And that it was even a conversation because he has played well every time he's been on the field for the past two years.
01:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. And it's it's kind of crazy that Fry is that good that it's there's a competition for Andrew Thomas because there really shouldn't be. Andrew Thomas, he's him.
01:13:59
Speaker
He looked like him tonight. But then Steph looked like him in Vancouver. I know. I was like it. I was telling Noah, like when schmett when Schmetz was given the whole I have two ones line, I'd be like, okay, Schmetz, okay. But then like when I looked at how Fry played in Vancouver, I was like, okay, okay, fine, fine. You have two ones, fine. Start whoever, I guess. it didn't make any sense because he was playing – like a star and and but i'm glad that i'm glad he's playing there but i'm really glad that andrew thomas is playing here to that end andrew thomas's performance tonight that was like a 70 point season kind of performance like yeah a good way to put it that's a good way to put it right
01:14:45
Speaker
Like the teams that end up with those crooked totals, ifs they get it's they they get three when most teams would take one or zero. And that these the St. Louis result and the San Jose result, those are those exact type of wins. Like if you go through Inter-Miami's points record season, you will find it littered with one-goal wins that were like super gritty and ugly on the road. But they were such a good team, and they had such like they were had a lot of good mental toughness, I think, on that team. And they were able to win games that they probably shouldn't have. And this kind of, this qualifies to me as a game they won that they probably shouldn't have. I mean, you were so rotated. There were many. even Forget at the rotation.
01:15:24
Speaker
The saves that Andrew Thomas had were like, honestly, spectacular shots where it was perfect placement, high pace. im I'm not trying to like gas up the other team here, but Andrew Thomas, like he he's just him.
01:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, and I mean, sometimes you need your goalkeeper to ah stand on his head, and that's what but that's what both of the goalkeepers have done. And let's ah let's shout out the defense, too, because like we were talking about, two goal line clearances in the last two games. New who had the one in Vancouver, and then this Tino one tonight. Oh, my God. I'm going to be watching that one forever. I was screaming.
01:16:00
Speaker
just accepted that it was going in. Same. I'm pretty sure I like woke up some neighbors or something. I don't know. But it was it was amazing. Question for you. Would you rather have us play with more possession or defend like we did tonight? Because as far as I'm concerned, the amount of corner kicks that we didn't get scored on is probably better than our last three years.
01:16:26
Speaker
Yeah, I just think when you're on the road, you can say that you want to play with possession, but then the reality is like that this this type of game you're going to have to absorb and counter and probably yield a lot of the ball. I will say ah in both of these games, they have been yielding a lot more of the ball than I would prefer. i think they've been pretty not great at all in possession, and there's been a lot of not good giveaways. And they also, ah for as highly as we can praise the defense, I think it's fair to say that they're pretty fortunate to not have conceded a goal. It's a kind of goddamn miracle that they've clean sheeted both of these last two games, given the chances that both of those teams have had. So it's fair to point that out. They've also had chances on the other end that they were unlucky not to score. So that's that's why when you start doing the like, oh, well, Vancouver could have had two, but then it's like, well, Seattle honestly had two more chances that were just as good as those Vancouver chances. So like, okay, so it would have been five, two instead. what are we talking about? three zero like you once you start doing that's the issue with the it doesn't count stuff because it's like the standard needs to ah it applies equally both ways so that's why i'd never try to get into that but i mean get to the original point like i i would i think they need to be better in possession to keep racking clean sheets too many giveaways and way too many set pieces conceded to Not just the corner kicks. They conceded 17 corner kicks tonight, but then you had that one where Osaze felled him right on the edge of the box. It's like you're asking to get scored on. And especially with these two teams, ah Sebastian Berhalter is probably the best set piece taker in the entire league right now. And Timo Werner is Timo Werner. Quite If you're just, yeah, like if you are just letting those two guys pump, you can't keep giving them those. there They got lucky. Fry made an insane save on one of them in Vancouver. Andrew Thomas made an and insane save on one, maybe more of them tonight. So they do they got to clean that up. But also ends justify the means in these situations. Like you take the win, especially with this lineup. Yeah, yeah. so yeah We can't just claim the ends justify the means of it. It's happening by accident.
01:18:25
Speaker
Yeah. yeah and I get, wait, so you mean if the, if what's intentional? If we're winning by letting them bam on us in, you know, an 18-yard box, then I don't know if it's, if it, I wouldn't claim that as ends justify the means because it's, we're just lucky.
01:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But, like, you do you do need luck in these situations, too. Like, this could have easily been a 1-1. okay with the clean sheet. I got no problems with us coming up with a clean sheet. This could have been a 1-1. Like, I will say that. The Tino clearance, that plays a goal most times. Like, that kid just made an insane goal. In it every other multiverse, 100%.
01:19:05
Speaker
Yeah. Well, Parker, we got James up next, but you got any final thoughts and takes or yeah observations you wanted to get out there? Yeah, please. ah Well, first of all, thank you for everything you guys are doing. This is awesome.
01:19:16
Speaker
Love how this is rolling. But did Schmetz drop some news about Cody Baker? did Did something slip? He said... Whatever happens to him and in the future, i'm wishing I'm hoping him the best. So is there like a secret offer under table? I didn't catch that.
01:19:36
Speaker
Maybe. It sounded like there may have been an Easter egg there. I don't know. I hope not because this was probably his best game as a pro. He hasn't really been, he didn't play that all that much last year, but I thought he was, he was another one tonight where it's like, when you are called into duty, will you step up and will you come through? And he did. Timo Werner was going at him.
01:19:55
Speaker
Timo Werner was absolutely. He looked like a pro tonight. Baker. Yeah. Yeah. And he wasn't backing down from Timo Werner, which, you know, when you're 20 years old and you got Timo Werner running at you down the left flank, that can't be, ah that's not an easy situation to be in per se. So that was, that was great to see. And honestly, like I, like I love that stuff, watching the Academy kids, like going blow for blow with Timo Werner. That's, that's the best content.
01:20:21
Speaker
Nothing gets me more excited. Thanks for having me on. Hell yeah. Thanks Parker. As always great call in and we'll catch you on the next one.
01:20:29
Speaker
All right, we got James up next and then and then no one in the queue. So if you guys want to keep the queue churning, hit that link and ah tap on in. But we're gonna get James on right now. James, how's it going? Good to see you. I feel like it's been a while. Thanks for tapping back in. 1-0 win. Yeah, thank for having me. 1-0 win over the Quakes coming off 3-0 at Vancouver and another 1-0 in St. Louis. What are you seeing so far just overall this season, James? We haven't caught up.
01:20:58
Speaker
I would like to respectfully disagree with your previous point. I don't i think we've looked very good as an absorb and counter team against Vancouver and San Jose. i think that that's sort of pointed a direction for the future ah because putting up three against Vancouver and then we had a ah very good first half in this game.
01:21:24
Speaker
I think in some ways we're better built for that. You know, we don't have Morris's raw pace at this point. Maybe Morris doesn't have his raw pace at this point, but Rothrock and Areola are clever runners. They're hard workers. Jesus is obviously capable of finding them.
01:21:41
Speaker
Pekovic looks like he's capable of putting balls through. So I think that that's a direction that we should look at going, but playing into that more rather than using more of version of death. That's not the direction I thought you were going to go with it. I like i think there could be some merit to that. Maybe it's just like...
01:22:00
Speaker
I don't know, man. When I'm watching when i'm watching them just under absolute siege for like 15, 20 minutes at a time and conceding corners every five seconds, that there there I think there's just there's a balance with it where you can, especially on the road. Like you have to you have to do that sometimes.
01:22:16
Speaker
ah But like there were there were times tonight where I was like, okay, just chill it out, knock it around, keep possession a little bit and they've been kind of sloppy in possession these last couple games in a way that i think like if you're trying to absorb encounter you still can't be like giving it away and conceding 17 corner kicks so that would be my that would be my like yeah thought on just the way the games have panned out with them sort of playing like that
Strategic Player Roles and Impact
01:22:43
Speaker
i think that's fair and and there are going to be teams uh that are not quite flying quite as high as vancouver and san jose
01:22:51
Speaker
that are going to be willing to bunker against us. And then we've we've got to have something in our in our toolkit to kind of unpack that. um But if you know I do think that this could be something that we can lean into more.
01:23:03
Speaker
um I thought Jesus was really good in the first half. um not Not just the through ball, but he was all over the place. He was getting back defensively. He was pressuring from the front.
01:23:19
Speaker
And I just think that second half was a lot dodgier. Ari, did something change at halftime? I don't know if something changed at halftime. Oh, you're getting to the, you're getting, I see where you're going with this. I see where you're going with this. I mean, i will give you this, James. I will give you this. It was not a good rust, rust. The, ah the giveaway on the, ah on the, on the, on the goal line clearance play was bad. And then also Schmetz even pointed out that like, if he had continued running to get back onside,
01:23:56
Speaker
the Cody Baker goal counts. So yeah, not great. You know, think I would for Cody. Yeah. Not, Oh, damn it. You just hate to, you know, that I mean, nothing hurts more than, than one of the kids putting it in the net and it getting called back. And it happens to this team with every one of them man. Like, come on. does seem to. Yeah. What the hell? What what are you?
01:24:21
Speaker
Sorry. I got here kind of late. I was making dinner. What are your what are your thoughts on Musaski versus Osase? Oh man, the age old debate. You know, the what i'm what I struggle with is it seems like Moose is the more likely to score at any given time. And I think this was also not a good Moose game, but I think leading up to this game, he's looked, I think he's been playing well. Like he's been getting in his good spots. He's barely missed a couple of goals. He had the one at RSL that should have tied it, but like Roth, I was a borderline ill outside call on that. So to me, at least leading up to tonight, when I, if you ask me who's more likely to get on the score sheet, I would say Moose pretty easily. And that makes me feel like he should maybe be starting the games of consequence and Osaze should be spelling him. But then I also, I'm curious what you think of Osaze because he hasn't scored yet. And Schmetz did say before the game that they need to get him going, but I feel like he is a lot, he's significant offers significantly more as far as like dirty work, hold up play facilitating, really playing within the offense more. I think he actually is doing well with that stuff. But I also, when it comes to a nine who's not scoring goals, the like, oh, their holdup play is good or their facilitator work is good. That can be coped sometimes for the reality of the number nine needs to be putting the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day. But ah if you i feel like i kind of switch week to week on this.
01:25:42
Speaker
But coming off of this game, I'm like, feel like the offense... runs better as a whole with Osaze in there because of all the other stuff he does. But Moose also is probably the guy I trust to score more. So what do you what do you think of it?
01:25:56
Speaker
I think it, weirdly, I think it sort of depends on what the prognosis for Jordan is. Because if you expect that he's not really going to be able to go 90 minutes very often,
01:26:09
Speaker
Then I think you want to lean into Osaze because I think he's got, in some ways, he reminds me of Will Bruin in that he's got all physical tools to he's got all the physical tools to be a bruising MLS target man, but he doesn't really want to play that way.
01:26:26
Speaker
You know, you see him dropping ah dropping out, dropping back, drifting out wide, trying to take people on. It's like he's got all the physical tools to be like a Brian McBride type player.
01:26:38
Speaker
But I think his instincts need a lot of work. there's There's a lot of times where, apart from the Cody Baker quasi-assist, where it's just, he's not running through his, his options in in the one in invent i wound in Vancouver, where he should have laid it off to Areola. That's one where I'm like, Oh man, just pick your head up. And you, you actually have the space to lay that off. He's wide ass open. I'm hoping that yeah as he, uh, he, cause he's still like, he is 24, but he's still relatively inexperienced, like playing in top flight leagues and stuff. I'm so I'm hoping that that stuff that can, that can develop. I think it can, but like, uh,
01:27:15
Speaker
there there are ah So there are some of those moments, yeah. and and That's kind of what I'm thinking. If you're expecting that Jordan is going to be able to come back and and is going to be your starting number nine, then I think you play Musovsky now because he gives you a better chance of scoring. But if you expect expect that Jordan is going to be out a lot or that when he comes back, he's not going to be the Jordan that we know and love, then you go with Osaze and let him grow into that game and get that experience.
01:27:41
Speaker
Because Musovsky, I mean... Musaski reminds, that there's there's a famous quote by Cruyff where he's talking about Pippo and Zagy where he says, the thing about Zagy is he can't play soccer at all. He's just always in the right place.
01:27:56
Speaker
and And that's how i feel about Musaski. does kind of feel like that. He's really good at getting open. He's really good at creating space. He's really good at drifting away from his man. And he's quite bad at everything else.
01:28:09
Speaker
so But he's so good at the most important. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a role for that. it's It's like, you know, this is MLS. I mean, there's there's a structural imbalance between what you play your attack what you pay your attackers and what you pay your defenders. So a guy like Bradley Wright Phillips can come in from League one and just start scoring by the bucket full.
01:28:29
Speaker
So there's a role for that. But I think that the ceiling for Osaze, if he gets those minutes and if he gets acclimated to the team and gets more experience, he can be more than that. And so if you don't think that Jordan is going to come back and reclaim the spot anytime soon, then stick with Osase because its it hasn't been bad.
01:28:48
Speaker
no no. In fact, I would argue, I know some people probably disagree, but I would argue that he really has done a lot of good stuff that has helped the team take results and take wins in these games outside of the score sheet. But like,
Adaptability and Future Prospects
01:29:00
Speaker
again, Schmetz literally said like, we need to get him scoring. We need to get him going. And they do like, you can't, You can't have the nine that's like all dirty work or all hold up. You know, you gotta, gotta be scoring goals. So they, I think the whole situation at the nine, it's, it feels pretty fluid right now. It seems like they're going with Osase as the first choice. I don't mind ah rotating them like they have been right now. If I feel like the coach is no better than me, what the best course of action is there. But Schmetz did say that smet Schmetz said that Jordan could get minutes in Spokane or, and if not,
01:29:33
Speaker
the game after that. So he's like about to be back. Yeah, that's kind of i how I feel too. But ah you would you would hope that based on how things have gone over the last year in that regard, that if there if there was a chance that that was too early, that they wouldn't that they wouldn't they they should not be rushing him. And I don't think they are rushing him.
01:29:55
Speaker
But that is sooner than I was expecting. I was expecting at least another at least yeah week or two there. So yeah we'll see we'll see what happens with that. Yeah, I mean, I think I do wonder what they're going to how he's going to play. I mean, I think that the injuries and age are are going to take out that lightning pace that he's he's built his career on But, you know, i I don't think he's half bad as a target guy.
01:30:20
Speaker
I think that if he leans into that, you know, starts lifting heavy and and and kind of, you know, redefines his game. Look, he's going to be a DP for the next two years.
01:30:32
Speaker
I don't expect him to have 2016 Jordan speed at that point. And if he doesn't have 2016 Jordan speed or, or even 2023 Jordan speed, he's not really a DP. So I think that he's just going to have to adapt his game.
01:30:49
Speaker
And maybe, you know, it seems like the sprinting is what does him in. I mean, i'm I'm no physiologist, but I mean, if, if trying to get off to a, you know,
01:31:02
Speaker
Quick start like that keeps resulting in injury. Maybe try to be more of a target guy because I think he could do it. yeah I think he kind of has been ah drifting more towards that over the last couple years or last year. He didn't get to play a lot, obviously, but I felt like when he did, there was more kind of pure target guy type stuff. And I think he can do that. And it's just kind of tough because like every time he's played, like every time he did play last year, it felt like he was scoring goals. It's just like, they absolutely have not been able to keep them on the field. So I'm sort of like at this point kind of looking like anything you get from him as ah as a bonus right now. Like I think you've got a pretty good rotation going and ah you know, you're, you've got a ton of injuries to work through, but honestly the fact that he's at as close as he is to coming back, let's, let's see what I, maybe, maybe this is the time, maybe this is the time where they can get him ah in a run of games. James, we've got Tribe in the QF next, but ah anything else that you wanted to hit from this game or the season moving forward here? You know, Tino Lopez, Petkovic, anything at all?
01:32:11
Speaker
Petkovic, I was worried about him as a central midfielder because I didn't think he could handle the defensive side of it, but he he impressed me, and and his passing looked really good. And going forward, I think it's clear that Jesus should be the number 10.
01:32:22
Speaker
I think that we – I think we looked – we obviously looked a lot better in the first half, And even in Vancouver, Rusnak was not involved in any of those goals. Those goals all happened around him.
01:32:35
Speaker
So I think it's, it I think we've got a lot of evidence from these two games and and even going back to league's cup of last year, the the ceiling is going to be higher with Jesus at the 10.
01:32:45
Speaker
Are you going to be supportive of it when the Jesus DP escalators it?
01:32:50
Speaker
Uh, I, I am, I, I, I, I'm, uh, I'm sort of resigned on on the DPs because I don't expect Hanauer to go out and and buy a Bertramé or even like a six, $7 million dollars player.
01:33:06
Speaker
So Jesus as a DP would be better than what we have now. And it's it's not like, You know, we we some people looked at the Morris thing like, oh, that was such a stupid move because now he's taken up this DP spot. And my point is we weren't going to sign anybody for that anyway. Yeah, no, gosh way too broke for that. Are you kidding? Yeah. And so I think, um I mean, I'll end on this then. ah We would be better, even if we don't sign anybody, simply by putting Jesus in that number 10 instead of Ruznac there.
01:33:41
Speaker
Honestly, i'm ah i'm I'm not against the Jesus getting more run at the 10 agenda. Like, I think that he has been playing that well. And it looked really good in that first half. Like, he only got the first half because they were rotating for CCC. But, like, um he's just been on point in general to start the season. Well, ah James, thank you so much for tapping in. Great stuff, man, as always. And we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you for having me. i appreciate it. Have a nice night.
01:34:05
Speaker
Yeah, take care. All right, we got Tribe up next and then no one in the queue after that. So if you guys want to keep it rolling, go ahead and queue up and we'll let Tribe cook ah cook for a few minutes here. Before we do that, let's hit this super chat or a YouTube member, Avenging Syndrome, member for 10 months. Thank you for the support. Is Snyder B starting center mid over Hassani given he didn't start today or am I just reading too much into it? Well, Hassani has been in like concussion protocol.
01:34:33
Speaker
so i honestly haven't heard anything or don't remember hearing anything about an exact timeline on that but for now uh like the fact that snyder didn't start tonight i think that means that they're going to be rolling with him in that spot uh for like two of ccc which i i'm in support of i don't know about you guys but i feel like snyder has been a huge positive so far this season All right, let's get Tribe in here. We got to hear what Tribe has to say about all this. Again, link should be pinned in the queue. So if you guys want to tap in, feel free.
01:35:05
Speaker
Lay down some takes, bask in the wind. But let's get Tribe in here. Tribe, what's up, man? 1-0 win at San Jose. Second straight 1-0 win on the road in league play. Also, a trio of road goals against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Three wins out of four in the league. Four wins out of five. All comps. CCC run on the table. What did you think? how are you feeling?
01:35:26
Speaker
That was a terrifying game, man. First of all I'll just say this. The Russnock hate is unwarranted. 50 goals, 50 assists. We haven't had a number 10 as good as him since Nicholas Ladero. That's just the first thing that we have to get out of the way. the Second...
01:35:50
Speaker
Jesus Ferrer is good. Not a number 10, in my opinion. i think he should be on the wing and may maybe start him on the wing. And he likes to sort of come inside as a false number 10 a little bit. yeah That's probably the better option. I don't want him as a number 10. I want Russ not there because he always finds a way. And that's a more safe option as it has been for the past season, hasn't it? um But with all that being said,
01:36:15
Speaker
we We need to sign Lopez. Just sign him. Schmetz announced that they are. He literally announced that they are. Yeah, he announced that Sorry, I didn't watch the presser. as well said He said in the presser, he literally said in the presser, we're going to have like ah something in the mail for him, like the contract. And then he also said, Trav, he also said that he's going to campaign to Craig to sign Pete Kingston.
01:36:36
Speaker
That, if I am those, if I'm one of those two listening to that from someone like Brian Schmetzer, I am just, Passing out with with my ego Just going through the fucking roof bro That's Brian Schmetzer saying that but But no I didn't see the pressure because I was watching USA Versus yeah you know but ti know you signed Tino signed or That's incredible he's he ah He is just a defensive master class in this game that goal line clearance oh my god but without thomas though without that incredible touch from thomas who somehow got a hand to that who another another thing thomas in my opinion is now the best keeper in mls in my opinion i think the dane st claire train fuck that shit he's why how did he ever win that that that best best he's horrible He is horrible. Look at the goals he concedes. I could save that, and I'm a D2 keeper, bro. I could save that, and I'm a D2 keeper. He's horrible. but um And I'm also pretty fat, so that's another that's that's another thing that that should go against Dane St. Clair. So besides that, this whole game was a show of how strong the Sounders can defend and how good they are defensively in their own box as they've been known to do. Forever now they this This is how they win championships This is what we did to l LAFC um We almost ah Beat the Galaxy to get to the MLS Cup Final 2024 By defending in our box at times We did it to LAFC to even get to that game We did it many many times Against Minnesota last year we Except we got pretty unlucky um that that That game was a little bit more open Than than this one but Our counterattack is the difference that separates those teams from this team.
01:38:36
Speaker
Our counterattack, every single time we went forward in numbers, it was either a shot very close to going in or in the back of the net. That was called offside, but that's pretty unlucky. And this is why...
01:38:52
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer is so underrated, how he sets up these little tactical adjustments throughout the year to make the squad, even if it isn't the most deep squad, every squad is better tactically and more dangerous. It's something brilliant about him, but what what are your takes on it? I'm very curious.
01:39:12
Speaker
I think it's a great shout. Like the, the ability to absorb pressure like that and not concede and maintain clean sheets, especially in these road games, when you're the Seattle Sounders road show right now, and you're playing like six, seven on the row in the, in a row on the road. Like it is you're going to have sequences of games where the other team is on top of you, where they're generating chances.
01:39:35
Speaker
There's just there's no getting around that. You're not going to be able to control the game, dictate tempo and get on top of the other team for all of these road games. So the like exactly what they did tonight, like tonight was more living on the edge than you like to see. It was horrifying.
01:39:50
Speaker
It was pretty horrifying, but like, and you know, I think it was character building. Ultimately, that's how I'm choosing to look at it. Like these are like coaches talk a lot about like how teams need to learn how to suffer together. I think this was an example of that. And it is something that this team is good at and why they have been able to take so many good big time results on the road over the years. And it's honestly something that I felt like they weren't doing at the level that they usually do last year. Like I feel like last year, last year they draw this game. Sorry.
01:40:20
Speaker
How often do you see the Sounders go through these defensive performances and at the very end just conceded a goal? Exactly. Like last year and every single time. Every single time. Every time. And it's different now because, I mean, to be fair, our defensive star, Jackson Reagan, dude, he – bro, he's – Tim Ream should not be at the fucking World Cup, man. I will just lose my mind if that's actually happening over Jackson Reagan. I like how the the ah emergence of Jackson Reagan has turned to the Sounders fan base against Tim Ream. Tim Ream's like, I'm just doing doing my thing over here. God damn catching straight. He's like an old Walker Zimmerman, bro. He's like an old Walker Zimmerman that can't fucking run five feet without colliding and staying on the ground for 15 seconds, bro. Seriously. Did you see what he was like against Inter Miami?
01:41:16
Speaker
Nothing, bro. He did nothing, bro. And
Team Chemistry and Expectations
01:41:20
Speaker
if you see, if Jackson Reagan would have cooked to Miami, he did cook Miami in the league's cup final. And even in that game that we did lose right after he' still cup Jackson Reagan should be starting. Yes. Starting at the world cup. He's better than any center back in the history, in the history of the United States, bro. And he should, no yeah,
01:41:47
Speaker
He should be wearing the red, white, and blue, bro. And and I think, I honestly think he should be enough he should be candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, already based off of what he's done.
01:41:59
Speaker
um The last thing I want to say, though, and it is about Georgie Manungu. I'm not mad. ah um' I'm disappointed at the system.
01:42:12
Speaker
I'm very disappointed at... Okay, we're going to make it about the system. I like this. Keep going. we are he on Hang on. We didn't ride the Georgie wave when we needed to. We we just we gave it to someone else.
01:42:27
Speaker
We should have shared it. you know it's It's like the elitism with surfing, right? You let someone else have the wave because they're local. You can't do that. Give Georgie a little part of that wave and just surf it out because he was cooking then. I think if we give him more minutes, he'll start to get back how he was last year.
01:42:49
Speaker
as of now, Rothrock is better. Yeah, I mean, it's not like you could take Rothrock off the field for Georgie right now. For what it's worth, I thought Georgie had some good moments tonight. He he had, ah there was one play where he did the classic, you know, he gets to the end line before the defender and puts in the cross. that That was one of the better chances Seattle had on the night. And then whenever they put in long balls for him to just go run down, it's it's still fun to watch. There was the one where he took the longest first touch. I think Keith Cox said on the broadcast, he was like, that might be the like longest distance first touch I've ever seen. But he almost like ran that down and got on a breakaway. He was very close. No, it wasn't.
01:43:33
Speaker
I thought it was like, ah it wasn't a bad Georgie game, but he it felt like he didn't kind of... it It just feels like he's so explosive and there's so much raw talent there that you you should be getting more impact in a game like this. But ah yeah he also is just coming back from injury like everyone else on the team. so One statistic about Rothrock, three nutmegs in four games.
01:43:58
Speaker
That's it. I didn't know that. yeah that's yeah So he's scoring scoring goals and styling on you. man yeah what's that Every time he's at the corner, it seems like he nutmegged someone. He did it ah this game. He did it against rail Salt Lake and against um who was the first one? Colorado. Colorado. I don't think he quite did it against ah Vancouver, but no, I got to go. He's got to do. He's got to do that in Spokane. Absolutely.
01:44:25
Speaker
Well, tribe, we got Timbo up next, but thank you as always for calling in, bro. Are you going Spokane are you going to be? I am. I couldn't get the tickets on time, bro. Oh yeah. That sold out way. They were gone. If you have any extra, I will pay you and hit me up, bro. Hell yeah. Well, we'll see you on the post game show either way. Thanks for calling. got you brother. Cheers. Take care.
01:44:46
Speaker
All right, we got Timbo up next and then no one else in the queue. I'm probably going to be going in the two-ish hour range. We're at an hour 45. So if you want to get in, get your takes in before we call it a wrap for the night. Tap in right now and I'll get to as many as I can in the relative vicinity of being on for two hours. But let's get Timbo in here right now. Timbo, welcome to the show. Thanks for calling in. A 1-0 win at San Jose. Coming off, another 1-0 win at St. Louis in league play. Three road goals against the Vancouver Whitecaps and CCC in between that. What did you think? are you feeling? It's been a bunch of great away games. I think the the one thing we need to think about, were we're five games into this season, four in league play.
01:45:28
Speaker
There have been years where we did not have this good of a start, especially with a ways like we're we're giving away ways. We need to be like I'm a very grateful Sounders fan tonight, frankly.
01:45:39
Speaker
Three, yeah three away shutouts, too. I think that speaks a lot to not just the the two awesome goalies we have, but the quality of the defense as a whole, you know. Amongst your starters, amongst your people on the bench, I think you know this is something we talked about in offseason. The issue with the Sounders was not a...
01:46:02
Speaker
ah ah an offensive issue, it's a defensive issue. We were giving up too many goals. We we could do a shootout with LAFC, with Galaxy, with some of these big teams, but if we're not keeping goals out, and I've seen two games where you've had not the goalie make the huge stop. It's been a defensive player coming over, whether it's Nuhu, whether it's Lopez tonight. like Time to pay the man, at least with with Lopez.
01:46:28
Speaker
They did. They they apparently are. One of my favorite ah things coming out of this has been... ah seen captain new who i think that that side story for me right now has been very entertaining to see kind of again we talked the last time we talked on the show was this this maturation this this uh growing up so to say we're su we seeing our boy finally grow up and lead at lead a team and and this was kind of a big note for new who's campaign this year like the first time captain first time win i think that's a big a big note to kind of take away from this as well for any new who detractors that
01:47:07
Speaker
you know, yeah, he got a yellow card early on, but I think... Maturation, he didn't get the second yellow. Didn't get the second one. That's really key. Whereas we got coaches of certain teams getting their second ones all the time consistently, and and i' I'll let people look at Miami and see their coach get sent off tonight. to kind of That's not the first time he's been sent off.
01:47:27
Speaker
No, it's not. No. and it's yeah it's not it's It's not the first Inter-Miami crash out that I've ever seen. i've I've seen a couple in addition to that as well. At least no one got spat on this for this one. This is true. and I guess they're maturing they're maturing as well. Right.
01:47:43
Speaker
uh the let's stay on the defense because that is i think the thing i'm most pleased with right now like we've been talking about this was these were just situations last year the 2025 squad one ones this game like and i the in the st louis game and this game i couldn't help myself from feeling like the panic of like god they're they're gonna give it up they're gonna give it up And then even after the saw that one time last year, when we had the game, same kind of circumstances, I guess one or one or one goal up, right. Well, you had the shutout and then we just gave a fluke goal at home. Like I remember,
Academy Contributions and Long-term Success
01:48:15
Speaker
yamar yeah and you know, these things happen, but I think this is not happening now.
01:48:20
Speaker
And they're in it. And you can tell they're making notes to do that, that they're telling players essentially to come with your goalie, you know, in the defense of how it rolls out, your goal only has so much of that goal, that defensive players coming over to make that stop.
01:48:34
Speaker
that's not That's not a fluke, that's taught. Yeah, yeah. right And when the when the oligarchs took ah took away the Cody Baker goal, I definitely let my mind go to the, okay, now now here's where they give it up. Of course, because there's all this stoppage time too, but they ah but they didn't. So I think that that's that's just, I think it's encouraging from the defense. I'm not going to declare them out of the woods from last year's issue issues just yet. It's still a small sample, still the beginning of the season. But these were the exact types of games that they were blowing last year. So to see them, see two of them out back to back on the road, tough environments, like that's great stuff. This is a big collection of away games that we, you know, we haven't seen before because we're kind of doing renovations at home or whatever you want to call the stuff going on the World Cup. We don't have a home base right now.
01:49:24
Speaker
this is This is a good time to pick up some points because it's going to be, I would argue, it's going to be easier at home on a nice new field and ah in a crowd that has been exposed to the World Cup in Seattle. Yeah. I think there's a chance that the front loading the road games like this and having a bunch of home games in the second part of the year, that could really benefit them if they are able to rack enough points from these road games. So that's why to already have two road wins in the bag. I know the RSL game was frustrating and really like that's one where it's like, you really feel like you should get at one point out of that. And then that one honestly, but that is, that is one of our heart. I mean, what, what 12 years without a win? Yeah, exactly. A couple of draws. I mean, like it's not, it's not an easy,
01:50:04
Speaker
venue. People will argue with me, well what why the hell would we go Dick's Sporting Goods in Colorado? out of The same kind of altitude, same kind of issue climate. right and we We managed to score on that. and i just I can't explain it other than like i really feel the ah RSL program has been better than Colorado in recent years.
01:50:24
Speaker
they're theyre do have They're cooking right now. rsls young guys our RSL's young guys are really They're good. They're good. Apparently like I've learned that to start the season. I didn't know that. Now I know.
01:50:38
Speaker
the The other thing to keep in mind, kind of, were talking about ah RSL and kind of how they use their Academy, how the Sounders have used their Academy. I think those years from when, um,
01:50:49
Speaker
Garth Loggerway, you know, that that legacy is going to pay dividends. It's still it still is. We still have, you know, we'll take a look at last year. You got guys like Cody Baker and Darrow coming up who are are now solid on the team. Now we're seeing guys come up like Brunel and Lopez and solidifying their spot on the team. Like, I think.
01:51:09
Speaker
I think it really helps. It makes the front office look like geniuses, but
Officiating Critiques and Suggestions
01:51:14
Speaker
but it honestly, the system's kind of set in place to help the team, and I think that's they should keep that focus going too.
01:51:22
Speaker
Support your defiance. Timbo, we got Gianni up next, and then I think I'm going to call it a night after that, but anything else that you wanted to hit from this game before before we keep it pushing?
01:51:33
Speaker
No, I think i think we're we're good. I'm going to disagree with the previous caller's take on Georgie. I think he's had his time to shine, and we've seen guys like Paul who had their time to shine, and there's there's kind of difference right now. I love watching Georgie play. I love Georgie doing all sorts of Sweet jukes on on defenders, but you got to have a goal at the end of it. You watch Paul Areola play and you're like, oh man, there's just like so much more polish. there there there's There's a lot of talent on this team. we're we're you know Again, i think we're in a good, if you're a Sounders fan tonight, should be pretty fucking happy going into this week and we're going to kick the shit out of the Whitecaps.
01:52:11
Speaker
It's going to be a good week. Hopefully, hopefully they put on a show. The Seattle Sounders Roadshow going to Spokane. So hopefully they put on a show. Timbo, good stuff, man. Thanks for tapping in. We'll catch you on the next one. We'll see you.
01:52:22
Speaker
Take care. All right, we got Gianni up next, and then I think that's going to do it for for the night, so no one else no one else tap in. This will be the last one because coming up on two hours, so that's a good ah that's a good shift for yours truly, but we got to get Gianni in here for this one.
01:52:40
Speaker
Let's bring him to the stage right now. Gianni, what's up, man? 1-0-W at San Jose, coming off another 1-0-W in league play at St. Louis with the trio of road goals sandwiched in between at Vancouver. What did you think? How are you feeling?
01:52:54
Speaker
my heart is still absolutely fucking pounding from that holy shit like the it felt like that entire second half we were just under a gun like it was rough yeah like uh obviously like when you're on the road against a team like san jose which i think they were like one of the top teams in the west it was they're 30 and 0 with like a plus one yeah yeah they hadn't given up a goal No. Yeah. No. Yeah. So we're the first team score on this year. Awesome. But yeah, from the jump, like right off of kickoff in the second half, I just saw them like immediately running down the field towards our goal. I'm like, Oh fuck, here we go. Yeah. It was definitely like, all right, hold onto your hats, boys. Yeah. We're going put, we're going to put all 10 in front of that net and see how, like how long we can hold on for. And honestly, it was great that we did. Um,
01:53:43
Speaker
I was able to tap in for a little bit while you guys had some guys on here. So I might be rehashing some points you guys already went through. But um yeah, the set piece defending was great. And I do think that a lot of that comes down to Andrew Thomas is so much better commanding his box and taking the ball out of the air than Steph Fry is.
01:54:05
Speaker
he just gets to the ball and he reads the flight of it better. He is going up there and just snatching the ball out of the air before anyone heads it. um A lot of what I remember Steph Fry doing is actually taking a step forward. Like he's going to go out for the ball and then stepping back and trying to react to whatever is going to happen next, rather than proactively either punching that ball way out of there or just snatching it out of the air and just like stopping all the injury his tracks.
01:54:33
Speaker
Andrew Thomas was in the zone tonight. Like, he just he just looked locked in. what was ah What was going through your head when Preston Judd put that shot, looked like it's going on target, and then Tino Lopez shot out of a cannon, comes comes through with the goal line clearance? That was one of the plays of the season, if not play of the season so far. Yeah. That was one of the best plays of the year. Like so far, I mean, like there's a lot of season left, but holy shit, that save was incredible. And I was like, same time i was worried here he hurt himself doing it because like, fuck, we can't have another injured center back. No. But the his ability to get to the ball and just redirect it back and away from goal, I was i thought that thing was already in the back of the net, honestly. Like i yeah I didn't even realize that it was saved until I saw everyone else like still running around and trying to play. i was like,
01:55:23
Speaker
did that not go in? How did he do was, it was absurd. Like that was one of the best defensive plays. And it's like, he just didn't give up on it. yeah i think that you've You've seen center backs like stop playing because they're like, Oh, that's a goal.
01:55:37
Speaker
Yeah. And just let kind of let it go. It's like, no, he hauled ass back there and got on it. And I was like, that is exactly what you want from your young guys. Just never giving up on the play.
01:55:48
Speaker
And he saved, he saved two points. Yeah, absolutely. He did you. were Were you on for the pressers earlier? He gave a i missed it. Oh, he gave a really good answer. They they asked him, you know, you really you saved the game for the team tonight with that play. Like, how does that make you feel? And he said, I didn't save the team myself.
01:56:08
Speaker
We all did it together. Good answer, Tino. And then don't know. it's a hell That's a hell of an answer for a young kid. Well, and then i don't know if you caught this, but Schmetz literally said they're signing him. he said therere He said something like they got the contract in the mail like he's in. And he also said that ah he's going to campaign to Craig Weibel to sign Pete Kingston.
01:56:28
Speaker
Yeah, i like I was watching the game, and I didn't really kind of identify a lot of what Pete Kingston was doing. I was just kind of like loosely following the game. I was up in my parents' house, so it was a little bit of a different watch for me. But um yeah, like those kids, they balled out, um specifically Tino. He did great. I liked what I saw from Cody Baker.
01:56:49
Speaker
um yeahp I think it's too bad that he had that goal callback. That sucked. um Don't even get me. We we we did like a 15 minute segment yeah on that. I'm like, I almost crashed out after but after the Rothrock goal when they delayed it for an hour and a half. And then on the Cody Bakes goal, both times I was like yelling at my and my monitor, just like,
01:57:13
Speaker
we got, we got it. We got to keep this going guys. We can't be sitting here like this. We can't be sitting like this. The thing is like, they were both the most obvious calls in the world too. Exactly. There was reason you can literally just, here's a pop-up. It's like, oh yeah. Albert Rusnak is five yards offside doing nothing to get his way, get out of the play. Blocking the goalkeeper. Yeah. Okay. Fine. fine it was the right call like i get it i was the right call but like but i think another caller said it just look at it once or twice you can see it doesn't and then that's there's literally what are you waiting for like it's right there the back the back shot from like looking past the goalkeeper it's like of course he can't see the fucking ball like albert's right there and the ball bends right around him into the bottom corner it's like
01:57:58
Speaker
yeah Yeah, like, I don't, like, that is textbooks getting screened by an offside player. That's, like, FIFA will put that up there as, like, this is exactly what we're talking about. i wanted to be able to talk about how Cody Bakes was unjustly robbed of the goal. I don't really think that's what happened. It's just, it's just like, the length of time, man. I think it drives me insane. It drives me insane. Like...
01:58:25
Speaker
yeah i think there's a lot of other things we can talk about with the referee and some of the soft ass yellows he was giving out to the Sounders. Yeah. I knew who got early on. Yeah. Like that was, I mean, like definitely some of them were earned. There was a couple of grabs in there, but also i think some of their tackles could have easily been yellow cards. If we're going off of what he was calling against us, i was like, victory of us is not my favorite referee.
01:58:49
Speaker
I'll just put that out there. And I think that he did. Not a great job, but he did a job. Yeah, it wasn't the most – think a lot of the issue I have right now is with the VAR, like more than the center ref. Yeah. and either There was quibbles with the center ref tonight, but it was it was the VAR sequences that just might turn me into the Joker if I have to keep watching this. Like it's so bad. And then it adds so much stoppage time, which but gets me even more tilted. Yeah. just i got Eight minutes? Like yeah eight minutes of stoppage time? That's absurd. Every game this season, they're like, oh, that'll 17 minutes.
01:59:23
Speaker
Why is that? is it because you stopped the game looking at a replay for reasons to disallow every single goal? Like it's it's at the point where every time either team scores or like after Seattle scores, I'm not like celebratory or like feeling energetic at all. I'm just like, okay, what are they going to, what are they going to find? What are they going to find?
01:59:42
Speaker
Well, and the other, it's it's when the referee goes to the camera, and also, how long is it taking for these VAR officials to get in the ear of the ref and tell him to go look at it?
01:59:54
Speaker
Yeah. Why does that take so long? What is he like? Holy shit. Like, we're waiting up there for, like, minutes as they're all standing around to to take the restart, and the ref is just like, oh, sorry. No, no, no. Hold up. Hold up. no hold Hold up. Hold up.
02:00:10
Speaker
They got to check the headset always. Like I'm pretty sure they're not talking to anyone. That's just for show. Like, yeah, and I've listened to you some of the ah pro stuff that they put out of like what's actually happening. And ah the guys in the VAR booth are just saying delay, delay, delay. And so he's like, oh yeah, and no, no, no, no. no no were're We're checking, we're checking. Yeah. Oh my God. It's just the most infuriating thing to see what's happening behind the scenes. It's like, we're looking for clear and obvious errors to fix. We're not going out there to re-officiate this game.
02:00:42
Speaker
And i think that they are starting to get these two points mixed up. And they're using VAR. Yeah. We've lost the plot. It's one thing to get the very obvious calls corrected.
02:00:56
Speaker
It's another thing entirely. If you're going to go back through and letter of the law, like fucking rules lawyer, every little frame of the game, because if you're doing that, the game's gone.
02:01:07
Speaker
Like what's the fucking, it's actually gone. Yeah. Like some of the shit is subjective and you don't need to be going out there and trying to get the subjective calls one way or another. Like if it's clearly wrong,
Player Performances and Tactical Analysis
02:01:19
Speaker
fix it.
02:01:20
Speaker
yeah Everything else, like, if it's close enough, if it's not, like, very cut and dry, just fucking leave it. maybe yeah Maybe the issue is that, like, it's hard psychologically to wrap your mind on letting a call stand when you look at it and you're like, well, i i think that I think that he's off there. Like, I don't know, like, if I... But, like, if you start thinking, like, oh, well, I think he is, but I can't... I don't know, like...
02:01:45
Speaker
it must just be some hurdle where you're like, well, I think he's off there. So I have to change it. When in reality, it's like, there are going to be calls where you might think that it should have been called off on the field, but that you have to leave. Cause you like, can't really tell. And that must be hard to do because I feel like every time they're in these gray areas situations, they just swap the call.
02:02:04
Speaker
And that's, that's literally like the opposite of how you're supposed to do it. Yeah. yeahlar So it's, it's interesting because it used to be, you would see VAR officials,
02:02:15
Speaker
ah getting overturned by the center ref pretty regularly. And like, these are when the calls were like, seemed pretty cut and dry and the v center ref would be like, no, I think my call is right.
02:02:27
Speaker
It seems like we've overcorrected at this point. Yeah. Now the VAR is, I'm not sure if this is like something that has come down from pro like, Hey, if the VAR is getting in your ear, you really need to give them the respect for this because for some stuff, yes.
02:02:41
Speaker
But for these subjective calls, if you didn't make a very clear and obvious error and the VAR official is saying, I think, and i believe in this kind of stuff, not saying right here, there was a foul and you missed it.
02:02:57
Speaker
Like we are not in here to have, I think, and I believe take over because then it's just another subjective call. We don't need a seminar. No, absolutely not. And it seems like we've been getting one like fairly regularly and they really need to do something to address this because we are not doing offsides like the premier league is where they're getting it down to like eighths of an inch and seeing like, Oh, you see right here. He's offside by his elbow.
02:03:22
Speaker
He's offside by his like pinky toe. He didn't clip his toenails today. He's offside by a toenail. Yeah. Like we're not doing that. And so if we're going to be operating under the current, the rules, the way they're currently set up for us,
02:03:37
Speaker
we need to be doing better. Yeah. Cody Bakes and Danny Leyva routed by the oligarchs. Holy shit. i discussed I got into a fight with Andrew Ruby over the Danny Leyva one.
02:03:48
Speaker
I think a lot of Seattle fans. Yeah. That was a great day on, on Twitter back then. It was really great for his engagement on YouTube. Yeah. ah Johnny, I want your thoughts on a couple ah on a couple of guys we were shouting out here. i think We kind of did Tino Lopez, didn't we? yeah what do you What do you think of Petkovic so far? Because I feel like I like what I'm seeing a lot more than I expected to, but I also want to be measured about it because I feel like the – The whole signing just kind of felt like the odds of it hitting to anything super hot were not that high. He went to Crown like he couldn't plan crown Legacy and MLS Next Pro. They spent all this money on him, and they still couldn't break him in. So I'm like, all right, there's got to be some reason like why it didn't pop there. So I want to keep my expectations in check. But ah the the first cameo that he had, and then also, in the I think, in the St. Louis game, and then I thought his i thought his whole shift tonight was actively good.
02:04:43
Speaker
like No, I thought he was actually good. Yeah. um Like, it's the first time i've really seen like an extended run out from him, aside from those couple of cameos where It's hard to get into a game as a sub. I mean, fuck.
02:04:56
Speaker
How did Albert do when he came on as a sub? Not well. No, no, not not well. And it's hard to find the flow of the game because you also don't necessarily... it's You're watching the game, but once you're out on the field, it feels completely different. so if you don't already have an understanding of like how San Jose is playing, what it looks like, what it feels like to be under that kind of pressure...
02:05:19
Speaker
It changes the way you play. And so Petkafic getting a full 90 today, I thought he looked really good. I mean, he's probably not the best defensive player, but his passing was great.
02:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, his passing was great, and he was more ah more willing defensively than I – what I kind of was expecting was a guy who can hit some nice passes but just, like, doesn't give a shit about pressing or defense. That's sort of what I was picturing. And then I'm like, how is a guy like that going to fit on an O'Brien Schmetzer team? Like, I don't know about that. So that was another thing I was questioning. But he he was – like, he got a yellow card at one point, and I was like, oh, I actually kind of like to see that. That's – Yeah, I mean, the yellow card was, he just kind of grabbed the guy's jersey a little bit It was a tactical foul, but he was he was getting in there. He was like... He was like trying. like I mean, like he was making the effort. And that's what you don't see from some of these offensive-minded players sometimes, where it's like, yeah they're not running back. They're kind of half-assing their tackles.
02:06:16
Speaker
So I thought from that from that perspective, he was he actually looked pretty good. um
02:06:24
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira in transition. is funny because he's really, he's capable of making these really cerebral passes. But then when he's running out of back line in space, you just see kind of people catching up to him with the, when he's on the ball and specifically in that one where he probably should hit that pass a little bit sooner.
02:06:44
Speaker
which ah Which play? It was the, i think, forget who was running in front of him. It was like this massive breakout where Jesus is running down the right-hand side and he's got all this space in front of him.
02:06:59
Speaker
And I think he was trying to put it in, was it to Georgie?
02:07:06
Speaker
Either way, like he he's running forward and he gets on the ball and he like you can see him like kind of try and take off. And he just starts... like The defense starts to catch up to him and the defender is kind of between him and...
02:07:26
Speaker
the runner and he tries to like, I think he tries to whip the ball in around behind him and it just immediately goes straight to the defender and just kills the move. It's like in those moments, that's where I would actually love to have an actual winner.
02:07:40
Speaker
because Yeah, like De La Vega in those situations. De La Vega in that in that situation is actually going to run directly at that defender and put him under pressure and either make him make a choice between, are you going to stay with that runner or are you going to come at me? If you come at me, I might beat you. If you try if you stay with that runner, I'm just going to run straight to goal.
02:07:58
Speaker
And so there there were a couple of like, I think that was really the only like negative thing I could say about Jesus. Cause I think he had a pretty good game overall. Like he plays that ball through to Paul Rothrock that thank God Georgie didn't touch. Cause I was just, Oh my God. fuck Well, here's the other thing. If that shout out to Georgie, shout out, shout out to Georgie for being aware that he was somehow 10 yards offside. Like he did it like three more times in this game where it's like, dude, not the best Georgie game.
02:08:25
Speaker
not Not the best Georgie game, but... um with he he He made the right play on that play. He absolutely did make the right play on there, which is to not be in the play. Yeah. um but I think he probably could have still gotten caught if the defender stops for a half second and kind of looks over at Georgie because then he kind of influences the defender's play.
02:08:46
Speaker
Thank God he also wasn't heads up enough for that. And Paul just like absolutely like scorched that thing past the defense the goalkeeper there. Yeah. your Post goal. That was great. Yeah. No, I mean, where would this team be if they hadn't paid Paul Rothrock, honestly, right now? I know because it's all Paul's. It's only Paul's like right now. Yeah. If you didn't have the Paul's on this team, this this team's not winning four out of five all comps to start the season. There's no shot. Definitely not.
02:09:13
Speaker
um did we Did we talk Andrew Thomas already? my My shout-outs were Cody Baker, Tino Lopez, Andrew Thomas, Jesus Ferreira, Nikola Petkovich. I think Jackson Reagan is one that I forgot. He was just a monster crush. and Jackson Reagan is just – he needs to be called up to the USMNT. And I know Schmetzer has said, like, hey, yeah, he should probably be getting a look. And i I'm wondering if part of it is just – The people at USMNT just still being petty over ah the Sounders not letting him go. i think there's like actual beef there and it would be very in character for US s soccer to be like passing up a potentially like player that would level up their player pool for some kind of like petty beef with one of the clubs.
02:09:57
Speaker
Maybe if he just goes out and signs like a short-term loan with some European club, then all the bots will start like hounding USM to you to actually get a call. But Pochettino is anti-bot. Like, did you know? He is anti-bot. So maybe that would just actually work against him. He's actually like a lot of the times when he's talking about these things, I find myself being like, wow, that's what I would say about that. Yeah. Like when he called Christian Roldan the perfect player, I was like, I mean, yeah, but you're not supposed to say that. you're not supposed to like our players what what's wrong with you you're us soccer affiliated you're supposed what is going on here it kind of broke my brain when you said yeah um i think the only other shout out that i have was i thought as i looked good when he came on
02:10:38
Speaker
Okay, what do you like about what he's doing? Because we've been doing this whole Osaze Moose debate, and I feel like I keep just flipping back and forth on it. And that, like, I was on the Moose looks like way more likely to score train, so maybe you should just do that. But then, like, this game, not a great Moose game. And Osaze has been, like, he's been doing a lot of stuff that's helping the team. Like, you really I don't think it's Cope to say that. like he is No, it's not. Yeah. It's not cope at all. Actually, i think Osazi has made us more goal dangerous than Moose has. And like years but the times when Moose has looked good, it's when he he is like really good at finding these scoring positions.
02:11:16
Speaker
But he's only good at working for himself. He's not good at working for the team. So he's looking to get into a position where he could potentially score from. But if the ball isn't getting to him, he's not offering anything else, right?
02:11:28
Speaker
His hold-up play is not as good as Osase's. He's not going to do some of the off-ball running that you need from that position sometimes. And so what I like about Osase's game is you'll often see him check from that nine position to the outside, right?
02:11:46
Speaker
And what happens is that forces that center back to draw with him a little bit. And he's actually made a i know he has like got a secondary assist off of one of these. He checks to that outside wing, receives the ball and flicks someone through.
02:12:02
Speaker
yeah And it leads to ah like a break in their defensive structure because then you've got this guy screaming from the midfield up into that now vacated space that allows for pressure directly into the defensive third and usually a cutback. And we've scored off of that.
02:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, he got a secondary assist against Colorado off that exact. Yeah, and I think he... I can't remember now if he was on the field. can't remember if he did that in Vancouver or not. I know he's done that twice now and it's created like very, very gold dangerous opportunities.
02:12:36
Speaker
He did. He, yes, he was the one who sprung KKR on. okay yeah yeah that's Yeah. So he, he, this is a like common move that he's making that is really allowing us to transition through their defense. And when Moose is up there, he's just standing by the CVs. He's not making that run to create space in their defense.
02:13:01
Speaker
And he's not making himself more available for the ball. He's not bringing other players into the play. And so if you have someone who's just kind of standing up there waiting to poach a goal, if we're having a hard time transitioning through their team, that opportunity is never going to come.
02:13:16
Speaker
And you saw that again tonight. If he's not getting the ball passed to him in the box, he is not helping the team.
02:13:25
Speaker
Yeah, i i I kind of, i think I agree. I think I agree. And I think I understand why they've been riding with Osaze. They just signed them both to a contract extension. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Moose, what the move the skill that Moose does have is incredibly value valuable, especially for what he's getting paid, okay? like Yeah. The value they got off of that last year was honestly incredible. And like I think to have a guy that is as good as he is at getting into those spots and being so reliable and efficient as far as like ah how often he's actually finding the net, there's definitely a role for that on this team. But as far as how the offense is functioning and running,
02:14:08
Speaker
I think it looks a lot better with Osaze. And I just think like, yeah, he's more dynamic and well-rounded in ways that help the whole offense as opposed to, like you said, scoring for, scoring for himself. So I, but I do think like Schmidt said before the game, like they need to get him going. And I, like he does need to be scoring. Like he needs to be scoring enough to, uh,
02:14:31
Speaker
to increase the value, I guess, of all the other stuff that he's doing. Like, you can't have a nine who's doing all that stuff and then just never scoring. But we know he can score. Like, he was scoring in Leagues Cup last year. So, I i think if they – I'm actually – I'm okay with them staying committed to this. I am.
02:14:46
Speaker
I know some people are kind of, like, not feeling it right now because he hasn't scored yet. But I think that – I see what they're getting at. I see the stuff that he's doing off the ball and as part of the whole attack. And I think he will start scoring. And I think there is the upside that they are seeing if he hits that.
02:15:03
Speaker
I think I
Upcoming Matches and Preparations
02:15:04
Speaker
see it and I think it's there. Absolutely. It's definitely there. And I think he has never really had a large run out as like the striker for this team. He's come on in a lot of substitute appearances. And so maybe he wasn't as scouted as much by other teams, but other teams now knowing that he is like one of our starters, he might've been scouted out a little bit. And so he he's going through some of like the growing pains of like what it is to be a starter. You're not always going to come on and be running against tired legs.
02:15:33
Speaker
Yeah. And that that is part of it. Like you got, if you have someone come on and they're fresh, a little bit going against what I said, but like, if you can find the flow of the game, you can get into the rhythm of the game.
02:15:46
Speaker
You can take advantage of those guys being tired. And so I think it's a little bit learning where his positioning is when it comes to like being goal dangerous. And he's had opportunities. Like he's going to be getting more of those opportunities too.
02:16:01
Speaker
And I think once he has a bit more time to mesh with Paul Areola, who he has never really gotten to play with because he was out injured all of last year. um I think those opportunities going to come. And I think he's going to start being able to take advantage of them.
02:16:16
Speaker
Hopefully. And we'll probably, we'll probably find out. And on, ah on Wednesday in Spokane, which ah that's, ah that's real. That's coming up. yeah Are you making, are you making the trip are you? I wish I could, but I can't. I'm going to be watching from home.
02:16:30
Speaker
I guess as try, as try pointed out the tickets sold out in like less than five minutes. So it's was a hard one to get to. Yeah, it's like, it's ah it's a weeknight game, which I already struggled to get it good into. so And then it's over in Spokane. So not only is it a weeknight game, it's a five-hour drive on top of it. It's not particularly... No, it's not conducive to ah someone who has to be at work on Thursday going to the game.
02:16:58
Speaker
All right. Well, Gianni, thanks for calling in. As always, great stuff, man. I'm going to call it a night, but ah we'll talk to tap in Tap in for the next one after this CCC series is over. Yeah, I'll try and tap in if you guys ah can get on before midnight. ah Hopefully.
02:17:15
Speaker
hopefully they uh we have a spot to do our show this time so we don't have to do it in the car i think we should be able to not have as much of a of a delay on this one but i don't want to speak too soon guys no absolutely you never know what can happen you know what the car show was fire though that was exactly good that was some good audio and good video It worked out for the best, I think. So get rekt, CONCACAF, because you tried to stop our content, and it actually turned out even better. But it was more of a delay to get started than we typically have last. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I kind of figured I was like, something's got to be going on. These guys would have by now. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we weren't sure where we were going to do it. And then finally, were just like, all right, we're just going to do in the car. Yeah. Yeah.
02:18:01
Speaker
we'll ah Maybe we'll invest in a car setup. Who knows? but All right, man. we'll ah We'll catch you next time. Take care. All right. See you later, man. All right. ah That's going to do it for the postgame live for Match Day 5. Thank you all, as always, so much for tuning in.
02:18:16
Speaker
Appreciate you guys. we'll be we'll be I mean, I'm going to be back at it in about 12 hours' time with Nico for kickoff. We'll be talking about this game a little more, and then we'll be previewing Leg 2 in Spokane against Vancouver Whitecaps. 3-0 aggregate lead for Seattle going into that one. Three road goals in the bag, so...
02:18:35
Speaker
Uh, trip to the quarter finals is, uh, is yeah. Quarter finals right there for him, right there for him. I was thinking about this, uh, you know, cause I think we were all feeling ourselves after the Vancouver game. I know I watched the car show back and I was like, damn, I was, I was pretty lit and we were kind of almost talking about it as if the quarter finals were already in the bag. And then, i was watching the Vancouver white caps today and, I don't know, it i don't know if you guys realize this, if you guys were watching the other games going on today, but they beat Minnesota United six to zero in their game.
02:19:11
Speaker
So any notion of like, we're going to be able to do like a it didn't count narrative about the white caps later, I mean, 6-0. I know Minnesota's struggling.
02:19:22
Speaker
We don't like them. But if you 6-0 anybody in MLS, that's a... I think they were pissed off about how leg ah like one against Seattle went, which all of which is to say, series isn't over.
02:19:37
Speaker
You have a very commanding advantage, but the reality is they're going to come out going gangbusters. Like they can't sit back at all. So they're going to be throwing everything forward and that could create opportunities for Seattle, but also it's very possible that they score first in this game. And if that happens, you're in a situation where one more goal for them without you scoring All of a sudden, you're the aggregate is one goal away from being tied.
02:20:04
Speaker
So I think it's important to not be complacent. You got to be professional about this. You just don't let anything stupid happen. Don't, you know, you you get if you get one goal, if you get one goal in this game, you're probably good Not guaranteed. Anything could happen. But if you score one goal, especially if you score first,
02:20:26
Speaker
it's probably wrap, realistically. At that point, there's just not enough time for them to score the amount of goals that they need to. So, just don't go, you can't go into it thinking you've already got it wrapped. And I don't think this team will do that.
02:20:41
Speaker
I think schmet's ah Schmetz and a lot of these guys have been around long enough for at least the mentality and the approach and the tactics to be right. And see this thing out, because here's the other thing.
CCC Series and Competitive Edge
02:20:54
Speaker
Here's the other thing SC Cincinnati was playing New England today. What happened to them? They got 612 different MLS teams scored six goals tonight. Okay.
02:21:07
Speaker
FC Cincinnati is 30 up on Tigris and their CCC series, the winner of which will play Seattle or Vancouver in the next round. So I don't think FC Cincinnati getting six ones means a heck of a lot, but it ah it is it is an example of the type of stuff that can happen to you in CCC, where when you're rotating, a lot of teams when they're rotating,
02:21:30
Speaker
That's what happens. This is what happened to Inter-Miami last year when they were they were juggling CCC, and they played at Cincinnati, and they got like seven one We've seen this stuff happen to Seattle. What Seattle did tonight is honestly, that's not how a CCC-rotated squad usually performs. It's like really not. That's pretty impressive, to be honest.
02:21:50
Speaker
Because look what look what happened Cincy. Cincy has a roster that I would put theoretically roughly on par with Seattle. They got 6-1.
02:21:59
Speaker
I don't know. They probably rotated a lot, but I saw Evander out there in that game.
02:22:06
Speaker
So any series against FC Cincinnati and CCC, you're going to have an experience advantage at the very least.
02:22:15
Speaker
So
02:22:19
Speaker
you got to make sure some dumb shit doesn't happen in Spokane. And you can do that. The CCC run keeps going. Got a couple of road wins in the bag and league play. So you're looking pretty good. You just have to make sure nothing crazy happens in this game.
Conclusion and Continued Coverage
02:22:35
Speaker
Keep pushing. All right. I'm gonna get out of here on that. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning for a kickoff and we'll be, we'll be covering CCC throughout the week, going to the game on Wednesday. So it's going to be good stuff. Lock in for all the content and I'll catch you guys tomorrow morning. Love y'all.
02:22:51
Speaker
Peace.