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SLC punked
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The Sounders, once again, fell flat on their trip to Real Salt Lake. This time it was two early mistakes that hastened their downfall. Mark Kastner joins Jeremiah to discuss the Sounders’ first loss of the season and look ahead to Cruz Azul.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Introductions
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
00:00:16
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now i get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Come on. Hey, O'Shea.
00:00:38
Speaker
Let's go. I'm sorry, Mike Fry. The Seattle Sounders have done it. I don't know.
00:00:57
Speaker
sounder that has come nila so
00:01:17
Speaker
This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht thing. Ever since that we didn't take over seriously.
Seattle Sounders' Loss at Real Salt Lake
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Center at Heart Podcast Network, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Tuesday, March 4th, 2025. I am your host, Jeremiah Oshan.
00:01:52
Speaker
Joining me today is special co-host Mark Kastner and our engineer, Lickit. Well, it was bound to happen. The Sounders lost the game. It was perhaps a bit too predictable, though, as they lost at Real Salt Lake, someplace they've never won during Brian Schmitz's tenure, and in particularly familiar fashion, falling 2-0.
00:02:10
Speaker
It was the eighth time in nine games that they've been shut out in Utah, and they've now gone 0-7-2 with just two goals scored in that time. So knowing all that, Mark, does does it change how you felt about this result, or does it impact it in any way?
00:02:26
Speaker
Not really. um i think the way that the game ended up being played does make me feel a little frustrated because, you know, ah and don't think RSL is particularly good this year. Yeah. um I think the Sounders are good this year. Yeah.
00:02:45
Speaker
um
00:02:48
Speaker
Anytime you score an own goal of that fashion, it's frustrating and that early in the game. But overall, I think my expectations heading into it were pretty low.
00:02:59
Speaker
I think Lickett pointed out on ah social media website that it had been like literally 14 years since a regular season win has happened. 2011.
00:03:10
Speaker
2011. Last time they won RSL. yeah two thousand and eleven last time they went in get rrsl That's a long time ago for those keeping track at home. i mean you The kids that were born after that have had their bar mitzvah and bought mitzvah for that matter.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah. And, ah you know, just a whole lot of things have happened between now and then. Yeah. um But yeah, i think it like it sucked to watch. It wasn't very fun.
00:03:35
Speaker
um i think that afternoon kickoff also sucked, made it suck more. I don't know. But overall, I don't think it's something I'm going to think about for much longer than after recording this podcast.
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know that I will think about it much after this, in part because we have to move on pretty quickly from ah for all in all purposes. I mean, the Sounders have another game tomorrow as we're recording this. We're probably going to put this out like I don't know, I guess maybe we'll come out tonight, but there's another show and another another game tomorrow. So it's like the the games just come fast and furious. There's not a lot of time to stew on this, but I'm with you. you know i i i will say that I had higher expectations going into this game. I actually convinced myself that they might be they might actually be
00:04:24
Speaker
they might even be the favorites in this game, partly because ah RSL looks so bad in the three games that they had played before this part of it, because the centers had looked really good in the three games before this.
Match Analysis and Missed Opportunities
00:04:34
Speaker
But when you watch how it unfolded,
00:04:38
Speaker
it ends up being a little predictable. So just to recap, the Sounders looked like they scored a goal in the fifth or sixth minute off of a Jordan Morris header. It's looks like it's going into the net and then Georgie Manungu ah knocks it across the line. Unfortunately, he's like six feet offside, like not even close.
00:04:59
Speaker
I think he would have had to be in the goal to be even more offside. Right. Yeah. He was, he was very far off side. And I watched this replay a lot. I am pretty sure that ball is going in if he doesn't touch it. And in any case, he has to know better than he he has to know he's offside. I mean, he's looking down the line.
00:05:19
Speaker
And at no point is he ever on side. Like the RSL never put anyone on the post. They never had anyone deep. They sort of were daring the Sounders to send someone to the far post like they did.
00:05:31
Speaker
And it ended up not being good. And then essentially on the next possession, RSL just sort of looped in across a cross, completely aimless cross. There's nothing to it.
00:05:44
Speaker
There's not really any dangerous runners in the box. There's it's not hit with any particular pace. It takes a nice bounce and it looks like it is going to nestle very nicely into the Steph Fry's hands and then Nuhu just cuts in front of him and heads it into the net and then does the whole I didn't hear you thing.
00:06:05
Speaker
But where is he heading that ball? even it like Let's just say Steph Fry didn't come out for it. What was Nuhu going to do with that? I don't.
00:06:16
Speaker
So I don't think Nuhu did that on purpose. I don't think he was trying to score an old goal. No, no, I wouldn't. not However, in that situation, if you were trying to score an old goal, I don't think you would do anything different.
00:06:30
Speaker
I think you would do exactly what he did. even even to the point of like the like what he did after the play of being like oh i didn't hear you like that uh-huh such such a like a sort of typical excuse in that situation there was nobody within like five yards anywhere no literally do literally like way at the far post Yeah, Diego Luna is making the opposite. Like, he's running away from the ball because... Oh, my God.
00:07:05
Speaker
It was so silly. And it was just like, if Nuhu would have literally just fell over, if if like like if he would have gotten like hurt and fell over, a better outcome would have happened. not Not for the player, but obviously like just...
00:07:23
Speaker
Like, it just would have been... Like, if he would have done nothing, it would have been better than that. ah Yeah. and the The other thing I think is so funny about that is if if he had done the exact same thing and he had headed it out of bounds, you'd still be frustrated because you'd say, what are you doing?
00:07:40
Speaker
Fry clearly had that. But at least it was a defensive play. Like, he's hitting it... He thinks he's clearing the danger. and this And the way he did it, he didn't...
00:07:52
Speaker
It doesn't even look like he's trying to clear the danger. I don't know where he's going. He hits it into the middle of the goal. Yeah, he heads it more towards the goal than it would have been otherwise.
00:08:03
Speaker
Otherwise, like if it would have just hit him, a better outcome would have happened. But the the action he took made it so much worse. yeah um I mean, you and then you just can't.
00:08:18
Speaker
You can't do that. You can't do that. It's ridiculous. It is quite ridiculous. And I will say after I did rewatch the game from beginning to end for some reason, because I'm a glutton and i actually thought the centers looked okay. I know the narrative coming out of this game was that they look sluggish and they just didn't look sharp.
00:08:40
Speaker
And I don't know, they they didn't look great, but they essentially controlled the game between the, the goal the the goal that ah they gave up and the goal that they the actual goal that they gave up in the 80th minute. So like there was about 70 minutes between those two goals. And i I would say the Sounders were the better team for the most part.
Sounders' Defense and Lineup Surprises
00:09:00
Speaker
RSL had some decent looks. ah you know The Sounders did not close. There is a weakness in the Sounders' defense, and I'd say that it's it's out on the wings. they They don't seem to have quite figured that out. If they if their press isn't working, they are susceptible on the wings.
00:09:15
Speaker
ah that's That's been a problem. But they had dealt with it okay, I thought, in this game. they RSL really had one or two chances. The Sounders had a few chances. you know Obed Vargas came very close to scoring.
00:09:27
Speaker
Georgie Manungu had a ah great opportunity or two to make up for his is ah offside disallow. i don't even know what you call that. we His offside play.
00:09:39
Speaker
The Sounders had opportunities to take the lead or to at least to equalize in this game. And then it actually looked like they did equalize in like the 55th minute, something fifty six like I don't know, somewhere in around there.
00:09:53
Speaker
Made way through the second half or so. And ah rolled on, put Morris in and he ends up playing it over Rusnak, and he scores. And you go, okay, we're all good.
00:10:05
Speaker
Then the flag comes up. i thought I thought it was a much closer call. then like i would have like I would have appreciated VAR taking some time to at least sort of take a closer look at it.
00:10:17
Speaker
I will admit that if the standard is clear and obvious, he was not clearly and obviously offside, so that makes it tough to to overturn. I'm not really expecting it to be overturned. I talked to enough people that you know ran the sort of the models and they said, yeah, he's probably offside by a foot or two.
00:10:34
Speaker
I'm willing to accept that. But what's annoying about it is Morris really didn't need to be offside there. He could have got himself off on side. It's not even like the extra step that he got there was what yeah he was going to win that ball regardless. And it wasn't like he was played in.
00:10:50
Speaker
he He had to pull it back and he had work to do. ah and And so, i don't know you you take those three plays all of them mistakes, all of them easily avoidable.
00:11:01
Speaker
And it's going to be hard to overcome that, especially at RSL, especially, know, the Sounders are just not at a point where they can overcome that many mistakes in the game and still win, I don't think. Yeah, I think I would take, I'm going to take like a little bit of a different ah choose your own adventure on the off cycle. because I think there's a lot of things.
00:11:22
Speaker
like Christian Roldan had so much time to play that ball. There was like nobody around him. And I'm annoyed at that. like That's not a mistake Christian Roldan makes, ever. like I think he's... you know What mistake are you saying Christian made there? Did he play it too slow?
00:11:43
Speaker
he like He took an extra touch, and I think that that extra touch... Jordan thought was going to be the pass. And that's when Jordan ended up offside. Cause there was nobody, maybe there was like nobody pressuring him. He had all the time in the world to play that ball.
00:11:58
Speaker
And you know I'm not a professional soccer player, but I think you want to try to hit hit your forward in stride, and Jordan would had to kind of hang up there.
00:12:11
Speaker
um But, you know, there's enough things that went wrong that you can kind of – you get to just kind of decide what your most annoying thing was. Yeah. yeah And i I would say in that instance, I'm just – you want the –
00:12:28
Speaker
you want the player with the ball to play it sooner, or at least I do. um But yeah, stay on side. ah Don't head the ball in when it's already going in.
00:12:40
Speaker
Don't head the ball into your own goal when you don't have to. good advice. Yeah. I think, I think those are my takeaways from my, ah my three main takeaways from the game are not do, not do those three things. Yeah, all fair.
00:12:53
Speaker
ah What didn did you make of the starting lineup? There were, i believe, eight changes from midweek. Some of them predictable. Some of them may be a little surprising. I would say the biggest surprise to me was Jordan starting a fourth consecutive game, although he only played it a half in the in the previous game.
00:13:12
Speaker
ah The other surprise, maybe Kalani Kosarienzi getting his first ah MLS start. ah but otherwise i thought a pretty predictable lineup. I suppose some people could, ah some people were frustrated that Areola didn't start over Roth rock.
00:13:32
Speaker
Some frustration that, you know, Pedro didn't start, but I don't know. Where did you fall on the starting lineup? Yeah, I think so. It changes from midweek, but only two changes from the Charlotte game. Right.
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah. yeah, um My personal kind of like where I'm at, where i'm going to be at as long as the Sounders are in ah the Conk. I'm never going to call it its right name, but thek the CCL Conk Cap Champions Cup, whatever it's called.
00:13:59
Speaker
As long as yeah the Sounders are in that. Conk the Champions, I think is the cool name. Oh, that feels even worse. um
00:14:09
Speaker
ah As long as they're in that competition, i want them to dedicate all of their like resource and number one minutes and stuff to that.
00:14:20
Speaker
So okay but so we're kind of looking at it from like from the Charlotte game to this, two changes, one change, ah one of the guys is having a baby, ah the other guy has played and like every minute of of each game or whatever. yeah so i think I think all of it was fine.
00:14:39
Speaker
You know, I thought for large part... Jackson-Reagan, in case people try to remember, Jackson-Reagan was the other change from the weekend. um just The one thing I didn't like about this lineup is the way that the game ended up happening. is It just lacked one more kind of like quality...
00:15:00
Speaker
aspect to it. And in the first half in particular, i think the sound has responded really well from like, let's say the 15, 16 minute until halftime, you know, I thought they should have probably had an equalizer by that point.
00:15:15
Speaker
um But that particular lineup, especially on the right side of the field where you have um two really, really inexperienced players kind of providing your, your like,
00:15:29
Speaker
like the most experienced player on that side of the field at that point was Obed Vargas. Yeah. But, you know, and that's, he's a great player, but like just the combinations on that side of the, piece on the, on that side of the field, you just saw a lot of like, these guys don't play together a lot and that's kind of frustrating, but overall I think like they they had enough to at least get a point.
00:15:56
Speaker
They didn't. You kind of look at it like, well, okay, it's just one of those things. And then you kind of take into context. It's a game in Salt Lake where they are probably never going to win again. Yeah, and just never. never one I mean, how many more years we got left of this on this ah this rock, you know? Yeah, I mean, there's that there's that asteroid or meteor or whatever coming in 2030.
00:16:23
Speaker
and twenty thirty Will the Sounders win a game before the asteroid hits Earth? That's the real question. I'm taking the under on that. so Yeah. yeah i had I had no qualms with the starting lineup. I think i think there's think there's little things to complain about, but overall...
00:16:41
Speaker
I thought it was fine. I thought, and I thought they played okay. I thought they played well enough to at least get a point from this game. You cut out the silly mistakes and maybe even you win it. That's yeah kind of my takeaway.
00:16:54
Speaker
I'll agree that I, I holistically, I did not have any big issues with the starting lineup. I agree that, you know, philosophically that you want to put your best foot forward for champions cup at this point.
00:17:08
Speaker
And And you sort of like make what you can out of, out of league games. I would have probably liked to seen Ferreira play a little bit more than he did. Like I would have been down for maybe even a halftime sub ah for Morris. If that's what it, if that's what it took, I, I, I just wouldn't mind seeing him a little bit more.
Player Performances and Lineup Decisions
00:17:28
Speaker
ah Pedro de la Vega did come at halftime. thought that was ah encouraging thing that, and I thought he looked okay. You know, he brought some energy, didn't have any great plays, but I didn't think he was a problem.
00:17:40
Speaker
If I was to quibble with the lineup, I think what I would have liked to have seen is Stuart Hawkins playing centrally over John Bell now John Bell I didn't think was bad ah I thought he was okay he he doesn't strike me as nearly the distributor that Jackson Reagan is and I thought to the degree that the Sounders could have used something else it was in the distribution coming from the back and I think Stuart Hawkins who has not made his MLS debut yet uh But he is a, you know, he's a 19 year old center back.
00:18:12
Speaker
And i guess my thing is i want to see him play. And I don't know when there's going to be a better opportunity for him to play than in a game like this, because, you know, I'm sure he's not going to play against LAFC, which is the next league game.
00:18:26
Speaker
I'm a little skeptical that he would play on the road against St. Louis city. Although I don't know, maybe, maybe they do roll the dice with that, but yeah, And maybe they will. I don't know. But I just – think i would have – all things being equal, i would have rather taken my chance with Hawkins than Bell there.
00:18:44
Speaker
And maybe Bell plays instead of – maybe Bell plays instead of Nuhu and we don't get the the own goal. I don't know. that That gets a little too deep into the – ah you know, into the alternate reality situation. But yeah, I think that's the one i just want to see. i think my concern right now is who is Jackson Reagan's backup. And I don't know that we, i would have at least liked to have gotten a little closer to an answer on that.
00:19:08
Speaker
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00:19:21
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:20:29
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think in particular, you and I exchanged Are we still calling them skeets or are we calling them? I mean, you can. I'm not I'm not quite comfortable with calling them skeets yet.
00:21:49
Speaker
i am I'm calling them posts. I want to reclaim the word tweets because that yeah yeah that guy changed the name of that website to something else. Yeah, they should be. They're open now.
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, we get we get tweets back.
Tactical Struggles and Player Impact
00:22:02
Speaker
We get in the in the great national divorce. We get the word tweets. Yeah, thank you. So, you know, you and I exchanged some posts, tweets, whatever you want to call them.
00:22:12
Speaker
I think that's what the kids are calling Yeah. Yeah. my My particular annoyance with the John Bell playing and so in the center of the way that the Sounders build up in this formation is he like he can't really progress the ball to his right because he's a left-footed center back.
00:22:34
Speaker
and And not particularly two-footed. Yeah, and you can have... And he's also just not particularly that great of a passer. So that kind of is a problem in that situation.
00:22:47
Speaker
um And it just meant it just meant a shorter pass to a midfielder that's deeper than they need to be to move the ball to the right. And that just it just made RSL's press that much easier, especially if you don't have to mark new who in deep possession. We kind of know that, you know, how, whatever you think of him as a player, if you think he's great, you can recognize he's not great at that particular part of the game of his game.
00:23:19
Speaker
So RSL kind of just either John Bell could give the ball to Nuhu and Nuhu could go dribble it and kind of see where he gets with that. Or he would pass it to one of the two midfielders and they would kind of combo and try to get the ball up the field on the right side.
00:23:36
Speaker
And it just made it so much slower and so much easier to press. not really John Bell's fault. I just don't think you can play John Bell and New Who together. And Yemar, by the way. And i think that that's the that's the other part of it, right? Is that it wasn't like... Yemar's not exactly a great passer either. And so you sort of had three pretty limited passers in your back three. And and then on the right side, you also had Kalani, who is... I thought i thought Kalani played well, to be honest. and I saw a lot of people sort of...
00:24:09
Speaker
saying they were frustrated with him. I don't know that Alex rolled on offers a huge improvement over what Kalani did in that game. I was totally fine with his performance, but he's not the most experienced player. And enjoy Georgie had a rough game.
00:24:22
Speaker
I think that was maybe his worst performance as a sounder, which is admittedly a kind of high ball. Like he's been mostly pretty good. So it's not, you know, i'm not like super frustrated by that, but I think it's okay to say it was not a good performance.
00:24:37
Speaker
yeah and It was Alaska and a lot of the right side that didn't have a lot of passing. When your most experienced guy on that side of the field progression terms is a 20-year-old. It's not great. It's not great.
00:24:54
Speaker
thought Rusnak was but not great. No one was great in this game. thought Morris did...
00:24:59
Speaker
like i thought rosak was okay but not great no one was great in this game ah you know i thought morris did like I Morris may have been the most dangerous player they had, I suppose. um I'm going to, I mean, it wasn't a great performance, but it wasn't, no one stood out, I guess is what I'm trying to say, but no, I didn't think anyone would like for the most part,
00:25:22
Speaker
it's not like the Sounders were played off the pitch. You know, they, they lost the possession battle, but they won the, you know, they, they won field tilt. They won, they had more, uh, duels. They, you know, they, they were competitive.
00:25:35
Speaker
They just weren't particularly good. Yeah. And I think that a lot of that stuff got fixed at halftime when Dale Vega came on.
00:25:46
Speaker
Like, ah A thing I want people to understand about Pedro De La Vega is even when he's playing bad, I want people to think about, or even if you think he's playing bad, I should say, I want people to think about what's happening when he does the thing that's frustrating you.
00:26:05
Speaker
And I want you to think about, I want people to think about it in the same way that they got really, really used to thinking about Nico Lodero. I'm not comparing them as players yet. However, when Pedro De La Vega loses the ball, it is after has either moved the ball 20, 25, 30 yards up the field through his dribbling, or he's received a pass in a dangerous area and he's looking to move the ball forward quickly.
00:26:33
Speaker
or he is kind of the out ball on that side of the field. And even if he loses the ball, the other team is regaining possession 30, 40 yards deeper than they had it just a few seconds ago.
00:26:46
Speaker
So yes, I, you know, there are things to complain about, about kind of where we're at early in this season with him. Thank God, his fitness issues seem to be kind of behind him. No knock on wood, but yeah,
00:26:59
Speaker
he's He's trying things in the same way that Clint Dempsey used to try things. Nico Lodero used to lose the ball all of the time trying to do something. And I really do think that that's an aspect of the Sounders buildup that is really, really they missed last year, obviously, and could, could be a huge part of their success this year. So I agree with you. he had kind of a, whatever game once he came on, but I thought the date, I thought like,
00:27:33
Speaker
ah opportunity for danger in the second half was there because it was there because he was able to kind of be that focal point combined with Rusnak, Morris and whatnot, where in the first half, while I think the chances were more dangerous in the first half than the second half, that one final piece of the attack was missing where like Rusnak and Morris had to to kind of do it all themselves.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And also in the first half, a little bit, it felt sometimes like they were daring Minungu to beat them a little bit. And, you know, and there there was a funny moment in the end of the second half that made me think that maybe Georgie was not a hundred percent fit where he got beat to a ball by Philip Quinton, who I guess is a reasonably ah mobile center back, but there's no way I would expect Minungu to be beat on a ball over the top by a you know, center back who, like, whatever, like, it's not a, it's it does not strike me as a a sprinter.
00:28:36
Speaker
And it just felt like there there was not, there was opportunities for them to get that they didn't get. And I agree with you. I thought Pedro did it more to create his own chances.
00:28:48
Speaker
He had put, he put in a couple of dangerous crosses that needed someone on the end of them or a run. You know, like there was a couple of times where I feel like he played a ball in, that if Rusnek was a little bit more aggressive in his near post run, he probably gets to, ah and you know, whatever I, I Pedro de la Vega was probably my least, one of my least frustrating players. I thought he, you know, I I've been mostly really encouraged by him. you know, it's funny to, it's honestly funny to me that I'm reading any criticism of this guy. He's got three goals and four games.
00:29:20
Speaker
He only started twice. I'm not quite sure what people are are hoping from him. But he's got just he's lost the ball a couple of times. And that's he has lost the ball a few times, i guess.
Season Review and Upcoming Matches
00:29:33
Speaker
He has. That's true.
00:29:34
Speaker
ah But, you know, even in in the Antigua game, he was something like 40 for 44 passing, which is kind honestly unreal for ah a player as aggressive as him to have only four incomplete passes.
00:29:47
Speaker
ah But, you know, as we sit here four games into the season, I think we don't know everything that we want to know about this team. And I think we're going to learn a lot more about them in the next few games.
00:30:00
Speaker
You know, they have Cruz Azul coming up on Wednesday, then they have LAFC on Saturday, and then the return link against Cruz Azul. You know, we're we're going to one way or the other have a very different feeling about the start of the season.
00:30:12
Speaker
you know, to some degree, it's not going to be won or lost in that time, but it's, we're going
Preview of Match Against Cruz Azul
00:30:18
Speaker
to learn a lot more. And, and we, and just today we found out that, uh, Cruz Azul is not going to be bringing a full compliment of players.
00:30:26
Speaker
Uh, they, uh, I don't know if you if you saw this or not. Maybe I'm breaking news to you. i so Yeah, I saw what you're about to talk about. Yeah, so there are four leading scorers as well as one of their centerback one of their starting center backs and one of their starting defensive midfielders are all going to be missing from this game.
00:30:47
Speaker
It seems like, and I don't know why these players aren't coming. It might be because they are... resting them. It might be because they, you know, the I don't know that could be in this day and age. I don't want to, and want to discount the possibility that there could be, you know, visa issues or something, but, uh, Eric Lira, Nacho Rivera, Rodolfo Rotondi, Charlie Rodriguez, Angel, Sepulveda, uh,
00:31:12
Speaker
ah Giamakis from ah the Atlanta striker. All those guys apparently aren't making the trip. ah That's a pretty big opportunity for the Sounders to potentially get off on the right foot in this game, I'd say.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I did not realize they had so many well guess it's just two but like and mls connections i'm learning that no the first time omar omar compost who played for l lafc they they have at least three if not four and vicente sanchez who you may remember from his days with i think both the houston dynamo and the colorado rapids is their coach okay that's wow all right so yeah they have quite a few mls connections it's kind of funny
00:31:57
Speaker
That's fun, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Mateo's Bogus is supposed to is supposedly traveling, so that's another one. a guy that has always played really well against the Sounders, so that makes me nervous.
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah. yeah That one game a couple years ago where he scored in like the first 30 seconds of the game. Yeah, that was fun. ah Let's not do that again. Yeah.
00:32:21
Speaker
i Yeah, if you're telling me like four starters and their three best scorers aren't going to start, that makes me feel good. It makes me more nervous than I was before, to be honest with you.
00:32:34
Speaker
Fair enough. Kind of like if you're in high school. Like now going to blow it if they don't win, right? Yeah. Or like you're at a high school dance and you your friend is like, oh, she you know she wants to dance with you.
00:32:47
Speaker
you're like, oh, so ah that type of thing. So yeah ah i I'm going to be totally honest. I don't know a whole lot about the state of League MX right now.
00:33:01
Speaker
and it's just ah In terms of on my priority list, it's it's just not quite towards the top. um Yeah, I can understand that. But so they I'll tell you, they won the app they they finished the top the Apertura, which is the previous tournament. They're now 10 games into the current tournament.
00:33:18
Speaker
There's six. So they're not exactly blowing the doors off. They do have a new coach. They're in six, but they're also ah one point out of third, I should say. So it's they're five, two and three.
00:33:30
Speaker
It's been an up and down start, I would say, for them. ah But they're you know they're they're also like the second most valuable team in Liga Amekis, according to TransferMarket, something like a 92 million ah euro valuation of their roster.
00:33:45
Speaker
Of course, like four of their top valued players aren't going to be coming, apparently. So that's, yeah. yeah So you take that. I'm going to be honest with you. Talking to me about what Transfer Market as a website says their value is is basically like telling me their astrology signs.
00:34:02
Speaker
That doesn't mean anything to me. I'm sorry. enough. Fair enough. No, it's fair. i I respect that. there it i know I can tell that they have good players because I've recognized some of their names and I'm looking at their stats. so Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:17
Speaker
fair enough They're good. They won the they won their league in though or they won their last half league. It's weird yeah how to do that, but they're good um is what you're saying. They don't score a lot of goals this year.
00:34:30
Speaker
so that is and if they i' They've scored 14 goals in 10 games. They've not scored a lot of goals and their best scorers are not in this game.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah, so that that's setting. Go ahead. I'm going to say that's setting up and a very frustrating narrative in my mind that I'm not going to go towards.
00:34:55
Speaker
So let's just win 2-0. that sound? how's that sound I'll take a 2-0 win. I would honestly happily take a 2-0 win. I feel like that would, that's sort of the, I'd say that's the bare minimum for me to feel comfortable or feel confident going into the second leg.
00:35:13
Speaker
You know, a 1-0 win, I'm not going to look too askance at, but I've also had way too many one goal wins in Seattle and then going to the Mexican opponent and then just getting smashed.
00:35:30
Speaker
yeah i want to be in a situation where a frantic score draw is completely comfortable uh i'm thinking back of that kind of leon series when in where it was like There wasn't a whole lot of like peril.
00:35:53
Speaker
It was just kind of like if they draw, that things are really good. So I want to do that again. they win that first like 2-0 or three one Something like that. And then the the second leg was 2-2, right?
00:36:07
Speaker
and think it was Okay. okay Yep. So I want to do that exact thing again, if that's cool. Yeah, I will. I'll allow it. Thanks. I appreciate that.
00:36:19
Speaker
I know you have a lot of like influence, so you can just go ahead and put that in. Punch that into the. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. i I would appreciate that.
00:36:31
Speaker
um But i I like I think that the. The Sounders should feel, Sounders and Sounders fans, should feel relatively confident. Like, why not?
00:36:42
Speaker
Because yeah if they get on the other side of this draw, like if they beat Cruz Azul, probably the two favorites or two of the four favorites for the whole tournament had to play each other. And then you beat that team, we're looking really good.
00:37:01
Speaker
So it's kind of like...
00:37:05
Speaker
I know there are people out there that thought that the Sounders path to winning CCL a few years ago was easy. um i don't know if they'll hold the same sort of assumptions this time, but i would think not.
00:37:19
Speaker
I would think I would. Yeah, but I also think this Sounders team is better than that one. so I do too. also not we talk Nico and I actually talked about this on Friday, so I don't want to get too deep into it. But the notion that the Sounders path to the Champions League title in 2022 was easy is like so laughable to me.
00:37:40
Speaker
ah They beat the reigning MLS Cup champion. They beat the team that would win Champions League the following year. They beat two Mexican teams.
00:37:50
Speaker
it was a good you know like this is a i It wasn't the hardest path. I think the only thing that that looks hard compared to is what the crew did to get to the final last year. But really, it was a the kind of path that a lot of teams go through.
00:38:06
Speaker
ah i I don't feel any need to apologize for that, but ah that's neither here nor there. ah Yeah, you have any ah anything else you wanted to to get off your chest about this this game or Cruzozool?
00:38:23
Speaker
um I think it's a cool name. It is a cool name. And I think they they could probably use a different logo. I don't know if that's offensive or anything.
00:38:34
Speaker
I'm sorry. that will the The second leg ah will be not will not be played at their normal stadium. It's going played at the the Olympico Stadium, which is where Pumas play, which is also where the Sounders ah got a tie in the first leg of the Champions League final.
00:38:51
Speaker
um Cool. So, you know, that's something. why Why is that happening? Because they are in some sort of dispute with the owners of their stadium, which is not. So normally they were playing at Azteca. That's being renovated for the World Cup.
00:39:09
Speaker
So they were playing at this other stadium somewhere else in Mexico City that's really old. But they were paying some sort of exorbitant fees to be playing there. And so they peaced out. And now they're playing it this other at the the university stadium, the Olimpico.
00:39:27
Speaker
So that's, that's like a, a Mexican version of Liverpool and Everton. Is it a classic stadium dispute? Yeah. Oh yeah. So, cause you know, Everton started playing at Anfield and the owner of Anfield kicked them out.
00:39:45
Speaker
I did start on his own team. Yep. There you go. little bit of history. Like 120 years ago or whatever. Really long time ago. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, that's cool.
00:39:57
Speaker
That's why we have you on, Mark. So, uh, I may as well, this is a good time to talk about this. I suppose Mark is going to be filling in for both Aaron and I periodically, this year on no study at this.
00:40:09
Speaker
So this was, uh, the first chance to, to get him some run as they say. I'm just going to get ahead of, get ahead of that and say, I'm sorry, that's happening or you're welcome.
00:40:24
Speaker
Um, which other side, which are whichever side you kind of land on when you hear my voice. Um, yeah, I mean, I'm really, I'm really excited for you or I'm really sorry that that's happening. Yeah.
00:40:37
Speaker
um Yeah. Well, I'm excited. i'm I'm excited to get to see you more often, talk to you more often, uh, get your, your takes. I, I think one of the things that we, I appreciate about you is your willingness to take a alternate view of some sort of, uh,
00:40:56
Speaker
strategic or tactical thing that happens. I think sometimes ah Aaron and I see the game a lot more similarly and you are willing to see it a little differently. And I appreciate that. ah So I'm looking forward to having you do some shows with us.
00:41:11
Speaker
And I guess, yeah, so it's, it's because of the head injuries. Yeah. Right. Exactly. so ah And you, and you might be moving. i don't know. I don't want to, I don't want to get to that. You are going to be in town in a few weeks for the,
00:41:25
Speaker
The Houston game, yeah? yeah I will be back in Seattle March 22nd if you're listening to this and you want to see my face. You're like, oh, haven't seen more.
00:41:38
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. I will be that soon. Was that something you were hoping to do on the... um the i don't yeah i don't really want that out there yet, ah but cool.
00:41:50
Speaker
That's fine.
00:41:54
Speaker
haven't told ah I haven't told some people yet. That's going to pretty funny. People are to be like, Mark, I talk to you on the regular and you haven't told me you're going to be in town in three weeks.
00:42:06
Speaker
yeah It's one of those things where it's like... I only have so much time, you know? I hear you. And it's like, if i you know, there's probably 30 people at least that I would love to, quote, have a beer with.
00:42:21
Speaker
But I'm getting to an age now where if I had that many beers, I wouldn't remember... getting beers with you. So, yeah and also I just, that's sounds like a lot of liquid.
00:42:34
Speaker
Um, it does so it does, uh, you know, we're not 22 anymore, Jeremiah. I'm definitely not 22. I don't know if you've ever been 22. Not since you've known me, that's for sure.
00:42:48
Speaker
Well, uh, It was good talking to you, Mark. Thank you for doing that. So yeah you're on Blue Sky.
00:43:01
Speaker
am. It's M-K-S-T-N-R. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's been my handle for ah long time. Okay. so Good.
00:43:14
Speaker
Well, I'm glad we have that all figured out.
00:43:17
Speaker
I am Jeremiah Shan. This is No Sadietes. I want to say thank you, of course, to our sponsor, Full Pull Wines. and Yeah, you'll never get alone, i guess.
00:43:28
Speaker
are
00:44:05
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!