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Mailbag Q&A March 25th, 2026
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Aaron joins Jeremiah for the March question and answer mailbag episode. After a March run like we just saw you can imagine most of the queries are of the positive kind. The topics range from Peter Kingston’s situation, Nouhou’s possible level up, and how the guys would schedule more games in Spokane.
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Transcript
Introduction and New Roles
00:00:01
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. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'll deadline you.
Sponsorship and Team Introduction
00:01:18
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 Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:42
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adiates on the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. I am Jeremiah O'Shan. Today, i am joined by co-host Aaron Campo and our producer Lickett. We're going to be doing our mailbag episode for, don't call it March, I guess. I don't know.
00:02:01
Speaker
We're just doing these mailbags every now and then. how are you doing, Aaron? Pretty good. Pretty good. think I may have picked up a little bit of a cold traveling, but that's that's the, you know. pays your money, he takes your chances, and not not too bad. So, yeah, first day back to work. So that kind of sucks. But, you know, living life.
00:02:20
Speaker
How about you? You know, ah just living the dream. Yeah. Living in the dream. ah But you were in, you know, we as well start there. You were in Minnesota.
00:02:33
Speaker
and
Minnesota Trip and Sounders Game
00:02:34
Speaker
was, yeah. Yeah, in Minnesota for the for the game and at Allianz Field. Yep. Yep. And you saw the amazing zero zero draw with the Sounders and Minnesota United. but you were more importantly, you were there with a bunch of Sounder at Heart people.
00:02:50
Speaker
I was, yeah. I was there with ah with Mark and Tim and Colton, who was not a Sounder at Heart person, but a great guy. Honorary Sounder Heart person. Person that the Sounder at Heart people probably know. Adjacent, yeah. And then some other folks that I, a lot of folks from from that area who were Sounders fans and one guy who was a Loon's fan, but ah a good guy.
00:03:09
Speaker
And yeah, it was it was fun. It was a good time. It was cold. It was unbelievably cold. When I got there on Saturday, it was like 75. ah Beautiful, sunny. Everybody was drunk out of their minds walking around because it was the first nice day of the year. Next morning, I woke up. I had to walk up to get some get some ah groceries and saw all these people doing the Walk of Shame home in summer clothes, and it was like 30 degrees out.
00:03:36
Speaker
It was pretty fun. Uh, yeah, it was, it was, I packed according to the forecast, which said it was supposed to be about 35, 40 degrees. And it was, but, uh, tell you 35, 40 degrees. There is different than 35, 40 degrees here.
00:03:52
Speaker
Uh, it was, it was cold. I was real cold in the stadium, but, uh, it was a good time. Yeah. I encourage anybody who's in the, you know, whoever, if you're in the area or, you know, you've always wanted to make the way trap. It's a, it's a fun one. Allianz is a cool stadium. Um,
00:04:08
Speaker
I noticed some parallels with the area it's in with some areas that I've thought about the stadium potentially going in. The stretch that's on kind of reminds me a little bit of Rainier around where the Lowe's is, which has been ah ah sort of my my hobby horse for for going on a decade now.
00:04:26
Speaker
um Really cool soccer bar across the street called Blackheart of St. Paul has a big Megan Rapinoe mural on the outside. West Burdine bar, right? I believe that's correct. Yeah. um Very cool bar. Everyone's very friendly.
00:04:41
Speaker
Nobody even ah pretended to, you know, hassle me, which is nice. And yeah, was, it was a fun day, a good stadium food. And I, I mean, I'm, I'm a little jealous of their, of their situation. They've got their own stadium. It feels very much like it belongs to the loons ah because it, it literally does, but it it's, it's,
00:05:01
Speaker
just a different It's a contrast to the experience at Lumen where you're pretty aware that you're you know you're there to watch a tenant play. um And yeah, it's it's small. it's I think it's a little under 20,000 capacity, so that that wouldn't work for the sounders most likely. But um still, you know it's- Don't give Adrian any too too many ideas.
00:05:20
Speaker
Honestly, if he puts a 20,000 seat stadium, that's sort of like a more modern version of Allianz in the city. I'd rather have that than a 30,000 foot seat. Fair enough. Fair enough.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah. um and And the stadium is in St. Paul. So it's not, um it's not like it's in downtown Minneapolis, but it was my, my hotel room was right in the middle of downtown Minneapolis.
00:05:43
Speaker
And from leaving my hotel to, you know, walking in the door with the Blackheart, it was, uh, 25 minutes or so. So not, not terrible. So, uh, yeah, but it it was fun. The game sucked. that
Sounders Performance and Fan Reactions
00:05:59
Speaker
was the least that was by far the worst part of the trip was the actual game.
00:06:03
Speaker
Uh, I thought Sounders played well, did what they needed to do to get a result. Um, They don't like Andrew Thomas. and Yeah, they don't. He got a lot of booze. but He did, you know and i don't want to you know I don't want to excuse the treatment that our boy got, but it wasn't totally out of the blue. I guess there was some back and forth between ah andy and the Loons fans at the last shootout. so you know and and He seemed to take it in stride as well.
00:06:36
Speaker
I got no problems with it at all. um It was, it was kind of, I was, I mean, i think, I was confused more than anything, but once I got the explanation, i was like, yeah, that makes sense. That tracks. That's, that's, Hey, it's all fun. Nobody seemed to be out of bounds. There was a guy in blue sky who said he looked like a white nationalist, which I thought was insane.
00:06:53
Speaker
Um, because it seemed like andm a little, uh, a little unnecessary, but I had that haircut for a long time. So I really, I kind of took that implication personally little bit. So don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:08
Speaker
But in any route, yeah, I didn't have any problems with it. um And I, you know, I thought it made for a fun environment. So, yeah, it's it's it's good to be home, but Minneapolis is cool. um Honestly, i was prepared for any kind of ribbing that I was going to get going into ostensibly a Minnesota United bar. um What those people have been through the last six months or so, they could have spit on me and I would have been fine with it. But everybody was, you know, true to form, was very nice. and Cool city. Recommend you go. They've got the food is insane in that town. And I don't mean that in a like it's the best food in the world. I mean, it's literally insane. They've got hamburgers with cheese in the middle of them. It's pretty, pretty crazy stuff. But, you know, I had a banana this morning, so I'm I'm back on track.
00:07:58
Speaker
big Go back to back to eating fiber.
Impact of Constant Travel on Team
00:08:01
Speaker
There you go. Well, ah any did you have any did you have any sort of insight into the game? Did you have any takeaways from that at all?
00:08:12
Speaker
No, I mean, I think that the the Sounders did what they needed to do um i think on a different day they might have scored uh they they created some chances they looked pretty lively to start the game they were attacking the end we were in it you know in the first half and and that always i think feels like there's more danger being created than maybe there actually is but it felt like they had some good chances um i think that Defensively, you know, it is what it is, right? They they had a game midweek. um they They've been on the road since February.
00:08:48
Speaker
um i made the note to myself when Jordan came on that Jordan's been out for over a month and he's not going to miss any home games. You know, it's right it's like I think that it's easy to forget because they played so well on this this road swing.
00:09:04
Speaker
that they've been on the road since February. and And that's got to take a toll on you. They did have the game in Spokane, obviously, um but it's still a midweek game and it's still not in Seattle. You've got to travel at least a little bit. So that's going to be, you know, take ah a little bit of a toll on you.
00:09:19
Speaker
um I don't want to say that I thought they played well necessarily, but I think especially losing Alex in the first half um and then Minnesota after Hamas came on, Minnesota looked great.
00:09:30
Speaker
pretty good i thought yeah i did too um and and i thought the decision that like all right let's pack it in and just get out of here with a point was was the right one so and not a super exciting game uh not one i'm gonna remember much about you know in the in the not so distant future, but, um, you know, a points a point, uh, on the road trip so far, they've got seven, I think from, um, yeah, potential. That's how I, yeah, that's my, I mean, honestly, my main takeaway from this is look, you gotta, you're at seven points, four games through this road trip with a, you know, like there's every reason to think they can get,
00:10:08
Speaker
something out of houston yeah like they shouldn't be going into houston expecting to do anything but win like they can they can win that game you know and so if they win to come out of this road trip with 10 points right would be way beyond i mean not we were not talking about a 10 point road trip at the start of this at all there you know if they get eight points i think that would be fantastic if they get if they lose this game i still think this is a ah pretty successful road trip so i i don't know that you can really complain about where they are right now now could they have gotten more out of the minnesota game sure they also could have gotten less out of the san jose game you know and i and i think yep you know you you kind of almost take it's like if you can swap those two results i think you know ah
00:10:58
Speaker
you might want to do that, but you know, this is a, all things considered, not a bad, not a bad result. ah They, you know, I wasn't enamored with how they played, but I also wasn't super discouraged.
00:11:12
Speaker
I thought the lineup choices were sound. I think, you know, Georgie didn't necessarily have a great game, but Georgie's exact, this is the exact kind of de defense you want to play Georgie against.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah. You know, i thought Petkovic looked pretty good. and don't I don't really have i don't i don't have an issue. i don't you know ah Andrew Thomas is has four shutouts in five games.
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah. Giving up two goals and and five, four on the road. That's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. and Especially when you consider how
Petkovich's Contract and Team Role
00:11:46
Speaker
good they've looked defensively missing as many defenders as they are.
00:11:51
Speaker
Right. yeah Yeah, this is it's across a team who has been has not had... i don't think they've had two... Hell, well, when did Yamar go out? Yamar went out in the RSL game?
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah, was the RSL game. So he's basically missed the entire road trip. Yeah. i do three goals and i mean Let me and double check that. Three goals in seven games.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, this is a like the offense isn't exactly humming, but the offense wasn't humming at this point last year either. Right. And when they've played at home, it's looked pretty good.
00:12:34
Speaker
Right. Looked right. you You average a point. I mean, a goal a game away from home. You don't love it. But if you're giving up a half a goal a game, you'll take it.
00:12:45
Speaker
You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got hurt against St. Louis City, but he got hurt. Okay. so well And he got he got pulled against Starcell too. so That's right.
00:12:56
Speaker
that's right But still, I mean, that's he played 20 minutes in that game. yeah It's not like it really changes the equation that much. I agree. All right. Well, we've got a bunch of questions. And as a reminder, all these questions come to us from our discord. And if you want to get on the discord, all you got to is become a member at the supporter level of above or above. That's, that's $75 year And then request a,
00:13:23
Speaker
level and then request a Invite. That's a step that a fair number of people miss. I don't blame them, but you do have to request an invite. There is not an automatic process for getting into the thing. Just email us at support at sounderatheart.com and we'll confirm that you're an appropriate level member and we'll get you signed up and it's, you'd get to have a lot of fun. Like I've said, the game threads are a lot of fun. We, you get a lot of access to the sounderatheart staff.
00:13:51
Speaker
And ah yeah, we we have little beta tests that we run like people got a little early access to the stand. Like if you didn't notice, we just unveiled a standings app and a and a stat app.
00:14:06
Speaker
Which I think are pretty cool. And. You know, we're we're looking for new things to do so you can participate in all that. But anyway, let's let's jump into these questions, Aaron.
00:14:17
Speaker
Let's do it. The first one is from, i feel like we start off a lot of mailbags with Bill Jones questions from Bill Jones. Yeah. He's another one' been in almost every single mailbag we've done. That's probably true. And he he has a way of asking questions that set the right tone.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yes. There's a thing in pro wrestling called a curtain jerker, right? Oh, it's a guy that you can always put on first. I almost said, I know I almost said it, that's but I didn't. I said the right thing.
00:14:44
Speaker
ah But they they always put on, they you know, they're going put on a good match and set the right energy. Right. And I feel like the bill brings that kind of energy. Ricky Steamboat or yeah Coco Beware type is what you're saying. Yeah. Macho Man was a great, it was a lot of guy that went on early a lot, you know, because you knew he was going to, if he's not in the main event scene right at that time, he's still a big name. Everybody's excited to see. That's but that's Bill.
00:15:08
Speaker
ah From now on, anytime we see a name on the Sounders bench that we don't recognize, we just assume that they're doing pretty dang good, right? I mean, at this point, right? mean, Peter Kingston, this is ah this is obviously a commentary on Tina Lopez and Peter Kings, and I think, although you could say it about Pekovic or a few different people, but Peter Kingston in his first start, or not his first start, but his he he was good in his first start against San Jose, but then coming off the bench and providing two assists,
00:15:38
Speaker
without being on a contract is maybe
00:15:45
Speaker
the most impressive performance that we've seen from an unsigned player in yeah Sounders history. I mean, that was, yeah you know, I realize Paul Rothrock scored while unsigned, but like, I was going to say Rothrock was probably the previous high, but this has got to be, this has got to be the new one. I think. Yeah.
00:16:04
Speaker
He's, he's looked great. Yeah. Yeah. And i I mean, as a guy that doesn't watch a ton of Defiance, like it's always a little bit of a treat to to finally see these guys I've heard a lot about. And him and him and Tino have certainly impressed.
00:16:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Tino Lopez has been very, i have to say, even as someone who watched a fair amount of Tino Lopez and Peter Kingston, i was not totally prepared for the performances that they put together because they they were both very good and and very impressive uh tino lopez looks like a veteran already it's been in some ways even more impressive than than kingston because he he just looks so comfortable whereas kingston has had a couple moments where you're like okay yeah it's
00:16:58
Speaker
see why he hasn't been signed yet, but I do think Kingston is going to be good. um Sometimes you you really can't tell what these guys are going to look like until they're actually playing at the level, you know, like, right the things that you don't value high enough at the lower level end up being more important at the higher level and things that maybe seem like they're going to be a problem at the higher level maybe aren't and and vice versa sometimes right like guys will look great with defiance and and maybe can't make the jump so absolutely and I think two good of two good examples of that are Kalani Kosarianzi and Snyder Brunel neither of whom put up really gaudy like particularly gaudy numbers at
00:17:39
Speaker
at defiance, but they seem even better with sounders than they did at defiance.
Team Dynamics and Coach Relationships
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, but anyway, uh, all right.
00:17:51
Speaker
This next one is from the Joshua. I heard, I heard of players quitting their coaches. What does that mean? And what does that actually look like in terms of what it means? It just means, I think that for a tactical plan to work,
00:18:07
Speaker
there has to be buy-in from everybody, right? They have to think it's the right thing to do, or at least trust the coach enough to, to put aside their doubts and commit to the idea. um And, and they have to be willing to, to give, you know, a lot of themselves, right? Like, I think if you're motivated, if you feel good about your coach and that they're asking you to do certain things for the right, for the right reasons, and that if you can succeed, that you're going to be successful, right?
00:18:34
Speaker
that you're going to be treated fairly, you know, that you're, you're going to achieve your goals. um It's probably easier to give a little extra effort, you know? um i mean, I think with any job, right? If you feel like the work you're being asked to do is getting you to the place you need to get to,
00:18:52
Speaker
it's easier to do the work. It's easier to put in the longer hours, the longer days to to commit, whatever it is, right? If you think your boss is an idiot and you don't think that the work is going to help you get ahead and achieve your career goals, you're not going to put in as much effort. It's going to be ah you know it's going to be tough. In terms of how it looks, ah go find the Sounders at Sporting KC from July 24th, 2016. And that is a team that had quit on their coach.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's probably the best example of a Sounders, maybe the only example, really, of a Sounders team that just kind of looked like they were done. It was so obvious because we had seen, we'd we'd had times before where it felt like Ziggy might be on the hot seat and things got turned around and it was so obvious that something was different in that game.
00:19:39
Speaker
um and think everybody just just really felt it. And I think one of the things I keep in mind is that the the delta between...
00:19:49
Speaker
You know, the margins on MLS are so thin. And when you just don't have a team that's fully committed to a coach, I do think that's where you oftentimes get these differences because it's like the quality of players from one roster to the next is not that great. and And I do think that's sort of the secret power the secret sauce of the Sounders is that they have really sold players on this idea that we need all 30 players on the roster.
Team Readiness and Postseason Consistency
00:20:16
Speaker
And you're, when, when it's your number that gets called, the expectation is that you perform at a certain level. And the thing is all these players are pretty skilled. Like they all fall within a pretty tight range of skill.
00:20:29
Speaker
And it's, and a lot of it is just sort of having the right mindset and believing that, know, you're going to get that ball that you can, that you can make that touch that you can, you know, finish this chance.
00:20:40
Speaker
And, and that's ultimately what differentiates a team that is, you know, trying to make it 17th post-season and 18 seasons and one that, you know, misses every, ah you know, two or three years, but yeah. Yeah.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Next one is from dry side. Paul, if he keeps his current run a form, how likely is it that the Sounders pick up Petkovich's contract at the end of the year? You know, that's a that's a good question. And I've been wondering that myself.
00:21:09
Speaker
You know, I don't I don't know exactly what his his purchase option is at. You know, if it's a million dollars. That's probably still a little steep if this is the, if he's just doing sort of what he's doing now, which is promising, but not necessarily amazing.
00:21:29
Speaker
And, but I think the centers might try to do something like decline his option, you know, decline their purchase option and then see if they can get him on a lower number. ah Now, if he starts falling out, that might not be, a you know, that they might actually have to pick up that option.
00:21:47
Speaker
But ah so I guess my answer would be on the current trajectory. I don't know that he'll be picked up assuming it's a million dollar option. Now, if it's a $500,000 option, maybe that changes, but it is cash.
00:22:01
Speaker
So, you know, it it might just come down to whether or not the Sounders are willing to spend on it. And he is a U22 next season. Cause he's got one more year left on his contract. yeah So there, there's some value still to be had there.
00:22:15
Speaker
So i don't know. We'll see. But I think right now, I think it's it's at best a option. Yeah. I think, yeah. The only thing i I agree pretty much entirely, the thing that I would say is that i there's a trajectory I can see him hitting. Yes. Where he makes it a no-brainer, right? like I agree.
00:22:39
Speaker
I think that the potential is clearly there. um i think the difference is going to be, does he reach that potential or do we see maybe why Dean Smith stopped giving him minutes?
00:22:50
Speaker
You know, it's that he just can't get to that next level. So, I mean, that said, I think he may already be on more minutes than he had last year.
00:23:01
Speaker
Possible. Yeah. ah I'm, I'm really, i know I've talked, i feel like I've talked about it on here before, but I'm really perplexed because he just seems like such a Dean Smith player to me. It's very strange that he has had such a hard time getting on the field last year, especially because he yeah he's a he has obvious, you know, positive attributes.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah. So he's already played more minutes than he did last year. That's crazy. He only played 97 minutes in MLS last year. That is That's pretty crazy. Was he hurt for a chunk of last year? I can't remember. I don't know. i I don't think he was, but yeah, it's pretty crazy.
00:23:45
Speaker
That's crazy. That's crazy. ah He's pretty crazy. I don't know. I definitely think he is a better player than he you know, I think the centers made a ah very clever acquisition. I'll just put it that way. where Regardless of where this goes, I think it was a good move.
00:24:05
Speaker
Yep. Agree.
00:24:11
Speaker
This is from KW to 26, 20, 26.
00:24:15
Speaker
What are the key distinctions you're seeing between Brunel and Petkovich and how likely is it? One of them could displace Dotson for the regular starters role prior to the world cup break. I could definitely see Brunel doing it.
00:24:28
Speaker
um i may have happened. Yeah. but it may have no that yeah It could have already happened. Like, frankly, I think that's entirely possible. He's, he's been great. He's done whatever they've asked them to do He's been really good. The upside is, is tremendous.
00:24:44
Speaker
um I don't think the sounders are people that get tripped up on the sunk cost fallacy very often. You know, it would be rough having ah a guy on a TAM salary behind ah a recent Academy graduate, but If he's, I don't think that's, you know, and I, we consideration and we've said it before, but I, I do think it's worth, it bears repeating.
00:25:10
Speaker
If Brunel gets this job, I think it has more to do with what Brunel has shown and less to do with Hassani has not shown. Yeah, absolutely. And I do think, you know, Hassani is going to get his minutes, but, and, and I suppose if it was a must win game on,
00:25:27
Speaker
the you know And I don't know, Dotson might start it on the road. It's a you know it's a road game. There's reasons that you would you would potentially give him the start, even if... But I do think the gap has closed a lot.
00:25:39
Speaker
Brunel has shown a lot of upside. you know I do think he's still inconsistent. you know He's still prone to making some mistakes. Even some of his flary, sort of like, aha moments are don't always come off. And that's...
00:25:56
Speaker
you know That's a notable thing, but there's a lot to like. I like Steiner Brunel a lot. I do too. Yeah, i do I do too. I think that he he has i wasn't really sure what to think of him coming into this year. i liked his potential.
00:26:12
Speaker
i know I know people in the organization are very high on him, so I was excited about him, but I did not think he was going to be at this level. I just... It's been... It's been really impressive.
00:26:24
Speaker
and And I think the main distinction between him and Pekovic is that I think Snyder can play plausibly as a six. He's not great at it, but I think he can play there. He's he's an eight. He can play box to box. He can play on the wing.
00:26:38
Speaker
Pekovic, I think, is a Danny Leyva-ish eight. but really yeah more of a 10, right? Like he's, he's not, you can start him in midfield and it's not like you're going to get run over, but he doesn't have the defensive chops. He's a much more creative player.
00:26:54
Speaker
um He's going to hit a better plan around. He's more likely to hit a good switch or yeah A through ball. Is that some good side pieces?
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah. Whereas I think Brunel is probably more likely to get into a tackle, yeah you know, dribble past a guy. score a goal he's a little more dynamic of a player he he runs me a lot more of christian right and pekovich reminds me a lot more of rosnack uh yeah i think that's a fair assessment all right next one is from jacob w looks like you sukinome has rarely made the bench for the sounders this year and played 390s with defiance what are his chances of making an appearance for the sounders in 2026
00:27:38
Speaker
In all of 2026, I think there's a decent chance. But you know if I had to pick one player one field player who is least likely to play for the Sounders, it might be Tsukunome. And you know that's ah ah that would be a rough that would be rough. I really like Tsukunome. I think he is a talented player.
00:28:02
Speaker
But if you're looking for reasons why he hasn't gotten on the field, I think it's mainly... that the Sounders haven't been in a position where they, you know, I think he's much more likely to play at home.
00:28:14
Speaker
I think he's going to have to prove him. You know, I think he has a little bit more to prove in terms of what Brian wants to see. i you know, he is a more, he's, he's a little bit more of a, of a luxury player. Like he, he is a, yeah he's he's not going defend a ton.
00:28:31
Speaker
You know, he's someone who, you doesn't have a totally clear, he's not really a nine. He's not really a winger. He's not really a 10. I mean, he's sort of like a Freddie Montero withdrawn. Like his best position is probably like a, you know, a Dempsey type of, you know, player. And, and, you know, there's just not a lot of those guys in the game today.
00:28:54
Speaker
He is a lot of fun to watch. I like his game. It's fun, but I'm not totally surprised that he hasn't gotten on the field yet. And I think he's, you know, the reality is that he's behind a lot of other offensive players who give you a little bit more two way play. So I don't know the exact, you know, it would for him to get on the field. It probably means there's ah few injuries or few players are unavailable and it's a home game.
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I do think I think you nailed it with luxury player. Right. And it's tough enough to be a luxury player. Period. I think it's really tough to be a luxury player at the back end of the roster. And I think that yeah just because you earned a contract, just between you because you earned a first team deal, it doesn't mean that you've earned minutes, right? No. you've got to You've got to make the coach play you. You've got a lot to prove, I think, if you're in a situation like that. And you know the the Sounders have signed a lot of guys from the Defiance that just haven't hit.
00:29:55
Speaker
And that's okay. like I think it's fine to say you played really well at the Defiance. You've done everything. Travion Sousa last year. Yeah. They get some, a little bit of finance, you know, like a little bit of financial help for a couple of years, get a bigger contract than they would have playing in MLS next pro. And then hopefully they go on and play in USL.
00:30:11
Speaker
Maybe someday they can work their way back to MLS, but you know, it's, it's hard. Like being at the back end the roster is really hard and it's a pretty cutthroat business. It's, it's very tough to make it. And, you know, as a professional soccer player. And I think when you have that kind of skillset, you really have to separate yourself from other people to, to, you know, force your way into a lot of minutes.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And that's just, you know, that's, that's pro soccer, baby. but Yeah. You know, that's unfortunately, ah you know, and I do, I do hope he, he, I would love it if he gets into the, he gets into it because he, he has a great story. You know, I, I actually talked to his coach i for the South Dakota team that he played for. it I want to say, i don't even, i actually had to look this up, but it's like, he has a great story. I talked to his agent a few times.
00:31:05
Speaker
ah You know, I do think he he could be a decent player if he if you got a run out. But I also can't really look you in the eye and say he deserves to be playing over Georgie Manungu or Paul Areola.
00:31:22
Speaker
trying to you know ah Certainly, Jesus Ferreira, Albert Rusnak. You know, he's not he's just not going play over those guys. Yeah.
00:31:32
Speaker
All right. This is from look forward. Since this is an international break, Christian Roldan is said to have had some influence in getting Jesus and Paul to agree to come to joining trophy hunting sounders.
00:31:45
Speaker
Which players on the U S national team should he be recruiting? Who would be your dream catch? Who might be the most likely? o Oh man. I really hate most of the U S national team.
00:31:57
Speaker
yeah, i I mean, i've um I'm just being real. um Yeah. I wouldn't mind Brian White and as a sounder, maybe. He's he's a little... Brian White isn't even on the roster right now.
00:32:13
Speaker
I know, but he's played for the US. Okay, okay. Cade Cowell, I would have liked Cade Cowell at a certain point. um
00:32:23
Speaker
but Let's see. i mean, I'll tell you, right off the top of my dome, Of the guys who are there right now, I mean, Weston McKinney feels like the perfect, like that's a, that's a Brad Schmetzer player. Yeah, I do. I do like Weston McKinney pretty well. And he's, and he's obviously, you know, he's born in, he's a local boy, technically. Theoretically. I don't know how much time he spent here, but he was Very little, I believe.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Very little, I believe. very Yeah, like maybe, like I think he moved before he was conscious. But, yeah you know i ah you know, if I'm just going to pick anyone off the roster, I mean, Valorium, Balagan.
00:33:05
Speaker
ah Yeah. You know, like there's just definitely guys on the team who I would. Sebastian Berhalter. i mean, I know he hasn't gotten a lot of call call-ups. Yeah, I could take a Sebastian Berhalter. I like him.
00:33:17
Speaker
he's He's a good player. um Yeah. Yeah. ah Chris Richards. I mean, there are a lot of good players on the U S national team that would obviously obviously be great. And, and MLS. Yeah.
00:33:29
Speaker
Ricardo Pepe, right. Would be, would be a dream. Christian. I mean, Christian pool stick. I mean, I'm not gonna. Yeah. No, I couldn't get, I couldn't look past the unpleasantness with him. Yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. He's a great player, obviously, but he he sucks as a guy. um He does seem to kind of suck.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah. But I, but I think that like, plausibly the guys that Christian could you know be a tiebreaker for right could could talk up the Sounders like are gonna be guys like you know I don't know Diego or something right like right yeah they're not gonna be the big stars probably max Arsten Yeah, but those guys are those those guys are good. Those guys are difference makers in MLS, so that's not necessarily a problem. Yeah, I don't i don't know that there's anyone on the team who I think is like a realistic target and someone who I think is a genuine upgrade.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah. But like if ah I'm going to say i'm gonna say mckinsey McKinney is the guy that I would... If Wesley McKinney wants to come back to MLS and wants it as a DP in like a year or two.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah. um I would be ecstatic if the Sounders, assuming he doesn't like fall off a cliff, but I mean, he looks, he, Juventus wanted done with him.
00:34:57
Speaker
um He's, he's as recently as like two years ago. And now he's like, i think every year they say that. Right. So I, and then he, yeah and then he works his way back into good graces.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah. So. Yeah, good player. The kind of midfielder that I just, I really love having on the team. A super Christian, as it were. so Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, let's let's let's start banging the drum.
00:35:22
Speaker
All right. This one's from T-Stubs. After the second leg in Spokane, I thought Kingston would have done enough to earn a first-team contract. What are the factors that go into the decision not to sign him yet? That's a good question.
00:35:34
Speaker
i think it is probably... You know, it does i it does feel honestly, it it feels a bit like they are just sort of delaying the inevitable because I think he if he's not out of options, he might only have one left, but.
00:35:53
Speaker
You're likely to give it to him. And so I don't I guess that maybe they're. they They kind of want to see what else could happen, I guess, but. it it feels a little bit like they're just sort of like dragging their feet. i don't think there's any, ah they they don't have, I will say this.
00:36:12
Speaker
They don't have a lot of roster flexibility right now. That's, you know the cold hard fact is that if he signs, I think they are effectively out of roster spots.
00:36:22
Speaker
And, And so they would, in order to sign another player, they would have to move someone out. Now they could designate someone for, you know, a, a loan to defiance or there's ways that they could open it up, but it does, it does sort of lock in the roster. And I suppose there's an argument that,
00:36:43
Speaker
they might not really need him again once everyone gets healthy. And so yeah at that point you sort of tied your hands just to be like do right by Kingston.
00:36:56
Speaker
And i don't know if that's really how we expect the centers to, to behave, but I guess that would be, that would be the reason is that they just want to keep the roster flexibility. Yeah.
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah, which is is pragmatic, right? But like you said, it's not really the sound the way the Sounders operate generally. i think like you get the opportunity and you go out there and you get two assists in the Champions League and you do everything that's asked of you. You go into a really difficult game in San Jose and you help the team win. like It would be uncharacteristic, ah I think, of the Sounders to not reward him with the deal and unless they can trade him somewhere where he you know can get get a first team deal maybe that's an option i don't know but yeah but they'd have to sign him first so
00:37:49
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah. All right. This is from... Baritatum 7? Baritatum 7. That's how I deal with it. Okay. In these seven games, how would you characterize the Sounders' playing style this season?
00:40:01
Speaker
I've heard some out there call it a harem ball, Ramsey ball, in terms of their defensive play, but at times, it also looks very similar to last year's team in their transition and passing. Thoughts?
00:40:13
Speaker
I've actually thought the way the Sounders... So, Sandho Gase game is not... is an outlier here as it is to some degree, the second leg against Vancouver, the San Jose game was just, we're just going to try to get a result. However we can um second leg against Vancouver was let's not do anything stupid and let them back into this tie.
00:40:32
Speaker
um Both good results, both, you know, I think both the right decision, but in terms of the way they've approached games generally, um i think the one key piece of information is that they have been on the road for Yeah.
00:40:48
Speaker
All but one game. Right. So that's a big part of it. And that's going to skew perceptions because teams just play more defensively on the road. it's just the way it goes. But when that's 90% of your sample size, it's going to, you know, change perceptions. um But I think that there have been elements of last year's style of play, but I think they have been much more direct to this year, um especially when Dero has been on the field. They have used him as a target forward.
00:41:16
Speaker
They have tried to start. There's been like a little bit more kick and rush type stuff. And that sort of matches ongoing trends in world football, right? Like that that style of play has has come back in a big way. And the Sounders are starting to integrate it. But I think that they are still a pressing team.
00:41:33
Speaker
They like to get out and transition. They like to push the line of confrontation high, I think, when the game state is in their favor. ah and And I think once they're back to playing home games more regularly, I think they are going to look a lot more like they did last season, but maybe a little more direct, maybe a little bit less patient buildup and and a little bit more aggressive, counter-pressing type stuff.
00:41:56
Speaker
um And yeah, because I think Jordan is... Jordan is not the cow, of the, the target forward that Dero is just, he's just not as big, right. That's part of it, but he's a, he's a very competent um target forward, but he's also kind of the guy you want playing off of the target forward, you know, and getting in behind. So it'll be interesting to see once he's back in the, because sometimes it's like when you've got a guy like Dero, like when you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right? Like,
00:42:28
Speaker
punt it up to the big dude and let's see what can happen. If he's not in there, maybe that just sort of impacts the way they play as well. So, um but yeah, in general, I have not seen any Ramsey ball. I think that's crazy. I'm not sure who who would have suggested that.
00:42:43
Speaker
um It's impossible to really, quantify how negative those Minnesota teams were. mean, i think you anything like that come i I think you sort of just are, i think in that case, people are just sort of looking at the possession numbers and, and that's sort of the extent of,
00:42:59
Speaker
of the analysis, but I, and I can understand people. There is a lot of some frustration, I think with the way that centers have been playing where they haven't been controlling controlling games. I mean, they just, they've not been, but I just think you have, like you said, you just sort of have to divorce that from, i mean, you can't divorce it from,
00:43:19
Speaker
so many of these games have been on the road. They're not playing. They're on short rest and on the road. They they're in the middle of playing eight straight games away from Lumen field. That's, you know, yeah there is a prag pragmatism that they are practicing and they, they are getting results. So it's hard to really argue with anything they're doing.
00:43:41
Speaker
You know, if if they were, if this is how things looked and they were, Four games, they played four home games. I would feel differently, but, you know, these are, I'm fine playing this way on the road, frankly.
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, they've got, they've got 10 points. One, four, six. It was April 12th before they had 10 points last year. Right.
00:44:07
Speaker
So, and they, they played a decent number of home games and that, and that's a that, that run. So yeah, I'm, Totally fine with it. But yeah, like you said, if they're playing this way at home, that's maybe not as as great.
00:44:21
Speaker
yeah This one's from Mendy. What does the future look like at center back this season and possibly beyond? Do we ever see Hawkins, Keehee, and Saylor in a match? I'm assuming that's not all three of them at once. I'm assuming that's generally. Is it too early to call if Yamar returns after this season?
00:44:38
Speaker
Definitely too early to say whether Yamar returns after this season. Although I think... I weirdly, I think this may help increase. Like I, my understanding is he wasn't necessarily looking for a huge raise anyway.
00:44:53
Speaker
And i do think this is sort of like maybe killed his trade value. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think there's a pretty good chance that Yamar is back on sort of a team-friendly, relatively team-friendly deal.
00:45:06
Speaker
I 100% think that we will see Kim and Hawkins play this year. i don't know about Saylor. ah i i have heard conflicting information about his injury.
00:45:19
Speaker
Some people tell me that it's serious enough that he might never play, and some people tell me that that he might be back in a month. So I don't know what to believe about Ryan Saylor. And in even there's a world where Ryan Saylor doesn't get on the field, even if he does get healthy, because he might be the fifth center back on the depth chart. So, you know, that that's also possible.
00:45:42
Speaker
ah But I think right now the depth chart is probably Well, ah it's hard to project the depth chart when everyone's healthy, but i mean I do think it's possible that Alex Roldan is the third center back, all things being equal.
00:46:04
Speaker
ah And then behind him, it it might be Tino Lopez right now. like i I don't know that that and the either Kihi or Hawkins will just sort of slide back in and and jump Tino Lopez without...
00:46:18
Speaker
some evidence that he they deserve to i mean tino lopez is now shown that he can do this job uh i i think that's gonna go a long way with with brian i do hope of all those players though my hope is that stewart hawkins gets ah a decent run because i i do really like his upside i think he's a potentially elite center back yeah and he's he's at the point where he needs to be playing somewhere pretty absolutely other other than the than the fight i don't think he needs to be playing in the finance yeah no he he needs real minutes for sure yeah for sure All right. ah This is from T Stubs has new whose game matured. He's still doing a lot of the good new who things, which with much less of the bad.
00:46:58
Speaker
I've, you know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately as well. um I think he's been genuinely good this year. ah And I wonder if that is a change in his approach or if it's that the way the sounders have been playing on the road a lot. And so the,
00:47:15
Speaker
overall approach is more conservative. So he's just as a virtue of the way things are going in the games, he's not getting forward as much. um But I do think his decision-making has been a little better. I think he's picked the spots a little better.
00:47:29
Speaker
um i have not seen as many sort of like hero ball type, type minutes where he tries to dribble a lot things he shouldn't dribble out of. I think he's been really, really good. um You know, matured is always a trick.
00:47:44
Speaker
Yeah. a word i I don't love throwing around, but there definitely, I feel like, has has been a little more um pragmatism to his game, where he's leaning into his strengths and maybe you know is a little more self-aware of his weaknesses. So I've i've been impressed. um i've I've been...
00:48:09
Speaker
down on new who for a while but i mean that was based on what i was seeing and so far this year i've i've liked what i've seen so um if he keeps it up i'm i'm happy for him to lock you know keep that spot locked down i i'll say that ah i think he i don't i think there is an element of him playing within himself and being sort of locked in more than I'd seen in the past.
00:48:34
Speaker
Yeah. he He just, he's, i have no, i have absolutely no complaints about how he's played this year. I, you know, I've never really been anti new who person, but i I, think the Sounders right now are using him as effectively as they've ever used him. I think, and I think he's, you know, he's made a lot of plays.
00:48:53
Speaker
You know, I was just thinking about the, the San Jose game and how he made several plays that just sort of made everything easier than, than it would have been otherwise. And, yeah you know, he, he's been, he's been great.
00:49:09
Speaker
ah You know, I, I have absolutely no complaints about him right now. Yeah. This one's from Josh. The team is out of long throws into their repertoire this year with both Kalani and Paul flinging them in. How do you think it's going?
00:49:24
Speaker
and know I think it's a good tool to have in your arsenal. I can't say i have totally clocked that, but I feel like that's true.
00:49:37
Speaker
Kalani seems like someone in particular who is probably well-suited for it. you know We might see him break out a a cartwheel throw. yeah i don't know if that's actually going to happen. ah But...
00:49:53
Speaker
You know, I don't see why teams wouldn't do it. Like. If you can throw a ball, if you can, like, it doesn't hurt you to throw a ball into the box, you know? No, it's for me, it's like as long as we're aware of how dangerous they actually are, um they're less dangerous than corners, which are not especially dangerous. Right. There's no reason not like if you've got somebody that can get it there and create a little chaos. Yeah, you'd be crazy not to do it.
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah, and I, you know, part of what teams that really commit to it are doing, though, is they throw extra numbers forward. And I don't know that it's really worth doing that for, but.
00:50:33
Speaker
Right. This isn't, we don't have Rory to lap over there, you know? No.
00:50:39
Speaker
Man, that is a really old reference. That's depressing. ah Yeah. But yeah, i i I like them. They're fun to watch. I got i got no problems with them. Yeah.
00:50:50
Speaker
all right. This is from W. Is there a world where if Albert doesn't turn it on during the home stretch and the wingers get healthy, that Jesus will shift centrally? I mean, yeah, if Albert's not...
00:51:02
Speaker
playing well. um Sure. I just don't think that's especially likely. there's There's a world where Jordan forgets how to score and Danny Mussofsky becomes the starting striker. There's a world where Jackson Reagan forgets how to defend and Stu Hawkins takes his place. like that's It's possible. there's ah there's a yeah i
00:51:27
Speaker
I'm not of the likely outcomes. I don't think I see Albert losing his job to Jesus as super likely only because I, you know, there's been ah a fair amount of consternation. i feel like over Albert start, he's got a goal and an assist through seven games.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's not great. It's not that bad either. it has that issue where if he's not totally dominating games, people want to replace him. Right. And he and I don't know that I would be expecting Jesus to be putting up crazy number. I mean, he's he's he he's I like Jesus this year.
00:52:10
Speaker
i i have not seen Jesus be so good as the 10 that I'm dying to replace him. No, you know, like, I mean, he can do the job. Absolutely.
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, he's he has assists and and they've been, you know, he's been good. He's played well. um He has.
00:52:33
Speaker
Two shots. Yeah. He has 0.05
00:52:38
Speaker
x g That's not that good. It's not that high. It's not that high. like it you need more ah you need more than that from your right midfielder, but you really need more than than that from your 10 unless they are putting up insane creation numbers, and and he's not.
00:52:59
Speaker
No. Next one's from Everett Sounder. How much do you think our lack of goal scoring has to do with our center back injury crisis, which seems to limit how well we can play out of the back?
00:53:10
Speaker
You know, I think it has it's related. i think that the... the i don't... Well, okay. Let me rewind a little bit. I don't think the center back crisis is the main culprit for the Sounders' offensive struggles. I think the Sounders' defensive posture in the road games...
00:53:35
Speaker
is more about is that, and maybe they have been less expansive because they don't have their, you know, like because Yamar has not been there as their sort of safety blanket that maybe they've been less expansive, but I tend to think it's much more about road games and game state than it is about Yamar being out essentially. Yeah.
00:54:01
Speaker
Missing Jordan Morris, I think it's been missing Jordan Morris another, um Yeah. Especially because the center back most effective at playing out of the back has been healthy. Right. like Exactly. jackson That's Jackson Reagan's differentiating factors. If Jackson Reagan had been out, that would be an easy one to identify as. Yeah, that's yeah that's a that's a.
00:54:24
Speaker
probably a major reason all right this is from rilo to what should craig and company be looking for at the next move for the number nine i love jmo and hopefully he's got at least a couple seasons left but we got to be a bit hesitant with injuries hopefully d row hits and moose can stay in form but these seem riskier bets this year how soon and what kind of player should the team be looking at So I'm kind of of two minds on this because there's an emerging school of thought that unless you are one of the very elite teams in the world, striker not really a place you should be that worried about, right? Like just find somebody who's good enough, who can get into decent positions.
00:55:04
Speaker
Find your Danny Mussofsky, right? Like that's the, find somebody who can do the buildup work and gets into good spots and scores and is maybe not crazy talented because the market for strikers is so completely insane. It's just not a great use of resources. And the modern game is really more about everything that happens before the goal is scored. Right.
00:55:26
Speaker
And i think there's a lot of merit to that, but and MLS is such a different animal because of roster restrictions and stuff like that, that like, it's kind of hard to find those guys that are good enough to be, you know, um,
00:55:42
Speaker
ah prolific goal scorers in a team that's creating a ton of chances without commanding dp wages and if you're paying a dp salary you might as well go crazy and buy the best player you can so um realistically though i don't think danny masovsky and wasazi de rosario are good enough to build the team around um to to you know for a championship team to say yep that's our guy Dero might get there.
00:56:07
Speaker
um Danny Masovsky, I think, is a great second forward. I think that he is the kind of second forward that a team with championship aspirations should be very happy to have. And I think he can be a decent starting forward in MLS, but he's not a guy that I think any team with championship aspirations is going to say that's our guy. we're We're happy with that, right? so um And Jordan, I mean, I'm less worried about the injuries than most people, but I understand right? I get it. Like he's had a lot of injuries the last couple of years and he is, you know, he's 30 is not old for a soccer player, but it's closer to being old than it is to being young.
00:56:45
Speaker
And, um, you know, for a guy who has a lot of physical gifts and and that's been a lot of his game for a long time, his decline might come a little sooner. He might also play so he's 35 and be effective. Who knows? Right. But,
00:56:58
Speaker
Um, but I don't blame anybody for wanting them to do contingency planning, but I don't think they can go after like a Raul Ruiz-Diaz type forward. I think that that forward just isn't going to work and in the modern and MLS. I think they need a guy who's like big athletic, um, somebody who looks like Azazé de Rosario, but has a little bit more of ah a killer instinct cutting edge to their game.
00:57:25
Speaker
Um, And yeah, where they find that guy. I mean, who knows, right? Like, cause lot of those guys that look like they would be sure things have come into MLS and not really had that much success. And, and,
00:57:38
Speaker
So it's kind of a crapshoot. But I think it's something they always have to be looking at. But realistically, right now, they're just kind of stuck with with who they've got. Because Jordan Morris has a DP contract for another couple of years.
00:57:50
Speaker
Alvaro Sennac is a DP for another couple of years. Pedro De La Vega is a DP for another couple of years. So they're they're kind of stuck where they are. But after... yeah how Do we know how long Musavsky's extension was for?
00:58:03
Speaker
We do. And it was for...
00:58:16
Speaker
His contract is through the 27-28 season. with it so and Realistically, this is probably the forward group for the next couple of years, right?
00:58:30
Speaker
um Unless they move somebody. so you know It's a long-term problem. It is a long-term problem. I would say that if in the spirit of the question, though, I think you could do a lot worse than figuring out how to get Peter Musa from Dallas.
00:58:51
Speaker
You know, he's 28. He's pretty much the player that you, you know, he does a lot of the same stuff that Jordan does, but he's a more prolific scorer.
00:59:03
Speaker
ah you know i don't I don't know what that would cost you. It would probably be very expensive bring in a Peter Musa over ah Jordan Morris. you know He's probably a... and I think they paid $10 million dollars to sign him in the first place. I i can't imagine his price has gone down.
00:59:20
Speaker
But you know that's the type of that's the archetype I think that you're looking at is someone who you know has some physical attributes, is good around the box. you know it's a it would be That would be a great signing. But I don't have...
00:59:35
Speaker
Admittedly, I don't have a ah list of players. great ah you know like a I suppose Sam Surridge is another player from at within MLS if you could go out and and sign someone like that.
00:59:48
Speaker
ah But yeah, i don't I don't know exactly what the... I think the problem, honestly, with replacing Morris is that it's really expensive if you're going to go out and...
01:00:02
Speaker
and upgrade over Jordan Morris. And that's part of why you are probably looking at buying a u twenty two and sort of future planning for it. And, you know, I don't think they're in dire need of doing, I don't think they need to do anything soon though. That's the, that's the good news.
01:00:24
Speaker
Next one's from Pyro with defiance, picking up yet another Ballard FC, FC product with Joe Dale is one of the, with joe dale is one okay sorry i'm starting over With Defiance picking up yet another Ballard FC product with Joe Dale is one of the underappreciated shrinks in the Sounders pipeline having a what appears to be a decently solid SL2 ecosystem.
01:00:47
Speaker
it Definitely does not hurt. I don't, and I think you could look at Peter Kingston as probably the best example of a player who very well could have left soccer if not for Ballard FC.
01:00:59
Speaker
You know, there's ah there's a world where where Peter Kingston just isn't playing soccer anymore, at least not professionally. And Ballard was sort of the bridge player no pun intended to sort of get the sounder to get them to professional soccer.
01:01:16
Speaker
I don't, I don't know enough about Joe Dale to be able to say if, if he has a future, but having that extra, that extra step in the ecosystem definitely does not hurt.
01:01:28
Speaker
Now, how much fruit will that bear? I don't know. You know, that's time will tell the right now. There's quite a few players that are going from Ballard to defiance.
01:01:39
Speaker
You know, not as many of those players are matriculating from defiance to sounders, but that Peter Kingston, That you have one is pretty cool and and and a good sign and and probably the best example of how that system can prolong and expand your your pipeline. Yep.
01:02:06
Speaker
All right. This is from Dorcas. How would you schedule your more trips to Spokane for the Sounders? CONCACAF Champions Cup, Open Cup, Friendlies? So we kind we talked a little bit about this last week.
01:02:18
Speaker
um Didn't go into a ton of detail. I think part of the problem is that there are restrictions on playing outside of your home stadium, right? Especially in CONCACAF. Now, yeah in Open Cup, there might be more there there might be more ability early in the tournament. So maybe i may have misstated that last time.
01:02:37
Speaker
But it like early round Open Cup games wouldn't be the the worst idea. Yeah. i Yeah. I mean, if they ever again, if they ever plan and those again, and I mean, and I don't know how this would go over either. i mean, the reality is that if the Sounders were to do that, it would almost certainly be sort of like a reserve heavy lineup and they would probably be more inclined to use a reserve heavy lineup.
01:03:01
Speaker
But, you know, by the time this comes into play, Memorial may be available. So i don't, i I do think it's worth doing a like a preseason game out there every year.
01:03:13
Speaker
I think that's a so great idea. Like if they were to just play Spokane velocity during, you know, one of their preseason games every year, that would be, that would be great. I think.
01:03:25
Speaker
Yeah. They could bring back the charity cup or or what have you. Yeah. Community shield. Yeah. There you go. That's great idea.
01:03:36
Speaker
ah This is from Nate B. How likely is anything to change after the ownership sale? Oh, no, sorry. This is this was your question. OK. All right. I moved it there specifically because I wanted to ask it to you because. Oh, oh yeah. OK.
01:03:50
Speaker
How likely is anything to change after the ownership sale wraps up? Is there any movement on that end? All right. So i don't know.
01:04:00
Speaker
Uh, I think that it's one of those things where there definitely are talks going on right now. I, I feel like pretty confident that there are active talks. Now, I think a lot of this frankly is going to rest on what happens with the Seahawks. Like, I don't think that's just idle speculation. I think that there is an entirely plausible scenario where,
01:04:25
Speaker
whoever wants to buy the Seahawks looks at the, looks at the Sounders as a co-tenant of lumen Field at the rain and says, wouldn't it be convenient if all of these things were under the same ownership umbrella? And wouldn't there be all these economies of scale that we could make, make sense.
01:04:46
Speaker
And, you know, I, I think that is probably a you know, a 30 or 40% chance of happening, not necessarily light the most likely, but I think it's a real plausible scenario. And then if the, and I, and I don't know if there's going to be any movement necessarily on the, on the equity share that the sounders are sailing, uh, selling until there's a little bit more certainty with that.
01:05:15
Speaker
And I don't know that the, you know, I, so I don't know. i don't, I, I, i don't I don't have any names. I don't know anyone that is particularly interested, but I'm sure, I'm confident that the Sounders ownership is drawing a lot of interest. Now, where it goes, I don't know.
01:05:37
Speaker
Yeah. I just, yeah, I wish I had more information at this point, but I don't. All right. Going to close it out with Twimberly23. With the Sounders' first league game, to my knowledge, on grass upcoming.
01:05:49
Speaker
It's not their first league game. No. But I don't even think it's close. I think they've had several. but They played on grass last year at home against Austin. oh that's right is that right that is correct okay i knew that this will be their first game on actual grass and not a this will be the most real grass that they've played on yeah uh but anyway the question was are you going to be looking for anything in particular or how it plays aesthetics um i mean it does play better on grass the ball bounces less um
01:06:26
Speaker
It's I think it's better to watch, but I don't I don't particularly care. my my biggest thing with wanting grass is um there is frankly, there is an element of legitimacy to it, right? There is an element of like,
01:06:40
Speaker
this is the kind of shit you have to put up with when you are the second banana in your own stadium is playing on a surface that the players don't like playing on that people make fun of. And that frankly is not as good for the sport. Like that there is an element of that. And I do know the players prefer it for, um you know, I know there have been studies done um,
01:07:00
Speaker
Injury rates between the two surfaces, but very consistently from athletes who have played on both, they say, I feel worse after playing on turf. My body is beat up after playing on turf in a way that it's not after grass. And I am not going to tell them that their objective experience that they're know subjective experience is wrong. Right. Like just because they're not getting injured more, like,
01:07:22
Speaker
like Sometimes I go to the gym and i don't get injured, but I feel a lot worse than days when I'm doing different stuff. Right. Like it's really easy for me to understand how the, the, you know, the environment you're doing these things in can impact your body. So, um so yeah, I mean, that, that's a big part of it. I'm happy for them to get to play on grass. I have heard people say that this is going to lessen the Sounders home field advantage. And and I don't,
01:07:50
Speaker
I think realistically, there is an advantage to playing on your own field that just from familiarity with it. And when that field is a surface that people are less familiar with, that probably heightens that advantage a little bit.
01:08:02
Speaker
But overall, it's got to be like in a minuscule percentage of the overall home field advantage. Right. So I just I don't think it's going to make that big of a difference, honestly.
01:08:15
Speaker
I'm inclined to agree with you across the board. i I think I'm most just interested in the novelty of it. Like it is still a novelty, even though, you know, and I like, I don't know that it's going to look any better than it did for,
01:08:30
Speaker
the club world cup, which it looked great for, you know, like it, like aesthetically it's beautiful. Like it's, it is, it is like really nice. And, ah but this is, this does seem to be like a much more extensive,
01:08:46
Speaker
project than what they have done in the past. You know, they, they have put down like at least a foot, if not more of a base, which is pretty significant.
01:08:58
Speaker
And, you know, it's, you know, so I, I, I don't know that unfortunately the the, the worst part of it is that I don't know what there is to really take away from it though, because this is not what a,
01:09:16
Speaker
like this is not what it would look like if, if they put in grass, this is not going to be a representative test. You know, like we really won't know what's going to happen until the NFL plays on it.
01:09:36
Speaker
And right you know, that would be, that would have been a really bold decision if they had said, we're, we want to see what this plays like on the NFL. Like we're just going to go for it. And I will note that new England revolution or, uh, I shouldn't say the revolution, but the, the crafts just fully ripped out the turf field and put in a fully grass field. And as far as I know, it's going to stay. I don't know that for sure, but that's the impression I got is that that's going to, that's going to stay there at least for now.
01:10:12
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's been an NFLPA priority of varying, you know, they put varying levels of importance on it, but it's been a priority of theirs for years. Absolutely. Yeah. want They want grass as well.
01:10:23
Speaker
So, yeah. Yeah. So I don't, you know, um I wish there was more of a takeaway to be had. Unfortunately, I just don't know that there is. And that's,
01:10:35
Speaker
you know I'm not trying to i'm not trying to you know poo-poo any of this, but I just don't know that it's you know it's just not.
01:10:47
Speaker
Enjoy it, but don't get too attached to it. Yeah. I mean, and I think the thing is that we know grass can work. I mean, this is going to be, will say, okay, let me, I'll rewind.
01:10:59
Speaker
what I'll be interested in is what the grass looks like the last time the Sounders play on it in May or whatever, because if it's, if they've been able to play on it for two months and it's holding up well, that's, that's tells us something because presumably there's going to some crappy weather that comes through. And at that point, will have hosted, you know, a dozen or so matches.
01:11:24
Speaker
And, and I think we'll know a little bit more about, the viability of grass. We will, but the, we won't really, really know until, you know, we see what the NFL does to it. And and we're not going to see that at this time.
01:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. But at the same time, like I would imagine that if they did just fully commit to it and rip it out, like the NFL could play on it on this surface and it could get torn up and they could say, see, right. It's not, not feasible, but it's not the same as doing a full actual install.
01:11:55
Speaker
Right. So because i would imagine a full actual install gives it durability to help withstand you know NFL games. but Right. i I think that the only way the Sounders are ever getting grass in Lumen is a it becomes part of the CBA with the NFLPA.
01:12:14
Speaker
Or B, whoever buys the Seahawks wants a grass field and figures out a way to make it happen. so Right.
01:12:25
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Yep.
01:12:29
Speaker
All right. Well, that's, I think that's the show. yeah We have no more questions. Thanks to everyone for, hopefully we got to, if you submitted a question, I hope you, we got to it.
01:12:40
Speaker
And if we didn't, I apologize, but I think we got the, got to everyone and i and I'll just put this out there again. if you want to participate in this, you want to get your questions answered. You got to get onto the discord.
01:12:53
Speaker
Join, become a supporter or above on Sounder or at Heart. And, you know, we'll let you let you in into the into the tent, as it were. Otherwise, you can you can enjoy it from a distance. And that's also fine. We appreciate that.
01:13:07
Speaker
I also want to give a plug. for our magazine, which we still have copies of. We also have stickers. If you're more inclined to get a sticker, we are going to actually start selling the next issue pretty soon. We'll probably have a package deal, uh, put those together if that's something you want to wait on. But if you really want to get an issue of four, i would do that sooner than later.
01:13:32
Speaker
And all that said, thank you to our sponsor full pool wines. ah Thank you to all of you for subscribing. And with that, I'm going to get out of here. I am Jeremiah Shan signing off behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett.
01:13:49
Speaker
This is No Sariettes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And remember, you'll never get alone.
01:14:23
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders.