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Lobbing Scorchers Live: Fans react to Seattle Sounders DESTRUCTION of Houston Dynamo!
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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.
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Transcript
Introduction and Live Streaming Details
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.
Setting the Tone: A 'Scorcher' of an Episode
00:00:22
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What? A scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be
00:00:43
Speaker
Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, and NBs, we are here with another...
Seattle Sounders' Victory Over Houston Dynamo
00:00:50
Speaker
Seattle Sounders post-match dub call-in show. Ari, are you surprised? It's just, it's canon at this point.
00:00:57
Speaker
We can't stop. Another game, another dub. What else is new? And another moose call. Another Moose goal, another Ryan Kent assist, two Albert Rusnak goals. They don't count, though, and we'll get into why. They don't count.
00:01:11
Speaker
They don't count, but he did score two of them. ah The Seattle Sounders, 3-1 at Houston Dynamo. a Great start to the road trip. And, Noah, we're about to do this postgame live, take some calls, stream the pressers here shortly.
Danny Musovski's Goal Streak and Player Analysis
00:01:28
Speaker
We've got a $2 super chat to start it off from Ryan Shane starting the train to get the Moose apology. Moose is red hot. I made a goal. I made a goal already. The team is red hot 4-0-1 over those five games that where ah Moose has entered the ah history books um as the ah fourth Seattle Sounders striker to score in five straight games.
00:01:49
Speaker
I believe it's the third. But let's get to the pressers right now. And then we'll keep you very much for joining us. Congratulations on the victory this evening. We're going to get straight to questions. We get moods audio. First hand, I see is from Jeremiah Oshan. Jeremiah, go ahead and bring yourself off mute as you Yeah, ah Danny, obviously, congratulations on this win.
00:02:15
Speaker
It's five straight with a ah like goal. I mean, have you ever been in a run of form like this? I mean, what would you, ah what what what do you, what do you liken this to? Yeah, I think maybe when i was playing college, I maybe had a run like this, but since I've been professional, I haven't had a streak like this.
00:02:31
Speaker
So yeah, of course, I'm really happy. And I'm also really happy that we're getting the wins as well. So everything's good and just keep keep the momentum going.
00:02:41
Speaker
On that one, you sort of made this inside out run. ah is that, I don't know, do you do you feel like you are, it just seems like you're you're making better to runs even than, it's not just finishing, it's it's all the stuff that's putting you in position to to be finishing.
Mindset and Strategy for Strikers
00:02:58
Speaker
I think as a striker, you know, you have to put in that extra effort and kind of anticipate that the ball's going to come, even if it's a very like low likelihood that it's going to come. You just need a believe that it's going to get there. And yeah, Paul just did a good job to to, you know, cross it in, put it in a dangerous spot. I think it deflected off their center back and I was just hoping the ball would kind of land towards where I was going and and it did, but yeah, it's definitely the little things that add up and score the goals.
00:03:24
Speaker
All right, next question, we'll go over to Jada Evans. Jada, go ahead and ask your question, please. That's fair. That's fair. Thank you. Congratulations on the win, y'all. um Albert, from your perspective, too, I wanted to get a look at from your you know your perspective of Danny being able to finish.
00:03:39
Speaker
It seems like you you guys have always been able to get the balls there, but you know you just needed that kind of consistent finisher. Can you talk about a little bit about that, about the change, being able to to get those goals this year?
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, it's it's nice when you, you know, the first chance that we create in the last few games kind of goes in, you know, it settles the teams down and, and you know, everybody's feeling better and, you know,
00:04:06
Speaker
It's, you know, sometimes you have you have 10 chances in the game, but, you know, we've been speaking a lot about, especially on the road when we get that first chance, it's it's important to put it away. And then he did that once again today.
00:04:18
Speaker
And, you know, it it kind of dropped a little bit of, I don't want to say pressure, but. Yeah, it just settled us down. And then, you know, we gave up a goal from a set piece, which is, you know, something that we want to avoid in the future games.
00:04:31
Speaker
But then again, we were able to to take the lead back, you know. So I think scoring the first goal for us is important and in any game, but especially on the road, you know. And, you know, we have some more road games coming up. So like Danny said, you know, what it's a momentum that we have built over the past month or so. You know, and our job is to keep that going and and make the most it.
00:04:54
Speaker
And then Danny, you um have been pretty calm since, that you know, through this ah run.
Team Competition and Player Impact
00:04:59
Speaker
And I kind of gather that it's your your personality or is this trying to keep everything level because of the way that soccer can change in ah in a second?
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, I just think it's on focusing on what you can control. I think every day in training, I just try to put myself in dangerous spots. And then, you know, when I'm training well, I feel like it makes the games a whole lot easier. So i don't know. It's It is definitely an element of going into the game calm, going into the game, you know, believing that you're going to score. But ah yeah, I mean, soccer is a crazy game and and things change. But I mean, right now I'm in a good, you know, current run of form. So I just want to keep you going.
00:05:34
Speaker
All right. Reminder to media. if you have a question, please go ahead and hit that raised hand function button for next one. We're going to over to Felipe Makeda. Felipe, go ahead, please.
00:05:45
Speaker
Thank you, Alex. My question is for Danny. Danny, I don't know if you pay attention to numbers, um but the longest streak on goals is six and it's for um yeah um Raul.
00:06:05
Speaker
Ruiz Diaz, does that motivate you to keep on going scoring or this is just a number and you don't pay attention to it? I mean, I think I just take it one game at a time.
00:06:19
Speaker
I wasn't really focused on the record until kind of recently once it's tacked on consecutive games. But I mean, yeah, it would be nice to score against and keep the momentum going.
00:06:30
Speaker
Ooh, breaking the record. I'm seeing a couple hand raised for follow-ups, which is fine. Jeremiah, go ahead and ask yours, please. Yeah, Albert, yeah albert ah the The competition within the team for starting spots seems like it's it's been pretty intense lately.
00:06:50
Speaker
um i'm just curious, how how does that help raise the level? And you know to be able to bring a guy like Pejo off the bench or Jesus, what does that do for for this team's confidence?
00:07:06
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's you know it's obviously a good thing from the team's perspective that you have a a lot of quality on the bench. I think if you look even outside of MLS, if you look at the top, top teams, they all have that in common, right?
00:07:24
Speaker
And this game is not just about the 11 guys that start the game, but, the you know, there's many, many times guys off the bench can change the game and and influence it in a positive way. Another thing is injuries. You know, were we're dealing with a lot of stuff and, know,
00:07:40
Speaker
different injuries come at different times and then, you know, someone takes couple weeks to come back, someone takes a little bit longer and then in the meantime, you know, another guy has to step up. So whether you want to all call it competition or or just being ready when your time comes because of other circumstances, you know, it is it is what it is. And I think, you know, we have a good group of of human beings to understand that, you know, injuries can happen and and you're not gonna play every game.
00:08:09
Speaker
But you know right now it seems like whoever's starting the game is is doing the job and whoever's coming off the bench is doing the job. And I think that's the recipe for for success and and to win things. So yeah, I think right now it's you know there' there's a good balance between both starting and coming off the bench.
00:08:30
Speaker
All right, Jada, we'll go back to you for follow-up.
Praise for Pedro De La Vega
00:08:34
Speaker
Thank you. Albert, can you talk a little bit about the second half and Pedro coming in and being able to set you up for that goal almost immediately? Can you give a little commentary on that one?
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, well, you know, he came in a game and and you know immediately set up to set up the second goal. um So it's just going back to what I was saying, you know,
00:09:01
Speaker
in terms of having an impact off the bench And, you know, and we we knew that they were down to 10 men. So we wanted to score the second goal kind of earlier than later. we've played here before where we were two men up and couldn't score for 40 plus minutes. So, you know, they're well-organized team and and it wasn't easy. But I feel like once we scored a second goal, you know, it killed them in in a way and and it put us on the front foot again. And from then on, you know, we created more chances to score. and
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah, but your question about Pedro's impact, there i was it was immediate with the assist.
00:09:40
Speaker
Okay, I'm not seeing any other hands for now. So guys, thank you both very much for your time. Congratulations again. See you, Travis. Thank you. All right, that was two Seattle Sounders legends, or becoming two Seattle Sounders legends, Danny Musavsky and Albert Rusnak. I almost forgot Rusnak's name there for a minute. That's how bad of a host I am right now, Ari. But i I took away a couple of things from that presser. But before we get there, I had to let you know, Ari, I put a goal ah put a goal up. I said, listen, if we get five Super Chats,
00:10:16
Speaker
i will get on my I will get on my knees and I will beg for forgiveness from Danny Musavsky. It's like we're at four. We are at four, Ari. So one more. And in the more that we get, the more intense it will be.
00:10:29
Speaker
We'll do this towards the back end of the show. You know, i feel like you've ah ah you've paid your due with the official apology, but I mean, i but for the Super Chats, I think that's good. Here we go. Here we Ari. If we can get seven Super Chats, I will buy Danny Musavsky's jersey live on this stream.
00:10:43
Speaker
Okay. seven super chats. I will buy a Danny Musavsky Jersey live on this stream. Look, we already hit our five right there. ah so now it's just going to be, if we can get a couple more, I will buy Danny Musavsky Jersey on stream.
00:10:58
Speaker
All right. Why don't you, ah why don't you go through our, uh, the ones that we have and then, uh, we can riff a couple takes before Schmetz goes. Absolutely. So ah starting the train to get the Musavsky apology. We already started there.
00:11:12
Speaker
Noah should have to buy Moose a wedding gift. I agree. i think i think i should I think I should probably be um invited. No, probably not, actually. He doesn't want me there.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah what's like What's a thing you buy people for a wedding gift? like Like a toaster? I just go to the registry. Yeah, that's that's fair. Moose, send your registry. Okay, we got Schmetz going right now, so let's just hit that.
Musovski's Growing Importance and Legacy
00:11:36
Speaker
And would you like to be in with an opener or straight to it tonight? I'm going to start with an opener, Alex. All right. We complimented a player ah who a lot of people wrote off, maybe even including myself, if I have to be honest with everybody.
00:11:56
Speaker
A guy who now has etched his name in the record. All right. Ahead of... Clint Dempsey, arguably the best American striker, goal scorer that this country has ever produced.
00:12:12
Speaker
Raul Ruiz Diaz, a absolute beast in his day. Obafemi Martins, a guy that played in the highest levels and unbelievable player for this club.
00:12:25
Speaker
Jordan Morris, leading scorer of this club. Danny Masofsky scoring five goals in five consecutive games. I have to tip my hat. Oh, wait, it is fine. And, you know,
00:12:38
Speaker
That kid has done a great job for this club and it's selfless running. It's working. It's a great example. Everybody got excited about Paul Rothrock and what a good example.
00:12:51
Speaker
Well, there's example number two of what happens when you work hard and you're prepared and when you get your opportunity, you're prepared for your opportunity. So kudos to Danny Musoski starting us off on ah um a good note tonight.
00:13:07
Speaker
Coach, thanks for that. He ties Obafemi Martins and Freddie Montero for that record inside of a single season and consecutive matches. So with that, we'll start with questions. Jeremiah, i saw you first. Why don't you get us lead off, please?
00:13:21
Speaker
Well, uh, Brian, I feel like we we need to follow up on that. you know You mentioned that you maybe wrote Danny off at one point. I know a lot of fans certainly wrote him off at at one point.
00:13:33
Speaker
um What do you think has changed? us I mean, aside from the goals just hitting the back of the net, I have to imagine something has changed beyond that. his movement His movement inside the box where he scored all of his goals.
00:13:46
Speaker
have come from know making sure he gets inside the six yard box either at the near post or like this cross today you know middle of the goal so when a center forward puts himself inside the six good things can happen so i think that was uh something that we as coaches were telling jordan we were telling moose we're telling jesus earlier in the year and moose actually went out and has done it and now you know he's been rewarded
00:14:17
Speaker
Brian next question we'll go to Jada Evans.
00:14:21
Speaker
Thank you. Congratulations, Brian. ah Can you also talk though about him, and Danny and his. I guess his consistency or his, and his patience may be in training because his minutes, he only got like 500 or so last year. And, you know, he's almost hit that so far in these games, but you know, he's all in MLS matches, um but, you know, to be able to, to kind of stick with it, like me, you know, are you, were you looking at him trying to maybe find minutes from him because of his performance in, in training or, or what's that patience, I guess, been like for,
00:14:58
Speaker
heard Well, yeah, last year he had some pretty significant injuries that kept him off the field. Jada, I think this year he's been healthy. ah Was I looking to reward players that had good training weeks? Yes, I think that's part of the new mantra that we're trying to, you know, because have such a deep team that guys that are performing well are going to get, you know, opportunities.
00:15:23
Speaker
But again, it's just down to when the player gets an opportunity. Has he prepared himself to make sure that he makes the most out of that opportunity? And I think that's what Danny has done.
00:15:36
Speaker
And then with ah your decision with Pedro and to pull him, I don't know, pull him, but you did you not start him and have Kent in there? Was that just regular tactics or was there anything more for that? That was my decision.
00:15:50
Speaker
was my decision. We wanted an attacking guy on one side. Paul's done a great job here in Houston. He's had some very, very good games here in Houston. They had a new player that we weren't familiar with.
00:16:04
Speaker
out on the left-hand side, and I thought a little bit of a defensive presence might not be a bad thing. But then, you know, when we went to man up, it was the right timing, and Pedro came on and, you know, started the half on a good note with the assist, and things started to rule for him.
00:16:20
Speaker
So, again, it just it's just part of having a deep squat. Reminder for media, if you have a question for head coach b Brian Schmetzer, please go ahead and hit that raise hand function button.
00:16:31
Speaker
Jeremiah, I see you have a follow up there. Go ahead and ask it, please.
Tactical Discussions and Formations
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, this is ah a second straight game using the 4-2-3-1. I know we don't like to make too much out of the formation, but it it does seem to be working.
00:16:44
Speaker
i Is there something that you think is ah fitting right now particularly well that that seems to work with with that formation? And is that a sign that this might be here to stay?
00:16:56
Speaker
Well, it's personnel based. I think it fits this particular skill set of players with the addition of Ryan. ah you know We have a lot of you know wide attacking type players and trying to get them all on the same field in different look.
00:17:14
Speaker
ah What I would say, Jeremiah, is, again, really to remind everybody, the way we attack doesn't change. We still occupy the same spaces. It's still 3-2 build.
00:17:25
Speaker
We still try and push Obed up, you know, whether we play with true wingers or Alex and Pedro on one side and, you know, Paul and Ryan on the other. and the attacking doesn't change. So a lot of of that is just minutiae.
00:17:39
Speaker
And then defensively, it changes a little bit. That's where you need to dig in and, you know, you can do some research. Defensively, it looks a little different. Defending out of a 4-2-3-1.
00:17:50
Speaker
So we'll continue to work on that. But, you know, I thought we were okay today when it was still 11-b-11. But we'll have to keep fine-tuning the defensive side of 4-2-3-1.
00:18:02
Speaker
All right, Felipe, I see you've got your hand raised over to you.
00:18:09
Speaker
Thank you, Alex. Coach Brian, it's not just, the I mean, congratulations today's win, but it's not just Mussovsky scored in five games.
00:18:22
Speaker
Some of those games were three points the that that he helped to achieve, but also seems like a seven goals in two games for the Seattle Sounders. It looks like at the offensive of Seattle Sounders has a walk-up for these games and the the the games are healthy.
00:18:43
Speaker
Well, that's a great statement. I'll follow up with my statement. ah Yes, there was ah a lot of times last year, scoring was part of our challenges that we faced.
00:18:57
Speaker
I don't think we scored enough goals last year. So in preseason already, the addition of Paul Areola and also Jesus Ferreira and now Ryan Kent, you know, we tried to address those issues and you're seeing Again, Felipe, without going too far ahead, some of the work that we did in preseason is now starting to show up.
00:19:21
Speaker
And I think we're a better offensive team.
00:19:26
Speaker
All right. We will go over to Jada Evans for her follow-up. Thanks. I just wanted to ask about Jesus. He was able to enter, so um his injury is fine, or how is he looking for you?
00:19:40
Speaker
Injury-wise, fine. Jesus came on, did well. I pulled Yaimar because he was on a yellow. Everybody came out of the game. Chad, do I ask a question?
00:19:52
Speaker
Okay, last hand I'm seeing is Jeremiah, so go for Jeremiah. Yeah, not to end on ah on a down note, but there was a lot of attacking set pieces that you gave up today and the most of the danger they created was from attacking set pieces.
Defensive Concerns and Young Player Potential
00:20:09
Speaker
Is that getting to be ah concern at this point? is that what What do you chalk that up to? got a kid You got a kid on the opposite team that has a left foot that's really, really good, and you're going to be put under pressure.
00:20:29
Speaker
McGlynn is terrific with those set pieces. So you know did we make a couple silly fla fouls? Yes. You know, anytime you play against a team that is a really good set piece, this meeting is being recorded, the risk of, you know, being put under pressure, but I didn't attest to anything. i didn't put it down as anything, you know, life threatening or anything like that. Jeremiah.
00:20:52
Speaker
no I spoke too soon. We do have a first time question from Noah riff. Noah, go ahead and ask your question, please. You can close us out.
00:21:04
Speaker
Noah, can you hear us?
00:21:22
Speaker
Great story. Good kid. Thank me for putting him in the game afterwards. He was super excited. So super talented kid. He's going to come and give everything.
00:21:34
Speaker
ah Not much else to say. I mean, i think he's got a, I think he's had a big week. I might have to chop him down a little bit. No, he's, he's had a big goal. Keep him grounded and make sure he keeps doing the work because he's a, he's a really nice kid.
00:21:51
Speaker
Thanks coach thanks for your time congratulations to safe travels home.
00:21:59
Speaker
We are we couldn't hear you oh you're still muted.
00:22:07
Speaker
Can hear you.
00:22:13
Speaker
ah Well, we could not hear Noah's question, but clearly ah Brian Schmetzer could hear it. So I think it was a good question. Sounds like it was about Osaza De Rosario.
00:22:24
Speaker
We still can't hear Noah. Yeah, well, you can hear me now. Now we can hear you. yeah listen ah i didn't Yeah, we couldn't hear the question, but it sounded good. he You got a good answer. So... Apologies, folks. um you Apparently you can't use a mic on two websites at the same time.
00:22:38
Speaker
What is this woke nonsense, Ari? ah You're the tech guy over here. i think I don't know. I got nothing on that one. I literally embarrassed myself in front of Schmetz. And first time question, Alex, I'm sorry. this That was the second time question.
00:22:52
Speaker
um anyway first time for the call but uh oh yeah okay that that makes sense see I'm I'm new to this guys that was it's fine at least you got the question in that's yeah well I wanted to i wanted to hit the day Rosario uh question because his dad was in attendance tonight and they were honoring his dad with the like yeah whatever celebrations for their like yeah uh best clubs So I don't know.
00:23:16
Speaker
That's cool. It's cool to hear that ah Brian's going to chop him down a little bit. We love to hear that. ah that's ah That's a classic Schmetzerism of we've got to bring him back down to earth. you know ah So love hear that. But Ari, we've got a lot to talk about.
00:23:31
Speaker
We have 130 people in here. We have about 130 donations. I created a new goal that I'll cut my hair, I'll get a haircut, and get a Danny Musavski jersey if we get...
Community Interaction and Super Chats
00:23:40
Speaker
10 more ah donations and we are basically already there. So why don't we actually hit the rest of these donors and then we can actually get in to our match recap and take calls. I am going spam out the link. So if you do want to call in, we would love to have you. We would love to hear how this game made you feel.
00:24:02
Speaker
And you can do that right there in chat. Okay. hunch punch thank you for becoming a member really appreciate you nwa thank you so much for the 199 zippy tuna send this to rivas i didn't understand the red oh we're gonna get into the red card um what else do we got adam how met how many do we have to give for you to trim that caterpillar it is getting really long ari like this is a little too it's getting bull cutty you know what i mean
00:24:34
Speaker
yeah so I think it looks it looks nice, but if it gets a super chance for you to cut it. like ah Thank you. Funding the Moose jersey. Schmetz eating crow. We'll never get old. Ream Moose.
00:24:47
Speaker
Noah should cut his hair like Moose. That's not going to happen. That would not look good on Oh, I thought that's what we were doing. Oh, no, I don't think i don't think that's that that tight cut is for me. My head shape doesn't work for that.
00:24:59
Speaker
ah Zippy Tuna, thank you for renewing your membership. Appreciate that. Gel and all. i i could gel it or something. Do a little mohawk moment. I'm excited to enter moose mode.
00:25:12
Speaker
LFG. Love the show. Community building. We're building that community. And a bunch of moose emojis. I want to jump back into this one. Schmetzer eating crow. Will never get old. Re moose. That was honestly a great moment.
00:25:27
Speaker
now that's That's one of my favorite presser moments I've seen in a long time, Ari. Because he's just like me for real. You know, sometimes you have to admit. sometimes Sometimes when you you got good ball knowledge, you got to admit.
00:25:39
Speaker
you were wrong. How do you think that, uh, that presser went? Uh, I mean, everyone seems, everyone seems happy. The vibes are good. Uh, the team's on fire. So it's a lot easier to have a happy, easygoing presser when you're, uh, racking wins, scoring goals every week.
00:25:56
Speaker
And, uh, the moose story just continues to be a lot of fun. Schmetz mentioning that even he might've wrote him off at one point. That was a, uh, That was a fun little moment and really just a lot of things to like about this.
00:26:08
Speaker
This game, I think that I wanted to go over, but ah we can just kind of gradually hit on these. I think as we take some calls, we've got our first person in the queue. So why don't we just bring them Sammy, you ready? Give us a thumbs up.
00:26:21
Speaker
All right. Welcome to the stage. Sammy, how are you doing? Good. How are you doing? Well, doing well. Another Sounders win. What you got for us? Well, first I'll say my voice sounds like this because I'm old and I somehow damaged my esophagus.
00:26:36
Speaker
Don't know how that happened.
00:26:39
Speaker
um But I wonder where what are your thoughts Ryan Kent throughout the game today? My personal opinion is the first half he didn't look good, but once Pedro Del Viga came on, he looked amazing.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah, i thought I thought he had a couple of moments like right at the start of the game where I was like, all right, all right, this is still going. And then the first the rest of the first half ah really really didn't get really didn't get going at top capacity. But I think you're right. When De La Vega came on, ah the whole team really kicked into gear.
00:27:10
Speaker
Being up a man probably helped with that. ah But the solo the solo run that Ryan Kent made to set up that assist that he got, that's just another example of like the type of stuff that...
Player Performance and Line-up Preferences
00:27:21
Speaker
He can do, you know, runs like that, his ability to do that's not going to go away when it's 11 v 11.
00:27:26
Speaker
So that was sick. And that really, I think that tied together the game for him. That was a really nice assist. Yeah. I felt the same way. Like that first half, I don't think was his best, his best work, but I mean, I could understand, you know, having a little bit of jitters. It's his first start in like,
00:27:43
Speaker
I don't know, a year, two years, something like that. First away match as well. Yeah, first away match, you know, just a lot. And Houston's a tough place to play anyway. It's just tough place to exist too sometimes.
00:27:56
Speaker
Very sweaty. ah But I think, yeah, once once he settled in in that second half, it was like... It was great. I thought he played great. I thought he was doing those same things. He looked way more calm on the ball.
00:28:08
Speaker
Like his, his just movement kind of, kind of felt more like that Ryan Kent that we've come to know and love. um But yeah, I mean, see when I think it's so hard to, when you set the bar so high for yourself right off the bat, any kind of like average or middling game, which every player is going to have is just going to look like, oh, well, you know, he's not the demigod we thought he was, but i think he might still be.
00:28:35
Speaker
i mean, yeah, i agree. Like we were hyping him up so hard after last couple of weeks, but I still think he did well, you know, whether it's after, you know, they went down to 10 men or not, you know, or is it, you know, Paul Rothrock on the right hand side? Is that really the move? I'm not sure, but ah the second half definitely looked better, but also they were down to down a man.
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm interested in this one for everyone here. Pedro De La Vega versus Paul Rothrock, you know, especially if you're going to have to have Rothrock play on the other side to manage to get Kent into the lineup.
00:29:10
Speaker
Who do you want to see starting? um so I'm a big Pedro De La Vega fan, so ah I definitely want to see him on the right with Ryan Kent on the left.
00:29:21
Speaker
I like that. Ari? ah Well, so for the starting 11 tonight, I was actually really happy with how they lined it up because I was kind of debating Rothrock or Kent, and then we ended up getting Rothrock and Kent, and I was like, that front four is nice.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah, that is nice. And ah like, I really wanted him to start Rothrock in this game because roth Rothrock is a Houston Dynamo merchant. You know, he's going to get a goal contribution against the Houston Dynamo, which allegedly he didn't.
00:29:49
Speaker
the The oligarchs at MLS, ever but which is we don't believe in that. we don't he I think he's going to get that awarded. But either way, puts in the great call. need to make a call, Ari. You know the people. You got to make the call.
00:30:02
Speaker
he He puts in the ball that leads to that goal either way. So he definitely kept up his reputation as a Houston Dynamo destroyer.
00:30:13
Speaker
And then De La Vega comes on in the second half and ah immediately gets the assist. And one thing I really liked about this performance was ah like when you're up a man,
00:30:24
Speaker
it's not going to be handed to you anyway. It's your duty to go capitalize on it. And i thought that they had an opportunity right in the aftermath at the end of the first half to get that second goal and they didn't quite do it.
00:30:35
Speaker
So I loved seeing them come out there and first sequence of play. Houston didn't even touch the ball like one time before they got that goal. That's, that is a clinic in how to play up a man on the road.
00:30:48
Speaker
And I don't even mind a Pedro de la Vega off the bench. Like, I thought he looked great off the bench. He could go just crazy. He was sprinting till literally the very last minute, trying to win balls in the front and and press the press the defenders. And I loved that. And Paul Rothrock, Houston Dynamo merchant.
00:31:07
Speaker
everyone merchant he could do he can score he can score assist against anyone but you know houston houston especially so yeah it's it's it's a uh like i've said it's a team of wingers but that's not a terrible thing to have when you can uh basically change up your whole strategy and have someone like georgie come in off the bench and just i mean that thy houston team down a man having to deal with georgie that's a nightmare that's a nightmare Sammy, we got a couple people in the queue, but ah if you what any last takes or thoughts or anything you wanted to get out there about ah ah Seattle Sounders 3-1 at Houston Dynamo?
00:31:42
Speaker
ah Yeah, so last thing I'll say is ah my opinion. I love the super sub of Paul Rothrock and Georgie coming off the bench. You know, start Ryan Kent and Pedro De La Vega then have those super subs of Paulie and Georgie would be great.
00:31:57
Speaker
Love it. Thanks so much for calling in, Sammy. I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks, Sammy. Go Ders. See you later, man. Bye. All right. We've got we got a queue going. We've got Super Chats going. Let's hit a couple of these Super Chats, and then we'll jump in to our next caller, Jordan. So, Jordan, are you ready? Just give us a thumbs up. Okay, we'll pull you on right after these Super Chats here.
00:32:17
Speaker
ah Wait, I missed one. I can't miss. Ari, I can't miss any. I can't miss any. You guys should swap haircuts. Are you talking about me and Ari? Or me and Maybe you and I? Or... Maybe you and Moose.
00:32:28
Speaker
I feel like Moose could rock the mop. Do you know what i'm saying? I'm going to Photoshop that later tonight, and then we can see. Yeah, we'll face swap it. Or maybe someone's better at that than me, and they can do it.
00:32:42
Speaker
Zippy Tuna, thank you for the $5. We appreciate you. if at home as If at home as favorites, start Pedro. On the road, needing legs and shithousery, Paul, they give different things. What do you think about that, Ari?
00:32:55
Speaker
i Yeah, I think that's that's one way to do it. I think it could also be like ah matchup dependent based on the team as much as the venue. like Games where you need the skill set, mix and match.
00:33:08
Speaker
That's what's great about the depth that we're seeing with this team right now is they can ah do stuff like that and have there be no drop off. I mean, bringing in Ferreira and De La Vega off the bench in this game.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah. So good. So good. All right Jordan, we're bringing you on stage. Thanks so much for calling in. How are we doing? Let's take this question first. I'm sorry. I'm going to cut you off.
00:33:31
Speaker
Actually, no. Introduce yourself. Say what's up. What you got? Tell us how you're feeling. Great. How can you not? You know, especially after Albert Rusnak, Brace, always good to see.
00:33:43
Speaker
ah Ryan Kent. I, the second he was linked to Seattle, I went on Twitter and I was like, this is an amazing deal. yeah Anyone who said otherwise obviously had no clue who he was, just saw a free agent who hasn't played.
00:33:59
Speaker
But you're talking about a guy who challenged for, you know, challenged with Rangers, went on and played European football and UEFA like ah it's the easiest decision because he's also young he's not a 30 year old washed up player coming for a paycheck he's a guy who's in his prime he's he's a dog he wanted to fight came to Seattle it was the best free agent signing maybe ever he's a lot better than i thought he was gonna be
00:34:31
Speaker
yeah I use him as a FIFA merchant for sure. Just using him on FIFA with like 99 pace as a striker. Just run straight up the field with Ryan Kent. I knew he was fast, but he makes them he makes every defender look like they're just running in tar.
00:34:50
Speaker
I think it's also interesting, too, because of his mindset coming into this plays such a big role into it, right? Like, yeah the Sounders are a tough team to assimilate into if you're not interested in just kind of writing it out. You know what I mean? Like, if you're not interested in going to training and working your ass off...
00:35:09
Speaker
Brian Schmenzer is not the type of coach to be like, oh my God, Ryan Kent, he played for Rangers. You're in my starting lineup. He's like, going to get this random dude from who got rejected from Toronto FC. He's going to start ahead of you.
00:35:23
Speaker
Like you're going to have to beat him. And, you know, I mean, I think that's part of the reason, too, why he's like, I'm finding my love for soccer again. Like, this is, you know, it's just fun for him. And it looks fun for him out there.
00:35:36
Speaker
And to add on to that, I think people are noticing him because Kent got double teamed a lot in the first
Controversial Match Decisions
00:35:42
Speaker
half. He got more than double teamed. I saw at one point there was like four guys around him when he was on the ball.
00:35:48
Speaker
i'm I'm an Arsenal fan. And... Ryan Kent this game was like Bakayo Saka any game Arsenal play. It is literally you know there's somebody there.
00:36:00
Speaker
Like it doesn't doesn't matter. The other attackers don't matter. The only difference is compared to Arsenal, ah Ryan Kent has much better attacking pieces around him for the league he's in.
00:36:11
Speaker
which leads to, i mean, the fact that on the assist, he just kicks it around Vargas, uses him as a human shield, and just sprints to an open ball that everyone just left for him, is able just to tap it across.
00:36:24
Speaker
Like, most people would have just given up on that ball. They're like, oh, I kicked it too far. Dude pulled out another gear, sprints into open space, and just is able to cut it across perfectly.
00:36:38
Speaker
That's incredible. If people who are trying to call in, you might be blocked because we got too many people in the queue. So just just wait a minute. And then you could get in after we're we're cheap over here. We can't afford the like it's like another two hundred dollars just to have five more slots to call in. So, you know, more super chats for that or whatever. But ah I wanted to get your take on this red card. OK, we haven't talked about the red card yet. So I had to explain this to my mom.
00:37:02
Speaker
Because when they went to VAR, immediately went, okay, so the only thing they're looking about is, is it in the box? That was all it was. And now, did he mean to handball it? Probably not. Obviously, like the ball takes the bounce.
00:37:18
Speaker
It hits their bodies. But it does hit the hand. And if it doesn't, Danny Mussovsky is through. He's lined up perfect with the guy. One touch, he's in on net.
00:37:30
Speaker
it was always going to be a red card. It was just, is it a red card and a penalty or is it a red card and a free kick? So the player reaction where he's pissed off and kicking the board, the coach's reaction, like, no, they were never looking, oh maybe we'll pull it back.
00:37:46
Speaker
it it's It's a dog zone. You're always getting a red card. Like, that's just how it is. ah You know, i have to defend friend of the show, um e Femi Odesu, as, you know, he he is a friend of the show.
00:37:59
Speaker
He's been on the show. We have to we have to defend him. You know, that's that's our... that was That was funny how much of a character he ended up being in this game because, yeah, you you did a whole interview with him. He scored a goal and then immediately got sent off. He really left his...
00:38:11
Speaker
legacy It was an incredible 10-minute run. Probably one of the most historic nine-of-a-go 10-minute runs. The of highs and the lowest of lows right off. Yeah, literally. But, ah I mean, you got on Like, I feel bad for the kid. like Yeah, it's... Like I said, he didn't mean to do it.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah. But either whether he meant to do it or not, it Danny Wasofsky's in if that ball isn't in his hand. So, it is... I 100% believe it's accidental. You don't see him reach for the ball.
00:38:37
Speaker
You don't see him, like, extend to try to stop him. It just... that's the play of the ball. Yeah. Unfortunately, it's a red card for him. Fortunately for us, it's a red card because then, you know, Pedro comes on and Ryan Kent and Pedro just run circles around everybody.
00:38:55
Speaker
Two easy assists. Rusnak, like, easiest day of his life. Just direct the ball into the net. Well, Jordan, close us out and with your final thoughts here so we can get to some more callers. Anything else you want to share?
00:39:10
Speaker
Final thoughts. I can't wait to see Jordan come back into this team. Jordan Morris, obviously, to have him, PDV, and Kent as a front three.
00:39:21
Speaker
I don't care if it's Ferreira or Rusnak. Those three, and especially on counters, it's going to be lights out. Those three you are going to just kill a team for sure. Woo.
00:39:32
Speaker
Thank you so much for calling in, Jordan. We will see you Have a good night, guys. Peace out. All right, Jake, you are next up in the queue. Give us a thumbs up if you're ready to go.
00:39:45
Speaker
I see you. Okay, beautiful. We're adding you to the stage now. Jake, welcome to the show. How you doing? Give us your opening thoughts and statements.
00:39:55
Speaker
just want to say, Ari, Noah, love you guys. Thank you for inviting me to the show. It's always a pleasure. Love you, too. I think the last time I saw you, Noah, you weren't here, Ari, you were here. It was the Cruises old crash out. So it's been a while and I apologize. Oh, yeah. Oh, no, you're good.
00:40:12
Speaker
So I wanted to take this in a little bit of a different direction. Eternal Blue, Forever Green. I have friends who are huge DC United fans and Live and Die by Benny O. Yeah, Benny O. obviously player there.
00:40:27
Speaker
and ah like They met him. I have pictures of my friends meeting Benny out at the airport in D.C.
Coaching Styles and Relationships
00:40:33
Speaker
Obviously, he's he's going to Houston. He's doing better things out there. Every time Olsen meets Brian Schmetzer, he has ah conversation with him.
00:40:44
Speaker
Every match. but Last year, he was yelling at him. He like came up. He's like, hey, something went wrong. You know that whole match here that went crazy. ah is is Ryan Schmetzer.
00:40:58
Speaker
Coach Schmetz. Is he his mentor? Is he mentor? Does he coach like Ben Olsen? They seem to have a different relationship. same He walked up to him today and had a whole bunch of things to say to him at the end of the match. and and Coach Schmetz obviously respects him and We all love him. I want to know if you guys know anything about the relationship between those two.
00:41:19
Speaker
i will I will dig in. I'm going to message some sources. Ari, you hit that while I message some sources. I honestly hadn't heard of ah any special type relationship between Schmitz and Benny O. It's certainly possible. They've both been in the league for a long time. Benny O, I mean, he played for DC, then coached them for like, you know, he was in that organization for like 25 years or something.
00:41:44
Speaker
um i just want to see benio's presser tonight because he was so steamed about the red card uh i mean i have to imagine that's going to be an easy blazing hot he he was i think that's what they were talking about like i mean i'm not you know i'm no like john boy i'm no lip reader over here but it seemed like that's what they were talking about he was like what's up with that red card man like i think that's kind of what he was doing well know they're all all the coaches are close in mls even even when you think they aren't uh
00:42:13
Speaker
Everyone in MLS is close. Even DMs. Last year, we i think it was Did we draw? Or did we win here? and it was controversial.
00:42:26
Speaker
Schmatz goes to shake his hand. like cuts into He's like, blah, blah, blah. I don't read lips either. I'm like, clearly you two have a relationship because you wouldn't approach the most tenured...
00:42:42
Speaker
MLS coach. I mean, he was only second after
00:42:48
Speaker
Burmese. Sorry, Coach. He's gone now. Peter V. Yeah, yeah, PV.
00:42:56
Speaker
Yeah, that's all I came in speculate about their relationship after such a – I they got shellacked by us down in their own home. And Red Card or whatever, it was good for us.
00:43:10
Speaker
Well, we'll close it out for you with this question here. Jordan gets back. Moose is still cooking. Who do you start?
00:43:22
Speaker
Wow. You think I have i use the guy like a brain on me here. Okay, so Jordan's our DP. You got to... man you got to start him or you what you do is you you work him in right so moose has the hot hand you play him up front and you can you play morris 30 minutes at the end and let it work itself out that's what i was gonna say exactly that's that's probably the correct thing jake the coach over here taking over brian schmetzer's job so he can be the mentor to benio thank you so much for calling in i can say one more thing don't know thank absolutely
00:44:01
Speaker
You guys ever want to hear an embarrassing story about me meeting Schmidt in 2016 in LA? I'm not going to do it on video, but I will i will definitely tell you guys I met him and yeah is it He was a hero of mine and I made an ass out of myself. that Also, I bought some hot sauce. My wife and I bought some hot sauce. so Well, heck yeah, thank you. i I appreciate that. And I guess we can use this to announce we have our own hot sauce coming out in just about...
00:44:33
Speaker
about a month a little bit less than that but we're officially bottling it it's our lobbying scorcher's name on it like our branded ours we we've there we go jake thank you so much for calling in we'll see you soon have a great weekend thanks jake All right we're going to bring an extra panelist on here because we got to ask him.
00:44:57
Speaker
Jeremiah, I'm going to bring you on. Are you ready? you I see you stretching. i don't want Okay, you're you're good. You're just looking too cool. You're just looking like, yo. That's how it goes do we know Do we know if Benny is – has is like ah ah any relationship with Smetzer? Do we know?
00:45:14
Speaker
you know mean, I would imagine they have a good relationship, but, you know, Benny – Hard to believe he was coaching for six years at at DC United before Schmetzer got the job. So I don't know that Schmetzer is a...
00:45:29
Speaker
is a is like a mentor as much as he is ah contemporary. But I think, you know, Brian has good relationships with a lot of coaches.
00:45:43
Speaker
You know, he famously was really close with ah Adrian Heath. They would always get a ah bottle of wine together the night before a game. And of course he owned Adrian Heath like no other coach has ever owned someone. So That's how it goes.
00:46:00
Speaker
But yeah, ah I can understand why Ben Olsen might be frustrated. It does seem like ah his team gets a lot of red cards against the Sounders. but Maybe they should stop committing red card offenses, Jeremiah. Have they thought about that?
00:46:17
Speaker
I was a little surprised. that Like I was surprised how many people thought that was a controversial red card. I, to me, it looks like he hits it twice with his hand. And the only question to me was whether or not the second time was in the box. I thought it was, but you know, whatever red card is fine.
00:46:33
Speaker
i my understanding of the rule though, is that he would have had to have been judged to purposefully hit it with his his hand for it to be a penalty or a red card. If it had been a penalty,
00:46:45
Speaker
But sort of not calling it a penalty made it a little bit easier of a call because, you know, look, if you're the mass last man back and you handle it, you're going to get a red card. That's how it goes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, maybe Danzig Katz is going to come in here and defend our boy Femi.
00:47:01
Speaker
Are you ready? Give us a thumbs up. Give us a thumbs up. Yep. All right. All right. All right. We're adding you in here. Listen, you don't have to defend him. oh my god That's me. That's just me. but He's in the dark. Danzig.
00:47:13
Speaker
There we go. We got a light on. How are we doing? Give us your opening thoughts and statements and opinions and feelings and everything. It's fun watching Sounders again. Am I right?
00:47:25
Speaker
They're fun. It's fun. They're going to the end line, cutting it back. Guys are making runs into the box. What are we doing? We're scoring goals. I'm fun. Who would have thought?
00:47:37
Speaker
One Georgie. It's fun. there He's having fun. knew who? Overlapping runs. What? ryan t clark Nuhu crosses. What?
00:47:49
Speaker
Passes. Nuhu lining up for free kicks.
00:47:53
Speaker
Nuhu, what's going on? He's a real left back now. he He's legit. What do you think happened? What do you think happened to him? Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent. What do you think happened to Nuhu to put some sort of sense into him?
00:48:08
Speaker
Ryan Kent on the practice field was like... getting it out It was Ryan Kent. Sorry. Sorry. I jumped in on you. Sorry. No, you're good. I mean, is probably Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent is saying overlap here.
00:48:22
Speaker
I'll get it to you. Get it back to me. I'm getting to the end line. Put a cross in. Practice some crosses. Yeah. after crosses are The crosses are are accurate. Yeah.
00:48:33
Speaker
Yeah. Who's the man now? I don't know. Who has walked in? Jesus. Jesus with a great through ball to Georgie. I'm not the Jesus.
00:48:46
Speaker
I'm the hatred, but I will get that tattoo. oh he oh are we Oh, this is weird we're the tattoo guy. Yeah, let's do this. Okay, all right, listen, here we go. This is this is the real this is the real crux of the call here.
00:49:02
Speaker
I didn't mean to pocket you until the end. I want to put you at the front here, bury the lead, but ah all right. I am not getting a tattoo of Jesus Ferrer on my body because that will not happen, but I will get i will get like a JF or something.
00:49:18
Speaker
Is that fair? you can get Yeah, you can get – it can be a portrait. It can be – it can say Jesus. It could be a number nine. It could be... Okay, I'll do the nine.
00:49:28
Speaker
and I'll do the nine, I'll do it looking cool. i think you might be yeah ah I think it should be his little graphic design logo. That's his Instagram avatar. Well, okay, regardless. yeah We'll do a vote. We'll do a poll.
00:49:40
Speaker
People can pick from a couple of options if this happens, but here's the bet. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but yeah if Jesus Ferreira is able to score five goals all competitions...
Jesus Ferreira's Goal-Scoring Form
00:49:52
Speaker
it it No. No. I'll go all competitions. I'll go all okay with playoffs. Everything. okay i'll go Okay. Five goals, all comps.
00:50:04
Speaker
Six. Six or more and five or less for me. Okay. 5.5 is the line. So five or less goals. ah You get ah tattoo. Six or more, I do.
00:50:18
Speaker
Done. Done. Deal. so i got I already have a tattoo on my left butt cheek from losing a bet to my kids. Okay. Let's do this.
00:50:28
Speaker
The butt cheeks hurt, though. It says don't make bets, but let's do this. Here, virtual handshake.
00:50:38
Speaker
There we go. This is it. There we go. Nice. there we go ah Well, im so I'm excited for this bet. um I will put it... I don't know. I'll put it on my body somewhere. I have enough tattoos. No one will see it anyway.
00:50:53
Speaker
Yeah, I'm covered. Yeah, don't... I'm covered, bro. It's all good, dude. but Please, bro. yeah But, okay. All right. So, the non...
00:51:05
Speaker
The non, you're not a hater. What would, what would we call you? What did I call myself? The disliker. Like I was the moose disliker. You're the hazers for a disliker, but you even had some good things to say about him today. It's not yet. He came around on that for us.
00:51:17
Speaker
Yeah. Great through ball. Great weight on it. Yeah. Let had a little curve to it for Georgie. Dude. on. but Man, now I'm now i'm sweating.
00:51:28
Speaker
Now I'm like, I'm going to have to start showing up to some of these training sessions, Jeremiah. I'm going to have to be like, all right, Jesus, come on. Let's go, buddy. Come on. I'm start playing him in some goals. If this is a goal, I have been a – I was a big ah promoter of Jesus in the preseason, and I think he's been okay.
00:51:47
Speaker
But I will say that his goal scoring – he's not showing any – like if you're if you're if you're sitting the over-under on goals, I think you're both – the The under is looking pretty solid right now. I mean, the guy, he's not shooting. I mean, that's unfortunate the unfortunate reality.
00:52:02
Speaker
As good as he looks playmaking, he is just not getting in. He's not in the box. He's not getting shots off. um And Albert Rusnak continues to show that you can be a goal scorer from ah deeper in the field than he's been. then So I don't know. ah or How are the haters on Rusnak going these days?
00:52:25
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. Well, it's not going to, the the goals aren't going to count because it was against a 10 man team. Yeah. Oh, is that, and is that the standard? and That's one of the criteria. it Well, also Houston wasn't, yeah, no, that's good point. Houston was one of the teams that it counts against anyway. So even if it was 11 v 11, it wouldn't have counted, but yeah with, not a earn because they're bought, they're under the playoff line.
00:52:48
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to qualify it, Jeremiah. yeah no and Also, it was, it it wasn't raining and the temperature was under 85. So you have to, you know, you have to adjust.
00:53:00
Speaker
It's like, ah it's like an XG. Good notes. Good notes. Yeah. All right. let's Did you want to go, did you want to go on a secondary assist for a rant?
00:53:11
Speaker
i already I've done enough of that the last two last shows. We can save that. We can save that for another year. I better get that assist back. That's what I'm saying. I heard MLS robbed him of an assist today. That is boning. It's the damn oligarch. They've got to give that back. I don't know what we're – has it deflected a tiny bit? What are we talking about? That's a good ball.
00:53:30
Speaker
It's only because it's Paul Rothrock. You think if Messi puts that ball in, they're even thinking about taking assist away. They're counting that as a goal for Messi. What are we talking about? Yeah. All right. Close us out here. I'm just going to call you Dan. I don't know if it's Dan, but it's just close. I don't know. and any last ah Any last thoughts or takes on the 3-1 win over Houston Dynamo?
00:53:55
Speaker
For me? Yeah, for me. Secondary assists, got to go. all I got. oh have Have a good night, man. We appreciate you calling in. You're getting that tattoo, buddy. You're getting that tattoo.
00:54:09
Speaker
All Man, i what did I do to myself? What did I do to myself, guys? I think it's fine. If you lose, you can just do little small one. Six goals, all comps.
00:54:22
Speaker
So... I mean, I say this with nothing but love in my heart for Jesus. i don't I think six goals is ah is ah is is is a safe – I think you're safe, man. That's a lot of goals at this point.
00:54:36
Speaker
no He's got he has taken like seven shots. No, no. ah He has to score six goals. Wait. You're on the other side of that? Yeah. Yeah. wait you're on the other side of that yeah Like, if he doesn't score six goals, you got to get a tattoo?
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, you're in trouble, my man. Yeah. But I don't think it says – God forbid a guy believe in his team. You know? God forbid. He goes against the doubters.
00:55:01
Speaker
I don't think it's guaranteed that he's going to – I don't think it's guaranteed that, like, he's going to be – taking this few amount of shots the whole season. no I will look it's guaranteed, but he's got, I mean, he's got some work to do.
00:55:16
Speaker
He's got work to do. he's He's got some work to do. Well, Jeremiah, I got my question in today. Although you did I had a audio mishap and Brian Schmetzer was laughing at me. So I felt like Ari a little bit, but you know what?
Sounders' Offensive Strategy
00:55:32
Speaker
As things go, um you asked some questions in the presser um to which I wrote some questions down based on that.
00:55:43
Speaker
um I wanted to ask you this question and Ari as well. Has there ever been a better comeback for the Seattle Sounders than Danny Musavsky?
00:55:55
Speaker
From in the mud, a guy who... I think it's fair to say was frustrating to watch at points and now looking like a bona fide, qualified starting striker. I mean, that's and at breaking records or getting getting on the record books.
00:56:14
Speaker
What are the other good comebacks? Like I would argue Nelson Valdez is in there because he got the playoff goal. Yeah, but Nelson, that was a different kind of comeback. Nelson Valdez had um had some moments that were nice.
00:56:26
Speaker
And then maybe that's a good shout. He did have two playoff goals. So that's that's a good shout. That's a good shout. But he, you know, that was not an extended run of good form. That was like Daniel Sofsky looks like a different player. it's Yeah, he's the hottest number nine in the league.
00:56:43
Speaker
ml s Well, don't know. That's not true. There's been good comeback stories. But, I mean, Danny Masofsky, I don't know what the rules are on comeback player of the year these these days. But, I mean, not hyperbolically, he would be in the running for comeback player of the year right now.
00:56:59
Speaker
ah He is... and it i I've said this before, I'll say it again. This is not just a hot run of finishing form. He is consistently putting himself in dangerous spots. You look at the run he made on the goal and the way he sort of inside outs that and he just fades to the back post.
00:57:20
Speaker
that's That's instinctual stuff that he is just becoming so good at. He is in the flow of... finding spaces and being in the right spot at the right time.
00:57:33
Speaker
i i mean, I don't think he's going to be a 15 goal scorer or anything, but I mean, I don't see any reason why he can't be a ah goal every other game type of scorer just by his movement. His movement is so good right now.
00:57:47
Speaker
His movement on the goal tonight in particular yeah It was perfect. Beautiful. That was just a great team goal. I think ah for me, the things that stand out about this performance overall, which is they got they got the first goal, which as the road team, that's ah if you can do that, that's like test number one, passed.
00:58:10
Speaker
And then... like I said earlier, once they got the red card, once they got the man advantage, they capitalized on it. That's yeah that doesn't always happen.
00:58:21
Speaker
That doesn't always happen. want to say another thing about this, the last couple of weeks, especially is that, you know, one of the things that's been frustrating about the Sounders is that even when they get the goal, they don't always keep their foot on the gas and the, like you know, and I think maybe this week you could maybe criticize them for maybe being too committed to it to putting their foot on the gas, but They, you know, this week and last week, they were showing really good attacking instincts of not wanting to just rest on a one goal lead and wanting to push for more.
00:58:53
Speaker
And I think that's really encouraging because it, it not only is it just a good tactic, I think it also speaks to the right, the mentality that this team has right now, which is they want to, they just want to get goals on the board. And, you know, um,
00:59:11
Speaker
I think it's it's just a really good – I think this is – they're playing really well right now, and and I think it's notable that this is a team – let's not forget, they're missing Paul Areola. They're missing Jackson Reagan.
00:59:22
Speaker
They're missing Jordan Morris. This is not this this is not ah the optimal group that this team has, and I don't know, and maybe maybe that's working in their favor in it in a weird way, but – I think there are plenty of teams who you lose a defender of the year finalist.
00:59:40
Speaker
You lose a you know, a, you know, a potential MVP candidate and you lose your one, what was looking like your biggest off season acquisition. And they're, they're looking better. Like, I don't know if they, at this point, I'm trying to think if they ever looked better than they they've looked over the last few weeks last year. I mean, they, they had a good, they had some, you know, around leagues cup there, there you had a good run.
Team Challenges and Critiques
01:00:03
Speaker
I mean, I guess they did finish the second half of the season with an amazing record. So maybe i'm I'm underselling that. But this offense is clicking in a way that I don't remember clicking in a long time.
01:00:14
Speaker
No, I agree. And I think also, Yamar, who's but he's had some rocky moments. But that secondary assist today, that secondary assist today was Jackson Reagan-esque.
01:00:29
Speaker
it was His which one? is His secondary assist that he got. That that long ball, that long pass okay up the side that that led to, I can't remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah. it was that' That's what led to the second goal, I think. Yeah.
01:00:45
Speaker
I thought that was awesome. That was like giving me. That was good. You're right. and the one The one that set up the Pedro de la Vega cutback. are the yeah the pedro de laveega cut back Yeah.
01:00:57
Speaker
Well, we got another caller, so let's bring him in now. If you're ready, Gianni, give us a thumbs up. All right. Welcome to the show. How we doing? How we feeling? What do we got to say?
01:01:09
Speaker
Man, just happy about a great Sounders win. um That, I mean, Kent's play has just been phenomenal. It's just shocking that this guy is coming off of not playing for an entire year.
01:01:23
Speaker
And somehow just coming on and turning defenders inside out, just impeccable runs. His movement, his passing is just outrageous.
01:01:35
Speaker
I mean, he's he's the greatest player to ever touch turf. i think I think we can say that. like I mean, Messi take some notes, I guess. I mean, just saying. and Listen, I mean, Miami, they're getting close to being on Fraud Watch. me and all They got beat down 4-1 today, so I don't know what to say.
01:01:51
Speaker
If they were starting Ryan Kent. I'll tell you, i here's my hot take. I think I would be willing to bet more money on on Miami finishing below fourth than above fourth in the East.
01:02:07
Speaker
I think they are... You think they're that, Sean? I don't think they are... The coaches ask. I think they lost lot momentum. I mean, this was... i think they're going to i think they lost a lot of momentum i mean this was I think going out of Champions League was our Champions Cup was a big blow.
01:02:25
Speaker
The vibes just seem way off now. Well, we've been saying this. Like, yeah, yeah. We've been saying this, you know, five years. It's hard to keep a team like that together when you've got that many people making that much money in MLS.
01:02:39
Speaker
It's just not sustainable. You cannot have the depth that you need in order to play the number of matches that we're going to be required to play. And going forward, it just looks like, great, you signed all these big name players that make a lot of money that what are they doing? They're not producing at the level that they need to be.
01:02:59
Speaker
they They signed a bunch of names. It looks like MLS 1.0, where you get these DPs that are name, they're old, they are they're like the retirement league DPs.
01:03:10
Speaker
Like, and yes, you have Messi, who is still clearly like one of the best players in the world. But a lot of these other guys are just, they're not up to their they're not make they're not performing up to their contracts.
01:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah it's a tough scene down there in Miami. And who knows? Maybe that's good for the Seattle Sounders who will travel there towards the end of the season. Yeah, that'll be interesting. You know, who knows? But I want to ask you this question, okay?
01:03:38
Speaker
Yes. There is the potential that Danny Musavsky could tie the longest regular season goal-scoring streak in Seattle Sounders history against his former club, LAFC.
01:03:50
Speaker
That is some, that's some tea right there. Are we loving that? Are we hating that? How we feeling about that? Do you do start him with that sole purpose or do you wait? You start him anyways, right now he, you cannot drop him to the bench. And I know that like Jordan Morris is our DP. Jordan Morris was performing very well.
01:04:08
Speaker
Jordan Morris was injured, came back, immediately got re-injured. And i don't think that you can bench a player who's performing at Moose's level. just because you have a DP sitting on the bench.
01:04:21
Speaker
like Jordan Morris is going to be under pressure to get back onto the field at this point. Do you think it's a Rothrock situation where they ended up ah benching Rui Diaz to to fit Rothrock into the squad because they were just playing better that way? I think it's a little bit of a different situation, mostly because they didn't drop Rui Diaz for Rothrock. They dropped Rui Diaz for Jordan Morris.
01:04:44
Speaker
Paul Rothrock was just the beneficiary of that. So it's a little bit of a different situation. Also, I should know Jordan Morris is out like five or six more weeks, guys. Yeah, it's not. Yeah, it's going to a while. And then he's going to have to regain fitness.
01:04:58
Speaker
Also, when you're out for five, six weeks on a hamstring, that means you're also not doing the cardio that you need to be able to play large numbers of minutes. So even getting back to game fitness after six week injury is It's not like you just come back and you're like, okay, ready to go.
01:05:16
Speaker
you like You have to go from like 15 minutes. Yeah, so even when gets back, it's not even going to be an issue because they'll have to keep starting moves for a while anyway. Yeah. The biggest thing for LAFC is whether or not they want to rest they they just want to w rest Danny. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Osaze gets a start.
01:05:35
Speaker
I would love to see a D-Row start. Let's go. Because I just think they're going to want to set this up as much as possible to have a full drink squad against Portland. And they don't want to. I want to beat down for Portland.
01:05:49
Speaker
Do you play? So do you play Danny at all in that LAFC game? Oh, yeah. Sure. Why not? Yeah. Give him 30. It's his former team. Of course you do. 15, 30, depending on the games looking. but yeah, let him get on the field.
01:05:59
Speaker
Let him make sure he stays hot. Like, you don't want to run the guy into the ground, but also strikers streaky. Like, you do not want to just bury someone on the bench just because, oh, he's getting a number of, like, he's getting too many minutes on his legs.
01:06:14
Speaker
You want to give the guy an opportunity to play it. Yeah. And plus, if he knows, you know, if you're going play on the weekend, what you're basically just on your normal schedule anyway, you're just not playing your, your midweek matchup, you know, like that's not really that much of a, of a, like of a bump in your step, I guess.
01:06:33
Speaker
But ah we'll close this out here with any final thoughts you have. And we got another caller in the queue. So. Yeah, absolutely. um I will say that for as great as this game was, i do still have like one pretty big concern, and that's our Septies defending. like What are we doing back there? Yeah, it's pretty bad. so If I could just add, it's ah the defending, yes, but also ah giving up these dangerous...
01:06:59
Speaker
these free kicks in dangerous spots. Like that, that that would be my only complaint about this game tonight is that it's a game that you have in hand where you're, you're just gifting them. Like Jack McGlynn is one of the best in the league at exactly that.
01:07:12
Speaker
So like they did that, like Georgie did it at the end of the game and I was, brother I was tilted about it. And then Osaze did it like a minute later. I think the Asazi one was a little soft. I'm not going to lie, but the Georgie one, like, dude, you just gave up a penalty in open cup, ripping a dude down by his Jersey. You're giving up another dumb free kick.
01:07:32
Speaker
Not too far. Allegedly a penalty. um Allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah, allegedly a penalty. But I mean, like, you cannot be pulling these guys down. They feel that arm on their shoulder or their back, and they're going to go down. And if there is any sort of grabbing or contact, the ref is going to blow that foul every time. The guy is facing away from his box, ah right away from our box, towards the end line.
01:07:57
Speaker
If he tries to turn, you get your body on him. You get, you just stay both side of him. You shepherd him to the side, but you do not drape your arm over him and let him go down and get a foul.
01:08:09
Speaker
Like that is just, I don't know what you're doing. Yeah. No. Yeah. Couldn't have said it better. It's just bad defense. Yeah. Georgie, Georgie's still raw, man. That's why he's still getting minutes with the defiance. I think like it yeah feels like, and honestly, like right now, I think he needs to be getting more minutes on defiance. Um,
01:08:26
Speaker
Like, there are certain things that he brings to the game that can be great. I don't think you'd bring him in when we're trying to close down a game. He is, and I said this in the Discord, he embodies Chaos Ball. And Chaos Ball is not great when you're trying to close out a game.
01:08:44
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for calling in, Gianni. We appreciate you and hope you have a great rest of your weekend and hope you call back in. Absolutely. Thanks, guys. thanks to you later all right we got another caller but do we have anything to say in the interim uh no bring them on all right rob you ready to go boom rob welcome back to the show how are we doing doing great how are you guys this great sounders one right here am good to see you again um
01:09:20
Speaker
I think he's typing his his his article right now. I'm editing Tim's story, to be honest with you. Okay. Yeah, Holly says hi, by the way. hey. So, you know, going from ah macro to micro, right? So, great positive on the win.
01:09:39
Speaker
um I think another positive is you know, the Sounders have often struggled at times when, you know, they've been playing teams that were down a man.
01:09:50
Speaker
um You know, we have, I've lost count of number of times i have sweated out results with us, you know, playing up a man. And I'm like, what are we doing? You know?
Impact of Substitutions and Player Performance
01:10:02
Speaker
um So, so that was good. It was good to see them, you know, put them to the sword when they needed to do that, you know, and, and getting those two goals I thought were effective.
01:10:17
Speaker
um Sorry, statement of the obvious.
01:10:22
Speaker
The, the other thing that I found really interesting was in the second half, bringing on De La Vega with Kent, you know, we had talked about, or you guys had mentioned earlier how in the first half, Kent was getting double teamed really hard and a lot.
01:10:37
Speaker
And, It was very interesting when Dale and Vega came on and suddenly you have two pretty solid skill players on each wing. Of course, they're also down a man, which makes it tough, but they were finding a harder time trying to double team, even in the defense when they have to split their attention.
01:10:56
Speaker
And, you know, Mussovsky is already beginning to to occupy defenders. So i I found that interesting and that'll be an interesting wrinkle to see,
01:11:07
Speaker
how they continue that pairing going forward or, you know, that lineup um as Schmetz looks at his depth. um Going to some of the negatives, I felt like – ah while Yamar did have one, you know, had the good line breaking pass that kind of set up the one goal.
01:11:30
Speaker
Um, he had about four different ones that I counted that, uh, got intercepted. You know, it, it was very obvious we missed Jackson Reagan in that role.
01:11:41
Speaker
Um, you know, our effectiveness breaking those paths are getting those line breaking passes to connect was really tough. Um, And then Georgie, the good and the bad, you know, the bad, he had, you know, the pull down you guys just talked about.
01:11:59
Speaker
And, but on the good side, towards even towards the end of the game, he turned Jack Dorsey so hard to the end line. Yeah, he did. And literally Dorsey is just collapsed in a heat, you know, and, and that's just one of the, that's just one of the roughest things as a defender is like, you know, they're just drilled.
01:12:20
Speaker
You never let that winger beat you to the end line, never let them beat you to the end line. Right. And, and George, you just smoked him. um Yeah. So there, those were my thoughts.
01:12:32
Speaker
I love it. i I completely agree that laying Jack Dorsey out in any context there is is this is good. It's a good bit. like you can't You can't complain about that. I want to ask you a question.
01:12:45
Speaker
sorry Danny Musavsky, we know the guy. we know We know what he's been doing. But there's a thing in the air. It is a contract year for the guy. Some people have been saying, or I've heard rumblings of, he's only playing this way because it's a contract year. He's only playing this way because it's a contract year.
01:13:02
Speaker
What are your takes on it? What are your takes on if we should resign him or not as well?
01:13:10
Speaker
my gut My gut reaction is... That's, that's a wildly simplistic take, you know, for, for, you know, a professional major league soccer striker, a a professional top tier, you know, division striker,
01:13:27
Speaker
ah You know, Danny Mussofsky has had ups and downs. You kind of look back at his career. You know, he's he's ebbed and flowed. Is he definitely kind of in a, you know, higher upswing on the sine wave? Absolutely.
01:13:44
Speaker
You know, he's he's definitely peaking. um But to say that, you know, all this is a contract year, so suddenly he's found religion and he knows he's playing for a paycheck.
01:13:55
Speaker
Eh, yeah. and You know, who who knows what lies in the hearts of men, right? I mean, it's – that's – could be.
01:14:06
Speaker
i i don't think so. Like I said, I think that's a pretty simplistic take. um I think it's a combination of he's gotten a lot of minutes, right? He is in his second year with roughly the same group of players.
01:14:22
Speaker
So I think he is familiar with the setup. I think the 4-2-3-1 flatters his skills. um And I think the other thing is Musovsky definitely played – this probably isn't a great analogy, but I use that Wondolowski, you know, analogy of, you know, he's scoring a lot of Wondo style goals, right? Yeah. It's in the box, gets in good positions and is burying the chances that he should be burying.
01:14:56
Speaker
Right. And Wondo made a career of that, you know, and I think, you know, maybe he's beginning to kind of hit that stride. Maybe he's,
01:15:08
Speaker
Figuring out, okay, this is how I get myself into good positions with, you know, with these guys. And, you know, as you guys were talking about, I think on an earlier episode, you know, are these repeatable actions?
01:15:20
Speaker
You know, that's one of the biggest indicators, right? And I mean, all of his goals have been... fairly repeatable, you know, maybe one or two weren't, but, you know, they, they've all been, you know, good repeatable actions. And that's a, that is a good indicator of, or an indicator of good coaching.
01:15:40
Speaker
Rob, we got to get your take on ah just the Ryan Kent experience as a whole. What have you, ah what have you seen from the guy so far? um Obviously a very skilled player, very good technical skill. I think he i think he brings a level of technical skill um that's not very common in MLS, certainly not of of players like him. And I think that ah i think that was kind of obvious. Yeah.
01:16:13
Speaker
um I mean, i was very excited. It was one of those when they signed him, I was really – my interest was piqued. I was like, oh. Your bum was out of his seat.
01:16:24
Speaker
Yeah, and it it was. And, you know, and and my gut reaction when, you know, you hear the line about him falling out of favor with Jose Mourinho is like, well, you know, name name a halfway decent player who's played with him who hasn't.
01:16:39
Speaker
You know, I mean – He is he's kind of you know, Jose Mourinho is a bit of, you know, a controversial figure and is known know ah to have problems with players. That's not a new thing for him. So he's kind of the opposite of Brian Schmetzer for real.
01:16:57
Speaker
um You know, so I i totally get it. um So that's where I was kind of like, hmm, be interesting to see, you know. So and then, of course, my next thought was, is he fit?
01:17:09
Speaker
Right. He's he hasn't been playing. So that'll really be the big question is, is he fit? Is he in shape? And then the first reports that you guys were all giving us was, uh, he's showing up and, you know, fitness is looking pretty good.
01:17:22
Speaker
Like for a guy who's been out six months, he's, he's in really good shape. And so I'm like, oh, okay, this could be interesting. And I think as he's working into match fitness, I think we are seeing all that. The guy, great, you know, great, solid technical skills, um, rebuilding fitness.
01:17:43
Speaker
Um, Speed looks pretty comparable um to other MLS players. I mean, he doesn't look to be burning the the wheels off of anybody out there. um But, you know, definitely great positioning, great ball handling.
01:17:58
Speaker
it It almost seemed like tonight there were probably a couple of times where he he was making passes that he would expect people to normally be able to receive, and and our guys weren't ready for him.
01:18:13
Speaker
Yeah. Like, like he was almost too advanced at times in the way he was thinking one or two, you know, certain angles he was taking on some passes, yeah nothing catastrophic. I mean, he, he never put the, it didn't seem like he ever put the ball into a, you know, a dangerous spot where it got intercepted, but he definitely did. You know, you could see guys having to react a few times like, Oh shit, that was coming to me.
01:18:35
Speaker
yeah you know So um yeah, that's, that's kind of my take on Ryan. Well, heck yeah, Rob. Thanks so much. Do you have anything else here to close us out?
01:18:47
Speaker
um i I don't. ah right yeah other Other than great win, really appreciate you guys doing this. Love the content and keep it up. Appreciate you. Well, we appreciate you, Rob, and we will see you soon.
01:19:01
Speaker
You're one of our favorite callers, so have a good night. Right on. Cheers, guys. um
01:19:07
Speaker
ah Ah, another Sounders win in Bikini Bottom.
Humor and Anecdotes
01:19:11
Speaker
No callers in the queue right now, so if you want to hop on and lay down some takes, first come for sure.
01:19:18
Speaker
I'm going to lay down my take, Ari. yeah I saw this comment. It says, Kent's shirt is too big. He needs a smaller jersey. We haven't talked about that enough. like He's so yoked in wearing a size small jersey that like how can you blame the guy? looks good. He's a good-looking guy.
01:19:34
Speaker
it's he looks good like there's a good looking guy rabbi and Yeah. um And speaking of jerseys, listen, I made a promise to chat that if we got a certain number of super chats, I would beg for forgiveness from Danny Musavsky as well as buy a Danny Musavsky jersey.
01:19:49
Speaker
um So I have to do that. So I'm going to we've got this is an option here. Okay. We've got an option here of a Las Vegas Lights Danny Musa. Oh, that one is so sick.
01:20:03
Speaker
but With a Bitcoin logo on it. See, I was going to say it should be a Sounders one, but think you should just do that. that's way better. What are talking about? That's sweet. Yeah. Okay, I got to make sure I don't show my credit card information like I'm Jeremiah, but, um you know...
01:20:18
Speaker
yes I'm buying it. That's a great purchase, honestly. this It's a net W for you. This is going to come to me and to the Lobbing Scorchers mansion.
01:20:30
Speaker
And I will wear it. la Are you sure that's Las Vegas Lights? I thought he played for Reno 18. He played for the Lights very briefly. Wow, that is... i would say... This might be game-worn.
01:20:43
Speaker
This might be game-worn. I mean...
01:20:47
Speaker
ah Yeah, I honestly didn't even realize he played. I guess, oh, that was when he was with LAFC. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, that's their feeder club. but Right. Wait, I gotta to make sure this doesn't show my address.
01:20:59
Speaker
Okay, wait, hold on. change the Can I change the subject real quick? Yeah. Ordered. Okay. Ordered.
01:21:10
Speaker
Moose kit is purchased. I will wear it next podcast or whenever it gets in. Go Ari. Did you guys see that the LA Galaxy lost to the New York Red Bulls 7-0?
01:21:21
Speaker
Oh my God. dude That shit was personal, dude. Worst start in MLS history.
Club Culture and Organizational Success
01:21:27
Speaker
I love that for a while we were talking about, oh, it's the worst start for a defending MLS Cup champion. What are we talking about?
01:21:33
Speaker
The worst start period. Yeah. The worst start ever. Seven to zero though.
01:21:41
Speaker
What is that? Yeah. There was a great, there's a great shot of, uh, of Vanny talking to the players after the game. And, uh, what's the guy that used to be playing that used to play for the Sounders is his nephew, uh, the center back.
01:22:00
Speaker
No clue.
01:22:02
Speaker
i'm not I'm not tapped in that and enough. And I was trying to also look if this was game worn or not. I'm going to just ask Danny. I'm going to be like, yo, bro. Anyway, there's a look on the... Why am I blanking on his name?
01:22:14
Speaker
Damn it. I don't know. Warren? Warren something? No. ah It's...
01:22:23
Speaker
good This is great content. Elevator music. Eric... eric ah
01:22:34
Speaker
Eric Zavoleta. Zavoleta. Eric Zavoleta is his nephew. He's just sitting there like looking at him like...
01:22:45
Speaker
It's ah the the last goal that the Red Bulls got was just an unbelievable own goal. but like you I have so many pressers to catch up on because i need to i need to hit Ben-O's, obviously, and then Greg Van-O's. He's probably steamed, huh?
01:23:01
Speaker
Ben-O? Did you see the one that I sent? no there's uh there's uh bach Michael Boxall and speaking to reporters this is a Charles Boehm post I'm gonna add this to the screen hold on let's see I think I don't know they won yeah but wait wait a minute let me let me pull this up here um Michael Box I got a yellow card for this and it was
01:23:33
Speaker
I don't know. I guess he walked back to the technical area and yelled at someone because they threw the ball at him. Anyway, don't want to get... What is that phrase? I'm not cool enough even know what that phrase means.
01:23:47
Speaker
When asked about the yellow, some people told me this is kind of like a dick riding league, but that was up there with, I don't know how else to explain that. That was special. Basically, listen, you know, let's, let's not to be a urban dictionary out here, but it's like, they're bouncing. Like they're like, they're, um, they're glazing.
01:24:07
Speaker
They're placating. Yeah. What? They're on their knees for messy. Basically.
01:24:15
Speaker
the ris I think the the sentiment is like call like random calls like that go in favor of Inter Miami because they get the superstar treatment. That's like what saying.
01:24:26
Speaker
ah Connor, find me in Seattle, says, I'm still thinking about how someone just got $150 for Musav's kit. wasn't $150. The total was like So they got close to damn near but that fucking kid and honor my man
01:24:42
Speaker
so i love conner We love Connor. We love Connor. Connor's a Lobbing Scorchers fan. And Connor, are you going to take us out to eat some food? you You know what I mean? i took him I took him out to eat a few weeks ago.
01:24:54
Speaker
You did? i did. Where'd go? Where'd you go? took him to Hay Bagel. Oh, okay. that's yeah That's pretty good. I was picking his brain. I was picking his brain. Oh, you were doing content.
01:25:09
Speaker
Kind of. I mean, i was trying to do content. Anyway, back to the meat writing. um I just think it's crazy that ah he said that. And so if there is an actual video of him saying that, I need to see it. God, i I might have to just start making montages for the Blazing Hot Pressers. They're just, they're too many.
01:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, I got it. There's no way. There's no way they actually like put that up on YouTube, right? Because he's going to get fined for that. Yeah, he'll get fined.
01:25:42
Speaker
What is this? no One of the things a funny, they put it on YouTube story was. Oh, no. Oh, my God. No, it's here. It's here. It's here. It's here. What?
01:25:56
Speaker
They have. I found. but Apparently, this is the video. I don't know if they've cut it out or not. They probably cut it out. find it. I don't know. and MLS teams are pretty loose with this stuff. Mark Asher Goodman, the Rapids rabbi, was telling me that. Nope, nope. It's there.
01:26:11
Speaker
It's there. That's right. That's where heard it. It was on your show. Yeah, yeah. This is exactly what I'm thinking That's how the Anthony Hudson thing came to be, is laziness. Here we go. Okay, wait. Okay.
01:26:25
Speaker
Let me know if you can hear it. You've seen this team pretty much its whole MLS existence. Where does it sort of rank in terms of outside of the playoffs? I don't know. Probably like at least top 100, top 50. I mean, that's three points. I'm happy that the crowd got to enjoy that. Yeah, it's obviously a performance. Can you call it a top 50 win of his career?
01:26:51
Speaker
He was joking. Yeah, it was joking. i did good stuff Yeah, no, that was a great deadpan. I like this guy. i'm gonna build on and But yeah, with 12 games in now, we just got to keep building on that. Look forward to to Wednesday now.
01:27:02
Speaker
Did you get a satisfactory explanation about the yellow card that you got? No, honestly, I don't know. by Some people have told me that this is kind of like ah like a dick riding league, but that was kind of up there with...
01:27:18
Speaker
I know. To experience that kind of... Yeah, I don't know. how but but Minnesota's never going to take this down. what are you talking about? this is they They're going to see thousands of... They're going to see a record 1,400 hits on this.
01:27:30
Speaker
No, because we're going to take it and put it in our YouTube shorts before they can capitalize. I love that they put that up. I'm downloading this immediately, though, just in case. That's a display of courage, is what that is.
01:27:43
Speaker
That is... I mean, listen. i i I can't even explain. i feel like the Sounders would not publish that. No, the far... I don't think people appreciate how much different of an operation the Sounders run than virtually every other and MLS team.
01:28:03
Speaker
It's like a real professional sports organization. Most and MLS teams are not like... And I say this as a big fan of this league. Most teams in this league are not run like... like they're much They're run much closer to a minor league sports teams than major sports teams.
01:28:18
Speaker
that's And that's not me being like that's not me throwing shade. That's just a reality. most teams do like The Sounders have 15 people working postgame. Yeah, it's true. it is like actually There's actually reporters and shit too. like People don't understand. like right It's a lot of such a different operation.
01:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, you're blessed. You're blessed to even have multiple podcasts about the team. Like... People get podcasts... Almost every day, they get Sounders content just from our channel alone. It's crazy. Yeah.
01:28:48
Speaker
From the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, which... Jeremiah... You can subscribe to by going to sounderathart.com slash LS, scrolling down to subscribe and support, because right now we are on the push to get to 100 subs directly from Lobbing Scorchers to the Sounder at Heart website.
01:29:04
Speaker
We already got our Waylon Francis. You guys are killing me. Yeah. You want to be our Waylon Francis? Come on. I think we got our Waylon. You want to pangrub Jeremiah? Yeah. Come on. Wow.
01:29:16
Speaker
Do you guys have anything else on the Sounders game, maybe? yeah I want to just give a shout out to Christian Roldan, who I feel like the last few weeks has been on an absolute.
01:29:28
Speaker
He's on fire on yeah like, he and it's, and it's, he's not scoring goals and he's not getting assists necessarily. Although he may have maybe got a secondary assist, but he's, he's just everywhere. Defensively. He's making 75 passes tonight.
01:29:44
Speaker
what was he 71 of 75 passes tonight. Yeah. not he Crazy. His ball winning. Yeah. that's His ball winning is just unbelievable right now.
01:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. Two for two on tackles. I mean, nine recoveries, eight defensive actions, three interceptions, 10 duels, one six lost.
01:30:07
Speaker
Like that's crazy. Yeah. I mean, yeah he's, he's, um you know, I think it's funny because it was a few weeks ago. where people were like, you know, I really think we need to make a change at defensive midfielder. Maybe j JP needs to be playing for for Christian. and i And I was like, huh, this guy might be the best defensive mid in the league. And I'll tell you, the last couple the last few weeks, he's been putting that but on a show.
01:30:33
Speaker
ah Yeah, i guess I guess Colorado. People were kind of down on him after Colorado, but... I thought I was going to say more San Diego. San Diego. yeah problem no For sure. man After, for sure. He looked, and he looked bad against San Diego. I will say ah he, he, I thought he struggled against San Diego, but a totally different player right now.
01:30:51
Speaker
um You know, that was, that was the game that started this, this five game. run they're on and he looked great in that he's looked great since then yeah that's a good yeah the seattle sounders are up to fifth in the west make it a run they get to play two games this week one against lafc who's right below them in sixth right now uh lafc is playing tomorrow though so they're playing at vancouver tomorrow so they'll be on one day lose tomorrow yeah uh i mean short rest i don't know that vancouver is going to lose again this year
01:31:24
Speaker
I can't wait. No, they're not. They're not, dude. they're They're the best team to ever... They're the best team in North America. Can we talk about that? The Vancouver Whitecaps... This is a Whitecaps podcast. we were ah we were a Galaxy podcast last year. yeah white Are you guys bummed about the Galaxy? I just got to bring that up. you you guys This was this was a Galaxy podcast for a long time. Yeah, dude.
01:31:44
Speaker
have we just dropped them like a bad habit? or Yeah. Oh yeah. yeahre yeah basically um We dropped them without even a second thought. I mean, as soon as, as soon as Ricky Pooj was out of the equation and Joey paints was injured and Gabriel Peck turned bad and, uh, Dan Jovolic wasn't on the team. We're out.
01:32:01
Speaker
We're onto the white caps. I, I gotta to say it's it's gonna be very funny if Pedro ends up outproducing. This is us with, with the white caps in the galaxy. This is us.
01:32:14
Speaker
It's going to be very funny if Pedro ends up outproducing Gabriel Peck this year because they were sort of compared last year a lot. and And granted, Peck could barely compare them, their production, but he is just looks good funny how he looks like a different player without getting passes from Ricky Pooge.
01:32:36
Speaker
Yeah. Ricky Pooge retroactively should – I saw you post this, Jeremiah – should have retroactively earned MVP. Yeah, no, I think you gotta i think you gotta you just got to go back and you got to give him the MVP. I don't see how else and don't see what else we can what other conclusion can be drawn. Messi needs to drive it back to Ricky Puglia's house and say from one Barcelona kid to another, here's the MVP.
01:33:04
Speaker
ah Thank you for letting me loan it, but this is yours. Obviously. Obviously. Obviously. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of related to that, I was going to ah going to say it's probably worth a shout for De La Vega because, honestly, the last couple games before this game, was starting to think, like you know, he's had a good start to the season, but I feel like he just wasn't as influential the last couple weeks.
01:33:28
Speaker
You look up at the league stat sheet, and he's still at 1-1. And I was thinking to myself before this game, like whenever he does get in, like i want I want to see him like start to look... like he was looking in CCC and like at other points in the season again.
01:33:41
Speaker
And then he just gets that assist like instantly after he comes on. And I was like, hell yeah, that's what I wanted to see. Let's talk about that a little bit. That was really a great pass because when I saw him making that run, I thought, okay, he's just going to cut this back through the box.
01:33:56
Speaker
Yes. Because it seemed like there was a runner there. But he saw... he He saw Rusnak making that run and he just cuts it back. And it was a very Ryan Kent-esque cutback. You can call it that these days.
01:34:12
Speaker
And just set it up perfectly. i was so ready to be frustrated about like him wasting that ah that space and like sending in a low cross that doesn't find anyone.
01:34:22
Speaker
and then he and be And I was going to be frustrated that he didn't just hit Rusnak cutting back. And then he hit it. You know, not to sound like one of our callers here, but ah i I agree with you. And I think that like this was something I said on the podcast was Ryan Kent has enough as so much to give to a guy like Pedro de la Vega.
01:34:41
Speaker
Like he can he can he can he can work so much and like be kind of that mentor to a Pedro de la Vega who's, you know, I think probably if you're looking at raw talent, they probably both have very similar raw talent.
01:34:55
Speaker
But like someone like Ryan Kent, who like you he went through the like Liverpool Academy. I mean, that's like... That's a basic structure. I think on just on ah pure talent, I think those are probably the two most talented guys on the team.
01:35:11
Speaker
Easily. no ah Like, Pedro really is a you know I don't know if he'll he'll ever totally put it together, but I really do think he is someone who has has real star potential. like he's He has got, um and and I think it's he's probably more of a ah goal scorer than he's really shown, but I think he could be a serious goal scorer.
01:35:37
Speaker
I think he has an MVP in his in his pocket one of these years. I think, listen, I'm going to say it. like I think he has that Evander trajectory of that slow burn.
01:35:49
Speaker
And I think if you look at it realistically, if you look at his production last year, he can stay healthy. This is the this is the big caveat, right? Of course it is every soccer player, but if he can stay healthy, he's, he's kind of on that similar Evander trajectory where you finally get settled into the league, you start to play better and you start to play better and you just build on these things in game after game. You're seeing a different player that is like, then just becomes this monster.
01:36:17
Speaker
Yeah, no, and he has some of the, I think he does have some of the Evander skill set in him. And I would never say this about Evander when he was with the Timber. I just refuse to acknowledge his obvious greatness. but now He was a fraud at the
Spending Strategies and Comparisons
01:36:31
Speaker
Timbers. Yeah, now that he's with Cincinnati, I can appreciate ah he is a very, very good player.
01:36:37
Speaker
I think it's a good comp because one of Evander's ah calling cards is his shot from distance. You know, it takes a lot of those. We've seen him make a couple. We've seen him put one off the post and um ah they got a goal out of it.
01:36:52
Speaker
I kind of want him to take a little bit less of those, but he does. ah he does hit those sometimes. I think as we see, yeah I get more more games and stay healthy. He's going to start him firing away because I do think he's got it in his bag and, know,
01:37:07
Speaker
I think he is, i think it's, I think it's actually helping the Sounders because it, there is an element of keeping the defense honest it and just that, that cutback that he can do at the top of the box is, and you can do it with both feet.
01:37:21
Speaker
And, um and I just think it, it opens up, it, it opens the game up. It's not just him firing away blindly, you know? Yeah, but I do know.
01:37:33
Speaker
um Why don't we hit just a couple more around the league and then close it out here because we've been going for an hour and 40. ah We have to talk about Atlanta United losing to the Chicago Fire. i i have asked this question to Ari. So I now I need Jeremiah's take.
01:37:51
Speaker
Listen, people complain about Craig Weibel, right? Is Garth a fraud? Is Garth a fraud? Man, i'll I think it's important to note that Garth is not the main soccer mind there.
01:38:04
Speaker
But, you know, Chris Henderson... Is Chris Henderson a fraud? Yeah. no, I do think there is an element... i I'll say this, and i I do think very highly of Garth.
01:38:16
Speaker
But I will say that there is an element of sometimes you can be over-resourced. And I think that sometimes when you have the kind of resources that they have, you can get a little loose in the way that you start making decisions and you start spending money sort of because you can and not because you should.
01:38:36
Speaker
And I do think that he's maybe caught in a situation like that where he got a little caught up in the idea of signing the kind of player that would be playing in the Premier League or signing a Europe, you know, like when he signed that ah the Polish midfielder,
01:38:52
Speaker
He made such a big deal, but here's a guy who's starting for the Polish national team. you know how you know we and And it's sort of kind of similar when he signed Ladero, too, where he's like, this is the number 10 for Boca Juniors.
01:39:04
Speaker
and MLS could never sign this guy. And, okay, that's that's true, and that I think it it serves you well. But just because a guy starts for a European national team doesn't mean – he's necessarily a good fit for what you're doing. I think this Russian guy is even a better example of that where, yeah, I mean, he was a good player for Atalanta, but he's not,
01:39:27
Speaker
You know, he he wasn't the guy there. He's so bad. Yeah, and that i mean that that that guy looks like the biggest, maybe one of the biggest busts in MLS history. His his handball that got that called for a PK today, it literally looked like he was trying to do it.
01:39:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he looked like he was playing basketball. Like, i I haven't seen it. He spent $10 million dollars on that guy. yeah i mean I will say Loth is clearly a very good player. Yeah, he's good. i like shit's but i though but like this is the i mean But the thing is that he costs you $22 million. dollars he's got as many gold as I think he's got as many goals as Danny Masofsky.
01:40:01
Speaker
Moose has more now. all Moose has more now. okay there you go so There you go. ah like I just don't know that MLS is at a point where we where you can really justify spending $22 million dollars on anyone who's not going to sell tickets.
01:40:15
Speaker
Yeah. yeah and I don't know that anyone, like I looked at the crowd today in the, in Chicago and it was like a decent crowd, but it got me thinking like, look at all the money they spent and they're not a team that neutrals want to watch.
01:40:29
Speaker
No. you know they and i And I think that's fine that that they're spending money. like i don't and don't think you should just spend money because it's going to get neutrals to watch or anything.
01:40:40
Speaker
But I do think it speaks to... i I think it's... I just think he got loose with the checkbook a little bit. I think he he got wrapped up in sort of talking about... buying $50 million worth of players and not being as worried about, is it, does it really make sense to spend $10 million dollars on a 31 year old Miguel Almiron?
01:40:59
Speaker
Like, I'm sorry, that doesn't make sense. but i thought I thought it was a great move, but I was wrong. I mean, I think it it looked great. I think everyone thought it was a great move because it just made so much sense, but like, just pull a step back.
01:41:11
Speaker
Here's a 31 year old player who player who is $10 million. dollars That's a lot of money for $10 million dollars player. I mean, for a 31 year old player who, yeah you know, like it it was a great story, but I do think it's like maybe indicative of a decision-making process that became a little too enamored with like, we can do it, but should it without thinking, should we do it?
01:41:37
Speaker
I think that's what it's all like the best ah explanation that for like what's happening with them that ah that I've heard. Yeah. Ari said it best. He said that this looks like a team.
01:41:49
Speaker
This looks like the most someone went online and tried to build the most expensive team they could without thinking about anything else. Not thinking about the fit, not thinking about the league, just simply being like, I've got unlimited money.
01:42:02
Speaker
Let's see who I can put together on this this lineup graphic. And then we'll throw them all out there it'll be awesome. because we Yeah, exactly. On the... The U.S. s national team fans have this saying, you know, like badges FC, where it's like you sort of put together this team that just because it's like you can say, like, look at the badges of all the clubs that our our teams play, our players play for. Right.
01:42:22
Speaker
And without really thinking, you can't be talking about USMNT fans because that is literally every USMNT fan. No, well, I'm not saying that these I'm saying that they're that's the criticism of these fans. Right. I see. I see. OK, OK, OK. Yeah, yeah.
01:42:34
Speaker
and ah And I think that this like Atlanta is kind of the same way. I think Austin is a little bit the same way too, where they got so enamored with being able to say, like, we spent this much money on this guy who was in this league and not so much looking at, like, well, does that did we need that player?
01:42:52
Speaker
Yeah. ah Like, they don't have – like, Atlanta doesn't have a central playmaker, and and they've spent $10 million dollars on three different players.
01:43:05
Speaker
but I think it's great. I think it's great content. I hope it ah long may it continue. Yeah, I mean, that's what I was saying, too, like on the last podcast when we were talking about it. it's It's when... In MLS specifically, too, when you're at such a salary-capped league, it works to your advantage to have to moneyball in um in a certain way, right? And, like, yeah make it a priority to play younger players or, like, find deals to bring people up through your academy or through your second team. And it's like, you look at Atlanta...
01:43:39
Speaker
and every time they do that it's just like okay we're just gonna we're just gonna like get rid of that guy like let's not try and build around him or whatever and i don't want to let the sounders up the hook here because i do think they could afford to spend more money than they've been spending for the last few years and i think they have gotten unnecessarily penny pinching in some ways but i do think it has created a world where the talent identifiers know that they gotta fit in a budget and so they're always looking for a ryan kent they're always looking for a georgie manungu they're always looking for you know guys who are undervalued somewhere else and you know sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but i do think i also this is the other thing i think that maybe garth maybe garth appreciated but i i think
01:44:32
Speaker
has is one of the things that's undoing Atlanta right now is they never really built a club culture. Yeah, you can tell. And you can tell, exactly. like The only person they had that was like a club culture guy was the was the coach that they that they rode at the end of last year. Valentino. Yeah, their assistant. They keep putting in charge. why Right, and I think they let it. he's Is he in the club anymore? He's gone. and like yeah I'm telling you, I really believe this.
01:45:00
Speaker
If they had just let Rob Valentino cook, they would be in a much better situation. Because because like what you're saying about like culture, their fans, I follow a lot of their coverage, their fans talk about all the time like how the guys out there, they don't look like they're playing for the badge. like They don't look like the the weight of playing for a club like that like really means anything to them. I feel like one thing that ah I can appreciate about the Sounders is like i never really I never question that.
01:45:27
Speaker
Like whether the players on the field, like feel the weight of the badge and there's just don't.
Cultural Expectations and Community Engagement
01:45:34
Speaker
And that speaks to, I think like what you're saying, they never, they never did that.
01:45:39
Speaker
And I think that is one of the things that the sounder, everyone that comes as the sounders talks about how there's this expectation that you're going to contend every year. yeah,
01:45:51
Speaker
and there is sort of a weight to the badge and there is this culture of success and they can look around and and you know maybe everything isn't perfect and maybe they can see corners getting cut some places and you know i do think that there are some real issues in the back office in terms of the way that the business is being run and all these kind of things but when it's on the the but on the field part is just frankly almost unimpeachable like they have created a culture of expectation uh you know they have they have they have created a culture where excuses just don't fly and and you know that doesn't mean you win every week and it doesn't mean you have the best team every week and it doesn't mean they're gonna win trophies every week but that there is this baseline expectation that that's what they're there to do
01:46:40
Speaker
And I don't know that ever the any other MLS team really has that. And I do think that's sort of the, the, the superpower. And I, and I do think Brian is a big part of that because he yeah can draw. And I think Steph Fry is a big part of that. And I think Christian rolled on. And I think it's important that they can continuously draw,
01:46:57
Speaker
lineage back essentially to like, there's no other clubs that can do. And it's not about, Oh, they have Brian Schmetzer, the coach who used to play for the NASL Sounders. It's that they can draw a continuous line of succession from Brian Schmetzer, from frankly, Alan Hudson, from, you know, them from the earliest days, they can draw this direct line of succession of this, this coach, this player turned into this. And, and there's just this constant,
01:47:23
Speaker
involvement You know, you look at all the people that are involved in this team that have been around for a long time. And I just think that's one of those things it's hard to overstate and and it doesn't mean you're going to be the best but I do think it sets a really high floor.
01:47:37
Speaker
No, I agree. I think we talk about all the time, too. like it's it's I worry a little bit like when Brian leaves. I know that I shouldn't. Looking back, you know like you you you would what you would have worried that Siggy would have left right like for the six success that they had and you know and Brian coming in. But I truly...
01:47:58
Speaker
to that line of you know this is what we are this is who we are brian schmetzer is the seattle sounders like brian schmetzer there is not a single person on the earth that cares more and knows more and is more about the sounders than him and it's just like yeah if you don't have that if you don't have any sort of like feeling or but like if everyone's just like yeah we're just slamming a bunch of money down and you know fuck it we're living in atlanta i don't know well it's like and and again not to put too too
01:48:35
Speaker
too much of a hat on this thing. I'm sure. But I think a good example of this is, you know, you look at the the way the timbers are run and they, they talk about their history all the time.
01:48:48
Speaker
They talk about being able to draw a line, you know, ah and they they talk about it like they have, they have no real sense of, there there is no, there is no Brian Schmetzer.
01:48:59
Speaker
There are is no Christian rules. I mean, Diego Charra. Diego Charra. It's kind of that way, but you cannot, like, he he's not the DNA of the team in the same way that, i like, it's just not it's just not the same. it's it like they They don't have anyone that really goes back to the the USL days. They don't have anyone that goes back to the, they have almost no no one involved in the team has anything to do with the days.
01:49:24
Speaker
I mean, I don't think most generally most people want to be involved with that team in any sort of managerial capacity considering. But yeah, no, I agree. it's it is it is It is unique and like it's something that money doesn't buy you.
01:49:38
Speaker
And um I mean, that's it's not to discount like exactly what you're saying. Like. The Sounders should be spending more money. And honestly, like if you look at the business that they're doing, it's back foot business.
01:49:51
Speaker
But like there is something to be said. If you're looking at purely the club and the culture and all of that, there's not really another club in the league that has anything like this.
01:50:02
Speaker
No. We have one more caller to close us out here on our marathon stream. Hunchpunch. I don't know if you you go you're unmooted.
01:50:14
Speaker
I'm popping you on here. Welcome to the stream. Yeah, I can hear you now. Fantastic. but Welcome to the stream. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let me wind back. Sorry. Go for it. You you go in.
01:50:27
Speaker
Yeah. First off. The Defiance match in the live game or the live show. Fantastic. Love the interviews. Love the work you guys did there.
01:50:40
Speaker
i was hoarse to about Friday morning. Me too. Me too. Well, I mean, you're in the press box or wherever i was yelling at the ref. So, ah yeah, I don't think I had been there since about the red card wedding in,
01:50:58
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was a tough one. But I would have picked that over the World Cup or you know Club World Cup. Yeah, that's a good take. yes i am Yeah, that would that was my question previous, and and I think I would have taken that too.
01:51:11
Speaker
But pulling it up to this match. ah First off, let me just say these postgame shows are just so good. both in positive and negative win or loss it does so much for those folks that you know care about the team want to talk about it want to hear about it want to hear y'all's take like it just it does so much good and you guys i can't tell you how much i appreciate it i really do and i think it's necessary
01:51:43
Speaker
And you guys do a great job. And I just, I really appreciate it. Like it's it's necessary for the community and you and you're fulfilling that that that that gap that just seems to have Not been fulfilled until now. So thank you for that. well it's an honor and a privilege. you know and we're we're We're just having fun. It's a great space to just get it all out. It's also good because then me and Ari don't have to prep as much for our actual podcast episodes.
01:52:09
Speaker
Fair. thats said well what What was your yeah what was your your yeah takeaways from this match? So moving Rothrock over to the right and having Kenton left, which is where he was,
01:52:21
Speaker
and he was connected to new who previously and we saw that happen them and and maybe they had that in practice but they still felt out there alone in my opinion they weren't connected and i expect that to evolve um so i'm hopeful there i am willing to are you you talked about us on thursday we already got the win. We got three.
01:52:47
Speaker
We're talking about the the, you know, how many points from, know, tonight, Wednesday, and, and then Saturday. Well, now we're, we've got the three down. We're looking at how many of six.
01:52:58
Speaker
I will sacrifice LAFC for whatever for three on Saturday. Zero question. The part of that though, is there's like, how does the team evolve from that?
01:53:11
Speaker
And then more importantly, uh,
01:53:16
Speaker
Well, not more importantly, what's taken from this? I'm big on Morris coming back. Masofsky, how can you question that? Like, he's about to break a record.
01:53:28
Speaker
You've got to put him on the field to at least give him that chance, whether it's a sub or whether it's a start. I would start him. um And then being, you know, everything that happens for Wednesday is a prep for Saturday, fundamentally.
01:53:42
Speaker
And I would, I would, I would, Prioritize Saturday, if I'm being honest. um So you're ah you're a Portland Timbers over l LAFC rivalry. Because, I mean, but you know we we've been ah we've been known to have some unconventional takes around the the what's the better rivalry. And we've said in though and the latest part that it was LAFC. But I have to know, and I think Ari even said this, we beat them in the playoffs and it was kind of like, all right, yeah, well, we're done with you now. Like, we we got we got that...
01:54:16
Speaker
we got that thing done and now we don't have as much to prove and LAFC are like not really the world beaters right now. yeah I'm kind of more looking forward to Portland. i'm I'm totally there at this point, and it'll be interesting to see how they mix and match the lineups.
01:54:31
Speaker
ah Like you said, they get the three points to start off the road trip. So now you're you've put yourself, you've earned a good situation here where if obviously you want to beat LAFC, but i if I think if you draw that game with eyes on Portland,
01:54:50
Speaker
That's not the worst thing. If you take an L, that would suck. But yeah realistically, I mean, we were predicting on the on Thursday, like, or talking about what a good haul would be.
01:55:02
Speaker
And the optimum for me was 2-0-1, and one that's on the table right now. Yeah, and and and I think that's still possible. I mean, you don't play for a draw. You play for a win, and then you accept a draw on Wednesday, fundamentally.
01:55:18
Speaker
And then you you measure that against what your ideal roster is would be for Saturday with like rested legs or whomever. I mean, there are people who are off the table as it as it goes right now.
01:55:31
Speaker
um Those Defiance players that felt hard done might be ideal candidates, at least for substitutions, Georgie. Stu Hawks. Osasi.
01:55:43
Speaker
I can't imagine they could bring up Corey, right? Like that's off the table. cody bakes yeah i think he can he can play he's not suspended in the league or anything no he's not suspended but i don't know if they have ah the contract mechanics to bring him up for ah match like oh no he's he's a first he's a first teamer okay okay yeah he's he's a first teamer i believe there's a lot of there's a lot of options there and i mean i asked you previously already and I need a better source. I mean, you mentioned about transfer market being like individual stats being something that can be tracked, but overall team stats, if there's a better site for that in terms of like a year over year teams are doing it offline, i can i can I can hit you up on this if if you've got a source.
01:56:32
Speaker
Because I have some questions and I want to run some like thoughts about that in terms of like, I think, because I ran this a couple years back, Schmitz has got like a losing record against Portland, which is crazy concerning how much he cares about it.
01:56:48
Speaker
um And that's against all comps. um I mean, they were a boogeyman for a few years there, especially we would go there and it would just. But Ziggy didn't. Ziggy dominated them.
01:57:00
Speaker
So that's true. That's kind of weird, like that it flipped when you had a head coach who cared way more about it. anyway I have to say got to say, I think also, this is my take, ah coaches can only do so much for for rivalry games. like The players kind of got to be bought in at that level. And I'm not saying that they weren't in those eras. it just you know but the The Timbers, were that was their Super Bowl. like They were not that good.
01:57:29
Speaker
sounders might contend I was talking about this on Thursday. It's going to be again. Yeah. Like this is the Superbowl. You've got to be ready for that. They're going to play like it's the last game of soccer they've ever played.
01:57:40
Speaker
So I come from another part of the country and followed other sports, college football, let's say, and you could be a top right team in the country, but when you play a rivalry, all bets are off.
01:57:52
Speaker
You can be unranked team versus a number one team. It does not matter what you are when you into that, because all bets are off the, you you don't know this has to go and especially that i'm going to keep it's like they don't care anything more than to beat you and on days they will do it so there were there were years where portland played seattle three or four times us open cup and then like three nls you know normal matches and we lost three of the four so when you look at the numbers it's just like it got real bad like real real bad
01:58:28
Speaker
Obviously Ziggy didn't face that, but it's just like, if you were to ask Brian before he was the head coach, what mattered more, that would be true. So again, offline, I can talk to you if there's any other kind of kind of like good resources, because I want to run some numbers and kind of like figure some of these things out. And I have other questions, but it doesn't matter.
01:58:48
Speaker
Definitely hit up Ari with that because I don't know anything. i don't win a saturday i think it matters im actually i can't I can't do math yeah and and stats for me. you know it's the whole I would love to We would love to get in the Cup
01:59:05
Speaker
you know as yeah as seattle goes in like it i think it would do us good to get some osace georgie Some of these other players like ingrained in the and the rivalry, and I can't wait. And I hate to say this in a and a way to overlook LAFC, but I'll be honest.
01:59:26
Speaker
Whatever happens LAFC does not matter if it's in an effort to win in Portland. and you know I agree with that, but then but then you got to go win that Portland game.
01:59:39
Speaker
That's right. that's right I'll accept anything for LAFC if that means winning in Portland. hundred you if If they win the Portland game, I'll ah i accept whatever yep never the Lord has in store for LAFC. Are you two okay with a multi-goal draw at Portland?
01:59:56
Speaker
and like let's say you regardless of the lafc result you get a point from there a multi-goal draw in portland isn't i don't think that's ever like the worst thing in the world when you're talking about derby game on the road ah you're not sounding too happy though is what i'm hearing Well, like my thing is just that this whole storyline of the Timbers dominating the rivalry is still a fairly recent thing.
02:00:20
Speaker
i don't think it's, I mean, they beat them last year, so that helps. But anything that they can do to further squash that narrative would be great.
02:00:31
Speaker
And a draw doesn't quite do that. Like you got to win for that to be. and i think so I was on Sonar feed a few years back and I ran the numbers then. And that's why umm and I'll reach out to you offline, Ari.
02:00:43
Speaker
I ran the numbers in and and Brian had like a losing record, like remarkably so against Portland. And one, I would think I would bug him to the nth degree. But also, like that's evolved, and I don't think we've improved. And like that's crazy to me in terms of like not only just like the Cascadia rivalry, but overall like Portland.
02:01:02
Speaker
So it's like I'm all in favor of, even if we only play them twice a year as the MLS schedule changes, it's like we need to make the most of it, and we need to ingrain these new players, quote unquote new, Vargas, Georgie, in this case, Kent, because he new to us.
02:01:21
Speaker
into this, it was like, you need to sell out and help us drive these guys into the ground because it matters so much there and here, Portland and Seattle to win this match.
02:01:35
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, hey, there's still a possibility of getting six points over the next two matches. I don't think it's out of the out of the wind because LAFC are going to be on short rest. They're playing Vancouver tomorrow. yep That's a terribly tough game. I can't imagine that they're not going to rotate for the Sounders game. I can't imagine the Sounders aren't going to rotate for that game.
02:01:54
Speaker
And listen, we already have a sample size for a rotated LAFC versus a rotated Seattle Sounders. You know what that is? That's 5-0. So if we can even get 1% of that, I think we'll be okay. I think, for me, I think there's a better chance at getting a result at LAFC, and I'm going to be happy about that. If you can win at BMO, that's always I'm always good for that.
02:02:17
Speaker
That always makes me... Is it still BMO? Yeah, BMO Stadium. you know a stadium Yeah, like that's – I'm happy about that. Obviously, I want to win – Wait, no, it's banker Bank of Bank of – No, no, it's BMO now. Oh, no, yes cal and the ba yeah. Yeah, that's right.
02:02:32
Speaker
But, I mean, you know, for me, like the Timbs, I would love to beat them too. But like like you were saying, that's their Super Bowl. But you have a chance to get – But you take or the sure. Yeah, I mean, I don't – Play it like it's your Super Bowl too.
02:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah. yeah Well, i think I think we will see that. I think we'll see the starters out for the weekend and we'll see. i think Schmetz has lashed into them enough times not matching the intensity that it's seared into their brains.
02:02:56
Speaker
Yeah, oh yeah. I would not want to be in the locker room during a Brian Spencer halftime talk when you're down one ni in Portland. but well all right cool Here's the other thing. I'll let you leave me on this.
02:03:09
Speaker
sweet if If they lose at LA, that could be a positive going into Portland. ah Especially given how the rotation is in terms of, hey, we're behind, we get people out, we get them rested a little bit.
02:03:22
Speaker
going over and say, we cannot accept what you have done here today. And you're going into your rival. Do not do this again. that That actually could actually be a benefit. And if you get six as opposed to five points out of the three matches, that's fantastic.
02:03:37
Speaker
i Like I'm saying, I really do think that there's a there's a chance to win this game midweek. The LAFC is playing the Galaxy next weekend as well. So we are both playing our rivals.
02:03:50
Speaker
It's both a look forward type of match. I'm not saying that, you know, you've got to win at home in MLS. So, you know, if you're LAFC, you want to win that game. But, you know, I'm not, if I'm LAFC, I'm like, okay, we're still rolling out, you know, our second team. And and like I said, when you do that, we've we've seen what happens. And this could be a nine point, you know, two weeks.
02:04:12
Speaker
Can you imagine nine points out of three? I can't imagine. Nine points on the table. It's on the table. Nine points is available on the table. It is on the table. Well, Hunch, thank you so much calling in. Thank you much for having me.
02:04:25
Speaker
We love having you on. Always feel free to call back and have an amazing weekend. Thank you so much. Thanks, Hunch. All right. We got one more. Should we run it? Let's get W in here. Let's get him here. All right. All right.
02:04:36
Speaker
Welcome. How we doing? Chilling. That was a great victory. If you have some thoughts, ah's Danny Wasofsky so should be on the USMT. Yeah, you're kicking over it.
02:04:50
Speaker
Love it. That dude is getting some DP escalators in his contract if he doesn't already have them. Like, that guy has been on a run. That would be good with it. barely unmatched in the whole franchise so uh that guy is cooking i say we put him down for number nine this midweek against lafc uh at the same time i don't think lafc is really a rival uh like we touched on earlier like they're good when they're good and we show up for the match but like
02:05:23
Speaker
Compare that to what we're talking about against Portland. Like we show up for that match, whether they're bottom of the table or top of the table. And that's just not what's happening with LAFC. I asked this earlier, but do you think that this Danny Mussovsky, you know, comeback or, you know, showing is the best comeback that we've ever seen from a Sounders player?
02:05:45
Speaker
I don't have anybody else to top that. so Yeah. yeah like it's It's ridiculous. like This run of form is is ridiculous. I agree. I think they'll probably play De Rosario midweek. At least start him. I think Moose might get some minutes. The thing is, I think with it being Moose's revenge game, I think they start him.
02:06:02
Speaker
Maybe they don't let him play like that deep into the second half, but I think he starts. and And if we're drawing from on previous like Brian Schmetzer-isms, like when Jordan Morris was one goal away from being the top scoring sounder, like that dude put him in in every match he could for longer than he should have.
02:06:21
Speaker
And like, it didn't, it worked out. He got the goal. But like, if, you know, Moose is on this hot streak, like give him six, like keep them going, keep them rolling. Yeah, no, I agree. Sean, thank you so much for becoming a member.
02:06:35
Speaker
We appreciate your support. I think we're like, we get a new emote now. That's sick. We're goingnna have to make a new emote. Should we do Ryan Kent or something? I don't know. um Yeah, no, I, what are your, what are your thoughts on the weekend?
02:06:49
Speaker
Right? Like you're, so I mean, obviously shared that, but what are you thinking? do you think we're going to win in LA and win in Portland? Draw, draw, loss. What's the vibes from you?
02:07:00
Speaker
I mean, you know, i like, the rivalry match takes, like, top cake in my pecking order, but, like, so does next matchup.
02:07:10
Speaker
So, like, I don't think I would hunt midweek against LA, but, like, I'm still, like, i don't know I'm trying to get the victory there. And if we get one point, I'm not upset.
02:07:23
Speaker
But if we get one point and then three out of Portland, that's that's a win in my book. um But yeah. I think the beauty of the ah the depth we're seeing on display right now is you really you don't have to punt.
02:07:36
Speaker
like You can put out really strong 11 at LAFC and still still put out what you whatever you think your strongest might be at Portland.
02:07:47
Speaker
yeah You got guys that didn't start this game like Ferreira and De La Vega that you can start at LAFC. And then if you feel like you want to go back to Kent Rothrock, which i don't know about you guys.
02:07:58
Speaker
I loved this. i really like night I think it was my favorite 11 of the season. I agree. Yeah, that was a solid formation. i love seeing all those guys play together. i did love Pedro coming in and adding some class and some flavor ah later in the match. But yeah, a lot of those guys were doing do extra work tonight.
02:08:17
Speaker
Who is your man in the match? I mean, I was a little bit in and out dealing with like family stuff today, but I did want to say that ah I mentioned it in chat, but Ryan Kent sees the future and he's playing into that space.
02:08:32
Speaker
ah There's just something about the way that he sees the ball and sees the players around him that, He knows where they're going and it's like chess and he's already playing four moves ahead and he puts the ball exactly where it needs to be and where it should have been.
02:08:45
Speaker
So there should have been him the Pope. I, I understand why people were saying that his first half wasn't like totally up to the standard that we saw in the, in the brief glimpses so far and ah St. Louis, but, but that individual run he makes on that assist was so good.
02:09:03
Speaker
So good. It's ridiculous. that was Just another absolutely ridiculous individual play. And it's his first start for the franchise. so On the road in Houston and he pulls out a dime like that. I mean, i don't even really care at all what happened in the first half of these he's if he's going to pull that out.
02:09:20
Speaker
He has 124 minutes and three assists. Yep. One start, four matches. That's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy. And the eye test is just like unreal with like so the the jukes he's got. He used Obed Vargas as a human practice dummy. yeah You know those little inflatable practice dummies? On that run, he literally just like, hey, bro, pause for a minute.
02:09:44
Speaker
It was so fun to watch all around him was so fun to watch because you could just see that there was still space. And I was just like, yeah, just keep going. Keep going. Keep going. And he did it. I guess i'll I'll throw in a ah man in the match now that I have a second to think about it. Danny Wasofsky. He was up top, you know, ah and then like also making defensive runs and making defensive plays all match.
02:10:09
Speaker
And he was getting into Houston players' heads. So got to love that. Gotta love that. Well, close us out here with with anything, any final thoughts. This has been a marathon.
02:10:20
Speaker
So let us know. Yeah, thanks guys. Appreciate the content. You guys keep it rolling all day, every day. Give me something to watch when i and I'm working or listening to something. So love it. Hell yeah.
02:10:30
Speaker
ah Yeah, we appreciate you, man. And I hope you have a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Enjoy the rest. See you, man. All right, Ari.
02:10:41
Speaker
That's their two-hour post-game line. Just something slight. Just something slight. It's a casual two-hour. Well, we we didn't hit the haircut goal, but I'm still going to get a haircut because this this is a little too long. But I'm not going to get them Danny Mussovsky haircut. That's not happening.
02:10:57
Speaker
yeah We couldn't. We can't. we can't like i'm i too I can't but i did buy the Danny Musavsky jersey for those who who missed that moment.
02:11:09
Speaker
We bought the Lost Vegas Light. honestly jealous of that purchase. Yeah, it is sick as hell. It's pretty sick. I mean, listen, you can borrow it if if you want.
02:11:19
Speaker
I'll let you borrow it. But it's, you know, that's going to go. i think i think that's going to have to replace the Andy T jersey. You could probably work them both in that in that backdrop.
02:11:30
Speaker
Yeah, we could. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't have Andy T not in the shot. Come on. Get some. No, there's none. Here's what I'm not going to do. Get some game heart for it. I don't think.
02:11:42
Speaker
Listen, we're a podcast already. we're We're already goofy. I don't need to. I don't need any of that. And, you know, I don't need any of that. ah those Those kind of um attention, if you know what I mean.
02:11:56
Speaker
don't need to get Yamar braids. But um what am I saying? I don't know, Ari, dude. My brain is my brain is gone. i had a full day of work, a full day of soundage, and a full day of streaming.
02:12:06
Speaker
We appreciate you all for tuning in If you haven't liked the video, like the video. she was Just like the video. If you're like on the fence about liking the video, just like it.
02:12:18
Speaker
Or dislike it, because it's yeah it doesn't matter. um And if you want to become a YouTube member, we would love that. um It is the best way, one of the best ways to support this show.
02:12:31
Speaker
We literally are putting out exclusive content on there weekly, weekly, weekly, weekly. It is super fun. ah We also have a really sick vlog coming from the the US Open Cup. I watched it. I watched it. It's really good.
02:12:48
Speaker
Guys. It's so sick. It's so good. why So you'll see that. Members will see that first and then it'll go to the general populace. So if you want to see that first in this next week, ah we will we' see that. But ah yeah, make sure you subscribe and like and that that's all for me. Are you got anything to show? What's our note? We got pod and you got something on Monday.
02:13:10
Speaker
ah Yeah, we'll we got another dub pod to lay down. Vico and I will be back at it. Lobbing Scorchers kickoff Monday 8 a.m.
02:13:23
Speaker
And Under the Lights, Thursdays at 7.30. Those have been fun. I'm telling you, the stats aren't as hot, but I'm telling you guys, if you're not if you're not tuning into those, you're missing out. That's where the real sickos unite.
02:13:37
Speaker
we may have to We may have to record a secondary pod on Thursday after the midweek game. I feel like that might have to happen. Oh, yeah. I didn't even... This is like the first midweek we've had in a while. I know. We used to grind out two pods in a week if we had midweek games, but we'll have to sort that out. We're also both going down to Portland, so if you're going down to Portland, definitely if you see us there, give us a wave, buy us a beer. We're going make a vlog going down there too, so... content galore we never stop um and with that all right should we hit the exit thank you all for tuning in thanks to everyone who called in like the video have a good one guys