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Nos Audietis, Episode 305: Stumbling into second
61 Plays6 years ago
For all the ups and downs this season has endured, the Sounders head into the final week of the regular season knowing that a win will secure the No. 2 seed in the West. The path to this point definitely hasn’t been as enjoyable as any of us would have liked, but I also suspect we’d have accepted this fate if it had been offered to us before the season began.
Their latest win was a reasonably impressive 1-0 decision at San Jose in which Jordan Morris scored in the 94th minute. That was fourth time since the end of the Gold Cup break that the Sounders won a game with a goal in the 89th minute or later, Those eight added points are currently the difference between the No. 2 spot and missing the playoffs.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction & Full Pool Wines Release
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food! Lots of it! Fullpool's unique writing style is applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving, turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
Episode Introduction by Roldan & Morris
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Fuck! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! Morris runs right by him and sticks in and slots them for a roll! Fantastic for George Morris!
00:00:55
Speaker
Here's Morris! Morris! Think of an ant! What do tigers dream of? They take a little tiger's hand. A blue with skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hill's the greenest green in Seattle.
Sounders' Quest for Number Two Seed
00:01:28
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of Most Adietta, sponsored by Full Pool Wine. This is episode 305, and we're recording on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019. I am your host, Jeremiah O'Shan. As usual, I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Capo, and our engineer, Lickett. Later in the show, we'll be joined by Minnesota United Midfielder and Federal Way product, Hasani Dotson.
00:01:47
Speaker
For all the ups and downs this season has endured, the Sounders head into the final week of the regular season knowing that a win will secure the number two seed in the West and with a little bit of luck they might finish as high as number three in the supporters shield race. The path to this point definitely has been as enjoyable as any of us would have liked but I also suspect we'd have accepted this fate if it had been offered to us before the season began.
00:02:08
Speaker
Their latest win was a reasonably impressive 1-0 decision at San Jose in which Jordan Morris scored in the 94th minute. That was the fourth time since the end of the Gold Cup break that the Senators won a game with a goal in the 89th minute or later. Those eight added points are currently the difference between the number two spot and missing the playoffs entirely. I suspect that's a big reason why this season has felt so unsatisfying. It's also been pointed out that the Senators haven't won three games in a row since the beginning of the season.
00:02:37
Speaker
All that said, Aaron, am I correct? Would you have taken this if just without knowing anything else, going into the final game of the season, if you win at home against Minnesota United, you will be the number two seed in the West? Would you have taken that? Yeah, I mean, I think this is a really weird season because the answer is yes. I mean, I think 56 points second seed in the West.
00:03:04
Speaker
Feels pretty good, right? Yeah. I think, you know, 56 points I think would be tied for fourth best, best all time for the Sounders, which, you know, in 11 seasons, like it's an above average season. Yeah, that's pretty
Season Comparison & Challenges
00:03:17
Speaker
good.
00:03:18
Speaker
But the way that, I mean, we all know the way the season has played out has not been a lot of fun. No. It's LAFC being so far out ahead of everybody is part of that. I can't get upset about finishing that far behind LAFC because they've been a wrecking ball. Although, we know that they're the player too, and they look positively mortal. Crazy how that works. Yeah, they haven't won in five games, I don't think.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, and they're still, I mean, they still have 69 points. So that's all 71 points. In fact, I think, uh, well, Oh, we're maybe right. No, maybe right. 69. No, you're right. Um, in any case, uh, it's just like, it's hard for me to be too upset about finishing that far behind what, you know, for most of the season, I think it was pretty clearly the best team in MLS history. Um,
00:04:08
Speaker
Well, I just from the way the Sounders have gone about compiling the points to the long stretch of malaise in the middle of the season. Yeah, I mean it has not been the most fun season. I think it reminds me probably the most of
00:04:27
Speaker
the 2015 season, but without the uptick at the end, it doesn't necessarily feel like 2013 to me where everything just kind of fell apart completely and everything was dysfunctional. 2013 was really bad at the end. Yeah. I mean, the team was literally at each other's throat, like everybody hated each other. Um, there was almost a fight in the locker room of, of a playoff game at halftime. Like.
00:04:52
Speaker
Not great, not it. So it's just, but it's just been kind of a nothing year in a lot of ways, which is a bummer, but you know, the nice thing about playoffs is there's a chance to kind of turn that around and go out on a more positive note, so. Yeah, it is. It makes me, you know, I know you and I have talked a lot on this show over the years about how a supporter shield run like in 2014 in a lot of ways is a much more satisfying
00:05:21
Speaker
holistic experience than what the Sounders are going through right now and the centers could theoretically win MLS Cup this year and I think 2014 we'd say in some ways was still a more enjoyable season.
Playoff Potential Despite Inconsistencies
00:05:35
Speaker
I think we may even have this talk last year where they haven't been able to go on long periods. In a lot of ways, I think this season has been considerably more frustrating than maybe any season that the centers have had other than probably 2013. That's because they just have never, even when they've been winning, it just seems like
00:06:00
Speaker
they're on the verge of putting it together, but it never quite clicks. A key player misses that game and that sets them back. Or all of a sudden there are multiple injuries or multiple players out for international duty. And it just feels like the season has never been able to get really into gear the way that other seasons have. And it just leaves it with this feeling of like,
00:06:24
Speaker
Oh, okay. Uh, and I, and I guess I'd still take this over what a lot of other teams in the league are going through. Yeah.
00:06:34
Speaker
And I guess it's a kind of a first world problem, but it is been a really weird year and I still don't quite like on talent alone. I still think this team could make an MLS cup run. And I'm, I haven't given up on that in part because LAFC does look so beatable now. Like I, I don't know that the sounders don't match up particularly well with LAFC if they were to play them in two weeks.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think LAFC is the favorite. They're absolutely the favorite to win the MLS Cup. But the favorite MLS Cup usually does not win the MLS Cup. They're clearly not as far ahead of everybody else as they were earlier in the season. I think some of that is just
00:07:19
Speaker
The level that they were playing at really isn't sustainable in MLS especially. Some of that is wear and tear. Teams have gotten better over the course of the year, blah, blah, blah. If we have to go play LAFC in LA, I'm not going to feel like we have a great chance, but it's not an automatic loss necessarily.
00:07:41
Speaker
And if you lose, you're losing to the best team in the history of MLS, right? So like, yeah, I can tell you, I could absolutely accept, you know, if the sounders, let's just say the sounders get the number two seed. They beat whoever they beat in the first round. They get, they win the second round and they end up losing to LAFC in the Western Conference Finals. I think I would.
00:08:03
Speaker
ultimately look back on this as a reasonably satisfying season. Although I also understand the notion, and I don't think that this is a uncommon notion among Sanders fans, that it feels like a wasted year in that you've got these two really great talents in Nico Lidero and Raul Rui Diaz and
00:08:28
Speaker
It would feel a little bit like a waste to, and then, and I think Jordan Morris, the fact that Jordan Morris is really kind of coming into his own this year, you know Christian Roll Dawn is, is probably, you know, close to as good as we're going to get with him.
Reflecting on Past Sounders Teams
00:08:46
Speaker
know, I think he's got here a couple more years where he could definitely improve, but there's just this unsettled nature where you could see in a lot of ways, things are kind of coming together talent wise, but there's yet still glaring holes. And, you know, when those get addressed, you're now looking at Lidero in his 30s, and you've lost one year of Rui Dias and
00:09:10
Speaker
I understand those frustrations. I feel them too because it does feel like in some ways the Sounders have this window and they haven't done as much with it as they could. Yeah, I think that the thing for me is that in the Freddie Monteiro era, the 2011 team felt like truly special. I know that the way the season ended, like they went out in the first round of the playoffs like always and
00:09:37
Speaker
They never, I don't think really lived up to their potential, but that 2011 team was magical in a way that, um, no other team I think during the, the Montero era was 2012 was also, I think, you know, it was really good and getting that playoff win. Um, 2014 was like the, the special team of the Clint and Oba era, um, where they just, you know, blue teams, whale season, and they didn't get to the MLS cup, but that you knew when that season was happening that it was.
00:10:06
Speaker
a special season. And we haven't had that with Nico. And I know we won the MLS Cup in 2016, but I mean,
00:10:16
Speaker
And I think we can all be honest about the way that happened, right? Like it doesn't take anything away from the accomplishment. It doesn't take anything away from how good the team was down the stretch, but the season in general sucked. Like it was not, it was not a lot of fun that season. Um, and, and I just, I'm starting to worry that we're not ever going to have that with Nico, that we're not ever going to have that truly special team that, you know, is in the conversation as the best team in the league where.
00:10:43
Speaker
You know, even when the Sounders were on that long winning streak last year, like, I don't think they were in that conversation of best team in the league. Like, I don't think anybody thought they were basically until the end of it.
00:10:55
Speaker
right and then you look back and you're like oh look at this and I mean because a lot of the the sounders you know if you look at the sounders end of season numbers last year you could talk yourself into thinking like well this was a great team but it was so heavily weighted towards the second half of the season right that it's impossible to
00:11:17
Speaker
Look at it in a way that says it felt like a great year all the way through because it wasn't like we lived it and we know that it wasn't that way. And there were some, some of the lowest lows. I would say last year's lows were worse than this year's lows. And I suppose that shows some marginal like improvement in the way that the roster was built. Like I know I've said this many times, but one of the things that was so frustrating last year was that.
00:11:47
Speaker
they went on this terrible, terrible run where they couldn't do anything right. And if they had just had, if their bad points of last year were like the bad points of this year, they would have been, you know, contending, it would have been right there contending for, you know, a supporter shield probably. And, and I guess that's one thing you can say about this year that for as
00:12:12
Speaker
frustrating as the results have been, and they had that malaise kind of right around the gold cup, but since then they've never taken off, but they've also done a good job of limiting, like finding points where they needed to.
Sounders vs. MLS Teams: Consistency & Ambitions
00:12:30
Speaker
And a lot of times the way they're finding these points is by pulling out these late wins that they seemingly have no business doing.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that that's the thing is that when the Sounders were good last year, they were extremely good. Right. They played. They had a lot of style. They could blow the doors off teams. And that carried over to the first, what, like four, five games of this year. But since then, I mean, everything's been a grind. And you can grind your way to a title. I mean, we've seen it before, but
00:13:03
Speaker
It's not necessarily always fun. I think people want to see their team beat the crap out of somebody occasionally, and the sounders just haven't been able to do that. And so it is one of those things where it feels crazy to be complaining about it, because holistically, I would absolutely take this over being the earthquakes or being, I mean,
00:13:30
Speaker
probably not the Galaxy because they did win so many MLS cups, but like, I would rather be the present day Sounders in the present day Galaxy for sure. Yeah, I would.
00:13:39
Speaker
um because i don't think like i don't think that they have a sustainable future like i don't think they're going to recapture those past glories because of the way that they they approach well i think i'd rather i think you can look down the road even like you look at what the timbers are going through right now and you know they can they also could pull it together make the playoffs and make a run like that's not out of the question right but
00:14:02
Speaker
You know, you look at their struggles and they've had, you know, a similar, in some ways, similar struggles to the Sounders, but instead of fighting for the number two spot, they're playing for their playoff lives in the season finale. Yeah. And, and I, and I think, you know, like if I had to choose between, like I would much rather the Sounders be playing for the number two spot, then, you know, playing for, you know, like,
00:14:31
Speaker
They get this whole thing with, you know, and I, I'm sure. Timbers fans maybe look at, maybe they don't look at it this way, but you know, they had Diego for Larry for all these years. And yeah, they have an MLS cup to show it for it. They have another MLS cup final to show for it, but they also managed to miss the playoffs a couple of times. And they have been fighting to get into the playoffs virtually every year that he's been there.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah. And this is one of those things I feel like every year there's a conversation on Twitter, on Sounder at Heart in the stands probably too, um, about all the teams that are passing the Sounders by, you know, this year, the Sounders can't keep up with, with LAFC. They can't, you know, they're, they're, they're slipping. They're, they're not staying at the top. Last year it was Atlanta, um, Toronto before that.
00:15:20
Speaker
Well, where's Toronto? I mean, they're in the playoffs just barely. They've got 47 points on the air. They were terrible last year. Atlanta has two more points than the Sounders do. We'll see where LAFC is next year, you know? But the Sounders are consistently in the mix. And I think it's so tempting to say, because they are so seldom at the top,
00:15:46
Speaker
at the very top, right? It's tempting to believe that it's true that they don't have the ambition, that they can't keep up with the Joneses, et cetera. But people have been saying that for a long time now. I mean, people, right? I think that like 2013 even, before the Dempsey signing, like there was kind of a feeling of like,
00:16:12
Speaker
supporting Kansas City was passing the Sounders by. Yeah. And, you know, they've never finished lower than fourth, right? Is that accurate? Never finished lower than fourth in the West and never finished lower than seventh overall. Yeah. And like, I'm certainly not saying that you can't be critical of things. God knows I am.
00:16:38
Speaker
And I think that it is frustrating when they have this window with Lidero and Ruby Diaz. And if Morris keeps playing like this and keeps getting national team call-ups, he might not be here that long.
00:16:53
Speaker
Um, you know, it's, it's not a super long period of time before they have to kind of retool. Um, right. What you can do quickly in MLS to be sure, like you can, you know, turn a roster over pretty quickly, probably less quickly than it used to be able to, but.
00:17:09
Speaker
Um, but so, so it is frustrating to feel like they're not doing everything they can to take advantage of that. And it is frustrating. You know, that, that we don't have that historically good team, but we did have what I think is pretty close to historically good team, like five years ago, like.
00:17:27
Speaker
That's not a, I mean, that's not a long time all things considered, you know, like in the sports, like the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2013. And I feel like people are still kind of living in the glow of that. And for whatever reason, like the Sounders can't sort of get that same benefit of the doubt. Like they had this historically good team in 2014. They've never missed the playoffs. They've never finished lower than fourth. They're generally in the mix. They're, they're generally a pretty fun team to watch.
00:17:56
Speaker
um but they're not that season's you know prize pig so you know it's it's all a waste i don't know it's and i and i buy i like i'm as guilty of it as anybody like i get super i was losing my mind during the earthquakes game uh because i was so frustrated with the way the game had turned out the substitutions that were being made the the fact that they were okay with a draw like all that stuff would drive me crazy but you know i think when you take a step back um
00:18:25
Speaker
It's okay to be frustrated. I think it's reasonable to be frustrated. I'm frustrated with the way the season has
Defensive Strategies & Playoff Format Changes
00:18:30
Speaker
gone, but man, it's so much better than being a fan of like 95% of MLS teams. It's so much better. Yeah, it is. Um, and, and I don't know, I don't know. I don't think we have to make that, you know, we're, I don't think we're telling people anything that they don't know in some ways, but it is a good reminder that this team, and I think, I guess I'm kind of also speaking to this.
00:18:55
Speaker
in a way to like, allow yourself to appreciate that it's been 11 years. You know, the Sounders came into this league. They maybe never, maybe they never quite took it over the way that I think we all hoped and dreamed that they would, but in some ways it's, it's made it more interesting. And, and I think it's been a lot of fun.
00:19:20
Speaker
You know, and, and, and so I hope we can also appreciate the moment that we're in, because who knows how long it's going to last but I also think that one of the things that's been amazing is that the degree to which there are paradigm shifts in this league, I think, gets overstated all the time and like and like you.
00:19:41
Speaker
Like you alluded to, uh, you know, the sounders maybe aren't the top team every year, but the team that they're competing with for the top spot seems to be different every year. And, and, you know, I actually did the, I thought it was kind of funny. The sounders have made the playoffs 11 times. If you take the last three MLS cup winners.
00:20:05
Speaker
and combine that weren't the sounders and you combine all their playoff appearances, it's barely the 11. So that's, Atlanta's made the playoffs three times, Portland's made the playoffs four times, and Toronto's made the playoffs four times. That's pretty remarkable.
00:20:24
Speaker
And Toronto, I mean, Toronto was an absolute dumpster prior for most of their history. Like they were arguably the best team in MLS for two years. And that's it. That's all they've ever done. That's all they've ever accomplished in their entire history as a franchise. Yeah. Which I think is a lot more frustrating than. Yeah, it is.
00:20:45
Speaker
It's okay to expect more. And I don't like, I hate, I even hate saying that because it's like, I'm not trying to tell people how they should fan. I'm definitely not. But I just wish that people that feel like, I just don't think a lot of these complaints are grounded in reality. That's the thing is it's like, expect whatever you want. Just make sure you're framing the argument in a way that is consistent with reality of what's happening. And I think that that's my frustration.
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah, and at the same time, I hope the Sounders keep pushing themselves to these extreme heights. That's the only way that they're able to stay competitive, I think, is by trying to shoot high. And so they should keep shooting high. But I also, I just think for our own sporting consciousness, we should take a step back every now and then, appreciate this ride, and then go into the playoffs
00:21:42
Speaker
and get mad and get frustrated, or celebrate wins, but also like, you know, before the playoffs start, we have a couple weeks. Give yourself a little bit of time. Enjoy it. Yeah, I mean that's, it's, you know, when things are always pretty good, it's easy to forget that things are pretty good.
00:22:05
Speaker
I think that's true of most things, not just sports, but most things. I get super frustrated at my job, but ultimately I like it a lot.
00:22:15
Speaker
Um, I don't know, but you know, people, people engage with sports in different ways. And that's, it's a thing that I have trouble remembering. Um, for some people, it is purely an emotional outlet and that's how they want to react. And, and it's not, I'm like, I feel like I've been guilty in the past of saying that it's wrong to do that. Um, and I don't think it necessarily is, but I feel like when you are trying to make a logical case for those feelings, that's when it becomes problematic.
00:22:43
Speaker
And I think that it is like if you know Ultimately, we're all doing this for fun, right? I know I certainly don't get paid to watch the sounders. So I hope I'm doing it for fun and I Don't know I don't understand what what you get out of it if you're just mad about it all the time I guess Yeah, if we've probably had this rant a few times, but it's a good time to do it in any case We have
00:23:11
Speaker
In the next segment, we're going to talk to Hasani Dotson, who is a player who I had no knowledge of at all before he came into MLS. I had never heard of him. And he was a player that kind of flew under the radar in the local scene. You'll learn a little bit more about him. You'll learn a little bit more about how close he came to joining the Sounders. And yeah, that kind of serves as a good preview of this last game going into the
00:23:40
Speaker
going into the season finale. And then we got questions with Likit. If you're listening to Noose Audio Disk, we'll be right back. Full Pool Wines are based in Seattle, owned and operated by Sanders fans, and have been sponsoring Noose Adieres since 2011. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers.
00:24:09
Speaker
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00:24:30
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. I am joined by Federal Ways, Hasani Dotson. Welcome to the show. You're a Seattle kid who we don't know much about, and I'm really excited to have our listeners learn more about you. Thank you for having me. It's no problem at all.
00:24:51
Speaker
So I understand you grew up playing for Washington Premier. You ended up at Crossfire. What was the process that you and that was obviously before Oregon State, before Minnesota United? Tell us a little bit about how you ended up at Crossfire. Well, I mean, it's kind of interesting because obviously growing up, Washington Premier and Crossfire are pretty big rivals, at least when I was playing.
00:25:20
Speaker
But it was time for me to look and try to find an academy team because I was getting older. And then I tried out for Saunders Pre-Academy and I didn't make the team. And so I got in contact with Bernie James and it all went good from there.
00:25:43
Speaker
And when you when you go to crossfire is the is the idea in your head you still want it like is professional being a professional soccer player still kind of the the long term target there or do you like what's the mindset when you when you kind of made that decision to go to crossfire? Well, for me, it's like a new big step because obviously I was playing club and you know, I'm playing high school, but the next step is Academy. And so for me, just my main focus was
00:26:13
Speaker
you know, trying to fit into the new team, the new surroundings and get ready to try to beat these next obstacles that are in my way. So yeah, I was just excited and eager to learn the whole new process of playing in the academy. So my understanding is you are, you're from the area, your family is still here. Which high school did you go to?
00:26:43
Speaker
I went to Todd Beamer High School. It's in federal ways, right by Wildways. Do you guys know where that's at? Yeah. Yeah. And so do you get back to the area in your off season still? Every now and then when I was, when I went to college at Oregon State, I played a PDO over the summer. Right. So I would just go back home to visit family.
00:27:12
Speaker
But other than that, not too much. And then how did you end up at Oregon State? It sounds like you had another interesting kind of mix with the Sounders on your way to Oregon State. Yeah, so my senior year, my Crossroads Academy team was doing really well. And I got the opportunity to train with Sounders too, with a couple of my friends that were on the Sounders Academy.
00:27:41
Speaker
And then also we beat Sounders twice that year and then later on they offered me, they said they were going to offer me a contract to Sounders 2, but it was right before I was going to go to college. And I thought that was the better route for me because I didn't know, I didn't really know too much to what to expect by going to Sounders 2 in that route. Whereas going to Oregon State, they set a whole plan in place for me. I watched the team the whole year before, so it was just,
00:28:10
Speaker
something I was more comfortable with and also getting the degree, of course. Sure. And so how close are you to getting your degree at this point? Yeah, I just have my internship. That's all I have left to complete my major for public health. And after that, it's like I have the major.
00:28:30
Speaker
Nice, nice. And it sounds like you're not going to need that for a while, though. Despite being a second-round pick at Minnesota United, you were able to get a contract right out of college. According to MLS, you were the first rookie this year to score a goal in MLS competition.
00:28:48
Speaker
Now you're getting you're starting regularly for a team that was in the open cup finals That's going to the playoffs that and then you even got called up to the US national team u23 team What has this year been like for you? It's been very nice. I feel like you know all my hard work And you know constantly being like, you know the underdog it's starting to pay off but at the same time I know like
00:29:18
Speaker
This isn't everything that, you know, this is not all I'm striving for. It's all about what I do from here. But it's been very exciting. I'm just trying to just keep getting better each day and trying to seize my hands on all these opportunities.
00:29:35
Speaker
And so there's not a ton of players anymore that get signed to MLS first team contracts right out of college. And then there's certainly not a lot that get drafted past the first round that get that kind of contract. What was your mindset going into preseason and after you got drafted by Minnesota United? Yeah, I mean, obviously, like you said, like people say, you know, a lot of second round picks don't get signed.
00:30:03
Speaker
I mean, even draft kicks don't get signed. But so I knew wherever I went in the draft, or if I didn't get drafted and I had the opportunity, I just knew that going number one or undrafted, I was going to have to fight for a contract. And just being able to have the opportunity, that can mean a lot to me. I just wanted to work hard and show what I can do. And if I ended up not making the team,
00:30:34
Speaker
You know, learning from that experience and also had a pre contract, uh, at new Mexico, uh, in the USO, uh, go ahead. Oh no, go ahead. That was it. That was it. Had you, so did you hear it all from the sounders during the, during the pre draft process? Um, I had a meeting with them in the, in the combine, but it sounded like they were, uh, looking for like a player in their second team. Um, but.
00:31:04
Speaker
I just felt like since I'm from Seattle and I know like I'm connected with a lot of people in Seattle. I felt like if there was interest about me, I felt like I don't know what kind of surface, you know? So I just had a feeling that I wasn't going to get drafted him and I've landed in a really good spot in Minnesota United and, um, couldn't be more happier with the staff and the players and just the overall environment that I'm around. Yeah.
00:31:34
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and obviously, Minnesota has at least one other notable connection to Seattle, and that's Osvaldo Alonzo. I have to imagine that's a player that you grew up watching a lot. Yeah, especially in the same position. He was my favorite player on the Sounders, and then, of course, Freddie Monteiro. Yeah, I watched all the games, especially when I was at most of the games when the European teams came.
00:32:03
Speaker
At the Manchester, Chelsea, and when Barcelona came, I was sitting there. But it's been very cool and also like a surreal feeling to see, you know, someone I grew up watching and now I'm learning to see, you know, what he's doing, the little things that he's doing, like taking care of his body, you know, the mental side of the game, all that stuff. So it's been pretty cool.
00:32:26
Speaker
And so do you, uh, you know, I know Ozzy has kind of talked about this to some degree, like kind of wanting to prove that he still had, you know, a lot to play for. I know that the terms he left the team weren't necessarily, uh, the best, but have you, like, is there a part of you that's driven by, you know, kind of trying to prove something to the sounders, the team that you were very familiar with growing up and, and have not ever quite had latched on with?
00:32:54
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I think that's us and everyone as a player, like everyone has been overlooked some part in their career. And I think it's only natural to feel like, you know, you want to prove people wrong, but not just trying to play my best. And then the rest of that stuff is out of my hands. But like I said, I've been passed up from the sound before. So when we played them, you know, I just
00:33:24
Speaker
I mean, obviously, it was a big match because of the rivalry Crossword and Saunders had, but I didn't try to get too emotionally wrapped up into it because I don't want to lose sight of the little things that matter in the game, you know? Yeah, it's going to be a pretty nice homecoming. Nice. Do you have a lot of family that's planning on being there? Yeah, reportedly, my mom told me that there, I mean, so she knows there's going to be more than 50 people coming into the game.
00:33:54
Speaker
pretty cool. More than 50 people that that are coming to like from through her essentially. Yeah, like in like sitting in the same section as her. So nice. And so is that I got this is going to be I assume the first time that you've played at Central Link after after watching many games there. Yeah, this is really the first time I've been
00:34:20
Speaker
about a play at CenturyLink. So yeah. Have you thought about what that's going to be like, walking out onto the field and seeing the crowd and, you know, just expected to be a pretty big crowd there? Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's a big game. Obviously, you know, let's try to take things out one step at a time. This whole year has been crazy from my debut to now, and I'm just enjoying every bit of it, but also,
00:34:49
Speaker
Um, very focused on improving the little things I can still improve on. So, you know, you mentioned you kind of have this attitude as a, as a little bit of an underdog. That also seems to be an attitude that Adrian Heath has brought to the, to Minnesota United this year. You know, we've heard him talk a lot about being overlooked and how no one really believed in this team. And here you guys are going into the season finale, uh,
00:35:14
Speaker
currently sitting number two in the West and looking at a very likely possibility of at the very least playing a home game in the first round of the playoffs. What has the messaging internally been from Adrian Heath as far as the way you guys go about doing your business? Well, yeah. I mean, the biggest thing is effort. You can do all the things.
00:35:40
Speaker
You can worry about all the other things like tactics, but if the effort's not there, everything's going to fall apart. So I mean, we are all our huge competitors in the locker room. Um, so I think, you know, just making sure that we're up for the fight and making sure that we put our best foot forward. And as you can see, that comes also with, you know, the underdog mentality, which I think, you know, helps bring the energy and the extra fight and all that stuff, which, you know,
00:36:10
Speaker
I'm all about. So, yeah. You know, you obviously weren't there last year, but you have a lot of teammates who were with Minnesota the last year and the year before. Do you get a sense of what the difference really is between this year and previous years? I mean, not much, just because I, like you said, I wasn't there, so I can't like pinpoint or
00:36:38
Speaker
say exactly what's the difference, but you can see how much of a difference it makes to the fans, and it's really special. But I think every year, I mean, all the teams in MLS, from top to bottom, that we've played, all the teams are good. I think whether a team has a good year and doesn't have a good year, those margins are smaller than you think. I think, you know,
00:37:09
Speaker
From what I've heard, like just everyone's this year, everyone obviously is like a family and we're just sticking with one another and just fighting for our points. And we've had a good season this far, but we still have a lot more that we want to accomplish.
00:37:28
Speaker
Well, Hasani, that's probably a good place to end this. It's been really interesting getting to kind of see you from a distance. It's been great getting to hear a little bit more about you. And it looks like you have a great career ahead of you. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Have a good one. Yeah, and absolutely. And hopefully you get to enjoy some Seattle sunshine when you're in town. Hopefully.
00:37:58
Speaker
I know how the rain like to fall. Is there is there is there like a particular place you want to make sure to hit up while you're here? I think obviously I want to go back and you know, see my high school. It's been like I haven't been home this whole year. I want to go down to Pike place. And then maybe see my older coaching staff crossfire.
00:38:24
Speaker
Nice. Well, enjoy, enjoy your time here and we'll, we'll see you on, on Sunday. Thank you. You have a good rest of your day. You too. This is Asani Dodson. I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is Nos Arietes. Thanks for listening. Welcome back to Nos Arietes. We have questions and hopefully we have answers and I'm just going to let Likit start firing away.
00:38:52
Speaker
Yep, here we go. Jerome637 asks, why Jones? Yeah, I, you know, I, it was very surreal. I have to admit, like I, I, I think highly of Steve Zachawany's opinion. And I was a little shocked to hear him say on his podcast before the game that he thought Jones changed the game when he came in.
00:39:18
Speaker
in the DC United match, and I was confused. And then he repeated it. He basically said that again during the broadcast on Sunday, and I was more confused. And I didn't think he was bad against the earthquake. Like, I don't remember anything standing out in my mind that he did poorly, but he didn't do anything that seemed to be good, really, either. And so I don't, like, I'm,
00:39:47
Speaker
I'm wondering if there's just something I'm missing because I don't see what he's contributing. I think that, and this is a criticism I think you can make of every coach in the world, but I think that Schmetzer has his guys and I think Jovan Jones is one of his guys and I think it's very hard to
00:40:02
Speaker
Once you've become one of his guys to not be one of his guys anymore, I think he trusts him. That's about the only explanation I can come up with. I mean, I think as a left back, he's been fine. You know, I think that.
00:40:18
Speaker
He's not the first choice left back. He probably wouldn't even be my second choice of the three we have, but he hasn't been bad. But as a midfielder, I think he's been a disaster. And so I think that's why he's playing. But in terms of Zakawani's analysis of his performances, yeah, there might be something I'm missing. I don't know. I'm like you. I respect Zakawani's analysis. But there are definitely
00:40:45
Speaker
things that he believes that I think are crazy. Well, yeah. And that's one of them. Like that and the impact that Alonzo had the last few seasons are the two takes of Zacjuanes that I just, I don't, I don't get. Yeah. I mean, I, I, nothing bag on Alonzo and Alonzo has been good, but he's also been, I think his, it's like, he's being credited with this, um,
00:41:15
Speaker
Renaissance, for lack of a better term. And you look at his stats and like he's completing a lot of passes, but he's not, he has like, I think career low in tackles and a career low in interceptions. Like he's not the defensive like shield that people imagine him to be.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, when I watched him the few times I've seen him this year, I mean, he looks a lot like the player he was in Seattle the last few years where he's still a good player, he's still a very good player, but he's not, he's very limited now. I mean, he has a very specific role he has to play and he plays that role very well, but it's not the same role he was playing when he was at his best, for sure. He's not even an every game starter now, right?
00:41:58
Speaker
Well, he starts most of the games, he's healthy, but he's like, as you might imagine, he's not healthy. Like he's got 26 appearances in 33 games so far. So he's missed seven games, which is fewer than he's missed in the last two years, but not that many fewer. Like he's made, yeah, I mean, he's made seven more starts than he did last year.
00:42:27
Speaker
Um, he's played about, he'll end up playing about 300 ish more minutes than he did last year and about 300 more minutes than he did the year before that, which, you know, that's good. Um, but like I said, he's also, he's literally averaging a career low in tackles and he's tied for his career loan interceptions with last year being the previous, uh, worst. So he's not the.
00:42:54
Speaker
You know, he's not the defensive dynamo that he once was. He is dribbling a little bit more, how often he's being dribbled. I take it back. So he's actually being beaten on the dribble about three times more frequently than he was last year, which is interesting.
00:43:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think that there is a tendency among coaches and among players to not readjust their feelings about players. As long as you can talk yourself into believing that they're similar players, you need to be similar players. And I think, I mean, Ozzy Alonzo was still a good player, but that's not the same thing as thinking he's the same player he was.
00:43:42
Speaker
And I would say that the same is true of Jones, but I don't think he's a good player. I think he's an okay player now at this point. So yeah, it's a head scratcher, but maybe we're the idiots. It wouldn't be the first time. Right. Okay. Motley69 asks, if Ladero misses more time, was that our best lineup yesterday? If not, what is?
00:44:23
Speaker
Yes, I do. He might be. I think there's an argument there. Like, I think that you could make a very reasonable argument that he's not, but I think it would be difficult to convince me of that. Is that the next guy in line? Or is maybe the better lineup rolled on on the right in Delham next to Svensson? Or as you could argue, Ceccini.
00:44:32
Speaker
I would say it's not. I would say that you've got to get someone other than Jovan Jones in there as a winger.
00:44:47
Speaker
I think that both of those lineups would be I think both would be preferable frankly uh to jones and midfield um I once morris started to play more exclusively on the left I hated it slightly less but early on when morris was playing on the right and jones was on the left I wanted to turn myself in front of the bus you're talking about on spend day yeah so um so it wasn't as egregious maybe as it was at the start but
00:45:16
Speaker
Um, and I think, I mean, I think the idea with Jones is that you can trust him more defensively, but I don't know that that's true. Like I really don't know that I think that he's a better defender as a midfielder than Harry ship is. But I think you're right. I think that's probably the reason that he's getting starts over ship is that I think Smetcher trusts Jones defensively more than he trusts ship defensively and.
00:45:46
Speaker
I haven't seen that and I haven't seen the evidence to tell me that, but I'm not sitting here breaking down the film the same way. So maybe we're missing things. But I suppose one of the things ship doesn't do is he doesn't necessarily close down crossers particularly well.
00:46:08
Speaker
But I don't necessarily see Jones do that either. Right, right. I mean, I think that that's the thing, is that from an on-paper standpoint, it makes sense. But nothing I've seen since Jobin has been back. And about the way, frankly, he's ever played as a midfielder leads me to believe that he's a net positive defensively as a midfielder. I think as a left back, he's fine. But there are different skill sets defensively. They require different things.
00:46:37
Speaker
I think Ship just has a kind of creativity that, you know, Victor is a creative player, but I think that Ship is more similar to what Ledero brings from a creative standpoint. And I think it's something that sounders sorely miss when Ledero's not there. No, obviously, Victor is a much better player than Ship, and Ship is nowhere close to being as good as Ledero, but in terms of the
00:47:03
Speaker
style of play in terms of, you know, like for like, kind of thing, I think ship is closer. But I do I do like, you know, roll down on the on the right. I think that's worked pretty well. I would love to see sachini. But I have a bad feeling about how that's going to turn out. I have a really bad feeling about how that's going to turn out. Yeah, I mean, today, Spencer kind of was asked about or he was asked about sachini and what he needs to do. And, and
00:47:32
Speaker
He basically said what we're saying is that there's nothing that Sachini hasn't done or is not doing that is keeping him off the field. It's just that he hasn't done enough to jump like Delham or I suppose Jones or maybe even ship. And that like, you know, maybe an off season worth of getting to know him and being able to trust what you're going to get out of him.
00:48:00
Speaker
changes all that, and maybe he's the starter next year, who knows? But I think what we're, you know, the long, if I'm to read between the lines, is that Sichine's game is not one that Schmetzer is ready to trust in. Like, he might be just as good, like, it's not that he's not a good player, it's not that he's not capable, but he just doesn't quite know what he's going to get out of him. Whereas I think he feels like he knows what he's going to get out of Jovan Jones.
00:48:30
Speaker
I better works that that seems right I would tend towards the worst on that I think that a coach has to trust that his GM is giving him good players I think he has to trust the scouting department. I think you have to recognize that, you know, new players especially new field positions are going to struggle sometimes to to.
00:48:51
Speaker
to settle in and you just kind of have to put up with that. Um, we've, I just, we've seen it before. We've seen it before, uh, Wish Metzer. And I think that when you have one mid-season signing that is supposed to be your difference maker or is as close as you're going to get to a difference maker, uh, and he can't get any playing time unless half the team is hurt. Um, there's a disconnect somewhere and it makes me nervous.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that and it is, it'll be interesting to see what kind of role he plays going forward. Okay. Doosby asks, how close to a playoff game was that San Jose game? Also, how weird will the new playoff structure be this year?
00:49:39
Speaker
I mean, that felt like a playoff game to me in a lot of ways. Like it, I guess that the, it's hard to totally replicate a playoff game because there isn't the same must win ethos that's guiding it. And I think the sounders, the subs, the sounders made me indicated they were perfectly happy to get out of there with a tie. Now that they won is great and speaks to, you know,
00:50:05
Speaker
a lot of the ability that was out there. But I think to me, the subs said, look, we will take a point here. And I don't think that's what you'd see in a playoff game in those same situations. What was the second part of the question? How crazy will the new playoffs, how weird will the new playoffs actually be this year?
00:50:29
Speaker
I don't think the individual games will feel that different, but I think once you're two or three, I think it's gonna be blinding how quickly it all goes past. The individual games, I think, will still feel like how they felt, but it's gonna be like, wow, the playoffs are over and it's been three weeks or a month. Yeah, I'm kind of looking forward to that, honestly.
00:50:56
Speaker
I think I've kind of talked myself into thinking this is a better format because I originally was not super into it. And I still don't like, I don't understand why they aren't receding. That's super weird. Yeah. The not receding is super weird because you, I mean, you're basically punishing teams for stuff that is 1 million percent out of their control. Like, you know, like you lose an advantage that you earn in the regular season because of worst team being a better, it's weird, but
00:51:26
Speaker
Practically, I don't know how much it's going to matter, but it is weird. I think that the primary difference between what we'll see, there's an opportunity, I think, for teams to play much more attacking on the road than they would do in the regular season even.
00:51:44
Speaker
whether teams take that opportunity. I don't know. But I think historically in the MLS playoffs and the away leg coaches are almost universally happy to get a point to get a, you know, to get a scoreless draw, even unless they have to have a win in the second leg. So I think that we might see teams just kind of go for it because they know they're kind of playing with how it's money in a way that maybe they wouldn't have in the past. But
00:52:14
Speaker
We'll see. I think I expect coaches to still be pretty conservative because it's the playoffs and why wouldn't you, you know? All I know is if we get matched up against Portland in the first round, I'm going to go jump in the ocean and just keep swimming to see. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Jeffrey M. Williams asks, what's the key to playoff success for this particular Sounders theme? Uh, the defense has to not play like shit, I think is the,
00:52:40
Speaker
And they've been much better in the last few games, like much better. I think that they're sort of starting to figure each other out, Kim and Ariaga, which is kind of a bummer for the Minnesota game, I suppose. But having Tora's back is nice. The defensive midfield seems to have kind of woken up a little bit. So, you know, I think the Sounders are gonna score. They don't have a,
00:53:08
Speaker
nightmarishly potent offense, but they can score. They can score on the road. Um, you know, they, they've kind of figured out, I think how to, how to counter pretty effectively on the road, which I think is going to help a lot. Um, so I think as long as the defense is solid, um, especially more solid than what we saw over the summer, then, you know, they've got a pretty decent chance. Um, but the concern is still there. It's not, I don't think the automatic gimme that the defense was going to play well that we've seen the last few years.
00:53:38
Speaker
I'll add that I think what this team needs to do is as long, I think if they are close towards the end, they're in good shape. Yeah. They've shown a really impressive ability to finish games off. And by finish games off, I mean like not put them away early, but actually play well in the last, you know, 10 minutes or so. So we'll see.
00:54:11
Speaker
uh staying with playoff questions muffin top model asks if sounders host a playoff game or two are there any conflicts with the schedule will we have a football will we have football lines or car shows uh yankees stadium might be double booked and they may have to play a red bull arena or if the yankees make the role series yeah so the sounders definitely have a conflict if they host the first round that is that the seahawks are playing a home game on
00:54:40
Speaker
the 24th or on the 20th. And so the sounders, as far as I understand it, will play on Saturday. And my assumption is that they play Saturday afternoon, and that
00:54:52
Speaker
there shouldn't be football lines. Now, don't hold me to that. I don't have any control over this, but that's kind of my understanding is that's kind of the plan going forward. And in the past, we've been told that they needed 24 hours at least to turn the field over. But we saw in New England a couple of weekends ago, I think it was, they had a evening Rebs game and then an afternoon Patriots game.
00:55:21
Speaker
and they played with no football lines for the Rebs. So I assume that there's been some sort of advancement in paint technology that allows for quicker drying paint so that they can pull it off and put it back down within a shorter time frame.
00:55:38
Speaker
So hopefully. Yeah. I also wonder if it's easier to do with new turf. I don't know if it would be, I don't know. Could be. I mean, maybe that's part of the, who knows. I mean, that might also be one of the new features of the turf is that it's easier to put and take off paint. I don't know that, but this is, you know, I'm passing on the information I have and then the sounders potentially can host a
00:56:04
Speaker
Second game, if they get a two seed, I don't think that they have any other conflicts after that first one. I'm going to miss the car show. Yeah. Let's see, going to the next game, Bill Jones, S-T-R-P-T-S. Minnesota seems kind of good. What are our weaknesses against them and what can we do to shore them up?
00:56:32
Speaker
They are pretty good on the sliding scale of Western Conference MLS teams, I would say.
00:56:40
Speaker
I think the sounders are better than them, which Bobby or Shaw will be just flummoxed to find out. But yeah, I mean, I think that playing at home, the sounders have to be pretty heavy favorites. I don't know if there's anything to do to prepare for Minnesota specifically, like their
00:57:05
Speaker
They're not a pretty straightforward team. Yeah, they're not an interesting team. And I don't necessarily like the sounders aren't especially interesting either. Like I don't think you need to really deviate from what you normally try to do. You know, I just they're they're going to go out and play soccer like they're not they're not going to try anything too crazy. So. Yeah, I don't have much to add to that other than.
00:57:32
Speaker
I feel like the sounders are, you know, this is a good, this is a good match to see what kind of talent deficit they really have with, with Minnesota. I, I, you know, and I think that that's, you know, so we'll see. I think, I think they match up okay with him. There's no glaring spot where I'm like, uh, I don't know what we're going to do about that player, especially since Darwin Contaro has not been playing as well as he was early in the year. And he's not even playing a ton anymore. Yeah.
00:58:05
Speaker
Firewood113, yes. If you can get back one former sounder for the playoffs, who would it be? I guess he would have been available too. Who's won? He still is technically, right? No, no, I guess the roster froze. Yeah, the roster froze, so they can still sign him. Chad Marshall, I think would be my answer.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's a, it's a pretty boring one, but I mean that's a yeah I mean that is the one glaring week, like, I think to the, like,
00:58:43
Speaker
I think the degree to which Alonzo covered for the Sounders backline in the past was overstated, but I think he did provide some cover, but really I think what exposed the Sounders backline was how much they relied on Chad Marshall to kind of put out fires. And his absence has been pretty stark. And that's on both sides of the ball. They have no, it's just amazing to me how
00:59:12
Speaker
not dangerous, their center backs have been on set pieces. They just don't have any big bodies that are anything like consistent threats on set pieces. It's super weird too, because Kim is good in the air, like winning 50-50 balls in midfield and stuff like that. He seems to understand attacking runs fairly well. He just seems like a totally non-factor on set pieces. It's very strange.
00:59:39
Speaker
and Ariaga is we so that doesn't he doesn't help too much. Torres is pretty dangerous on set pieces so I know he's never scored for the Sounders but like historically he's been a center back that scores a lot of goals but he's come pretty close.
00:59:55
Speaker
um so you know it would be a good time for him to catch catch fire scoring wise but um but given how often set piece goals matter in the playoffs um feeling like they were a threat at all on a set piece would be would be pretty nice um it would be nice yeah i mean i think i i think that if you could have 2014 Aussie Alonzo over Chad Marshall maybe there's an argument there but
01:00:24
Speaker
You know, if you could just make Chad Marshall as healthy as he was last season, or Alonzo, I would take, I would take Chad for sure. Uh, okay. Uh, if you know the answer to this one, I was going to ask you, Jack Kirby, FCS, what exactly has to happen for the Sounders to be in the CCL next year? I mean, other than winning the cup, and do we have to be in league's cup if we don't make CCL?
01:00:50
Speaker
So I did answer this on Twitter and partly I answered it because I wanted to make, I felt like I needed to like think it out through writing. But basically the answer is that the centers need to first finish, aside from winning MLS Cup, they need to finish ahead of the Philadelphia Union.
01:01:08
Speaker
So if they finished ahead of the Philadelphia Union, they could theoretically get in if one of New York City FC, who is already qualified by winning the Eastern Conference, Atlanta United, who's already qualified by winning the US Open Cup, and LAFC, who's already qualified by winning the
01:01:30
Speaker
to Porter shield. So if one of those three teams were to win MLS cup and the sounders were the next highest team in the table, they would get into champions league. And I, I guess they would take my understanding is they would take the open cup slot. If one of those teams qualified because the open cup slot is the lowest like seated spot of all the MLS spots. So that's how they would do it.
01:02:00
Speaker
And they've already qualified and I, um, yeah, the, the next four teams, I believe in the West qualify automatically for league's cup and they're already guaranteed one of those four spots and.
01:02:18
Speaker
I guess it's possible they could turn it down, but I don't get any indication. The centers aren't going to turn that down. They'll plan League's Cup. And I know Aaron and I now differ on this, so I'm happy to bring up something that we might differ on. But I've come around, now that there's a proper qualification system, I wouldn't say that I'm excited about the League's Cup, because I feel like the League's Cup still has some
01:02:43
Speaker
important changes to make in order to feel like a genuinely real tournament but I'm less down on it than I was when it first came out when I said it was a complete money grab and it's still a money grab but I mean I guess I'm less down on it than I was but I'm still I just don't understand what I don't understand what it is yeah I mean it's a it's it's it's it's
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it is. I mean, it exists to make money, right? Which, I mean, so does the Champions League. So, but you can at least pretend like the sporting merit is what matters in those competitions, you know? Yeah, and I will say that the one thing that's a little frightening, for lack of a better term, about this tournament is that it went from being an 18 tournament, so there was
01:03:40
Speaker
only at most three games that teams would have to play.
01:03:44
Speaker
And now they added, they essentially doubled the size of it. So it's going to be a 16 team tournament, which means that it can now be up to four games that a team would have to play. I will say that the fact that I assume, I assume that next year they'll be able to play the final in the Raiders stadium in Vegas, which should be actually kind of a cool stadium. And I, I kind of liked the idea of potentially playing a final in Vegas. Like that scene, like I, I kind of get the allure of that.
01:04:14
Speaker
I, and I, and I guess from a competitive standpoint, I would rather, you know, if the Sounders are going to have to play, you know, let's just say where they would get to the final and that thing and they were to win it. I guess that's, it's kind of cool, I guess. I guess. I don't know. Although it's. I, yeah. I mean, I'd rather win it than not win it if we're going to be in it, I guess, but.
01:04:39
Speaker
And I guess I guess I like not going to having to go to Mexico to play this tournament, I guess.
01:04:54
Speaker
So all of the things that are better about it than CCL are things that couldn't exist in a tournament that actually matters. Right. I agree. Like that's the thing is it's like, yeah, you don't have to go to Mexico because nobody really gives a shit who wins. It's just about getting ready. Right. Um.
01:05:14
Speaker
And that's a definite problem in terms of making it a competitive tournament. At the same time, if you told me the Sounders are either going to get to the final of a league's cup or get to the quarterfinals of a Champions League,
01:05:32
Speaker
And by the way, they would have to play the champions league. They'd have to still, like there's still the problem with the champions league is that it starts in preseason or it starts effectively in MLS preseason. And that you might have to travel to places like, you know, like random ass stadiums in Honduras and Guatemala and all these other places where, you know, like.
01:05:55
Speaker
you don't know what the conditions are gonna be like, and you're putting a ton of mileage on you, and you're putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage for the start of the MLS regular season. And all those things kind of suck. And I would still rather win Champions League than League's Cup, there's no question about it. But from a competitive standpoint,
01:06:20
Speaker
Like, I don't know, League's Cup is a much easier from a, like, you're just put at less of a disadvantage in League's Cup, competitively. But I mean, an even less of a competitive disadvantage would be not doing League's Cup. Either. Right. Like, I mean, that's, I get your point. Like, losing in the quarterfinals of the CCL again is like, it's a wet fart, right? Like, who cares?
01:06:50
Speaker
So I get that. But ultimately you are playing for something that is actually valuable. Yeah, I agree. And like, I mean, honestly, it is valuable. Like, yeah. And like, I'm less enamored with the CCL than I used to be. Like, I think they've changed it in ways that are not super beneficial for in terms of like the sporting merit of it. But I mean, it is like the officially sanctioned
01:07:16
Speaker
continental competition, right? Like it's how you get to the club world cup, um, which, you know, nobody takes that seriously either, but it's at least cool to be in. So I don't know. I mean, the least cup is not the end of the world. I just.
01:07:32
Speaker
It's nothing to me. It's, you know. I can't, and I'm not going to sit here and try to talk you into it, but I will say that there is a non-zero part of me that is intrigued by playing in League of Scout. Yeah, that's fair. Okay, we have two questions requesting guests on the show. I'll just read both of them.
01:07:59
Speaker
Coffee Bikes asks, when are you going to have Brad Evans on? And Andrew H. Way asks, is it time yet? And I've left you alone about this for a season or two for the huge Tommy Dutra interview. The man's a legend and the people, at least this person, are climbing for insight. I would love to have Tom Dutra on the show and we should probably work on that because that's someone who
01:08:22
Speaker
We don't get to hear from a lot. And he does have some interesting insight. And he's got a great story. In part, it's like he's this character who's managed to go from being a goalkeeper's coach on
01:08:41
Speaker
the U.S.L. team to coaching some of the greatest American goalkeepers in history, which is pretty remarkable. Brad Evans, go ahead. Well, I feel like Dutra is like kind of widely recognized at this point as being like one of the top goalkeeper coaches in the country. I mean, he should be, yeah. So it's pretty cool. And he's a local, he's totally a local guy and everything. So he's got a great story. I don't, Brad Evans, I'm not familiar with him.
01:09:12
Speaker
He's some, like, Instagram dude. Yeah, we'll have to just, like, start checking rest stop parking lots for his trailer and see if... Maybe we can ask Johnny football if he's got some pole. Maybe he wants to co-host an episode of the Will Bruin podcast or something.
01:09:31
Speaker
Okay, we'll end on this question. Narias24 asks, with the watercolor and nightfall kits being so exotic, I feel like we're due for a clean, classic, rave green kit for the new home kit next season. What do you want to see or what do you expect for the new kits? I think it'll probably be rave green with blue sleeves.
01:09:52
Speaker
blue sleeves? You think you're gonna go back to blue sleeves? I think so. I feel like they I have nothing to back this up. I didn't actually check I meant to, but that they switch off like they do already green and then they'll do blue sleeves and then. I think they've only had blue sleeves once. Really? No, that can't be right. For sure.
01:10:13
Speaker
the 1516. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the only time they had blue sleeves. Seriously, man. But I do like the idea of going back to a kind of cleaner looking green kit. And it's kind of a bummer. There haven't been a lot of great green kits in Sounders history.
01:10:34
Speaker
Like the one that had the silhouette of the space, you know, was kind of cool. That was the best one, I think. Yeah. The, one of the blue sleeves I liked. I didn't love the blue sleeves, but I liked the little, the little S's that were kind of patterned throughout it. But I think those are the only two that I really like, like actively.
01:10:56
Speaker
Yeah. I liked the pinstripey one that they had, I think 15 and 16, but I guess that one was the one that was paired with the Olympic whites.
01:11:10
Speaker
Yeah. That was also the one they were wearing when they won the MLS Cup, so that helps. But it's funny because the whole thing when they first started was look at how obnoxious this color is. But the kits themselves are usually pretty boring. I know that the current kit, everybody hates it. And I'm not going to
01:11:33
Speaker
defend it necessarily, but it's at least interesting, right? Like it's at least an attempt at something. Um, whether that attempt was successful or not, you know, as in the eye of the beholder, I, I hate it a lot less than most people do. I actually, uh, I don't mind it at all, but, but it's, I mean, you know, it's rightly polarizing, I would say. Um, but I would take that a million times over, uh, just a green kit, you know, that's me. I don't know.
01:12:06
Speaker
That's it. All right. Well, uh, Bravo everyone. Thanks to our sponsor, uh, full pool wines. Thanks to Hasani Dotson for coming on. Uh, fascinating story, I think of a player who kind of slipped through the cracks in this area. I do wonder if a Hasani Dotson.
01:12:29
Speaker
were to come up, like, is that a player that the sounders would now catch if you were to crop up? Has they gotten better about finding those types of players? Yeah, that's an interesting thought. I wonder what put that into your brain. Yeah, I can't imagine what
01:12:48
Speaker
But whatever would have put that in my brain. Do you have thoughts on that, Aaron? No. I think probably they would. I don't know. And I think it's more likely that a player like that is going to choose to go to the Defiance than they would have been to go to S2 at the time.
01:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that at the very least they've done a better job of creating a pipeline to other academies. Like they now have a formal relationship with Washington Premier, I believe, and they have a formal relationship with Seattle United and other kind of feeder clubs around the region. And so you'd think that, you know, I guess he at one point did try out for the centers academy and the centers just weren't interested.
01:13:40
Speaker
But clearly they missed something there. It happens. It does happen. It definitely happens. I mean, I think the fact that we're this far into it and the sound, like there are two guys that I think you can point to and say the sounders missed on, that's, that's a pretty good track record. Yeah. Yeah. There's probably more than two, but two obvious ones. Sure.
01:14:05
Speaker
But yeah, anyway, so yeah, thanks to Hasani for coming on. Make sure to, you know, he's got a bunch of people that are going to be here at the game. If you see his family and friends, be nice to him. Let's not have a George Johnson situation. Yeah.
01:14:27
Speaker
Uh, but anyway, I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off on behalf of Aaron Campo and Lickett. This is No Study Yetis. Remember, you will never be out alone. Green Douglas, where were the waters cut through? Mountain wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's roll on, Columbia roll on.
01:14:54
Speaker
Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll on, Columbia, roll on. We love you. Let's win another one!