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Episode 386: Back to winning ways
76 Plays2 years ago
Coming out of a week that was pretty darn depressing and only seem to get worse as it wore on, the Sounders put together a workmanlike win that should calm any lingering concerns that this season was poised to go off the rails.
A quick recap: First they lost 4-1 to the Timbers, collapsing in a way we’ve never really seen. Then on Wednesday, Raul Ruidiaz goes down with yet another hamstring injury, that night Jordan Morris plays 88 minutes for the USMNT in an ultimately meaningless friendly that ultimately kept him out of startering consideration and then on Saturday we find out that Nouhou was a last-minute scratch due to some migraines. Through about 75 minutes, the Loons made life pretty difficult, setting up shop in a midblock and refusing the Sounders any sort of transition opportunities.
But rather than get over-anxious or settle for a tie, the Sounders found a bit of magic through Fredy Montero and a perfectly hit shot from Albert Rusnak to secure three points.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hey,
Seattle Sounders' Successes
00:00:22
Speaker
this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Here we go. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! What a save by Fry! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS co-pointers! Here comes Ray D'Ace from the middle to crowd it! The vehicle! And now they truly can't stop the celebrations.
Episode Details and Guest Introduction
00:01:04
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. This is a tiny f***ing doll.
Sounders' Tough Week Recap
00:01:38
Speaker
Is that why you young people call twerking?
00:01:38
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of No Audiata, sponsored by Fullpool Wines, Watson's Counter, and our Substack subscribers. This is episode 386 and we're recording on Monday, April 24th, 2023. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan. Joining me today is Mark Kastner, as Aaron Campo is traveling.
00:01:55
Speaker
Coming out of a week that was pretty darn depressing and only seemed to get worse as a war on, the Sounders put together a workman-like win that should calm any lingering concerns that this season was poised to go off the rails. A quick recap. First, they lost 4-1 to the Timbers, collapsing in a way we've never really seen.
00:02:12
Speaker
Then on Wednesday, we're all really ideas went down with yet another hamstring injury. That night, Jordan Morris played 88 minutes for the US national team in an ultimately meaningless friendly that effectively meant he wasn't going to start against the sounders or start for the sounders on Saturday. And then on Saturday, the day of the game, we found out that knew who was a last minute scratch due to some migraines.
00:02:36
Speaker
And through about 75 minutes, the loons made life pretty difficult, setting up shop in a mid block and refusing the centers, any sort of transition opportunities, rather than get over anxious or settle for a tie. The sounders found a way, found a bit of magic through Freddy, Montero and a perfectly hit shot from Albert Rusnak to secure three points.
Analysis of Recent Performance
00:02:53
Speaker
So Mark, what do you make of all this?
00:02:56
Speaker
Well, first I'm happy to be the, uh, the Cohen row of the no Saudi edges in the universe. Come in and play many, many positions. Uh, but yeah, I mean, I kind of wrote about this a little bit for sound at heart and the five things post, but it's just not at the end of the season, regardless of what happens if the sounders go on and when all four trophies they're playing for.
00:03:25
Speaker
and have a historic season, we're not going to remember this or if for whatever reason, the season does at some point end up going off the rails and ending in kind of failure or whatever. It's just not going to be a remarkable game in any way.
00:03:43
Speaker
Which makes, in a weird way, it makes me really excited because it's felt like a few years since the Sounders would win games like this without kind of doing the whole, you know, comparing it to last season thing, even back in like 2021 and all the way kind of back to 2019, the Sounders would routinely win really boring games and we wouldn't think a lot about them.
00:04:12
Speaker
That just hasn't happened in almost two years, a little bit more than two years actually.
Montero's Key Role
00:04:21
Speaker
And so it's kind of cool. It's kind of exciting that it does kind of feel like that things can go poorly, really poorly as kind of the last 10 or so days have for the sounders.
00:04:34
Speaker
And they can still pick up three points against a team they should comfortably beat even without four or five guys that have been in starting lineups before. Yeah. And I, I've come back to this, I've repeated this stat a few times, but you know, the Sounders had this insanely bad
00:04:50
Speaker
record in one-goal games last year. They went 7, 15, and 5. And that works out to less than a point per game when they're in a close contest. And so every time they win one of these close contests or
00:05:06
Speaker
It's sort of a tick on the mark of like, yes, this is more about what we expect. And at some point, and maybe this is the last time we end up referencing that stat or last year, but you sort of have to get to that point where it does feel like the tide has turned. And this did feel like one of those games where last year it would not have been hard to imagine
00:05:31
Speaker
It being 00 in the 75th minute and the centers have dominated possession. There hasn't been a lot of chances either way, but you could see them maybe overextending themselves and pushing forward in a way that exposes them in the back and they give up a cheap goal or, you know, maybe more likely they just play out 00 and that's how it goes.
00:05:49
Speaker
But Freddie Montero had an absolute like I think this didn't get enough attention at the time. Fairly a lot of the attention went to Albert Rusnak or the defense or whatever. But Freddie Montero came into the game. He didn't do a lot. But the one play he made was an absolutely gorgeous volley where he has a defender literally on his back. He's got five defenders all around him. He somehow sees Albert Rusnak out of the corner of his eye and just
00:06:16
Speaker
redirects a throw in right to the top of the box where Rusnak is able to step into it from perfectly in stride and beat Dane St. Clair with just a great shot. And it's that kind of stuff that we don't need Freddie Montero to score 10 goals. We don't need him to be a playmaker. But if he can do that little stuff every now and then in the box, that's perfect.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I don't actually think he saw Albert. I just think you put into space. No, I thought he saw, uh, Nico Ledera's run. And we, we talked about this a little bit on Twitter after the game, but Ledera's run on the goal is just like,
00:06:59
Speaker
That's the stuff dreams are made of. You cannot like coach that into a player. He effectively, I think, I think Montero is playing, uh, I think he's playing Ledera the ball. And if Ledera really wanted it, he could have got to it, but he holds his run like just a little bit. And so the defender that would have ended up stepping to.
00:07:21
Speaker
Rusnak at the top of the box freezes, and then the defender that is with Ledero that was kind of tracking his run just stays with Ledero and just completely opens up the shooting lane for Rusnak. Or he saw Rusnak and it worked out well. But to kind of the credit, I should say, I'm not trying to downplay anything Freddie Montero did because I thought he played pretty well in his cameo that he had on Saturday. It's just kind of like,
00:07:52
Speaker
You have the quality there with this team when your third choice forward is the franchise leading goal scorer or was at one point. And he can just be like, cool, I can play 30 minutes and do that still. So.
Team Adaptability and Depth
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah, it was, I thought it was another good example of how deep this team is. You know, last week they lost, they lost Josh Atencio, they lost Christian Roldan. And then this week they added Raul Rui Diaz, New Who, and effectively Jordan Morris to the list of players who weren't available to start. And no, I wouldn't say that they didn't miss a beat. I think some of those players' presences would have been very helpful in this game. But
00:08:42
Speaker
They were very competent. I thought Kellen Rowe finding out that he's going to be starting just like a few hours before kickoff is a pretty good example of how this team is able to roll with changes. I guess Nuhu was the other player that I failed to mention that was unavailable.
00:09:02
Speaker
You know, Rowe didn't have a spectacular game, but he didn't make any big mistakes. And that's sometimes what exactly what you need from a emergency left back, right? Yeah, I think I think what was really interesting about Kellen Rosen, effectively substitute appearance, even though it's
Kellen Rowe's Left Back Role
00:09:22
Speaker
he played for 90 minutes, he found out very soon before the game started. So it
00:09:27
Speaker
you know, he's subbing in. They didn't plan to have Kellen Rowe playing that position all week. What's really interesting about his performance on Saturday night, that kind of
00:09:40
Speaker
shows me that in just a week's time, the Sounders learned a bunch of lessons from that Portland game was he played that position. This is the second time he's played, he started that left back for the Sounders. He's, he played that position exactly, or kind of in a like store brand version of new who they did not revert to like playing with a typical attacking left back, like
00:10:06
Speaker
You know, he, he kind of held that third defender position, you know, he sat deeper in possession. And I thought that the players that were stand-ins in the Portland game.
00:10:21
Speaker
kind of reverted back to an old way of the sounders playing. For instance, Jordan Morris did not play right mid like Christian LeDawn did. He played right mid like Jordan Morris would, and that just opened up a ton of space, and Portland obviously exploited that second half.
00:10:39
Speaker
And I, like, just every, every role was so much clearer, even with, even with the absences, Kellen Rowe. I, you know, I thought that there, that the sounders are missing new who more than any other player, mostly because Minnesota was totally happy to have all three defenders have the four defenders, I guess, if you count Alex, but Kellen Rowe got a lot of the ball and he doesn't have the ability to kind of.
00:11:07
Speaker
drive into midfield like New Who does, or beat his man off of a dribble like New Who does. I think if New Who plays, they probably scored two or three more goals than they did, just from kind of that situation. But, you know, I even thought like, so for instance, Obed Vario started a second game, and because the shape had so much more structure to it against Minnesota than it did against Portland, he was so much more comfortable.
00:11:37
Speaker
What did you, oh, go ahead. Yeah, no,
Halftime Tactical Swap
00:11:40
Speaker
go ahead. What did you think of the, so at halftime,
00:11:44
Speaker
Brian Schmetzer swapped Rusnak and Vargas. What did you, and I guess the idea there was that he wanted Vargas to maybe stretch the defense a little bit and try to get in behind. I don't know how effective that worked. Like, I don't know if the explicit goal was achieved, but it did seem to loosen up the defense. Like, it did seem like there was a little bit more space in the second half. Yeah, and I think what that change did a really good job of was
00:12:14
Speaker
was oftentimes when we think about a substitution, we think about the substitution in the player coming on for a different player and doing perhaps different things than the player that started the game. But actually what has to happen is the 10 other players on the field or nine other players are
00:12:34
Speaker
eight other players depending on how many subs you're doing at once. They also have to adapt to what's happening when that player comes on. So for instance, Jordan Morris coming on for Opette Vargas isn't just
00:12:48
Speaker
that one for one change, right? It's everybody else has to get used to really quickly playing with Jordan Morris coming on in that position. And I think doing that swap really early in the second half allowed the rest of the team to know what to expect. I don't think the expectation was for Obed Vargas to
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, I thought, you know, in particular for that 15 minutes or whatever, I thought, oh, that Vargas is pressing and kind of is like what his activity on the right flank was really good. But I think that switch in the, in the, in the second half was more about like telling the rest of the team, like, Hey, this is what you're supposed to expect when Jordan Morris comes on more than it is about putting
00:13:33
Speaker
Obed Vardis or even have a Russnak in a better position. Although I do think the ladder was accomplished because Russnak was able to play more centrally and he's just so much better there.
Sounders' Defensive Strength
00:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. I also want, you know, I was trying to sort of get an answer out of this. I didn't get a good answer from anyone, but I also wondered if Rusnak being in that position for an additional, you know, 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it was that he had to be there actually helped with his positioning on the goal as well, just because it was, you know, they were already sort of expecting him to be in that space, I suppose. And that's not necessarily a shot that you, I imagine them setting up for Obed.
00:14:15
Speaker
uh as an example um but yeah absolutely it might be over over uh
00:14:24
Speaker
over giving too much credit. But still, it ultimately worked out. I also thought it was notable that the defense quietly put together another sort of suffocating performance. This is the fifth time this year that the Sounders have allowed less than a full goal of expected goals. In fact, I think all five of those games, they've allowed 0.6 or less. What's remarkable is, again, not to
00:14:52
Speaker
lean too heavily into the last year but just for context purposes, the defense last year only did that six times, were they allowed under a goal of XG, and they just seem to be ruthlessly putting together these
00:15:08
Speaker
uh shut down performances on defense and that might be the single most encouraging thing that's come out of this team is that you know especially last year I felt like the defense just did not really play up to the standard that they'd set in previous years and you know we we've often talked about how the Sounders uh weren't hard to beat in the way that they have been in the past and this year they seem to have really gotten back to that and that's that I think speaks also to the uh
00:15:37
Speaker
to their ability to win close games is that they're not just giving up these brain dead goals that they had sometimes given up last year. Yeah. And it also, it, it was encouraging because that like disasters, 20 minutes in Portland was just a disastrous 20 minutes. Right. And even like when you have a young player like Jackson Reagan, I was really worried that, you know, that Portland debacle would like,
00:16:08
Speaker
either mean he went to the bench or Reagan or, uh, yeah, Mar went to the bench and Ariage like, I was kind of thinking like maybe something would change there. But the kind of mental fortitude that the defense was able to kind of just put that past them and deal with it. Um, like, extensively, I don't think.
00:16:31
Speaker
Minnesota's attack is that much worse than Portland's. It's kind of funny to say because Portland's attack put up four goals in 21 minutes last week, but that's just kind of a weird thing. They did the same exact things that Minnesota was trying to do.
00:16:52
Speaker
I think Minnesota is very tactically limited. Their talent-wise is a huge gap, but I don't think they're that much worse. Statistically, they're almost exactly the same. They have posted the exact same number of expected goals through nine game or through
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, they actually are on a per 90 basis. They're actually a better team than than Portland on a on a XG basis. So I think there's a lot of relevancy to what you're saying is my point. Yeah, like I was basically I've seen a lot of sort of like the people and kind of the national blogosphere just be like, oh, it's Minnesota. Right. But. Yeah, Minnesota has its challenges.
00:17:39
Speaker
both from a coaching standpoint, from a player personnel standpoint, and just sort of like a setup. But they're like, they're going to make the playoffs this year, I think. And, you know, they're fine. And they tried to do similar things that Portland tried to do.
00:17:57
Speaker
And they just weren't successful at it. Yeah, yeah, I think that's that's that's fair. So moving into some other areas here. I don't know how close I know you're in Minnesota. I think we've mentioned that before you were calling this have jokingly called this the castor cup. But I don't know how how
00:18:17
Speaker
I don't know if you have your finger on the pulse enough to answer this question, but I have to imagine Adrian Heath is just, he just sees sounders on the schedule and just starts weeping.
00:18:33
Speaker
Maybe he used to, I don't know if he does anymore. I think he just sees it like a mountain. He can't climb. It's just like, he just chalks it up. It's not even, it's not even, there's not even an emotional attachment to it anymore. He's all out of tears. It's been a long time since I've gone rock climbing, but, uh, I used to dabble in college and you know, there's like the different rock climbing courses set up at the climbing gym and the one all the way to the right.
00:18:58
Speaker
is the one that nobody does because it's too hard or you know like the super fit 130 pound ripped dude that can use his toes like fingers type of thing. I think that that's what Adrian he thinks that the sounders are. Certainly playing in Seattle I mean he's 0 and 8 or 0 and 9 I think in his career in Seattle.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, oh, that's true because you lost one. Yeah. Orlando. I was going to say that that was, that was, I think, yeah, it's tough. Like it's like, I think, I think all the emotion left after the, the 2020 Western Conference final. I just think that happens to you and it's, it's, that's all she wrote. It's over.
Rui Diaz's Injury Concerns
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's been, you know, uh, Brian Schmetzer and the post game sort of made a joke about how like, we can't just keep the streak up against Minnesota forever. So, you know, there's always this concern that it's just going to catch up to you. And, and like, I'm a, you know, like one of the great fallacies in the gambling world is, uh, the due line, which is just like you bet a team because they're just, they
00:20:11
Speaker
They can't keep playing this badly, right? But the thing about that is that you lose a lot of money before you eventually hit. And so hopefully Adrian's got a few more years left in him on that negativity. But I think one of the big sort of like
00:20:30
Speaker
I don't know if existential is too, is too big, but one of the big overarching questions coming out of this week was with roll rule ideas, it was revealed that he has yet another hamstring injury. Uh, I don't think we talked about this on the show last week because it happened after we recorded, but this is now, I think the seventh time, September of 2021, that he has missed at least one game with a muscle injury. And, you know, I don't want to get too deep into.
00:20:59
Speaker
how the Sounders solved this in the long term, but in the short term, we saw a bear start this game.
A-Bear's Performance Assessment
00:21:07
Speaker
Uh, obviously Jordan Morris has filled in admirably in the past. What do you, I guess, what did you think of a bear and what do you hope we see, uh, for at least as long as a of, uh, radius is out? I think that, um,
00:21:24
Speaker
I think there was like a lot of negativity around a bear's performance that I don't, I'm not going to really buy into. Um, like you have in the notes here, like, yeah, he was a little rusty because he hadn't started or really very much since he came back from his own injury. Um, and.
00:21:43
Speaker
What I was looking for, for the stand-in players against Minnesota, and this was even before I knew Kellen Rowe was playing, particularly, we had a pretty good idea A-Bear was going to play and we had a pretty good idea.
00:22:00
Speaker
but Vargas was going to play. I wanted to just see the idea, the sort of like, what's the overall goal here? And I think that that was accomplished in like really holding the shape and really kind of having those methodical attacking patterns that we've come to expect from this kind of new tactical tweak this season.
00:22:23
Speaker
And I thought that was there. He was playing as kind of like a little bit more of like a reserved forward really close to where Ladera was playing. And the idea was kind of like maybe knock the ball off of him, get it to Ladera. Ladera plays it in behind the shoe and you kind of go from there. And I thought that that was fine. Like I would give it a passing grade. I wasn't impressed. I wasn't disappointed. I was just sort of fine.
00:22:51
Speaker
And I guess it doesn't help that literally the player he substituted off for, uh, got the assist on the game winning goal. But I'm not, I'm not sitting here being like, well, I would like to see Freddie Monteiro start. I think they'll probably go back to the kind of the two Morris thing.
00:23:11
Speaker
Uh, in the kind of near term, but I'm, I'm like really fine with a bear, which is like a really like fence sitting answer. I know. Well, I mean, I think it's a fine answer, but it's, I mean, the centers do still have some interesting options. You know, I know this week it felt like, wow, they're really, they sort of like got to the bottom of their, how come like, how many of these players am I comfortable starting a game with? And I think that this is maybe the game where, uh, they were,
00:23:40
Speaker
maybe like I don't think anyone in an ideal world wants to see Killen Rose hurting, although like we said, he did a fine job. But you know, even assuming Christian Roldan's back, you almost have to assume Morris moves to the number nine just because that's sort of keeps everyone, all these key players on the field. But I think if Roldan's not available this week, I think it's perfectly reasonable to think that we're going to see A-Bear, Morris and
00:24:10
Speaker
And two, but there's a, I think a reasonable debate to say like, well, should Rusnak stay out on the right? And maybe you play Josh Atencio if he's available. Maybe you, I don't think Obed Vargas is quite at that stage, but maybe he is.
Future Lineups and Player Positions
00:24:26
Speaker
I mean, what's, what's, so there's, I guess my point is that there's still like questions within this, this starting group.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah. And I think they're most, they're mostly positive questions. Right. I would say it would kind of like where we were talking about the first few weeks of the season, like, Oh, we're spoiled for choice. We're not so much spoiled for choice because so many players are injured or kind of going in and out of form, but I would be okay with kind of going back to.
00:24:58
Speaker
what the Sounders did at the beginning of the season, where it was Morris on the wing and rolled on on the other wing with Chiu as this kind of like, yeah, I meant to say a bear, but yeah, Chiu would then go to the bench where, where a bear was kind of this like, this like roaming focal point where like the ball would get to him and then it would get laid off to roll down Rusnik or
00:25:27
Speaker
Lodero and then they would find Boris in behind. I'd be totally fine with that, especially against because the next MLS game, I know there's the open cup game, the next MLS game is against RSL. And that was some of the best attacking soccer we've seen the Sounders play was just a few weeks ago against RSL with that exact setup. Yeah. And I think
00:25:51
Speaker
I think we have to be like really careful with Leo Chu. He's played really well. He's obviously kind of reached this new level and this exceeded expectations.
00:26:05
Speaker
I think his confidence is really important. And I think you have to pick and choose his spots. He's now gone a few games without an assist or a goal. He's played a lot of minutes. He's never played this much for the Sounders. Not this consistently, that's for sure. Yeah, like this amount of... He's played more minutes, but not this amount of minutes. Over this time. Yeah. And so I think it's okay if you pull him out of...
00:26:34
Speaker
the starting lineup for a little bit and kind of, you know, had him go to the Preckie School of Attacking that it seems like all these players go to and get better at. And I'm basically like,
00:26:50
Speaker
I think I agree with you. I don't think I would do anything to the attack to bring Jordan Morritt or Obed Vargas into the game as a starter because I think he's just basically been like really fine, which is what you, which is like really good for a 17 year old professional soccer player. But I think you can
00:27:13
Speaker
I think you have to think about it like you need to get Jordan Morris in his best position and you need to get Albert Rusnak in his best position and then you kind of go from there and then you just kind of figure it out because those are your two best players right now with how they're playing.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think that makes total sense. Well, I think we're gonna take a break. We're gonna come back and give a little bit of a mini preview of the Open Cup game that is on Wednesday. And yeah, that'll be that. So you're listening to No Suddy at this and we'll be right back.
00:27:51
Speaker
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00:28:13
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at Watson's Counter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered. Welcome back to NOS Adiatus. So a bit of a wrinkle this week after a glorious stretch of games where it was just
Open Cup Match Preview
00:28:43
Speaker
Saturday game. And then we have this nice long week to do whatever we get into a nice rhythm. It now gets into the
00:28:52
Speaker
kind of chaotic part of the, of the season. Uh, sounders have an open cup game on Wednesday. This is the, I guess technically the earliest the sounders have ever had to plan the open cup. Uh, it's ahead of the round. Usually the sounders enter in the round of 32. It's, this is not called the round of 32. I think it's called the third round because it's actually not 64 teams. Uh, that's, I think it's 48 teams in this round. And then a bunch of other MLS teams come in next round.
00:29:19
Speaker
Anyway, the Sounders are hosting San Diego Loyal at Starfire. I think there are still maybe a few tickets left for that game. But if you don't have tickets, chances are you're going to want to watch it on YouTube. I believe it's on the, it's just called BR. It's not called Bleacher Report anymore. Is that right?
00:29:37
Speaker
I think technically it's, it's BR app. Yeah. So anyway, but yeah, it's on their YouTube channel and it's free. And, uh, and so you can watch it there, but San Diego loyal is, uh, contrary to what I've heard countless people say is no, it's not technically land. Landon Donovan is not the coach of this team anymore. Uh, he is still, it's his team, I suppose, but he is, uh, he is not the coach, but they are having a
00:30:05
Speaker
pretty decent season. They're currently second in the Western Conference in the USO Championship. They're 4-1 and 2. And this is, I think, a pretty big game for them. I don't know much about their history in the Open Cup,
00:30:22
Speaker
But, you know, as you might imagine, they are looking at this as an opportunity to knock off a big MLS team. I don't think a lower division team has ever won a game in the Open Cup at Starfire before.
00:30:37
Speaker
the Sounders have only lost one game technically at this facility in the Open Cup and that was the infamous red card wedding. Last year as I am fond of pointing out was technically a tie they lost in the 11th round of the shootout to
00:30:56
Speaker
This sounds like the earthquakes. I had actually kind of forgotten about that. But yeah, the goalies, the goalkeepers, it got to the goalkeepers and Stephen Fry had or Stephen Cleveland had his his spot kick saved by Matt Bersonio, who is a former S2 player, and he nailed his. So anyway, that's that sets the table.
00:31:16
Speaker
Mark, what kind of lineup would you like to see for this game? I mean, that's really the big question is, you know, Brian Fletcher has talked a lot about how we're taking
Speculation on Open Cup Lineup
00:31:24
Speaker
it more seriously. We were putting more emphasis in this. But like, do we really think they're going to put out starters for this game? I don't. I think. Well, I think the sounders have like 13 starters. OK, so two of those guys will probably play. Who do you think is going to play?
00:31:44
Speaker
You want me to just kind of go through an 11? Sure. Well, we each pick 11 and I'll tell you, you can pick your 11. I'll tell you who I think. If I think there's any changes, different. I'll tell you who I think is different. All right. So it's going to be Cleveland and gold. Yeah, I think so. I think Kellen row is either playing left or right back. Ariaga is going to start. Um, ABC's Oco is going to start.
00:32:14
Speaker
Um, and then you can pick like 10 different kids to play the other full back position, but like, maybe, maybe we see RBW there. Maybe we see Ethan Dobler. Um, but I wouldn't actually be that surprised if Alex Rodin put started. I'm just going to kind of put that out there. Okay.
00:32:38
Speaker
Uh, and then I think Danny Leyva plays and, uh, maybe if Josh Atencia is healthy, uh, he will play. Let's see. Uh, I think Freddie Monteiro is going to play at the 10 and Abert is going to start at Striker. And then you prop like, I just wouldn't be surprised if Leo Chiu started and then.
00:33:04
Speaker
You pick the other of the kids that I named at fullback play it kind of, uh, the other wide area or Dylan Tevez. Um, cause he, he came on, uh, on Saturday. So maybe that's a little bit of a tell that he's going to start either way. I think like.
00:33:25
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if like, for instance, if Christian Ruan, clear concussion protocol, if he started, you also wouldn't be surprised if Jordan Morris played that, you know, it's funny. Morris, I don't think he has played in the open cups since 2016.
00:33:40
Speaker
I mean, they lose in the first round every year anyway. Well, that's part of the thing. The Sounders haven't won an Open Cup game since 2017. And that is part of what is driving Schmetzer to say they're going to take it more seriously this year.
00:33:59
Speaker
I would be shocked if there's more like if I feel like two is the high end of who like the players that we consider starters, and that would be like if Josh attention is available. I don't know that he's going to be available. So that would be to me probably open up the door for like a soda kitty heart kid Hara to get into the game.
00:34:18
Speaker
I'm pretty sure Tevez is going to start. I don't know what they're going to do at left back. I think that's one of the big questions is how do they handle that because Ro is obviously coming off a 90-minute performance. I don't know if they are secure enough in knowing if NuWho is going to be 90 minutes fit for the weekend.
00:34:37
Speaker
You sort of might need row again, uh, next weekend. And, and the thing is, I just don't think the sounders are going to sacrifice anything for a MLS game in order just to, you know, increase their chances of beating a team. They should already have a talent advantage on, uh, but yeah, on the, on the right side, I agree with you. I think read Baker Whiting is probably going to get the start there. And I kind of think double error will start at right mid, uh, above him.
00:35:06
Speaker
And then I don't, but I don't know who's going to start at the nine because I think that's another, uh, like, I think. Montero probably starts at the 10, but I don't know who starts at the nine. Maybe, I mean, I suppose it would be that crazy if they, they, uh, signed either. Bjorgensen, uh, from the finance to make an emergency start there. They don't have a lot of nine options. Uh, I would say, he's the guy that's, he's the guy that's buying waystar Reiko, right? Right. Exactly. He's the guy he's, he's the guy that's a good, that's a good pull.
00:35:35
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, I mean, I think this is a chance for Aria. I got to get back in. I think it's, you know, we'll probably see Sisoko, but like, I can't blame the sounders for not pushing any starters into this game. Although it would be pretty funny to see Jordan Morris get the start just for like, just to see, cause I don't think he's ever played at star fire. Uh, for like the U23s he did. There's that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like.
00:36:02
Speaker
way back when. That's probably true. I don't think he's played there for the Sounders, I should say. Yeah. I mean, they have to have bodies to make the bench. Right. And that's where I think maybe that's that's where he is a little different, is that I wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys, some of their starters are available off the bench, which is maybe like a sign that they're taking it more seriously. Because if I remember correctly, last year, like their bench didn't even have starters on it.
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember to be honest with you. No, why should you?
00:36:37
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's fine. I think Jackson Reagan will be on the bench because they literally don't have another center back. He probably won't play. Yeah. Reading between the lines, they showed the locker room speech and Brian Schmetzer after the game. And he was saying how some guys are trying to talk me into letting them play in the open cup. And it looked like he was looking at where Jackson Reagan's locker is.
00:37:07
Speaker
And so I think Reagan maybe have been the guy that they were alluding to trying to get into this game. Uh, I will say Reagan's game does set up well for, uh, like a star fire match. And, you know, I always forget.
00:37:23
Speaker
There's probably a lot of our, or maybe not a lot, but there's probably some listeners out there who've never been to a game at Starfire. Last year's game at Starfire was the first time I think in five years they'd played there. And I got to tell you, if you have a chance to go tomorrow, go. It is a really awesome place to watch a game.
00:37:43
Speaker
I have talked about this, I've written about it, but it is one of these unique experiences in American soccer where it's like seeing an arena-style band at a local club, and everything about it is small time, and I love that about it. Yeah. If you've never been, I do sort of echo the sentiment that you should go,
00:38:09
Speaker
under kind of the caveat that you should make somebody else drive. Yeah. I took a train there last year and if you know how you're going to get back, going down on the train is awesome because it's the next stop from King Station to go to the Tukwila Station and then it's only like a 15 or 20 minute walk and it's on a nice little pathway.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, but it is on the Green River, so that's a little spooky. It's spooky, but nice. It'll be nice out. If you know your true crime podcast, you know that's not necessarily the area you want to hang out. Unless the Green River Killer is still on the loose. Yeah, you should definitely go. I think I'm a little jaded about the whole Starfire experience, but that's because, like,
00:39:01
Speaker
Not to like date myself or anything, but I was going to games there 10 years ago for the open cup. Yeah, sure. But I do understand that there are like a new generation of fans. And I think it's really cool, like especially cool for families because like you can just play your games, like run around, do whatever you want, whatever they want, because there's like literally dozens of soccer fields right there.
00:39:28
Speaker
Maybe not quite literally a dozen, but there's that like little play pitch that they always have set up. Yeah, that's great. It's a great. I think it's an awesome venue for this kind of thing. And I suppose a day will come where they stop playing games there. And I'll miss Starfire, I think, you know, like don't get me wrong. I don't miss I won't ever miss the press box, which is effectively non existent. And
00:39:58
Speaker
And there's definitely some things about that stadium that are silly, but I love how you like last year. I remember I ran into Wade Weber and Taylor Graham and, uh, I think Craig Weibull and we were just sort of like hanging out in the concourse talking. And that's the kind of thing that doesn't happen at Lumen field. And you will run like there's players oftentimes sitting in the stands watching the game.
00:40:21
Speaker
And they do this thing where when they're walking back to the locker room, there's this long line. They sort of have to cut this line through the crowd. And people hang out and get autographs. And a lot of players will hang out and sign and chat. And especially after a win, it's a cool experience. And I would just say, try to get out there. And maybe we'll get lucky. And there'll be a few games there this year. But you never know when it's going to be their last.
00:40:51
Speaker
Yeah. Are they still doing like the beer garden thing? I don't know what the plan is this year, but I think they had one last year. And, and of course the beer garden is like one of the great, uh, starfire memories is, you know, Marcus Hahnemann, of course, uh, saved a penalty, went over to the beer garden and traded his Jersey for a beer and slammed it on the field. And it's like, this is, this is, this is, that's the starfire experience right there. Yeah. That happened like six feet in front of me. So that was really cool.
00:41:18
Speaker
I also my kind of favorite Starfire story I'll share two. The first one is I actually left at halftime of the red card wedding. Nice. Perfect. Let's just say like my like that day was a very like bad day for me. Yeah. And I was just like, I got to go home.
00:41:39
Speaker
Um, and lo and behold, the vibes ended up going off of the rails. So I'm kind of glad. Um, but, uh, so there's that story in our second story. Um, the summer after Freddie Monteiro had his big transfer to Portugal. He came back. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that.
00:42:06
Speaker
And I actually gave him one of my You'll Never Yell Alone scarfs. So you're telling me he has a You'll Never Yell Alone scarf somewhere stashed in his house? Or it's still somewhere in the bowels of Starfire. Right, exactly. Because we know where it for the rest of the game. Was he cold or what was going on there? No, I walked by him because you know how they have the little
00:42:32
Speaker
Yeah. The little boxes or whatever that the players sit in. And I just walked by him and I said, he wasn't, he was just like wearing like a collared shirt. And I was like, Freddy, you need a scarf. And I just put it on him. And that was that. That's precious. That's precious. Well, I think that's probably a good place to call it. We may, if I, if I can find someone, I may try to, uh, drag in a, a San Diego loyal, uh,
00:43:02
Speaker
reporter and see if we can get some insight into this team that we don't frankly know that much about other than their record and who their coach isn't. I know you know who their coach is. I guess I could look that up in two seconds, but I haven't done it. Just log into AOL and you can
00:43:20
Speaker
you can have the internet at your fingertips. Right, exactly. But Mark, thank you for doing this. It was short notice. And so thanks for filling in for Aaron. I should say thank you on behalf of our sponsors, Fullpool Wines and Watson's Counter. And as always, I got to give a plug to our substack, which
00:43:43
Speaker
We really appreciate people reading. We usually put out like two newsletters a week in addition to all the podcasts. And it's the paid subscribers of our subs act that are making it worthwhile for us to start recording all the time now. We're putting out like three or four episodes a week, which is just crazy. We used to put out to a month last year. So I hope people are appreciating all this extra content that's being force fed to them.
00:44:10
Speaker
Uh, like cattle, uh, I guess that's, I'm getting really dark here. So anyway, uh, that said, I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off on behalf of Mark Kastner and Lickett. This is no Saudi at this. Remember, you'll never get alone.
00:45:22
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!