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Episode 378: Mailbag for Week 7
71 Plays2 years ago
This is the mailbag episode ahead of Week 7 of the MLS season. If you'd like to get your questions answered in future episodes, please shoot us an email at nosaudietis@gmail.com.
In this episode, we answer questions about the quality of the Sounders opposition, the Sounders' midfield, what we should expect lineup-wise, the concern over MLS Season Pass subscriber numbers and decide who's the biggest complainer among MLS head coaches.
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If you'd like to become a subscriber to our Substack, that can be found here.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorships
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye!
Seattle Sounders MLS Cup Victory
00:00:35
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup winners! And Portland can't say he's cheating! Here comes Rudy Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle! They have climbed the mountain!
00:00:51
Speaker
And now our masters of all that they survey. Michael Adero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region. Seattle Sounders is confirmed. Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. Is that what you young people call twerking? How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome. Why do we win? Why do we win? This is Seattle Sounders, bro.
00:01:25
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle Like a beautiful child growing up
00:01:42
Speaker
Thanks to Watson's Counter for sponsoring this episode. Located in Ballard, Watson's Counter is your neighborhood specialty coffee shop, brunch spot, and now, coffee roaster. Sourcing exclusively high-scoring coffees, Watson's Counter has started their coffee roasting project to showcase amazing coffees grown around the world. Their first featured coffee is the beautifully complexed, washed Ethiopian Odola.
00:02:04
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at wantsonscounter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
Weekly Q&A Session Format Change
00:02:23
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Nos Ariates. This is the question and answer session for the week of April 3rd, I guess we're calling it. It's ahead of the St. Louis city game. It's after the LA galaxy game. And yeah, we're, we're trying out something new where we have broken the sort of mailbag aspect of this into its own show. So if you like this.
00:02:47
Speaker
Hey, let us know if you don't like it. We also really curious in hearing that. And, uh, maybe we'll make them back to one show, but people seem to be responding in a positive way so far. Uh, and it's been kind of fun to kind of do it this way. Yeah. So, uh, I'm Jeremiah Shan joining me today, Aaron Campo and our engine engineer Lickett.
00:03:10
Speaker
Aaron, why don't you just go ahead and start us off and fire away.
Sounders' Performance Debate
00:03:14
Speaker
You bet. Yeah. I was going to say the, the podcast, it's getting close to its teenager. So we're starting to experiment. Yeah. And, uh, you know, walk over that line. Definitely, definitely the, uh, the loving, but firm parents and guiding us in the right direction. Uh, the first one is from D underscore height. How much is our form based on us being pretty good versus the other teams being trash. LA was garbage in the first half.
00:03:39
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I think there's something to be said about, you know, if you look at the four teams, the Sounders have beat, you'll notice that they are the four bottom teams in the Western Conference. I think that is a little unfair to say they're only beating bad teams because
00:04:01
Speaker
I'll give you an example. Colorado this week tied LAFC. They have only given up, I think, three goals since the Sounders hung four on them. Maybe they've given up four goals, but they've been a pretty decent defensive team since the season opener. The Galaxy had only given up
00:04:22
Speaker
had only given up five goals coming into this game. Sporting Kansas City had only given up a few goals before we scored four on them. So I think to some degree, the Sounders are making these teams look worse than they really are, but they also aren't running through the best teams in the league.
00:04:46
Speaker
They're not, but I'm sure we've said this a billion times on the show, but you beat who you play and the bad teams they've beaten, they've beaten aside from the galaxy pretty soundly. And that's all I can do. And they looked very good against LFC. They look pretty good in Cincinnati.
00:05:04
Speaker
The goal differential, I think it's definitely helped by the teams that sounders have played. I don't think there's any question about that, but if they can play the way they played so far, I think no matter who they're playing, we'll get a good idea this weekend, I suppose, of how true that is or a better idea. But I don't think it's either or. I think it's yes and in this case.
00:05:30
Speaker
And I'll add, if what you do is you beat up on the bad teams in your conference and you play, you basically play even against the best teams in your conference, you're probably going to be like contending for the supporters shield.
Sounders' Strategy for Success
00:05:45
Speaker
Right. Because the teams that you're playing even against are playing against you as well. Exactly. Right.
00:05:51
Speaker
I mean, that's kind of how, that's kind of how it works. Yeah. Uh, and, and it's not like they've looked bad against the, you know, the FC Cincinnati and LAFC are arguably, you know, almost on everyone's, uh, power rankings, the three top teams are LAFC, Cincinnati and the Sounders. So the Sounders have held their own against those two other teams. Uh, it's not like, so like, yes.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yes, is the answer, I suppose, to this question. This is from one of our favorite commenters, Bill Jones, TRPT.
Rusnak's Role and Tactical Adjustments
00:06:27
Speaker
We seem to be able to control the midfield a bit less ably against LA. If that's true, is that a result of moving Rusnak to the three line? It's nice having his service closer to goal, but would we be better off with him next to JP?
00:06:40
Speaker
I think generally, yes. And this has been a thing we've kind of batted around quite a bit over the last couple of years, really. I think, yeah, I like him in that spot in central midfield. I think it suits the way the team plays. That being said, I'm not sure that it was the reason that there were problems in the midfield because those problems in the midfield were not there in the first half. And I think it was a tactical adjustment by Greg Vanney to overload the midfield.
00:07:07
Speaker
that, that caused the problems. And, uh, Josh, I think was, was great against burning Kansas city was, was good in the first half against that way. I think he struggled a little bit after, after the half. Um, and it wasn't just him. I mean, Joe Apollo had his struggles as well. The sounders just did midfield in general, got pretty well over on in the second half on a lot of occasions. And, um, and that's going to happen. I think that it,
00:07:36
Speaker
all things being equal, I like rough snack centrally. I think that having to reshuffle the midfield to get Christian back and to write back and everything, that was a contributing factor to the way that second half went. But I really think it was more about X's and O's and things the galaxy were doing to change things up rather than
00:08:04
Speaker
Rusnak specifically being moved into the attack. Yeah. Um, on a, on a totally unrelated note, uh, I had a, a fun, a fun quote quotes around fun, uh, interaction about the proper pronunciation of Albert Rusnak's name or Rusnak. Uh, any, I was able to surmise
00:08:28
Speaker
The root of this problem appears to be Albert himself. The reason this came up recently was he did a little Twitter hit on social media where he introduced himself as Albert Rusnak. So previously he has said Rusnak, or Rusnak is how he would say it, more of a Slavic
00:08:59
Speaker
uh, tone and I don't know what the answer is here. I don't know what he wants to be called because he himself, I've heard him say his name, Rusnak, which is essentially Rusnak. Right. Right. And so like it's, I don't know what the answer is here. I don't know where we fall, but I think the answer is you can say it either way.
00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah. And I, and I will say I am, I am American obviously, but I have a French last name. I don't know if you noticed the correct pronunciation of my last name, the proper French pronunciation is compo. Right. The way that I've always pronounced it is campo. Uh-huh. And the way that I say it probably 20% of the time is campo.
00:09:44
Speaker
Right. And so it's like a very normal thing. It's not that weird. But I do think it's good that people want to say people's last names. Right. Yes. Yes. And I think they're definitely pronunciations of certain names, especially that you should really be embarrassed to say in a certain way. Right. But I do think that, like, there's generally going to be some margin for error. And people will say the point of that whole thing was people are going to say their own last names.
00:10:13
Speaker
Different ways. Yeah, and and a lot of them the way they won't say it any of the ways they say it won't technically be the correct pronunciation, right? And you know what? And they might not and a lot of people don't care like that too big like they aren't they aren't that wrapped up in how you say their name as long as you're making as long as it's like you're not butchering it, right? Right. If you were saying russ snack, that might be a problem Right. Yeah. Anyway, so that was my little
00:10:43
Speaker
divergence, but I'm, I'm glad we talked about that. Cause I was thinking about my example the whole time that whole thing was going on. And it was like, I hope this comes up on the show. Uh, next one from Mikey six strings.
Sounders' Bench Depth and Open Cup Potential
00:10:54
Speaker
Does coach take a, if it ain't broke approach with the number nine slot leaving Morris there, or is that default Rudy has a spot as long as he's rested slash healthy along those lines as JMO, a better striker or left-winger? How far does the bench depth take Seattle in the open cup?
00:11:09
Speaker
You know, these are these are good questions. And I will let me address this part of it first, because I think this is maybe the most important part, that the idea that the default is that it really is a spot. And I hope, and I don't know, this is the answer. My hope is that there is no default, that
00:11:30
Speaker
Rui Diaz, if he's the starter, it's because he's the guy who gives the Sounders the best chance to win, not just because he has scored a ton of goals in his Sounders career, but that he's the best option that week.
00:11:48
Speaker
And maybe there's something to be said about building up his confidence and doing all those kinds of things. But it has to all be with the purpose of making the team as good as possible. And if he's bawling out in training, and I go out to training almost every day, I got to tell you, he looks really good in training. So it's like, I don't think the idea that he's fully falling off, I don't see it. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if on any given week,
00:12:16
Speaker
He hits a new level. Uh, that said, Jordan has looked spectacular as a number nine. And I think it's worth noting this is the best he's ever looked as a number nine. I don't think there's ever been a point in his career where it's he's like, he's had extended runs as a number nine before. He's never looked this good.
00:12:33
Speaker
This is the best he's ever looked, period. I mean, because he started as a nine. That's where he played originally, really, because it was a big deal when he moved to a winger spot. There were a lot of questions about whether or not that was sort of sacrificing his future.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, and I, I don't know what his best position is right now. I had kind of talked myself into thinking that his best position was the left winger. These last couple weeks have really made me rethink that I think it's possible his best position is as a number nine. But I say this about a lot of players.
00:13:09
Speaker
Well, I think one of the things as fans, sometimes we have to do is take ourselves out of the mindset of like, well, how do we get the best out of this player? And how
Optimizing Player Combinations
00:13:18
Speaker
do we, and think more of it, like, how does, how do these pieces all fit together in a way that makes the team the best it can be? That's sort of the mindset that Brian Spencer, I think has to have. And I think it's the right mindset.
00:13:31
Speaker
Uh, and, and I think let's also be realistic. Like, let's be real. Jordan wasn't, it's not like Jordan was playing badly and then got moved to the number nine and went crazy. Like he does have three goals in, in four games as a left-winger this year. So it's like, he's doing well no matter where he's playing. Uh, but maybe, I mean, it might, his might be as best as, as a number nine, I don't know, but we've seen.
00:13:58
Speaker
He may be. Uh, I don't, I think the thing is that Jordan's best position is in front of the goal and as long as he is getting into good positions. So you can put him on the left and just tilt the field in a way that gets him into those positions a little bit more frequently. And you know, I do think you're right that it's not like he was struggling and got shifted to the, I mean, one of the narratives early on in the year was Jordan looks like a completely different player.
00:14:27
Speaker
And that's carried on. I'm not sure that it's as much him moving to the center as it is. He's just naturally going to get more of the chances, more of the chances of roles, not on the field. And so, you know, if he moves back to the left, he's probably not going to score as many goals.
00:14:45
Speaker
but that those chances are going to go to somebody. Maybe he's the one creating them for Raul. Maybe they're just going to him from a different position. Who knows? But Jordan doesn't have to score five goals every two games for the Sounders to succeed, which is good because he's not going to like, he's not going to go out and score another six goals over the next three or four games. If like, that's not guaranteed. If he's playing as a striker,
00:15:12
Speaker
Now maybe he will. I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying never, but he could also do that as a left-winger. Who knows? Like if in the kind of form that he is in, I don't think it is. I don't think that this is because he's playing in a specific part of the field. I think it's just cause he's in exceptional form and has a lot of confidence and he's going to, he's going to create if he's playing on the left, he's going to score. I'm not too worried about it.
00:15:36
Speaker
Uh, I, we should also address the final part of, uh, Mikey six strings question, which was how far does the depth take the Seattle in the open cup? And man, I love the idea of an a bear being the, you know, early round number nine for the sounders and, and, uh, you know, I, I hope, I hope I love to win an open cup game. It's been a while since the sun doesn't want an open cup game.
00:16:05
Speaker
I think 2017 is the last time the Sounders won an Open Cup game. I think that the Sounders have the talent, the depths to make a deep run, but I think they did last year as well. I think they did in... Did they have one in 2021? They did, right? No. 2021, yes.
00:16:24
Speaker
No, they didn't. You're right. 2020. Yeah. But I think, I don't think they've ever not had the depth to at least win a game. Right. But you're not, you're not guaranteed anything. And you know, I just like, they've come up against decent competition a fair amount. Um,
00:16:46
Speaker
But I do think that, yeah, they could win the thing this year. They could lose in the first round again. I mean, who knows? I know that they made some structural changes and that makes it less likely for the Sounders to play Portland, I think, again. Is that true? I think so. I think I heard that somewhere. Maybe, I don't know, maybe not. Maybe I'm wrong. But in any case,
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, so I had to remind myself of how last year went and the play the earthquakes and they lost obviously, but they lost on penalties and 11 round. Yeah. 11 rounds. And you know, I'm kind of remembering this game now and they played pretty well. Like they, they played a definitely like a younger team, but they had some starters on the team on the field. The earthquakes played, I think a little bit stronger of a team.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's not hard to see that happening this year, right? I guess it's the point where I'm going with it. Because knockout competitions are knockout competitions. It's just kind of the way it goes. They lost to the rowdies in Tampa Bay one year playing a really strong team. It just happens. It just happens sometimes. But I do think they have... There's no reason to think they couldn't make a deep run, for sure. Yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
This is from TIE Fighter 17. Not to take anything away from what Jackson Reagan has done, but how much have Javier Arriaga's playing time do we think is a result of the post, the social media post from last season?
Javier Arriaga's Playtime Controversy
00:18:30
Speaker
I'm a little shocked he's only played 35 minutes this season. Hard for him to be sharp fit or sold if he's not making appearances. I don't think it has anything to do with it. Yeah, I yeah, I think.
00:18:43
Speaker
I was very disappointed in that post. It sucked to see, uh, it was a huge bummer. I also am not sure how you can just bench a guy for, you know what I mean? Like I know they had a conversation with them and said, don't maybe don't do that. I don't know. I wasn't privy to the conversation obviously, but I think it's pretty fair to take a stab that that was the gist of it of like, Hey, you should maybe consider what team you play for before you say stuff like that or stuff like that. Um, but I, I just, I don't think that,
00:19:14
Speaker
I don't think that's the kind of thing that the sounders are going to just make someone persona non grata for. And if they're going to, they would have done it a long time ago. If there were consequences, like you're just not going to play anymore, they would have bought them out. They would have traded them for lower value than...
00:19:32
Speaker
I just think that Jackson Reagan is really good. He's a really, really good player and he's won that spot. And I think that he kind of one of the three lines of the show tonight has been you've got to find the combination of players that gives you the best chance to win. And I think that he and Yamer are just a really, really good center back pairing. I think Jackson has a super high ceiling. And so if you want to get the most out of him as a player, let him fail, like let him keep playing until he fails, give him every chance to succeed.
00:20:02
Speaker
And I think, you know, Ariaga, if he stays on the team this year, I think it's going to get playing time. It was nice to see him come in off the bench, you know, and get some playing time against Galaxy. Would have preferred it to be a little bit less of a, you know,
00:20:20
Speaker
disconcerting situation, but I dunno, I just, I think it's cause Jackson Reagan has won the job. Like, I think it's that simple. I think if Ariaga had made that post and then doubled down on it and, and instead of being somewhat contrite, I preferred it was a little bit more, but you know, what are you going to do? Um, maybe then there would be something to it, but I just think it was something that they were happy to handle in house and move on with. I think he, he just lost the job.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, frankly, I just haven't seen any evidence that it's, that it's impacting him. I mean, he started two games for the Sounders last year after, after that post, uh, he, I think it's much more plausible that he just lost the job this year. If the Sounders were trying to get rid of them.
00:21:06
Speaker
They could have gotten rid of them now. I don't know. They could have gotten pop dollar for them, but if they wanted, there was plenty of interest around the league, my understanding in Davia or Yaga, if, if they just were done with them.
00:21:19
Speaker
it would have been very easy to find someone to take them off their hands, especially with all the injuries that have happened around the league to turn back. So I just don't buy that a social media post from six months ago is a thing that's keeping them from playing more. Uh, and you know, he'll, he'll get time. I do think one interesting thing that I'll be watching and I don't know the answer to right now is at left back,
00:21:46
Speaker
they really don't have a natural backup to NuWho, but I think it's, you know, one of the things that we saw with the Alex Roldan decision is that they don't really need a traditional left back to back up NuWho because NuWho is not being asked to be admitted.
00:22:00
Speaker
a traditional, you know, modern left back. He's, I guess this is now the new modern in a lot of ways. It's like, he doesn't, he doesn't necessarily get up and attack and they sort of switch into this back three. And I wouldn't, I'm curious if like Javier Arriaga could potentially essentially be used as his backup there. You know, Kellen Rowe has been his backup. He's still dealing with a hamstring injury.
00:22:23
Speaker
You know, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Alex Roldan play there again. You know, who knows maybe Reed Baker Whiting finds his way onto the field playing in that position. Maybe Josh Atencio, but I would think Ariaga is one of the guys that they'll consider playing there. So, you know, I don't think Ariaga's contributions are done with the sounders, even if it's not necessarily as a automatic starter at one of the two center back positions.
00:22:50
Speaker
All right. Next one's from Derek M. Young. Is it time to panic about roster management? Yeah. I mean, this is, this is a fun one to like, this is the fun kind of panic, right? Yeah. Like it's been, it has actually been refreshing to be debating people about which of these clearly useful players should we be trying to get onto the field more often.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's very nice. And it's interesting, right? Because it forces you to think about the team holistically and to think about how the parts work together and the risks and advantages of certain trade-offs. It is fun instead of saying like, how do we plug these holes? Which has definitely been much more of the
00:23:34
Speaker
way these conversations have gone in, in years past. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, this is from J SSFC. I keep seeing flashes of Nico and Leo bickering at times in the past few matches. Then they both get assists and are all smiles. Should we be worried or is Nico expecting more of chew to bring out the best or how fired up can we expect roll to be?
00:23:55
Speaker
I think Niko is a veteran captain on a team that has really high standards. And I think Leochu is a supremely talented player that does frustrating things at times. And I think it's not a big deal. I wouldn't worry about it. The problem is not when they're all smiles after a goal. The problem is when they still look pissed off at each other after a goal. That's just how leadership works in sports. And as long as the players are responding to it, I'm not too concerned about it.
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, I would say Nico is someone who I think over time we've learned, he's got a great personality and he's a lot, he seems like a really nice guy, but he is super intense when it comes to playing. You know, we, we heard about this story in 2016 where he basically told Rormont Torres to turn off the music before the game because he just didn't feel like that was conducive to getting in the right head space. And I think that, you know,
00:24:54
Speaker
He's changed in some ways, but I do think he is a really... You don't see him having a lot of happy interactions with teammates unless it's to celebrate a goal on the field.
00:25:10
Speaker
I don't have a problem with that. Like I think he, it's definitely about pushing Leo to be a better player. Uh, and, and right now it seems to be working pretty well. Yeah. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about teammates, coaches about, about Nico. No, no, you know, we all know like people who are, take what they do maybe a little too seriously, but as long as their intentions are good and they never crossed the line, it's, it can be motivating, you know?
00:25:40
Speaker
And no one questions the work that he's putting into. Like, it's not like he's asking anyone to do stuff that he's not himself doing. This isn't the former sounder Shrekkers who will go unnamed, who would yell at players for not doing the right thing and then try to take corners away from Maro Rosales. This is a leading by example sort of deal.
00:26:04
Speaker
Next one from 206Hometowners. Not sounder specific, but there have been rumors of Apple having an exit clause for their deal and bad subscription numbers. Sourcing seems to be suspect at best.
Apple's MLS Challenges
00:26:16
Speaker
There are asterisks around at best and I'm going to add six additional asterisks around at best. But still curious if you've got any sense from the club about how things are going and if they are liking how it's working. So I will say that I have talked to people
00:26:33
Speaker
both in the club and sort of like that are involved in the operations for MLS. And as you might expect, there are a lot of people see are pretty open about the benefits and the drawbacks of this deal. I think the obvious drawbacks are that
00:26:56
Speaker
the audience isn't quite there where they want it to be. And I don't know, like I, no one's confirmed to me this, you know, like there was reporting that sales are only at 40% of what they expected it to be. I have no idea if that's true. I have no way of confirming that. The people I talked to said they, they didn't know anything along those lines. If it's true, it would be concerning on some level.
00:27:22
Speaker
I don't think Apple is going to be backing out of this deal anytime soon. That would be pretty shocking.
00:27:29
Speaker
But there are some frustrations with how this is working. We found out just recently that MLS Next Pro games are not available for replay. That's ridiculous. That's something that I don't think MLS teams seem to have been caught off guard by. A lot of them, I think, were planning on using it themselves and were frustrated that they couldn't do that.
00:27:54
Speaker
uh there's like definitely frustrations with production elements of the games you know uh replays have seemed to be really like they seem to be really stingy with replays even though there's like a ton of cameras that's been kind of weird i talked about this how there's uh this
00:28:14
Speaker
This thing when they don't really do stand ups where you get a sense of place at these games. So, and I guess that's has to do with the way that they're streaming it and it's like one stream for both the English and Spanish feed so they can't break out to do.
00:28:31
Speaker
you know, separate shots of the announcers or things like that. There's lots of little things with the way that they're doing the pre and post game. But at the same time, everyone seems really excited about the potential of this thing. And it's not that hard, like if you watch these, like I watched a lot of these,
00:28:50
Speaker
And the production value generally like the quality of the feed is good, the audio is usually like it sounds really good even if the announcers aren't great. There's a lot to really like about this. I still think the 360 show is like a game changer. I think having everything in one place the way it is has a lot of potential as well. But yeah, there's growing pains, no doubt about it. For sure.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think specifically to the rumors about Apple wanting to back out of the deal. I am extremely skeptical that MLS would agree to this deal.
00:29:32
Speaker
giving Apple one out. I am. Certainly an out early. Like if you told me that there was a five year, like at five years, Apple is allowed to reassess this. Yeah. I would for sure. I would be willing to believe that. But there's no way Apple and MLS got into this thing where it's like the relationship is at risk right now. Right. Six games in. Right. Like Apple, maybe I'm sure Apple would have loved that. You know, they would love the
00:30:00
Speaker
having the opportunity to kill the deal at any point, but that's not how contracts work. Well, that's not how contracts work, but it's also not how Apple tends to do business. No, it's not. Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, if you look at a lot of the shows that they have on Apple TV Plus, they renew them without necessarily there being huge viewership numbers. It's that there's some
00:30:26
Speaker
other play that's going on here. And they're just not a short-term investment kind of company. No. And I still think that for Apple, the primary benefit to this deal is being able to tell the Premier League or La Liga or the NFL or whoever, hey, look at this product that we did this for this Ranky Dink
00:30:49
Speaker
that nobody cares about. And I think that's a pretty compelling story that they can tell. And I think they had to know that there was a pretty decent chance they were going to lose money on this deal. And that it's not... Yeah, almost guaranteed, I think. Right. And that's not the point of it. And Apple is a trillion dollar company. They can throw money at things like this without it being that big of a deal. Right.
00:31:18
Speaker
So yeah, I'm not too worried about that. And I totally agree with you in terms of the production. I hadn't actually noticed the lack of replays or stand-up interviews. And that's interesting. I don't miss them, I would say. The replays, maybe that can be a little annoying. I'll have to look at that. But I don't miss the coach interviews at all. I always found them awkward.
00:31:42
Speaker
And it would be funny when Brian was pissed off about something and that was always enjoyable. But yeah, I don't miss that stuff necessarily. I think the quality is stellar and the audio quality is stellar. I've been really happy with it.
00:31:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm, I hope it works out. I hope it keeps working out. Uh, and I, and I definitely like it a lot better than I did watching on, on, uh, Bob TV or whatever that thing was called that the games were on before. I think it just, I'm happy to pay a couple extra bucks a month.
00:32:14
Speaker
to get the better streams and get all the rest of the games as well. All right. This one's from Dave W Montgomery. It's way too early, but I can't help but think about 2024. Who's our number 10 next then Nico a season Rusnak Rusnak someone else with the sounders winter 23 transfers summer 24 transfer.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't I don't know. I mean, I think the plan my suspicion was that when they signed signed Albert Rusnak or whatever we're gonna know I'm in my head about this, but
00:32:47
Speaker
I think the plan probably was like, he was a good fallback option. I don't necessarily know that they're looking at him as option one a to replace Nico, assuming he doesn't come back next year. And that seems like a position where they could go out and potentially like spend some real money. Uh, cause presumably they'll have some money to spend at that point. Uh, but.
00:33:13
Speaker
I don't know. That's a, that's a good question. I have to tell you though, I'm not really looking forward to, uh, having to answer it. I, I will say that I've heard weird, like what I find weird complaints about Nico's performances this year. Yeah. I think he's been great. Like really, really great. Uh, he quite, I think he already, I think actually he's, he's up to three assists now. Um,
00:33:42
Speaker
But like the ball that he played to Leo for the first, on the first goal is just such a great example of what he does well, where he would just essentially plays a blind ball. Absolutely perfect. And he's being asked to do less this year than he was asked to do. And he seems to be better off for it. And I'm enjoying it a lot. I have the exact same read. I think it's, it's partially that like he's taking a much,
00:34:09
Speaker
He's much less involved directly in goals, and I think he's more involved in the build up a lot, but he's doing that at such a high level. And that's just the stuff that I think gets overlooked. But I think it's also an issue, and I think we've seen this with Stephen Fry this year, where yeah, Nico is not the player that he was in 2017.
00:34:30
Speaker
That's different than not being a very good player. Stephen Fry is not the same keeper he was in 2017, but he's still a very good keeper and player, you know, father time is undefeated, right? Like players are going to decline, but Nico is not cooked. Like this is not a Diego Valerian is last year in Portland situation. As far as I'm concerned, like he is still one of the best players on the team.
00:34:55
Speaker
one of the best players in his position in the league, he's just a little more limited. But again, the team has found a way to set him up for success without missing too much of the things he used to do. They're just getting those contributions elsewhere. Yeah, exactly. He's the least of my
00:35:15
Speaker
I don't have a lot of concerns about the Sounders, but I'm actually really feeling good about him. I think he's a lot more likely to keep up this level doing the things he's doing this year than he would if he was trying to play it the same way it was last year. Yeah. All right. This is from Tim. Is it Ian or Lance?
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, huh? Sorry about that. Lan. Lan, okay. Tim Lan. The 2025 Club World Cup looks to be a huge opportunity to make the Sounders a global brand and attract a high level young talent. What should the two to three year club prep plan for this tournament look like? And what would you view as a successful finish in the tournament? I just don't agree with the general premise, I guess.
00:36:08
Speaker
I don't think it's much of an opportunity to increase the Sounders global presence. I think there's the potential that you
Club World Cup Impact on Sounders
00:36:21
Speaker
can scout young talent at the tournament or make connections with some of the bigger clubs that have kids in their academy that maybe they want to send over on loan for a few years.
00:36:33
Speaker
The Club World Cup is not a tournament that... And I know that they're trying to change that and maybe they'll be successful and maybe I'm eating crow and that'd be great. But I just don't think it moves the needle that much for clubs like in terms of global branding, prominence, all that kind of stuff. The Seattle Sounders are still more well known in places like the UK for having a funny sounding name and being a punchline to jokes than they are playing in the Club World Cup. And that's just reality.
00:37:03
Speaker
I, that doesn't mean you shouldn't care about the tournament and that you shouldn't be invested and that you shouldn't be proud to be there. But I think that this idea that it's going to put the club on the map, I just don't think that that's true. In terms of a successful finish, I would like to play more than one game. I think that would be good. Yeah, I think that's good. My understanding.
00:37:29
Speaker
I think a lot of it is going to depend on the execution and I'll take a slightly different perspective on this. I think this potentially could be a big deal. The rumor is that it's going to be set up where you're in a four team group and you'll probably have almost guaranteed to have one big European team in your group.
00:37:53
Speaker
You know, presumably they'll play like a European team, you know, let's say an African team and, uh, you know, or an African or Asian team and the South American team or something like that. Like that's a potentially exciting group to be in. And, you know, it could be, it could be a big deal and it'll be interesting to see how it's set up. You know, MLS has a big role to play in and how big of a deal this is for the Sounders because there's a world where.
00:38:23
Speaker
you know, if this is supposedly going to be held in summer and if the Sounders have to go play in this thing and then they have to go straight into like a league's cup again, that's going to be a disaster, frankly.
00:38:34
Speaker
If MLS is smart, what they're going to do is they're going to schedule League's Cup to run concurrently with this tournament, and they're going to excuse any participants from CONCACAF, presumably the League of Amechies and the MLS teams from playing in League's Cup and just send them to this Club World Cup. And so that they are essentially playing a similar
00:38:56
Speaker
a similar tournament that they would have otherwise been playing in league's cup. And I think if they do that, this has potential to be a really good thing for the league. And, and it's like potentially like where the team can just put all their energy into this thing because they're not having to worry about balancing it with, you know, putting themselves at a disadvantage by going for it and doing all this kind of things. So I hope that's what they do, but there's no guarantee that's what's going to happen. Uh, MLS makes lots of curious decisions.
00:39:26
Speaker
And, you know, who knows, but I just, I guess my question is, so let's, let's say that, that this, the format is the way it is. And I'm not questioning that at all. And MLS, it is a best case scenario where MLS and CONCACAF in general commit to
00:39:47
Speaker
allowing teams to put an emphasis on this. Maybe even the Sounders get like some kind of roster bonus where they can spend a little more money. Best case scenario, they get all the support they need. They go, they get out of the group. Maybe they even won a knockout game, right? Or they
00:40:07
Speaker
take Real Madrid to extra time, what tangible impact on the club's global position? Do you see that happening? And how much of a difference do you see? Because I think that the perception... I just don't think there's enough time between now and 2025 for the perceptions of the club world cup and its importance to change in the places where... You might be right. And I'm not... I don't...
00:40:34
Speaker
I'm not trying to be like a Debbie Downer at all. I just, it's less to me, it's less about this. You shouldn't be getting your hopes up because the real soccer places don't care. It's not that. And I feel like it's probably coming off at that. And that's not how I mean it. It's that ultimately
00:40:55
Speaker
I know I've been able to enjoy the Sounders a lot more, the less I care about that stuff, about how much other people care about them. That's a good point. Yeah. I hope that there can be tangible benefits to the club making connections, the club impressing younger players. Like maybe that's the thing I am downplaying some is that if you're like a young prospect or you're the agent of like younger players looking for a bigger move,
00:41:22
Speaker
you're going to see the appeal of a club that is going to a competition like that and performing. So I'm probably underselling that. And that could be an area where it benefits the Sounders. But in terms of just becoming established as this global brand, I'm just skeptical. Yeah. And I guess to the degree, this is where I think I effectively agree with you is there is this sense that players are willing to make sacrifices
00:41:51
Speaker
in order to have a chance to play in the World Cup. And who knows, maybe this tournament ends up becoming something on the scale of the real World Cup where people just get really excited about it and it's this showcase event. But the reality is it's probably not going to be the first one. And so like the potential of bawling out and it being this great recruiting tool
00:42:21
Speaker
is probably limited for this one, but it might help on the margins. But yeah, I think we probably need to check our aspirations a little bit. We can't put too much hope into this being a game-changing moment for the club. Yeah, I think that's all it is. It's just
00:42:53
Speaker
American soccer is American soccer. And in places like the UK, Germany, France, well, not as much France, their league's not great, but you know, the places with the truly elite clubs, it's not like MLS is the only league they don't care about. And it's not like MLS is the only league that they shit on. Like it is like,
00:43:15
Speaker
people in the UK call France a farmer's league, right? You're just like, you're not at that level and everybody knows you're not at that level. And that's fine. You don't have to be, you know, there's value in everything here on its own merit.
00:43:29
Speaker
Alright, last one from Jeff Mantello. Who's got the better post-game meltdowns? Vermese, Vanny, or Caleb Porter? Oof. You know, I gotta say, reliably, if we're talking about if I get to choose one poach who I just know I need to tune in, it's probably Caleb Porter because he has the, like, whiniest, like, reliably whiniest post-game meltdowns.
00:43:59
Speaker
Pretty Vermines is a little bit more like a traditional angry and it's satisfying, don't get me wrong, but it's just not satisfying in the same way. That said, I would have not put Greg Vanny in my pool if I was doing a draft of the coaches who had the best meltdowns. I don't know that Greg Vanny was going to be in there. He wasn't on my radar at the very least, but this particular meltdown is going to be on
00:44:30
Speaker
replay forever. It's a really good one. It's really good. Like it's just the fact that he got up and he did a meme. He did a meme. Like I think that's a term. He made himself into a meme. We'll be hearing about this for years, I think.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, it was very good. It, it definitely, and like Vanny is pretty deep into his career, so it's not quite the same, but it kind of felt like the, like Caleb Porter puppet of stats thing where it's like, Oh, you're this kind of guy, you know? Um, it was, it was very good. Uh, Porter
00:45:07
Speaker
I think that my answer is Porter because he bitched even when his teams won. Like he's, he's never been at the way the other teams played. Right. He's never been happy in his whole life. Um, now maybe now that he's not coaching anywhere, he's, he's finally found some peace. Um, and vermise always looks like that. Like, right. And it's in a different way than Porter where like Porter, I think vermise is happy a lot of the time and he's not bitching, but he just looks like that. So you can't really tell.
00:45:37
Speaker
I actually like Greg Vanney, which is why this whole thing has been kind of funny. I do actually kind of like him. I think he's a really good coach and he seems like it. Yeah, he seems like it. But this definitely brought him up a tear in the rankings. Yeah. And I'll add with... And just throw this out there.
00:46:01
Speaker
The last time we had Vermeeze, he didn't fit this mold at all. In fact, he was kind of honest about his own player's culpability in that situation. And by the way, Ben Sweat got cut today. Yeah, that's brutal, man. I mean, I'm not going to say he didn't deserve it, but it's...
00:46:25
Speaker
It's brutal. It was clearly a coach who had had enough. Yeah. I mean, he's not a, he's not a good player and it's not like he got bench or got cut for.
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's funny when your team gets a coach fired. To me, at least it's less funny when they get a player kind of, but you know, maybe he kind of got himself. He did. It's true. Yeah. It's true. He did. Um, yeah. For me is, I think it's like, he's an interesting inclusion in there because it's not like he's like a pleasant guy, but I don't think of him as like a,
00:47:02
Speaker
a whiner so much like he he'll, he'll, he's more in the category to me. He definitely complains about coaches or anything about reps for sure. And I think that, and, and that was sort of like Caleb's thing too. It is, I will say the thing that's funny about, um, the contrast is say what you will about Brian Spencer. Like I can never even imagine him going on a rant like that ever.
00:47:30
Speaker
I was trying to think, and I'm sure this is selective memory, but I just, I don't feel like I have ever heard Brian blame anybody but his own players and himself. I think he blames himself more than anybody. He makes a point of not like, of really not wanting to blame rats.
00:47:48
Speaker
And I feel like Ziggy was the same way. Ziggy would sometimes get on the wraps more than Brian would, but still he tried to, he sort of tried to take the high road too, I think. And it's, I mean, I don't ultimately, it doesn't matter. Like the results are what matters, but it is, it just is kind of nice. Like having had like a history of coaches who, you know,
00:48:12
Speaker
we'll blame the team when themselves and give credit to the opposition and all that stuff. Like it's, you know, it's, it's nice and refreshing. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I totally agree. Well, uh, I guess that's the show. Uh, again, hopefully people are digging this new format and they're digging the new content. That's just like being dumped into their inboxes. Uh,
00:48:40
Speaker
I suppose there's some of you that might not realize that Nos Adietes has sort of taken over the Sounder at Heart podcast feed as well. So welcome to any of the new listeners that we may have. I don't know if that's a real thing or not, but we appreciate it regardless. So thanks for sticking with us. Of course, thank you to our sponsors.
00:49:05
Speaker
full pool wines and Watson's Counter. I am Jeremiah Shan, signing off for Aaron Campo and Lick It. We will catch you next time.
00:49:30
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Roll on, Columbia Roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia Roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!