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Under the Lights: Sounders take on Professional Wrestling ENTHUSIASTS (Belated call-in show!)
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It's Sporting KC week, and you know what that means: The Seattle Sounders are taking on the famed Club of Professional Wrestling Enthusiasts, who are having a rough go of it in 2025. SPONSORS
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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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Transcript
Introduction and Live Episode Encouragement
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. 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.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's go to be
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening everybody.
Packed Agenda: Seattle Sounders and Sporting KC
00:00:47
Speaker
Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Under the Lights. Got a big agenda for you all this evening. The Seattle Sounders are back at it in match day 24 coming up.
00:01:02
Speaker
And it's ah it's Sporting KC Week. So you all know what that means. You never know what's going to happen, Sporting KC Week. You never know what's going to happen.
00:01:14
Speaker
They could hit you with the suplex. It could be the Stone Cold Stunner. the tombstone pile driver, the finger forward leg lock. You don't know. You don't know.
00:01:26
Speaker
Anything can happen on Sporting KC Week. We're going to talk about that a little bit. um But before we get into it, I want to do ah to let you guys know that it's going to be a little bit of a different format tonight than the usual episode of Under the Lights.
Format Change: No Guest, Call-in Plans
00:01:41
Speaker
ah Usually this is the one where we have the guest doing the opponent preview and all that. It's be no guest tonight. ah We're going to have a guest. on a show that uh we're laying down tomorrow it's a very special guest and we're very excited about it and i'm not going to tell you all who it is yet that'll be a surprise but it's the type of guest where uh i felt like we needed uh we needed the whole crew there so uh we're gonna be i'm gonna be recording that with the special guest and noah tomorrow morning So no guests tonight, but I am planning on taking some calls.
00:02:15
Speaker
Planning on taking some calls. We didn't do our typical ah call-in show post-game for the last match ah due to the whole situation with Stephen Fry.
Call-in Discussions: Sounders and MLS Topics
00:02:25
Speaker
i wasn't really feeling it. i don't think anyone was necessarily feeling it.
00:02:30
Speaker
So I'm going to take some calls tonight, give you all a chance to hop on here, lay down some takes with me. Talk some Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, whatever's on your mind.
00:02:42
Speaker
ah So we're going to do that in a little bit. ah And a few other few other little items to get to. want to do a little thought exercise. I was going through the list of every homegrown that every MLS club has ever signed.
00:02:59
Speaker
They have that on Wikipedia. And I was looking through it with the lens of ah kind of this debate on on Seattle's ability or prowess at a da ah um developing attacking talent.
00:03:14
Speaker
Uh, you know, there's been a lot of discourse on our show and elsewhere about really, uh, the amount of midfielders, fullbacks, Stu Hawks, what have you, uh, but not as many attacking players outside of, uh, of Jordan Morris.
00:03:30
Speaker
So it's kind of looking through the history of that and trying to gauge how hard it is to develop, uh, an attacking player through your youth development system, through your academy. And, uh, Found some interesting stuff. Got a good idea of what clubs do it the best, what clubs don't do it well at all.
00:03:45
Speaker
And I was going to go through it with you guys, kind of look at other teams lists, look at Seattle's list and just kind of just kind of see what we find. So going to do that in a little bit here.
00:03:56
Speaker
And then a couple of other minor things and news items as well. So a lot to get to, lot to get to. Going to be a big show. um But before we get into all that, let's get some housekeeping out of the way.
Health Update: Steph Fry and Garth Lagerwey
00:04:09
Speaker
off the top. ah Number one, number one, I did want to give the ah the latest Steph Fry update. ah Many of you perhaps are up to speed on it, but some of you might not be.
00:04:23
Speaker
So ah let's just let's do that off the top right here. i ah I'm going to pull up the Sounder at Heart report. And this is from Tuesday, a couple days ago. But in case just in case anyone was not aware, Stephen Fry made a bit of a surprise visit to training on Tuesday.
00:04:44
Speaker
Goalkeeper apparently felt it was important to show that he's doing much better. This is from ah from J.O., Jeremiah O'Shan. Yeah, Stephen Fry rolled up to Long Acres, surprised the guys. Apparently they had him in the in the film session.
00:04:57
Speaker
So, fantastic update. The prognosis after the game seemed to be positive, but, you know, it's still it was still in that kind of gray area. You're never sure.
00:05:11
Speaker
But this is obviously a great sign. Schmetz and a couple of the guys were talking about how much it boosted their morale and just seeing him around, alert, talking to everybody. He was making jokes on social media.
00:05:22
Speaker
So, positive news there on Stefan Frey.
00:05:28
Speaker
uh and then uh the other thing that i wanted to mention here just at the top of the show uh everyone at lobbing scorchers sends our thoughts and well wishes to garth loggerway atlanta united put out a statement today that garth is going to be stepping away from his role as ceo because he's been diagnosed with cancer which is obviously terrible news so again we all here send our thoughts and well wishes to him I know everyone in Seattle will still has and will always have a lot of love for Garth.
00:06:02
Speaker
I mean, what a central character in much of the success and achievements that this club has experienced. I think it's fair to say a lot of those don't happen without Garth Loggerway. And I'll say for my part, as someone who's been around him quite a bit, interviewed him quite a lot, ah one of the coolest guys I've ever been around.
00:06:24
Speaker
without a doubt. It's not just his brilliance at roster building. it's ah When I think of Garth, it's like the the energy he brings and imprints on an organization. You could feel that during his tenure in Seattle.
00:06:37
Speaker
And also, he was known for that as well at RSL. So again, best wishes to Garth Loggerway on a speedy recovery.
Sporting KC Challenges and Seattle's Opportunities
00:06:49
Speaker
um
00:06:52
Speaker
If you guys could sub to the channel, like the video, ah follow us on Instagram and TikTok. we we We hit 1K on IG, which is a great milestone for us, but now we're on the road to 2K.
00:07:07
Speaker
So help us get there on on Instagram, TikTok, and if you haven't, Sub to the channel. And as always, as we go through the ah the show here tonight, I'll let you guys steer the ship a little bit. Like if you got questions, topics, anything you want to touch on, drop them in chat.
00:07:31
Speaker
I'll get to as ah as many as I can. And, you know. don't be shy about throwing down a super chat or two that could be there that 100 is the way to get your comment seen on the screen uh we got ryan starting us off with some discourse here you think we will win on saturday that's one of the things we're going talk about we're going to talk about uh sporting kc the club of uh professional wrestling enthusiasts uh it's a club that historically has given Seattle some trouble, including in Seattle.
00:08:04
Speaker
But, I mean, one of the things we'll talk about is just the state of where they're at right now, which is they're they're having they're having a rough 2025. I think it's fair to say.
00:08:18
Speaker
Fired their coach pretty low down on the table. All this is to say that this match does, I think, present an opportunity for Seattle. um I don't think it's like a must-win. But these are the types of games that if you if you really want a shot at a top four spot in the Western Conference, yeah you do have to win these types of games. These are the ones that you got to pick off on the road ah to to really put yourself in the mix, which as it stands right now, Seattle is right in the mix for that top four spot. I think I'm i'm going to check this right now, but I believe they're one point off of Portland.
00:08:59
Speaker
unless I'm mistaken
00:09:04
Speaker
okay they're three points off I think we will win but it's not going to be an easy game I don't know I don't necessarily expect it to be an easy game either uh I do know that uh Sporting KC they have been playing better under their interim coach Kerry Vanagnen I think his name is uh Still not great. 6, 10, and 5.
00:09:29
Speaker
Minus 5 goal differential. 1.1 points per game. 11th place. But they were off to a really, really, like, 2025 Galaxy tier bad start, ah which is what ended up leading to the departure of Peter Vermees.
00:09:45
Speaker
So they have improved, but I was also, I was just looking at a post on Blue Sky from J.O. talking about their underlying numbers, which are evidently even worse than what their actual record is.
00:09:57
Speaker
So it's the type of game where, like I said, not a must win, but you got to be able to beat these types of teams and pick off these types of games so because the margins get a lot thinner.
00:10:13
Speaker
further you get into this marathon of an MLS season, the better teams you play dropping points in situations like this. It has a, it has ramifications down the line.
00:10:25
Speaker
So, uh, we're going to talk about supporting Casey, uh, a little bit more later, I think. But the first thing i wanted to hit with you guys tonight was just ah looking at doing this little thought exercise on, on homegrown players, which I think is, it's a pertinent discussion because like I mentioned, ah we've pointed out on this show. And I think the general perception, the Seattle Sounders youth development in their Academy is that the fruits of their labor have been born the last couple of years.
Youth Development Successes and Challenges
00:11:00
Speaker
with guys like Obed Vargas, Josh Atencio, Stu Hawks coming up, Cody Baker coming up.
00:11:13
Speaker
There's been more before that, Danny Leyva, RBW, It's a pretty big group. It's a pretty big group. And you could, i mean, you could go all the way back to DeAndre Yedlin.
00:11:25
Speaker
But I think this is a club that's rightfully known as one of the better youth development sides in the league. However, the joke is kind of like, it's like number eight FC. It's a lot of deep lying midfielders.
00:11:41
Speaker
That they've developed Danny way but josh attention to open Vargas kind of fit that mold. Cody Baker and rbw are good fullback prospects do hawks is a good Center back prospects, but the topic of discussion is attackers right.
00:12:01
Speaker
can they get there or like why can they get their track record at that level of the field similar to what it's been like in the midfield? ah Because if you if you look at it, Jordan Morris is one of the biggest success stories of any homegrown in in MLS history, bar none.
00:12:25
Speaker
Out of developing that player, they got the most goals in the history of the club. two MLS cups and a CONCACAF champions cup with him as a key contributor in attack.
00:12:42
Speaker
So it doesn't pay off much better than that. But ah the thing with Jordan Morris is, well, first of all, he he is the, he is the ah the only,
00:12:54
Speaker
elite goal scoring threat that they've developed. And I'm definitely not saying it doesn't count, but it's a Jordan Morris is a bit of a unique situation. He's been around the team his whole life. His dad was the team doctor when he was a kid, right?
00:13:09
Speaker
He was basically born and bred to be a Seattle Sounders Striker, which you still get credit for his development, but I'm not sure how much of it is like a replicable replicable blueprint.
00:13:23
Speaker
See what i'm saying? Like,
00:13:28
Speaker
can they develop guys in attack? like an Obed Vargas, but as a winger or a forward. And what got me thinking about this was, you know, we were talking about how Jordan Morris is is the only example, and people pointed out, oh, well, Paul Rothrock.
00:13:46
Speaker
Paul Rothrock should count in that. He's a winger. He's an attacking player. He's homegrown. He played for the academy. And I was like, you know what?
00:13:56
Speaker
I'll buy that. That does count. It's just the reason that he doesn't maybe register in that way, i think is because he had such like a winding path where he went and played college soccer.
00:14:07
Speaker
Then he cut his teeth at Toronto FC too. Right. ah And then finally worked his way back and is just now in the last year or two broken through for the first team and is ah He's producing.
00:14:21
Speaker
Paul Rothrock has, i think, 30 career starts in MLS, and he has 15 goal contributions in the league, nine goals, six assists, and he's scored a few in other competitions as well.
00:14:35
Speaker
So it's kind of one that doesn't really get considered like that, maybe as much as it should, but I still think it's fair to say that Seattle's had a lot more success developing midfielders and fullbacks.
00:14:49
Speaker
than they have attacking players. And I'm talking about guys that break through and meaningfully impact the first team. There have been guys that have gone on and had successful pro careers.
00:15:02
Speaker
ah There's been a lot that have done quite well in the USL. lot of have torn it up in MLS next pro. Not as many as move the needle on the on the first team. And I think there's a couple of factors at play there.
00:15:18
Speaker
I think mainly it's just it's a lot harder to develop
00:15:23
Speaker
attacking threats, goal scorers, guys who get on the stat sheet. That's the most valuable commodity in the game, goals and assists. And they're not easy to get. It's not easy to get young young players developed who can do that at as high a level.
00:15:43
Speaker
Jack asks, is it the dominance of JMO and Sounders that impedes the opportunity for the youngsters? i don't I don't think so. I don't think so because, I mean, you can always use
00:15:57
Speaker
you can always use a goal scorer. If anyone had shown the prospect upside in production and projectable future production of Jordan Morris, they would be breaking through.
00:16:08
Speaker
breaking through I just don't think there's been as much of that. There are less available minutes for sure. But like Alfonso Ocampo Chavez, for instance, if he had, if he had shown that he could be like a line leading MLS player who was going to bang in goals, so the minutes, the minutes will, the minutes will be there.
00:16:35
Speaker
So, I mean, I think there might there might be something to that, but I also think that it's, I think it's clear, and I'm going pull up this list right now, but I think it's clear that it is much more difficult thing to do.
00:16:53
Speaker
And you guys are going to see that this list on Wikipedia is, is, is pretty great. It's got every single one from every player or from every club. So you can go through and what, so I was going, going show you guys this list.
00:17:06
Speaker
Oh, all the way through the youth ranks.
00:17:11
Speaker
I mean, true, but I mean, don't you think the, uh, the best ones will still rise to the top. I think like, if you look at, we're going to look at some of the other clubs that have developed more players like this and lack of opportunity.
00:17:31
Speaker
Wasn't an issue. Even if those teams already had, established guys at those positions. I see, i see what you guys are getting at as far as like an MLS first team.
00:17:42
Speaker
It's always going to be hard to break in as like a ah number 10 because a lot of MLS clubs, you're to have guys like Nico Ladero or Albert Rusnak who it's like,
00:17:55
Speaker
gonna be It's going difficult for a young guy to really push a player that established with that much pedigree for minutes. And that is that I think that is one of the obstacles that ah every club is facing.
Homegrown Player Analysis: MLS Success Stories
00:18:07
Speaker
But when I looked at the list, they it's very clear, similar to the U22 list, there's a lot of misses. there's a lot of misses But there are examples of of clubs who have done this to great effect. So I'm going to pull up this list. And we're not going to go through every single club. I'm kind of going to speed through it and then maybe slow down where I think the teams that did the best or the worst or had the most interesting or
00:18:33
Speaker
or stuff like that. So let's pull this up.
00:18:38
Speaker
Here it is.
00:18:41
Speaker
This is an exhaustive list of every single homegrown from every single MLS club all the way through. I'm going to show you guys what I saw here and what I noticed from this as far as the the degree of difficulty on developing like a number nine or a number 10 or i guess just in general homegrown guys who you can plug into an MLS starting 11 week in week out and they're going to produce and they're going to give you what you could get from like a TAM signing or even a DP signing in some cases. I mean, that's the thing about Jordan Morris. He has provided ah DP level goal production for a lot of his career.
00:19:29
Speaker
He got injured a lot, but earlier in his career when he was on a homegrown contract, and still banging in goals like that, it's hard to overstate how valuable that is for an MLS roster.
00:19:46
Speaker
Saw Paul Areola in Pioneer Square.
00:19:51
Speaker
Nice. Shout out Paul Areola. All right. I mean, all right. So here's the list right here. And some teams have more than others. I did think it was funny that the very first name on this list is Andrew Carlton Carlton from Atlanta United, because I think that Andrew Carlton Is Carleton?
00:20:15
Speaker
Andrew Carleton had one of the most fascinating career trajectories of any player on this entire list, and he's listed as a as the first one. Andrew Carleton was a much-hyped prospect at the time. I think he got some U.S. youth national team caps.
00:20:32
Speaker
And he was being brought up to Atlanta United's first team. There was the incident where he had a couple of like professionalism incidents, ah one of which where he was like out partying the night before MLS Cup and got in trouble for that.
00:20:47
Speaker
And then he they had a game in Canada and he forgot his passport. So that was another good one. But the real doozy with Andrew Carleton is he stormed the U.S. Capitol. as documented painstakingly on his personal Instagram.
00:21:04
Speaker
we We got the whole play-by-play from him, if you guys remember that fateful day. yeah He didn't accept the outcome of what had taken place.
00:21:19
Speaker
And he he went to go do something about it. Like I said, I mean, that that that was his that was his journey. And to my knowledge, he he went to the U.S. Capitol and hasn't really been heard from since at the ah at the professional level.
00:21:38
Speaker
So, you know, i don't think that was the intended outcome for Atlanta United when they were developing Andrew Carlton. They couldn't have anticipated that necessarily.
00:21:53
Speaker
But it was just funny to see his name front and center here because I was like, oh yeah, oh yeah, I forgot about him. That's the kid who stormed the cap. That's the first one.
00:22:06
Speaker
But if you look at through Atlanta United's list, ah there's really one major hit, which is Caleb Wiley, who they played at fullback, but I think can play as a winger as well. That's a good one.
00:22:17
Speaker
That's like a that's an example, I think, of a high upside guy who was contributing a lot to their first team and they got like $10 million dollars for And, I mean, i think the thing is, i think he is best position, as I understand it, is considered fullback.
00:22:37
Speaker
So not really what I'm talking about, but if we're looking at their at their track record, that's definitely the most impressive one. And ah Jay Fortune, they have playing really good soccer for them this year, but he's still pretty unproven.
00:22:48
Speaker
Matt Edwards is another one who's been playing for them this year. But a lot of these are are just random guys. And the one that was supposed to be their big number nine, Jackson Conway, looks like he's on the Charleston battery right now.
00:23:02
Speaker
So they didn't they haven't really done it. Will Riley's a midfielder. Noah Cobb's defender. So they've had some success, but not really with like a number nine or a really productive winger like that.
00:23:15
Speaker
You keep going down. Austin's Owen Wolf is a big success, but they don't really have one. Charlotte FC. Chris Hedgart was a Seattle Academy kid. But they're, I mean, they're relatively, Austin and Charlotte are relatively early in their existence. So they're still, they're still figuring out their youth development.
00:23:33
Speaker
Chicago Fire. Now, this is this is a really impressive list. I mean, you got Harry Shipp. That's an example ah a of the type of guy that you can develop.
00:23:47
Speaker
a a really good, creative, dangerous attacking winger that played for the Seattle Sounders for a couple years and was always ah was always reliable for for production.
00:23:59
Speaker
So you have to credit the Chicago Fire for that. And they've done it they've done this multiple times. Georgie Mihailovic, he's doing it for the Colorado Rapids now. but the chicago he was a homegrown of the Chicago Fire, and he is like a prototype example of the type of player I'm talking about, as is Brian Gutierrez.
00:24:19
Speaker
who's had a really nice career so far as far as look, actually looking like a guy who can play and produce in MLS.
00:24:29
Speaker
So that's sort of what, like, I look at ones like that. I mean, obviously Slanina is one of the best goalkeeping prospects ever. So Chicago fire for all their ah flaws of which there are several.
00:24:45
Speaker
notable ones over the last few years. To me, this looks like a real, one of the better, I mean, Chris Brady, this looks like one of the better hubs of youth development in MLS. Um,
00:24:58
Speaker
You have to wonder how much of it is luck and player pool they are drawing from. That is a huge part of it, but like I think when you look at the the swings and misses and the hits over like all these clubs like we're doing, you can see that like to me it's pretty clear that some clubs do it better than others. And what result you get out of that is how well the rest of your organization is run.
00:25:18
Speaker
It's kind of crazy to me that the Chicago Fire can be this good at youth development and still struggle as much as they do like to take results with the first team. Because it gives you, so when when you can develop a guy like Brian Gutierrez, who can be like a centerpiece of your attack, theoretically, and you like don't have to spend a DP spot on that, that should theoretically give you a big advantage that the Chicago Fire, unfortunately for them, not exploit it.
00:25:45
Speaker
Chivas USA is in here. Wow, I didn't realize Villafania and Marky Delgado were Chivas USA homegrowns, but those are two pretty decent players. FC Cincinnati, not really.
00:25:57
Speaker
ah Colorado Rapids have had a little bit of success with this with Cole Bassett. That's a pretty good one. Darren Yappy is the ah is the one that they're hoping pans out, but he's still in the proving himself mode.
00:26:12
Speaker
some really good ones for the crew, but they're kind of, they're kind of number eight FC, like Seattle will trap, Aiden Morris, Sean Zawatsky. But they do have Jason Russell row coming up right now, who that's an example of like a pure, like target number nine, who I wouldn't say he's fully breaking out, but he looks pretty damn good this year.
00:26:34
Speaker
I think Jason Russell row, that looks like they, uh, they might have hit there although there has been quite a uh obviously noticeable drop off from cucho hernandez to jason russell row but i mean you can't really expect jason russell row to live up to that and he's uh he's been pretty good this year caleb wiley loaned out twice by chelsea okay well maybe it's not uh going as hot for him, but it was still, I still think that's a pretty big success story based on the ah production that they got out of him while he was in MLS and the the bag they got for him.
00:27:16
Speaker
That was a good bit of business. That's kind of, that's one of the ideal paths that you want. Caleb Wiley. He's just not like a pure attacker in the way that I was thinking of it, but he was yeah ah very good Atlanta United developmental example.
00:27:35
Speaker
FC Dallas. All right. So this is one of the most impressive lists you're going to see. This is ridiculous. ah To me, fs it's FC Dallas and the Philly Union who we'll look at far and away.
00:27:51
Speaker
Far and away the best here.
00:27:55
Speaker
Kellen, I mean, like outside of the attackers that we're going to talk about. Kellen Acosta. ah Paxton Pomichal, I believe, pretty confidently would have been a pretty big hit if not for injuries. Jesus Ferreira and Ricardo Pepe, both huge success stories for them.
00:28:16
Speaker
Zendajas is balling for Club America right now. Chris Richards, you see Pepe there.
00:28:26
Speaker
Dante Sealy, not as hot, but like still a pretty... High upside player, theoretically. I don't know if he still is, but he was at one point.
00:28:39
Speaker
Derek Richards coming in with the one gifted membership. Derek, you're maniac as always. Thank you, man.
00:28:49
Speaker
Generally, you're able to give more minutes to homegrown players and see more development when you don't have the fan expectation to win trophies. Yeah, I think that's that's part of it as well. And maybe that's something that FC Dallas has benefited from because I wouldn't put them in the Chicago Fire category. They make the playoffs a lot, but they're never it feels like they're never really in the in the trophy contention mix.
00:29:12
Speaker
And maybe part of that is because of their commitment to, uh, to youth development and not going with more experienced pedigree players. Uh, but you still have to, uh, you gotta give them credit for, for this. I mean, this list is incredible compared to a lot of the ones that we're looking at. Uh,
00:29:29
Speaker
Zendejas, Liga Mekki's player, Kellen Acosta, MLS stalwart, Paxton Pomichol, injury-riddled but probably would have been a very good MLS player. ah Reggie Cannon, still in MLS as a starter. Jesus Ferreira on the Seattle Sounders right now and ah scored 50-plus MLS goals for FC Dallas. he's easily one of the most He and Jordan Morris, I think, have an argument for most the most successful ever in this particular category, along with Ricardo Pepe.
00:29:56
Speaker
who's in that discussion and also from FC Dallas. So you'll notice they have like the most of them and some of them are just guys, but a lot of these are, it's very, it's very good. Very impressive.
00:30:08
Speaker
DC United, they, Andy Nahar, he's going absolutely crazy for a Nashville SC this year and has been really good in MLS for the most part.
00:30:19
Speaker
I think he, he, he went ah either to South America or where, where did Andy Nahar go?
00:30:28
Speaker
he's played He's played at Anderlecht and Club Olympia. Okay. But now he's back in MLS. That's a good one for DC, but that was from like years ago. ah But other than that, I mean, Kevin Paredes and Moses Neiman were decently hyped, but haven't done much of note that I know of yet.
00:30:45
Speaker
And TKD, Ted Kou DiPietro pretty Playing a lot for the Rapids this year, it seems like. And doing pretty well, holding his own.
00:30:59
Speaker
so But again, not much of note there.
00:31:03
Speaker
Same for Houston Dynamo, not much of note there. Sporting KC has some good ones. I think Daniel Shallowy is an example of like the profile of player that all of clubs should be looking to develop.
00:31:17
Speaker
If Seattle developed a player that was producing like a Daniel shallow, I was in that crazy area ya a couple years ago. I think we would all be thrilled. So I think he hasn't been as good the last couple of years, but but again, type of profile I'm talking about.
00:31:35
Speaker
and They obviously have Buccio, but other than that, not much to speak of. uh, Giosi's artists forgot. He was an LA galaxy homegrown. Uh, that's, I mean, say what you want about Giosi.
00:31:50
Speaker
The man has like what? Over a hundred MLS goals. So that's a really good one.
00:31:58
Speaker
Uh, But other than that, I mean, you got Efra Alvarez, who it seems like his shine has worn off a lot, and Jalen Neal, who they had to trade for to CF Montreal in a salary dump.
00:32:12
Speaker
LAFC, they've got Ordaz.
00:32:20
Speaker
But that's, I don't know. i don't even recognize some of these names. Ordaz looks good. I'm not going to lie. Looks like they might have cooked there. Tomas Romero is now on NYCFC.
00:32:34
Speaker
And other than Bryce Duke, haven't heard any of those guys. Inter-Miami, Drake Callender, Ian Frey, Noah Allen. Kramashi is one that people are really high on, but that still feels like a lot of projection and potential to me at this point.
00:32:51
Speaker
Minnesota United's got pretty much nothing. I mean, AZ Jackson, who's now on the Columbus crew, that's it. CF Montreal,
00:33:03
Speaker
not really for what I'm talking about. Got James Pantemis, who's a really good goalkeeper. And Maxime Crapo, who's also a really good goalkeeper.
00:33:15
Speaker
ah Nashville SC, again, just getting their academy going. Not much there.
00:33:22
Speaker
Diego Fagundes. So you guys can see, like It can be done. That's sort of my point here. No need to go through, like, all of these.
00:33:36
Speaker
But let's look at the Philly Union when you want to talk about gold standards with FC Dallas.
Seattle's Homegrown Track Record
00:33:41
Speaker
Check out this list. mean, outside of just the attackers. Derek Jones, Austin Trustee, Mark McKenzie, Brendan Aronson, Paxton Arison, Matt Freeze, Nathan Harriel, Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan,
00:33:58
Speaker
Kevin Sullivan, all of these guys have played in MLS. And ah with the exception of Kevin Sullivan, who is 15 years old, all been high level contributors.
00:34:11
Speaker
Phil Union are our beast at this. Yeah. All right. Here's Portland right here. This is tough. This is tough for our our friends in the Rose in the Rose City. You got Marco Farfan and Eric Williamson, and then the rest of the list is undeniably tough.
00:34:28
Speaker
Brent Richards, steven Steve Evans, and Brian Gallego, don't know who they are. Foster Langsdorf, retired. Blake Bodley on the Tampa Bay Rowdies. under soty Hunter Sulte on Indy 11 on loan.
00:34:42
Speaker
And Tega Icoba on FC Cincinnati 2.
00:34:48
Speaker
It's interesting. The Timbs are really good at scouting up the U-22s.
00:34:55
Speaker
But they have not had and any success in youth development at all. That would be priority numero uno or among my top priorities if I were the Portland Timbs brass, which I'm not.
00:35:09
Speaker
When will we see Snyder Brunel with the first team? Soon.
00:35:14
Speaker
That got announced, I'm pretty sure.
00:35:18
Speaker
but obviously with the JP injury,
00:35:24
Speaker
i think i mean I think he's going to be playing. i know i My impression of it is that Schmetz actually, we we know that Schmetz can be reluctant at times to ah to unleash young players, although I think he is ah he's flipped that reputation in recent years. He was put no bet out there in Champions of League games when he was 16.
00:35:43
Speaker
He showed a lot of trust in, uh, in Josh Atencio. He's played Danny Leyva a lot. Uh, so the whole like Schmetz never like doesn't give the young guys a chance thing.
00:35:56
Speaker
I think he's been a lot better about that the last like two, three years. Uh, and I think, i don't think he's going to necessarily hold back from giving Snyder Brunel his minutes.
00:36:08
Speaker
Uh, Real Salt Lake has Corey Baird in there, who's a solid MLS attacker. They have a ton of signings, and lot of them are good, but it's a lot of number eight FC and defenders and stuff like that.
00:36:23
Speaker
San Diego, barely anything. All right, let's look at Seattle's. we can take Let's take a little more of an in-depth look at this. There's some there's some good name drops on here as well.
00:36:35
Speaker
You can see the ones that I was i was looking at because I hadn't heard their names in a while.
00:36:43
Speaker
Is Paredes doing well? haven't I haven't followed him at all. I know he's gotten called into the USMNT a couple times, and he was considered a really high upside guy for DC. And I always liked him for DC. He played with a lot of ah kind of energy and swagger.
00:37:03
Speaker
but I have no knowledge of really what he's been doing in Europe. But if he's playing a lot at Wolfsburg, still 22, he could still be on a pretty big upward trajectory. Seattle's list, as I said, some pretty some pretty good names here.
00:37:17
Speaker
It's actually a really good list overall. let's Let's go through this one like more in depth. Obviously, we all know DeAndre Yedlin, who was an excellent player for Seattle before they transferred him to Tottenham Hotspur.
00:37:30
Speaker
He never caught on with Tottenham. But ah DeAndre Yedlin had a ah really good career overseas in Europe. he was He was a meaningfully effective and appreciated by the fan base player for, for Newcastle.
00:37:47
Speaker
He wasn't like a happy to be there bench warmer for in the, in the prim Deandre Edwin was like, he was at that level. And now he came back to MLS first with inner Miami, now with FC Cincinnati, where he is ah starting right back for one of the best teams in the league that might win this Porter shield.
00:38:07
Speaker
So it's a, Between Yedlin and Jordan Morris, you have two of the best developmental stories in MLS history. So those definitely go in the ah in the W column.
00:38:20
Speaker
ah You got Aaron Kovar, who ah retired like ah two or three years into his career. He had a nice left foot, though, and he got some MLS minutes, but he never really like broke out.
00:38:33
Speaker
Shauna Coley and Darwin Jones. This is my favorite name drop. Vic Mansouray. You guys remember Vic? I was looking at his career. He's been playing, it looks like, in South Asia for the last, like, six, seven years. He's kind of found his ah niche there.
00:38:47
Speaker
He's only 28. Vic Mansour is only 28, man, which is crazy to me. It was literally, like, 12 years ago that we were talking about him maybe playing in MLS.
00:39:05
Speaker
Jordan Schweitzer, Shea Adekoya. Neither of whom are still playing. Henry Wingo is an underrated success. Underrated success. Went to, I think, like a Hungarian club.
00:39:21
Speaker
Let's see. Where did Henry Wingo go? go
00:39:24
Speaker
Oh, he went to Molde in Norwegian. and then And then this one in Hungary. so And he was playing like UEFA Champions League ball, Henry Wingo. Hank.
00:39:37
Speaker
he had ah He had a solid career over there, but he's another fullback. Handwall Abwana, who is now apparently on the South Georgia Tormenta FC, USL League One, still playing.
00:39:56
Speaker
That one never panned out.
00:40:00
Speaker
Omar Hassan, as Zach mentions, is the guy that I always hear about as well. ah When we interviewed Henry Browner at our live show at the Tacoma Defiance US Open Cup game, we asked him about Omar Hassan.
00:40:14
Speaker
And this the guys
00:40:17
Speaker
this is one of the guys that
00:40:21
Speaker
has the potential to be the sort of profile player that I'm, that I'm talking about a player that you bring up from the Academy to the first team. And, uh, hopefully, you know, i mean, he's six, he's 16 or 15 or 16.
00:40:37
Speaker
So, uh, definitely you don't know yet if he's going to make good on that. But as far as if if we're talking purely potential,
00:40:48
Speaker
He's probably the front runner among the generation that they have coming up right now, as I understand it. He scores incredibly sick goals. He's got good footwork. Apparently the knock on him is that he's too small, too skinny.
00:41:00
Speaker
I don't know. Weird the same thing about Stu Hawks. He did all right. He did good.
00:41:10
Speaker
So i not I'm not buying into the Omar Hassan is too skinny stuff yet. ah Danny Leyva, first team contributor.
00:41:23
Speaker
got Trey Mews, AOC. Josh Tensio is obviously a big one. RBW is playing for the first team. Obed looks like he could be among the most
00:41:37
Speaker
Successful homegrown projects in MLS history as well. They're about to sell them for $10-plus million dollars in all likelihood. So i do think it's i don't think Seattle's list is as impressive as Philly or Dallas in the volume of these guys. That's what's impressive about Philly and Dallas.
00:41:58
Speaker
So many of them. Like the Philly one, just to go back up to Cause I was looking at it and I was just like, God damn. Like Brendan Aronson, Paxton Aronson, Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan.
00:42:12
Speaker
These are all guys that I would take in my MLS starting 11 any day and trust them to perform and contribute and get goal contributions.
00:42:23
Speaker
Even, ah I mean, yeah, like Nathan Harrell as their right back, he was starting for them for a while. I don't know if he is anymore, but it's just a, it's just a hell of a list.
00:42:34
Speaker
So Seattle doesn't have that type of volume. But when you look at Yedlin, Jordan Morris, and Obed,
00:42:43
Speaker
that's a hell of a trifecta.
00:42:48
Speaker
And you got guys like Josh Atencio, who's on the up for Colorado, that they flipped for $1.3 million in GAM. So I think that that can be considered in the success column.
00:43:01
Speaker
And RBW, we'll see what happens. like He's got all the traits of the type of guy that your clubs in Europe are going to be looking at, and clubs in Europe have been and are looking at him.
00:43:13
Speaker
So that's one. RBW is one where he hasn't gotten as much run to show it because of injuries. But that has the potential to hit.
00:43:28
Speaker
Then you got Stu Hawks. So, I mean...
00:43:33
Speaker
It's a, this is a very good list, but again, Jordan Morris is like the only kind of carry the load attacker. And I think it's fair to put Rothrock in there, even though he's technically not a homegrown because he, he's a, he is a Seattle guy. He counts.
00:43:51
Speaker
He counts. He's a Seattle guy that was developed here with, was in the Academy
00:43:57
Speaker
And you have to i think you have to give Seattle credit for developing him as much as they have since he's come back as well. ah But even so, even if you grant Paul Rothrock as a
00:44:13
Speaker
as a contributor here, it would still be just Jordan Morris and Paul Rothrock who have been like true impact, move the needle type contributors at those positions at the MLS level.
00:44:25
Speaker
So I'm excited to track Omar Hassan's trajectory, but I think in general, if you were to to give a note
00:44:37
Speaker
on Seattle's youth development, it would be like, at least this is just what I want to see, is them ah work on developing more guys like Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan.
00:44:52
Speaker
Jackson Reagan. Yeah, actually he did too. It's the exact same idea as Paul Rothrock. Doesn't really get talked about like that because he went and played college soccer and isn't technically a homegrown.
00:45:08
Speaker
But that counts. And I would i think ah guys like Jackson Reagan and Stu Hawks, those are like extremely valuable assets. Jackson Reagan already is. Stu Hawks has the potential to be Because center back is a premium position. It's one of the most important positions on the field.
00:45:29
Speaker
So yeah developing sixes and eights is great. And in fact, I think ah it has worked to seattle for Seattle to great effect because it just it gives them so much depth up the spine where if you have guys injured or they need to rotate out,
00:45:45
Speaker
like Danny Leyva, it's like a valuable thing to have. A guy who is just going to be steady, solid, and consistent that you can put in in a pinch. You can start him if you need to. But if you need him to sub in for whatever reason, make a spot start, all that stuff, like you have it internally. You don't have to ah sign someone to do that. right so even Even that and helps your floor. It helps your foundation.
00:46:15
Speaker
But I think the next step is, you know, getting the next Jordan Morris, getting a Paul Rothrock who you bring up like Obed through the whole pathway.
00:46:32
Speaker
And then we can we can look at the rest of these. ah Toronto FC, the only names that stuck out to me were Jacob Schaffelberg and Jaden Nelson, who both now play for other teams.
00:46:45
Speaker
And then the Whitecaps, okay, I was saying Jordan Morris and... um
00:46:52
Speaker
DeAndre Yedlin and who else? And Obed. And there are a couple from other teams. and Yeah, Pepe and Jesus Ferreira are arguably up there with the most successful homegrown players in MLS history.
00:47:06
Speaker
I was not taking into account the far and away most successful youth development story in MLS history, which is Alphonso Davies, who is still
00:47:19
Speaker
to this day. one of the best players in the world. I don't think much has changed about his status as far as that goes. But I mean, been a superstar player for Bayern Munich and the Canadian national team.
00:47:35
Speaker
And he was a Whitecaps kid. I remember watching him play for the Whitecaps when he was 15 and he was way better than everyone else he was playing against. That was early MLS days, like Alphonso Davies, like playing his first game for the Whitecaps.
00:47:50
Speaker
You could, I mean, he was scoring these goals for them where you were just like, oh my God. Yeah, he is going to a... to a big time UEFA Champions League club, and he's going to be insanely good. And that's exactly what happened.
00:48:06
Speaker
So ah you got to you gotta to props the Whitecaps on that one. And they have they have a lot of whatever, wherever Vancouver's recruiting from, they've got a lot of really good MLS guys on here. They have one of the better lists, especially when you consider that it's ah highlighted.
00:48:28
Speaker
By Alphonso Davies. um
00:48:33
Speaker
But anyway, that's sort of what I wanted to show you guys, because what I was trying to get a gauge on was just like, like I was doing with the U22s a couple weeks ago.
League-wide Challenges in Developing Attackers
00:48:47
Speaker
how much have clubs actually succeeded with this is Seattle's kind of lack of, uh, developing players in that area of the field. Is that common throughout the league? Do other teams do it well in Seattle doesn't, or is it just a lower percentage game in general?
00:49:02
Speaker
And, uh, to me, it's, it's pretty clear that it's pretty rare to get a, uh, to get a homegrown attacking player like that ah because it's harder to develop them. And also, as people have pointed out, you're usually going to have guys in those spots. Like no DC United number nine is going to be pushing Christian Benteke, you know?
00:49:27
Speaker
that can be hard, but at the same time, you have guys like Georgie Mihailovic, like Quinn Sullivan, even Daniel Shalloway, as I go through it kind of, again, really fast here.
00:49:41
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira, Ricardo Pepe,
00:49:46
Speaker
Brandon Aronson.
00:49:50
Speaker
I think Mihailovic what I'm picturing for like the optimum situation. He's one of the better number 10s in MLS.
00:50:02
Speaker
He's not top five, but he's probably between five and 10. I think Georgie Mihailovic is that good.
00:50:11
Speaker
The Chicago Fire fumbled it, traded him to CF Montreal.
00:50:20
Speaker
But that's that's that's my thesis. I want the Seattle Sounders to develop a Georgie Mihailovic.
00:50:32
Speaker
Or Brian Gutierrez, who's been like a little more... um But I like Brian Gutierrez. I think he's the ex exact he's he's the exact type of guy i want to see Seattle develop.
00:50:46
Speaker
And ah we'll see if Omar Hassan
00:50:51
Speaker
can be that guy. Have you interviewed anyone from Sounders Youth Development? It would be cool to hear about the program and ask questions about that stuff. It's yes, we have. I will ah drop the link in chat for you right now.
00:51:07
Speaker
We did this one out at ah
00:51:11
Speaker
at Starfire for the US Open Cup. That's our interview with the Henry Bronner right there. We talked to him about ah a lot of this stuff.
00:51:24
Speaker
And i kind I got to this sort of topic, ah but it was I think it was mainly in the context, if I remember correctly, of ah Omar Hassan.
00:51:36
Speaker
And, you know, if, if they think that he can actually be that, uh, that type of guy, but there was some good stuff in there for dad you should watch that. Uh, there's some good stuff in there from Henry Bronner on kind of this sort of topic, but other stuff as well, like more about their philosophy. And, uh, uh, it was when Tacoma defiance was in the open cup.
00:51:57
Speaker
So there was stuff around that as well, but, uh, yeah, everyone, uh, definitely go check out that interview.
00:52:07
Speaker
BBC, we're going ask, what next position do you think we buy for next season? I think that depends on ah on a few things. I think the ah the Ryan Kent situation is one of them.
00:52:21
Speaker
Because as it stands now, they would have to sell a player to keep him and then have the... They can't they can't have Paul Areola come back on the books and then have both him and Ryan Kent.
00:52:38
Speaker
So that might dictate what you see. The JP situation, think, also might accentuate the need in that area of the field.
00:52:51
Speaker
um But my big, my ah
00:52:57
Speaker
My biggest guess is would probably be I mean, they we know that they have made an offer on NOAA Ohio for the as a U-22 forward. So that's one spot.
00:53:08
Speaker
And then with the Obed situation and the JP situation, probably CDM might become a need up that way as well.
00:53:22
Speaker
Speaking of sales, Sounders getting a cut of choose transfer. um I actually don't know about that. If there was something in there.
00:53:34
Speaker
But i'm trying to I'm trying to pull up where he went. Okay, here it is from Big D Soccer.
00:53:47
Speaker
we can ah We can take a look at the exact situation here.
00:53:53
Speaker
FC Dallas set to sell Leo Chu to Portuguese club.
00:54:00
Speaker
Portuguese side, Alversa. Cleop that was recently promoted to the top flight in Portugal.
00:54:10
Speaker
Nothing noted about the potential transfer fee, but they they'll free up the U22 roster slot. Then they go into the Ferreira trade. So, uh, yeah, shout out to the, uh, Leo Chu at FC Dallas era.
00:54:27
Speaker
Great era. Uh, in all seriousness though, I hope Leo Chu succeeds in, uh, in portugal i don't remember I don't remember his time in Seattle as sourly as some might.
00:54:41
Speaker
or i get like I think the perception is that he was just a categorical bust, which I think is like not necessarily unfair, but I also don't think he was a total zero.
00:54:54
Speaker
He had like 21 goal contributions for Seattle. It was like seven goals, 14 assists. And he had some really good individual games and really good individual moments.
00:55:05
Speaker
He, he had the forces game at, ah at the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. He had a game winning goal against the galaxy.
00:55:16
Speaker
He had two goals, including the game winner and a game again at Vancouver. All, all three of those were on the road.
00:55:26
Speaker
So it wasn't ah it wasn't all bad, but like it definitely was not like a super big hit. By the end of it, he wasn't playing. Oh, okay. j o J.O. said Seattle gets 15%. Sick.
00:55:42
Speaker
that's ah That's a W for Seattle.
00:55:45
Speaker
um
00:55:48
Speaker
All right. ah Okay, here's what I'm to I'm going to drop the call link in the chat, take some calls.
00:56:00
Speaker
And I think of the sell-on fee, I'd imagine, which we don't know what it is. I'm going drop the call-in link in chat, and while we wait for people to hopefully tap in, I'm going play some Brian Schmetzer sound.
Brian Schmetzer on Team and Match Insights
00:56:15
Speaker
from today and I haven't watched it yet. So I'll, I'll react to that after, after it's done. But Colin Lake is about to go in the chat right now.
00:56:28
Speaker
And if you want to ah hop on and lay down some takes because we did not do so on Sunday, feel free. Any and all are welcome.
00:56:40
Speaker
We love to give a voice to the people, to the fans. So don't be shy.
00:56:48
Speaker
And we'll ah we'll we'll do some belated calls.
00:56:54
Speaker
But wow while we wait for that, I'm going to pull up the Schmidt sound. I think he talked today. Probably, i don't know if there's any more Fry updates here or whatever the case may be. We're going to find out right now.
00:57:09
Speaker
um
00:57:13
Speaker
But then go ahead and tap in the queue. And ah if you tap in the queue while this is going, I'm going to let it play out, and then I'll then i'll bring you in.
00:57:24
Speaker
But anyway, here's ah here's Schmetz from Training Today. Yeah, we're going to start with ah Steph Fry. Any any update? How's he doing this week? He's in the building again.
00:57:36
Speaker
ah But you know. Talking to him and everything, he's he's still feeling the symptoms. So we're just going give you an update next week, late next week.
00:57:47
Speaker
ah He's in the protocol. He's in good spirits, I would say. But he's still he's feeling the symptoms of that concussion.
00:57:59
Speaker
And the challenges that Andrew Thomas is going to have to face on Saturday with his Kansas City squad. He's excited. He's excited to play. You know, it's always a shame when somebody goes down and you get your opportunity, but Dan has been training hard and he's ready for it.
00:58:15
Speaker
What about ah the center back position? Obviously, you've got a lot of options there to mitigate the fact that you've some guys that are still not ready yet. Yeah. Alex has done well.
00:58:27
Speaker
Jonathan Bell's back from suspension and, you know, just coach's choice. Yeah, I'm iron Kim Kihe here close. Yaimar is going to go on the trip.
00:58:39
Speaker
I'll give you that nugget. So that's positive news for us. And we'll see if we can't get a result on the road. Coach, in relation to John Paulo, has he been operated yet and will he have a chance to finish his recovery at the club?
00:58:54
Speaker
Yes, he will finish he will definitely finish his recovery at the club. He has not had surgery. I know he's been in discussions with the surgeon that did his previous ACL, and I believe that's the direction that they're going to go with Mandelbaum.
00:59:09
Speaker
But I don't think it's been actually the date has actually been scheduled. But he's here in the building as well, preparing, you know, because there is some preparation work that makes the recovery coming out the other side a little bit easier and better.
00:59:23
Speaker
You know, when you're balancing Alex's play and John Bell's play, it it seems like one of the considerations is you Jackson in the on the left, yeah because it allows you to be have him be in the middle of that three.
00:59:35
Speaker
ah What do you like, or I guess how do you balance the sort of, I guess, the offensive build-out aspect of it and maybe the better, the more defensive solidity that presumably John could Well, I would correct you in a little bit, Jeremiah, and say the defensive...
00:59:52
Speaker
you know, conservative, prototypical two centre backs. I mean, Alex is not a centre back by trade, but he played that position against two good teams and he didn't look that out of place.
01:00:05
Speaker
mean, you tell me one glaring incident where he looked out of place. wouldn' you Exactly. So there's some nuances to the position, obviously set pieces height. It's always handy to have some guys in that particular arena.
01:00:20
Speaker
Uh, but he's, he's done really well and it does, it does put Jackson back in his natural position. We like that. but What did you get from Alex in that? I mean, what are his strong points playing the center back? Is it disability, ball distribution? He's used to the ball being at his feet, making good decisions. And, you know, it's just a little bit more attack-minded look.
01:00:46
Speaker
You know, because he can find pass. Jackson's finding passes and Alex is finding passes and we had Kalani on the right. And, you know, it's it's a pretty, you know, possession, exciting kind of right side of the field.
01:01:00
Speaker
Brian, how do you attack differently? when on the left side from your right side without going too much in depth because obid brought that up a little bit paul and ryan kent are true wingers and pedro could go out there they're true wingers the right side you know who's ever playing right back is the one that usually is higher up the field highest and widest now when pedro and Kalani or Pedro and Alex played over there. Pedro has the ability to go wide and one of those guys moves up in the pocket, but it just varies.
01:01:31
Speaker
and Does that have any effect on Albert Rusnak, what he's doing up there in Obed where he gets in that pocket? No, we just open the floodgates a little bit more. I want them to play with a little bit more freedom within the structure of the team.
01:01:45
Speaker
Albert can come in the middle, come on the right, and Obed fills in where Albert's supposed to be. well what What has the film kind of dictated of how you guys can limit a guy like Joe Vlisht, who's in such a hot form right now for Kansas City?
01:02:01
Speaker
Well, he's obviously a good forward. Burned us last year in conference final. ah But, you know, I'm confident with our defensive pressure higher up the field, limit some of his touches. And then, yeah, when when they get the ball, when they move up move up the field, they've got a good number 10.
01:02:21
Speaker
you know, 4-3-3 still. With Peter gone, they're still in that 4-3-3. Might have tweaked it a little bit. But, you know, we've we've watched enough film. We've seen the players enough. We know them.
01:02:31
Speaker
On the other end of the field, what stands out about their midfield and their defense that you guys can attack? Well, statistically, I'm sure you guys will cover that. You know, they're at the lower end of our league and expected goals and entries and all that sort of stuff. We get the report from our guys upstairs.
01:02:51
Speaker
But you still have to do the job. You still have to make plays. We're going to try and keep possession, keep possession higher up the field. You know, Jordan's going to feature in the game. So when when he's on the field, getting in behind, all the normal stuff.
01:03:08
Speaker
you know, they they've won two games this year. One where they might be the only team in in all the big leagues in the world that won a game without taking a single shot. And they also had a game where they were, their XG was, look with the XG difference was the biggest for a losing team in the history of MLS.
01:03:28
Speaker
What did they do that allows them to sort of like get these results when it seems like they have no business getting them? Well, that just shows that the team hasn't given up. You know, even in the depth of a longer season, a frustrating season, we always measure, you know, players, certainly based on performance, but also effort.
01:03:50
Speaker
You know, it's one of the calling cards of this club. You know, we never give up. We don't quit. Even when it seems like the odds are stacked against you, there's a personal pride that takes over. And, you know, even if you're not going to win that particular game you're not going to, you know, get a result, you still can send a message so that the next time you play against that team or that player you happen to be lined up against, you can, you know, hopefully you get a better outcome the next time you play it. So, you know, it's just...
01:04:21
Speaker
you know, that personal pride, they don't quit. Turning the focus back to to you guys, you know, Pedro has been in and out of the lineup. One thing we haven't really seen from him is on the left. I'm just curious, what do you like better about him on the right and that you haven't seen, you haven't put him on the left?
01:04:38
Speaker
Well, A lot of that's a little bit of a numbers game because you've got two guys that have, you know, Paul's been making plays and Ryan Kent's obviously a talented player. ah So is it more playing time, availability of minutes?
01:04:53
Speaker
Has Pedro pushed past, you know, the group of guys that we have playing out here or, you know, even where Albert plays? i mean, that's his challenge and he's taking that head on.
01:05:04
Speaker
I mean, he's working really hard in training. What I like about him on the right hand side is he has the ability to come in and out. So he can go outside, we shuttle a guy in the pocket, or he's in the pocket and guy goes wide. So there's a little bit of creativity and you know allows him to pick up the ball in different spots.
01:05:22
Speaker
If he's on the left, sometimes he's got to be patient. He's got to wait for the ball comes to him. and you know I think he's a really creative player. He likes having the ball at his feet. So I'm sure if you've asked him, he'd probably rather play in a position where he touches the ball more.
01:05:37
Speaker
Brett, how do you balance that? How do you balance what's working, the results that you're getting from certain players, and then the need to give a player more minutes, more consistent minutes? got three-game week, and we've got League's Cup against three really good opponents in short amount of time.
01:05:54
Speaker
Injuries can can happen at any time. When Pedro steps on the field, he's going to be ready because his training has been way up here. How do you think your set pieces, especially corner kicks? I know Jackson had a close one. do you just the assessment?
01:06:10
Speaker
I know you want to score more, but... Well, we always we always work on them. There's been a little bit of renewed focus on just the mentality inside the box. You saw that in Jackson's play, both defensively and offensively. It's just messaging and, you know, again, the training environment, we're going to push them in training not to just take it as we're going to work on our set pieces. No, we're actually focused getting the ball in the goal, even though there might not be a goalkeeper or defenders around. We want them to, you know, just...
01:06:42
Speaker
get a little bit sharper in training, and hopefully that manifests itself into some clear chances from the initial ball. Brian, with JP's absence, obviously you've got Danny Leyva, but beyond that, you've got some versatile players like Alex or Kalani that can fill in those positions. Are those more of the maybe answers that you're getting to that depth in that position?
01:07:03
Speaker
Yeah. Or you might hear about her signing in the next day or two. i mean – Yeah, even young guys like, you know, Schneider, you know, a guy like that. He's a great player.
01:07:16
Speaker
but and Yeah, regarding the Club World Cup, obviously now with the result from Paris Saint-Germain, you were basically the only team that could hold Paris Saint-Germain.
01:07:26
Speaker
Or Botafogo. Well, they didn't have a full 11 against Botafogo. elevengainst photographho but My question is more and like regarding stuff that happens outside of soccer. You mentioned that your family was here.
01:07:41
Speaker
Do you see the Club World Cup? How did they like Seattle? How did they like the Sounders? Look, I think the whole Club World Cup experience is just the the appetizer for the World Cup. I mean, it was such a great event. Everybody was excited.
01:07:55
Speaker
The field was great. The competition was good. Our team played well. Seattle fans showed up. The stadium was good. You know,
01:08:06
Speaker
yeah The only game I could catch not of ours was the, you know, and River Plate game. And they, I mean, 30,000 River people in the stadium.
01:08:17
Speaker
I mean, what an atmosphere. And that's similar to what back in 1994, Stanford Stadium, the old Cardinal Stadium, was like Cameroon versus Sweden. And the color blue and gold and the Cameroonians and everybody coming together. That's what the World Cup is all about. Bringing people together. And that's what this club does very well.
01:08:36
Speaker
You know, we bring people together. So it's going to be a great event. The World Cup and, you know, the Club World Cup has many fond memories. Three keys to a sounder victory. Clean sheet.
01:08:49
Speaker
Score a goal. And then happy on the way back. Right. this perfect You talked about the things that are beyond the game ah just recently.
01:09:02
Speaker
ah We just heard some news yeah a statement through Atlanta about Garth Lagerwey. How were you in the situation? Well, look, I just got I just found out about and it's taken me a little bit of time to process. You never want to hear about a colleague that you've worked with closely for many years get diagnosed with.
01:09:22
Speaker
you know and I don't know the form of cancer. It's you know it's it's their business to put out information. But any type of cancer, any affliction, anything like that of someone that you work closely with, certainly my heart goes out to them.
01:09:36
Speaker
We wish them a speedy recovery or perhaps a full recovery is probably the way I would say i say that. His guard's a good guy, and he's had a lot of success in this league, and you know we're just keeping our fingers crossed that he can recover.
01:09:52
Speaker
yield good guys Thanks, everybody.
01:09:57
Speaker
All right. Actually, a few things to talk about from by Brian Schmetzer there. ah No one in the queue.
01:10:09
Speaker
So if you want to hop on, lay down some takes, drop in some discourse. There's no competition right now. Which is, ah you know, it's fine.
Listener Engagement and Promotions
01:10:19
Speaker
I just want to put the option out there because we didn't do it as we usually do on on Sunday. and i know the call-ins are most popular, like, right post-game, and that's why we do them then because the game just happened and everyone, we get, like, so many calls that we can't get to all of them on the post-games.
01:10:38
Speaker
ah So if Under the Lights doesn't, the queue doesn't line up, It's all good, but if you guys do want to if you guys do want to come on and lay down some takes, the link is is right here in chat.
01:10:54
Speaker
Feel free. Any and all are welcome. Also, everyone, please like the video and sub to the channel if you haven't. And I forgot at the top of the show. God, lobmscorchers.com slash sauce.
01:11:08
Speaker
Order the... Lobbing Scorchers hot sauce with the code LS. Get a free bottle with your order. Can't beat that. And it's really good. all ah All my friends and stuff who have generously bought bottles have been like, this is actually hella good. And I'm like, yeah, yeah.
01:11:24
Speaker
It's good product. LobbingScorchers.com slash sauce. um Yeah, let's talk about a talk about the Schmitz sound right there.
Sounders Speculations: Signings and Kits
01:11:36
Speaker
that was This was one big part from Stick and Wiggle.
01:11:39
Speaker
You might hear about our signing in the next day or two. That's got to be a no Ohio tease, right?
01:11:45
Speaker
It's got to be a no Ohio tease. Next day or two, that's that's coming up. That's like tomorrow or Saturday. So no Ohio.
01:12:00
Speaker
sounds like it's going to be a Seattle sounder unless okay. That's Snyder. That's Snyder. I thought, have they not announced Snyder? I thought, I thought I remembered, uh, people talking about this and asking if it was confirmed and people were saying yes.
01:12:16
Speaker
So I thought that might've already been done, but maybe not.
01:12:24
Speaker
I think it could have been just like a, uh, okay. So, uh,
01:12:30
Speaker
it was reported as imminent. And so now that you're probably right, you're probably right. Good catch there. But what I was going to say is that, uh, if you missed loving scorcher's kickoff this week with Nico Moreno, we talked about, uh, no Ohio Nico's reporting on it.
01:12:51
Speaker
Our thoughts on the player. If the, uh,
01:12:57
Speaker
like what the odds are that we think it could be could be a hit type of profile player. So check that out on our, we have the Lobbing Scorchers kickoff in our live feed and then also the clipped up discussion in our in our video feed.
01:13:11
Speaker
It's good stuff. a Thoughts on the new third kit? If it's the one that ah I'm thinking of that I saw, I thought it was pretty fire. If you've got a link to a leak or something.
01:13:26
Speaker
Feel free to drop it so I can make sure I'm the right one. Oh, okay. We got to ah call her in the queue. We got Danzig. ah Hell yeah, Danzig. Thanks for hopping on. you Can you hear me if you've got the, give me the thumbs up.
Listener Discussion: Right-back Competition
01:13:38
Speaker
All right. Going to bring you onto the stage right now. Danzig, you're on. Can you ah can you hear me? Yep. Okay. Well, ah what's on your mind? It's it's Sporting KC Week.
01:13:49
Speaker
Got the wrestling enthusiasts coming off a 1-1 draw against Columbus. What's going on? What do you think about KKR over A-Roll down? It's not a bad agenda. I've been saying that I like the competition between them all year.
01:14:05
Speaker
ah feel like they've been pushing each other. i love that dynamic when guys are like bringing out the best in each other. I think KKR's ascent has elevated Alex's game. And ah likewise, KKR, I mean, you can tell he's hungry and he brings like a really fun kind of new.
01:14:21
Speaker
How much have we been talking on our show over the last year or so about like wanting a really dynamic attacking fullback so uh i don't i don't even it's it's tough and it's one of those things where the rotating and mixing matching will probably be determined by the schedule as much as form but uh what uh what have you seen from kkr that makes you uh want to perpetuate that agenda uh youth energy um i mean he's scored some great goals um just I think he could really develop with Pedro on that right-hand side, overlap, underlap. i think those I think he could unlock Pedro.
01:14:59
Speaker
What do you think about that? that's ah That's an angle I hadn't really thought about it from, but ah I think the premise of him being just kind of more dynamic in attack and combining with like the winger, ah Alex did that to great effect when Christian was playing right mid, but really that was that felt like you know brother synergy, and KKR, he could have that effect, ah that kind of force-multiplying effect in attack,
01:15:31
Speaker
ah maybe more so than Alex Roldan, whereas Alex Roldan, though, is going to, mean, we see, like, the defensive solidity that he can bring. And so it's sort of like you're a give and take there. ah But in general, I mean, like, that Rothrock goal that they got against Columbus, that was, like, all KKR. ah was in the And the goal that he scored against LAFC, remember that one?
01:15:54
Speaker
like Yeah. and that was i see I see KKR as a two-way player, too. Defensively, he's been great. Yeah. Don't you think? Yeah, no, I, I mean, I don't know if I would say great, but like definitely solid.
01:16:09
Speaker
And it's not like a situation where I'm worried about having them on the field as a defensive liability. He did get an unfortunate red card in the last game, but now in general, I agree. He is, i mean, he wouldn't be playing there if he wasn't a good two way player, but I do think Alex is better on, on D than KKR.
01:16:31
Speaker
Okay. I, Like you just said, i I see him as dynamic. I see him as a modern two-way player um that he can put in goals. I like his passing. um Yeah, I just, I see the way forward is him and Reed.
01:16:50
Speaker
i think Newhouse. You want it to be just like the the bombing forward fullbacks with abandon type offense. Yep. yeah I mean, there is ah there is a ah fun element to that to that style. That is like the modern style. Yes.
01:17:08
Speaker
The crew who Seattle just played, they they do that stuff. Although they do even a even more kind of intricate tactics like... so they'll send like their center back at times or just a guy that you wouldn't expect from a spot you don't expect and just kind of have to have a head on the swivel at all times.
01:17:28
Speaker
But I mean, I'm not against the premise of just ah a KKR RBW throw caution to the wind. it is It's one of those things though, where you say that's what you want and it sounds fun. And then the reality of having your fullbacks pushed high the entire game, it does leave you a lot more vulnerable than Brian Schmetzer typically like we we will need uh yamar back 100 need yamar for those guys to go forward um you know him and and jackson reagan or kim keehi back there ah we could pull it off um bringing up new who what what i'm annoyed with him again i loved him for a game he was a modern fullback
01:18:16
Speaker
doing awesome things with Kent. And then what what are your, what's your take on new? I think he should go. His best position for me is a, ah is a center back in, in a back three.
01:18:29
Speaker
Doesn't look like we're going to probably do that again. i think he should probably be, ah center back going forward. What what are your thoughts? Well, what's interesting is i didn't really pick up on it at the time, but ah like Matt Doyle and I think Sounder Hart noted that there was this kind of chess match between Wilford, Nancy and Schmitz where, uh,
01:18:53
Speaker
it It was like Seattle almost did slide new who back into that more center back type role at a certain point when Nancy adjusted how he was playing his forwards and they were like going back and forth in the game, which that's always that's always kind of fun. But as far as new who in general, I mean, he's just not like the modern.
01:19:14
Speaker
attacking fullback. You're right. The game with Ryan Ken against St. Louis was absolutely incredible. i didn't know he had all that stuff in his and his bag.
01:19:26
Speaker
But just generally speaking, he's a specialist. He's a he's a defensive specialist. And yeah, 1v1, cutting out transition opportunities, you know, being strong in the box. These are all things that we've, ah we've seen him do. And it has, I still maintain, I know everyone's down on new who right now because of ah the stupid red card he got in Vancouver. And then the stupid Valley had against Botafogo.
01:19:50
Speaker
I was just as annoyed with him for either of those things. But I mean, when we're talking about his, his defensive presence he still does that is at least theoretically what he brings it's just uh i don't know like i have a hard time seeing schmetz especially given where both of them are in their careers doing the uh kkr rbw idea but it is like uh it'd be nice if the the seattle sounders could make it through a game without one of the fullbacks getting a red card i mean yes we got new who
01:20:25
Speaker
uh kkr and rbw all picking them up in the last like two to three weeks so i blame brian uh reed was gassed in the 70th on a yellow young player you have cody baker you have you have some things you can do I blame Brian on that one, but I, I kind of, uh, agree with that. Uh, and also I blamed, blamed him even more for the one that RBW got in Houston last year.
01:20:59
Speaker
That was definitely one where it felt like the player was put in like a really tough situation based uh, the environment, it was, you know, it's hot as hell in Houston.
01:21:11
Speaker
And it was like late in the game type situation. And he was gassed and probably should have been subbed off and then ends up taking like a fatigue red. And it was kind of similar in this game.
01:21:23
Speaker
So I know, I think it's a, it's a good point. Like you got to, ah you got to protect your young players from themselves sometimes. So, uh, yeah, uh, I don't know. What were we talking about? Uh,
01:21:36
Speaker
New who fullbacks we got on the RBW tangent. It just knew who just becoming a center back and good. I don't, what I forget what game it was.
01:21:47
Speaker
It was, but Kent had the ball out wide and he, he literally was waving new who up like new, come on. Like, dude, I've got two guys on me.
01:22:01
Speaker
Pleat new and new is just standing there like midfield going, nah, I'm staying back here. I'm like, dude. Maybe he didn't want to get in trouble. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what the, you know, who knows what the tactics were at the time. But Kent's like, yeah, up, up.
01:22:15
Speaker
Come on. Come on. Come up with me. So, yeah, let's let's keep Nuhu, you know, maybe center back. Maybe sell him. I don't know. Depending on what they think of Reed going forward.
01:22:29
Speaker
I know Brian is a, you know, it was big Reed guy. So, we'll see. is. He is. I got i got one quick one more question for you. with the i know ah we're both Obed lovers.
01:22:40
Speaker
um The summer transfer is coming up. ju It's July 27th, right? it Something like that, yeah. It might be 24th.
01:22:51
Speaker
Do you watch any of the Dutch Eredivisie by chance? Not really, no. okay um I think it's just the perfect league for him. and like If he could get over there in a top you know, top six team, Feyenoord or, you know, i mean maybe the PSV is maybe too big of a team, but maybe just one step lower than that.
01:23:16
Speaker
They have such good coaching and their games are so awesome to watch. They they are, yeah. It's like very high charged, like end-to-end soccer. Yeah, it's it's it's it's like the Premier League, but just like a step lower, you'll lower you know what I mean? That's why Premier League teams get a lot of players from they're a divisi and they kind of come in and do well.
01:23:39
Speaker
It's just a fun league. I think he would do really well. And I, I, I just think we need to move him on. What do you think about that? I think it's happening, and I think I hadn't thought about the Air to VC as much for him, but I think it's not a bad shout from the standpoint of, like, that could be a place where he could go and play.
01:23:59
Speaker
Like, the worry if you go to, like, a real, like, I mean, I don't think he there's much talk of him going to the Prem, but... Uh, even the Bundesliga or La Liga, which are two leagues that I've been saying that I, I like for him, that those are just really hard leagues to break in as a 19 year old coming on a transfer from, from MLS.
01:24:19
Speaker
We've seen a lot of guys, a lot of the guys I was looking at on the homegrown list earlier, are guys that got moved on to Europe and then just like Caleb Wiley right now, they sold him to Chelsea and he's getting loaned out and not playing. So there is like the rip Obed needs to play.
01:24:32
Speaker
I was talking to a Christian Roldan about that, actually, when I was interviewing him for the Obed story that I wrote. And he was saying, like, the key thing when when wherever he does go is it needs to be somewhere where he's not going to bench ride, where he's going to play.
01:24:46
Speaker
Erdovice, that could be a good middle ground of, like, a really high... level where he'll actually have a meaningful chance to get a role and actually play real minutes.
01:24:57
Speaker
What I just like about the Bundesliga and La Liga idea is, ah for a player of his technical gifts, that's the kind of type of player that can thrive in, in those leagues. And I can just, I can just see him,
01:25:10
Speaker
ah If someone gave him a chance in a league like that, it fits his style and player profile really well. But a I like your take from the standpoint of just a place where he'll actually get a real opportunity and the level will be. High level coaching.
01:25:28
Speaker
he'll He'll be able to develop, you know, its yeah. Yeah. it's a good It's a good idea. i ah I'm just curious at this point, like, what the bag is that they're going to get for him.
01:25:41
Speaker
Because i don't know how many AirDivisay clubs are going to be willing to put pay $10 plus million dollars if that's what they're asking for him, which as I understand it, that is what they're asking for him. Yeah.
01:25:52
Speaker
Someone in the, you know, top four five that are, you know, someone that, like a fan or that's in ah Champions League, or you know one of the teams that are in Europa League or the, um what's the one below Europa League, the Conference League, but those teams will have you know the money.
01:26:13
Speaker
you know the you know So what you're thinking 10 mil, that's what i That's what I've been saying, and that's what Tigris reportedly offered for him, but he doesn't want to go Liga Amekis, so that apparently wasn't happening.
01:26:26
Speaker
But no, i I think they are within full rights, especially after the Club World Cup, to to ask for 10-plus. But I'm positive. Yeah, 10, you're probably looking more you know maybe more of a Bundesliga team than with 10, if not the top like five, six teams in Liga.
01:26:46
Speaker
uh, Irredubizy. Yeah. Yeah. And like, who knows, maybe, uh, maybe a ah Dutch club would shell something out like that for him, but that's, uh, it's just TBD.
01:27:00
Speaker
Yep. All right. Well, thanks for having me on. That's all I had, man. Yeah, absolutely.
Inviting More Listener Calls
01:27:05
Speaker
A pleasure as always Danzig. Uh, thanks for being the first caller and, uh, take care. We'll talk soon.
01:27:11
Speaker
All right. Thanks bud. Bye. See ya.
01:27:15
Speaker
Thanks to Danzig for hopping on there. Disc golfer, I see you in chat. If you want to hop on, I know you're a previous caller. I'm going to drop the link in chat right now for, again, for anyone else who wants to hop on. If you got any takes, discourse, or
01:27:34
Speaker
anything at all that you wanted to get to, feel free to ah
Doyle's Column on Match Analysis
01:27:40
Speaker
hop on. I'm going to ah i'm gonna try and find this Doyle column that I was talking about because
01:27:51
Speaker
it was it was cool. And he explained it way better than I was just explaining it right there.
01:27:58
Speaker
So just give me one second. I know where it is. i just have to i just have to find it. Okay, here it is. Here it is. Here it is.
01:28:10
Speaker
This is Doyle's rap column from, uh, match day 23, where he breaks down the Brian Schmetzer versus, uh, Wilfred Nancy chess match, which I think it kind of underscores that, uh, other people noticed what, uh,
01:28:34
Speaker
what I was feeling while i was watching this game, which is that that was a that was a really good game. I watch a lot of the league and I watch a lot of the unserious teams.
01:28:48
Speaker
So I got, I have to watch a fair amount of bad soccer. So getting to watch a game like that, where, It was just two good teams going at it at a high level.
01:29:00
Speaker
And then also just like the nuances and intricacies of how they're attacking and defending against each other. was very cool in this game. And I think Doyle sized it up right here. I'm just going to read it.
01:29:11
Speaker
He said, Seattle's delightful one, one draw against Columbus was a wonderful example of the tactical sophistication you can find among the best teams in the league. Seattle kept out right back. Alex rolled on at right center back after a strong performance there last week.
01:29:24
Speaker
Columbus countered by starting two up top instead of their usual one up top and two underneath with the idea they would get rolled on in an isolation and make them win one v one battles. Sounders countered after half an hour by pushing right back Kalani closer. Rienzi up further and sliding left back new who Tolo inside to form a more static back three, which outnumbered the cruise front to crew head coach Wilford Nancy then adjusted by bringing the team back into their typical fluid three, four, two, one set.
01:29:49
Speaker
All of this was happening within the context of ever shifting midfield matchups as well. as the team's training control of the match throughout the full 90 and beyond, the draw was probably the right result. In the end, though Seattle had most of the better chances.
01:30:03
Speaker
So yeah, that again, that's, uh, he nutshells it right there better than I was, earlier, but, uh, I just love, I just love stuff like that.
Brian Schmetzer's Tactical Approach
01:30:14
Speaker
And one of the things that, uh, it kind of underscored to me is that Schmetz is nicer with it, with the tactics. I think sometimes, and people give him credit for he Schmetz's reputation is as a coach who's been like a beneficiary of being in one of the best situations in the league in terms of the rosters he's typically given.
01:30:41
Speaker
And ah there's this perception that he's more man manager than tactician, which I think is true. He is not necessarily known as a genius tactician in the way that Wolford Nazi is.
01:30:54
Speaker
But you see in this game right here, these are these are the coaching chess matches. this was schmettz This was Schmetzer's test.
01:31:03
Speaker
that, uh, of the test that he has to do on a given week going up against the opposing coach. He was getting, this is the hardest test at ML and MLS right now for an MLS coach is going up against a Wilford Nancy coach side, I think with, um, just how their system is set up and their personnel and how they execute his game plans.
01:31:22
Speaker
And their system is super complex, super complex. So, having to, uh, having to defend that match up against that. It it's a, it's a measuring stick for your players, but it's also a measuring stick for the coach.
01:31:39
Speaker
And so kind
Call-in Issues and Yimar's Significance
01:31:40
Speaker
of seeing how the teams were shifting up the formations in the game and, uh, the positions and sliding new who over moving KKR uh, the crew initially going into it with the two forward setup and trying to, uh,
01:31:57
Speaker
trying to take advantage of Alex rolled on the adjustments and counter adjustments. It's just good stuff.
01:32:05
Speaker
It's all good. Disc golfer. I know you'll, ah I know you'll hop back on at some point, but ah appreciate you viewing and tuning in as always appreciate all you guys for, i always say it, but the under the lights crew, these are the real ones.
01:32:26
Speaker
These are the sickos. These are the ones that tune in for stuff like going through the entire list of ah and MLS homegrown players. All right, we got Hunch in the queue. Always pleasure to chat with Hunch.
01:32:40
Speaker
going to bring him onto the stage right now. Hunch, what's going on, man? can you hear me? Yeah, you got me. Yeah, I got you. What's on your mind? Sporting KC week. youugug lastma audio with you Oh, can you hear me?
01:32:52
Speaker
No.
01:32:55
Speaker
I'm going to take you off the stage real quick and then I would tap out and then try and tap back in. Sometimes that works.
01:33:05
Speaker
classic ah Classic tech difficulties on lobbing scorchers. It wouldn't be an episode.
01:33:14
Speaker
um While we wait for hunch to hopefully tap back in hunch, I'm going to wait in for you to drop out of the, yeah, there you go. Okay. And then when you come back in, I'll try and bring you back on.
01:33:26
Speaker
ah One thing that Danzig and I were talking about, which I meant to bring up from Schmetzer's sound was that Yimar is making the trip, which God, that's great to hear. Isn't it?
01:33:39
Speaker
Isn't that just fantastic?
01:33:43
Speaker
you You might need him in a game like this. Again, you don't know what's going to happen in these games. It could be the full Nelson.
01:33:54
Speaker
It could be the suplex. It could be the rock bottom. The rock might be tweeting about you. So a big physical presence like Yamar, it's important.
01:34:05
Speaker
All right, Hunch, I'm going to try and bring you back on and ah see if you got me this time. ah Can you hear me? yeah i Yeah, I was switching my audio devices and i was taking off speakers so I didn't get the feedback and it went sideways. Oh, okay. You're good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:34:20
Speaker
Sporting KC
Past Matches Against Sporting KC
01:34:21
Speaker
week, match day 24 after a 1-1 draw with the Columbus crew. How are you feeling? not too bad uh obviously first time i believe this is first time without vermice that we're facing them if that's right yeah yeah um but it's it's never easy there i mean there have been times when they were on like i don't know some kind of winless 11 loss 11 streak and we go there and then well they don't have w russell anymore but it just thank god thank god
01:34:53
Speaker
Scott's so sick of that guy. Him and ah who was the other one? the Remember the era when it was like Fellhover and Beisler and Graham Zussi and Johnny Russell?
01:35:06
Speaker
Those teams were good and they would give Seattle hell. Well, we would we would clamp down up top and then Zussi would just send it over the top. Yeah. of The back. And it's just like, okay, what are we doing?
01:35:17
Speaker
you know We just set the table for him basically. Yeah, exactly. But they are, needless to say, not in that good of shape as it currently stands. But I think what you said is right. like It feels like with them, it's one of the it's kind of like the quakes. It's like no matter how they are on the table, they always give Seattle kind of a hard time, except for the the famous Jordan Morris four-goal game, which we all remember fondly.
01:35:43
Speaker
ah But... Generally speaking, I never feel like so confident during during wrestling enthusiast week that it's like going to be an easy win. Even with this team, this SKC team at 1.1 points per game.
01:35:59
Speaker
yeah I always, even when yeah this ah ah team is rotated and maybe somebody who's not used to being on the field is out there and it's like, oh, well, this is you know a non-starter. They're out there doing what they're doing.
01:36:12
Speaker
you know fighting for their for their position, trying to make an effort, whatever it is. It's like, oh, we well, we should outclass them. We're running our starting line or whatever it is. but You can't account for It's like, well, these guys, they're fighting for their much.
01:36:26
Speaker
no It's a great point. You can't account for that. It's a great point. like they are They're playing for like their spots on the team and stuff. yeah you can't ah You can't manufacture motivation like that.
01:36:38
Speaker
That's why like even when you're playing a bad team, quote-unquote, it can be dangerous. That's like why trap games come in because a team like this, they're very much they're they're at like playing for jobs territory.
01:36:55
Speaker
and It's a dangerous man when he's playing for job. I mean, they could have their next Rothrock pop out of the woodwork. And, you know, yeah he emerged over, you know into the last season of this season. But, you know, if they have some guy who's breaking it like that, it's like, are we prepared to deal with that?
01:37:12
Speaker
You know, I don't know. Maybe not. Well, and ah for me going into this game, i always fear day on your village. I do like he he has 12 goals for them this year. So it's not like he has been struggling to produce at all.
01:37:29
Speaker
He can get a goal on you at any time as we saw in the playoffs last year when he did it for the LA galaxy and knocks the out lot of the playoffs. So that guy is just never that fun to deal with.
01:37:42
Speaker
But for whatever reason, despite him producing well, they have not really been able to take results this year, at least not consistently, even after ah for me Peter left.
01:37:56
Speaker
there's They're like 6'10 and 2 or something. So i mean there's clearly something not going right for them, and it's just up to Seattle to figure out what that is and exploit it. We love to break streaks for other teams. I mean, what was it, two years ago when Portland also just couldn't get a result, and then we go down there and turn their whole season around? and then Well, yeah, but that's like yeah that's just the classic Timbys bit. they are That's what the Timbys do. The Timbys
Seattle's Playing Tendencies and Challenges
01:38:20
Speaker
underachieved for a little while.
01:38:21
Speaker
They have the Seattle game. They play like Real Madrid, and then they use that as their springboard. That's just their thing. Well, I mean, you go before the World Cup here. we played the third tier Vancouver team and we leave there. Was it three to one, three to nothing and a red card.
01:38:39
Speaker
i mean, yeah, this goes back to what I was saying. Uh, even two, two red cards, two red cards. Don't, don't undersell it. Don't undersell it. Um, it I said it during the the Club World Cup, and ah you know it's it's still true. that like we're We're such an osmosis-based team, and it's order to put it differently, we play to the level of who our opponent is.
01:39:02
Speaker
If they're down, we seem to play down. and You looked at the Club World Cup, if they were up, we played up. And it's just these ebbs and flows that are just so odd, I guess. And i get you know you get up for bigger games, and you play in Seattle, so you're used to your home games being atmospherically bigger than when you go to like play a half full of Dallas Stadium in the heat or, you know, you you go to, I don't know, Minnesota seems to be pretty good, but you know I'm saying, you go to these other places and it just feels, it feels like a scrimmage to some degree, and then you just wait to get pressed into because it's a big deal for them, I guess, and then it's like, okay, suddenly we're behind, and then we wake up and we give up a goal. It's like, I wish we would just add that
01:39:42
Speaker
Well, you saw it in the first game after the World Cup, and I don't even remember who our opponent was. Was it Austin? Yes. Yeah, we didn't we didn't wait in that game.
01:39:52
Speaker
I mean, it looked good.
Columbus Crew's Tactical Strengths
01:39:53
Speaker
And to bring it back to this last week ahead of going into the next game, man, we looked statuesque in that last game. there were There were times I took a photo and I could share it.
01:40:07
Speaker
There were times when 21 of 22 players on the field were in our defense our defensive third to the half of the of the field. All three of their fullbacks and our ah whole 11 were in our defensive third, their attacking third.
01:40:22
Speaker
I don't understand. That's Nancy Ball. That's Nancy Ball. thats i don't understand how he... balances that type of aggression with how controlled and just like composed they always are.
01:40:35
Speaker
It's like not easy. that if if that If that was easy to do, more coaches would would would be that aggressive. But for whatever code Wolf for Nancy has, he's able to do that stuff and not really sacrifice control of the game.
01:40:52
Speaker
Well, it it's... It has to be in our players heads or in their strategic instruction because it starts further the field and I took another photo and again I could share this.
01:41:05
Speaker
There were times and again we treated them like like PSG. There were times when we had just turned the ball over. Nagni had it at the top of the circle in their half of the field.
01:41:18
Speaker
um He had an open pass to the right and it wasn't their fullback. as was probably their right wing who was behind on their half of the side of the field. And he had three fullbacks behind him. So there there were five guys, Nagby and four others that had no Seattle players on him. And we didn't press Nagby. He just stood there.
01:41:35
Speaker
That happened on multiple occasions where we just kept playing back. Like we're just waiting. We're just waiting. it's like, dude, it's the crew. And there are five people who aren't marked. You can send one or two to the man with the ball. And we just didn't.
01:41:49
Speaker
And they just kind of slow walked us down the field. And this happened again and again. i'm like You played PSG. This is not them. What are we doing? Well, ah Darlington, Nagby in MLS is freaking like, may it may as well be PSG, I'm telling you. like i don't I don't know if that's ah what was happening in the situations that you're referencing, but I do know that... ah nagby in particular he's just he's so perfect for what wilford nancy likes to likes to do because he is so good on the ball he's impossible like the thing about running at him is like is it's impossible to dispossess him and everyone knows that and he's also one of the best like kind of string pullers tempo setters
01:42:36
Speaker
So he just has all these attributes that sure give a coach like Wilford Nancy, who has these unique specialized tactics, like extra security.
01:42:46
Speaker
We needed to Nico Lodera him in terms of what teams would do to us to shut us down when we had Nico and Raul. And people knew that the you know the ball ran through Nico. And Nico was just as want to pass the ball as to take the ball. Nagby's no different. He will take the ball forward on his own or he'll find the pass, but he's he's got the chops to do it.
01:43:05
Speaker
they basically would double up Nico and if he shed one of the defenders, the defender was still with him, would stay with and then another second one would come in as he progressed down the field and just not give him the breathing room. And that's really, if Nagby was going to be their air traffic controller, that's what we should
Seattle's Missed Opportunities and Defensive Praise
01:43:21
Speaker
consider. Maybe we didn't have the horses for that, but after a week off, I would have thought we could have thrown some legs at him, I guess. I don't know.
01:43:27
Speaker
But I'm not taking anything from the crew, but we just, we played scared in my opinion. And I couldn't understand it um in terms of, especially coming off the last, which was, I guess, Austin before that, where we looked pretty, pretty good. I thought. I think, I think it's a, ah it's a, it's a difficult balance when you're playing like the better teams in the league, but just the crew in particular, because if you're overly aggressive, you're,
01:43:58
Speaker
they have the players that can, that can slice and dice you yeah exactly like we saw on the goal that they yeah he scored. Like if you, if you get complacent or you get pulled out of position, even one time they can hit you like that.
01:44:12
Speaker
So I think maybe what you're seeing is just sort of like that knowledge from what they were watching on film, like getting in their heads a little bit and like, you know, we don't want to do anything that's going to let them sort of get into, ah like crew crew mode when, where it just looks like a freaking buzzsaw and they can hang three, four goals on anybody in the league.
01:44:35
Speaker
So it's, it's a, it's, it's, uh, why I, why I thought it was such a good game. And, like, why I was looking forward to watching it is because I think, I mean, it's good for the team to be, to have a test against ah a team like that and a coach like that, because that's, that's the most advanced, like opposing tactics that you're, that they're going to have play against all year.
01:44:58
Speaker
And I think overall, uh, they They did pretty well. like i like My take on it was, as far as ah evaluating the defensive performance against Columbus, ah if you get out of it only conceding one, that's that's pretty much that's pretty much all you could ask for.
01:45:16
Speaker
The fact that they got one was not a super big shock to me because they pretty much never get shut out. So the fact that they held them to one I thought was good, but ah to me it was more about... just a little bit of wastefulness and in attack, the which kept Seattle from winning that game, which that's where you get into the discussion of like, all right, what if you had exit attacker here or someone like more clinical here?
01:45:41
Speaker
ah And then, like you know, the classic XG merchant situation where yeah you're playing decent in attack, but just not finishing. So that was sort of my read on that game. Well, a couple of things. One that that that Nagby referenced with the five or four was in the second half.
01:45:57
Speaker
But in the first half, set it in a similar tone. There was even opportunity. must have been the first 10 minutes where we took a shot and the keeper just kind of, he didn't possess the ball. He just knocked it to his feet.
01:46:13
Speaker
And we just backed off. And I mean, I swear he stood there for a minute before somebody went and pressed him to like pick up the ball and to distribute it. It's like we were conceding a goal kick. was the weirdest thing where we would even press the keeper in the back.
01:46:25
Speaker
It was we were too worried about, you know, positional awareness and being back, I guess. And like I said, maybe it was just drummed into him but I don't know. it's just as I think it's just a tough tough balance. like you can You can sit in the film room and be like, all right, this is how we're going to approach it or attack it if this situation pops up or that situation pops up. like Once you're out there and it's full speed and guys are flying around and freaking Wilford Nancy is sending his center back at you when you don't expect it. like it must i mean you know I've never been out there in an MLS game like that, but it's... ah
01:47:01
Speaker
It was a challenge, and i think the ah the unfortunate thing was that they weren't able to to win that game because if they could ah if they could have done that, like the vibes would have been ah lot worse.
01:47:15
Speaker
a lot better going into this SKC game. But overall, I wasn't like, I wasn't super displeased with the performance, with the knowledge that they were playing. i think one of the two best three teams in the league, in my opinion, still, even though they had a ah ah tough go of it earlier in the season, they're still at 1.81 points per game. So that's a good ass team.
01:47:38
Speaker
And then um we subbed on Jordan at the 70th.
Jordan Morris' Return and Tactical Impact
01:47:42
Speaker
And with all the extra time, which is seven minutes, you could say he's on the field for 30 minutes. I think he had five touches. And to me, I definitely would have gotten Jordan on the field.
01:47:52
Speaker
But it felt like at that point, we still weren't possessing or taking any sort of ownership or or bringing contention to the midfield. In other words, we weren't getting good distribution up top.
01:48:04
Speaker
from our mid at that point in the game. And while having a knock on over the top, like Jordan, you know, likes to play and we like to stretch the back, ah yeah he just kept having to drop back. I thought maybe, maybe the first subs would have been some way to get control of the midfield and then bring him on, you know, in the double sub or something like that. But I just, I felt like, you know, well, he's a, he's a top talent. We needed him out there.
01:48:27
Speaker
If we're only getting him five touches in 30 minutes, I'm not sure how well, how well we're going, you know, taking advantage of his talents at that time. But that the whole, Second half of the second half was just weird from how the ref was calling it and everything else.
01:48:41
Speaker
um yeah Yeah, I'm i'm hoping ah Jordan's relative lack of involvement was just, you know, for his first game back. And yeah it takes it takes some time to get your feedback under you and get back to the form and fitness that. Well, it wasn't his fault if they weren't giving the ball to him.
01:48:58
Speaker
Like, i mean, he's up there trying to, you know keep from getting collapsed like we were. And also to be a ah top target. And we just, we weren't getting good distribution. were getting cut down. we had a lot of kind salty passes that were just, I don't know. There was a couple, who was it?
01:49:14
Speaker
was one of our defenders and somebody else. just they Every other pass it seemed like was just strictly playing. They tried to hit him over the top a couple times and didn't quite connect. But I was just happy to see him out there making those. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:49:26
Speaker
Because I think ah it's going to be it's going to be great to have that back as a as a part of the offense. Moose moosea more than earned his keep.
01:49:37
Speaker
this year Yeah, there's a there's no question about it at this point. In fact, if you want a one of if not the key reasons that Seattle is still in fifth, despite losing their ah their DP number nine for pretty much the whole season.
Seattle's Competitive Edge Despite Injuries
01:49:55
Speaker
Danny Mussofsky stepping up is one of the primary reasons, but Jordan just brings a different type of physical profile and skillset that adds, it's more like multifaceted in terms of personality.
01:50:09
Speaker
how he can stretch the field, make runs runs in behind. And i'm I'm excited that he's back and hopefully is is going to stay healthy here because he and Rusnak showed really good chemistry in that way last year, especially during in that midseason stretch where they were absolutely cooking.
01:50:28
Speaker
So hopefully they can get back to that. What better place than Children's Mercy Park, the same place where Jordan Morris once scored four goals in a game. yeah Well, speaking of which, Russ Neck did not have a great game, and that's probably why he got a sub early. He just he was missing some connections and a couple corner kicks just straight over and straight out, and he just did not look connected. and his ah His set pieces this year, ah which were so good last year.
01:50:53
Speaker
i know there's the stat about the corner kicks last year, but his free kicks last year excellent. yeah and Yeah, I think he's definitely better at free kicks than he is at corners.
Rusnak's Set Piece Performance
01:51:01
Speaker
I will say that. yeah but i thought i I remember his corners being really good for the most part last year.
01:51:07
Speaker
i don't know how many goals they ended up getting off him, but I feel like... Oh, one. Okay, yeah, so one. But like... As far as ah as far as like accuracy and putting him dangerous areas, that's all you can do.
01:51:19
Speaker
And I remember him being pretty good at that last year, even if they only got the one goal. But to me, that's like a variance thing. like If you put them in the dangerous the correct dangerous areas enough times and you run your you run your set pieces well, you should, in theory, see some goals out of that. But maybe some years you you just don't for for luck reasons or whatever.
01:51:41
Speaker
But this year, the delivery hasn't been there as much. Ideally, signaling, which, you know, on any given game, one versus two hands could mean two different things, long, short, front, you know whatever. Just a number of times where we'll see one of those and just nobody is in the position where that ball comes down, whether it far post, whether be top of the box, whatever it is. and its Those are frustrating to watch when it just sails over everyone and you're like, all right, that was theoretically...
01:52:07
Speaker
Well, if it lands someplace where there is anybody, and like he's telling you where he's going to put it, why is why is there not a player there to receive it like within five or ten yards? like Everybody was in front post or top of the box, and the ball lands back post.
01:52:19
Speaker
There was one at least one to me there that looked like he mishit it. Yeah, oh nine that can happen. that that i mean, that can happen. I'm just saying it's just say that disconnect is a bit squirrely. um Yeah, I obviously the ending that sucked. I i was screaming at the ref to cancel or call the game because that full seven minutes had gone or whatever. But yeah I will say this. um Right when they were loading Fry up, and I don't know if he gave a thumbs up, I was too far away or anything to see that, but the ECS was leading a chant.
01:52:47
Speaker
And they kept going until he was gone. And it was like, you know, banging the drum and clapping your hands. I will say the far corner where you could see all the yellow Columbus crew were participating in the chant. So credit. Oh, that's awesome.
01:53:00
Speaker
I thought the whole way that ah that Wilford Nancy and and their players handled it like couldn't have been classier. And the. yeah yeah I think everyone can appreciate that because Wilford Nancy, he made the the common sense call that I think most people would make, but
Columbus Crew's Management of Player Injury
01:53:19
Speaker
you know he still had to make it.
01:53:21
Speaker
There's some coaches would have been like, no, we're going to take the corner kick. We're going to finish the game. Credit that he didn't do anything stupid like that. And he was very, he said, said, did the right thing, said all the right things about it. And then their players were like a few of them commented on Seattle and MLS's Instagram posts, like sending their best wishes and stuff.
01:53:43
Speaker
So I, I got nothing ah negative to say about the Columbus crew. They handled that great. And I'm even willing to squash the great backup goal, goal backup goalkeeper beef of 2024.
01:53:56
Speaker
Over that because I think that's in the past. Water under the bridge. You talking about the body slam? That's Sporting KC. I'm talking about when they didn't bring a put a backup goalkeeper. Oh, right, right. And their guys got red carded whatever. it was a lot That banter with the crew fan base, was it was it was a little rowdy, but it was a lot chiller than the the discourse with the wrestling enthusiasts after the that match. I didn't really keep my cool in that on that one. I didn't have the show yet back then.
01:54:28
Speaker
That would have gone crazy. That would have gone Well, so here's other thing I'll say, though, about that, and then back to this ref or whatever. ah He shouldn't have put Wilford in that position because Wilford, if he's asked him, you know, do you care if we cancel the game?
01:54:45
Speaker
what Even if he doesn't, like, what if they were losing? What do you said? No, then not to mention now the press would have been all over him making that decision when it's not his decision to make. It's the official like the official.
01:54:57
Speaker
Guy needs a couple games off. That's what I'll say. It's okay. I'm glad you brought this up because this was one of my big observations after the match was was how poorly the referee handled that
Referee Decision-Making Critique and Hopes
01:55:11
Speaker
situation. And by the way,
01:55:13
Speaker
There were some really bad takes flying around on this whole topic. This was one of those stories that ah got ah got attention outside of normal and MLS media circles and coverage.
01:55:28
Speaker
ah both because of like the nature of the incident and the injury. And then also the, the sportsmanship aspect of it. It got like, ah got picked up in a lot of like national stories.
01:55:41
Speaker
I know that our, our Tik TOK, we had a Tik TOK get Brian Schmetzer thanking Wilford Nancy that got 430,000 views. And ah the same Instagram reel got views.
01:55:55
Speaker
so just stuff like like people seeing the situation that wouldn't normally see it is what I'm saying. So that ah invariably leads to some,
01:56:07
Speaker
incredibly bad takes. Don't dive into our TikTok comment section. Our Instagram had a comment that said soccer has gone soft and woke. So that's the that's the type of stuff that we're we're talking about. but here's what all Here's what I'll say about the ref with the knowledge that I was pretty heavily critical of how he handled the situation after the game.
01:56:27
Speaker
If I'm given the benefit of the doubt, of what he could have been thinking in that situation. It could have been something to the effect of like, all right, look guys, ah i feel like I feel like I have to kind of go by the book here because the stoppage time wasn't over.
01:56:44
Speaker
ah So I'm going to have us run this corner kick as a formality. And then ah if you don't want the game to go, you can just like kick it out of bounds and then we can call it there or whatever, but it's kind of like up to you. But like you said,
01:56:59
Speaker
Wolf or Nancy should not be put in that situation where he has to even say that. Like, no, man, like we're not going to take the corner kick. This is done. This is over. He shouldn't have had to ah do that. But perhaps, perhaps the referee's intent was not to be like, all right, you have to run this corner kick like a normal corner kick and then we'll...
01:57:20
Speaker
call it or we have to like, we have to finish this game by the book. Maybe, maybe he was trying to give the option of like, just take it and kick it out of bounds and then I'll call it. I don't know, but either way, ah if we're, if we give the benefit of the doubt and and so assume that he didn't have any ill intent, I think someone just needs to say, Hey man,
01:57:41
Speaker
If it in a similar situation like that ever pops up again, it's it's fine. Just use your discretion and just call it. You don't have to like ask the coach if he wants to run the corner kick or not.
01:57:52
Speaker
And hopefully someone imparts that onto the referee. God love him. and it's And he won't find himself in that situation again. Because that just was objectively handled not correctly.
01:58:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, like I said, the from when I was watching, we had seven added minutes and at 9710 is when the ball landed out of bounds. No one would have thought it was unreasonable to say, okay, those were the seven minutes for good.
01:58:17
Speaker
Exactly. That's the thing. Like someone, uh, so someone in our YouTube comments were like, well, if it was the 30th minute, they would have finished the game. It's like, yeah, because it's the 30th minute, not the 97th.
01:58:30
Speaker
Well, what are, what are we, he was like, how is that different? You've explained how it's different. It's one is the 30th minute. One is the 97th. Right. don Well, so, I mean, Other sports and other teams, they will clear the field under something that serious, and they'll give them 15 minutes or whatever and say, okay, are we going to suspend this match are we going to go forward?
01:58:53
Speaker
I mean, watched the show welll Welcome to Rexxon, and there's a spoiler alert for anybody. There was an incident in the stands where somebody had like a heart attack, and they had to be treated, and they cleared the field.
01:59:03
Speaker
like It had nothing to do with... um And played on the field and it was actually away match and you know different league, but still like something that serious. It's like, okay, everybody's mind just kind of got scrambled here for a second.
01:59:16
Speaker
And I think it was like the 80th minute or something. They brought them all back out, but like you have mechanisms available to you. Rushing to make a bad decision is not, no one's gonna be thankful that, oh, we made a bad decision quickly as opposed to a ah good decision slowly.
01:59:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, to me, I mean, to me, that situation couldn't have been more clear cut. But, you know, it's it's it fine. Like, ah the outcome turned out to be what it what it needed to be. sure it'll be referencing rep schools now.
01:59:49
Speaker
At least, yeah. They'll come up and i'll say, hey, what do you do in this situation? And, you know... I'm sure they'll adopt a policy, but don't know how soon as the cart swaps the ambulance, I'm blowing the whistle. If I'm the ref, I'm like, whatever.
02:00:01
Speaker
like Yeah. At that point in the game, there's just ah no question about it. All right, Hunch, I'm coming up on ah two hours, so I'm going to start wrapping it up here. But ah yeah, thanks for calling in. And if you got any last, yeah. um So we have FKC and then we're going with Leagues Cup starts, what, a week later? Or do we have how many Something like that.
02:00:20
Speaker
Not very many. I think maybe another match, but Leagues Cup's coming up. Let's see here. I'm just curious in terms of like getting a cadence here with the regular season to stay in the playoffs, as it were.
02:00:35
Speaker
oh
Seattle's Upcoming Matches and Need for Wins
02:00:36
Speaker
Colorado at home next Wednesday. And then San Jose three days after that again. So we have –
02:00:48
Speaker
We have three games in the next seven days, eight days. Yeah. Seven days. yeah Yeah. And then away to Atlanta before we start. Okay. We have four matches. Yeah. I'm actually going to the Atlanta match.
02:00:59
Speaker
Oh, hell yeah. That's one that I want to do a It's a good stadium. It's a great stadium. ah Have you been? uh yeah i went i think the last last time we played the first time we ever played there that's where i grew up and so my family's there and they didn't understand for years why i had soccer season tickets until they got a team and then they all became season ticket holders yeah actually yeah so going to that but i mean going four matches we should be able to take out an result a result in atlanta um i think kc
02:01:31
Speaker
should earn some results or yield some results. um I was just looking at Colorado and San Jose. it's be tough It's an important stretch because ah Colorado and San Jose are all right, but they're not the, they're not the Columbus crew.
02:01:48
Speaker
No, they're not PSG. Not talking about Atletico Madrid. So these are games where if you want to balance league cut League's Cup but also stay in the mix for top four, you got to take some points here, and that means picking off a couple wins.
02:02:02
Speaker
but Diego Luna is for San Jose, right? No, he's a ah RSL. He was San Jose Academy. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. that's yeah Never mind then. then Yeah, I mean, I think we take positive results across the board. Two wins, two ties maybe, but you never know.
02:02:18
Speaker
Two wins, three ties would be, I mean, that'd be fine. That'd be five unbeaten. I'm hoping for three wins, two ties. yeah We'll manufacture results. Hopefully. We'll we'll ah we'll see.
02:02:36
Speaker
starts on Starts on Saturday at SKC, who, as you mentioned, Hunch, thank God they don't have Johnny Russell. He's now on Real Salt Lake as well. Which is weird.
02:02:46
Speaker
I know he was shopping. I feared for a second we might actually have snagged him. Speaking to which, and I'll leave you on this. I really thought, especially leaving Montreal, I thought for what we could have used that Joseph Martinez would have been a good snag for us in terms of when we, you know, to find some way to replace Ruiz and work alongside Jordan.
02:03:07
Speaker
And I'm disappointed that we let him go. who yeah i think he is on a San Jose. I thought he would have been a good fit. ah Joseph. Yeah. I remember kind of thinking about that at the time and they, he has been doing really well for them this
Speculations on Joseph Martinez and San Jose Challenges
02:03:21
Speaker
year.
02:03:21
Speaker
Thing about Joseph is, well, there was, there's all the knee injury. can he an a Yeah, he did. He never really looked the same after that ACL. And then there's also the he's out what's the,
02:03:35
Speaker
an eccentric personality. He has been known to flip over tables of chicken and rice in the Atlanta United locker room as was widely reported. yeah But like, ah I think it, it, ah it came from a place of just being a maniacal competitor.
02:03:52
Speaker
That guy like wants to win as much as anybody I've ever, he was relentless. He's running and he ran and he ran and he ran the ping is for that reason. when things well, but he, get he doesn't really run like that anymore, but he still has got that finishing touch where he was scoring 30 plus goals, uh, in a season at points for Atlanta United.
02:04:11
Speaker
So, uh, it would have been, uh, it would have been a ah riskier move, I think at the time than maybe it's turned out to be for San Jose, where by all accounts he's fitting in well, he's, he's working with the team. He hasn't flipped over any tables with chicken and rice. So, uh,
02:04:27
Speaker
They, ah they're doing well this year with the kind of combination of him and Chicho Arango. Yeah. i I'm kind of curious if its any of that's arena is doing, or if it's just a matter of finally getting some talent.
02:04:38
Speaker
I think it, I think it is a little bit of a, of arena. I think he is Bruce arena is the like MLS guru. He just, you put him as the coach of any MLS team and they're going to get like at least 50 points. That's just seems to be how it works.
02:04:52
Speaker
which is exactly the kind of thing that concerns me as a trap sort of game with them coming up. It's just like you just... That guy knows how to snakebite us. You know, I'll say that. Well, and that team in in particular. Yeah, well, I mean, they don't have Lenhart or whoever, the Bash Brothers anymore, so everything has been better since that time.
02:05:10
Speaker
It's funny because the Lenhart thing was like... well before my time. real oh i i don't, yeah, like I don't have I have none of this like actual context for for that, but whenever I've brought up, every time I bring up like the biggest villains, like whether it's Diego Chara or when Zach McMath faked an injury and robbed Danny Leyva of a goal, or i mean, there's there's a lot of Sounders villains over the year.
02:05:37
Speaker
The one that everyone who was around in that era always but goes to is fucking Steve Lenhart. Yes. God, I hate that guy. And I'm like, what the, you hate a guy named Steve Lenhart? And everyone's always like, yeah, the absolute worst.
02:05:49
Speaker
He was the kind of guy that like overly physical. And if you got the ball off him and basically were pulling away, he would just kick out your ankles. I mean, not, I'm not thinking a specific instance, but it's just that kind of player.
02:06:01
Speaker
And then so his hands up like, what, what, what'd I do? And just like, Him and I got what's the guy that he ended up being a super late sub that the two of them they were the bash brothers as they call them and then he went down to the galaxy I think for a minute I can't remember his name.
02:06:16
Speaker
but Part of me part of me kind of has to low key respect a guy who can get under an entire fan base's skin to that degree. It was easy it was easy with him.
02:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, apparently. I'm going to have go back in the archives on that at some point because I'm so i'm so curious because I was never watching those. That was like 2011, 2012, right? Yeah. it I mean, it was like four, at least four years there. I would yeah, 2011 to about 2014, 2015 even.
02:06:41
Speaker
yeah twenty eleven to about twenty fourteen twenty fifteen even they were they just sucked. god they are oh Well, i was around in 14 and 15. Lenhart was gone by then. Okay. At that point it became Wando, but he wasn't like a jerk. He was just, he just scored ton of goals on Seattle.
02:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. And they had Wando then too. It's just, he wasn't, know, there were other players up top that Wando wasn't just as dominant then, or just, you know, standing out.
02:07:10
Speaker
Alan Gordon, Derek. Yeah. It was Gordon. It was Gordon and Lenhart. Jesus. Oh, those guys. Alan Gordon, underrated underrated villain, but pretty good. Yeah, or he did a great job, especially even later when, again, he was down at the Galaxy or whoever else. Like, he was the late sub, and it's, how many game winners did he have in, like, the sub in the last 10 minutes? Like, again and again and again. It's like, screw this guy.
02:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, that was a fun trip down ah and down memory lane with the Steve Lenhart discourse. But ah yeah, I'm going to start wrapping it up, Hunch. I'm in. So ah thanks for calling in as always. Always good catching up with you. And take care. Are you doing show after this one coming up?
02:07:49
Speaker
I believe so. Yeah, we should be able to road game. I'm going to be ah working in it from here. So hopefully, and barring something unforeseen, we should be able to do one where we like stream the presser and then take calls and all that. So I'll i'll talk to you then.
02:08:05
Speaker
right, man. but Sounds good. Have a good one. All right, shout out to Danzig and Hunchpunch for calling in. I am going to ah start the wrap-up process here as we go past two hours.
02:08:25
Speaker
go through a Go through chat here real quick and see if there's anything else that I should hit before I get out of here. um Yeah, you should...
02:08:39
Speaker
All right, I'll just show this to you guys. I'll just show this to you guys.
02:08:48
Speaker
We are ticked out like I said, our tick tock and our IG reels of the clip from the Schmetzer presser when they went viral like globally. like It was kind of crazy, honestly.
02:09:00
Speaker
um but the the comments section were undeniably tough i i don't typically like to give visibility to horrifically bad takes like this but uh in some cases it's just uh for the novelty uh this is our this is our talk that got uh oh let's see how many views 437 and a half thousand views 13,000 likes 158 comments
02:09:34
Speaker
but tech check out some of these takes check this out if the players didn't act like they were dying spelled D I E I N G every time they are touched the refs may take injuries more seriously This phenomenal take from Alan Sharp, 1276. Thanks, Alan Sharp, 1276. Somehow got 334 likes. A lot of stupid people out there.
02:10:01
Speaker
A lot of stupid people out there is what that tells me. So it was just like a lot of stuff like that. It got picked up in the...
02:10:11
Speaker
The like we we may make hating soccer part of our personality crowd. So the comment section was a disaster disc golfer. I saw if you're still watching, I saw you were in there trying to talk trash to them.
02:10:28
Speaker
So we appreciated that your efforts didn't go unnoticed. And then the IG comment section on it was arguably worse.
02:10:39
Speaker
That's the one where we had the guy say soft soccer has gone soft and woke.
02:10:48
Speaker
There you have it. Soccer's gone soft and woke as per the logging scorchers Instagram comment section. Alright, going to call it right there. Thank you guys, as always, for for tuning in. Appreciate you all. Hunch, coming in with the $10 super chat to close it out.
02:11:07
Speaker
Appreciate you, man. Thank you for calling in. Thank you for the support. You were real one. Derek Richards for the gifted as well earlier.
02:11:19
Speaker
guys are the best. Under the lights crowd, you are all the best.
02:11:25
Speaker
Keep an eye out for the show that I teased at the top of the show that Noah and I are going to record tomorrow morning.
02:11:34
Speaker
Try and get that out during the day so it's got some shelf life before the game on Saturday. It's on, folks. The wrestling enthusiasts.
02:11:47
Speaker
They're going to be awaiting in Kansas City.
02:11:53
Speaker
Everyone's going to be ringside.
02:11:57
Speaker
What moves are they going to bust out this weekend? We're going to find out. Pod tomorrow. Post game live with more calls, hopefully on Saturday.
02:12:11
Speaker
think we should be able do that. And then Lobbing Scorchers kickoff with Nico Moreno on Monday at 8 a.m. So, I mean, these next few days, it's going to be content galore.
02:12:24
Speaker
So keep your eyes peeled. If you haven't yet, please like the video and sub to the channel and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and go to lobbingscorchers.com.
02:12:35
Speaker
slash sauce, use code LS, with your order, and get a free bottle. All right, good night, guys.