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Episode 335: Talking Timbers and Jordan Morris' recovery
84 Plays4 years ago
We don't get a ton of chances to do interviews on this show these days but we randomly ended up with one last week when we got the chance to talk to Jordan Morris. He was promoting a camp he does through a sponsorship with Dexcom, the company that makes his blood-sugar monitor.
Morris talked about the joy he gets from doing soccer camps like that, his injury recovery and how long he thinks it will be until he's playing again.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. To eat those of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food, lots of it. Fulpel's unique writing style is applied to recipes like Leftover Thanksgiving, Turkey, Smaltz of All Soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Sounders' Recent Performances
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. What? Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Jordan Morris getting in behind Florian Youngford. Jordan Morris! Scores!
00:00:50
Speaker
And how's this for a save from Stefan Fry? Here comes Roy Deans through the middle to crowd it for Seattle. What do the Tigers dream of? They take a little Tigers in. It's the Sounders and it has come. I feel a lot better than Bob.
00:01:18
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle Like a beautiful child growing up free and wild
Sounders' Home vs. Away Record
00:02:25
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of NOS Adietta, sponsored by Full Pool Wines. This is episode 335, and we're recording on Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. I'm your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me, as usual, is Aaron Campo and Lickit P. Later in the show, we will have an interview with Jordan Morris, which you'll definitely want to listen to.
00:02:45
Speaker
This very strange season continues to be, well, strange, coming off becoming the first MLS team to ever win three road games in the span of seven days and facing the worst road team in the entire league. The center somehow managed to lose two to zero to the Portland Timbers. That drops their home record to five, three, and four, which puts them on pace for their worst ever home record. Meanwhile, there are seven, one, and two on the road and on pace for the best road record in MLS history.
00:03:12
Speaker
If those two trends hold, they'd finished with 66 points, which is somehow the best total they've ever had in MLS. Uh, as a reminder, they've done all this without getting any minutes from Jordan Morris. They've been missing Stephen Fry since mid-May. And they only recently got back Nicholas Ledero, who still is very clearly working himself back into game shape. So here we are, Aaron. It's, uh, like I said, September, we've got about, I don't know, uh, 10 or 11, 13, something like that games left.
00:03:42
Speaker
What do you what do you
Portland Timbers Match Analysis
00:03:43
Speaker
make of all this? This is this is crazy, right? Oh, yeah, it's very crazy. I mean, I think
00:03:50
Speaker
this is very clearly talented team. Uh, and they, you know, they, they're not at their full compliment, but they're getting closer. Um, and so there, you know, there are reasons to be encouraged by that. Um, they are very solid everywhere. Um, you know, they're, they're very difficult to play against, very difficult score on most, most of the time, um, maybe not so much Sunday, but you know, most of the time they're very hard to score on. Um, but they've been relying on,
00:04:18
Speaker
the talent of, you know, they're, they're very exceptional attacking, uh, players, mostly Raul Rudyas, um, to get them goals this year. And that's just not a sustainable strategy. Um, or at least you can't depend on it the way you can, like a very holistically clicking, um, attacking team. Right. And, you know, I think this was a good, the, the game against the timbers was a good example of that. Um,
00:04:42
Speaker
The Sounders just did not have it. They weren't creating chances. The Timbers were very, very happy to let them have the ball and try to counter attack. And neither team played very well at all, I think it's fair to say.
00:05:01
Speaker
You know, the timbers can celebrate all they want, but they weren't good in that game. They got exceptionally lucky. They scored two goals because of just horrendously bad and inexcusable mistakes at the back. They were, you know, obviously very fortunate not to not to concede at least a goal. Yeah, probably. I mean, probably like I just watched the replay again today.
00:05:24
Speaker
I don't think like I heard someone say this game could have been 6-2 and I think that's hyperbole. Yeah, but like it kind of could have been.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I definitely do think that the way the Sounders came out in the second half, they looked like they were going to score several goals. And they, you know, it looked like they'd had a fire lit under him at halftime. They came out playing very well. They were connecting passes. They had fluidity. They looked purposeful. Brian Schmetzer's comments after the game, I don't remember them verbatim, but it was something along the lines of, you know, we
00:06:00
Speaker
But we came out and we didn't let the game to come to us. And I think that that was a pretty good summation of things. The Sounders are a highly professional team that are very adaptable and just kind of let games grow into themselves and figure out what the pace of the game is going to be like and dictate from there. That's exactly what happened in Portland. The Sounders did not come out setting the world on fire, but they ended up winning that game 6-2.
00:06:28
Speaker
because they felt it out and were able to, you know, sort of put it into gear. And in this game, it looked like, you know, maybe that was going to be the case in the second half. And I think even after Portland got that first gift of a goal, if the Sounders had been able to score one of those goals,
00:06:46
Speaker
that Portland team is about as solid as tissue paper. I mean, I think that mentally and, you know, in terms of their ability, they very clearly gave up in Portland to a degree that you just don't see professional sports teams do very often. And I think if one of those goals goes in, the Sounders probably win, even if that goal comes, you know, 80 plus minutes, but they didn't. And
00:07:10
Speaker
We were talking about this before the game, as close as the Sounders came to scoring on those chances, those were all set piece chances that, you know, Portland is notoriously bad at defending set pieces. As bad as I think any team in MLS history has been. Yeah, they had a stat on the broadcast that something like, I think 14 of their goals allowed have come on set pieces, which is
00:07:36
Speaker
I mean, it's pretty horrendous. Yeah. Set pieces are not generally very good chances. We're not generally very high percentage chances, which we kind of saw reflected in the expected goals from the game. The Sounders, I think just barely broke one. Yeah. Which.
00:07:51
Speaker
You know, we were talking about this before the game as well, and I think it's a fair time to mention it that the expected goals doesn't tell you how close you came to scoring because the sound moves were very clearly very close to scoring a lot of goals in that game. But it tells you, on average, you know how well our team is going to do like how good of a chance is this on average.
00:08:10
Speaker
The timbers are piss poor defending set pieces. The sounders are pretty good on them. They seem to have kind of figured out the timbers weaknesses and how to exploit them on set pieces because they were attacking the set pieces pretty much the same way every single time. So those were, I think that the sounders legitimately came close, but in terms of actually creating things from open play, there just wasn't a whole lot of that happening.
00:08:35
Speaker
And, you know, then just some fragility at the back and another poor decision at the back. And it looks a lot worse than it actually was, but it wasn't good. I mean, you shouldn't lose a game to a team you've been on the road six to a week earlier at home. You should not.
00:08:51
Speaker
It's not good, and the Timbers are bad. They're a bad team. They have had horrendous luck with injuries. They're on true talent. When everybody's available, they're not this bad, but that team that took the field on Sunday is shitty. They're a shitty team.
00:09:07
Speaker
And arguably their best player, Eric Williamson, went out in the 19th minute or whatever with a ACL injury, which is horrible. Or I don't know. I think it was an ACL injury, which is horrible. And it was like very unfortunate. And I and it's the second time in a row that the Timbers have come to Seattle and lost a key player to a bad injury, non-contact both times.
00:09:31
Speaker
I don't I don't think it was the turf, but we don't know that some Portland fans seem to think that it was, but I don't think that there's any reason to think that. No, but it was. Yeah, I mean, nothing that Portland did in this game made me think that they're a playoff team. Nothing made me think that my confidence going into this game was misplaced.
00:09:53
Speaker
the sounders did what I think we mostly expected them to do, especially in the second half. But what's, I think what it illustrated is like the sounders for all their success this
Defensive Strategies and Mistakes
00:10:03
Speaker
year have not won a lot of games where it felt easy, where it felt like non stressful. You know, even you look at that six two game and they blew a two zero lead in that one. And yeah, they poured on a bunch of goals at the end, but like,
00:10:21
Speaker
they they needed like they the game was up in the air for much too long for being a two zero lead. I don't think they've gone into halftime leading two zero once all year. And they certainly haven't.
00:10:34
Speaker
I've been able to build like they haven't scored a lot in the first half all year. You know, their, their goal difference is great. And they're clearly doing a lot. Well, I don't want to make it sound like this is a bad team. I don't think it's a bad team at all, but they just aren't, they aren't winning games easily. They aren't winning games in a way that make you sort of like.
00:10:52
Speaker
Oh, I'll turn this off at the 70th minute and feel like, uh, I know what's going to happen. And I, and I do think it's, it's funny because it is a lot like that 2011 team and coincidentally that 2011 team had a great road record. They had a pretty middling home record.
00:11:07
Speaker
And they won a bunch of games on, they had a bunch of comeback wins and they finished, I think with something like 56 points. It was a great year in a lot of ways, but then of course they bombed out to RSL or yeah, RSL. No, the galaxy.
00:11:24
Speaker
2011. It was the galaxy, I think, right? It was the galaxy. No, it was ourself because they, um, that was the, they lost the first like three now at RSL. Oh, that's right. Next year was the galaxy. Cause that's right. RSL. Yes. You're totally right. Uh, but anyway, I don't, I don't foresee that happening because they haven't,
00:11:43
Speaker
falling apart and they have no show, no signs of falling apart in the same way that, that, that 2011 team, I think was a little bit more fragile. This team is not fragile at all. I think they're actually very resilient. And, uh, what was so maddening about this game is that in a lot of ways Portland did nothing. The two goals they got, like you said, were horrendous defending, but those were the only, those were really the only two real chances they had. I mean, uh,
00:12:10
Speaker
They had one shot off the post of the crossbar, which was an absolute blast. It would have been, you know, if he, they scored that one, if that ends up being the only goal, you kind of tip your hat and you go whatever. But, uh, I wouldn't say that like in the same way that I'm not really counting the Jau Paulo, uh, shot as being off the crossbar as being one of their big chances. Cause it wasn't really a great chance. It was just a great shot. And.
00:12:35
Speaker
They didn't do it. They only put two shots on frame the whole game. They were both goals. Uh, but let's, let's talk about those two goals because I've, I've, I think it's interesting that there's been a fair amount of debate as to who is to blame on those two goals. Now, in my opinion, I think it's 60 40 one way or the other on both of them. And I think Jamar and, uh, and Cleveland are the two main culprits. Now I think, especially on the,
00:13:02
Speaker
The first one, I think, Ariaga maybe gets in there a little bit just because I think he maybe could have done something a little bit differently to defend that better. But I think the two main culprits on both goals are Ariaga and Cleveland. I've heard people say Cleveland did literally nothing wrong. I've heard other people say that Cleveland is 100% at fault at this. Aaron, where do you fall on this?
00:13:23
Speaker
I think that I tend to agree with you. I'm comfortable putting a little bit more of the blame onto Cleveland for the second one because I think.
00:13:34
Speaker
I think that you've got to anticipate. I think that there was something going on with the turf on that end of the field, because Portland also had a really risky backpass in the first in the first half that looked really under hit. And maybe I don't know, maybe I just want to feel better about it. But it seemed like all night there were passes that did not travel as well as they as they had, you know, would have been expected to.
00:14:01
Speaker
Um, but I mean, if you're the keeper and you've been dealing with that issue all night, cause cause Cleveland had another one where the absolutely should have been a goal where it was the same issue. He didn't come out to meet a pass and you know, the striker that was, uh, that was more, I think in that case, we've had more blocks, the clearance and somehow it doesn't score on the block. Right.
00:14:23
Speaker
The same exact situation happened three times. The first one, I think, was pretty much all Cleveland's fault, but ultimately, no goal, so no harm done. The second time, pretty bad pass by Yamar in a situation where he probably shouldn't have been passing back to begin with.
00:14:41
Speaker
Cleveland should have come out for it, but I'm comfortable saying, uh, yeah, you know, Yamer definitely is probably has to wear a little bit more of the blame. The last one I put really heavily on Cleveland. Cause I just, you can't like three times, you can't, you can't let that kind of thing happen. You've got to know that you got to come out and meet the ball cause Portland's going to be pressing.
00:15:00
Speaker
Right. And I think that on that last one, the thing that, you know, the one defense I heard of Cleveland on the second one was that, you know, he was sort of, he had to come out for it. I'm willing to buy that. He has to come out, but I think he's got to be faster off his line. But beyond that, he mistimes his jump so that he ends up hitting it straight up. And in his defense, he heads it straight up and he allows himself to get back into position kind of.
00:15:29
Speaker
But he also heads it up in a way that allows Yeymar to win the ball, but then Yeymar gets stripped, right? Yeah. And so, but I think that either what he's got to do is he's got to, first of all, he's got to, like, I think he made the right decision to come out, but he made it too late. But then he compounds that by not clearing it out. Like he should have, he needs to clear that out of bounds, but the reason he didn't clear it out of bounds is because he missed times his jump because he was slow off his line and he misread the, he just misread the ball.
00:15:55
Speaker
Uh, and then at that point, Yemar needs to take some responsibility for it because he gets the ball stripped off of him. Uh, Cleveland probably needed to be back in it. He needed to be on his line earlier than he did. He gets chipped, obviously. Uh, it's just a kind of a, you know, uh,
00:16:13
Speaker
a series of errors, I don't think it's going to happen a lot. I feel very comfortable saying though, that the sounders don't give up a goal of Stephen Fry's, you know, playing that game. Certainly if Stephen Fry is fully healthy playing that game. And I think that, you know, I'm not surprised that it sounds like Stephen Fry is going to get his job back when, when he, and I think Cleveland has been for the most part, really, really good. And I, and I'm certainly not going to like roast the guy, but
00:16:42
Speaker
I think we also was illustrated why Stephen Fry is still the starting goalkeeper. Yeah. I mean, I think that those are the kinds of things like everybody at this level was a good shot stopper. It's, it's the rest of the game, you know, and how, how you, how you read the game and how, how many mistakes like that you make that I think is what differentiates, you know, the great ones from, from the not as great. And I think.
00:17:03
Speaker
The most that you can ever really hope for from a replacement level player that has to step in and play is that they show themselves to be well above replacement level. And I think that Cleveland has done that. I think he's probably earned himself a starting job next year somewhere else.
00:17:19
Speaker
I'm not going to be sad when Stephen Fry comes back. I mean, I think that we're so used to having the best or a guy that's in conversation as one of the best, uh, keepers in the league that like, you start to assume that's what starting goalkeepers all look like. Right. And they're not. Um, but we have one, so I would like him to start playing again as soon as he can. Yeah. And I think the, the other piece that's been missing from this puzzle is new who, who,
00:17:49
Speaker
Maybe, maybe his presence changes this, this outcome. I don't, I'm not quite as convinced that that's the case. Cause I actually think Shane O'Neill was good in this one. This was actually one of Shane O'Neill's better games. So I don't know that new who necessarily changes it, but I do think new who generally makes this team better. I think it allows, and I think the biggest change that we're going to see is I think the left side of the, the offense is going to get better.
00:18:15
Speaker
because New Who can cover so much more ground and the left wing back won't need to be tracking back as much as they are with Shane O'Neill there.
Offensive Challenges and Adjustments
00:18:25
Speaker
And I think that New Who potentially, you know, you bring New Who and Stephen Fry back into this team, I feel like the defense is much more
00:18:33
Speaker
complete and then the non-four, primarily defensive players can go do have more freedom to attack. And so I just feel like adding numbers to the attack is going to help. I mean, this is not a bad, like we've said, this is not a bad offensive team, although they, you know, they, they haven't, they don't have as much variety in scoring as I think we would like to see. But then they also have Leo Chu who.
00:18:58
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if he gets some sort of run out against Minnesota on September 11th.
00:19:04
Speaker
But, you know, I will say this, I would say that I'm a little bearish on Chuu's, the likelihood that Chuu is a real contributor this year. I just don't see it. He's young. I think he's got a big hill to climb. I've been really pleased with Nicholas Benoise, who I think is a great acquisition, especially for a player off the bench.
00:19:30
Speaker
I will say that after seeing him meet the media today, I was struck by how he had this air of confidence that wasn't cockiness, but it was just like he was speaking in his native Portuguese, but he was engaging. He's a 21-year-old kid and he just rolled with it. I don't imagine that he's talked to the press a ton. He actually dropped a little bit of English just for fun at the end. I don't know. I was struck by how
00:20:00
Speaker
Just like he had this air of quiet confidence about them that, that made me really think that maybe he can be successful here. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I think that anything you get from him this year is a huge bonus, I would say. Um, but I think that, you know, Yeah.
00:20:18
Speaker
I think that one of the things that like money ball and all of the like baseball stat nerd stuff did to people's brains is convince them that nothing but numbers matters. And so caring about intangibles is sucker stuff. And like, but it's very, like very clearly bullshit, you know, like that stuff does matter. And right.
00:20:40
Speaker
And I think that somebody that's confident, that is able to feel comfortable in a new setting like that, like that, that certainly doesn't suggest bad things for their ability to adapt more quickly than you would expect, you know? Um, so it would be great if, if the starters had another attacking option this year, um, that could, you know, give them another dimension because, um, you know, I mean, that's a problem. That's, that's the thing that I worry about is that Raul, Ruby Diaz cannot bail this team out every single time.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and I'll just add to that, you know, speaking to take that Moneyball analogy, I think it's in some ways people took the wrong things out of Billy Bean not being as good of a major league player as his skill set would have suggested he should have been.
00:21:28
Speaker
And it's not because the numbers lied. It's because he didn't have the con. And I think even Billy Bean would have admitted this that he didn't have the confidence that needed to go along with his skill set. Similarly, you know, one of the stars of or kind of the very minor stars of that book is a player named Jeremy Brown, who was a overweight catcher. And he put up a lot of great numbers, but he clearly was not a very confident person.
00:21:54
Speaker
And he had no career. You almost literally no career. Yeah. And so I think it's important. Like the intangibles matter. They do. They do. And I think like, man, I could spend hours talking about the stuff that people misunderstood about Moneyball. But yeah, that was one of the, and I think frankly, one of the reasons people took that lesson of like, Hey, you know, none of that personality stuff matters is because like people that are super into numbers and stuff like that tend to not have personalities. So
00:22:23
Speaker
Right. And I think the other thing was there was a great line in there about how he's got an ugly girlfriend. Yeah. And that was supposed to be like, he doesn't, he's not confident. And I think people took like that line and they like turned it into like a whole like takeaway. And it was just a throwaway line that a
00:22:43
Speaker
a scout would use that would be kind of silly. Point being, I think I'm a big numbers guy, but I tend to believe in things like confidence being pretty important.
00:22:57
Speaker
Absolutely. But yeah, so I don't know. I wrote a story this week that was titled something like we got to talk about the sounders home form. And I don't know if I did a very good job of articulating this, but the point I was trying to make kind of along these confidence lines wasn't so much that I think the sounders are bad at home or that they don't know how to win at home or anything like that.
00:23:25
Speaker
It was more of a articulating the frustration that I have, and I think that a lot of fans have, that for as good as this team is, they've got a really shitty home record.
00:23:38
Speaker
And, and it's like worth illustrating, like how bad is this home record? Well, it's on pace to be their worst ever home record. And, and if you contrast it to their road record, it's even more appalling. Uh, you know, it's, they, I think they have the worst home record of any team in a playoff position right now, which is whatever. But I think we can all agree that they need to start winning at home and they, especially going to have to start winning at home in the playoffs because if things keep going the way they're going, they're going to be playing some playoff games at home.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, their home record basically is on par with like...
00:24:13
Speaker
Let's see what a good Columbus who created one point, three points for game, Vancouver, uh, another pretty bad team, uh, Chicago. I, these are, I mean, these are bad teams. Like you can look at their record and say, well, you know, they've won more than they've lost at home and they've gotten 18 points, but that's, that's not good, man. Like winning five of what, what is it? 12 at home. That's not good. That's really bad. Like you've, you've got a, you've got to win games at home and, uh, it,
00:24:42
Speaker
Like the sounder's road form.
00:24:45
Speaker
is insane and it's not sustainable. Like I think that they are an exceptionally good road team, but if they were playing as well at home as they are on the road, they would be, uh, almost a lock to set a new record for, for points because they're, they're, I mean, they're averaging what, like two points to be on pace for 78 points. Yeah, it's insane. And you just, you can't expect.
00:25:13
Speaker
I mean, that's like PSG level, like, you know, and that's just not, it's just not sustainable. And yeah, it's insanely frustrating because
00:25:25
Speaker
You, there's no, I can't think of a good, like plausible explanation for it. You know, it's, it's not like teams, the Sounders are perfectly comfortable having possession. Like there have been times in the past where this, where the Sounders were most dangerous on the break. And so teams would come here and sit back and give them possession. It was hard for them to break them down, but I don't, that doesn't feel like the problem. It just feels like they've had an inordinate number of games, like the one against Portland, where.
00:25:54
Speaker
Not only can they not finish a sandwich, they're making dumb mistakes or they're just having uncharacteristically bad games defensively. And I don't, I mean, more than likely it's just randomness, but they got to get it figured out because if this team goes into the playoffs and they haven't gotten their home form sorted out, I'm not going to feel super confident about their ability to go very deep.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they, one way or the other, they got to start figuring this out and was, you know, it was an interesting thing. After the game, I was expecting Schmetzer to be really mad and he didn't seem mad. He just seemed kind of like annoyed that they missed this opportunity. And he seemed bummed that, you know, he, he's a guy who likes the narrative stuff.
00:26:42
Speaker
I think he really liked the idea of following up the rain's win with a win. And it being this kind of great day of celebrating Seattle soccer, two wins over Portland teams. And I think he was like genuinely
00:26:55
Speaker
like disappointed that that didn't happen, but I didn't get to that. He was like mad about losing a game. They should have won. And then today he was talking about how, you know, he slept on it. He woke up with a stomachache and it was like really eating at them that they've not been better at home. And I think that's like in a way that's kind of how I felt too. Like I, I wrote a column that sort of tried to, uh, like,
00:27:24
Speaker
reason out that on the whole in a few months from now, we won't really remember the Sounders game, but we were going to remember what a great day it was for Seattle soccer. And I think it was a more important day for the rain than it was for the Sounders. I think that's all true. Yeah. But that's still really fucking annoying that they lost that game. Yeah, it is. I think I mean, I think honestly, for all those other reasons, it's annoying that they lost that game like.
00:27:49
Speaker
how like I was so jazzed up to beat the shit out of the timbers because like what a great way to cap off that day and they should have known that and that's I mean I think that that's the thing is that it's just like I know that professional athletes don't owe us anything other than their best effort and the Sounders clearly do not give anything less than their best effort
00:28:13
Speaker
But it's pretty frustrating for, on a day like that, for them to come out and just be that bad from the very start. Yeah. And, and again, this is stuff that is like, I dunno, it's like a little beside the point, but what's frustrating is that ever since fans have really been let back into the stadium where we've had like decent sized crowds, the Sounders haven't been winning much at home. And it's,
00:28:38
Speaker
And like, look, you know, there was 45,000 people there. It was the biggest crowd since MLS cup. You know, uh, most of those people had been hanging out for like three or four hours. It would have been great to send them home with a win and to not send, not to just not send them home with a win, but to send them home with a loss at the timbers was, didn't feel great. And a loss like that. Yes. Like if it had been a four, three shootout,
00:29:05
Speaker
for the ages, whatever. It was not a for the ages game. No, it was a big wet part of a game. So yeah, you know, huge bummer. But I mean, on the whole, I would say, you know, the whole day seemed to be a success. So that's that's where so good. And the rain and thorns begrudgingly put on put on a great show.
00:29:26
Speaker
Meghan Rapinoe scores a couple of goals. Does it in front of the Braum end? Yeah. The Braum end, which by the way was, I think, was probably the most packed section in the stadium, which was great to see. 27, you know, the rain set an NWSL attendance record. Don't let anyone tell you it deserves an asterisk. It was a great day.
Emotional Reflections on Loss
00:29:49
Speaker
and hopefully we get to see more of these but for right now i'm still like i'm like i was watching that game did it literally i was watching the sounders timbers game today and i i don't know if i was as annoyed as i was live but i was really really annoying like just yeah it was i it ruined it ruined my
00:30:08
Speaker
night. Like I was having, I spent most of the first part of the day, worried about having COVID and that's why I didn't go to the game. Cause I was like, I felt like shit when I woke up. And then towards the end of the day, I started feeling pretty good. I was like, I think I just had like super bad allergies. Uh, rain game put me in a really good mood. Uh, and just, yeah, completely turned things around. I was like, well, now I do a shack code, not really, but
00:30:35
Speaker
Um, you know, it was, uh, it sucked. It sucked the whole lot. And, uh, and, but I mean, you know, I guess it's, it's a good to feel that mad about sports again. Cause it did. Yeah, I agree. You know, probably before the.
00:30:51
Speaker
2019 MLS Cup. I can tell you for sure. I was more mad about this game than it was about MLS Cup. Not even close. Not even close. Yeah. And last couple of last year, I was just like, Oh, it's a shame. It wasn't a real show. It would have been nice to win that game. Yeah, for sure. But it wasn't real. I think everybody kind of knew it wasn't real. And, uh,
00:31:13
Speaker
But this game was very real, and it really pissed me off. Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. All right. Well, I think we're going to take a break, and we're going to talk to Jordan Morris after this, and then after that, we'll take your questions. You're listening to No Sonantis.
00:31:34
Speaker
All Paul wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nota Adieira since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:31:53
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing, and three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com.
Jordan Morris Foundation Interview
00:32:13
Speaker
Well, Jordan, thanks for thanks for doing this. You know, we may as well start out since the auspice of under which we're doing this is your work with the with your foundation and working with kids with diabetes. How is that? How has that been over the last couple of years, especially?
00:32:35
Speaker
I mean it's, it's been great. Other than some of the stuff had to be put on hold with COVID obviously and one of my favorite programs that we do, like last year we weren't we weren't able to do the camp.
00:32:50
Speaker
One of my favorite programs that we do is after every game, we bring a kid and their family, a kid with diabetes and their family on the field. And I get to talk to them and they get to run around a little bit. And we started doing it at away games as well. So across the country, we coordinate with the opposing team to find a family. And so it was really great to meet kids from all over the country to
00:33:16
Speaker
to kind of have that experience. So we weren't able to do that and we still haven't been able to do that during COVID, but no, it's going well still. And then we had the camp last weekend and it was awesome. So is this your first camp that you've been able to do post COVID? It is, yeah. And how did, was that, I mean, what was the, I have to imagine there were emotions, there were some emotions around that. Yeah, definitely. I think,
00:33:45
Speaker
Because we had to cancel last year and then I think just for everyone to be in a setting like that again. What's really cool about the diabetes community is that it really is a community you get a
00:33:59
Speaker
You know, meet people and I see the same kids every year and see them grow up and these kids get to know each other. And so I think part of having diabetes is being part of that community and leaning on one another to for support. And so I think when these kids can come out to this camp and see
00:34:17
Speaker
you know, that there's other people going through the same thing or these parents with newly diagnosed kids see and are able to talk to other families that are going through the same thing. I think it's super important. Um, and so it was a little bit emotional for me to see that. And after the years, you know, the year, year and a half that we've had to be able to build that sense of community again. Did you have that sort of, you know, equivalent role model for lack of a better term when you were a kid and, and, um, yeah, did you?
00:34:48
Speaker
Well, so yes and no, I would say. I was able to look at, you know, one that pops my mind was Adam Morrison. Yeah, Gonzaga basketball player and I went to the NBA for a bit, but he was a diabetic. And so I was able to look at him and some other professional athletes and kind of use that as inspiration in a sense that if they can do it, why can't I do it? But the main,
00:35:17
Speaker
basis for starting this foundation was the fact that I never was able to talk to them or hear their story or ask them questions. It was more just look at them as inspiration, which was super helpful, but I wanted to do a little bit more than that if I was able to. And so when I turned, when I came back to the Sounders, my family and I started this foundation really just as outreach to kids to hopefully
00:35:39
Speaker
be that inspiration but for them to really get a personal connection with me and be able to ask me questions and hear my story and because I know that would have been super helpful for me as a kid. Do you have a sense of how many kids have gone through these camps? Oh man, I mean it keeps growing definitely.
00:36:01
Speaker
This year there was around 100 I think there were 130 signed up and you know from it was cooler eight different states they're represented and I think some of the outer towners ended up not coming. But I would say it started maybe.
00:36:17
Speaker
between 70 around 70 kids. This is our third camp. So maybe it went like 70, 80, and then this year a hundred. Um, and it just keeps growing, which is exciting. And, um, you know, thankful to Dexcom for their support as well. I think that only helped to, to, to grow this, grow this camp. So it, I mean, hoping it just keeps going in the future. And so is it once a year type of thing, like last year being an exception?
00:36:45
Speaker
Yep, yeah, exactly. Yeah, we do that once a year and then
00:36:50
Speaker
you know, do the program after every game in normal times. And then we also, you know, I did again before COVID was we're doing some hospital visits to newly diagnosed kids and then some quarterly talks where we just bring, you know, families could come out and really do just a Q and a kind of thing. And then I was going to some schools and talking to kids as well. So those are kind of the main, the main programs that the foundation does.
00:37:20
Speaker
What impact does that work have on the process of coming back from an injury like you're going through right now? A couple of things, I think. I think it puts things in perspective a bit. There's a lot going on outside of soccer that's important when you get wrapped up as a professional and all you do is play. And it's all I've really known. I've played soccer for as long as I can remember.
00:37:51
Speaker
you know, I take a step back a little bit during this injury and, and, uh, and there's some, some really important things in life, obviously outside of soccer. And so to be able to do this work is, um, is great. And it's inspiring to me as well, hearing these kids stories and seeing them thrive and, and doing well is, is, is what it's all about for me. So I think it really puts things into perspective a bit and gives you, you know, something to focus on outside of soccer as well.
00:38:18
Speaker
So obviously this is not a situation where you want to be experienced with it, but has the experience of going through this process previously helped this time around. Yeah, definitely. I think
00:38:34
Speaker
It makes it, it doesn't make it easier at all. Unfortunately, I'm experienced with it, but I would say to know what I was going to go through from the beginning was a blessing and a curse, I guess.
00:38:50
Speaker
I knew it was ahead of me, which can be daunting because it's a really hard road, but I also knew what it takes to get through. What's the hardest about an ACL is the mental side of
Morris' Injury and Recovery
00:39:01
Speaker
it. You grind through the physical stuff, but the mental side of it is the most difficult.
00:39:06
Speaker
I think the biggest worry of my first one was I had no idea how I was going to come back, if it was going to really affect me as a player. And I came back a better player from it. And so the fact that I know I can do that, I'm very confident that I'll come back a better player after this one as well.
00:39:21
Speaker
So one of the things that I was just kind of curious about is I would imagine that can go one of two ways. You can either have that knowledge that, okay, I've gone through this. I can, I can come out the other end. It'll be fine. But there's another side of it of like, I actually know how much it sucks to like to grind and to like,
00:39:41
Speaker
like the physical part of it you in some ways like knowing how much it can how tough it's going to be can sometimes you know create more of a mental block i'm just curious how you balance those two things and i'm sure your effort is to turn the to look at the positive side of that
00:39:56
Speaker
Yeah, but that's really difficult for sure. I think when it first happened, I was like, yeah, it was, I mean, such terrible timing, obviously never a good time, but just having just gotten over there. And I think, um,
00:40:14
Speaker
I think that was the first thing that went through my head was, man, I can't believe I have to do this again. And, and realizing how hard it was last time and that I had to go through the same stuff was just, um, pretty, I mean, very, very devastating. Um, and so, yeah, I think that again, it's negative and positive. I think that the negative side of that is like, wow, I understand completely what I have to do. And it's so difficult, but the positive side is,
00:40:37
Speaker
I've done it before. And my whole rehab last time, I know I've mentioned this already, but was, I had no idea I'm going to come back. I've never gone through an injury like this. And so to know that.
00:40:49
Speaker
that I'm able to come back and I came back stronger. And this time around, I feel like I'm working even harder. And I just know that having that confidence in the back of my head that I've done it before is kind of pushing me through. So the harder part this time around is I just miss playing more. I mean, it's been your second time through. So you've missed two years almost, and I just miss playing. So I just want to be back out there. Where are you in terms of your recovery?
00:41:19
Speaker
I'm, you know, I'm five and almost six months out from my surgery. So things are going really well, progressing well. You know, it's hard to put a timeline on anything, really. But I think things are definitely on track right now. And we'll just see how the next four months play out.
00:41:43
Speaker
Does your past experience kind of give you some perspective in terms of like understanding where you were at this point in your recovery last time and like physically feeling things that presumably they can't just see on a spreadsheet or a readout saying like, oh, you've done X, Y, and Z. I mean, do you have a sense of like how your
00:42:06
Speaker
how you feel compared to last time. Yeah. Yeah. This one's a little bit different though, because it was a little bit more involved, unfortunately. But I feel like I'm potentially, you know, ahead of where I was last time in terms of what I'm feeling. But again, there's, there's different, you know,
00:42:27
Speaker
things I need to work on this time around because it was a little bit of a different injury. So it's a little bit hard to compare them because the, you know, some of the stuff that I was struggling with last time I'm doing better with this time at this point, but then there's other, you know, things that I need to continue to work on from different aspects of this injury. So it's a little bit hard to compare the two, but
00:42:51
Speaker
yeah I think having gone through before I know where I was at and I'm very happy with where I'm at now. Have you set any sort of goals in terms of whether or not you're able to play this year or not? I mean I would love to of course but I know that the first thing is getting right and if
00:43:12
Speaker
I think having a goal to play is super important. So yeah, I definitely have a goal to play, um, this year. Um, it helps push me through and, and, um, motivate me. And, um, but I think that, you know, I, I haven't gone through this before. I know that the most important thing is, is getting right and not rushing it. And so if, if down the line things don't look like they're going to, going to get to where they're going to be, I, uh, I am in no,
00:43:40
Speaker
No rush, of course. I want to play this year. I want to be back on the field, but I'm not going to push anything. So obviously last year, there was a lot of discussion about your interest in at least exploring the possibility of playing
European Experience and Future Plans
00:43:52
Speaker
in Europe. You obviously did that. Has this whole experience changed any of your perspective as far as playing overseas? I think that's a tough one right now to answer. I think
00:44:08
Speaker
You know, I, in my one month there, I was really enjoying myself. It was a great experience. I felt like I was just really getting going, you know, coming out of what was our off season, going into their season and felt like I was just getting going. So that's one of the big, you know, one of the
00:44:24
Speaker
Very, very frustrating parts about what was happening or what happened. But I really enjoyed myself. It was, like I said, a great experience. But I think for me, the only focus is on getting back and
00:44:40
Speaker
getting back healthy, playing for the Sounders, and then obviously see what the future holds. But right now, my only focus is on being here, getting back strong. And if I'm back this year, helping the team try to win an MLS Cup. So yeah, it's a little bit of a tough one because my main focus right now is just getting back on the field.
00:44:59
Speaker
So, I'm sure you know the World Cup, the US national team World Cup roster, or World Cup qualifying roster came out today, realized this is more stuff that's out of your control, but seeing Christian, seeing, I mean, seeing Alex that I met are playing international football too, is that, what kind of emotions are those steering in you and seeing the roster come out today?
00:45:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm proud of both of them. Obviously they're my close friends and Alex, you know, getting the recognition he deserves this year has been really, really cool. I would be lying if I said it wasn't hard to see, not them on the roster, but just, you know, watching these games is difficult. You know, just wanting to be out there playing and, um,
00:45:51
Speaker
I miss, yeah, I just miss being on the field and you know, I think.
00:45:58
Speaker
I'm a big supporter and I'm watching all the games. It was amazing to see the success that the Sounders are having and the US had this summer, especially against Mexico. That was really, really exciting. But yeah, it's hard to watch and hard to be injured because you're just wishing to be out on the field with the team. But I'm super proud of both those guys and I have a lot of friends on the team. So I'm just excited to watch and looking forward to
00:46:26
Speaker
to seeing how seeing how things go. But yeah, it's it's difficult to watch those games for sure. Has has US soccer or Greg Bertholdt have been in contact with you during this period? Yeah, they're great. You know, I coaches are great and I've talked to them a few times and they've they've checked in. So it's always great to catch up with them. And yeah, so it's it's a really good, really, really good staff. And I'm fortunate that they've been checking in for sure.
00:46:55
Speaker
So just real quick, I know the sounders are also going through some transition right now with Jimmy Treori and Gonzalo Pineda leaving. Just curious if you had any contact with them since that was announced.
00:47:10
Speaker
Yeah, so I was in it training when Jimmy announced his and then, so I was able to say bye to both of them, both great coaches. I'm really excited for both of them. Gonzo going to Atlanta, I think that's an awesome opportunity. He's done really, really well and he deserves it. And Jimbo, the same thing.
00:47:35
Speaker
one of my favorite guys I've been around in the footballing world. He's awesome. And both of them were great coaches and just better people. So we're going to miss them a lot, but I think they both really deserve their opportunities. And hopefully we meet Gonzo in a final. I think that'd be pretty cool. Jimmy must've been your coach for your entire time at the Saunders, right? I'm trying to think.
00:48:03
Speaker
I think he started in 2016. Yeah, so yeah, he was. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying there. I know. It's like a lifetime ago, I'm sure. But what was Gibby like behind the scenes? Oh, he's the funniest guy.
00:48:20
Speaker
He's just a great guy, always has a smile on his face, making people laugh, cracking jokes with the guys.
Coaching Changes Discussion
00:48:25
Speaker
I mean, he just felt like one of the players, you know? Obviously he was at one point in my first year, I think, a few of the game, even.
00:48:36
Speaker
Maybe I can't remember when he, well, he was, I think he retired in 2015 or 2014, but he was with S two in 2015 and then, uh, I think, yeah. So some of the guys still very, very recently removed from playing. Yeah, exactly. So he's just, you know, feels like one of the guys and, um, he's just always, always making people laugh and smile. He's in a good mood. So we're going to miss him a lot.
00:49:03
Speaker
Well, that's mainly what I had, Jordan. I really appreciate you taking the time. And it's great seeing that you're back out at training. And I know a lot of people, myself included, look forward to seeing you back on the field. Appreciate it, man. And I know this was, you know, I didn't get to plug this in a bit, but with the, put this in a bit, but with the camp, and this is a Dexcom interview, you know? So with the camp, I just wanted to say thank you again to them. And I said this at the camp, but it's,
00:49:32
Speaker
they sponsored the camp. I don't know if you knew that, but, um, no, uh, with, uh, with a product, I said this to the camp with a product like this, like it's so easy to talk about it because it's something I really believe in. And I don't, Dexcom is like, instead of having to prick my finger and check my blood sugar, it just reads directly to my phone. So I have it constantly and both as a high level athlete and as a, um,
00:50:00
Speaker
as just a normal diabetic, it's completely changed my life. So I'm just grateful for their, for their partnership and their support of my foundation. And it was really cool to see at the camp how many kids were, were wearing them because, um, you know, I've been preaching for a long time, but, but these kids, um, to be able to use it as well has been, been awesome. So it's been a,
00:50:23
Speaker
life-changing technology for me for sure. And I just would have been remiss if I hadn't mentioned them.
Impact of Diabetes Technology
00:50:30
Speaker
How does it, I mean, how does that work then? So it's like a, it's something you, it's a wearable of some sort.
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, so I wear it. And I just remember when I was first diagnosed, I like, I hated checking my blood sugar because I would just have to prick my finger all the time. So I would neglect it sometimes wouldn't do it. And so now I wear this. Yeah, you wear a continuous glucose monitor is what it's called. And it just reads directly to your phone every five minutes and it'll beep at you if it
00:50:58
Speaker
is you set a range and so it beeps you if it's too high or too low and it tells you exactly if it's going up or going down and so for me like going into a game it's so important to know exactly where you are and so with the Dexcom it tells you like exactly where you are exactly where you're going and so it kind of takes the guesswork out of it a bit and I remember just because my dad's a team doc and so I remember you know
00:51:25
Speaker
before I got on the Dexcom, I was just, I would sit, I would check my blood sugar, I'd sit there and I would like talk to my dad about, okay, where do we think it's going? What, you know, what adjustments should we make? Do I need to have some, you know, some fruits and action? I need to give myself insulin, but now, you know, it's just so easy. It makes everything so much easier. So I'm just grateful for the product, but also just grateful for their support of my foundation. Yeah. I actually, a good friend of mine is, is diabetic and I'm,
00:51:54
Speaker
Fairly. So what he's described, what he's described to me sounds very similar to this product, which it might be the exact same product, but yeah, it's, I mean, it's a, it's a game changer for sure. And it's really cool. Cause I didn't have it when I was a kid, but a lot of these kids, there's a share function. So their parents can have it on their phone. And so it just takes like, I remember my mom would have to come check my blood sugar in the middle of the night at like 3 AM cause she had no idea, but now it's just on their phone and it'll beep at them if
00:52:22
Speaker
if it's too high or too low. So I think for parents as well, it's just like take some of the, a lot of the stress out of it. It's been pretty amazing. So, so if you don't mind me asking, I am curious how, I know there was a lot of discussion last year, especially around how your, how diabetes was going to impact the way you interacted with COVID essentially. I'm curious how, how has that, that played out for you and, and yeah,
00:52:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think just being extra cautious. Um, yeah, there's a little bit more of a risk as a diabetic, if you know, the effects of getting COVID. So especially during, you know, the season last year, um, being super, super careful, still being really careful, taking everything, um, all the guidelines and everything really seriously. So I think just on top of, um, on top of everything, just being, being even, even more careful and, um, yeah.
00:53:21
Speaker
Yeah, so even if they can't be everyone was everyone was wearing masks and everyone was was social distancing being really careful. So it was it was definitely a little bit different, but everyone did a great job. Does it feel like a.
00:53:36
Speaker
Like it probably didn't feel normal, but I'm, I'm mad. I mean, just because of my, in my experience, some of the stuff, it's like, there is some sense of sustainability to this that it's like, okay, it's not exactly how I want it to be, but if this is how it has to be, it's tolerable. Yeah, exactly. And even the week before we were like a little, getting a little bit nervous and we're like, as long as we can have it, you know, it wasn't exactly normal, but it was, it was pretty, pretty close. So, um, yeah, as long as we were able to have it, we were happy.
00:54:05
Speaker
Well, Jordan, thank you again for doing this. Yeah, of course. Out of curiosity, are you in Fremont by chance? I am, yeah. Oh, it's funny. I think I'm pretty close to neighbors of yours then. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I'm on 49th and Aurora. Oh, nice. Okay, yeah, not too far.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah, because your your dog I follow your dog on on Instagram and so a lot of the images that have been on I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's my neighborhood. Yeah, we do a lot of walks around here for sure. Yeah.
00:54:36
Speaker
My wife does a good job with the Instagram. Yeah. No, it's a fun, it's a fun account. You and, uh, you're here on the couch there. Yeah. And I have a, uh, actually laying down sleeping right next to me as a, I have a, a golden doodle that is, that is similar color as yours. Weirdly enough. And, um, I have to say I'm very impressed. Your, your dog is extremely photogenic. Yeah.
00:55:07
Speaker
We might take one or two to make sure she looks good, you know, but she's, she's a, she's a, she's a cutie. We love her. We got her during COVID and she's just been the best. Like, yeah, that's what we think our mom's off everything. You know? Yeah. We, uh, I have two daughters. I have a eight year old and a five year old and
00:55:27
Speaker
we had been on the fence about getting a dog COVID. And then once COVID hit, it was like, that was all right. I guess we're getting a dog. Exactly. Yeah. We're going to be home. There's no better time to raise a dog when you're home for a few months. So yeah, that's good. The challenge I think is going to be the, once we start like not being home all day with them and
00:55:47
Speaker
Like I'm walking him three times a day, which I don't know how long that will last. Exactly. Yeah, for sure. That's the same with my wife walks her a lot when I'm in training and stuff. But when she goes back to the office, it's just, she's going to be so bored here. Yeah.
00:56:02
Speaker
Um, let's figure it out. I guess that's how it goes. What kind of, so it's a, is it a sheep doodle? She's the sheep of doodle. Yeah.
Personal Stories with Pets
00:56:10
Speaker
Okay. Poodle mix. Yeah. So the netting is the, is the grape. Oh yeah. That's huge. And what's like probably, she's probably like 50 pounds or something. She's I think 55 maybe in there. Um, but I think she's full grown. So
00:56:27
Speaker
she's a little over, she's a year and three months or something like that. So I think she's, she's pretty full grown. Yeah. That's a, ours, the, it was, we, when we got ours, we thought it was going to, he was going to be, I don't know, 20, 25 pounds. And then he got to about 30, he's settled in around 33, 34, but he's got this big, big frame, like a much bigger, like we had a,
00:56:50
Speaker
We had a poodle mix before and it was kind of a little but fat dog. And this guy is a big skinny dog. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All different shapes and sizes. Exactly. But anyway, I've wasted enough of your time. I appreciate it.
00:57:10
Speaker
All Paul wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Nota Adieira since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:57:29
Speaker
Two, you request bottles that sound appealing, and three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpaulwines.com. Welcome back to Nosed Audio Desk. Hopefully you enjoyed that Jordan Morris interview. It was a little bit of a surprise to end up being able to do that, but
00:57:59
Speaker
It was, you know, you get a chance to interview Jordan Morris, you're going to take it. So hopefully we get to see him this year. I'd say that there's a decent chance of that. That's unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. I know. It's shocking. And I was, you know, I don't know if I would expect him to say anything less, but that he was
00:58:20
Speaker
expressing like a seeming genuine competence that he will be able to come back at the same level or maybe even better than he was when he was hurt last time in part because he felt like he came back better than he was, you know, the time before. So, um, of course it took him a year, probably. No. Yeah. It took him like a year to get back to that point. So I don't know. Maybe that's, that's too hopeful to get him that, that point this year, but
00:58:48
Speaker
Uh, I don't think it's out of the, the role of possibility that he could be in the world cup team, which is crazy to think. And it's nice of the strikers in the U S national team pool to like, keep that door open for him. Yeah. And nobody's won that. Nobody's won in that job. That's for, that's for damn sure. Uh, definitely not anytime soon. Um, but, uh, yeah, so we got questions. You want to, yeah, let's, let's start off with this one from interpret personal. Um,
00:59:14
Speaker
The three five two has played huge dividends this season, especially with the defense with Leo chew here and Morris on the way to Schmetzer stick with it. How much of a sticking with the three five two was due to Gonzo and Jimmy. Well, I, I think that's a, it's certainly a fair question. I, I do think that Leo chew fits okay in a, in a three fight and I, this is getting maybe too granular, but I, I think the three five two is a,
00:59:42
Speaker
little bit of a misnomer in that it's really played more like a 3-4-2-1 almost from the beginning because Will Bruin was dropping so far into the midfield and really more of a facilitator than he was like a classic second forward. And so they haven't really played a classic 3-5-2 a whole bunch, but if they were to play a classic 3-5-2, I think you could put Morris in that second forward spot pretty easily.
01:00:12
Speaker
But I think two fits really nicely in one of those two spots behind the forward. And I don't know, maybe you could play Jordan in one of those spots too. I think he's a little, he's going to be much more effective if he's, if you can put them out wide, but I don't know that it, it demands that they change formations just to get those two players on the field.
01:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think that especially because those two guys are going to be at various points in their ability to contribute. Um, Jordan just coming back from injury, probably being pretty limited in how much he can play and to adjust into a new league and country. And he hasn't played in quite a while. Uh, yeah, over a month. And that was, uh, he was playing like in the, the, the regional league, I think, uh, you might be right at a fairly low level. So, um,
01:01:05
Speaker
I don't think that you can start changing things up, like you said, to get those guys on the field, but it does make next year interesting. It does. This is a longer term, you know, a longer term experiment project. But I will say the thing that I think is going to maybe keep them in this formation is suddenly their center back depth looks really robust. And, you know,
01:01:30
Speaker
You have obviously like right now, I think you have four or five starting quality center backs on your first team roster. And then you get beyond the first team roster and you have, you know, you have players like Tom Pruitt and, uh, at, at the defiance and guys that you could theoretically bolster your center back.
01:01:53
Speaker
your center back depth with. And so, I don't know. I think if you have the personnel to play three center backs,
01:02:03
Speaker
I don't know why you would necessarily get out of that. It'll be more interesting to see what they do in the attack. I, you know, they might be in for some change in the off season. Who knows? Uh, I doubt we're going to see this as much as like almost everyone on this team, I would be happy to bring back. I, that never works out that way. And, and so I, you know, we'll see. Um, I also think we should be careful about assuming that Jordan is going to be.
01:02:29
Speaker
You know, I think we like, we felt, I fell in love with him as a, as a left midfielder and a four, two, three, one. Yeah.
01:02:35
Speaker
but it's worth remembering he was a pretty damn good number nine and there's no reason he can't play as a forward. Uh, you know, he, his best position before, uh, up until two, that was up until his first injury was really, uh, as like a second forward, even though he didn't get to play that a whole lot for the sounders. And so like he, he's got some tactical flexibility. I don't know.
01:03:01
Speaker
I think Jordan playing behind Raul and a system like the one that they're playing now, it's going to look much, much different than Freddie, but it can definitely work. I mean, lots of teams sort of, you know, utilize that kind of strategy. So yeah, they have a lot of flexibility there for sure. So this one's from Bill Jones, trumpet. How much impact of any do we see on the field from the loss of Gonzo and Jimmy on recent games?
01:03:31
Speaker
I gotta feel like it's pretty minimal at this point. I know that my understanding at least is that Gonzo is responsible for a lot of the tactical preparation and that sort of thing. But I would imagine that when you've got, you know, what, four games in like eight days or whatever it was, that a lot of those plans are made pretty well in advance.
01:03:57
Speaker
There's not a ton of time to do a lot of preparation between those games. So but there might have been some effect there. I don't know. Well, and I'll add that Jimmy traveled on that whole road trip. So that as well. Yeah, I don't think his loss like I don't think his loss was suddenly felt in the Timbers game. Right. I would I would kind of guess that.
01:04:20
Speaker
a lot of the things that assistant coaches bring to the table are not things that leave when they do, um, or that you're going to notice right away. Like if, if Gonzo is really good at preparing the team for games, the other people on the coaching staff are going to notice that and keep doing a lot of the things he's doing. Um, if, you know, the stuff that Jimmy told his defenders, they're not going to just like forget cause he's not like they have object permanence, you know, they're not going to just forget cause he's not there anymore. So, um,
01:04:49
Speaker
You know, I definitely think that there could very well be longer term effects, although the Sounders have historically been pretty good at hiring assistant coaches or head coaches in some cases to become assistant coaches. But, you know, I mean, Gonzo is clearly a very good coach. Like there's a reason that Atlanta eventually wanted to hire him. Yeah.
01:05:09
Speaker
There's a reason that Jimmy had an offer in Europe. Do we know where he ended up yet? Yeah. So I did find out he's going to Michelin in, in Denmark. He's going to be, I guess they're you 19 coach. And then he has some other responsibilities to go along with that. That's the, that's the money ball. Yeah.
01:05:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's it is. It's the same owner. If you if you follow this kind of thing, it's same owner is Brentford, which is this guy who made a bunch of money gambling and is a big numbers guy. And Michelin has been one of the for the last four years, they finished one or two in Denmark and there's currently second place. It's a seemingly a great club and his family is in Denmark. So hard to blame him for for taking that one. But yeah, and they and then, of course, his owners have just announced the hiring of Freddie Juarez, who
01:05:56
Speaker
was the head coach at RSL a few weeks ago, and he stepped down basically to take his assistant job.
01:06:04
Speaker
And best I can tell Freddie Juarez is, is kind of a Gonzalo Pineda is very similar to Gonzalo Pineda and that he was, he's kind of like a, a coach's coach. Uh, he's a, he's big into tactics and, uh, everyone seems to like him. Uh, so, you know, I, I think the sounders are in good hands. I'm not really worried about that part of it. I'm not worried about there being some sort of brain drain, uh, after losing these two guys.
01:06:30
Speaker
Yeah, I do. As an aside, I understand that there are a lot of things about Freddie Juarez's situation in RSL that makes it more complex than the Sounders hired a head coach to become an assistant coach, but it is very funny that they hired a head coach. It is. And I think even when you understand all those mitigating circumstances,
01:06:50
Speaker
I still think it's kind of says something about the relative difference in perception that the sounders have over a lot of other MLS teams that even when you correct for all the things like he didn't know if he was going to come back next year, just that the sounders would even think that they could hire. Yeah. The head coach from another team to be their assistant is pretty telling. It's pretty well. Yeah, it's pretty well.
01:07:16
Speaker
Um, all right. Next one is from Trivia Lex. Uh, Lidero is back, but looks rusty. Freddie has been playing well. Bruins seem to unlock for a little earlier this season. Chu just landed and even Jamo might play this year. What should we expect the team to look like tactically going forward? We kind of touched on this a little bit, but I think Lidero coming back is really the piece that I think is, uh, you know, going to be interesting.
01:07:39
Speaker
Yeah, you know, we were talking about this in the Sounder at Heart Slack recently and I think we all have seen that Nico is rusty and he doesn't look like himself. And, you know, what I, the way I've kind of talked myself into this is that I think you could argue that the Sounders would have been better off on Sunday if Brian had pulled Schmetzer or had pulled Ledero off before, like he ended up letting him play 90 minutes. But my suspicion is,
01:08:09
Speaker
two things. One is that as it turned out, the centers were getting a lot of corners. And it makes sense if like, I don't know that another player would have done better with the chances that the centers had, you know, they created a bunch of corner chances of corners. But beyond that, I think
01:08:28
Speaker
Brian knows that he's playing a longer game. Like this, this game was important from a, you know, from all the reasons that we articulated before, but it's still just a game in a 34 game season. And you really want your team to be firing on all cylinders at the end of the season, right? And so getting 90 minutes out of Nico is in and of itself kind of a useful thing to try to do. And I think that's what we kind of have to live with right now is
01:08:56
Speaker
You got to let Nico work through all this stuff with the hope that the payoff is down the line. And so when we get down to, you know, the last 10 games of the season or whatever, the last five games of the season in the playoffs that Nico is back at full strength.
01:09:11
Speaker
Yeah. And I would say too, that he's clearly rusty and he clearly looks off. But one of the things about Nico is that so much of what he does is predicated on his pretty inhuman level of fitness and his ability to play at that level of intensity the entire game. And you can't just turn that back on after that long.
01:09:34
Speaker
away. Fitness takes time to build up. He's obviously just going to be rusty just from the time away, but I could see it maybe taking him a little bit longer to get back to what we're used to seeing. I think there's always a chance when a guy over the age of 30 is coming back from an injury that he's forever changed. I think it's a pretty low chance in this case, but
01:09:58
Speaker
you've got to give yourself a lot of time to figure that out because if Nico has permanently changed, that's a pretty huge deal. And you've got to make very, very sure that he is before you, you know, before you make any rash decisions. So you've got to just kind of let him struggle for a while. Most likely he works himself back in the form and it's fine and hits the ground running. But even if he's not,
01:10:24
Speaker
you have to let him, you have to establish that as a pretty, you know, an unignorable fact, I think.
01:10:33
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Uh, all right. Well, this is another one from inner personal, uh, most RSL fans that I've read are a okay with Freddie war. I was leaving even though they were in the play in a playoff spot. Common complaints are his refusal to substitute early or adapt tactics mid game. I'll add that there's a lot of frustration seemingly among the RSL fan base, you know, maybe understandably that they've given up leads, uh,
01:10:58
Speaker
like in second halves and the last 30 minutes of games. That said, do you think there's anything related to these complaints and did the Sounders make a bad hire in your opinion?
01:11:09
Speaker
Uh, I don't think that any, the fans of any team have ever thought that their coach did a good job adapting tactics. I mean, well, the RSL has been really bad this year and a first time coach in a really bad situation. I'm sure that Freddie war has made a lot of mistakes. Um, that's not shocking. He doesn't have, uh, much to, to.
01:11:33
Speaker
So the margins are pretty thin or didn't, you know, in that role. So yeah, like if the Sounders were hiring him to be the head coach, I would probably be pretty livid. I don't think that would be a good hire, but.
01:11:47
Speaker
I mean, you know, lots of, uh, good assistant coaches have been bad head coaches in the past. Lots of guys that were bad head coaches eventually became good head coaches. Like I definitely trust the talent evaluation, making those decisions. Um, I know that, you know, Brian, I mean, one of the first things Freddie Roar has said was that Brian Schmetzer reached out to him and vice versa over the off season, just to talk about coaching and things like that. So it's pretty clear that Brian Schmetzer knows him fairly well. Yeah. They seem to be friendly. Yeah.
01:12:15
Speaker
And I'm sure that helps. But I mean, I was I would have been pretty happy with them hiring like down to near. And so I'm, you know, like.
01:12:26
Speaker
This seems better than that to me because there's definitely some upside there. I just, I'm definitely at the point with the sounders where if they're bringing somebody in, I assume that they're, they know what they're doing and that that guy is a good hire. Like they're going to have to demonstrate several times that they're messing those kinds of things up for me to make that assumption.
01:12:46
Speaker
Well, you know, I'll kind of address one aspect of this kind of debates, the right word, but the discussion around the hire is I kind of got into a discussion with someone on center heard about how, you know, if you look at the hires that Garth has made, he seems to just be hiring his old buddies. And he's, he said, Freddie was one and Craig Weibel was the other. And I thought that was an interesting way of looking at who
01:13:13
Speaker
Garth log away is hiring because he's been here since 2015. He's made a lot of hires. Those are the only two that came from RSL and the ones that you decide are Garth hires versus Brian Spencer hires or whoever else. You know, basically no one in the organization is in the same position they were in when Garth was hired. It was a long time ago.
01:13:36
Speaker
And like, yeah, I think there's maybe something to be said about the connections that he had at RSL and he's bringing some of the guys over from there. But I don't think he was really behind the Freddie Juarez hire. I think this was really a Brian Schmetzer hire. And sure, did it help that Craig Weibel and Garth could vouch for the guy? I'm sure that that contributes, you know, it's a small world, but
01:13:59
Speaker
I think Brian made this higher and I think he's happy with it. He seems to really like him. And I think it's, you know, it's, it's tempting to talk about getting the band back together or whatever, but I don't, I don't really think that's what's happening here. I, I did think it was also kind of funny that all of a sudden Craig Weibel was also getting mentioned as the GM for the sounds of the earthquakes job, which would be
01:14:23
Speaker
Just the way it goes. You hired good people and other people want to hire them. Yeah, that's true. I also think it's fair to point out that, uh, RSL won a lot of games when Garth was there and was mentoring people like Craig Weibel and
Coaching and Leadership in Soccer
01:14:37
Speaker
Freddie Juarez. So, you know, he was probably doing something right in terms of the sound evaluation. Right. Yeah. And that's a good point.
01:14:44
Speaker
Uh, next one is from Chris. I don't know if it's Chris show or not, but that's what we're going with. Um, given how the season has gone so far, what factors moving forward would secure coach of the year for Schmetzer? Ooh, that's, you know, that's an interesting one because I, I go back and forth as to thinking like it's his to lose and, you know,
01:15:07
Speaker
I'll be honest, if Bruce Arena wins the supporter shield and breaks the record for most points, gonna be tough. I think Robin Frazier on the other end of the spectrum is putting together a really good season on a very small budget for the rapids.
01:15:27
Speaker
So I think there's some other contenders in there. I don't think it's going to be enough for the Sounders to just win the West and people to remember that they were missing a bunch of people during the summer. Like I think he maybe has to win support or shield to win coach of the year, which is a shame because I don't think that's the standard that other coaches are held to, but.
01:15:53
Speaker
If I were a betting man, that would, that would be more, I'd put my money as like, if he doesn't win support or shield, it's going to be tough. I think that I think Brian Schmetzer is, is a better coach than Bruce Arena at the stage. Obviously accomplished a ton, but you know, so it's impossible. But man, if your team sets a new record for points, you're, you probably deserve to win coach of the year. Yeah.
Critique of Bruce Arena
01:16:17
Speaker
And then, yeah.
01:16:19
Speaker
And he also put the team together and they were kind of garbage when he started. Yeah. I mean, he's done a hell of a job in New, in New England. And, um, I think, you know, I don't like the guy. I think he, I think he's a turd, but I actually, I was thinking about this. I think he might actually be bad for American soccer in this way that I think so much of
01:16:40
Speaker
I think coaches in American soccer still need to be really cognizant of growing the game and reaching out to and like being accessible and being responsive to both the media and fans. And Bruce like goes out of his way to not do those things. And
01:16:59
Speaker
I actually think that it's damaging to the game that he's that way. And I will say on the flip side, like Greg Berhalter is really the opposite of that. And he like, talk about the, he's now the US national team coach. I know a lot of people don't like Greg Berhalter, but he is always willing to explain himself. He's always willing to like try to educate people. He seems, people seem to really like him and like,
01:17:24
Speaker
I think U.S. soccer in general, not like capital S U.S. soccer, but like just in general American soccer, could use more Greg Burr Halters and Brian Schmetters and Bruce Arenas and Ewing and Clinsmans.
01:17:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's absolutely true. I think that Bruce Arena has accomplished a ton and I have a lot of respect for him, but he was also big shit in American soccer. One American soccer was just shit. And, you know, like, yeah, he, he was the coach of some good US national teams, but like most of the stuff he wanted MLS was when MLS was actively bad. And
01:17:57
Speaker
You know, like, I don't know, all credit to him this year, but it's just that gatekeeping attitude that he has that's just very gross. Like it's like big fish in a small pond kind of stuff, you know? And I think you're right that like guys like Brian Schmetzer and I've definitely actually come around under Holter. I'm pretty surprised about that. But I think he's done a good job and he seems like a good guy.
01:18:25
Speaker
Yep. All right. So this is the last one from RB pitch.
The Gold Elevator Anecdote
01:18:32
Speaker
Do you think finally allowing the gold elevator to win will change our luck at home? Couldn't hurt, but I didn't win all of 2019 and we were pretty good at home that year. So, you know, we were, uh, I will say this, this, they threw us a curve ball, this one.
01:18:49
Speaker
uh, gold elevator shot out to a huge lead. They made it look like gold over, it was going to win. And then all of a sudden blue elevator one. And I was like, almost, I was like, what is this? Where's gold? What's going on? What's going on here? Uh, but it's, it's an interesting bit that I don't, I'll be honest. I don't quite, I don't know if I get it. Uh,
01:19:10
Speaker
So I don't, I don't know what, I'm not quite sure what's going on there, but it's an interesting bit. Who knows? Maybe that's what they're looking for. They just need somebody to change it up. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I mean, maybe that's the thing is they're saving it for, you know, some sort of monumental thing. Well, but they, they get it.
01:19:27
Speaker
Like, don't you, like, this is what, like the perfect thing would have been to have it win at halftime of MLS cup. Like, right? Like, I don't think so. Yeah. But they didn't do that. I think that they realized that they should have done that and they messed up. So they did it at the parade and they're like, well, now we've already done it. So I don't think it's actually in it. I think it probably wouldn't be the thing that gets it turned around, but you know, you never know.
01:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. We talked about intangibles. So who's to say that totems are not also a thing that can be, you know, a good luck charm. Who knows? Yeah. Well, that's
Weekend Plans and Sign-Off
01:20:04
Speaker
it. That's all the questions we got. Yeah. You guys are going to do better next time. We're actually going to, we're going to go to bed on time. I know.
01:20:15
Speaker
What do you got going on? What are you going to do with your weekend off? Aaron, we have no games to watch. I know it's, it's actually, it's not bad because I've got a lot of stuff to do. I mean, I guess the rain are playing. We could.
01:20:24
Speaker
I will, I will, I will be watching that. Um, I will, yeah, I mean, I don't, there's no villa to watch, no sounders, no villa to watch either. Yeah. Cause there's the international break. That's right. And they're going to, they're going to be missing their, uh, South American players for like six years. Uh, cause of the, cause of the, uh, quarantine requirements and wow.
01:20:46
Speaker
So that's not good, but yeah, I mean, I'll watch the rain, but that's like really the only thing I've got to do. Oh, the college football starts this weekend now. So that'll be good. That was a state when there's season opener. That's good. They played, who did they play? Southern Utah. Southern Utah. I think that was who they played. Sounds about right. Yeah. So that'll be nice. Do you have any plans?
01:21:07
Speaker
scintillating. Yeah, I know. I don't, I don't think nothing, nothing too big. We were cleaning out our, we've been this last weekend, we were cleaning out our, our basement because we're maybe doing some work on there. So, you know, big stuff, big stuff. That's my big project. That's actually my big project right now, not the basement with the garage, same, the same kind of deal. So nice. I feel yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we got to compare notes sometime. We will. Well, thanks everyone for tolerating our,
01:21:36
Speaker
Silly banter. But yeah, I'm Jeremiah Shand signing off for Aaron Campo. Remember, we have a wonderful sponsor and full pool wines. And so go check them out. But other than that, this is No Sadietes. And remember, you'll never get alone.
01:21:57
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:22:39
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!