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Nos Audietis, Episode 292: That’s how you start a season
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Not a bad way to start the season. For the first time since 2015, the Sounders won their first season opener, overwhelming expansion FC Cincinnati 4-1 in a match that probably could have been even more lopsided. Their four goals actually equaled their goal-scoring output of their past six March home matches combined and it featured Kelvin Leerdam’s first goal since 2017, Jordan Morris’ first goal at CenturyLink Field in nearly two years and Raul Ruidiaz’s sixth straight game with a goal. All in all, pretty satisfying stuff.
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)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsor Highlight
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food! Lots of it! Fullpool's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving, turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books. 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. Fuck! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Morris runs right by him and sticks in and slots them for a roll! Fantastic for George Morris!
00:00:55
Speaker
Here's Morris! Morris! Think of an ant! What do tigers dream of? They take a little tiger's hand. A blue with skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hill's the greenest green in Seattle.
00:01:24
Speaker
like a beautiful child growing up. Welcome back to another edition of NOS Adiete, sponsored by Full Pull Wines. This is episode 292, and we're recording on Wednesday, March 5th, 2019.
Seattle Sounders Season Opener Recap
00:01:37
Speaker
I'm your host, Jeremiah O'Shan, and I'm joined as usual by co-host, Aaron Campo, and our very sick engineer, Lickett, whose voice you probably won't hear today. In any case, later in the show, we'll be joined by Frank McDonald, the Washington State Legends of Soccer,
00:01:53
Speaker
Anyway, not a bad way to start the season. For the first time since 2015, the Sounders won their season opener, overwhelming expansion, FCS insanity four to one in a match that probably could have been even more lopsided. Their four goals actually equaled their goals scoring output of the past six March home matches combined. And it featured Kelvin Lierdom's first goal since 2017, Jordan Marsch's first goal at CenturyLink Field in nearly two years, and Raul Rui Diaz's sixth straight game with the goal.
00:02:23
Speaker
All in all, pretty satisfying stuff. Even taking into account that this was an expansion team playing their first ever match in MLS, there was a lot to feel good about Aaron.
00:02:33
Speaker
So what did you like most? Let's start there. I mean, I think the thing that I liked most honestly is that the way the game started, the sounders were very dominant. You know, creating lots of chances had, I think at one point I looked before Cincinnati's goal and they had like 95% of the possession. And then Cincinnati scores a wonder goal and the next probably 10 minutes or so I was
00:03:01
Speaker
just righteously sick during the game. So, um, my sense of time might not be great, but, uh, you know, after the goal, the Sounders did not look great, um, for a period of time, uh, that seemed, you know, to be a not insignificant period of time. Um, you know, but they regrouped very well. Uh, and you know, they got that, that one goal and it was just lights out from there. And I think, you know, I think, I mean, you and I have talked about this ad nauseam on the show, so we don't need to go into it too much, but I think.
00:03:31
Speaker
The reason that it's, you know, I wasn't too concerned about a slow start this year is just that the team is much healthier. They seem to have better depth that the rebuild seems to be more or less complete at this point.
00:03:46
Speaker
I mean, we've definitely seen over the past couple of years early in the season before a lot of the injuries happened. I mean, we saw it against LAFC, I would say, where the Sounders were the better team and gave up one goal, had either one mistake or one just like really high class moment from the opposition and went behind and ended up losing. We've seen that a lot over the past couple of years earlier in the season. So it was nice to see, you know,
00:04:13
Speaker
to see them be able to weather a little bit of the storm after Cincinnati had a little bit of belief and had to lead and come back and just get back to being dominant and you know put together attack after attack after attack. The period of time for which they forgot kind of how good they were seemed much less
00:04:37
Speaker
much less in duration than it has
Victor Rodriguez's Stellar Performance
00:04:39
Speaker
in years past. And I think that was really encouraging because I think, you know, if Cincinnati had been able to grab another goal or the Sounders had, you know, dominated play and not been able to get a goal as quickly as they had, I could maybe see that creeping into the player's psyche a little bit. And, you know, that's definitely not what we want.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, there was a, there was a moment, uh, you know, it was maybe five minutes or so after the goal where Elvis pal lined up a 45 yard blast and it went wide. And I think fry probably had it covered anyway, but it was one of those things where it's like, when he hit it, you kind of start to think.
00:05:16
Speaker
Oh, what's going on here? But it didn't go in. It wasn't a goal. A few minutes later, the Sounders equalized. But I agree with you. It was just refreshing to see that the Sounders, yeah, there was this period of shell shock where
00:05:32
Speaker
I think they had been so good early on, you know, Rui Diaz hits the post on, in the third minute off of just perfect Christian Roldan cross. And, you know, there was a couple other little openings that they had where it just looked like they're knocking on the door. They just need to get that first one. And then sure enough, Leonardo Bertone, someone who had never heard of before the game, frankly, uh, who I guess was yet young boys and as a decent player.
00:05:59
Speaker
But I, you know, here he hits this absolute golasso. And you do start to worry, like, is this here we go again territory? And I asked Brian Schmetzer kind of about that. And he admitted that, yeah, that does kind of go through your mind. But the Sounders did, like, you know, other than maybe that little 10 minute period, they really did never, they never didn't look like the better team. They never looked like the more dangerous team.
00:06:24
Speaker
Uh, you know, I just, there was so many performances to like, and I think at the top of my list is probably Victor Rodriguez, who just was absolutely unplayable. Every time he got the ball, it seemed like he was attacking the goal. He ended up with eight shots. He got two assists. You probably could have had a couple more and he probably frankly should have had a goal or two for himself.
00:06:47
Speaker
But he just was, you know, just that last little bit of perfection was was missing. But this is a guy who became a designated player essentially as a accounting mechanism to borrow a term from.
00:07:01
Speaker
our inglorious leader, um, flag away. And he played absolutely like a designated player and he has been playing like a designated player most of the time when he's healthy. And especially if you just go back, you know, about seven games or the last seven games of last year or the last five regular season games and the two playoff games, he's got four goals and seven assists in, in something like 900 minutes. Uh, those are unbelievable numbers.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, I mean, it feels really good, right? Because I think, I think that there are definitely people that have doubted Victor Rodriguez. And I think some of that probably has to do, I wish I could remember what Senator Hart commenter it was, but you know, they made a good point today about saying, I think a lot of this is due to the fact that he played so poorly in the MLS Cup final in 2017. And that's just kind of stuck in people's
00:07:56
Speaker
yeah a little bit um but i think for the most part even sounders fans that you know wanted his position to be upgraded um or would have been okay with him leaving after last season have never really doubted his talent it was just you know he's he's had trouble staying healthy um and you know i think that if he's healthy this season and and i don't think there's any reason to think that he won't be i don't think that the injuries he's had over the last couple of years are the kinds that you
00:08:25
Speaker
would anticipate, you know, being something he has trouble shaking or, or just like it was kind of a, a particular injury that he was having a hard time diagnosing, that never quite got or it didn't get healthy until it was healthy. But you know, down the stretch last year, he was perfectly healthy. And, and I think there's this kind of
00:08:49
Speaker
perception that he's like a fragile player but really he played like when he's when he is together he plays 90 minutes like he is not a guy who has to come out he's got a great engine you know he does a lot of little things that I don't think
Comparisons and Expectations
00:09:05
Speaker
automatically jump out from the score sheet. But if you watch him play, you see them. And I go all the way back to his first game with the Sounders. The Sounders had just missed out on Derlys Gonzalez. There was a lot of kind of frustration about, oh, all we got was this Victor Rodriguez guy. And if you remember that first game, it was at Vancouver. He hit a free kick, I think, off of the crossbar. He was the Sounders most dangerous player through a lot of it.
00:09:30
Speaker
and it was you know one of these things where I remember saying like if this was the performance that Gonzales put in in his first game we'd be losing our mind with excitement and I feel like that's kind of been his mo in a lot of ways throughout his whole tenure is like if he was just
00:09:46
Speaker
two years younger and and paid you know a million dollars more a year he would have all this he would have all this hype around him as this outrageously talented player and instead we kind of like yeah he's you know yeah he's a really good player but i don't i don't know that people really appreciate how like just how good he's been i mean this is a guy who you know if he stays healthy all year i fully expect him to put up 20 combined goals and assists yeah i think i mean i think it is
00:10:17
Speaker
a difference in how we perceive players and the stage of their career that they're in. And I think it just has to do with your transfer strategy, right? I don't think you can convince me that Joseph Martinez is all that much better than Ro Rudea. I don't think you can convince me that Miguel Amaro is that much better than Nico Ledero. I don't know that he is better at all.
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, but, you know, those players have big price tags and, and they have higher potential. Yeah. Could very well, I would say probably will end up being a better player than Nico Ledero. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. But it was not an accident that someone paid $25 million for him.
00:10:57
Speaker
Right. But for what you're getting from them at the time that they're in MLS, I don't know that there's a huge difference. And I think there is something sort of intangibly exciting, I guess, about making these big money deals for young players and getting big sell-on fees and becoming more of a pure selling league. And I don't think that that's a bad strategy. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
00:11:21
Speaker
But I do think that both Sounders fans, fans of other teams, fans of the league, league pundits, kind of do a disservice to the players that are, are not, you know, their price tag isn't based on their potential. It's based on on what
00:11:37
Speaker
they've done in their careers and what teams think they can do going forward. I'm okay with it if it means that we have players like Victor Rodriguez. It's been a frustrating time for him in Seattle, but I think that that game really was just sort of a
00:12:00
Speaker
a reminder of why we were so high on him in 2000 when he first got to the club in 2016. And it's exciting because it just feels like it's been fits and starts with so many players on this team that to have them at the beginning of the season altogether, seemingly playing really well as a unit and kind of having some cohesion, it's very exciting.
Sounders' Attack Strategy
00:12:27
Speaker
And I think the thing for me that's most exciting is
00:12:29
Speaker
you know, when you look at the space that Victor had and the space that Nico Ledero had and the space that Jordan Morris had, a lot of that was because Cincinnati was so keyed on role of Ruby Diaz, which, you know, not necessarily the worst guy in the field to be keyed on, right? But no, absolutely not. I mean, if you show teams that they can't do that without getting punished, then they have to take some of the focus off of Ruby Diaz and it frees him up a little more.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's just so that's what's so encouraging I think about this game is that here's the team that went in with a game plan of taking away Nico Ledero and Raul Rui Diaz, and they end up giving up four goals. Right. And those guys, by the way, still contributed a lot.
00:13:11
Speaker
And every defense is not going to be as bad as FC Cincinnati. Actually, I don't know that their defense was that bad. I do think that the centers identified a weakness in their defense, which was Aldous Powell, for some reason, was given license to just roam up the field, basically at will. And they found that soft spot on the left wing a lot, like a lot, a lot.
00:13:35
Speaker
I think they had 16 shots in the box. 14 of them came from that area, essentially the left side of the box. And then the other two goals came from crosses that started on the other side, that started from the left side. So the Sanders were just attacking that point in the Cincinnati defense just relentlessly.
00:13:57
Speaker
And and it was it was great to see I think it showed some, you know, tactical understanding from the coaching staff to identify that. And because it did seem like they identified it almost immediately. And I guess maybe they had an inkling that that pal might be playing that way. But it was great to see. But you mentioned real real ideas.
00:14:17
Speaker
You know, he didn't have a super active game. I think he only had something like 30 touches. And he only had six touches, I guess only, it seems like only, but he had six touches in the penalty area. The result of those six touches were a goal, two shots on goal, and then two key passes. That is some pretty efficient work.
00:14:38
Speaker
I don't know that there is a player who is better suited for this particular team than Raul Rui Diaz, at least in MLS. There's no one in MLS I think I would trade one for one for Raul Rui Diaz right now.
00:14:50
Speaker
No, I don't think so. I mean, I think that the potential for what he can do, I mean, if you look at his rate numbers, since he's been with the Sounders, they're eye-popping. Yeah, 0.92 goals per 90 with no penalties. To give you a sense of how good that is, Joseph Martinez, for his career, is 0.96. Now, that is outrageous, but he also has something like 10 penalties, and so you take the penalties out, and he's like 0.78, which is still really amazing.
00:15:20
Speaker
That gives you a sense of how good Rudy Diaz has been, but go ahead. Yeah, I mean, and I think that he's a weird player because he has this incredible track record. I mean, he had 40 goals and 72 games with Morelia. He scored a ton of goals wherever he's been. And, you know, I think it's fair to say that League AMX is a better league than MLS. Maybe the defending is not all that much better. But, you know, I mean, he's he has this crazy track record of scoring goals.
00:15:49
Speaker
Um, but he's, he's sort of a rotational player with the national team. Um, he, he was definitely regarded as a, as a very good signing when he, you know, when he came into the league, but, um, he certainly didn't get the hype that some other signings have gotten. Um, part of that was probably cause the Sounders were, were hot garbage at the time, but you know, it's, it's, uh,
00:16:13
Speaker
he's still, you know, an exciting player worth being excited about. And I don't think that Sounders fans necessarily underrate how good he could be and how many goals he could put up. But I don't, I mean, I think that there's a legitimate possibility he could score 25 goals this season. And I'm not, I felt that before the Cincinnati game. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of like the baseline expectation at this point is if he, if he plays 2800 minutes,
00:16:36
Speaker
I fully expect him to score 25 goals, which is kind of a crazy thing to consider when not a single Sounders player has scored more than 17. But he's been, he just scores, he scores all the types of goals. That's what's so exciting is that, and I don't even feel like he's really hit a, like a real
00:17:01
Speaker
Like he hasn't really hit his stride here yet. Like he's scoring goals, but he's like finding ways to score them. It's not like he's-
00:17:09
Speaker
You know doing this kind of effortless thing where he's getting happens and like if you look at how Joseph Martinez like you look at his goals how many of his goals are like just just seemingly relatively easy goals and You know really just doesn't really have a lot of those which I find really encouraging because I think they're gonna come Especially I've got like Lidero feeding him. Yeah, and I think I think to the goal he scored is
00:17:34
Speaker
on Saturday as a great example of him finding a way to score a goal. And I feel like it's been kind of overlooked. And I think that's understandable because it was kind of a garbage time goal. People were already very excited about the game. Morris, you know, having the brace was obviously the big story. But that goal, I mean, the way that he created the space
00:17:55
Speaker
you know, the step over that he put on to get the ball into a shooting position, that finish from a tight angle. I mean, that's, that's a great poacher's goal. And it's, it's the kind that I don't think we've had anybody that could score with regularity since Oba. And I think for the record that Raul Rodriguez is a, I would say much better player than Oba was. I mean, it's exciting, man. This, this attack to me is
00:18:20
Speaker
better than the 2014 attack. And I don't, I don't just mean in absolute terms. I mean, like in comparison to the rest of the league, like, I think that this could legitimately the best be the best attack in the league. And that includes an Atlanta team that, you know, was a lot of firepower. Yeah. Has a ton of firepower. So I mean, maybe we're getting carried away.
Jordan Morris' Comeback
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's one game, but I think this is the time, right? Like if you're going to get excited,
00:18:44
Speaker
this is the time and you know what's crazy is like here we are we're 20 minutes into the show we've barely mentioned Jordan Morris scoring a brace his first ever brace at home and whether or not whatever you think of that first goal he scored it's I guess at this point it's going to stand up as his goal but you could argue is maybe a cross and and maybe it should have been an own goal
00:19:08
Speaker
But the second goal he scored, absolute perfection. This is the kind of goal that I think we've all wanted to see Jordan Morris score, where he's coming in off the right wing. He takes a cross that just kind of sits on his left foot and he just hits it first time. It was like he had done it a million times, but I don't think we've ever seen him score a goal like that for the Sounders.
00:19:28
Speaker
No, no, and I mean it did it looked effortless hit it perfectly upper 90 first time no way the keepers going to save it. And I mean, the left foot thing is way overblown, in my opinion.
00:19:43
Speaker
That's a tough goal to score for any primarily right-footed player, and he made it look effortless. Is it repeatable? I don't know. But it doesn't have to be, right? I mean, he doesn't need to score that every time. No, but it's just that he knows that defenses know he can score it is going to change the way that they play him.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, because if the keeper has to guard that back post, he's still got a hell of a right foot. For me, the first goal probably should have been an own goal, but I don't begrudge him not having it taken away, considering the circumstances.
00:20:18
Speaker
I mean, he did great to get into that position. The pass he made was going to be a goal, I think. That's right. I kind of that's kind of where I come down on it is is even if like, if you take away the touch that leads to the goal, the final, you know, the ball that defects, deflects off Hagelin, that's really ideas is going to it's in his path. He's going to score that I have. I don't really feel guilty about it being a sounder's goal. And so it would have been a shame for it to go down as an old boy.
00:20:47
Speaker
For sure. And I think, too, that the thing that was so encouraging to me about that particular goal, and there were a couple of other moments, like I said, the game is a bit hazy, but I did sort of make notes of like Jordan did a good thing, kind of things. And it was a continuation of what I was so excited about in preseason, where he's making passing decisions that he wasn't making the last time that he was playing regularly.
00:21:14
Speaker
Even in 2016, when he was healthy and playing well, he just looked smarter. I mean, it really does look like he has just been watching tape constantly over the past year. He's making great runs. He's making really intelligent passing decisions. He seems to know when to try to push forward and when to hold the ball up, which was a big frustration I used to have with him, where it would seem like sometimes he would try to take on players when he really had
00:21:41
Speaker
you know, absolutely no chance of beating him and then other times he would have what looked like a pretty good angle and would hold up the ball and, you know, wait for support. And I didn't see any of that all preseason and I didn't see it against Cincinnati at all. I mean, he looks very aggressive. He looks very hungry and he looks like he knows what he's doing in a way that
00:22:00
Speaker
You know, when you consider that he's had, what, like 15 games that weren't in his rookie season and hasn't played in a year is very exciting. I mean, I think that it's easy to forget, just because it's been such a difficult couple of years for him, that there's a reason that everybody was so excited, you know, after the 2015 about his future.
00:22:21
Speaker
I know I wrote a kind of an extent, not I wouldn't say extensively, but I wrote about this a little bit this week in my column and how this is a guy who hadn't just been, I don't think it was a matter of like he was forgotten because he got hurt. It was a player who, you know, people kind of started writing him off two years ago when he didn't like immediately follow up his rookie campaign with another breakout season.
00:22:46
Speaker
And that was, you know, I get it. I definitely understand why people were so, you know, why it was kind of a letdown because here was a player who, no, there had never been a player coming out of college with the type of hype that Jordan Morris had. And that's not his fault. But, you know, when you go on trial and you turn down a contract from a Bundesliga team to sign with the MLS team, you make your U.S. full national team debut.
00:23:13
Speaker
as a college kid you score a goal against Mexico all these things they they build up the anticipation and yeah his rookie season was really good but it was you know i think that was kind of fulfilling that was like the least that people expected in some ways and then when he didn't follow it up it was like uh all right well maybe that was much ado about nothing they had all these problems with his game blah blah blah blah
00:23:39
Speaker
but you know he came back in this game and it's one game like we should keep repeating that it's one game but he showed us a lot of the things that i think we've been wanting to see you know i i made this analogy and i'll just use it again because i i did like it even if it was a little tortured it was not so unlike Luke Skywalker having his hand cut off in Empire
00:24:01
Speaker
and being a whiny little baby about it. And then coming back in Return of the Jedi, he didn't just have a robotic hand, he didn't just fix his hand, he came back a smarter, more polished warrior. And I think in a lot of ways that's, you know, a good analogy for Jordan Morris's
00:24:17
Speaker
come back at least in this game we'll see where it goes but um i appreciate you allowing me to to use that and it sounded worse coming out of my mouth and it was very difficult for me yeah it was hard it was a hard thing to hear coming out we might have to edit that out um
Coaching and Team Dynamics
00:24:33
Speaker
But the you know the funny thing was like after the other thing I thought that was kind of encouraging in a weird way was some coaching maturity I thought from Brian Schmetzer who instead of just lavishing his players with praise took you know he found a couple guys who he thought he could maybe give some notes to
00:24:56
Speaker
And I wouldn't say he like ripped apart Christian Roldan and Gustav Sensen, but he did say that he was a little frustrated with the way they were, like he was basically given the softball question, like tell us how important they are because they let all the other guys be great. And it was like, instead of taking the bait, he said, you know, they did a good job, but there was this 20 minute, you know, 15, 20 minute period at the beginning of the second half where I thought they were not dictating the game the way that we wanted them.
00:25:25
Speaker
And I don't know, like I looked at the numbers and the, and the, you know, it does look like they maybe had a little bit of a, a wall period during there, but watching the game live, I didn't feel that way. And I don't know if that was him just kind of coming up with something negative to say, but I feel like that was maybe something he didn't do in the past. Like he was very happy to celebrate a win with the players, if you know what I mean. For sure.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair to say. And I think I kind of get his point. And I think it's going to be a difficult adjustment for Christian, especially, or for fans of Christian, because I think he's not going to be the same type of player he has been the last few years. I just don't think that his role is going to allow him to be as dynamic as he was, you know, playing on the right or playing with Ozzy Alonzo in the center.
00:26:18
Speaker
But I think that's OK. You know, I think that he's just going to have to be a different kind of player. And that kind of player is extremely valuable, you know, for what it's worth. And so I but but it's a new role for him, right? Like he's.
00:26:32
Speaker
he does have to learn how to control the tempo. If there was anything I was concerned about with Ozzy Alonzo leaving, I felt like he had this very innate, metronomic sense of how to control the game, what kind of tempo a specific situation called for, when to slow things down, when to push.
00:26:51
Speaker
And I don't know that Christian's quite there yet, and so maybe that's kind of what Schmetzer was talking about. And I can kind of see that as a criticism, but I think you're right that most likely it's him feeling like this wasn't perfect, and I want things to be perfect.
00:27:12
Speaker
And I feel like it's a lot easier to say that after a 4-1 win in some weird ways. Because if that game ends up 2-2 and the Sounders play well but just can't get the result, I think it's easier for him to maybe have the instinct to shield the players. But when you go out and shit house a team the way the Sounders did on Saturday, it's a little easier, I think, for a coach to be critical and probably a little easier for the players to hear it.
00:27:41
Speaker
You know, I'm okay with that. I think it's a positive thing. If you're not getting exactly what you want out of players systemically or in terms of their roles, now is the time to make that apparent.
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah, I would totally agree with that. And I'll add that I think this is also going to be an interesting year for Christian because for a long time, for his whole career, frankly, he's kind of been a pleasant surprise. And I say that despite his, you know, we've been increasing our expectations of him every single year because he keeps exceeding our expectations. You know, at one point we were kind of marveling at the idea that he was more productive than
00:28:21
Speaker
than Darlington Nagbee. And I think a lot of us would probably just freely admit he's a better player than Darlington Nagbee at this point. And just to pick a player to compare him to.
00:28:29
Speaker
But I don't think we're there anymore. I think now it's not a pleasant surprise. We expect you to be one of the best players on the field every single game. And that's a different expectation than we've ever had a Christian. And it's going to be interesting to see how he handles that because he clearly is talented enough to shoulder that kind of burden.
00:28:51
Speaker
But it's just going to be interesting because he's no longer being, I don't know that he was ever graded on a curve, but I do think that we looked at him as value add, and now he's just kind of like, no, we pencil you in for this kind of work every game, and that's what we need from you to be a championship team.
00:29:12
Speaker
And especially when he's getting paid five times, 10 times as much money as he was getting paid the last few years. Right. And that's kind of right. Exactly. That's a big part of it. He's no longer being paid like a nice to have you kind of player. He's one of the top paid defensive kind of central midfielder types in the league. He's not quite a DP, but he's making a lot more than the max salary in the league.
00:29:37
Speaker
you know he's making like three times more than or two times more more than two times more than Brad Evans ever made to like just to draw a comparison and you know we're gonna see a lot of that and and Jordan Morris to some degree is that way too but he has I think a little bit more wiggle room because he's coming off an injury but anyway it's it's all things that are gonna feed into it sets up a very interesting narrative I think for this year this game even coming up against the Colorado Rapids which
00:30:03
Speaker
I don't know if they looked quite like I don't know that we learned anything about the rapids in their season opener. They played in a literal blizzard. They got an equalizing goal at the end. They did come back from two deficits despite paying down a man. They showed some resolve that maybe they wouldn't have shown last year. But it'll be an interesting test for the Sounders.
00:30:23
Speaker
Um, I'm looking forward to it. I feel like the centers have a great opportunity to,
Upcoming Match Anticipation
00:30:28
Speaker
uh, to go to two and oh, and to really kind of start to kick this narrative of slow starts in the mouth and, and really, you know, if they, they win this game, I think you kind of leave that narrative alone and it starts to be its own season.
00:30:43
Speaker
But yeah, let's go to a break. We're gonna talk to Frank McDonald about Washington State Legends of Soccer. They have a big fundraiser coming up, and then we're gonna come back, take your questions. You're listening to Nos Ariete.
00:30:58
Speaker
Fullpool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nos adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:31:17
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. And three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpawines.com. Welcome back to NOS Adiates.
Local Soccer History & Community Impact
00:31:40
Speaker
We are here with Frank McDonald of Washington Legends of Soccer. Did I say that right?
00:31:46
Speaker
Well, you can stick a carrot in there after Washington just so they don't think that it's DC or anything. Okay. Washington state.
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, in any case, this is essentially the Washington state hall of fame for soccer, right? We've, we've had you on at previous yacht cons, but I wanted to bring you on and kind of talk about the, the organization, what you guys are doing and, and kind of what people that are listening can do to participate and kind of check out what you guys do.
00:32:19
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Jeremiah. I really appreciate it. It's a great chance to get caught up with you as well. Yes, when I was at the last couple of Yacht-Cons, I hinted that we were on the verge of something, but we turned the corner at the last quarter of 2018 and now we're
00:32:40
Speaker
We've got something coming up the next three weeks that can turn on the afterburners for our development. Late last year, we launched not only our landing page, but at the same time our history website, which is kind of a neat platform where you can go down a rabbit hole looking for
00:33:08
Speaker
say sounders, you know, an ASL era and you can come up and find out of a college soccer because it's all levels of soccer. We want to dive into fandom and youth and ethnic leagues and of course where people go from Washington on the world stage.
00:33:32
Speaker
But every year we want to celebrate all the way back to right around 1890 is where we're probably going to drive a stake in the ground.
00:33:43
Speaker
And what's 1890 represent? 1890 is the first published account of a soccer game, which was then a one-year-old state of Washington. As old as the state is, is how old the game is here.
00:34:05
Speaker
in the beginning. And because you figure if there's a game in 1890, unless you're in a media game, you practice probably in 1889. So right, right. Yeah, the the media game, maybe if they were all media members, they may not have actually
00:34:21
Speaker
step foot on a soccer pitch before but you don't need to necessarily get into that. So one of the things that I actually talked to Brian about this a little bit at Yacht Con but it is a thing that I'm somewhat fascinated by and it was one of the things that stood out to me in Matt Pence's book which I have plugged several times on the show but I will say again is really worth a read.
00:34:44
Speaker
sound and the sound and the glory. Anyway, he talked about the origins a little bit of the sounders. And he mentioned that, and I don't know the exact numbers, but when the sounders launched in 1974, there was something like 6000 registered soccer players in the state of Washington, which seems infinitesimal.
00:35:04
Speaker
to me, and it seems absolutely tiny, and yet there clearly was some sort of soccer infrastructure here that was maybe outside of the organized youth ranks. What was, so I'll just put it this to you, what was the state of organized soccer in Seattle and even the state of Washington prior to 1974? So, well, youth soccer had had fits and starts going back to the
00:35:34
Speaker
The 30s, it was usually school-based or CYO-based. But I think you're asking about organized soccer. So there's always been a state league for the adult men. I mean, it had various names and incarnations. From the first time they really got a league together, it was probably around 1910, 1908.
00:36:01
Speaker
And before that was challenge matches against the local teams here the local teams in Vancouver, Tacoma, Portland. So on and that was the world and then youth soccer. So when he's talking about.
00:36:17
Speaker
Did Matt reference youth soccer or was he right? I don't know. Maybe it was youth soccer, but I honestly can't. Does it sound right? Does 6,000 sound right? That sounds a little low. The state association started in 1966.
00:36:34
Speaker
Okay. And I would imagine that and now there's, I think there's 135,000 playing in the state. But I want to say back then, I would think could be about double that. But maybe that was how many were playing adult soccer, but not having my facts in front. However, it was
00:36:59
Speaker
organized and very ethnic back then because either the senior leagues, the state league back then would have been heavily ethnic. Probably half of the players in the state first division would have been foreign born. And then the others had just picked it up from, you know, a work made at Boeing or someone had taught them or they played CYO. And that's kind of the state first division.
00:37:24
Speaker
And then if you're in a youth team and if you're lucky enough in the 60s and early 70s to have a coach who actually knew the game rather than this some poor schmuck of a parent that got hauled onto the field and knows nothing, then if you had a coach that knew anything, they were most likely
00:37:48
Speaker
foreign born, probably like, you know, Brian's dad, though he didn't work for Boeing, he worked for a Boeing subcontractor. And so the aerospace industry was huge in bringing the
00:38:03
Speaker
not only the expertise that's launched an economy here, but they also brought in a lot of the soccer expertise because those people just grew up with it, whether they were a great soccer player back in England or they just knew the game more than anybody else around here. Yeah, so one of the things that I'm always curious about is do you think
00:38:27
Speaker
the sounders, the original NASL sounders, were they essentially the, they weren't clearly a starting point, but were they kind of the thing that really fed the engine that ultimately led to what we are now, or were they just kind of happened to be at the right time, at the right place, and there was already something kind of amazing going on here in your perspective?
00:38:52
Speaker
No, I really believe that the Sounders gave credence to the whole soccer movement because it was the first real opportunity to have a regular gathering place for the soccer community or anybody that was even interested in it. It validated
00:39:13
Speaker
If you had an interest in it, all of a sudden you said like, well, wow, I can't be too, too far gone or too off the edge because there's, there's 14, 15, 16, 17, eight, they get up to 18,000 those first two years.
00:39:29
Speaker
And all of a sudden, you've got people watching it, watching the same thing, getting to know the people, sitting down the bleachers from them. It creates a community, right? And then from that, it's the same dynamic that came here in 2009, because it was the first opportunity for the whole soccer community to
00:39:53
Speaker
to have a regular meeting place and something to talk about and a common concern. So that's what the sounders gave them. Furthermore,
00:40:07
Speaker
The sounders would be going out into the community doing free clinics, coming to your high school, doing an assembly. They did that at my high school. So they were evangelists, missionaries, promoting the game. And so it really did take off then. And the growth really started to pick up with the arrival of the sounders.
00:40:35
Speaker
And so you fast forward to 2009, you were living it, you were working for the Sounders at the time, you've obviously been through, you've touched and been involved with every version of the Sounders. But if you can take us back to that 2009 season, at what point did you realize that there was something maybe more special than your original imagination had ever really allowed you to dream about?
00:41:05
Speaker
Well, there was a couple things I think. So I was still at Seattle. I had just was in the, I was leaving Seattle Pacific where I'd been for quite a long time. And a person came and a good friend of mine from back in college. And he says, hey, I want to talk to you about, there might be a professional soccer team coming. So this is the fall of 2007.
00:41:35
Speaker
And he says, I just want to sound you out. I'm working for an anonymous group that might be
00:41:42
Speaker
having a soccer team. And it turned out he was working for first and goal, you know, the Seahawks. And when I kind of got wind that the Seahawks are behind it, and not to take anything away, I didn't know about Joe Roth and then Adrian was part of it. But when I knew the Seahawks were part of it, I knew that there would be instant credibility. They would do things in a first class way. So you think about that.
00:42:10
Speaker
And then, so when does it, and then do you think, am I the only one that's sensing that this is going to be different? This word, we're not going to just be like, you know, Team X and MLS right now. This is going to be pushing the envelope.
00:42:28
Speaker
You got that sense. Someone knew I was working with the team. So in 2007, they said, hey, who can I talk to the morning after the press conference to buy season tickets?
00:42:42
Speaker
And, uh, and I said, well, okay, here's, and I gave him the name of the sales person. And, um, and then the next day, you know, you saw the numbers jump off the charts, you know, how many they sold the first day, 5,000 or, you know, and by after a week, 10,000, it just kept going. And we didn't have, didn't have a player, you know? And, um, so then that is when you start to say like, well, this thing has a, has a, an energy and a life of its own.
00:43:13
Speaker
Well, I really appreciate you sharing some of these thoughts. As far as Legends goes, where do you currently have installations? How do fans connect aside from the website to what you guys are doing?
00:43:32
Speaker
Well, for right now, we are web-based because it makes more sense to tell our story for free to the world and make it accessible. So that's WASockerLegends.org. So WASockerLegends.org. And now on that, you can then, if you hit the history button, then you go to the history website.
00:43:57
Speaker
where are we as far as a brick and mortar that's that remains to be seen but what we're trying to do is just build up our ability to a finish the history website give it some searchability and some other things that would make it probably more attractive to people to visit so where can you visit legends besides a board meeting
00:44:22
Speaker
would be the event we're holding on March 19th, which is a fundraising event, but it's a fun fundraising event because you get fed, you get drinks, and you get to hear stories from one of our legends, Alan Hinton. So he put his neck on the line. He says, I want to help you raise money. And so he's the guest of honor. And
00:44:47
Speaker
So he'll he's sharing the stage with Mark Wright, the anchor at King Five News. And so the format is a Q&A. And then it goes later to kind of a
00:45:03
Speaker
It's a roast and a toast. Oh, that'll be fun. So that's where some people will get in there, a dig, you know, probably a kind dig. And so among the speakers at that are Brian Schmetzer, Jeff Stock, who has played for Allen on three different teams, Sounders, Stars, and Vancouver Whitecaps. And Jeff, that's combinative.
00:45:33
Speaker
say Marcus Hahnemann will be one of them. He played for Allen with the A League Sounders and Bernie James who's with Crossfire and Bernie actually signed out of high school to play for the
00:45:48
Speaker
originally didn't get a playing time with Alan. So he left and went and became a star in Edmonton and then Cleveland. But then Bernie's now with Crossfire and Alan, when he was a youth coach and coached some state championship youth teams, that was with Crossfire. So Alan was in on the ground floor of Crossfire. So there's more connections and we're, we're working on the, on confirming the fifth speaker and the roast and toast section. So this is all at Kirkland Performance Center.
00:46:18
Speaker
which is a cool venue over there in Kirkland. There's plenty of free parking around and the tickets are available. If you go to our website and you click on events, you'll see a picture of Alan and there's three different tiers of tickets for that, but they all include food and drink.
00:46:36
Speaker
And I just think it'll be a fun time and it would give us some reserves because we've been basically been doing it with what field the same bailing wire and chewing gum and things like that putting this together the last four years. Well, I definitely can.
00:46:52
Speaker
can commiserate there in terms of trying to put events together with very little resources. So best of luck. I know you guys do some great work. I love that we're able to kind of help get the word out with what you guys are doing. But Frank, thanks for taking the time. And yeah, follow Frank on Twitter too. Frank M. Sounders, right? That's right. Yeah. Thank you, Jeremiah.
00:47:20
Speaker
No, thank you for coming on. You're listening to no audio at this.
00:47:28
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adietes. So before we get into the questions, which will just be me and Aaron asking each other questions, I did want to start with a huge thank you. This was by far our most successful Yacht-Con. If you were there, thank you so much for coming. If you weren't there, I hope you've had a chance to watch the YouTube replay of it. It was a lot of fun.
00:47:53
Speaker
It was so close to being a complete disaster. And instead of being a complete disaster, I thought it was a lot of fun. I think that the people like Emily Cummings, especially Aaron Lickett, I think everyone that was involved in this thing did so much work. We ended up raising about $5600 for the Seattle Autism Center, which is by far the most that we've ever raised for them. So that feels great. And I just think people had a lot of fun.
00:48:21
Speaker
Uh, you know, Jonathan Campbell, uh, Jordan McCrary, uh, poor one out for Jordan McCrary. He was great though. I, and I made it so much worse that he was cut a few days later. It really, it really was a huge bummer. Yeah, it was. Uh, but we'll, you know, Will Bruin kind of stole a show during the, during that game that we played. Um, I thought Brian Schmetzer was great as always. Steve Zaccumwani just like coming out of the crowd and doing a quick little, uh, interview session was kind of amazing when you consider this was a guy who just kind of showed up to drop some stuff off and,
00:48:50
Speaker
And he got up on stage and was great. And, you know, Garth, of course, had his little. Little slip of the tongue there can help himself, but to make a dumb statement about fake news and slow starts. But, you know, if they start well, maybe we'll forgive him that one. But anyway, he was, you know, I thought he was engaging and, you know, whenever it was, it was a good time. So thanks to everyone for doing that. And.
00:49:13
Speaker
We may as well get into questions. I will start us off. This is from SP The Ghost. He says, true or true, Brad Smith is the best left back in the league. Hah, trick question. The answer is yes. It's not really a question, but I'm going to let you take this one, Aaron. I mean, I think Brad Smith had a solid game.
00:49:37
Speaker
Nothing about his performance in that game changed my mind at all. I think that Brad Smith is a player that does things that look exciting. That, I mean, he's fun to watch, right? Like, don't get me wrong. I don't think he's a bad player. I think he, you know, he had a solid game.
00:50:00
Speaker
but you can see why he was once transferred for three or five million dollars or whatever absolutely yeah absolutely um you know i mean if he's if he's your left back i think you have to feel pretty good about it um my my position regarding you know where he should be on the roster um in
00:50:20
Speaker
comparison to Nuhu has not changed because of that game. I'll just kind of leave it at that. Yeah, I think when you're playing against a Elvis Powell type right back, you can expect a great game from Brad Smith. And I think that when you watch him, he does have a more like polished look, for lack of a better term. He makes the smart runs. He puts passes into dangerous areas.
00:50:46
Speaker
The final product I don't think is there to the degree that we kind of feel like it should be. The fact that he's averaging the same key passes per 90 as NuWho is kind of an alarming stat and I don't quite understand it because you would think that at the very least his passes are leading to more shots but they're not.
00:51:06
Speaker
Um, and I I still think new who is a better defender Uh new who was still a lot of fun to watch Um, and I don't you know, I think it's a little bit of a moot point right now Like breadsmith is gonna start this game. He's gonna like clearly the sounder's coaches Uh like what they see out there, but this is a great. This is a great problem. This is a really really good problem It absolutely is. I mean I I
00:51:31
Speaker
I feel like because I love Nuhu so much and I love his game so much that I come across as like a Brad Smith hater sometimes. And I don't want to give that impression. I just...
00:51:43
Speaker
You know, it's a it's a difference in and I guess what kind of things you put emphasis on. I'll just leave it at that. Yeah. All right. So another. This is another kind of non-questions from Beth Mantle. She says Jordan Morris, like with a inflection. Yeah, I guess we should switch off, but I'm asking you. You have anything. Do we have anything more to add about Jordan Morris? It was. No, we talked a lot about Jordan Morris. And and I feel about Jordan Morris and I
00:52:13
Speaker
I know I've bitched about being sick a lot during that game, but I mean, I was extremely sick all weekend. And I could barely lay in bed and watch the game. I was so sick. And I think that his first goal was probably the closest they came to experiencing emotion. That wasn't agony. That was after he scored that first goal. It's a wonderful thing. I mean, I think that...
00:52:41
Speaker
the extent to which Jordan Morris fulfilling his potential as a sounder would be an emotional
00:52:52
Speaker
journey, I guess, for lack of a better term for Sounders fans really can't be overstated. And he just seems like such a good dude. And I think everybody, you know, is rooting for him, even the people that have been very critical of him since day one, I think that they want to be proven wrong, assuming their fans, you sort of you can't root against Jordan Morris, you just know, it's, it's Yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
It's, it's very, it's very weird that there are people that seem to want to so badly. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm extremely excited and, and I hope we're not getting ahead of ourselves, but I think we talked and, you know, about why we're probably not. So, um, keeping on the Jordan Morris tip though, here's one from Tom Glans. Uh, what's the ceiling for Jordan Morris this year? How about the next five? You know, at the beginning of the year, I think I said something like if he has 12 combined goals and assists that would feel like a.
00:53:42
Speaker
solid, perfectly acceptable progression of his career. I think maybe we can move that a little higher. I don't want to go crazy, but I don't think 15 combined goals and assists is out of the question. I think he's going to end up with more assists than we had originally thought because he seems to be a better passer.
00:54:08
Speaker
Um, for the next five, I mean, I, I still think he can be a, a standout goal scorer. Like I don't, I think that will maybe be limited if he's going to be playing on the wing. Like he might not ever be a 20 goal scorer if he's spending his career coming in on the, off the wing. Right. But I think he's still a national team contributor. Yeah. And, and I don't want to.
00:54:34
Speaker
Uh, you know, do the messy space needle thing here, because it's not a matter of degree. It's just a matter of the kind of player I kind of see him coming now. And that's kind of the way Landon Donovan's career evolved. You know, he, he was never really an out and out striker, so he never put up.
00:54:51
Speaker
eye-popping goal scoring numbers, but he was a very active goal scorer. And I could definitely see Morris having a career where he plays that sort of like striker, winger, tweener role, especially if the improvement we've seen in his passing is real. And from a national team perspective, I think the US national team could really use some players like that. They could really use a striker as well, obviously, but
00:55:20
Speaker
having a more direct threat that can create and score goals coming off the wing would be, I think, hugely valuable for the national team. So it's a good development for for Sounders fans, and I think it's a good development for his career potential as well.
00:55:34
Speaker
Yeah, I would echo that. This one's from at gingerhead man. So tell me more about this Victor Rodriguez Valley, who is totally different player than last year in lightness. I mean, I think I'll, this probably won't come as a shock, but I think I'll push back on that and say that I don't think he's really that different. He's healthy. Yeah, he's healthy.
00:55:58
Speaker
he's, the Sounders are a better attacking unit. I mean, even last season when they were scoring a fair number of goals down the stretch and went on that big run, they're a much better attacking team right now, I think, than they were at that one. I mean, you're swapping Jordan Morris for Christian Roldan and Roldan for Alon. So those are like offensive upgrades at each spot.
00:56:22
Speaker
And, and Rudy Diaz and Rodriguez and Ladero all have, you know, a fair number of games. Yeah. A preseason, a fair number of games last season together. Um, so I think that, you know, he just has a little bit more opportunity to do his thing, which is certainly helpful. And, and, and also, I mean, it took him a little while to sort of work his way back into the full-time rotation. So even though he played, I think ended up playing like 17 games last year.
00:56:48
Speaker
starting in 13 or 14. It really wasn't until like the last 10 regular season games or so in the playoffs that he was somebody that I think was written the lineup in ink. So yeah, I don't think he is a different player than he was last year, aside from the fact that like you said, he's healthy. Next one from Freeman Mester. More goals this season, Raoul or Jordan? More assists, Victor or Nico?
00:57:14
Speaker
Well, I'm not going to get crazy here. I think Rui Diaz is going to score more goals than Jordan. And I think he might score twice as many goals as Jordan. And that could be even with Jordan scoring a dozen goals. And similarly, I think Nico is going to have more assists than Victor. And Victor may have a bunch of assists too.
00:57:36
Speaker
But if everyone of this group stays healthy, I just think that the way the sounders are set up is very much set up to feed goals to Rui Diaz and to feed assists to Nico Ledero. And I think that's probably, like if one of those two things don't happen, like if it's not Rui Diaz scoring more and it's not
00:57:56
Speaker
Lidero assisting more, it's either means that someone got hurt or it means that things are not going how they are planned. And so, I mean, I don't, I think they will all, like, I think there could be, you know, 60 or 70 combined goals and assists between those four players, which would be pretty astounding. I mean, six, I mean, well, yeah, goals and assists, it's not just goals, but it's,
00:58:26
Speaker
You know, I do think that Lidero and Ruby Diaz are both likely to have kind of monster seasons. I tend to agree. I think the thing that's going to be interesting for me is whether or not Morris can crack 10 assists. And I think it's possible, which would be if he can score 10 goals. I mean, that's a pretty great season. The list of players who have a 10 goal, 10 assist season is actually pretty small in MLS.
00:58:54
Speaker
Um, especially players that are coming off, I guess most of them are probably winners, but, um, anyway, this one is Ian Will-Tamuth. What do you think the odds are of Rui Diaz winning the Golden Boot? I think they're good. I think if Joseph Martinez didn't exist, I think he would be the odds-on favorite. Um, Slatantu, uh,
00:59:17
Speaker
That LA team is terrible, but he's going to score a fair number of goals. But I wouldn't be shocked if he won the Golden Boot. I mean, I would put him as probably third favorite. Right. I would put him at third favorite. What would you take? If you're going to actually lay odds, I've got to think Martinez is like one to two. He's a heavy, heavy favorite. He has a Latan, maybe three to one. What do you think Rui Diaz is at? Five to one, maybe.
00:59:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a decent value bet. 5-1, 7-1 maybe. It's so tricky because Joseph Martinez scores Atlanta's goals, right? They don't have a potential 12 to 15 goal score playing on the wing. And he takes their penalties. And he takes their penalties, and that's a huge part of it. And Zlatan could score 30 goals, and the Galaxy could finish eighth. So I just think the Sounders
01:00:17
Speaker
have so many other options that the uh like he's just not gonna have the opportunities that those guys are um but i i don't think it's crazy to think he could do it uh yeah no i agree i just was just reading this next question you can read it though uh so from m rathburger 22 odds of the saunters going undefeated
01:00:42
Speaker
Uh, you know, pretty, pretty, pretty low. Uh, I don't think this is going to be an undefeated season. It feels like, you know, if they played FC Cincinnati, they might go undefeated. Um, but yeah, it's a.
01:00:57
Speaker
I don't know. I do think that this, I don't even know that the Sounders are really supporters shield. Like I would hesitate to call them supporters shield favorites, although this is the first time they've led the supporter shield since 2015. Uh, which is, you know, like after one week, you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself, but I mean, it's an interesting one because I don't know that they are right now, but I could see them being the supporter shield favorites by like April because yeah. Yeah.
01:01:25
Speaker
Like Atlanta didn't win the shield last year and didn't get better. New York probably got a little worse, but I don't think they're that much worse. And I think it could be one of those things where it comes out of the West just because the East is a little better from top to bottom. I don't see. I don't know that it is. We don't really know enough. I think that the West might be deeper. I think the teams out East maybe
01:01:52
Speaker
feel a little bit better, but sporting Kansas City, like I think sporting Kansas City has to be considered one of the favorites to be, to be the, the sport of shield winners. I, you know, the, the Sounders in most of the rankings were anywhere between first and fourth and in the West. And I have a hard time really arguing against anyone that puts them as low as fourth, because I think you can make the case that sporting Kansas City is better. I think you can make the case that LAFC is better.
01:02:20
Speaker
I don't think Portland is better, but I can see how the argument could potentially be made that way. But yeah, I mean, I think in a few weeks we'll have a much better idea of where they rank in that sense. Yeah.
01:02:37
Speaker
Let's see, next one is from Kingdom Gnome. Am I just bitter about... I blew that, didn't I? That's fine, that's fine. Am I just bitter about all the Dempsey red cards or did Adi get off easy with just the yellow card for the elbow to Kim's head and hands to face on Nikko? Has there been a rule change regarding hands to the face being a red card? You know, I don't think you're being overly sensitive when you say if Dempsey had done that, it probably would have been a red card.
01:03:06
Speaker
That said, I don't think that either one of those things that Adi did should have been a red card. I do think that Dempsey was getting judged on like a sliding scale. And I think that he had, whether or not it was deserved is, we can get into a whole topic on that. But I don't think he was always treated fairly when it came to like reviewing those kinds of things.
01:03:36
Speaker
But yeah, I mean I don't, I don't want to see reds for kind of innocuous hands to the face situations and I don't remember the elbow but I don't remember it being egregious. Yeah, the elbow, I think was, I don't even know if it was a foul I do remember it.
01:03:55
Speaker
I think even Kim, you know, told the rest. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a foul. The hands to the face, don't quote me on this, but I do feel like there was something that came out about how that had been a point of emphasis, but they were, it wasn't necessary. Like it was up to discretion now. Like it wasn't an automatic red card, which I think it's something they kind of do occasionally where for a couple of years they'll say, we're always going to give a red card for this.
01:04:24
Speaker
and kind of, you know, get it into the player's heads that this is an automatic red card and then show some more discretion. I might be making that up. I don't know. It might be a fever dream, but I do feel like I remember hearing that, which I think makes sense. I mean, I kind of understand the whole idea that
01:04:41
Speaker
you know, hands to the face is is often a violent offense. And so you can't have any tolerance for it. But I think that that was a great example of where Adi is definitely being careless. And so I think yellow card is fair. But I don't want to see somebody get sent off for that. So this is from Carl Nelson. He says first game featured a lot of short corners. Why is this something that we should expect throughout the season? Or is it just because FCC had lots of tall guys?
01:05:07
Speaker
So I think that we probably did see more in this game than we will normally, because FCC is built to have big dudes in the box cutting balls away. But I think that the Sounders are a team that's built to break teams down, hold possession. They don't have great aerial threats outside of Svensson, who is sneakily a very, very potent weapon on corners. He came, I think, fairly close on a near post header.
01:05:36
Speaker
in this game. So, but I think the evidence, I know that short corners are unpopular with a lot of people. And it is frustrating to have a short corner routine that just doesn't pan out and just kind of turns into recycling possession. But the numbers don't really bear out short corners being a super effective way to score goals. And so I mean,
01:05:58
Speaker
they don't. Sorry, regular corners. They're not necessarily great goal scoring opportunities and when you're a team that's built to play the way the sounders are and sort of break teams down technically, you know,
01:06:13
Speaker
just having the ball in the final third with with bodies in the boxes is a more dangerous situation. So I think we're going to see a lot more of it of this year. I don't expect a lot of people to love it, but I understand it. I think it makes sense given the players that they have.
01:06:28
Speaker
you know, they'll have to do enough corners into the box to keep teams honest. But I wouldn't be shocked if it's at least 50 50, you know, going forward. Yeah, you know, they talked about this on the broadcast, they had the stat that said that Nico was actually one of the more efficient players in generating goals from set piece opportunities, which I found shocking, frankly, because it doesn't feel like the sounders have ever been particularly good.
01:06:56
Speaker
since he's been here at taking corners especially or free kicks but maybe they're just getting a little bit better about picking their spots yeah and it does kind of make sense like when you have a defense like FC Cincinnati who is got some big bodies who are pretty good on set pieces presumably that maybe you just don't like it's better to change the angle and keep possession especially when you're
01:07:23
Speaker
you're already leading most of those corners I'm assuming came probably after they were already up and so it wasn't quite you know you're not looking to you're looking maybe to milk the caulk a little bit more
01:07:36
Speaker
I do think that short corners, they feel like the short corner has become part of the repertoire of the sounders though, and we should not assume that every corner is getting lumped into the box the way that we have for a long time. I think too that the kind of corners that the sounders take when they get pumped into the box gives people a perception of Nikko being worse at them than he actually is.
01:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, they kind of purposely go for the flicks oftentimes rather than kind of trying to get to the far post. Right. And when those don't pan out, they don't look great. But when they do, they're a lot more dangerous. So I think that's part of it.
01:08:14
Speaker
Bill Jones, TRPT, Bill Jones Trumpet, Rilio gave our four attackers player ratings of eights and nines for the first times I've noticed. Is he accurate? Is he drunk on a fantastic season opening win? Or is he more generous after being rated himself by Schmetz?
01:08:31
Speaker
Schmetz was rather harsh with some of the, shockingly he was very kind to me, but he was kind of harsh with his ratings. I mean, I think that those were all deserved. I too was a little surprised when I was reading through the ratings and I saw
01:08:46
Speaker
all the eights and nines that were being given. And I was surprised to see that a nine was not like one of the nines wasn't the player of the match because a man of the match went to Jordan Morris. I have a hard time quibbling, you know, I think really does a thorough job of going through these. And I think he's fair for the most part. And I don't you know, I think
01:09:08
Speaker
That was probably like, I don't know where you would find faults, frankly. Um, yeah. I mean, that was definitely my reaction when I was reading through them was I was like, I, I agree with, with this how this player played. So yeah. Yeah. Um, so this one's from st. O'Brien 425. What role do assistant coaches play? Do they break out by offensive defense? Do they scout other teams?
01:09:32
Speaker
I mean, I think it depends entirely on who the head coaches and how they want things organized. You know, I think for a lot of teams, I know that under CIGI, Brian Schmetzer had a lot of responsibility putting together tactical plans, making sure that was implemented. I think that Gonzalo Pineda has a similar type of role, but I could be wrong there. I think you're right.
01:09:52
Speaker
But there are some teams where it's the exact opposite, where the assistant coach is the guy that's the motivator and in players' ears, and the head coach is the guy that's digging into the whiteboards and whatnot. So I think it really does depend. I do think that teams tend to have specialists. So they're going to have a coach that's mostly focused on offense, a coach that's mostly focused on defense, obviously a goalkeeper's coach, and then sort of the number two assistant coach.
01:10:19
Speaker
Um, but, but what their specific roles are, I don't know. And I would imagine you, you know, probably have a better sense of that with the Sounders. Yeah. I mean, I think the goalkeeping coach is the only coach who I think has a really defined role. And then the sense I get is Jimmy is probably kind of the defensive coordinator for lack of a better term. Precky is kind of the offensive coordinator. Pineda is more of the assistant coach and.
01:10:47
Speaker
And then obviously Smets kind of puts it all together. I don't know that it really breaks down quite that evenly. I think that there's probably a lot more sharing that goes on. One of the things that was pointed out to me, there was something, the cylinders have gotten to have a pretty big technical staff. And it's, cause it's not just those four guys. It's, you know, it's Damien Rodin and then Damien Rodin has three or four
01:11:11
Speaker
other kind of performance analyst type guys. You know, you look out at the field and there's like 12 guys, 12 coaches out in warmups doing various things. You know, some of those are equipment people and other things like that. But the Sounders have a pretty robust, like, technical staff at this point.
01:11:33
Speaker
to the point that it looks like a European team. You look at Cincinnati, they had five guys. And it is one of those things where you have to laugh when you hear people talking about the Sounders not spending money, where it's just like, no, they're spending money. They're just doing it in places that are not as obvious as a $20 million transfer fee. And it seems to be paying off pretty well, for sure.
01:11:56
Speaker
So next one from IM333, how long before Danny Leyva plays for the first team? You know, it's a really good question. And I was giving this some thought today. And it's interesting because on one hand, it would be tempting, I'm sure for the sounders just to give Danny Leyva first team contract like today.
01:12:15
Speaker
But from a practical perspective, like, what's the point of that if you don't think he's actually going to play for your first team? Like, it would be nice for Danny and sure, Danny would love to, like, I'm guessing he's on something like a $35,000 a year contract, you'd probably get
01:12:30
Speaker
closer to 55,000. But does $20,000 for a 15-year-old, does he need that extra money? He's living with a host family as it is. So I don't know. It's a money thing for him. I do expect him to get a first name contract this year. I do expect him to make his debut.
01:12:51
Speaker
But I don't think the Sounders are going to rush either one of those things. And there's no reason they should, frankly. No, I mean, I think seeing how he does in the open cup where I think it's reasonable to expect it, you know, he's going to. Yeah, yeah, I guarantee. Yeah, absolutely. And I think if he shows well there, you know, maybe you move up the timeline a little bit. But yeah, I'm with you. I don't it's hard to see him getting a ton of playing time on this team. And like.
01:13:17
Speaker
Is he better than I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, is he better than Jordy Dellum right now? And he might be. But what's the marginal like? I don't know. I don't like would you rather him get
01:13:32
Speaker
2,000 minutes with the Defiance, or would you rather get 200 minutes with the Sounders? And if you're putting them on the Sounders roster every, you know, if you sign up to a first team contract and you're putting them on the roster on a regular basis, at some point you're taking away the opportunities he's going to have for the Defiance. I just don't think the Sounders are in any sort of rush to do that. But this year I fully expect him to be signed.
01:14:01
Speaker
This one is from Jim C. Kim. He says, so great to see the members of the 09 squad back on the pitch. If that lineup had traveled forward in time to play the 19 squad, how would that match have gone? So you remember when the Galaxy beat the Sounders 4-0 at home and everybody got refunds for that game? They do. I think that they would have to offer refunds for the entire season. I think it would have been that bad.
01:14:30
Speaker
Um, I mean, it's crazy and I feel like an asshole for, you know, just like talking shit about these guys, but like, it's crazy to look at the players that were on that Oh nine team and look at the players that are in an MLS down on this roster now. Um.
01:14:47
Speaker
to just see how far it's come. I mean, I guess Freddie Monteiro is a DP in Vancouver, so it's not universal. But yeah, no, I mean, you can't go. I don't think you can go line by line and say this is a trash player compared to what we have now. But like Tyrone Marshall and John Kenny Hurtado were the starting center backs in that game. I don't think either of those guys
01:15:07
Speaker
like make the, they might not make the roster. And John Kanier and Tato was a defensive player of the year candidate in 2009. You look at the right back was James Riley. Like, I don't think James Riley is a player who would be, you know, I don't think he's an MLS right now. Like if you, if that version of James Riley, Zach Scott, I think was the starting left back for the season opener.
01:15:33
Speaker
Um, you know, and like, I guess it's harder and that's a little harder because Zach Scott was a player who was contributing to the Sounders as recently as a couple of years ago. But I don't, I don't think there's any way that he's, you're starting left back. Like that's a crazy, like that's crazy. Uh, Casey Keller, goalkeeper. I, you know, like probably he's probably fine. Uh, Freddie Monteiro, your second striker, he's probably fine. Nate Jakewa though is your, is your number nine.
01:16:01
Speaker
I don't see that one. Zakawani, you know, is Zakawani maybe? Like rookie Zakawani is definitely not starting. Is Zakawani the player who he was before he got hurt in 2011? Is that guy a contributor to the team? Probably. Like he developed into a really good player. But in 2009, I think you got to remember Steve Zakawani was not the same player that he was in 2011.
01:16:27
Speaker
he was basically fast and he could do something, but he scored four goals. He was getting pulled in the 65th minute every game. He was a slightly better version of Sana Niasse in 2009. Right, right, exactly. And you know, Brad Evans, Brad Evans might be, like, I don't think he's gonna, he's not gonna start, that's for sure. But I guess Freddie Younberg was in,
01:16:49
Speaker
You know, like, I don't know. Actually, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to think of Freddie Younberg, honestly. I'm not sure. He would he would be the DP that everybody's going to jokes about being a DP. Like he would be like a Bastian Schweinsiger type. Yeah, like I don't I don't think he's like he was an MVP candidate probably in 09. I think he's struggling to be a starter in 2000, like that version of him. And then
01:17:17
Speaker
like Ozzy Alonzo obviously started that game. He probably is. He's probably fine. But the 09 version, but 09 version of us model Alonzo. Right. Probably, I mean, better than Jordy the limb, but not orders of magnitude.
01:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you got to get like even the guys that were good on that team, like Freddie Monteiro, as good as he was, I think you could argue that 10 years later, Freddie Monteiro is in some ways, at least a better player, maybe not in every aspect. But I think, yeah, I think overall, he's a much better player than he was in 2000. I mean, he's a much, much more polished player, that's for sure.
01:17:52
Speaker
You know, like, it's funny, I think about this sometimes, there was a couple, there was a run of games and the Sounders got trounced when they did this, but they did have a run of games where Peter Viannis and Patrick Iani were the starting midfield duo. Can you imagine? I mean, I don't know what the equivalent of that would be now. I mean, it would basically be like playing like Johnny football and
01:18:15
Speaker
brad evans but like now brad evans retired brad evans is right and i don't want to trash that 0-9 team there was sebela 2 was you know but like there's another guy like sebela 2 in 0-9 was a like he was he was a fine player and he would turn into a really like a pretty decent player but
01:18:37
Speaker
I think it's fine to recognize that at that time they were a tremendous MLS team and have great memories of that and what they helped the Sounders become and what they accomplished in that season. I don't think it's diminishing the memory to point out that MLS is
01:18:54
Speaker
Um, just gotten a lot better. Um, but yeah, you know, and, and, and I think it's great though that the sounders were able to bring back so many of those players to the game on, on Saturday. I think it was great that they were there for Siggy's Memorial. That was great. Um, I thought that Siggy, the whole opening ceremony was just very well done. It was great to see all those guys. And, but.
01:19:17
Speaker
When you're comparing those teams like that they're just swimming in different talent pools the kind of players that i was able to attract into the league. Are just totally different than the kind of players are attracting no nine and that's not say that every player in the league was bad but it was a very different league it just was and i'm.
01:19:36
Speaker
Like, I don't know. I don't, I'm sure they're, you know, I'm sure Steve Zaccawany probably would differ with that, but it was, it was just totally different. Anyway, so two more questions. This one's from Tom Glans. He says, why, who does David Beckham statues face most remind you of? And if we built one of Ozzy, who would it look like?
01:19:58
Speaker
So David Beckham's statue looks like Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men. It's a dead ringer. If we put one for Ozzy, I don't know. I mean, it depends on which face he had on. I have this like sinking feeling that when he does get a statue, he's going to be like smiling for some reason.
Statue Discussions & Media Game
01:20:17
Speaker
And that just seems like a horrible choice.
01:20:19
Speaker
I will say that the Beckham statue was very well executed. Yeah, yeah. Like the fact that they went with an action pose and that they tried to get some movement in there. It's the one action he was any good at when he was in Calgary. Right, right, right.
01:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would love, like, there's a lot of moments that I don't know that we're ever gonna get a Sender statue as long as the Hawks are the main tenant out at CenturyLink Field, but Alonzo's probably the guy that, right? He's the top candidate, right?
01:20:55
Speaker
I'm at this point, sure. Um, if Nico Lodero's here for another four years and we won a couple MLS cups, you know, it's tough to say, um, I'm okay with kind of waiting on the statues. Like I feel like getting his statue. That was the prime amount of time. Like 20 years after he was in his prime, basically. Right. Only like two years after he retired, but. Right. But a long time after he had had his best years. Right. So.
01:21:24
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I don't know. Maybe Buster Keaton, um, would be because the great stone face, some final joke for ya. All right. Last question from Emily Cummings has Jeremiah come up with a training plan to be able to give coach Schmetz more effort throughout the 2019 season.
01:21:40
Speaker
Yeah. So I, uh, you know, I, I did, this is a good, I'm glad you, we got this question last cause I didn't want to talk about the media game. I won't go into too many details, but I'll just say that that was, I was very nervous. I went into that game very worried about the condition that my body was in. I was really worried that I was going to hurt myself. For when it's worth.
01:22:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think my wife was really legitimately concerned. And to be frank, a couple guys did get really badly hurt. Jackson felt from KJR, blew out his knee, and Jeff Baker from the Seattle Times broke a couple ribs.
01:22:17
Speaker
Yeah, so there were some decent injuries and none of those were really off of horrible incidents. It's just like when you're not in shape, you get hurt. And I'm very overweight. I don't mind saying that. And in the first half, I was really very mindful of not overdoing it.
01:22:37
Speaker
And at halftime, Schmetzer, if you've watched the highlight at halftime, Schmetzer really did kind of, anyone say he laid into me, but he gave me a hard time for my effort. And he was kind of yelling some things at me on the sideline, which were completely called for.
01:22:52
Speaker
And I think in the second half I turned in a better effort. I made some recovery runs and I was trying to be a little bit more involved and I got an assist to Relio who then reboned the goal, which was pretty funny to see. But yeah, my hope, my honest hope
01:23:13
Speaker
We'll see where I am in a year, but I'm gonna start riding my bike again and I may, I may, we'll see if this actually comes to fruition, but one of my neighbor invited me to join his men's league. We'll see if that happens, but I definitely, if I play again, I hope I'm in much better shape and I'm able to maybe participate at a higher degree.
01:23:37
Speaker
higher level, but it was a lot of fun. I'm glad I did it. And it was definitely a highlight for me of the year. Yeah, it was great for me because I'm objectively in much worse shape than you or anybody else that played in that game. I don't know about that. There was never a chance of me participating, but I did get to make fun of everybody. And that was really special for me to be able to do that. Yeah, it is kind of special. I think it's great.
01:24:02
Speaker
Well, um, anyway, thanks, uh, to everyone for sticking with us for another year.
Community Engagement & Wrap-Up
01:24:08
Speaker
Uh, we are, we have not made a final decision on this yet, but we have been kicking around the idea of doing a Patreon. Uh, partly because we, you know, we're kind of at that time where did this is our ninth season. This is pretty crazy. We started, we started in the 2011 20 right before the 2011 season.
01:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's really quite wild to think that we've been doing this for that long. But here we are. Really? Yeah, for a lot of reasons. It's crazy to think about. But yeah, we're doing this. We're back. And if you have any feedback as to the kinds, if we were to do a Patreon, let us know what kind of expectations would you have from that? What are the perks that you would expect to see? We don't necessarily
01:24:52
Speaker
So just email us nosadietes at gmail.com if you're so inclined. Let us know what kind of things. Let us know what you're thinking, if this is a good idea or a bad idea. But with that said, I want to thank our sponsor, Full Pool Wines. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. I should also, I guess I should also thank Frank McDonald of Washington State Legends of Soccer, who are doing a big fundraiser.
01:25:16
Speaker
I'm signing off on behalf of Erin Campo and her engineer, Lickett. This is No Study Yet This. Remember, you'll never get along.
01:25:39
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!