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Seattle Sounders are playing in SPOKANE?! - Ep. 127
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Seattle Sounders players have reported for preseason training camp as the road to the 2026 regular-season opener draws closer. We'll discuss the state of the squad, as well as the news that the club is likely playing a Concacaf Champions Cup match in Spokane due to scheduling conflicts with Lumen Field.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Sponsor Highlights
00:00:00
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This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar. 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.
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Ari, as a dedicated fashion expert, how do you do it? Day in and day out, I see you rocking the best fits. I need your help. Noah, I'm glad you asked. People ask me that a lot, and I can tell you need an upgrade.
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00:02:21
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers.
Streaming and Live Format
00:02:29
Speaker
If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to youtube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or lobbingscorchers.com slash youtube.
00:02:43
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well, it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:03:06
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to an IRL edition of Lobbing Scorchers. We are recording this on Thursday evening in the midst of the Seattle Sounders offseason. They are back in training. We're going to talk about that. But we got a lot to get to, folks. We're bringing back Lobbing Scorchers 2024 vibes. Noah and I hanging out, sitting in chairs with microphones in our hands. We might be doing that.
00:03:33
Speaker
More of this season, bringing the bringing back the Lobbing Scorchers 2024 vibes, but in a live format. We're going to try it out, give it a whirl. I think it's going to be fun. ah We're going to be talking Seattle Sounders playing in Spokane.
Sounders' Spokane Opportunity
00:03:49
Speaker
We're going to hit an off-season edition of Agenda Check. We're going to be bringing that back. We got a couple of other things to talk about that I can't think of right now. But ah Noah, what's going on, man? Looking forward to ah catching up with you. We haven't laid one of these down.
00:04:02
Speaker
in a minute. ah How are you doing? How are you feeling? I mean, it's great to be back in the chair next to you. Like I was watching back some of those old episodes where we were we were really talking kitchen table issues. We were talking Albert Rusnak. This is where it was all born. I mean, just the kitchen table, the chairs, all of it. Like, I don't know what to say. It's it's a joy to be here with you. Ari. Yeah, I even so i also have it literally haven't seen you. You went MIA in in ah in Oregon. I thought you had been taken.
00:04:32
Speaker
i will yeah i thought you had been taken. i was out of town for for a minute there, but we're back. And the Seattle Sounders are back, which is exciting. It was nice to see all the all the videos you got. You were out of training. We're going talk about that. But yeah it was cool to see all those videos and the photos that you got and just being like, you know, that's ah that gives us something to look forward to. Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
Before we get into it all tonight, let's do some housekeeping at the top of the show here. If you have not done so yet, subscribe to Sounder at Heart. Sounder at Heart dot com slash LS. Great way to support the show. Also, exciting news from the world of Sounder at Heart.
00:05:12
Speaker
Sounder at Heart is launching a print magazine. Correct. That's I. I heard about this. I'm not really in the loop on what's going on with that. It's called what? Ivy. Ivy. Like Ivy.
00:05:22
Speaker
OK. Like it four. Right. But it's called Ivy. Okay. I was picturing like the plant. Yeah. I don't know. It's a, jar it's an ocean thing. All right. You know, he's, you know, he's got that like writer brain. Sounder at heart print magazine, apparently called Ivy. ah I kind of just learned about this in the last day or two, so I don't really know what's going on with it, but honestly ah more sounder at heart content and writing. I'm always for that. Maybe I'll be ah writing for said magazine at some point, who knows, but ah keep your eyes peeled. That's going to be coming out soon and it's going to be sick. Print.
00:05:56
Speaker
media making a comeback. The IRL pods are making a comeback. The print media is making a comeback. It's, uh, we have never been more back. We're back. We're back. Uh, if you've not done so yet, also please sub,
00:06:11
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to the YouTube on the road to 3k subscribers. We're getting closer by the day. We're almost at 2,800 is the next milestone on the way to the milestone. So help us out and, uh, and get to that 3k. That's a coveted 3k. I'm, yeah I'm waiting for that. Remember the the drive to 1k, how riveting that was. do you Remember the drive to a hundred?
00:06:30
Speaker
I remember the drive to 100. The drive to 100 was one of the most riveting. But I think the anticipation and the payoff of the 1K was better than the 2K. Correct. And I think, might hit even more like Fair, yeah, fair, fair. So help us get to that and follow us on IG and TikTok as well. And also shout out to our sponsors, Full Pull Wines, Podium Menswear, and Haxon Ferments. Got a lot of exciting stuff with our sponsors coming up, including another batch of the Lobbing Scorchers Hot Sauce, which we're always excited about. That was a big success last year. people literally sold out our hot sauce. Like I would have never imagined that. I have one last bottle left.
00:07:13
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I opened it today and I'm like, dude, it's this is coveted. like I have to wait till this next batch is ready. But if you do want to get it, lobbyingscorchers.com slash sauce. And if you are interested in working with us this season, we are looking for sponsors. As always, you can email ah us at lobbyingscorchers at justwantsmedia.com. It's in the description of literally every platform. So you can find it. You get into contact with us.
00:07:40
Speaker
we'll We'll get you right. We'll get you right. Uh, your, uh, your Jersey's a big hit in the chat oh so far. I, this, I didn't really process it when I saw you wearing it, but this is my favorite sound. This is the best, the best one. And this is the one with the, I think actually the, the, uh, the, the, uh, archiver, the, what are the blue ones called? Why am I blanking on that? Oh, the the ones this year. Yeah. I think those are the only competitions. Yeah, no, I like those a lot. There's like Salish Sea kit. say or No, no, I'm talking about the... yeah Oh, the blue collar white shirt? Yeah, the ones from this last year. I don't know why I'm blanking. They were called Archive Kits. They were called Archive Kits. The Archive Kit from last year is the only one that I put in discussion with this one. But this one is like my number one. What about the Orca? Yeah.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, no, there there have been some good ones. It's not like... I think that was the archive kit, was the Orca. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. third kit from last year. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I agree with you. I agree with you.
00:08:36
Speaker
it's like It's like a 1A, 1B situation, but ah the the black with the green here, oh man, it's nice. Um, all right. Should we, uh, should we record a podcast? Let's record a podcast here. Why not? All right First topic of the night, as always, if you guys have questions, thoughts, topics, agendas, observations, grievances, go ahead and drop them in chat. We'll get to as many as we can. Uh, the IR, the IRL pod, I think might involve less like interacting with the chat in real time that we might normally do on a live show. But what I'm going to use the opportunity to plug for that uh,
00:09:14
Speaker
send a super chat. We'll read it for sure. I think, no, we didn't talk about this, but I think the protocol I've seen some shows do is you let the super chats accumulate. Then you like go through them all once or at the end or maybe just when you have enough, you do sure we could do something like that. Uh, as this is how the sauce is made as opposed to reading them in real time. Like we normally would. It's just a little, it's a little bit more difficult to keep track of, but we're doing content here. but We'll do our best. Um,
00:09:40
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders, let's talk about them. They are going to be playing, not confirmed. Yep, confirmed. Oh, fully confirmed? fully I thought it was like... ari Okay, guys, before we start this, Ari has been, he's been on a journey, man.
00:09:54
Speaker
he is He's getting back into the Sounders content. So if he's getting a couple of things wrong... he's He's just like he's a week behind. He's catching up. We're updating his software. It's all good. Well, so I mean, the report that I saw that I hadn't seen a follow up to, but I guess there was one was Jeremiah Oshan, Sounder at Heart reported that for Seattle's CONCACAF Champions Cup games, I think the the the first one that they're playing, right? Yeah, i got cs car to head it's not a situation where they're to be playing at Lumen in the early rounds and then might have to go to Spokane for the later rounds. It is happening.
00:10:26
Speaker
that the Seattle Sounders will be playing their CONCACAF Champions Cup ah first match, which they have a bye famously, but their first match will be played in Spokane. What's the stadium called? Spokane. Spokane Stadium. Maybe I should have taken the lead on this one here. One Spokane Stadium. And this was something that was talked about last year because of the monster trucks. Correct. If they had advanced, if they would have had to play there. would have had to do it. They would have to do it, but they did not advance. So it was an issue. But now that they're in the tournament again this year, it was an issue. And they are officially going to be playing a CONCACAF Champions Cup in Spokane, Washington. Correct. On the 18th of March. March. Yeah. which is a midweek game.
00:11:15
Speaker
Oh, man. dude Having the buy is actually so fire. No, it's great. You're already in the round of 16, like immediately. and And you don't have to deal with that. Like that, those games in early February and when you're not like ready to be playing. Exactly. Those are always, you're always have kind of like a easier, you're,
00:11:32
Speaker
opponent for those games but they're not uh they're not easy we've also seen guys get injured in those games famously paul areola paul areola and jordan morris jordan where ac one of those games so you don't have to deal with that which is uh which is awesome but they are going to be playing this in spokane so let's let's talk about that i think yeah that's what the people want to uh want to react to uh Go ahead and give your take. The first thing is, it is exciting. like I think it is great for people who live out in Spokane. This is going to be the first match that they have ever played ah in Spokane. First competitive match that they've ever played. And I think that
00:12:09
Speaker
That's cool. Like on on just a baseline level, that's exciting. The second thing is who they're playing. They're playing either Vancouver or CS Cartagena, I believe. So it's it's not going to be some like heavy hitter away from home, all of that kind of stuff. It should be completely fine.
00:12:32
Speaker
But ah ah I'm really excited for the road trip, Ari. I'm really excited. Spokane is this like large untapped market.
00:12:43
Speaker
I mean, even just posting about the the game happening there, we got a bunch of followers and a lot of people interested from out there, which is cool. It's like it's not something that's going to happen all the time, but it is cool that they're essentially going to be playing a home game.
00:13:01
Speaker
in ah In a stadium where people are genuinely going to... They're going pack that thing. It's going to be full. It's going to be full. So, um I don't know. I'm excited. It's a great way for the Sounders to market themselves, which is something that you know they' they're needing to do to fans outside of just Seattle. And then secondarily, it's going to be a really ah great um test for our commute when we have to end up going to Long Acres, for all of the games. Cause it's basically the same amount of time to drive from here to long acres. Yeah. Yeah. Like just like four or five hours, you know?
00:13:36
Speaker
So that's my take on it. Yeah. Okay. I, uh, I, I, I agree with all those points looking forward to the road trip as well. Uh, but I'll, uh, I'll lay down my first reaction, which I think it's important to acknowledge, which is that it is pretty stupid that they have to do this. Like just fundamentally, you should not have to move from where you normally play to across the state to play a CONCACAF Champions Cup game. And the reason the reason I bring that up is... ah
00:14:14
Speaker
the We talk a lot about this issue that you just brought up of moving to Long Acres, and I think most people are against that. I'm on the record as being against that. I have concerns about the accessibility and just if you can match the vibe of Lumen Field at Long Acres, I'm skeptical of that. But I think it's important to acknowledge this is why they want to do that is they, they don't want to have situations where they have to play a game across the state because of conflict, schedule conflicts in their, in their home stadium, which if they had their own stadium, they would not have to do that. So I think we should at least point out that, uh,
00:15:00
Speaker
It's not for nothing like why this whole long acre ideas is, is out there. It's because they don't want to have to deal with stuff like this. If it was up to them, they would be playing these games at Lumen Field, like in Seattle where they normally play.
00:15:16
Speaker
But because of this, the issues that they have with Lumen Field and first and goal or whatever, like, They can't do that. So that is, I'm just, I'm just throwing that out there. Like, I mean, I'm not saying that that means that moving the stadium to long acres is a good idea or that it's going to be like super awesome or that I don't have concerns about it. I do, but I'm just saying this is why.
00:15:40
Speaker
they want to and to be fair to lumen and first single this is only happening because they're installing grass for the world cup so it's not that there's not the monster truck not not a monster truck it's not something this is a once in a four-year thing this is because lumen and like to your point too this is because lumen field won't install grass permanently ah but yeah so ah the like the rain are going to be playing basically all of their home games ah so In Spokane.
00:16:08
Speaker
The Reign will be playing almost all of their home games in Spokane. Which honestly, like I think that's going to be awesome. They should be able to sell out every single one of those games. Sure. And that'll be fun. That's a packed stadium. It's a good stadium. And something to one Spokane Stadium, they made a really big effort when they built it to be completely FIFA certified. So there's a bunch of people online bitching and moaning about Why are they going so far away? Why are they going so far away? Well, the closest place that they could have played that is certified by FIFA.
00:16:44
Speaker
Guess where it is?
00:16:47
Speaker
Providence Park. Are they going to really play in Providence Park? Absolutely not. That's what we call a non-star. That's not even going to happen, right? And so you have Lumen Field, FIFA certified, and then this stadium, which they have literally done a lot of work to become FIFA certified. I do believe there's a close one as well on Vancouver Island.
00:17:07
Speaker
But again, Why would you go travel to another country to play a match when you could go just East? ah So Husky stadium, not FIFA certified.
00:17:20
Speaker
And that's just the way that it is. You know, um what's other one like the other The FIFA certified thing. I know we've pointed to this out before and it doesn't matter. No one cares. But like the idea that Starfire or Husky stadium or whatever are not,
00:17:36
Speaker
or a conca calf. They're not conca calf certified, but like some of these fields that they play on like, it has just some of these conca calf fields where there's like a track around it and it's worse turf than lumen. How are like, I honestly don't get it. It's a lot to do with like broadcast positions and lights and ah like locker rooms. You have to have locker room standards and famously in college football,
00:18:01
Speaker
You have one really, really, really nice locker room, and then they paint the walls pink and give you like a folding chair for the other ones. So there there are some standards and some annoying things that are like stupid, but FIFA does require you to have.
00:18:15
Speaker
And you know go take that up with the University of Washington Athletics, but they're too busy suing some teenager right now. So I don't think that they they give a shit to...
00:18:26
Speaker
you know, update their fields to, to be acceptable to play these games. Cause that's, that's definitely a possibility. Yeah. Well, so even taking into account what I mentioned before about ah why this is an example of why they want their own stadium and all that. Like, I think it's important to acknowledge that, but ah with that taken into account,
00:18:48
Speaker
I think that this is that this is the best option, like other than, yet like you can't do it Providence Park. You're not going to go to Vancouver to do it. This is the best option. And I do think that... ah in isolation in kind of like a one-off situation where you got no other options and this is and this is the option. i think I think it will be fun. I'm excited for i'm i'm excited to go. I'm excited for the ah the novelty of it.
00:19:14
Speaker
And I think it will there there will be something cool about another community in Washington, like getting to experience The Sounders like I think there's genuinely a lot of people in Spokane that are really excited about this. Like you said, a few of them have already reached out for us to us about like collabing and stuff when we're out there. Wade, Wade lives out there. Shout out Wade. I can't see the chat, but.
00:19:38
Speaker
Wade, if you're in there. I'm sure he'll be at one Spokane stadium. And yeah, I fully expect them to pack it and be a good atmosphere. and I'm like, I'm happy for people in Spokane that, you know, don't normally get to go to a Sounders game. IRL.
00:19:54
Speaker
irl There's there's ah a lot of fans out there, and they're gonna they're going to get to experience that. And i I already know that a lot of people out there are happy about this and are looking forward to it. So I don't bring up the other stuff to rain on that parade at all.
00:20:10
Speaker
ah if this isn' This is not something that I would want to see happen regularly necessarily. But in this situation, I think it's cool and it'll be fun and I'm looking forward to going and seeing how it goes. And i think it's it's making the best out of an unideal situation as far as not getting to play your, like a home game in a tournament like this at your actual home stadium. So I'm, a I'm looking, I'm looking forward to it. Like it it'll, it'll be fun. There'll be good novelty to it.
00:20:45
Speaker
And I think people in Spokane are, are going to enjoy it. Like they're going to get to see the Sounders play in their, in their city. I think it's, I think it's sick. i I think the biggest thing out of all of it for me is,
00:21:00
Speaker
One of my favorite jokes that our friends over at Happy Foot, Sad Foot make are like, are we growing the game? Are we growing the game? Right. But this is genuinely growing the profile of the Sounders in Washington. We talk about the inability for the Sounders to pack Lumen Field. They're not able to do it. They, you know, people are losing interest. There is, you know, business problems, whatever with Lumen Field. I think this is an amazing opportunity. They should be buying billboards in Spokane now. They should be building hype for this game now. The social media posts they put... Listen, I love the Sounders social media people. They are some of the best people in the world, and I'm sure that this wasn't their decision on how they were promoting this, but copy and pasted text onto a photo of a stadium.
00:21:47
Speaker
This is a big deal. They should be marketing this like it's a big deal. People drive across the state to come see this team play. It happens. Why...
00:21:57
Speaker
why not make this feel special why not make this be a whole event they should be i what i really hope is that they are seeing this as an opportunity and not an obstacle because it is a huge opportunity they should make this the best sounders atmosphere possible show people who travel out there that it's worth traveling for that you can make an amazing game day atmosphere this is your proving ground for moving to long acres This is your proving ground. How good when you are in full control, when you are in full control, how good can you make a small stadium atmosphere feel?
00:22:35
Speaker
yeah they They need to kill this. They should. And anyone from the Sounders business, whatever, listening to this podcast, God bless you, first of all, if you're listening to us. but This is a big deal and you better you better execute on it.
00:22:51
Speaker
Don't think of it as just an excuse. it's It's an opportunity. It's it's a really big opportunity. Well, so do you have any concerns, I guess, over the optics of it being kind of Bush League, I guess, because fair or not, that's what that's what other fan bases are saying. I think that's an portland fan that's an easy place for your mind to go. there I mean, like to be fair, your mind, i think, went a similar place when the you famously clowned on the ah Columbus crew for playing a game in Cleveland. That was a little bit of a different situation because it was just for a messy game. But as far as the base idea of moving your team from one stadium to a completely different one in a different city, it is...
00:23:38
Speaker
a similar idea. I mean, I think it's a little bit different, but that's just because I don't want to be wrong about that take. And I still feel like I do stand on that, but listen, the, the messy being the reason thing is a pretty important distinction. yeah I think, I think there's, this is there's differentiators there. Listen, surface prep. if If you want to say it's Bush league, I think that's fair. I think that's fair. If if that's what your take is, that's that's absolutely fine and dandy and great for you.
00:24:07
Speaker
i don't see it that way. i see it like we're getting an opportunity to get the World Cup here. And so this is just a part of the weird growing pains. We're going be taking an extended break in the summer for the World Cup. like it's so It's just a weird year. It just is. There's always something weird that happens. um But honestly, Ari, listen.
00:24:27
Speaker
I've been watching a lot of Mad Ben recently. you know I'm a young Don Draper in the cut. okay and if i'm If I'm Don Draper, I'm smoking a cigarette. I'm five glasses of whiskey down right now. and I'm seeing this not as a problem, but an opportunity.
00:24:44
Speaker
You know, like when ah when, like tobacco advertising, they get sued for saying that smoking cigarettes is healthy. He says, you know, he he he's like rephrases it and reframes and all of that. You got to take a bad situation and make it into an event and get something special. They should they should figure out how to do that.
00:25:02
Speaker
It's an opportunity. It can be Bush League if you treat it like it's Bush League. If you treat it like it's the opportunity to play in a new venue, That's awesome.
00:25:13
Speaker
You ever been to Spokane? I have been to Spokane. Yeah. I once got stranded in Spokane for for three days. And it honestly was... i like when i When I first learned that I was going to be stranded in Spokane due to my car breaking down, driving back from Pullman, I was pretty upset. I'm not going to lie. I was like, this is not where I want to be stranded necessarily.
00:25:34
Speaker
But then... ah once i Once I was stranded and my friends that I was with, we were walking around and like seeing what was up. We were like, this is this is actually actively like good good place. like This is fun. Sure, yeah.
00:25:48
Speaker
So ah it's a cool city. And they they are they do get up for their sports out there. Gonzaga basketball mostly, but i'm I am interested to see how abundant the, the Sounders fan base is out there. Maybe, maybe Wade can let us know, like if it's like ah a widespread type of thing where, when the home games are, are going on, the bars there are are packed. i imagine there's probably a larger fan base out there than you might, than you might think because, you know, like,
00:26:21
Speaker
Everyone out there still supports like the Seahawks and Mariners. Right. So it's like not that like different in principle. So I think there's a chance that it could exceed people's expectations as far as what the atmosphere is like. And also just how the city and the community and the fan base out there in embraces it. It seems like to me from what I've observed so far that they're already there. They're already starting the hype out there. Like they're very excited yeah about it. So but the sounder should be doing that too.
00:26:50
Speaker
I hope they are. haven't seen it yet. Maybe when it gets closer to the game, they'll start doing that more. I don't know. If I'm in that marketing meeting, man, I'm telling you, I've got like 10 pitches ready to go because that's just like, that is an opportunity of a lifetime.
00:27:01
Speaker
There are Sounders fans in North Dakota. Believe it or not, of the 20 people that live in North Dakota, at least one of them has to be a Sounders fan. There's people in Idaho who are Sounders fans. that maybe they'll drive two hours to go to Spokane. They're not going to drive six hours to go to Seattle. This is an opportunity. There's so many people in that region.
00:27:21
Speaker
Make it happen. Make it a big deal. Make it cool. i mean I'm really excited for it. I already booked our Airbnb. Okay, let's go. so Yeah, I mean, there is no chance that Lobbing Scorchers wasn't hitting the road for that CCC game in Spokane. It is like it is one of those things that sounds like funny and maybe a little bush league when you say it. but like we talk about We play in Starfire. I'm sorry. exactly We play in Tuckwilla. What is the difference? like There's literally no difference. it' just play farther It's just way farther away. It's way farther, but like it's the same thing.
00:27:55
Speaker
Like there's a special atmosphere and a special feeling to playing at star fire. It is our own. It is, it is like a piece of sounders history. And it's exciting and people get loud and people get excited.
00:28:07
Speaker
But like, yeah, it's its own thing. I don't know. you know the capacity of one Spokane Stadium? I can look that up I think it's expandable, but I think like five or six thousand. all right. So similar to Starfire, maybe a little bigger. Bigger than Starfire. Yeah. see Nicer than Starfire. All right. Well, my Internet's not connecting, so I can't look it up. But if it's like five, six thousand. Yeah. It's basically going to be like a really nice version of Starfire, but that's like really far away.
00:28:35
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. But like not that far. It's like a four hour drive. Spokane? Nah, it's longer than that. it was like It's like four. I feel like it's like significantly longer than that. It's across the state.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, the state's not that big though. It's pretty big state. I don't know. I lived in Texas. I've done that drive, but from Bellingham, not Seattle. but Expandable up to 15,000. Oh, word? 15?
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah. So do you think Spokane could fill 15K? That's what I'm saying. If the Sounders do their job, if the Sounders do their job and they market, this is a this is what I'm saying. Imagine 15,000 on the dry side. Yeah, be people on the dry side.
00:29:17
Speaker
From Idaho, from from, you know, from, I just, it's it's an opportunity. It's a gem. it is waiting to be unearthed. It's literally the dude who's mining. And, you know, the guy up top, he's he's mining towards the diamonds and the guy's about to hit the diamonds and he's walking away.
00:29:33
Speaker
Don't be the guy that walks away. Be the guy who keeps mining. This is where probably Spokane Velocity plays. It is. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's we've seen them play. We're big Spokane Velocity fans. Yeah. We were at the ah Ballard FC. Both of them. Did they play Spokane the second time though? Yeah. They played them both times and lost.
00:29:51
Speaker
Oh, wow. I only really, I have a very clear memory of that first one yeah where that dude, yeah, it was 0-0 in like the 94th, but like it was a heart pounding It was an exciting 0-0. And then the freaking Spokane Velocity guy came out with kramer like an absolute, one of the best goals I've ever seen. It was insane. And Spokane Velocity won. But that game was fun as hell. And I kind of followed Spokane Velocity a little bit.
00:30:19
Speaker
I mean, the final there was a hella good yeah USL league to team like they've somehow they got that roster to like USL championship qualities. Yeah. And they were playing against league two teams. So they were kind of just wrecking house like no, they were honestly the fact that Ballard FC gave those guys as much of a game as they did is a testament to Ballard FC because Ballard FC is like college kids and developmental players. Spokane Velocity was like There were guys out there that had been playing this game professionally for 10 years. There was literally a guy who I went to college with who played at Penn State who was drafted to MLS. Yeah. And is playing there now and I think has left now and is on an MLS roster again. So we have evidence that...
00:31:01
Speaker
ah the the community cares about the sport and that, you know, the the club brass and everyone who made Spokane velocity happen. Everything I've seen from the outside of Spokane velocity, I'm like, damn, they yeah they are cooking. And their women's team is is good too. And their women's team is like supported. The Zephyr, they're supported really well. So that's what i'm I'm also excited because the rain are going to play a a lot more games there.
00:31:25
Speaker
that's going to be sick, man. Like that's going to be cool for that community. And I think it's also perfect for the rain who like need, they need desperately to grow their fan base. They need desperately to grow their fan base because they have had so many years under that old ownership of just being bad.
00:31:41
Speaker
And now, you know, they're under the sounders ownership. They've been better. They've been better. they They had a okay year last year. Listen to the cooler guild. If you want your rain, your rain updates, but yeah. Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker
ah All right.
Sounders' Training and Player Readiness
00:31:55
Speaker
Any other takes on Spokane CCC? Guys, I'm fully tapped out of chat. This internet died, so I can't. No one's talking. We're good. We're back to OG podding. Finally. I'm just throwing that out there. I'm not ignoring anybody. I just literally can't see it. So we're going to keep cooking.
00:32:12
Speaker
um Did you have anything else on Spokane or should we keep pushing? No, keep it going. All right. First day of training. Let's talk about that. The Sounders are back at it. The first the first day was technically a couple days ago. Sonny Dodson talked. Paul Rothrock talked. Christian Roldan talked. I was not out there. Noah, you were out there. yeah us ah Give us a peek into the vibes. what was What was it like being around the squad? What what were the interviews like? What was the scene?
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, it was it was a fun day of training. it was a little overcast, a classic Seattle day. ah It was nice to see everyone out. Everyone seemed really excited. you know We had ah the first people out, Big Stewie Hawks came out early. let ago You had Kalani. CB3. Yep, and and Alex and and all of those guys. How is Stew Hawks looking He's still looking big. I saw some offseason training. He's going to get minutes this season, dude. I'm telling you. You're not going to tell me he's too skinny this year, Schmidt. He's not. Brian, Brian, I know you listen to the pod.
00:33:16
Speaker
We need to see... stue I love that he calls him Stewie. He's like, you'll see some big Stewie this year. Like like he's like a family guy. yeah Wait, we need to Photoshop Stewie on the Stewie.
00:33:28
Speaker
All right. We just made new content. just made new content. That'll be going on the Instagram after this um as a promo for this podcast. It sounds like Stu Hawks, I know he's been training his ass off because that's why he's so swole. But like, honestly, I don't want to read too much into it, but him being first out there, i think he's he's like, I'm going to come grab this role. Yeah, you know, it's it's interesting. Like,
00:33:51
Speaker
in watching the interactions between everyone else and him. He's a very like head down grind. I'm here to ball kind of guy Yeah. And I love that. i love that. young kid and and he's out there and obviously like he's also talking with people, but like very much just that mindset of like get into it. So but we're orre big Stu Hawks fans out here. um But Yeah, it was great to see.
00:34:14
Speaker
It was great to see Paul Areola training like that dude is ready to go. He looks good. Oh, this is music to my ears. Extending and moving and running. He did all of his drills. He was a full participant. Schmetzer's saying that he's ramping back up, but you can tell this guy's ready to play. I mean, he's he's impressive to watch and he when he's healthy and full. He was killing it at training. There's a photo that I got ah of him.
00:34:41
Speaker
And Cody Baker literally battling it out. And, and he's just like literally like picking up Cody Baker and moving him. Like he is, he's ready to go, dude. He's, he's very clearly excited. That is going to be a absolute battle because while all of those guys are competing, you have Paul Rothrock leading his group running. You have him taking on the media, giving them the charm, doing all of this stuff, looking great. Like,
00:35:08
Speaker
I don't know, man. like that that wing Those wing positions, it's gonna be it's going to be a dogfight out there. I'm really excited for Marbella because i think we're really going to see how Georgie fits into all of that coming off of a really yeah impressive AFCON. um But yeah, everyone looked really good. I will say...
00:35:26
Speaker
You will find this funny. the brigade will find this funny. Albert was not looking like he was happy to be back at training. I think that's just generally his face. But when he was running, he was lagging behind everyone else a little bit. And I did think that the brigade the brigade would love to hear that ah he was not killing it in the running portion of it all. Um, yeah, Kim, Kim was not a full participant. He was there, but he wasn't training. Um, and sidelined was the new noah Newman. I believe the new goalkeeper that they signed. Oh yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
He was just on the side watching training. Uh, no Pekovic. He hadn't been there yet. I think he's back. He's there out there now. Everyone else is training. Obviously, no Pedro de la Vega. He was not even there. And yeah, but everyone back from loan. Cody Baker was getting some good reps in there as well. That was fun to That good to see him back. Yeah. um and I don't know. This is going to be a really big...
00:36:28
Speaker
This is going to be a really big next four weeks. I think a lot is going to be determined with this Hammer Bay game um that the Sounders are going to be playing in Marbella. ah And I don't know, man, everyone, this is this is that same team that we had last year, that same depth.
00:36:47
Speaker
I don't think really anything has changed yet. Obviously, if Obed moves on that's going to be different. But the person that I'm the most excited for that I'm saving here for last is Hassani Dotson.
00:36:58
Speaker
Say more. Say more. I am very excited. I watched him train. i watched him talk to the media. I think he might be giving Obed a run for his money even, especially if they're going to be moving Obed on. i think they're going to be splitting minutes. And I don't know.
00:37:15
Speaker
He looks really good. He looks really good. Yeah, let's talk about that for a second because i think it's a key point regarding Obed. It feels like the Obed situation is kind of in flux. It's in limbo right now. It seems like the plan is to just go into the season with him, plan out the last year of his contract. We'll see if anything changes with that.
00:37:33
Speaker
um But, you know, I had been kind of going into this season... under the assumption over the offseason that they were going to move Obed on in this window. And so I think let's talk about it from a perspective of like, let's let's like let's assume that they do move Obed sure at some point.
00:37:50
Speaker
And if someone told you before they transfer Obed that the contingency plan would be predominantly signing Hassani Dotson in free agency and he would be Basically fill in the Obed role, joining the double pivot with Christian. And that was going to be their Obed contingency plan at that position. ah Let's, let's talk about how we would feel about that because i felt like the whole time from the moment, the signing that got made that I, I i think that is, i like that plan. That's good business. I like that plan. Like,
00:38:20
Speaker
It is easy to look at that and be like, oh, Hassani Dotson like doesn't have He's injured. doesn't have the prodigal upside of Obed, like the superstar upside. he yeah His ceiling is not Obed's ceiling for sure. Yeah. Like regardless of if Obed is at it yet, which we don't think he is, but Hassani Dotson, like, you know what he is more. So it's like, it it can feel like if you look at it on paper, like it's this huge downgrade, especially because he's coming off an injury, but ah you know, it's similar to some of these other intro MLS moves that they made, like with Jesus Ferreira, where I look at it and I'm like, I've watched this guy play enough to know what type of player he is yeah and what he brings to the table. And I think,
00:39:05
Speaker
Skill set wise, work rate wise, personality wise, it sounds like. Experience wise, this is guy who has 150 plus MLS games at this point. Yeah, I'm I if if Obed got transferred in this window and he was not on the team at all this season and they were going to roll with Hassani Dotson and Christian as the double pivot.
00:39:27
Speaker
I wouldn't feel, I would not like crash out about that. I wouldn't feel like it's this insane downgrade. I would, I would feel like that is a very good starting double pivot. That could be potentially, man it's hard to imagine one as good as the Obed Christian double pivot, but I think you can, things come to an end. Well, yeah. And you can also, i like, I can see the I can see the Christian, the Sonny Dotson partnership functioning.
00:39:56
Speaker
at a very high level based on what I know of Hassani Dotson to the point where the team's the team's ability to compete and contend for trophies, Hassani Dotson taking those minutes instead of Obed, I don't think would be something that inhibits them yeah from from like achieving everything that they want to achieve.
00:40:15
Speaker
And I will note, ah when Hassani was asked what players he's been connecting with the most and what players have like helped him get integrated with the team, the first person that he brought up was Christian Roldan and then Alex. So Christian's already making that connection with Hassani. It's very clear that... And again, this is what like how amazing Christian Roldan is. He's beloved by everyone, but he's he's a very good leader, captain kind of guy. He's second to none. Who who like...
00:40:44
Speaker
he's already making a connection with the guy he knows he's going to play with. And I think that's awesome. Like that's so sick. So he's, he is very excited. And the second thing that I'll say about Hassani Dotson is he kind of had a shit raw deal in Minnesota from what I can tell from every indication from everything. He was promised a lot and under delivered all the time. it It also seems like he was quite frustrated with his injury. He was quite frustrated with the front office. He was quite frustrated with the way they were coaching. And, you know, sometimes all of that can happen and all you need is an open door. All you need is a fresh step, some competition, the ability to push yourself and you're at a level you haven't seen before. I look at Christian Roldan is in the literal renaissance of his career. He was at a point in his career where like he was good. He was solid. You know, we thought he was one thing. And then two seasons ago, just decided to show us that, oh, no, I'm actually one of the best defensive midfielders in all of MLS and will probably be on the World Cup roster for the U.S.
00:41:50
Speaker
You never know what's going to happen. You can't take two years off of a dude's career at a shit team where he wasn't happy. You can't take that as this is going to continue now that he's on the Seattle Sounders. That's my take on it. And it's the same thing. Like Jesus Ferreira, he has excelled. I think he's going to be even better this year, though. do too.
00:42:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for anyone who hasn't watched Hassani Dotson play, I mean, what I can tell you is, i mean, relative to how his skillset compares to Obed, Hassani Dotson is a, he's a great work rate player. I think as far as work rate and covering ground, he offers just as much as Obed. i think in terms of one V one defending, in like physicality and defending, he probably offers a little more than Obed. And i think,
00:42:41
Speaker
he's not like the He's not like a pocket picker like Obed is. like He's not going to have the touch that Obed does. well he's not He's not nearly as dynamic on the ball kar as Obed. like He can't really wiggle out of trouble, at least to my memory. he Obed has this ability to like get out of situations where there are like four guys around him and he can just kind of circle around them and still have the ball and then keep dribbling forward.
00:43:07
Speaker
In a way where you watch him do it and you're like, how the did you just that? Like Hassani Dodson is his ability in possession is not that dynamic. So I think you might be losing a little bit in terms of ball progression. And then I think Obed's passing vision is probably better. Like some of the dimes that Obed can hit are, ah are more audacious yeah than what you're going to see Hassani Dodson do. yeah,
00:43:36
Speaker
I think what you're losing with that, you you are you are gaining or at least staying lateral in terms of like work rate and 1v1 defending. And Hassani Dotson has also been more consistently goal dangerous throughout his career than Obed has. Obed, by the end of last year, was starting to bang in. Deflection merchant, let's go. Deflection merchant, but then like he was he was banging in goals in the in the playoffs against Minnesota that I don't think...
00:44:03
Speaker
were deflected like he, by the end of the year, he was scoring goals to a point where I was like, this player is straight up terrifying. Yeah. Like, so maybe that was a sign that he's developed that aspect of his game ah to be as good as Hassani Dotson is at it. But Hassani Dotson has got, I think 18, 17, 18 MLS goals, scores a lot of bangers. He, he is, he's a goal dangerous player at that spot on the field.
00:44:33
Speaker
More so than some of the other guys that they... Like, I would say probably more so than Jao Paulo. ah the current Christian christian gets pops up with his goals every now and then. um But I think Hassani Dotson might be even a little more dangerous than Christian in that in that way. So I think there's there's there's a give and take with it. Like, what we're talking about with Obed's ability and possession and getting out of pressure and all that stuff...
00:44:59
Speaker
Going to a guy who's not as proficient as that, it might actually ah limit what you can do compared to if you're running the Christian Obed double pivot. But I do think there he he brings a lot to the table that could help you in different ways. I don't think that like anyone... know i think there's this misread of the situation from certain sectors of the pundit Sounders pundit class, which it's like...
00:45:25
Speaker
Well, this is unambitious because it's a downgrade for Obed. I don't know if it's a downgrade. I think that it's a lateral move. I think that it's replacing him with someone who you know what you're going to get. It's a stopgap for he's going to get minutes and you get to play Snyder Brunel. You get to develop Snyder Brunel into potentially your next Obed Vargas. But the reality is we knew Obed Vargas wasn't going to be here until the end of time. And you're never going to be able to...
00:45:55
Speaker
replace a wonder kid yeah yeah you're you're never going to be able to just like especially one that's one as good as him like i don't have do just thinking back to yeah right like just now thinking back to what he was doing at the end of last season like i remember watching that last that last home playoff game against minnesota like go back and watch obet in that game it's like shocking how good he he got yeah Yeah. So, I mean, like, I, I get why people might feel like, especially because Sonny Dodson is coming off an injury. I mean, I guess I'm less concerned about that than, than some people. it was a torn meniscus and he it's not like he had a lot of injury issues throughout his career. He's had the same amount of injuries as any other pro soccer player that I could think of. So I'm not, ah
00:46:41
Speaker
I'm not tripping about that, but I will say ah i think for the most part, ah people are are excited about Hassani Dotson being on the team a lot because of the federal way thing.
00:46:52
Speaker
ah But also, like, I think most people recognize that this is a high level MLS player. And like, I just i don't want to. ah ah ah give the vocal minority that might be against it. Like the, I don't want to give the impression that that's the most widespread viewpoint. There has been a little bit of that flying around, but I think it's from the usual suspects. You can never be happy. There's there's no making them happy unless you're signing Hunman's son. And it's what it is is. Anytime you, anytime, anytime you make a transaction that is,
00:47:25
Speaker
for a player that is within intra MLS move that's already played in MLS that automatically you're going to get no analysis of who they are as a player, what they bring as a player, what they've shown to be MLS and the leap is going to be,
00:47:42
Speaker
We got him from another MLS team. Therefore move is bad. That's just like, we saw it with Jesus Ferreira. We saw it with Paul Areola last year. We see it all the time. There was a little bit of that with the Dotson move, but I think for the most part, people are excited to have a two, five, three or on the team. And I think most anyone who follows the league knows that he's been balling for Minnesota for like five years. Also dude, you could get Ricky Pooge to sign with the Sounders and you'd have people being like, that's not ambitious. He's an MLS watch out. He's had a knee injury. He's had two ACL injuries. but but Shut up, bro. I mean, honestly, if they signed him at this point, I would be like, the don't do that. Yeah, well, no, he's he's literally ruined the last two galaxies. we You know what?
00:48:25
Speaker
We'll talk about that at the end. Add that to the agenda. I want to talk about Pooj injury and I want to talk about Hector Herrera because Hector Herrera specifically has something to do with the Sounders that I need to mention that I think is so funny. All right. I got Galaxy and Hector Herrera on there for you. Anything else on ah first day of training or anything we were talking about? Or should we hit our no first agenda check in 2026? We can do that. I'll be, i guess, just of note, I will be in Marbella. Yeah, Noah's going. Marbella's going.
00:48:55
Speaker
Guys, I'm going to Marbella. I'm going to Marbella. He's going. ah So me and Jeremiah will be out there. on the ground. Journalism from Sounder at Heart and Lobbing Scorchers. ah going have Noah churning out the that ah the the pictures and the videos. Post-game live. All that like stuff. You better hop on a post-game. You should host a post-game live. I'll call in from the stadium. are They're not going to be streaming, right?
00:49:19
Speaker
Well, we may be streaming it. TBD. We may be streaming it. That's all I'm going to say. You guys would be the heroes of all heroes. I'm just... Listen... They never streamed those things. they had they used They used to have freaking one Shane Evans shout out. Yep.
00:49:38
Speaker
Blasted out from live sounders. Yep. And you just had to trust Shane and Danny that that they were relaying accurate information from those preseason scrimmages. there there was There was one year. Listen, this is what I will commit to. We will at least be filming the game.
00:49:56
Speaker
We will at least film the game. We will try everything we can to broadcast it. If you want to watch that broadcast, become a Sounder at Heart member. Can we broadcast it from the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube? We'll see. we've got it We've got to do a little negotiating with Jeremiah because we are going to to pay for our trip somehow. But it'll it'll probably be paywalled.
00:50:15
Speaker
But if you're Sounder at Heart member, you know you never know. we'll see what We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. So subscribe. um It's going be good. That's going good content. And i i hope that ah i hope that they broadcast it somehow. Like, it is very frustrating every year because we all there's a lot of people that, like,
00:50:36
Speaker
need to watch those games like for our sustenance, man, myself included and having to rely on tweets for the preseason scrimmages and also not getting to see what it looks like except for the highlights that they put out afterwards. They'll put out with the goals they score and you're like, okay, but you you don't get a feel for how the team's actually playing from that. If if we do it on the Lobbing Scorchers channel, it will be a members only live stream. You will have to become Lobbing Scorchers YouTube member and pay for it.
00:51:03
Speaker
But whoo see now we're but now we're talking but we'll well we'll figure out what's going on. If we stream it on Sounder, it'll be a whole thing. But if you pirate our stream, I will come at you with the full force of the law.
00:51:15
Speaker
Dude, you wouldn't steal... That's worse than skipping the ads. Dude, you wouldn't steal a... What was the thing back in the day? They'd like, you wouldn't steal a TV or something. And then it's like, you wouldn't pirate a whatever. I don't know. You guys don't know. The old people know what I'm talking about.
00:51:30
Speaker
You wouldn't steal This is like the Napster LimeWire. Yeah, exactly. the napster like like if you're if you're If you're on Cracked, me if you're Meth Streams. Did I just name drop Napster? Dude, LimeWire. If Cracked Streams steals our stream, I'm going to be so fucking pissed. can't believe I just remembered what Napster was called.
00:51:48
Speaker
That's crazy. Chat, did you guys ever use Napster? You wouldn't download a car. You wouldn't download a car. That's what it is. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. I didn't use Napster that much, but I use Hello LimeWire, man. Dude, I use... Okay, so this is a total aside, but it's our podcast and we can talk about whatever we want. For Christmas, I gave my parents both MP3 players filled with a bunch of music that I think they would really like. Like, I gave them all... i them like This Christmas? Yeah. You gave them MP3 players? Yes. They're back. They're back. We're going back.
00:52:16
Speaker
i'm I bought myself one. Yes. Yes. They're sick. so But i I completely ripped all of the music illegally. Hell yeah. Because, like, fuck that. Like, I pay for Spotify, but I actually don't have Spotify, Apple Music, but regardless.
00:52:30
Speaker
i Anyway, you wouldn't download a car. You wouldn't download a car. All right. Noah, are you ready to hit an agenda check? Let's... Oh, my God. We haven't done one of these in a while. we're We're bringing these back this year. That is that was one of off-season resolutions. It is i was our more most popular segment as we got more into...
00:52:50
Speaker
The live content last year, kind of, the old format with stuff like that kind of went by the wayside, but we're bringing back agenda check. I demanded it. I demanded it in my Bringing back agenda check. And I, you know, I think a lot of our listeners and viewers wanted it to make a comeback as well. So we're bringing it back. I only have one. meant to think of multiple.
00:53:09
Speaker
ah but I didn't. So I only have one. Maybe I'll come up pre with another one. But ah yeah, exactly. During the season, I'll have a couple, two or three of these, but I only got one. Did you want to go first or should I yeah i'll go first? Yeah, go first.
00:53:24
Speaker
Hmm. Okay. I'm just trying to picture what I want to do here. Okay. Jesus Ferreira. MVP caliber season. This is my agenda.
Injury Concerns and Player Contracts
00:53:34
Speaker
Okay. I think this year, I think this year, listen, I said it last year that he was going to be insane. It didn't hit. I almost got a tattoo. Shit. Maybe I'll make another tattoo bet this year. That will happen at some point. But I just think he looked so good. He was due. He should have had like four more goals had Georgie Manungu not been offside every time, just randomly like deciding to be offside. And a lot more assists, I would argue as well. Exactly. And so I think he is going to cook this year. I think he's going to have a best 11 performance. And I don't think anyone's going to be able to stop him. I think he is truly, this might be the season where he shines so hard.
00:54:16
Speaker
that he may get a European transfer. I am fully on board with ah with that agenda. I know there's mixed feelings about how the Jesus Ferreira trade went among the fan base. There really shouldn't be.
00:54:29
Speaker
he he had a fantastic season last year. ah And if you're denying that based on stat sheet production, i would just like really... encourage you to not think that um because all right, here's here's here's the thing. here's the thing here's yeah like we were We were really excited about the trade when it got made and we were talking about how many goals he was going to score and he didn't end up scoring a lot of goals. like We should acknowledge that. like The goal production was not what we hoped for or anticipated. The first half of his season you could just throw out. like It wasn't that great. I don't even think it was the first half. I think it was like the first month or two was was not great. Felt like half. and there was It was not great. Yeah, yeah. No, and he he did have a couple of rough games at the beginning of the season. The St. Louis one comes to mind. The San Diego one comes to mind. But also the whole team was bad in both of those games. Exactly. like And I get that he...
00:55:25
Speaker
he was in a situation in those games where they're like all right we don't like the san diego game remember everyone is fucking injured yeah and like it was like all right well jesus ferreira's out there he he should care he needs to carry it today and he couldn't do that because like there was no midfielders or back line out there to my memory i think danny leva was playing yeah and it also it did it also admittedly took him a really long time to score his first goal we remember all that you were making tattoo bets and stuff ah But by the time it got in the swing of the season and he was more acclimated and he was a starter for this team week in week out, he played great. And I think something that we need to acknowledge is that yes, the goal production was down from his previous years. The playmaking production was there pretty much the whole time. Like,
00:56:10
Speaker
he He got, i think, 12 or 13 assists, all comps, um which I think if you want to be secondary assists, don't count guys, you like take two of those away. And he's still at double-digit assists, all comps. He ended up at five goals. God, do you remember that ball he played to Rothrock?
00:56:30
Speaker
I can't remember what game it was. It was in the summer. and Colorado? Yeah, 0-0. My God, I literally saw that and I was like, this guy is special.
00:56:40
Speaker
Yeah, this guy is special. So yeah, that's what I was getting to is he he is actually even with the the lack of goal production last year taken into account. He's a much better player than I thought it was in terms of how well-rounded he is, how unselfish he is, how hard he works, ah how good he is at defense, how good he is at pressing. Like he is very much, I kind of dismiss people sometimes when they say the stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story. Like he, he does this, this, and you're like, all right, well, if he's an attacking player, he should be on the stat sheet. He's a player where I look at it and I'm like, the stat sheet does not,
00:57:18
Speaker
It wouldn't even it wouldn't tell the whole story, even if the stat sheet production was it was better like he he he does everything for this team. I don't understand like how you can watch him play and not appreciate that they benefited. How many goddamn goals did he create last year through high pressing?
00:57:37
Speaker
Like, yeah, exactly. So many, you guys want to know why they scored so many goals last year off of giveaways in, in the attacking third where they, they got the ball in a really dangerous spot and then were immediately able to score in transition. That was so many of their goals last year. You want to know why they were able to do that? Because Jesus Ferreira and Paul Rothrock ran and pressed their goddamn asses off for this team every single game, every single week and created those those opportunities through their work rate and commitment to ah to defense so i i fully agree that he's going to take another step forward as or i a step forward as far as stat sheet production because the other thing about this is that i would strongly argue and you can call it cope can call it cope yeah i would strongly argue and you touched on it but like the the
00:58:27
Speaker
The lack of goal production and the general underwhelming stat sheet production, I really think that was a lot to do with bad luck. yeah Like you said, he had three or four goals ah that he scored where it ended up getting disallowed for offside, where he wasn't even the one who was offside. It was like, this is where you got to like...
00:58:46
Speaker
take into account if if he's the one offside and he's out of position and he scores, then it's like, okay, yeah, he like did not yeah did something wrong on that play. That's never going count. These are situations where he is, he is doing the right thing. He is onside. He's making the correct run. He's getting into the correct position. He is finishing the goal and it's getting disallowed because Georgie or someone else is 0.2 inches offside on VAR. Yeah. that is That was frustrating, and they lost out on a lot of goals off that last year. That is also the type of thing that tends to even out. yeah If you have a season like he had last year where you're having a lot of goals get disallowed under those kinds of circumstances, what usually happens is the next year you end up getting you end up getting some goals that maybe you shouldn't have otherwise. or so So if he just plays exactly how he did
00:59:37
Speaker
last year, think the goal production is going to be higher. And then he's also phenomenal playmaker. I mean, that pass that you... Oh, my God. That pass in Colorado that you mentioned, like, the through balls that he can play are excellent. But he also... He's just so adaptable, man. Like, it was interesting to watch him last year kind get the feel for the team and how to play with everyone. And you could kind of see it. Like, at the beginning, he didn't really...
01:00:06
Speaker
know how he fit in everything. And it was kind of a work in progress. But then as, as the season went on and they played more and more games, you could see him be almost in real time, be like, okay, this is how I fit in playing with, with Christian and Albert and all these guys. This is how I can be effective in the wide channel. And his soccer IQ is just so high that he was able to kind of play a different role for this team than he ever played at FC Dallas. And by the end of the year, he was this demonic high pressing dog winger that was helping the team just so much. So I think it's also some people are, you know, people are bringing up the fact that he's the third highest paid player on the team and he was signed to be a striker. And he was, I'm sorry guys, not to sound like Craig Weibel here, but you don't sign soccer players with the idea that they're just going to simply be this thing.
01:01:02
Speaker
I think truly they saw Jesus Ferreira as the dynamic and flexible player that he truly is. Like he hadn't really been playing the nine at FC Dallas. Like he was playing like a, ah like a false nine, like a 10, like he was already playing a more playmaking role. He rarely, if ever to my memory played in the wide channel for them. Like, yeah, no, maybe sometimes, but that was not like a regular thing. No. And so, okay, like, I don't know. People are like, well, you should be. You'd sign him for this. and know Okay. Well, guess what? He's still a set.
01:01:40
Speaker
even if Even if that was what happened, the deal that he is on, he is a designated player on any other MLS roster, maybe not Inter-Miami, Every other MLS roster, everyone who's operating within the rules, everyone who follows the roster rules.
01:01:56
Speaker
He is a DP. He is a DP winger on top of your DP 10, your DP nine and your other DP winger who never plays because he's always injured, which brings me to my next agenda.
01:02:07
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders will sell Pedro de la Vega in 2026. They will sell him in the summer window. They will get anything they can for him and they will open up a DP spot. That is my take. I not only think,
01:02:20
Speaker
that they will do it. I think they must do it. I don't care how good he is. I don't care how good he is. He is, this is my, this is my hill. Okay. I love Pedro de la Vega. I think he's a ah phenomenal player when he is on the field and he just has not been able to be on the field. And I don't know what it is, ah but I just, I think that it's time to let the ship sail.
01:02:47
Speaker
Yes, maybe you lose out on him, but it's time to let the ship sail. Open up a DP spot and see what you can get. See what you can get. See who you can sign. See who you can bring in.
01:02:57
Speaker
i think that is... I think that's what has to happen. I think it's what has to happen to truly make this roster... the contender that they want to be.
01:03:08
Speaker
I understand where you're coming from with that. and And I understand the frustration with how last season ended, like when he got injured and he was unable to play in the in the playoffs. And that was really a sour ending to the year for him where I can i can understand why it elicits that that sentiment.
01:03:29
Speaker
I also think that like he actually played a lot of games last year. like The idea that he was consistently unavailable to the point that...
01:03:44
Speaker
It hurt, it like hurt the team. It did in the, it did in the playoffs. It did in the playoffs for sure. But like that, that wasn't the case consistently throughout the year. And in fact, I would argue he's the biggest reason they were able to win leagues cup and they probably don't win leagues cup without him. He was the MVP of that tournament.
01:04:03
Speaker
So like I, him, him busting his knee, playing in the New York yaank Mets outfield on the last day of the season and then not getting, not being able to play in the playoffs.
01:04:18
Speaker
For me, i don't think that that doesn't undo like the, the great season that he had leading up to that. And then also, For me, it's more so just like, man, the talent level is off the charts and there is not a player with the game breaking ability that he has on the roster that I, that I trust to be able to, to replicate the stuff he can do. I can think of multiple games last year that seem like they should be easily winnable matchups for the Sounders, but an MLS, I,
01:04:55
Speaker
these games are sometimes not like there was the San Jose game at home. And then there was the Atlanta game on the road. He scored goals in both of those games that I'm not sure anyone else on the team is, is scoring.
01:05:09
Speaker
And, You need players like that to be able to take results in games like that in MLS. Like he has that special ability to be like, all right, it's zero, zero in the 80, whatever minute on the road in a difficult environment against a good team, who's going to step up, who's going to be the guy who makes the, the play that wins the game.
01:05:30
Speaker
He showed last year to me that he is that guy in a way that I'm not, I'm not sure they, they have that without him. So, well, of course they won't have it without him. Cause Because would be off the roster. But you supplement that with any other player in the entire world who wants to come to the Seattle Sounders on a zte on a designated player deal.
01:05:50
Speaker
But you know i mean you don't know that they're going to be as good as him and they're that they're going to be that game-changing presence. Well, probably more him. Let's see how many games he actually played last year. Here's my problem. He can have an incredible tournament, which he did, but dude, he has been consistently injured since he got here. That's not true. He played a lot last year. He played a lot. It's not completely his fault, but it's... Dude, he's... Look at this. Finally, the stats machine. When he doesn't have stats to back his argument... No, it's because your internet doesn't work. My internet's working great. We're streaming right now, but I think, you know...
01:06:26
Speaker
It's just dude it's at the point where like he's injured so much. Give him an opportunity to go somewhere else. Maybe maybe it's Seattle. Maybe it's the turf. Maybe it's whatever. I don't know. But like got hurt in the Yankees outfield.
01:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, let him not play in the Yankees outfield anymore. I don't know what it is. there's so You could get an interleague cash for for this guy. I'm telling you right now. i just i I think he's a great player, but man, I think it's time. I think it's time. we Here's my problem, too, is even when he is healthy, Brian is hesitant to play him because he thinks he's made of glass.
01:07:04
Speaker
You need players that Brian wants to play. Like he, he was getting these substitute appearances, brother. He's a designated player. He should be playing. He should be starting and playing every single match.
01:07:15
Speaker
I, I, Like it was already a burden to not have Jordan Morris playing all season. And then it was like Pedro de la Vega was on and off, you know? So I don't know. I just, he played 26 matches last year. out of what? 50, 16 MLS games. six no no Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Uh,
01:07:38
Speaker
It's 26, 26 league games. Yeah. How many were starts? Six, uh, six leagues, cup games, two, uh, two club world cup games, not against PSG and three CONCACAF champions cup games. His, his, he didn't start a lot of those games. The narrative of his availability, i think got, uh, that's fair though. That's not a, that's not more than half the games.
01:08:00
Speaker
he did not start more than half of the games. He was hurt a little bit at the beginning of the year was healthy for all the way up until decision day. I'm just saying like, if he, if he missed as much time as Jordan Morris did last year, i think that I would, I would feel more the same way. when he's, he's 25, he played, he was, he was pretty much of it after the start of the season, he was pretty much fully available. How much did he miss last season before that?
01:08:27
Speaker
Well, famously, his first year on the team, he barely played all. and then the year after that. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I get it. like This was year three, right? I get it. I get it. I also, it is, I think it is tough too, though, because the injury prone thing for me, I get, I get, I crash out about that when it's like muscle, soft tissue stuff that it's like, like remember when ah Jordan kept pulling his hamstring over and over or when guys like Hamstring FC, we talk about the lot, are like pulled groin, stuff like that, where it keeps reoccurring.
01:08:59
Speaker
That's where I, slap the injury prone label. The last, the last injury in question we're talking about here is a busted kneecap in the Yankees outfield. but I think that could, have that could happen theoretically to anybody. I mean, sure. But it's also like his ramp up when he got here.
01:09:18
Speaker
By every report that I heard, he was just unathletic. He couldn't cut it. He couldn't cut it with the speed and the pace of MLS. So he missed a ton of that ah time because his ramp-up just wasn't there. They weren't able to get him up to the speed of play. And then he got injured, and then he comes back, and then he gets injured, and then he comes back. He had didn't play half the games last season. He played none of the games in the first season, and he played...
01:09:41
Speaker
I don't think he played half of the games in the second season. He's a designated player. It's less about... it's like If you are refusing to fucking pay Obed Vargas more than a U22 contract, but you will pay Pedro De La No Play a DP contract, make that make sense. Obed Vargas missed...
01:10:04
Speaker
half a season because he literally exploded his back. He's played every single game, started every single game. Christian rolled on double, double Pedro de la Vega's age, plays every single game, half his salary, double his age. Christian is 46 is 47. And also with Christian, he was literally playing on a hamstring injury like all season. He just played through that shit. So I'm sorry. I respect Pedro de la Vega. I respect his skill set. you You saw how much I came around on his quality last year. I think it's undeniable his quality, but I just don't think it's right for a league in which you need, and you have said this, and this is why i'm where I'm taking this from,
01:10:44
Speaker
Your designated players have to play and they have to play well. Otherwise you're wasting your very, very small resource slot. And that's the truth. I think the Sounders have to move on.
01:10:56
Speaker
All right. I mean, that's a, that's a, ah that's a hot agenda. That's hot hotter than the one i had. I mean, like, I think, I think there's your, a lot of people feel that way and I get it But I'm also like, I think back to watching him play last year in Leagues Cup, like scoring a goddamn Puskas nominee. but like he' ra He was robbed of that, by the way. take the Take the Leagues Cup out of it. Like my my worry, my concern with with moving off him categorically like that is that, i dude, I think there are these games last year that they pretty much won because of him. And I don't know if
01:11:37
Speaker
I don't know if you take those results if you don't have him in those situations. I think that's fair. I would be worried about that, man. That San Jose game, I do not think they win that last year without Pedro De La Vega. I think that's fair. The Atlanta game, he...
01:11:52
Speaker
He's they famous in those moments that where they needed a well, okay. But he he scored a goal that got them a result on the road, like on a long, on a long road trip. Like no one else scored it. He was the one who stepped up and scored it. Osase got his first goal in that game. But the point is, the point is,
01:12:10
Speaker
Moose played more minutes. They probably lose that game. Moose played more minutes. Moose had more goals and played more minutes than Pedro De La Vega on one eighth the salary. well ah Someone brought this So you're pro Moose now. i I think he, I think argues. Now we recognize the value of Moose when it's to disparage De La Vega. Now we cite Moose as good value. Okay. I see how it is. No, I've always said Moose was good value. and You disparage Moose, it's fine. I disparage Moose, but he's on good value. I like Moose. you know I think ah the the the last thing I wanted to say here, and this was brought up by so by by the fact checkers, my fact checkers inside my computer. pet david it
01:12:46
Speaker
Pedro De La Vega went 91 times. Pedro de la Vega played 90 minutes one time last season. concern I'm not going to try and say it's not a concern. If, and hear me when I say this. And Schmetz like, yeah, Schmetz like wouldn't. be Yeah. Yeah. Schmetz wouldn't play him. I agree. And that's, that's a, that might be a Schmetzer. He stopped doing that though. And then he got hurt.
01:13:06
Speaker
Yeah. It wasn't his fault, but he did, you know, whatever. Anyway, he, if Albert Rosnack played the same amount of minutes as Pedro de la Vega, we would all be calling for Albert Rusnak to be off the roster because he's an older guy. And I mean, a lot of people are calling. for No, I understand that. But I think we both would be like, I don't know if this guy's worth it. Right. i think we have to like, in I understand the up again, it's the upside trick.
01:13:33
Speaker
The upside to Pedro de la Vega is like infinite. It's like this tantalizing thing that it's like, if we just keep trying, if we just keep trying, if he was on a U22 deal, it made sense. If he was on a TAM deal, it would make sense. He is taking up a designated player roster spot where you can theoretically, I'm not saying the Sounders have the money to do it, theoretically sign any person in the entire fucking world.
01:13:59
Speaker
it's You get three of them and you're utilizing one of them on a kid who goes 90 one time. It's a fair concern. i just I guess where I come down ah on this is I can't, I can't quit him. I want one more. I want one more try. Just one more, you one more, is one more, hit please just one more, give it one more run. If he gets injured again, then I'll accept one more hit of De La Vega. I love that. Just give me one, get him back from this dislocated. Give me one more chance. Dislocated me.
01:14:30
Speaker
freak injury could happen to anybody doesn't necessarily mean he's injury prone most talented player in the team one of the most talented players in the league give me one try it one more time try it one more time if he's ripping up his hamstring or blows his knee out again then you move him on for absolutely nothing because he'll be injured and no one will buy him but one more One more time. One more time. i
Team Strategy and Player Roles
01:14:55
Speaker
i think like... ah If you're hearing this, just give me one more chance. One more chance. I think the... like
01:15:03
Speaker
it's just it's just not hard to It's just not easy to find players as good as him. It's not. like His talent level is is like that. it's it's like It is such a catch-22 with this player. like They have gotten themselves in such a sticky situation, but I think there is a clear-headed way to do this, which is you move him on, you accept that maybe you take a loss, whatever, you cash for him in MLS, out of MLS, who cares? But like,
01:15:29
Speaker
i think I think it's okay. I think it's okay to realize that sometimes you just... Sometimes things just don't work out, and that's okay. It's not it's it's not the player's fault. It's not the team's fault.
01:15:41
Speaker
It's this. Well, and I do think... I don't think this, and I want to be clear, I don't think this is Pedro De La Vega's fault or lack of ambition or lack of... ah This is the most ambitious signing that the Sounders have made in the last 10 years. Ambitious. Yeah, it was. And so see what happens when you're ambitious.
01:15:59
Speaker
See what happens when you're ambitious. ambitious and you drop $8 million dollars and now you got Noah talking about... Selling him yeah after he blew out his knee in the Yankees outfield.
01:16:11
Speaker
nus Or yeah, Mets outfield. Sorry. Sorry. Got the outfield. Jordan Morris Mets Photoshop was all time live stream. I'm not looking at you, but if you got takes on the Pedro J. La Vega.
01:16:22
Speaker
They're all agreeing with me because you can't see. yeah They're all saying gambler's fallacy. and i get it. I get that. I get that. But ah my counter argument to that is just one more hit.
01:16:34
Speaker
Just one more. Listen, I just need one more hand. One more hand and I can win it back. What I was going to say, and I'm not saying this doesn't mean they should or shouldn't move off of him, but the point of you need your DPs, you do. This roster is uniquely situated where...
01:16:56
Speaker
when like This is probably the deepest roster in the league in terms of their ability to like withstand losses. But you just said that they didn't do well in the playoffs because they didn't have De La Vega.
01:17:10
Speaker
Did I say that? Well, you were saying that like though this one of the singular reasons that they won League's Cup was De La Vega, and then we missed him very much in the playoffs. If I said that, I actually don't think that's true because...
01:17:22
Speaker
he they They were scoring goals for fun on that Minnesota team by the end of it. And that's like that's kind that's kind of what I'm saying. is like you can afford to be a little You can afford to give it more time. But why would you?
01:17:35
Speaker
Because he's hella good. And what if this is the year where it works out? And it basically, that's the thing. Is it like, like the way you talk about him, it's like, he didn't play last year. He played like a lot of games. I mean, he got hurt at the very end. He played 90 minutes one time and didn't play half of the games in the season. And Christian rolled on play board games. MVP of the only tournament they won.
01:17:56
Speaker
Okay. They give that shit out. Puska's nominee. Puska's nominee. He had a good goal. He did. Good goal. He had a great goal. The best goal in the world that year. that ah You were sitting next to me. You were sitting next to me when that scored. I left my seat. I almost hit the ceiling. You vacated the press. I almost hit the fucking ceiling. Like I get it. That was such a great night. We will always are great to always have that moment. I want that again. you will always have that I want that again. we You're not going to sign anybody who can score that. Like that shit was crazy.
01:18:28
Speaker
But now i like honestly, like i get and i get on the point I get the point. like It was a very it was a very frustrating way for that year to end, but he he was like just available enough yeah last year for me to want one more hit. um All right. I'm going to do my agenda now. I just went to... I might have another one after this. just yeah let's That's fine. This is like an extremely tame and non-controversial agenda by comparison to the discussion it's no fun that we just had.
01:18:55
Speaker
But it's just it's just an idea that... So, okay. You were at the first day of training. um And Schmidt said something about Paul Rothrock potentially playing yeah right back, right? Yeah, he did.
01:19:07
Speaker
What exactly did he say? He said he was talking about the winger battles. um He was talking about how, you know, you're essentially going to have Paul Areola. You're going to have Georgie, georgie you know, La Vega. Well, he didn't mention De La Vega, so. He may not even be in the plans there. You know, Georgie, Jordan, he mentioned Jordan potentially on the wing. He was he also mentioned Jordan and Moose playing together.
01:19:35
Speaker
see, I was on... That's an agenda that I wasn't even going to bring to the table. we talked about that for that Minnesota game. Well, they did it. They did it in the playoffs. They did it in the playoffs. It looked incredible, but I don't know if that was Minnesota matchup dependent. So he was talking about, we'll see how that works, but he was talking just about how...
01:19:51
Speaker
That wing fight is going to be intense. And he was talking about ah the left back position and talking about, you know, knew who's the captain of Cameroon, but Reed looks really good. And we may throw Paul back there.
01:20:05
Speaker
Oh, damn it. That was her Paul Rothrock at... ah Was he saying Paul at left or right? I think left back. I don't know. It was kind of, he was just rolling through. that Don't undermine my agenda. He was, I'm pretty sure he was saying ah Paul Rothrock at right back. But my, so my agenda on that sort of train of thought I don't know if he specified what back. So I think you can be right either way. So this preseason, a look that I want to see them run just to see if it works. I'm not saying they should like for sure do it when the season starts, but Who's the new coach? um
01:20:39
Speaker
Riccardo. Riccardo Clark. Yeah. Rick Clark. Rick, Rick Clark. Take notes. This is free. I want them to try running Paul Areola at left back and but just, just to see how that, how that would look.
01:20:55
Speaker
And if that can be something that, cooks maybe depending on the matchup and i want to be clear this is this is not an anti new who take i am known as a new who defender i guess i fully uh have no i have saying left back by the way that paul rothrock at left back all right well the point stands the point stands we've we've talked about rothrock as a wingback before he's played there he has their defiance he has played there but the reason that i want them to try uh
01:21:26
Speaker
Areola as ah as a wide back. And I think on the left side is because, and I mean, I think like it or not, like it or not knew who is going to be the guy at that position in the first choice, 11 most weeks.
01:21:39
Speaker
But I also do think that this roster is loaded enough that there are certain matchups where you can afford to be more aggressive and less defensive. And I think in those situations, um,
01:21:55
Speaker
putting Paul Areola as the wide ah the wide back. That would be a way to get some guys on the field at the same time that you might not otherwise be able to, and has the potential to create a like real turbocharged attack. Like think about Paul Areola overlapping like Georgie say, and then this is the other thing that I'm not sure. I'm not sure people might know about ah Paul Areola, but one of the best parts of,
01:22:27
Speaker
about Paul Areola in a similar way to what we've talked about with Paul Rothrock and Jesus Ferrer is he is excellent defensively yeah excellent defensively like that is one of the biggest perks of having him on the team. It's one of the biggest parts of his skill set that's made him such a good player in MLS over the years.
01:22:46
Speaker
it's We've talked about this. He's almost the perfect sounder yeah in in that way. this This winger archetype that we've been talking about of the high-pressing, like getting into the primary assist zone, two-way all-around threat, that's Paul Areola like all day. yeah So if you put that at left-back, like in theoretical matchups where you're going against a team that you might think you have a little bit overmatched on talent,
01:23:15
Speaker
maybe stick him back there. He offers obviously exponentially more than new who does in attack. So you would bring that element. And then I guess I, I trust him as is part of a back line more than I do Roth rock in the sense that Rothrock is a dog on defense in the in the same way.
01:23:37
Speaker
And he and Paul Areola, neither of them are like very big guys. But to me, Paul Areola, his physicality and his speed lend itself to actually being able to go into these one V one matchups against attackers, like a, like a fullback has to do. And I trust him to win those in a way where Rothrock, we haven't seen him play wide back all that much.
01:24:01
Speaker
I think he, I think he can do that and he could be good at that, but I think Ariel is better. even better suited for it. So I just want to see them. The agenda is just, I want to just see them try and run that and see if there's anything there, because i think that is a potentially lethal setup. When you consider that Paul Areola has his, his wide service is really good. Like he's a really good crosser.
01:24:27
Speaker
and And he's like so good at defense that it's a place where you could use that to great effect. So I just want to see it. That's the agenda. I'm down for it.
01:24:37
Speaker
I literally, i could I won't argue with that. Like toss him there, see what happens. That's what preseason's for, man. I think we will see that. I think we'll see Paul back there. i think we'll see Reed. We'll see good Reed. We'll see good Stu moments. um i really I really hope Reed gets...
01:24:57
Speaker
time this season. I think, you know, so this agenda, if it if it panned out, it would probably come at the expense of some RBW minutes. I just think as it stands right now, Areola defensively is just light years more advanced than RBW. Well, I mean, I don't think that that's offensive to say. i think that's just the truth. And and it's, it's an experience thing.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. He's, he's literally a U S men's national team player. I was, I, I was never really that sold on the RBW should be the starter over new who agenda. mean, like not see. I think that's one of those things that sounds fun on paper, but then when it actually comes down to when you have one V ones versus guys like Gabriel Peck, like they had do Leeds Yeah, instead kicking them in the face, you get Reed maybe getting run by. Maybe.
01:25:52
Speaker
We should, we should like, this is actually a good example. what I'm talking about of the value that knew who does bring. I understand with knew who there's, ah there was a lot of frustration with the red cards and the antics and the dumb shit he did last year. the Bad defending these two games. I'm talking about in this example against the galaxy. Uh,
01:26:12
Speaker
one first in leagues cup in the or First in the regular season and then in the League's Cup semifinals. they the The Galaxy were trash. There's no doubt about it. They also had to go against Gabriel Peck, who is a he's a very good, high-level, talented player. you can You can make the jokes about Nuhu's defense and say you would trust RBW more in that matchup, in that situation.
01:26:36
Speaker
Nuhu... completely neutralized Gabrielle Peck categorically entirely for the entirety. I just, both of those two games. And in a way that like, if you think RBW can replicate that, I'm just not as sure about that. And it's like, that is, that is like not guaranteed to be the same.
01:26:57
Speaker
The matchup is not never going to play go the same way. Then he's just never going play. i mean Because it's the same thing with Stu Hawkins. Stu Hawkins is never going to play because Brian Schmetzer would never put in a center back with no experience because he is anal about that. It's the same thing. It's like they're never going to learn if you don't give them the experience. You're never going to know if you're going to have someone who's better it doesn if you don't give them the experience. Dude, who's been sitting there for...
01:27:22
Speaker
Fucking feels like 10 years at this point. He's been on this goddamn team. And like, we know what we have in new who, why is it such a crime to start someone else? They can lose that spot. They can win that spot. They can do whatever. Giving RBW minutes to develop is good for him. It's good for the club. It's good for the position battle.
01:27:43
Speaker
knew who being the being the starter does not preclude rbw from getting minutes like there's a shit ton of games this year like like he's never gonna play like he'll there'll be minutes after i i don't understand how he he could crash out and throw all this diva tantrum he's not good enough to be throwing all the diva tantrums that's all i'm gonna say the diva tantrums i like i'm not gonna argue with that i'm just saying like i what i take issue with is this notion that he like brings no value on the field Go i mean yeah have someone go watch stupid go watch the these two Galaxy games that I'm talking about and name me one time that Gabrielle Peck got in behind the defense or did anything dangerous at all. it's like If you don't think that NU has a lot to do with that, like i just I don't agree. like that's that is the That is why he's the starter. yeah and Even if you even if you disagree with what I'm saying, like that is how the coaches see it and that's why he keeps playing. so that's just You don't have to like it, but that's just the reality. i just think too that you love what
01:28:42
Speaker
um Paul Arriola brings, not only with his defense, but with his attacking prowess. Yeah. You like RBW. You just don't want to admit it. Because Nguyen doesn't bring that. I'm not anti-RBW. I just don't i don't fully trust him defensively yet. Do you?
01:29:00
Speaker
i I don't know. I've seen him play like...
01:29:05
Speaker
a hundred minutes. I don't, I, when I saw Jackson Reagan come on the field, he wasn't good either, but now he's defender of the year. That's the truth. I think, I'm sorry. That's the truth. That's the truth. I think with RBW last year, my impression of the season that he had was that there, there played at Atletico Madrid and was awesome.
01:29:25
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Like, no, he, no, I don't know. I, I feel fine. Are we playing Atletico Madrid? No, we're playing Gabriel Peck on another Galaxy team that's going to be fighting for the spoon. It's just one of those things, man, that like RBW in that situation against Gabriel Peck,
01:29:44
Speaker
It might not go how you think it would go. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Maybe might not go who you think it's going to go. i just But okay, would you would you acknowledge that there there was evidence last year that RBW was still very raw defensively? like Like, as far as... Yeah, and there was... The Atletico Madrid game that you're talking about, he got pulled out of position multiple times. That's fine. It's a club world cup game against Atletico Madrid. But, like, that that is If you like, say if they were to make him like the full, the full time first choice, yeah and how many times did you would have to hold out of position last year.
01:30:20
Speaker
It doesn't have against real salt lake. Like that's the problem is we're pretending like we don't have new who, who yes, I don't agree that he's like one of the best one V one defenders in the league. I don't truly know what people think that means because he loses his man half the time. So he doesn't even get the opportunity to one V one. him I agree that he has value. I agree that he is the starter at this point, but yeah,
01:30:50
Speaker
New who has the same flaws that RBW has. RBW just doesn't have as many of the minutes. New who will lose his mark, run away, try and get forward, not track back and blame everyone else for it. And you know what? That's fine. He does have pedigree and he is good in moments and he did play some really good matches this season.
01:31:11
Speaker
I thought last year was the best season he's played Across the board. But that's not without hiccups and bumps and bruises. Red cards. And lots of red cards and lots of moments that, I'm sorry, you've been playing in that position for 10 years. You're a veteran at this point.
01:31:28
Speaker
That can't keep happening. We can't keep pretending like Nuhu is a child. That's just, it's it's, you're giving him the same... like a leash or I don't, I don't have a good word for it. Like the the same amount of like, um yeah you know what I mean? Like development ah potential, whatever that you would with a young prospect. He's not a young prospect anymore.
01:31:54
Speaker
He's not, he is the captain of Cameroon. Yeah. He, he, I just, I think that, For all of the things that Nuhu is good at, he also has things that he's bad at. And I think that that's equal to whatever Reid is bringing. And he has the upside.
01:32:11
Speaker
He has the potential. i just think any yeah I just think that's the truth. I just think that's the truth. I think that both things can be true as well, where Nuhu can be the starter, he can be good, but I don't think that he is somehow light years better than Reid Baker-Widing.
01:32:27
Speaker
they're They're very different styles of fullback. Yeah, that also makes it hard to judge. Yeah, and like RBW, I mean, the Areola... And Alex is better than both of them. The Areola agenda, like, it's not an anti... anti RBW or anti new who agenda. It's not that's something that I just I just want to see them run and see if it works because I think they're genuinely could be something there. And, you know, if there is and that comes at the expense of RBW minutes, we'll though we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I tend to think like discussions like this.
01:33:02
Speaker
Once fixture congestion hits, they they solve themselves. There's going to be plenty of minutes to go around for everyone. The first choice 11 isn't the lineup that plays every single minute of every single game at weekend week out. We know that. So i think,
01:33:17
Speaker
New Who and RBW, we're both going to be playing in that spot this year anyway. Schmetz is going to start New Who. like I don't have as much of an issue with that as you and some other people do. I think a lot of the points, a lot of the anti-New Who points that you just made are the points that people make all the time. But to me, it's a case of like...
01:33:44
Speaker
Only pointing out the bad and then pretending not to acknowledge the good. Like, but I didn't start him for a reason. Like, Schmetz likes him, but he also has made bad roster decisions in the past. I mean, a a coach isn't infallible. isn't starting this dude for like a decade. Like you really think he that he just has no idea what he's talking about with that? I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying that it doesn't mean that there is. You have self-admittedly said that like Schmetz is very particular about his defense and sometimes for the wrong reasons.
01:34:15
Speaker
Sometimes for the wrong reasons. Sometimes people play more than they should have or people who who need an opportunity don't get it. And I can agree that knew who has a lot of had had a lot. I just said he had his best season ever last season, but it also came in the midst of 25 red cards yeah flipping off a referee throwing a ball at a fan.
01:34:35
Speaker
Slide tackle choke slamming a guy in Vancouver. These are different issues, okay? And also being a defensive liability at the same time. I'm sorry. Yes, Reid also has some red foot. Defensive liability is where you lose me a little bit. How is he not get pulled out of position all the time?
01:34:52
Speaker
You know what that is? You know what that is, i think, is case of is... a case of is Alex didn't do that? i now like Because I'm friends with a lot of the... Alex didn't do that. I'm standing for this because Alex didn't do that. I'm friends with the anti... Compare New Who to Alex. Compare New Who to Alex right now.
01:35:08
Speaker
Alex Rolando is better defender than New Who. Like compare it, compare them right now. Would you, if Alex was making the same mistakes that knew who was making, you would not want. I just, I just, I guess I just don't think knew who is as error prone as you're saying. What I think it is is, anytime the team concedes a goal, there's going to be someone in the back line or midfield who is at fault. Were there goals last year where that knew who was at at fault for?
01:35:38
Speaker
Yeah. More so than Alex Roldan or Gaymore or Jackson and Reagan. I don't know. Like you would say, yeah, but I think if you actually went through and added it up, it wouldn't be that different. Like it's just that when new who does it, it's magnified because you got the anti new who agenda.
01:35:53
Speaker
And I'm not even sitting here with these people saying that every time they're mad about knew who making a mistake, that it's valid. I think that there's often times when people are blamed or knew who is blamed for things that like aren't necessarily his fault. But so was Reed last year. And I think that that's the frustrating part is like, that's fair. That's like, yeah. Okay, cool. New who gets blamed for something. So was Jackson. People wanted Jackson to be fucking traded and sold after he made like one bad pass. I think it might just be the life of a defender. being Absolutely. You can see it goal sometimes that happens in the sport. Exactly. But I, I'm saying to you, I'm saying to you knew who is the captain of Cameroon.
01:36:31
Speaker
He is one of the longest tenured members of this club. Alex rolled on is a better wide back than him off of like one in a two years of playing in that position. I don't know what that says about knew who, but it's just the truth. And so sometimes when you give people an opportunity they could be better than what you have. And that is why I think Reed should be, should be, he should be at least splitting minutes equally with Nugu at this point. I wouldn't hate that. I wouldn't hate that, but that, okay. Anyone saying Alex is not that good. You don't have eyes. That's all I have to say.
01:37:06
Speaker
Alex Roldan was the best defender on that team all year last year. He had ah he had an an incredible year last year. i do, you know, just thinking over the hypothetical you're posing, like,
01:37:18
Speaker
if you If you gave me the choice, like, let's just keep using Gabriel Peck as the example because that's who we were talking about. Yeah. If you gave me if you if you gave me the choice, Alex Roldan on an island versus Gabriel Peck or Nuhu on an island versus Gabriel Peck, I think I'm taking Nuhu, man.
01:37:35
Speaker
Well, I'm not because he's going to chokeslam him. That's not what he did when they actually played last year. He owned that guy. I don't know. Go back and watch it. Go back and watch it.
01:37:47
Speaker
think I would take Alex. it's it's ah it's like ah it's a good It's a good debate, but I don't think it's like a clear-cut Alex. I just think that why are these why are we cutting Reed's minutes? Why is he on the team then?
01:38:01
Speaker
Why do they keep him on the team if he's never going fucking play? Why is he on the team? I mean, I think he'll, I think he will get more minutes. We've been saying this for five fucking years. He's been playing since he was up 12. He's been signed to the roster since he was literally eight. Hey, if you're, if the agenda is RBW should get more minutes. That's been my agenda the last two years. Yeah, like I don't, ah I don't disagree with that. I don't think, again, like this is not like a one or the other choice. New who got a straight red for a studs up challenge on pack.
01:38:30
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. In the last two minutes of the game, after he'd already been owning him, after he owned him, walking off. after he oh no That does now okay i'm walking on it does not prove anything. Yeah. He did get it. yeah That is true. He did get walking off. Are we, are we joking right now? No, he got a red card on him at the very end of the game after he had been cooking him for two games straight.
01:38:51
Speaker
Like that, what does that have to do with it? Like, you have to You have to take into account the context of the rest of what happened in those games. like I get like what you're saying, but like that does not that has that red card means absolutely nothing as it pertains to how the 1v1s between them were going in those two games. i mean, look, you can deny it if you want. Go back go back and watch the film and tell me I'm wrong.
01:39:16
Speaker
Go back and watch it and tell me I'm wrong, and then I'll accept the the counterpoints. But, like, if you're if you're using that red card in the last two minutes of the game to undermine 178 other minutes of elite defense, I just don't agree with that. Like, that's,
Local Talent and Club Ethos
01:39:29
Speaker
that's like...
01:39:31
Speaker
It's leading you to the wrong conclusion, if in my opinion. Listen, I have nothing more to say on this argument except cope. um It's one that's going probably, we're probably going to keep discussing. It's good debate. It's a good debate. I don't know what the people think because, again, I'm not looking at chat. They're on my side. Yeah, I'm used to being on islands. I'm just saying, I'm not reading. I'm just saying that. I don't know what they're saying. I'll go back and look later. I will say, sometimes I'm on an island with these things and I get roasted by chat like I did with the moose take. But people come out of the woodwork, man. Your one follower is excited about your take. No, no. After the moose debate...
01:40:16
Speaker
I got many DMs. listen you I got many DMs from people who were like, don't don't after so't give and don't give Noah an inch on that. You're right. Yeah, it's the Ruth Conda forever. Like definitely happened for sure. Yeah.
01:40:30
Speaker
My favorite was did people that people had solidarity yeah had solidarity. You have started a Moose Mint. Yeah. You started the Moose Mint. Yeah, you started it Yeah, i think people once people realize that ah he had a ten top 10 striker season in 1,500 minutes for 500K, they're like, wait, that actually insanely good. Should he start over Jordan?
01:40:51
Speaker
Here, this is... No, we should play a lot. No, agenda, agenda, agenda, agenda.
01:40:57
Speaker
Danny, I'm just going to say this as an agenda. Danny Musavsky should start over Jordan Morris. I don't think he should start over Jordan Morris, but I think he should play a lot. And I also think that they should seriously consider running the Minnesota United look where they play him together. I think that looked pretty good. And it's worth seeing if there's something to that. It's it. it it People don't like it because it pushes Jordan out wide. Theoretically, I don't really look at it like that. I see it as more of a dual striker.
01:41:23
Speaker
type situation than Jordan being turned into like a out now winger and it cooked, it cooked in the playoffs. in What formation would that be? It's kind of like a is it a three in the back.
01:41:36
Speaker
It's like a, 4-4-2 kind of idea, like, but it might not be put on the graphic like that. It might be put as a 4-2-3-1 with Moose up top and Jordan out wide. But the way it played, the way I saw it play, at least ah in the in the Minnesota series, was...
01:41:56
Speaker
they were oba-deucing it more than they were having Jordan be like a traditional winger. It worked. So I think that like, especially when we look at this beginning of the season where they have the, ah the it's like CCC and league play and the fixture congestion is insane.
01:42:16
Speaker
Like, yeah, you, you start Jordan in the, in the light games of the most consequent. And then when you need to rotate because of the fixture congestion, you start Moose. That's it. Fire.
01:42:28
Speaker
Yeah. All right. um Agenda check cooked way longer than ah intended, but that's good. These are good debates. These are good debates. Like there's valid points on all sides. My my points are correct. Yeah, mine are correct. Noah, you had a ah Paul Rothrock take. What were you?
01:42:45
Speaker
What did you want to cook on with that? Oh, it was the same as yours. it was just the wingback thing. No, you were talking about like the local... Oh. J.O.' 's article. I guess my my take on it, I don't know if it's an agenda. It's it just a post-agenda. I guess we're post-agenda. post-agenda check. we're post agenda I just wanted to talk about, you know, i think in the context of...
01:43:10
Speaker
like the sounders, their roster, their moves, the things that make the team unique. And this idea that to be a club that is worth a shit, you have to sign some massive name from overseas. I see people all the time talking about, well,
01:43:31
Speaker
ah We don't need another American. This was funny. Someone commenting on so us signing Yusuke Nome to the first team. Shout out. ah They commented, we don't need any more Americans. We need to sign a European player. Brother.
01:43:48
Speaker
I don't know what to tell you. That's a Japanese national who's developed in the J league. Temple massager. Who was purchased, moved to the Tacoma defiance and then brought up through the development. So literally doing exactly what you want. He's just not European. Um,
01:44:08
Speaker
I think Paul Rothrock and re-signing Paul Rothrock shows an understanding of what can also bring fans back and what can get fans excited.
01:44:22
Speaker
Paul Rothrock is a very marketable player for a lot of reasons. Listen, we can state the obvious. Paul Rothrock is attractive. He's a very attractive guy. he People are making fan edits of him. Let's just be real. Like, I might be making fan edits of him. We've made...
01:44:38
Speaker
I mean, we made a lot of like we've made a soccer edits. Yeah. Yeah. No, like thirst traps yet. Yet. But I see a lot of people who you ask them who their favorite Sounders player is, and they say Paul Rothrock.
01:44:53
Speaker
he is ah He's a local guy. He's got this story of basically just like working his ass off to get to where he is. He's loved by Schmetzer. he is He's just a figure that is incredibly like...
01:45:11
Speaker
He's and he embodies what Seattle is to a lot of locals. And I think that those are the type of players that the Sounders sign and the people who love the Sounders love those players.
01:45:25
Speaker
I get it. If you want to get some casual fans interested, maybe signing Hunman Sun is going to boost your profile. And he's also going to be really good. That's that's beside the point.
01:45:37
Speaker
I think, though, that equally having someone like Paul Rothrock who grew up in a community who people went to high school with or people's kids went to high school with or whatever, it gives another reason to support.
01:45:50
Speaker
And that's kind of the identity of this club at this point. And I don't know, in Jeremiah's article... Rothbrook was literally in the middle of nowhere in Washington, not a soul around talking on the phone to Jeremiah out of nowhere. Two Sounders fans come up to him and congratulate him on resigning in the middle of nowhere.
01:46:10
Speaker
People found him. I think he's a lot more popular than people realize. I think Paul Rothrock might be the most popular sounder right now.
01:46:21
Speaker
And I think that's exciting. And it's a good thing that they re-signed him. And I hope that they continue to find and develop players like Paul Rothrock because it's a part of the identity of this club. And it's what makes me excited about this club. We've been watching Paul Rothrock since his defiance days. Our first episode talking about Paul Rothrock, the ability for people to make their own stories is incredible. And it's it's my favorite part about this club. We're not InterMiami.
01:46:50
Speaker
We are not the LA Galaxy. We are not LAFC. We are not this club that is going to write a blank check and sign someone like Emmanuel Latte-Loth and We are someone who wants to sign Paul Rothrock and develop him into a literal local celebrity. He can't go anywhere now without being recognized.
01:47:11
Speaker
Two years ago, literally nobody knew who he was. And that's what makes this club special to me. And i am always happy and content when that is the move.
01:47:22
Speaker
If you are not, that's fine. Again, go watch Inter Miami. Go watch LAFC. Go watch Atlanta United. Maybe you'll have as much fun. Maybe you won't. But I feel a connection to this club with players like that, that...
01:47:38
Speaker
I don't really think happens ah a lot at other clubs and we were really lucky. We're really lucky. Yeah, no, I think that's a, I think that's spot on. And I I've said, I've said this for a while, but what i what I love so much about the emphasis that they've put on local talent and developing local talent and bringing local players up through their youth system into the first team and then but having them become first team players is,
01:48:08
Speaker
it makes the team feel actually authentic to Seattle, which in not just soccer, but I guess in pro sports in general, you're talking about entities that have so much money behind them that,
01:48:22
Speaker
your your your roster is comprised of people from all over in pretty much in pretty much every sport. That's how it works. And that's how it works for the Sounders as well as how it works for any MLS club. But when you bring up your own people, like your local players, your local products, and they're they're actually playing for the team every week and they're the ones who are who are out there at lumen field and stuff it it makes it feel like this this team is actually seattle like it represents seattle it has players that are from seattle and when other teams are playing this team they're not playing like a collection of guys who represent seattle they're playing actual seattle and that
01:49:06
Speaker
vibe and that culture, it kind of permeates, I think the whole team to where the guys who are on the roster that are not from Seattle, they, they feel that though, they feel that like that connection that the, the local guys do have with the city and the fan base, they feel how much the city loves the team back. And I think that um probably brings out the best in, in those guys too.
01:49:32
Speaker
but the authenticity of it, having, having the team that is called the Seattle Sounders be a team that represents actual Seattle and players that are actually, and is coached by Seattle. It's like, it is unique and it it makes it, I think it makes like the connection, like what you're talking about. It makes the connection that the fans feel with the team and with the players. It makes it stronger.
01:49:59
Speaker
And that is something that is, very cool about this team. And that I think, i think it is like not every team has that. Like, I think in MLS, there's maybe more,
01:50:12
Speaker
or I guess in soccer, there's there, you see more of stuff like that because of the advent of like youth academies and players developing through that. And, you know, it's not, they're not the only team to bring up players through their academy and have them on the first team. But the fact that they do it so frequently and do it so well, it lends itself to this like authentic type connection that I think you're talking about.
01:50:33
Speaker
And I think too, like this Paul Rothrock plays for the badge, man. Like, do you think Emmanuel Latte Loth plays for the badge? None of those guys think I don't think Emmanuel Latte Loth gives a single fuck about Atlanta United. it's ah it's an It's an interesting contrast because they have the exact opposite cultural yeah issue within their club, which is that, yeah, like, I mean, everyone people know I'm an Atlanta United diehard. I watch a lot of their games. They don't play for the badge, dude. Shout out to Scurves and Spikes. That's the biggest problem that that team has with their club right now is
01:51:10
Speaker
the cultural culture within the locker room, man. Like they, they don't play for the badge you know at all. And you can tell, and it's, it is like a, such a jar in contrast when you watch Seattle play or Paul Rothrock play, and they are laying everything on the line for the badge every single second of every single game. yeah Not every team is like that, man. It's really not. No, I think to like Hunman's son literally still goes and hangs out at Tottenham.
01:51:38
Speaker
Like I swear to God, every other week there's a video of him just like walking the Tottenham locker room, like hanging out, dapping guys up. Like, listen, I would love to have that guy on my team, but he's also not... going to be doing what Paul Rothrock is going to be doing. Like, he's not going to be connected in the way that Paul Rothrock is going to be connected. And it's yeah likes a different type of thing because he has such a deep connection with the Korean fan base. And yeah like, they like, that's been such like a cool thing for LAFC fan base to bring in like that contingent that like maybe wasn't there before. But that is, that is a different type of
01:52:15
Speaker
connection yeah then than you get with someone who is like po and born and bred with the club and pleads for the club. But like, yeah, like Jordan Morris being a DP, you know, like people don't like it.
01:52:27
Speaker
Maybe it's a bad business move, but like it fits the ethos of the club of like, This guy going to play for the badge. This this guy, he he we want to reward people who feel like this is home and make this home and work hard as hell and choose us. Jordan Morris has chosen the Sounders every step of his career for better or for worse.
01:52:49
Speaker
That's been his choice. And like I think that the Sounders have done a really good job of making that a reality. And
Offseason Moves and Future Prospects
01:52:59
Speaker
I'm really happy that we have Paul.
01:53:00
Speaker
so I'm really happy that... ah that That's the way that this club runs. Because honestly, like I see Miami fans, they're never satisfied.
01:53:11
Speaker
They're never satisfied. And listen, brother, I don't know what's going to happen after Messi retires. They say they're going to just sign the next. They're going to go sign Mbappe whatever. i don't know. I don't know if they're gonna be able to keep it together.
01:53:23
Speaker
Yeah, I was on that page. Unfortunately, after seeing their offseason, I'm a little concerned that they're going to be... They're cheating. insanely good Yeah, exactly. they're basic like I was anti the cheating conspiracy theories, but now i've I've fully come around on that. We need to have...
01:53:38
Speaker
Andrew Weeby on this show. ah I'm going to make it happen. He owes me one. um And we're going to get him on the show. because he has been that he has He doesn't give a fuck, dude. he he will He'll throw out a tweet that's like... He's engagement farming. Anyone who has like issues with how InterMiami is doing it is delusional and doesn't know what they're talking about. And it's like three likes, 180 comments. Yeah. I'm just saying you toss him in the lobbying scorchers lines and i don't know if he's coming out. Like I love Weeby, but I don't think he's coming out.
01:54:13
Speaker
So Andrew, the lines are open. I'm going to hit your DM tonight. It's past due to have, ah have we be on? We'll see if he responds to you. Yeah. um All right. We just got a couple more topics to work through here and then we can, we can call it a night. We've been going for a while. ah I guess.
01:54:30
Speaker
Noah, did you want to just talk briefly about your thoughts on the offseason in general? there It's not the most exciting offseason of all time. i got the I got the moves right here in front of me. The incoming players, Hassani Dotson, Nikola Petrovic, U22, Ryan Saylor, Max Anker, Yutsu Konome, Sebastian Gomez. So no like huge blockbuster splash. Oh, okay. The first thing I wanted to say is that... um A couple of you got upset with me for the title of ah the kickoff show on Monday.
01:55:03
Speaker
I thought I was being funny. I i but i made the title. Thank you. I thought but it was funny. I made the title Seattle Sounders make huge blockbuster, all caps, signing. And then obviously the U22 move is not like a huge blockbuster. it was It was a joke. All right. I thought I was being funny. I stand by it. i thought But like we got a few comments that were like,
01:55:25
Speaker
dude, this is not a blockbuster signing. you seriously think that Nikola Petrovic is a blockbuster signing? But then the the funniest one, I don't know if you this, but the ah the funniest comment that we got on that was someone was like,
01:55:41
Speaker
loving scorchers does clickbait now like count me out brother what have we been doing for the last two years don't know what to tell you have no idea what channel you have been watching but we clickbait every single time every video i will say that is that was extreme calling nikola petrovich huge all caps blockbuster i think we've We've done worse. think we've done worse. That was extreme clickbait. But the only thing I'll say about that is like, if you have an issue with the clickbait strategy, got to take that up with YouTube, not us. Like that's just how the algo works. We cannot permeate said algo unless we do shit like that.
01:56:14
Speaker
to like get people to see our stuff that otherwise wouldn't. So that's why if it ever upsets you when we're click baiting, that is why that's literally why we do that. And there's unfortunately kind of no way around that with how the that algo works. um Anyway, Hassani Dotson, Nikola Petrovich, Ryan Saylor, Max Anker, Yutsu Konome, and Sebastian Gomez. Not the splashiest, most exciting offseason. You do get...
01:56:37
Speaker
at least one provenly high level MLS starter in Hassani Dotson, but he is coming off an injury and it's also an intro MLS move. So that's automatically inherently doesn't count ambitious.
01:56:48
Speaker
And then you have the U22 spot filled, but in, I think what I was, I was talking Nico about it. They filled it in the least exciting way they possibly could have. poaching a guy who is on Charlotte FC and and has never been able to be developed. Yeah. And like got most of his minutes in MLS next pro. Yeah. Like, can you think of a less sexy way that they could have filled that U22 spot? I really can't. No, I don't. I like, I don't think that means it's not going to work. Like I've, I've also talked at length about how I feel like these U22, this U22 mechanism is not as slam dunk or surefire or roster mechanism as people make it out to be. These are dark throws.
01:57:27
Speaker
Any other U22 that they could have gone out and got would be a dar developmental dark throw in the exact same way. This Petrovich guy is like the idea that you're going to get,
01:57:38
Speaker
a big, splashy, blockbuster needle mover with a U-22 spot. There's just not a lot of precedent for that, man. Like, I'm sorry, like, not trying to be, like, the I'm capping for Craig Wybe's guy, but, like, that is just the reality of what this mechanism is He said hi to me at training. I'll do whatever he wants. It's just, like, there's there's nothing worse about the Petrovic dart throw than there would be for any other U-22. It was a prepy pick. But it is it is, I recognize the comedy,
01:58:07
Speaker
of them. Did you hear what Brian said? Doing the U22 spot in the least exciting way. Did you hear what Brian said about him? He was like, he doesn't know how to pronounce his name. I think he completely forgot his name. So he just kept calling him the Serbian.
01:58:21
Speaker
He just called, yeah, and we got her we got the Serbian. And he was like, I sit next to a Serbian every day. Precky. Precky. And so. Maybe Precky can coach this guy. Precky pick, bro. Precky pick. But ah anyway, those are the two. The the the highlights are Hassani Dotson and Petrovic. I don't care. Ryan Saylor, Depth Peace, Anker, Depth Peace, Tsukunume, Gomez, Homegrown. i Like, I don't care, really. i don't think that.
01:58:45
Speaker
i I didn't see a lot of holes in this roster to begin with. Like, unless they were going to make an outbound move, there was never going to be an inbound move and they didn't want to make an outbound move. So whatever. Like, I'm not disappointed. I'm not excited. I just, I mean, you're advocating for an outbound move. i do I do want an outbound move. I do. I do think that like, if what if you if you're saying about what you want them to do with De La Vega is how you really feel, then you should be pissed about this off season. No, they don't need to do it right now. the the summer window is way better for transfers. I think in the summer, Obed's gone ah and De La Vega is gone.
01:59:25
Speaker
And that's when you make your splashy signings. So you're you're good with the offseason as a whole. yeah With the assumption that they're going to be a little more active in the summer. I think you always get a raw deal when you make splashy signings in this window just because of the rest. It's a good point that people don't take into account. Like Garth used to point that out all the time when people would get on his shit for not being active until the summer window. and did Danny Laver was sold. Danny Laver was sold.
01:59:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That was a good deal. That was a good deal for him. It was good for him. That was good biz. Didn't they got like a decent bag, didn't they? million? That's not horrible. And a sell-on, I think. Yeah. I mean, for Danny Leyva, I think that's... And got a salary off the books. Yeah. I think for... Yeah. It was like 350K salary off the books. So...
02:00:12
Speaker
Yeah, no, like, that's kind of where I'm at. Like you said, like, the idea that there was going to be a big inbound move like that with where the roster's at, that was never happening. And I i mean, i don't know about you all, I'm pretty happy with where the roster's at right now. I think by the end of... Last year, we were kind of finally seeing them flex how the depth can can work. And like the way they managed the injury situation last year and having to play like at the beginning of the year when De La Vega was out and having not having Jordan Morris pretty much the entire year, this roster showed that it could not only...
02:00:47
Speaker
ah be competitive, but could be a winning and contending team, even with all those injuries. So I think hopefully hoping for a little bit of injury, luck better, better injury luck going into this year, at least with the the Jordan Morris component of it. I'm really like he has shown.
02:01:05
Speaker
at points in his career in the past that he can stay healthy for a full season in a way that Pedro de la Vega has yet to show in, fact in MLS. So I think with a, with better injury luck for Jordan Morris, like this, this roster is in, is in good shape. And I'm also pretty happy with,
02:01:25
Speaker
ah the they did need depth in with their center mids with Obed's future kind of uncertain right now. And I think Hassani Dotson and a U22 dart throw at that spot.
02:01:37
Speaker
i like I like that. I like that. Sue me. I like that. I think that's like a good... good roster building approach. And then as for the rest of them, I mean, Ryan Saylor, I will see what happens. I don't really know if he's good or not, but like, that's like your CB five, so whatever. And then I'm also, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty, I'm pretty excited to see what's there with both you Sokono and Sebastian Gomez. Like, you know, when you sign in a ah young homegrown like that from Tacoma Defiance, I think the inclination is like,
02:02:11
Speaker
the odds that they're going to be an impact player in MLS are pretty low. Like that's usually not the, that's usually the most optimum outcome that you don't get. But honestly, man, at this point, like ah kind of trust this team with being able to bring these kids up and have them be not just like,
02:02:31
Speaker
hold their own guys, but like effective, like needle moving players for the, for the positive. Like we saw that last year with Osase and Snyder B, like they made judgment calls that those guys were ready and they were, they were right. Were they not like, they were right. So if they say that, all right, you, Tsukunome and Sebastian Gomez,
02:02:51
Speaker
We think those guys are like next up and are ready, and we think that they have something to offer in MLS. I'm inclined to think that they probably are ah could be on to something with that, and I'm interested to see it. like i want to Especially Yusuke Nome. The numbers he put up in in Next Pro were like... Record-breaking. They were better than Osaze. And Osaze was frying in League's Cup.
02:03:14
Speaker
So... That's, yeah, that's kind of where, what do you, where, what do you think of Tsukunome and Gomez? Do you have any thoughts on them? or I think that they probably will have an opportunity and that'll be great and we'll see what happens. But I don't really have any expectations that they come in and and break, break everything. But I think you's probably number two at the 10 now, right? Like...
02:03:38
Speaker
is that i thought I kind of thought he was more of a nine, but I don't really know. Chad, you let us know, but I think, I think it's, I think it's cool. And you and Osase do have chemistry, which has been pointed out. I haven't watched Sebastian Gomez play as much really, but I have asked around. we need to, you're going we're both going to have to grind defiance games this year. I think, unfortunately. Yeah, I should be bitter about that. I asked around about Gomez a little bit and, uh,
02:04:07
Speaker
I was told that like he's got like ah some flair to him. yeah like that he tries He'll try a bicycle kick. like he'll hit the He'll hit passes that players his age you don't normally see think of. so like i'm I'm excited to watch him play for sure. yeah ah All right.
02:04:25
Speaker
Noah, just like a couple more league-wide storylines. You know what? Let's just end it. We'll do those last league-wide on our bonus episode. We can just record that quickly and put it up because we haven't been doing that. And frankly,
Future Content and Community Engagement
02:04:36
Speaker
we need more YouTube members because we're broke. Yeah, fair enough. We're broke.
02:04:40
Speaker
then uh then yeah let's call it right there thank you all everybody for for tuning in appreciate it it's good to be back doing an irl show hopefully you guys enjoyed it we're gonna try and start doing these as often as we can again this year and i thought the live format for it was fire uh i think not looking at chat kind of made uh like i i was just more locked in yeah we need to do that so i think that actually ended up being a ah positive no offense guys do we have any super chats in there I don't think so.
02:05:10
Speaker
Let's see. Oh, one. It just says, how does 27 season change affect player contracts? ah Don't know. you're and You're seeing a lot of ah players that are signed like through the abridged season and then with options for like the the the wording of how they're doing it contractually is like a little bit different because it's like abridged We'll see what happens. Also, that I don't think the c i don't there's a CBA. that i don't I don't know. yeah We'll see what happens. question, but not yeah I'm not entirely sure about that. They are taking into account with ah new signings. yes
02:05:51
Speaker
um like the video Like the video. Subscribe to the channel i want to get to 100 ratings on our podcast feed if you watch these videos regularly or if you listen to the audio it takes two seconds give us five stars write a little review write about ari's hair write about my hair write about how much you love or hate our takes just drop it in there we're so close on both apple and spotify to 100 so whatever platform you listen on just give us a rating 100 ratings we're on the road to it until next time we out peace