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Fans react to Seattle Sounders season opener vs. Colorado Rapids!
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We react and take calls following Seattle's Matchday 1 clash vs. Colorado.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
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Transcript
Introduction to the Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
Why is this Episode a Scorcher?
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders' Victory Recap
00:00:45
Speaker
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to your first post-match live of the 2026 season, the Seattle Sounders. just beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0, which is a great result for their first game of the 2026 season. But there's a lot more to talk about in this game than just the result. I got the Schmetz presser pulled up right here. So interested to hear what he has to say. That should be starting in just a few minutes. But we've got a lot to get into. We're going to rip that presser when they ah when it gets going here, which should be shortly.
Game Analysis and Listener Calls
00:01:19
Speaker
And then we'll get in to our analysis for the night. give our initial takes, and then we're going take some calls as we do on our post-match lives. So thank you all for tuning in. We're excited to get back to these shows, to have actual games to talk about.
00:01:38
Speaker
And like I said, this game, this game gave us a lot to talk about pretty much, pretty much from the jump. Pretty much from the jump.
Injuries and Controversial Refereeing
00:01:51
Speaker
We got a lot of ref discourse to get to, unfortunately, especially in the first half. Got a couple injuries, unfortunately, to get to as well, which could have pretty wide-ranging implications.
00:02:08
Speaker
So ah let's get into it. Let's get into it. um' listening I'm listening to, hold on, to see if this presser's about to start right now. We're just waiting for word on that. Sounds like it's gonna start in just a minute.
00:02:21
Speaker
So I'm not gonna dive fully into my takes right now because we're just about to get this presser going.
00:02:28
Speaker
So we'll let it we'll let Schmetz give his thoughts, give the update first.
Key Player Performances: Rusnak and Rothrock
00:02:33
Speaker
But a victory it is to start the season. Albert Rusnak with the opener.
00:02:43
Speaker
Dominant aerial threat. We all knew it was going to be an Albert Rusnack header, the second headed goal of his Seattle Sounders career to get it started. And then Paulie primetime.
00:02:54
Speaker
Paulie primetime with a huge game, goal and an assist in a game that he didn't start. I mean, we're going to talk about it, but obviously probably the biggest headline coming out of this game.
00:03:10
Speaker
an injury to Jordan Morris inside the first, what, 10, 15 minutes of the game. And that that just sucks.
00:03:21
Speaker
That sucks.
Technical Difficulties in Coverage
00:03:23
Speaker
Schmetz is entering right now. I'm going to pull him traditionalized breath It would not be Lobbing Scorchers show without some tech difficulties. I just want to say for the record, though, I just want to say for the record, that wasn't me.
00:03:36
Speaker
It wasn't me. I don't know what happened. I'm not here to cast blame on anybody or talk about whose fault it was. All I know is that it wasn't mine.
00:03:47
Speaker
So apologies for that. Again, not exactly sure sure what happened. Cut in the middle of the Schmetz presser. We're going to chalk the rest of the Schmetz presser. I don't feel like getting that back set up again. So hopefully hopefully we're back. Everybody hear me?
00:04:04
Speaker
Audio good? All right. I think we're ready. to start cooking again. Well, we will figure out whose fault it was, what exactly happened in good time. But now we're back. And I mean, look, Lobbing Scorchers made it 10 minutes into its first postgame live of 2026 before technical difficulties crashed at the Seattle Sounders.
00:04:32
Speaker
made it about 10 minutes into their 2026 season with multiple designated players on the field. So we we are back. We are so back. Thank you all for hopping back over and bearing with that. Like I said, I'm not going to, I'm not going to get into the whole thing of pulling the presser back up, ah having that crash the stream again, whatever happened. We are back Now, and we're going to get into this. Let's get into this ah first post-game reaction live of 2026. Sands the second half of the Schmetz presser. But we can start.
Debate Over Controversial Calls
00:05:10
Speaker
We can start with the Schmetz presser because I think he did hit on something there that is a pretty nice segue into a couple of the biggest storylines that we have to talk about coming out of this game.
00:05:26
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Death taxes, lobbing scorchers, tech difficulties. I'm just saying wasn't me. Wasn't me.
00:05:37
Speaker
Let's talk about this game though, guys. want to talk about this game. First game of the season. And there's certainly no shortage of storylines to get into.
Impact of Jordan Morris's Injury
00:05:49
Speaker
ah In one way, it started it It was a pretty good start to the match, but in a bigger way, I think, it was about as unideal start to the match as it can possibly get.
00:06:04
Speaker
So let's get into that. Let's get into that off rip. About eight minutes into the game, Jordan Morris goes down, has to get subbed off with an injury.
00:06:16
Speaker
i would Later... turned out to be a thigh injury. So to me, it looked like a hamstring or something to that effect, but it's a thigh injury.
00:06:27
Speaker
So we'll find out what that means in the coming days. ah But needless to say, that was a bummer of the way of a way to start off the game. I'm sure we're gonna be doing all kinds of discourse in the coming days about the designated player spots on the roster and DP escalators and all that stuff. I'm not gonna do that tonight.
00:06:48
Speaker
I'm not going to do that tonight. There'll be a time and a place for that. I don't think now is the time or the place in this immediate, the aftermath. It just sucks.
00:07:00
Speaker
It just sucks so bad. And mainly i just feel for Jordan Morris, man. It feels like anytime that he's gotten ramped up and been good to go, gets back out there. And it's just, I think it's one of the,
00:07:18
Speaker
most just disgustingly unlucky sequences of injury look I've ever seen for a player. And you know you could say the same thing about Pedro de la Vega as well. So it's just it's just not ideal to now once again be in a situation where you're playing without two of your three designated players for the foreseeable future.
Emotional and Physical Toll of Injuries
00:07:38
Speaker
So we'll see about the severity of that. Hopefully it's not too severe. But, i mean, you could just tell. you could tell from looking at his body language and looking at his facial expressions. He was pissed, as I would expect.
00:07:57
Speaker
And I just feel for him, man. I feel for him. Like I said, we'll do the roster discourse in the coming days, in the coming weeks. We'll talk about these DP spots, how it seems like basically they've never had a sustained run or period of time where all three of them have been playing.
00:08:18
Speaker
And that's just not what you want. There's no way around that. That's not good.
Paul Rothrock's Impactful Performance
00:08:24
Speaker
But I'll tell you what was good. I'll tell you what was good. Was the response.
00:08:31
Speaker
Paul Rothrock subs in after... not starting the match. And when you're not starting a match, you're not really expecting to go into the match that quickly. You're expecting to be lounging on the bench for at least 55, 60 minutes.
00:08:51
Speaker
And if you do get in the game, it's be in the second half. It's going to be in the final stretch towards the end. Paul, probably prime time. He had to get up in the eighth minute and he had to go in there and he had to make an impact.
00:09:04
Speaker
And did he do that ever? Oh my God, thank God they paid Paulie primetime.
00:09:11
Speaker
Thank God they paid the man. If they hadn't paid the man, we would all have to be watching him do do what he did tonight for the San Jose earthquakes or some such nonsense, Nashville SC.
00:09:27
Speaker
Thank God they paid him. And that was the first thought that popped into my mind right off the bat. Because honestly, guys, what a play by Pauly primetime to set up that first goal. That was that was incredible. Hances Ferreira dimes him up out wide, but miss hits the pass, to be honest.
00:09:47
Speaker
And that thing looked like it was about to roll right out of bounds. And Pauly primetime, full on sprint to the sideline, stop that ball in its tracks, keep it in play. That was an insane play.
00:10:03
Speaker
there There was no part of my mind that thought that he was going to run that ball down. when i saw When I saw the pass, I was like, ah, that's going out of bounds. Jesus, ah, you had him.
00:10:18
Speaker
if you had just sprung If you just hit the pass, sprung him out wide, could have got a goal out of that. Then here comes Pauly prime time. Someone's got to set that run up.
00:10:31
Speaker
to slow-mo some chariots of fire playing in the background because he was busting it. And that's the thing about Paul Rothrock. You know, some some people had questions. They they said, well, now with that he got paid, now that he got paid, are you going to get the same effort?
00:10:46
Speaker
he gonna work Is he really going to work as hard when he's making five hundred and fifty k instead of one hundred and forty k that's a lot more K. like half a million dollars almost more in salary that we're talking about. Is he still going to work his heart? Is he still going to run like the poly prime time that we know and love? You got your answer.
00:11:05
Speaker
You got your answer. That is the exact Paul Roth rock that we've come to know and love. The money hasn't changed him, at least not yet. Not based off that performance.
00:11:16
Speaker
what a What a play to run that ball down, rip that cross in, And then Albert Rusnak, famously a dominant aerial presence. you know The haters will say that he can't score a header. Scored a header.
00:11:32
Speaker
I don't know if the haters have actually ever said that. I don't think they have. His aerial prowess has not been much of a topic of discussion, but I mean, that's that's a good header. Give the man his due.
00:11:42
Speaker
Give the man his due. he But you're in a situation where you know you come out you come out flying around, One of your best players goes down with an injury inside the first 10 minutes. That has a way of taking the, it can take the wind out of your sails.
00:11:59
Speaker
And they didn't let that happen. At least not, least not right then. So I think you got to like the response to a kind of deflating occurrence inside the first 10 minutes of the game.
00:12:13
Speaker
You got to like the response to get the opener, but now let's get into the fun stuff. Let's talk about the rest of the first half.
00:12:23
Speaker
Because was it fun to watch? No. Was it good content? I got to say objectively, I think so.
00:12:34
Speaker
Yes. I guess it sort of depends on how you're looking at it, the quality of the content. But as someone who is not necessarily enjoying what was happening on the field,
00:12:46
Speaker
I did have to acknowledge that some of the content, at least some of the content was good. You know, we try not to be the ref guys on this show, we do.
00:12:58
Speaker
Sometimes it's unavoidable, but I think generally speaking, we try not to be the ref guys. And I think despite what some people might tell you in a few instances where we don't adhere to it, we're generally not the ref guys.
00:13:13
Speaker
I try not to get on here. And even if there's calls, I did disagree with, there's a bad result that goes against Seattle. I try not to, to make it about the rest because one call or two calls or even three calls, they can impact games, but generally speaking, you're going to have opportunities to change the result, regardless of if there's some missed calls or calls that I don't agree with.
00:13:37
Speaker
So try not to be that guy. Uh, Unfortunately, going to have to be that guy a little bit here. Here's the first thing I'll say about the ref.
00:13:49
Speaker
Here's the first thing I'll say about the ref. If you're in the first half of a soccer game and you see the number 60 on the clock, 60, 6-0, then something has gone wrong fundamentally with what happened in the game.
00:14:12
Speaker
not always gonna be the same thing every time, but you never want to see the number 60 on the clock in the first half. And think we might've even seen the number 61 or in
00:14:31
Speaker
in that first half, which, yeah.
00:14:39
Speaker
All right, I have written down. i have it written down. Because this sequence of events was kind of legendary. Let's go through it. You know, you have the Jordan Morris injury in the first 10 minutes. Rothrock subs in.
00:14:51
Speaker
Immediate assist. And then, all right, this was mark this was this this was the first good one. This was the first good one. This was a doozy. This was a doozy. Hassani Dotson.
00:15:03
Speaker
Honestly, shout out, first of all. I mean, i thought he was having a great debut until...
00:15:10
Speaker
He had to unfortunately sub off in the 27th minute of extra time or whatever that was. But Hassani Dotson should have had a goal today. He should have been able to mark his Seattle Sounders club debut with a goal that would have put Seattle up in the first two zero in the first half.
00:15:29
Speaker
And to me, it didn't even look like there was anything to VAR on that. didn't even occur to me that that was going to happen.
00:15:43
Speaker
But then you got, you got a replay where they, they tell the ref to go check it for a foul and they call the foul on Jesus Ferreira. I think it was announced on Jesus Ferreira, but that had to be Osase, right?
00:16:03
Speaker
I think they got Osase for a, for a header, for that kind of maybe maybe made mighta made contact with one of the guys in the box.
00:16:17
Speaker
think they got Osase for a foul on that, which...
00:16:23
Speaker
The meaning of clear and obvious, I think, it it doesn't have any meaning. It's lost all meaning. Whatever meaning it did have,
00:16:31
Speaker
i don't think it has that anymore because there's just no way you can tell me that whatever foul they were calling there, Osase, Ferreira, whatever it was, rose to the threshold of something so egregious and so clear and obvious that you can disallow that goal. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
00:16:54
Speaker
sure the state of Colorado is gonna disagree with that.
00:16:59
Speaker
But there's just literally no way. If you're arguing, you're in the state of Colorado and you're arguing that that was a correctly disallowed goal, I regret to inform you
00:17:10
Speaker
that you're incorrect.
00:17:15
Speaker
So that was that was ref show number one of the evening. Because the other thing about all these calls is they all took 15 minute delays to review and then called.
00:17:28
Speaker
Which, once again, if we're talking about the clear and obvious threshold,
00:17:44
Speaker
That was just unfortunate. Sonny Dotson got robbed of a goal on that. So that was upsetting. But again, if you have to look at it for an hour and a half, then there's literally no way by definition that it can meet the clear and obvious threshold.
Issues with VAR and Game Flow
00:18:08
Speaker
Am I out of my mind on that? I'm i'm very pro-VAR. I think you all know that. Whenever people argue against VAR, I disagree with them. think you have to have it.
00:18:19
Speaker
There's got to be a mechanism in place to change egregiously missed calls. But there's just, there if you want to get if you want to slow it down to 0.5, whatever, you can tell me that there's maybe potentially a foul there, but there is not clear and obvious a foul to disallow that goal. So that you know that's one thing.
00:18:44
Speaker
That's one thing. Hassani Dotson should have had a goal. It gets disallowed. But then, all right, this one this next one was actually my favorite one. This next one was actually my favorite one. This one was sick.
00:18:59
Speaker
Later on in the first half, Noah Cobb, Colorado Rapids defender, goes up for a header, goes up for a challenge, and... gets called for a straight red card for what looked to me like a little elbow to the head or neck of Osase.
00:19:18
Speaker
And the ref charges in there, busting it. He's got a straight red card out.
00:19:28
Speaker
He's flexing it. Gets Noah Cobb out of there. Violent conduct. ah Now, that call... When I looked at that replay, think it would have been a harsh red.
00:19:43
Speaker
But if it's called red on the field, then it's gotta to be, again, an egregiously missed call, clear and obvious, right?
00:19:56
Speaker
In order to overturn it. So that's where I'm like,
00:20:02
Speaker
i don't know. I don't know. think you could argue pretty strongly that if you called that a red on the field, was there enough to overturn it?
00:20:16
Speaker
I didn't really think so. But my favorite part of that sequence, this is my favorite ref moment of the night. Do you guys catch this?
00:20:25
Speaker
This is my favorite moment of the night when he when he got on the mic to announce it to the crowd. And he goes, after review, number 24 of Colorado committed a reckless attack And violent offense.
00:20:42
Speaker
And as such, the final decision is a yellow card.
00:20:51
Speaker
A yellow card? Why'd you set it up for me like he's going to uphold the red? he definitely used the word reckless.
00:21:03
Speaker
I just thought that was such a good way to announce it. A violent offense. Reckless.
00:21:11
Speaker
And because of that, going to retroactively change the call from red to a yellow. Honestly, I think that might have been a better ref call than... guys remember the however guy?
00:21:27
Speaker
However...
00:21:34
Speaker
And again, the call is one thing, but the fact that you got to look at it for an hour and a half, once again, you would think would dictate means it's not a clear and obvious call. But, you know, what do I know?
00:21:53
Speaker
What do I know?
00:21:57
Speaker
So at that point, I'm pretty tilted.
00:22:02
Speaker
Have you guys ever been more tilted watching a game that the Sounders were ahead in? Because don't know if I have, to be honest with you. Didn't feel like they were winning. Schmetz called the first half disjointed. I think that was ah that was a charitable way of putting it it. It felt like there was more time spent sitting there waiting for delays and calls to get reviewed than there was actual game at one point.
00:22:27
Speaker
I think it reached that point. I thought about it and i was like, I think I've spent 24 out of the last 28 minutes sitting here watching a guy stare at a screen.
00:22:41
Speaker
Only to, of course, every time come to a conclusion that doesn't benefit Seattle. But, you know you know you know, that's not even what I'm talking about. It's just too long.
00:22:53
Speaker
Too long of delays here. if If there is a call that's clear and obvious that needs to get overturned, The threshold needs to be you go over there, you look at it once, maybe twice.
00:23:07
Speaker
this this I wish they would make that the criteria.
00:23:12
Speaker
You need to be able to look at it once, maybe twice, say, okay, I missed that. I missed that one. That's my bad. well We'll change that. And then you keep it pushing. If you got to sit there for an hour and a half looking at 27 different angles,
00:23:30
Speaker
then it's not clear and obvious. You're kind of just, you're just, you're just guessing. You're throwing up fifty fifty Hail Mary's hoping you get the right call. I just don't think that's, not sure that that's how it's supposed to go down.
00:23:46
Speaker
So at that point, you know, around the 34th minute of first half extra time is when I started to get really tilted. And that is also around the time that Hassani Dotson went out, went down with an injury. I think that's the frustrating thing about that to me.
00:24:01
Speaker
is that
00:24:05
Speaker
they shouldn't have even been out there in the 58th minute of the first half.
00:24:13
Speaker
But because
00:24:16
Speaker
you had 37 minutes of delays reviewing these calls only to get the call wrong, you got the boys out there in the 58th minute of the first half.
00:24:31
Speaker
And that's when Hassani Dotson, I think he he took a shot to the head.
00:24:38
Speaker
And it was announced in the press box as a head injury. I'm assuming that means he's in, he's getting looked at for a concussion, concussion protocol.
00:24:48
Speaker
So hopefully that's not too serious. That can mean a lot of things.
00:24:54
Speaker
You see kind of all ranges of that spectrum with concussions. Sometimes,
00:25:00
Speaker
can be a few days or a week. They miss one game, they're right back. Sometimes like we saw it with Christian a couple years ago, it can linger. So we'll just have to see. We'll have to see about severity on Jordan and on Hassani.
00:25:13
Speaker
But that was just like, man, of course, of course someone gets injured in the 58th minute of the first half. Of course, of course, why wouldn't? Why wouldn't an injury take place in the 58th minute of the first half, which I've never even seen. Schmetz was talking about it at the presser.
00:25:28
Speaker
Someone asked him, have you ever seen a 62 minute first half? He said, I don't think so. Steph Fry, who's been in this league for like 20 years, was apparently talking about how he'd never seen that.
00:25:40
Speaker
So it was just all the more tilting to have have a anybody go down at that juncture in the game when a series of insane events are the only reason they're even on the field at that point.
00:26:01
Speaker
We got Noah, he just walked in. cookie, Chad. He brought a cookie. Let's get him in here. What up, Chad? He's back from crashing the stream. Hey, guys. So sorry about that. That was completely my fault.
00:26:13
Speaker
It was literally my fault. Not me. Not me. So you can't even blame Ari for any tech-related issues. i was in the presser. No, this is the most embarrassing part of this. Yeah, explain what happened. I'm in the presser, and I'm like trying to fix the visual because I wanted Ari to like give a little bit more space so you could see the presser a little better.
00:26:32
Speaker
and I was texting him, and he wasn't responding, so I was like, oh, dude, I'll just fix it. you were Well, you were cooking. You were you were busy. And i was like, well, i'll just fix it. And... I did not fix it. And then the audio of the presser started playing loud as fuck off my phone in the presser. And Brian just looked at me and I was like, umagous I'm gonna just, I'm gonna just log off, bro.
00:26:54
Speaker
I'm gonna just log off. That's an undeniably that's a lot of scorchers. That was, sequence though i will you know, what I was, what I was kind of trying to cook on was like, it's a little reflective of how the Seattle Sounders game went. Correct. correct You know, first game back,
00:27:09
Speaker
Less than 10 minutes in, already devolves into a debacle. Yeah. So what have you cooked on so far? Should I just give my general takes? I was midway through ref discourse. Oh, my God. I've been complaining a lot about the 27-minute delays and the 76-minute first half. So we could start there. But...
00:27:31
Speaker
if we start there and then we go, we go into the the second goal and then we can, and then we can, yeah. Okay. Well, here's what I'll start off with, with the ref discourse. Um, we've seen a lot of bad officiating in MLS and there was some of the worst when the refs were locked out. Um,
00:27:47
Speaker
This felt like we were back there. It felt it was like placement felt like a replacement ref days. Well, and the only other first half that's ever gone that length of time was during the yeah replacement ref days. So yes, it was. I was just like, I'm not normally a ref guy. like a i would i guess I gave the whole speech that we' not the we're not the ref guys.
00:28:05
Speaker
This guy was trash. this guy was This guy was actively booty. This guy was terrible. I'm just like, they review every single referee. They have like a watch party. They sit around and they're like, oh, you should you should have pulled your card out quicker there. You know you you were behind the play in this instance. and you should move they're gonna get This dude's going to fail. This dude's going to get demoted to like second VAR. This dude doesn't get benched for the next seven to eight weeks.
00:28:35
Speaker
I'm chaining myself to MLS headquarters. And that's not the only thing that I'm chaining myself to MLS headquarters for. Hassani Dotson deserves a goal. Hassani Dotson, I will spend the rest of this season advocating for that Hassani Dotson goal. From what I heard, from what I heard in my inside information, he was like, this is not a direct quote, but he was like, what the hell? That was a goal, bro.
00:28:57
Speaker
So Brian Schmetzer in that press conference said, we scored three goals tonight. Hassani Dotson scored a goal tonight. He is adamant. that that goal counted. It joins the Danny Leyva goal that wasn't in the pantheon of sounder goals that don't count in the in the history books, but they count right here. They count in the heart. And a corazon, which is all that matters. I wanted that for him. 2-5-3 gets a goal. five game yeah He was playing well.
00:29:22
Speaker
And then in the 58th minute of the first half, of course, he gets injured. Or gets a concussion. I've got to be honest with you. Like, i'm not like I'm not a ref guy. this was a rep this was like if If the Sounders had lost this game, I wouldn't have put it on the ref.
00:29:38
Speaker
But man, that just like taking that goal back, that's despicable. you don't You don't do that. Don't be that guy. And it just it just felt like, like the way I was describing it was there was a point where it felt like I had spent more of the last 30 minutes sitting there watching him watch a screen than I had watched soccer. and And so... You never want that. that you just You just never want that.
00:30:01
Speaker
So it was it was a bit it was a temple massager. It was a temple massager. i like... We were taking bets in the press box of how long the first half would go. I put the line at 10 and a half minutes of stoppage time. It was over that.
00:30:15
Speaker
And we played even more than that. I would just like, how many times we have to go to the monitor? And honestly, i was talking in the press box about this. It's not just the referee.
00:30:27
Speaker
It's the VAR. The VAR is honestly more of a problem than the center official because they both are yeah the VAR kept calling him over and being like, oh, you need you need to check this. You to check this. Dude, I was so sure when Osaze tried the bicycle kick. Oh, I thought he was sent off. I was like, oh, this is going to be a straight ride right here. Thankfully, that that did not happen. Yeah. Because then I think I might have full on. I was ready to crash out in the first half and they were winning. They were winning the game. And I was ready to crash out. They were just winning that game. They were playing out of their minds. So let's talk about let's talk about that. Yeah, and I want to say, like, i think to close the rep discourse, the only thing that frustrates me about all of it, because you can have bad calls. It didn't really change the game. But what it did change...
00:31:11
Speaker
was the pace of play. This could have been a 5-0 game, easily. If the Sounders had continued their momentum, they would have demolished this team. This team is bad. This is a very bad Colorado Rapids team. bring Bring Josh Atencio home.
00:31:23
Speaker
Bring him home. I don't want to see him rotting away on this on this roster anymore, but like the pace of play was just destroyed. It was destroyed. there yeah The first half was basically chalked at a certain point. it was It was shocking that they even had...
00:31:37
Speaker
uh a second look at goal in in the first half like it was you i was asking chat this but have you ever been more tilted during a game that they were winning because i haven't yeah i don't think it's not that i don't think like this was this was the perfect first match of the season like it was just it's just shenanigans man just just shenanigans uh one one of the other things i was talking about was was the performance of Paul Rothrock. Oh my God. I already talked about it, but let's talk about it again. give them the escalators.
00:32:09
Speaker
Give them the escalators. Give them the escalators. I mean, like just the the hustle on that play to keep that ball in. That's probably primetime in a nutshell, man. Dude, the run, slamming your body into the ad boards and propelling yourself back off so you can get back to the ball because you know the defender's going to make a lazy attempt to get back because they're like oh I got this. He slammed his body into the ad boards.
00:32:34
Speaker
That is Paul Rothrock. Grit, determination, sounder, Capitol Hill, graffiti, baller play dude one goal one assist let's talk about the uh the second goal i think you're right like i if there's anything else that's kind of frustrating it's just that they they should have really put it on this team oh i know the rapids you know they were getting some positive press during the preseason uh they were actually you know i'm not gonna pretend i was above it i was looking at it you know it's like you know the new new coach new coach bump yeah Rafa Navarro, they yeah there he's been getting a lot of hype for how he's been playing in the preseason. Paxton Aronson, I do think, is a good player. yeah you know They're building it all around him. So I know thought might maybe they'll make this game a little harder on Seattle than than you would think.
00:33:23
Speaker
ah But they really did not. I feel like Seattle definitely could, they could have had at least a couple more. I mean, they did have at least one more yeah in this game yeah from Hassani Dodson that was unjustly waved off. And there was, there was, there was really kind of, there was no point in the game where they, they felt like they were under pressure for a sustained period of time. I don't think Andrew Thomas had to,
00:33:48
Speaker
first First clean sheet for Andrew Thomas in league regular season, i believe. He had to make one kind of big save at the very, very end. But until then, I thought it was ah it was a good performance from the defense.
00:34:00
Speaker
I don't know how much to read into that because this Colorado Rapids attack, if it is going to be good this season, which it might be, you know, Paxton Aronson, Rafa Navarro, maybe they get that to a point where it's a high-level MLS attack. I don't think that's where it's at right now. but But, you know, How many times last season did we watch the Sounders play a team like this? And they would look like they were, look like they bossing off the field. Yeah. And then that team would bam and tie it at right at the end and they would drop points. So actually I'm going to call this a ah a good step. Yeah. In that regard, because they never let Colorado in the game. this They never let Colorado in the game. They looked just as dominant as LAFC looked against Inter-Miami. And a big reason for that was the center backs and the fullbacks as well. Nuhu played an incredible match, dude. He was making good runs. He had that really nice touch. I think it was towards the 80th minute to kind of open up space. Yeah, the final product wasn't there. Okay, whatever. But like he was having...
00:35:01
Speaker
really nice vision. um Alex Roldan was being a dog. I don't think he had his best game, but it wasn't like he the CBs, man. Jackson Reagan. Oh my God. What is the U.S. men's national team doing?
00:35:14
Speaker
how is he not How is he not in contention for this World Cup squad? You're telling me Tim Ream? You're telling me Tim Ream is better than Jackson Reagan? What the hell? i'm not telling you that. Because that's not true.
00:35:25
Speaker
That guy just went out there and demolish the Colorado Rapids. I mean, this Jackson Reagan put on a it was a clinicman he had clinic. He had two slide tackles that were like, and if you were making a prototype center back highlight reel, yeah like these slide tackles where he's just blasting it into the 27th row, you're not getting past me. You're not getting past a couple of those. And then also when, when teams have game plans where they want to try and counter and hoof crosses into the box, good luck.
00:35:57
Speaker
Good luck. Good luck, man. The man is six foot seven and you're not getting that over him. He got his head on the ball a couple of times on some corners. I mean, he's, he's going to score this season. He, he is gotta be the front runner for defender of the year right now.
00:36:11
Speaker
Right. They're never going give it to him. They're never going to give it to him. They don't have the courage. They won't give it to a real defender, but. I don't know. he If he plays like that all year, he's going to be in those those post-season awards. He'll be best 11. MLS Defender of the Year final. He'll be in those discussions yeah if he plays like that all year. But let's give yeah Yamar. Yamar as well, dude. Yamar was a beast. J.O. pointed this out in the ah in the press box.
00:36:38
Speaker
The press looked great tonight, which is something that I was encouraged by. And Yamar was a huge part of that. Through his all around game. Yeah. He was, he was looking Reagan ask.
00:36:49
Speaker
He was, he invest in Reaganomics. And that's just, that's just good to see because let's be honest, this defense last year, they gave up 48 goals. They gave up a lot of untimely goals. Yep. I don't think the CBs were peace goals. No, no set pieces is conceded tonight. hope Yeah. You know, I don't know if you can blame that on one guy or one position group, but yeah it's the whole defense last year was part of that. And yeah,
00:37:11
Speaker
we There was a lot of games, like we're the home opener last year against Charlotte. Yeah. Kind of a similar situation. I think that Charlotte team is better than this Rapids team, but correct similar situation. It's a game that you're ahead, that you're playing really well, and that you should win 10 times out of 10. And they were giving up soft goals, and they dropped points off that. They did that a lot last year. They didn't do it tonight. So that was good to see. Should we rip these Super Chats and then start taking calls? Yeah, let's do it. All right. I'll pop them. I'll pop pop them.
00:37:40
Speaker
And I'll drop the call link into the. Yeah, sounds good. um Kush, thank you so much for the 999. I think this is a super sticker, but you just dropped it. So thank you. And then Kush again with a 20 band, with a 20 bander, Capitol Hill's finest, Paul Rothrock.
00:37:57
Speaker
brother that's my neighbor that's my neighbor god he was probably prime time here's what uh he was he was uh he smiled when he was asked today about um do you think you're gonna be the the top scorer like is that is that a goal or an ambition and he smiled and he went honestly i don't think about it i just want to win some trophies with this team and it's like that's that's who he is man he's a dog he's just he's just absolutely a
Praise for Paul Rothrock's Versatility
00:38:23
Speaker
dog and another thing that Brian said is that, you know, he could use this as an excuse.
00:38:30
Speaker
He could have been like, oh, coach, well, you know, I wasn't ready, whatever. And this was my favorite Brian Schmetzer quote about Paul Rothrock. He is always ready. He is always ready, and that's just true. Another Pauly Primetime $1.99 donation. We appreciate it, Kush. Another $4.99 from Kush. And one final one for Pauly Primetime, the Paul Rothrock. Thank you so much, Kush, for the combined 20, 30, 30,
00:38:57
Speaker
thirty $7 five, six. Yeah. Math is hard. Math is hard, but we did it. Not a math show, not a math show. Famously, not a math show. Uh, yep. Call in link. I'll pin it. I'll pin it. You pick the first one. Ari, we got, ah we got, we got our favorites in the queue.
00:39:13
Speaker
you're all our favorites You're all our favorites. We don't have, we got some staples in the queue. We are so back. We're going to go Kenny. We're going to go Jordan. And then we're going to go tribe. Let's get Kenny in here. thank you
00:39:28
Speaker
welcome back boys we are back long 2026 season is underway 2-0 win over the colorado rapids the ref show was out in full force but you get you get two goals and the dub how are you feeling I'm feeling good. i i do want to preface this not to rain on the parade or anything, but this is probably our easiest matchup until probably May, maybe. ah There's some... ah insccrit
00:40:01
Speaker
Keep talking. I'm sorry. My bad. There were teenagers at center back, you know, so when we're talking about Albert Resnack, you know, aerial, aerial dominance, you know, he's playing against them, you know, a 19 and an 18 year old or a 20 and an 18 year old, but you know, it don's dont good count it counts. It counts. It counts. They all count. ah I'm not, I'm not anti-Rozanak brigade, but the how about Jesus Ferreira dishing it to Albert?
00:40:31
Speaker
Bricking three motherfuckers on the way, left-footed, cutting inside. Great. um does anyone know Does anyone know if he got the assist on the Rothrock goal or were they did they did the cowardly and they cowardly take it away because it got deflated? I wouldn't know. i wouldn't know He gets a secondary assist on the first goal, so if they did take it away, we're going to call that even. When it gets to the end of the season and all are trying to tell me that his assists don't count because some of them were secondary assists, he should get the primary on the Rothrock goal. So one assist, if that's what he has coming out of this, accurate reflection. Thanks. It balances out. It balances out. um
00:41:09
Speaker
A big takeaway, probably the biggest takeaway for me playing against a team like this is probably Snyder Burnell coming in, stepping up, looked better than replacement, that looked played above his age.
00:41:24
Speaker
um Combining with people, moment wasn't too big for him, season debut in front of a bunch of fans in the rain. Most fans since COVID. Most fans in a season opener since COVID.
00:41:36
Speaker
Amazing. um Yeah, I know some people were complaining about the lines. I didn't i didn't make it today. Some people were complaining about the the shortened kickoff.
00:41:47
Speaker
um the The shortened o gate gate times, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was there it was a little bit of a little bit condensed in there, but you know,
00:42:01
Speaker
that's That's par for the course. they're They're figuring it out. Game one. right all right Hopefully it'll be better. Snyder snyder looked great. um Like you said, Nuhu had a good game. Nuhu FC, it doesn't sleep.
00:42:15
Speaker
we We don't have an offseason. We move. ah the lion The Lion doesn't sleep. The Lion. yeah yeah Yeah, we back. um I wanted to weigh in on the CB discourse. I was saying... ah Yeah,
00:42:34
Speaker
those makeup tactics those recovery tackles they look great they fill a highlight real really good but it's a chad marshall thing yeah if you're really defending you shouldn't really have to make that many recovery tackles and jackson did get softd up the up the touchline and yamar recovered and cleaned up for him Gaymar was also five for six on long passing with four passes into the final third.
00:42:59
Speaker
And I think we can say he outpassed Jackson Reagan today as well. um So I just, you know, i love it. I love Jackson Reagan and he deserves all the praise in the world and he needs to be called up to the USMNT.
00:43:13
Speaker
ah He's going to improve that team a lot, but I think it's pretty clear to me who who who the Defender of the Year candidate has been. He was really injured last year a lot, his had a stop start season, but um I just love me some Yeh-Mar, man. We know you're the Yamara Nuhu super defender, and we love it and we appreciate it, and I know they do too. But no, dude, Yamar yamar looked significantly better today than I think he did most of the last i was just got a second half of last season. and like He came back.
00:43:51
Speaker
you know This is one of those things with defenders too. like He could have been carrying a knock. He's a guy who literally – this is the one thing I absolutely just love about Yamar. That dude – he He could have a torn. He plays through it all. He'll play through it all. yeah I'm glad you brought that up because I don't think people give enough credit or credence to that. He is. in He was injured a lot last year and he just played through it. He never, he never. like i think He had one period of time where he was sidelined, but like he plays through stuff a lot all the time.
00:44:20
Speaker
we We didn't have a lot of depth at CB at times last year, and it seems like we won't at times this year. So we need people to be tough kids and tough grown adult men.
00:44:32
Speaker
i also want to shout out Osaze. He didn't really show up on the stat sheet, but he was working his ass off. He's got those great um um a quick feet. He's like almost a dancing bear type prototype. You guys call him the the Will Bruin regen, and I love that. I love that for him.
00:44:51
Speaker
Some good layoffs and stuff. He's big physical. Committing fouls, collecting fouls. I really like the way he trades paint in there, you know what I mean? Big body boy.
00:45:03
Speaker
Anything else? final Final notes, Kenny? I thought we were getting another shaking quake. The way he was romping up that touchline, man. He's great hint. He had the pass that sprung the Rothrock Yeah, he had that one. And on the outside, he took that big touch wide and beat that the defenders. They recovered well, but like that's how he beat. um He scored those two goals in preseason against Hamburby and what it was it? The other one. He's bigy fast. He's sneaky fast. He'll surprise you. He can't even sneaky fast. He's fast, fast. He's just fast. He might be a Jordan Morris regen.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he might he might end up. He might need to be. not going to say it. Andrew Thomas looks solid. I'm so happy to be back. Love lobbing scorches. Love the Sounders.
00:45:52
Speaker
Fuck ice.
00:45:56
Speaker
Hell yeah. That's what we love to hear. Thank you for calling in. All right. Who's next? You're picking. You're up. We got Jordan up next. Let's get him on the stage. Jordan. What's up, man?
00:46:07
Speaker
Great to see you. Yes. It's great back to be back. The season is back. I'm so happy. We're so back. We're so back. We've never been more back. I mean, this is the perfect day for me because ah the Prem season and the MLS season overlap.
00:46:24
Speaker
Both my teams won today. Couldn't ask for much better today. Who's your Prem team? I'm an Arsenal fan. All right. There you go. Second place FC. Let's go. All right. Thanks. Appreciate it. I'm a Brighton fan, so you can't... Like, I really don't have anything to say. No, but I mean, listen, man. To...
00:46:44
Speaker
to start the season off in the mls with a big win i mean the longest first half i've ever seen but like i fell asleep during it it was still going on um so i was really confused about the red card actually because in my memory he ran up showed him a yellow card and on the live stream they cut away And then when they come back, they're telling him to go off the field. I'm thinking, did he get hit in the head? And I think after like three minutes, the and the commentator goes, oh, it's a red card.
00:47:23
Speaker
He literally ran up, flashed a yellow card. And then told him to leave. I think he had it was a red the red out. It was a red. Yeah, yeah. OK. Maybe he had the yellow um attached to the red on the back.
00:47:38
Speaker
Okay. Was it like a shame from behind? i don't remember. All I remember is they showed a yellow. I looked away. i was at dinner with family, so I was talking with them. And I turned back around, and I'm like, he's taking a long walk for, like, a concussion thing. And then they're like, oh yeah, he's been sent off. And I'm like, wait a minute.
00:47:57
Speaker
It looks like a red from the press box. You know if they had called it a yellow on the field, i wouldn't have crashed out about it. But with it being called a red on the field,
00:48:09
Speaker
ah you're you're not you are you were i will tell you this, you're not supposed to you're not supposed to change that unless it is like very, very, very, very clear that you miss it.
00:48:20
Speaker
You can't say that for that call. I will say I'm getting hooked for this too. so like I'm getting hooked by every Rapids fan. They're like, aren't you the guy who tweeted that this was a clear red? i was like, bro, from what I saw, he elbowed him in the head. like so From the replays they were showing,
00:48:38
Speaker
I don't think the elbow like fully makes contact. The reason why I feel like it took so long is the referee. What my theory is, is the ref on field was like, I'm not changing it. And VR was like, no you, you don't understand. Like,
00:48:55
Speaker
this is not what you think it is. He's like, I'm not doing it. I genuinely think they were like, you're changing it. We're going to sit here showing you the same replay until you change this. That has to be it. That's the only explanation for how that takes an hour and a half. They need to release, because you know in the prem, they release the VAR. They do do that in MLS. They only do that when they want to. When they want to do it. When they go back and they're like,
00:49:20
Speaker
yeah they want to do when they go back and they're like hey man, I don't know about this, but you're my friend, so therefore we're going to go with it. They won't release that. They'll be like, The ones where they're like, yeah, we did a really good job. Throw that on Twitter.
00:49:36
Speaker
though there There have been ones in the prem where they're like, ah you you know, you're my best friend, but you really missed this, but you're my best friend and I don't want you to get in trouble. So good call on field. Yes. He, yes. Yes. He may have been stabbed, but no penalty. Good call. Yeah. It does seem like VAR there was, that's more of an issue than, uh,
00:49:58
Speaker
than the ref on the field. But he also, it felt it felt like he lost the game a little bit. This was my take on it. I thought that Colorado's game plan coming into this was, what if we just came in here and fucked shit up? What if we just played? I respect that they stuck with that even when they were down a goal.
00:50:12
Speaker
Yeah, they were like, what if we just came in hard, tackled hard, and like tried to get them to crash out which is smart because they are the crash out red card boys they i was happy because it looked like the crash out red card boys were not seattle related i was like oh yeah this is what it's like when someone else does it they were smart to keep their temper for sure i think
00:50:35
Speaker
i think they honestly could have won by more i mean paul rothrock pro paul rothrock Just perfect. i I will never forget Sacramento Republic game where post game, I wasn't allowed in the Sounders fan section. The se fans that traveled down, I wasn't allowed in there, even though I was literally in rave green.
00:50:57
Speaker
And it was Paul Rothrock who had jumped into the stands with the traveling fans. And I was like, oh, I could be right there. But the security guard would not let me. And to go from being used in the U.S. Open Cup to coming on seven minutes in running into a wall, literally, and still making the play and then getting the goal on top of that, man, this is...
00:51:24
Speaker
What a way to mark your contract extension, man. Like literally running through a wall game, literally running through a wall for this club. It's insane. It sounded crazy on the, on both stream too.
00:51:35
Speaker
Like it it literally sounded like he got hit. Like he just took that full onto the face, turned around with the cross in any way. It's like, it was crazy. It's pretty wild. Well, any closing thoughts, Jordan, before we let you go here?
00:51:49
Speaker
We back, baby. We back. So, so back. Thanks for calling in, Jordan. Thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate you, boss. See you soon. who let's so I want to address this before we we jump into this next one. ah Noah did a whole show on shrimp last season and no comment on carelessly jumping. So, yes, okay.
Confusion Over VAR Decisions
00:52:09
Speaker
there I don't have any like um shrimp-related discourse to talk about today. But ah according to Jeremiah O'Shan and Sounder at Heart, who are the designated pro-sans,
00:52:22
Speaker
referee guys where they get to ask questions to pro. um They asked about the Osase. They got the card. And here's what they say. We asked pro referees about the disallowed goal. This was the explanation.
00:52:36
Speaker
Seattle number 95 was penalized for carelessly jumping at Colorado. Number 77 after 77 fairly played the ball careless carelessly jumping.
00:52:51
Speaker
This is carelessly jumping.
00:52:56
Speaker
I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. i was because I because that that reaction was just about to make me jump off the sands and into the into the the rainy weather down there because what are we even talking about since when is carelessly jumping against the rules.
00:53:11
Speaker
That's like, that's soccer. I thought the whole point was to carelessly jump. Carelessly jumping. That's going to go down in the, in the lore, in the lexicon. Yeah. It's yeah. I thought I, I remember how he jumped. It was not careless. It was not careless. What was careless about it?
00:53:25
Speaker
It was, he was just jumping. How are you supposed to jump with care? ah This is soccer. This is a contact sport. What are we talking about? I'm not going to do care. this We're not doing, we're not. All right, let's get tribe in here. Let's go try tribeing tribe. Tribe.
00:53:41
Speaker
mr board How are we doing? Welcome back. We're back. Seattle Sounders 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids. ah That's the good. Jordan Morris and Hassani Dotson come off with injuries. That's the bad. Where are you at emotionally, Tribe? How are you feeling?
00:53:54
Speaker
I'm overstimulated. I don't know what to think. I i just want to go run into my room and cry and at the same time celebrate and run naked on the beach because we just won. It's...
00:54:06
Speaker
it's The referee, i I just, it was tough. I've never seen that much stoppage time since the Everton game where a protester tied his neck to the goal. I've never seen that much stoppage time. Oh, yeah. That's good ref.
00:54:23
Speaker
And and that was that was insane. Now, I am very, very happy with Osaze de Rosario, and I can see how much he's improved. in preseason, in his positional sense, and is in the runs he tries to make, in the passes he tries to play, I honestly feel like he could be potentially one of the better strikers in MLS eventually. As for Jordan Morris, i this might be a hot take don't know anymore.
00:54:54
Speaker
i love him. It's time to go. I think it's time. it's You just can't keep getting away with this. We're we're effectively... um down a DP spot with with no production out of that DP spot. And you have teams like Inter-Miami and LAFC who are signing players, not even in DP spots, that could be a superstar here in Seattle. Something needs to change about that, but I don't know where you guys stand on that, so kind I of want to hear that.
00:55:24
Speaker
I mean, I took heat. i'llll I'll take this one to start out with because I took a lot of heat for my Pedro de la Vega take and a lot of people said, well, you know, he played he scored more goals than Jordan and played more games than Jordan last season.
00:55:36
Speaker
you should you should have the same take when it comes to Jordan. And like, I do. Like, we had a lot of conversations about how the DP escalators was like, I was not a big fan of it. I love Jordan Morris. When he is performing, he does perform at a DP level. So that's like hard to not justify, especially right after he signed that DP contract. He he played that season, scored, I don't even remember how many goals. but he He went off. 18. 18 that year. All comps. 18 all comps.
00:56:04
Speaker
But yeah, man, this this injury, it's it's devastating for him. It's devastating for the roster spot. And it's the same thing that I feel with Pedro de la Vega, right? Like...
00:56:16
Speaker
If he was on a different roster spot, maybe a different salary, maybe a different situation. I'm frustrated with the way that he's categorized because he's got talent.
00:56:27
Speaker
But man, he's just been so absolutely unlucky. That's like insane. That is both of man. Both of them. Like, that's what sucks about it. One DP. Yeah. One DP. this thing who knows how bad This team is that good playing with one DP while everyone else is playing with three.
00:56:44
Speaker
Yeah. Paul Rothrock, give him the escalators. I love him. I'll be honest. I never hated him. i just thought Manungu is better, and I still do, and I'm never going to get over Yeah, going to ask you Because in my opinion, Manungu, he didn't – this is what I posted. He didn't get the ball.
00:57:01
Speaker
He didn't play he didn't play good He didn't get any chances. He didn't play awful, but he definitely he definitely had some times where I was like... He scuffed that one ball. He had a couple scuffs. Yeah, he had a little he was doing a little bit of like Looney Tunes-esque situation. Where Mnungu is at his best is running at players, though. We never got to see that part of his game realistically um tonight, but...
00:57:30
Speaker
I honestly do love the all-round talent of Paul Rothrock because he's like a Swiss army knife. He can defend. He can attack. He can play. He can do some stupid challenges and then obviously scare the shit out of a security guard and then put a perfect ball into Albert Resnach. I mean, I just – I don't know. how How much is he getting paid? Do you guys know?
00:57:54
Speaker
Rothrock? yeah five five something Yeah. Five something. That's a bargain. I really think that's a bargain. He's not even considered too old. He still is going to develop a bit more. and And considering how inexperienced he is, he is way beyond his years. and And I'm very, very excited to see what he can do. But another thing I like, I got to see something out of Albert Rusnak that I never thought. And that was a perfect outrageous flicked on header and that is so nice it was unbelievable as someone who has i'm i'm in division two okay i'm a great soccer player i've never been able to head the ball never i'm a keeper but but i could never figure out how to how to head the ball it takes a special special awareness uh space and time just being able to jump up quickly enough and and And Albert Rusnak is just something special. I might want him in the box a couple times for free kicks maybe. And and I think Jesus should take a few free kicks. I don't know. But I'm i'm very grateful. I think they might be letting him both do it this year. yeah You know, interestingly enough, the last team that Albert Rusnak scored a header goal against...
00:59:08
Speaker
the Colorado Rapids. That's crazy. Which game was that? He only scored two headers. I'm not sure when or where it was. there was just This was ah this was a rumblings in the press box stat from Jeremiah. so But it is funny. it is it is like, a wow, okay.
00:59:25
Speaker
maybe Maybe he's got that. It was clinical. He looked like a target number nine on that. those I didn't know he had that in the bag. Well, he's going to have to be a target number nine because he's going to play the 9-10 and wing role if you know he's the only a DP on the team. but All right, Todd, anything? any Yeah, yeah keep keep cooking. Give us a little bit more and then we're going to keep pushing here. Last thing and then then I'll go, brother. um I'm just...
00:59:51
Speaker
I'm a little bit shocked with this referee. Again, i feel like we could have won by four. I mean, if if there were, there were some counterattacks or were stopped that the ref could have easily played advantage, or then there was obviously the Hassani Dotson ah goal that was taken back. But overall against the Colorado Rapids who played very, very defensively and could not break a precedent also and drop back kind like Minnesota. I think we can break down the tax. I'm not sorry. Defenses. very, very well with, with Rothrock and, and once Hassani Dotson gets better, hopefully soon. um I feel like we are going to absolutely cook this league and, and the players that we have on the bench, it's a deep, deep roster again. And I, and I'm very, very excited for the season.
01:00:37
Speaker
I agree. try It's good to have you back. Absolutely. Let's go, Sounders. Let's go. We will see you next week. Absolutely. Cheers. Bye, Tribe. Real quick before we bring Nat on. Correction, correction. The Jordan Morris 18-goal season was the year before. Before. That was the escalator. that was That's what got him. That's what got him. I thought that's what you were saying. but oh That's my bad. That's my bad. Yeah, no. And then ah what was I going to say?
01:01:04
Speaker
that's It doesn't matter. Let's bring that. Let's get Nat on here. yeah How are we doing? Thumbs up. If you're ready. Boom. We got Nat and then we got Raul and then we got this golf dis golfer. yeah So, and then that's it for the queue for now. So if you want to tap in and go ahead, yeah we've got open lines. Now, how are doing?
01:01:22
Speaker
I'm doing good. I'm dry again, which is nice. But yeah, no, i I echo everything that everyone's already said about the ref. And it's crazy that, i mean, I feel bad a little bit for him.
01:01:39
Speaker
that This was literally his first game ever for the referee stats. That was his MLS debut. Oh, yeah that's what the repd explains that explains it. Yeah, but I think the bigger thing here is Rami to Sean the the bar and he's been doing he's done a bunch of games um in MLS. He did the last sounders game. He did was the Atlanta game.
01:02:03
Speaker
It looks like But uh like as ari was saying like v var was put in to change calls not any not like the hasani dots in uh go at all like it was called bit ah
01:02:26
Speaker
i mean my myself um I always think about when it was first being introduced, Howard Webb which talks about that in the 2010 World Cup, he didn't give um Nigel De Jong a red card because he didn't see the play. He gave him a yellow card. And if he had seen the freeze frame of that play, which is a cleat to the stomach, then he would have given him a red card instantly. And he just had to see that play immediately.
01:02:55
Speaker
by looking at that for like two seconds. Those are the plays, and there's a lot of those obvious plays that sometimes the ref just doesn't have a good view. And those are the plays that VAR is supposed to check. exactly This play, three minutes later, three minutes, like basically three minutes, it feels like we're standing at, both teams are standing at the center circle, and then he goes over.
01:03:19
Speaker
I've been saying like we need like a 10-second timer on... I think that's what it should be. 10 seconds when they get there. And if they can't tell, then it's not clear. Exactly. There needs to be timer. You need, you need to be able to look at it once or twice and know. And if you don't, then you leave it.
01:03:36
Speaker
That's it. yeah You can't, these situations where they're standing there for an hour and a half, they need to go. You can't have that. That's not what it's supposed to be. 61 minutes in a first half is despicable. It's despicable. And half the time you're not even playing soccer. I'm sorry. That can't happen. If if you are making pitchers have a pitch clock,
01:03:53
Speaker
yeah And they're dishing dimes, throwing their arm off in a referee can't be held to a similar standard. I'm sorry. we Yeah, I agree. We need a clock.
01:04:04
Speaker
We need a clock. We need a stopwatch. And that should be the, yeah. And and just like and all all with that, like it's like no one was really complaining no one was complaining about about the goal. Not on on their team. Like there's one guy on the ground. I don't see any kill i i don't see any contact on the play just in,
01:04:25
Speaker
but he well it wasn't contact it was reckless jumping careless yeah careless jumping yeah oh my god but uh but yeah uh so him lying on the ground in a sense should could be a yellow card for like simulation or stuff like like we shouldn't be rewarding players for staying on the ground like that or if they're going do that, then let's get the training ground.
01:04:52
Speaker
Let's get the trainers on sooner. Yeah. like It used to be like 15 years ago, if someone went on the ground, they just immediately brought on the stretcher, like, and then they would carry them off and then treat them. I like those days.
01:05:05
Speaker
And that would be better when then that does lead to less stoppages. I dig that. Yeah. um Yeah. and Like the stretcher team used to come on so much often more often than they do now.
01:05:19
Speaker
um ah Then also, i don't understand the on the play that paul rothrock got taken down um in behind goal he has the position on the minnesota on not minnesota but colorado colorado used to be mad at i'm used to being mad at minnesota that was the last season that was last season same idea honestly same thing ah But, like, Paul is in front of is in front of the guy. the guy has no chance at the ball, and he's grabbing at him. That is that is a dog-so He would have had to call dog-so-red on that. that's why That's why he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. He already had a V.R. Red taken off, so.
01:06:05
Speaker
It's outside of the box, so it wouldn't have been a penalty looking at it. But that is a foul. And, yeah. I thought so, too. People were saying in the box that they thought that ah that that call was okay. and I was disagreeing. I don't think i agree. I don't think I agree. I think that was a dog so red. There was a little group thing going on on that play in the press box. I think there's not think that was a group thing.
01:06:26
Speaker
you can You can, like, some grabbing is allowed, but you still, the only time you're...
01:06:34
Speaker
The only time you're allowed to grab is if you have a play on the ball. And if you have no play on the ball, then it's a red card or it's a, yeah.
01:06:45
Speaker
They also, they, they got away with tactical foul. Oh yeah. What was that? Paxton Aronson literally commits the tailor-made definition of a tactical foul. He totally skates on that. Seattle does the exact same thing. Snyder B does get the yellow on that. What the hell man?
01:07:04
Speaker
right after that i think that's the hasani dotson header yes uh injury that happens right after that he also didn't get yellow that he didn't get a yellow for i'm just saying he should have been sent off the colorado rapids you could have multiple red cards okay let's yeah let's be clear let's be clear you're lucky to just get this the the whooping okay lucky you didn't get should have a couple guys suspended perhaps yeah Yeah. I mean, I really thought that in the first half, there was going to be a fight.
01:07:34
Speaker
Like there was like, they're already on, on the play where after directly after Paul Rothrock, uh, got taken down and there was nothing. And then immediately their guy did get a yellow card. There was a big mass confrontation and like the ref had lost it. And I just felt the fight was coming on. I,
01:07:53
Speaker
It's shocking that it that we still had 22 people on the field yeah at the end of this game. They did get the the red card that he did give out. Like, that was that was not a red card. That was a yellow card. Like, that was... I don't see an elbow there. So, that's crazy. But still, I i thought that there would have been a red card. But...
01:08:11
Speaker
moving away from the ref i wanted about about jordan morris because like people are texting me being like uh being like jordan morris worst ep ever for for the sounders like paul rothrock should be starting like that and like I'm going to, like, I love Jordan Morris as a Sounders fan. And through this entire year, like, and that will always stay the same because he got us to an MLS Cup in 2016. He did. He doesn't score Colorado. Again, Colorado. flu game We're not going to the MLS Cup.
01:08:52
Speaker
um I guess we already had the lead, but still. 2019, hat trick against Dallas. a Big goal in that game. Without that, we're not we're not moving on. We're not getting past Dallas in the first round. Yeah. he get And then... ah After that and then the 2020 season we probably don't go to that MLS Cup if he he was on fire in the COVID season fans didn't see that so that's why we're discrediting that then he comes back he after the injury and starts playing lights out like when he is here he scores goals and even last year even last year and then so he becomes a DP when
01:09:34
Speaker
ah So when he keep he becomes a DP, so we have the DP spots open when, um who were the, what year did he become a DP again? This was like 24 maybe.
01:09:48
Speaker
That was 24. But he comes because our other DPs, just left and then if you're jordan morris and the club is like like for jordan morris always seems like the sweetest kindest guy like he doesn't feel like the guy firm can confirm he doesn't feel like a guy who's gonna domain who's gonna be like if you don't pay me more i'm going to leave or like i've been here for so long i've won two trophies with you i've given you everything it's time for me to be a dp He doesn't feel like that. The Sounders made the choice to make him a DP instead of going out and do stuff. And I'm fine. And it's worked out for the Sounders. Obviously, we only need one DP and we win. That's like the bit. That is the bit. You all all need three DPs? We got a one
01:10:41
Speaker
But he was the one. But, like, the Sounders made that, not Jordan Morris. So, like, yeah it's like... thick they Like, yes, at the moment, it does feel like he is being overpaid.
01:10:55
Speaker
And I get that because he's not on the field. But like, how is he going to, like, if they tell him, hey, Jordan, we're going to make you a DP now.
01:11:05
Speaker
What's he going to say? No. Like, he's not going to do that. No one's going to, you're not going to turn down the money. like he he did He did everything he needed to do to become a DP because it was in his contract. yeah it's like that's yeah no what you're saying I think in a in a roundabout way is like if you're mad at anybody it can't be Jordan Morris it has to be the front office for deciding that they didn't believe that he would score this many goals or that if he did score this many goals he would be worth it which like i don't even think you could be mad at that because
01:11:42
Speaker
there's there's this guy who, if he if he plays up to the level of a DP, he essentially gets that contract. And he did. You expect him to continue to play like that.
Jordan Morris's Designated Player Status
01:11:53
Speaker
And season after season, he's been unlucky. Not moving away from him, you can have that conversation.
01:11:59
Speaker
But I still think that the the conversation about, like, him being a DP is so silly because at the time it made so much sense. Same with Pedro de la Vega. Like my, my, my, my annoyance with it is less so that they signed him because it was ambitious and it was smart. And when he's played, he's looked amazing, but it's like, okay, what's the decision making now?
01:12:20
Speaker
And I think that, yeah It's going to be interesting. i'm more i've I have more flack on on ah pedro dead of on ah Pedro being a DP than Morris because Pedro, before he came to the Sounders, like ah like he he was promising, but like he he wasn't... like but the Jordan Morris played himself into the DP position, which is so rare that people do in DP because so usually you are you you come to the league and you have that contract. It's very rare that you get that. And and with Pedro having the DP contract when he well people thought he was good, but he hadn't really proven himself, um like it's used tough it feels... I have...
01:13:10
Speaker
i I have more disdain for Pedro being a DP than I do have Morris. And I have, like, none for Morris. Because, again, like... Morris is not going to turn... If they tell him he's going to be a DP, you're going to be a DP. And i I think, like someone said, like, if if you have... It's better to, like, label someone as a DP or, or like, have DPs on your books rather than have the spot open.
01:13:35
Speaker
is that... it I don't know what the... hey jack Exactly what that is, but, like, you... Even if someone... could be like bought down you want to like have the spot filled on it i i feel like i've read that before but i'm yeah don't know well nat thank you so much for calling we're gonna keep it pushing here we appreciate you always calling in welcome back to a new season you rock and it was good to see you at the party on uh yeah friday to meet you iro so thank you thank you it's great to meet you guys as well i love you jordan morris go sounders let's go beats south lake
01:14:13
Speaker
Yeah. See that. Thank you. We got Raul up next real quick before we bring them on the stage. I did want to say like, I'm glad that Nat brought that up about the track record with Jordan Morris. Cause he's about to take a lot of heat in the discourse for the next couple of weeks. But I think I want, I want to try and be mindful of the fact that this is still the leading goal scorer in the history of the club and more importantly a guy that has been the focal point for multiple trophy winning teams a guy that they probably definitely don't have two mls cups without and don't have a lot of the accomplishments and the trophies that they have without so i'm going to choose to be mindful of that in spite of what i think are very valid concerns and just negative feelings over the just really bad and unfortunate injury luck he's had over the last couple years but All right, let's get Raul on here, and then we got Disc Golfer, and then we got Hunch. Let's go. God, we're so back. We're so back.
01:15:08
Speaker
Raul. There we go. Raul, what's up, man?
Match Outcome and Fan Reactions
01:15:12
Speaker
What's up, man? 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids. Good. Jordan Morris and Hassani Dotson lead with injuries. Bad. How are you feeling?
01:15:19
Speaker
Super happy. First and formo foremost, I'd like to thank you guys. You guys doing a great job on covering the Sounders, especially in the preseason. I barely started kind of following you guys. You guys are doing super good job. So thank you guys for all that, for keeping us updated. Appreciate that. thank you Yeah, yeah the whole the whole referee thing in the first half, I thought it was – he lost control of the game.
01:15:37
Speaker
We could have been at least like three, four goals the first half, but makes sense now. I guess he's a bit of a rookie, but um yeah, other than that, Morris's injury, you know, I love Morris. We all love Morris, but at some point we got to say, hey, this whole DP spot, you know, we got to respectfully kind of move on But other than that, Hassani Dodson, he had a good game. Snyder, and that kid is a jam. He's going to be doing real good. But Paul, Paul Rothrock, man, and just the energy, the intensity, the urgency, the heart. I mean, when he came in there and just took care of business like right away.
01:16:13
Speaker
And of course, Rusnak, you know. that it's Oh, let's go. There we go. Bert. I love that guy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just happy with the with the win, and I'm glad that the the boys are back. As far as the attacking thing, I think that De Rosario, he's looking a lot better, but I'd like for him to be a little bit more sharper. He's a big dude. He's a big dude, big Brazilian guy. He's good, but very happy with the win. Yeah, just going to keep it short. Thank you guys so much. You guys are awesome. you guys are doing a really good job. I am from L.A., but you know what? I'm a sounder at heart.
01:16:46
Speaker
forever. Sounders till it's not. Let's go. No, we love it. And we love our l la our l LA friends. We've made a lot of good friends down in LA. So yeah we'll see you this this this year, hopefully, at an away match. yeah I already got my, I'm getting my tickets ready for ah the Galaxy of the LAFC games. Yeah. Let's go.
01:17:02
Speaker
yeah thanks for calling in, Radul. We'll talk soon, man. We're doing a good job. Keep it up. Appreciate it. And have a good night, guys. Thanks, boss. Go Roosnack. All right, we got Disc Golfer, then we got Hunch, then we got DJ.
01:17:16
Speaker
Let's get your... He's ready. He's ready. You do it. click Hands off. ah Listen, I've ruined the tech too many times. Fellas, can you hear me? Yeah, we got you. We got you. Damn, that was close, dude. Oh, is this a Paul Rothrock sweatshirt? Yes, it is. Dude, literally, I'm not even going to... I'm going to keep it a buck with you all. I literally just messaged my partner. i was like...
01:17:37
Speaker
bro, I'm up next. And she goes, are you wearing your Paul Rothrock sweatshirt? And I said, no I'm not. And so I frantically switched sweatshirts and here I am. It's an appropriate night to ah to wear it. Cause I think if we were given out, many match there's a few candidates from this one, but like, I think you would got, you gotta to give it to him just for coming in cold off the bench in the eighth minute, immediately getting an assist, scoring a banger for good measure. It's got like, true drew God, I'm so glad they paid him. Jeez. christmas my god they almost did it they almost did not and here we are and what would i do with this sweatshirt uh probably still wear it probably still wear it yeah yeah like i like let's be perfectly honest i still would but but uh i'm glad i get to wear it tonight so um yeah no i uh my initial thoughts on the game um happy
01:18:31
Speaker
That's yeah, that's it. First half. If you would ask me at halftime, I would say mad. Yes, because that was a crazy fucking first half. Dude, what happened in that?
Defensive Strength and Squad Depth Concerns
01:18:43
Speaker
That was nuts. Yeah, what happened? I got to the end of the 76th minute of the first half and I was like, what am I watching? What did I? What is this? How many games did you play?
01:18:55
Speaker
First of all, I had to watch an hour and a half of it or something. i don't know. An hour and a half of a ref just making weird-ass decisions. it's what it It is what it is. But ah no, overall, dude... um First of all, bro, Reagan and Yamar, so good.
01:19:13
Speaker
Just so good. Dude, second half especially, Reagan, what are we doing? this is Dude, he he might be the best CB in all of MLS. He looked like it tonight.
01:19:24
Speaker
He looked so good. He was so good. He looked like a level up, which I don't think we've even talked about him as like a step forward guy. but that kind of you know We'll see what happens this season, but that kind of looked like a step forward to me. like That was great. think so.
01:19:39
Speaker
I mean, I'm biased, obviously, if you couldn't tell by the amount of rave green I'm wearing. But ah yeah, horribly biased. But like, dude, he was so good. Just like, you know, there there was a lot to be desired from this game, I think.
01:19:56
Speaker
Injuries, especially, which suck. They suck. I think, and that ties into, I've been a very, I've been very critical of the offseason.
01:20:07
Speaker
the amount of players sold and the lack of players brought in and the lack of depth in certain areas. And I think, I don't wanna be negative, but I do think it is worth saying that the team as a whole has gotten older and has not brought in as many players I hope they would bring in And now you're seeing injuries in week one and that sucks. Like that just straight up sucks.
01:20:35
Speaker
But, you know, besides all that, dude, this game was fun as fuck. I had a great time. Sorry, I shouldn't swear on your YouTube channel. I apologize. You know.
01:20:46
Speaker
We do it all the time. Guys. again Oh, I actually just it started calling someone, but it literally has the label defense on it. Defense was calling tonight. It's a big red phone. It is labeled defense. And then Noah just called whoever is on the other end of that line.
01:21:05
Speaker
which defense is calling defense defense dude defense stepped up tonight like you know i think it was not a perfect game but it was also one of those games where at no point did i think colorado was going score no quite frankly like it just did it never felt like the sounders were in danger of losing despite some questionable calls despite some maybe questionable injuries. I don't know what to call it. ah That's mostly Dotson being injured way too late in stoppage time. But um no, great game. That is something to talk about.
01:21:43
Speaker
they They would not, would that Dotson injury have happened if the ref was just somewhat competent? No, that's what I was saying earlier. That happened in the 57th minute of the first half, which shouldn't have even been happening.
01:21:56
Speaker
That's what pissed me off more about it. Ari was spitting about this earlier. I will die on this hill. Ari was all over it. You were spitting so hard had end the stream. I was ready for the ref discourse tonight.
01:22:10
Speaker
I'm usually the guy that's like, the refs, but tonight i had to I had to get in on this ref discourse. What you were saying about the defense, though, that was a welcome sight for me, man, because honestly, like watching this defense last year, there was a lot of times where I was like, oh boy, let's hold on to our hats because they're only one goal ahead and we
Game Enjoyment Despite Challenges
01:22:30
Speaker
know how that goes. I felt none of that tonight, so that was nice. and you know I know it's just the Colorado Rapids. They didn't look very good, but like...
01:22:37
Speaker
Again, they did, they played a lot of bad teams last year where they did give up bad goals and blow leads. So it was just nice to see them not do that. Yeah. And I, am sorry, just to, this is going to be like some two-year-old discourse right here. So I'm sorry about that.
01:22:52
Speaker
i I will die on this hill. I still had more fun last year. I would still rather tie 2-2 than win 1-0. I thought last year was so much fun compared to, ah was it 2024? What year are we in? I forgot. Yeah, 2026. Yeah. So, dude, last year was still, I think, more fun.
01:23:12
Speaker
It was definitely more entertaining, not always in a good way, but yeah. That's fair. Yeah, that's super fair. But um yeah, no, tonight was tonight was a blast. Good for the so second half was a blast.
01:23:24
Speaker
First half was touch and go at times, but that's okay. Because you know what? It's the first half of the season. Who cares? But um hopefully the injuries are okay. And yeah, I had a good time with it. So That's all I got. i just wanted to call in, say hey.
01:23:41
Speaker
Hell yeah. Thanks, Disc Golfer. Appreciate you. Have a good night. yeah We'll catch you on the next one. See ah All right. We got Hunch. Then we got DJ. And then that is it. Well, if anyone else wants to tap in, do it now. We're probably going to start winding down relatively soon. do it now or forever hold your peace exactly if you want to if you want to call in and dish takes do it now or forever hold your peace uh but we're gonna get hunch first hunch call of the season let's go lots of discourse to get to hunch you're on the stage what's up man 2-0 over the colorado rapids good jordan morris sassani dodson leaving with injuries bad how are you feeling what are your what are your takes
01:24:18
Speaker
It's hard. I mean, it's there's a lot to take in. It's hard to take like and any perspective of
Future Expectations for Players
01:24:24
Speaker
going forward. when yeah What's it going to look like? you know Do you start Jesus up top alongside Mosovsky? What's the lineup look like? yeah is it Is it just Mosovsky and if got to sub him, what does that look like?
01:24:38
Speaker
ah The quad injury with Jordan, I mean, at least it's not something that I think he's had in the past. Is quad or thigh? I heard thigh. It's thigh. Thigh, okay. lost flying press blocks but i don't know yeahs Upper leg.
01:24:51
Speaker
But in the past, it's been calf and knee. So this is different, I'll say. um So, you know, who knows the extent. It could be just lesser for him. But he knew because he went down. Yeah, he knew. He knew. Like, they didn't even bother, like, straight away, which is sad. But...
01:25:08
Speaker
And yeah, I think the pressure is not on him if he's not on a DP contract, which I really think by the end of this year, they're going to have to negotiate that. And i I don't want to be seen as pushing him out the door in any kind of way. Like, I hope he retires with this team.
01:25:21
Speaker
But it's got to be in an economically smart way because he his best years are not in front of him. And his best tool, his speed, is not going to improve in the future.
01:25:32
Speaker
Like where he's at is he's his best that he's going to be now. And in future years, he will not likely attain those levels. But I'm i'm happy to keep him as long as it makes sense. You know?
01:25:46
Speaker
ah What did you think of Snyder B, Hunch? I'm um' a curious. you' okay Okay. I'm glad you asked. Two things. we could probably talk every single game for here to the rest of the season about how good Paul Rothrock is. So I'm just going to say he's always good.
01:26:03
Speaker
And I don't want to have to talk about him every time we have this, because he's probably just going to be legitimate. And the the other side of that is Snyder B. Like he's getting more more minutes. But like I said last year, like,
01:26:14
Speaker
The sample size is small, but I think, you know, if you want to call him Snyder, be warned because the rest of the team the rest of the league needs to look out. Yeah. the ah what Well, let me ask you this.
01:26:27
Speaker
Is he a cam or is he a CDM? because I thought he was a CDM, but he is playing like attacking it. Okay. i'm let me telling you That's what I'm telling you. It's hard to tell because he was so pushed up and he was so lethal, but he was also obtaining possession and, you know, breaking people down at the top of the mid, which is not normally where our team likes to have the CDM, at least not since Ozzy.
01:26:51
Speaker
Right. No, he's he's a little different in in that way. And you can kind of do some fun stuff with him. And I like, you know, obviously the Dotson injury sucked, but it was it was cool to get a little extended run at Snyder just to see if, you know, what we were seeing last year was looking similar. And I thought it definitely did. I thought he was great.
01:27:11
Speaker
I loved that little that little flick he had on the corner of the box to to kind of pull that ball back in. i don't know man. He's just so good on the ball. um i i i i I have all the faith in the world in him. I just don't want to create too much expectation until we've gotten to see more and let him be him.
01:27:29
Speaker
I don't want to overhype. like I want to take care. we How many youth do we have anymore? you know And it's like this is a pivotal spot for us. Probably, i would say, going... listless Next year, top of the box or top of the formation, a nine and probably a six is going to be the top two things.
01:27:48
Speaker
If he works out here, like that could settle at least half of that. Meaning like we let him develop and he fills in, which means then they only have to shop for potentially an nine or something like it. I don't know.
01:28:00
Speaker
um So i I just want him to take his time and develop as a... as hopeful as I am for, for what he could be. But yeah, I think you guys mentioned already the center backs.
01:28:12
Speaker
I think after last year's performance, probably the off season was like, we are not doing that again. And I don't mean the center. That's what i was hoping that's how speak and ki that you are not doing that again. This team is not known for that. We are not going to play that way.
01:28:25
Speaker
I think you're right, and I hope you're right, because it did get a little ridiculous last year. like Just sacrificing results that you really just should not be. like this game This game last year, I would have been just...
01:28:41
Speaker
stressed the entire time that they were going to blow the lead and end up with a draw. so i was never worried in this one. i didn't have that like That didn't strike me at any point during this match. Exactly, which wasn't that nice to not feel like that?
01:28:55
Speaker
The opposite of that was being like the Atlanta match in Atlanta last year. Some of these matches last year, it felt like I was ah driving a car going 80 miles an hour or that I had no control over. like It was just not...
01:29:07
Speaker
enjoyable to be in that situation. Watch out, everyone. And there was there was none there was none of that tonight. There was none of that. They took a team that they were way better than and outplayed them thoroughly and beat them comfortably. Only 2-0 on the final score line, but like that was that could have been a 3-4-0 game. In fact, it was a 3-0 game. Hassani Dodson's goal counts in my heart. so It should have been 4.
01:29:28
Speaker
Yeah.
Offensive Play and Team Potential
01:29:29
Speaker
Russnack flirted with that with a brace. he had He kind of had that open back post and just kind of to the you're right. yeah He had it, though. like He was served in. It's like, oh, man.
01:29:39
Speaker
and that That also could have uncorked it, too, because then then you start getting unhinged, even though Colorado, I think, used all five of their subs. Yeah, I thought the performance offensively was enough for me to be like, all right, like a lot of the good stuff that we really liked last year. Looks like we're seeing that again. And we weve barely even talked about him at all. But Jesus Ferreira was a big, a big part of that. I was going say. Actors into two of the both of the goals.
01:30:00
Speaker
Well, look at it. so ah So my top performers, obviously Rothrock, Jesus, and Andrew Ice-T. He had to be solid. He wasn't moving to make saves. He was already in position.
01:30:11
Speaker
like he was He had it red. Red, red, red, red. And then he was in control in terms of, like I know the eight-second thing that they're going to be big on. You can't hold the ball, which I'm a little shocked at how much we didn't press their keeper knowing that they had to put the ball down. But Andrew was all over it. um I thought he had a good game. I will say about that. Jesus, he had the assist to Paul Rothrock. I'm pretty sure. yeah And I'm fairly certain both of them are playing wide right and wide left. And when you have those two guys connect on a goal, unassisted, like, what are you talking about?
01:30:40
Speaker
Like you just bypass the entire center, both their defense and our offense. No center forwards up there. And just said, oh, us two guys way out here on the, on the extremes, we'll get it done.
01:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Hunch, we got two more calls in there behind you, but any last takes or thoughts you wanted to get out there? yeah I'll say this. like My expectations and hopes for the year are And I was on him last year was Jesus has a breakout in Osaze. Like if he just becomes, you know, formidable beast number nine or whatever, he ends up there at the top.
01:31:14
Speaker
I am so here for it. You know, if he we will, as I mentioned, if he ends up having a pair of Musovsky, those guys like to poach both of them. yeah But they, Osaze's young and he's got size.
01:31:27
Speaker
If those two figure out how to become a tandem, it's going to be gross. It's going to gross. I thought Osaze was good tonight. He was one of the ones I was watching the closest because he just had this great preseason. And I kind of wanted to see if he could live up to that. First half, I was like, well, you can't really tell that much because there's only about 12 minutes of actual soccer that was played. Second half, I thought he grew into the game a little bit. And he really like he started that whole play that Rothrock eventually scored on. So I know he didn't get a goal, but like that's the kind of stuff you want to see. So I thought it was a positive.
01:32:01
Speaker
It was a positive night for the Osase agenda. Yeah, I was the agenda a lot. the I think his runs, he was getting in the right position. He didn't finish, but like I don't think that that was necessarily like the end of the world.
01:32:13
Speaker
yeah And he took it down the right wing, got a little bit of gas, you know, like, know, his top speed is not like his top you know skill. But if he's got somebody who can go with him, I mean, all they gotta do is dish it back. And then he's either heading it or just bodying defenders off as he could soon come crashing in for that, you know, follow on.
01:32:30
Speaker
So like, I'm just so here for him having a breakout season. Oh, it last thing. i'll and And you can let me go on this one. That's fine. for as much as we bagged on the ref, I'll say two things. One, if you watched on the VAR reviews, they're talking at him. He's just sitting there being quiet. and So they're just chewing his ear off while he's like looking at the screen.
Further Criticism of Refereeing
01:32:47
Speaker
And two, the one big thing I say about refs who can quote-unquote lose control is like, why they put on yellow? Dude issued like three or four yellows in the first half.
01:32:56
Speaker
So I'll give him credit for trying. But like you know he's going to take the brunt of all the arrows on this one. So I feel bad for the guy. He obviously is new because I don't recognize him, but... i yeah I blame VAR more than him.
01:33:08
Speaker
Yeah, I blame VAR more than him. Like, yeah you know. So, anyway, glad to we have the packed but you guys are back. I'm so happy to be talking with you guys. And, yeah. It's good to talk with you too, Hunch. Sorry I was rightlessly making sure I didn't crash the stream again. Thank you. i Look forward to the next one.
01:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, we'll talk to you on the next one. Have a good one, man. See you, boss. All right, we got DJ, and then we got Sounder Knaves all the way. Dude, Sounder Knaves, dude. It's like 8 in the morning over there, All the way from Norway. All right, let's get DJ on here. Then we got Knaves. Then we got Parker. Let's go. Keep it rolling.
01:33:44
Speaker
DJ, you're on the stage. What's up, man? He's got his Sounder City on What's What's good? 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids. We're back. Yeah. ah That was good. Jordan Morris, Hasani Dotson injuries. That was bad. How are you feeling? What you think?
01:33:58
Speaker
Yeah, so i'll i'll be I'll be brief because I feel like many of the previous callers pretty much summarized what I wanted to say. But today was an amazing game. i brought one of my buddies and I think I converted him.
01:34:10
Speaker
He is a Sounders fan. um Paul Rothrock, that's the only person I want to talk about today. please he has proven that he is a starter. He needs to be starting for the rest of the season.
01:34:23
Speaker
I will die on that hill. um Just phenomenal dribbles. Now, do I think that we can just improve as a team in terms of finishing? Absolutely. But the hustle, right, the grit that Paul has, it just...
01:34:38
Speaker
puts people it makes people uncomfortable, right? The other team at least. And I think that's the type of player that we need someone that ah other teams are afraid of, right? I don't want Paul Rothrock to dribble at me, right? Or or even in Georgie, right? And we didn't really get to see that from Georgie today, but it was just such a breath of fresh air to see Paul just hustle, play defense, play offense, just make them scramble.
01:35:03
Speaker
um The other thing so Just that that ah red card, right? um I don't buy it, right? Everyone's saying, like, it could have been a yellow. At the end of the day, I think the the ref has the final say, right? So, yes, maybe the VAR team was stating, like, I shouldn't be a red. But if he decides it's a red, right, it was pretty clear he ran up in and gave that red, right? And just stick with stick with that call.
01:35:31
Speaker
right I would say, i would argue you have to stick with that call unless there's something that you can't dispute and can't debate, which that is not the case on that play. I don't care what anyone wants to say about it. That is like, you're not supposed to be going back and re litigating 50, 50 decisions like that. It's only supposed to be like clear and obvious. And that, that is, that was not even close to the remotest part of the ballpark of the criteria. Like I'm like, absolutely. Yeah.
01:35:59
Speaker
And like he spent like three or four minutes trying to figure that out. And it's like, if you can't figure that out in 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I think some previous caller said that there should be a timer. Absolutely. Yes. you need to You need to stand on business. He did not stand on business. I think I heard this was his first game. Fine. That will also be your last game because you did not officiate
Optimism for Sounders' Future
01:36:21
Speaker
correctly. Right. But um again, all in all,
01:36:24
Speaker
I had fun today. I really do think that we can finish at the top of the West. If we continue to play like this, yeah, we're going to beat LAFC. We're going to beat the Galaxy, which isn't that much to be real. But LAFC, think our team right now, can beat them.
01:36:42
Speaker
So um'm I'm really excited for our boys. Yeah, I'm really excited for our boys. um It's great to see you guys um again. i will be calling in more. I know I said I wasn't going to call in. i was driving at the time, but um great job.
01:36:56
Speaker
um And no, it's okay that the stream kind of crashed. It happens to the best of us, right? So usually that's all i got. Right? Thanks, DJ. Great to talk to you, man. Good to see you, DJ. Talk soon, man.
01:37:10
Speaker
All right. We got Naves. Then we got Parker. Let's get them in. We've never had Naves on two here. Dude, Naves? This is the intro Naves call? No, no. He called in, ah but it was just me. So it's the first time he's going to on with both Noah Naves. Noah Naves. Noah Naves.
01:37:22
Speaker
This is a historic moment for lobbing scorchers. Naves, welcome in First time we've had you on the post-game live. Thanks for tapping in all the way from Norway. 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids.
01:37:35
Speaker
Good. Jordan Morris, Hassani Dotson injuries. Bad. What's up? how are you feeling? Yeah, good. I think, first of all, like we need to consider the fact that Well, okay, I'll just, I'll put it this way. I think everyone looked good today. I have this, ah I wrote down my evaluations of all the players here, and it basically goes like this.
01:37:56
Speaker
Thomas, good. Alex Roldan, good. Yamar, good. Reagan, good. Nuhu, good. It's just good all the way through. Like, I didn't think anyone had, I mean, obviously, like, Jordan is kind of, like, not applicable. He was only on the pitch for, like, three minutes. So that's a bummer, but everybody's good.
01:38:11
Speaker
But I think it's like maybe worth considering the fact that Colorado is hopeless. I mean, they look terrible. It's definitely worth considering that. Yeah. I saw some people on Blue Skies saying that like our press was looking incredible. And it's like, yeah, but they were also like inviting – like they they they were like They were trying to play out of the back so much. They had like wo but like a like a six pass challenge in their own six yard box before like exit It was insane. I don't know what they were like. I get you want to play out of the back, but like we were just like, yeah, full on like pedal to the metal press because we knew that they just weren't even considering a like a lofted ball over the top or whatever. And like, obviously we can gamble a little bit with Reagan and Yemar back there. can kind of go one on one.
01:39:00
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, i like I get people are happy and stuff. And, like, obviously, you can only beat the guys that you're playing. So, fair enough. But, i you know, I think if we had kind of, like, had an even normal first half, i mean, this would have been a blowout. I think we would have beat them by, like, six or seven goals because it was yeah they were really bad. So, that might be one of the worst teams we'll face this year. Yeah.
01:39:24
Speaker
It's funny because they're supposed to be improved according to the punditry, including myself, but they did not look it tonight. It is a fair caveat, but I was glad to see them handle an opposition like that as easily as they did and play the way that they were able to play. Assert your superiority. There were times last year where they were playing bad teams when they didn't do that. Yeah. I'll give him credit for that, even though I would say like totally fair caveat to say we need to see them play lot better teams to formulate actual conclusions. But it was nice to see nonetheless, I think.
01:39:59
Speaker
Yeah, and what I'll say is, like, they might be better, you know? We'll see. Like, maybe, like, the hard work that they do now and, like, sticking to their identity or whatever. Like, they improved through the season. But, like, that yeah, they were just, like, not there today. But the other thing, like, it's worth the – what was I going to say? i think it's also worth remembering that the Sounders – oh, shit.
01:40:18
Speaker
What was it? I can't remember now. That's all right. it's It's early in the morning. You're allowed to forget. Yeah, it's – Well, yeah, I've been awake for four hours. 3.15, of course. They listed the game time at 3.15, and then it didn't start until almost 3.40. I have a half hour And then you got a nice extra minutes of the first half. so for sure that was kind of brutal i felt bad for the players they look so gassed at the end of the first half i don't know if you noticed but like they were they were blowing that was not that was not a fun like intro to the season for them i don't think no 61 minute first half thought god that was stupid no that was ridiculous
01:40:58
Speaker
what ah What else cut your eye, Naves? Yeah, you're the tactician. paul You're the tactician, man. What tactics? I'm not a some tactician. I'm a spreadsheets guy. But, like, thea I will say that i was I was really, like, the last time i watched the game, obviously, were the two stream games, with Medalist and and who was it? Hammerby.
01:41:19
Speaker
Yeah, Hamad B. You got to say the right. Hamad B. It's okay. All of them are already mad at me because I told them that Georgie's worth more than a million dollars. And they were like, no, give them to us.
01:41:32
Speaker
Give them to us. Please. They're crazy. You don't need them. you don't play people they're very uh they're very entitled those stuff yeah uh no i i i was just gonna say that like and the first like they figured it out eventually but i thought like uh hasani and christian didn't have the balance right in that homerby game and they they kind of figured it out towards the end i thought they looked a lot better in the in the second half than they did in the first half but Today I thought they looked great from the jump and was a bummer that Asani went off but at the same time like Brunel didn't like miss a step like he just came in and slotted in. Looked totally at home. Again like playing against the bad team so you know you're gonna hold off on the uh I always gotta get interrupted by the kid right so here's the there's the three-year-old. Oh there you go special guest. Sorry.
01:42:25
Speaker
but ah sorry at I can't remember what I was talking about. I'd love to see it. now what were we saying I want to know. I want to know your, your, your, you were talking about the Danny Leyva or not dan Danny Leyva. Oh God. Hassani. I'm also right there with you. Hassani Dodson and Christian rolled on double pivot. I was, like i was a huge fan of Hassani in this game. I've been like super up on him yeah from what I've seen in preseason and everything. i really hope he's fine. I think he's probably going to be fine. The way that Schmetz kind of talked about it. seemed like it was a precautionary situation, uh,
01:43:03
Speaker
Yeah, like how do you see his role kind of adapting? Do you think he's going to like a goal scorer like this? Yeah, maybe. I mean, Christian talked about it a little bit in that interview you guys did with Alex and him. Like, he talked a little bit about being more of the six and letting Hassani kind of, like, roam a bit. So I think, you know, most likely, I think we'll probably see. I mean, jury's out on Petkovic or whatever, but I guess it's kind more. I will say, he did have Zins in his locker today. So he is at least incredibly Slavic. He's a man of his people. that rocks. Yeah.
01:43:38
Speaker
And they weren't sixes, they were eights. Was he wearing an Adidas? I didn't even know they made tracksuit. when we were still in there, he was still in full kit. kit And I was like, all right, bro.
01:43:50
Speaker
cool No, but I guess I just think that like probably it's going like Petkovic will probably be like the understudy to Roldan and then Brunel and Hassani will probably be the more sort of ah advanced or like roam about guy, number eight, whatever you want to call it. So I think i think we'll probably see that. I think, yeah, I think Hassani, hopefully, I mean, that'd be great if we had another box crasher. I mean, one of the the biggest problems, I think,
01:44:16
Speaker
Not last year, but the year before when we couldn't score any goals was like, we never committed more than like three, sometimes three and a half guys to the box in attacks. And so like somebody, and it was like why I was kind of like down on Rusnak also that year, even though he, he had a career year that year, but like, there's so few like open play goals. Like we, we kind of set pieced our way to not that there's anything wrong with that But like the open play goals thing was a problem because we we needed somebody to like create something out of nothing. And we didn't really, like Roustak's a lot of things, but he's not like a create something out of nothing guy. He's like a more like a mix it up guy.
01:44:51
Speaker
So, ah you know, but if we can get another guy into the box to like be around and play with Rusnak, like in that kind of like zone outside the box or like just inside the box, I think, you know, that could really like open some things up. Yeah.
01:45:09
Speaker
I worry a little bit about it with Petkovic and Roldan. I mean, yeah I don't know Petkovic's game very well, but at least with Roldan, like, he's obviously awesome, but, like, he doesn't eat ground like a lot of lone sixes do, in in or at least they're supposed to. So it it might leave us a bit exposed there. but So be interesting to see how it plays out and the kind of balance we we strike there. But, I mean, Hassani can get to the bottom, you know, the other thing is, like, we can be a bit more aggressive if we know that we can – You know, when Hassani tires out at 60 minutes from doing, like, lung-busting sprints all game, if we can just bring bring on Brunel and basically have a like-for-like with no drop-off. I mean, pretty pretty sick.
01:45:50
Speaker
It'd be nice to be able to get another attacker in there. Yeah. That midfield. That midfield is just... it it looked ah It looked really good. The Hassani-Christian duo looked good. And then, like you said, there was no drop-off with Snyder.
01:46:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, it'll be, I mean, you know, let's wait and see how they play against LAFC or whatever, but, but I agree. It looked good today. Happy with it. Hell yeah. Naves, thank you for calling in. Loved having you on and keep, keep, keep calling, man. You got stay up at those crazy hours so you can tap in and lay down the takes. So I got to get my three-year-old to kindergarten now. Yeah. Yeah. Go parent, go be a parent whatever, whatever. Yeah. Take care. All right. Bye, Naves. We got Parker, and then we're going to close it out for the night. I don't know if you're in here on purpose, Hunch, but you're back in here. But we're going and then we're going to call it night.
01:46:47
Speaker
Parker, we're God. We're so bad. Has anyone ever been more back than us? like ah But we got we got Parker in here. We have we got all the regulars. We had some new ones. So thank you all for tuning in and calling in Parker. Two zero victory over the Colorado Rapids. That was good. Jordan Morris and Hassani Dotson came off with injuries. That was bad. How are you feeling after a season opening dub?
01:47:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'm pretty excited. um It's too early to call the season yet. I think it's way too early, but I will say that we were moving like a group.
01:47:22
Speaker
I've never seen us. We've had some strong starts, but... Sorry, was laughing in the comment. No, you're not shot forever. Anyway, um yeah, i'm I don't know what they're doing. Schmetz was talking about the team activities out in Spain.
01:47:41
Speaker
I think it's working because there's no way that Jesus Ferrer and Paul Rothbrock were somehow on that same wavelength to like make that goal happen. There's just an insane amount of trust.
01:47:53
Speaker
A couple things I wanted to shout out. Or I guess, what are your thoughts? Do you think that... it's like more coherent this year. what Sorry, what was the first part of that? Do you think we're more coherent in this year than we have in the past?
01:48:10
Speaker
Well, I thought, i I mean, you know, we have to see what happens as they play more games, but I definitely thought it looked like that tonight, particularly on defense. Like we've talked about it a lot, but like ah it just it just felt like there was a lot more cohesion on that side of the ball. It felt like the communication was really good. And it didn't feel like there was really any point in the game where they let the Rapids into it. So I think from that standpoint, yeah, like I i would say that, you know, they got to sustain it. But I think that was a good start on kind of imparting what I'm i'm pretty sure the points of emphasis of the preseason were based on the stuff that went wrong last year at times.
01:48:50
Speaker
hundred um couple shout outs. ah Andrew Thomas somehow had the presence of mind in the 92nd minute where he made a save and then a second save, but he didn't cover the ball in the second save.
01:49:09
Speaker
He just bumped the ball away from him so that he could then, um like, not... he could run the clock. And for him to have that much presence of mind is very impressive.
01:49:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good shout. I didn't even really think of that, but he did do that. And he didn't really he didn't really have all that much to do tonight outside of that. But I thought it was an encouraging first start as like the number one. like there was no It didn't look like there was any acclimation that. No, not. smoking really well I talked to him after the game a lot, and he said to me, said, I came into this game Really excited. at The last match that he'd played at Lumen was that League's Cup final.
01:49:56
Speaker
And he said, I was really excited to come in the building and like just Get this one under the belt. He said, I wanted to come in here. I didn't want to be Stefan Fry. i didn't want to be anyone but myself. I just wanted to come in here and establish myself and feel like myself. And I think he did that.
01:50:13
Speaker
And that's like that's the confidence that you want. He's like, right I know this person's really good. I know what I'm stepping into. I know the shoes that I'm filling, but I'm not even trying to fill the shoes. I'm just here because i i trust.
01:50:24
Speaker
I trust in myself. I'm so excited for him. what else ah What else caught your eye, Parker? Paul Rothrock, Snyder B? What did you see? Yeah, i mean, frigging Pauly primetime was insane tonight. That was one of the better Pauly primetime performances. When you factor in the context of the injuries, how fast he made the impact, and then how pronounced the impact was. God, that was electric.
01:50:51
Speaker
Is he better coming off the bench, though? Like, do we want him to have a chip on his shoulder? i don't know. Yeah. Shout out to Snyder Bino with his tactical foul foul that wasn't so tactical.
01:51:04
Speaker
But also, it just shows ownership. Because for him, that was the game on the line in that second. And I like that. Yeah, no, I like the ah the veteran savvy from from the young guy. Although I am salty that he took the yellow for it and Paxson Aaronson didn't for doing literally the exact same thing at the exact same spot on the field. Like there was no difference between those two plays. One guy gets gets yellow and the other guy doesn't. That was sick.
01:51:33
Speaker
Doesn't make any sense. But that's all I've got. Hell yeah. Parker, awesome to have you back, man. Great call-in show. We'll catch you we'll catch you on the next one Take care.
01:51:46
Speaker
Bye Parker. All right, folks, we are going to call it a wrap right there for the first post game live of 2026. Thank you all as always for tuning into these. They're always a lot of fun and we appreciate everyone who calls in and lays down their takes.
01:52:00
Speaker
Uh, It was awesome seeing everybody again, and it was awesome seeing ah seeing some new faces. There's a couple of first-time callers in there as well. Max Aquino, I didn't mean to. You're not chopped liver. you're the one You're one of the regulars that didn't call in tonight, so you better call in on the next one. That's true. Thoughts on that. ah Sub to the channel. Follow the socials.
01:52:21
Speaker
Lobbingscorchers.com slash sauce. Anything else? Lobbingscorchers.com slash giveaway. And kit. But lobingscorchers.com slash giveaway. We're giving away one of the new kits. Thank you, Hutch. Yeah, like the video. yep Nico and I are going to be back at it in like... five hours seven or eight hours a here so the content don't stop but god it it felt great to have games back felt great to see another epic shift from volley poly poly prime time we're we're back we're so we're so back we've never been more back no one has ever been more back but uh we're gonna call it right there i'm gonna see you all at eight o'clock tomorrow for lobbing squirters kick off with nico moreno until then love y'all we out peace