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Nos Audietis, Episode 280: Not losing is pretty cool, IMO
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Lo’ and behold the Sounders are heading into another busy week riding a four-match unbeaten run. Yes, that’s a season best and they are actually looking reasonably good doing it.
The latest result was easily their most convincing, as they scored their first shutout win of the season by beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0. Neither of the goals were particularly well constructed -- Nico Lodeiro scored a penalty and then got a brace off a whipped-in ball that badly fooled the Whitecaps goalkeeper -- but the Whitecaps never really threatened.
Jeremiah and Aaron discuss the win, as well as Raul Ruidiaz’s debut, Magnus Wolff Eikrem’s release and the rumors around Paolo Hurtado.
This week's music: RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
Want to hear the music from the show in their glorious, full versions? Check out the Nos Audietis playlist on Spotify!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. To eat those of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now should be familiar to Fullpool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:20
Speaker
And there's food! Lots of it! Fullpool's unique writing styles apply to recipes like Leftover Thanksgiving, Turkey, Smaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books. Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. The Seattle Sounders have done it! And now it's come out! And now they're working their science team!
00:00:49
Speaker
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills, the greenest green in Seattle. Like a beautiful child growing up.
Seattle Sounders' Recent Performance
00:01:06
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of Nos Adietes, sponsored by Full Pool Wines, Queen Anne Acupuncture, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 280 and we're recording on Tuesday, July 24th, 2018.
00:01:18
Speaker
I am your host, Jeremiah Shan, and joined as always by my co-host Aaron Campo and our engineer Lickett. Lo and behold, the Sounders are heading into another busy week writing a four match unbeaten run. Yes, that's the season best and they are actually looking reasonably good doing it. The latest result was easily their most convincing as they scored their first shutout win of the season by beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0.
00:01:40
Speaker
Neither of the goals were particularly well-constructed. Nico Lidero scored a penalty and then got a brace off a whipped-in ball that badly fooled the Whitecaps goalkeeper. But the Whitecaps never really threatened. It was, dare I say it, a boring game, which, given the season, was actually a breath of fresh air. So Aaron, going into this period where the Sounders now are going to have two more games in the next, I guess, five or six days, the first one will be probably, I assume, tonight when people are listening to this.
Upcoming Matches and Opportunities
00:02:09
Speaker
at San Jose, this suddenly feels to me, maybe not a must-win game, but given the way the Sounders are playing, it seems like it's a strike while the iron is hot. Let's keep this thing going. And in that way, it feels kind of like they should win this game, right? If they should. It does kind of feel like a must-win game because of that.
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think, I mean, they should win this game, right? And so I think that any game that you feel like they should win is a game they need to get three points from. San Jose has been a tough place to play for the Sounders over the years, but I don't think they've ever been this bad as they are this year. They are just abysmal. This might be a historically awful season for San Jose.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, their team is just, you know, it's a total disarray. Anytime you've got a coach making tactical substitutions for a player he brought on five minutes ago, it's a mess. And so, you know, yeah, it's midweek, it's away. But San Jose did, I think, play most of their starters.
00:03:14
Speaker
90 minutes over the weekend. So that certainly helps. They've won one game at home all season and they have four cool points. San Jose did not actually, their only game this weekend was the Manchester United friendly, which most of their starters actually only played like 45 minutes. Well, still, still. They have four points at home all season in
00:03:39
Speaker
Wow, they've only played eight games at home, which is kind of crazy. But yeah, I mean, this is a game the Sounders should win. And it's not, I guess, must win in the sense that there's still a plausible path to the playoffs if they don't win it. But it certainly, I mean, it makes things easier, right? You know, you had that article last week, I guess it was, where you kind of kind of, yes, I think that was last week.
00:04:04
Speaker
And I think you're right, I think they can get a point out of this game and still have a path, but if they're gonna go on the kind of run they need to go on, they're gonna need to just pick up as many points as possible. I mean, they basically have to play at
00:04:20
Speaker
in Atlanta-esque pace, actually better, I think, in Atlanta to catch up to RSL's pace for the season for the rest of the year. So games where they should get three points, they've got to get three points. And if they can give themselves a little bit more breathing room to make it slightly more plausible, I think that
00:04:43
Speaker
That's certainly a good thing. So if they can get a win in this game, and then we'll probably talk a little more about this, but I don't think it's crazy to think they can get a win against NYCFC on the weekend. No, it's a home game they're playing. I think I'm pretty sure New York City is playing on short rest.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yeah, they've only won twice away from home. They've not been good on the road this year. Makes you wonder if there's something about their stadium that they take advantage of that maybe doesn't translate as well on the road. I don't know what that would be. I don't know what it could be. I can't imagine what it would possibly be.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't, I mean, you look at their record and you say, Oh God, the Sounders, you know, really don't have a chance against this team, but actually I think they do. If they can get six points out of these two games, it's still a tough road ahead, but that's, you know, that's, that's a great start. And those are points that I don't think necessarily they
00:05:39
Speaker
had to pick up in order to still make the playoffs. But if they can get four points out of these two games, I'm pretty happy with that as well. So I don't think it's a must win in that sense, but it's going to be disappointing if they don't win in San Jose. I'll leave it at that.
00:05:56
Speaker
I agree with that on my patented must winnow meter. I rated this as a high, uh, not the, not the extremely high, I believe was the top was the very high, I guess was the top, but this was high. This was, uh, and it's not because the game itself is some kind of six pointer, but because like the number of paths to the postseason start to get very, very narrow.
00:06:26
Speaker
if they don't win games like this. I looked at the schedule and I basically figured they had five games on the road. Like I'm assuming every game at home is effectively a must win. So like do the math there.
00:06:42
Speaker
Uh, they've got eight games, I believe left to play after, after this weekend, after this last game, and they need to basically win all those. But in order to, even if they do that, they still got to win a few games on the road. And I identified five games that were on the road that I thought.
00:06:58
Speaker
were winnable and they needed points probably from all five of those games. The San Jose Earthquakes game, definitely one of the winnable games. I would say that it is arguably the most winnable game they have left on the road.
00:07:15
Speaker
And the only reason that I wouldn't say it is undeniably the most winnable game is because they are playing on short rest, which is certainly a thing. They aren't going to be totally at full strength. Victor Rodriguez was the one downside to the game. He suffered a hamstring injury. I guess he was back out of training, not training in full, but he was at least running, which suggests that maybe this is a thing where he's going to probably miss the Wednesday game.
00:07:44
Speaker
Maybe not the end of the world, Clint Dempsey fully rested, Raul Rui Diaz hopefully ready to play 90 minutes or at least ready to start. You add those two guys to the starting lineup.
00:07:56
Speaker
that's a very formidable lineup with or without Victor Rodriguez.
Star Players' Impact
00:07:59
Speaker
Which brings me to who I thought and not exactly going on on limb here, but the player I was most impressed with in the game was Nico Ledero. Obviously there was the brace, but I didn't think either one of the goals were so particularly well taken, but he just had a classic Nico Ledero game. And in some ways it was better than the classic Nico Ledero game because he had the volume of action that we're used to seeing him.
00:08:23
Speaker
But he actually did a very good job of being wide a lot. A lot of his actions were on the wings, on both wings, so he was switching all the time. But he was doing a good job of actually finding pockets of space. And he had a rather remarkable, for him, 91% completion rate on 67 passes.
00:08:44
Speaker
And what was even better about that is they weren't a bunch of square and backwards passes. He was putting the ball into the box. He was forcing the Vancouver defense to react. He had something, I think he had six or seven incompletions. Almost all of his incomplete passes were passes into the penalty area. It was just great to see Nico finally kind of coming into form. I think we've seen that over this four game unbeaten run.
00:09:12
Speaker
And it couldn't happen at a better time. And I would say of all the players who are currently on the roster who can potentially lift the sounders to the level that they need to be at, Ledero has to be near the top.
00:09:25
Speaker
consistently playing like that over the rest of the season, then, um, you know, you can pretty much kiss, because the Sanders playoffs hopes goodbye. And that's not to say that he hasn't played well this season, but he, he certainly has not been as consistently good. Um, and a lot of that obviously is just who he's had around him. I mean, he's, he's a facilitator. He's not the guy that's going to take over a game single-handedly.
00:09:51
Speaker
And so when he doesn't have the talent around him that he needs, it's much harder to do that. He's also battled injuries. You know, he had the disappointment of missing the World Cup. This was the first game, I think, really since he's been back from injury where he looked very, very much like his best, the best version of himself. And that's, that's super encouraging, especially with Rudy Diaz getting here.
00:10:14
Speaker
You know, because he's going to need, he's going to need service. And, um, Ledero's got to be the guy to provide that. It's disappointing to lose Victor, but like he said, hopefully it's just the midweek game. Um, I also would not be shocked to see Ruby Diaz start this game on the bench, because I think it is a pretty winnable game. And I think if there's one of these two games where you want to get 90 out of them, I would say it's probably the, the NYC FC game. Um.
00:10:39
Speaker
And I don't think you need him to beat San Jose. I think that maybe getting half an hour from him late in the game would be fine. So yeah, I don't know. It was good seeing Nico back to his old self. And I just think that until at least Victor went down, you really could see what this team is capable of when everybody's healthy and everybody's kind of informed. And it was pretty nice to see for at least, what, half an hour or so, 45 minutes.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Victor Rodriguez has, you know, and I would hope that Victor Rodriguez isn't out very long because whether or not he's super important for this game, the Sounders have just been a much, much better team when he's been on the field. And he's probably been the, you know, the most impactful addition that they've made this year. He's now played in,
00:11:34
Speaker
Let's see, uh, eight games so far and the sounders are not playing lights out during that time, but in his starts, they are, uh, they've got three wins, two losses and three ties. I mean, that's not, you know, by their, by what, like if they had been playing at that pace all year, we would not be in this, having this conversation about what they need to do to get into the playoffs. Uh, you know, more likely we'd be talking about how do they get
00:12:03
Speaker
a home playoff game and a buy or something like that. And so, you know, he's been a valuable part of this team and it's been kind of a nice reminder that he was really good. You kind of forgot how important he was last year during the stretch run.
00:12:23
Speaker
But yeah, I'm really hopeful that this team can, you know, I took a little bit of stick from one of our good friends, Nate Bowling, who was saying, I think his line was, I don't, I finally understand Jeremiah, it's not that he's delusional, it's that he's just optimistic. And I don't know, I don't think, I guess no one thinks they're delusional, but I still, I look at this roster,
00:12:49
Speaker
And you tell me that they're adding, they've added Raul Ruídías that they might be adding this Paulo Huertado guy, another Peruvian who we'll talk about later. And that's like a pretty, that's a talented roster. Like it's not a roster that's in need of drastic overhaul. Are there a few pieces on this team that probably need to be, you know, that they need to get rid of? Sure. Like there's like every year there's going to be players that you want to get rid of, but
00:13:18
Speaker
This is not a team that needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. And I think they can be very good. Now, they need to show that over a full season, I suppose, before we can be really satisfied. But I don't have that. I really do think that there's a good chance that come the end of this regular season, the Sounders will be playing as well as close to anyone. Now, whether or not that's enough to get them into the playoffs,
00:13:42
Speaker
That's another story. And if they don't get into playoffs, that's a big, that's, that's, you know, some, I'm sure there's going to be some, some questions that need to be answered because this start of the season was horrible and it, that can't be considered acceptable. That said, I, I do think that this team has some talent and I think that they're in okay shape going forward. And I think that we're seeing that whenever that they can put a modicum of talent on the field together, uh,
00:14:11
Speaker
That said, Harry Shipp, been a very nice surprise so far. When he's getting minutes, he actually looks very capable. Even though he doesn't do a ton, he didn't do a ton in this game, he just, the way he moves, the way he sees passes, I thought against Atlanta United, he was probably the sounder's best player. Yeah, I mean, and it's been a weird path for him. Yes. He was very clearly not,
00:14:41
Speaker
I think to put it mildly for a long time this year when things were going very, very poorly. I don't fully understand what changed and I don't fully understand what caused the issues in the first place, but he's really taken advantage of the time he's gotten lately.
00:15:00
Speaker
Obviously, in a perfect world, he's not a starter on this team. But he's a player that's getting a lot of minutes. He's an important player sort of rotationally. And I think he's earned that. He's absolutely earned that. And this is his second year here. And I think everybody is really excited. And it's been kind of tough for him. So I'm really happy to see him really taking advantage of the time he's getting and sort of establishing himself. He's a very easy guy to root for.
00:15:29
Speaker
He really has just incredible soccer brain like it's really obvious watching him playing how well he understands things and sometimes that that almost causes problems because he's he's trying things that his teammates just aren't really expecting.
00:15:45
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, when he's keeping things simple, he's being a possession player. He's picking his spots. He can be a really effective player. And he almost reminds me of a slightly less flashy version of Marco Papa and what he did in 2014 of he was never the most important guy on the team, but he was pretty regularly going to put in solid performances. He was going to set up opportunities. He was never going to be absent. He was always going to put in a good shift. And that's a really valuable player to have.
00:16:15
Speaker
And I think he also his play probably also made Magnus will buy from somewhat expendable now I think both of you, you and I are probably in agreement that we were disappointed in how
00:16:27
Speaker
Wolf was used during the season and that it seemed like he was that the Sounders weren't getting as much as they could have been getting out of him. Partly because it seemed like the coaches just didn't trust him to to kind of do what was I don't know if it was do it was asked or do you felt like his performances were too
00:16:49
Speaker
You know, weren't consistent enough or what it was but there was clearly this disconnect that seemed pretty obvious from the point that he you know he was a halftime sub against that against Montreal, and it seemed like from then that then forward he was kind of working from a stack deck a little bit like he was there he was having to prove himself.
00:17:12
Speaker
and earn the trust of the coaches and never quite did it even after some solid performances. And I guess it shouldn't have maybe come as a huge shock, but I was a little surprised when I first got tipped off that he'd been waved. I definitely would have, you know, all along I had been saying that if they're gonna make room for,
00:17:37
Speaker
you know, removing someone, it was probably Jordy Dellum, just because he was the player that seemed a little more like it would be an easier thing to do. But in hindsight, you know, I didn't necessarily know that they were going to be able to save some money against the cap, which apparently they were able to do. I guess it ends up making a lot of sense. If you can move on from a player like that, you just kind of take your losses and you like, if I understand the sunk cost fallacy,
00:18:07
Speaker
you would think that if they had kept him just kind of pushing ahead, like, oh, we already wasted this money, so we don't want to lose him for nothing. At least they were willing to, they essentially took a bad beat. And sometimes you got to fold your hand in the middle of a, even though you've put a bunch of money into the pot, sometimes you want to fold, even though you just avoid losing more. I think I got that right, roughly. I mean, that is the sunk cost fallacy, more or less.
00:18:38
Speaker
you're correct in that, I think that, you know, he was probably not going to be a regular player here for whatever reason. The fact that it got to that is what frustrates me. I agree. I think I'm with you. And that's, I think, a totally valid thing to be frustrated about. And, you know, and I've kind of come to the conclusion that Brian Schmetzer's comments immediately after it happened were not
00:19:04
Speaker
really the reason. No, I just, I'm like, I realize he needs like on some level he has to be held accountable for what he said. And what he said was essentially once Jordy, once Jordan Morris went down,
00:19:19
Speaker
We just didn't think that his skillset worked with his team anymore. And that's like, there's no way. I hope, I hope they did not sign a player on the assumption that he was good for one other. Like the only way he made sense is if you had Jordan. Especially when they just signed a player that does a lot of the things that Jordan very well. And that's the thing. Like the, if it wasn't sort of a cover story for the actual reasons that they cut them and I don't want to, I don't.
00:19:48
Speaker
I have no idea what they might be. But it's one of the craziest things I've ever heard. And I don't think Brian Schmetzer is a dumb person, especially when it comes to soccer. And that's why I don't think that that was really the reason behind it, because he's great at playing balls into people, making runs in behind, and doing that kind of thing. But that's not the only thing he's good at. And he's had good-to-hint games here.
00:20:15
Speaker
His debut, it was against, what was that, Santa Tecmo? Was that the name of that team? Santa Tecmo, yeah. He was great in that game, obviously not the best competition, but still. And Jordan Morris was not in that game. He's looked good without Jordan Morris in the game.
00:20:35
Speaker
You know, he had some games, I think early on when maybe his, his defensive effort was questionable, but I think that that got cleared up pretty quickly and I've never seen him put in anything but maximum effort defensively. So I don't, I don't know what it was. Maybe it was as simple as, and we like this guy, but we think we can do better and we need to move on from him to open up a spot and give ourselves the ability to do better.
00:21:01
Speaker
which, okay, that's understandable, I guess, but he's a very talented player and the fact that they could not find a way to get what they wanted or anything close to what they wanted out of him is disappointing and it's really disappointing. I think it's a missed opportunity. Yeah, and I would agree with all that. I think the only thing I would add is,
00:21:25
Speaker
It's just that he did have more opportunities to do well than I sometimes think, generally, is given credit for. Now, it is true that Alex Roldan played more minutes than him. And it's true that Alex Roldan got at least four starts over Wolf. So you can...
00:21:47
Speaker
read into that all you want, and certainly I think it's fair. I have certainly questioned whether or not that was a good idea. I think those are fair criticisms. But at the same time, the player needs to take advantage of the opportunities he's given. He had basically two goals and one assist, I believe, in all competitions.
00:22:09
Speaker
And he played, you know, like 800 minutes. And most of his appearances were at least 15 minutes long, which isn't to say that that's a ton of time, but it's enough time to make an impact. And he very rarely did, which is frustrating. You know, I think some of his best performances were early on, like before he had really become fully incorporated into the, like his appearance off the bench against LAFC in the season opener, I thought was one of his better performances, even though he didn't have anything to show for it.
00:22:39
Speaker
uh but you know he just seemed to regress i think in some ways and i think if it got to a point where the coaches like you said like if the coaches just felt like he's not going to like he's just not the player we need him to be
00:22:56
Speaker
I do think that the coaches carry the blame for not getting more out of them up to that point, but I actually do applaud the front office for biting the bullet and just saying, okay. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm with you there, but I do think that it has to be something that's considered when you're considering the performance of the coaching staff. I guess that's my thing is that it can be the right decision from a front office perspective and still a failure organizationally. I think that's kind of where I'm at on it.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's totally fair.
Transfer News: Paolo Hurtado
00:23:30
Speaker
One of the guys that might be coming in is this Paolo Hurtado, who is a player that we actually were told about during the off-season as a player the Sounders might be targeting. And he'd kind of fallen off the radar to the point that I kind of stopped.
00:23:48
Speaker
I didn't even really remember who he was until I started researching this rumor. And then I was reminded like, oh yeah, this is the guy the Sounders were linked to. Sucker by Ivus had actually mentioned him during the World Cup as a player the Sounders had pursued.
00:24:07
Speaker
Everything I've talked, like I feel pretty confident when the source is on my sourcing on this. These reports out of Europe are accurate. The Sounders are trying to figure out a way to sign them. How much they're willing to spend is certainly an open question. How much his team in Portugal is willing to accept is obviously an uneven bigger issue. But from the sound of it,
00:24:26
Speaker
He's currently in Peru holding out, even though he's got, I think, three years left on his contract. Apparently, there's a possibility he's owed some money that he hasn't been paid. There's a lot of things in Portuguese soccer. There is some questions about finances. And in any case, he's coming off a 15 goal seven assist season in just 2,200 minutes. Those are very, very good numbers, no matter what league they're coming in.
00:24:55
Speaker
And playing in Portugal for a mid-table team is not easy sledding. So this speaks well to his ability. He was on the Peru World Cup team, only made one appearance, but it was in their win. And he's a player that's very exciting. And if the Sounders
00:25:15
Speaker
My understanding of what the Sounders are probably trying to do is sign him on a loan or some kind of deferred transfer that would allow them to make him a TAM for this season and then potentially make him a DP next year. I don't know what would happen to him beyond next year.
00:25:35
Speaker
But he'd probably be a DP next year, effectively replacing Clint Dempsey's DP spot. But he's that kind of player, though. He's essentially a number 10. He can play outside. He is not the pacey winger that, or the, I don't know what people have been, pacey winger, I think we'll call it, that I know a lot of fans are hoping to see. But I think he could definitely help this team.
00:26:01
Speaker
And he's certainly not slow. I mean, he's not slow. He's just not an out and out winger. Right. He would be one of the faster players on the team. I think he does play more as, you know, as a number 10, I think in Portugal, but he has played plenty of games as a winger in his career. And I think honestly, I mean, I think that the the Sounders are a team that plays with attacking midfielders and they're more concerned about having attacking midfielders and wingers. And it's not like that's a
00:26:31
Speaker
a strategy that you don't see quite often, you know, internationally. It's not a crazy thing to see. He is, you know, he's going to give the team a more direct threat. He is going to be able to stretch defenses a little bit. I think, you know, I think he'd be an exciting signing and I think,
00:26:50
Speaker
I think that if you're looking for a DP at that level and the rumors are, I think I can say this, that the rumors are that you're going to have to find one of your DPs at that level going forward. I think he's a really good signing.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's not everything I want. I mean, I honestly would love to have a more true out and out winger type player. But that doesn't mean that he's not a good signing. I think he would be a good signing, especially if they can get him on a reasonable contract. He's the right age for kind of what the team is shooting for. And I think he gives the team a lot of options. He's played as a striker before.
00:27:35
Speaker
Um, you know, they've, they've got a lot of interchangeable pieces, which I think is really what Garth likes to do. And I think we've, you know, when, when he has this full complement of players, it works out really well. Yeah. I mean, I will say this, that he is easily the most in.
00:27:52
Speaker
intriguing prospect that the sounders have been linked to since Ruy Diaz. Like of all the guys that the sounders have supposedly been kicking the tires on, this is the one that I got the most intrigued by, the most excited by, who I think can
00:28:12
Speaker
be part of this team both now and in the future and potentially be a really good player and that he has a Peruvian teammate probably helps. And I suppose this is a player that really wants to get to the United States.
00:28:28
Speaker
That can't hurt. And you know, I think we also have seen some today we saw some of the problems when you sign, when you give a lot of money to very young players, that doesn't always work out well.
00:28:43
Speaker
And I don't think it's a bad idea for the Sounders to continually target, you know, guys in their mid to late twenties who maybe don't have a ton of upside beyond what we've already seen, but who are ready to, that you know what you're getting and are ready to hit the ground running and help the team now as well for a few more years. And yeah, I guess I suppose that necessitates some sort of constant rebuilding every few years.
00:29:10
Speaker
But let's be honest, if you sign a 19 year old for $15 million, you're not planning on him being around for 12 years. You're probably planning on being around for a few years and then selling them to someone else who's going to get his best years. And I'm okay with the sounders not being that sort of team. And I also think too that.
00:29:31
Speaker
we've seen over and over again that rebuilding an MLS is not that difficult. You can do it really quickly. Yeah, one off season, basically. You don't have the kind of restrictions that there are in other American sports where you've got to draft well to have a chance. I mean, there's literally an entire world of players out there that you can sign that are elite players. That's not true in the NBA. That's not true in the NFL. It's not true in Major League Baseball, to the extent at least that it is in an MLS. Right.
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say that one way is better than the other, but you can certainly have just as much success one way than you do the other. And there's certainly a lot less risk doing it the way the sounders have been doing it. All right. Well, we're going to call that a segment. We're going to come back, take your questions. You're listening to Nos Adietes.
00:30:27
Speaker
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Speaker
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Listener Questions
00:31:10
Speaker
Welcome back to NOS Adietes. So we lied. Likit is not here today. And that means that Aaron and I get to do questions all by ourselves. So Aaron, I'll let you start and we'll go from there. Okay. The first question is from Stephan Hagans at Stephan Hagans. Is our squad too old? Somehow a 27 almost 28 year old. Tam almost feels too old. Opinions on this?
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we kind of talked about this a little bit in the opening segment, but I tend to think that while 27 slash 28 is like, if your team is average age of 27, 28 years old, which is, I believe where the sounders are now, that you're among the oldest teams in MLS. There's no, like that's just the way it is. And if.
00:31:59
Speaker
All your play, if that's your youngest, if those are your youngest players. Yeah, that's, that's certainly a problem. But I will, but I'll say this is that I think in any other sport in any other league, maybe.
00:32:14
Speaker
you probably would love to have a lineup full of 27, 28 year olds. And like, that's their prime. I mean, yes, it means that you might only have three or four years and they might not have a ton of upside age, like growth growing to do. But give me a bunch of 27, 28 year olds who are elite soccer players. I think you're going to do pretty good. The problem is when you have like 34, 35 year olds supplementing them.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the bigger thing is I think that, yes, our squad is too old in a lot of places. Clendimacy's too old. Ozzie Alonzo's too old. Arguably, Chad Marshall is getting to be too old. There are certainly problems there. I know, I know. And I think the bigger risk that you run is, you know, yeah, a lot of players are playing at an elite level until 31, 32 years old. But some of them just kind of drop off a cliff at 29 or 30.
00:33:12
Speaker
And so you do kind of run the risk of that. But, um, you know, if, if you, if you spend a ton of money on big transfer fees for young players, let's not pretend like there's not a ton of risk there. And I think that the risks really, it's understated a lot of the time. Um, and we kind of talked about that with as you go, uh, Barco and the, I think we didn't, I don't know, maybe not. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, he might, he might be a player that Atlanta never makes a profit on and that's.
00:33:41
Speaker
when you're paying that kind of money for someone that age, you're planning on making a big profit on them. And so I don't think the 27, 28 year olds are a problem necessarily. I think it's, you know, guys that are 35 at key positions, that's a bigger problem. 27, 28, you can reasonably expect to get three or four years out of the player.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah. And, and the other nice thing about a 27, 28 year old is like in the case of, of Magnus will buy a chrome is if they don't work out, you can reasonably cut, cut them and it doesn't cost you a ton of money and they can go out and find another gig and very quickly. Right. And, uh, and you kind of call it a day. Um, all right. Well, so this one is from at Larian. Uh, are there must wouldn't matches yet? Uh, no.
00:34:33
Speaker
No, I don't think there's a such thing as a must-win game. Until literally, until literally, you have to win mathematically, right? Even then, even then, because if you don't win, what's going to happen? Is the world going to end? You know? Is the heat death of the universe if you're not in the game? You're going to shoot a puppy? I mean, you know. Uh, yeah, I think practically, yes, there are, and there have been for a while. That, that quote.
00:35:01
Speaker
I, it's easy to make fun of and I do it too, but it wasn't as bad as it's made out to be. No. And I think what's, what's telling about it is that he, like when it was, I don't remember how many times he used it, but at least when he used it on our show, he said, like Brian Smetcher just said this weekend, remember they were coming off a win over Minnesota United when the heat said this.
00:35:24
Speaker
And he said, like Brian Smetcher just said this weekend, this is a, there are no must wins this early in the season or whatever it was. And no one cared when Brian Smetcher said it right after a win, but all of a sudden when the guard says it, not necessarily, also after that win, but people rediscover it kind of after they lose LAFC that following weekend, all of a sudden it's the worst thing you can say in the world.
00:35:51
Speaker
But yeah, it's kind of funny. Like, it almost seems like people react differently to things that Garth does and things that Brian does. I don't know. I'm probably just imagining things. So next one is courtesy of our good friend, Tempos. If the sounders played a diamond formation, what's in the field you would most want to see what's being considered? Well, I guess.
00:36:18
Speaker
This actually feels a little obvious to me, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you have a different take. I suppose if you have a diamond formation, you're going to want to have Svensson as the defensive midfielder, and then you're going to want to have Ledero, or you'll want to have probably Ledero as the 10 maybe, and then Roll Dawn and maybe Ship as the Shuddlers? Yeah. I mean, I think that's the way to do it if you want to play.
00:36:45
Speaker
I don't think that's their best formation though. No, I don't, I don't, I've never really liked the diamond, even when it was teams are having a lot of success with it. Um, and now that it's kind of been figured out, um, you know, how to, how to sort of counter it tactically, there are teams that still use it and are effective, but I don't think it's like, they're not.
00:37:06
Speaker
killing people tactically, they just have the talent. Well, and I'll also say that I think to me, and maybe I'm wrong, but I've always understood the diamond, kind of the point of the diamond is to really make, to kind of create a focal point for your offense. And that's a number 10. And Nico Ligero is a very good player and I think he's
00:37:29
Speaker
the he's like effectively a 10 for the sounders but he is not a classic 10 who
00:37:38
Speaker
You know, it's just like, that's just not his game. He's much more dynamic in his movements. He's floating all over the field. He's, you know, doing different kinds of things. And I just don't necessarily see him excelling when he's kind of put on an Island and asked to. To just be an offensive, just that just be a playmaker. Like, I just don't think that you're getting the most out of his ability that way. Yeah, I'm definitely with you there. I mean, I think that a big point of the diamond is to say, we're going to have three players.
00:38:08
Speaker
completely dedicated to attacking, and the 10 is one of those players, so we've got to build a midfield that can stand up to that, right? Right. And it's just, Ledero does so many things. He puts in such a, he has such a high work rate defensively. He runs all over the place. He's not that kind of playmaker. If you're gonna put him in a pure playmaking role, I think he's better deep.
00:38:38
Speaker
So maybe, I mean, maybe you do something like you put him at what traditionally would be the defensive midfield spot and let him sort of dictate and then put Svensson and Roldan ahead of him. I don't know, but- I mean, I think- Ultimately, I just don't want them to play a diamond, I guess. No, and I think if you're gonna play with two, with Rui Diaz and Bruin, I suspect you're probably gonna get more mileage if you play
00:39:04
Speaker
more like what we used to call Siggy's arrow, where you have like a withdrawn forward who is kind of doing a lot of stuff a 10 would do. And I got Trakerista, like, I guess that position has been called, right? Is that right? Am I using that right? Trakerista, yeah. Trakerista, there you go. But I don't know if Ruby Diaz is really that kind of player. I don't know that he is either. I don't know. I don't think the sounder's best formation right now is a two forward set, I guess is what I'm saying.
00:39:31
Speaker
And I also think too, just from like a roster construction standpoint right now, if you're starting a little Bruin and Raul Rídíaz, you're back into a situation where you're short on depth as Lamar Nagle. So I guess clean energy, but still, I mean, it's not great. I'm not, I think Will Bruin's fine if you're bringing him off the bench for 15 minutes. Like that's a great, that's a great safety valve.
00:40:01
Speaker
Uh, is my career. All right. So this is from I am three, three, three. I don't have the names in front of me. I'm sorry. I'm just going to go with your Twitter
Management and Injuries
00:40:11
Speaker
name. I hope you don't aren't offended. Uh, Oh geez. Of course. Uh, where do you sit on the GM vote at this point? What would push you one way or the other before to the vote? Uh, I mean, I'm, I'm still fairly, so.
00:40:26
Speaker
Where I sit on the GM vote is that it's a terrible idea. Um, but if we're, if we're going to do it, um, I would definitely vote to retain Margaret way. I mean, I think that for all the reasons we've discussed, um, he's made mistakes. He's done some things that I've been pretty unhappy with, but the body of work I've been quite happy with. And I think that, uh, every year that there's been a failing, um, there have been.
00:40:54
Speaker
plausible reasons that you would expect them to have failed. So two MLS Cup Finals is, you know, for me, I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to argue with that. And the signings he's made, he signed, I mean, I think Nico Lodero is probably the best player in team history from a talent perspective. Reed Diaz is, I think, arguably the
00:41:22
Speaker
biggest signing we've ever made, um, aside from maybe Dempsey, but that was different because we didn't really do it. Uh, so yeah, I mean, I think that it's hard for me to argue with his plan for the most part, holistically, it's, it's, I will, you know, go to my deaf saying that not signing a forward in the first window was, uh, malpractice, but you know, even the best GMs make mistakes and you can't have a perfect one. And.
00:41:51
Speaker
I think that it would be a crazy thing to fire him right now. So I also am retained. But to push me over the edge, I think if the sounders don't play well down the stretch, if this looks like it's, like I said earlier in the show, I think this team looks pretty good on paper.
00:42:19
Speaker
But if they collapse, if they end up finishing poorly, I might be inclined to be convinced otherwise. I think Rui Diaz's signing has bought a lot more. That was my biggest concern. If they had failed to sign a player of his caliber for all the promises, if that did not come to fruition, I think I would have been
00:42:48
Speaker
pretty solidly, like, as like no confidence, I guess is what you, you call it in this case. But, um, yeah, I mean, I don't think that it's impossible for me to be convinced that he shouldn't be retained, but I'm pretty, I like, I just don't know what, what purpose it serves at this point. And, um, yeah, like, yeah, yeah, that's right. Well,
00:43:16
Speaker
All right, the next one is from RBPitch. If the sounders were to cosplay the scene in the Titanic after the boat, I thought I deleted this question. If the sounders were to cosplay the scene in Titanic after the boat sinks, would they be frozen Jack sinking to the ocean depths or nearly frozen Rose desperately trying to blow her whistle? In hopes of living another day, I don't know what that means. I've never seen Titanic. But hopefully you can give a good answer.
00:43:45
Speaker
So the Sounders represent collectively both nearly frozen Rose and frozen Jack. I guess. It's a stretch of analogy. You have to be one of the two. I think this is what they're saying. Are the Sounders actually dead or are they not dead yet and they have a hope? I think they are nearly frozen Rose. That's how I'm interpreting that question.
00:44:16
Speaker
Yeah, maybe, I guess. Am I giving this question too much credit? No, I mean, I don't, I'm not saying that it's a bad analogy. I'm just saying I don't understand. It's a bad analogy. I mean, it's a bad analogy. If you've seen it, then you would know better. I'm familiar with this film. I am. I actually saw it in the theater with my wife. That's how long we've been together, believe it or not. I think I was eight when that movie came out. That's not true. That was like 13. Might not be too far. I was probably like 20.
00:44:45
Speaker
Well, you're not 12 years old. Anyway, yeah, I mean, I think they would be the banned plane deck. That happens, right? Sure. I mean, I know that's the like, the joke about, you know, like, oh, they're fiddling while the Titanic goes down or whatever. Or they'd be rearranging deck chairs, maybe.
00:45:12
Speaker
I don't know. This is when the show went off the rails. All right. It was going so well until now. Yeah, no, it's funny. It's funny. Speaking of going off the rails, Jeremy, I think it's your turn. Oh, that's great. This is from
00:45:34
Speaker
Alan's, how do you, how do you think you pronounce this Alan's Rachel? Okay. How many Peruvians would it's, would you sign if you had unlimited funds? I'm trying to think of, I saw this question earlier and I was trying to think of other Peruvians that I guess there's like seven or eight Peruvians in, in the league now, or not yet, but her daughter would make that whole, there's a handful of at least, apparently. Yeah. I mean, there's some good players.
00:46:03
Speaker
on their team, uh, I would send like four or five more probably. Uh, but I don't, I don't know who they are. Yes. Yeah. I don't probably recognize their names, but I don't have the Wikipedia article for the pro national team open in front of me. Uh, but I liked the, the one and a half we'll call, we'll call her a half for now that we have. So, uh, currently there are.
00:46:30
Speaker
Alexander Callens of New York City FC, Alexey Gomez of Minnesota, Andy Polo of Portland Timbers, Jordi Reyna of the Vancouver Whitecaps, and then of course, Raul Rui Diaz, Yoshimar Yotun of Orlando. So yeah, I was basically right, there's currently six. Yep, Andy Polo's been pretty good. Yeah, Jordi Reyna's been pretty good.
00:47:00
Speaker
Um, Andre Carrillo would be nice. I think he's, he's in Saudi Arabia right now. I believe, uh, you know, who's really who I like a lot is Pedro Guese, the goalkeeper. Yeah. Um, that would be, I mean, we don't need a goalkeeper, but if, if Steph decides to like quit and become a, an artist full-time or something, that wouldn't be too bad. Uh, okay. Well now I'm the one doing the pregnant pause. Yeah.
00:47:30
Speaker
So this one's from Matt's soccer. Yeah, this is a great advertisement for what like it brings to the show, I think. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. So at Matt's soccer talk, what would have to happen for Schmutz to go full Petkey? And if he does, how long will it take ECS to make a chance out of it? So I believe that that would be referring to Mike Petkey. I'm calling the, the referees a bunch of fucking idiots or whatever it was he said.
00:47:54
Speaker
I don't know if he said that, but he was very disparaging to the system, to the system as a whole. I don't think, frankly, Brian has that in him.
00:48:10
Speaker
And what's funny is that what set Pecky off was not even like the egregiousness of these particular calls. Like were they wrong? I don't know maybe, but they weren't like obviously wrong. It's like he clearly feels like this has been building up for a long time and he finally blew up and it was very entertaining. But I don't, like he was clearly, he's been kind of,
00:48:34
Speaker
doing things like this for a while. So I don't, I don't know that Brian has that in him. And I don't know. So he's think that's a bad thing. But it would, if he were to do this, I think the next game there would be a chance celebrating it from ECS. I hope there would be anyway. Yeah. I don't think it would take too, they might like figure like huddle up during the press conference and be outside the gates of the press. Yeah.
00:49:00
Speaker
So this one is from at coffee bikes. What lineup do you most want to see from the available players? Not necessarily what the Sanders will put on the field. Uh, I'm assuming that we're, you know, we're saying that Victor is healthy. Um, sure. Pretty much anyone is healthy except for Morris who, you know, like I think he's saying in an ideal world in a few weeks when this team is fully healthy, what do you want to see? So.
00:49:27
Speaker
I'll say Fry, obviously, Leardham, Marshall. And the one that's sort of tricky is Kim and Torres, because I think that if you're playing against a team that's big and physical and likes to put balls into the box and play that way, I think Torres is a right call against teams that like to play on the ground and play that kind of style. I think Kim is a right call. And I think Kim is probably going to be the right call in more games than not.
00:49:57
Speaker
I don't think we should underestimate what tortoise can bring to more physical games. Nuhu at left back. I don't understand why that's not one of the first things that goes down on the team sheet. Svensson enrolled on in central midfield. Rodriguez, Lidero, and Ship in the band of three. And Rudea's a striker. I hope I didn't
00:50:24
Speaker
Oh, I think that's yeah, I think that's the same lineup I'd go with to given what we have right now. We'll know. Well, yeah, I'm still I'm still holding out hope that
00:50:38
Speaker
Clint Dempsey has a revival in him. And so I might like to see, like I at least want to see one game with Rui Diaz, like I want to see 90 minutes of Rui Diaz with Dempsey in behind, Ledero and Rodriguez as the outside mids. Like I just, I at least, I want to at least have my curiosity satiated. I want to see that lineup. Maybe we'll see it.
00:51:04
Speaker
you know, on the weekend, I don't know, at home. That would be kind of fun. I think that's potentially the most fun lineup. Now- Yeah, that's fair. It also, like, Clint, and I think it would also tell us just how washed up Clint is or is not. Like, if he can't succeed in that lineup, I think we know that his day that he's done. I think kind of what we've learned is that Clint is not a player that can dominate the game anymore. Right. But I think, I just think he and Bruin are just,
00:51:35
Speaker
match. They are awful match. They really don't match. And I think that's probably a bigger reason that we haven't been seeing them see more. And so, yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I still think that I would prefer mine, but I can definitely see the argument for yours at least coming in to try. Sure. So, at Ryan Enbom, I don't know if I was supposed to answer, ask this one or not, but what point has Schmetzer overstayed his welcome as head coach the way Sigi did?
00:52:05
Speaker
So I think, I mean, I think that there are a lot of people that think that everything that's wrong with this team is Garth Lagerweil's fault and that Brian Schmetzer is blameless. And there are a lot of people that think that Brian Schmetzer, you know, is not a capable head coach and that he's been fortunate and that, you know, he's been found out and that Garth Lagerweil has done nothing wrong and blah, blah, blah. So, but I think, I mean, I kind of feel like,
00:52:35
Speaker
They're in terms of blame, they're a package deal. Like they've both done things that I think are really bad. They've both done things that, you know, I kind of feel like have not been bad and have gotten blown out of proportion. I think they've done good things that they don't get credit for. I think realistically, the coach is always more likely to go than the GM because if a GM goes, the coach almost shouldn't go. So it's not always that way. It's usually that way.
00:53:05
Speaker
But I don't, I just, I don't think that it's head scratching to some of the things Schmetzer has done this season have been. I don't think that you can fire a coach that's been back to back in last cup finals, um, who, who has his team play exceptionally well when it's, you know, when it's close to full strength after one bad season. I just, I don't, I don't think you can do it. And I know a lot of people will say, well, you know, coaches get fired for less all over the world, all the time. And that's true.
00:53:34
Speaker
And it's often a really, really bad decision. And I feel like that never gets acknowledged. Um, you know, that, yeah, coaches get fired other places for a lot less and it usually does not work out the way people are hoping that it will. So, I don't know. I think you credit for very rarely does anyone get credit for, uh, or no one very rarely does someone get blamed for firing a coach too early. Like that's.
00:54:04
Speaker
Like that's never like, Oh, in hindsight, we should have never fired this guy. It doesn't seem to ever enter the, even in a situation like when Montreal fired Jesse March and Jesse March, I think has shown himself to be a very capable head coach. Uh, I don't remember a lot of people like.
00:54:22
Speaker
freaking out over Montreal pulling a trigger too quickly on him. I'm with you. I think they're kind of a package deal. I would be really kind of bummed to see Lagerweg, loggerweg back and then to fire Schmetzer. Like I feel like that wouldn't really be doing, like that wouldn't seem right to me. At least not this off season. And conversely, I can't imagine a scenario where
00:54:51
Speaker
Lagerweg gets fired and Schmetzer's back. Yeah. I think especially too, that no matter what you think of the decisions Metra makes and his tactical approach, uh, his substitutions, et cetera, the single biggest problem with this team this season has been that they have not been able to score goals and the single biggest reason they haven't been able to score goals is it will ruin has had to play hurt because they don't have striker depth. And I think so. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I agree with that.
00:55:21
Speaker
Um, all right. So this one's from a guy with a bunch of, uh, his name is Steve-o 103, but there's a bunch of S's on there. I'm not going to count them. Uh, but, uh, I think it's like five, four. All right. Well, uh, what is Rudy has his biggest strength and biggest weakness?
00:55:39
Speaker
I mean, his biggest strength is that he's, he's a goal scorer and he kind of, he doesn't even have like a type of goal. He just scores every way possible. He is clearly an exceptionally talented goal scorer and he scores from range. He scores on his like kind of poachers goals. You know, he can get behind defenses. He's got every, you know, all the tricks. He's got them in his, in his bag of tools.
00:56:04
Speaker
And his biggest weakness is probably that he's, best I can tell, he's just a goal scorer. Like, he doesn't do a lot of other things. Like, I think he'll be honest defensively. I think he'll be acceptable in possession. I think, you know, he might do some hold-up type of things, but I don't think he's going to impress anybody with his non-scoring stuff.
00:56:36
Speaker
That seems fair. I would say also a big weakness is that he's four foot seven. There's that. There's that. Uh, this one's from at drone six, 37 heard the name Wanda World Cup with ski today. What is the worst name you can think of for an MLS player? Uh, I think that that's really bad. Uh, I don't feel bad for making fun of Chris Wanda Lowski for that.
00:57:04
Speaker
Um, because I don't like the earthquakes, but I feel bad that he gets to made fun of him for that. If that makes sense. Yeah. Uh, it's, it's totally unfair that he gets made fun of for that, but it's still, I mean, I'm not going to stop making fun of him, but I won't call him Wanda World Cup Whiskey. That's really bad. That's really bad. Uh, I can't, I seriously can't think of a worse name. They're probably from like 96. Like there was probably worse ones, but.
00:57:36
Speaker
Uh, next one is from Nicholas Jones 87 status on Morris. I mean, I, I, we getting this question somewhat periodically and best case scenario to my understanding is that he might be able to make, you know, a late sub appearance. If the sounders get into the playoffs, like it's possible, but I don't think that's particularly likely. And my suspicion is that they aren't going to use him.
00:58:06
Speaker
unless, uh, like, like maybe if the sounders are totally out of it and they just wanted to get them some minutes, but I don't think the chances of him playing in a game are very high. Yeah. But I mean, it's, it's good that he doesn't appear that he's having any setbacks. Not the second though.
00:58:26
Speaker
uh all right i am this oh it's yeah of course i get this gun uh at trs phd odds at spenson might stay another year or two or and would that even be a good thing we should have thought this through because i don't know uh and you might so i don't know but i mean it would be a good thing um he he has a skill set that i think will age pretty well he's been
00:58:50
Speaker
one of our best, most consistent players this year. He's super flexible. I would imagine though, that if he's going to be here longer than this year, he's going to be due a pretty big pay bump, which maybe that makes it a little less attractive. But, but I mean, I know that he said that he was planning on playing here for two years and heading back to Sweden, but maybe that's changed. I don't know.
00:59:11
Speaker
I mean it's easy to I think last I heard I think that's what he said when he kind of was first getting here I would imagine that if he got made a decent offer to stick around for another year or two he'd probably take it I don't think he's necessarily itching to get out of town I'm sure that he is fine here and he's still I think he's only 31 so it's not like he's
00:59:33
Speaker
He's literally ready to retire. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think it would be a good thing. I think he's the best option that they have for next year, but I will say that Jordy Dellum has, you know, I don't think he's, he's not as good as Gustav, Gustav Svensson. I don't know that he's ever going to be on that level, but he's much more capable of a defensive midfielder than I think I originally gave him credit for.
01:00:01
Speaker
I don't think it's a disaster if he's a starting player, at least early on make sure, but I don't think it'd be. No, I wouldn't be enthusiastic about him going into a 34 game season with him as the de facto starter. But I mean, it does. I think the best thing about Svensson is knowing that you've got cover at three positions that you feel that about not only what he brings as a starter, but you know, if you get two center backs hurt, you've got Svensson. If you've, you know, if you're down to.
01:00:31
Speaker
You're searching right back. Svensson's probably going to do OK, although I guess we'll probably get that call. But anyway, from Bill Jones TRPT, was it just me or did Ozzy seem like you missed the memoir on our game plan last Saturday? He seemed really out of sync to me with our game flow. Yeah, I don't think Ozzy looked particularly good in that game. I don't think Ozzy's looked particularly good for a while.
01:00:57
Speaker
I don't know that I expect him to look much better. Like I think he's a fine player to help see out games, but I don't, I don't see how he could be like, I can't imagine a scenario where I feel good about him starting right now. Yeah. I think, I think that he looked better in that game than he has in a while, but he still didn't look great.
01:01:19
Speaker
Um, I will say that I think replacing an attacking player with a defensive midfielder kind of makes whatever the game plan was supposed to be mood. And I don't know how much of that you can lay on him, but he had some moments in that game that I thought were pretty encouraging, but on the whole, I would say I'm with you there.
01:01:38
Speaker
I will say that I was a little frustrated. I have to admit, I was frustrated when he came in, partly because at that point, the Sounders essentially had five guys who could be defensive midfielders on the field. And that felt a little unnecessarily conservative. But this one's from T. Stieg.
01:02:00
Speaker
Do other MLS teams suffer hamstring injuries at the same rate as the Sounders do? Would artificial surface for training in games make any difference? I mean, what the heck? So I don't know about the first part. The second part, they don't train on our official surface. And a lot of these injuries are not made during training. So I mean, the Sounders have consistently said that their injuries
01:02:26
Speaker
are do not occur at a higher rate than other teams. I don't know that I believe that I'll be totally Frank, but I don't think it's that much more. Um, I just, you know, I think they have bad luck. I think maybe that having to play in the kind of weather they do could be a factor. I don't know. But it does seem like players get hurt at a higher rate for sure. I would say that I think that it's been multiple, um,
01:02:57
Speaker
whatever, what do they call it? Director of high performance. Yeah. Multiple people holding that position, multiple coaches, multiple coaching staffs, people, you know, that are running training on a day-to-day basis. It's been consistent across all of that. It's hard for me to think that it's anything the sounders are doing and not bad luck. And I think that they're probably, whether it's bad luck, that's environmental in some way or what, I don't know, but.
01:03:26
Speaker
You know, I just, I don't think that they're doing anything wrong. I just think that they've, they've been unlucky. I mean, my suspicion is that it probably has more to do with older players being more prone to getting those types of injuries. And for the most part, you look at the guys who are picking up those injuries and it is the more veteran players, but yeah. Uh, this one's from CB Shama. Which Essie hidden novel do you prefer the outsiders or rumble fish?
01:03:56
Speaker
I definitely the outsiders. Oh, good. I'm glad you had an answer. Yeah, definitely the outsiders. CB and I, we go way back. He actually, my band had a song in a movie that he directed, which is pretty funny. What? Yeah, but it was a good movie too. It was pretty funny. I don't know. What's the movie? It was called, let me remember what it was called. Spree. He was a director of photography, actually.
01:04:25
Speaker
Anyway, yeah, The Outsiders. I think we, I feel like we used to work together in a video store, and I feel like we talked about that. But definitely, I like Rumblefish. I like all of SCM's books, but The Outsiders, probably because it was the first one I read. I'm very poorly read. I will just, I know The Outsiders only because I saw the movie, The Outsiders. The movie was good. I liked it. It was one of the few of those like 80s, 50s flashback type movies that I thought was actually going to be good. Patrick Swayze was really good, right?
01:04:52
Speaker
Patrick Swayze, Rolfe Montgeau. Yeah. It was like The Lost Boys for... Ray. Andrew Beck, Arbeck. Have you seen Stephen Fry put his socks on and why is it funny? I don't feel like I've ever paid attention to this and now I'm going to have to. Yeah, I was hoping that you knew. I can see if maybe he doesn't take the gloves off.
01:05:22
Speaker
When he does it, that would be pretty funny. Now, where has he seen this? I want to know. I don't know. I don't even know where there must be video of it or something. It must be like the background of some video because I don't even know when I would be because it's not like the reporters are allowed into the lot. Like by the time we get into the locker room, guys are either dressed or naked. Like there is no no one still in their uniform for them. I mean, I shouldn't say that.
01:05:53
Speaker
Most of the time guys are well beyond their uniforms by the time we get there. Maybe it's like one of those promo videos that they show over the game starts where it's like gritty green light and they're getting ready. I don't know. I got to find out though. I got to find out what he's talking about. Yeah, I do too. That's a good one. So Mi Vida Seattle.
01:06:20
Speaker
Wants to know today on Taco Tuesday on national tequila day, what kind of tequila and taco combination best exemplifies your sounders outlook for the rest of the season? Uh, Hmm. I was just thinking about the kind of tequila and tacos that I like. Well, that's a good place to start. I think, well, I like us alone a lot. I'm sure that's probably not like great.
01:06:47
Speaker
Like I'm not like a tequila. I'm not, I don't even know that one. So, um, I like, I mean, I like tequila and I, and I know what's bad, but I don't like, I'm not like a, you know, it's like how, you know, like there's that whiskey guy that everybody knows that like, can like, I'm not one of those guys with tequila or like that's blown. That's good. And I like, uh, carnitas. And so, uh, I'm going to make that about the sounders where, uh, it's, uh,
01:07:16
Speaker
No matter what happens, I like the sounders. And so I'll be happy the rest of the season, just like I would be happy if I was drinking Esplanade and eating a carnitas taco. Well, I think that's it. I'm going to just let you have that. That's good. That was well done.
01:07:33
Speaker
You're a pastor guy, right? I am. I'm definitely an El Pastor guy. That's kind of my, when I find a good El Pastor, that's kind of, it's hard to find here. And I, and I say that not in a snobby way, because I think that there is more decent Mexican food here than Seattle gets credit for, but there aren't a lot of places that do really good El Pastor. I will say that Luna Azul up in Greenwood has a pretty good Taco Tuesday, uh,
01:08:03
Speaker
pretty good Taco Tuesday special. I think it's four tacos for six bucks. They do have El Pastor there. It is pretty decent. I would, and that's, and there's just not a lot of places that really do El Pastor right. It's tough. Even good places. Yeah, even good places.
01:08:21
Speaker
Because to me, like the perfect al pastor is it's cooked on a spit. That's the main part of it. I don't necessarily think it needs pineapple, but I do like it when the pineapple is cooked on top because it adds a nice sweetness. But the key is once they slice it off, I want them to get the burnt, like I want them to put it back on the flat top and get it nice and crispy because that's like the texture of al pastor, I think is kind of the key and what really makes it great.
01:08:51
Speaker
But yeah, there's not a lot of places that really go all out and do it right. I feel the same way about carnitas, where you get carnitas and it's just basically pulled pork. And it's like, no, you're supposed to be some texture. Absolutely. Both those are very texture heavy, I think. Most good taco, to me, most good taco meat is very texture oriented. Yeah, I would tend to agree.
01:09:15
Speaker
All right. Hey, speaking of tacos, tacos and a haircut, tacos and haircut, no A, sorry. Which would go for more on eBay, the actual heritage cup or the hair gauge cap they gave out for free at the White House game? Okay. So I think, I like, I think this is a funny joke and I really appreciate it. Now that he mentions it though,
01:09:39
Speaker
I kind of think that the platonic ideal of how the Heritage Cup would be used is for it to just be like randomly in some dude's trophy case, like someone like me or you. I would love to just have that as a conversation starter in my house. I don't think that it's a worthwhile trophy in and of itself, but as a kitsch factor, I kind of like the idea of having it.
01:10:10
Speaker
Do they I know for a while they couldn't find it like they were just like, yeah, we gave it to whoever want it.
01:10:16
Speaker
that year and they're like, I don't mean, I'll put it this way. I don't know who has it now. I think the sounders were the one who won it last. I certainly can tell you that it's not on display at the 90. Uh, and I would imagine, but I guess that wasn't necessarily where it would be. I say, I don't know. I don't know. I actually don't even know who went last year for sure. Yeah, I don't either. It doesn't matter because nobody gives a shit.
01:10:41
Speaker
All right, so the big question, we're gonna end on this big, big question that I think everyone wants to know the answer to. Tom Bureau wants to know what kind of paper would you use if you sent a letter to all of your listeners? I think we would use toilet paper. Yeah, probably. We're pretty cheap. It's true. Yeah, and if you're listening to us, that's what you deserve.
01:11:13
Speaker
Oh, that was... That was a show. That was a show. That was really fun. Hopefully, Lincoln will be back next time.
01:11:20
Speaker
Yeah. Sounders big game on Wednesday. Let's hope that they win that one and then do it again against New York City FC. They might have played like Wolfsy will play player might be three more games before we record again. Who knows? Hopefully we have a lot of good news to share. But anyway, I'm Jeremiah Shan. I'm signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo. I guess I should do the sponsor thing.
01:11:46
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors, Fullpool Wines, Queen Anakin & Puncture, and of course, our broadcast partner, Bootstrapper Studios. Again, I'm Jeremiah Shan, signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo, not our engineer, Lickett. Actually, he is still going to engineer the show, so I guess we should say that. But anyway, this is Nozodagettis, and remember, you'll never be out alone.
01:12:07
Speaker
Green Douglas purr where the waters cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:12:47
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!