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A Kossa-Rienzi Agenda is Born - Ep. 37
67 Plays1 year ago
Ari and Noah discuss the Seattle Sounders win over Phoenix Rising FC in the U.S. Open Cup, highlighting a match-winning performance from Kalani Kossa-Rienzi. The Scorchers Boys also introduce a new segment called 'Agenda Check' where they evaluate the status of various player agendas. Closing the show, Ari and Noah preview the upcoming match against St. Louis CITY SC, address fan questions, discuss the the departure of Emiliano Rigoni from Austin FC and the ticket controversy surrounding Inter Miami's game in Vancouver.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 37
00:00:10
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome into Episode 37 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. And we've got a dub pod for you this evening. Noah, how are you feeling? Oh, man, it was a great night at Starfire. I saw just a top Ben's goal. I had top Ben's Buddha brothers from a truck.
Seattle Sounders' Quarterfinal Victory
00:00:35
Speaker
I mean, I'm so excited for us to play LAFC at Starfire Stadium.
00:00:39
Speaker
That's right. The Seattle Sounders have advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup. 2-1 winners over Phoenix Rising FC at Starfire last night. Goals from Alex rolled on a penalty kick and a really, really nice game winner from an unlikely source, Kalana Kosa-Rienzi. First round super draft pick this year. First time I had watched him play, I think.
Subscriber Appreciation and Goals
00:01:02
Speaker
He bammed probably one of the best goals I've seen all season from a Seattle sounder. So we're gonna dive into that game today and that's gonna be most of the episode. I think we got a couple quick news hits from around MLS at the very end. But we're gonna lay down this dub pod and then do a little look ahead also to this Saturday's MLS match at St. Louis City SC. But before we do so, quick housekeeping at the top of the show as usual.
00:01:30
Speaker
I'd like to thank all of our paid subs. You guys are the best. I'm going to read them out. I'm going to keep reading the whole list until we get so many that we can't do so anymore. Rhombus, Nate, Tyler, Owen, David, Christopher, Bill, Mike, Aaron, Derek, Soundernaves, Dan Paveto, Mike Standish, Ryan Shane, Eric,
00:01:50
Speaker
My nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis, Andy Hill, Ian Mitchell and Greg Hoecker. Thank you guys. We love you guys. If you'd like to support the show, all you have to do is go to podcast.lovingscortress.com. Click on the little heart. You can pledge 3, 5, 10, 1,000, 10,000 dollars, however much you want. Not obligatory though, we just appreciate everyone who tunes in, but
00:02:14
Speaker
Thank you so much to everyone who has and continues to support us. And also, if you haven't done so yet, and you're listening to this, please subscribe to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. Growing by the day, I mean, I think we're up close to 70 subscribers, if not there. The little shorts and reels that Noah's been making and posting on there have actually kind of been popping, Noah, so good job. Yeah, they're banging. We don't have a lot of subs yet, but our viewership numbers are actually pretty good because of those. But we are trying to continue to grow our presence over on YouTube.
00:02:44
Speaker
So if you haven't yet, please drop us up there Listen we have 19 we have 19 supporters as well for people paid subs We got 19 right which that's 19 more than I thought we were good when we started this podcast But like why not why like round numbers like let's just get one more. Yeah
00:03:01
Speaker
Let's pump one more. I know there's at least one person out there who hasn't subscribed to support Lobbing Scorchers yet that's willing to and can be our 20th sub. I set the goal at 50 and then we've plateaued at 19. Hey, that's how it goes. Let's get to 20. But in all seriousness, we do appreciate the support from everyone and the growing listenership that we've continued to experience over the last month or so. It's much appreciated and it motivates us to keep putting out these shows.
00:03:31
Speaker
But let's talk about this
Seattle Sounders' Winning Streak
00:03:33
Speaker
game. No, let's do the dub pod. It's only like our fifth dub pod of the season between Our no, so they've won. Yeah, they've won three three MLS games and two open cup games So it's our fifth dub pod of the season out of like 13 14 games whenever it's been so listen undefeated open cup dub pods
00:03:51
Speaker
It's true. The pod is 2-0 in the U.S. Open Cup against two U.S.L. championship sides. But, you know, these Open Cup games against the U.S.L. championship sides, they're not easy games necessarily, as we've seen.
Challenges in the U.S. Open Cup
00:04:07
Speaker
I thought this one was a little smoother sailing than the one against Louisville City I think that's my first observation from this game is that Louisville City is quite a bit better than Phoenix Rising easily Louisville City I mean you can see it on the USL table They're one of the best teams in the league Phoenix Rising is a pretty mid-USL team this year. I thought it looked like it
00:04:24
Speaker
You could really see the quality differential between these two games in this game. It looked like an MLS team playing a U.S.L. team, which might sound obvious, but a lot of the times in these Open Cup games where the MLS team is rotating and it's a lot of their academy kids and backups, it evens out the quality a little bit. You've got a lot of inexperience out on the field.
00:04:47
Speaker
In this case, Seattle had a lineup with a lot of Academy kids and backups, and they still looked like they were the MLS team playing against the U.S.L. team. But let's talk about our lineup reaction first, as we do at the start of our game analysis.
Lineup Strategy Debate
00:05:04
Speaker
Schmetz said it was going to be more of a first-choice crew for this game.
00:05:10
Speaker
That was not exactly how I would describe this lineup. You had Christian Roldan out there and you had New Who out there, but other than that, it was a pretty rotated side. You had the band of three of Georgie, Dylan Tevez, and Paul Rothrock with Moose up top, with Danny Leyva and Christian as your double pivot, with a back line of Kosa Renzi, John Bell, Stu Hawkins, and New Who with Andy T. Engle. So I think the first talking point is just kind of
00:05:37
Speaker
What do we think of how rotated a squad this still seem to be for where they are in the tournament and where they're at with their season? And I mean, I'll say pretty much the same thing that I've been saying when talking about the Open Cup, which is I'm personally I'm fine with lining it up like this.
00:05:54
Speaker
Schmetz alluded to it today actually I just saw the quote that the further you get into the tournament the less you
Spotlight on Stu Hawkins
00:06:00
Speaker
rotate and he did say that he feels like now they're at the point where you're getting close enough to having an opportunity to play in a final where for the Sac Republic game again he made it sound like he was going to play more first choice 11 type guys which is sort of how he made it sound for this game and he didn't really adhere to that
00:06:17
Speaker
But I do tend to think that as the reality of playing for a trophy becomes more and more clear, you probably will see them prioritize it in a way where you'll see more guys out there who you would probably see as first choice starters in an MLS game. I don't know if it's not going to probably be the full full strength lineup, but you might see less Academy kids. I don't know if you're going to see guys like Stu Hawkins and Snyder Burnell and stuff.
00:06:43
Speaker
out there the deeper that they get into this tournament like should they win the next game but to be fair Stu Hawkins should be on the bench for this upcoming matchup so I don't know we might see him yeah well so that's one thing we can talk about right off rip because the trajectory of Stu Hawkins I think is a big storyline for the organization he's the
00:07:04
Speaker
the most touted central defender in the pipeline right now. So his development, there's quite a bit riding on it. And I haven't really gotten to see him play all that much. I haven't watched all that much Defiance since he started playing for them. But I do know about his pedigree and what the organization thinks of him.
00:07:22
Speaker
So it was that's kind of why I like a lineup like this because it allows it gives you a chance to see that in action in a competitive high stakes elimination game. And you kind of get to see what a guy like Stu Hawkins is made of. I thought I was I was actually decently impressed with Stu Hawkins in this game. It seems like he has good good composure positioning instincts.
00:07:45
Speaker
I thought there was at least a few plays where He made the right reads was in the right spot So I kind of you know, I want to see more of them before I formulate a total opinion on Stu Hawkins But I thought at least in this game I can't really think of a foot that he put wrong Which that's that's what you want in a defender first and foremost, you know being boring is a positive thing for a CB You don't necessarily want to be entertaining as a CB
00:08:13
Speaker
And I thought Stu Hawkins acquitted himself well in this game.
00:08:35
Speaker
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00:08:51
Speaker
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00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah, I really liked what I saw with him and like you said you hit the nail on the head last week and the week before that by saying The biggest thing is that we didn't notice him. He fit in he blended in you Don't hear you don't hear anyone talking about him other than the you know us the pundits But like you don't hear anyone on Twitter like oh shit Stu Hawkins again No, it's just he played he held his own
00:09:44
Speaker
They, I mean, they potentially could have kept a clean sheet if they didn't give up probably the world's dumbest penalty I've ever seen, which I'm sure we'll talk about. We will get to that. But yeah, I thought he played great. And I hope he gets some minutes this weekend in St. Louis. Yeah. So we'll talk about it more later in the show because I think a couple of people had questions about it. But just as far as the principle of lining up another rotated lineup like this, um,
Rotation Strategy in Open Cup
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm fine with it and I think that's how you should handle it. The other thing I would say about that is that you might be able to approach it differently if you've been in good form in the league and you're way up on the table and you can afford to drop league points. The Seattle Sounders, I'm sad to report, do not have that luxury right now. You have to be prioritizing taking points in all your league games
00:10:32
Speaker
right now so you I'm pretty sure that factors into how Schmetz thinks about it if they were higher up on the table and had some cushion to work with maybe he does put out a strike near lineup for this game but like you you need to be going all out to win this st. Louis game and as such you could not you couldn't you just could not field your first choice 11 in this game and on top of that you know
00:10:55
Speaker
Maybe we're sickos for it, but I think we both like watching the novelty lineups. I think it's entertaining. And outside of the entertainment value, they're good data points for these young guys and players that we don't get to see as often.
Critical Game Moments and Errors
00:11:10
Speaker
Talk about my thoughts from the first half. I thought it started off pretty well in that Seattle was on top of Phoenix. Like I said, I thought it very much looked like there was a quality disparity between the two sides. Seattle was generating the better chances, had the better sequences of play, but much like the first team regulars for the Seattle Sounders at many times this season, they couldn't quite find a goal.
00:11:35
Speaker
and then just had a really bad sequence to end the first half. And this one drove me nuts, Noah, the whole sequence. First of all, unfortunately, the Moose Agenda has taken a hit. It started when he missed a breakaway, which would be one thing, but when he could have just laid it off to Georgie.
00:11:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Wide open right there. Plenty of time and space to to both see him and hit the pass. It's an easy goal. Phoenix Rising. They could. Phoenix Rising was basically saying. Do you guys want the first goal of the game?
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah. Here you go. You can have it. Christian Roldan hits a perfect through ball to Moose who's all alone with Georgie right there for an easy tap in and instead he decides to try and wrap a shot around the guy. The keeper was coming at him. While the keeper was coming at him and he ended up
00:12:28
Speaker
Like, even if you're going to take the shot in that situation, like you would think it would have been harder for him to save, but it ended up being like a relatively easy save. You just shot it right at him. Yeah, shot it right at him. When you had Georgie right there. I mean, that ball needs to be laid off. It needs to be laid off every single time, 10 times out of 10. I don't know if he didn't see him or just trusted himself more in that situation than he did to
00:12:55
Speaker
To try and lay it off. But either way, I mean it's just That's not a smart play from your forward. Like that's your you're giving a goal away. That is an easy goal that and That it just came back that can't happen. Yeah, I was I was Literally screaming. I'm sure everyone around me was so incredibly annoyed. I was screaming pass pass pass pass lay it off because like it was such a good
00:13:23
Speaker
play from Christian Christian and it like just drew all of the attention because the way that it was like the perfect counter attack especially against a US outside who's probably not going to have the tactical capability to defend something like that just what a ball moose is there he's already pulling the keeper out towards him it's like how do you not have the wherewithal in the knowledge to just turn and pass the ball
00:13:52
Speaker
it to me what it looked like was a striker who has been begging for form has been begging for like literally any kind of goal and he just he wanted one because he needed to feel that to feel like he could do that and It cost him an assist
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah and you know I think the really unfortunate thing too is that it cost us a Georgie goal which that would have been a another a great storyline but so yeah you had that play where Moose bungles the breakaway and then on the other end you have Danny Leyva with just a just super unnecessary challenge to concede the PK that Phoenix converted you know like not all PKs are created equal sometimes
00:14:32
Speaker
as the defender in that situation. You're between a rock and a hard place, and you don't really have that many good options, and you have to make a challenge just to, in a last-ditch attempt to try and save a goal. But in this case, it felt like Seattle had the defenders there to snuff out whatever opportunity might have arisen from that sequence.
00:14:55
Speaker
And there's like, what is to be gained from that challenge? Yeah, maybe you get the ball off him. That's the positive outcome. The negative outcome is what happened, which is that he takes him down for a foul in the box and you can see the penalty. So just not good risk reward analysis right there. Just
00:15:34
Speaker
mashing X because it's like I'm so pissed off it was the weirdest thing like I'm watching this I'm like oh this is great new who is actually back in position and you also have a center back you have another center back it's kind of like a two on three position and then I just see Danny Leyva hit the sprint button and directly clean this dude out at the top of the box and I was just like
00:15:46
Speaker
Out of the options of making that challenge, or not making that challenge, you should have not made that challenge.
00:15:56
Speaker
What are you doing? What was the point of that? Yeah, I don't I don't understand what his thought process was that you mentioned. I didn't write this on the outline, but I just thought of it. I thought it was funny how like his antics against the U.S. side actually kind of work. Like, remember the play where he like spun through three guys and he was just like a world class player.
00:16:19
Speaker
He tries that in MLS, and I don't know if I've ever seen it work, but he can do it in this context against the U.S.L. team, and it actually did work. I thought he knew who held it down, this game. He didn't do anything crazy. No, I actually, and I have to note this, because post-game, me and New Who linked, two legends linked, we dapped it up, so I just wanted to let everyone know that we're boys now. Okay, that is good to know. The agenda is on the up, folks.
00:16:50
Speaker
So John Bell got hurt, I believe, around that time. It might have been a little later, but I wanted to drop that in there. Best wishes to John Bell. John Bell's been playing well. He's finally started to get some minutes in the last few weeks here, and I got nothing negative to say about the play of John Bell. So I hope he heals up. And that was unfortunate to see him go out right there, because he's a guy who's been getting his opportunity and doing quite well with it.
00:17:15
Speaker
But he came out with what I believe is a hamstring injury. So he got replaced by Jackson Reagan sounder But here's where I wanted to debut a new segment Noah This is a new segment and then I think we're going to keep on the show moving forward because I like the concept of it It's called agenda check
'Agenda Check' Segment Introduction
00:17:32
Speaker
We're going to go through all the agendas and update the status of them, and see where they stand after the most recent game. So for this week's inaugural agenda check, we've got Moose, Georgie, Paul Rothrock, Andy T., and a new entry, Kalani Kosa-Rienzi. Maybe we should save that one for when we break down the goal. Let's do that. Let's do Moose, Georgie, Paul Rothrock, Andy T., agenda checks.
00:17:57
Speaker
starting with moose. I mean the moose agenda took a hit. Yeah, it took a hit. This was this was the worst game of the season. He because I mean I think you know I had it for later on in the game, but he missed another breakaway like oh yeah the game yeah late in the game and so you have that combined. I mean the one that he didn't lay off to Georgia just drives me nuts like I'm sorry that
00:18:22
Speaker
It's just when you have a goal challenged team like this, you gotta hit your layups. And when you have an opportunity for a layup and you just bungled away like that for no reason, it's just a really bad play.
00:18:38
Speaker
and then missing another breakaway. So, you know, Moose has done well at times this season. He's one of the only players on the team that scored a goal towards the beginning of the season in the in the Quakes game. And I think we've all liked what we've seen from we both liked what we've seen from him at times. But the agenda has undeniably taken a hit. This was a rough one for him.
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah. Well, people were saying he's a bear level. But listen, I got to say we got to cool it down. I think if we're doing thermometer level of of agenda one day, it's like, yeah, like I don't think he's there yet. But no, no, no, no. It's I'm not I'm not going to entirely write him off as a player based off one game. Like every player has an off game or a bad game. But if we're talking about just purely the status of the agenda, a game like this diminishes it. It does. There's no getting around that.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, he's not looking good. He's not looking what about the Georgie agenda? I'll let you let you cook on that one man the Georgie agenda This one's an interesting one I feel like you know there's a lot of people who are Hesitant to dive in and fully support the Georgie agenda me personally I was one of those people a lot of people are really into it.
Evaluating Player Performances
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of a polarizing agenda
00:19:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, funny enough, I think that it's a more nuanced, new who agenda type deal where like he has a lot of flash as well. He is really talented at certain things, but then is also like he's got that rough side of someone who clearly doesn't have as many MLS minutes as another winger. But I will say the Georgia agenda continues to rise. I don't think you can deny that.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if it skyrocketed this game, but he definitely didn't diminish his stock. I mean, my take on Georgie is pretty much the same as it has been, which is OK. Like I've kind of alluded to this before, but I think this is sort of my final conclusion on the Georgie agenda, which is that he pretty much.
00:20:30
Speaker
offers you functionally the same thing as Leochu right now which is exciting individual moments and good individual plays but without the end product but the thing is it's a way more exciting agenda because we haven't seen him play and we don't know if he gets more minutes maybe that end product
00:20:54
Speaker
does come to fruition. Whereas with Leo Chu, we've watched so much of him at this point, we kind of know what it is. It's a known commodity. Any thought that he's going to ascend into this prolific or dominant MLS player, I don't think many people expect that from Leo Chu right now. Georgie, I don't think many people necessarily expect
00:21:15
Speaker
that type of ceiling, but it's just exciting to have a player who has these fun individual plays and who's clearly very gifted, both on the ball and a lot with his pace and everything. So I agree. I think the Georgie agenda is going strong after this. He didn't end up getting on the score sheet, but there was still enough of those exciting moments to where it lives on.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, I dig it. I hope he continues. And I do hope that he sees more MLS minutes as well. I mean, especially as literally half the team is dead or without a hamstring. We might as well let him play, let him cook. I think he could be. I mean, I know he's probably he's not going to play in St. Louis, but I feel like he could have been a pretty good starter in St. Louis.
00:21:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm down with it. Paul Rothrock agenda for me is pretty much unchanged status, I would say. But I don't know, I think in general,
00:22:12
Speaker
I'm not going
00:22:29
Speaker
been out there which that doesn't necessarily mean that he's playing bad you know I've been pretty firm on my stance that banking on Paul Rothrock to carry the goal scoring load for your MLS team is not necessarily the first thing that you should want
00:22:47
Speaker
But for me, for me, the Paul Rothrock agenda hedges on the fact that there's been these times where it seems like he's the only guy on the team that can score. So if he's not scoring, the agenda takes a slight hit, but not not a huge hit because I think he's still playing well and contributing to the team. He's not doing anything bad. He just for him to skyrocket the agenda back into the stratosphere where it once was. And perhaps beyond that, he's got to be bamming. Yeah, absolutely.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think you know it's like when a major company has an earnings call And they were just like slightly below projections, and then their stock takes a tiny dip Yeah, and you're like damn, but then inevitably they rebound once they find their form again I think that's Paul Rothrock And I don't really think that we can ban mom and him too hard for not finding his goal scoring for him when
00:23:36
Speaker
He's not playing the nine and he's playing way more of a like support role, especially on these open cup teams Like I know he gets forward, but I don't know if he even had a shot on goal in this last match He was really just more playing a support position in a position that's gonna get back and defend as well Which I gotta be honest like having a player like that who's versatile who can get back and defend That's that's pretty damn good. I definitely think he's a
00:24:01
Speaker
More than credible MLS player at this point like I've seen enough between the goal scoring and just how he plays the game that I think he's definitely a useful player at this level which That was unknown when he got back to the back to the organization, you know He was balling out in MLS next pro for Toronto. He scored two goals at actual Toronto as well. I
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, I think the Paul Rothrock agenda lives on for the time being. Andy T. Agenda, I don't think the Andy T. Agenda stock is necessarily skyrocketed, but I think that agenda is as strong as ever. He had the one really, really nice save early, which that could have been a goal. One of those game-changing saves that we talk about that you need from an MLS number one, he made one of those.
00:24:51
Speaker
And then, uh, other than that Phoenix rising, they, they weren't cooking with all that much gas. He didn't get tested too much. But I think with that, uh, with that save and Phoenix's only goal being on a penalty, uh, the NUT agenda is doing just fine.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think if he would have saved that penalty, he would have hit all time record agenda peak. He would have surpassed the Paul Rothrock agenda at its peak. Yeah, like that's not easy to do. I think we probably both would have been screaming start him over fry immediately. But no, I think yeah, he is still what it's which like I got to say.
00:25:24
Speaker
What a goalkeeping room we have. Like Tommy Dutra might be the greatest goalkeeping coach of all time. Like there's been a lot of debate. We've talked about it on this show of, you know, should Andy T be starting over Stephen Fry? But like the way I look at it is it's just two number ones. I mean, I know Fry's had a couple of rough moments this year, but I
00:25:43
Speaker
I think, I mean, for me, I don't really consider goalkeeping even with a couple of mistakes that Fry's made or goals that were goals that he probably could have saved. Goalkeeping is not in like the top 25.
00:25:59
Speaker
issues that the squad has this year and so I think it's a credit to both Steph and Andy T that it's a situation where you have two guys you can start there with equal confidence I know there is there's a little bit of an anti Steph or like Steph is washed agenda out there a little bit and like that has fueled a lot of the Andy T movement like the yeah the people that are really big into the Andy T agenda but I don't I really I like I said I consider it two ones and
00:26:27
Speaker
Yeah, 1A1B situation for sure, I think. But Andy T, man, like he is, I mean, he's making some nice saves. He looks like an MOS 1.
00:26:36
Speaker
which is honestly the best possible scenario for this club. Like you have your veteran starting keeper playing a lot of minutes, being your main starter, but also Andy, Andy T has seen a lot of MLS minutes and minutes in open cup. Like how you really couldn't ask for a better position going into the next contract year where Steph's out of contract and you just resigned Andy T is clearly your number one.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, good point. We do have to talk about the Kalani Khosrowryenzi agenda, but we're going to wait until we break down the goal, and then we'll talk about that agenda. So that'll do it for the first ever agenda check. That was good. We'll bring that segment back every week as is necessary.
00:27:19
Speaker
A lot of the agendas are pertaining to guys who don't necessarily play as much. That's why it's an agenda, because your agenda is basically like, this guy is good and should play more. So I don't know if during the normal week we'll have enough agendas for a full agenda check, but anytime it's relevant, we're going to check on the status of the agendas. Could be a monthly thing. We'll see.
00:27:42
Speaker
Seattle got their first goal of the game trailing one zero in the 68th minute after correct me if I'm wrong Noah but I Alex rolled on won the PK correct that yeah then converted he I'm pretty sure it was him who was taking a shot from outside the box and the Phoenix defender had his arm out so that was a stone cold penalty and it was well won and it was
00:28:02
Speaker
I think it was during a phase of the game where Seattle was controlling the game and generating the better chances, much like they were early in the first half. So I think it was a well-earned penalty. But it was funny. I don't know if you had the same reaction. But after they won the penalty, I was I was sitting there like, OK, who is going to
00:28:24
Speaker
who is out there who's out there that's the obvious person to take this like I don't really know like you have in your attacking group you I mean you had moose out there at that point who that's if I had had to guess I would have said probably him because no because he missed he missed his in the last open cup
00:28:41
Speaker
Okay, so you're to say he just wasn't allowed to take that's what I personally yeah I'm like if you had told me to guess in that moment I would have guessed either the striker or you know one of the wingers or something But you know you got Georgie out there like I don't think Paul Rothrock would take so I'm like going through the list in my mind Who's gonna take this penalty and then Alex steps up to take it and I'm like all right I mean that makes sense. He's one of the most senior guys on the field Lord knows you're not gonna have new who take it and
00:29:06
Speaker
Honestly, that could have been sick, but I thought, you know, I thought it made sense that Alex ended up stepping up and he drilled
Kalana Kosa-Rienzi's Game-Winning Goal
00:29:16
Speaker
it. The goalkeeper actually guessed the right way, but he placed it well enough where he couldn't stop it. So that makes it one, one. And it stayed that way until the 88th. And I mean, this is, this is going to be the most fun thing to talk about from this week. Game winner in the 88th minute from Kalani Kosa, Renzi, one of my favorite goals of the season.
00:29:35
Speaker
This was such a sick goal. Like him, his dancing around in the box, like there, there are defenders trying to get that ball off him and he's just cooking him, dancing and weaving top bins on that finish. That's, you cannot finish it any while falling backward too. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like fade away after evading like three guys in the box, just dribbling around. Uh, I mean, I'll tell you what, Noah, I saw that and I said, holy shit.
00:30:00
Speaker
The first thing I said was who was that guy? And then I'm looking and they're yelling his name and then I think the highlight of the night obviously was the oba flip. Oh, yeah, he did in celebration He did an oba flip that was one of the better oba flips I've ever seen he got way up there. He was so up there
00:30:19
Speaker
And the like feet drag behind it. Oh, it was nasty. It was just such a funny moment because like it took me like probably 30 seconds after he scored it to like fully figure out who he was because like I didn't like see his number or anything. My feet was a little grainy. I'm squinting and then, you know, the commentator is saying his name. I'm like, Oh, okay. It's close for Renzi.
00:30:41
Speaker
but like you know I haven't really watched him play for Defiance this year and I also I mean I don't follow college soccer so I but I do know that he was one of the better players for UW over the last three or four years which that can mean anything as it pertains to your stock as a pro you know Christian rolled on
00:30:59
Speaker
was a great player for UW and he became an elite MLS player. Jordan Morris. Yeah, Jordan Morris Stanford, but I mean I look at him a little differently because he was brought up homegrown in the academy. He's not like a conventional college soccer player.
00:31:14
Speaker
But Dylan Tevez was one of the best players on UW. He's been an MLS backup. So you have no clue how they're going to work out. It's all 50-50. So when they drafted him, I was like, all right, they got another one. Basically, what the Sounders do in the Super Draft every year is just draft the best UW player.
00:31:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good bit. I mean it. I mean it worked really well with Christian. I mean it was like a club altering traffic. Yeah, I mean, but I didn't watch any Huskies games or anything like that when Kalano Costa Renzi was on the team and it's also like I said it's just pretty randomized if that's going to hit or not, but I got to tell you like seeing him make step up in that moment for the game winner to make that play.
00:32:00
Speaker
He's got my attention. Yeah. He has got my attention with that. I mean, and then putting on the show with the Oba flip, like right after I'm like, did you see that photo? The photos as a photo editors, someone who sees that is probably one of the best MLS photos I've seen all season. Like just incredible. It might be like one of my favorite sounders photos. Yeah. Like he is so high up there. He got up higher than Oba gets up there. So he's clearly a freak athlete.
00:32:33
Speaker
a lot of technical ability because the other thing i'll say is that was not the uh... only good play that yes he he looked good like overall on the i was going to know i was going to note it before even scored that goal on the ball uh... just his technical ability seems very very good and uh... he's clearly doing well enough with the finance to merit this look with the first team and schmetz said actually said i don't know if you saw this quote no but he said he was so impressed that he's taken to st louis yeah he said get on the plane
00:32:55
Speaker
and he's clearly got like
00:32:59
Speaker
get on the plane, you're coming and we're going to maybe maybe play you in this game. So we might get to see more of them, which would be cool. So as far as the agenda goes, I mean, the Kalana Kosa Rienzi agenda, probably the hottest agenda of the week after that. That was a sick goal.
00:33:17
Speaker
You know, I got to say there's been a lot of people. Well, there's not been a lot of people, but there's been a few people who have been really high on him on the upside saying this is the next Christian rolled on. This is that this is like blueprint, but better. His his like on the ball ability is just ridiculous, like
00:33:36
Speaker
The whole game he was dominating when he was on the ball just dribbling through people making great plays and passes I just I don't yeah I know I know he was one of the first players cut from training camp like he almost made the first team so I you know I don't know like just what it what a what a player you know yeah it did look like Christian sometimes at points like I could see that um like
00:34:02
Speaker
just that that that whole play on the goal between like his work in the box and The finish and then the flip like it's almost like a little more Physically dynamic. Yeah, then you see from Christian. Yeah, so I mean I don't I want to I want to Caution caution this but by you know, we're not saying that he's Christian rolled on 2.0 or better than Christian rolled on but like
00:34:29
Speaker
He showed some very intriguing upside to where if you see him over a larger sample and he keeps playing like that, you might, you might be honest something with this. Let me, yeah, let me, let me just note to you foot mob rating. However, you may take this into consideration. He had an 8.7. That is a, that is nasty work. He, he had a goal.
00:34:48
Speaker
And of his passing, he went 41 of 48, 70 touches. And just, I mean, that's like ridiculous. Six passes in the final third. What a game. Yeah, Man of the Match for sure. And just a really interesting and unexpected storyline to come out of this. I think, you know, it speaks to another point.
00:35:09
Speaker
which is that that's why you give young players opportunities in games like this. That's why it's a good idea because you give them an opportunity and a platform to showcase stuff like that. And that's how you find out which ones are the ones that can can hit an MLS and help you.
00:35:28
Speaker
If you don't give them minutes and you don't give them opportunities when you have a chance to, you might not necessarily get the data you need to find stuff out like that. If he's not on the field right there, he can't make that play. Schmetz doesn't have the
00:35:44
Speaker
doesn't have the knowledge from that to know to bring him to St. Louis and give him more minutes. So that goes back to why I think it's actually a good thing to be using these Open Cup games, especially the early ones, to give players like that a chance and see what they can do.
00:36:00
Speaker
So with that win to one on that game winner, the Sounders are moving on to the quarterfinals where they're going to take on a third straight U.S. championship club this time, Sac Republic at at Sac Republic at Sac Republic Road. So they're going to have to go on the road to get through to the semis Sac Republic.
00:36:20
Speaker
don't know that much about him. But I do know that the Sounders played them in the open cup a couple of years ago and lost on the road. So definitely they they they actually also made the open cup final a couple of years ago as well. They made a run all the way to the final and they played at Orlando City SC. And I wanted them to win that. So so bad. Yeah. If U.S.L. team ever won the open cup. I mean, OK, I know they did. And like I made I dish this take one time and someone was like,
00:36:50
Speaker
Well one did in 1990 whatever if like if in the modern era a USL team won the US Open Cup That would be one of the like the greatest days of my life Yeah, especially if they beat an MLS team, you know, it's funny like when it comes to a CONCACAF Champions Cup I'm I'm kind of the mind that I root for most of the MLS teams like I'm rooting for the crew I want I want the gap with Liga MX and
00:37:15
Speaker
Closed I want that storyline done and you know, I want the league to grow and thrive and succeed I think winning Champions Cup helps that so I definitely even if it's not Seattle involved if there's an MLS team maybe a couple that I wouldn't but for the most part if there's an MLS team in Champions Cup making a run. I'm gonna root for them open cup. It's the opposite. I want the usl team Yeah So bad like when the Seattle is lost to a couple usl teams in the open cup in the last couple years And I'm like down with it like yeah
00:37:43
Speaker
And that goes for every MLS team though like if you're playing a usl team in the open cup I I just want you to lose just because I mean I love the underdog stuff like that one of the coolest things about soccer is the The lower division upsets that you see sometimes there's nothing quite like it I mean as in New Mexico United fan which I was gonna mention as well because they're still in the US Open Cup but they
00:38:07
Speaker
maybe FC Dallas in the Open Cup a couple years ago and they beat Rioso like this year and it's like it's so euphoric to be a fan of one of those teams that scores one of those higher division upsets like
00:38:22
Speaker
Even if they're rotate, like we all saw Lake was probably super rotated for that. I don't, I don't care. Get them out. Get them out. So yeah, that's the magic of the cup. Like fuck, fuck Leagues cup. We are open cup freaks here. I do have to say this open cup match is going to be one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight fixtures away. So a lot could change with this lineup. Yeah. So the, um,
00:38:48
Speaker
the quarterfinals aren't taking place until July, correct? Because of the international break. So there's going to be like a 45 plus day break between now and Seattle's next open cup game, which I kind of like that. Honestly, it's, it gives you, it gives you something to look forward to down the line and also alleviate some of the fixture congestion that they've been dealing with for the time being. And I kind of like, I kind of like just having that in the bank, you know? Okay. There's there's more open cup to look forward to. And also
00:39:18
Speaker
You know, the last few years, Seattle hasn't really made it very far. They haven't made it this far in the Open Cup in a long time. They won the Open Cup my first year on the beat, which was 2014. Pretty much ever since then, it's been a situation where they play rotated lineups in the early rounds and then they get bounced.
00:39:36
Speaker
And I think that's kind of where some of the anxiety comes from, from why aren't they fielding stronger lineups, is we've seen the movie before, like when they played Sac Republic a few years ago and they lost, where they play a rotated lineup against a lower division team and they lose for it.
00:39:56
Speaker
What do you think about the because now we've kind of seen, you know, teams move through the cycle. How do you feel about MLS playing more next pro teams than they are real teams? Because I think what it has led to is a whole can of worms. No, I know it's all can of worms, but what I think it has led to is more U.S.L. teams having the opportunity to go farther in the cuff. That is one byproduct.
00:40:18
Speaker
Certainly, I mean just using the New Mexico United example again because sorry folks. I'm a Religious die-hard New Mexico United fan. I care more about them than I care about the sound But I did think about that because New Mexico United got to play New York City FC 2 from MLS next pro in their second open cup game and I was like, oh Well, we're gonna win this
00:40:43
Speaker
We bammed on them 3-0, it was like a bunch of 17-19 year olds against RUSL squad that has guys who've been playing pro ball for 5-6 years and it just wasn't really even a game. So I don't necessarily know if that's a good dynamic because you have next pro teams in an overmatched situation.
00:41:04
Speaker
Like I think it's that's good experience for the next pro kids as well. So I know there's a lot of a lot of people who were very upset that MLS teams were talking about or MLS was talking about scaling back their presence in the open cup and making it more of a developmental tournament. I don't know about all that.
U.S. Open Cup Excitement
00:41:23
Speaker
But I think I think you're right that US all squads do have more of a chance to make it far. And that's been a boon for me as a New Mexico United supporter.
00:41:33
Speaker
There's always a silver lining somewhere, right, Ari? Yeah, exactly. I did want to mention that New Mexico United has LAFC next, which I'm not very happy about that. The idea of Denny Spewonga bearing down on my USL boys is quite upsetting, and I don't even know if I want to watch it. I'm going to watch it, but I don't think it's going to end particularly well.
00:41:57
Speaker
But if it does then you get to play the Sounders New Mexico United beats LA FC and then plays the sound and they'll play here Yeah, and they'll play and they play here that I like I don't really even know what I would do That would be that would be the greatest day of my life It'd be the greatest day of my life to take down LA FC and then have Seattle and New Mexico United Playing in the open cup. I don't think it gets any better than that to be clear I would be rooting for New Mexico United without even having to think about
00:42:27
Speaker
Some people might not like that. I'm just telling you, I have no problem saying that. New Mexico United is my number one sports team out of any sport. That's where I'm from, man. I know a lot of people who listen to us and you, Noah, have the hometown bond with the Sounders. You know how unbreakable that hometown bond is. That's my hometown. Absolutely. I love that team.
00:42:52
Speaker
Let's get into questions. Let's do it see what the people had to say this week There were some good ones that got submitted as always thanks to everyone who submitted and sorry we can't get to Every single one of them every week, but we usually we always get some good content out of these so yeah, let's dive in
00:43:07
Speaker
absolutely well i mean we we hit on it a little bit but let's swing it on back to those schmetzer comments about quote uh we'll have a more of a presence on the bench even starters maybe a couple of starters that will surprise some people talking about
00:43:23
Speaker
the lineup for this US Open Cup match. So is Schmetzer just lying or was this the right call or what did you take of his comments? I definitely when I saw that quote initially, I expected a lineup that had a lot more starters than this. You know, like we mentioned, it was Christian and New Who and that was it. So I guess on the technicality of that was more than the last lineup. Right. He he delivered on that sentiment in that sense.
00:43:51
Speaker
but I do think that I put stock in him saying that now they're at the point in the tournament where he's going to have to start playing stronger and stronger lineups starting with this next game because the reality is
00:44:06
Speaker
You are now within striking distance of a trophy in a season where your league season is not going that well. You don't really know how many chances you're going to get at a trophy. This team does not look like it's particularly set up to make a league's cup run right now. Doesn't look particularly set up to make a playoff run right now. That could change. But right now you're actually decently close to the open cup final. So I think this is the point and I think Schmetz understands this that you
00:44:34
Speaker
You should start going for it And I think that the I my prediction would be that the lineup for the Sac Republic game is gonna be a pretty strong one I would say probably something in between what we saw against Phoenix and And what you would see in a typical like first-choice MLS 11
00:44:53
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree. I hope that we see some of those young guys still playing on there. I love the cupkeeper attitude. Keep Andy T in goal. But yeah, I mean, shoot toss toss, you know, Jordan Morris out there and toss a bunch of other starters. I'd love to see that. But we're cooking before we get to the next question. I actually wanted to address a question real quick that someone asked me before the show.
00:45:16
Speaker
I'm just and it's completely irrelevant to the open cover the game that we've been talking about but but just for people who might listen to the show who might not understand someone asked me what the what the background is behind why I call sporting Kansas City the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts which I call them that every time that I refer to them on every reference
00:45:37
Speaker
So I think most Sounders diehards and people listed this show know that reference, but just in case anyone doesn't, including the person who asked me the question, I'll just give the backstory real quick. The Club of Professional Wrestling Enthusiasts is a reference to the famous Sounders game from a couple years ago where Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia chokeslammed Christian Roldan and didn't get a red card for it, and then Sporting Kansas City won the game.
00:46:03
Speaker
And then Dwayne The Rock Johnson tweeted about it in the league account, then tweeted at The Rock. And then the discourse absolutely went fully off the rails. And I admittedly was right in the middle of that. This was back at a point in my life where I was a lot more committed to the discourse than I am now. The last couple of years, I tend to stay out of it a little more. But at that point, my mind was not wired like that at all.
00:46:33
Speaker
And that play, I mean, it really do you remember how polarizing the reaction was? Yes. Seattle fans were pissed because one of their players was subject to a dangerous play that should have drawn a red card and and didn't. And then sporting Kansas City fans were hyped about it because their player didn't get a red card and then they won the game. Yeah. They thought that was the most awesome thing.
00:47:00
Speaker
which I got respected for that which I can respect that maybe in principle but not necessarily with the way that they expressed those sentiments and also the whole thing with the rock was just crazy that was worse than like the sporting Kansas City fan reaction was pretty
00:47:19
Speaker
Over the top a few of them came after me, but then their players in their next game scored a goal I don't know if you remember this they scored a goal and then did like a wrestling celebration. Yeah, Timmy Lee is honor So that ratcheted up all the discourse again. Anyway, it was just a whole big thing and Ever since then I've dubbed them the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts good bit. Yeah
00:47:42
Speaker
But this is this is this concludes a That's a bit our that was that something anyway. Let's let's get to another question before I make a fool of myself here Regardless of roster turnover or new signings I just want Georgie KKR and Hawkins to be competitive for starting minutes in 2025 Ari Do you agree with that take and who else would you like to see competing for minutes in 2025 read the list again?
Future Prospects for Young Players
00:48:09
Speaker
We have Georgie, Kosa Ranzi, and Hawkins. Yeah, I would honestly agree with that list, but only add Paul Rothrock. But in all seriousness,
00:48:23
Speaker
You know, we were talking on the last show about how Obed Vargas was kind of the first Academy kid that seems like he's like, might be fully breaking out in a while. And as many, you got to just spam as many of them as possible towards the first team and hope you can get as many impact players as like a Philly Union or an FC Dallas have out of their academies in the last few years.
00:48:46
Speaker
And that stuff can, that can change your club, man. It really can. It's, it's, I always kind of call it like a hack of the salary cap, you know, if you get these homegrowns and they become impact players, it's strict. It strengthens your team so much. And, uh, this, this last generation, you know, they're still working their way in. Um, but.
00:49:06
Speaker
They haven't multiple of them haven't hit in necessarily the way that you would like to ultimately see. And so that group that you named, I think that's a great group to to hope that that hope do hit. I know Georgie is not technically Academy homegrown, but he's still a young player where if he hits, that's a huge benefit.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I would love to see all of those players. Yeah, let's get some more youth minutes in there. I mean, I think that we've all agreed that the veterans on this team this season have looked less than acceptable. Moving on here to, I think what was the hottest take in your entire mentions? So I wanted to bring this one up. Yeah, I don't know if I've seen it.
00:49:48
Speaker
This comes from Charlemagne, I'm not saying literally no one cause I've never missed one that I could watch, but the MLS needs to grow a pair and drop out.
MLS Participation in Open Cup
00:50:00
Speaker
That is a pretty hot take. I don't know. Maybe this is a hot take too, but I'm kind of fine with how it is as far as MLS teams partaking in it, but most of them treating it as a platform for younger players to get minutes and getting a look at maybe
00:50:22
Speaker
Second string players that they want to see more of and earn more roles like that's sort of how MLS teams have been treating this tournament for years and I personally I know a lot of people don't agree but I personally think that the subplots of the young guys in the Academy kids getting a chance to To make their mark and make their case for more minutes and all that in a tournament like this I think that's fun and I think it's entertaining
00:50:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's the best way to do it. And I will say the fact that it's not a value is quite silly because you do get a CCC birth if you win this. And a lot of money. And 300K. So like, I'm sorry, but the fact that you say it's not worth it, well, I disagree. I think that if you really want to be a competitive squad, this team is looking to set themselves up for success in the next two years. If you can get a birth
00:51:15
Speaker
this year into CCC and then build on that momentum going out and shopping for an insane two new DPs potentially? Yeah. Man, that's exactly what would turn the next year around. There's tons of history to this tournament too. It's the oldest soccer tournament in the country and
00:51:33
Speaker
Seattle's got a proud history in it of its own I mean they've won this tournament four times the open people forget but the open cup Was originally how the Sounders kind of made their mark in the league when they first got into the league They weren't making runs at MLS Cup every year, but they took the open cup very seriously they won it four times and Yeah three in a row that's a proud thing for the for the organization
00:51:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of all I had for questions. We answered a lot of them in our agenda section. So I thought, we can move from there. Got it. Well, thank you to everyone again for blowing up my mentions and submitting questions. And sorry if we didn't get to them. But like I always say, those crowdsourcing are as much about just like checking the pulse of the streets and getting the discourse flowing as much as anything. And we try to hit as many as we can.
00:52:28
Speaker
Let's talk about St. Louis City real quick because that is who the sounders play next at City Park on Saturday.
St. Louis City SC's Current Form
00:52:37
Speaker
St. Louis City, no unfortunately, Lobbing Scorchers is not very popular among the St. Louis City fan base.
00:52:43
Speaker
If we are not sanctioned if anyone remembers from last year we did we put them on fraud watch Which I like at the time I did not think that that would be anything Controversial at all. I thought we might have been clowning on them a little bit, but I think the basic sentiment of what we were saying Was it was grounded in logic and it made sense? Which is that I mean they were a team last year that had this very magical expansion season they
00:53:12
Speaker
I can't remember if they actually ended up breaking. No, I think they fell one short of LAFC's record for an expansion team, which is a great season. But I don't know. I watched them a lot this season. I watched a ton of the league every week. And so I got a pretty good feel for their team. And they felt like a team that was outperformed. They were getting results that were outperforming how they were actually playing.
00:53:39
Speaker
Not just from looking at the underlying numbers, but from the eye test too. It seemed like a team that they, I swear last year they were just blessed with something. Like they would win these games that they kind of had no business winning and just crazily pulling it out. And it was, I mean, I don't really even mean to take away from it. Like it was phenomenal for their fan base to get that experience. And I was genuinely, I was happy for the new fans of that team to get to experience that because
00:54:08
Speaker
I mean, we've seen teams like Minnesota United and I've seen Cincinnati come into the league and they just get their doors blown off every single week. And it's a really rough adjustment like coming into the league. So I actually enjoyed watching from afar how fan base of a new MLS expansion team got to be competitive and fun to watch and win games right away. And they have a really awesome stadium. So I mean,
00:54:36
Speaker
All credit to them for that, but like the reality is the quality of their team was not, it just was not as good as their point total was fraud watch a harsh term. No, no, I don't think so. I think that was the correct term. And then it turned out to be validated because they lost to sporting Kansas city, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts in the playoffs immediately. And we were validated.
00:54:58
Speaker
So, um, which I do, I will say, I think they also did get the short end of the stick because sporting were on the hottest run. I think I've ever seen a team go on, but still it was, it was up there. I forgot about how hot they got because ending that season, I think they went undefeated in like 10 or 12. No, you're right. They did get unlucky in that sense. Um, but either way, um,
00:55:20
Speaker
I think the fraud watch was justified. Somehow, I don't know why St. Louis City fans were listening to this show, but apparently they were. They wrote us some negative reviews. We got negative reviews from two fan bases so far. St. Louis, which they were mad about fraud watch, which, okay.
00:55:38
Speaker
And then LAFC, which to be fair, we did record an entire one hour and 20 minute episode, I think it was episode three, where we basically relentlessly clowned on them the entire time for choking away Champions Cup. So, you know, I don't necessarily begrudge LAFC fans writing us negative reviews.
00:55:58
Speaker
But anyway, the point is St. Louis City SC has not been as good this year. Once again, fraud watch seems to have been validated. I mean, I think they have struggled with a lot of injuries. I know Joao Klaus was hurt at one point, but even when he wasn't hurt, he wasn't banging in goals at the same clip that he was last year. They still have Roman Berkey who was, I think,
00:56:22
Speaker
I don't know what the underlying said but to my eye at least he was the best goalkeeper in the league last year and that signing for them it really a lot of people questioned Lutz you know the man Lutz they questioned Lutz for that signing he had a
00:56:39
Speaker
He had a quote about how he doesn't have a designated player. He has a designated team and then he signed a goalkeeper to a DP contract and everyone was like let's that's not how you should and he was like I just designated team and He then they went out and got first in the West and almost broke lasc's expansion team record and everyone was like wow is let's just Genius that we see bro stand he built the DT but
00:57:08
Speaker
it just it hasn't panned out as well for them this year and I think a lot of that is due to injuries but I think a lot of some degree of it at least is a little bit of regression to the mean sort of like we saw with Austin FC last year. Right now St. Louis and Seattle are right next to each other on the table 9th and 10th place St. Louis is in 9th, Seattle is in 10th St. Louis is at 1.23 points per game negative one goal differential 3-3 and 7 record
00:57:31
Speaker
So all that's to say they're not the high flying first place all season shield contending for a while type side that they were last year. You can you can call it fraud watch. You can call it regression. You can call whatever point is the result in this game is attainable for Seattle with the St. Louis team as currently constituted.
00:57:54
Speaker
That's not to say that They don't have weapons. I mean Jawa Klaus is back healthy, and he scored a couple goals in the last few weeks Eduardo Edward lowen is their other DP very talented player and then Roman Berkey he's he's sick He's pretty like he makes some saves where I'm like okay. That's yeah, all right. All right You're pretty good, but for a DP slot
00:58:20
Speaker
Right. And like, you know, that's the that's the question about it. But I think if you look at last year, like it actually he that was sort of why they wrote. That was why they were performing. True. That's why they were able to do that is because they had this insane goalkeeper that saved them so many points. Yeah. And this year their offense has kind of underperformed. And, you know, your goalkeeper can only do so much.
00:58:46
Speaker
And that formula has not worked as well this year, but that I think that was kind of Maybe what Lutz was thinking and it actually the funny thing is that it just actually worked last year and I remember thinking that was a funny storyline because of how He got he got made fun of a lot for designated team. I mean I made fun of him for that Yeah, I was one of the people who made fun of him for that quote I still think it's one of my favorite quotes like of all time designated team but um
00:59:15
Speaker
Either way, Seattle with the players that they have rested from rotating in this open cup game, I mean, I expect locked and loaded fully first choice 11.
Seattle vs. St. Louis Match Predictions
00:59:27
Speaker
And like I said, a result is attainable in this game. Will they get one? I mean,
00:59:33
Speaker
Road trip into the Midwest with a team that struggles to score multiple goals and any MLS get this this Noah feels like it could be a 0011 type situation and if Seattle gets Seattle gets shut out though They're probably gonna lose the game because I on it I don't expect them to shut out st. Louis with st. Louis playing at home with their home ground and everything So I see I don't want to result in this game
00:59:59
Speaker
You're looking at one one or two two. Yeah I'm seeing it as it's either gonna go one of two ways, which is funny enough I just is like a total cop-out, but I think they either have a Montreal impact type game where like they just blow the doors off of them for no reason find some kind of form or They just absolutely have a game like they did against the white caps where they lose it late in the game or concede and it's it's just like
01:00:27
Speaker
Maybe they take a point home. Maybe they don't but it's all gonna depend on in my opinion How many minutes Pedro de la Vega plays good point we hadn't talked about that But I'm hoping to see more of them in this game, and I think that's a pretty big x-factor You know in theory we haven't seen him play enough to say this
01:00:46
Speaker
but in theory if he is the type of player that they think he is he could be he could be a game changer in this in games like this he i mean he needs to be that type of player so we'll see how many minutes he gets i'm hoping that they give him a nice run like at least the first half maybe 60 minutes if he's able you know don't do anything that's gonna pop his hamstring again but uh
01:01:10
Speaker
I just I just want to see him play man. Yeah. I want to see him play so bad. So that's a good point because if he is starting in this game that suddenly makes this game a lot more interesting if he's not playing or limited to a very short amount of minutes or whatever like like a 30 minute sub cameo or whatever which would still be nice.
01:01:30
Speaker
Then the way I look at it is this is kind of the same team that we've been watching that we can pretty much rightfully expect is Probably gonna struggle to score goals unless you know Something could happen like the Philly game where they break out for three goals You never know but if I had to make a prediction on it with no de la Vega out there I would not predict that that's gonna happen and in that case It's probably gonna be kind of a slog
01:01:54
Speaker
So yeah, hopefully Pedro gets out there like I just want whatever the outcome is. I just want to know. I just want to know.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, I want to see him more. He looked so good in that 15 minutes returning. I didn't even see that. Yeah, you didn't even see that. So like you need your 15 minutes so that you can fully agendize the maybe he'll be the next agenda. Actually, that's a good point. Although, yeah, he does. It's a different type of agenda. Yeah. But like, yeah, that'll be a good that'll be a good agenda to keep watching that. My question to you, too, is with new who out, who do you pick as his replacement? Do you go with
01:02:30
Speaker
Cody Baker or do you go Cosa Renzi? Ooh I go Cosa Renzi as the fun option and Cody Baker as the like probable likely option of what would actually happen but I mean I will say Schmetz seemed very very happy and impressed with Cosa Renzi and like I said I like when a coach is that happy with a player it's about more than the goal like Schmetz clearly watched the
01:02:57
Speaker
the holistic aspect of that performance and was very pleased with it and might want to give him more minutes. I would be surprised if
01:03:08
Speaker
They play, they start them that fast. I think Cody Baker probably gets the start just because he's been playing an MLS more this year and he's, uh, he's shown that he can do it. Um, but it would definitely be more fun to, to just plug Costa Renzi in there and just see what happens. Or do we read Baker writing? Um, well, he just, he's been coming back from injury and he just hasn't been like Cody Baker's kind of,
01:03:34
Speaker
had that spot when RBW was out. But I mean, RBW theoretically might have the highest ceiling out of all these all these guys. You know, Obed is kind of showing that he's in that discussion for sure. But as far as like what the pundits and the scouts think of it, RBW, as I understand it, is considered a very high ceiling player. So maybe they do want to get him some run.
01:03:55
Speaker
I mean that'll be interesting to track with this starting 11 I would predict that'll be Cody Baker just because that's what it's been over this last little period of time No, good choices. I don't care who plays I'm stoked all of those are good options for me personally. Yeah, exactly Let's hit a couple news items at the end of the show from around MLS here And then we can get out of here now that sound good sounds great I just had two written down that we talked about before we started recording number one
Austin FC's Roster Changes
01:04:25
Speaker
is
01:04:25
Speaker
Austin FC have cut Emiliano Rigoni who was Rigatoni they brought him in as a designated player I believe last year and that's just noteworthy because he was considered a a big signing for them and It just did not pan out at all And if you want to look at some of the reason for the Austin FC regression that we've talked about on the show That's probably a big part of it. I mean
01:04:54
Speaker
I think, was he the one that was boys with Drusi? Yeah, I think so. I think so. And that's like part of the reason that they did it. And then it just didn't, it just didn't hit, set them back a little bit. And it's always noteworthy when we see a departure like that, because now they've got an open DP spot. And it's also, I mean, they took an L, they took an L on that signing.
01:05:15
Speaker
They did it's hard to accept that and move on but I think they did the right thing like funny enough I know Wolf was on like the hottest seat in the league somehow and his has rode the wave and is just like he made it out He made it out. He made it out the mud somehow and I think that like them being able to ship this dude out of town Yeah, that's like that's pretty good deal for wolf. That's all I gotta say I
01:05:39
Speaker
Yeah. The last one I had was, have you been following this stuff with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Inner Miami? This is an unfortunate series of events. I mean, Inner Miami are headed to Vancouver to play against the Vancouver Whitecaps this weekend.
01:05:57
Speaker
and it was one of this is a bit that's happened several times this year now knowing where inner Miami has a game scheduled and ticket prices get way jacked up everyone buys up all those tickets the game sells out everyone's like hell yeah we're gonna go watch messy and then inner Miami comes out and is like actually he tweaked his hamstring and he's not gonna play
01:06:19
Speaker
So everyone has now bought all these really expensive ass tickets and they don't get to watch Messi play. It's happened in multiple cities across MLS now. Vancouver becomes the latest. But the even tougher part about this one is first of all, Vancouver was I mean, they're going to set their single game attendance record in this game. They had they have a whole like street fair. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, it was going to be this like big thing. And then not only is Messi not going, but did you see this? Yeah, gets and Jordi Alba.
01:06:48
Speaker
aren't going. None of the bar support is going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All four of them not going. So they pay imagine players might be there, but yeah, I think it might just be okay. Yeah. But either way, I mean, imagine paying $1,500 to get to a watch Bob Taylor.
01:07:07
Speaker
I mean I would like I'm you know we both would yeah I mean the people who bought the tickets hoping for messy they're not going to be they're not going to be happy about that I did see that they're discounting food prices like like a sorry you pay five K for a ticket yeah yeah
01:07:23
Speaker
They're like, if you're under 18, you get a kid's meal, though. So that's pretty sick. And I also this was pretty funny, too. The Whitecaps, they came out and they with a statement. Yeah, official club. It had a graphic statement on Messi not playing at our stadium. And they had to sit in a boardroom and write that. They had to. Yeah. Axel Schuster, their their CEO or whatever, he had to give to their PR staff an apology statement.
01:07:52
Speaker
to smooth things I mean I you know if I I feel like you should refund those tickets almost if you have integrity like obviously they never would but like this is pretty messed up it's pretty funny I mean you you're always taking a risk when you buy tickets to see one player in particular but like
01:08:09
Speaker
Yeah, you're not really growing your fan base by like they do this shit and across MLS the Sounders do it to where they do Dynamic pricing so based on what they predict is the possible like need or want for tickets they like Fluctuate how much the extra, you know, just buying tickets cost and so they were like, yeah They were jacking up ticket prices like crazy while also fully opening BC place for the first time ever I think and
01:08:37
Speaker
Yeah, so funny. I'm not going to lie. I feel bad for all the people who paid 1.5K for a ticket to see Messi and now are going to be watching Bob T and Noah Allen. It's incredible. It's incredible content.
01:08:56
Speaker
You know, I wouldn't pay one point five K to watch Kramashi, but they could have waited a week and they could have seen Scottish Messi play at home for like fifteen dollars. You know, it's just the official club statement was so good. All right. That's all I had written down for this for this show. No, I think we're going to call it a wrap right there for episode thirty seven.
01:09:16
Speaker
Thank you, as always, to everyone who tunes into the show. We love and appreciate every single one of you. A special thank you to all our paid subs. Someone please be our 20th sub. I just want to get to 20. Get me to 20 and I'll stop asking. We're broke. Come on. In all seriousness, I know I say it every week, but we really appreciate everyone who tunes in every single week or multiple times a week.
01:09:41
Speaker
We have fun doing it and The fact that we're seeing this grow with English in listenership It just makes us feel like we should keep doing it. And so that's exactly what we're gonna do We're gonna be right back here after this st. Louis game on that games on Saturday So we'll probably have to show up out show out on Sunday Sunday or Monday Sunday Monday, but it'll be out after the game So we will see you all then
01:10:07
Speaker
Make sure to rate. Oh yes. Don't forget. Five stars, write the reviews. YouTube sub. YouTube sub. Tell your friends. Tell your regoney. Tell your parents. Tell Emiliano Ragoni to listen to loving scorchers. We'll see you next time. Until then, we out. Peace.