Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 370: LAFC scouting report
77 Plays2 years ago
We caught up with friend of the show Alicia Rodriguez (aka @soccermusings) to give us the lowdown on LAFC. While they won't be particularly well rested, Alicia thinks LAFC will continue with their mild rotation they've been doing through their first four matches of the season and will be looking at this game as a significant test.
Sponsors
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)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Sponsor
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.
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory
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! 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 Odero leaves absolutely no doubt. The Sounders rule the region. Seattle Sounders, this can feel it. Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome.
00:01:39
Speaker
I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:01:50
Speaker
I have no idea. I don't know.
Watson's Counter Promotions
00:02:15
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.
Guest Introduction: Alicia Rodriguez
00:02:35
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adiates. Joining me today is Alicia Rodriguez of, I don't know, what did she call you, of SB Nation? What did she call you these? Like what's the friend of the show, Alicia, LAFC's correspondent? Yeah, we're in a transitional phase. So, you know, friend of the show is fantastic. I'll, I'll always take that.
00:03:00
Speaker
Okay. Well, let's go with, let's go with friend of the show for now. And Alicia is still very, very familiar with everything going on with the LAFC who is riding that wave of a double winning season in which I think the soccer world now expects LAFC to just like lord over its domain for
00:03:23
Speaker
uh, the foreseeable
LAFC's Ambitions & Carlos Vela's Goals
00:03:24
Speaker
future. It, it is pretty impressive what LAFC have managed to do because they, they do seem to have, now that they've won those first trophies, it's like the pressure of winning the first one is now off. And who knows where we go from here. Yeah. I mean, at the risk of stepping into a bunch of traps that you just laid, um, you know, they had a really great season last year. And I do think that what you said is right, that
00:03:51
Speaker
particularly MLS Cup and winning that kind of got a monkey off their backs as far as like getting through an elimination tournament successfully. So they've done it, they know how it works now. And now that I think the objective is to build on that, that's what Carlos Fela said, as soon as he won MLS Cup was I can't wait to get back here and do this again. So, and you know, given his reputation, which I think has been unfair over the years as a guy who doesn't really care,
00:04:21
Speaker
I think he pretty clearly does care. And yeah, I think that's kind of the ethos of the whole team that has is they're trying to compete and trying to see if they can repeat or add some other trophies or kind of see how they can build on what happened last year.
Early Season Performance
00:04:41
Speaker
So they had their season opener canceled because there was snow of all things in LA and there was thunderstorms and all kinds of crazy weather going on in LA. But they have played four games since then, two in Champions League, two in the regular season. We'll talk about the MLS part of it first. They beat the Timbers 3-2.
00:05:05
Speaker
And then they just absolutely trounced the revolution 4-0, although maybe the score line was a little deceiving. Three of the goals came relatively late, including one, I think, on literally the last play. But what have we seen in the MLS games specifically that have stood out to you? Yeah, I think the first two MLS games, they haven't fully gotten out of
00:05:31
Speaker
But I always get the second gear is sort of the way that people say it. Yeah. I always screwed up, but I don't think they've really gotten out of second gear and MLS. So we saw that kind of backfiring a little bit in the opener. Um, they went up three nil against the timbers and then the timbers scored two goals and kind of made it interesting late, but that was a game that they really were controlling. Um, so I don't think I was.
00:05:55
Speaker
Like to me, it wasn't super, super concerning. Um, and then as you mentioned in the last weekend's game against the revolution, um, it was really one nil for almost the entire, or, you know, once they opened the scoring, it was, it was one nil. It was a much closer game than four nil indicated. I think the revs defended actually pretty well. Uh, you know, scoreline notwithstanding, but, uh, the revs didn't really attack very well. So at least you didn't have to work too hard on that end, um, in that game. So.
00:06:25
Speaker
been a little bit of a fortunate start, I think, for them. And I think in that respect, this game coming up against the Sounders is really pretty important because that'll be, I think, a good measuring stick for kind of what their form actually is at this point and how they're navigating this early season congestion right from the gate.
00:06:46
Speaker
Um, you know, good start. Uh, I don't think we've really seen them like have to really push it so far. So I think, uh, um, you know, a top opponent, um, is probably hopefully going to bring out the better in them to, to kind of see where they're at right now.
CONCACAF Champions League Analysis
00:07:00
Speaker
So then they also played two games in CONCACAF Champions League against, uh, Costa Reconcited Alohense. Is that the rate? Am I saying it right? Yeah, more or less. Yeah.
00:07:10
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, so they won the first like three zero hat trick from Dennis Bwanga. And then in the second leg, they were dominating play for the most part, but, uh, and they went in with a three zero lead. So there's always that variable, but they gave up an early penalty and then they gave up sort of a fluky goal. And it was three, two, there was some, some nervy moments in that game. What did you take? What'd you take away from, from those two?
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think on balance in the series, LFC were the better team and they deserve to go through. Um, I think they, the first half of the series in Costa Rica, it was really pretty even. Um, but LFC dominated in the second half. Um, and Al, Alaha, is that the name of the city? No, I can't remember what the name is. And then, yeah, in the game, the return leg in LA, um,
00:08:07
Speaker
I think LAFC had the luxury of not having to like really push. So again, they didn't have to get out of second gear, um, in, you know, quite the way that you expect in a Champions League, um, run. Um, I do think the goals given up were kind of fluky. So I don't really think it's, you know, something to panic over, but yeah, I mean, obviously credit to Alejola and say for making it interesting and like,
00:08:33
Speaker
pushing them. And, um, really Carlos Vela scored the goal to kind of, uh, um, in the series, basically late on, um, in the second leg. And he kind of like, he had this celebration of like looking at his watch, like, um, you know, we need to wrap this up. Like I, you know, I'm done with this, like we gotta get going. Uh, that was pretty clever. Um, so yeah, I think, I think, um, it's a good start and.
00:08:58
Speaker
This is LAC second time in champions league, the first time they went through all Mexican opposition. So it looks like, uh, so far they're going to be going through non Mexican opposition, at least for the first few rounds. So a little bit of a different look. Um, you know, good start first series. We'll see the next series are going to play the white cap. So obviously playing, uh, an opponent within your league and champions league is, is kind of a challenge. Like it's something that's a little bit different than I think.
00:09:25
Speaker
You go into it saying, it's not a Mexican team, but often it can be a lot more challenging because the teams know each other pretty well. We'll see how it goes, but so far it's a little bit of a different look this time around. LAFC has not really enjoyed playing on that BC placed turf, it seems. No. They actually have struggled quite a bit in Vancouver over the years.
00:09:48
Speaker
I think maybe one thing in their favor is Mark Dos Santos is no longer coaching the Whitecaps, so he doesn't have all their secrets. He's back on the sideline with LAFC. But yeah, I definitely think that they're a little bit of a low-key boogie team for LAFC. So yeah, I'm not coming into that series going, oh yeah, LAFC is definitely going to just cruise. I think there's going to be something wacky, or the Whitecaps will win one of the games or something, and they
Player Rotation Challenges
00:10:16
Speaker
could win them both. We'll see what happens.
00:10:18
Speaker
Well, the knock-on effect of all those games in a relatively short period is that they've now played, this will be their fourth game in 10 days, which Sounders fans are very familiar with that sort of cadence. And I guess it benefiting and somewhat beneficial to LAFC is that those last two games were in LA. So it's not like they're coming straight from Costa Rica to Seattle, but that has to be taking some, you know, at some point there's got to be some wear and tear, especially early in the season where,
00:10:47
Speaker
You know, the, the players aren't necessarily, uh, in mid-season fitness. Uh, and they did use basically they're pretty close to their, their a lineup, maybe a, maybe a B plus lineup, uh, in the second leg against Ella Wednesday. Yeah. They've been playing pretty close to a first, first, uh, selection, um, so far in all the games. Um, they, Steve Toronto low has been rotating like two or three players in a given game.
00:11:16
Speaker
Um, I think part of it's because since it's early, they're making the gamble of like, well, they need to build their fitness so maybe they can take it a little bit more early on. Um, you know, obviously the sounders know about that might work early, but it might not work mid season. Right. Yeah. It does eventually. I mean, at least based on what we've seen in MLS that eventually catches up to you, up to you, even if it's not right away. Yeah. So we'll see how it unfolds over time. I mean, obviously.
00:11:42
Speaker
There's going to have to be more rotation and with more and more competitions for everyone, you know, that's going to be consideration for all. But yeah, I think LAFC probably will continue kind of along the same lines of maybe making a few changes, but not.
00:11:59
Speaker
not putting out a second choice team, not running out all the home groans and just saying, yeah, have fun out there, guys, up in Seattle, because I don't think that that's what we're going to see. But so that said, there are some familiar or there's a lot of familiar faces, but some notably new faces from the last time the Sounders and LAFC faced off. The one that's gotten the most attention, I think, is Timothy Tillman, who
00:12:25
Speaker
has sort of an interesting past.
New Players on the Team
00:12:27
Speaker
He started off in the Bayern Munich system, ended up spending, he was sort of like a fringe US national team, although I don't think he's technically made the switch to the US. His brother Malik was originally sort of like the second tier Tillman, and yet Malik ended up being the one that nearly made the World Cup team.
00:12:46
Speaker
That said, Timothy Tillman has looked pretty good in those first couple of games. And they've had a few other notable additions. Aaron Long was a player. The Sounders were pretty close to signing. But at one point, I was sort of expecting Aaron Long to choose the Sounders. But he ended up going back to Southern California, which is where he's from. Another guy who
00:13:09
Speaker
has just come in this year is I guess the right back, Sergey Polinci. Let's talk a little bit about him. He looks like he's probably replacing Ryan Hollingshead who had a weird injury, right, against the Revs? Yeah. Hollingshead injured his chest, which is not kind of an injury you normally associate with soccer, but he had like some sort of freak collision and impacted his chest and came out of the game pretty quickly.
00:13:39
Speaker
Um, against the revs and he missed the champions league game midweek. Um, I think it was, like I said, it's a freak thing. Hopefully it's not something that lingers on or anything like that. It's just something that, you know, keeps them out for a couple of games or something. Um, but luckily they signed another right back, Valencia. Um, he's from Spain. He's part of the pipeline of guys who grew up in Catalonia, you know,
00:14:04
Speaker
have very technical backgrounds when they're coming through youth soccer. Maybe they don't hit like the big, big heights of FC Barcelona, but they're still serviceable pros. And if team scout well enough, they can find the guys who can succeed elsewhere. I think the hope is that he is the next one. And obviously LAFC have one of those players already with ILA Sanchez, although obviously ILA, you know, had a lot of experience in MLS before coming to LAFC, but
00:14:33
Speaker
That is a pipeline that we've seen in MLS that's been fairly productive over the years in terms of getting guys who can contribute regularly in MLS. So he slotted in, came off the bench a few times, and then he started the other night and seemed like they like his service. So I think he might be one of those guys who's putting in diagonals and early crosses and trying to set players up a little bit. And that's something that I don't think the team has really used.
00:15:02
Speaker
in the recent past, so maybe he gives them a little bit of a different look and attack. And so the other big question mark or the big question mark maybe coming into this year was, for whatever reason, Steve Terundolo never seemed particularly fond of Chicho Arango, who scored a lot of goals but maybe wasn't doing other stuff that they wanted. They ended up shipping him off.
00:15:23
Speaker
And they didn't have a kind of ready-made answer at the number nine. Bewonga's more of a winger. Bella also more of a winger. And they've been playing a poku, right? At the nine, essentially. But he's not really a classic nine. So how is that going from your perspective? And what do you expect to see in this one?
00:15:46
Speaker
So belong has been really good to start the season. So I think that's kind of, um, alleviated some of the concerns. There's certainly concerns that without a true, you know, Fox in the box central striker, number nine, that, you know, this is, it's going to expose some vulnerabilities for LAFC is attack. And that is certainly possible. Um, that remains to be seen, but I think so far it's been fine. Um, belong has been really productive.
00:16:11
Speaker
Uh, he scored five goals last week between champions league and MLS. So five goals and two games, um, is pretty good. And then, um, I like a poker a lot. Um, you know, I don't know if he's necessarily a guy that you're going to say, Oh, he'll definitely take the entire burden from Arango. Uh, you know, a veteran, uh, very good, you know, productive striker, but a poker was really good at like creating his own shot, which I think is pretty underrated. There's, you know, you don't see too many guys who.
Roster Management Strategies
00:16:41
Speaker
can run the channels, who can lay off balls to his teammates, but who can actually create a chance out of nothing, you know, in that age and kind of that, that tweener, you know, wide forward, maybe a number nine kind of tweener position. So, you know, I think he has a lot of upside and he looks like he's going to get plenty of chances to really bet himself in as a starter and you know, maybe he'll,
00:17:09
Speaker
he'll do it. Um, I think what's going to happen is we're going to see that that frontline kind of rotate. So the guys are all going to take turns going through the middle and switching sides of the field. And, um, maybe one game Bella plays as a pure false nine. And maybe in another game, he's always going to be on the right where he normally is at his best. Um, you know, I think it's going to be sort of experimentation. And then if they get to a point mid season where it looks like it's really not working.
00:17:38
Speaker
you know, maybe then they'll get pretty aggressive in trying to sign someone else or bring someone else in as a true number nine to compliment the wide forwards. But, you know, for me, I think it's obviously a concern to get rid of your productive striker. It always is, but I think they kind of deserve the benefit of the doubt for the time being to see if they can make it work. And, you know, there's still,
00:18:04
Speaker
some flexibility that maybe if it doesn't work out, then they can go and make a move mid-season. Obviously last year they went on an absolute spree signing players. So if they have the right irons in the fire, maybe they can add someone if they need to in the middle of the year.
00:18:21
Speaker
And they have an open DP spot, which seems to perpetually magically be the case with LAFC. Despite having these rosters that look pretty stacked, they seem to manage to always have room for an open DP or money to spend.
00:18:39
Speaker
as reflective as it is to go like, oh, well, MLS is doing them all these favors. I think it should be said, and I've said this a few times that a big reason for that is they've sort of become experts at managing the cap and sort of finding that extra money that like they've sent out a lot of players like Chicha Arongo, they're going to end up reaping a big allocation money reward from that. And they've done that
00:19:03
Speaker
several times. And when you add up all this, when you keep bringing in new allocation money through transfers, it gives you a lot of flexibility to have open DP spots and to have open TAM and have an available TAM and all this kind of stuff. And like, that's really to me been the most impressive part. And it really shows how important it is to sort of have these incoming outgoing transactions, because it does give you a lot of flexibility. Now, I suppose at some point,
00:19:30
Speaker
You can argue that LAFC is overthinking this and that they have too many moving parts, but right now, my God, it seems to be working amazing. Yeah. And there's a pretty good chance they're going to also going to sell him. I would do fall permanently to be a real, uh, the summer he's technically on loan. So if you're real, um, take, you know, the purchase option, then that's more money coming in for them. And, uh, falls a really good player. So if, you know, they can sell him onto a little league, a team that's, that's pretty good.
00:19:59
Speaker
Um, I will say too, uh, to kind of counterbalance what you said. I mean, LFC also got incredible luck in that Gareth Bale retired, right? Like, right. They didn't seem too broken up about that one. If Gareth Bale had returned for the season, he would have been a DP officially mid season. Obviously they would have had to leave the slot open in the meantime. Um, and it seemed
00:20:24
Speaker
Pretty clear that he physically wasn't really going to be up to, I mean, he couldn't, he wasn't really up to doing half a season without expectations of him having to play regularly. Um, there's no way he seemed physically up for having to go for a full season or a year and a half or whatever the rest of his contract was going to be. So, um, yeah, they got, they got a huge stroke of luck, not only with him.
00:20:47
Speaker
signing, uh, scoring the goal to win, you know, to get them to penalty shoot out in MLS cup, but then also retiring. That was like another enormous gift that he gave the team so that they could have all this flexibility and they didn't have to be in a panic station. Um, you know, heading into the title defense year. Yeah. It's, uh, that, that deal in the way that no one really would have predicted worked out
00:21:15
Speaker
pretty close, like he, I think if you had told anyone like this is a guy who's barely gonna get on the field for you in the regular season, when he's on the field, he's only gonna show you the briefest flashes of his previous brilliance, but yeah, he's gonna come through in literally the biggest moment in franchise history. He's gonna end up providing you one of the, a replay that will, without hyperbole,
00:21:45
Speaker
live forever in the lores of LAFC and maybe in the league. I mean, it's going to go down in history as like one of the most famous goals. And then people are going to go like, yeah, but you know how many games you played for LAFC? Like five or whatever it was. And, and then, and then he just gives an absolute gift of saying like, nope, I've done my piece. Uh, I'm out. I'm not going to like be an albatross on the team. And, and what a great, I mean, it worked out really great. It's like, I want to be, I want to be mad about it, but I can't. It's, it's like a perfect, it's, it's like,
00:22:15
Speaker
I don't know. It's funny because it worked out perfectly, but just not in the way that I don't think anyone really predicted. Like if you had told me, Oh yeah, he'll come in and he'll give you a year and a half of solid play. I would have believed that for a sec. No, I mean like that would have been easy, but no, not like this, not like this, even better, but,
00:22:32
Speaker
Other than that, what is the vibe of LAFC right now?
LAFC vs. LA Galaxy Rivalry
00:22:37
Speaker
It feels like, I guess I've heard this, we're talking about this off air, is they keep being mentioned as LA's team, which feels shockingly disrespectful to the galaxy, but maybe this is, is it, I know you're not in LA these days, but is this purely a talking point coming out of LAFC, or does this actually seem to be the vibe?
00:22:44
Speaker
uh,
00:23:00
Speaker
I think there's probably a little bit of both. I think LA likes winners, like the city of LA likes winners. So, you know, the Lakers are terrible right now and really the town is Lakers town and they're terrible. So, you know, there's a little bit of an opening for other sports to maybe take some of the limelight if they're good and winning things. And obviously LAFC coming off a double winning season.
00:23:23
Speaker
I think that helps a lot. And, you know, the galaxy have been in the wilderness for a long time now at this point when it comes to results, right? Like they're in year three of their current rebuild process and we're kind of at a tipping point to sort of see, is this going to pan out or not for them? At the same time, there's a lot of really loyal galaxy pans in LA. So I think the idea that, you know, it's completely flipped is
00:23:51
Speaker
probably not true and probably a little bit of marketing magic to put the shine on LAFC. But I definitely think like most sports in the city, there's two teams always competing. But right now, I understand why LAFC is getting more attention because they're fresh off a title. So people are obviously really jacked about that. And again, the Lakers are
00:24:15
Speaker
I'm not a Lakers fan, so I'm not ashamed to say the Lakers are truly terrible right now. There's some other teams in town that are looking to get some action then. Yeah, it is funny. There was a time not so long ago when the Sounders were very clearly the most successful thing going on in Seattle.
00:24:38
Speaker
And it's funny how things come and go, and partly because they sort of filled this vacuum, like the Seahawks were sort of going through a lull. And I guess maybe you can argue the Champions League run came at this exact perfect time for
00:24:54
Speaker
Seattle needing a winner and they sort of like filled that few months of vacuum but then sure enough the Mariners got good and this is really kind of a Mariners Seahawks town and then the Kraken this year have been good and you know and the Seahawks were better than expected this year and anyway it's it's funny how those how like those vacuums uh sort of sort of work uh when it comes to attention
Seattle Sounders vs. LAFC Rivalry
00:25:17
Speaker
But well, Alicia, I really appreciate you giving us some insight into LFC. It's been, you know, I was on a I keep hearing we keep hearing this mentioned.
00:25:29
Speaker
that the possibility that Seattle and LAFC are rivals, and I don't think anyone suggests that they are like blood rivals in the way that LAFC is with the Galaxy or the Sounders are with the Timbers, but this does feel like as far as on-field rivalries go, this is about as good as it gets for MLS for the last few years. I mean, this has been good stuff. Yeah, I think there's a mutual respect. I think both teams know that
00:25:56
Speaker
They have good teams. They can compete. These are good measuring sticks against one another, even in a regular season, early season clash. So it's something that I think, I think it's born of respect. Like in contrast, obviously LAFC, their biggest rival is the Galaxy. I think their second rival is actually the Timbers. There's a lot of bad blood between the teams. And so, you know, it's not born of respect. It's born of hatred.
00:26:21
Speaker
In contrast, I think for the Sounders, it's like, yeah, we know that, you know, you guys are kind of the, you know, sort of been the standard bearer. And, you know, for LAFC, they want to come for that kind of mantle. And I think, yeah, there's been some really good games over the years, some blowout wins, some, you know, really
00:26:42
Speaker
height draws, kind of, you know, you name it. So, um, yeah, I think it's, it's, it's something that people like to see, you know, these, these good teams, you know, really giving it a go. And I think that both sides really do that pretty well. Most, you know, gaming game out.
00:27:02
Speaker
against each other. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. And I'm, I'm looking forward to this one. Should be a good time. It should be, it looks like we're going to get some good weather. And, uh, and yeah, it's, it's, I think it's a good one for the Sounders also to just kind of know where they stand. They had obviously had two great results to start the season. They had not as good of a result against Cincinnati, but I don't know that there was any like obvious holes that got poked. Uh, although LAFC is a,
00:27:26
Speaker
has been the probably the best pressing team in the league this year. And the center struggled a little bit with the press against Cincinnati. So it'll be interesting to see what lessons they learned from that. But I definitely expect a good one. And as always, thank you for sharing your knowledge, Alicia. Of course. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. And where can people find you these days? On Twitter, are you doing anything else?
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah, so we're, um, in the process of moving, uh, angels on parade to a different place. So we're kind of in transition right now. Um, the site still is on the SB nation platform for a couple more weeks, but, um, you can always find me as long as Twitter exists on Twitter at soccer musings. Um, and then, yeah, we're.
00:28:12
Speaker
We're making a lot of changes, obviously with, you know, things that were outside of our control. But I am still writing and, you know, before too long, I'll probably have some more news to report on kind of what I'll be, what I'll be doing moving forward beyond the site transitions and all that good stuff. Nice. Well, definitely follow Soccer Musings on Twitter and hopefully we have a future, some sort of future to report otherwise. But thanks for doing this, Alicia.
00:28:41
Speaker
Yeah, no worries. Thank you. All right. This is, uh, Jeremiah Shan for no study at this. We will catch you next time.
00:29:06
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!