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From The Top Ropes - Ep. 64
1k Plays4 months ago
The Seattle Sounders have vanquished the Club of Professional Wrestling Enthusiasts, so you know what that means: It’s another Dub Pod as we recap Seattle’s 2-0 win over Sporting KC, which saw the dynamic duo of Jackson Ragen and Paul Rothrock find the scoresheet as part of an excellent attacking performance.
Later on in the show we hit our Agenda Check, take your questions, hop around and MLS and debut a new segment inspired by Wilfried Nancy’s blazing hot press conference of last week.
- Support the show by subscribing to Sounder at Heart and get 1 FREE month!
- This podcast was made possible through the support of Full Pull Wines.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:30
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com.
Match Recap: Seattle Sounders vs Sporting Kansas City
00:00:36
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? and Welcome to episode 64 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I got producer Noah here with me. and Noah, it's another dub pod today. How are you feeling? Man, it's always good to have a dub pod.
00:00:52
Speaker
Even better to have a dub pod against the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. Exactly. It's a little nicer when it's versus the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. That's right, folks. It's a second straight dub pod as the Seattle Sounders thoroughly beat sport in Kansas City.
00:01:08
Speaker
the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts at Lumen Field last night, 2-0. Jackson Reagan had another goal. We got another Paul Rothrock goal. So that's always a good day for lobbing scorchers. Seattle gets their 13th win of the year to move to 46 points on the season. Just one off the pace of Real Salt Lake for a top four spot in the West. It was really a great day for Seattle sports in general yesterday. You had the Seahawks getting a dub. You had the Mariners getting a dub. You had the Storm getting a dub. And then you had the Sounders tying it all off with the dub. So we're going to do our game review. We're going to hit our agenda check. We're going to take your questions. There's a couple other news items from around MLS. And we're going to hit winners and losers. So it'll be a jam-packed show tonight. I'm excited for it.
00:01:55
Speaker
um But before we get into all that, I did want to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash LS. Sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. Now,
00:02:18
Speaker
No, we're going to read out the supporters' names. um i was I was informed by the people of Reddit who posted about us, that which I probably shouldn't have read red on Reddit. But a people have it was you know most of the feedback we've gotten is positive. Some people did say they don't like the part where we ah ah read out the supporters' names. So I just wanted to clarify that if you count yourself among those people,
00:02:44
Speaker
the best thing you can do is subscribe to the show at sounder at heart.com slash LS because if we get enough, eventually we're going to have to like, it's going to be like untenable to read the full list. But for now, we only have 34. So that's like, you can still read them out. Um, so we're going to do it until there's so many that we can't. So you know what to do if you're one of those people who wear it, uh, bothers you anyway. No, ah let it rip. Please read all the subs.
Acknowledgment of Supporters and Promotions
00:03:08
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, the Lobbing Scorcher supporters we love and cherish that help make this show possible. Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascinelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Daniel Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bontye, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Maley, Andy Hill, Mike Linton, E. Nate Bontye, David Rodriguez, CJ and Miles Maranakis. My nephews.
00:03:26
Speaker
Mark Ottinger, Zach Heckman, David Pope, Brian Morton, Clara Berger, Robert Sankt, Tyler Nakatsu, Steve Hudson, Choska, Patrick Sexton, John Hamaker, Imani Buck, Justin Walker, Jay Anders, Ryan Shane, and Nathan Jones. Thank you all so much, well-read, Noah. um Yeah, we had a few new names there. We love and appreciate all of you. And ah yeah, if you would like to join the ranks of those that we just read off, soundredheart.com slash LS. And ladies and gentlemen, I know Ari won't share it. He won't say it. But ah his birthday is coming up here. And all he wants for his birthday is a couple more subs. It's true. It's true. My birthday is on Wednesday, the same night that ah the Sounders play the San Jose Earthquakes at Lumen Field. And yeah, I mean, if you want to get me a gift, that's the best gift that you could possibly give me. Yeah. And if you are already subscribed and you really enjoy an episode, we have now added the option on all articles across Sounder at Heart where you can send us a little tip. You can say, thanks. Here's a tip.
00:04:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's a good shot. I forgot about that. yeah um Also, if you haven't done so yet, please sub to the Lob and the Scorchers YouTube. The road to 550 subs on there is alive and well. Just looked at it. We're at like 542. So just eight more to get us to 550, and then we can start the road to 600. So appreciate everyone who's helping us ah grow on that platform. The YouTube's kind of popping. The comments section, you know.
00:04:46
Speaker
Some of the content in there is good, some of it's bad, but we appreciate it we appreciate it
Addressing Criticism from Columbus Crew Fans
00:04:50
Speaker
all. um All right, um'm gonna get we're gonna get into this dub pod in just one minute here, but I did have one thing I wanted to talk about before we do the dub pod note, yeah which is that, unfortunately, we have to inform you that we have upset,
00:05:04
Speaker
some among the fan base of the Columbus crew and in the city of Columbus. When have we not ruffled some feathers? We ruffled some feathers. They were not happy about our last episode in which we had a rollicking good time with their ah lack of a backup goalkeeper. um there was ah There was a couple YouTube comments that were less than thrilled on our perspective on that whole issue.
00:05:25
Speaker
um which you know we're not gonna litigate that at all that's you know that's done and dusted um ah but you know I did want to say for I did i got a we got a ah tweet response of a guy who did an eight he numbered him you know how people do like the the threads or whatever. He did a thread and he numbered him one through eight and he wrote like it was probably 1500 word response by the time it was all said and done. um So the first thing I wanted to say on this issue is ah just to that guy, I'm not, I'm absolutely not going to read that. Sorry buddy. You might have made some good points. You might have debunked everything.
00:06:03
Speaker
That we're gonna that we said but that's just you got to be more concise than that Yeah, if you number your thread one through eight, there's just no shot that I'm diving into that like there I I'm just not gonna do it and then in general, i I just wanted to say to like any any of the crew fans who um disagree with us my official response would be ah Get wrecked. Get bammed on. Get bammed on. Get bammed on. Get a backup goalkeeper and then maybe you won't get bammed on by four goals to zero and you wouldn't be in this situation. So that's pretty much all I have to say about that. I think we can move on. on from there, do you have anything else to add there? Yeah, make sure you don't eat raw meat. And also, sorry that happened, or congratulations, I ain't reading all that, Chief. Right, exactly. You know what we need is we need a, like, you know how on Sports Talk Radio they have the buttons with the, we need a button. Oh yeah, we need a sound board, yeah. The sound board that has the Mike Tomlin. Oh yeah. We really do not care. I really want to press a button for we do not care. I think we can set that up. If we get some more subs, ladies and gentlemen, we get some more money.
00:07:10
Speaker
Cause I feel like that would be like ah useful in more circumstances other than just this one. Like I would use that all the time. So noted anyway, I did want to, I did want to point that out and let the people of Columbus know that we saw what you said and we do not care. We do not care. Okay. um All right, let's do this dubpod let's get this is good dub This is a good dub for
Analysis of Seattle Sounders' Recent Performances
00:07:30
Speaker
for Seattle. So let's break it down. Break it down for the people. and We'll start with our lineup reaction as we always do because there was a little bit going on with this lineup. It was not just like a run it back same lineup that they've been using. There was ah a little bit of ah rotation here.
00:07:45
Speaker
we had a we had a georgie start that was the main thing we had a georgie start his first ever start at lumen field he started one other and mls game this year i believe but this is his first home start uh... and then you had the christian rolled on and obed vargas double pivot jp i believe is dealing with a concussion right now if i'm not mistaken so you had christian moving back georgie get the start and uh... you had a paul rothrock start and david vega was coming off the bench in this one which uh... i think given the circumstances with JP out and De La Vega still working back to fitness I think I think I thought this was great to give Georgie a start because you know, we've been we've been purveyors of the agenda and We want to see him get more minutes and we got an opportunity for that here and we're gonna talk about it in the Agenda check, but I was glad to see him just get the start to begin with and I thought I thought he did great.
00:08:34
Speaker
yeah No, I was stoked to see him get a start when I pulled it when the lineup came up on my phone I was like oh, that's that's a nice little surprise. That's a nice little wrinkle. I wasn't totally surprised He was getting the start, but it was cool to see him start. I was a little concerned I was like oh no de la Vega He's not injured by the way even though he didn't practice, but ah you know I was a little concerned there And um Paul Rothrock's start, I knew it was going to be a good game. That's that's all I have to say about that. Yeah, that's right. i mean So like going into this game, i mean it's sport in Kansas City. so you i mean Like we said on the preview show, i mean you never know what these guys are going to do. It could be the rock bottom. It could be the full Nelson. It could be a suplex. um The chair could come out of nowhere. The chair could come out of nowhere. where The rock somehow might get involved. yeah You just never know you know. I did think it was funny. like ah
00:09:25
Speaker
you know, I call them the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. Um, and sometimes some of their fans hear that and they go like, you know, are you ever going to let that go? Like, are you going to keep talking about that? Like that was two or three years ago at this point. Like, are you ever going to move on? And my response to that is always no, I'm not'm absolutely not going to move on. I'm going to bring that up. Um, and refer to that club as the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts until the day I die. But like, uh,
00:09:55
Speaker
It's funny because they always they that's what they always say to me. But then in the lead up to this game, I saw a fairly prominent and well-known Sporting Kansas City podcast like posting gifts and memes of like The Rock, but it's got Tim Melia's face on it. And then his opposition has like Christian Roldo. So I'm like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
00:10:17
Speaker
are you guys the ones who are like not letting it go? I don't know, I'm just saying. I just i thought i thought that was funny. um But either way, um the the sort of animosity between these two clubs over that event, like it always adds a little element to the games against them, and it makes beating their ass like this... like a little that much better That much better a little more satisfying and this game was definitely no exception um Seattle put to put the hurt on sporting Kansas City throughout this game It really it could have been worse than 2-0, but let's break down the two goals that ah Seattle did score
00:10:50
Speaker
First in the 19th minute Jackson Reagan apparently um The ah the new number nine for this team side of scoring a bunch of goals lately. He gets another one But this one ah once again was set up by a perfect corner kick from Albert Rusnak his delivery found Jordan Morris that the the Morris to Rusnak Connection on these corner kicks is has been elite over the last like couple months and it's it's set up like there's been a couple goals now ah in recent weeks where Jordan has put it on target and then Jackson has cleaned up the rebound that's exactly what happened on this play um Jordan headed it on target and Melia laid out and saved it but it fell right to Jackson Reagan who roofed it easy goal 1-0 and really um
00:11:40
Speaker
I felt like the floodgates kind of opened from there as far as ah Seattle's imprint on this game. um I didn't look at it at what the XG was, but it felt like it was flowing. yeah um And they got their second in the 40th minute through.
00:11:55
Speaker
albert Oh Paul Rothrock, what am I saying guys folks? you folks I botched the bit wait. Let's let's let's ready Let's try one more time. Are you so I can botch it again ready? I don't got their second goal in the 40th minute through Paul motherfucking Rothrock all Rothrock. This was a great goal great team goal 26 past build-up folks. I think that's got to be the the longest build-up of the season you really 26 is a huge number. Yeah, if you see like ah 10 to 15 like that's a good build up 20 plus especially like mid 20s that's just that's just good footy there was a lot of good footy in this game um but yeah this was this was a 26 pass build up that ends with ruse snack so you're you're kind of I was yeah I was on the ruse snack brain neck headed ah he headed it across to Jordan who set up Roth rock for the for classic rock
00:12:44
Speaker
Paul Rothrock goal. It was a classic sliding close range finish. He's pretty unstoppable yeah with that. And ah that made it 2-0. And really, ah this game was pretty much smooth sailing from there. ah Sporting KC was never really messing with Seattle at all. Steph Fry made one really good save early, which that actually turned out to be a big save because that was before Jackson Reagan scored. Yeah, so ah That was a clutch save from Stephen Fry, but ah other than that Club of professional professional wrestling enthusiasts really had nothing um Seattle was running all over them and really could have had a few more goals. It was unfortunate I think if there's one thing to nitpick about this game is that it was unfortunate that they didn't get the third um they got really close on the play where it looked like Christian scored or well
00:13:35
Speaker
So they were going to give it to Jordan Morris and turned out that he was slightly offside after Christian headed it in. And I think that was actually the right call because yeah Jordan, it looks to me like he got a touch to it. And he was like way offside. yeah Either way, he was he was offside and right in front of Melia. And I mean, if you're a goalkeeper and you there's a striker coming at you, you're going to shift your body towards that striker. I thought the ref actually did a really great job with that play to let it play out and then bring it back. that That's a good point, actually, because um There that's what they're trained to do is let it stand and then you go back and fix it after the fact and too many refs like Don't do that. Yeah, so you're right. That was well officiated and fairly waved off, but it was unfortunate because that was that would have been a really Yeah, goal it could have easily been a four-nil game. Yeah easily and like just the um
00:14:22
Speaker
just the way they were playing out there like the ah all the interplay and the one touch they were slicing and dicing oh they looked like they were having fun there was juice there was swagger like it was ah it was fun to watch well do you think because this is towards the end of the match this is all that was in my brain was this feels like the most complete sounders match I've watched all season Yeah, I came out with confidence. They played with confidence through the into halftime out of halftime the whole time. It never felt like they turned off. I totally agree. And the the kind of comparison I was going to make along those lines was do you remember?
00:14:57
Speaker
last season when Seattle started actually started off like yeah really hot and they had that game against Rial Salt Lake where Schmetz gave the press conference after the game and he was like damn like that was some of the best ball that I've seen the Seattle Sounders play in a long time just like with how we looked out there and That's kind of what this game felt like to me. That's about as comprehensive a 2-0 as you could hope for. I'm going to hit my rapid fire takeaways here. Did you note about the Rusnak saved penalty? I know the anti-Rusnak purveyors would be sad if we glossed over this. You're right. Good shout. I didn't put that. But yes, so Seattle could have had a third. But so Obed Vargas won a penalty. Albert Rusnak wanted to take it. She did the classic.
00:15:44
Speaker
the The the he learned from Nikko. Yes penalty strat. Yes, that's and that's like the second or third time he's He's successfully done that this season. um So it was a good job by him to win it and Rusnak Stepped up to take it and it got it saved by Amelia Which yes, the anti Rusnak brigade was not happy about that or maybe they were happy about that because you know It kind of fueled their fire correct, but the thing I will The thing I will say about that is, to Melia, for however much he um ah enjoys professional wrestling more than professional soccer, he is very he's a beast on penalties. He might be the best at all of all time at penalties. That's like his thing. Yeah, like and not even just an MLS just like no out of any goalkeeper like it's unreal like and there's actually like I say that somewhat facetiously, but like um We were talking about it with a sporting case CPR in the press box and they were They were giving us like the actual stats. He saved something. I can't remember the exact number, but I'm trying to pull it up here It's like 43 percent or some or something. Yeah, it's a phrase ever faced. So he's like he's a god at saving penalties I don't really know what
00:16:53
Speaker
What there is to that because Penalties to me I always feel like so random right like I don't know like I always question like how much of it is a skill and how much of it is just like total luck, you know, right but like with Melia like clearly he's he's very good at like knowing tendencies and just guessing right I guess I don't know but like ah It's to the point like his reputation with that is such that like when Roosnak stepped up I was like I would be more surprised if he makes it because like same Melia like any time you get a penalty against Sporting KC it's like or that's like a real weapon for them like they don't have a lot going for them these days but like them if they could see the penalty 43% of the time it's not going in yeah just that's a good which carry that their whole historic run that they made like when they were last season in the playoffs like when they played ah those frauds those absolute frauds at st. Louis City SC they won did they won in penalties right I'm pretty sure but I know Melia made a shitload of saves in the playoffs last year yeah and that was like the thing that fueled their run and So yeah, honestly, I think it was funny when he stepped to take that penalty. I was like, ah, he's probably not scoring this. Like like genuinely, that was just my first reaction. Like, so it was, you know, credit and like how many keepers in the league can you say that about ah credit to Tim media for, um, for making that save and for just his general attribute of, uh,
00:18:15
Speaker
ah being really good at saving penalties and for making it through this entire game without suplexing anybody. Folks, he that he made it for minute one to minute 90 plus stoppage in the first and second half without ah with out doing a rock bottom. Yeah, he did he sat down. He listened. He learned. He respected. He moved forward. He's a new man. Maybe I guess he might he must be a change. He probably got tired out because like our our last viewer had noted ah w WWE is in town this past weekend, right which funny enough after that video, I got invited to go to that.
00:18:50
Speaker
in one of the booths, but I had to work so I couldn't make it, but I just thought that was funny, dude. That would have been hilarious. I was hoping to wear my sporting Kansas City uniform. Like I said, if you were wondering if this game means that I'll be turning the page and not bringing up the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts anymore,
00:19:11
Speaker
Absolutely not like I that's that's what they have branded themselves that forever like you could be recording Lobbins quarters in the year 2054 and I will I promise you I will still be calling in that so nothing don't worry Nothing's gonna change as far as all that goes. um All right, let's hit my rapid-fire takeaways and then we can hit agenda check ah Tell me what you think of these Noah You kind of already hit on it already, and we we both riffed on it. But yeah, as good and thorough a performance offensively as they've had all season, even though they only got the two goals, um just very excellent play in attack, ah free flowing, one touch. um it was all It was all working. like The squad was vibing out there. um And with the with the points that they've collected lately,
00:19:55
Speaker
Top four spot in the West right there for the taking. I don't know if you've noticed this, but we also like low key kind of spiraling. Yeah, they ah they sold Andres Gomez, who was one of their best, most productive players. And really, I think what you're seeing with them is that he was kind of he kind of opened up and like keyed a lot of how they play.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah, and ah they did good business by selling him They got a bag, but they have not replaced him and really like this is my take on Real Salt Lake, which is that um They're a little like ah the Nashville SC squads of the last couple years where it's like chicho orongo or busts right? Yeah, like, you know Diego Luna is good, but he's not like a like fully carry the load type player yet. He might be at some point but um Like if they don't have chicho going off like their attack is nothing special and ah Seattle they're very much like in range for Seattle to overtake them is my point Especially with the line at the next fixtures that Seattle has versus real Salt Lake Exactly we were I mean we were talking about how kind of soft the schedule is right now on the last show and ah RSL is going through a bit of a gauntlet and Seattle has the quakes coming up who are you know?
Seattle Sounders' Schedule and Standings Outlook
00:21:05
Speaker
um They lost to the quakes earlier this season, but they are one of the ah the worst teams in the league I think they are the worst team in the league record wise so um the opportunity is there is my point and
00:21:17
Speaker
But let's not forget who lost to San Jose. Well, that's what I was just saying. You don't want to get overconfident yeah on that. I'm mad at myself because I was going to bring that up in the ah in the part of the beginning where I was talking about the crew fans. you know One of them tweeted at me and said, ah the seattle these Seattle guys are just harping on this because this is the only thing of note that the Sounders have done all year. And I just want to say, that's not actually true.
00:21:47
Speaker
This the Sounders team lost to the San Jose earthquake that is very notable which is very notable and you lost to the Seattle Sounders That's true. So you are actually worse got than the San Jose earthquake. He's got the problem Yeah, um I'm glad you reminded me to work that one in. Yeah, I'm pissed at myself for missing that one um De La Vega is getting there. He's getting there. He seems fitter. um he ah you know We still haven't seen like the game-changing impact that we want and need to see for, I think, this seemed to reach what you would hope its ceiling is.
00:22:20
Speaker
but um I thought I thought it was a good shift like I like how he plays um and it seems like the chemistry is getting there so let's just get this guy fit and I want to see him play like a full 90 you know I feel like in these cameos you can't really like yeah he hasn't like he hasn't popped but like you know he's only playing every time he scores it just gets called offside and it's also true every time he scored a goal it's gotten waved off so ah but like he's uh it's pretty the rotation they've got right now where he's like coming off the bench remember when caleb porter was complaining about like you know they're bringing this 10 million yeah player off the bench and we were making fun of him but it's like it's kind of true like it's it's a nasty ah nasty thing to to get to
00:23:04
Speaker
pull out of your bag when you're ahead you know um it's a nice little ace in the pocket so obviously you want him starting and carrying a load like ideally but for right now it's like not the worst thing to happen off the bench yeah no joke. Sporting Kansas City club of professional wrestling enthusiasts really bad. believe the worst I think it has to be said like they they were just like so easy to play through. um They really have not much going on. It seems like an attack other than like fun with the ball to Johnny Russell um Daniel Sallow it. You know they they're The professional wrestling enthusiasts surfaced at a couple points in this game. yeah like ah At one point, joe Georgie Cook's alleyway is so bad that he just yanked his ass down. And it's like, OK, that's where you guys are at right now. I see how this is. Where's the Rey Mysterio mask? Get in the mask. He got the yellow for it. But um i think i that kind of play, I thought, just sort of indicated.
00:24:02
Speaker
where they're at compared to where like the other teams in the league are at right now it's it's bad down there and like ah you know they're completely out of playoff contention right oh yeah they're way out and um and ah peter vermice is they're gonna they're just gonna keep trying to ride the boy in which um you know that's ah that's their prerogative not really my concern how they run their organization but um It just does not ah they like Polito is with like they gave him an extension. I don't he think he likes. He's fine, but they just there just wasn't the ah the juice from them. Like usually this is like their MLS Cup when they come here and they give Seattle a really hard time and they bought the wrestling moves like they're usually good at coming here and bamming and they just didn't they didn't look up for it at all. I mean minus 10 GD is brutal like they're getting busted on.
00:24:55
Speaker
And they've given up like 53. Yeah. Yeah 55 total 55 they've scored 45 and like I I don't know. Do you think do you think they need to to move off of Peter? re Do you really think that would make a change? I? mean Here's the thing man is like he controls everything there. He's like the sporting director. These are the CEO and the head coach You know he does and so that's why I always laugh wet like his blazing hot press conferences Where he's like the team was terrible today Awful performance these guys need to get it together. I don't even know why they're on the team. and I'm like like man you you can come Well also it's like who who put the team together right who controls the roster I can't watch one of his pressors where he like pops off like that without thinking that like yeah
00:25:48
Speaker
But so um like purely from a coaching perspective, like I think he's a provenly like decent MLS coach. like They won an MLS Cup in 2013 or whatever that was. And they were a member of the Benny Failhopper and Graham Zusi. Yeah, and that was a cook that was a cooking team. That was. And like that 2016 playoff game where Nelson Valdez famously bammed on them,
00:26:10
Speaker
um They, uh, they like really in the VAR era, they like probably win that. game Yeah. Like Matt Beazler scored a goal that, uh, was called offside that I don't think he was. And then Nelson Valdez, his goal was like offside a hundred percent, a hundred percent. So, um, that was a good game. That was my point. And like, I don't know, I'm just, this used to be kind of a low key Western conference rivalry and, uh, they've, uh, they've fallen off, fallen off plus ratio.
00:26:38
Speaker
Alright, let's hit our agenda check. We got four written down here including one submitted by listener Matt that we're gonna talk about um We're gonna start with the Georgie agenda Strengthened for me
Player Performances and Comparisons
00:26:50
Speaker
drastically man. I thought he was excellent um It's very satisfying to watch a winger just totally moss their defenders 1v1 like he does a lot. Yeah um he plays with a lot of juice a lot of energy and um It just seems like he's one of those guys that when he's on the ball, good stuff happens. You know, the end product is still a work in progress. But like, if we're honestly like my thing with the Georgia agenda the whole time has been like, I don't know how functionally different it is than the Leo Chu experience, but there's a lot more unknown there. So you may as well try the unknown. But I'm like ready to say that like he yeah
00:27:33
Speaker
He looks a lot more dangerous than Leo Chiu has been looking this season Consistently and I thought um it was like a really legitimately Good shift like it's not like a blending in holding his own kind of thing. It's like he stands out. He stands out I mean, I thought it was fine like I don't I like George you're pouring cold water. I like Georgie. I think he is effectively a Leochu replacement, but also like Leochu's a bot. So it's really, you're really upgrading slightly. Now, is that saying that that's always going to be how Georgie plays? Absolutely not. And I really did like the shift he put in today. I'm not saying by any means that I think Georgie is bad or that he shouldn't play.
00:28:19
Speaker
I am a purveyor of the let him cook let him play let's see how it goes but I don't know how much this game specifically did to completely change my mind that said I do think that he was like good for his first start it was his first start like he was pretty nervous I would say at first you could tell he was missing some passes here and there ah one that led to kind of ah like a missed pass that led to kind of a dangerous counter attack But again, let him cook, let him integrate with the group a little bit more, and I'm happy to see where he goes. But I think at this point, what I've seen is like, he's still Leo Chu level, and I don't want him to be Leo Chu level. I want him to be better than Leo Chu level. Right, no, and I agree with that, but I think for me, I i i saw that a little differently. like I thought this was the first time where I was like, this looks this looks better than the Leo Chu level. this yeah like
00:29:13
Speaker
just when i When I watch him on the ball like it seems like more dangerous stuff happens um From that position then when when then when Leo choose out there But like when Leo Choo was on like when he was having games and he was on he looked pretty damn good anyway And there was end product as far as like, you know, for however much revisionist history there is about that. Like, Leo Chu put up some stats. He had a four assist game. He had eight assists, five goals last year. He basically single-handedly won the Whitecaps game last year. He helped win the the Galaxy away game last year. So there've been there were some moments that um
00:29:50
Speaker
We George he hasn't played enough to get to like kirk will or exceed that yet um But he does have to like there's a step that he has to take to like get there So I think you're I'm just not ready to jump on the train yet. I'm like slow It's like, you know It's starting to leave the station and it's slowly moving and I'm just kind of doing like a slow jog beside the train of hype That's that's where I'm at um The Okay, I've combined two agendas into one agenda love the Seattle Sounders slash Albert real snack only beat up on bad teams Agenda in honor of Bradley Wright Phillips um And I mean this was strengthened because we just talked about it. But uh, like sporting KC Soccer, they're not good at it. So no
00:30:32
Speaker
Anyone who is a purveyor of this agenda They just have more fuel to the fire and you already saw it coming out specifically in regards to Rusnak there's a member of the anti Rusnak brigade that ah likes to hop in my mentions a fair amount and um He call he literally calls him Tam Rusnak, which I think is the kind of heat honest. thats Yeah, that's far But ah he was saying, you know, like, you they do do it against L.A.F.C. like take. So this did fuel that agenda for those who purvey it.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean listen the I mean as you as many of you know I've infiltrated the anti Rusnak brigade ah You know chats and they were so excited about this game when Albert missed that penalty They were like look bro. He's going ghost bro. He's going ghost. He's literally ghost bro Okay, and then and then I was saying here you go you you hear you hit it. you Okay. Can I just ask like ah Why do you think Seattle scored the first goal in this game? Well, bro, you didn't have an assist on the stat sheet, bro. what about What about the assist on the stat sheet that he got for the second goal? No, but like he was ghost, bro. He was ghost, bro. No. I mean, yeah, the but the brigade's going to do their thing. i mean he is you like He didn't get the assist on the corner kick, but he clearly set up that goal. It doesn't happen without his delivery, which he's done like countless times this season. And then he gets the secondary assist on the Rothrock goal, which
00:31:56
Speaker
like the I mean the brigade will probably say that a secondary assist doesn't count but like I'm we've talked about it before but I'm on the opposite end of that I think secondary assists are fine and valid so um he gets it on the on the stat sheet for that one so honestly like ah if you If you are saying he ghosted in this game, then I don't know how you explain the fact that he Set up both of the goals let the sounder school. Yeah, it's it's a it's a really absolutely dumb Take to be honest and like I do not expect more than that from the Rusnak Brigade the other one that I thought was funny from them was ah someone in that group asserted that Rusnak was bad at um like
00:32:39
Speaker
Free kicks and corners like just set pieces in general, and I would just I just had to I just like I normally don't comment in there But I just I had to comment and say this is like my favorite message I've ever received. I think is that like objectively the dumbest he's possible one of the top two to three set piece takers in MLS right now. yeah And over the last two months, I would, and as someone who watches the rest of the league too, yeah um I would say he's been the best dead ball taker in MLS for the past like two months. Yeah, it's like it's anything he does is bad, but I will so i will agree with this one thing.
00:33:16
Speaker
They do beat up on bad teams. That's not a bad thing, but we have yet to see it done against a giant other than Columbus crew, which again, asterisk because no goalkeeper. I guess I put a little more credence in the league's cup results than some people do. Cause I know that tournament ended very badly, but they, they boat race the galaxy who are number one in the West. Yeah. They are the best team in the Western Conference. And they just beat LAFC. Yeah, we're going to talk about that around the league, but they just absolutely destroyed LAFC, and Seattle absolutely destroyed them. And Seattle also destroyed Pumas in League's Cup, too. It's true.
00:33:55
Speaker
there I mean, you know I could go back through the schedule, but like there are individual games where Seattle has played well and beaten good teams. It just so happens that the best run-of-form that they had came on a very soft part of the schedule. That's where this agenda comes from. And then like you know you do you beat Sporting KC. It's going to strengthen it. Exactly. But this is so that the brigade is going to love this one. Yes. I mean, we posted the video on YouTube and actually ah got a decently positive response so far. ah But ah we were talking about the root snack for MVP agenda, which is slightly. it's It was a slight. It was bait a little bit. It was ba the title of the video was bait. And I would say it's.
00:34:35
Speaker
ah It was an off-handed joke by you. It's a facetious agenda yeah in part, but like what I will say is, um you know I know stat sheet production in itself isn't everything, um but like if you look at the guys that are getting talked about for these honors and these accolades,
00:34:52
Speaker
Ricky pooj Has pretty much like the same output and like if you said Ricky pooj for MVP I mean I filled out the MVP power rankings for MLS soccer the other day and I had Ricky pooj on there, you know, so like ah You know, I think lucho and coo cho are ah probably the front runners right now um I think don't show in in Bruce Knocker like even statistically though I mean, I think Kujo's having like a little bit like he's at a oh he might be a couple goals more now, but like the point they were closed The point is like the output is like not that different from these guys, right? like So if you think that this agenda is just like totally blowing blowing smoke and out of nowhere Which I know a lot of people do like just just compare like the output um and you know people say like stats can be misleading but like um
00:35:42
Speaker
sure i mean it's true i don't really think there's all that much misleading about the numbers that rusnak has this year um unless you're going to say that uh you know penalties and set pieces don't count but like penalties is one thing set set piece assists that's like that's half of the game right there i don't see how that doesn't count uh kucho has 13 goals 10 assists um Albert has 18 combined, so I don't know what the, I guess that might be a little different. And you know, I know all comps yeah doesn't count towards MVP, but really it's more meant to illustrate like the type of year that we're talking about here. um You know, and that being said, like, ah
00:36:22
Speaker
like It's okay, Messi will win it anyway. We don't even need to like have this conversation. Well, yeah. ah messy I mean, Messi came back this week and he went off. Oh God, he banned it. But ah anyway, um the Rusnak for MVP agenda is strengthened is my point. Yeah, I agree. All right. And then this last agenda from listener Matt, which I think this is good. I'm ah interested to hear what you think of this one. yeah What do you think of the Christian Roldan is the best central midfielder on this team agenda? Now he's referencing that fact that Christian has been back in the double pivot more lately he was for this game again and he's looked very very good JP is out right now and um the Christian Obed double pivot has been faring just fine and you know I was talking about how I liked the idea of right back Christian rolled on because I thought that might be the best way to get him on the field but I was
00:37:11
Speaker
saying that under the assumption that just JP is automatically write like written in pen at at that in the double pivot if he's healthy. Whereas um I think what Matt is asking is like is that is that a is that actually written in pen, or if when JP is healthy, is Christian, um is he the best central midfielder on this team? And I think I would add to that, is Christian Obed the best double pivot as opposed to Obed JP? Yeah, I think to start, is Christian Roldan the best central midfielder on this team agenda? Just simply for the fact that you can put him anywhere in that central midfield and feel confident playing him. Yes. That is, and this is again, like the Albert Rosinac is a Tam player agenda hits so hard here because Christian Roldan might be the best dollar for dollar player that I've ever seen in my life. You can put him anywhere. You could put, you know what, you could probably put him at goalkeeper. I mean, his brother played goalkeeper. We know that he was elite. You probably put Christian Roldan at goalkeeper and he's making at least 10 to 20 saves a season. You know what I mean? So he'd be better than Sean Zawatki. He'd be better than Sean Zawatki. I genuinely think he is, I love Christian Roldan. I love him. I think he is incredible. I think this agenda is on fire through the roof.
00:38:34
Speaker
He has to be at least considered the best central midfielder on the team. JP has had a little decline, I think, as he's aged. I think Obed is the discussion. And then, yeah, with Obed, but here's the thing. If you pair Obed with the wrong player,
00:38:49
Speaker
i Don't think he plays as well. Like when you pair Obed with Atencio or if you even pair him with Christian I don't think he's as good as when it's Obed and JP I think that he's a since he's so young still he does really like need that extra little guiding force there ah and that for that I'm gonna say that ah Agenda strength yeah, no, I like the agenda and I think the fact that That Christian has looked so good in that double pivot is I mean that can only be a good thing I think JP's future with the team is I mean that's an open question at this point um You know, I think i'm I'm I'd be happy to bring JP back at a good number um But I think like the days of him being like one of your highest paid players after this season ah There's gonna at least the the front office brass is gonna have to think about that
00:39:44
Speaker
So we'll see what happens with that. But um I do think that at this stage in Christian's career where he is getting up closer to 30 now um and ah you know I think we're all we're hoping that um for that right mid spot or just one of the winger spots At least I'm hoping that that's an area that's addressed by like a big time, yeah big money DP. um Moving Christian back into that position where really like we forget sometimes because he's been playing right mid the last couple of years, but like he was one of the best players in MLS at that position, I think.
00:40:17
Speaker
period yeah, so um I think it's definitely the decision of how to ah How to line up that double pivot when everyone is healthy I think that's a good problem to have and I'll be curious to I'll be curious to see man because I really think like doesn't it seem like JP's the odd man out in this situation which it does would be crazy because it's the same thing happened to Rui Diaz, so it's really Feels just kind of like this changing of the guard going on yeah right now and No I agree and I think that is a good thing because as JP declines but his salary is still so high it's like it's it's it might I think it might be the right time to bid him adieu give him his flowers give him a kiss on the cheek and send him off on the train to go to like who would buy him probably Vancouver
00:41:05
Speaker
Probably the white cops or somebody maybe he maybe he has some inclination to go back to Brazil. Yeah, I don't know who knows but um either way That's definitely that's gonna be there's a lot of interesting storylines over this offseason to track and that's gonna be one of them um All right, that was it for the agenda check Thank you, Matt, for submitting that one. That was a good discussion. We've got a few of these questions
Listener Questions and Further Analysis
00:41:25
Speaker
here. Thank you, as always, to everyone who submitted and got the discourse flowing in my mentions. you know It was funny. ah it was ah It was a good dub. And I only got like 20 replies. but where That's what happens. Whereas when it's a fat L, I get 150. But you know know thank you to everyone who did submit. Appreciate you all. Noah, what do we got? Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your questions. We appreciate you all. We're going to start this one off here with a question slash just a statement by Bard. How great does it feel to see Tim Melia suffer? You know, I'm not going to lie. I did enjoy watching him pick the ball out of his own net.
00:42:01
Speaker
um it was funny to how the like the fans don't forget they were bo him every time they were on his back as they were on his ass which um you know I think it's good banter at the end of the day um but ah people don't forget Tim you're welcome on the pod though Tim we that would be a great wow that would be so good we get Tim and then we secretly ambush him with Christian rolled on Ooh, now we got some content ideas here. Yeah, this next one comes from Sounderfan4940. I'd like to know what changed in the second half. The first half was so exciting, but I was starting to fall asleep in the second.
00:42:44
Speaker
I thought the start of the second half was still pretty electric. And then I think the later that they got into the second half, the more it became more cruise control and just kind of trying to see the game out. But like really, I don't know if I saw that the same way. I felt like they were still cooking for most of the second half and really could have had a couple more goals in the second half. um i just thought the I just thought the offense looked really good all night.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. i I was like I had said before, I think it was the most complete game start to finish. I think you get tired legs eventually in the second half. That's just what's going to happen. But they were still putting the ball in the box, getting the ball on net late into that match. And I think sporting, knowing that they were the only way that they were really going to win this game was to bunker and counter attack.
00:43:31
Speaker
They were they were essentially just bunkering and not countering attack towards the end of that game So it was gonna get a little bit more Just slow I guess in a sense for a 2-0 2-0 game which ah You know people always say jokingly 2-0 is the most dangerous lead But there is something that does feel like tenuous about it because wait when you're losing 2-0 all All you need to do is score one goal, and then it's just like a 50-50 result again. um But like, I never felt like that. Like, but more than ah most 2-0 leads, i was I was feeling like, this this feels, this feels dusted. Yeah, no, 100%. This next one comes from Nathan. Rothrock Agenda to the moon. Georgie's strength in CR7 starting in the pivot for the playoffs, question mark. Jordan should have added two at least.
00:44:18
Speaker
That's a thing. That's a lot Nathan. there will That's a full podcast right there. Thank you. Those one by one. I think we hit on most of these. Yeah. Rothrock agenda to the moon. I mean, yeah, like he, uh, he's an actively good player. He has six, uh, six across all comps, which Metz pointed out at his post, uh, post game press conference. And, uh, yeah, like it's like to the point where.
00:44:41
Speaker
like you know I was talking about how I want to see a big money DP winger come in. But I'm going to be paying attention to how the rest of this season goes with Rothrock starting. Because honestly, man, and like if he's producing um if he's producing like this, like it might be a headier play yeah from Craig Wives and company to like kind of just make him a focal point yeah and maybe ah stack your resources elsewhere. I don't know. i'm not I don't know if I'm like as I, as one of the, as the number one purveyor of the Paul Rothrock agenda, I don't know if I'm like fully there yet, but the fact that it's a discussion is, um, it's interesting if nothing else. Yeah. I think also to be noted, there is a very clear marker of when this team turned this season into something salvageable.
00:45:30
Speaker
It was when Rui Diaz was benched for none other than Paul Rothrock. Like, I'm not even joking. It is hilarious that we look back and we see your DP, $10 million dollars superstar who has won you every trophy under the sun. You bench him for Paul Rothrock. Paul Rothrock. And the coma defiance legend Paul Rothrock, and you start cooking.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean it's true like what if ah what if I had told you that before the season that I would have told you that was the way all that was we we would have said that yeah like most people I don't think would have believed it um and I did want to know the second part of Nathan's of ah Question Georgie agenda strengthened I wanted to note because I forgot the celebration that oh Paul Rothrock and Georgie busted out. which was That was a fun little celebration. And the background on that is like they're they're boys. They're boys from the Defiance days. So I think they ah they choreographed that up. Also in honor of Georgie's father, who I believe recently passed away. So good celebration from Paul Rothrock and Georgie.
00:46:35
Speaker
um Should we just hit the next one? I feel like we got the rest of that. we got the rest Let's hit this one from Charlemagne. The debate is our Rothrock and others for real or mediocre players making plays against terrible teams. The answer to me is obvious and the other answer and other and two others is obvious. We don't agree.
00:46:54
Speaker
Couldn't be further apart, actually. I don't know what this person's trying to say, but I'm assuming they're saying, is Paul Rothrock for real or is he just playing bots? Well, and not just Paul Rothrock, but the Sounders in general. Got it. I think the second part of what he's getting at is ah it seems obvious that these are mediocre players beating up on bad teams. Got you. And other people don't think that, but he doesn't agree with. got it let's see you get out there put yourself out there i love this couch like i'm just i'm taking this one first because i'm gonna defend the honor of my my king
00:47:27
Speaker
Put yourself out there. Go, go try and get an MLS contract. Go try and get a, go try and get a USL league zero contract. It's not going to happen. These guys are good players. You do not start in major league soccer without being somewhat of a talented player. Now, are there asterisks to that? Yes. Sean Zawatsky does exist. That said, that said Paul Rothrock would not be starting over a literal U22 signing Paul Rothrock would not be starting over Raul Rui Diaz and moving Jordan Morris out of there if he wasn't the real deal and honestly I feel like if you watch him play it doesn't matter the opponent he's gonna try and square him up he plays his game his his off-the-ball movement is great I genuinely believe that he is a incredibly talented player who I You're never gonna build a roster around him, but he's that type of player where it doesn't matter where you like how much you give him he's gonna work within his beans and that is Incredibly important. Yeah, I think the thing I would say to this one is um You know for however frustrated you might be with how this season has gone at times and how the offense hasn't like especially early in the season wasn't producing as much and the teams and been playing more at like 1.5 points per game, as opposed to the 1.8, 1.9 that we're used to. I mean, this team is aligned with players who have been very productive in their professional careers and have have won a lot and won a lot with Seattle. I mean, yeah you go through ah you go through Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak and even Raul Rui Diaz, even though he's like not playing anymore. like These are guys that won CCL with this team. so like You can be frustrated ah with how the season has gone at times and also acknowledge that um ah a lot of the guys on this team are definitely not like mediocre. I don't know. I just don't know. I think it's also so easy for Sounders fans to be like, this team is dog shit. This team is terrible. Because you you are used to seeing this, like,
00:49:37
Speaker
otherworldly talented Sounders team especially in the last few years uh but also remember 2016 like that team looked worse than this team and way worse they signed one player and completely flipped the script I you've said it a lot you say you don't think this team is far off they are a good team they are not an elite team but they are still a good team they are still better than 50 to 60 to 70% of the teams in Major League Soccer. And that is with a lot of homegrown players on their roster too. like i think And I hate to just be like defending the way that their roster has been working, because we've been pretty highly critical of it.
00:50:21
Speaker
But if we're being honest, like they have made a lot with nothing. They have they they look really great with a lot of like nothing, but it doesn't mean these players are mediocre by any means.
00:50:34
Speaker
Alright, I think that'll do it for for questions for the week. Thank you, as always, to everyone who submitted. Appreciate you guys. um We're gonna debut a new segment right
New Segment: Intense Coach Press Conferences
00:50:45
Speaker
now. We're gonna yeah debut a new segment, and it's gonna it's goingnna harken back to content that we've previously done on this show, but this new segment,
00:50:52
Speaker
It's called Blazing Hot Coach Press Conference of the Week. um We covered Wilford, Nancy, and Caleb Porter's Blazing Hot press conferences on the last show. And then it got me thinking, because I was going through some of the press conferences for this slate of games. And I found another Blazing Hot one. And I was like, you know what? like It wouldn't be that hard for me to just go through. like like you know I watch ah like most of these. yeah After like any notable result, I'm going to see what the coach had to say. Yeah. um So any time I see one that's blazing hot, we'll ah we'll put it on the show and we'll have this segment for it. So I guess last week was technically the debut, but this will be like the actual debut of it as an official segment on Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to sponsor it, hit us up in there. Hot Tamales, Takis, whatever. If you've got a hot sauce company. that yeah Oh, we are very big hot sauce fans. We are hot sauce guys. So yeah anyway, this week's Blazing Hot Coach press conference of the week. Drumroll.
00:51:51
Speaker
Rob Valentino, Atlanta United. um Now Atlanta United are down horrendously bad. And I think that's a context to to understand here. They fired Gonzo Pineda earlier this season bring and and they also, did you see this? No, we didn't cover this, which, and it's actually kind of a big event yeah for us, but I totally forgot to mention it on the last show, but they let go of Carlos Boca. I know they did. They actually, They actually did it and you know, I uh, I actually was on Garth logger ways a little zoom call yeah after that happens you know, just collecting the audio for our purposes and um Garth was getting grilled a little bit and yeah i've I brought this up i've I've been on a couple of guards calls this year and um This is a guy that I think as much as any sports executive not just an MLS but as much as any sports executive I've ever seen he's got that lawyer training and Yeah, anything you can ask him. There's nothing you can throw at him You can't break that man won't have an answer to and he's still like that like he it's not like he was thrown off by the questions or didn't have anything to say but I'm telling you man you can see like that kind of ah that kind of swagger that he used to walk around Seattle with when like He knew that Seattle ran the league and was gonna be gunning for Champions League every year like he he is rattled He's called it like the most frustrating ah
00:53:12
Speaker
part of his career and like the fans deserve better and it's not up to our standards and you know like it's all it's up to us to capitalize on the uh opportunity we have in this market with this fan base and what we're doing is not good enough like he was saying all that stuff which like when Garth was here like he never had to give pressers like that like this team was balling the whole time and he was hailed rightfully as the best executive in the league And I still think he has that reputation, but what I do think is that the project down there and bringing them back from the abyss is a lot more challenging than I think he anticipated. yeah He thought that he was going to go in there and their roster would probably need
00:53:51
Speaker
A fair amount of tweaking, but like that I think he thought more of the foundation in place than he turned out to have. And I think he got there and he was like, what is going on here? What is this? And then they- It's like in community when ah they walk in with the pizzas and just the whole room's on fire. Yeah, exactly. they And then they really blew it up this year. They sold Almana and Giacomache, and they brought in this new guy, Maron Chuck, but he he just debuted and they have to like integrate him.
00:54:18
Speaker
So the ro the roster is just in flux. And um they, I mean, they lost 2-0 to ah Nashville SC who are not good at home. They lost 2-0 at home to Nashville SC, got absolutely bammed on. um And ah rob val so Rob Valentino is their assistant coach who's been with them forever. And basically Rob Valentino's job is every time they fire their coach, which is once every like year and a half, they're like, Rob, you take over until we hire the new coach.
00:54:46
Speaker
And so that's what Rob Valentino is doing right now. And I think he kind of he knows what the situation is. But ah he was he was getting grilled after the game about how big an egg Atlanta laid in this game. And you know I didn't watch the game. I saw the goals that Nashville scored.
00:55:04
Speaker
but I read some of the post game coverage and stuff and apparently it was just a disastrous performance like basically they played like sporting KC played against Seattle like at home against Nashville it got boat race and they're like not out of the playoff picture they like if they would have won that they would have been in ninth Yeah, exactly. like the you know It's very forgiving in MLS. They could still easily make the playoffs. And they had Nashville SC, who's like in last place or second to last place in the East right now at home. And ah they went out there and did that. And ah Valentino man got just the pain in his eyes.
00:55:38
Speaker
Like, uh, what did he say? He was, uh, just play the audio right now. Like, let's throw down the audio. I think, I think that should be how we handle blazing hook hot coach press conference of the week is we'll just play the audio and let you hear it for yourselves. Here's Rob Valentino, Atlanta United interim head coach after their two zero loss against Nashville. I apologize to the people that watch that and, uh, that won't be happening again.
Carlos Vela's Re-signing with LAFC
00:56:03
Speaker
Um, but we're, we have to move on. I got no choice there. Okay. Well,
00:56:08
Speaker
that up how How can you guarantee that it won't happen again? Well, I'll make sure. I mean, only thing I can control is ah our preparation and how we do that. From a mentality standpoint, from a soccer standpoint, that didn't warrant that performance. um We had those those words in there. um You're right. Maybe I can't control that. So maybe I have to give up control of that. But it won't be from lack of trying. Excuse my words. Rob, you know obviously, a very upsetting performance for you. I'm sure the team as well.
00:56:39
Speaker
I would hope so. Yeah, but I guess looking at Nashville, I mean, to give the girl, what did they do, I guess, to really make it tough on the team tonight? They played with intensity. They played from the start, fast, aggressive. They played like they had something to prove. um they were they In the first five minutes of the game, we didn't get out of our own half, whether it was aggression in duels or ah clearances.
00:57:05
Speaker
So from the first five minutes, you talk about they're not really talking about a tactic there, are you? Talking about, for me, a willingness to defend or just kind of clear your boxes and then from there, clear your lines. But yeah, I mean, even on on the ball, they they moved it well. They've they've had, they made a change. Credit to BJ, did he did a great job. He set this team up perfectly. He's been making progress, although they haven't won games. He'd been making progress and I warned them about that as well, that they're a different team. um And they handedly beat us and deservedly so. Did you see um like any sights in training that
00:57:36
Speaker
the two with that up performance like this? or No, this this completely shocked me. This type of performance completely shocked me. It's not that's not indicative of what this group is. And that's why it's a company line, right? Like you move on and you got dust yourself off and you go again. That's what we have to do. And I've said it all year long that no matter it's been high or low, good or bad, and you have to move forward. so I'll stick to that process and and be as consistent as I can be and control what I can. Anyway, yeah, so that was that was Rob Valentino. Not happy. No. Not happy to say the least, um but a phenomenal entry for our new segment. That was Blazing Hot Coach press conference of the week. Atlanta United, down bad.
00:58:20
Speaker
And we will keep tracking these folks. This is like, this is like crack for us. It's like candy. I can't believe that I didn't like come up with this segment sooner, but I'm happy that we've instituted it and it's it's going to be some good content because um you can pretty reliably bank on at least one to two blazing hot coach press conferences every week because like there's every every slate of games someone's gonna take a real bad result oh there's gonna be a controversial call so we'll have a lot more content up this alley a couple of news items before we do winners and losers that I wanted to talk about Noah LFC made another move they made another yeah they did an oldie but a goodie ah they've signed Carlos Vela he's back um this was kind of a weird
00:59:06
Speaker
storyline. um Carlos Veila has not had a club this season. ah He and LASC could not come to an agreement on a new contract before the season. So he's just been chilling and there's like a deadline for with like free agency, I guess. and They needed to, if he was going to get done, they needed to get it done. So they got it done. So Carlos Vela is back with LAFC for the stretch run of the season and into the playoffs, which you're shaking your head, which I'm assuming is like, you know, LAFC getting richer kind of idea, which I think, you know, if this is the Carlos Vela of old, then yeah, they got a lot better and deeper.
00:59:44
Speaker
um But like my thing with Carlos Vela is like he's an he's an amazing player He had one of the best individual MLS seasons of all time I get probably the craziest and individual 34 goals 15 assists when MVP was just that was credible that was I've never seen an MLS player on one like that that year no and they lost to the Seattle Sounders in the playoffs that year famously um but um Great great player at his peak. I'm not so much. I'm not sure how much he likes soccer Yeah, like yeah, he's he's literally ah he's talked about this before it's like ah there's a There's been a couple athletes like in other sports that have like said stuff to this effect, but he's he said it's like yokich yokich or I was gonna say you know what? Rendon yeah, he's like I don't like baseball like that's kind of like Carlos Vela is like he ah He has openly said that he like doesn't watch the sport or like think about it at all when he's not playing he I love it, but like
01:00:42
Speaker
How much like juice is he gonna have for this right now? Maybe a lot because he hasn't been playing all year But I kind of get the feeling like he just strikes me as a guy who like I said doesn't like soccer that much just happens to be insanely good at it and I think that's part of the reason at his age where I think he's 34 35 now um like he could ah He could have just like kept playing this year, whether he just took a little bit less money to start the year with LAFC or signed somewhere else. And he was just like, no, I'm just going to kick it. So anyway, like this is this this could be a very big addition for LAFC, but I'm not so sure it like moves the needle for them all that much, because we really don't know like what version of Carlos Vela they're getting. I mean, it's still a depth piece though. Like the fact that you can go to to to Carlos Vela, to Denny Boonga, to like bogus, like, come on. That's that's like, it is, it is the rich getting richer because it doesn't matter if he's bad or good. They could just never play him and they'd be fine. Exactly. It's the fact that no one else can have him. too Right and there remember there was those rumors. He was going to the quakes Yeah, like ah like what you just said I think is a good point because ah that it's what they did the with Barrett Gareth Bale a couple of years ago Where it was just like zero risk like yeah if it busts it literally doesn't matter and then if he hits he can literally come off the bench and win you MLS Cup exactly so I think you are right about that um but as far as like
01:02:07
Speaker
Will it make an individual difference like in a playoff game when they're in the Western Conference championship or whatever? I mean, who knows? I don't think it's like guaranteed, but I mean, we'll see and it you know, I'm probably rationalizing.
Seattle Sounders' Contract Extensions and Future Prospects
01:02:20
Speaker
It definitely is the rich getting richer to a large extent. We have to listen, we have to cope because we can't continue to just get our asses beat metaphorically and physically by LAFC. And we're going to have some fun at the expense of LAFC in our next segment, so like I definitely am looking forward to that. Correct.
01:02:39
Speaker
Last two news items, San Diego FC expansion club who are starting next year in 2025, they have a head coach and it's Mikey Varus who US men's national team fans we will recognize because he's currently the interim head coach for the USMNT. Who famously lost to Canada. yeah He was until they hired ah Pocatino now varus is going to San Diego FC I don't know all that much about him as a coach I do know I knew I know he coached the u20s and I I will say that I he had a pretty blazing hot press conference after the u.s. Lost to Canada where he was talking about you know like they have to have the heart and the desire and I can't impart that on them and the players need to take that like you it was like a
01:03:23
Speaker
It was an interim coach who just did not give a shit. He was like, I'm just he's like, these guys do not give a shit about this team and they are playing like it. Yeah, he like basically that's kind of he didn't say that exactly, but I thought that's pretty much that was the vibe that I got, which I respect. I am. I am very pro putting more.
01:03:43
Speaker
Coaches who don't give a shit into this league. Well, yeah yeah like apropos of our last segment. I'm having that he He gives us some more content as far as blazing hot coach press conference goes in the early returns from his US men's national team Tenure, we're strong in that respect. So good hire Absolutely. And then some sounders news to close it off. Jackson Reagan signed a contract extension. I believe that was announced earlier today. There had been some question about this. He was in the last year right of his deal. And there was like some rumblings about that. They were like having trouble coming to terms and stuff.
01:04:19
Speaker
ah but it is on paper Jackson Reagan is here to stay I think that's that's a good like foundational piece to lock down I was skeptical a little bit earlier this season when he had a bit of a ah rough run of form but I think he's brought it back and now he's banging in goals um that's been like a great element to see in his game like obviously he's a defender first and foremost right like um One of the things we talked about was wanting to see him develop that attacking That attacking part of his game and he really seems to have done so these rebound goals that he's getting That's like exactly the type of stuff. I want to see him doing like to see him Score more headers, but you know, that's a nitpick. He's having a really good year. He's been defending really well over the last month or so which I think is the most important thing and I think it ah This is like a deal that you had to make especially when you take into account that he's a local product Yeah, I think it was a win-win either way, like if they let him go, I think they definitely could have spent some good money to replace him, but I think it was a perfect situation where they're like, we could fill that hole, we have an up-depth, you know, but also Jackson Reagan could be, as Yamar ages out, moves on, you have Jackson Reagan, who's been playing with him for so long, learning so much from him, he can essentially pick up the torch, keep going, you find your next Jackson Reagan.
01:05:39
Speaker
The cycle continues, but I'm stoked for it, man. I love that. And one thing I will note about Jackson Reagan, every time he scores, you know who else scores? Paul Rothrock. Paul Rothrock. The two goals have always come together. So I'm just saying he's like a good luck charm for Paul Rothrock, which we need on the team. And that's a fun storyline too, because they were like childhood friends. Yeah, they f played together. They played together, drove to practice together. So it's cool seeing them bowing out for the first team, signing contract extensions, all that good stuff.
01:06:07
Speaker
um All right, ah let's let's jump around the league hit some winners and losers and then we can get out of here is that yeah No, all right. ah Let's talk about all traffic. Oh traffic. Oh happened on Saturday and the ah l LA galaxy absolutely bammed on LA FC folks and I think this is significant for a few reasons, but ill I'll talk about the The game itself first because it was pretty interesting how it played out. LFC actually went up to zero and And I think they were up to zero at halftime and then the galaxy just lit it up in the second half um Day on yovalich scored two goals Ricky pooj. I think he I know he scored one um And then yeah, Sario scored a banger ah for the other one So the galaxy they look like the galaxy again, and I think the important takeaway here is that yovalich is like backpack Yeah, and here's like
01:06:58
Speaker
The galaxy had taken a little bit of a downturn, taken some poor results. But Joey Paints and Jovalich have both been like in and out with injuries. Jovalich hasn't played in a while. ah Joey Paints, I don't think, played in this game at all. So he's going to come back soon. And I think what I learned about the galaxy, especially like you know from watching them play Seattle in League's Cup and just that whole stretch without Jovalich, is that like he's a very important piece to it because um he's really ah He's really one of the best like poacher number nines in MLS. Yeah when he's in form and then he also has a little more Dynamism to his game like the first goal he scored in el traffico was like a very well-taken almost like a goal that like Rudy Diaz in his prime would have scored so
01:07:47
Speaker
um I think you know they they created separation at the top of the table with LAFC. There's seven points clear of them for the top spot in the West. And if they have that front four of Joey Paints, Ricky Puj, who is disgusting, Gabriel Peck, and Jovalich all healthy in the playoffs. I mean, watch out, man. People were saying, and they have Royce? And they have Royce, exactly. And they have Royce. You talk about the galaxy too much. Is this a galaxy pod or a sounder's pod?
01:08:16
Speaker
I mean, and then we made friends with the LFC folks and it was like we're not we're just gonna you know We're just gonna settle on the galaxy love for a minute, but i'm I'm just telling you guys I'm just telling you like I'm not like saying it to like shower the galaxy with praise I'm saying it to warn you that they might be coming for MLS Cup. They I mean any Any dismantling of LAFC like that gets my attention, especially because LAFC has been bammin' on them in El Trafico a lot in the last few, and it really, like, the second half, was it looked like LAFC wasn't even on the field. Yeah, and listen, folks, I'm sorry, but Ricky Puj, Deon Jovalich, Gabriel Peck, yeah Joey Paints, Marco Royce. That's loaded.
01:09:04
Speaker
what are we talking about that's like that's like in respect to the league that's as close as you're gonna get to like a messiest stacked inner miami front squad are they inner miami absolutely not but They're pretty damn good. Alexi getting yo village back is more significant to the Western Conference playoffs than LFC signing Vela true is true. I agree. It's good take I agree. I cooked on that. Yeah, you did. you cooked um Speaking of messy. He's back for inner Miami um and this game was fun to watch. They bammed on the Philly Union three one and what I thought was funny about it was inner Miami came out with messy and looked
01:09:49
Speaker
terrible They were so dude they looked they looked like the worst team I've ever seen it was unbelievable They were committing like crazy giveaways. They were like almost it looks like the bad news bears. Yeah playing songs like No, it looks like inner Miami two seasons ago when they were like wooden spooning Yeah, when Bob T was like the face of the yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah um yeah Like like to the point where we were talking about on the MLS slack channel. We were like what is is this inner Miami like a bit? Are they doing a bit are they at the stadium right now? What are my watching? um And so like we're like, oh man, like maybe ah maybe inner Miami is is like going through it right now or something No, like messy gets three goal contributions scores twice gets an assist. It just shows like the ah
01:10:36
Speaker
the margin of error that that team has. yeah They can come out and literally look like the worst team in MLS and still win 3-1. And Messi can just like go off like that at any time. And it like really doesn't matter. So like think about how easy the game is when they're actually playing well. like They played like shit in 1-3-1. Yeah, and like honestly it was really mostly the beginning of the first half And then they kind of got got into the game and looked more like their normal selves But I would say if you ask Tata He would say this was not good really no like we didn't play that well and messy kind of bailed us out But that's like the power that they have right now um and so
01:11:14
Speaker
Um, you know, as much as we just showered the galaxy and praise and, you know, I've been saying it all season, like people talk about the crew. People talk about FC Cincinnati. People talk about LAFC. I'm just telling you guys, and you can bookmark this, clip it up, do whatever you want. If inner Miami is healthy, the odds that they win MLS cup, no matter who else is informed, no matter who else is playing for any other team in the league, the odds that inner Miami and wins MLS cup, I think are like.
01:11:40
Speaker
They couldn't be much higher. Yeah, I think it'll I think the MLS playoffs will probably look a lot like the league's cup looked When inner Miami won it and they had they had all their horses and no one looked particularly close Other than Dallas funny enough. Yeah, but you mean even even then even that game Oh word messy's gonna put this free kick down and that's they still scored four goals in that game Yeah, yeah, like so yeah which at Toyota Stadium, which is like pretty much unheard of yep, so It's fun to watch, but it does make it. It it feels like almost predetermined like yeah what the results are going to be. So we'll see what happens. I could be wrong. it It's one of those situations where and I hate to compare football and football, but
01:12:24
Speaker
Like this this past weekend, Georgia played at Kentucky and at you know, they were the the commentators were pontificating. They were like, you know, the only way to play Georgia and beat them is play flawlessly and they are off and they have a bad game. That is the only way to beat LAF or I'm sorry, ah inner Miami right now. No, yeah, I think that's a good way of putting it. um My last winner of the week was Orlando City. They bammed on the revs three zero. Caleb Porter was suspended for this game and he was like watching from a sweet that wrong which I'm like if you're suspended like he's got the headset on just right radio but like Shouldn't you?
01:13:05
Speaker
I thought you couldn't be like at the stadium. yeah they just late you They just let him watch as a fan. That's kind of sick. I bought a ticket. You can't refuse the entry. He was there. They kept panning to him every every time Orlando City would bam. He was just standing up in the booth pointing like yelling. They would cut his sweet and it would be Caleb sitting there all pissed off, you know. um But anyway, that was that was just funny. All right, losers, we already talked about a couple of these, so we don't even need to go too long here. But I got Atlanta United. I mean, like we we went over it in the Blazing Hot Coach press conference, but like and just tough, tough stuff over there right now. ah You should read Five Striped Final, though. I've been consuming all their content. Yeah, they're a big hook. It's good. I think I've talked about my Atlanta United shot in Freud before, but like i I do get a kick out of their out of their struggles.
01:13:55
Speaker
um I got RSL on here. We talked about this, too. They're kind of spiraling, but they lost 4-1 to the Houston Dynamo. Houston have been on its hair, though, a little bit. They have been cooking, but I guess my thing with this RSL team is they were supposed to be talked about up there with the big dogs. We were talking about them up there with the big dogs. In fact, I was bragging about how I had to take about how they deserved to be talked about with the big dogs, and I was claiming validation on that. And to be fair,
01:14:21
Speaker
like when they were fully healthy, like Chichos missed a lot of time with injury lately, and then they sold like one of their best players that made them that good, which I think it's a situation where it's like they couldn't pass up the bag that they got offered, but it has hurt their
Playoff Opportunities and Team Critiques
01:14:34
Speaker
team. ah so ah That's a bad L for them, though. And X-Dog Pablo Mestrioni, he's got his work cut out for them. And I think- Roni needs to start barking. He's got to start barking. And I think mainly, like I said, man, that's relevant. If they're spiraling, that's relevant to Seattle. 100%. That presents a window for Seattle to get a home playoff game. So that matters. And then I got both hell is real teams, man.
01:14:59
Speaker
who are also both spiraling I mean I wouldn't say Columbus is spiraling but um FC Cincinnati is definitely not in great form right now and mainly I'm just disappointed in both these teams because hell is real always brings a bunch of hype we were hyping it up on the website cooch over sluco MVP candidate showdown and then they go out and zero zero it like a draw is one thing even like a one one or a two two it's a Darby game that might happen zero zero come on man Kucho and what happened to the game? I love what happened to Sean Zwotsky like couldn't even get John. Yeah, come on what's going on not to pile on the Columbus crew who are already not happy with us, but goddamn just like play entertaining football. I thought that was your whole brand like I you know like you score goals like don't they have the best goal differential in the league?
01:15:48
Speaker
Yeah, they do. Maybe, you know, maybe get a backup goalkeeper. and Anyway, yeah all right.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:15:55
Speaker
That'll do it for winners and losers. Unless you had anything else, Noah, I think we can call it a day for episode 64. We're always the winners because we get to talk to all of you. It's true. That's a good point. Thank you all, as always, so much for tuning in. We'd love and appreciate all of our listeners and our new audience that we are cultivating on YouTube.
01:16:16
Speaker
um Sounder at heart.com slash LS to support the show. Thank you to all of our paid subs. We love you guys Like comment rate subscribe write us a review um tell the Tell the city of Columbus to tune in yep and sub to our YouTube and sub to share with Carlos Vela's share with Carlos Vela's share with Steve Chirundalo share with John Thorrington There we go. I think that's it until next time we out. Peace