Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Cristian Roldan or Bust (feat. Mark Kastner) - Ep. 7
45 Plays2 years ago
Ari and Noah are joined by Sounder at Heart writer Mark Kastner to discuss the upcoming Seattle Sounders FC match against Orlando City SC and then to break down Seattle's 1-0 loss on the road to LAFC.
Find Mark here: https://twitter.com/mkstnr & https://www.sounderatheart.com
- Support the show by subscribing to Sounder at Heart and get 1 FREE month!
- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
---
Follow Lobbing Scorchers on Social Media:
Follow Ari Liljenwall
Follow Noah Riffe
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
---
Visit Sounder at Heart:
Website
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and First Guest Announcement
00:00:10
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to episode seven of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillian Wall. I got producer Noah here with me. Producer Noah, say what's up to the people.
00:00:23
Speaker
Man, it's a good day to be me, because I was right. And also, it's a good day to be you. And it's also a good day to be both of us, because we have an incredible guest coming on today. It's a good day in general, because that's it right there. We got our first ever guest in Lobbing Scorchers history. So it's a monumental moment for us. It's about time. We're going to have Mark Kastner from Sounder at Heart joining the show in just a minute here. You better get a Jimmy Fallon intro.
00:00:53
Speaker
What constitutes a Jimmy Fallon intro? I don't know, just like a late night intro where you sit him down and we have like some clapping sound effects or something. Yeah, you'll have to edit that in. We're excited to have Mark here. It's exciting to have a guest. It's something that I'm planning on doing regularly here going forward.
Seattle Sounders vs. Orlando City SC Preview
00:01:10
Speaker
So perfect guy to kick that off.
00:01:13
Speaker
Before we bring Mark on to talk some LAFC reaction and MLS, I'm going to preview this Orlando City SC game a little bit. Like I mentioned, Lumen Field on Saturday, cross-conference matchup. And this is a huge game, and I'll tell you why.
00:01:33
Speaker
We've talked a lot about the table on this show, and Seattle is still third place on it. But that's rapidly become pretty meaningless. If you look at the West table right now, it's become a log jam. There's seven points, I think, separating second from seventh in the West. So that means if Seattle can't start stringing some dubs together, they're headed for a situation where they're dog fighting just to stay above the line, not competing for one of the top two seeds.
00:01:58
Speaker
They've won two out of their last 11, so gotta start stringing some dubs together. And this is a prime opportunity for a Get Red game.
Seattle's Performance and Challenges
00:02:07
Speaker
If they can get three points here, I think it would be a heck of a vibe enhancer. And this team needs that right now. I think just a vibe reset could go a long way.
00:02:16
Speaker
I can tell you a little bit about Orlando City. Orlando City's had a bit of an inconsistent year, but they are playing well right now. They've won three of six with two draws in there. And they almost had the Philly Union in their last game in Orlando on Wednesday. They had the Philly Union 2-0 and then gave up the lead and had to settle for the draw because of a really insane goal from Jose Martinez. So that finished 2-2. But they're in pretty good form right now is the point.
00:02:46
Speaker
That said, any time Seattle and Orlando play, the road team's at a big disadvantage. This is the longest trip just distance-wise in the league, except for when these two teams played in its Vancouver, I think. But peer miles-wise, this is about as far as you have to travel for any road trip in the league.
00:03:04
Speaker
So for them, a draw is a good result. If they can make a trip this big and get out of here with a point, they're gonna take that all day, I think. As for what they're like on the field, they've got some talented players. I've been a little surprised, honestly, that Orlando City hasn't been more of a factor.
00:03:21
Speaker
since last year given some of the signings they've made. The guys to know are Facundo Torres is one. He's a U22 signing they brought in last year. This is a guy that's got 13 caps for the Uruguay senior team, which is one of the more highly regarded national teams out there. Very talented guy. He's generated a lot of overseas interest. They're probably going to sell him on at some point. Five goals, three assists. He can hurt you.
00:03:47
Speaker
Martino Jeda, that's the other big one, DP signing from Argentina, good player. Four goals, six assists in about a thousand minutes this year. So this is a team that's got some juice in attack, at least on paper. They haven't really put it together consistently to be as dominant as I thought they could be when you just look at the roster.
00:04:05
Speaker
But just talent wise, these are definitely some upper tier guys in MLS. At center forward, they're either gonna run Ursan Cara, who was another big signing for them, and he had 11 goals last year, only four so far this year. It seems like he in general hasn't really broken out to the degree that was expected for them and league wide. And they've been given Duncan McGuire, their super draft pick out of Creighton a run.
00:04:30
Speaker
And I'm pretty high on Duncan McGuire. He led the nation in scoring, I believe, for D1 last year. And he's looking like a really good draft pick. He scored six goals already in 490 minutes. He scored more than Cara. So I would probably be just starting Duncan McGuire if I were them, honestly. It seems like that's kind of what they've been doing. And if they do, I wouldn't look at that and be like, oh, a super draft pick at center forward? That's a drop off. It doesn't seem like a drop off. He's looking good.
00:04:59
Speaker
So they've got some juice and attack, hasn't all come together for them, but this is a dangerous team that's playing well.
00:05:07
Speaker
On the Seattle side they'll be without Raul Rui Diaz for this game his father actually passed away sometime around the LA FC game so condolences to Raul and That's obviously a situation where he needs to take as much time as he needs away from the team Games fully secondary to that goes without saying So this is gonna be a big a bear game a bears taking his fair share of heat this year I think he's been a bit snake bit but
00:05:35
Speaker
Either way a goal for a bear in this game would would go a long way in what I was talking about with a vibes reset I'll be interested to see how much rotation there is with the fixture can get congestion I'd imagine there will be some but I think the main things to be looking for are if Albert rest next stays at the 10 and how much run Nico gets on short rest and whether it's at right or center mid but
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's going down Lumen field on Saturday. Seattle needs a win two wins in their last 11. So this is an important one. This is a get right opportunity and they kind of got to get three points here.
00:06:18
Speaker
You know, before we get Mark in here, I'm just going to rip off a little mini monologue on my takes on the game. And the first thing I'll say is, fair play to LAFC. You know, we all had a good time when they choked in CCL, famously. We all got our jokes and our memes out there. I know I did. So maybe that's a little bit of karma coming back. But I'll just say, worth it. I regret nothing. I would send every meme again.
00:06:43
Speaker
Fair play to LAFC. They played this well. They're dealing with tough stretch, a lot of fixture congestion, a bad hangover, and they took a clean dub. There's nothing wonky or flukey about this dub. That's two in a row for them. Yeah, and two in a row for them after. They dropped two in a row to the Houston Dynamo, so maybe not that hungover after all.
00:07:04
Speaker
This game started out about as unideally as is possible in a soccer game for Seattle because they gave up a goal in the first minute. LA scored a goal and the LFC scored a goal in the literal first minute and that was the only goal of the game.
00:07:20
Speaker
That's not ideal. When you're playing a soccer game in an ideal scenario, you're always going to want to make it past the first minute of the game before conceding. That's just a cardinal rule of the game, making it through the first minute without conceding. So that being said, in a situation where you do concede a goal in the first minute,
00:07:42
Speaker
It's not necessarily a death sentence. If you can stop the game from getting away from you, you can give yourself a chance at getting a result in the game, even if you concede in the first minute.
00:07:52
Speaker
You don't really see goals in the first minute that often. It's always kind of a novelty when that happens. It actually also happened to Atlanta United yesterday. They also got bammed on in the first minute. So it's kind of weird to see two of those in the same match day. But on that play itself, you know, you really can't attribute a first minute goal to like game state or tactics. There was no game state. It was the first minute.
00:08:15
Speaker
LFC get out and transition their guy lines the shot up. He's outside the box Jackson Reagan's trying to block it takes a deflection right where Stephen Fry couldn't get to it and That was it Seattle could never equalize. So Before we get mark in here to talk about this more in-depth. I'll just give my initial take Which is that yeah, I guess and when you're in a situation where you're dealt a bit of a bad break bad break like that
00:08:42
Speaker
Doesn't really change the calculation much. It just becomes about how you respond and I thought the response for Seattle after the goal was actually okay I thought the game pretty much looked like you'd hope it would for Seattle a siding aside from conceding a goal in the first minute, which is an obvious and notable caveat, but
00:09:04
Speaker
Ruby Diaz had two good looks that could have been goals. There's the one from Leo Chu Who we got we got both sides of the Leo Chu experience in this game
00:09:16
Speaker
There was the one from Obed Vargas as well. But Seattle had the better of the play, I think, for the most of that first half. I think that's fair to say. But the second half just did not come close to playing out the way they needed it to. That second half, they needed to be on top of LAFC, taking advantage of those tired legs, that hangover, and really pressing for that equalizer. And they never got really close to that.
00:09:41
Speaker
LFC played it. Well, they had all the control over the game in the second half. They had the better chances and they took the dub so That sets the stage and with that We are going to bring in our first ever guest on lobbing scorchers really
Mark Kastner on Seattle's Lineup and Tactics
00:09:59
Speaker
excited about this. It's about time It's about time that we started having guests on we've got a good one teed up as our debut and
00:10:06
Speaker
We got Mark Kastner from Sounder at Heart, my good buddy. We've been friends for a long time. Sounder's content guru. He's always churning the takes and the narratives over at Sounder at Heart, which is a hack website. I don't really read it. No, I'm just kidding. They made fun of the sub. It's a great website. Shout out Jeremiah O'Shaun. Shout out Dave Clark.
00:10:26
Speaker
But hopefully this is the first of many times we have Mark on because Mark knows ball you're gonna see Whatever you think about his take some of them are bad, but he knows ball He puts a lot of thought into his takes about both the Sounders and Liverpool actually so great person to talk about all this We're gonna break down the game and then jump around MLS a little bit talk about some of the other results Around the league. So without further ado Mark Kastner, how's it going buddy? Thanks for thanks for coming on. I
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me. Although I thought we were going to be recording an NBA draft podcast, I wasn't. No, I was actually going to be Vancouver Whitecaps. I was hoping you could be the official correspondent. Man, we don't have time to get into all my lore. I mean, hey, you know, Victor Wambinyama could be a really good center back. Or keeper. Yeah, I was going to say, I'd probably put him at goalkeeper. I feel like he'd hurt himself jumping on the ground.
00:11:23
Speaker
All right, Mark, let's talk about this game. Let's talk about this game. And the first question I had for you was just, what'd you think of the lineup? Because one thing I didn't mention in that opener right there is I had the lineup a little off for this game when we were riffing on it in the last episode. I was saying I figured it would probably be RBW or Dylan Tevez at right mid. That was something that they've run previously.
00:11:48
Speaker
So, I kind of just assumed that Albert Rusnak would be back to the double pivot with JP, and then it would be one of those options at right mid. And that's not how they lined it up. It was Obed Varkas in the double pivot, Rusnak back at the 10, and Nico Ledero at right mid. And Sounder Hart actually called that.
00:12:05
Speaker
you guys had your lineup projection graphic out there, had that dead on. And I actually saw that graphic and I was like, oh, I didn't I didn't even really think of Nico at right mid, but that actually that actually makes sense. And the way it was basically running was Rusnak and Nico were like, it was like double tens with Leo Chiu on the left side. So, Mark, what were your thoughts on that lineup? And what did you think of both the idea in principle and then how it ended up working in the game?
00:12:43
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sound Red Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sonietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023,
00:12:53
Speaker
need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce. If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks
00:13:16
Speaker
most notably entry into our members only discord where the smartest funniest and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas to find out more just visit center at heart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner thanks for listening yeah so i think uh
00:13:42
Speaker
That's just probably the best lineup they could have played. You know, you get your best players on the field, kind of regardless of position, and you kind of hope it works out. And for the most part, it did. I don't think like the goal happens in the first minute because of a lineup situation or anything like that.
00:14:06
Speaker
And so yeah, I mean, I think like you have, you have 10 or 11 days off since the last, the last time they played, you know, LAFC is coming off short rest. They've been playing a bunch and then you just kind of are like, well, okay, we'll kind of put most of our good players as close to the goal as possible, which, you know, just sounds like a very like base level take, but, uh, you know, they, they wanted to get,
00:14:34
Speaker
like LAFC plays with really aggressive midfielders, right? That's just like their whole thing. It's just like, they have L.A. Sanchez in their pivot and then they just have super aggressive eight. So if you get kind of two guys in on either side of Sanchez, you can cause a lot of problems or theoretically.
00:14:51
Speaker
So I think from an attacking perspective, I thought it worked really well. I thought it was just cool. Some really, really great movements happened. And a thing that I always look for is patterns and repeatability. And there
Importance of Christian Roldan
00:15:09
Speaker
was a bunch of repeatable actions, really good ball movement, things like that.
00:15:15
Speaker
And I was really encouraged by that. The thing that was really frustrating for me, even throughout the first half when the sounders were creating better chances, they just weren't scoring, is if you move Rustneck up a line and if you move Ledero out of the middle of the field, the press is just garbage. It's so bad. And even though LAFC was playing
00:15:47
Speaker
The two guys that played midfield were their third and fourth choice options in those positions and then you have Mwanga coming off of another weird thing where he was on a plane like seven minutes before the game or something like that. Your press cannot be bad against LAFC and that was probably the most frustrating thing.
00:16:12
Speaker
Rusnak just looked really uncomfortable in like his like out of possession or kind of like what maybe some of the nerds like myself would call like his rest defense was just really bad. And I don't really even think that's like his fault. He just doesn't play that position. He doesn't play in our press in that position. And you mentioned that like
00:16:35
Speaker
that first minute goal in like 37 seconds or whatever doesn't happen because of like tactics, but LAFC just like completely takes Rusnak out of like, just completely takes them out of position and passes right where Rusnak should have been and then they're off to the races.
00:16:55
Speaker
And yeah, you just kind of like, you kind of cop for that in the first minute of the game. And you think like, OK, they're going to get a chance and we're just going to save it and kind of, you know, it's the first minute of the game. Nobody's like on it. But I just noticed like right away, it was just like, hmm, that's even if they wouldn't have scored, I would have been like pretty annoyed about that. And then they did score and they won. So I'm even more annoyed.
00:17:19
Speaker
So seeing Rusnak back as the number 10 these last two games, do you think that kind of foreshadows a permanent or regular change in his role on this team and being moved up a line and closer to goal?
00:17:34
Speaker
That's something I've been thinking about for a while. I think dropping Rusnak back a line is not really what I expected when they signed him. And I think it worked out because they won CCL with that. So you can't argue with that. But at the same time, one of the reasons I was so excited about the Rusnak signing when it happened was how talented he is as an attacking player.
00:18:04
Speaker
Some people said I was overhyping that signing when it happened. But, you know, I don't know where any sort of notion or idea came that Albert Rusnak isn't a good or a talented attacking player. This guy has multiple double digit assist seasons in MLS. He has multiple 10 and 10 seasons in MLS. I understand that some of that is because at Real Salt Lake, he was taking penalties and he was taking set pieces.
00:18:34
Speaker
But every time I would watch Real Salt Lake when he was on that team, when him and Crylog were together, they were a problem. So the whole idea of dropping him back a line while it works and he's a talented and versatile enough player to do that, like I always kind of felt like they need to be moving him closer to goal and making use of those attributes that he has more in attack.
00:18:57
Speaker
So I don't know, what have you seen from him at the 10 and do you think it makes sense to have him there consistently going forward? Yeah, I think, I mean, he's clearly a very talented attacking player. And, you know, I thought against Charlotte, he was just incredible in that position.
00:19:19
Speaker
And like, we're just gonna kind of forever be dealing with this situation. I guess not forever, but for the rest of the season where the Sounders are gonna have to play most of the season without Christian Rodin. Just that's how the numbers are gonna shake out. Like, they will play more of the season without Christian Rodin than they will with him. That's just kind of how it's gonna end up working out. But yeah, I mean, I think like you put,
00:19:49
Speaker
you try to put your best players in their best positions and you kind of hope it works out. And I like I'm just a little skeptical of like, does that does him playing the 10 and then like moves Nico to this like inverted like inverted short playing right winger and they end up kind of like
00:20:12
Speaker
doing the same thing. What does that do? What's the ideal situation there? And how does that work out? And I'm skeptical that it is good. I think you just have to play one or the other. And if the other guy is a 34-year-old player who doesn't have a contract for next season but is also
00:20:38
Speaker
the best player to ever play for the club. Like that's just a hard thing to do during the season. And I think you just gotta kind of like, we saw how good this team could be when they have, when Rusnak is playing deeper this season. Like we saw that this season. We saw how good they were for the first, let's say 10 games of the season. And that team,
00:21:05
Speaker
the one that if they could get kind of back to that level, or if they even can get to 70% of that level, I think you just got you do that this season. And then if you want Rusnak to be
00:21:17
Speaker
the guy further forward, you got to do that over an off season because like I mentioned, there's just like a cascade of problems that happen and you just can't solve that when you're playing every three days, basically. You do not have the time to make those tactical adjustments, I think.
00:21:37
Speaker
No, I don't think you do. I mean, like I doubt they've grinded this kind of dual 10 set up in training very much at all. So it kind of seemed like they were learning it on the fly in this game. And I think, I think it can work, but I do think it raises some questions about Nico's role and like, you know, is he going to be starting at right mid like that every week?
Leo Chu's Role and Potential
00:22:03
Speaker
And, you know, him out there, I know they were, like you said, they were kind of trying to do the same thing. But I agree with you. I'm a little skeptical of that. We'll see if they run it more. I do think it can work if they drill it and they get it down. But it didn't seem like it was finally tuned in this game.
00:22:28
Speaker
And I think, I think like it really kind of comes down to the type of striker that Raul Rui Diaz is, like, there was a, there was a situation, I want to say in like maybe the 35th, around the 35th minute or so, where
00:22:48
Speaker
LAFC's number two, the center back, spacing on his name, but he tries to play like kind of this arching ball out to their right back, Ryan Hollingshead, and Leo Chu intercepts it. And they're kind of off to the races, you know, it's basically like three on three. So Leo Chu picks up the ball.
00:23:06
Speaker
brings it inside to Russ Snack and Russ Snack's head is up. The entire time he's dribbling, he dribbles and he ends up dribbling 50 yards up the field. And that's incredibly impressive to have the control to be, to literally not be able to look down at the ball and just to have your head like moving constantly and to move with pace up the field. But there's only two options where Leo Chu, who, um,
00:23:31
Speaker
He has like one thing that he does, you know, he's, he's a really wide player. He's very left footed and he comes in and he crosses. That's all he does. He's not going to come in, uh, and like, try to break the lines and, and score a goal that way. Kind of like Jordan Morris does. And then the other player was Raul Rui Diaz, who either through rustiness or through kind of just like.
00:23:56
Speaker
wanting to influence the game. He wasn't going he wasn't making runs beyond the back line. So you have this situation where Rusnak has the ball has to slow down because he's getting closer to. He's just getting closer to the penalty area, so he's running out of space and that just allows LFCs numbers to it. And it ended up in that Jeep Jopala shot where he just kind of puts it over.
00:24:22
Speaker
the, um, that shy takes from outside the box. They end up recycling the ball and it comes around. And anyways, I think that this, if, if he's going to play this position, you need to just like give him runners. You play, you play Morris left, you play roll down, right? Because those are, those are two guys that can actually get in behind and actually create more space for him and round. Um, and I just don't do, they can't do that until August.
00:24:52
Speaker
You know, and we're, we're talking on June 22nd here. So it's, it just feels, it feels like a solution too early, I guess. Um, and then it also involves benching the captain.
00:25:06
Speaker
And that doesn't feel good either. Yeah, that's a big decision. What did you make of this layout shoe game? I thought it was multifaceted. He makes these great runs. He's so good at getting out in space like that. And the final product just didn't seem like it was there in this game, but how much of that is attributable to him and how much of it is he didn't have the runners in the box.
00:25:33
Speaker
Um, he's having a pretty good season statistically, but his assist total is a little propped up by that crazy game in Kansas City. Um, what's your, what's your take on all that? Yeah. And like to kind of go in, go in line with like the title of the podcast, here's like my first scorcher for you. Okay. Yeah. Uh, he played as well against LAFC that as he did against sporting Kansas city in the game that he had four assists. That's not a bad take.
00:26:00
Speaker
It's just like what happened with the ball. And you can put that up to variance. He could have had two assists against LAFC in the first half if Raul didn't put the ball. Well, one if Raul was on frame with one of them, and then another one he put it right at the goalkeeper. And then there was obviously the other one that would have been an Obed assist. But he did like,
00:26:30
Speaker
I think the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for getting Leo Chu in a position that he like he was a constant outlet all like for 60 minutes against LAFC. Now it's obviously not full strength LAFC the sounders aren't at full strength either but it is it's very one-dimensional but it's a thing that can work and it was working and with a little bit of variance in kind of
00:26:57
Speaker
like does the ball hit somebody's foot or not type of thing. He picks up a couple assists against LFC. So I thought he played, I thought he played well. I still don't want him in like the ideal starting 11, but I thought he couldn't, he couldn't have done any more. I don't think. Yeah. I agree with that. Do you both think that there's potential for growth there? Because it is, is what second, third season?
00:27:23
Speaker
It is but this is okay. This is the first season where he's actually gotten Minutes like people were writing him off as a bus before there was any sample size of minutes to say it and then this year He finally got a run and you look at it. He's at one goal seven assists He's like up there fourth or fifth in the league in assists so I I think that
00:27:48
Speaker
There is probably still room for growth there. And I don't know. It just it just seems like I was saying in the first couple of years before he got to the team that I just wanted to see him get a run. And now he's gotten that run this year. And like you're you're seeing him get his numbers and you're seeing him do some good stuff out there. Yeah. And I think we've seen the growth happen this season like during this season. I just don't. I don't know what the whole like
00:28:18
Speaker
in game. I just don't know what the Leochu plan is. When he plays, he has to be the focal point, and he's also not good enough to be the focal point, at least not yet.
00:28:37
Speaker
He just is such like a one dimensional player. And there are plenty of players in this league that have been insanely good that are one dimensional. That's not a, that shouldn't have a negative connotation to it. But it just feels weird. It just feels so weird. Like it doesn't feel like there's much to a play in there. Like six weeks ago to use him, they had to put Jordan Morris on the right. And that just like was like gouge my eyes out. That was painful.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, you know what? It feels like you're describing kind of the skill set of a super sub, you know, a guy who's maybe a little more one dimensional, but it's got that pace and he can, you know, attack you from wide areas and he's got a nice ball.
00:29:24
Speaker
But the problem is, you know, they spent all this money to bring him in as a U 22 player. So that's not really like how you want to be allocating super sub resources. But like with his skill set, like that wouldn't be a bad role for him if he's not in the ideal 11.
Impact of the Gold Cup on Seattle Sounders
00:29:44
Speaker
But it just kind of doesn't line up with the roster resources they allocated on it. And you see what I'm saying? Like,
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I just think those are two different conversations, really. Um, you, you have to allow for that nuance with the way that MLS works. Um, I am sympathetic to the view that a better player could be on this team in his sort of roster position. I understand like that hypothetical, I will sort of just sort of go, yeah, sure. You're probably right.
00:30:18
Speaker
However, he is here, so now what? And I just think in terms of maximizing potential this season, because that's all that really matters, right? I don't care about developing
00:30:39
Speaker
crazy superstars that go for $40 million, like what Atlanta tries to do, right? Like, I wanna see my favorite team win as many games as possible and lift trophies at the end of the year, or sometimes at the beginning of the year, and then the rest of the year sucks, like last year.
00:30:56
Speaker
So I think like maximizing Leo choose potential this year, we're basically seeing it. Like this is the ceiling and seven, a sit, like even take away force, take away those four assists against sport in Kansas city. He has the same number of assists as Nicholas Ledero. Yeah. Had those four assists and all of a sudden he has seven assists and he's just looked like he's looked comfortable. And that's about all you can ask. Like you have a comfortable player.
00:31:23
Speaker
It's just the pieces around him. I'm just sort of like, what, what's the, what's the thing here? Like when it's him and Morris, him on the left wing and Morris at the nine, that's probably the best we've looked all year is that, but are you going to bench Ravel Rui Diaz if he's healthy? But then on top of that, you don't have, you don't have to ask that question because Ravel Rui Diaz is, hasn't been healthy. So you just play Ravel Rui Diaz until he gets hurt. And then you got to go through this whole thing again. So.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, we'll move on from Leo too, but one thing I will say that is funny is that people always do what you said where they're like, take away the four assists. Why would you take away the four assists? I see what you were saying, I just always thought that was a funny argument against him. Yeah, so if reality was completely different, things would be different? Yeah. If he hadn't gotten those four assists, yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker
Anyway, so you kind of hit on it a little bit, but a big talking point in this game was the absences that Seattle were dealing with. Both Brodons gone on Gold Cup duty, so was Jordan Morris. And honestly, this was just so annoying because
00:32:39
Speaker
Christian had been out for over a month leading up to the two months. Yeah, to the leading up to the Charlotte game. He just gets back. The offense looks back to normal cooking against Charlotte and then he's just instantly gone again. So it's it's just bad timing and unlucky. But it's also like why the fuck is the Gold Cup six days after Nations League? You know, like so I don't know. I just figured I'd whine about that. But I think really different rosters, right? Yeah.
00:33:09
Speaker
It's like the B team now. I'd never really expect Christian to decline a call up, but I'll tell you what, Mark, I don't really know how else to look at these last few weeks other than it just feels like it's like Christian or Christian rolled on or bust for this team right now. I mean, if you think about it like.
00:33:27
Speaker
The game that he ended up going in concussion protocol after was the St. Louis game which they scored three goals and at that point they looked like one of the best teams in the league. We all know what's happened in the few weeks since then when he hadn't been playing. He gets back for the Charlotte game, he scores a goal, the team scores three goals and everything looks good again.
00:33:49
Speaker
And it just seems like when Christian rolled on his plan this team can can mess with pretty much anybody and When he doesn't they can lose to pretty much anybody. Do you see that differently or am I oversimplifying that? It's is Noah gonna allow allow me to talk about numbers for a second This is not a stats podcast. Come on, of course I control the mics here guys. Come on. Don't forget dish the stats
00:34:16
Speaker
So, so I won't talk about expected goals. I won't talk about expected shot on target. Like I won't talk about any about that. I'll just talk about goals. How's that sound? That's a good stat. That's a stat that everyone should care about. In the 700 minutes that Christian Roldan has played this season, the Sounders have scored 17 goals. That's about a goal every 50 minutes. You look at the length of soccer games, you're about, you're going to score about two goals every game that Christian Roldan is playing.
00:34:42
Speaker
Pretty good. You scored two goals. You keep the sounders are good at keeping the other team from scoring usually. Uh, so you score two goals. The other team only scores one or no goals. That's pretty good. Yeah. It'd be like about 1100 minutes that Christian Robon hasn't played. The sounders have only scored seven goals. That's about a goal every 160 minutes.
00:35:05
Speaker
Again, I don't want to do too much math because I don't want to hurt Noah's head or anything. But that's about a goal every two games, which is bad. Really. Wow.
00:35:16
Speaker
Um, and I like, I hate like oversimplifications like this because it's like in, like back in like 2018 and 2019 there was this ridiculous stat that the sounders went like, I think 26. They went 26 games unbeaten when Harry ship played. So yeah, yeah, it was crazy. Oh, I don't know.
00:35:44
Speaker
That's like a weird that's like a weird one, but I think you can see very clearly that like This whole sort of thing that the sounders are trying to do tactically um just It needs christian raldon playing um And it it is They they haven't scored more than one goal a game without christian raldon. Um, no Sorry, you you mentioned the st louis game. That was a 3-0. So
00:36:15
Speaker
That was wrong. I'll issue a correction at the end. But is anyone arguing against Christian Rolthon? Because I don't see anyone ever saying that he's not the key to unlock. It's not that people are arguing against it. It's just that I think people don't want to
00:36:35
Speaker
You never want to think that your team is like overly reliant on one player because it's frustrating to think about like, Oh, like, you know, if this guy's hurt, like we just, uh, we just can't play or like, Oh, like Christian rolled on. That just solves everything. But like,
00:36:54
Speaker
If you just look at the reality of how this season has gone I don't really see any other way to view it other than that when Christian rolled on plays team very very good like it looks like a contender when team or when Christian rolled on doesn't play team Very susceptible to getting beat doesn't score a lot of goals like that's Now I'm now it's making sense to me. Yeah now. It's making sense I think I think we've been
00:37:21
Speaker
Beating that horse. There's actually a dead horse carcass in our podcast studio right now because like but you're right Both of you that I can smell it from here. Yeah, it's been proven. It's pretty the stats I test just like even I could see it folks. Come on it just sucks because this is two years in a row, right like Joe Paul got hurt in the CCL final last year and that was basically the reason why the Sounders were bad for the rest of the season and
00:37:49
Speaker
This is a little different because, uh, theoretically Christian Roldan can play again, uh, unless he gets another concussion or worse gets hurt for a long period of time. So it's like, it's like, okay, we just got to kind of like deal for a month and then the week's cup happens and that's whatever that is. And then we've got two months of the regular season left to pick up as many points as possible and hopefully go on a run.
00:38:19
Speaker
It just sucks that that's how simple this season is. Yeah, no, it's it's pretty it's pretty annoying and It's just unfortunate that he had to leave the team again right as Right He's probably not gonna play a lot No, so
00:38:40
Speaker
it's just that's just all around unfortunate but there's really not much to be done about that i mean you know with that mind the way i see it like you know like you said i think right now it's all about just keeping your head above water uh and trying to stay as close to that top spot in the west as you can for the home playoff games but realistically it seems like it's just like uh
00:39:04
Speaker
Do anything you can to stay in playoff positioning And then hope at the end of the season that you've got the full squad healthy that Christian is healthy and if they can get to that point and just Make sure they get into the playoffs and ideally get a home playoff game But just get into the playoffs and you got Christian healthy at that point like
00:39:26
Speaker
I think I think a run in the playoffs is not like a crazy thing to think. It's just a matter of if they can stay afloat until they can get Christian back playing consistently and hopefully healthy in the playoffs.
Real Salt Lake's Form and Leadership
00:39:38
Speaker
I mean, anybody see it differently? No, I mean, like I just see a lot of similarities with 2019 in a weird way.
00:39:49
Speaker
where they started really strong. We were talking about, oh, is this the year they're going to finally take the supporter shield seriously type of thing. And then they start dropping flies in June and July, kind of classic sounder season. The summer just blows. And then they come back around, they get healthy, and then they just go on a run in the playoffs.
00:40:17
Speaker
And this, this team, like, and this organization is just sort of built to win knockout tournaments. You know, they, they made that league's cup final and like baby league's cup a couple of years ago. Um, they're like, they obviously won CCL last year. They've been to four finals since 2016. So it's just kind of like, I, I'm really sort of sympathetic to, I guess the like,
00:40:48
Speaker
person that is frustrated about like, oh, so the regular season just doesn't matter. And it's like, yeah, I mean, last year was weird. And that's that can happen once every 13 years. And that can just be weird. And then, you know, they might not end up finishing first, second or third in the West, but they're one of the three best teams in the West, if not the one of the best two teams in the West, because they've taken they've taken LFC, LFC toe to toe twice already.
00:41:18
Speaker
I certainly didn't leave this game thinking Seattle can't compete with LAFC or LAFC is much better. It was a relatively competitive game, especially in the first half. They were going at it. They were playing them straight up. I thought it was actually a pretty good game in the first half. Agreed on that front. I agree. If they keep losing to bad teams, I'll be more frustrated.
00:41:42
Speaker
I think that's about enough on the Sounders game. We broke down the hill nice and good. So I had a couple just things from around MLS. I wanted to run by you, Mark. See what you think. Messy League Soccer.
00:41:58
Speaker
Messy League Soccer. It's all going to be messy questions, actually. No, I actually didn't. I don't know who he is. I didn't have a messy question. No, OK, this this this is kind of my take of the week. This is kind of my take of the week. And tell me what you think of this. OK, Rios Rios Salt Lake.
00:42:18
Speaker
OK, they're looking like a problem. They're looking like a problem. 3-1 at St. Louis last night. And there's a couple notable things about this result. For one thing, they've been on a really hot run of form and they've been taken
00:42:33
Speaker
Not just results on the road, but they've been taking dubs on the road About to pull it up their road record is now five three and two And but the other thing about this game that I thought was interesting was Diego Luna had one goal and two assists and
00:42:56
Speaker
Diego Luna is a really interesting prospect. He started in the Quakes Academy and then he actually came up with El Paso locomotive in the USO, which is not like a super common type of path for these these young Academy guys to take.
00:43:11
Speaker
Rial Salt Lake signed him and he was a star at the U20 World Cup and hadn't gotten that much run with Rial Salt Lake and had a goal and two assists in this game and looked pretty dynamic like looked like it could be a pretty big hit of the signing for them all right so that's one thing he had a kind of a breakout game against St. Louis and then they also just signed Chicho Arango they just signed Chicho Arango
00:43:39
Speaker
That's a pretty big signing. He was a really dominant goal scorer at times for LAFC. He was a huge part of why they were so dominant last year. I think that's a pretty high percentage move in terms of how likely it is to work. I think that's pretty likely to work. And if you put an actual dynamic number nine on that team, they also had
00:44:02
Speaker
Krylocke scored two goals last night. Okay, and Krylocke has been a good player in the league for a long time He just wasn't healthy last year and now he looks back like he's in form. So if Diego Luna is a hit Krylocke is back in form. I'm curious to see if they play Krylocke and Chichorongo together but either way Chichorongo in there that's like a big boost for them and
00:44:26
Speaker
Like I think we all saw Lake might be cooking with something and they could they could be an issue in the Western Conference. I mean, what do you think about that take? Yeah, I mean, Pablo Moshrani is still their head coach, right? Yeah. But, you know, now he's got some tools to work with. It's not like money ball like that. They have a roster. See what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, they're going to be good. Yeah, they could they could finish.
00:44:53
Speaker
third or ninth, right? They've got good tools. I just think he's the type of manager to get in the way of stuff. Interesting. Why is that? He's not a good coach.
00:45:14
Speaker
I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I don't think he's a great coach but like Pablo like his whole thing is that he can kind of get your team punching above your weight that like that was the thing with the rapids and like the rapids under Pablo they made a run to the 2016 West final and Seattle handle
00:45:37
Speaker
Seattle handles him relatively easily, but like they still made a playoff run So I mean I see what you're saying like I don't think he's like a needle moving Lee great coach in MLS But I don't think he's he's not like so bad that if you give him The roster he has plus chicha orongo plus a potentially ascending star with Diego Luna and inform cry like I don't think he's gonna screw that up and
00:46:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I do. You can be right. He's like he is my like one of my least favorite managers in Major League Soccer history. I just think he's like so. I don't know. I mean, I mean, I'm just a dude, right? So it doesn't really matter what I think about him. But I so like, OK, for instance,
00:46:30
Speaker
RSL is cooking, right? There's, there's no way to two ways about that. They're playing really well. They're scoring a lot of goals. They just did a great signing. He's probably going to fit in really well because he knows the league and he hasn't been gone for very long. Colorado rapids are in the last place in the West. If you gave RSL Robin Frazier and you gave Colorado, Pablo Mashrani,
00:46:55
Speaker
Like, RSL would do that trade like 10 times out of 10. Yeah, that's a good thing, actually. Yeah. And then like Colorado, they already had him once. They don't want him again. And I just like, Pablo Mascherani doesn't go to the last place team in the league and makes them better. Whereas for whatever reason, Robin Fraser's coach team is in last place.
MLS Goals: Quality or Entertainment?
00:47:20
Speaker
And if they swapped positions, RSL would be even better.
00:47:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're I think you're right about that, but I I don't know I just don't think Pablo is so bad that he's gonna like Hey tank the team if I'm like the roster is a lot more important than the coach just in general I think so if they're if their roster is is stacked up like I think that uh whatever shortcomings Pablo might have I
00:47:49
Speaker
Don't think it's gonna like sink him, but that's what we're gonna see I was just thinking about that take like seeing that st Louis score and then watching the highlights like The goal that Diego Luna scored was really nice And I was like, oh that like if that's a hit that's pretty big for them And then like Chico is a big signing like it hasn't gotten talked about that much but I mean he's a really good number nine in MLS so
00:48:15
Speaker
They're cooking with gas a little bit. The other I think there was only one other result that I wanted to hit. Oh, I mean, did you see that the Portland Timbers lost at home to one to the Chicago Fire? Did you see that?
00:48:30
Speaker
I did, yeah, which was impressive because the fire invent crazy ways to either lose or draw games. Exactly. I couldn't believe they actually held that lead. Kaikomara scored the game winner in the 83rd minute of that. He's at 144 all time. He's closing in on Landon Donovan for second behind Wando on the all time MLS goal scoring chart.
00:48:53
Speaker
And I was shocked that they didn't hold the lead but Yeah, that's I mean that's just a tough one for Portland to take at Providence If anyone's feeling down about the Seattle L maybe that'll make you feel better Portland's actually below the playoff line right now so I don't know I mean do you have a Portland take like what's
00:49:18
Speaker
What's going on with them right now? I don't think about them at all. You don't think about them at all? Nor should you. Sorry, not to go all Mad Men or anything. I didn't mean to quote that word for word. No, well, I do think Chicago is actually the story of that game because they don't usually hold a lead. When the Chicago Fire have a one goal lead,
00:49:40
Speaker
They're given that right back. They don't want the lead. They'll let you take it. They want that game equalized or maybe even with them down a goal. So it was pretty surprising to see them pull that off. I wanted to talk about just the bangers. There's more bangers. Jose Martinez of the Philadelphia Union last night. Everyone see that goal?
00:50:08
Speaker
His first career goal, right? His first career goal in Jim Curtin was joking around after the game. I was on his post-match Zoom call. He said that moves Jose to one for 286. And I think the actual stat was like, it's like one for like 90 something. But if you guys haven't seen the shot chart on that, it's really, really funny.
00:50:32
Speaker
Every shot he's taken in his career Except for one has been from outside the box and he's missed every single one up until that goal, which was Just such a crazy goal the bend he put on that I don't even know how he did that Jim Curtin also said Roberto Carlos vibes It didn't have like that wicked of movement, but it was really but that was it was the headline on MLS soccer comms
00:50:56
Speaker
I mean, yeah, it definitely it most definitely was. And then Pablo Ruiz from Real Assault Lake in the last match day, he hit one from almost 70 yards out, which that was one of the craziest like goalkeeper off the line distance goals. Tyler Miller moment.
00:51:14
Speaker
Tyler Miller moment but actually so first of all like people are trying to like detract from it by like saying oh like Tyler Miller's office line or whatever first of all like Wayne Rooney apparently told Tyler Miller to like play like that and he even said like I know you might get bammed on at some point someone might catch you off the line but like we want to play like aggressive so I want you doing that anyways so Tyler Miller was coached up to do that and
00:51:41
Speaker
and real salt lake also scouted it up pablo said that they scouted that up and that's like kind of why they were looking for that so it wasn't like out of nowhere but either way it's just been the continuation of uh like the last two weeks have been some of the it's been like the most
00:51:59
Speaker
highlight real crazy like sports center type 10 type of goals that I've seen just concentrated in one two weeks band that I can remember. So my question to Mark is, you know, like, is MLS good? Now? Like, is this is just like a fluke thing? Or like, do you think it's honestly like stuff like this is like an indication of an increase in quality that we're seeing around the league?
Episode Wrap-up with Mark Kastner
00:52:29
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I think so. I mean, I'm pretty bullish on our own little domestic league we got here. It's pretty silly, but it's it's good. I've been talking with some nerd friends across the pond on that little island over there, and that's always kind of my barometer. Like, I just like ask them, like, hey, what do you think about things?
00:52:54
Speaker
And they keep telling me that they think MLS is one of the more exciting leagues to watch. So I think, like, things are getting good. But, like, I don't know how much, like, stock to put in, like, bangers, right? Yeah, I don't either. Yeah, that's why I'm asking. I just, like, I just think that they just, like, Patrick Iani scored, like, one of the craziest goals I have ever seen live.
00:53:23
Speaker
And then like 18 months later, I was walking through West Seattle and like helped him move because I saw that he was, it was when he got traded. I think he got traded at Chicago or something like that. Anyway, I don't need to get into that story, but, um,
00:53:40
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if bangers are good or if they're bad. Cause like, like you take Martinez's goal, right? He just like shoots that and it's, it's pretty late in the game, right? It's like the 85th minute or something like that. Oh, the stoppage time and the stoppage time. Okay. I never, ever, ever, ever want to see anybody ever take that shot.
00:53:58
Speaker
I don't care if it's literal messy in that position. I don't want to see Messi take that shot because it's so low percentage, right? Yeah. But it goes in. So like- Jim Curtin said the whole sideline was going, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, okay. So I think they were taking the same thing.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's indication of like overall quality. I do think it's interesting that you said that the coach that I apparently hate more than God scouted that situation against DC. But things like that are way more interesting because that means that teams have more resources, they have more analysts and they can like see things like that.
00:54:41
Speaker
because I doubt like that just shows up in tape, right? I think you have like a data analyst or a video analyst being like, oh, Tyler Miller actually has the highest starting position of any goalkeeper in the league, which is actually true. And then you kind of go and you look at the video data and you see like, oh, if we pick up the ball in these positions, we can chip them.
00:55:03
Speaker
So I think that is an indication that the overall quality is much higher than it used to be. Interesting point. I like that. I like that.
00:55:13
Speaker
All right, well, that was all I had for you, Mark. I think we can wrap it right there. Thank you so much for coming on, my guy. Historic first guest in the history of lobbing scorchers. It was fun talking ball with you, fun talking Seattle Sounders, even though we had to break down an L, which was unfortunate. But we'll have you back at some point. Next time I have you back, it'll be when we're breaking down a dub, OK? And we can have some fun with that. But, you know, for
00:55:43
Speaker
We appreciate you coming on as our first ever guest to break that down. Anything you want to show, Mark? Yeah, yeah. Where can people find you on social and where can they find your written content? Pretty much on every social media thing I am MKSTNR. It's just kind of like my name with no valves.
00:56:06
Speaker
Valves. I said valves, which is funny. He's got sub-brain. And yeah, I am like always doing some stuff on Sound at Heart, which I'm sure people that listen to this podcast are familiar with that already. I will say kind of keep your eyes peeled and maybe we've got some exciting things happening soon. Liverpool stuff? You want to plug your Liverpool stuff at all?
00:56:30
Speaker
Oh, sure, yeah. The Liverpool offside, which is another kind of like sister site to Sounder at Heart. I don't want to say what the parent company is because we're all mad at them. OK, fair enough. Everyone, please boo them.
00:56:48
Speaker
Well, we're going to call it a wrap for episode seven of Lobbin' Scorchers right there. Thank you so much to Mark Kastner for jumping on. Thank you to everyone out there that's been listening, downloading, subscribing, writing reviews, rating five stars. Until next time, we out. Peace.