Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
LS Live: Fans react to Seattle Sounders draw at Atlanta United!
0 Plays3 seconds ago
We react and take calls following Seattle's Matchday 27 fixture at Atlanta.
SPONSORS
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
My Data Removal - Data brokers are selling your personal information! Fight back with My Data Removal. Hunt down and scrub your sensitive information from the internet. Use code "LS" for $10 off your annual plan.
Seattle Sounders Tickets - Get tickets to an upcoming match straight from the club and help support the show at the same time.
MLS Season Pass - MLS Season Pass is back on Apple TV with access to every single MLS match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts! Subscribe today to support the show.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2025 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Streaming Details
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
Pre-Game Excitement and Predictions
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:44
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome in to another postgame live and IRL postgame live. Got both of us here in person. Noah came through. Watched the second half of ah Seattle Sounders versus Atlanta United, ah which what did we just watch? what and What just happened?
Match Analysis: Seattle Sounders vs Atlanta United
00:01:02
Speaker
I don't know. The feed cut out for like 30 seconds there at the end. I'm not sure.
00:01:06
Speaker
I saw the Sounders were winning, and then all of a sudden I see Andy T just going.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's a 2-2 draw for the Seattle Sounders at Atlanta, which in and of itself isn't an ideal result. But ah if you had told me that that was going to be result the result before the game, I wouldn't have said it's like the end of the world. ah But... They obviously should have won that game.
00:01:34
Speaker
They should have won that game. That was a tragic ending. Oh my God. And I think the most tragic thing about that ending, it's not even that they lost to a team that they should have beat. Correct.
00:01:45
Speaker
It's that we were deprived of Osase game winner. Yes. Yes. Like the fact that that that's really like, I could care less about the points. I could care less about really wanting to get into third and being one point off a third. And like that was extra two points could have you know, a really big deal.
00:02:02
Speaker
ah You know, i think that Osaze being robbed and Brian kind of like yelling at his whole team to get back on the field after they scored that, what they thought was a game winner.
00:02:15
Speaker
um Wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall in that ah locker room, Ari. I wouldn't at all, but... Yeah, anytime you don't close out a game like that and you drop two points on the literal last play the game.
00:02:27
Speaker
It's the last play of the game. it's never That's a draw that feels like a loss. It's a draw that feels like a loss. And Osaze could have had two as well. Osaze? He could have had two. If we're talking about ah positives and negatives, like I think Osaze getting a goal at all, let alone in that spot, what looked like the game winner at the time.
00:02:46
Speaker
That's great to see. He's going to probably get more run in League's Cup. we We've all been saying at different times that it's worth seeing at least what you have in this kid. So for him to come on and score the go-ahead goal in stoppage time, it's like a big moment for his first oh yeah MLS goal as well.
00:03:03
Speaker
So that that all that is cool. It's just not going to feel good in the moment because of that concession at the end. ah We got the pressers, I think, starting right now. Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
Because there there's no video for you to have to turn on or offer on. No, you'll have to do it in the plus with the screen there. yeah yeah. Yeah, and then you should be good. and But I wouldn't put it on just yet. You'll see, yeah. Matt looks cute, but, you know, we don't need to have They're muted. We're muted. All right, we'll have the pressers look like they're getting started shortly. Why don't you hit quick? Because I missed most of the first half. Why don't you hit that quickly? The first half was really bad.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah. First half was really bad. It was really bad. Not a not just because Seattle conceded the opener.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be good. Once you see the players come out, you'll you can swap
Key Players and Highlights
00:04:02
Speaker
over. all right i'm just See, I'm normally i'm the one doing I'm just getting paranoid that they're going to be able to hear the pod over the Zoom call. No, they can't hear us. you We're muted. We're good. and it was It was sick that Osaze got his first MLS goal in that in that spot, but ah it's just like a back-breaking equalizer at the end.
00:04:21
Speaker
It was a pretty insane shot by Mirinczak. Dude, i yeah, like someone said... ah That's a pretty good shot. Was it Barry or someone else said... it was Dusty Potato said that shot was insane. I feel like you can't really be too bad. That's literally... I saw that and i was like, that's soccer, folks. Like that's... I mean, that is literally the biggest...
00:04:40
Speaker
the he The way he drove that ball, I've literally, okay, this is this is total inside baseball bullshit, but I play pickup and i'm a really bad st like I'm a really bad shooter. I've always been. And so I've been practicing a lot and learning about that like driven shot where it kind of just dies, but just goes so, you just have so much power behind it, like the follow through of your leg. He literally hit that ball perfect.
00:05:02
Speaker
I mean, like, there is there's not a goalkeeper in the world that is saving that ball. He hit that thing perfect. And he had enough space when he collected it where he... It wasn't like anyone could have closed him down better. was just like... Like, a goal like that, the the question is, like, could you have closed him down before he shot it?
00:05:19
Speaker
I mean, i don't know. But, like, for for that to be a goal, he has to hit it, like, as perfect as you can. think... so i think like i know it hurts i know it hurts in the moment i think it is a bit of a tip your cap situation their guy that's their dp number 10 or correct not he's not their number 10 but he plays as their number 10 sometimes and he's their designated player attacker so he hits an insane shot at you at like the worst possible 10,000 miles an hour. 10,000 an hour. Top
00:05:53
Speaker
And like I said, like the so the first half, Seattle didn't look good offensively at all. Yeah. um And Atlanta United gets the first goal on and another own goal that's pretty unlucky yeah but uh i honestly thought atlanta's lead was deserved even with the uh fortuitousness of the own goal uh they had luke brendan put one off the post and then they had at least one other chance where i was like if that had been a goal it would have been deserved yeah so i felt like one zero at the half was pretty much fair uh but what did i if you guys watched the uh preview show what did i say
00:06:28
Speaker
What did say? What did he say? i said Atlanta United might score first in this game. And if they do, like, don't even... Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it Don't worry about it. don't worry about it they're therere they'll They'll figure out a way. Yeah. They love to do It's their thing.
00:06:39
Speaker
They love to do it. And I was kind of realizing while watching this game, like, why that is. Like, Chad, tell me if I'm... a if I'm like projecting this or if you notice the same thing, but to me, it looks like when they went up one zero, they kind of closed up shop. They were, they were bunkering. They were bunkering.
00:06:56
Speaker
They were, and they got a couple of good looks on transition. So it's not like they didn't have any chances or anything, but like for the most part, I felt like they were in the first half as the home team.
00:07:08
Speaker
They were just not letting Seattle knock the ball around trying to absorb the pressure and putting a hell of numbers in the box and not letting any crosses find anybody. That's like what you do in the last 20 minutes of the second half when you're the road team. Correct. When you're ah that that's like you can't do that. Like yeah you're up one zero at home. You have to stay like on top of. Well, apparently you don't.
00:07:28
Speaker
like and Otherwise, you're going to give up the lead. like yeah and they that's That's kind of why, I mean, you know you guys know, I watch this team a lot this season. That exact thing where they score first and then give the lead up because they're playing too conservatively to try and protect the lead, that's been happening to them all year.
00:07:43
Speaker
So even when they got the own goal in Seattle, didn't equalize in the first half, I i was sitting here like, I already know like that they're going to find some way to give up the lead. But kind kind of going off that, what I was thinking was like,
00:07:55
Speaker
all right, like what's the best way to break down a team that's in a low block like that and putting numbers behind the ball? You got to, you got to get after them in transition. Yeah. Like that's the, you have to not be knocking the ball around when they're already got their defense set. You have to win the ball off them, get out and transition, hopefully unbalance them and find your opportunities that way. Because Seattle was not like able to get like anything against their low block until the very end.
00:08:21
Speaker
Uh, yeah. But that's exactly what happened. They got De La Vega out in transition and he absolutely banned. He did. And that was good to see because he's coming off his best game in MLS.
00:08:33
Speaker
He gets another goal. So that's, that's, that's the feather in the, that's the feather in the cap. I was talking about Ari. I said, this is a bad team. And I think you would agree with me. Let's be honest.
00:08:44
Speaker
Both of those defenders were doing Looney Tunes cartoon sounds. I don't know what the hell those two defenders were doing. And he has, regardless, that buildup that they have, if he doesn't score that, if that gets saved off the post or something ricochets anywhere, dude, you've got Moose and Rusnak right there. like That was really good buildup play.
00:09:05
Speaker
And honestly, like yeah, you got you have to give it to him. Listen, I said this on the podcast. I said, you know what? He's got to prove it. He's got to prove himself. If he does it again, okay. I'm ready to be like, okay, like we're warming up. Let's see. Let's see. He's going to get his run in leagues cup. We're going to be able to to do it. But I mean, undeniably, I don't think I, I don't think he looked that good in the first half.
00:09:24
Speaker
ah So like, whatever, but you, he, he came back out and he was able to avenge himself with that
Press Conference Insights
00:09:33
Speaker
play. And what a nice shot. ah So, I mean, i thought i thought the whole offense was not good in the first half.
00:09:40
Speaker
yeah Very not good. And De La Vega, he was the one guy that I thought was like kind of doing stuff. But really the first half was Atlanta sitting on a 1-0 lead in the first half, letting Seattle knock the ball around. Seattle not really being able to break that down, maybe sending a cross in that gets cleared out or trying a through ball that gets intercepted. That's basically what the first half was. Yeah. And... ah The second half was a lot better. yeah They have won the game.
00:10:05
Speaker
So they well played well enough to win the game. Ari, I would hope that De La Vega was trying to play his best ah for his new team. He's got a shot in front of his potential new team. I think Jeremy made that joke in chat because of those... Hey, he stays for now. I mean, I'm cool with... If Atlanta want him, can we trade him, Kalish, for De La Vega?
00:10:29
Speaker
Just straight up. Glad you're not the GM. Just straight up. cliche They waved him. Oh, not Klish. Miran Chuck. Miran Chuck. I'm sorry. That's who I meant. There's just a lot of random random names that they have. They're just yapping.
00:10:44
Speaker
Okay. You're good. um much i You can't. You're muted unless you are. You're muted unless you raise your hand. If you use the raise hand function, use the raise hand function, then they can select you and they unmute you from the from the thing. We're good.
00:11:01
Speaker
We're good. I do this all the time. uh i am scared though because there was one time where i was watching the presser just like when we weren't doing a post game and i was shirtless just in my in my bed just like eating chips and i was like dude if my camera and mike come on right now in front of brian i'm gonna just be like the most that's a dangerous game that's a dangerous game to play we're uh we're still waiting on the pressers to start we'll fire up as soon as uh They get rolling. I think I heard him say that Osaze was talking after his first MLS goal. I'm interested to see the Schmett's demeanor. I mean, he's not going to happy. he's not going to happy. I think Jake was asking, ah why are we having this conversation? There was a rumor ah that Atlanta United are interested in Pedro de la Vega.
00:11:40
Speaker
Of unverified credibility? but it Well, I think it's it's verified. i think there's there's been verified sources. I believe Nico... was on the case there like uh he is the type of like uh like almada is a similar profile like you know in terms of where he's at in his career and stuff it is the type of guy that they would go for but uh no i mean like now that he's actually playing like a dp like de la vega stays de la vega stay de la vega stay or go agenda Jake, we're going to do calls after the pressers, and then yes. You can call in, yeah, once the pressers hit.
00:12:15
Speaker
Post-presser, we'll let anyone call in. um i ah What was my other thing I was going to bring up? um Anuhu. We got to talk about Anuhu, Ari. We have to talk about Anuhu. Anuhu assist.
00:12:26
Speaker
Anuhu assist and two really good balls into the box. Is he the best attacking fullback in MLS? That's really like... The question is does he need to be, here's the question. Does he need to leave to the Cameroonian national team and, or be suspended to come back and play like an absolute beast? That's the question because it seems like every time he shows his worst, he gets suspended.
00:12:50
Speaker
ah He comes back and is like locked in Yeah. Like he's just, yeah. Like I don't know. I don't know what to do with that look information on our show. And i think,
00:13:02
Speaker
this whole fan base has been deservedly and rightfully tilted on new who's case for the myriad, you the myriad of issues that have surrounded new who in recent weeks, uh, from, ah multiple ill-advised red cards to club world cup crash outs that,
00:13:22
Speaker
Potentially cost the team a result against Botafogo. That would have netted them a couple million dollars or a million dollars or something. You know, it's been a rough couple weeks for the guy. So, you know, let's give him let's give him credit. Like, he he has the assist on what should have been the game winning goal. And all around, he didn't do anything. He didn't get sent off.
00:13:42
Speaker
Yeah, he didn't get sent off. He did not get sent off. He did not... miss a mark that led to a goal now is not getting sent off the highest bar. No, you can set for a defender.
00:13:54
Speaker
Probably not. No, but it's one that he has not been able to clear recently. Yeah. So, uh, that was, that was good to see, like good on him for getting the assist. Perfect ball. Put it right on Osase.
00:14:07
Speaker
And then, uh, shout out Osase, man. That would, I, it just, it, man, it it chaps me that he's not going to get the game winner for that. Yeah, in our hearts. In our hearts, it counts as a game winner, just like Danny Leiva scored on his debut.
00:14:20
Speaker
I'll be interested to hear what Schmitz has to say about the game winner. Like, I don't know what to think as far as, like... Because, okay, regardless of whether they could have closed the guy out or not, it's like, could you have managed the situation better to, like, keep possession more or not have them in a situation where you have their DP lining up a shot from distance like that?
00:14:42
Speaker
ah There's... there's There's ways that that could have not happened. Yeah. But, I mean, is was a sick goal. Like, I can't even... You can't even do that. I'm not going to sit here and tell you guys that that was not a sick goal.
00:14:58
Speaker
What about Ryan Kent's 20-minute cameo? How are we feeling about Ryan Kent? think he's only 10. But ah I was saying on ah Under the Lights this week that I've, you know, um um i staked I staked my... Oh, here we go. All right, all
00:15:18
Speaker
for your time as well. We're going get going. Maz, I saw you with your hand raised first. Reminder to all media, if you do have a question, go ahead and hit that raise hand function button. Maz, we'll start with yours.
00:15:30
Speaker
Thanks. Just a quick congratulation to Osazo. But um hey, Christian, how much of a reminder of a game like this, you know the classic cliche of you got to start fast and then you got to finish fast and just what happened today in this game?
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah, overall frustrating. Are they underwater? Game just because I felt like we weren't consistent throughout the game. You know, we've we've yet to have a ah complete 90 minute game since the Club World Cup, I would say. And so, um you know, this is this is a moment that we need to learn from. I think that we could have won this game not on our best day. You know, in out of
00:16:21
Speaker
out of the emotional high of Osaza's scoring that second goal. um I think that we just need to do a better job of staying keyed in, focused in, and keep the intensity for the entire item in the game.
00:16:37
Speaker
Thanks. All right, we'll go over to Jada Evans next. Jada, please go ahead and ask a question. Thanks. And thanks for the time, guys. Osazi, can you first talk a little bit about about your goal? I know with Alex's cross, it didn't seem like you had the right body positioning, but you know with Nuhu, it seemed like you kind of fixed those things and got to go in. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Player Perspectives and Personal Stories
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, mean, the first chance came quick, like as soon as I came into the game, and you know, as a strategy,
00:17:09
Speaker
Now you got just move on to the next. You got to keep thinking for the opportunity. ah with meet up said But to stay for the next opportunity just as fast. And, you know, just have great body orientation.
00:17:21
Speaker
Just a great ball from the group. And, you know, simply finish. And then um kind of on the other side, though, it seemed like you and Danny, did you guys have miscommunication on on that last play that gave up the goal? Or what? Can you kind talk a little bit about about that part?
00:17:38
Speaker
I'll say it was a great thing from there. Yeah, i guess the miscommunication was making a 90 and 70. All
00:17:50
Speaker
ah right, next question. We'll go to Jeremiah Oshen. Jeremiah, go ahead, please. Yeah, Christian, if you're sort of assessing positives and negatives from this game, ah what do you think weighs out? Is it more the positives of you know most of the second half, or you you kind of burned still about the way the first half went out and and it's obviously the ending as well?
00:18:13
Speaker
i think the positive is the reaction to coming out strong in the second half. I thought we started the second half ah well. Felt like...
00:18:27
Speaker
after conceded um and and there were some really good moments of possession in the second half. We felt in control down one zero.
00:18:38
Speaker
um Yet again, it came, opened up a little bit, but I felt like we handled their transition fairly well. And look, I think that this is
00:18:52
Speaker
another game where we're scoring two goals on road. You know, we're, we're scoring a lot right now, right? Like it's, this is the, these are games that if we tidy up certain things, if we make less errors defensively, you know, we win these games.
00:19:06
Speaker
And so if we're going to take something positive away, it's the reaction to, to how poorly we played the first half. And also the fact that we're scoring goals, the rest, you know, has to come. We need to be tidier with, with the errors that we make defensively.
00:19:25
Speaker
All right, George, when I come your way next, please go ahead and ask your question.
00:19:34
Speaker
George, go ahead, please. Jorge. Sorry, and trouble unmuting. So, Osasi, you play with ah number 95. I imagine that was not your first choice of number. Do you think you're going to keep it now with 95? Does it now have a new significance?
00:19:53
Speaker
And how happy are you with your first game, obviously, and your family history on the league? No, I'm very happy. The number adds up to number 14, so I'll keep it in the legacy.
00:20:04
Speaker
so i don't know that
00:20:09
Speaker
No matter, it good there's a lineage it's happened there
00:20:20
Speaker
All right, we'll take one or two follow-ups. If there are any, Jeremiah, do you have one? I do not, no. Okay, no worries. Maz, it looks like you do. Yeah, hey, so i do not in terms of, um yeah you said you got the touch too early, but what, how did then you, how did you refocus then? You get that touch and it's too early, so to speak, and then what went through your mind to make sure that when you got the next chance, you were ready and followed through and executed?
00:20:49
Speaker
Just my Bible orientation is just a natural thing in my brain throughout the years of, you know, once probably always miss a chat but it's the reaction, it's how you will take the next chance is the most important.
00:21:04
Speaker
And you know, this stuff happens a lot times, so kind of used to these things and adapting to to certain situations. First person you're going to call when you get done with this press conference?
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, everybody know him. Call me Mr. Louie, my dad. Thanks. All right, Jada, why don't you close us out? Thank you. um Christian, with the with the way that the opening half went, I mean, was that a matter of did you guys need to or yourself, did you look at stats ah and such, and in or did you kind of feel so that you guys weren't the typical selves that you had been this month?
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think you know there's been some heavy legs. I think we've we played a lot of games. um this year already, more and more so compared to to most teams and far travel. So I do feel like, you know, we probably opened up the game in a slower manner. I think Atlanta also, you know, we're on the front foot, think that they're feeling the pressure, you know, for them it's it's do or die at this point where they are in standing. So think a combination of both, think that they but Atlanta came out hot, um you know, and then there are moments that we need to be smarter in the first half, you know, being on the road, heavy legs.
00:22:22
Speaker
um And so a little bit of both, but in the end, I love the reaction. I think that we could have done a better job in both goals, to be fair. And then your second goal with tired legs. We don't ask questions. The last time we asked, avoid it I couldn't unmute my mic. you know giving them some It's a technical challenge.
00:22:43
Speaker
Thanks.
Coaching Strategies and Feedback
00:22:45
Speaker
Guys, thank you both very much for your time. Safe travel song. guys Thanks, guys. Media-friendly reminder if you have a question for head coach.
00:22:55
Speaker
If you mute the... Can I mute this shit? No. They'll be quiet. Just do that. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, do that. And then he'll come back once he's... They won't say anything for a minute. Okay. once brian comes on they'll they'll start chirping again but got it all right yeah that was uh christian and osaze uh what did you think of uh christian's take that uh you know as tough as the ending was uh two more goals uh this time and another road game uh eight goals in your last four games so basically saying like uh
00:23:29
Speaker
We're scoring a lot right now. yeah It's just a matter of tightening up the defense and not making these errors that are costing us concessions. and then And then we'll be chilling. That's basically... i mean you know this for the For me, this game, and like I think I'm going to feel even more like this as I get more days away from it,
00:23:47
Speaker
that this is This is an MLS roadmatch, right? Like MLS roadmatches are hard. This is two things that just don't go your way. Could you have had a third? Absolutely. There's definitely a world in which you could have had a third goal in this match, especially if you play way better in the first half.
00:24:02
Speaker
They still came back out in the second half, played incredibly well. Pedro de la Vega gets a great goal. Osadze gets a great goal. You're scoring. You're scoring on the road. And You're going to win the game if not for a one in a million goal-azo.
00:24:19
Speaker
It's still a road point. It sucks. like You want that on the table right now. But but like honestly, like is this such a bad result? like yeah doesn't It doesn't feel like that. This isn't a result that makes me feel like, oh God, this youre like we're not doing well. I think what Christian said is true. like They're able to score.
00:24:36
Speaker
They're able to get... they're They're able to come back in the second half. I feel like that's something we have not been able to see previously from the Sounders. So the fact that they were able to have a really slow first half look like shit and then kind of roll back in.
00:24:50
Speaker
That's that's a pretty big deal. And speaking of the man, this Brian Schmetzer joining us. Coach, thanks for taking the time straight to questions. Not really, but kind of. All right, Maz, you were first again. Why don't you go ahead and let off, please?
00:25:03
Speaker
Hey, Brian, what is the teaching moment in trying to calm down a team? Because when you went ahead two to one your players, i saw you looked like on the broadcast, you were telling them to calm down, and stay focused.
00:25:16
Speaker
I mean, what could what's the teaching moment in that? Well, look, the teaching moment is you know not drop too deep, you know try and stay high, press higher up the field. But they put us under pressure and then some clearances.
00:25:32
Speaker
one on the right and then knew who's on the left, where when the ball goes out of play, the tendency is to kind of just catch your breath. ah on the On the play where the guy scores the goal, mean, we needed to push higher up the field and Osazi maybe could have come back a half a yard and, you know, just score some the negative. But really overall, when you when you take a goal like that, i mean, it was a tremendous strike.
00:25:58
Speaker
ah you know, it's hard for me to criticize the team. I mean, they put everything into the game. You know, Osazi came on and scored a great goal. And, you know, it's just one of those things.
00:26:11
Speaker
Thanks. Jeremiah, go your way next, please. Yeah, did you have any conversation with the referee about the added time? I mean, i it was about 45 or 50 seconds longer than and the original stoppage time. Did they give you an explanation as to where that came from?
00:26:28
Speaker
Yes, they did. From the goal celebration and in our goal, they added one minute to 99. What? ah I don't know, did you...
00:26:40
Speaker
you Does that play at all into the way you feel about this game when when it comes on a last play like that? Or is it one of those things where you you focus more on just having to play to the whistle?
00:26:51
Speaker
You have to play to the whistle. There's no other way to do it. i mean, if if you know if there's an end point and you see it on the scoreboard, the fans can see it, people on TV can see it, but the players aren't looking up at the scoreboard. they're They're focused on trying to just play out the game until they hear the whistle.
00:27:10
Speaker
Jada, You know there's there's just nothing you could do there, i you know, so as the scores, what the 96 and so there's two minutes ago had the ad's a minute because we take 45 seconds to walk back and kick it off, I mean again it's just one of those things.
00:27:26
Speaker
Jada, right, Jada over to you. Thank you. um stack and bri bri With the first half though, is that, ah how do you kind of explain that? I mean, you guys didn't have any shots on goal from the stats that I have and just didn't look like yourselves in a sense.
00:27:45
Speaker
Well, I mean, we didn't play exceptionally well, but look, MLS is hard. That was a desperate team. They've got a $40 million payroll whatever their and that good expense layer so we were expecting a hard game.
00:28:02
Speaker
And you know the goal that we took, there's some things maybe we'll look at ah The offensive you know kind of stuff we didn't generate enough, but that was due to our opponent.
00:28:14
Speaker
You have sometimes give your opponent credit. And then what was was there much then, I guess, said at halftime beyond kind of switching up a little bit of tactics? Or ah did you have to get them going at all we changed We changed different tactics, both defensively and all offensively.
00:28:31
Speaker
Defensively, we were trying to push them into ball recovery zones. We weren't pressing right away. So there was a slight change there. The attacking movements, you know, there was space behind Miguel Almiron.
00:28:46
Speaker
We needed to get ah guy higher up the field on the right hand side. So the tactical adjustments that we made at halftime certainly worked.
00:28:56
Speaker
All right, George, please go ahead and ask your question. ah Coach, just on the two goals. On the first one, and was it just a fairly a better decision or did you identify that there was maybe some vulnerability on the first post from Guzan?
00:29:11
Speaker
And on the second goal, Nuhu normally gives a very good defensive shift, but not a lot of assists. How did you write his assists to Osasie and then obviously Osasie's goal?
00:29:27
Speaker
Well, it was an excellent cross i knew He doesn't have many assists, but that doesn't mean he doesn't work on them in training and do some things in this game. It was a perfect cross. and a perfect textbook header oae was under pressureing He was marked inside the box, but he's a big, strong kid, and he was able to get in front of his defender.
League's Cup Preparation and Team Adjustments
00:29:49
Speaker
And then Pedro, that was all instinct because, again, Williams was but is dropping off a little bit because was three against one, three against two. And so when he dropped off, then Pedro saw the opening and made a good play.
00:30:06
Speaker
All right, time for one or two follow-ups. Maz, did you have one? I do. Hey, Brian, um what did you think of your center back play? And that's the first time they both played together in a while. And obviously, Yamar gets the assist with the pass to Pedro, but just overall.
00:30:26
Speaker
OK, is that a first assist or secondary assist? Because Pedro dribbled seven yards down the field. So, put on Yamar. i hope he has an assist bonus in his contract.
00:30:37
Speaker
um The center backs are good. I thought Jackson played a little bit better. We'll take calls up to the pressers, folks. stepped into some areas want some balls Yeah, i am are you know he's just getting back into fitness.
00:30:51
Speaker
you know He and Obed on that first goal needed to communicate a little bit better. But they were both fine. They're both super, super talented center backs. Plus, you know we've got plenty of cover now. Kihee and Jonathan Bell who can play there. So we're good.
00:31:07
Speaker
And you my healthy 100%? hundred percent Felt good? All that good stuff? Yeah, we'll look we'll reassess when we get home. that was emotional game gotta assess their emotional uh recovery but also their physical reverend physical recovery and we'll let you guys know uh when we get back home thank you emotional recovery have you heard that before you're the second to last hand i see but go ahead and ask your question Yeah, ah you know, obviously Pedro getting another goal in this game, a good sign, probably good for his confidence as well.
00:31:41
Speaker
What did you make of his overall performance, you know even if you take the goal out of it? Good. I mean, good. mean, look, nobody was real good in the first half, so you can kind of maybe throw that out the window.
00:31:52
Speaker
What did he do in the second half? You know, Pedro's got to just understand that he's got to stay connected with the midfield. He can't, you know, hang out and cheat. And you know not defend, but that's actually how we scored the goal. So you know as a coach, you're like saying, OK, what's the happy medium?
00:32:11
Speaker
ah And certainly, super talented kid. And he's in a good run of form right now. He feels confident. So you know that's a plus and a bonus. and And I expect him to continue that improvement.
00:32:27
Speaker
All right, George, why don't you have the last one? ah Coach, shifting focus to League Cup, can you talk a little bit about what are your goals for the team and if we're going to have an opportunity to see players like Osas and Brian Kane to have ah more of a tomorrow continuous minutes on the team? We'll assess the physical you know health of the players when we get back into Seattle. They're going to get a couple of days off and then we'll tackle League Cup.
00:33:00
Speaker
you know want to do well in That's the mantra of this club. You cannot just you know push things aside. That sets a bad precedent. So we are going to try and go out and win. And then, yes, to your question, are there going to guys and get some opportunity?
00:33:17
Speaker
For sure. They'll get opportunities. But we'll we'll dictate that again based on you know team, the opponent, the tactics, who needs a break. All of those things will factor into all of our decisions.
00:33:34
Speaker
Coach, thank you for your time. Safe travels home. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, Coach. thank you as well You're welcome. Thanks, Alex. thanks alex ah Anything stick out to you there? i mean Emotional recovery? Emotional recovery. that's right ah we let's Let's riff for a couple minutes and and then we'll take calls yeah take some calls.
00:33:55
Speaker
anyone Why don't you toss in the link and then while we riff we can... Okay, yeah. good people can Yeah, you go. How do you pin this? Can you can you show me how to do this? you to it on the YouTube.
00:34:09
Speaker
Oh. On the YouTube thing. on i can I can do it. Okay, all right. Call link right there. If anyone wants to Q in, lay down some takes, 2-2 draw at Atlanta United. and i don't know, man. Now that I've had a few minutes to process everything.
00:34:25
Speaker
The way I think about... ah like a good defensive team and what the, what defending well really means is it's like not conceding stupid chances, easy chances, bad goals.
00:34:40
Speaker
And if you get whammed on by a freaking worldie from 20 plus yards,
00:34:48
Speaker
It is what it is sometimes. Also, you know what is what it isn't, though? 11 likes? 11 likes on this video right now? Come on, okay. You're literally watching right now. There's 99 of you in here.
00:34:59
Speaker
And so all it's going to take is two seconds to like the video to help us in the algo and to help other people pop in here. So I'm just going to... Before we... We're not going take a single call until we get to 12 likes, okay? And that's just how it's going to be. We GreenBlueTribe in the queue, our first caller.
00:35:18
Speaker
ah actually Look at that. Now we're already up to 25. Do you see how easy it is? Thank you, folks. Thank you. thank you thank you all right green green Green-blue Tribe doesn't have a video on, so we're going to bring you to stage and just hope you can hear us.
00:35:30
Speaker
Tribe, can you hear me? Hey, what's up? Can you hear me? Yeah, we got you. Loud and clear. How are you feeling after a totu draw at Atlanta United that had an Osaze go-ahead goal but an unfortunate game winner?
00:35:45
Speaker
I'm feeling a bit disappointed because we're sort of not using Kent when we should. And I think Kent could help us score a lot more goals. He's shown that he's really good playing more direct, getting in very good crosses and making sure that other players understand the passage of play. And I think that if we have him on, we'll be able to score Maybe an average of four goals a game even. I'm not sure. Cooking.
00:36:13
Speaker
What do you think about him playing on the right side? i was going to ask. elie I think he can play on either side. He's just one of those players where I saw when he was at Rangers. He he can play. He can either play on the right or the left. He can either play also.
00:36:26
Speaker
He can even. Sorry, excuse me. He can even play in in the center attacking role if he if he is asked to. Watch out, Burt. he's he's ah He's a very, very good player that can that can do anything he's asked to do, you know?
00:36:39
Speaker
You know, it's a it's definitely a topic worth discussing. I was saying on ah on our on my Thursday show that I still have my Ryan Kent stock, even though it's been down, I think, among the fan base recently. And my kind of logic was just that – ah First of all, i believe i believe in the things that we saw in those first couple games.
00:37:02
Speaker
I don't think performances like that and moments like that are like just come out of nowhere get geared from a player's skill set. I think all that stuff is absolutely stuff he can do. and uh can continue to do it just hasn't happened for him in the last few weeks but like i am not on the ah write him off and bury him on the depth chart train at all and i'm hoping i'm hoping that he gets more minutes in leagues cup to see if they can unlock that again because like yeah he hasn't been effective in the last like month or so but he's getting 10 minute cameos though he's getting 10 minute he can't but here's tonight more of about my question tribe like
00:37:38
Speaker
uh you know with the lineup right now i think de la vega is officially a hot hand that you need to be starting and yes and otherwise i love them and then so it would be for ferrera on the uh on the right which i don't hate like a mix and match rotation there trying kent out on the right giving ferrera some some like time rest rotate out sometimes i think that's a it's a good it's a good shout like and putting De La Vega back on the other side, that worked for him.
00:38:06
Speaker
So maybe that would work for Ryan Kent, right? he could I honestly think you could even even have Ferreira on the bench and have De La Vega in the middle, then have Kent on the other side, along with someone like Rothrock.
00:38:21
Speaker
Okay, okay. I dig it. I have one more thing to to run by you. What do you think of of a new signing like Roman Celitano for when Fry retires?
Potential Signings and Future Prospects
00:38:32
Speaker
I'm Andy T. I'm Andy T. Till I die personally. We're pretty. Roma Salantano is really fucking good though. Yeah. So like that wouldn't be bad, but I'm, I've got to be honest.
00:38:43
Speaker
I love Andy T. I'm not that good about it. If they signed a pedigree vet like that, I wouldn't hate it. Although, I'm sort of of the mind that devoting a lot of financial resources towards goalkeeper, it's just not something that you always need to do. Roman Berkey.
00:39:02
Speaker
i mean I like the idea of an in-house guy taking over as well. So, it's not something that's like like I said, that I'm super... locked in on but wait is Celentano what's the deal with him he's free agent I believe so oh okay yeah salerie things once Vargas is sold I mean that's 15 million isn't it plus the club world cup money so you you have a lot of room to to to do something like that Yeah, well, I mean, we'll see what they actually end up selling Obed for, but I think it's going to be 10 plus.
00:39:32
Speaker
Yeah. so All right, Tribe. one i have one more for Tribe here. Okay, Tribe, you seem like ah you seem like a player's guy. You seem like you you you you know you know ball in terms of, like, guys.
00:39:44
Speaker
So I want to ask you about the Noah Ohio rumor, right? Oh, I'm excited. I'm very, very excited. He's he's big. He can also dribble. He's like Will Bruin except with better feet. I'm very, very excited for him.
00:39:55
Speaker
okay Okay, tell us a little more. Tell us a little more. I want to hear it because like I haven't really bought into the hype yet. So I want to lay it down for us. Okay, so he's he's very he's obviously Dutch. He's going to come in with that sort of Ruben Amirim sort of experience when it comes to play.
00:40:13
Speaker
ah he's He's really, really good when it comes to just dribbling, getting out of tight areas like you saw from Obed Vargas. Today, he he's he's I would want to say he's like Rui Diaz, but he doesn't have the same path when he usually drives forward. He can also play very centrally when it comes to passes through the middle.
00:40:33
Speaker
I really like him because he's very, very fast. He's very speedy. He has speed almost like Jordan Morris, although the only issue is he is a bit injury prone. But besides that, I think he would be an absolutely out outrageous signing for us and i'm very very excited for that young man to come here okay i love it that's the most no ohio hype we've heard yet and i'm i'm open to it like i don't know much about him my thing on it has been like i try and like be uh what's it like manage expectations with a u22 signing that's not like a super high price tag the track record within mls of those hitting yeah isn't very uh
00:41:11
Speaker
It's not very high hit rate, but that doesn't mean it can't hit it. Like if you, if you scout it up, right. And you do it on the right player, you can profit mightily off, off signings like that. It's just kind of hard to do, but if he's a profile of guy, like you're saying that, that could live up to that, then yeah I mean, hell yeah.
00:41:29
Speaker
Love it. all number but All right. We got, we got James in the queue behind you, tribe, but tribe, great call. Thanks. Yeah. All right. Cheers. changing me Appreciate you. Cheers. Go Sounders, man.
00:41:41
Speaker
Let's hit this super chat before we hit James. James can wait. He is rocking a really nice clip. We got a $5 from NWA 987. nine eight seven Thank you so much for the support. Went out for a friend's birthday, got drunk, and fell asleep after 12 minutes, and we did not look good in those 12 minutes. The first half was bad, dude. yeah I didn't watch the first half, so I'm glad I didn't watch. I had to have Ari recapped me. It's good that you that you didn't watch Like it was, I don't know if it was the worst half half offensively they've had this season, but it was, it was like, uh, it was like pulling teeth for sure.
00:42:13
Speaker
But like, MLS, uh, road games are like pulling teeth sometimes. I think I even said it in the lead up to this game. Like, They're playing a team that they're way that's way worse than them, but they're doing it on an extremely long road trip.
00:42:28
Speaker
And I think MLS, just as much as any league, I've learned the lesson. You can go into any game thinking that you have the advantage on paper. And then when the game starts, because of whatever the factors might be, fixture, congestion, injuries, heavy legs, whatever,
00:42:44
Speaker
it ends up like pulling teeth and you it's you just have to survive gut it out and oftentimes hope you get a point so the fact that this game was looking like that in the first half wasn't like the craziest thing to me but uh i think the uh the thing that stings about it coming off of it is it's like yeah it went like that in the first half and then they scored two goals in the second half and should've won the game correct should have won the game anyway So that well let's see. Let's see here. Now we've got James. Let's see what his thoughts are about how Russnak helped get this draw in this match. James, how are we doing? Welcome in. What's going on, man?
00:43:18
Speaker
I mean, the answer to your question would be he fouled Gregerson there to set up Petro's goal. So that, I mean, that's a form of a assist. i suppose Let's go. Come on. The man plays 4D chess. yeah he's Yeah. James, what did you think of ah the result? the yeah Getting the lead there right at the end and then blowing it actually right at the end.
00:43:41
Speaker
yeah i mean it was a total roller coaster i mean uh because i uh i thought that was the best cross i've seen from alex in maybe three years and then knew who had ossa's cross was awesome ossa hits it with his face yeah just felt like it was gonna be one of those kind days and then he scores from an equally improbable cross from new who yeah and it's like oh it's all right and then you know the the russian that everybody in atlanta hates it puts in a goal of the season contender. so just Oh my God. He's like, that guy is like a bust for them.
00:44:14
Speaker
Yeah. Their fan base like hates him. He was one of the most expensive players in MLS. I can't remember the exact fee, but I think it was over 10 million. It was over $10 million. Yeah. yeah Which, I mean, that you know, how many players have even come in for that much money?
00:44:30
Speaker
So, I mean, you he he would have had to have been and ladero quality and he very much hasn't been up until the moment he decided to take a shot on us so yeah apparently in this against the seattle sounders in second half stoppage time he becomes a god tier designated player and mls well gotta i gotta to ask you i thought he looked kind of good in the first half i mean i thought he looked tidy on the ball he was you know dribbling through people he's making passes i was like don't understand why they hate this guy so much and then second half he dramatically fell off right up until he scored the goal of the season so um but i thought
00:45:00
Speaker
I, you know, definitely to build on the previous point, the conversation from the poor hungover individual there. um It was definitely not our our worst offensive half of the season. That was San Diego away, which was probably the worst half I've seen this play since the Kansas City game that got Siggy fired. So it's like, yeah, that's such a low baseline that when people were like, oh, this is one of our worst halves, it's like, no. I kind of like don't even include that in the yeah rankings because it was so egregious. Yeah, I'm i'm grading it on the normal curve.
00:45:32
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. But I thought, you know, it was just I thought, you know, maybe the last couple of games we've sort of seen a path with the style that we need to go because that first half, the reason was so hooked terrible is because we went back to the horseshoe of death and it was just awful.
00:45:47
Speaker
um Just tons of passing around the middle, then out to the wings and then nothing happened. But then Yammer just yeets one down the field and De La Vega gets onto and scores.
00:45:59
Speaker
Maybe we need to be more of a counterattacking team. Maybe we need to work on absorbing the pressure and and not being so possession focused. i don't i don't I don't know if it's like, ah you know, they need to be a counterattacking team. But in that situation, didn't it feel like Atlanta was bunkering in the first half? am I crazy?
00:46:17
Speaker
Like they were up one zero and they were sitting back. Oh, they absolutely dropped off. um that I thought they were quite, ah you know, they were quite aggressive going forward until they scored and then they absolutely dropped it off.
00:46:27
Speaker
Yeah. And I imagine when you've got, you know, you saw that run that I'm going to say his name wrong. Latte Love made um that Obed had the miraculous recovery run on. You can sort of see why they were content to bunker and counter because obviously that guy's fast. That guy's strong.
00:46:43
Speaker
So, I mean, they obviously had a plan there that was interrupted by the boundless energy of a 19 year old. But, you know, the the horseshoe of death was absolutely not working. Not only was it not working, it was horrendous to watch.
00:46:58
Speaker
um And then that's that's kind of the second breakaway goal that Pedro de la Vega has had. And even beyond those, a lot of our goals have been punishing in the last few weeks, you know,
00:47:12
Speaker
Punishing goalkeeper errors. There was that one. ah who was Who had the really terrible one? Zach Steffen. Thank you, yes. yeah Oh, dude, that was awesome. Yeah, um and then then a bad clearance and in the last game for this one that ended up with that Rusnak goal on the empty net.
00:47:29
Speaker
Maybe we just need to do the Minnesota thing, absorb pressure, and then punish on the counter. We would have to be good at taking set pieces if we were Minnesota, and we were just talking about this. We're terrible at set pieces. And okay, i because, you know, I know you're ah i know you're a Brigader, but like, you're quality Brigader.
00:47:47
Speaker
ah Last year, Albert Rosanak was honestly really good at corners and set pieces and stuff, but it seems like he's fallen off a little bit. I gotta get i gotta get your perspective on it for from Brigader.
00:48:00
Speaker
I think that I don't know the reason for the drop off. Maybe losing Morris as target is part of it because Morris did score some of those, including it wasn't a Rusnak. That's very actually. but It wasn't a Rusnak corner, but he did score the one that Jaapala put in against LA in the playoffs.
00:48:16
Speaker
um I have said for a while that they need to take Rusnak off set piece duty, not only because it hasn't been effective, but because i think... I think that if you take away that opportunity to get second assists or or primary assists and up his stats that way, it's going encourage him to do more in live play because he wasn't up to much today.
00:48:36
Speaker
um So I think that if you, you know, give Pedro a shot. you know i don't mind the idea of letting someone else take him just because they haven't they haven't popped i agree so did there needs to be a change well my dad corners my corners on corners if you give him a dangerous free kick i still probably want him taking it although de la vega i mean set pieces are theoretically in his bag so i wouldn't yeah i don't mind changing up at this point because like even watching the game today there was a couple situations where seattle got fouled in a dangerous area and i was just like all right i mean that's
00:49:11
Speaker
sick nothing's yeah yeah well jesus ferrera taking a corner i don't know there's like tons of options just mix it around ferrera was good at free kicks for dallas yeah yeah yeah i i do think that i mean one of the problems that schmetzer has is is because we don't have that that ladero that rui diaz kind of game changer i think schmetzer and this is to his credit this is not a criticism at all he finds what works He rides until it stops where until it's just burned in the ground, and then it stops working.
00:49:41
Speaker
you know The Morris breakaways really started to dry up. and It worked really well when he subbed him in for Ruiz Diaz. ah Kind of dried up towards the end of the second season after LAFC kind of broke that code and just played a super deep line. and ah Set pieces, maybe the opponent has decoded it.
00:49:57
Speaker
And so he's got to sort of move on to the next thing. That's just what he has continuously done over the last few years. And i don't I don't bet against him to find another thing. you know Maybe we do become Minnesota light and just keep trying to spring La Vega out there to hit it from distance.
00:50:18
Speaker
good work At least at the very least, ah I think something that they could have done more of today is sometimes when a team is just in a low block like that and you can't break it down, you almost have to like yield them the ball a little bit and then try and win it off of them and get out on the break.
00:50:36
Speaker
And i was like right before the De La Vega goal, I was like, they got to like try and get out and transition more because this team is literally putting six, seven dudes in the box. Six, seven? Any any cross, like any through ball, it's just not working.
00:50:52
Speaker
So you got to try and unbalance them. You got to try and get after them that way. And then sure enough, that's how the equalizer arrives. So it's... it' just some distance shots you yeah Christian, it's it's not talked about much, but the guy's got a cannon.
00:51:07
Speaker
you know So try to get him- Taylor Vega has some of the best distance shooting, like I think in the league right now, honestly, like in terms of ah like not how many he's scored, but his ability to hit those, like he's really good at that.
00:51:22
Speaker
so Yeah. yeah um I feel bad ragging on him because I know he's a kid and it's really not his natural position, but I don't think we should try more of Baker Whiting at left back. ah You know, I know it's it's not it's not entirely fair because it's Almiron. It's one of the most expensive players in the league, but it's not even so much that Almiron cooked him a few times, which he did, but that first goal, Baker White is just not reading the ball correctly.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah, he got beat there pretty bad. and I think that it's, you know, if we're going to go for it, because we have a decision to make his contracts up at the end of the year. I don't think there's an option. If we're going to continue with this, then somebody's got to get out there and mentor him because I just don't, I don't see It's not even something like Costa Rienzi where it's like, oh there's rough around the edges and parts, but I see there's potential there. I just, I just don't see it with Baker White at least as a left back.
00:52:16
Speaker
I'm opposite of you i because I see the vibe. i see the I see the vision. I think he needs to firm up some more defensive things.
Defensive Strategies and Player Development
00:52:24
Speaker
And it's like run of play stuff that you can't really train on the ground. Like reading that ball in the lights in Atlanta against one of the greatest major league soccer players of all time is going to make you a better defender, but also like, yeah, he is an experience.
00:52:42
Speaker
And like for all of the shit that I give Nuhu, He's most likely, if he's in position, going to be able to close that down or at least know how to play that ball better. And that comes with experience. And I think that Reid's vision and play out of the back makes the center backs better as well.
00:53:01
Speaker
Like, I really think that, and I called this out on the podcast, of like when John Bell was playing last match, He was better because Reed was yelling at him and telling him to make these line-breaking passes.
00:53:12
Speaker
And Reed sees the field a lot better than Nuhu. He knows how to combine way better with Pedro de la Vega. I think the reality is, is like you're sacrificing his defensive... You're sacrificing the defensive quality of someone like Nuhu so that you can have that like field vision that Reed has and just hope that you can train him up to be a better...
00:53:36
Speaker
solid defensive player, if that makes sense. Because I don't think you're wrong that it's like, maybe it's not his... best position but like we don't need another winger we don't need another winger we need a wing back and so if you can if you can forge him into that while he's young that would rock i'm i am an apologist for reed i will be honest like i that is i like him as a player i like him as a person and i really like just like his vision and i'm that's very much like the type of archetype of play that that gets me excited so i can see where you're coming from i'm also
00:54:09
Speaker
There was any my boy. yeah He just got to get. He got got. to up his He got got. Well, and then there was also the the Latte Loth breakaway you were talking. to Yeah. where oh yeah Reed was the one who's like had a chance to cut that out. Correct. Latte Loth got by him.
00:54:23
Speaker
I mean, you know, he got burned by 30 million dollars worth of transfer fees. today So um it is tough to know what to make of it yeah in isolation. But ah James, you got a couple people behind you. But is there any ah anything else you wanted to get out there about this game?
00:54:36
Speaker
ah Thoughts and prayers to the injured referee. oh Yeah, yes. and i can you're wearing the You're wearing his colors in his honor, right? Yeah, and I cannot say how disappointed I am that baby D-Ro didn't do his dad's celebration.
00:54:52
Speaker
I was so... Oh, yeah. The arms and the walk. But yeah, thank you much for taking my call. I hope you all have a great evening. Thank you, James. Pleasure as always. Always good to talk to you.
00:55:04
Speaker
All right. We got Jake up next. Jake, you ready? that's the way we're Jake said he was crashing out, so we got to calm him down. Jake might have tossed back a few. no take All right. He's got the squad with him. How are you feeling, Jake? 2-2 at Atlanta. Almost a D-row. Not D-row.
00:55:21
Speaker
Kind of D-row. And an unfortunate concession at the very end. Sirs? right am i Am I the Jake or am I like...
00:55:33
Speaker
There are like several Jakes on this, need to make sure it's good. You're on it. for jake Hey, I just wanted to ask, yeah guys everyone will say do you guys know the documentary wants everyones know that Becoming Zlatan?
00:55:51
Speaker
but Becoming Zlatan? I haven't seen it, but I've heard of it. yeah I've heard of it, but haven't watched it. Is it good?
00:55:58
Speaker
It's the best documentary, the sports documentary ever, but Because of Pedro de Covey's struggles, I thought that maybe we'd all have a...
00:56:13
Speaker
I'm sorry, I'm running from people. I think Pedro de Covey is doing well, and he's done the best thing for us for a long time. and now that we have 2-2 and everyone is saying that we should have won, want get your thoughts.
00:56:29
Speaker
on, uh, on De La Vega specifically. Yes. um Sell him, sell him, sell him to Atlanta. It's been, uh, it's been just great, great to see him look like a DP. Like that's, that's sort of, I think when, no when Noah and I were going back and forth on it on the, uh, on the last podcast, like all the, all the caveats mentioned of like, he needs to sustain it and it's only one game.
00:56:54
Speaker
And it like, that This doesn't necessarily mean he's arrived. That all is true. And it's still true, even though he got another goal in this game. This is still like early in his in his theoretical breakout.
00:57:06
Speaker
But for me, it's just it was an important step, first of all, to see him dominate a single singular game like he did against the Quakes. And it was also and just encouraging to see that he has like performances like this in his bag, like being able to dominate in a home game against San Jose, take it on the road, get a big goal at Atlanta.
00:57:29
Speaker
All right. you think they are and a dp needs Exactly what you said in the last game. You said right before we did all this in the lobby scorch, you said, if he did what he did in San Jose,
00:57:45
Speaker
And he did it here. Then his stock has increased. Correct. And he did exactly that. he he didn And look me all we all went and fucked it up.
00:57:56
Speaker
I went and fucked it up. I went to Atlanta. I flew into the thing. i went down there and I helped the Sounders fuck this thing the fuck. Oh, you were at the match.
00:58:06
Speaker
No wonder. No, I'm in Seattle. I'm sitting here on Earth Hill. But in spirit, you guys, I'm with you every time. I'm in a space. These people are chasing me right now.
00:58:19
Speaker
had to run. and Okay. so the whole point is becoming Zlatan. In that documentary, there's this whole thing about how, oh, I'm the lion. I'm the dragon, all this other stuff.
00:58:32
Speaker
And it turns out when he was playing in Sweden and he was playing in his low mid like whatever league he got hurt.
00:58:43
Speaker
And they sent him to IACS on a stretcher. They sent him there on a stretcher. and then he becomes a lot of time while he's well, he's in IACS and he does this garbage.
00:58:58
Speaker
Everyone's talking about how he's not worth it. And he's, he's not in the right place. And then he becomes Latan. So we need to send him to Iox. We need to send him to Iox. No.
00:59:11
Speaker
This is our guy. They sent him to us. He got injured a year. Keep Pedro. Let's stop the discourse. Just let him cook.
00:59:23
Speaker
okay He's going to be the greatest MLS player who ever lived. If we let him go, if we let him go, it's on us. I don't think the conversation of him actually getting sold is like that serious of one. Like it's, it's fun to talk about theoreticals, but like, I don't have any expectation. Like if him starting to play well and increasing his value, they would just be like, we need that for this team.
00:59:52
Speaker
All right. No, he's the, he's the guy. He's going to be the greatest. Pedro de la Vega is the goat agenda. Thank you, Jake, for calling. that's what saying youre doing the vote Cook this up. ah Come on. I love it. Yeah.
01:00:03
Speaker
Dude, he shot outside the box like a boss. He's on his Watan Ark. All right, we're going to keep it a moving to Jeremy. But, Jake, thank you for the call, man. Much love. Drink another beer for me. Drink another beer for me. Bye.
01:00:19
Speaker
Take care. ah All right, we got Jeremy from ah Cascadia FC. is that yeah Give me the thumbs up if I got it right. i always I'm always not sure if i got the name right.
01:00:31
Speaker
Jeremy, first of all, let me let me say let me say thank you. Thank you for beating LAFC. What an honor it is to be able to celebrate ah you going down there and being the good luck charm.
01:00:44
Speaker
ah So that's all I have to say. Shout out.
01:00:49
Speaker
I'm still here actually. um I'm in my hotel room in Englewood right now. Am I like a little laggy? It looks like i'm laggy on my phone. Yeah, you're pretty laggy, but we hear you okay. yeah Okay, that's good. They're not like us.
01:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, no no one needs to see my face at all, but they can see this hat, this hat, which is very cool. Very cool Cascadia FC merch. I noticed y'all were talking about Noah Ohio earlier.
01:01:12
Speaker
And I'd like to do a quick little plug that my colleague, Michael Martinez, did write a nice little piece about ah how likely that NOAA Ohio transfer is. It's up on the website right now.
01:01:25
Speaker
um So that's pretty cool. I got to learn my ah my Ohio. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I mean, that it's bad enough that Cincy and Columbus are the talk of MLS right now. We we got to add another Ohio to it. So yeah whatever.
Game Dynamics and Resilience
01:01:41
Speaker
Ohio is the center of the universe. And is this here's my question. Is this the most tick tock named player that could ever come to MLS? Like.
01:01:51
Speaker
Dude's going to have Ohio on the back of his name. That's like a whatever the kids say. Skibody, Skibody, Ohio or something like that. ah I don't know what the kids say. I'm 26 years old and I don't have a TikTok account.
01:02:07
Speaker
Okay, well, that's what you're lacking because I'm 25 and Ari is 43. Understandable. Yeah. Oh, man. But um yeah, I do believe that a lot of... I can't remember what the earlier caller was who was talking a lot about him. ah That's the opinion that my colleague shares about Noah Ohio. I think he actually...
01:02:30
Speaker
He used the word Will Bruin, who is a word. He certainly isn't a guy at all. but um He's a podcaster. Yeah, he's so he's a podcaster now. So, I mean, good. good he's He's entered our profession.
01:02:44
Speaker
He does. He does voice reads for the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, fun fact. but that's ah That's actually pretty cool. you know ah Proud of him for that because he's no longer on the field and scoring goals against Portland, which he does like to do.
01:02:56
Speaker
did that. Yeah, ah this game, which, by the way, I didn't watch like the majority of it. i I was out in Santa Monica. That's good. We should get your opinions on it then. That's for sure. No, but um ah based on what I did see and what I can ascertain from this,
01:03:14
Speaker
ah but somehow it's a good result. And purely because going on the road, particularly to an Eastern Conference team, is always tough in this league. Just going on the road, period.
01:03:28
Speaker
in this league is uh very tough so even if you're lo you drop two points from a one in a well actually mean it's not really a one in a million he did that against miami last year as ross smith was so kind to point out on the podcast on the on the broadcast uh you you lose you lose two points due to that shot like it just happens you know like the The important thing is once again, the way that the team rebounded in the second half, the way that Pedro de la Vega scored again, i feel like, um, since he cut his hair,
01:04:04
Speaker
that that's what turned it around for him. Right. has to be they are I said at the time, whenever an athlete cuts their hair, they're like trying to reset the vibe. We did say that. And that's like what he was doing. And it seems to have worked.
01:04:17
Speaker
I cut my hair and like, I've scored a couple of goals in Sunday league. So I think that could be like, i just real quick. I want to clarify something. I'm not actually 43. He's 45. Not actually 43. he's forty five not actually forty three
01:04:31
Speaker
He's 21. He's 21, guys. Just turned 21. i just Just a little guy. i agree with what you're saying. The result is is fine. like A point on the road, I'll usually take it, even against a bad team. like That's the thing like I think you've got to realize.
01:04:47
Speaker
the the the When you're talking about a road trip of this season, distance the quality between the teams and MLS doesn't like make a difference in the way that you would think it should it just doesn't like those games turn into slogs a lot of the time ah so like if you told me before the game they were gonna draw that I'd be like fine fine take the point and come home but like just the circumstances of like being 10 seconds, five seconds, literally five seconds from winning the game and getting two more crucial points in the, uh, in the way it's a draw. It's a draw that feels like, you know, like it does it, it doesn't, maybe it won't in a couple days, but like right now, well, that depends on how the emotional recovery goes guys. Yeah. The emotional recovery. Okay. Here's my question. You know, you've been in LA.
01:05:35
Speaker
Are you doing emotional recovery right now? I mean, well last night, okay, last night after I left BMO Stadium but with a bunch of LAFC fans who were completely oblivious to the fact that they had just lost, I ran into this stray cat in the parking lot, and I spent like two to three minutes just like trying to get it to come over so I could pet it.
01:05:59
Speaker
Yeah. It did not want to come over. it was very interested in just like the random piles of cat food that were just on the ground outside the stadium. I don't know. its it just It just didn't feel real in a way.
01:06:13
Speaker
We should acquire about the happy foot, sad foot guys. they They probably know the lore of this cat. I'm 90% sure they were sitting behind me and i asked them if it was Nielsen who tried that bicycle kick and i don't, they just like did not respond. And I was like, ah this this is like for my work guys. Was that Nielsen? Cause like the way the press box is at LAFC, I don't know if you've been there.
01:06:36
Speaker
It's all the way in the corner. It's kind of like Lumen, but it's like, it's like directly on top of the corner flag, but like, um diagonal a little bit.
01:06:47
Speaker
So it isn't like you're looking like straight at the field. You can see the off sidelines from that. Aaron or Travis. i I couldn't tell. i I just looked at the seating charts. I'm like, Oh, who are all these people here? Cause like, I don't know any of them.
01:07:00
Speaker
And like, I try to like meet people and be nice whenever I go on the road to cover the timbers. Cause usually I'm the only Portland representative on the road whenever I go. But yeah, I was just like blonde hair or not blonde hair.
01:07:14
Speaker
I think he had blonde hair. Like I said, last night was a complete blur and mostly just due to my own sleep deprivation. I was going to call Travis and harass him and see if, but I think he's on a boat right now. So I'm not going he owns a boat.
01:07:27
Speaker
So that's probably why he didn't respond to you. Cause he thinks he's cool. Cause he owns a boat now. Yeah. Well, it is, it is a pretty good day to be on the boat if you're in LA. So I, I can't blame him at all for that. the but The other thing I'd really like to say, i'd like to make one more point before I cede my time. ah Minnesota came back against St. Louis.
01:07:45
Speaker
They scored two penalty kicks. they St. Louis had a man sent off. I don't understand how, like, i'm I make a joke, like, there's a running bit that I have about how the Sounders can't keep getting away with it.
01:07:59
Speaker
And it looked like today they were about to get away with it until they didn't. But, like, Minnesota also falls into that category because they actually conceded the first goal in this game.
01:08:11
Speaker
And they somehow managed to get, which also was from a penalty kick, mind you. that This game ended two one with all three goals being from penalty kicks. and ah somehow they're able to come back and get two penalty kicks of their own and get a St. Louis player sent off in the process. so But Minnesota is also in the they can't keep getting away with it tier. and so It's unfortunate to to hear that, but ah it would it was always going to be a lot to ask for St. Louis to ah behave competently in that situation. i will I didn't have my hopes particularly high on that, but it's annoying because it sounds like that they actually almost did it.
01:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it only takes a really great team to go into St. Louis and lose. So that's all that's all I'm going to say on that. But, ah you know you yeah.
01:09:02
Speaker
ah Are you excited that we're going to have to play each other in the playoffs or what? I mean, i don't want to so i don't want to say anything about playoffs right now because I still feel like playoff yeah just the jostling for seeds that's just going to keep happening within the West. Like LAFC, everyone was thinking like, oh they're just going to shoot like right up the field, ah shoot right up the table again now that ah their Club World Cup journey is over.
01:09:29
Speaker
When in reality, like their team is 99% Denny Buonga.
Rivalry and Emotional Moments
01:09:33
Speaker
Yeah, and he doesn't want to play sometimes. Oh, did you guys see that? Remember the guy they got for the Club World Cup? Dilrosa? Yeah, he's gone he's gone. Yeah, he's gone. yeah No, he was there.
01:09:45
Speaker
good Good use of the word. Wait, wait, wait, wait, ari i was told I was told that if you didn't use this window, if you didn't sign a player, you were...
01:09:56
Speaker
What was the word? Incompetent? Something like that? I was told by the aggregators that I was insane. did it did that That it was malpractice. Well... How's that going for LAFC? Good use of the window. I mean, I guess it's kind of sick they had a player on their team for 40 days. They extended his loan by one day so he could play in that Portland match. Isn't that hilarious?
01:10:20
Speaker
They did. And actually, based on what I saw, they like really needed him for that too, which I find even funnier because you are LAFC. You should not be needing an extra game of Dilrosun at home.
01:10:34
Speaker
like against a Timbers team that is just not good at all on the road, aside from yesterday, which was, once again, very, very nice to see. We appreciate the Timbs for that.
01:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. i I always think it's funny whenever LAFC loses at home because I don't know if you guys know this. They've only lost 18 games at home across their entire MLS existence.
01:11:00
Speaker
They've only been around since 2025. That's like, you know... twenty twenty five so and that's like you know that ah That doesn't surprise me, honestly. like they they They have had a lot of years where they're just like a freight train in that building.
01:11:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right, Jeremy, anything else you wanted to... ah Plug your own stuff. Yeah, dog plug. um I'm wearing this really cool hat right now. It's because run... I'm a co-managing editor of Cascadia FC. We cover...
01:11:30
Speaker
Every single ah Pacific Northwest soccer team, which actually earned me a bit of ire from some Timbers fans because they saw that there was Sounders content on the site.
01:11:41
Speaker
And i stab I said, it's called Cascadia FC, guys. You know, the whole region, the cup that we all fight for. um they they did not like it. We actually lost some paid subscribers due to that too, which actually find paid sub and then not. Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. they did paid sub And then get mad that there's extra free content.
01:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, they were like, what are you doing? They didn't want to see any Sounders stuff on there. So they just canceled their subscription, even though they've been subscribed for like years. I took quite a chuckle at that. Even if it's money out of my pocket, like that's just really funny. And I i have to admire the pettiness.
01:12:21
Speaker
But once again, ah frowny face. But some of that Sounders content you can find on there is that aforementioned piece about Noah, Ohio, which I actually think is pretty good. Very illuminating.
01:12:32
Speaker
Very well done by my co-managing editor, Michael Martinez, to get that done. You can find it at our new website, cascadia-fc.ghost.io. That is all from me.
01:12:43
Speaker
Thank you, guys, Ari and Noah. You guys are great. And I thoroughly enjoy coming on here whenever you allow me to. Oh yeah. I'm having you on Jeremy. Likewise, man. We'll, ah we'll catch you next time.
01:12:53
Speaker
All right.
01:12:56
Speaker
Uh, we got J O. We have our overlord. He heard, he said, is is there another blog being plugged? It's time for me to, it's time for me to break onto the scene and make sure I plug my own. We got sounder at heart overlord. clater bylar rush and On the show.
01:13:12
Speaker
Jeremiah, I guess, uh, how are you feeling emotionally? First of all, like are you going to be taking some emotional rest? We'll be emotional recovery, emotional recovery. ah You know, it was a roller coaster.
01:13:24
Speaker
I was like a minute 94. was like, okay, a point is fine, whatever, who cares? And then they get the goal and it's, whoa, this is great. They deserve it.
01:13:38
Speaker
Fully deserved. ari okay Ari, literally, I was like, we need to change the title to last second game winner. He's like, yeah, but that's going to jinx it And I was like, nah, bro, we're running this. And then it immediately jinxed yeah the The contrast in reaction between when the Osaze goal went in in my apartment and then, like, so when the Osaze goal went in, you know, we were both like, we're jumping up and down. And then the Miran Chuck goal went in and we were both like,
01:14:05
Speaker
just Yeah, I mean, you you, I couldn't even get mad about the, I mean, I was mad about, i will say this, when the ball went out, I was like, blow the whistle, the game's over. Game's over.
01:14:17
Speaker
ah Whatever. Yeah, you asked that question. Did you ask the officials about that? I didn't ask the officials, but I asked Brian and Brian said that the officials told him, I mean, and whatever, like, I think he's probably right. Like it.
01:14:32
Speaker
Was it that egregious long of a goal selling? It wasn't that the celebration was so long. I think it was that they delayed the restart to just check for offside and. All right. what i'm not i mean I don't know. I don't love it. I don't, not going to sit here and like say it was great, but woke var made us lose this game. That's, that's my new, that's my new bit.
01:14:51
Speaker
Yeah. Hey, I just wanted to also say I did hear the plug on the other blog. ah I believe that blog was also reporting that Utrecht was asking for $10 million. dollars was that the ah Was that the rumor of the... like That's where the rumor came from, yeah.
01:15:07
Speaker
Oh, okay. I mean, I can't speak to any... Utrecht was not asking for $10 million. dollars I'll just say that. Okay. Were they trying to hike the price up?
01:15:20
Speaker
Maybe. I mean, they I think they pay. i think the the fee they seem to have agreed to that is like, i don't know if you've seen the the latest report is that they have agreed on a fee. Come on. Right. They've agreed on a fee, but they're basically it's deciding if if Ohio actually wants to come out here or not.
01:15:37
Speaker
uh since we're talking noah ohio it's a good opportunity to get our noah ohio super chat thank you for the five dollar noah ohio is second only to johnny utah from point break which is the first best worst 90s movie ever um i actually have never seen point break does that make me fix that point break's great all right that's so on my list point break thank you rhombus appreciate you we'll use that five dollars to rent the movie um at blockbuster remake though make sure you watch the original 90s all right uh keanu reeves um patrick it's good stuff wow keanu and pat sways in the yeah it's i and uh and uh uh anthony kiedis i believe is also oh okay
01:16:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's a ah the beacon of my childhood red hot chili peppers. Yeah, so ah no Ohio, no Ohio.
Match Reflections and Highlights
01:16:38
Speaker
Let's talk about the game more. Let's talk about that yeah about the game. Yeah, that guy. Because, you know, obviously the ending, it it was unfortunate. There's no two ways about it. Anytime you're ahead with literally five seconds left in the game and you give up the equalizer, that's it. That's going to be on the literal last kick of the game, literal last kick of the game.
01:16:58
Speaker
That's going to be a draw that feels like, an l you know, at least like in the immediate aftermath. I'm going to say this. There are draws that feel like L's. I don't think this is a draw that feels like an L. It's just a draw that does not feel as good as it should.
01:17:13
Speaker
Because i don't i don't feel like a loss here. It's road draw that doesn't feel as good as it should. I think that's fair Yeah, I mean, they were they were they were second away from winning the game. So, yes, it doesn't feel great. But I don't – I think to say – like, to me, the Colorado game was a draw that felt like a loss, undeniably.
01:17:31
Speaker
Because it was at home. It was at home. You had a 3-0 lead. Yeah, you had a 3-0 lead. Yeah. You looked like shit in the first half game. You know, i think I think we just really deserve three points in this game. let's They were also, like, very close to it finishing in a 1-1 draw, which that would have felt fine to me if it had ended like that. That's my point.
01:17:48
Speaker
So, yeah, no, you're, ah it's just, um I wanted the Osase. I mean, don't give me they've dropped now six points from games. They absolutely, or not absolutely. They could have very easily won. They dropped the points against Charlotte, which a game they should have won.
01:18:05
Speaker
They dropped the points against Colorado. They were up three zero. You got to win that game. And they dropped the two points here. So that's six points. You throw those six points in, they're contending for the top spot in the West. They're almost a ah ah supporter shield contender.
01:18:18
Speaker
You add six points. Now, ifs and buts and truck nuts or something, I don't know what the saying is. Hell yeah. But, ah you know, it's it's frustrating that they've dropped points like this.
01:18:30
Speaker
I suppose it's good that they haven't actually lost games that they more should have won. You know, this was a game they, you know, look, they played like crap. They played about as bad of a first half. What I said is that they played the worst first the worst half that they'd played since Vancouver.
01:18:47
Speaker
it was bad It was very bad. I mean, they they had two shots, something like.03 xg..03. That was for Noah. And they looked like crap. I mean, they they couldn't they they didn't they didn't look like they knew what they were doing. And they came out, and they looked a lot better in the second half. And i was you know it was funny because i was I was thinking, I think about this every time they're lead they're tied late in the game. It's like, well, I just take a, how do I feel about one point?
01:19:13
Speaker
Yeah. And I was i had bargained myself into feeling OK about it. But that but also when you go into this game, you feel like you should win. Atlanta sucks. They're not good. Desperate team or not, talented or not, they aren't good.
01:19:27
Speaker
and And they showed why they aren't good. You know, they they did everything they could to give this game away. they the The way that... And I've been watching them a lot this season, so I've seen them do this before.
01:19:39
Speaker
The way they bunker when they get the lead is just like... Very weird. It's weird, but it's also like you're... You guys want to know why you blow the lead every time?
01:19:49
Speaker
You want to know you know i want want to know why? It's because you're not you don't try and score when you have it, so the other team is probably eventually going to capitalize on that. like even In this game, it was among actually the most egregious of examples I've seen from them this season.
01:20:03
Speaker
That own goal was in the what? Like... fourth minute or something, seventh minute, seventh minute. You can't close up shop in the seventh minute. like That is, we did it folks. All right. Job's done. Like, and didn't it feel like they were putting numbers behind the ball, absorbing pressure and trying to counter basically from the own goal on, like in the first half. mean, here's here's here's a little stat. I think that illustrates your point.
01:20:28
Speaker
The Sounders had 56% of possession in the first half. Yeah. Like you're at home. You've got it three of the most expensive players in MLS history on your roster.
01:20:39
Speaker
Act like you want to win the game, man. Yeah, it was it was Seattle knocking the ball around in their end the whole first half and not doing anything with it. but they like ring enough You got to be more proactive than that if you want to actually win the game.
01:20:52
Speaker
Right. I mean, to me, it felt like the Sounders were kind of like trying to find their breath and they were just trying to like get, they almost looked like at times that you just wanted to get to a half and sort of reset things.
01:21:04
Speaker
Like they did not look very proactive in the first half. That's a problem. But, you know, and so in that way, yeah yeah Atlanta was there for the taking and they should have, you know, they had it.
01:21:15
Speaker
Sounders had it, you know, frustrating. Frustrating. I mean, ah I do think for me, there's an element of like, all right, if he's going to hit a shot like that, he's going to hit a shot like that.
01:21:26
Speaker
Yeah. It is what it is. Like, that's an, like, could they have prevented the situation? Maybe. think. Could Osaze and Danny have communicated better like close them out? If want break what, if you want to lay blame on the, on the second goal, I really, I do think Osaze probably knows he needed to be more proactive in the way that he, like Danny had, was, had an assignment there.
01:21:50
Speaker
ah he was he's moving over, i believe, from Almiron at the time of it. So it's like he's maybe he's a little late, but he also, he was occupied. Osaze was just sort of in space and wasn't really doing anything out there until he suddenly realized that Moranchuk had an open look. and he he So he's a little late to close him down.
01:22:07
Speaker
If you really want to get you know, nitpicky. That's, that's probably where the breakdown is, is Osaze needs to be tighter to Moran check, but also i'm not going to sit here and beat up Osaze. He scored the, you know, the, what we thought was the game winner, like five, two minutes earlier, three minutes earlier.
01:22:24
Speaker
And if, if, if he takes that shot a hundred times, that's probably the one time he hits it like that, you know, like, He hit it perfect. This is an unsavable shot. I saw a couple of people asking if Fry gets that. No one gets that. No one gets that. I literally said that. i was like, there's not a goalkeeper in the world.
01:22:39
Speaker
That is a perfectly driven ball that is just dead straight in the air. You can see how much power he gets through that with the way that he follows his leg through and kind of crouches.
01:22:49
Speaker
He like lowers his his plant foot and kind of just drives through that. That's literally the perfect shot. It's a great goal. can't do anything about that. Yeah, I mean, you can just see how – I mean, I always think it's interesting when they show the replay. Almost every goal, right, looks like the goalie almost got there.
01:23:05
Speaker
Almost every yeah every one, almost, right? that's The margins are so thin. Thomas is nowhere near that ball. he's Well, and here's the thing, too. Even if Thomas was closer towards the center of his net, he's not he's just not saving that. He's still not getting there. not getting there. hits it the far side netting.
01:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. That's what i'm saying. It's in the top corner side netting at an angle that is impossible. He's blocked by a million defenders. I mean, it's you that's not happening. Yeah, I'm tipping the cap. GGs. Yeah, like that's a sick-ass goal. If it was a situation where average age league soccer goal they got like like the game state was super crazy and they got out on the counter and got a tap in, I would be more pressed about it.
01:23:49
Speaker
Like if he's going to hit that, then then and God bless him. He's going to hit that. Yeah, or if it's, you know, like the first game of the year, that's also Yamar own goal, where you, there's no reason that it has to happen.
01:24:03
Speaker
It's, ah you know, you're you're sort of defending. there's We can go back and find other examples of the sound of giving up late goals where they're just sort of under pressure and you're just sort of scrambling. This is just a great strike. And you you you yes, you could have prevented it. There are ways you could have prevented it But you also tip your hat and you go, okay, we'll get a mix of it.
01:24:25
Speaker
And, you know, on the topic of what we were talking about with a draw that feels like an L or whatever, like I know Atlanta season's already over anyway, but that's that's not a good result for them. No, it doesn't help them really at all. It's a much better result for Seattle. like in Undeniably a better result for Seattle. yeah so did Also, I think it to some degree it also maintains their...
01:24:47
Speaker
taking a loss in this game would have been bad. Yeah. But i getting a point here is within the range of acceptable results. I'm not going to say it was a great performance, but it was a I think, I think there's been a theme of resiliency sort of building up here.
01:25:04
Speaker
And I do think it was another sort of resilient performance. It, they don't get the three points. They, they kind of work themselves in it, but they deserved, they, they kind of gave themselves, but yeah,
01:25:17
Speaker
Yeah, I have a question about resiliency. Nuhutolo, okay? Nuhutolo versus Reed Baker Whiting. One, I want to hear your take on that. And then two, his resiliency to come out there and whip in a cross and have an assist. Nuhutolo to Osaze goal.
01:25:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. ah I'm happy for Nuhutolo. It was a great cross. Let's not take anything away from it. But, and and I will say Reed, I thought was kind of a borderline disaster in the first half.
01:25:45
Speaker
He, he had, he had a few kind of like two or three defenses two or three real bad mistakes. He had the, he had the mistake on the goal on the own goal where he misplays the ball over the top.
01:25:56
Speaker
He had ah another missed tackle that where latte loft was able to get in behind. Obed Vargas makes a great recovery tackle. Yeah. There was maybe one other little mistake, but then in the second half, he was fine, you know, and maybe even good. He had a few good line breaking dribbles. I thought he was effective going forward.
01:26:14
Speaker
He didn't really get he had the secondary on the, on the, on the goal, the Pedro goal. He had the secondary. i don't I don't know if they're going to get it. Did he get a secondary assist? No, but I'm saying like he was the one who played it to GameRare. He collected the ball and played it to GameRare. You're probably right. I don't know. like We didn't get a good shot of it on the shoot.
01:26:36
Speaker
You're probably right. I don't know. I'm right. The camera work was something today. Yeah. Well, you know, Atlanta, those Atlanta folks. Yeah. Whatever that means. But so, you know, I think I, I don't, it will be interesting to see what Brian does with the left back position, because I don't think that Reed was great.
01:26:57
Speaker
Knew who also had a, like knew who got beat kind of weirdly right after he came in and it was, and it didn't look like he had his legs for some reason. Like, what was he, how does he not have legs? He's not played for three weeks.
01:27:08
Speaker
Uh, Maybe that's what it was. you know he Maybe it was. I don't know. Nuhu, I don't know what's going to happen there. i do want to see Reed get more time just because I think he has genuine promise.
01:27:22
Speaker
And you can sort of live with the learning. like He's not better right now than Nuhu. But I do think there's a, on some level, you want to just give him a chance. And Nuhu is not You know, this, a great assist aside, I did not think he was necessarily great. I mean, he wouldn't didn't need to be, he didn't have to be that involved today. He played for what, 20 minutes?
01:27:43
Speaker
Yeah. So ah i don't know. I mean, not going to sit here and say that knew who, that knew who redeemed himself, but you know, it was good to see. i think, I think it was a positive step towards redemption.
01:27:54
Speaker
He didn't get the thing. See, the thing with knew who is not, is he good? he like, I'm not even in that debate at this point. It's ah he's a professional soccer player. He's a veteran on this team. It's not a question that he's good. He's, he's a good player. It's right. Exactly. This is about whether or not you can trust him.
01:28:10
Speaker
And I, and I don't know that we've, that's ah only, you're only going to get that over time. You're only going to, and so you kind of, I think what we saw today is that he hasn't been ex he hasn't been excommunicated from the team. Obviously he's still got a role to play on this team.
01:28:25
Speaker
And eventually he will probably, you know, if Reed does not, take a stranglehold on the position, you assume new who will eventually get it back. And this is a step in the right direction, but I don't think it's so good. Like the gap between them is not so big that I all of a sudden I'm clamoring for new who to be back in the lineup.
01:28:42
Speaker
James with a crazy stat here. RBW gets sent off more per minute than new who. Well, yeah, but you know, uh, adjusting for minutes. Um, uh, what about your, uh, what about your De La Vega takes another goal?
01:28:56
Speaker
uh coming off his best game he comes up in a big moment again what do you make of the uh little ascent here we've witnessed in the last couple weeks oh it was great it's great i think it was you know i just listened to you guys's podcast uh actually just listened to two of the po the two podcasts in the last few days the one where you guys rail on him and then the one where you you make noah eat shit over it yeah and ah And Noah, I actually, I gotta say, Noah took it well. I think he actually articulated a very sensible argument, which is it's not about one performance. It's about showing consistently what you can do. And he said, we want to see him.
01:29:39
Speaker
We all want him to do well. i I actually appreciated, you know, we don't get a lot of nuance in this podcasting space. And I think Noah showed some nuance there in willing to take a big opinion. I'll give him a big opinion. Let's go. Take a big opinion. I think Ari did a good job of holding your feet to the fire.
01:30:01
Speaker
And, you know, we are we doing a ah performance review right now? Yes. Yeah. it is Yeah. ah like But no, i thought I thought it was a good performance from Pedro. He wasn't as influential as he as he was last week, obviously.
01:30:14
Speaker
But it was a it was great to see him get a goal. It was a well-taken goal. Let's not take anything away from the goal. he he you know He cheats high there, which is which was funny because Brian was talking about how he needs to not be doing that all the time.
01:30:28
Speaker
But yet he got the goal. So or what am I supposed say? Yeah. But it was not an easy – there's nothing easy about that goal. He, you know, they do a good job of closing down the angle.
01:30:38
Speaker
I, at first, you know, he's on a three on one, almost, you almost want them to pass it, but there's not a real clean passing lane. He had his eyes to goal the whole time. Yeah, he had his eyes to goal all the way. You can see it in his eyes.
01:30:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. He was never... but I mean, and and I appreciate you saying that because that is that is... This is exactly what I said. I said, listen, he doesn't need to have a... The same match-dominating performance that he does at San Jose. He just needs to continue to be consistent in what he offers.
01:31:07
Speaker
yeah In that first half, he was bad. Like, I don't think he was... Or not bad, I guess. He was... he was he was Not that great. he wasn't He wasn't as... No one was good in the first half. No, no one was good in the first half. which like And he did not do anything to shine, to change the narrative.
01:31:24
Speaker
ah in in yeah He was totally fine. like yeah he was He wasn't one of the players I thought was bad. Yeah, I think bad is the wrong term. But but like to what I said, is like you don't need to take over every game.
01:31:38
Speaker
yeah You just need to have consistency. And scoring a goal is consistency. Getting an assist is consistency. And you can't argue with that. And that's what I said, is like build that baseline. And he's building that. And he's going to get to take over.
01:31:50
Speaker
He's going to get his league's cup run. And we're going to actually get to see a really good sample size of what he can do in this position, which very clearly he feels the most natural about. And then the question becomes,
01:32:02
Speaker
What the hell was Brian Schmetzer doing? Why was he not playing him on the left? That's the question it becomes. I mean, it's ah it's a fair question, right?
01:32:13
Speaker
um It's a fair question. I don't know. i it Like, I don't know. maybe who knows? it's I think it's a little convenient to say...
01:32:25
Speaker
What was he doing when he's not, you know, um now that he's performing, who knows? Maybe he needed this. maybe Maybe they built up a lot of good habits in him when he was on the right, and now they're able to unleash him. I don't, you know, I don't know. But it's, you know, it's good. Like, I'm i'm happy to see him doing well, obviously. Like, it's this is great for the Sounders. It's great for him.
01:32:48
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and I don't, I don't want to, I don't actually mean that like against Brian. Like I, I personally don't think that he was playing the hot hand. Paul Rothrock was fitting in to the exact mold that he wanted in that position. Paul Rothrock gets back in defense. um But yeah, no, like I think, I think it's cool that he's, he's tossing them out there and seeing Ryan Kent. I'd love to see a little more too. We said, Hey, maybe toss him on the right. See what happens. i don't know.
01:33:18
Speaker
Throw Kent on the right has been a... ah i And I thought Kent, actually, I thought Kent was showed some some good moments today. I've i'm i've still got my stock. I've still got my stock. I'm buying it. It's it it pennies right now. I'm not buy i'm not writing them off.
01:33:32
Speaker
ah J.O., we got ah one last caller behind you. but ah Yeah, you know, and i'll I'll hop off. I have to actually re i have to write the recap still. so Oh, okay. Missing the deadline. I see. Last second goal, ah changing the complete narrative. Yeah, I'm not going to get into the weeds on what happened today, but...
01:33:49
Speaker
ah I'll just say I have to write it. Oh, all right. Well, we'll let you, we'll let you get to it then. Thanks so much for hopping on. Sounderheart.com slash L.S. Subscribe. We get a cut. Jeremiah gets the rest of it.
01:34:01
Speaker
Let's go. Have a good one. JL. We'll catch you on the next one. All right. marathon We got Hunch last in the queue. And then I think I'm, I'm down to i call it. So no one, I'm ready to go. No one else.
01:34:14
Speaker
No one else hop in the queue. This is going to be the last call. Hunch. You are on the stage right now. Can you hear me? Yeah, you got me? Yeah. What's up, man? Sorry it took a minute. No, no problem. That guy had a lot to say. i don't know. Maybe he should get like his own podcast or something. i you get his own podcast Maybe start a website, blog, yeah something like that.
01:34:34
Speaker
Hunter 2-2 at Atlanta United. a point on the road, but a game that the Sounders really should have won. How are you feeling? Well, so I attended. I'm actually here in Atlanta right now.
01:34:44
Speaker
hell yeah. How was it? Like the stadium in the atmosphere and stuff. You would think that people are hard of hearing in that stadium because holy crap, the speaker level. Like you could not talk to the person next to you when the game was not happening.
01:34:57
Speaker
So that aside, it's a fantastic stadium. I will say that. It's been on my list like since they joined the league. I got i gotta to get out there. This is my second time and I've actually never really traveled to other games.
01:35:09
Speaker
But this is where i grew up. So I'm a visiting family and came back to visit and – all cards on the table, they're all season ticket holders with the exception of one particular ah family member who has chosen Seattle. So credit to him.
01:35:24
Speaker
Correct. the Correct choice. i And he, he, he represented yeah you like he went into enemy territory here representing Seattle. So credit to him too. Hell yeah. um But yeah, God, that first half was boring as hell, man.
01:35:41
Speaker
I was bad. Actively that really bad. Yeah. Like, yeah like and I mean, maybe, maybe rose-colored glasses. I'll take some 3-3 games and some 3-2 games over 0-1 with an own goal. It's like, mean it is wasting my time now. It's a good point because, ah and I think I mentioned this before, but... ah Noah and I, like during the dog days of last year, when we were when this show was first really, really getting going and it was at a point in time where the Sounders were not playing well offensively or scoring at all.
01:36:16
Speaker
We said a lot of times like, look, man, like the results are the results, but, uh, Like if you're going to drop points or take L's or whatever, like, can it at least be like ah like, can you at least be scoring goals and like having it be end to end or like doing something more than that's like, feels like pulling teeth, watching this team a lot.
01:36:36
Speaker
ah So, you know, having said that so much last year, i don't want to sit here this year and, and, and yeah, Crash out over when they are when they are like, yeah, they, ah you know, dropped a couple points today, but they scored a couple goals and played some good footy in the second half. So it wasn't.
01:36:52
Speaker
Well, it's like we we were reflective on the previous three matches and it's like, man, the discipline, man, the allowing the teams to come back. But it's like you took three wins in a tie or sorry, two wins in a tie in those last three matches.
01:37:05
Speaker
That's what you should be focused on. Now, yeah, was it sloppy? Of course. And if you said, oh, you're going an away match to the East Coast and you're going to come away with a tie and you're going multiple goals, would you take that? um yes Yeah. hundred hundred percent 100%. Did not look great, but you would take it. And that and and that last goal by them was ah somewhere between world-class and just below world-class.
01:37:27
Speaker
But you can't give them the opportunity. The problem was giving them opportunity to allow for the shot. not the shot itself you're not stopping that shot once it's off like that's just it um i i totally forgot to hit a uh a super that we got while uh while jo was on so we're gonna hit this and then have it uh inform uh where we take the combo because it's something that uh we should uh talk about anyway yeah i got some positive and negatives and that's on my list Yeah, so thank yeah thank you for the $2 super.
01:37:59
Speaker
Yes, what did Atlanta do to take Rusnak out of the game? ill I'll just give my take on this, Hunch, and then you can cook. But, ah I mean, in the first half, what they did to take not just Rusnak, but the whole offense, let's be real, was they put like they got a goal and sat on it and put all their numbers behind the ball and just were like, no one in this front four is, we're not going to let you do anything because we're we're sitting on a own goal one goal lead that we got in the seventh minute so like it like i don't think it like de la vega didn't like we talked about didn't have like the greatest first half ferreira didn't have the greatest first half moose didn't have the greatest first half they were they were they set up shop man like that's and like
01:38:47
Speaker
Part of ah being a good at MLS team is knowing how to break down teams like that. But I don't think they did anything special towards Rusnak or any player. I think it was just their tactics. Did you see that different? Well, let's go back further.
01:39:00
Speaker
What makes a team formidable and functional is chemistry. This is the second start De La Vega's had the left, and it's on the road. Like, there's things to work out. There's interplay that the are the immediate connections to La Vega.
01:39:14
Speaker
And then there's how... Rusnak, if he's going to feed into that, or if he's going be direct to him, how he feeds into that as well, in terms of positioning, dropping back, pushing forward, knowing he's going to make the run, not make the run, make a dummy run, whatever it is.
01:39:25
Speaker
That takes time. And that's on both of them, as far as that goes. so The one thing I will ah discredit Rusnak for is his his set pieces, man. wait We already have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:39:38
Speaker
Jesus needs to really step in. let's ah Let's start with corners. And let's also let Rusnak... take some shots when he's five, 10 yards outside the 18, just to allow the defense and the keeper to put that in their mind that they need to be conscious of it.
01:39:55
Speaker
If we never do it, they relax. And clearly we're on that and on that and on that and not, not even threatening in the same way that, and we saw this in the first half, if you pressure Seattle, especially if they're pressing in the middle, in the middle third or going down the wings and you, and you stop If it's not a breakaway, you know that the tendency is to pass it back and pass it around.
01:40:19
Speaker
Meaning that you're not really under threat from what Seattle is going to do because they're likely and going to you know prefer possession and passing it back. The same is true with rest neck not being necessarily dangerous on a free kick in terms of the occasional Olympico, let's throw that in there, or even a free kick shot in general. so since we started on this i'll just i'll just run out my negatives and we'll come back to the positives on a high note the own goal obviously not great but i think you know yamara's good for about one a year right and he just came back from injury let's get it out the system that so my take on on that is that uh i mean you could you could say rbw could have read the initial ball better and that whole situation could have been prevented but i think the the the deflection in the own goal itself
01:41:09
Speaker
That's just that's pretty unlucky. Like, that's pretty unlucky. But based on how the first based on how Seattle played in the first half and a couple of the other good chances that they had, they had their homegrown kid put one off the post and then they had at least one more that like was a pretty high quality chance.
01:41:27
Speaker
I felt like one zero them at the half was pretty much fair. Like, if it wasn't the own goal, it could have been one of the other chances. Well, I mean, ah speaking of the half, we had 60% possession. And not that I give a crap about expected goals, but it's kind of like looking at your garden. It's like, oh, the garden's great, but there's weeds in it. I don't think my garden's unhealthy, but I can look at it and know that it's not great.
01:41:48
Speaker
If you look at expected goals and understand that it's very, very, very low, whether you believe it or not. if it's very low, it's still not great. like that I mean, like that looked like a 0.3. You can just look at the shots on target. That that point is that looked like 0.3. 0.1, if I'm being honest. I put it on Blue Sky, 0.1.
01:42:07
Speaker
So I think the the possession stats, that like that also was reflective of...
01:42:15
Speaker
Atlanta want to play counter. They want to be perfectly content to let Seattle knock the ball around in their end and just wait for them to put a cross in that they could clear and then counter or wait for them to try like but whatever it was like a through ball that they would that they would pick off and then and then get out on the break.
01:42:32
Speaker
So ah it works. That's the thing with that strategy, man. And it it has not worked for them all year. I don't know why they keep doing it, but like that was you can you can get by.
01:42:43
Speaker
in a half like they did. You can get by for periods of a game like that. If you score the first goal of the game in the seventh minute and you try and do that from that minute on, you are going to blow the lead.
01:42:53
Speaker
Like I, even at a halftime with 0.3 XG, I was like, I have zero doubt that they're going blow the lead. Zero doubt. like Both teams were under one, to be fair. Both were under one in XG. Yes. I mean, it's not like theirs was cooking that hard either. But like, no I've seen that movie with them all year.
01:43:09
Speaker
And Ronnie Dyla has been like, we don't coach them to play like that when we have the lead. I don't know why it keeps happening. it They did it again in this game from the seventh minute, which is like, that's the earliest. they're not coaching to do that, but they should be coaching to not do that.
01:43:22
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. Well, to not, or at least to not forecast it and to either keep somebody high. so that you're not just completely turtling or, I mean, they did play the counter well. And when they countered, they were threatening at times. And there were a few times like where they just kind of fumbled it. And I forget who was,
01:43:40
Speaker
love I think he fell down and then he was begging for a call. And then eventually they stopped the game, which was nonsense, but yeah. It did. It did work. Like ah they got the, the one ah really good looking transition from latte law that came off of a situation where they were sitting back and then won the ball and then RBW whiffs the tackle. And then latte Loth is off to the races.
01:44:03
Speaker
And the only thing saving the Seattle Sounders from conceding a goal right there was $75 million Obed Vargas. Yeah. Obed Vargas freaking busting it like 60 yards. He ran him down. And I believe he hawked him. Obed Vargas owns $22 million latte latte. Was that it? Was that a like Buda Baker and. Yeah. Yeah. The DK Metcalf. That's what it looked like. Effectively. If he, if he, he could have done that,
01:44:29
Speaker
three times over if the field was twice as long. Like you could run him down and run him down and run him down. Latte Loth is the fastest dude in the league, like sprint speed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that's not anymore it' it even crazier.
01:44:40
Speaker
The price is going up, going up. I'm all, I've been evangelizing it. It's going up. Okay. So clearing off my, ah my negatives here before we get to the pros. Yeah. RBW had his lunch eaten so many times in that first half. And tough for nothing they saw the lineup and they said, we're going to put Almaron over there. And all we,
01:44:58
Speaker
you may not shoot from there. You may not, uh, you know, score from here, but we want you just take it to him and just eat his lunch. And he did. It's good reps to have for him though.
01:45:09
Speaker
Yeah. hundred percent. I'm not down on RBW. but that was that was a liability for the team and the LATO simplified it. I think we can safely just say that, like, characterize the RBW situation as ah ah situation where he's got, like, a clear thing in his game that he needs to work at, which is his defensive positioning and his one v one defending.
01:45:32
Speaker
And if they're able... and And, like, where he is right now, if you're going to give him a large complement of minutes... you're going to have to live with like the growing pains and the mistakes.
01:45:43
Speaker
Like, well, it's like, it's like Andy Thomas that the coaches have to make. If that's like how much they want to put into that development versus how much they think like an individual defensive error in these games might hurt them.
01:45:56
Speaker
But like, uh, it's, I think that's just what it is right now. Like he's either going to develop through that stuff through experience or, or he's not, and you have to give him run and live with the growing pains.
01:46:08
Speaker
Same as Thomas. Yep. Yeah. And the thing is, is is that he, he bit and he bit hard and that's what, you know a veteran is going to take advantage of. And it's just a matter of like, you've got to be prepared that this dude's going to try and clown you.
01:46:20
Speaker
And don't go for the first thing. Don't, don't expose yourself to by going in earlier to try and dispossess and exposing yourself to being beaten down the wing. Cause he's just going knock on or pass or whatever it is.
01:46:32
Speaker
Be controlled, be neutral, be prepared and take away the average. And if he just absolutely world-class you, then I mean, you or anybody else, that's just going to happen, but don't give it to him.
01:46:44
Speaker
yeah Don't open it for him. Yeah. And that's going to come with time. You're hundred percent right. um Christian, man. He had some good defensive tackles, but overall, I just... weve we've it's it's more It's fatigue stuff, man. like yeah giveway and me The founders named him man of the match, by the way.
01:47:01
Speaker
he like well I thought it was... it it was just just as that It was a tale of two halves for the whole team. but yeah he and The double pivot in the first half... wasn' wasn't good.
01:47:13
Speaker
And that was part of the issue, I think. ah But it it wasn't even it wasn't just them. There was a lot of giveaways. A lot. Christian had several.
01:47:25
Speaker
And it's like, does he ever do this stuff if he hasn't played 2,000 minutes in the last... Five weeks? Like, no. Like, if he's playing a normal workload, that stuff doesn't happen.
01:47:36
Speaker
I think it's pretty clear that he – dude, i don't I don't want to see him play, like, a minute in League's Cup unless they make the final. Just, like, literally give him that tournament off. And I don't know. we'll We'll talk more about how we think they should handle a League's Cup in the future. But ah what else do you got, huh?
01:47:52
Speaker
but We're used to him being impactful, and he just wasn't as much as and in his normal self as far as that goes. Yeah. As for my positives, Osaze, obviously, first goal.
01:48:05
Speaker
it's It's kind of sad that the yeah celebration ended up costing us that minute. but how can enjoy what are you supposed to do? Just run around? Yeah, exactly. How can you do that? Come on, man. First MLS goal looked like the game winner.
01:48:18
Speaker
um Jay LaVega, he's a stock. I'm investing. He's improving. He's just doing exactly what we need. He's showing he needs to be there on the left. Invest, invest, invest.
01:48:30
Speaker
Let's amplify this. Hey, you guys buy low. i'm um um or i'll when youre selling When you're selling low, I'm buying... No, I don't know. I'm not buying yet.
01:48:42
Speaker
I'll buy when it's at $100 billion. dollars I'll lose money. that I mean, you've defined it. Okay. um KKR, I think he looked pretty good, especially crossing end into the middle and in possession. It was dangerous. I mean, they they had to consolidate and collapse in order to prevent him from some of the dangerous possession and dribbles he had. um And that he looked good in his positioning, I thought, even in the late sub there.
01:49:15
Speaker
ah Kent, I thought, was pretty decent. you look he he He looks like he's kind of relaxed a little. Still has room to improve, but i thought it was I thought it was the best I've seen from Kent in a few weeks.
01:49:28
Speaker
Exactly. I know it was only like 10 minutes and it was only a couple little sequences, but run them for League's Cup. it was Yeah, give them hell of a League's Cup. And the last I'll say is tie on the road, man.
01:49:41
Speaker
yeah Can we really complain? It's unfortunate. It's a tie that feels like a loss, but points on the road. An East Coast road draw is always at least fine, even if you scored a goal in the 96th minute and then conceded the equalizer in the 98th.
01:49:57
Speaker
Well, in all fairness, the Sounders scored three goals in this match. So how we didn't walk away with all the points. true You got ah you got to think about that. We did score three. So. Yehmar had one goal, one assist. He did. He had one goal, one assist. Yeah. Man of the match performance in my book.
01:50:14
Speaker
But we had some great assists from folks who needed it. And like, I'm glad they can contribute. And I'm i'm so happy for Asazi. And man, I hope he gets some run in Leagues Cup. And I hope he delivers because... him and Vesovsky being a ah dual threat and then being able to connect it's potentially with Jesus and Resnack, if we can just make that sort of ecosystem work,
01:50:34
Speaker
It's doable once it works out. Osaze can actually become something, that would be such a boon for this roster. And honestly, feel like with the way the attack and the system is set up right now, it's kind of like we're seeing it with Moose. It's kind of like a number nine's dream. You're going to get your chances. All it is is if you're cut of the cloth of the type of guys that can consistently make those shots.
01:51:02
Speaker
And Osaze, know, You couldn't have better genes for it. So and I'm going to put it down here. July 26, 2025. Asazi is the next Vargas in terms of where we have potential in terms of if we, if we, if we feed that,
01:51:19
Speaker
I think there's a potential there the next two, two years or so. I think there's more potential for that than people might think of a guy who is coming from defiance, uh, like out could sort of out of left field because, I mean, look, the, the, the jeans thing is actually real in that when like other clubs see like, Oh, it's Dwayne de Rosario's kid. Like that, like his other son's a goal. keeper so that automatically i mean it's like one of the best goal scorers in mls his history so that automatically gives you like a little bit of cred but if you look at how osaze was playing in the cpl canadian prime i mean he was pretty dominant or an next bro he was yes golden boot but like bro next pro people aren't necessarily gonna put stock in that's like fine but when you're like scoring four goals a game i mean that's you're pretty clearly like light years ahead of
01:52:09
Speaker
yeah no i i agree with that i'm but i'm talking for of it more from a perspective heard heard like yeah yeah yeah how other i perceive i think for for any offspring that has talent and is recognizable talent of someone who is a professional and especially within the same realm but even within the same let's say genre so sports overall but especially if it's like a soccer father with a soccer son or grow You grow up with the with the game.
01:52:36
Speaker
i don't think it's like it's in your It's in your DNA. Let's go nepotism. but yeah I was going to say, part of it is that like oftentimes if your parent is a famous athlete, they have a lot of money to get you like the best training and resources to become the best athlete you can. and That's oftentimes why you see the the kid is actually better than the parent in a lot of cases. and That's why I didn't make it All that's true.
01:53:04
Speaker
What I'm saying is, is that ah you still need to have the raw, your talent to be successful. Like that just has to be there. And of course, coming from genes, ideally that does have that. But what I think you get is the pure advisement, regardless of whether be basketball, F1 racing, soccer, doesn't matter.
01:53:20
Speaker
You have someone who you can truly trust, who can curb the highs and the lows for you and allow you to focus in a way that other people just don't have that opportunity.
01:53:31
Speaker
And I think he might have that obviously with his heritage, but he also has the skill. So there's the opportunity to allow ah consistent growth without getting too down if it's not getting minutes or getting too up because you get in in the league's cup and score three goals.
01:53:49
Speaker
it it was a It was a nice header. Like, Nuhu put him right on him, and it's, like, point blank. But what I liked about what he did there is the body positioning, shielding the CB yeah off where the cross is going, and then, like, what's he going to do? like thats that's Like, that's making it easy on yourself, like, by, like, smart positioning. So that's, like, good number nine stuff.
01:54:09
Speaker
If he can do stuff like that, I feel like he should be able to score goals in this system. and i think No, Ohio. He's going to come in. He's going to sit. but You know, it's good dream to have.
01:54:21
Speaker
I'll leave it on that. What is y'all's take on the, on the Noah Ohio? And like, let's, let's, let's talk percentages in terms of this year or ever. That's what actually happened. Like if it's going to happen? 50-50. I mean, I don't know. like ah but Based on what I've seen most recently, it's still yeah fit pretty much It's up to him. what Where it's at is he needs to decide if he wants to come to MLS, if he thinks that and MLS is a step back because he is a European player.
01:54:49
Speaker
And so it's really just up to a player's decision to say, is this worth it for my career? Because I, that's that's literally where it is. And at that point, if I'm him, that's a 50-50 decision, right? Like, well if I'm being honest with him, like, he's probably going to get play, but you never know. If you look at the track record of, you know, young players at the Sounders, it's just, you just never know.
01:55:16
Speaker
You just never know. And so I think, like... So someone was sharing that he was getting on in the 80th minute and playing for 10th. And eventually you get fed up with that. And it's like, I can't portray my skills. In addition, I just want to be on the field and stay in shape. And ideally somebody sees me perform,
01:55:34
Speaker
even if it's for six months in in MLS versus 10 minutes periodically over the rest of the whatever league he's in. So i mean i don't know what you sound a player I don't know what the Sounders promised him in terms of playing time or or talking to him about what he did.
01:55:49
Speaker
And so that's kind of like where if I'm looking at the depth chart, he's number three or four, depending on if Ferreira decides to become an insanely good player. I'm a player. i'm Maybe he's over Moose, but it's like not in his, not in Moose's form right now. I'm not as ah worried about like whatever number nine they might sign, like getting run because I just feel like it's it's one of those things where when you have as many games as these teams play every year, it's You're going get run. You're going to get your opportunities.
01:56:24
Speaker
So I think he would have his opportunities. my My whole take on the whole idea is just the type of the type of profile that we're talking about and what kind of profiles you can make with these signings and how likely are they to hit like relative to one another. like when i was thinking about this if you guys saw the guy that the Columbus crew signed.
01:56:46
Speaker
That's the type of profile, the DP striker that they that they signed from Al Ali. like If you just look at his profile, the percentage odds of that hitting, just when I see it, it like feels higher to me.
01:56:59
Speaker
and Whereas a no Ohio type profile is just fundamentally more of a dice roll. However, but that's what happens teams have had success dice rolling.
01:57:10
Speaker
That's what happens when your budget is what the Sounders are giving. Exactly. so yeah That's and that's so like that is kind of where you're at. I think it's more on a transfer than salary, if I'm being honest. and I think they're just kind of waiting. They're excited to say, i want I want time on the field.
01:57:25
Speaker
Get me out of here if you're not going to play me. Yeah, I mean, that's true, but he also, they can only pay him $700,000 a year. And as a striker, like with whatever the cap space is. And so like, that's, like you're you are hamstrung by that with a player who could probably go make a million dollars somewhere in Europe.
01:57:42
Speaker
There's nothing with the U22 or the, like, you get, nope. Oh, damn, I should know that. What does Miami hit? We'll just make up a rule. Yeah, just fucking, dude, he's on loan. he's on loan. We're not even paying him. me say No, he's a volunteer.
01:57:55
Speaker
he knows He's an assistant coach that plays. I said this on the podcast. Sign everyone to Ballard FC and do a free loan to the Sounders. It's the new meta. It's the new meta. It's the new meta. And with that... um Let me ask one last question.
01:58:10
Speaker
Let me ask one question. ah Chances of JP or... ah Morris coming back in rough time window for that, and we can wrap it up. ah JP, I mean, <unk> i didn't see an official timeline, but i feel like meniscus damage where they had to go in and clean it up. That feels Normally six weeks, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like four minimum, more probably more like six.
01:58:33
Speaker
And then ah Morris, it's like eight weeks, like absolute minimum. Like he busted his shoulder pretty good. So we're looking at the last month of before playoffs potentially and making a potentially to one of them.
01:58:46
Speaker
Yeah. So like the good news is that both of those guys should theoretically be back like closer to playoff time. The obviously unfortunate news is that until then, it's going to be there's going to be some. ah ah What's the word?
01:59:02
Speaker
mixing and matching, figuring puzzle pieces together. Like it's good. Like that with the ah CDM depth and the, and the nine depth it's cool.
01:59:14
Speaker
Are you guys going to do pre leagues cup show? Maybe. Yeah, we we'll be we'll be doing a lot of Leagues Cup content next week. Nico and I will be talking about it on kickoff on Monday for sure.
01:59:26
Speaker
And then I'm sure it'll be a prominent podcast under the lights topic as well. So, yeah, I mean, we're diving in. Thursday's the first game. Oh, yeah.
01:59:38
Speaker
I guess I'm going have to tweak the schedule little bit. Maybe bring it up to Wednesday or so. Yeah, yeah. I mean, i'll do I'll do something like that. I'll definitely do an under the lights before for that game. so Because our our big game is Cruz Azul, and that's that first one. And so it's really like with the three signings, we just had a lot of hypotheticals.
01:59:57
Speaker
What do we see in that first match, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. Yeah, no we'll be we'll be ah we be neck deep in League's Cup. It's time. You know, people have differing levels of caring about that. But we're going to be covering it because it's what we've got to cover. so but All right, Hutch, we're at two hours, so Noah and I are going to chalk it right there. But thank you for calling in, as always, man. Good stuff. And we'll talk to you on the next one. Thanks for calling in, man.
02:00:25
Speaker
Alright, that's going to do it for us tonight, folks. Great post-game live. You know. Lobbingscourters.com slash sauce. Yeah, lobingscourters.com slash soundertheart.com slash ls. Lobbingscourters.com slash sauce. Lobbingscourters.com slash archive.
02:00:43
Speaker
Sub to the channel. Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on TikTok. We're on the road to one k followers on TikTok. It's pretty good TikTok, so go follow that. ah Like the video. Like the video that Eleven likes when there's a bunch of people. Hunch gifting fives. Hunch sending us off.
02:01:06
Speaker
Let's go. All right. I think that's a good place to call it. Thanks, guys. I'll see you on ah on Monday for kickoff, Nico.
02:01:18
Speaker
Peace.