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Lobbing Scorchers: Is It Time To Be Concerned About Jesús Ferreira?
346 Plays15 days ago
With their disappointing CCC exit in the rearview mirror, it was another tough one for the Seattle Sounders as they took a frustrating 1-0 defeat at St. Louis CITY SC. With the Nico Lodeiro Revenge Game at Lumen Field this weekend next on deck, what will it take for the squad to get on track? And should we be concerned about Jesus Ferreira after the offseason trade arrival showed some visible signs of frustration in this match?
Later on, we hit our Agenda Check and discuss some of the other results from around the league in MLS Matchday 4.
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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 Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 88 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall and Noah. We're about to lay down another L-Pod. You were crashing out at the beginning of the post-game live, but we talked you off the ledge. Now that you've had ah day to sleep on it, how are you feeling?
Seattle Sounders' Recent Match Analysis
00:00:41
Speaker
You know, Ari, I've achieved nirvana and we'll get into it even more, but Things happen. Life happens. Losses on the road are sure to happen in Major League Soccer, especially against a really good defense.
00:00:54
Speaker
We'll talk about the game a little bit, but I feel like we're going to also try and bring the audience into that nirvana with us. It's another L pod, unfortunately, as the Seattle Sounders returned to MLS action after their CONCACAF Champions Cup exit with a 1-0 defeat at St. Louis City SC.
00:01:11
Speaker
We're going to talk about that in our game review. We're also going to look ahead to the Nico Ladero revenge game that's coming up against the Houston Dynamo at Lumen Field. We've got our agenda check, and we've got winners and losers from around MLS.
00:01:25
Speaker
So it's going to be ah good L pod if there is such a thing. yeah But before we get into that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at har sounder at Heart Podcast Network.
00:01:37
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com. That's sounderatheart.com. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:01:50
Speaker
ah We are on the road to 100 Sounder at Heart subs. Now more than ever, it is a great time to become a member with the season in full swing. ah Subscribers also now get access to the audio-only versions of our live shows right to your podcast feed.
00:02:04
Speaker
Noah, how is the road to 100 going? we got ah Are we any closer? Listen... It's measured in inches,
Interview Teaser with Lee Nguyen
00:02:10
Speaker
it's not miles, Ari. And we have one new sub. We take that. Jake Marcotte.
00:02:16
Speaker
Jake, thank you so much for joining our brigade. We're fighting our way to 100 subscribers. If you want to join Jake and the 81 others, Sounder at heart.com slash LS scroll down to subscribe and support get all of your content from sounder at heart.
00:02:34
Speaker
There's a bajillion podcasts. There's a bajillion articles rain is back. They have full rain coverage as well. um And I guess this is a perfect time as ever to promo Ari at this point when this comes out will have interviewed Lee win the assistant One of the assistants with the rain assistant and MLS legend.
00:02:54
Speaker
Some, some say that he should have been the 2014 MLS MVP. I'm going to ask him about that. I think tomorrow among other things, but yeah, we're going be talking mostly NWSL, how he, ah how he took ah that winding path from major league soccer to ah and NWSL assistant. I'm looking forward to it.
00:03:11
Speaker
And that'll be on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff at 8 AM tomorrow. And we'll also have under the lights 7 30 PM on Thursdays, If you haven't been tuning into the live shows, you should
Sponsor Acknowledgments and Offers
00:03:23
Speaker
tune in. It's a lot of fun. Get to interact with us in real time.
00:03:27
Speaker
Answer questions. Throw out your agendas. Yeah. i think the Oh, shout out to our sponsors. Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, Full Pull Wines. ah you ah Order from Hacks and Ferments with our code, which is LS. You get a free hot sauce with your order. yeah And it's really good. I've been using it and I love it.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, Ari just literally ran out today, and I also ran out a few days ago. using it every day. It's like crack. All right. Is that all the good shilling that we need to Yeah, I think Let's get into this L-Pod, Noah.
00:03:59
Speaker
no And I guess ah we can start with our lineup reaction, which I feel like is pretty
Lineup Challenges Due to Injuries
00:04:04
Speaker
simple. ah The lineup isn't a bit of a tough... spot right now with Pedro de la Vega, Jordan Morris, both out for the next four to six weeks and Paul Areola out for the season, uh, with the torn ACL, which has been confirmed.
00:04:19
Speaker
Obviously, that sucks. Best wishes to Paul on his recovery. he posted a really nice message online too. He he's a good guy. he was bringing a lot to the team already.
00:04:32
Speaker
i think he was a, an ideal sounder when you consider how like a hard of a worker he is. never stops running. He was ah playing really well. So it's really unfortunate, ah but Seattle is going to have to make do over these next, over this next month to six weeks here.
00:04:51
Speaker
ah You know, ariol is out for the season and JMO and De La Vega are out for probably at least a month. So yeah that's the situation right now. And I guess that's sort of where we can start with this game, which is that, uh,
00:05:07
Speaker
i don't know about you, but I went into this game with pretty low expectations to begin with because you have the injury situation combined with ah the fixture congestion that you've been dealing with.
00:05:21
Speaker
And you have a really long road trip to a St. Louis team that looks like they are going to be one of the best defensive teams in the league this year. To me, looking at them, it seemed pretty clear that they have decided that their identity is going to be of, they're trying to kind of Nashville SC. Remember how Nashville was when yeah they're for their early days in the league.
00:05:40
Speaker
And they did that to great effect in this game. So you, you throw all these, those things together I, i To me, 0-0-ing this or 1-1-ing it would have been perfectly acceptable.
00:05:55
Speaker
In fact, a good result if they had been able to get a point in this game, which they almost did. But that's how... were you yeah Were you thinking of it any differently going into it? No, i was I'm always thinking, especially on short rest, you just played a really like emotional game.
00:06:12
Speaker
You're going to be on a rotation. It's away. It's at St. Louis with a club that they're... their only shot is in the league, right? Like that's, that's just how it's going to be. It's always going to be tough to play away. That's a long road trip.
00:06:25
Speaker
So, you know, I was honestly expecting and hoping for, a draw. Yeah. So you had, this was a J bell game. You did have Reagan and knew who out there. You had the broldons out there. You had the, you had the Obed Christian double pivot.
00:06:40
Speaker
I wouldn't have minded the Danny Leva JP double pivot in this situation, just because both of those guys have been, uh, they've been putting it in. They've been playing most of the minutes so far in, in the league and in CCC.
00:06:52
Speaker
Uh, I'm not like super, uh, questioning that, but I wouldn't have minded that. yeah And then you had Rothrock and Georgie out there to go along with Ferreira and Rusnak. And this was our first glimpse. People have been pining for Ferreira at the nine. We're going to talk about that.
00:07:07
Speaker
ah But this was this was his first chance up there this season. So I was interested to watch it from that standpoint, but I can't say that, like, I definitely did not have the expectation that they would be balling out, banging in goals left and right and dropping five on this St. Louis team on the road, coming out of CCC road trip that long.
00:07:32
Speaker
Uh, I was just hoping for a point. That's really what I was hoping for. And, ah I mean, we'll talk about it in positives and negatives, but I think ah some people in the postgame live disagreed. I think they the performance was sufficient to get the zero zero or the one one. I don't really know why people disagreed with that. They got close to getting the draw wasn't like if they had gotten blown out for zero in this game, I might feel differently, but.
00:07:58
Speaker
Um, they got, they got close to taking what I think would have been an acceptable result in this scenario, but they came up
Game Breakdown and Player Critiques
00:08:06
Speaker
just short. Uh, let's talk about the key moments in this game. ah there was only one goal.
00:08:11
Speaker
So I think this it's worth kind of breaking down this sequence. Edward Lohan hits the free kick, which was a great free kick. I don't think Steph Fry could have done anything about that.
00:08:21
Speaker
ah But really that play was all about what set up that free kick, which was like, sometimes there's a yellow card in that situation where you have to take the guy down tactically.
00:08:34
Speaker
or or something like that, and you're making that decision in a split second. This was not really that type of situation. Jackson Reagan, who admittedly has had a handful of mistakes early in this season, which I think kind of magnify this, but he loses his footing.
00:08:47
Speaker
It was raining in St. Louis. The field was wet. guys It was a tornado. Guys were slipping and sliding all over the place. It was it wasn't just Jackson, ah but he he fell, and it looked like the attacker was about to...
00:09:00
Speaker
ah get the ball off him and he was right through. He was. So Jackson did with what I think most people agreed in the moment was the right play, which was, he did a fumble recovery handball took the, he took the yellow for that to, ah to just stop it right there.
00:09:18
Speaker
And that's what set up the free kick. Now, lot of people were getting on Jackson's case about this because like I said, there's been a couple of other, uh, individual mistakes that he's made so far this season.
00:09:29
Speaker
I don't know how you view this. I think it's a, in general, I have a hard time blaming a guy for slipping on a wet field. You know, that's something I think maybe you could say that, uh, you just have to be really locked in mentally to like, be like, okay, I'm going to keep my footing. i'm going to keep my footing.
00:09:48
Speaker
I think when you're in the heat of a game like that, that's pretty difficult. And, um, I would be on Jackson's case more in this situation. If he gave up that free kick as a result of a bad foul or a bad decision or something like that, He fell.
00:10:04
Speaker
He fell. Yeah. He wasn't the only guy to fall. I think it's just unfortunate. Uh, I don't know. Do you see that differently? No, I don't think that he meant to like overcommit or anything. It's just one of those things that happens. He's wearing studs. Like there's, there's not much more you can do in that situation. Like you, you've seen it on turf.
00:10:26
Speaker
You've seen it on grass players slip and fall. That happens. Like, what are you supposed to, I, a lot, a bunch of guys on both teams did. Yeah. I think it was pretty unlucky that he also slipped in that scenario. Yeah.
00:10:37
Speaker
I think, yeah, i saw Alex slip at one point. A couple of the St. Louis guys did. It was a wet field. yeah So that's what set up the one goal of the game. ah And that was just unfortunate because I feel like the performance defensively, other than that, was...
00:10:55
Speaker
pretty good. St. Louis did have a couple of other looks, but you know, you're playing on the road. They're going to have, they're going to get theirs at some point. Steph Fry came through with a couple really big saves.
00:11:07
Speaker
yeah, you had that nice one down low cleared one off the line and had a couple of blocks. So I thought the defense was doing their thing out there. They did what they did, what they needed to do defensively, which was just give yourselves a chance at the result. think that's all you can ask in this scenario.
00:11:21
Speaker
They did manage to do that, but they got burned on the, on that one play. ah didn't, it kind of, uh, maybe it just always kind of feels like that in that scenario. But as soon as Jackson did that, I was like, Oh, he's going to make it.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah. God damn it. He's going to make it. Yeah, I mean, especially because that's like that's the distance that he wants the ball at. You know, that's like that's kind of the perfect set piece. That's their DP attacker. Yeah, but that's beef taker that is exactly what this St. Louis team is looking for, right? Like they're a defensive team that wants to take advantage of set pieces.
00:11:57
Speaker
And like, sure, absolutely. You're going to have people crashing out and saying, well, you should know that Jackson, Jackson, you're worthless because you slipped on fell and you know, whatever dumb shit that people want to say.
00:12:10
Speaker
But at the end of the day, man, like other than that mistake, like, do you think he played poorly? Do you think that, do you think that that mistake in a vacuum and any other game is going to result in a loss. Jackson's made ah a couple of individual errors this season that if people, people were getting on his case about them and I, uh, I wouldn't really argue with those, but this one I think is just, uh,
00:12:36
Speaker
It's unlucky. he also like he had a header that I'm pretty sure was saved. I can't remember. It was saved. Yeah, he had a header that was saved. Do you remember that? and Like about the 40th minute off a corner? It looked great.
00:12:50
Speaker
yeah So, you know, it's like... Ball bounces a little bit different. He gets in a different position. He might score that. And then it's like, okay, what are you going to do That's, that's, that's the life of a defender, right? Like you only get noticed when you mess up. Yeah. And it's like, I'm sorry, but I think the mistakes of Jesus Ferreira in this match were way more consequential than Jackson Reagan slipping and making a tactical decision to fumble recovery. The ball. um Okay, well, so let's ah let's talk about that, actually. I had one more key moment that we were going to get to, but ah
00:13:24
Speaker
um ah or i'll let I'll let you state your issues with the Jesus Ferreira performance because you had takes during the game on it that people were kind of getting on your case for.
00:13:37
Speaker
So why don't you just explain what your issue was and then I'll tell you what I think of it. Yeah, I mean, for me, this just... I was watching a player who was clearly frustrated for no reason, for no reason.
00:13:53
Speaker
I can understand like getting mad about like not having an opportunity or feeling like you don't really, you're not really fitting into the system or you're having trouble because it's your first time out there playing that solo number nine.
00:14:08
Speaker
Totally get it. But when you take that, Because Georgie Monongu won't pass you the ball or takes a shot instead of passing you the ball and crash out on the referee and crash out and start punching guys on the field.
00:14:22
Speaker
Like, that's so stupid. That's so dumb. And then to follow that up, like losing your head in a game like this, where it is your opportunity to show...
00:14:37
Speaker
Your talent, your so your your style, and your ability in this position is is just it's just bad. Now, if we want to talk about the actual things that he did poorly, he doesn't fit into this system of playing these long balls and springing people forward. There was essentially no nine, in my opinion, in this game until ah Moose came on. And I thought Moose looked...
00:14:59
Speaker
10 times better than Jesus Ferreira. And you know my, you know, my moose takes, I think moose looked better in this formation than he did. I feel like Jesus could have played on the wing and played more effectively and been more of a goal threat out there.
00:15:14
Speaker
Just by the way that he drops into the midfield and all of this kind of stuff, which left Russ snack up on this Island where he was essentially playing like this false 10 striker. And Jesus was playing this false nine,
00:15:26
Speaker
thing and they were just getting in each other's way. Is that the way you kind of saw it? Yeah. so I'll give, uh, I'll give my take on this, uh, performance on the field as the nine, I think is one thing.
00:15:40
Speaker
I didn't think it looked super great. I think, I think there was a couple plays, especially in the first half where, Yeah. Like they, it looked like they were trying to spring them with through balls like they would with Jordan. Yeah. And that's even, or even Mussovsky. Yeah. And that just, uh, that just didn't work. I would say, you know, i think in general we were, I was encouraged with how it looked like he, how fast it looked like he was integrating and, ah the work he was doing as a facilitator early in the season.
00:16:10
Speaker
ah but it doesn't really surprise me that he would have a game where he doesn't look fully integrated. The chemistry doesn't seem yeah fully there.
00:16:20
Speaker
I'm willing to give that part of it more games to see if he can get in the rhythm, get the chemistry going, and they can really, it seems like they haven't figured out his exact best fit, what like what the best way to use him right on this team is.
00:16:35
Speaker
So that part of it, I can live with. Um, but I will, I'll, I'm going to defend your take actually, you know, going to defend your take, which is not, ah not something that, uh, well, but you, you had a couple of people coming at you on blue sky that's because you were i was telling him, I was telling him to calm down.
00:16:54
Speaker
you were, you were, uh, uncalmely telling him to, uh, to calm down. Yeah. Um, but, uh, I, I see what you were saying. I do. yeah I thought the, I thought it was weird.
00:17:06
Speaker
I thought it was weird. Like the body language, ever yeah the, uh, the, the play where they were, the VAR was looking at a potential red yeah when he, it looked like he like kind jabbed a guy in the stomach. He definitely retaliated against a guy. ah There was like a couple instances like that where he was getting into it with the St. Louis players yeah in a way that was not what I would call productive.
00:17:30
Speaker
ah He crashed out on the ref at the end of the first half. They couldn't fry would literally had to physically try and pull him away from the raft and still couldn't. And you could read his lips, ah which he was saying he got called for a foul and got a yellow card for a shoulder to shoulder basically. But like that was you're hot.
00:17:47
Speaker
He was hot. well So, like, yes, you're going to get a yellow. If you are hot and you have that body language, I'm sorry. What do you think a ref is going to do? And I think, so, what he was, you could read his lips, what he was telling the ref, which was like, that happened twice, two other times. yeah You didn't even call foul.
00:18:03
Speaker
Now, i like, I do the exact same thing. I get a yellow. What the fuck? That's what he was saying. yeah But... If you look at the foul where he got the yellow, I don't I don't know. I wasn't that shocked that he got a yellow. It looked like he it looked like a frustration foul. It was a frustration foul. Check the guy.
00:18:19
Speaker
So like, ah yeah, no, I think the ah the demeanor, the body language, the lashing out at other players, the ah yelling at the ref. I would be lying to say that I didn't see all that. And I was like, man, I don't think this is conducive to winning right now. Like, no like when you are when you're letting the other team get in your head like that and you are expending your energy, yelling at the ref and getting into physical altercations with the opposing team, you're focused on the wrong stuff. Like take the, uh, take the conflict part of a part out of it. And
00:18:58
Speaker
Like that's just, that's not going to help you win the game, which that's your goal in that situation. So I, uh, I agree with you. I did think that stuff was weird and I hope we don't keep seeing that, you know, everyone gets frustrated from time to time, but you have to keep your head. You got to keep your head and it's all' I'll grant if that, if it's a mulligan and he is locked back in going forward, I'll, I'll let it slide. But it was weird. I do think it was weird. It's weird. And I think too, like, this is not a must win game.
00:19:27
Speaker
This is not a game where you're crashing out because the referee isn't giving you a call or this isn't a game you crash out because you're not doing as well as you think you should have.
00:19:38
Speaker
It is understandable. there is There is no world in which Brian Schmetzer is sitting there saying, okay, this is your first time in this position. You were not expected to play this position probably.
00:19:49
Speaker
This kind of came out of nowhere. We just need to plug you in and see what happens, right? This is not a game where you're going to lose your spot because you play poorly. This is a game where you need to settle in, try and play the best you can, get some looks, get some fitness.
00:20:05
Speaker
And that's another thing. Dude can't even play a full 90. I'm sorry. Another 64 minute performance. That's concerning to me. But why are you getting so upset about nothing?
00:20:18
Speaker
About nothing. This is not a must-win game. As much as I understand every game you want to win you want to have competitors and all of this and that, but it's like when you have your veterans having to come and pull you away from the referee, this is essentially a midweek game, man.
00:20:34
Speaker
We just played three days ago in a game that actually mattered. And now, like, this is when you're deciding to crash out, and your crash out is inhibiting the performance of the team. that's That is a problem to me.
00:20:50
Speaker
And I wonder, and listen, maybe this is going to sound a little bit crash out Chrissy, but he was having attitude problems in Dallas. That was an issue.
00:21:01
Speaker
There was a reason that Dallas wanted to get rid of him. And I think that he is a really good player. I think that he is DP quality. I think he's European quality. I think he is above and beyond what this team could utilize him for.
00:21:15
Speaker
But the reality is he came here to do a job, to not be the main guy. And if you're not the main guy and you're acting like that and not performing, you're not going to play.
00:21:27
Speaker
You got to keep your composure. You got to. That's the bottom line. And like, I think, I think he lost composure a little bit. So like, what like I said, like, i've been I'm not going to, I'm not going to peg him as a malcontent yet because this is like, he's been, he's been playing all season and we haven't seen him do fun to watch. He's had that fun bite and that fun attitude. It's just like this game. I think we can both agree it was concerning, but it's not,
00:21:52
Speaker
It's not the end all be all. I just want to see him settle. Keep your head next time. Keep your head your hand next time. ah Shit happens. We're here. We're rooting for you. Seattle actually still almost took a result in this game.
Controversial Penalty and Game Positives
00:22:05
Speaker
it yeah it was a borderline play at the end here ah where looked like they were going to get a penalty kick with a look to tie. It gets overturned on VAR.
00:22:13
Speaker
What happened was Obed Vargas ah got the ball in the box, had a had a turn on the guy. get a Classic Nico fall in the box. he did dude This was like eco the ref points at the spot. Give Seattle the penalty. It looks like they are going to have a look from the spot to get out of there with a one one, which if they had done that, honestly, I would have been thrilled.
00:22:35
Speaker
Like if they get that penalty and they make it, I would have been I would be sitting here right now talking about how good a result say that was and how overall the performance was actually pretty good because I actually thought, the last 10 to 15 minutes, they they looked great. Yeah. It, it, it looks like, I know people, no one's going to like,
00:22:53
Speaker
acknowledge this because they got shut out, but the last 10 to 15 minutes, they looked, uh, like you're supposed to look in the, in the last stretch of a game where you're trailing by a goal, which is yeah pinning the other team in their own end, making sure all the possession, the whole second half St. Louis was having trouble.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah. But particularly, I think the last 10 to 15 minutes, first I thought that they were going to get the equalizer from run of play. So I think the penalty shout would have been like deserved, honestly, based on how the game state was going, it wouldn't have been against the run of play at all. No, Uh, but unfortunately when, uh, Obed was trying to maintain control of the ball and keep it in front of him, it took a skip up and his arm, his hand arm was hanging down and the ball comes up, hits his hand and the ref didn't see it in real time, but on VAR, it's, they saw that it was a, uh, handball and they waved it off. Now there was a lot of footballing and I mean, American footballing in this game, Ari.
00:23:49
Speaker
Oh yeah. Well, uh, so there was, but there was a lot of, uh, debate about this call. When I first saw the replay, I was like, Oh, that's coming off for sure.
00:24:00
Speaker
ah but then Ross Smith, right? Is that who was Ross Smith on the broadcast? He was making the point like, well, what's he actually supposed to do there? Like his art, like the arm was not in an an unnatural position and it skipped up without like his intent So like he was saying that that he was making the case that honestly it could have stood. And obviously I'm biased. So I'm sitting there like, yeah, Ross, exactly. That could, it should stand based on that.
00:24:24
Speaker
Uh, and then it turns out to get waved off and a lot of, a lot of Sounders fans were unhappy. It felt like it should have stood. After, after calming down and processing it, i think that is the right call. yeah He gains an unfair advantage by keeping the ball in his path with that. Your intent yeah doesn't really matter at that point. Right? Like there was a defender right behind him who would have collected that. So it is, it's super unlucky. It's super unlucky. Uh, and it's tilting. I get it
00:24:54
Speaker
i'm I'm not aggrieved at the call at all. i'm really not. Honestly, I'm more aggrieved at the ref for, I felt like this ref took ah the letting them play style of reffing a little too far. There is, ah there is plays, especially in the first half where ah Georgie got like blatantly fouled a couple times in this game. And yeah,
00:25:15
Speaker
Well, like refs condescendingly giving the guys the get up and keep going. Right. Uh, motion after they clearly got fouled always kind of annoys me. Uh, so that I, if I, if there's a complaint about the ref, I think it would be that the handball call it sucks and it's unlucky, but yeah,
00:25:33
Speaker
It's definitely not like a ridiculous, terrible call. Yeah, it's, you know, i what are you supposed to do, man? Like, I don't know. Like it's, if that happened to my team, I would be so upset.
00:25:47
Speaker
If like a player gets what is essentially like kind of a soft penalty. Do you know what I'm saying? I'm not saying it's not a penalty. I'm just saying the reality is it was a little soft.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:01
Speaker
I thought that was, well, it's a, it's a, it's a by the book penalty, but I'm not saying it's the dude was not chopping down. but like he was a tree. do You know what I'm saying? It wasn't like a nasty tackle in the box or something. That's like, you're going to off. You know what I mean?
00:26:15
Speaker
It was a, it was a penalty, but it was like, all right, you know, it wasn't super, it wasn't like dogs that or anything, but yeah, dude, if that happened to my team, I'd be so mad. they' dode wil he Obed dribbled the ball.
00:26:29
Speaker
Obed dribbled the ball, he Michael Jordaned the ball, and I'm sorry. like that's just i think the yeah i think the rule of thumb that you should always try and do is like reverse the roles. How would you feel? right that If the roles were reversed and that was another team, I would be like, that i mean that is a handball.
00:26:43
Speaker
yeah That is a handball. That should not be a penalty. That's a handball. I would be arguing that. I can admit that. so It sucks, though, because like i honestly... People aren't going to agree. I thought the performance was ah worthy of a point.
00:26:58
Speaker
I did. i didn't I did not think that this was a game where they got run on by St. Louis at all, anything like that, or like they were under pressure the whole time, had no had none of the attacking play. like They outpossessed St. Louis 65 to 35.
00:27:16
Speaker
That's crazy. my Here's my blazing hot analysis of this. yeah They played ok They played okay. For that lineup? For that lineup, under those circumstances, with that travel, with the injuries that they just sustained, they played okay.
00:27:30
Speaker
They played well enough where a point in that game would have been fair. They just didn't get it. yeah if they If they got whammed on 4-0, maybe I would be crashing out more, but that's not what happened. they And so I guess that's good... They didn't fall apart. Yeah. Which that would be the concerning thing. There was never a moment where I was like, this team has given up or this team is falling apart or this team looks unserviceable. It was always, this is a road game.
00:27:56
Speaker
This is a shitty conditions game. This is a, you just played midweek game. And this is a, this, I even texted you. I said, they are very clearly playing for a tie.
00:28:09
Speaker
And like, I think, I don't think that you're ever playing for a tie, but I think that like, there's, there's a, there's a thing in your head where you're like, go into a game like that and try and be 2019 LAFC. It's not going work. You're going to, you're going to overexert yourself and gas yourself by the freaking.
00:28:26
Speaker
28th minute good considering how many games you've been playing so yeah i don't know if it was playing for a tie but it was like they were not like throwing caution to the wind and going completely balls to the wall but they should not be doing that that's bad strategy in a road game so i thought the game plan was sound uh the strategy was sound the performance like i said was okay but they didn't end up getting the point uh i think that's a good segue to our positives and negatives i can't believe you don't want to bring this moment up ari i have to say you missed it and i was waiting to say it but oh okay Christian ruled on getting suplexed by another Missouri team.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah. So what is up? What is up with Kansas and Missouri, which is basically the same state folks. It's always Christian too. Dude. It's always, he must really get under people's. I mean, I know he gets under people's skin when he plays.
00:29:14
Speaker
Uh, I thought it was, uh, I thought it was interesting how much the, the broadcast was hyping up Henry Kessler. Henry Kessler is pretty good. He's not like aher the Sergio Ramos of MLS. I don't know. ah But Henry Kessler... I think he had a pretty damn good statistic game. No, he did. I'm definitely not trying to throw shade at Henry Kessler.
00:29:35
Speaker
I just thought the... ah The suplex. Well, but they talked about him. I think there was like some thing that they were like, you got to spotlight Henry Kessler. Because every five minutes they would be like, Henry Kessler...
00:29:46
Speaker
Not only is he the greatest MLS defender of all time, he might be the best soccer player ever. I've never seen a guy this good. He's handsome. just signed seven. He so good. He's a pillar of St. Louis City SC. Now that they have Henry Kessler, they're winning the Shield.
00:30:02
Speaker
They're winning MLS Cup. If they were in CONCACAF Champions Cup, Henry Kessler would be like, I don't know. yeah And then he suplexes Christian, which was pretty funny because ah it was another Midwest team that did it.
00:30:16
Speaker
And it was Christian again. so Well, it's like funny. It's because like, I know St. Louis city is the little brother of sporting Kansas city. And it's like, you couldn't even do it well. You know what i'm saying? Like for all of the, the hate on Tim Amelia, the way he did it was like kind of iconic, you know, like that made like headlines. Yeah.
00:30:34
Speaker
He couldn't even get a headline. He couldn't even get a spot in lobbying scores. You forgot about it. Rock wouldn't wouldn't tweet about that one. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you're just kind of a little bitch, Kessler. Like, I'm sorry. You're kind of a little bitch.
00:30:45
Speaker
um Positives and negatives. I wrote down some for both. ah Positives. This game is over. This game is over. We don't have to talk about it ever again after this pod. All right. I wrote down.
00:30:58
Speaker
competed decently. Well, given the circumstances, gave themselves a chance. yeah that The one thing that I wanted them to do where I would have been disappointed if they didn't is if they got totally blown up and didn't give themselves a chance.
00:31:09
Speaker
They gave themselves a chance, which given the circumstances, that's all I wanted. Give yourself a chance to take the point. um People going to like this one. I thought the offense looked, uh,
00:31:23
Speaker
good at times, actually, like the last 15, the last 15 minutes of the game, if they are able to put stretches of play like that on the road together consistently, I think they're going to get their share of road results this year.
00:31:38
Speaker
This team is historically, especially in the, in the Schmetzer era, very, very, very good MLS road team. They won eight games on the road last year. And I was, uh, I, I know it doesn't mean it's not worth all that much in a game where they got shut out, but I, I was watching the last portion of that game and I was like, this is, I think this is as good a ball as you could be hoping to play, in, on a tough road trip like this. And if they do that with no head coach, you, Yeah, we didn't even talk about that, but Schmetz was sick for this game, so he didn't make the trip get Welsh minutes.
00:32:15
Speaker
But yeah, I thought the, I was encouraged by how much of the game that they controlled, like at the end of the second half there, ah despite the injuries and fatigue. ah And then my last positive What another ah when I ah whenever Seattle takes an L, one of the things I'm thinking about are is, all right, is the team that they lost to? Are they like a threat? Like, are they way better than Seattle? Is this a team where if Seattle plays them, say, in the playoffs later on, am I going to be like, oh, like this is scary?
00:32:48
Speaker
I don't think St. Louis looked like that good at all. I thought they, uh, they, they were playing at home. Like you should play on the road. If they were the road team, that would have been a phenomenal performance.
00:33:00
Speaker
But like, I think Mark said this, but it was like, it's very clearly, it looks like a team coached by a defender. Yeah. Yes, like like like i bring to a Mark said, and that's true, which is fair enough. Like if that's your identity, that's your identity.
00:33:14
Speaker
But it like, like I said, if Seattle meets these guys again, like in the playoffs or under different circumstances, they're going to play him again this time, next time in Seattle. Uh, I, uh, I'm not quaking in my boots about St. Louis at all, just cause they won this game, uh, right there. Negatives.
00:33:32
Speaker
You got shut out. So whatever positives I took from the offensive performance, you got shut out. Yep. And also they're over two on the road so far this season with a negative three GD lost at RSL lost at St. Louis.
00:33:47
Speaker
So their road form through the the whopping sample size of two games hasn't been great to start. so But that just means they're going to win MLS Cup because every time they play like dookie and have a bunch of injuries, they end up going and winning MLS Cup.
00:34:03
Speaker
It could be true. The Sanders never play well to start the season. Ari, that's my new agenda. Well, that's a classic agenda that's ah been true in certain years. and not ah Like, last year, they actually started off really well.
00:34:15
Speaker
there's been seasons They did the inverse. Yeah, there's been seasons in the last couple years where they've kind of gotten away from that narrative. That was a thing. I mean, the 2016 season is like where that really took off as a narrative. Right. and But...
00:34:29
Speaker
I mean, I thought they were, they, ah I thought they were starting off good, like in the Antigua series and the, ah in the Charlotte game and even the l LAFC game. Like, I don't want to let this totally like this L totally overshadow the good things that we saw against LAFC. And like, we had a we had a call in last night, a caller last night on the live show who was talking about like how horrible the team has looked all season. I think there's been some good ball played so far.
00:34:56
Speaker
I would say there's been more good ball played than bad ball. The bad ball against Cruz Azul is just taking most of the headlines right now, understandably. But like I said, they did drop five on LAFC. So maybe that's, that's goes back in the positive section and LAFC lost to Austin.
Player Performance Debates
00:35:14
Speaker
Yes. I mean, we're going to get to that in the winners and losers, but yes, Noah, you got any positives and negatives you want to throw out there? Honestly, I feel like you hit them. i I do want to say like, I think I'm going to go opposite on you.
00:35:28
Speaker
Looking good in the last 15 minutes, I think, is my negative. It's like, why not play like that the whole time? That for sure. But I think that it just concerns me about Jesus Ferreira. Like, when you plug in someone like Danny Musavsky, who, again, like, he's the third striker. I'm not saying anything past that because... No comment. But, like...
00:35:50
Speaker
If you plug him in and that system is working much better, but you have a player so who is super talented, but is just doesn't really work in that system. You get you get this Giroud effect.
00:36:03
Speaker
And and I'm so I'm I'm obviously I'm not trying to say that he's for a Giroud at all. But like the reality is he's the type of player that needs to be in the right position.
00:36:15
Speaker
set up. You kind of have to like formulate a system around him because of the way that he drifts and the way that he plays. Or you have to tell him, stay up, stay up, stay up. And honestly, i don't think that's that that's what he is good at.
00:36:31
Speaker
And so I think that concerns me just on the basis of I'm not exactly sure how they're going to rework this team if he is that starting number nine. And maybe he's not.
00:36:42
Speaker
Maybe they go out and get another number nine. or maybe they you know jordan Maybe Jordan comes back quicker. Who knows? But i just that was my negative. But also, like it's something that is fixable.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah, I guess i don't I don't know how much of the uptick in performance towards the end of the game was due to Ferreira not being on the field and how much of it was. think it was. they're also, the gate the clock a clock is running out and they're pressing really, really hard for a goal.
00:37:11
Speaker
ah So but i think it's not always in that situation that you're able to kind of control the game like they were. But... ah the get the game state and the circumstances of the game were were different than when he was playing and and I I want to make it clear.
00:37:29
Speaker
i still love Jesus Ferreira. We're pro hate. We were pro the trade. We're pro the trade. Yeah. ah And, you know, i in general, I stand by what I said earlier, which is that like an adaptation period for a new player is not the most crazy thing I've ever heard in my life.
00:37:46
Speaker
I'm willing. I'm, I'm open-minded. I'm an open-minded guy. I'm willing to give it more time to get him acclimated. Like I said, I mean, we don't need to get back into it, but my concern with Ferreira coming out of that game was the, uh,
00:37:58
Speaker
the crash out was the crash out yeah stuff more than like the fact that he doesn't look fully acclimated tactically. I'm right there with you. Uh, all right, let's do lobbying scorchers, man of the match real quick.
00:38:12
Speaker
Uh, I was, I was going to say Stefan Fry. He made a couple really big safes that, uh, you know, people are going to be like, Oh, we'll see. it should have been three zero because, ah St. Louis had these chances that forced Fry into some good. say That's why you have a good goalkeeper, right? No, no, no. Like it's, uh, they kept that one zero because they got a good goalkeeper. So I don't know. That was my shout.
00:38:37
Speaker
i'm going to go with John bell. I like that. John bell is my lobbying scorcher's main of the match. been playing well. He's been playing well. He, he was that central midfielder or central central defender. I'm sorry.
00:38:50
Speaker
And I think that that's a, that's a tough place to play when you're kind of dictating tempo, you're stepping in for yay. Marr. I thought he played great. I thought that he he won like four ah headers. He was just a monster on defense and created completing passes had a lot of touches and it's really cool to see him step in and I understand that like he used to play for St. Louis.
00:39:19
Speaker
So there's a little bit of the revenge game. It's a revenge game, but I that and that's honestly that's what makes it even sweeter to have him as my lobbying scorchers band and match. So John bell.
00:39:29
Speaker
We love you. One of the best styles on the team too. So there you go. Um, all right, let's get into our agenda check. And I have, I have a, uh, a topic that I want to hit. Like that's kind of more in depth than our typical agenda check. all right But, uh, I mean, we're, let's do, let's do a little bit of Roosnack discourse. Unfortunately, this was another, this was another big talking point after the game. Basically this is, ah this is the system that's, uh, been implemented. Yup.
00:40:00
Speaker
It, which is that literally it's a puppy mill. Anytime that the sounders lose or get, shut out. Uh, we get people giving us a hard time because we've been pro roost snack on our show.
00:40:12
Speaker
We are not, we not, we are not, nor have we ever been outraged by his DP status. We think he's a good player and he's been a very, very good player at times for this team. I think we've, we've both been on the same page with that, like the whole time. So there's, I think we both question the signing a little bit, but we both are like fine with it. Yeah.
00:40:31
Speaker
So, but because we feel that way, like last night we had the predictable, like, Ooh, see like Roosnack sucks after all. And this proves it, right? Like they got shut out one time. So this means he is bad, a bad player. The argument goes.
00:40:47
Speaker
So I guess as my classic statement goes, you can say that if you are blind, Well, okay. So like outside of the fact that, uh, using just the exact, like the most recent game that just happened to make a blanket statement about any one player, it's not even about Rusnak. Like that's just not good analysis.
00:41:09
Speaker
Um, and there were people who were saying like, they're like taking what happened in this one game as proof of their, uh, talking points. So, uh, Fair play. Fair play. I'll say ah you're right. He had, or I don't know. I actually thought Rusnak played decently. both thought he did. He played decently well this game, but let's not even, but's' I'll even grant the premise that- Go by goals and assists, sorry, because that's all that the brigade does. It's only about goals and assists. Well, so the offense got- shut out and Rue snack was out there. So that is that you got, we got one, you got one talking point in your favor, but so Noah, no, I went back, I decided I was like, okay, there you have this one. They have this one game, this one example of the team getting shut out that they're using as proof of their talking point. They would say that there's more to it than that, but I didn't see more to it than that in our chat.
00:41:59
Speaker
ah But so I, no, I went back through and I watched the tape. Oh, I watched the tape. My man because I was like, all right, well, let's see if I can find any counterpoints to, uh, moments where Rousenac has come through in a way that you would expect your highest paid player to, uh, to come through.
00:42:17
Speaker
Like, is there really, is is is there really just no examples of this? Like he's actually just been a complete no show and has not come through to, earn his salary at any point or his entire time on the team.
00:42:29
Speaker
I'm going to have to challenge that. I'm to have to challenge that. going to have it to go through the tape and I'm going to see if I can find any examples ah that might counteract this one example that people were coming at us with in the St. Louis game.
00:42:42
Speaker
ah So I'm just going to go through real quick and ah point out some of the examples that I found when I went back through the season last year and ah watch the tape. OK, OK. And then we're going to we're going to see where we ah leave off discourse wise from there.
00:42:58
Speaker
um I guess the first thing I would say is that I I've always felt like he doesn't get enough credit for the role he played in the champions league run. Uh, he scored a really big goal against New York city FC, which was a really difficult series during that run.
00:43:15
Speaker
And, uh, in general playing out of position, he turned out to be a key part of, uh, of why they won champions league. Uh, Now, uh, he got signed as a DP or, uh, they so res re-signed, brought him back as a DP after that. So the whole, the whole thing was like, okay, he might've played well in champions league, but does that mean that he's worth bringing him back on this number?
00:43:37
Speaker
So, ah here, anyway, here's some of the, uh, uh, instances that I, uh, that I was able to find after looking at the tape last year. I wish you guys could see this computer screen because this man has color coded document, timestamps, links, all of this You might have to, you should blog about this. You should post on sound and hard about this. I'm just, I'm sorry, man. If you're going to tell me, if you're going to give me ghost snack, I have to challenge this April twenty second Last year, game winning goal in the 78th minute versus Minnesota United. doesn't You can say that it doesn't count, but that does count. They're a playoff team. They're a playoff team. But they have a bird mascot. so Game winning goal versus Minnesota United.
00:44:15
Speaker
May of last year, game winning assist versus New York Red Bulls, who made MLS Cup last year. Energy drinks, fraudulent. Doesn't count. June last year, the three, three game at Charlotte. Remember that had an assist.
00:44:30
Speaker
He, that was one of his better games. I think like the whole offense ran great. That game, Roosnack played awesome. That's a hard East coast road trip. He earned his money in that game. I would argue Mr. Minty wasn't on the field. Doesn't count. ah I'll keep going. Keep going. July 1st last year, game winning goal against the Houston dynamo.
00:44:50
Speaker
Game winning goal against the Houston Dynamo who were a playoff team last year who Seattle played in the playoffs and that was a pretty hard series. So that counts. ah August ah away at Austin FC scored the game winning goal. Remember this one scored the game winning goal right at the end of that game.
00:45:06
Speaker
Uh, Austin, not that good last, uh, last year, but that's a hard road trip. That's a difficult place to play. Uh, you pay your DPs to come through in moments like that. And he did, ah just a couple of weeks after that, he had an assist in the Derby against the Portland Timbers a couple of weeks after that game winning goal against the Colorado Rapids.
00:45:24
Speaker
ah He had another game winning goal against St. Louis city. He scored in the playoffs against FC Dallas. No one talks about that as a playoff goal. He has two playoff goals for this team. He had two in 2023. He had a great free kick goal against RSL who was finished third in the West last year, his former team.
00:45:42
Speaker
That was a big money, big time finish. ah He had a multi assist game against FC Dallas last year and led the team to a victory. I think his best game as a sounder came in leagues cup against Pumas one goal to assist against league. I'm Eki side.
00:45:57
Speaker
That is a circumstance where you need your D big money DP to come through. And he did ah two goal contributions to lead the team to a win against Minnesota United just two weeks after that.
00:46:09
Speaker
um Then came the Sean Swatsky game, which i I bring that up in here because it's a classic example of people saying that doesn't count because, you know, Sean Swatsky was in goal.
00:46:20
Speaker
But part of what you pay your DPs to do is if you are given an advantage, if the other team does some dumb shit, like ah ah not rostering a backup goalkeeper and then their goal, their goalkeeper gets a ah red card and you have a field player in goal. Part of what you pay your DPs is to do is capitalize on that scenario.
00:46:38
Speaker
Okay. And he did so with a hat trick. So I give him credit for that, but I mean, you could throw that one out and I've given a few other examples here. Uh, there was the Darby against the white caps last year where he carried the team. He had goal contributions and on all three of those goals and they won the game three to zero. That was a huge game for him in a rivalry game where yeah he's performed well against, uh, against the Cascadia opponents.
00:47:00
Speaker
Uh, he had right after that, he had a game winning goal against Colorado, you know, Western conference opponent playoff team. So I don't even, i mean, I could keep going, man. I could keep going. Keep going. Uh, well, and then we can get into this season where he, uh, he has one goal, three assists already scored a goal against LA and a goal to, to assist a goal against LAFC, which is one of the teams that does count.
00:47:26
Speaker
Okay. Uh, It doesn't even matter if they're rotated. You can even throw that out and you can't tell me that a three contribution performance against anyone. It doesn't matter who it is. So, okay. Like if you're going to tell me that he ghosts in big games and doesn't, or has never earned his DP money on this team,
00:47:46
Speaker
You need to go through every example that I just gave and explain like why that is not relevant to the discussion. Otherwise, i don't respect the damn thing that you got to say on the topic because you are not basing what you're saying on the reality of what's happened on the field in these games over the past couple years. OK, so. ah You'd even hit the LA Galaxy game where he had an assist in League's Cup right before that Pumas game.
00:48:17
Speaker
The LA Galaxy team that won the MLS Cup, Ari. That won MLS Cup. He destroyed them in that game. He owned them. His set pieces were incredible in that game. owned them, Ari. And and I'm sorry, man.
00:48:33
Speaker
if If you don't think they count, like... you're You're choosing. You're choosing okay this to be upset. this is what happened is when he first got onto the team, he was playing out of position. So his numbers on the stat sheet weren't that hot.
00:48:46
Speaker
And people decided that they didn't rate him. And then when he moved to his more natural position, he started putting up numbers. But people had already formulated their opinions. So they have like done these honestly pretty incredible mental gymnastics to try and... like keep their talking points, even though he's very clearly proven at this point that he's a perfectly acceptable and sometimes good to very, very good DP in this league.
00:49:12
Speaker
But, uh, I don't know, man, like, what am I missing? What am I missing? I just went through and gave 20 examples, 20 examples. So if you can explain to me what I'm missing on this, drop it in the comments and tell me tell me what, ah Tell me what you tell me your rebuttal.
00:49:33
Speaker
Tell me your rebuttal. I give 20 examples. Also like 2022 game tying goal against LAFC. Do you remember that? Yeah. People don't talk about that one, but that doesn't count because, and that was when he was playing out of position in 2023, had seven goals Like what?
00:49:51
Speaker
It's just, dude, I don't, I don't get it. And you know what? Congratulations on your, on your one game that they got shot shut shut out in St. Louis that you've cited as proof of, but how does that, how is that a big game?
00:50:03
Speaker
it's all Yeah, that also wasn't a big game. well like People want to say, oh, the Cruz Azul match. The Cruz Azul match. You didn't do... who No one did anything in that game. Everyone died in that game. what What are we talking about, man? Anyway. I'm tired. Yeah, you know what?
00:50:17
Speaker
I'm here with you, man. Like, I... I have let the slander go more dug in than ever. I have let the slander go. I have let the slander go. But honestly, if you watched the last match, if you watched this match and you said, and your takeaway from that was Albert Russ snack should have put the team on his back and won the game and scored five goals from outside the box. You're you're dumb.
00:50:42
Speaker
You're stupid. You're stupid. He is not that kind of player. He facilitates. He moves the ball around. He has great vision. He spreads the field. He assists.
00:50:53
Speaker
He does all this stuff. You don't need to have a 10 that scores all these goals. Guess what? You're right. He's not messy. He's not messy, but he is a very talented player with currently in league play three assists in one goal. And we've played what? Like, like what? Like two games in the league?
00:51:13
Speaker
Like at the end of this season, I bet you that he has the his best numbers he's ever had. He he's looked good so far. i'm i'm great I'm perfectly happy with how he's playing and how he's looked.
00:51:24
Speaker
And, uh, that's all That's all I had on that. I just had to ah go through that list there. That was, no, you we needed to do that. It had to be done. It had to be done. i'm gonna and i And if you're going to crash our chat with that stuff, I am going to challenge you on your talking point every single time I'm going to challenge you. by Every single time. Receipts.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah. All right, let's get to the rest of the agendas. I'm going to start with the one that I wrote down. Noah, this is not ah my agenda. This is one that I've saw floated out there, but I wanted your take on it. Yeah, the this is called the ah Nico and Raul wouldn't have let that happen in CCC agenda. What do you think of that?
00:52:06
Speaker
um What what year of each of those player are we talking like peak peak peak? Maybe. I mean, maybe. Yeah, exactly. I think that that's such a stupid thing to say. like Yeah, if you have two of the best players in the league, maybe that happens. Well, also, I think there's a little bit of like a revisionist... like so people were talking People were talking about last night how...
00:52:35
Speaker
you know maybe there's like a dearth of leadership or like Rusnak didn't provide like the same type of like mentality that Nico does. He's not carry the load player. Or like, or like just like a, like doesn't have the ah presence or aura that, and like all that stuff is true about Nico. And in fact, i talked about it last night. There's three players like Nico Ladero though. But like also, if you really think that the team never took like a narrow one-goal defeat on the road when Nico and Raul were on the team, like guess what?
00:53:06
Speaker
Games that played out like like like it did last night, those happened during those seasons, too. They did. like It's not like... it's not like they went 34 oh and oh every single year that those guys were on the team so that's i guess the hey remember ari remember in 2022 when the sounders didn't make the playoffs yeah and then wait but ari but like i thought right i thought that's a good point yeah but i guess in general uh In general, if you're using one game to illustrate a greater point that you have, that is bad analysis.
00:53:43
Speaker
Really, really bad. You have to look at like the whole body of work on these things, man. like I don't know. Okay. ah we Now we're both crashing out. I'm crashing out. Get to your agendas, Noah. My agendas. Here we go. Number one, the Georgie agenda. I thought this game was... I thought he was good.
00:54:01
Speaker
Really good. Yeah. He was putting people in hell and he's been putting people in hell. This man, this man can dribble like no other. His touch is incredible. He's...
00:54:12
Speaker
put him on Put him on the Tacoma Stars indoor team, and I think they might win every single game they play. He's really fun to watch. um And I want to defend him, too, on the play where Jesus was yelling at him. I didn't mind him taking that shot. He almost made it. And I don't think Jesus would have had a very good angle for like a tap-in. Also, he's been skying every shot he takes. Right. So I didn't mind Georgie taking that shot. Take that shot again, Georgie.
00:54:38
Speaker
I agree with you. i think the Georgie agenda, the Georgie stock, we're actually seeing him produce meaningful assists now, you know, balls into the box, creating that danger. it He's not just a dribbling to dribble or to like mess around with defenders. He's dribbling.
00:54:57
Speaker
Getting past the defender, getting in the box, playing in dangerous balls and or winning set pieces, which is a huge part of the Sounders game. When you have a player like Albert Roseneck, you can play in an incredible ball.
00:55:09
Speaker
And that is something that the Sounders have not had in a long time. Well, so I was going to say, i think he is the closest that Seattle has as not, maybe not a total like for like, but the closest they have as a replacement for La Vega, yeah which is, i at least I'm hoping that that's a reason the,
00:55:31
Speaker
without De La Vega going forward here, they, it's not necessarily guaranteed that they're going to fall into the same cycle as last year where they, uh, there was stretches of good ball, but they just lacked that creativity, which has been the issue the last couple years without a player like De La Vega and De La Vega was injured all last year.
00:55:47
Speaker
Georgie wasn't on the scene yet. So without De La Vega last year, it felt like a repeat, right? yeah But, uh, with Georgie emerging the way that he is, I think ah now the more I ah think about this take, I think he and De La Vega are like pretty similar players, like in terms of what they bring to the table. Maybe not exactly like for like, but there's, ah there's creative, creativity elements and just like ah pace and trying shit, trying shit, having a, having a presence from out wide, sending in those low driven crosses with pace.
00:56:20
Speaker
Georgie can do some of that stuff too. um So I'm hoping that that helps. with the absence of De La Vega, I guess. I don't think that they are very, I have to be honest, I don't think they're like super similar. I see where you're coming from though. I think it's more of a like, Georgie can be creative in these small spaces, which is very similar to De La Vega. But I think De La Vega, I mean, De La Vega brings such a different level he's like a of technical ability and like dribbling and weaving and like floating.
00:56:52
Speaker
Like he's a player without a position. Georgie is a player with a position. Do you know what I'm saying? If that makes sense. Like I think, but I think you're right in the sense that you have a player who is going to pull off defenders, multiple defenders and still be able to play a pass or play a ball in that's dangerous.
00:57:11
Speaker
And he's just a handful to deal with. It's the same thing with De La Vega. Like they're both just a handful to deal with. Yeah, honestly, I think Georgie could have had a shout for man in the match. I just, in a game where you get shut out, it's kind of hard to give it to like an attacker. but I liked what I saw from him.
00:57:26
Speaker
He was my backup man in the match. i think I think that's not a bad shout. Yeah, he's on the bench for a Team of the Week in my brain. Yeah. um My last agenda here. ah Start Kosa Rianzi agenda.
00:57:40
Speaker
Ari, I love what I see from this kid. Every single time he steps on the field, he gives me that 2024 Paul vibes. Like he is so creative. creative.
00:57:51
Speaker
He is so good when he gets the ball at his feet. He makes shit happen. He sees. It's just like with Paul Rothfalk. The way that he sees the field is awesome. His work rate is crazy.
00:58:04
Speaker
I love it. He also brings that chaos, kind of like Georgie, and I want him to be starting. it's not a It's not a... Who would you start him over? that's the That's always the question. That's always the question. it would have Don't make me... It would have to be Alex rolled on, right? Yeah, in which like I don't think that that's a realistic i don't swap. like it's a fun ah It's always fun to be like, this guy should start agenda, but the reality is like in this league, you need to be ah like two to three deep at every position and...
00:58:33
Speaker
got like your Your first backup in those situations is going to be getting a lot of minutes. So like, I don't think he needs to be considered like the weekend week out starter. But to deploying him in a tactical situation where you need more offense out of your wing back. I think that he provides that more than alex rolled on.
00:58:54
Speaker
And it seems like he's gaining a lot of confidence. He looks like he's having fun out there. I think he's kind of just sort of enjoying the ride right now. yeah He's a player who was really good at UW, but I don't think it was by any by any stretch a guarantee that he was going to be an MLS player. I think...
00:59:12
Speaker
His mentality coming out of UW was, i'm gonna wherever I get drafted, I'm going to go probably grind the next pro and try and see if I can make it. And if I don't, I might be getting like a real job. yeah we Kind of like the situation that Rothrock was Yeah, was going to say, it's very similar to the... so he I think right now he's like, wow, I actually...
00:59:31
Speaker
I'm i may like, I am good at this. Like I'm better than most at this. And I can not only step on this field and these MLS games and, uh, and hold my own, but like I can, I can go up against these guys and I can win these matchups and i can ball out.
00:59:48
Speaker
I think Gosser Ranzi is the type of player that you could develop into someone who is a really good MLS starter, if not someone you
Seattle Sounders in the Club World Cup
00:59:56
Speaker
could transfer on. That's my take on it. And you know what?
00:59:59
Speaker
Been wrong before, so I'm happy to put my ah buy money on on another player like this. is is Here's what I was going to ask, because obviously there will never be a replacement for our one and true savior, Paul Rothrock.
01:00:11
Speaker
But do you think KKR could be our are this season's Paul Rothrock? Or do you think it's Georgie? Like which one, but Georgie we had last season too. Yeah, no, I think if if there was a, ah if there was a Paul Rothrock of this year, it's KKR for sure. Yeah, yeah.
01:00:27
Speaker
Which I'm. That's a good, I think that's how what I would amend the agenda to, is like, he's gone from like, ah oh, that's a ah prospect that could be something into like, he is in, um he's on the Rothrock path.
01:00:39
Speaker
Yeah. Kalani Kosa Rothrock, KKR. We're going to take an ad break. We'll be right back.
01:00:49
Speaker
Welcome back, Ari. i heard I heard something in my ear, in my earpiece here. said, you might have we someone might have skipped our ad, and I just had to let them know, we know if you skipped our ads, and if you skipped our ads, we know, okay? So don't skip our ads.
01:01:09
Speaker
Jumping in now, back to the content, Major League Soccer has GMs. It's a thing that they do and have. And the athletic likes to ask them questions. Now, some of the questions are very silly and fun and stupid.
01:01:25
Speaker
And some of them are actually really good questions. Anonymous survey. Anonymous, yeah. So all of these this all of these executives, all of these people who make probably too much money for what they do um are asked anonymously how they feel about certain things at the league.
01:01:42
Speaker
And um we're going to go through it. We're going to talk about the Sounders highlights first. And then we're going to give our thoughts on three questions as if we were league GMs. Because honestly, Ari, I think we could we could probably both do that job. Oh, yeah. i'd be I'd be so good at that. Yeah. Like you just kind of like hang out and wear a suit and whatever. I don't know. Like but that's my take.
01:02:01
Speaker
Craig, if you need an understudy, hit our line. We got you. All right, here is the first part here. Major League Soccer GMs think Seattle basically has no chance in Club World Cup. I'm going to read some of these quotes here.
01:02:16
Speaker
There is a consensus among and MLS executives polled that the tournament will be difficult but valuable experience for both clubs, Miami and Seattle. But there were some blunt reactions regarding the Sounders' expectations.
01:02:29
Speaker
Seattle in that group, it's going to be a bloodbath, said one CSO. Tough group, but I think Miami will be second in that group, and they will be in the knockout stage. I don't think Seattle will, one sporting director said.
01:02:41
Speaker
This is anonymous, right, one CSO laughed, because I think FIFA love Miami. Seattle is going to depend on how well they gel until they get there. they made up a lot of They made a lot of changes. The odds are against them right now. Miami will find a way to get out of the group.
01:02:55
Speaker
Ari, I wanted to get your take on all of that to start. And also, like, do we really think that ah Miami have a chance to advance out of their group?
01:03:06
Speaker
ah Well, first of all, I got a question. I got a counter question or a follow up question for for these anonymous CSOs. why Why aren't their teams playing in the. Oh, yeah. That's a good question. Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker
Like. I mean, when you say it's going to be a bloodbath, i that kind of, to me, lands as like, oh, you guys have no, like, sort of scoffing at the, ah that well, why isn't your, why is that not an issue for your team, you know? Yeah.
01:03:34
Speaker
And that's also, I'll pose that same question to, because I think one one thing I am dreading about the Club World Cup is, ah If Seattle does get destroyed or ah if they lose it all, there's going to be a lot of stupid discourse of like how ah how terrible the ambition is or whatever. And that ah everyone involved with the Sounders needs to be fired because they lost to PSG. Well, tell your team to play PSG.
01:04:05
Speaker
Yeah. That's my response to that. Like, uh, as for the sentiment that the, that he's getting out of it being a bloodbath, maybe probably, I don't know. I just don't care. Like, yeah.
01:04:17
Speaker
Wait, what do you want? It's ah it's a, it's a showcase tournament. It's well, it's a team that it's literally a team that's capped at being able to spend $20 million dollars on the roster against PSG. like Yeah. What's their payroll? Like 20, 250 million. Uh, I mean, it's just, they don't have, they don't have one. They just, teams like this can spend whatever, you know? So like,
01:04:36
Speaker
I just, ah I guess my take on on this is that discoursing about Seattle's performance in this tournament. PSG spend in one week $4.2 million, dollars not including bonuses.
01:04:49
Speaker
In one week. um Four weeks of play for them is one whole season of MLS. Yeah. I just don't, uh, like discoursing about Seattle's performance in this tournament. I just feel like is, I don't even know why that question got asked. Like, yeah, it's a, I think everyone kind of knows that there's a fundamental mismatch at play here just in terms of, uh, of roster spend right off rip.
01:05:14
Speaker
So I personally,
01:05:18
Speaker
if they do If it is a bloodbath and they get destroyed, I'm not going to shed one tear over that. One thing I will say, though, is that the calculation and the standard for Messi and the Barstow boys has got to be different than that. I'm sorry. yeah like they ah They put together a team that absolutely should be able to get out of their group. Are you kidding me? You have the best player of all time.
01:05:42
Speaker
Why not? like And even if it was if if their team was... Messi and no one else, I would be like, all right, ma that's probably not enough to make it out of your group. But like they have the rest of the Barca boys and they have Segovia. They have Allende. They have all these guys upon guys upon guys that if Seattle gets destroyed or bombs out of this thing, that's whatever. But I actually think it would be embarrassing for inter Miami.
01:06:06
Speaker
I do. I don't think that the whole point of their team right now is to be able to, they got put in here without earning it. See it by the way, Seattle earned it. Inner Miami did not. And they got put in there because they went and got this super team and got messy.
01:06:19
Speaker
And FIFA of course wants to showcase that. So they gave Miami the spot without merit. So if they go in there with this team and they bomb out, that's a, that's embarrassing.
01:06:29
Speaker
No, nothing that happens to Seattle in this tournament matters. I'm sorry. Well, I think to what you were saying, like, yeah, you know what? You can't have it be a bloodbath if you don't have the blood to give. like that that was That was sick. That's what I'm saying. It's like you can't beat you can't be in a bloodbath if you're not able to get cut. And let me tell you what, LA Galaxy, LAFC, Toronto, Philadelphia Union.
01:06:58
Speaker
I'm just going to start. Nashville, where are you at? Why didn't they make it? Why didn't you make it? why didn't you make it? Like if you're going to, I'm, ah I'm preempt, I'm getting in front of the clowning. That's going to come our way. If Seattle loses the PSG and Atletico and Boda Fogo, uh, that's fine. That's fine. I, uh, I expect that, but you got to ask yourself the question why your team wasn't in it. And I think too, if they do get a win at all, or they do get a draw or God forbid they get out of the group, what are all these people going to say?
01:07:27
Speaker
They're going to say it doesn't count or like because like a PSG, if they like what if they beat PSG and they have like a couple backups out there and they'll be like, that wasn't the like real team, so it doesn't count. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's like all of these people...
01:07:42
Speaker
love to hate on inner Miami and be like, Oh, all you do is talk about messy. All you do is talk about messy. And then you're like, Oh, well, Seattle's a joke. They don't have a chance, whatever. I'm sorry. If any team has been through the ringer before, especially with these international tournaments, it's Seattle, man.
01:07:59
Speaker
I'm sorry. I'm not saying they're going to win. I'm not going to I'm not going even say that they're going to be competitive, but the reality is, Miami has a way bigger weight on them than Seattle ever will. And the fact that none of these GMs even said anything about that, it's ridiculous.
01:08:14
Speaker
And this is going to come off of a deep CONCACAF Champions Cup run. this This is on top of they better have everyone healthy because they're going to be playing two games. They have a real shot at winning CCL, right?
01:08:27
Speaker
And so if they do that and play through the whole season, they're also going to be playing MLS matches. They're also going to be in the lead up to this. It only works if you're healthy. It only works if you're healthy. Okay?
01:08:38
Speaker
And, yeah, you know what? Sounders aren't healthy either. Sounders have zero players on their roster right now who aren't injured. But... Saying it's going to be a bloodbath. I don't like that. I don't like that. That's condescending in a way. Like, I think if you ask this CSO, like, if he meant that as condescending, he would say no. This probably like the damn fucking San Jose CSO. It's like, why don't you worry about going and signing like some Liga Mechies player for $200 million? Like, you're never going to be there.
01:09:08
Speaker
You're never going to be there. it's you This is my new this is my new bit about this. If you've never been there, you can't say shit. If you've never been there, you can't say shit. And guess what? The only team from MLS to ever compete in a club world cup that was earned Seattle Sounders. And guess who's going to be the only team to ever compete in it twice?
01:09:27
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders. So watch your damn mouth. ah Anything else to say on that specific topic? I just don't, I don't really ah care how the club world cup works.
01:09:39
Speaker
goes. Uh, but I will say I'm not like, I think some Sounders fans are like dreading it or they're like, this is stupid. This is a FIFA money grab, which, you know, all that sure all that stuff might might be true, but I will say, like, i was thinking about this other day, like, uh,
01:09:54
Speaker
I have always been genuinely curious, uh, how, like how an MLS team would do if you like threw them out against PSG, you know? And, uh, Seattle's a a good MLS team.
01:10:10
Speaker
So I'm, uh, I'm not like, hyped on it. And I, like I said, I like however the results go is whatever, but I'm like decently intrigued by the fact that they're going to be playing in these games. That might not be a popular take, but like, I'm, I'm, I'm somewhat looking forward to it.
01:10:31
Speaker
Listen, I'm sorry. When new who pockets some PSG $200 million dollars striker, what are you to do What are you going to do The new discourse will be discoursing.
01:10:45
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I don't know. It's going to be fun, man. If they can get one, if they can get one goal, how awesome would that Exactly. Jordan Morris scoring against PSG or like, like we actually snack, rust neck assisting against PSG. Oh my God.
01:10:59
Speaker
I would literally just have that clip and all I would do if any, if any sounders fan came at me was like, well, we're snacks. I just boop. paste that video in send anyone ever had it and anyone ever had anything bad to say any usmnt fraud squad merchant bot ever had anything to say about jordan morris i just paste in him scoring against psg and tell him to shut it i don't think it's on unthinkable that uh that they could get a goal or two you know i think everyone's uh assuming that they're gonna lose every single game five or six to zero but you know just because it's psg out there it's not like they uh they forget how to play the game no like they could they could but um don't know if they're gonna win but they can score a goal he gives a shit to beat the sounders no i don't think they care but you know who does give a shit to beat psg
01:11:52
Speaker
True. The Seattle Sounders. Yeah. They're going to want to be really balling. I agree. Especially after crashing out of Champions Cup. All right.
MLS Schedule Debate
01:12:00
Speaker
This next part, we're going to take a couple of questions from this survey and we're going to answer them. This is actually our application to Craig to be his new interns. Okay. Craig, I'm going to email this to you.
01:12:13
Speaker
I'm going to find you at the pinball place and I'm goingnna play it for you. Okay. So are you ready, Ari? Yeah. Is a fall to spring schedule good or bad for MLS? So let me preface this by saying currently the MLS schedule is opposite of the European calendar.
01:12:32
Speaker
There's been a lot of murmurs that MLS wants to switch that over to mirror the European calendar, be less competitive with American sports and the playoffs would be in the summer.
01:12:46
Speaker
I believe. Yeah. I mean, people have been talking about like that for a while and it's definitely like part of the reason that ah and MLS clubs are at such a disadvantage in CCC, for instance, is like because of how the schedule lands.
01:13:02
Speaker
um i feel like just the reasons that the calendar is what it is makes sense as reasons like that. Wouldn't this wouldn't this put you like the meat of your season and some of the coldest months of the year? Yeah. Isn't that part of what's always been at issue?
01:13:19
Speaker
i mean, I think the argument, though, too, is like it also puts the meat of your season in the hottest part of the the yeah but yeah year. ten You have to go play in Houston in one hundred and ten degrees. That's more tenable than i playing like than playing sub-zero in Toronto. I mean, I guess it's honestly more similar than people probably give credence to.
01:13:38
Speaker
But like i mean I was at those MLS Cups in Toronto in December. That's not soccer, man. Neither is ah neither is like playing in oppressive heat, but at that point you're talking about just like two bad options, right? Yeah. So like, but I mean, they play in, they play in, in, in the rain and the cold in, England. It's like some of these and MLS cities, man, like the winter is just a different animal. Like sure like Toronto, i think I've never felt cold. Like that's fine. We can disband their team. That's actually totally fine with me. Just take out all of the clubs that are too cold. Do we really need a team in Montreal?
01:14:16
Speaker
Yeah. do Like send them to the Canadian Premier League. They can have their fun. Like we don't need them. You know what saying? We don't need them. man. Now we're going to get the Canadians. We're going to get the Canadians. We are Canadian, Ari. We can't get canceled by the Canadians. You shouldn't say that. I'm pro Canadian Premier League. That's what I'm saying right here.
01:14:32
Speaker
um I think personally, i think it could be really kind of cool. ah It gives you way more of a competitive edge in the transfer market. It makes it so you could transfer in really big transfers and signings before the playoffs.
01:14:48
Speaker
It gives you ah really interesting, just, I think there's a lot of things that it could change and help with the league being competitive in a very, very saturated American sports market.
01:15:02
Speaker
yeah, I don't know, that's my take. It could be cool, but I i don't care. It's just always that's the calendar is always going to be a hot button issue.
01:15:13
Speaker
It's going to suck either way. That's that's sort of like every time it gets talked about, I'm like, there's bad. ah There's bad outcomes for both options. Yeah. So like the ah the constant like talking about it, like people are just going to it's like a cycle where people just throw those back and forth and nothing ever gets and progresses.
01:15:34
Speaker
I am pretty surprised though that like, cause on the business side of it, it makes way more sense to mirror the European calendar, especially if you want to be competitive. If you want to be a league that like sells players and all of that kind of stuff, it makes more sense. It makes more sense to mirror them.
01:15:50
Speaker
So I'm interested. We'll see how it goes. you've a, if you got calendar takes, go ahead and drop them in the comments. i take the survey with I frankly have not, uh, waded into that discourse that much. So I don't have like all that much to say about it.
01:16:02
Speaker
All right, this next one here, Ari, do you have your GM hat on or is are you taking it off?
USL's Division I Ambitions
01:16:07
Speaker
My hat's on. okay i Figurative hat. Could USL's Division I league be a threat to mls So ah just for the background on that, there was reports out there that USL are gunning for D1 status and the whole idea would be, right, that they would have pro-REL. So yeah that would be the thing that differentiates it from MLS.
01:16:29
Speaker
um As far as it being a threat, you know, I don't think, I don't know if ah MLS would like it necessarily. like This might be a stupid question.
01:16:40
Speaker
like why Why does what they're technically registered as make a difference as to like how much of a threat they are or aren't versus MLS? They're technically registered as a Division II league now, and ah no one considers it like a threat. so if they got It just feels like semantics, right?
01:17:03
Speaker
Well, the USL was division or the NASL was division one. Yeah. They weren't a threat to MLS. Like, I mean, when, you know, I don't think it, no, I don't think it like has to be, i mean, i don't know. this is another thing I would have to, i guess, educate myself on more, but just thinking, and thinking out loud right now, like, uh, I don't see why, what they're classified as makes them any more or less of a quote unquote threat than they already are, I guess, other than that, like if they have D one status, theoretically d one status, there's all kinds of requirements. You need a stadium that whole, that holds 15 K there's population requirements.
01:17:44
Speaker
So maybe that's what people mean when they say threat, ah But to me, ah anything that makes the USL bigger, better and more healthier, i think is a good thing. I mean, I'm a huge a diehard New Mexico United fan. That's my hometown club.
01:18:01
Speaker
And ah I would love to see them get as big and popular and healthy and well funded have as good a team as possible. i'm um yeah I don't see why anyone would be against that.
01:18:14
Speaker
I think it's the idea that you could sign professional players. You could sign players, bigger players, players who are and MLS quality playing in another Division I league in America.
01:18:27
Speaker
i think the implementation of it would be really challenging. Challenging MLS at this point. i mean... MLS is a multi-billion dollar industry. I mean, you have you have a club like New York City FC who just in real estate alone probably is worth a billion dollars.
01:18:44
Speaker
And they have a multi-billion dollar deal, TV deal. You know, it's like they're... They've built themselves up to this level that challenge. it's like It's like throwing a pebble at a window until it cracks, right? Like, yeah, you could do it, but it's going to take you a long time. and You've got this tiny pebble and you have to keep throwing it at the window.
01:19:06
Speaker
Are you going to get bored and tired and be able to sustain yourself? I don't know. Like, I don't think that it's a threat to MLS, but what I will say it is, It's more entertainment.
01:19:17
Speaker
It's more fun. I love the USL, man. I love supporting the Division III teams around here. You've got Ballard, you've got West Seattle Junction.
01:19:28
Speaker
those like The amount of soccer that is able to be played and people are able to build their careers is awesome. That's great. like ah I am very much pro that. And you know what?
01:19:43
Speaker
Also, it would be sick because all the promotion and relegation freaks would go and watch USL and be super happy. And then they don't have to, they, they, they don't get what they they would finally get what they, uh, what they wanted. Right. Exactly. Like, uh, as a, ah as a diehard New Mexico United fan, uh, I say, I say D one status. Let's go. Give them D one status. Let's go.
01:20:07
Speaker
ah Zaha to New Mexico United. i oh man. There we go. Now you're speaking my language. All right. Our last question here, Ari, this is anonymous. Remember, so we can say whatever we want.
MLS Rules and Parity Discussion
01:20:19
Speaker
What is one major league soccer rule that needs to change?
01:20:26
Speaker
Uh, man might need like a list yeah to pick. for I think the thing that I like people always come back to is just, um,
01:20:37
Speaker
You know, i could i could i could go with less of a less of an emphasis on parody, yeah meaning like the... ah I understand... i actually... I really understand the reasoning behind why these roster rules are in place.
01:20:53
Speaker
And it doesn't surprise me at all that the panel of oligarchs would want a system where... ah the the teams are like evenly matched and can't and like, you can't spend like much more than the other. And that keeps it so that there's not like a huge gap in quality between the bottom of the league and the top of the league.
01:21:13
Speaker
I think that we're at the point where, ah whoever's got the ambition, let them, uh, like loosen it up a little bit. And I know what they do, Ari, it's called being inner Miami. Well, right. So like they've taken steps towards that just with like the DP rules and Tam and gam and stuff.
01:21:34
Speaker
But, uh, I don't know. I feel like we're maybe accommodating the clubs who are, who like to be cheap. And some people would say Seattle falls into that category. But if you really think Seattle are cheapskates, like you should go look at like some of the the other teams in the, in the league. like yeah Like, like Seattle doesn't spend money like Atlanta United and Arthur blank, but you know, they did drop seven mil on De La Vega. yeah They dropped huge bags on Ladero and Rui Diaz. Like they have a track record of spent of spending decently big money.
01:22:06
Speaker
ah Dempsey, you know, that's another one. I would much rather be a Sounders fan than FC Dallas fan. Yeah. Like a lot of teams in this league or like ah look at the Rapids, for instance, they're not like a horrible joke of a team, but they're an example of a team that their ownership, they want the, ah they want there to be like these clamped down spending rules because they don't want to do that themselves. So yeah they are holding everyone else back.
01:22:32
Speaker
That's what I would want to see change. Yeah, I think that's probably what everyone's kind of suggestion on this would be, would be spending rules. I think I don't mind the parody personally. Like, I think that's what makes MLS so fun and interesting. It's like, it's very uncommon since the Galaxy you know won it like three times in a row or whatever for there to be...
01:22:58
Speaker
the same winner in back-to-back years in MLS, right? Like, that just, it's it doesn't happen. It makes it fun because you have all of these different competitions, people can focus on different things, and, you know, it allows some sort of, like, i don't know, it just it just allows for anyone to win and I love that I love that I love the playoffs it's an Americanized bastardized version of soccer if you want to go watch unlimited spending go watch unlimited spending every single team in Europe is doing that I definitely wouldn't say unlemited unlimited I think salary this salary cap is salary caps are good in general I really think so i think sports leagues that have them are better and healthier for it than than like
01:23:49
Speaker
Then like major league baseball doesn't have one at all. Yeah. And I think that then they just defer the contract for 200 years. Right. Exactly. Well, yeah. So that's how you get around it. But like, I'm not saying abolish the cap at all, but, uh, raise the cap. I don't, I wouldn't mind that. I wouldn't mind that.
01:24:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Adding support that ah like raising the cap or like changing it. So, you know, you get more deeper. There should be more DPs at this point. There should or just some way to accommodate that type of like yeah infusion of talent to the league, which I'm, I like, I feel like the league is in a, uh, a pretty good spot quality wise. You know, people love to like all like my friends who obviously know that I work for MLS, like still give me ah hard time sometimes about how, like how much, how bad it is compared to other leagues. And I'm like, it watching know it's not that bad. Like it's pretty good. It's a top 15 league in the world. I'm sorry. If you think it's there's any difference, you're you're not watching. I would argue top eight to 10, I would.
01:24:50
Speaker
But like, yeah, like the the reality is I would rather watch major league soccer. And guess what? I do. Then go and watch the premier league most times because, and not because it's not fun to It's preordained outcomes. Yeah. It's like, i i am a Brighton fan, Ari.
01:25:09
Speaker
I'm a Brighton fan. I'm rooting for us to get sixth. That's so dumb. That's so stupid. I can, you can be, you can be a Vancouver white caps fan and you're like, holy shit, we might actually win something this year.
01:25:26
Speaker
Yeah. I'm just like, that's essentially like being a Brighton fan. You know what i mean? So like, I don't know. I'm pro cap. So no cap. I'm pro cap. But um all right, that was our anonymous GM league survey. Take the survey in the comments. yeahing let Let us know what you think.
Recent MLS Matches Recap
01:25:45
Speaker
ah Let's hit winners and losers for a match day for an MLS and get out of here. Is that sound good? Sounds perfect. um We're going make these quick hitters. Easy winners. Chicago fire. I'm giving him more love, man. Second straight win for your Greg Berhalter on the bounce.
01:25:58
Speaker
Held the lead. Held the lead. ah They did. that You know, they did the exorcism. I think they might've done the exorcism yeah and I just, as if they keep stacking wins, I'm going going to give them their credit because I've had a lot of fun at their expense over the last couple of years. So they're like, they're playing well right now.
01:26:16
Speaker
Credit to them. I put San Diego FC, not because they got a great result there. It was actually kind of a letdown result. They were up a man and ended up tying one, one, but they did get their first home goal in their first home game.
01:26:31
Speaker
which was a good milestone moment for them. And they look like they have a good thing going there to zero and two only the second ever expansion team, I think to be unbeaten through four.
01:26:42
Speaker
So, and I did not think that their method was going to work. So I'm, I've been eating crow a little bit on that. I mean, we'll see like, ah St. Louis did this for an entire year and then, uh, it crashed and burned the neck They were famously fraudulent. Yeah, exactly. Which people didn't like it when we pointed that out, but then we turned out to be validated. Uh, and then my last winner, Vancouver whitecaps, like you mentioned four Oh and Oh and beat Monterey.
01:27:07
Speaker
So, you know, like, uh, They, uh, they, they fared a lot better than Seattle did in CCC. Like I have to give him that, uh, I'm not super tilted about the Cruz Ozil series anymore, but like the caps did do it.
01:27:24
Speaker
The caps look in their four o and oh four zero and oh in the league. The caps look good. Ari. Yeah. I think, you know, they, they look good. I don't know if they're this good, but I think there might be good. they're They're doing the classic Whitecaps thing. They do the opposite of the Sounders, where they play Superman soccer in the first like quarter of the season and then decide to just like just not play at all. they won this game without Scottish Messi, so I think that's notable too. yeah like he's He's out injured, correct? Yeah, for but like ah a couple weeks at least. Yeah.
01:27:56
Speaker
But they, have but I mean, they've got so many good players on that team right now. And Pedro Vitae looks like one of the best players in the damn league. That's what I'm saying. Brian White's a perennially underrated striker. He's breaking out. Losers.
01:28:08
Speaker
No, my LAFC fraud watch might be validated. Yeah, you need to you need to... You haven't officially announced Fraud Watch for LAFC. I tentatively said that they might be on Fraud Watch on one of the last live streams.
01:28:24
Speaker
ah They just lost to Austin FC 1-0 at home, which Steve C was talking about the fatigue juggling competitions. I don't know, man. I don't know. Giroux can't score a goal to save his life,
01:28:37
Speaker
that is That stuff is honestly getting embarrassing. They need to take him behind a shed and put him down like an injured horse. it's ah just it's That's just not looking good. And that's another L at home.
01:28:51
Speaker
It's dicey. That's all I'm saying. I'm not. We had LAFC fans in our chat because you crashed the happy foot, sad foot chat, and they were happy about that. But ah I'm just saying, man. I'm just saying.
01:29:04
Speaker
and Okay. FC Cincy. they Honestly, I think their season is sort of like parallel to Seattle's right now. You come in with one of the best rosters in the league, really high expectations, dreams of winning CCC, and ah they crashed out against a really good Liga Meckies team.
01:29:24
Speaker
Tigris. Against Tigris. And then they just got bammed. They got bammed on by Charlotte this week weekend worse than Seattle did by St. Louis. Okay, let me say it again.
01:29:35
Speaker
Charlotte loss wasn't that bad or Charlotte draw was not that bad. Charlotte is a good team folks. Let me say it. Charlotte is a good team. They're a good team. FC Cincy. like I said, they're down bad in kind of similar way to the Sounders right now. Correct.
01:29:50
Speaker
And then this one went final just before we started recording. The Portland Timbys, I'm sad report, blew a 1-0 lead and it ended up tying 1-1 versus the Galaxy. The last place in the entire Shield race, LA Galaxy, minus six goal differential.
01:30:06
Speaker
Dookie Cheeks, LA Galaxy, three losses in a row to start the season, LA Galaxy. No Ricky Pooj, no no one, LA Galaxy continues. So I have a couple of friends who live in Portland, one of whom was a diehard Timbers fan, one of whom is a very casual Timbers fan.
01:30:21
Speaker
They were both like separately at the game today, like texting me about it. My friend who ah didn't follow the team at all was, texted me, he was like, Hey, the team this team, we're out playing the Galaxy and they won the ship last year.
01:30:34
Speaker
Like this is, I think we might not be that bad. And I was like, it's a matchup between two really bad teams. Yep. Correct. think that's Don't take that
Audience Engagement and Farewell
01:30:44
Speaker
conclusion. My friend who follows it really closely, he knows how bad they are. He's been talking about how he wants them to tank to get Phil Neville fired. And he was crashing out my DMs because...
01:30:54
Speaker
um Apparently, I haven't watched it yet, but apparently there is a really clear penalty kick missed call that they didn't overturn on VAR. So the Timbs should have had a penalty to win it. He was like, I still want them to lose. Like, I'm OK with it because I want them to drop as many points as possible. So so Neville gets fired. So they get a better super job pick. Yeah, but it was a bullshit call.
01:31:13
Speaker
Either way, like, I think ah anytime you're feeling down about Seattle's result, it's looking like this season you might be able to at least ah take some humorous solace in the in the Portland Timbies who are just, it's tough down there. It's tough.
01:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. I take no joy. I take a little bit of joy. Take a little bit All right. I think we can call it right there, Noah, unless you had anything else that you wanted to get to. I was just going to hit one little thing. ah We are recording. There's still one minute left in this Atlanta United Inter-Miami game, and Atlanta just conceded in the 89th minute.
01:31:51
Speaker
They were going to draw Inter-Miami 1-1 and conceded to Fafa Peepold in the 89th minute. Kind of funny, kind of hilarious. It's funny that it's Fafa and not any of the Barca Boys. No, yeah, literally. Like the definition of a random MLS lifer. Yeah, just like legend, so.
01:32:10
Speaker
Atlanta United. Might not be good. That's my takeaway from that. Yep. All right. We're going to call it right there. Thank you, as always, to everyone for tuning in. We really appreciate the support. Like, comment, subscribe.
01:32:23
Speaker
Like the video. Like all the videos. Share with me and Chuck. Yeah, share with everyone affiliated with Atlanta United. um Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on all socials. Write us a review.
01:32:36
Speaker
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01:32:43
Speaker
We'll catch you next time. Until then, out. Peace.