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00:00:01
Kickoff: A New Sounders Signing, In MARCH? w/ Joe Lowery
389 Plays8 days ago
The vibes continued their recent tailspin in Matchday 5 as the Seattle Sounders played a deflating 0-0 draw against Houston Dynamo FC in the Nico Lodeiro Revenge Game. Can this situation be salvaged or is it chalked? Niko also discusses his big-time scoop that the Sounders are in advanced talks to sign English winger Ryan Kent.
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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.
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Transcript
Introduction and Show Preview
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:43
Speaker
Good morning, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I'm Ari, that's Nico, and we've got another great show to start off the week here. We're going to be talking some Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer, as always, and we're going to be doing some national punditry with my friend,
00:01:02
Speaker
Joe Lowry of Backfield and Total Soccer Show. Backfield, a Sounder at Heart partner, ah by the way. So we'll be joined by Joe in just a few minutes here.
Seattle Sounders' Challenges and Performance
00:01:12
Speaker
ah But before we get into the national punditry, Nico, we're going to talk some Seattle Sounders this morning and the vibes are not good.
00:01:20
Speaker
How are you feeling? Hey, well, first of all, ah Welcome to everybody that's hopping on. Good morning. I am on my fourth cup of coffee because I pulled all-nighter, ah which typically means that, you know, we're probably going to have some some good stories and sound at our hearts. So we'll see how that plays out for the rest of the day.
00:01:43
Speaker
ah But, man, yeah, the vibes are not great. They haven't been great. ah It is interesting that this team has...
00:01:55
Speaker
almost gone back to exactly the issues that happened in 2024. Yeah. four Yeah. sudden yeah but and that and And that's just all bad. That's just all bad. Everybody who has insecurities, everybody who, who was upset last year, they're all having this, you know, PTSD of last season. So yeah, tough, tough, tough,
00:02:21
Speaker
Tough outlook for the Sounders. let's ah Let's start right there because I think that's exactly right. People are having a PTSD to last year and ah and they're right. you know After the Charlotte game, ah people were going with the talking point of like same old thing as last year. And I was quick to say, no, no, I don't think that was the same as last year at all. The result ended up like a home draw. Yes, it ended up the same, but I didn't think the performance was similar to last year at all.
00:02:47
Speaker
You fast forward to this week, post all the injuries, And with that performance against the Houston Dynamo, 0-0 draw at home. And Nico, that was like a carbon copy of last year.
00:02:59
Speaker
So I am definitely not going to sit here this morning and tell anyone who's feeling that way that they are ah incorrect about that. ah That scoreless draw against the Houston Dynamo, if you put that in the 2024 season, have...
00:03:14
Speaker
it would have ah it It's almost eerie how much of a carbon copy that is. A scoreless draw ah at home against a not-that-good team where the the XG seemed like it was cooking. There were some decent chances, but they couldn't finish him.
00:03:29
Speaker
ah And that is that is not good, to say the least. ah Injuries notwithstanding, i think...
00:03:40
Speaker
ah It is a reasonable ask and expectation to be able to score one goal at home against the Houston Dynamo. And, ah and they couldn't do that. So yeah, I mean, anyone who's saying that it felt like last year is correct.
00:03:55
Speaker
And yeah, you know I'll even say that ah ah the people who were getting on Albert Rusnak, everyone knows that ah i've been we've been defenders on this show, but like he's been taking some criticism in the after and the aftermath of this game, and ah and it's merited. you know Even with the injuries,
00:04:14
Speaker
ah You still had him out there. You still had Jesus Ferreri, your biggest offseason a trade arrival out there. Like I said, getting one goal, which would have won you the game, is a a is a reasonable expectation, and they couldn't do it.
00:04:28
Speaker
And I think, Nico, they're playing a – They're playing with fire with a performance like that. i ah I think we're going to have to see what happens with this set of games going forward.
00:04:41
Speaker
And if they can ah if they can prove that wrong and start scoring goals and taking some results, I'm willing to accept that it might not look incredible offensively ah with the injury situation right now.
00:04:53
Speaker
But ah it's it's got to look better than that. Otherwise, people are going to be saying same old Seattle Sounders and they're going to be right.
Player Performances and Tactical Issues
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, this is the issue for me. Clearly, ah team that has enough depth and was supposed to have enough depth to do a lot of things this season. That was the hill that this team was going to die on. This is ah what we brought in together was to play every tournament, win every single ah game, be able to handle injuries.
00:05:26
Speaker
And when this Sounders team at home against a depleted depleted. I mean, Finn has got, i think, five. at One of the center backs for Houston has five professional starts at center back.
00:05:47
Speaker
Burlow gets hurt. They have to put Escobar at center back. They put Starris as a left back. There's all kinds of movement of a team that just is depleted, man. They're down to their third goalkeeper at some point in this game because Maurer gets hurt and you're still unable to get a goal is just frustrating, right?
00:06:16
Speaker
The possession was fine. The build out was fine. i thought that they used the width of the field in many times throughout that game positively. But at the end of the day, this team needs to be able to score and look, Jesus Ferreira, he is going to continue to get criticism because he was your big acquisition of the off season. So Is it fair because he hasn't been able to play that position consistently?
00:06:45
Speaker
Maybe not. But at the end of the day, I'm not looking for anything beyond at least your potential, your talent.
00:06:56
Speaker
I mean, the things that happened with Ferreira in this game almost felt like a lack of confidence, just to take a touch, just to make a pass, just to be able to to get to certain spaces.
00:07:07
Speaker
Brian said he wanted to be more active. I totally agree. He needed to be more involved. He needed to be more engaged. And there were times where he wasn't. So, so many issues with this team, with their prime age, you know, the the the key components, the X factors, Albert, he was okay, but but he he needs to be able to do more than that.
00:07:34
Speaker
he he gets ah two, three opportunities on top of the box where he's got to be able to put, put it away. He's got to be able to do a little bit more with it. And, and I hate to criticize him because he was actually one of the players that I thought influenced the game at least consistently enough.
00:07:51
Speaker
I thought that he said pieces were good. I thought that he ah set up a couple of ah really good balls. There's ah a late run to the far post by Alex Roldan where Rustak finds him across the 18 and unfortunately Alex doesn't put it away.
00:08:09
Speaker
so i actually thought he didn't play awful. But again, the magnifying glass that we talked about in Albert Rustak was going to be there and therefore it's something that he's going to have to live with.
00:08:22
Speaker
And if that expectation is beyond what he's providing you, then he needs to be criticized for it. So it's just all kinds of issues when it comes to the offensive efficiency, the final product.
00:08:40
Speaker
And look, four shots on goal necessarily, four real opportunities is what you got out of all the possession and all of the volume that you had. And that's't that's not necessarily good.
00:08:52
Speaker
but That's not what we want to see out of this team. and If we want to talk about defensively, they get a shout out. that That's even ah almost irrelevant because this Houston team went, came here to play on a deep block, hold on to the draw.
00:09:13
Speaker
And that's what you heard Ben Olsen after the game talk about, look, man, we, I'm happy with the performance. We limited their chances. we, came out of Lumen Field with with with a point that and and it was glorious. or he he was excited about it. then hey he He even told some guys, look, have you ever coached a away in Seattle? some guy that so Some press member who who had a question and he's like, man, it's hard.
00:09:37
Speaker
It's difficult to play out here. So he was happy with it. And therefore, Seattle wasn't really challenged. And even then, there were moments where Dynamo had a couple of big opportunities Whether they didn't finish those, bad shots.
00:09:53
Speaker
There was one where Yammer Gomez-Andrade just recuperates with some speed and cuts off um Kowalski.
00:10:04
Speaker
And so even with the very limited Houston team, they could have got that win. So it's just so many things that went wrong in this one where it's just not good enough.
00:10:16
Speaker
It's just not good enough. yeah I thought the chance creation was okay in this game. Like Seattle had some good looks, but they've almost kind of like lost the benefit of the doubt with that because like how often last season in that first couple months of the season where ah they were really struggling offensively, did we say, Oh, well, you know, like they played pretty well. They just couldn't finish. And then it's like, once you say that for the 27th time, it kind of, ah it loses, it loses meaning.
00:10:47
Speaker
Um, All right, I'm going to get into a couple of super chats here and then we're going to bring in Joe Lowry, Derek Richards. Thank you so much for starting it off with the $2 super sticker. He's a man. Appreciate you. Uh, we got one from Jack's two Oh six. Thank you for the $5 super chat. He says, Nico, can you, can you tell Craig that Kyogo for a Hashi is someone we should absolutely be looking at?
00:11:07
Speaker
Renee wants to sell him. Look at what he's done for Celtic. I don't know. Uh, that much about that player, but I appreciate that Jax is actually dropping a name because a lot of times people, ah you know, talk about signings that need to be made, but they don't actually say who it should be. so I appreciate that.
00:11:29
Speaker
um Nico, do you know, but really quick before we bring in Joe, do you know anything about Fruhashi? I do not, but I do know that, The Sounders did have some scouting done in that part of the world. So if he ah happened to be, ah if he's someone who is good, because I'm not going to to you and sit here and like I know the player, ah he's not one that's on my radar, if that means anything to you.
00:11:56
Speaker
ah But Craig and the scouting team were in that part of the world. So if he's any good, I'm sure that He is on their list. Craig does not ah listen to our advice, by the way, unfortunately. Not that i tried to give him that much, but I don't think he would.
00:12:11
Speaker
um All right, let's bring in our next guest. Really excited to bring on my friend. Joe Lowry, let's bring him to the stage right now from Backheeled.
00:12:23
Speaker
Joe, last time I saw you was at MLS Cup and we said we were going to line this up. Now we've finally done it. Thank you so much for joining us here this morning at this early hour. um Oh, yeah. Fellas, great to be here, first of all. And I'm i'm glad we followed through. You know, it's its scheduling can be tricky sometimes. We got there. We got to get our sea legs under us in the first stage of the MLS season. We got to wade in a little bit. And now we're here.
00:12:44
Speaker
It is great to be with you guys. Yeah, see, like you're in a time zone that I can ah i can rock with. You know, Tom Bogues, like we when we record late at night or like even early evening, you know, it's 11 p.m. for him out there. So that's why he never, if you're wondering why Tom Bogues never comes on Lobbing Scorchers, because he's on the East Coast.
00:13:02
Speaker
ah well Actually, I've heard rumors already that Tom is just not committed to the grind. I don't think there's anything about he his work rate or his volume of scoops that that shows that he's committed to the grind. i think I think it's just a facade, frankly. A fake grinder is what I i would call him Joe, before we talk some ah Seattle Sounders and MLS with you, ah why don't could you just give our audience the quick nutshell on what you're doing with Backheeled, Soundert Hard Partner, Total Soccer Show, anything you want to shill about the work that you're doing for our audience here?
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah,
Joe Lowry's Insights on MLS and Sounders
00:13:36
Speaker
I'll take i'll take the shill soapbox for just a second. Yeah, you can find almost all my written work over backheel.com in addition to some podcast work as well. We cover MLS and USL and the US Men's National Team and other American soccer things from a national perspective. And I think we do it in a a fun and different, unique way.
00:13:54
Speaker
We dig into the on-field action. We try to add real context to the stories that we tell as well. Lots of feature stuff that we're doing this year. Some really, really fun stuff. We did ah a great feature you know a year or so ago on the Sullivan family before Kevin Sullivan blew up. And that has aged very, very well.
00:14:09
Speaker
ah We've got John Arnold coming in and telling features for us. And and there's just a lot of stuff that we're doing that is a lot of fun. So folks, if you're a Sounders fan, you might already know about us via that that partnership with Sounder at Heart. Otherwise, go check it out. We got and MLS coverage of every team in the league every single week, in addition to some other fun columns as well. And then yeah, you can hear me on TSS.
00:14:27
Speaker
Just finished recording our USMNT Canada podcast. ah post-mortem episode, which was exactly as fun as as you think it was. And yeah, you can hear me on TSS five days a week as well. I love working with those guys.
00:14:38
Speaker
Everybody go sub to the backheel, listen to TSS, support independent soccer media, all that good stuff. All right, Joe, let's get into it. I wanted to hit some ah Seattle Sounders from a national perspective with you first.
00:14:53
Speaker
ah I won't lie to you. The vibes are not great out here right now. coming off another scoreless draw at home against a not very good team, which is something that happened a lot last year. We were kind of just talking about ah how that game was giving us flashbacks to the issues that afflicted this team at the start of last season. They ended up turning that season around pretty decently, to be fair, made a good run in the playoffs.
00:15:20
Speaker
But that was not a fun stretch of soccer, and I don't think anyone is – excited about the idea or the prospect of watching a lot of grinded out scoreless draws and one zeros.
00:15:31
Speaker
Again, that seems to be the situation that might be taking place with these injuries. ah But how are you? What do you think? How do you assess the Seattle Sounders right now from from the outside? What seeing?
00:15:44
Speaker
I mean, i i see a team that probably isn't creating a lot of really fun vibes in a fan base like you're talking about there, Ari. I mean, this is this is a Sounders team that's having to grind more than they wanted to coming into this season where you get through CCC play and that didn't turn out how how Seattle wanted, obviously.
00:16:00
Speaker
But you pile extra games on your schedule and that's going to harm the regular season product because you're trying to allocate resources to Champions Cup and that is completely understandable. I think everybody would do everybody in Seattle's position would do the exact same thing there.
00:16:13
Speaker
Then the issue is, okay, night you're not only dealing with fixture congestion, you're also dealing with injuries. And Pedro De La Vega is injured yet again and basically cannot be counted on, i don't think, at this point. And Jordan Morris goes down with with that injury. And Paul Areola, you lose for the season.
00:16:28
Speaker
i think if all those guys are healthy, this is a really obvious thing to say. But this Sanders team is picking up points at a better clip than the one-point-per-game pace they're on right now in the regular season through five games. I think...
00:16:39
Speaker
Basically the worst possible scenarios have happened for Seattle already. Now, the thing is, I still really believe in this team and there's a couple reasons for that. One is defensively, they're still awesome. You go and look at, it's early days, but you go look at their non-penalty XG against numbers and you go actually watch the tape and look at look at the goals allowed numbers as well.
00:16:57
Speaker
They're still really, really effective defensively and that shouldn't surprise anybody. The attack is he's a work in progress. And Jesus Ferreira is a work in progress in this team. And he's not getting to combine with all of the players that he thought he would when he arrived in Seattle. So it's early. And and injuries make getting a full read on this team really difficult.
00:17:15
Speaker
But even if injuries continue to be a problem, you look at the rest of the Western Conference, just not impressed by and large so far. And Seattle is basically a proven commodity. Yes, they've seen this story before. No, it's not fun.
00:17:28
Speaker
i do think, though, we we kind of know how this story ends. right I'm going to toss ah toss a take out there for a little ah overreaction or correct reaction or underreaction.
00:17:40
Speaker
and I'll toss it to Nico and then Joe, and want your take as well. Tell me if I'm tell me if i'm overreacting This isn't necessarily what i believe, but I think this is something that a lot of people are feeling right now, which Joe, you hit on it with the Pedro De La Vega, another muscle injury.
00:17:56
Speaker
And, you know, I think it's all well and good to say that ah this team would be a lot better offensively if he was healthy and he was playing. That's what we were saying all of last year. And he looked like, I think the most frustrating thing about this is that he looked like,
00:18:12
Speaker
like the player that he was billed as, I think, for a lot of the time that he was playing this season. But the the take I want your guys' to take on is just that – They can give this one more go.
00:18:24
Speaker
They can give this one more go, get him healthy, ramp him back up, and try and have him be a centerpiece of this attack going forward and hopefully the rest of the season and into the playoffs. if they If they ramp him back up, put him back out there, and he gets another muscle injury and it's just he gets in that cycle again, then the conclusion would be that he – I don't know if it's that they need to move off him, but that he cannot be a taking up a designated player spot on the roster next year.
00:18:55
Speaker
Not to do with anything with him as a player, but just the reality that you can't ah count on him as a regular contributor because of these injury concerns.
00:19:06
Speaker
ah Nico, what where are you at on that? And then and then Joe. you can come Oh, man, I think it's kind of kind of early in the game to just you know try to get your chips back on that investment.
00:19:20
Speaker
By looking at him now, it seems like like the severity of this specific muscle injury is not as bad as others. ah So to me, that is is positive. We saw him this week.
00:19:32
Speaker
actually just a couple of days ago ah before the Houston game. And he was already doing work with the ball. He was shooting. And that tells me that he is getting closer ah and closer.
00:19:44
Speaker
i would say that he would be available ah within a week or two. So if he gets another injury, i still would think that you want to hold on to to that investment that I feel like he's a player that provides something that Seattle doesn't have in any other one of those attacking components, which is someone that's going to beat you off the dribble. He's going to, you know, collapse defenses on him.
00:20:13
Speaker
And I think that he has enough of a, of a track record that if he's able to come in, play well, you want to hold on to it. The DP designation, i don't give it too much of a, of a,
00:20:28
Speaker
emphasis for this specific team. i think Jordan Morris is one ah player that might come off that DP designation at some point, whether you you know buy him out or you do whatever you can do with the salary cap.
00:20:42
Speaker
and So I will hold on to the DP designation for Pedro, and I'm confident that he will continue to be okay. And even if he gets another injury, i would not be ready to just hit the panic button and get him out of town just yet.
00:20:56
Speaker
I i am more willing to hit the panic button on Pedro de la Vega. When you look at his injury problems in Argentina and and you look at how he's, he's basically not been on the field for Seattle. You toss in last year that it didn't seem like b Brian Schmetzer knew how he wanted to use Pedro de la Vega, where it was very much we're going to get them on the field and we're going sort of try a few things. And there was a lot of Pedro de la Vega playing centrally, which I,
00:21:17
Speaker
I don't think is the best fit for him. and think he's better when he has a chance to be a little bit wider. The whole, the whole Pedro de la Vega experience so far from the players performances on the field, the injuries and in the way he's been used is just so bizarre to me. And the fact that Seattle paid 7 million plus to sign him in the first place from Lanus, just amazing.
00:21:36
Speaker
always is very strange and I think is is building towards being a a large miss in a transfer strategy that doesn't tend to feature a lot of misses. At the same time, you're you're really invested in Pedro de la Vega.
00:21:48
Speaker
And while, let's be honest, his best performance of the year came against Antigua, like there there have been some flashes along the way and I think he does have some quality. In MLS, it's hard to detach yourself from players because yeah there are limited roster spots in that situation. We don't see a lot of owners want to cut bait on this much money.
00:22:08
Speaker
Ever, really. So and think you're very much committed to Pedro De La Vega. i I shade towards where you are, Ari, of if not trying to get get rid of him at this stage, because he can still be a useful MLS player, right? Even if he's not a DP.
00:22:20
Speaker
It is... ah I'm at the point where I'm not expecting anything from Pedro De La Vega, and whatever Seattle gets from him is a bonus. and And credit to Seattle, right? I'm talking about this as being ah transfer strategy that doesn't feature a lot of misses.
00:22:32
Speaker
They are one of the very few MLS teams in my mind. i know they've started slowly this year in regular season play. They're one of the only MLS teams in my mind that you could take away one of their DPs. You could take away their highest priced player and they could still win MLS cup, or they could still fight for basically any trophy outside of the club world cup that they're going to be in this year. This roster, if they can get Jordan Morris back and healthy, you know, as soon as possible, maybe there's, there's a replacement that comes in for Paul Arreola, even without Paul Arreola and without Pedro de la Vega,
00:23:00
Speaker
I think this squad is still really good and it's still better than last year. So ah things can be two things. The Sounders ceiling can be limited because Pedro de la Vega is not a player that you can rely on. I honestly believe that in Seattle can still be a threat for almost every trophy this year because the roster is just that good.
00:23:15
Speaker
And the Sounders have not been very good at buying players out or, you know, taking those hits. Cause I mean, the reality is that Seattle doesn't have the wallet that other clubs around MLS do. So,
00:23:28
Speaker
ah You are vested in, but I totally get what you're saying, though. Yeah, I mean, so i ah I understand the idea that this roster was supposed to be set up in a way where if you if De La Vega goes out, he was like Joe was saying, he's supposed to be kind of ah
Pedro De La Vega's Role and Injury Concerns
00:23:48
Speaker
bonus, I think, from the way that they were looking at it.
00:23:50
Speaker
But we have a large sample at this point of when he is not on the field, there is a significant drop off. Just if there's no one else on the roster that really brings the type of creativity ah that he does. ah Joe, you mentioned you were you've been questioning like his usage. I'm curious, like ah what way have they used him that you think that they could do differently? or is there a way that they could deploy him that would make him more effective than he than he has been?
00:24:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, first of all, i'll I'll push back on your we have a large sample size of of them looking better with PDLV on the field. He's played what, like 700 MLS minutes? So large sample size of them looking not good at all offensively when he's not when he when he's not on the field and also went a lot. out I hear what you're saying. the The attacking struggles are still a problem.
00:24:40
Speaker
i I think Jesus Ferreira is more of the attempted solution for that. And I think there needs to be a little bit more time given to integrate him into this team. But Hurd, I get what you're saying. The attack is still the question mark for this team. There's no doubt about that.
00:24:51
Speaker
As far as De La Vega's usage in general, last season, there was a lot of him ah playing either as is more of a 10 or when Seattle would shift there their structure and possession to feature that flat line of five. That's been a big theme this year as well for Brian Schmetzer.
00:25:04
Speaker
he would pop up in in either half space, either the left half space or the right half space. When I watch Pedro De La Vega play, and and it's been a similar usage this year when he's been on the field, this he's mostly been in the half spaces.
00:25:15
Speaker
When I watch De La Vega play, I see a guy who was explosive, like you're talking about Nico, a guy who is dangerous when he can drop the shoulder and and play and tap the ball around someone, FIFA, almost pace abusing style, right? and And it's harder to do that in more congested areas.
00:25:30
Speaker
And I see De La Vega as being player who could really, who could actually do some damage in a little bit more space with his boots closer to the chalk where he can go and attack players one V one, because he is, he's got some Tasmanian devil vibes about it and how he plays. Like it's a little bit out of control. And, and I don't know that you can harness that in a super effective way in, in the half spaces or underneath a striker.
00:25:52
Speaker
I think you need to afford him a little bit more space to go out and attack and I was kind of wondering earlier on this year if Brian Schmetzer was thinking about that too, because one of the things I've seen from Seattle a lot in 2025 is the right back instead of overlapping to be the widest player in possession, tucking into the half space, right? And giving the winger, and it's mostly been Georgie Manungu because he's been the one who's who's healthy in that role, or at least it's it's been more of Manungu than it has been De La Vega.
00:26:16
Speaker
yeah It's been the winger getting the width then in in the fullback getting the half space. And i think that suits De La Vega so much more than, and then trying to force him into the half spaces. I think he can be somewhat effective in both roles, but again, we just have such a small sample size of what he actually looks like.
00:26:32
Speaker
And honestly, I don't, I don't know where Brian Spencer is going to use him or or how any of this is going to go because it feels really difficult to predict based off of what we've seen so far. I do want to ask you about Ferreira real quick before we get into some ah and there's some ah more league-wide stuff.
00:26:48
Speaker
I would describe the vibe around him in the fan base at the moment as skeptical. he He hasn't looked like he's fit in tactically.
00:27:00
Speaker
ah that well yet or chemistry wise which I think that much is to be expected but then you had the game in St. Louis where he was getting into it with players off the ball he looked really frustrated i think people were kind of raising their eyebrows at that and then they go out in the Houston game it still looks a little disjointed I'm I'm willing to give it time because I think these things do take ah more time than people would like sometimes and integrating a player like him who's kind of and a unique player ah it might not ah hit incredibly well right away ah but Joe how do you kind of see how he's looked with the Sounders so far and like what do that you think they need to do differently to get him going or is it just a matter of time
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think it is mostly a matter of time. I know that's not a super sexy take on all this, but I think i think we're aligned here, Ari, of the guy's played 90 minutes one time, you know through five games in the regular season.
00:27:59
Speaker
He just finally made it to 90 against Houston. yeah didn't He didn't really play. He still hasn't played a lot for this team. And Ferreira is a different type of nine then than most teams have. And he's a different type of of striker than the Sounders have have used before, right? He is...
00:28:13
Speaker
and And folks who watch the US Men's National Team know this or folks that have tuned in a little bit little bit with Dallas know this. He likes to drop in, he likes to combine. And that is a very different profile than someone who likes to keep the line or likes to push it push him behind the line as Jordan Morris does so effectively so often.
00:28:28
Speaker
I think there's a way to get all these guys into the same team. I think you can get Jordan Morris and Rusnak and Ferreira or whoever you want to stack in that front line. and think you can get all those players together in central spaces in a way that really makes sense.
00:28:40
Speaker
Like I can picture a world in which Ferreira drops in, collects the pass from, ah you know, maybe from Christian Roldan breaking lines to him and, and he turns and plays Jordan Morrison behind. I can see that play out really easily in my head.
00:28:53
Speaker
it just hasn't played out a lot on the field yet because, number one, the pieces around Ferreira haven't been there in the way that he would have expected, including someone who he's very familiar with and Paul Areola and really Jordan Morris as well in that regard from their national team time.
00:29:05
Speaker
And it just hasn't been a lot of time, period. Ferreira has not been very good so far, but I am i'm like nowhere even close to skeptical about his fit in this team. I think he's going to be a really, really valuable piece.
00:29:17
Speaker
yeah an or I think that more should have been done to... Integrate him a little bit earlier, but there was some conditioning and some physical things that he struggled with early and I think that's where There's been a struggle for him to adapt because like you said, he's a much different striker than Jordan is where he's looking to get behind the defenders and you can get him into space quicker. And I remember earlier in the preseason, in some of the earlier games, you look at either Pedro de la Vega or ah ah Albert Rusnak where immediately as they got the ball, it was almost a first touch pass behind the defense. And that's where Jordan is jumping to.
00:29:58
Speaker
And that's not Ferreira against St. Louis and in this game at home against Houston. Once again, we saw Ferreira making a run where Albert didn't find him quick enough or he wasn't expecting him to go there.
00:30:13
Speaker
And then when he did get the ball, he was getting with the back to goal. And he, honestly think he's there's a little bit of a, either a confidence or a lack of rhythm thing where he was just giving you a bad pass or he wasn't really turning.
00:30:27
Speaker
He was turning into pressure and he would get dispossessed. So I think all those things will get fixed, but I do wish that the team would have done more earlier to just get him adapted and playing to Ferreira strength rather than just playing their system without knowing that Ferreira is a different type of guy.
00:30:48
Speaker
ah Looks like we got some ah potentially ah some news breakers in chat.
Potential Signings and Team Strategy
00:30:53
Speaker
We got Reece saying that ah Sounder at Heart reports we are in advanced talks to sign Ryan Kent, 28 goals, 31 assists in five seasons. Isn't that the guy from Ted Lasso? Nico, ah can you confirm or deny the accuracy that the Sounders are signing the guy from Ted Lasso?
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, man, that's why i haven't slept a drop. I've been working on that all night. Is that your report? Yeah. That is my report. Hey, he's citing Nico's report in our chat. Hell yeah. Thanks, Reese.
00:31:22
Speaker
So he um is a free agent, of course, that um was playing Afrobaci in Turkey. ah The last he played back in 2024.
00:31:35
Speaker
ah He had actually signed a three-year deal with the Turkish team, but ah he had a fall-off with the coaching staff. And ultimately, he gets canned by Mourinho and he ah kills the contract. There is a press release by Fabacchi saying that it was a mutual parting ways of this specific player.
00:31:57
Speaker
And he hasn't been able to get a team since then. He is essentially a left winger. He can play the opposite wing. He has played some striker, but he's primarily left winger.
00:32:07
Speaker
He is a very creative player, good on the ball, likes to get forward, can beat you off the dribble. um I'm not selling you here an amazing player, by the way. i mean, he's obviously a free agent, and and therefore I'm not here selling you like this amazing guy. But I think that there are some components about him that are very interesting,
00:32:27
Speaker
um His best time came with Rangers, where he's even won the Scottish Premiership under... Oh man, escaped me, the coach he was with.
00:32:39
Speaker
ah But he's an interesting player, man. But all in all, I think it's low-risk, high-reward type of solution for the Sounders to bring in a depth piece.
00:32:50
Speaker
um We talked about Paul Arriola. I think he's essentially going to get placed in the end of season injury list. And therefore Seattle would get some money back and that's how they're going to be able to pay for the salary.
00:33:02
Speaker
He's 28. He's interesting. But yeah, but that's kind of the, the mix in a nutshell, ah the the the report. Joe, have you ever heard of ah Ryan Kent? And if not, ah what do you think of Seattle potentially adding a player of the profile that Nico just outlined?
00:33:22
Speaker
Yeah, Ted Lasso is where my head went first as well. I think, man, this is, I want to use the word ambition so badly, but I feel like I shouldn't. um i'm like I love to see this kind of move from Seattle where they clearly have their eyes on keeping this squad as strong as possible and using as many roster mechanisms as they can to stack this squad, right? With, with Areola going on the season ending injury list, my thought had been that Seattle we're were looking to find somebody and they very much are, as Nico's talking about here. So I've never seen Ryan Kent play soccer in my entire life.
00:33:52
Speaker
i His ah his a track record, his resume is not amazing, like you're talking about, Nico. ah But we've seen dudes with less come in an impact and impact MLS teams before. So he's not going to need to play ah huge role if he's not good enough to do so and isn't impacting games at that level.
00:34:08
Speaker
I love to see more than the specific player. I love to see Seattle going back into the market and getting somebody done before the window closes. All right, Joe, ah got one league-wide question and then maybe a USMN tier, and then we'll ah we'll get you out of here and know you got content to make yourself.
00:34:25
Speaker
um I guess looking at the first few weeks of the MLS season so far, is there a club that comes to mind as maybe unexpectedly good performer or someone is –
00:34:42
Speaker
Playing at a level that you didn't think they would before the season started. My answer is the Chicago fire, but if you've got a different one, who's kind of just caught your eye so far through the first five match days.
00:34:53
Speaker
I was pretty warm on Chicago, so I'll i'll go a different direction. I'm going to to Vancouver and how good they've been. it is It's brutal, frankly, that their historic start to 2025 was dashed on a weekend where MLS is playing through an international break, and they're missing Andres Kubas and Pedro Vite and Ali Ahmed and Brian White, four starters from this team because MLS plays through international breaks.
00:35:15
Speaker
Only seventeens seven teams, seven. have done what Vancouver did through four games of going for 0 and 0 and MLS history. Like they they were on an historically hot start and it's absurd to me that that was just thrown in the garbage this past weekend.
00:35:28
Speaker
But that's, that's the way it goes. um Yes, for Sorensen looks legit as far as someone who can set up a tactical structure and and communicate his ideas to his players. I am, I am at least on on TSS, I get a lot of of fun poked at me because I am very much a managers matter way less than we all think they do and all talk about them as being the main characters and they're not because they're not on the field.
00:35:48
Speaker
yeah There are some managers that I think can have an outsized impact if they're really good at communicating their ideas. Wilford Nance is one of them. He's the best coach I think we've ever seen in Major League Soccer. Jesper Sorensen is not Wilford Nance, and in the Vancouver Whitecaps don't dominate the ball quite like Nance's crew teams or Montreal teams do or did.
00:36:06
Speaker
But he is so much fun in how he's setting up this team in a 4-3-3 flexible positioning. They're keeping one fullback back. Labordo will tuck into the center backs. ah they'll They'll pinch you know that winger into that that. They'll leave that winger wide. They'll pinch the other winger into the half spaces.
00:36:20
Speaker
Vancouver don't have a lot of talent, like relative to the best teams in Major League Soccer. And they've been playing legitimately good ball. And it took them being decimated by CCC play, and which they're still in, by the way, and injuries and in an international break that wasn't a break for them to actually lose a game in in the regular season. So I'm so impressed by Vancouver. But there have lot of teams, to be honest, that have picked up results in this weird early season stretch. San Diego missing now two of their three...
00:36:49
Speaker
most important attackers in Chucky Lozano and Marcus Ingvartson. And they're on a, you know, just under two point per game pace. They lost to Austin over the weekend, but they've just been decimated by injuries and international call-ups as well.
00:37:00
Speaker
They're playing really good ball. There's a lot of teams that are pushing up the table that I didn't expect to be nearly as high as they are through five games. Joe, the U.S. men's national team. God love them.
00:37:12
Speaker
You know, if the if the Seattle Sounders are down bad right now, the U.S. men's national team are down worse. I covered actually both of these ah Nations League games, the loss to Panama and then the third place game, which why do they have a third place game for Nations League? I hate People were taking photos of the stands. They're like, there's only 27 people there. What the hell? and it's like, yeah, because it's the third place game for a tournament that no one, like, I don't know.
00:37:40
Speaker
ah Anyway, i wanted to ask you, Joe, about your takes on ah on the Pochettino era so far. I was calling him Pochettino on the last episode. And then ah shortening that to poke, which I guess is not correct.
00:37:54
Speaker
But I'm going to keep calling him poke because I think that's that's a good name for him. But ah what I got to say, like you know I understand he came in with a ah big name. He's had a big track record of success with some big clubs, obviously. But when I look at it, there's just been a couple things so far where I'm like i' i'm not like, the one that I keep bringing up, which no one is talking about this and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, but the fact that he called in the mont CF Montreal punch guy, I'm like, what?
00:38:24
Speaker
What is he? what What are we doing with that? Like that. And then remember how horrible he looked until he scored that goal. One of the worst performances I think I've ever seen in a USMNT kit. So he calls that guy in.
00:38:36
Speaker
That was weird. And then you have this Nations League performance, which was kind of a joke, honestly. So I'm kind of looking at this guy and I'm like, man, like was ah was Berhalter onto something or does this guy know what he's doing? Like, what is your just take on?
00:38:54
Speaker
how the program has looked since he's taken over and then just that kind of Nations League debacle. I mean, it hasn't been great. We'll say that much. The, the Macco call up back in January was truly wild. Um, and, and I think the decision to leave both Luna and Gio Reyna on the bench against Panama was, was also bizarre. Like there've been a lot of very weird things that have happened so far under Pochettino, uh, poke, um, uh, that's excellent work in a lot of respects. Yeah. Really, really my my overarching take on the U.S. men's national team right now is Pochettino, Berhalter, whoever, since the 2022 World Cup.
00:39:29
Speaker
And there have been other whoever's in there, I suppose. the The pool just hasn't progressed. If anything, it kind of seems like they've regressed a little bit where ah club situation, or or at least the progress we thought was going to be there from players like Yunus Moussa. And we hoped to be there for Gio Reyna. We hoped to be there for Sergino Dest and Ricardo Pepe. I mean, you can run through the list.
00:39:46
Speaker
almost all those guys have stalled at club level where you just move. So he's playing some better ball right now with Milan, but it's not really in a role that fits him super well with the U S and hasn't played very well for them. was he playing right back? Sorry. i'd like Yeah, he's, he played right back against Panama, but, but mostly the U S were dominant in the ball in that game. And he played as like a right winger, which is also not a role that he really fits in, but that's another thing that poches has stuck with so far.
00:40:09
Speaker
It's, it's all been quite strange, but really i think Pochettino or no, and this goes back to my, we overrate the importance of managers conversation. Pochettino can't wave a magic wand and make this pool of players so much better than they are.
00:40:22
Speaker
You know, there their floor has always been low enough with this crop to lose to Panama in a really, really tight game where you give up basically no chances. so Their floor has always been low enough to lose to this version of Canada who have real talent and have a real way of playing and clearly wanted that game in a way that it didn't seem like the U.S. s did.
00:40:38
Speaker
I'm a little bit worried about some of the mentality stuff. I try not to dig so far into that because it's all a bit hand-wavy and ethereal to me, but... It seems like this player pool needs a little bit of a ah a rude awakening. And maybe this window was that.
00:40:51
Speaker
But then there is also just the very real sense in which the pool of players is is pretty good. It's certainly not great. And their floor is low enough to have two-game stretch like the one we just saw. But I mean, the real put this close to the World Cup, I mean, there's no chance that Pochettino is not the national team head coach 2026, is there?
00:41:14
Speaker
No, no. Mauricio Pacino will be coaching this team on the sidelines at SoFi Stadium when the U.S. kick off their World Cup campaign next summer. it it's been It's been weird. It's been bad. It's been a very weird, bad last a year and change for the U.S. with the Copa America stuff.
00:41:27
Speaker
now Now the Nations League stuff. I think there is a positive coming out of this window, and that's that Diego Luna looks like a... ah a real asset to the U S he was awesome in his start last night. And probably the only player, maybe i said him way who I thought was pretty good in the attack.
00:41:42
Speaker
He was like the only U S player that really seemed to seize that opportunity that he was given. And I really enjoyed that. I am not, I'm not in despair about the U S team right now, but I think that's maybe because I've been lower on this team for a while than a lot of other folks out there.
00:41:55
Speaker
The badge FC stuff just doesn't do anything for me. Um, but, A rebound is is needed, and this U.S. s team needs to to show a bit more. Honestly, they need to play better soccer. It's as simple as that if they want to give themselves a run or a chance to make a run in 2026. So it's going to be interesting to see, fellas.
00:42:12
Speaker
I thought it was funny that the, ah that the one goal that they were able to score was the two MLS guys, Diego Luna and patrickmon like that kind of has tied a bow on the whole thing.
00:42:22
Speaker
um Joe, we're going to get you out of here on that. Thank you so much for the time, man. ah We're going have to do this again. so Love getting to check in with you about the both Seattle and the league from a national perspective. So ah yeah, we'll get you back on here, but thank you for the time here this morning. Yeah.
00:42:40
Speaker
everyone go sub backheeled, listen to total soccer show. And, uh, Yeah. Thanks for the time, man. Appreciate you. Thank you, Joe. Yeah, guys. Thank you. Real quick, dropping a prediction before I leave. This was fun, by the way. I really enjoyed it. Would love to be back.
00:42:55
Speaker
I'm predicting at least four points, maybe maybe even five for the next three games that Seattle have all on the road. I think they're going to start to pick up points at a better clip. Honestly, I'd be a bit surprised if that doesn't happen. I know that's not a sizzler, but but that's what I'm leaving on. That's actually, it's not not bad.
00:43:11
Speaker
Not bad at all. I think it might be a little bit a sizzler if you ask the sounder audience. Our chat's definitely not feeling in that prediction. all right, fellas. This was fun. Thanks, everybody.
00:43:23
Speaker
Thanks, Joe. That was Joe Lowry, backheel, the Sounder at Hard Partner and ah Total Soccer Show. And we had some ah breaking news on the show this morning reported by Nico.
00:43:35
Speaker
ah roy Roy Kent is the guy from Ted Lasso, but close enough. um So ah Seattle Sounder. Nico, how ah how much smoke would you say there is to the Ryan Kent stuff? is that like Would you say that that ah that's likely to happen or is it more of just like a kind of rumor at this point?
00:43:52
Speaker
No, it's it's likely to happen. That's why I kind of waited on as long as I did and I spent all night just going over videos and almost 90 minutes of of certain games that I could find just to get a better take on who he was as a player.
00:44:10
Speaker
um But yeah, man, they've been looking around the league. They've been looking outside of the league. And for what I can tell, The Sounders are clearly trying to add depth without having to give up anything.
00:44:27
Speaker
Obviously, if, and I'm going to go ahead and say here, they they were looking at guys like Julian Gressel. They were looking at guys ah like Robert Taylor. And therefore those players that are under contract with an MLS team, they're not going give them up just for free.
00:44:44
Speaker
necessarily and therefore you need to give something up. ah Seattle at this moment in time don't have a lot of trading chips aside from ah a lot of the young guys that maybe won't be as valuable in that sort of move.
00:44:59
Speaker
um There was a possibility of maybe doing a cash purchase for specific players.
Creative Solutions and Player Impact
00:45:05
Speaker
But at the end of the day, this was the low risk risk, high reward type of situation that the team was kind of looking for.
00:45:14
Speaker
He's a free agent. He has a lot of potential. He's experienced. He has a certain trajectory. He's a former Liverpool Academy guy. This is Brad Smith 2.0. Yeah.
00:45:28
Speaker
like but it's it's a typical sounder profile player. As soon as they hit my radar, I was like, man, that has, ah you know, Sean Henderson written all over it. You know, he's a brilliant guy. There's always keeping tabs on guys ah that have this sort of profile.
00:45:44
Speaker
And plus knowing that, you know, he had certain issues with his contract and looking for a team. He's going to be looking for that second chance. You know, I've been, know,
00:45:57
Speaker
Someone that at times hasn't believed in this sort of players and they always come to play for Seattle I mean like Gustavs Benson was a guy that when he first came in I was like, oh i don't really know ah You know, he's a little bit older and is the profile really there and then, you know, he came and worked, right?
00:46:13
Speaker
ah This is the typical sounder signing where they're giving a guy a second chance He's got a lot of potential and again this fits the team well because they have all of the ability to manage it any way they wanted. The way I put it on the ah story was that it was potentially going to be a through December contract with an option for next year.
00:46:43
Speaker
any other player that they would have gotten through MLS, they would have to honor that contract, right? So if you were going to pick up a guy that had a two-year contract, maybe this year with a lower salary, but next year you'll be on the hook for 1.6 or, you know, 900,000. So this specific move gives Seattle all of the ability to just manage it any way they want.
00:47:07
Speaker
Can this guy play wingback or is he going to be more of a peer winger? I think he's a pure winger. I went back and looked at it and again, very limited to what I've been able to watch between highlights and YouTube and certain games. Like I said, I i spend all night kind of looking at him.
00:47:24
Speaker
He looks more like a full-on winger than anything else. That's why you're the goat, Nico, because you pull all-nighters to learn about guys named Ryan Kent. ah Derek Richards, $4 super sticker, says that's for the breaking news.
00:47:37
Speaker
Thank you, man. Appreciate it. I mean, yeah, we get breaking news on this show kind of a lot. you know That's just a just another reason to tune in. um All right. Well, that's going to be – it sounds like that this is probably happening and that it's – It's functionally the Paul Areola replacement like they don't make this move if the Paul Areola injury doesn't happen ah but ah You know, it's just reading out I want everybody to have an open mind like I could already see My mentions all over, you know, that that's not what I was looking for Really is that what we're going at? It's ambitious enough Yeah, exactly. So people are gonna kill this right off the bat, but but let me say that if you look at him
00:48:21
Speaker
away from the fact that he's a free agent and he obviously made a mistake or had an issue ah with uh probaci in in turkey turkey the turkish league is a very odd league and many players at times have issues with their contracts and their salaries this was specifically apparently what i've been able to read was that uh he just had a follow-up with the with the team and he had a potential Uh move to lasio that kind of fell fell off and That was kind of part of like the start of issues with him with the club So it wasn't really related to his skill set or anything like that It was more based on issues with the club per se so if he can come here and provide half of the Creativity that I saw over the last two hours I think he's going to be a player that can be dangerous. I can't provide another
00:49:20
Speaker
dangerous player on the wing. ah and look, anytime you get an experienced guy that has had as much of a track record as he has, it's always valuable. and So keep an open mind.
00:49:31
Speaker
And remember, this is a very safe, low risk sort of investment. So take it for what it is. It's a dead piece. I like the move. attitude attitude problems you know i think that's that's kind of sick you know you got a you got ferreira who are people who have been talking about his attitude now you got this guy who had of falling out with jose marino which not the first player to have uh that happen but in all seriousness uh just rapid reaction ah my initial take on this is i like the premise because i've had a take for years that is a kind of unpopular take
00:50:06
Speaker
that ah that the Brad Smith trade was the start of ah some of this team's downfall on offense, which I say it somewhat facetiously, but they really haven't ah there hasn't been like ah high enough level creativity from out wide.
00:50:22
Speaker
ah You could argue really since the Jovan Jones Brad Smith days, there hasn't been like enough of a presence like this. De La Vega was supposed to be the one providing it. That obviously hasn't panned out.
00:50:35
Speaker
ah Paul Areola was supposed to be someone who would help with that. And obviously he got injured, which is what led to this signing. But ah this guy essentially strikes me as Brad Smith, which I've been saying that ah they should. I was advocating for literally Brad Smith, ah but this is basically the same thing. so I like the comparison. and you know he He is a guy that has quality services into the box, just like Brad did.
00:50:59
Speaker
You can tell the quality of his of the foot. I mean, immediately as soon as you saw Brass made on the training field, you knew that he just had a different type of pedigree. I expect something similar from Ryan Kent. So great their comparison. I really do think that he's going to provide ah lot of those brat type situations when it comes to his services.
00:51:21
Speaker
But I feel like he's, he looks more creative. He looks way more poised on the ball. I love his half turns. I love the way he put his shoulder in. and I mean, like I said, maybe was the time to clock in the morning and you know, the, the, the type of YouTube videos that I was watching, but I liked the profile of the player.
00:51:43
Speaker
We got a couple Ryan Kent takes in chat. Let's get to these. Reese says, to be fair, Ryan Kent was crashing out because he was sent to train on his own and was in talks. Take Fenerbahce.
00:51:55
Speaker
How do you say this, the club? Fenerbahce? Fender Bocci to the court of arbitrations for his treatment. He stands on business. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's what I like to see. and then Joey says, just watch Ken's highlight montage. And he looks like the best player in the world. So there you go. I'm going to have to, uh, I just learned about this report yeah while we were, uh, laying down this show. So I'm going to have to go dive into the YouTube after this, but, uh, I'm excited to watch it.
00:52:21
Speaker
Um, Michael asks, I'll toss this to you, Nico. How long do you think it would take to really integrate him? Did he play in similar systems?
00:52:31
Speaker
He did play in similar systems. That's why I think he's going to be on the wing. I would expect a 4-2-3-1 formation. information ah i don't i wasn't able to get any information on what form he's in because he hasn't played all year long. So how quickly do you get him in in shape? That's going to be something to look at.
00:52:59
Speaker
and don't have any information on what type conditioning he's currently in, ah but that's probably going to be the biggest question mark in terms of his talent and how quickly he can hit the floor running because of his experience.
00:53:11
Speaker
I expect it to be very quickly, but MLS tends to be a very physical, very demanding league. So that's where, I want to see where he's at. Cause I have no idea.
00:53:22
Speaker
When do we expect the team to sign him? Is this like an imminent in the next couple of days type of thing? Is it going to take a week or two? Any idea on the timeline? and No, it's definitely advanced talks. Definitely sounds like um negotiations have passed the point of getting through the biggest obstacles.
00:53:43
Speaker
So I'm, I'm positive that within the week or so, ah you would probably be able to sign the player. You've got to bring him on. There's got to be a visa and work permits that needs to be put together.
00:53:59
Speaker
But yeah, I would think that ah hopefully within the week, the player gets fully signed. All right. Within the week, the Seattle Sounders might have a new player. That is not...
00:54:12
Speaker
necessarily something I was expecting to be a development when we started this show, but ah here we go. Thanks for giving us the breaking news, Nico. I just had it one more topic written down here as we as we approach an hour here on this episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff.
00:54:29
Speaker
ah Nico, I wanted to talk to you about your interview with Nico Ladero. ah You talked to him after this game against against Houston. It was the return of Nico, the Nico Ladero revenge game.
00:54:42
Speaker
And i thought the I thought the ceremony was great. ah They honored him in the right way. They put all the trophies that he won with this club out on the stage, on the podium that he was on. And just looking at that trophy hall, i was like, God, that is such an alpha trophy hall. Like you got the literal Champions League one in the middle.
00:55:01
Speaker
You got the two MLS c Cups. You've got four conference ah championships. So I thought that was just like a beautiful visual representation of his legacy. He seemed very emotional and appreciative of the, of the fan reception that he got. And really I thought what was part partially what was disappointing about how the game went for Seattle was that attendance was actually pretty good, you know, relative to ah what it's been in a couple of the games this year, there was over 30 K there, the crowd was buzzing and then you get the scoreless
Nico Ladero's Return and Club Relationships
00:55:32
Speaker
draw. But I, I did like how they honored Nico,
00:55:35
Speaker
ah But you talked to him after the game and you asked him a little bit about the ah report that you had earlier this year about how he actually was aiming to return to Seattle.
00:55:46
Speaker
Apparently he said, I'll take the vet minimum. Like I, the salary is not a concern. I just want to go home and play for the club that I love, go back to the city I love type of thing. And apparently the sounder said, no.
00:56:00
Speaker
And he seemed, I guess let's start with that. You talked to him about it after the game and he seemed, i would say like, it's fair to say he seemed hurt by that. Would you, would you agree? Yeah, I think he seemed hurt. thought that he was cordial and he was um respectful towards Brian Smetzer.
00:56:19
Speaker
But if you go back and you look at the answer that Brian gave the, but their interaction and you go back and look at what Nico said about the interaction is exactly the same because it's so limited is we looked at each other.
00:56:32
Speaker
he said, you deserve this. I said, thank you. And that was it. Right. ah Clearly not what you would expect from a coach player duo that won four Western conference championships. Like you said, two MLS cups and one TCL.
00:56:49
Speaker
Um, Beyond that, he opened up about how things played out. And I thought it was interesting that he said, as soon as Orlando told me that they were going to buy me out, essentially, and I'm paraphrasing here, the first thing I did was call Brian because I wanted to come home.
00:57:06
Speaker
I wanted retire. They were going to have no salary responsibilities. So I wanted to come home. And he said they must have their reasonings. ah And I respect it.
00:57:18
Speaker
But... They said no. And he actually said, ah I'm kind of glad that we're talking about this because I want people to know how things played out and that I tried to come home and it didn't happen.
00:57:32
Speaker
um Another thing that I thought was interesting was that ah he mentioned that he talked to Adrian at one point. He talked to Craig at one point, talked to Brian. So it was multiple layers of that front office and you know coach that he approached the team to.
00:57:49
Speaker
um And now he's happy. He says, you know what? It's, it's time to move on. He he mentioned the fact that he is happy in Houston. He actually really likes the the, the, the team, the teammates, the, the fan base apparently is very warm.
00:58:04
Speaker
ah So he enjoys it. He does miss Seattle. He was, he did not lie about that. Off the record, we we asked him what he missed most of about Seattle. He just said the cold and and the rain. i don't you know I'm not about that hot life.
00:58:17
Speaker
And he's been in hot climate teams in Orlando and Houston. So he definitely misses the city. ah He was absolutely taken back by The whole ceremony, ah you know, he said he teared up. He saw his teammates, his former teammates, Seattle Sounder teammates tear up.
00:58:36
Speaker
ah So that was pretty interesting. So, yeah, man, in a nutshell, I did ask him if if he was hurt by the whole situation. And I asked him, you know, is it a natural feeling to just feel like,
00:58:52
Speaker
hurt. And he said, yeah, you know, i I was disappointed. I was hurt and I'm not going to hide my feelings about it. So definitely something that tarnished the relationship. ah People were asking me if he would ever be back for a one day contract.
00:59:06
Speaker
I don't think so. I think after this whole thing went about, he was touched by the photograph, by the signatures and things that were put on there, by the celebration. ah But after that, I think it's over and done with.
00:59:20
Speaker
Why do you think Seattle did say no? And should they have signed him? um Yes. So I'm not sure what they said. No, I really don't. I think that anytime that you're getting a player like Nicolás de Dero on a free um with no salary responsibilities, ah you take them. I think they should have.
00:59:48
Speaker
ah As much as Kim Ki-Hee is a player that you you probably needed in terms of depth of that center back position. But let me rephrase that, that you could use at the center back position.
01:00:02
Speaker
ah i feel like you would have gotten more out of a guy like Nicolás Adarra. I mean, when you look at the injuries that the Sounders have now, what better player to have than a guy like Nicolás Sidero?
01:00:14
Speaker
Who better to mentor and lead ah guy like Pedro de la Vega? What better player either... ah either you know, fill in for Ferreira at that camp position while Jordan Morris is nurturing an injury, Galenico would have been fantastic. He knows the system. He loves the city. He's going to play for you all the time.
01:00:37
Speaker
He could also play holding mid the same way he did for Oscar Pereira, the way he's kind of playing for the Houston Dynamo. ah He might have lost a couple of steps, but he's a guy that could still make something happen.
01:00:52
Speaker
He's been good for Houston. He was good for Orlando City. I think that he had the stats. He had double digits assist last season. So I absolutely think that they should have signed him and it would have taken nothing away From this team you would have just added on because anything that happened the Ferrero move the Riola move everything could have happened just adding a guy like Nico and to me that was a huge miss Yeah, I mean, if I had to guess, you know, I'm just speculating, but I think that the way they must have been thinking of it was just, ah like, sometimes you need to turn the page, you know.
01:01:34
Speaker
But, you know, like they like you said, they re re-signed Kim Ki. This is a club that has a long track record of bringing guys back like this. And ah I guess it kind of it brings to mind... ah there it seemed like there were similar not great feelings around when Rui Diaz left the club. do you Do you think this is like a recurring theme or something that the club needs to take a look at of like not having, seems like falling outs with some of their greatest ever players like this? Because this is two examples of it.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately it is. And I think that there have been, other situations that have not been asked dramatic and as, um I don't know, ah in your face sort of situation. The Aussie thing, he left upset. He obviously was the the right move at the time, by gar laggerway ah but then that kind of slowly faded out and he was able to come back.
01:02:36
Speaker
But I don't think that there was as much friction with the player. and He obviously had the negotiations with Garth, but as far as we know, him and Brian were fine and there was no issues.
01:02:49
Speaker
I think that when it comes to Nico and Raul, there were questionable relationships at the end of their tenure with the coaching staff or specifically with Brian and then obviously with the front office ah at some point. So,
01:03:07
Speaker
It is something that I think that they should look at. it is something that is
01:03:13
Speaker
is is hard to manage because every player is going to want more and is going to want to stay and you got to know when to turn the page.
01:03:24
Speaker
But the way you do that, the demeanor, the way you approach it, I feel like that's where the tactfulness of the club needs to be taken a look at. Yeah, I think that's fair. I do think that the ah ah ceremony, was they did it up for him, and i thought that aspect of it was ah good way to honor him, but I don't know. i think yeah people are right to be kind of side-eyed at how there seems to be these falling outs with club legends. You should try and avoid that, if at all possible. I mean, these are
01:04:03
Speaker
two of the yeah the two main guys that delivered a ton of winning and trophies and great times and great memories to the city. So I definitely think it's – you never want to see either Nico or Raul kind of feeling the way that they feel on their way out, Nico feeling rebuffed like that. that yeahly And if you look at both of their last seasons, they were both like – almost catastrophic. I mean, do you remember that picture of Raul just on the ground of the training facility, just kind of sitting there?
01:04:39
Speaker
ah you know, he was suspended throughout that or not suspended. I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that because I cannot say suspended, but you know, he was, he was ah keep kept from a game and had to train individually.
01:04:54
Speaker
Like they suspended him, but then said it wasn't a suspension? isn't Is that what happened? Yes, exactly. It was an internal matter. and So, you know, all of that situation was just rough.
01:05:04
Speaker
And, you know, bringing him in three minutes into the game, i talking about Raul at the time, and the Nico, that was something that he came out and said it halfway through the season, that he wasn't going to come back because he didn't feel like the team wanted to resign him back.
01:05:21
Speaker
So both of those situations were just kind of toxic. And it's it's odd that that a team like Seattle that in the past has been labeled as as a very pro player and, you know, we're bringing everybody back and we've brought back Gonzalo and we've brought back Freddie Montero and all of these players.
01:05:41
Speaker
It seems like that's changed over the years. James, thank you for the $2 super chat. Appreciate you, man. Craig didn't want Nico exposing Roosnack's low effort. Yeah, and yeah maybe that would maybe that was it.
01:05:53
Speaker
Maybe that was it. It is... a Like when I think about and Nico Nico's legacy on this team, it is just the I think he's the best like two way number 10 I've seen play in MLS in terms of like his work rate.
01:06:08
Speaker
And just that guy was a freak. Never stopped running. He never stopped running. Nico is the epitome of ah just hard work and dedication. ah Nico at his age, the way he.
01:06:22
Speaker
nurtures his body the way that he ah brings in people from ira wide to do all kinds of Work on on him and make sure that he's flexible that he's durable I mean look at his injury track record. I mean for all the time that he was here Sure, had a couple of injuries, but he wasn't someone that you would be like man. Is he gonna be there?
01:06:41
Speaker
You knew he was gonna be there You know, he was gonna be the guy that covered the most amount of area of the field ah You know that he was going to be in every shot. And look, if you look at every single big moment that Seattle had, he was always there, whether it was with an assist to Victor Rodriguez in 2019, whether it was two goals away in um ah Puma Stadium ah to get that series from what it was a 2-0 deficit to a 2-2 and bring home 2-2 draw was huge. And then he scored here at home and so on and so forth. The 2019 Western Conference Final at LAFC, he was huge there.
01:07:22
Speaker
Nico was always a big time player and he I think he's still a big-time player. If I'm looking for somebody to come out and and know what to do on a high-stakes situation, even at his age, I can count on Nicolás Odero.
01:07:37
Speaker
he He had a good year ah for Orlando last year. I'll say that. Like if you watch him play, i don't think he is, you know, the full Nico Ladero of old, but he's ah I mean, he's a guy that ah still you could put him in an MLS at any age and he's probably going to get you 10 to 12 assists.
01:07:55
Speaker
So there is that. I mean, we'll see how it pans out with Houston this year. He could have a gimmick in Seattle. I think a lot of it had to do with the pressure of coming back, the ceremony. i mean, he did not have his best game. He still tried to get you with like a bicycle kick or a half-volley kick. And he tried he did the ah classic, ah oh man, when he did the tried to draw the foul right outside the box, I was like, oh man, I would know that move anywhere.
01:08:19
Speaker
That is great to see. um All right, ah Nico, real quick, we're going to wrap up here in just a few minutes, but let's talk about this ah upcoming game. ah Seattle Sounders got San Jose Earthquakes next on deck.
01:08:34
Speaker
Match day six at PayPal Park.
Upcoming Matches and Transfer Prospects
01:08:37
Speaker
And ah I think there's there' is a lot riding on this game, but ah vibe-wise. Maybe, you know, you're still at the point. It's March, you know.
01:08:45
Speaker
If they lose, the season's not over. But they don't they just really need, like... a vibe boost morale boost, ah even like if they tie this game, but score two or three goals, I would be like, all right.
01:08:57
Speaker
I mean, it's not great to drop more points or whatever, but I think like the most important thing from ah for how I see it is just, like a good cohesive performance in the attack where you actually, like it can't be ah decent chance chance generation, ah but you don't finish like it was like it was against Houston.
01:09:19
Speaker
You're going against a San Jose team that i they're not as bad. It doesn't seem like as they were last year. And last year they wouldn't spoon and gave up 80 goals and Seattle couldn't beat them. That was one of the, uh, the frustrating things about last year was that the quake, the quakes beat them once and then drew them once, which a lot of people were rightfully tilted about. But anyway, that's kind of how I see the expectations for this game. Like it's, it's a, it's a situation where I value performance over result. Like if they get a one zero win, but it looks terrible, like,
01:09:54
Speaker
I don't know how much that does for it would it would help the vibes, but it definitely wouldn't completely salvage them. How do you size up this matchup against the Quakes? I think every single one of those road games is big for Seattle and they have to try to get out of the rock they're in and there needs to be a boost of confidence within the group.
01:10:14
Speaker
I'm afraid that if they have a bad performance, this thing is going to snowball. I mean, it all started with that 2-2 draw at home against Charlotte. their own goal at RSL, you know, getting bounced off at a CCC.
01:10:29
Speaker
I mean, he just seems like he's been gut punched through gut punched through gut punched. Seattle needs to be able to get back and have a good performance and get a win.
01:10:40
Speaker
Again, we've been here. We've been there, done that. So am I saying that the season's over? Absolutely not. But he just doesn't vote well for the team and being a a Sounders team that I felt like last season by getting to the Western Conference Finals regained a little bit of that elite level type of reflectors and something that they've been lacking. i thought they were going to build on that.
01:11:11
Speaker
But now with some of these performances and and lack of results, it seems like you're reverting back to last season and that's just frustrating in so many ways. So sounds is a good team. And just like RSL San Jose is always going to be a tough game for Seattle. I mean, it is just the way it is.
01:11:29
Speaker
I feel like this San Jose team, as much as they are very good offensively, they are very poor defensively. so Seattle has to be able to score a couple on them and they, they got scored on four times by ah Charlotte, but it could have been six and he could have been seven to be quite frankly.
01:11:48
Speaker
Um, Now, San Jose did have the chances, and i don't know what happened with Chichuarango, but he usually doesn't miss the sitters he missed in this game. He had ah least four chances that I saw that he usually puts away and didn't.
01:12:03
Speaker
So hopefully, Seattle doesn't get the back end of that, where maybe he was a little bit off a this week, and he's going to be on next week. But this is a quality squad, regardless of. They're a dangerous team offensively.
01:12:18
Speaker
But Seattle needs to be able to control tempo. They've got to be able to expose that back line. They've got to be able to take it to the San Jose team in a more direct way. Because, look, Vargas had a baller of a game against this team. And ah they were able to just expose the flanks all game long.
01:12:36
Speaker
ah You know, they're playing with Cristina Espinoza as a wingback. So you've got to be able to take it to them, make them defend, make them run. So, All in all, Seattle needs this result big time.
01:12:47
Speaker
But Bruce Arena and San Jose, that's a recipe for disaster in in in so many ways. ah Bruce is not going to want to just go down against this Seattle team.
01:13:00
Speaker
I think going to make it difficult, especially after he just got the 4-1 beat down in Charlotte. They got to score goal. Maybe, maybe, maybe even two goals.
01:13:12
Speaker
Maybe I'm just saying, and if they don't, if they get shut out in this game, people are going to be, uh, people are going to be saying that it's the, it's looking like the same thing as last year. And again, there'll be, there'll be right.
01:13:24
Speaker
They'll be right. So, uh, uh, I think there is a lot of pressure on this game. Like this could, this could go one of two ways. Like they could either get a result in a win and a performance that's kind of galvanizing. And you're like, all right, maybe this actually is okay. And it's not going to go off the, ah off the rails, but that, ah I mean, that Houston performance, mean,
01:13:46
Speaker
Didn't leave a ton of optimism, but the group the good news is they have a chance to ah do exactly that in this game. ah Let's hit one more question here, Nico, and then we'll get out of here. Jake asks, are we burning an international slot on Roy Kent?
01:14:00
Speaker
And ah Roy Kent, that's the Ted Lasso guy, right? Yeah, that that is it. Burning an international slot on Ryan Kent. And do we have anyone in the pipeline to come off?
01:14:11
Speaker
Georgie, Key here, Pedro. If no, do we buy one to be used for our potential U22 signing? ah So yes today international slot. He's definitely gonna occupy one ah What's the other question do we have pipeline like Georgie key I don't i don't think at this time with the Mitch Schneider I'm more of like a you know central midfielder sort of situation there um And when it comes to you 22 That's going to be safe for the summer.
01:14:42
Speaker
And to the best of my knowledge and a little bit of my hope, it it it is going to be a striker. It's going to be a striker U22. um So that's going to be interesting to take a look at. That's why I didn't expect them to kind of rush that specific move just yet.
01:14:59
Speaker
I think they're going to do their homework. They're going wait for the summer when there's more players available. And then you'll get your big time signings. All right. We're going to call it right there.
01:15:10
Speaker
Thank you so much, as always, to everyone for tuning in to another great episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. Thank you to Joe Lowry for joining the show. That was awesome to get the national perspective on Seattle, MLS, and the U.S. s Men's National Fraud Squad.
01:15:24
Speaker
And Nico, great, great job, man, breaking news on the show. ah You didn't even tell me before we got on that you had this report. I didn't see it. I'm about to go watch some ah Ryan Kent's footage right now dive into that youtube and uh gonna lay down a uh draw pod with noah gonna be back streaming for under the lights on thursday ah the content doesn't stop folks uh that's right hey if i was a little bit off a little bit slow today please forgive me like i said i got zero sleep uh yeah and i haven't had one of those in a long time at this age is a little bit more difficult than it used to be um
01:16:05
Speaker
But definitely check it out. Check out the the pieces of Sounder Heart. Make sure that we get our sponsors. Noah, make sure that you support our sponsors the same way you support our show and support Sounder Heart as well.
01:16:20
Speaker
All right. Video share it. All of the above. Exactly. Yeah. ah but Like the video, sub to the channel. I forgot to show a good reminder. Like the video, sub to the channel. follow us on Follow us on Instagram. That's one that we're pushing right now. All right. We're getting out of here on that. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Catch you next time.